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Country Study
Britain
Chapter I:
Country and People




A. Questions
(Geographically speaking)
1. Which two large islands do the British Isles geographically consist of?
(Politically speaking)
2. Which two political states do the British Isles consist of?
3. Explain the ambiguous use of the name: "Britain".
(The four nations)
4. In what respect are Scottish "Lowlanders" closer to the people of England than to Scottish "Highlanders"?
(The Dominance of England)
5. How do you explain that people often use the word "England" when they refer to Great Britain?
6. Give some examples of English domination in British public life today.
Question 1 - Which two large islands do the British Isles geographically consist of?
(Politically speaking)

Answer:
Two large islands are:
Great Britain
Ireland
Question 2 - Which two political states do the British Isles consist of?

Answer:
Two political states consist of:
- The Republic of Ireland
- The U.K of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Question 3 - Explain the ambiguous use of the name: “Britain”.
(The four nations)

Answer:
The ambiguous use of the name “Britain”:
- The U.K = Great Britain + Ireland: used in international meeting
- The Great Britain = England + Scotland + Wales: used for trademarks, festival.
- Britain used in spoken language.
Britain is referred to another name that people called “England”. But it isn’t strictly correct, it can make some people angry. Because England is only one of the four nations of British Isles (England + Scotland + Wales + Ireland).
In 1800 when Irish Parliament was joined with the Parliament of England, Scotland and Wales in Westminster, so that the whole of the British Isles became a single state: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
However, in 1992 most of Ireland became a separate state so England cannot be called Britain.

Question 4 - In what respect are Scottish “Lowlanders” closer to the people of England than to Scottish “Highlanders”?
(The Dominance of England)

Answer:
Scottish “Lowlanders” are closer to the people of England than to Scottish “Highlanders” because:
“Lowlanders and “ Highlanders” belong to Germanic race.
Celtic race = people from Ireland + Wales + highland Scotland. They spoke Celtic language, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh.
Germanic race = people from England + lowland Scotland. They speak Germanic language.
Question 5 - How do you explain that people often use the word “England” when they refer to Great Britain?
Answer:
People use the word “England” when:
The system of politics that is used in all four nations today is of English origin..
England is the centre of finance and banking, the place of Public parliament government, Royal…today the supply of money in Britain controlled by the Bank of England.
Head quarters of national TV, newspaper, radio.
Main language of 4 nations is English.
Many aspects of every daily life organized according to English customs and practice.
Question 6 - Give some examples of English domination in British public life today.

Answer:
Today the supply of money in Britain controlled by the Bank of England (There is no such thing as a “Bank of Britain”)
The present Queen of the country is universally known as “Elizabeth the second” even though Scotland and Northern Ireland have never had an Elizabeth the first.
Newspaper and television, news talk about “Anglo-American relation” to refer to relations between the government of Britain and The USA.
Country Study
Britain
Chapter II Geography

A. Questions

1. In what way does Britain’s physical geography reflect the British love of compromise?
(Climate)
2. What is the popular but false belief that it rains all the time in Britain based of Hollywood films?
3. Why does Britain’s climate have such a bad reputation?
(land and settlement)
4. Despite it lack of extremes, Britain’s landscape is not boring. Why not?
5. Over the year, human impact on Britain’s landscape has been extensive. Give some examples.
Question 1:In what way does Britain’s physical geography reflect the British love of compromise?
(Climate)

Answer:
Britain’s land and climate have no extreme: mountains are not too high, rivers are not too big, flats are not too large, it’s not too cold in winter and not too hot in summer.


Question 2: What is the popular but false belief that it rains all the time in Britain based of Hollywood films?


Answer:
The image of a wet, foggy land was created two thousand years ago by the invading Romans and has been perpetuated in modern times by Hollywood
Question 3: Why does Britain’s climate have such a bad reputation?


Answer:
Because its changeability. The British people always seem to be talking about the weather that’s changeable.

Question 4: Despite it lack of extremes, Britain’s landscape is not boring. Why not?


Answer:
It makes up for in variety, the scenery changes noticeably over quite a short distance.

Question 5: Over the year, human impact on Britain’s landscape has been extensive. Give some examples.

