Politics

Vamos a dedicar este post a recopilar términos y expresiones relacionadas con la política, otro de los temas de actualidad del que conviene conocer vocabulario específico así como algunas referencias culturales en torno a los sistemas políticos de los países anglosajones.


Political parties:

Right-wing political party: Partido político de derecha.
Far-right political party: Partido político de extrema derecha.
Left-wing political party: Partido político de izquierda.
Far-left political party: Partido político de extrema izquierda.
Centre political party: Partido político de centro.
Centre-right political party: Partido político de centro derecha.
Centre-left political party: Partido político de centro izquierda.

Radicals (who believe in rapid change) and progressives (who believe in measured, incremental change) vs. conservatives (who believe in preserving the status quo) vs. reactionaries (who believe in changing things to a previous state): Radicales (abogan por un cambio rápido) y progresistas (creen en un cambio mesurado, progresivo) vs conservadores (defienden el mantenimiento del status quo o la situación actual) vs reaccionarios (abogan por el regreso al pasado).

Welfare state: Estado de bienestar.

POLITICS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM:

Constitutional monarchy: The Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government: Monarquía constitucional: El monarca es el jefe de estado y el primer ministro es el jefe de gobierno.

Executive power, exercised by Her Majesty's Government as well as by the devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales, and the Northern Ireland Executive: El poder ejecutivo recae en el gobierno de Su Majestad así como en los gobiernos descentralizados o autonómicos de Escocia y Gales y en el ejecutivo de Irlanda del Norte.

The United Kingdom government and the Scottish government have agreed to work together to ensure that a referendum on Scottish independence can take place: Los gobiernos del Reino Unido y Escocia han acordado trabajar conjuntamente para garantizar la celebración de un referéndum por la independencia de Escocia.


Legislative power: the two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as the Scottish parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies: El poder legislativo: las dos cámaras del parlamento del Reino Unido, la Cámara de los Comunes (la cámara baja, similar al Congreso de los Diputados) y la Cámara de los Lores (la cámara alta, similar al Senado), así como el parlamento escocés y las asambleas de Gales y de Irlanda del Norte.

MP(= Member of Parliament): Parlamentario.

Judicial power: The judiciary: Poder judicial.
The highest national court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom:  La Corte Suprema del Reino Unido es el más alto tribunal del Reino Unido.

UK political parties:
The Conservative Party (the Tories): El Partido Conservador.
The Labour Party: El Partido Laborista.
The Liberal Democrats: El Partido Liberal Demócrata.
Nationalist parties: Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru (Nationalist Party of Wales), Sinn Féin.
Other political parties

 Este vídeo relata "a lo Monty Phyton" la historia política británica desde 1066 hasta 2008 (es decir, hasta Tony Blair; después fue Primer Ministro Gordon Brown y en la actualidad, como ya sabemos, David Cameron). Fue realizado para l@s alumn@s de "Comparative Politics" del colegio americano Georgetown Day School (GDS). Al final del vídeo hace una comparativa de cargos del colegio con el Gabinete (the Cabinet). Antes de verlo, echa un vistazo a los siguientes términos mencionados que tal vez no conozcas: 

The Chanchellor of the Exchequer: Ministr@ de Hacienda.
The Home Secretary: Ministr@ del Interior.
The Foreign Secretary: Ministr@ de Asuntos Exteriores.
Secretary of Defense: Ministr@ de Defensa.






POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES:

Federal constitutional republic: República constitucional federal.
The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government: El presidente de Estados Unidos es el jefe de estado y de gobierno.

Executive power is headed by the President: El poder ejecutivo está encabezado por el Presidente.
Legislative power: the two chambers of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives: El poder legislativo: las dos cámaras del Congreso, que son el Senado y la Cámara de Representantes.
Judicial power / The judiciary: the Supreme Court and lower federal courts: Poder judicial: La Corte Suprema y los tribunales federales.

US political parties:
The Democratic Party: El partido demócrata.
The Republican Party: El partido republicano.
Other political parties



To hold elections: Celebrar elecciones.
Ballot: Voto, papeleta electoral.
Ballot box: Urna.
Go to the polls: Votar, acudir a las urnas.
Polls: Ésta es una palabra polisémica en inglés. Puede hacer referencia a votos, comicios, colegios electorales, sondeo, encuesta... Pincha en el enlace para ver distintos ejemplos.

Elections in the United States:
The President is elected indirectly by the people through an Electoral College: El Presidente es elegido indirectamente por los votantes a través del Colegio Electoral (no confundir con nuestros colegios electorales, lugar donde se va a votar: polling station).


Este vídeo explica de manera sencilla cómo son las elecciones presidenciales norteamericanas en las que no siempre el candidato que más votos obtiene es quien gana las elecciones:





> Quizás te interese la lectura de este breve artículo sobre los lobbies y su influencia en las políticas, del que podrías extraer vocabulario específico sobre el tema:


What is ‘lobbying’ and its link to corruption?

Back-corridor negotiation on proposed legislation is a practice that runs from Brasília to Washington, Bruxelles to ar-Rabāṭ. However, the relationships between policy-makers and interest groups walk a fine ethical line that separates participatory democracy from state capture.

Striking legislative deals are generally considered to be just one part of broader lobbying efforts undertaken by groups advocating for their interests to be represented in the policy-making process. Lobbyists can work in a variety of organisations, such as public affairs and law firms, ‘think tanks’, in-house units of corporations, trade associations or non-governmental organisations. For example, Transparency International (TI) regularly lobbies at G8 meetings for the enforcement of anti-corruption conventions. Gaining access to decision-makers and helping to shape the political developments in a country are just two objectives of an ambitious lobbyist.

Lobbying has experienced remarkable growth in recent years. There are now an estimated 15,000 lobbyists who have put down their roots in Brussels, striving for their voice to be heard by the EU. In the US, American lobbying expenses have almost doubled over the last decade, reaching US$ 2.8 billion in 2007.

Yet when large business interests and corporations become involved, there is a danger that the tenuous balance between legitimate and illegitimate lobbying activities will be quickly lost and that the scales can tip towards undue influence gained through corrupt practices.

This problem is reflected in the definition of lobbying, as set forth in TI’s ‘Anti-Corruption Plain Language Guide’:

“Any activity carried out to influence a government or institution’s policies and decisions in favour of a specific cause or outcome. Even when allowed by law, these acts can become distortive if disproportionate levels of influence exist — by companies, associations, organisations and individuals.”

But how does lobbying cross the line to become corruption? TI’s Global Corruption Report 2009: Corruption and the Private Sector takes this question to task. The report breaks down the issue of lobbying, explaining how businesses with extensive funds to back their lobbying activities and close relationships with lawmakers can gain disproportionate access to the policy-making process in ways that are unavailable to the common citizen. When safeguards for transparency and accountability are limited, this can lead to illegal, undue and unfair influence in a country’s policies and politics.