Topic: POLITICAL PARTIES &
ELECTIONS
Until
October 1990 the only legal political party was the Communist Party of Ukraine
(CPU), which was a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
Major legislation approved by the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet originated in, or
was approved by, the CPU. Indigenous opposition to the Communist Party
crystallised in an organisation called the People's Rukh of Ukraine for
Reconstruction, or Rukh, in 1989. Consisting of an array of religious,
nationalist, and cultural groups, Rukh succeeded in electing one-quarter of the
deputies to the Supreme Council in March 1990. With the removal of Article 6
from the Ukrainian constitution in October 1990 (which had protected the CPU
from competition), nascent political parties were officially recognised. A wide
array of political parties has emerged. On the far right, neofascist and
extreme nationalist parties have gained strength and are represented in the
Supreme Council.
Rukh is
the most prominent of a large group of moderate nationalist and centrist
parties. An alliance of leftist groups, led by the Ukrainian Communist Party (legalised
in 1993 after being banned in 1991), remains the most powerful bloc in the
Supreme Council.
Fractions:
Our Ukraine, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, Party of Reform and Order,
Social-Democratic of Ukraine United, Labour Party and others.
POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE
There
are two major political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Other parties have occasionally challenged these two, but without permanent
success. One reason for their failure is that in order to win a national
election, a party must appeal to a broad base of voters and a wide spectrum of
interests.
The two
major parties thus tend to be moderate in their programs, and there may often
be little difference between them on some issues. Each has a conservative wing,
and each has a wing that is considered liberal. The conservative Democrats tend
to be more conservative on racial issues, for example, than their Republican
counterparts; the liberal Democrats are more radical on economic issues than
the liberal Republicans.
The national
parties contest presidential elections every four years, but between their quadrennial
national conventions, they are often little more than loose alliances of state
and local party organizations.
In
elections for president and vice president, voters actually choose among
electors committed to the support of a particular candidate, a system called
the Electoral College. Each state is allotted one electoral vote for each
senator and representative in Congress.
At the
state level, political parties reflect the diversity of the population. Large
urban centers are more likely to support a Democratic ticket, whereas rural
areas, small cities, and suburban areas tend more often to vote Republican. In
many states rural areas and smaller towns control the state legislatures, even
though the more populous city areas provide the greater proportion of tax
revenue. A Supreme Court ruling in 1964 sought to remedy this situation by
ordering states to reapportion their legislatures more closely by population.
Some states have traditionally given majorities to one particular party. Until
the mid-20th century, for example, the 11 Southern states of the old
Confederacy voted almost solidly for Democratic candidates; in other states,
such as
Municipal
political parties have a pyramidal structure based, at the lowest level, on
districts or precincts. The leaders of these units are responsible to ward
leaders, who form the governing body of the municipal party. All of these party
functionaries are responsible for getting their voters to the polls at election
time, often on the basis of a return for services rendered. It is to them, after
all, that voters have gone with requests for better municipal services, jobs,
and assistance in minor difficulties. One route to political office for the
ordinary citizen has traditionally been through the organization: belonging to
a neighborhood party club, helping to raise funds, getting out the vote,
watching the polls, and gradually rising through the system to committeeman,
city councilman, representative to the state legislature, or – depending on chance, talent,
political expediency, and a host of other factors – to higher positions.
As
society has become increasingly urban, politics and government have become more
complex. Many problems of the cities, including the problems of transportation,
housing, education, health, and welfare, can no longer be handled entirely on
the local level. Since even the states do not have the necessary resources,
cities have often turned to the federal government for assistance.
A two-party system has existed
in the
The
two-party system is one of the outstanding features of British politics and has
generally produced firm and decisive government. The practice of simple
majority voting and the establishment of single-member constituencies of
uniform population size have tended to exaggerate the majority of the winning
party and thus to eliminate third parties. The two-party system, together with
uncertainty about the timing of a general election, has produced the British
phenomenon of the Opposition. Its decisive characteristic is that it attempts
to form an alternative government, ready at any time to take office, in
recognition of which the leader of the Opposition is paid an official salary.
The
first Conservative government was formed by Sir Robert Peel, whose program, set
out in the Tamworth Manifesto (1834), stressed the timely reform of abuses, the
importance of law and order and of the police, an orderly system of taxation,
and the importance both of landed interests and of trade and industry.
Prospects of an extended period of Conservative rule disappeared in 1846 when
the party split over the repeal of the Corn Laws, and, from that time until the
formation of the Liberal-Conservative coalition government in 1915, political
power alternated between the Conservatives and the Liberals.
