Page 171 - English Vocabulary in Use (Pre & Intermediate)

82 Politics

Types of government
Monarchy: a state ruled by a king or queen. There are also countries that have a monarchy,
but the monarch is not the ruler, e.g. The United Kingdom.
Republic: a state governed by representatives (= men or women chosen by the people) anda
president, e.g. USA or France. People who believe in this system are republicans.
Democracy: a system of government in which leaders are chosen by the people, e.g. France
or the UK. People who believe in this system are democrats.
Dictatorship: a system of government in which one person rules the country (= one person
has total power). This person is called a dictator.

Political beliefs
Abstract noun Personal noun/adjective
conservatism conservative
socialism socialist
social democracy social democrat
liberalism liberal
communism communist
fascism fascist
People who believe in social democracy are social democrats.

Political positions
What does it mean to be a socialist or a conservative? Often, it means different things in
different countries, but in Britain we often talk about someone’s political position like this:
left-wing / on the left middle of the road / right-wing / on the right
(= socialist) in the centre (= liberal) (= conservative)

Elections
In a democracy, people vote for (= they choose in a formal way / elect) the political party
(e.g. conservatives, liberals or socialists) that they want to form (= make) the government.
They do this in an election, and in many countries elections take place / are held (= they
happen) every four or five years.
42% voted for the socialists in the last election (= the socialists got 42% of the votes).
The president was elected two years ago.

Government
Political systems are different all over the world. In the UK, when a political party wins a
majority (= 51% or more) of seats (= official positions in parliament) in an election, they
become the government of the country, their leader (= the head of the party / person in
control) becomes Prime Minister and they are in power.
The government must have policies (= programmes of action) to run (= manage) the
country. This means, for example, an economic policy (for the economy), and a foreign
policy (for actions taken by the country in other parts of the world).

168 English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate)