"It did not adequately put in place a set of checks and balances on risk-taking that had systemic consequences."

VOA: standard.2009.03.24

This seems in many ways to be quite far from the American democracy based on constitutional government, systems of checks and balances, protection of individual rights, and so on.

这似乎在很多方面,有别于美式民主,后者的根基是宪制政府，制衡体系，保障个人权利等。

耶鲁公开课 - 政治哲学导论课程节选

"I think we have learned from the experience of SARS and that we are better equipped to work together to ensure the traveling public of their safety given the checks and balances and the monitoring that have been put in place,"

VOA: standard.2009.04.28

But I think as time went on after the Rose Revolution, I think he wanted to perpetuate this kind of system in which there was really absence of checks and balances, no real opposition included in the political process very much sort of governing by committee of the inner circle, of loyal allies around the president.

VOA: standard.2009.09.01