............................................................................................................ 4
PHILOSOPHY............................................................................................................ 6
POLITICAL SCIENCE (Part I)............................................................................................................ 233
POLITICAL SCIENCE(Part II)............................................................................................................ 286
VOCABULARY............................................................................................................ 489
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67 / , . /: , 2003. - 512 .
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ISBN 5-222-03845-9 812 73
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| POLITICAL SCIENCE |
23. There is nothing wrong in having a baby out of
wedlock.
24. You support the idea of cohabiting families.
25. Social Welfare Agencies must take care of old people.
26. Taboos are necessary in our lives.
27. You should apply for a psychoanalyst in solving
personal problems.
28. You believe in existence of life on other planets.
A note: fare-dodging means avoiding the payment of the fare.
| PARTI |
UNIT I
I. READ AND TRANSLATE THE TEXT. DEFINING DEMOCRACY
1. In the dictionary definition, democracy is govern
ment by the people in which the supreme power is vested in
the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected
agents under a free electoral system. In the phrase of
Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government of the people,
by the people and for the people.
2. Democracies fall into two basic categories, direct and
representative. In a direct democracy, all citizens, without
the intermediary of elected or appointed officials, can par
ticipate in making public decisions. Such a system is clearly
only practical with relatively small numbers of people - in a
community organization or tribal council, for example, or
the local unit of a labor union, where members can meet in a
single room to discuss issues and arrive at decisions by con
sensus or majority vote. Ancient, the world's first democra
cy, managed to practice direct democracy with an assembly
that may have numbered as many as 5.000 to 6.000 persons
- perhaps the maximum number that can physically gather
in one place and practice direct democracy.
3. Modern society, with its size and complexity, offers
few opportunities for direct democracy.
4. Today, the most common form of democracy, whether
for a town of 50,000 or nations of 50 million, is repre
sentative democracy, in which citizens elect officials to make
political decisions, formulate laws and administer programs
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| Part I |
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for the public good. In the name of the people, such officials can deliberate on complex public issues in thoughtful and systematic manner that requires an investment of time and energy which is often impractical for the vast majority of private citizens.
5. How such officials are elected can vary enormously.
On the national level, for example, legislators can be chosen
from districts that each elect a single representative.
Alternatively, under a system of proportional representa
tion, each political party is represented in the legislature
according to its percentage of the total vote nationwide.
Provincial and local elections can mirror these national
models, or choose their representatives more informally
through group consensus instead of elections. Whatever
the method used, public officials in representative demo
cracy hold office in the name of the people and remain
accountable to the people for their actions.
6. Majority Rule and Minority Rights. All democracies
are systems in which citizens freely make political deci
sions by majority rule. But rule by the majority is not
necessarily democratic: no one, for example, would call a
system fair or just that permitted 51 percent of the popula
tion to oppress the remaining 49 percent in the name of the
majority. In a democratic society, majority rule must be
coupled with guarantees of individual human rights that,
in turn, serve to protect the rights of minorities whether
ethnic, religious or political.
7. Democratic Society. Democracy is more than a set of
constitutional rules and procedures that determine how a
government functions. In a democracy, government is only
one element coexisting in a social fabric of many and varied
institutions, political parties, organizations and associations.
This diversity is called pluralism, and it assumes that the
many organized groups and institutions in a democratic
society do not depend upon government for their existence,
legitimacy or authority.
Political science
8. Thousands of private organizations operate in a demo
cratic society, some local, some national. Many of them
serve a mediating role between individuals and the complex
social and governmental institutions of which they are a
part, filling roles not given to the government and offering
individuals opportunities to exercise their rights and re
sponsibilities as citizens of a democracy.
9. These groups represent the interests of their members
in a variety of ways - by supporting candidates for public
office debating issues and trying to influence policy deci
sions. Through such groups, individuals have an avenue for
meaningful participation both in government and in their
own communities. The examples are many and varied: charit
able organizations and churches, environmental and neigh
borhood groups, business associations and labour unions.
II. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
1) What is democracy according to A. Lincoln?
2) What categories do democracies fall into?
3) What communities is a direct democracy practical with?
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4) Why is a representative democracy the most common
form today?
5) How do citizens elect officials?
6) What principles do public officials hold office on?
7) How do citizens make political decisions?
8) How do majority rules and minority rights operate in
democracies?
9) What other institutions and groups does a social fab
ric include besides a government?
10) What role do they fulfil?
III. COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.
1) In the phrase of A. Lincoln, democracy is a govern
ment of the people....
2) In a direct democracy all citizens elect officials to....
3) Ancient Athens practiced....
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| Part I |
4) In a representative democracy citizens elect officials
to....
5) Under a system of proportional representation each
political party is represented in the legislature according to
6) Public officials hold office....
7) In a democratic society majority rule must be coupled
with....
8) Pluralism assumes that....
9) Private organizations represent the interests of their
members by....
IV. INSERT THE ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS USED IN
THE TEXT.
1) In democracy the supreme power
directly by people or by their elected agents.
2) The methods of electing officials can vary
.
3) Whatever the method used public officials in a repre
sentative democracy in the name of
the people.
4) Public officials in a representative democracy remain
to the people for their actions.
5) Majority rule must be coupled with
.
6) Democracy is more than of constitutional rules
and procedures.
V. FIND THE STATEMENTS WHICH ARE NOT TRUE
TO THE TEXT.
1) A direct democracy is practical with small numbers
of people.
2) Modern society offers a lot of opportunities for a
direct democracy.