Answer:
- The forests that once covered the land have largely disappeared.
- Many hedgerows have disappeared in the second half of the twentieth century, but there are still enough of them to support a great variety of birth life.
- Much of land is used for human habitation
- The enclosure of fields with hedgerows.
The environment and pollution

Questions

6. How do you explain that the word `smog` was the first used in Britain?
7. How did air pollution in crowded areas first decrease and later increase again? (London)
8. Why does London "dominate" Britain?
9. Why is "the square mile" despite its limited surface so important?
10. Why has the number of residents in central area of London decreased?
11. In what way is London untypical of the rest of Britain? Southern England
12. What is the name given to the area surrounding the outer London suburbs? Why?
13. What do these southern regions have in common? The midlands
14. Why are the midlands sometimes called the "Black Country"?
Question 6: How do you explain that the word ‘smog’ was the first used in Britain?
Answer:

It was in Britain that the word ‘smog’ was first used to describe a mixture smoke and fog.

Question 7: How did air pollution in crowded areas first decrease and later increase again? (London)

Answer:

Because laws were passed which forbade the heating of homes with open coal fires in city areas and which stopped much of the pollution from factories.
However, the great increase in the use of the motor car in the last quarter of the 20th century has caused an increase again.
Question 8: Why does London “dominate” Britain?

Answer:
Because London is the centre of Britain’s most important institutions. It’s home for the headquarters of all government departments, Parliament, the major legal institutions and monarch. It’s the country’s business and banking centre and the centre of its transport network…
The northern England and Scotland
Questions:
15. Why did the saying "Where there`s muck there`s brass" reflect a realistic attitude of the inhabitants of the industrial northern towns?
16. How do you explain that in northern England the typically industrial and the very rural interlock?
17. Why does Edinburgh have a "middle-class" image?
18. What could Glasgow`s image be called ? Why?
(Wales)
19. Compare the north of England with south Wales in term of industry and human settlement. (what do they have in common? How do they differ?)
Question 15: Why did the saying “Where there’s muck there’s brass” reflect a realistic attitude of the inhabitants of the industrial northern towns?

Answer:
The saying means wherever there is dirt, there is money to be made. This is because in the minds of British people the prototype of the noisy, dirty and factory that symbolizes the Industrial Revolution is found in the industrial north. But the achievements of these new industrial towns induced a feeling of civic pride in their inhabitants and energetic realism.
Question 16: How do you explain that in northern England the typically industrial and the very rural interlock?


Answer:

Northern England is mainly industrial and very rural interlock because its geography is mainly mountainous; its land is unsuitable for any agriculture other than sheep, farming. Open and uninhabited countryside is never far way from its cities and towns.
Question 17: Why does Edinburgh have a “middle-class” image?

Answer:

Edinburgh has a “middle class” image because class differences between the two cities (with Glasgow) are not really very great. It is the capital of Scotland and its associated with scholarship, the law and administration
Question 18: What could Glasgow’s image be called ? Why?
(Wales)

Answer:

Glasgow’ image is called ‘Gorbals’ because it is associated with heavy industry and some of the worst housing condition in Britain (the district called the gorbals, although now rebuilt, was famous in this respect.
Question 19: Compare the north of England with south Wales in term of industry and human settlement.(What do they have in common? How do they differ?)

Answer:

The south-east of the country is most heavily populated and the main industry is coal mine. Despite its industry, no really large cities have grown up in this area.

Country Study
Britain



Chapter IV:
Identity
Questions (Ethnic identity: The native British)

1. How do Scottish, Welsh or Irish people living in England sometimes express their national loyalties?
2. In what way do people in Scotland express their ethnic identity?
3. How do you explain that the people of Wales have fewer reminders of their Welsh’s in everyday life?
4. What evidence is there in Wales that the Welsh language is a highly important symbol of Welsh identity?
5. Are the most English very concious of their distinctiveness?
6. What determines the significant distinctiveness of non-native British?
7. Non-white take bride in their cultural root. What circumstances can make this pride increase?

Question 1: How do Scottish, Welsh or Irish people living in England sometimes express their national loyalties?

Answer:

Most of the express their national loyalties strongly; they join one of the sporting and social clus for “exile” from these nations.
Question 2: In what way do people in Scotland express their ethnic identity?

Answer:
- In ways of speaking English, the Scottish way of speaking English is very distinctive. A modern form of the dialect known as Scots spoken in everyday life by most of the working classes in the lowlands.
- Organize several important aspects of public life
- There are many symbols of Scottish ness such as: kilts, bagpipes, flag…

Question 3: How do you explain that the people of Wales have fewer reminders of their Welsh’s in everyday life?

