Chapter 4 British Politics.doc

Chapter 4 Politics I. Explain each of the following in English:1. the importance of general elections2. the formation of the government3. vote of no confidence4. the electoral campaigns5. the Conservative party6. the Labour party7. the Liberal Democrats8. Margaret Thatcher9. John Major10. Tony BlairII. Fill in the blanks:1. The UK is divided into _ constituencies with each of them represented by a member in_.2. The party which wins the majority seats in parliament forms _ and its party leader becomes_.3. Normally, a government can be in power for _ years, and then it has to resign and hold a general election.4. If a government loses a _ in the House of Commons, it has to resign.5. The electoral register refers to _.6. The amount of time given to each party in the party electoral broadcasts is proportional to the _ which the party received at the previous election.7. In order to be fair, the amount of money a candidate can spend in his _ is strictly limited.8. The media conducts _ to try to predict the result of the election.9. There are three major parties in the UK: _, _ and_.10. _was established by the Labour government in 1948, providing health care for all the people.11. From 1979 to 1997, _ won 4 consecutive elections and was in power for quite a long time.12. _ is the leader of the Conservative party while _ is the leader of the Labour party.III. Choose the correct answer from each of the following:1. Which group of people can NOT vote in the general election?A. members in the House of Commons B. Lords in the House of Lords C. the UK citizens above the age of 18 D. the UK resident citizens of the Irish Republic2. By whom is a vote of no confidence decided?A. the House of Commons B. the House of LordsC. the two major parties D. the Prime Minister3. Which of the following is NOT true about the electoral campaigns?A. Big parties can buy time to broadcast their policies on the television.B. There is a limit on the amount of money candidates can spend in their constituency campaign.C. Candidates and their supporters go door-to-door persuading voters to vote for them.D. Candidates criticize each others policies to show how good their own policies are.4. How many seats in the House of Commons should a party hold at least in order to win the election?A. 651 B. 326C. 626 D. 3515. Which of the following party adopts a fatherly sense of obligation to the poorer people in the society?A. the Conservative party B. the Liberal DemocratsC. the Party of Wales D. the Labour party6. Which of the following description about the Conservative party is NOT true?A. It has been in power for an unusually long period of time.B. It prefers policies that protect individuals rights.C. It receives a lot of the funding from big companies.D. It is known as a party of high taxation levels.7. Which government lost a vote of no confidence and was forced to resign in 1979?A. the Conservative government B. the Liberal governmentC. the Labour government D. the radical government8. Which period of time in British history was described as private affluence and public squalor?A. the 1940s B. the 1970sC. the 1980s D. the 1990s9. Which of the following about the poll tax is NOT true?A. It was introduced by the Conservative government.B. It was introduced by the Labour government.C. It was an attempt to change local government taxes.D. It was criticized by many citizens.10. Who is the leader of the Labour party at present?A. John Major B. Tony BlairC. Harold Wilson D. Margaret ThatcherKey to the Exercises Chapter 4I. Explain each of the following in English:1. the importance of general electionsGeneral elections are very important in the western democracy. According to the author, they provide opportunities for people to influence future government policies and to replace those incompetent political leaders.2. the formation of the government651 members of parliament are elected in the general, election representing 651 constituencies in the UK. The party which holds a majority of those seats in parliament forms the government, with its party leader as the Prime Minister.3. vote of no confidenceThis refers to a statement put forward by an MP ?usually a member of an opposition party for the House of Commons to vote on saying that This house no longer has confidence in the Government. If the government loses a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons, that is, if a majority of MPs agree, then it has effectively lost its ability to govern and is forced to resign and call a general election. An example of this happened in 1979 with the Labour government.4. the electoral campaignsBefore a general election, the political parties would start their electoral campaigns in order to make their ideologies and policies known to the public. The campaign involves advertisements in newspapers, door-to-door campaigning, postal deliveries of leaflets and party electoral broadcasts on the television. The parties also try to attack and critisize the opponents policies. Therefore, these campaigns sometimes can be quite aggressive and critical.5. the Conservative partyThe Conservative party is one of the two biggest parties in the UK. It is basically the party of the individual, protecting the individuals right to acquire wealth and to spend it as he/she wants. It advocates economic policies which are favourable to businessmen, such as low taxes. From 1979 to 1997, the Conservative party won 4 consecutive elections and was in power for quite a long period of time.6. the Labour partyThe Labour party is one of the two biggest parties in the UK. It is also the newest party, created by the trade union movement at the end of the 19th century. It is a socialist party, believing that a society should be relatively equal in economic terms, and that the government should redistribute the wealth between the rich and the poor. It also thinks that the government should provide a range of public services for all the people.7. the Liberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats are the third biggest party and often seen as a party of the middle, occupying the ideological ground between the two major parties. They are comparatively flexible and pragmatic in their balance of the individual and the social. They emphasize the need to change the Britains constitutional arrangements to make the government more democratic and accountable.8. Margaret ThatcherShe came into power as Britains first woman Prime Minister in 1979 when her Conservative party won the general election. She advocated the idea of small government and free-market economics. During her term as the Prime Minister, she carried out policies to privatize the nationalized industry and to cut tax rates. As a result, many businesses boomed but unemployment rate increased. She was later replaced by John Majo