英语国家概况Unit 3

1、unit 3the government of the united kingdomvthe political institution: the constitutional monarchy britain is arguably the oldest representative democracy in the world, with roots that can be traced over a thousand years. the process of state-building has been one of evolution rather than revolution.

2、 monarchy vthe oldest institution of government is the monarchy. this dates back to the saxons.vthe present queen: elizabeth iivon williams wedding ceremony the evolution of monarchyv1. the ancient doctrine of the “divine right of kings”v2. one brief exception after the civil warsv3. conflicts: whil

3、e the king in theory had god on his side, in practice even in medieval times it was thought that he should not exercise absolute power.v4. magna cartathe parliamentvthe meaning of parliament:vit comes from “parley”, - to discuss or talk. the term was first used officially in 1236 to describe the gat

4、hering of feudal barons and representatives from counties and towns.the derivation of the parliamentv1. traditionally, medieval kings were supposed to meet their own royal expenses out of their own wealth. if extra money needed, he would try to persuade the great council to give him some extra money

5、. v2. by the 13th century, kings found they could not make ends meet from this quite small group, and so they widened the great council to include representatives of counties, cities, and towns, to get them to contribute to his projects.-they were known as commons. v3. then, the great council came t

6、o include the house of lords and the house of commons.v4. the commons quickly gained in political strength.v5. the civil war which brought the roundheads to power of the king vis-vis parliament. kings side-the parliamentv6. the bill of rights in 1689the birth of the prime minister and cabinet vto en

7、sure good relations between crown and parliament, the king or queen met regularly with a group of important parliamentarians, a group which became known as the cabinet. while cabinet ministers were appointed by the sovereign, they had to have enough support in the house of commons to enable them to

8、persuade parliament to pass laws and vote for taxes. vin 1714, the new king george i from germany left the job of chairing cabinet meetings to one of his ministers. in time he came to be called the prime minister. vin 1832, when a system for choosing the house of commons by popular election replaced

9、 the monarchs job of appointing representatives, the modern political system was born. mps assembled themselves into groups which eventually would become political parties. the party with the most supporters in the commons forms the government, and by tradition, the leader of that party becomes prim

10、e minister. the british government todayvbritain is both a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy.vcharacteristics of constitutional monarchy the official head of the state is the queen, her powers are largely traditional and symbolic. in this system, the monarch, king or queen is the

11、 nominal head of the state. she reigns, but not rules. the constitutionvbritain has no written constitution. 1. statute law2. common laws3. conventionsparliament vthe functions1. it passes laws.2. it provides the means of carrying on the work of government by voting for taxation.3. its other roles a

12、re to scrutinise government policy, administration and expenditure and to debate the major issues of the day. vposition vparliament is supreme in the british state because it alone has the power to change the terms of the constitution. vthere are no legal restraints upon parliament. vthe composition

13、 of parliamentqueenthe house of lordsthe house of commonsthe role of the monarchy todayvprimary role the role of the monarchy today is primarily to symbolise the tradition and unify of the british stage. vher other rolesshe is legally head of the executive, an integral part of the armed forces and “

14、supreme governor” of the church of england. vin a 1988 poll, most britons felt the queens most important job was to represent britain at home and abroad; her second most important job was to set standard of good citizenship and family life. va less well known role of the queen, which is nevertheless

15、 very important to british politics, is that of a confidante to the prime minister. criticism of the royal familyvcriticism of her childrenprince charlesandrewvmuch of the financial support for the royal family comes from the taxpayers, which had led to great controversy in recent years.vmore genera

16、l criticism about the monarchy after the fire of windsor castle. the house of lordsvcompositionthe lord spiritualthe lord temporal vhereditary peers (membership was once a right of birth to hereditary peers but, following a series of reforms, as of 2010 only 92, elected by the house from the hereditary peers, remain as members. )vlife peersvlaw lordsthe house of commonsvmembers of parliament : 646mps represent the interest of constituency or seat.term: 5 yearssalary: 64 766 pounds a yearvmost mps belong to political parties-labour, the conserva