Answer:
The people of Wales have fewer reminders of their Welshness in everyday life. The organization of public life is identical to that in England. Nor are there as many well-known symbol of Welshness. In addition, a large minority of the people in Wales probably do not consider themselves to be especially Welsh at all.
Question 4: What evidence is there in Wales that the Welsh language is a highly important symbol of Welsh identity?

Answer:

Welsh language is spoken by 20% of the total population
Question 5: Are the most English very conscious of their distinctiveness?

Answer:

No, there is almost no difference between English and British identity (Ethnic identity: the non-native British)
Question 6: What determines the significant distinctiveness of non-native British?

Answer:

They speak their language at home. Their food and culture are very different. They are very proud of their culture root.
Question 7: Non-white take bride in their cultural root. What circumstances can make this pride increase?

Answer:

This pride seems to be increasing as the cultural practices, their everyday habits and attitudes, gradually become less distinctive.
Family and geographical identity

Questions

8. What does a `family unit` mean in Britain? In what way does it differ from the family unit among some racial minorities?
9. What are the consequences for elderly people?
10. When do large family gatherings usually take place?
11. Why is even the stereotyped "nuclear family` becoming less common?
12. Why is sense of identity based on place of birth not very strong in Britain?
13. Give some examples of a sense of identity based on a larger geographical area?
Question 8: What does a ‘family unit’ mean in Britain? In what way does it differ from the family unit among some racial minorities?

Answer:
“Family unit” in Britain mean the nuclear family, there is little sense of extended family identity, except among some racial minorities. This is reflected in the size and composition of households: different generations within family, different number of people living in each household.
Question 9: What are the consequences for elderly people?

Answer:

The proportion of elderly people living alone is similarly high.
Question 10: When do large family gatherings usually take place?

Answer:

At Christmas
Question 11: Why is even the stereotyped “nuclear family” becoming less common?

Answer:

Because of high divorced rate (highest in Europe except in Denmark)

Question 12: Why is sense of identity based on place of birth not very strong in Britain?

Answer:

Due to it mobility, and very few live in the same place all their lives.

Question 13: Give some examples of a sense of identity based on a larger geographical area?
Answer:
A sense of identity based on a large geographical area is a bit stronger. In some case there is quite a strong sense of identification. For example, Liverpudlians (from Liverpool), Mancunian, Geordies (Newcastle), Cockneys (London) are often proud of to be known by these names…

Class
Questions:
14. What is it difficult for British people to become friends with somebody from a different class?
15. What is the most obvious and immediate indication of somebody’s class? Explain the aspects of “What” and “How”
16. How do you explain that RP (Received Pronunciation) is not associated with any geographical area?
17. Explain the phenomenon of “inverted snobbery”
18. Find some evidence that the segregation of the classes in Britain has become less rigrid than before.
Question 14: What is it difficult for British people to become friends with somebody from a different class?


Answer:
The modern British people are very conscious of class differences. Different classes have different sets of attitudes and daily habits
Question 15: What is the most obvious and immediate indication of somebody`s class? Explain the aspects of "What" and "How"

Answer:
The most obvious and immediate indication of sb’s class is what and how people say
“What” refers to speaker’s attitudes and interests
“How” is the way he says it. Whether he uses standard British English and RP accent.

Question 16: How do you explain that RP (Received Pronunciation) is not associated with any geographical area?

Answer:
16.RP (Received pronunciation) is not associated with any geographical area. The vast majority of people speak with an accent, which is geographically limited.
Question 17: Explain the phenomenon of "inverted snobbery"

Answer:
Middle class people try to adopt working-class value and habits because they believe the working – class are in some way “better” than the middle-class.

Question 18: Find some evidence that the segregation of the classes in Britain has become less rigrid than before.

Answer:
A person with accent of working class is no longer prohibited from most high-status jobs.
Nobody take elocution lessons to sound more upper class.
Radio and TV presenters can speak with “an accent” (not RP)
None of the last 5 British P.M went to an elitist school for upper-class children.
Men and women
Question 19: What discrepancy is there between the legally established attitude of Britain society toward gender and people`s everyday behavior?