With
the Conservatives' victory over Labour in 1979, Thatcher's philosophy
translated itself into a series of efforts to "roll back the state"
in the economic sphere, to weaken the power of the trade unions, and to curb
welfare provisions. Thatcher combined this program with moral traditionalism
and nationalistic resentment of the European Union (EU). Critics both inside
and outside the Conservative Party contended that the "cult of the
market" did much to disintegrate the social order, yet Thatcher was able
to lead her party to resounding victories in the general elections of 1983 and
1987. When she was finally forced to resign the party's leadership (and
therefore the prime ministry) in 1990, it reflected the combined impact of a
number of factors. Among these were: public protests over a proposal to finance
local government through a flat-rate "poll tax"; a series of bitter
conflicts with some of Thatcher's senior ministers; her strident and
authoritarian style of dealing with colleagues; and a growing sense among backbenchers
that she might prove unable to withstand the electoral challenge of a newly
united and considerably reformed Labour Party.
Thatcher's
successor, John Major, had held senior ministerial office for only a brief
period prior to his elevation to the prime ministry. Major's less election of
1992, but he had to contend with a prolonged economic recession, internal party
conflict over the question of European integration, and dismally low
opinion-poll ratings. The Conservatives suffered a crushing loss in the general
election of 1997, losing more than half their seats in Parliament. A return to
opposition did little to promise an end to the factional strife that had
characterised the party during its last years in power.
British
political party whose historic links with trade unions have led it to promote
an active role for the state in the creation of economic prosperity and in the
provision of social services. In opposition to the Conservative Party, it has
been the major democratic socialist party in
ELECTIONS
Election is the formal process of selecting a person
for public office or accepting or rejecting a political proposition by voting.
The widespread use of elections in the modern world has its origins in the
gradual emergence of representative government in Europe and
Fundamental to the use of
elections is the contribution that they make to democratic government. Where
the members of the body politic cannot themselves govern and must entrust government
to representatives, elections serve not only to select leaders acceptable to
the voters but also to hold the leaders accountable for their performance in
office. Accountability, however, is greatly jeopardized in electoral situations
in which elected leaders, for want of ambition, do not care whether or not they
are re-elected or in situations in which, for historical or other reasons, one
party is so predominant as to preclude effective choice among alternate
candidates or policies.
Nevertheless, the possibility
of controlling leaders by requiring them to submit to regular and periodic
elections contributes to solving the problem of succession in leadership and,
thereby, to the continuation of democracy. Moreover, where the electoral
process is competitive and forces candidates or parties to expose their record
of accomplishment and future intentions to popular scrutiny in election
campaigns, elections serve as forums for the discussion of public issues,
facilitate the expression of public opinion, and, more generally, permit an
exchange of influence between governors and governed.
Elections also serve to
reinforce the stability and legitimacy of the political community in which they
take place. Like national holidays commemorating common experiences, elections
serve to link the members of a body politic to each other and thereby confirm
the viability of the political community. By mobilizing masses of voters in a
common act of governance, elections lend authority and legitimacy to the acts
of those who wield power in the name of the people.
Elections can also confirm the
worth and dignity of the individual citizen as a human being. Whatever other
needs he may have, participation in an election serves to gratify the voter's
sense of self-esteem and self-respect. It gives him an opportunity to have his
say, and he can, through expressing partisanship and even through nonvoting,
satisfy his sense of belonging to or alienation from the political community.
Rallies, banners, posters, buttons, headlines, and television call attention to
the importance of participation in the event.
Candidates and parties, from
right to left, in addition to propagating their policy objectives through
rhetoric and slogans, invoke the symbols of nationalism or patriotism, reform
or revolution, past glory or future promise. Whatever the peculiar national,
regional, or local variations, elections are events that, by arousing emotions
and channeling them toward collective symbols, break the monotony of daily life
and focus attention on the common fate.
Systems
of counting votes Individual votes are totaled into collective
decisions by a wide variety of rules of counting that voters and leaders have
accepted as legitimate prior to the election. These decision rules may call for
plurality voting, which requires that, among three or more alternatives, the
winner need have only the highest number of votes; simple majority voting,
which requires that the winner receive more than 50 percent of the vote;
extraordinary majority voting, which requires some higher proportion for the
winner, such as a two-thirds vote; or unanimity.
