Political system of Saudi Arabia.

The central institution of the Saudi Arabian government is the Saudi monarchy. It is an absolute monarchy. The Basic Law of Government adopted in 1922 declared that Saudi Arabia is a monarchy ruled by the sons and grandsons of the first king, Abd Al Aziz Al Saud. It is also claimed that the Qur’an (Koran) is the constitution of the country, which is governed on the basis of Islamic law – Sharia (Shariat).

There are no recognized political parties or national elections, except the local elections which were held in 2005 for the first time in the history of the country. The king’s powers are theoretically limited within the bounds of Sharia and other Saudi traditions. He also must retain a consensus of the Saudi royal family, religious leaders – ulema, and other important elements in Saudi society. The leading members of the royal family choose the king among themselves with the subsequent approval of the ulema.

Saudi kings have gradually developed a central government. Since 1953, the Council of Ministers, appointed by the king, has advised on the formulation of general policy and directed the activities of the country. This council consists of a prime minister, the first prime minister and twenty ministers, mainly appointed from the members of the royal family.

Legislation is by resolution of the Council of Ministers, ratified by royal decree, and must be compatible with the Sharia. A 150-member Consultative Assembly, appointed by the king, has limited legislative rights. Justice is administered according to the Sharia by a system of religious courts whose judges are appointed by the king on the recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council, composed of 12 senior jurists. Independence of the judiciary is protected by law. The kings act as the highest court of appeal and have the power to pardon. Access to high officials and the right to petition them directly are well-established traditions.

 

 

II. Peoples and Languages.

1. South Africa. The population of South Africa is divided into four ethnic groups: the Black Africans (of which the Nguni and Sotho groups account for 90% of the black population, which also accounts for 76% of the country’s entire population); the Whites who account for around 13% of the population; the Asians (accounting for about 3%); and the Coloreds (who are of mixed White and Black descent and account for 9% of the population). The population is about 39 million people (2000est.)

The Republic of South Africa has 11 official languages. They are Afrikaans, English and nine African languages belonging to the Bantu group. South Africa resembles Canada in having two recognised languages within its borders: English and Afrikaans, or Cape Dutch. Afrikaans developed from Dutch, but it also has words from other European and African languages.

    Government documents are printed in each of the country’s 11 languages. Spoken government transactions occur in any official language the speakers choose.

2. Bulgaria. According to the 2001 census, Bulgaria's population is mainly ethnic Bulgarian (83.9%), with two sizable minorities, Turks (9.4%) and Roma (4.7%). Of the remaining 2.0%, 0.9% is distributed among some 40 smaller minorities, the most numerous of which are the Russians, Armenians, Vlachos, Jews, and Crimean Tatars. 1.1% did not declare their ethnicity.

    Bulgaria has had the slowest population growth of any country in the world since 1950s, except Saint Kitts and Nevis (due to their high emigration rate). Growth has been negative since the early 1990s, due to the economic collapse and high emigration. In 1988 the population was 8,859,000 people, and in 2001 7,950,000. Now Bulgaria suffers a heavy demographic crisis.

    Bulgarian is the mother tongue of 84.8% of the population; it is a member of the Slavic languages. Bulgarian is the only official language, but other languages such as Turkish and Romany, are spoken corresponding closely to ethnic breakdown.

3. Japan. Japan’s population is estimated at around 127.4 million. For the most part, Japanese society is linguistically and culturally homogeneous with only small populations of foreign workers, mostly from Korea, China, Viet-Nam, Brazil and some other countries of the Pacific Ocean region. Japan also has indigenous minority groups such as the Ainu and Ryūkyūans, and social minority groups such as the burakumin.

Japan has one of the highest life expectancy in the world, at 81.25 years of age as of 2006. However, the Japanese population is rapidly aging, the effect of a post-war baby boom followed by a decrease in births in the latter part of the 20^th century. In 2004, about 19.5% of the population was over the age of 65.

The changes in the demographic structure have created a number of social issues, particularly a potential decline in the workforce population and increases in the cost of social security benefits such as the public pension plan. It is also noted that many Japanese youth increasingly prefer not to marry or have families as adults. Japan’s population is expected to drop to 100 million by 2050 and to 64 million by 2100. Demographers and government planners are currently in a heated debate over how to cope with this problem. Immigration and birth incentives are sometimes suggested as a solution to provide younger workers to support the nation’s aging population. Immigration, however, is not popular.

About 99% of the population speaks Japanese as their first language. The Ainu language is moribund, with only a few elderly native speakers remaining in Hokkaido. Most public and private schools require students to take courses in both Japanese and English.

4. India. It is not certain which racial groups first occupied India. The assumption is often made that the first inhabitants had much in common with the aborigines of Australia, as well as with other tribal groups still found in isolated, forested regions of Southeast Asia. Therefore, the term ‘proto-Australoid’ has been applied to the racial type represented by a number of tribes still living in India in its eastern part. Other early arrivals were the ancestors of the peoples, now living mainly in southern India, who speak languages of the Dravidian family. The Mongoloid peoples have also been in India a long time. Their present-day descendants include several tribal groups living along the frontiers of Myanmar (Burma), China (Tibet), Bhutan and Nepal. A lot of migrants of inner Eurasian origin began to filter into India through passes on the northwestern frontier of the country. These invaders, known as Aryans, had relatively light skin and spoke languages of the Indo-European family. Throughout the history new groups continued to penetrate India, mainly from north-west: Persians, Arabs, Afghans, Turks, Mongols, and, since the 16^th century, small numbers of Western Europeans. Over the millennia all these peoples have interbred in varying degrees. The resulting mixture is so highly complex that it is virtually impossible to draw clear racial distinctions among the people of India today. Linguistic difference is much clearer than those of racial groupings. Two linguistic groups, the Indo-Arian and Dravidian, account for all but a tiny proportion of the population. But people of India are known to speak 325 languages. The Constitution lists 15 official Indian languages. Of the Indo-Arian languages are Hindi, the official national language, Urdu (which is also the official language of Pakistan), Sanskrit, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Orija, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi. The list of official languages includes four Dravidian tongues: Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. The first group of languages is used mainly in the north and centre of the country, while the Dravidian languages predominate in the southern states. But very often for communication between people of different nationalities English is used. The general policy of the government is to encourage progressive use of Hindi as the official language, but English continues to be used alongside or in addition to Hindi for most official purposes (in Government and Parliament), in business and commercial purposes and for communication between the States of India.