Split in two groups and choose a party: Democratic/ Republican. Find information about

Ø party’s history and structure,

Ø social strata that tend to support it,

Ø geographical location of the voter base,

Ø wide-spread views of its supporters on the main issues of

· economy and taxation,

· foreign/domestic politics,

· defense and military spending,

· social care,

· education,

· health care,

· immigration,

· environmental policies,

· discrimination and minority rights,

· gun regulation,

· drugs, etc.

Make sure you distribute tasks within the group so that someone studies one of the issues thoroughly and can briefly inform others about his/her findings.

After you have discussed the information in the group, have a debate with the other group, trying to stick to your party’s lines in your argumentation. Discuss the following:

· Is doctor-assisted suicide morally acceptable and should it be legal?

· Birth control, abortion and having a baby out of wedlock

· Gay marriages

· Medical testing on animals

· Using stem cells from human embryos for medical research

 

 

UNIT 3

STATE STRUCTURE:

ADMINISTRATIVE AND TERRITORIAL UNITS

 

Part 1

UNITARY, FEDERATIVE AND CONFEDERATIVE SYSTEMS

Vocabulary

unitary state; federal state; confederation, confederacy

central government; regional government; local government; devolved governments; self-governing status of the component states (united by a central (federal) government)

administrative divisions/ units; subnational units; municipality

to delegate powers (through devolution); autonomous devolved power; to revoke powers; to reduce/ curtail powers (of the local government); power to abrogate the acts of devolved governments

common currency

separatist tendency

Read the text about the state structures. What are the main parameters according to which different state structures are distinguished? Use these parameters to compare the federations, confederations and unitary states.

http://www.answers.com/topic/federation

Federations

In a federation the component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government. However, a federation is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy, and so they enjoy no independent status under international law. However, German Lander do have this power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level.

Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others. An example of such a federation is Malaysia, in which Sarawak and Sabah entered the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia.

A federation often emerges from an initial agreement between a number of separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve mutual problems and to provide for mutual defense, or to create a nation state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former was the case with the United States and Switzerland, the latter with Germany. However, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models. Australia, for instance, is unique in that it came into existence as a nation by the democratic vote of the citizens of each state, who voted "yes" in referendums to adopt the Australian Constitution. Brazil, on the other hand, has experienced both the federal and the unitary state through its history. Some present day states of the Brazilian federation retain borders set during the Portuguese colonization (i.e. previous to the very existence of Brazilian state), whereas the latest state, Tocantins, was created by the 1988 Constitution for chiefly administrative reasons. Seven of the top ten largest countries by area are governed as federations.

Unitary states

A unitary state is sometimes one with only a single, centralised, national tier of government. However, unitary states often also include one or more self-governing regions. The difference between a federation and this kind of unitary state is that in a unitary state the autonomous status of self-governing regions exists by the sufferance of the central government, and may be unilaterally revoked. While it is common for a federation to be brought into being by agreement among a number of formally independent states, in a unitary state self-governing regions are often created through a process of devolution, where a formerly centralised state agrees to grant autonomy to a region that was previously entirely subordinate. Thus federations are often established voluntarily from 'below' whereas devolution grants self-government from 'above'.

It is often part of the philosophy of a unitary state that, regardless of the actual status of any of its parts, its entire territory constitutes a single sovereign entity or nation-state, and that by virtue of this the central government exercises sovereignty over the whole territory as of right. In a federation, on the other hand, sovereignty is often regarded as residing notionally in the component states, or as being shared between these states and the central government.

Confederation

A confederation, in modern political terms, is usually limited to a permanent union of sovereign states for common action in relation to other states.The closest entity in the world to a confederation at this time is the European Union. While the word "confederation" was officially used when the present Canadian federal system was established in 1867, the term is recognised to be a misnomer since Canadian provinces are not sovereign and do not claim to be. In the case of Switzerland, while the country is still officially called the Swiss Confederation (Confoederatio Helvetica, Confédération suisse) is also a misnomer now since the Swiss cantons lost their sovereign status in 1848.

In Belgium, however, the opposite movement is under way. Belgium was founded as a centralised state, after the French model, but has gradually been reformed into a federal state by consecutive constitutional reforms since the 1970s. Moreover, although nominally called a federal state, the country's structure already has a number of confederational traits (ex. competences are exclusive for either the federal or the state level, the treaty-making power of the Federating units without almost any possible veto of the Federal Government). At present, there is a growing movement to transform the existing federal state into a looser confederation with two or three constitutive states and/or two special regions.

By definition, the difference between a confederation and a federation is that the membership of the member states in a confederation is voluntary, while the membership in a federation is not. A confederation is most likely to feature these differences over a federation: (1) No real direct powers: many confederal decisions are externalised by member-state legislation. (2) Decisions on day-to-day-matters are not taken by simple majority but by special majorities or even by consensus or unanimity (veto for every member). (3) Changes of the constitution, usually a treaty, require unanimity.

Over time these terms acquired distinct connotations leading to the present difference in definition. An example of this is the United States under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles established a national government under what today would be defined as a federal system (albeit with a comparatively weaker federal government). However, Canadians, designed with a stronger central government than the U.S. in the wake of the Civil War of the latter, use the term "Confederation" to refer to the formation or joining, not the structure, of Canada. Legal reforms, court rulings, and political compromises have somewhat decentralised Canada in practice since its formation in 1867.

Translate the following text into Russian. What do you think about advantages and disadvantages of the different state systems? Which factors, according to your opinion (such as cultural specificity, historical heritage, ethnic composition, etc.) can be of importance for choosing the optimum state structure for a country?

http://www.dsusd.k12.ca.us/users/scottsh/Govt/Advantagesdisadvantages%20federal.htm