Plurality
and majority decision The simplest means of deciding an election is the
plurality rule. To win, a candidate need only poll more votes than any other
single opponent; he need not, as required by the majority formula, poll more
votes than the combined opposition. The more candidates contesting a constituency
seat, the greater the probability that the winning candidate will receive less
than 50 percent of the vote. The plurality formula is used in the national
elections of such countries as
Under
the majority rule, the party or candidate winning more than 50 percent of the
vote in a constituency is awarded the contested seat. The winning party or candidate
must poll more votes than the combined opposition. This system thus ensures
that the elected representative has the support of the majority of the voters.
The majority formula is employed in
Both
the plurality and the majority-decision rules are employed in the election of
Neither
the majority nor the plurality formulas distribute legislative seats in
proportion to the share of the popular vote won by the competing parties. Both
formulas tend to award the strongest party disproportionately and to handicap
the weaker parties. The latter is particularly true if small parties are rooted
in ethnic, religious, or social minorities; small parties escape the inequities
of the electoral system only if they have a regionally concentrated base. The
plurality formula distorts the distribution of seats more than the majority
system.
Plurality
system is an electoral process in which the candidate who polls more votes
than any other candidate is elected. It is distinguished from the majority
system, in which, to win, a candidate must receive more votes than all other
candidates combined. Election by a plurality is the most common method of
selecting candidates for public office.
Advantages
of the plurality system are that it is easily understood by voters, provides a
quick decision, and is more convenient and less costly to operate than other
methods. The main argument against it is that in an election with more than two
candidates, it may result in the election of a candidate who has received only
a minority of the votes cast: for example, in a closely contested election with
four candidates, the total required to win by a plurality could be as little as
25 percent of the total vote plus one. To overcome this disadvantage, alternative
devices, such as election by an absolute majority and proportional
representation, are used. The plurality method operates best under a two-party
system.
Election
by a plurality is not limited to government; it is commonly used in the
selection of officers in such large organizations as trade unions and
professional associations and also in arriving at decisions at meetings of
boards of directors and trustees.
Compulsory voting In some nations,
notably
Balloting
The
ballot makes secret voting possible. Its initial use seems to have been a means
to reduce irregularities and deception in elections. This objective, however,
could be achieved only if the ballot was not supplied by the voter himself, as
was the case in much early voting by secret ballot, or by political parties, as
is still the case in some countries.
Ballot
procedures differ widely, ranging from marking the names of preferred
candidates to crossing out those not preferred or writing in the names of
persons who are not formal candidates. Ballots also differ according to the
type of voting system employed. Where plurality or majority voting is
practiced, most elections employ classified ballots whereby the voter casts his
vote for only one candidate or list of candidates. Where proportional methods
are used, election is by ballots that enable the voter to rank the candidates
according to his preferences.
Ballot
position is likely to have its greatest impact in nonpartisan elections,
primaries, and elections for minor offices. On party-column ballots it is
possible to vote a "straight ticket" for all of a party's candidates
by entering a single mark, although voting for individual candidates is usually
possible. On the other hand, on the office-bloc ballot, voting is for
individual candidates grouped by office rather than party. This discourages,
though it does not eliminate, voting exclusively for members of one party. This
can have important consequences for the structure of government, especially in
systems with separated powers and federal territorial organization.
Electoral
College in the
Although
the Constitution still allows electors to use their discretion, electors now
are usually pledged to support a party's candidate. All the states, except
Primary in the
Closed
primaries may be direct or indirect. A direct primary functions as a
preliminary election whereby voters decide on their party's ticket; some form
of direct primary is now used in all
The
presidential primaries held in many states are indirect primaries. In most
presidential primaries, the delegates elected are bound and pledged
(Republicans by some state rules, Democrats by national party rules) to vote in
a way that reflects the preferences of the voters. Delegates may be bound for
only one ballot or until released by the candidate. In some states, the
presidential preference vote is advisory and does not bind the delegates.
Tasks: 1. Evans V., Dooley J.
Enerprise (Intermediate) Level 4.
Course Book. –
2. Evans V., Dooley J. Enerprise
(Intermediate) Level 4.
Work
Book. –
3. Evans V., Dooley J. Enerprise
(Intermediate) Level 4.
Grammar
Book. –
4. Evans V., Dooley J. Enerprise
(Intermediate) Level 4.
Course
Book. –
5.
Evans V., Dooley J. Enerprise (Intermediate) Level 4.
Student’s
Casstte. –
6. Riley A. Law Book: Professional English. –
1999.
Units 3, 4, 6, 9.
Topic: ENVIRONMENT: PROBLEMS & PROTECTION
Environmental
pollution is a term that refers to all the ways by which people pollute their
surroundings. People dirty the air with gases and smoke, poison the water with
chemicals and other substances, and damage the soil with too many fertilizers
and pesticides. People also pollute their surroundings in various other ways.
