Politics

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

"What comes to your mind when you think about politics in these countries?"

 quick associations

2. Input Stage – Fact Files (10–12 min)

Divide students into 3 groups.

Each group receives or listens to a short fact file on one country’s political system (1 page or 2–3 mins of audio).

Focus: type of government, head of state, parliament structure, voting system.

Task: Students summarize their findings in their groups (use simple guiding questions):

Who is the head of state?

How is the government formed?

What are the main institutions?

Ukraine

Key Features:

President is head of state, shares power with Prime Minister

Unicameral parliament (Verkhovna Rada)

Developing democratic institutions

Today – Semi-presidential republic

www.liveworksheets.com

The United Kingdom

First, take a look at the following clip.

Afterwards, we'll talk about the different parts of British Parliament.

3 parts

In Britain there is no written constitution. (-> Magna Carta)

Political power lies with Parliament, which consists of
1. House of Commons   (палата громад) 
2. House of Lords     (палата лордів)        
3. Sovereign             (монарх)                      

House of Commons

- 640 elected members

- Members are called Member of Parliament (MP)

- They represent a constituency

- The House of Commons is the main law-making body of Parliament.

House of Lords

- Around 800 members

- Consists of:

   - Life peers (awarded by the Queen)

   - Hereditary peers (inherit)

   - (Arch)Bishops

   -  Senior judges (Law Lords)

- Review bills, can decide to delay a bill for 6 months.

Sovereign

- Monarch

- King Charles III

- Symbolic power only

- Speech from the Throne

- The eldest son of the monarch is called  William, Prince of Wales,

Elections

- takes place at least every 5 years

- Winner takes all and forms government

- That party's leader is Prime Minister (PM), now Keir Starmer

- Members of other parties form the opposition

Westminster/ Whitehall 

Political parties

Only three political parties play a significant role in Parliament:

1. The Conservative Party (or Tories), right-wing, Dutch VVD, currently in power.
   
2. The Labour Party, left-wing, Dutch PvdA.
   
3. The Liberal Democrates (or Lib Dems)
   

What to call them

Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales

The United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (= Ulster)

The British Isles: United Kingdom ánd the Republic of Ireland (= Eire), the Channel Islands, the Orkneys and the Shetlands.

The Commonwealth

an association of 54 states; all members were at one time part of the British Empire.

Most have become independent states (e.g. Cyprus, Zimbabwe), some others still recognise the British monarch as Head of State (e.g. Canada and New Zealand).

The United States

Now, let's switch to the United States of America.

Here's another clip to introduce the subject.

Federation of states

Each state (50) has its own governor, independent court system and can make its own laws.

The White House, Supreme court and Congress are all located in Washington D.C. (= District of Columbia)

Checks and balances

To ensure a separation of powers, the U.S. Federal Government is made up of three branches:

- legislative

- executive

- judicial

The three different branches and their tasks

Political parties

The two leading political parties are:

The Democrats: left-of-centre/ liberal, 

The Republicans: right-wing, 

However, the Representatives and Senators are not bound to their party programme (voters' interests). Currently in power: Donald Trump

4. Class Discussion (8–10 min)

Task: Whole class comparison

Ask discussion questions:

What’s similar in the three systems?

What’s unique about each?

Which system do you think is most democratic or effective? Why?

USA (Unique Features):

President is both head of state and head of government

Presidential system

Separation of powers (executive, legislative, judicial)

Congress (Senate and House of Representatives)

UK (Unique Features):

Constitutional monarchy

Prime Minister as head of government

Monarch as ceremonial head of state

Parliament (House of Commons & House of Lords)

Congress (Senate and House of Representatives)

Ukraine (Unique Features):

Semi-presidential system

President and Prime Minister share power

Verkhovna Rada (unicameral parliament)

Congress (Senate and House of Representatives)

Shared by USA & UK:

Strong democratic traditions

Independent judiciary

Regular elections

Shared by UK & Ukraine:

Prime Minister as part of executive branch

Parliamentary traditions

Shared by USA & Ukraine:

President elected by people

Constitutional republics

Shared by All Three:

Written constitutions or legal frameworks

Rule of law

Citizens can vote

Three branches of government