Form 11-A.

Political systems of Great Britain, the USA and Ukraine.

Political System of Great Britain

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. Britain does not have a written constitution. Parliament is the most important authority in Britain.

The monarch serves formally as head of state. The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II (the second).

The House of Commons consists of Members of Parliament. General elections are held every five years. Ail citizens aged 18 have the right to vote.

There are few political parties in Britain. The main ones are: the Conservative Party, the Labour Party.

Each political party puts up one candidate for each constituency. The one who wins the most votes is MP for that area.

The party which wins the most seats in Parliament forms the Government; its leader becomes the Prime Minister.

The functions of the House of Commons are legislation and scrutiny of government activities. The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker.

The House of Lords is presided by the Lord Chancellor. The House of Lords has no real power. It's in the House of Commons that new bills are introduced and debated.

Parliament is responsible for British national policy. Local governments are responsible for organizing of education, police and many other.

The Political System of the USA

Washington, the capital of the United States, is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. The district is a piece of land which doesn't belong to any state but to all the states.

Under the Constitution, the federal government is divided into three branches.The legislative power is vested in Congress and made up of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 435 members in the House of Representatives and 100 senators. Each state elects two members of the 100-member Senate.

The executive branch is headed by the President, who proposes bills to Congress, enforces federal laws, serves as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and with the approval of the Senate, makes treaties. President can veto a bill unless Congress by a two-thirds vote shall overrule him.

The vice President, elected from the same political party as the President, acts as chairman of the Senate, and in the event of the death of the President assumes the Presidency.The judicial branch is made up of Federal District Courts, 11 Federal Courts and the Supreme Court. Federal judges are appointed by the President for life. Federal courts decide cases involving federal law, conflicts between citizens of different states. The Supreme court may rule the law to be unconstitutional.

Now about the elections. The President is chosen in nation-wide elections every 4 years together with the Vice-President.

Constitution has been amended 26 times. The Bill of Rights guarantees individual liberties: freedom of speach, religion and so on. Later amendments abolished slavery, granted the right to vote to women and allowed citizens to vote at age 18.

Political System of Ukraine

Ukraine is a unitary, sovereign and independent, democratic, social and legal state, a parliamentary-presidential republic. The people are the bearer of sovereignty and the only source of power in Ukraine.

The people exercise power directly and through state authorities and local self-government bodies. The power in Ukraine is carried out according to the principle of its division into legislative, executive and judicial.

The executive power in the country belongs to the Cabinet of Ministers, and the legislative power - to the parliament (the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine). The supreme body of the judiciary in Ukraine is the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

The President of Ukraine can influence the work of all three branches of power. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, the President must stop any of their actions that violate the Constitution.

Constitution of Ukraine

Shortly after the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence, as a result of the 1991 referendum, a parliamentary commission was organized in Ukraine to draft a new constitution.

June 28, 1996, with the adoption of the new democratic constitution, a multi-party political system (pluralism) and the legally declared fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens of Ukraine, as well as the rights of national minorities of the country, were introduced.

Various ethnic groups of Ukraine are guaranteed the right to receive education in their native language, to develop cultural life, and to use national languages in everyday life. According to the Constitution, the state language of the country is Ukrainian.

In the Crimea and some regions of Eastern Ukraine, in everyday life and in official treatment, the Russian language predominates. The Constitution also guarantees freedom of religion.

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is the only legislative body of state power in Ukraine, which has a collegiate structure and consists of 450 people’s deputies of Ukraine elected for a period of 5 years on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot.

The Verkhovna Rada is the only legislative body authorized to pass laws in Ukraine. The powers of the Verkhovna Rada are realized by joint activity of people’s deputies of Ukraine at the sessions of the Verkhovna Rada. The Verkhovna Rada ratifies international agreements and approves the budget.

The powers of people’s deputies of Ukraine are determined by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. People’s deputies of Ukraine can voluntarily unite in factions, provided that each of them includes at least 15 deputies.

As of January 18, 2017, there were 352 officially registered political parties in Ukraine. However, most of them are small and not very popular in the broad strata of society and are not able to win elections independently. Therefore, in order to obtain a larger number of votes in the parliamentary elections, small parties are often united into elective blocs.

Executive Power in Ukraine

The President of Ukraine is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. On the proposal of the President, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine appoints the Prime Minister of Ukraine, other members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

The President of Ukraine is the guarantor of state sovereignty, territorial integrity of Ukraine, observance of the Constitution of Ukraine, human and citizen rights and freedoms.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is the supreme body of executive power of Ukraine. It is responsible to the President of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is under the control and accountable to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine within the limits provided by the Constitution of Ukraine.