For example, they ruin natural beauty by scattering junk and litter on the
land and in the water. They operate machines and motor vehicles that fill the
air with disturbing noise. Nearly everyone causes environmental pollution in
some way.
Environmental
pollution is one of the most serious problems facing humanity today. Air, water,
and soil – all harmed by pollution – are necessary to the survival of all living things.
Badly polluted air can cause illness, and even death. Polluted water kills
fish and other marine life. Pollution of soil reduces the amount of land that
is available for growing food. In addition, environmental pollution also brings
ugliness to our naturally beautiful world.
Everyone
wants to reduce pollution. But the pollution problem is as complicated as it
is serious, it is complicated because much pollution is caused by things that
benefit people. For example, exhaust from automobiles causes a large percentage
of all air pollution. But the automobile provides transportation for millions
of people. Factories discharge much of the material that pollutes air and
water, but factories provide jobs for people and produce goods that people
want. Too much fertilizer or pesticide can ruin soil, but fertilizers and
pesticides are important aids to the growing of crops.
Thus,
to end or greatly reduce pollution immediately people would have to stop using
many things that benefit them. Most people do not want to do that, of course.
But pollution can be gradually reduced in several ways. Scientists and
engineers can work to find ways to lessen the amount of pollution that such
things as automobiles and factories cause. Governments can pass and enforce
laws that require businesses and individuals to stop, or cut down on, certain
polluting activities. And – perhaps most importantly – individuals and groups of
people can work to persuade their representatives in government, and also
persuade businesses, to take action toward reducing pollution.
People
have always polluted their surroundings. But throughout much of history,
pollution was not a major problem. Most people lived in uncrowned rural areas,
and the pollutants (waste products)
they produced were widely scattered. People had no pollution-causing machines
or motor vehicles. The development of crowded industrial cities in the 1700's
and 1800's made pollution a major problem. People and factories in these cities
put huge amounts of pollutants into small areas. During the 1900s, urban areas
continued to develop, and automobiles and other new inventions made pollution
steadily worse. By the mid-1900s, pollution had affected the water in every
major lake and river and the air over every major city in the
KINDS OF POLLUTION
There
are several kinds of environmental pollution. They include air pollution, water
pollution, soil pollution, and pollution caused by solid wastes, noise, and
radiation.
All
parts of the environment are closely related to one another. The study of the
relationships among living things, and between living things and other parts of
the environment, is called ecology.
Because of the close relationships, a kind of pollution that chiefly harms one
part of the environment may also affect others. For example, air pollution harms
the air. But rain washes pollutants out of the air and deposits them on the
land and in bodies of water. Wind, on the other hand, blows pollutants off the
land and into the air.
Air
pollution turns clear, odorless air into hazy, smelly air that harms health,
kills plants, and damages property. People cause air pollution both outdoors
and indoors. Outdoor air pollution results from pouring hundreds of millions
of tons of gases and particulates
(tiny particles of liquid or solid matter) into the atmosphere each year. One
of the most common forms of out-door air pollution is smog. Indoor air
pollution results from many of the same substances found outdoors. But indoor
pollutants can present a more serious problem because they tend to build up in
a small area from which they cannot easily escape. Cigarette smoke is a
familiar indoor air pollutant.
Most
air pollution results from combustion
(burning) processes. The burning of gasoline to power motor vehicles and the
burning of coal to heat buildings and help manufacture products are examples of
such processes. Each time a fuel is burned in a combustion process, some type
of pollutant is released into the air. The pollutants range from small amounts
of colorless poison gas to clouds of thick black smoke. Weather conditions can
help reduce the amount of pollutants in outdoor air. Wind scatters pollutants,
and rain and snow wash them into the ground. But in many areas, pollutants are
put into the air faster than weather conditions can dispose of them. In crowded
cities, for example, thousands of automobiles, factories, and furnaces may add
tons of pollutants to a small area of the atmosphere each day.
At
times, weather conditions cause pollutants to build up over an area instead of
clearing them away. One such condition – called thermal inversion – occurs when a layer of warm air settles over a
layer of cooler air that lies near the ground. The warm air holds down the cool
air and prevents pollutants from rising and scattering. A serious pollution
problem results when a thermal inversion occurs over a city that is pouring
tons of pollutants into the air.
One
serious result of air pollution is its harmful effect on human health. Both
gases and particulates burn people's eyes and irritate their lungs.
Particulates can settle in the lungs and worsen such respiratory diseases as
asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia. Studies have shown that particulates help
cause such diseases as cancer and emphysema. In cities throughout the world,
long periods of heavy air pollution have caused illness and death rates to
increase dramatically.
