Things you need to know about China, UK, France, Russia, and
United States of America
There are no states in China. China has
34 provincial level administrative units: 23 provinces,
4 municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), 5 autonomous
regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Ningxia, and Xinjiang) and 2 special
administrative regions (Hong Kong, Macau). Since the economic reform took place in 1978, China has emerged on the
international stage as a fast-growing power house in Southeast Asia. It takes Chinese civilization as the mainstay and
Chinese culture as the basis. The common language is Chinese (mandarin). The
various ethnic groups within China's territory are collectively referred to as
the Chinese nation.
The Great Wall, Dragon tattoo, panda are one of important
symbols of the Chinese nation. Confucianism, Taoism, tai-chi, Fengshui, kung
fu, etc are originated from China. Covering approximately 9,600,000 square
kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third largest country by
total area. China is bordered by 14 countries, neighboring to 8 countries. It
border North Korea and Russia to the northeast, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan to the northwest, Mongolia due north, Afghanistan and Pakistan to
the west, India, Nepal and Bhutan to the southwest, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam
to the south. Since the past thirty years or so,
China has been the world's fastest growing economy, it has a GDP of
11,937.56 billion dollars in 2017, and America has a GDP of 19,362.45 billion
dollars, which shortens the gap between China economy and U.S. economy.
For around one hundred and forty years the United States
had the world’s largest economy and it accounted for 22% of global GDP. China
has overtaken the US through comparisons of total economic strength by using
over one measure indicators, and one of those indicators is GDP based on
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). So far, according to economic data and
international influence, China is not regarded as the number one economy, but
its economy thrives and will make a great progress in the future. China overtook the US and became the world's largest
trading nation in 2013, which is described as "a landmark milestone"
by Beijing for the country.
China's education system is the largest
in the world. It has more university students than the EU and the US combined,
and there is growing demand for higher education among its young people. China
puts education in an important strategic position and encourages people to
receive higher education. A large number of young people go to overseas
countries for higher education like America, UK and Japan. At the same time,
there are a rising number of students from other countries coming to China for
higher education. It is widely acknowledged that China's rapid growth over the
past few decades has been remarkable, and so it is the same with it’s’
influence in the world economy and in international affairs. To some countries,
this is a threat, while to others, it is a promise, but for many, it is a
mystery. In 2017 both the IMF and the World Bank now rate China as the world’s
largest economy based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), a measure that adjusts
countries’ GDPs for differences in prices. For more enquires visit
(https://www.topchinatravel.com/china-guide/china-overview/)
There are
exactly zero states in China and they are unitary state. Its internal divisions
are not sovereign and independent, like the states of the USA and other states.
They are provinces or regions and not states for administrative convenience. A unitary state, or unitary government, is a
governing system in which a single central government has total power over all
of its other political subdivisions. A unitary state is the opposite of a
federation, where governmental powers and responsibilities are divided. In a
unitary state, the political subdivisions must carry out the directives of the
central government but have no power to act on their own. It is on record that
out of the 193 member countries of the United
Nations, 165 are unitary states. The United Kingdom and France are two well recognized
examples of unitary state. This means that only 28 countries practice federal
system of government while165 countries are unitary states.
The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom (UK) is composed of the countries of England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. While technically a constitutional monarchy, the UK functions as a unitary state, with total
political power held by Parliament and the national legislature is located in London,
England. While the other countries within the UK each of them have their own
governments, they cannot enact laws that affect any other part of the UK, nor
can they refuse to enforce a law enacted by the Parliament. The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy with a
constitutional monarch. A king or queen is the head of state, and a prime
minister is the head of government. The people vote in elections for Members of
Parliament (MPs) to represent them.
Points to note about unitary state
i.
In a unitary state, the
national government has total authority over all of the county’s other
political subdivisions (e.g. states).
ii.
Unitary states are the
opposite of federations, in which governing power is shared by a national
government and its subdivisions.
iii.
The unitary state is the
most common form of government in the world.
In a unitary state, the central government may
grant some powers to its local governments through a legislative process called
“devolution.” However, the central
government reserves supreme power and can revoke the powers it devolves to the
local governments or invalidate their actions.
France
In the Republic of
France, the central government exercises
total control over the country’s nearly 1,000 local political subdivisions,
which are called “departments.” Each department is headed by an administrative
prefect appointed by the French central government. While they are technically
governments, France’s regional departments exist only to implement the
directives issued by the central government.
