Reflection

Reflection. Firstly, I would like to state that it was quite an informative lecture and thanks to the excellent expertise of the speakers in the field, the information was presented in the most elaborate and clear way possible. I was surprised to learn about Student Governmental Association that functions as a direct line between the students and administration allowing their voices to be heard and to make a change. I believe it is a great way to participate in social life and make sure u make a difference, it would be quite useful if we could adopt the same practice for Russian universities. The speakers then proceeded talking about the US governmental system, focusing on legislative branch, which is represented by congress. It consists of two parts: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives is presented by a larger number of members. Both of the bodies have a right to initiate new laws which then are either approved or vetoed by the President, with an only exception that any tax-related laws are in jurisdiction of The House of Representatives. Due to the huge number of people taking part in the legislative process, it can last for a very long time and can leave many people frustrated. Another reason for frustration is that when adopting a law interests of both parties are to be taken into an account, they sometimes co-operate but that doesn’t happen very often. Above-mentioned points then lead to the theme of two parties system vs multi parties system. I found it especially attention gripping due to the differences in our political systems. Despite the fact that American political system is based on having just two parties I have learnt that it is also possible for a 3rd party or an independent candidate to run for a president. Even though the chances of winning are extremely small, there is a tendency that the figures of people voting for 3rd party or independent candidates are growing and becoming quite significant. Then a very important question was brought up whether the governmental power shall be centralized or if it is more affective to let the states make their own decisions. Certain advantages and disadvantages of both have been discussed but I do agree with the point made by one of the speakers that it does make sense that the states have freedom to make decisions fit for them (condition-wise) but the national government is to provide smaller governmental bodies with certain guidelines. Then we went on to discussing negative political advertisement as a tool of undermining the opponents and I also tend to stick to the idea that instead of creating a negative image for one another, politicians should rather focus on their actual programs and actions. I would also like to thank Cole for providing a very interesting source (all-sides.com) to get different points of view. The most interesting part for me was the discussion of how people’s choices are motivated. I happened to ask myself the same question when participating in some sort of political events and I always wondered what moves people to choose one thing over another and I am convinced that the speakers gave a very good explanation defining the choice as a mix of logic and emotions. Even though the electoral system has been clarified, I still find it a little hard to understand. I do get the general mechanisms, concepts and so on but I am a little shocked and my guess would be that the shock is cause by the differences in our cultures and political systems. The example given by Brad has also been very helpful in terms of understanding representative democracy and helped me getter a clearer view on how it can actually be helpful.