Air
pollution also harms plants. Poisonous gases in the air can restrict the growth
of, and eventually kill, nearly all kinds of plants. Forests in
Most
materials get dirty and wear out more quickly in polluted air than in clean
air. Polluted air even harms such hard and strong materials as concrete and
steel. In some cities, statues and other art objects that stood out-doors for
centuries have been moved indoors because air pollution threatened to destroy
them.
Air
pollutants may also affect climate. Both gases and particulates can cause
changes in the average temperatures of an area. Particulates scatter the sun's
rays and reduce the amount of sunlight that reaches the ground. Such
interference with sunlight may cause average temperatures in an area to drop.
Some gases, including carbon dioxide, allow sunlight to reach the ground, but
prevent the sunlight's heat from rising out of the atmosphere and flowing back
into space. The warming of the earth's surface that results is called the greenhouse effect. The burning of fuel
and other polluting activities are increasing the amount of heat-trapping gases
in the atmosphere. This development may intensify the greenhouse effect,
causing average temperatures to rise.
In
addition, air pollutants may damage the layer of ozone (a form of oxygen) in the earth's upper atmosphere. The ozone
layer protects animals and plants from much of the sun's harmful ultraviolet
light.
Water
pollution reduces the amount of pure, fresh water that is available for such
necessities as drinking and cleaning, and for such activities as swimming and
fishing. The pollutants that affect water come mainly from industries, farms,
and sewerage systems.
Industries
dump huge amounts of wastes into bodies of water each year. These wastes
include chemicals, wastes from animal and plant matter, and hundreds of other
substances. Some of the wastes may be hazardous
(harmful to human health). Industries dispose of much hazardous waste in dump
sites on land. But improperly managed sites may leak the wastes into
underground water supplies that people use.
Wastes from
farms include animal wastes, fertilizers, and pesticides. Most of these
materials drain off farm fields and into nearby bodies of water.
Sewerage
systems carry wastes from homes, offices, and industries into water. Nearly all
cities have waste treatment plants that remove some of the most harmful wastes
from sewage. But even most of the treated sewage contains material that harms water.
Natural
cycles work to absorb small amounts of wastes in bodies of water. During a
cycle, wastes are turned into useful, or at least harmless, substances.
Bacteria called aerobic bacteria use
oxygen to decay natural wastes such as dead fish and break them down into
chemicals, including nitrates, phosphates, and carbon dioxide. These chemicals,
called nutrients, are used as food
by algae (simple organisms) and green plants in the water. The algae serve as food for microscopic
animals called zooplankton. Small
fish, such as minnows, eat the zooplankton. The small fish, in turn, are eaten
by larger fish, which eventually die and are broken down by bacteria. The cycle
then begins again.
The
same natural cycles work on wastes poured into water by people. Bacteria break
down chemicals and other wastes and turn them into nutrients, or else into
substances that will not harm fish or sea plants. However, if too much waste
matter is poured into the water, the whole cycle will begin to break down, and
the water becomes dirtier and dirtier. The bacteria that work to decay the
wastes use up too much oxygen during the decaying process. As a result, less
oxygen is available for the animals and plants that live in the water. Animals
and plants then die, adding even more wastes to the water. Finally, the water's
entire oxygen supply is used up.
Nutrients
in water cause a similar process – called nutrient
enrichment, or eutrophication – to take place.
Nutrients that people add to water, such as nitrates from agricultural
fertilizers and phosphates from detergents in sewage, greatly increase the
growth of algae in water. As larger amounts of algae grow, larger amounts also
die. The dead algae become wastes, and, as they decay, they use up the water's
oxygen supply. The addition of heated water to a body of water also upsets
cycles. Heated water can kill animals and plants that are accustomed to living
at lower temperatures. It also reduces the amount of oxygen that water can
hold. The addition of heated water is called thermal pollution. Most heated water comes from industries and
power plants that use water for cooling.
Another
major pollutant is fuel oil, which enters oceans mainly from oil tankers and
offshore oil wells. Such spills ruin beaches and kill birds and marine life.
Soil
pollution damages the thin layer of fertile soil that covers much of the
earth's land and is essential for growing food. Natural processes took
thousands of years to form the soil that supports crops. But, through poor
treatment, people can destroy soil in a few years.
In
nature, cycles similar to those that keep water clean work to keep soil
fertile. Plant and animal wastes, including dead organisms, accumulate in the
soil. Bacteria and fungi decay these wastes, breaking them down into nitrates,
phosphates, and other nutrients. The nutrients feed growing plants, and when
the plants die the cycle begins again.