3) Legislators can be chosen only by means of propor
tional representation.
Political science
4) 
Majority rule is not necessarily democratic.
5) Charitable organizations, business organizations,
Labour Unions serve a mediating role.
6) All these organizations depend upon the government
for their existence, legitimacy and authority.
7) Thousands of private organizations support candi
dates for public office, debate issues, try to influence poli
cy decisions.
VI. ARRANGE THE FOLLOWING WORDS IN PAIRS
OF SYNONYMS.
to exercise to suppose
to elect to determine
to offer to choose
to define to practice
to assume to propose
vast fair
responsibilities enormous
just duties
VII. ARRANGE THE FOLLOWING WORDS IN
PAIRS OF ANTONYMS AND NAME THE NEGATIVE
PREFIXES.
Direct Informally
Representative Agree
Formally Appear
Disagree Regularly
Legal Disappear
Unrepresentative Indirect
Unpractical Illegal
Irregularly Practical
VIII. READ THE FOLLOWING WORDS AND THEIR DERIVATIVES AND TRANSLATE THEM INTO RUSSIAN, define - definition - definite
govern - government - governmental
| elect - | election. | - electoral |
| vary - | variety | - various - variable |
| democracy - | democratic | - democrat |
| participate - | participation | - participant |
| decide - | decision | - decisive |
| arrive - | arrival | |
| manage - | management | - manager |
| direct - | direction | - director |
| represent - | representation | - representative |
| administer - | administration | - administrative |
| legislate - | legislature | - legislator - legislation |
| - legislative |
IX. FIND THE SENTENCES WITH PASSIVE CON
STRUCTIONS IN THE TEXT AND TRANSLATE THEM
INTO RUSSIAN.
X. TRANSLATE INTO RUSSIAN IN WRITING PARA
GRAPHS 1 AND 5.
XI. FIND THE SENTENCES STATING THE GENERAL
IDEA OF EACH PARAGRAPH OF THE TEXT.
XII. SUMMARIZE THE CONTENTS OF THE TEXT. THE
PREVIOUS TASK WILL BE HELPFUL.
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______________ UNIT 2___________________
1. Read and translate the text.
RIGHTS
Inalienable Rights
Thomas Jefferson set forth a fundamental principle upon which democratic government is founded. Governments in a democracy do not grant the fundamental freedoms enumerated by Jefferson; governments are created to protect
| Part I |
Political science
those freedoms that every individual possesses by virtue of his or her existence.
In their formulation by the Enlightenment philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries, inalienable rights are God-given natural rights. These rights are not destroyed when civil society is created, and neither society nor government can remove or alienate them.
Inalienable rights include freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of assembly and the right to equal protection. Since they exist independently of government, these rights cannot be legislated away, nor are they subject to the momentary whim of an electoral majority. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, for example, does not give freedom of religion or of the press to the people; it prohibits the Congress from passing any law interfering with freedom of speech, religion and peaceful assembly. A historian, Leonard Levy, has said, Individuals may be free when their government is not. Speech
Freedom of speech and expression is the lifeblood of any democracy. To debate and vote, to assemble and protest, to worship, to ensure for all-these all rely upon the unrestricted flow of speech and information.
Citizens of a democracy live with the conviction that through the open exchange of ideas and opinions, truth will eventually win out over falsehood, the values of others will be better understood, areas of compromise more clearly defined, and the path of progress opened. The greater the volume of such exchanges, the better.
The corollary to freedom of speech is the right of the people to assemble and peacefully demand that the government hear their grievances. Without this right to gather and be heard, freedom of speech would be devalued. For this reason, freedom of speech is considered closely linked to, if not inseparable from, the right to gather, protest and demand change. Democratic governments can legitimately
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regulate the time and place of political rallies and marches to maintain the peace, but they cannot use that authority to suppress protest or to prevent dissident groups from making their voices heard.
Freedom and Faith
Freedom of religion, or more broadly freedom of conscience means that no person should be required to profess any religion or other belief against his or her desires. Additionally, no one should be punished or penalized in any way because he or she chooses one religion over another or, indeed, opts for no religion at all. The democratic state recognizes that a person's religious faith is a profoundly personal matter.
Citizenship: Rights and Responsibilities
Democracies rest upon the principle that government exists to serve the people; the people do not exist to serve the government. In other words, the people are citizens of the democratic state, not its subjects. While the state protects the rights of its citizens, in return, the citizens give the state their loyalty.
But rights, like individuals, do not function in isolation. Rights are not the private possession of individuals, but exist only insofar as they are recognized by other citizens of the society. The electorate, as the American philosopher Sidney Hook expressed it, is the ultimate custodian of its own freedom. From this perspective, democratic government, which is elected by and accountable to its citizens, is not the antagonist of individual rights, but their protector. It is to enhance their rights that citizens in a democracy undertake their civic obligations and responsibilities.
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The essence of democratic action is the active, freely chosen participation of its citizens in the public life of their community and nation. Without this broad, sustaining participation, democracy will begin to wither and become the preserve of a small, select number of groups and organizations.
| Part I |
Political science
Democracy, Diane Ravitch writes, is a process, a way of living and working together. It is evolutionary, not static. It requires cooperation, compromise and tolerance among all citizens. Making it work is hard, nor easy. Freedom means responsibility, not freedom from responsibility..
Democracy embodies ideals of freedom and self-expression, but it is also clear-eyed about human nature. It does not demand that citizens be universally virtuous, only that they will be responsible. As American theologian Reinhold Neibuhr said: Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
