英美概况 作者 齐智英4 unit 8.pptVIP

Unit Eight British and American Political Systems Contents Unit Eight In the capitalist countries, the separation of powers and the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie are symbols of the political systems, but the forms in each of the countries differ. Bills can be proposed from members of the Congress and may be passed in the USA, but in practice “only the members of the stronger party in the House of Commons are real law-makers”. There is no Minister of Justice in the British government and there is no criminal code and no civil code, either. In deciding whether the accused is guilty or innocent, there must be the presence of the jury in both the British and American courts. Unit Eight 8.1 the Political System of the UK The political system in the UK is the constitutional monarchy, while the USA’s is the federal system. Although the forms of the systems vary, the essence is the same. Both exercise the separation of powers and the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. In this section, the political systems in the UK and the USA are dealt with in the two parts below 8. 1. 1 The Constitutional Monarchy The British Monarchy1 is hereditary. The King or the Queen is the head of state, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the head of the Judicature in the UK. And the temporal head of the Established Church of England. The Monarchy, as we know it today, began to take shape at the end of the 15th century. The constitutional Monarchy started at the end of the 17th century because Parliament then established its fights, whereby power gradually passed into the hands of ministers and a two-party system was developed. Politics Unit Eight was dominated by the Tory (or Conservative) Party and the Whig (or Liberal) Party2 until 1914. Later the new Labor Party took the place of the Liberal Party. Since the end of the Second World War the Conservative and the Labor parties have been in power by turns. The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II, 11th generation of the