People
use fertilizers and pesticides to grow more and better crops. Fertilizers add
extra nutrients to the soil and increase the amount of a crop that can be grown
on an area of land. But the use of large amounts of fertilizer may decrease the
ability of bacteria to decay wastes and produce nutrients naturally.
Pesticides
destroy weeds and insects that harm crops. But pesticides may also harm
bacteria and other helpful organisms in the soil.
Solid
wastes are probably the most visible forms of pollution. People throw away
billions of tons of solid material each year. Much of this waste ends up
littering roadsides, floating in lakes and streams, and collecting in ugly
dumps. Examples of solid wastes include junked automobiles, tires,
refrigerators, and stoves; cans and other packaging materials; and scraps of
metal, paper, and plastic. Such solid pollutants are most common in the heavily
populated areas in and near cities. Slag and other wastes from mining processes
pollute much land away from cities.
Solid
wastes present a serious problem because most of the methods used to dispose of
them result in some type of damage to the environment. When the wastes are put
into open dumps, they ruin the attractiveness of the surrounding areas. Dumps
also provide homes for disease-carrying animals, such as cockroaches and rats.
Some solid wastes can be destroyed by burning them. But burning produces smoke
that causes air pollution. When wastes are dumped in water, they contribute to
various forms of water pollution.
In the
mid-1980's, more than 2 billion short tons (1.8 billion metric tons) of solid
wastes were produced in the
CAUSES OF POLLUTION
New
inventions and processes have been continuously developed to improve our way of
life. Such developments are called technological
advances. Technological advances help us, but many of them also bring
about harm to the environment. In addition, there are economic and social
causes of pollution.
Technological
causes. Many environmental pollution problems are a result of the rapid
advances in technology that have been made since about the end of World War II
(1945). Technological advances in agriculture, industry, and transportation
have greatly improved our way of life. But most of the advances were made
without consideration of the effects they would have on the environment.
The
automobile engine is an example of a very useful technological development that
harms the environment. Through the years, automobiles have been made more and
more powerful. Many cars being built today have two to three times as much
power as most cars built during the 1940s. Because of this, the new cars
produce much more polluting exhaust than the older ones did. In order to make
engines more powerful, automobile manufacturers increased the pressure and – as a result – the temperature at
which combustion takes place in the engines' cylinders. The higher temperatures
during combustion cause chemical reactions that put large amounts of nitrogen
oxide gases into the engines' exhausts. In addition, high compression engines
require special gasoline's that burn evenly to prevent "knocking"
noises. Mechanisms called catalytic converters
now remove some of the polluting materials produced by automobile engines.
Also, the gradual elimination of the lead
from gasoline has helped make automobiles less polluting. However, there is
still much to do to eliminate pollution from automobiles. An increase in their
number may cancel gains from using catalytic converters and unleaded gasoline.
The
sewage treatment plant is an example of a technological development that was
designed to protect the environment, but which can cause pollution
nevertheless. Most treatment plants prevent dangerous organic wastes (wastes from animal and plant matter) from upsetting
the natural cycles in water. The treatment plants use bacteria and oxygen to
break down the organic wastes and turn them into inorganic nutrients. But when
the nutrients are put into the water, they upset natural cycles by increasing
the growth of algae. Scientists and engineers are working to develop sewage
treatment plants that will also remove inorganic nutrients from sewage.
Some
products of advanced technology contribute to environmental pollution in more
than one way. For example, plastics are a troublesome solid waste because they
will not break down and cannot be absorbed by the soil. Plastics also
indirectly cause pollution when they are produced. Large amounts of electricity
are required in order to produce plastics. As a result of this need for
electricity, the production of plastics helps create a demand for more electric
power plants. Electric power plants that burn fuel, such as coal, are a major
source of air pollution.
CONTROLLING POLLUTION
Some lakes and
rivers may already be so badly polluted that they may not be able to regain
their health even if all pollution is stopped. Some soil has been too badly
eroded to support crops any more. But in most areas, effective programs to
prevent pollution could greatly improve environmental conditions.
Several
different approaches can be used to control pollution. Waste products can be
saved and used again. New technological developments can help prevent pollution
from older ones. Restrictions can be placed on the use of materials that
pollute. These approaches may result in less convenience and higher costs,
however.
Recycling.
The reprocessing of waste products for reuse is called recycling. Many kinds
of wastes can be recycled. Some, including
cans and newspapers, can be used over and over again for the same purposes.