Some other notable unitary states include Italy, Japan,
the People’s Republic of China, and the Philippines
Unitary States vs. Federations
The opposite of a unitary state is a federation. A
federation is a constitutionally organized union or alliance of partially
self-governing states or other regions under a central federal government.
Unlike the largely powerless local governments in a unitary state, the states
of a federation enjoy some degree of independence in their internal affairs.
The US government
structure is a good example of a
federation. The U.S. Constitution establishes a system of federalism under which powers are shared between the central
government in Washington, D.C., and the governments of the 50 individual
states. The power-sharing system of federalism is defined in the 10th Amendment to the Constitution: “The powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
While the U.S. Constitution specifically reserves some powers
for the federal government, other powers are granted to the collective states,
and others are shared by both. While the states have the power to enact their
own laws, the laws must comply with the U.S. Constitution. Lastly, the states
have the power to collectively amend the U.S.
Constitution, provided that two-thirds
of state governments vote to demand it.
Even in federations, the distribution of power is often a
source of controversy. In the United States, for example, disputes over states’
rights the constitutional division of power between the federal and state
governments is a common subject of rulings issued by the U.S. Supreme
Court under its original
jurisdiction.
https://www.thoughtco.com/unitary-state-government-pros-cons-examples-4184826
Constitution
The United Kingdom doesn't have a single, written
constitution (a set of rules of government). But this doesn't mean that the UK
has an ‘unwritten constitution’.
In fact, it is mostly written – but instead of being one
formal document, the British constitution is formed from various
sources including statute law, case law made by judges, and international
treaties.
There are also some unwritten sources, including
parliamentary conventions and royal prerogatives.
The
three branches of US Government
The United States has three branches of government: the executive,
the legislative and the judicial. Each of these branches has a distinct and
essential role in the function of the government, and they were established in
Articles 1 (legislative), 2 (executive) and 3 (judicial) of the U.S.
Constitution.
Monarchy
Politics in the United Kingdom takes place within the
framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch (Queen Elizabeth
II) is head of state and the prime minister is the head of the UK government.
Prime Minister and Cabinet
The Cabinet is a formal body made up of the most senior government
ministers chosen by the prime minister. Most members are heads of government
departments with the title 'Secretary of State'.
Formal members of the Cabinet are drawn exclusively from the House
of Commons and the House of Lords
Parliamentary democracy
The UK is a parliamentary democracy.
This means that:
·
members of the government are also
members of one of the two Houses of Parliament (the House of Commons and the
House of Lords) – although there are rare exceptions to this rule
·
government is directly accountable
to Parliament – not only on a day-to-day basis (through parliamentary questions
and debates on policy) but also because it owes its existence to Parliament:
the governing party is only in power because it holds a majority in the House
of Commons, and at any time the government can be dismissed by the Commons
through a vote of ‘no confidence’
Parliament: House of Commons and Lords
Parliamentary
sovereignty
The UK Parliament is a ‘sovereign
parliament’ – this means that the legislative body has ‘absolute sovereignty’,
in other words it is supreme to all other government institutions,
including any executive or judicial bodies.
This stems from there being no
single written constitution, and contrasts with notions of judicial review,
where, if the legislature passes a law that infringes on any of the basic
rights that people enjoy under their (written) constitution, it is possible for
the courts to overturn it.
In the UK, it is still Parliament
(and not the judges) that decides what the law is. Judges interpret the law,
but they do not make the law.
How laws are made in Parliament
Royal Prerogative
Traditionally, the Royal Prerogative
is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognised in common
law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the Crown alone.
Today, most prerogative powers are
instead directly exercised by ministers, rather than the Crown. They relate to
areas including the regulation of the Civil Service, certain areas of foreign
and defence policy, and the granting of appointments and honours.
These powers are beyond the control
of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This means that if, for
example, the British government wanted to put British troops into action, this
would not formally require the consent of Parliament – even if, in practice, a
debate might actually take place in Parliament before such an action was taken.
\Unitary government and
devolution
The UK has a unitary system of
government, meaning a system where power is held in the centre, although
some powers have been devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Permanent and impartial
civil service
The UK has a civil service that acts
impartially and doesn’t change when the government changes.
Impartiality is not the same as
neutrality. Civil servants work for ministers in the government of the day.
Impartiality means that, while working for current ministers, civil servants
retain the confidence of the opposition parties to work for them if they come
to power.
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