Cans can be melted down and used to make new cans. Old newspapers can be turned
into pulp and then made into clean newsprint. Other materials, such as glass
bottles and automobile tires, can be reused for other purposes. Ground-up
glass can serve as an ingredient in road-building materials. Old tires can be
melted down in a special process in which they give off valuable chemicals,
such as oil and gas. Many communities have introduced programs that encourage
households to sort their trash for recycling. Recycling programs can reduce
the amount of solid wastes that must be dumped or burned.
New
technological developments do much to control pollution caused by older
technology. For example, several types of devices have been developed to
prevent particulates from leaving industrial smokestacks. These devices include
filters that trap particulates that would otherwise be released into the air
with waste gases. Other devices use static electricity to keep particulates
from escaping into the air. Still other devices wash out particulates with
chemical sprays.
Various
methods of reducing pollution from automobile engines have been developed.
Examples include new additives to replace tetraethyl lead in gasoline, and
devices to remove pollutants from exhaust and make combustion processes more
complete.
An
important development in agriculture is the use of biological controls instead
of pesticides. Biological controls involve the use of various types of insects
and bacteria to control pests. Other new developments have improved the
effectiveness of water treatment facilities and provided new ways to dispose of
solid wastes.
Restrictions
on the use of materials that pollute can be extremely effective in controlling
pollution. But the restrictions may also cause inconvenience and require
changes in ways of life.
The use
of some harmful materials has been stopped or reduced without major problems
resulting. For example, most industrial countries have banned the use of the
dangerous pesticide DOT for all except essential purposes. Farmers have found
other, less harmful pesticides to replace DDT. Oil companies now produce
unleaded gasoline because lead was found to be a major pollutant in automobile
exhausts. Automobile manufacturers have modified engines so that the engines
can run properly on unleaded gasoline.
Tasks: Riley A. Law Book:
Professional English. –
Units 5,7.
Lesson 37 – Lexico-Grammar Test
Lessons 38,39 – Revision
T E R M VI
Topic: MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF
Lessons 1-5
MINISTER AND EXACUTIVES OF THE MINISTRY
The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Ukraine is run by the Minister with assistance of the State
Secretary, State Secretary for European Integration and Assistant State
Secretaries.
Everyday activities of the
number one executive of the agency are secured by the Minister's Private
Office.
The average age of personnel
in the Minister's Office is thirty. Its nine staff members speak a total of some 30
foreign languages. Almost each of them has experience of a long-term mission
abroad.
The office studies and
prepares materials for meetings and negotiations that the Minister will be
attending; it also oversees implementation of his decisions and instructions.
Every day over a hundred documents is submitted for the Minister's signature.
The Center operates in close
coordination with the subdivisions of the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of
Interior, Ministry for Emergencies, Security Service and other government
agencies.
State Protocol Department is
regarded as one of the most responsible areas in any foreign service. Its work
is closely related to the Minister and the Ministry's executives.
This Department is in charge
of preparing and running visits of the Ukrainian government delegations headed
by the Foreign Minister abroad. It acts in close cooperation with the protocol
services of the President, Cabinet of Ministers and Verkhovna Rada in respect
to visits of foreign delegations to
State Protocol Department
maintains good working contacts and correspondence with foreign diplomatic
missions accredited in
The Department is also in
charge accreditation of foreign diplomatic corps representatives, as well as
protection of privileges and immunities of foreign diplomats and diplomatic missions.
The Department assists presentation
of credentials to the President and the presentation of copies of credentials
to the Minister by foreign ambassadors as well as granting exequaturs to foreign
honorary consuls. It renders assistance in organizing meetings of the heads of
foreign diplomatic missions with high-ranking Ukrainian officials, MFA top
executives – Minister, State
Secretaries and Assistant State Secretaries – as well as other government executives.
The Minister's working day
begins with the meeting with the Press Service Chief who briefs him on the
latest developments in the world based on foreign media reports.
Press Service is a
comparatively young subdivision at the Ministry. It started operating in 1999,
after the reorganization of the Information Department.
Major objectives of the
Press Service are to provide information on both
Press Service prepares and
disseminates MFA official messages, hosts weekly briefings, arranges media
coverage for the visits of foreign officials to the country, as well as oversea
visits of the MFA executives.
If necessary, this office
creates and supports field press centers, makes arrangements for interviews and
publications of the Ministry top executives, accredits representatives of
foreign media in
Press Club, opened at MFA in
2001 proved to make a difference as a new format of communication with the
media.
Tasks: Riley A. Law Book:
Professional English. –
Units 8.
Topic: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Lessons 7-14
THE UNITED NATIONS
PURPOSES AND PRINCIPLES
The United Nations has been aptly described as a
Standing Diplomatic Conference: it is a worldwide association of states which,
on signing the Charter of the United Nations, subscribe to its purposes and
agree to act in accordance with its principles; these are:
PURPOSES
I. To
maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective
collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and
for the suppression of' acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and
to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of
justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international
disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
II. To
develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of
equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate
measures to strengthen universal peace;
III. To
achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an
economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and
encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
IV. To
be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these
common ends.
PRINCIPLES
². United Nations is based on the principle of
the sovereign equality of all its members.
²². All members, in order to ensure to all of them
the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith
the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the Charter.
²²². All members shall settle their international
disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security,
and justice, are not endangered.
²V. All members shall refrain in their
international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent
with the Purposes of the United Nations.
V. All members shall give the United Nations
every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the Charter, and
shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United
Nations is taking a preventive or enforcement action.
V². The United Nations shall ensure that states
which are not members of the Organisation act in accordance with these
Principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international
peace and security.
V²². Nothing contained in the Charter shall
authorise the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially
within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the members to
submit such matters to settlement under the Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement
measures under chapter VII.
THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER
Membership of the United
Nations consists of the “original members” (those states that signed the
Washington Declaration in 1942 or took part in the United Nations Conference on
International Organization in San Francisco in 1945, and signed and ratified
the Charter in accordance with the prescribed procedure); and those states
subsequently accepted as members in accordance with the provisions of the
Charter.
Membership is further open
to all other 'peace-loving' states which accept the obligations contained in
the Charter and, in the judgment of the United Nations, are able and willing to
carry them out. The admission of new members is dependent on the approval of
the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.
A member which has
persistently violated the principles of the Charter may be expelled from the
United Nations by the General.
Assembly on the
recommendation of the Security Council; or may have its rights and privileges
of membership suspended by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the
Security Council if it has been the object of preventive or enforcement action
taken by the Security Council. These rights and privileges, however, may be
restored by the Security Council.
Each state is entitled to
one vote in the General Assembly and in its dependent committees and councils.
Provision is made in chapter
XVIII for amendments to the Charter, and these come into force when they have
been (a) adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the General Assembly,
and (b) ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes
by two-thirds of the members of the Security Council. The procedure is the same
if a General Conference of the members of the United Nations is convened in
terms of article 109 for the purpose of reviewing the Charter, except that the
requirement for the initial vote (prior to ratification) is a two-thirds majority
of those present at the Conference.
The official languages of
the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
The United Nations, in terms
of its Charter, is based on six principal organs: the General Assembly, the
Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the
International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. Generally speaking the
Assembly and Security Council are the political and legislative bodies; ECOSOC
and the Trusteeship Council are specialist bodies dependent on the General
Assembly, and the International Court of Justice an independent body.
Tasks: Riley A. Law Book:
Professional English. –
Units 10,11.
FOREIGN POLICY
OF
A new
development stage of
The Declaration stated that
Ukraine "as a subject of international law shall establish direct
relations with other states, conclude agreements, exchange diplomatic,
consular and trade missions, participate in international
organizations...".
After the historic Act of
Independence of Ukraine was adopted on
It is a major achievement of
Ukrainian diplomacy that in 11 years of the country's independence it has
achieved positive results in all of those important areas.
In 11 years of independence
Today, the Foreign Ministry
has the staff of over 1,800 employees, which is 18 times as many as in 1990.
Training new generations of Ukrainian diplomats is of paramount importance to
the agency. MFA personnel comes mainly from the following higher educational
institutions: Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine,
Today
On
At present
1) development of bilateral interstate
relations;
2) European integration;
3) multilateral diplomacy.
There are two priorities for Ukrainian
diplomacy in its bilateral relations:
· relations with neighboring countries;
· relations with strategic partners and countries of
influence.
European integration first of all means:
· further political and institutional collaboration
with EU and gradual advancement to the ultimate goal of
· adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to the standards
of EU and Council of Europe as a key integration element;
· intensification of relations with NATO as one of the
components of the overall system of European stability and safety.
The following foreign policy priorities can be
set out for multilateral diplomacy:
· continuing effective participation in international
organizations;
· establishing effective regional and local
cooperation, enforcing the role of
· animating the activity within multilateral
agreements on disarmament, including nuclear weapons, actions of confidence,
peacemaking and peacekeeping operations, safety regimes and control mechanisms.
Tasks: Riley A. Law Book:
Professional English. –
Units 11,12
Lesson 19 – Lexico-Grammar Test.
Lesson 20 – Revision.