Answer:
British people invest about the same amount of their identity in their gender. On the one hand society no longer overtly endorses differences in the public and social roles of men and women. It is illegal to discriminate on the basic of sex. On the other hand, people still expect a fairly large number of differences in everyday behavior and domestic roles.
Question 20: Give two examples of a sharp distinction between the sexes in terms of roles.

Answer:

In term of everyday habits and mannerisms, British society probably expects a sharper difference between the sexes. For example, it is still far more acceptable for a man to look untidy and scruffy than it is for a woman, and it is far more acceptable for a woman to display emotions and demonstrably friendly than it is for man to do so.
Question 21: What change at public level took place after Tony Blair became PM?

Answer:

The number of women becoming MPs increased to 18%, nearly every institution in the country has opened its doors to women.
Religious and political identity, social and everyday contacts

Question 22: What is the importance of religion
and politics for people’s social identity? Explain

Answer:
Neither religion nor politics is an important part of people’s social identity in modern Britain, because the two don’t go together in any significant way. People can change their opinion about politics and they can marry that not mention of religion.
Question 23: How is the British “belong” expressed through social contact?

Answer:
Some writers in Britain have talked about the British desire to “belong”. It is certainly true that the pub, or the workingman’s club, or the numerous other clubs devoted to various sports and pastimes part in many people’s lives. They forge contacts and share some of the same interest with others. For many people these contacts are an important part of their social identity. They make social contacts through work and partly as a result of this, the profession or skill with they practice is also an important of their sense of identity.
Identity in Northern Ireland and being British
Question 24: Northern Ireland is polarized society.
Explain.

Answer:
Northern Ireland is a polarized society where most people are born into, and stay in one or other of the two communities for the whole of their lives.
Question 25: Show that the lives of the two communities are almost entirely segregated.

Answer:

The lives of the two communities are almost entirely segregated. For example, they live in different radio and television programmes, register with different doctors, and read different newspaper….
Question 26: What British characteristic is responsible for the fact that British do not feel they belong to Britain? Give one example.

Answer:

Some of them fell proud to be British but most of them feel uncomfortable when someone refers to where they belong to, means Britain or British government. They are individualistic and do not like to feel that they are personally representing their country, for example, half of them said that they would emigrate if they could.
Question 27: What change can be noticed these days in British attitude towards foreigners?

Answer:

There is a greater openness to foreign influences.
Question 28: On what exception occasion in the 1980s were the British “actively” patriotic?

Answer:
They worry about the loss of British identity in the European Union that’s why the British cling so obstinately to certain distinctive ways of dong things such as driving on the left and using different systems of measurement. During the Falklands/Malvinas war in 1982 must be interpreted. Here was a rare modern occasion for the British people to be active patriotic. Many of them felt that Britain was dong something right and doing it effectively.
Question 29: Are British chauvinistic? Explain.

Answer:

The modern British are not really chauvinistic but their open hostility to people from other countries is very rare. If there is any chauvinism at all, it express it self through ignorance.
Country Study
Britain
Chapter VI: Political life
The style of democracy

Question 1: Why are the British unenthusiastic
about making new laws?

Answer:

Because British people think that it is best to do without law.
Question 2: Which two unique aspects of British life prove that the lack of regulation works both ways (i.e. forwards individual and state)?

Answer:

- There are few rules or regulations telling the individual what he or she must or must not do.
- There are no rules or regulations telling the government what it can or can not do.
Question 3: Give some examples to illustrate that the individual and the state “leave each other alone” as much as possible.

Answer:

- People choose who to govern the country and leave them alone.
- People have no hand in the government
- British people’s duties: Pay the taxes and not breaking the law.
- People don’t have identity cards.
Question 4: The original Greek word “democracy” means “governed by the people”. Does this apply to British democracy? Explain.

Answer:

No, because there is no referendum (little participation by ordinary citizens). The ordinary citizens choose who governed the country, and then let them get on with it.
The constitution
Question 5: Britain is a ‘constitutional monarchy” as well as a “Parliamentary democracy”. Explain.
Answer:

Britain is a “constitutional monarch” because it’s a country governed by a King or Queen who accept the advice of parliament. “Parliament democracy” governed by the Parliament, which is elected by the people.
Question 6: In what respect does the British constitution” differ from that in most modern countries?

Answer:

Britain has no constitution written document.
Question 7: How have people’s rights and duties been established over the centuries?

Answer:

Some of them are written down in law passed
by Parliament; some of them have been
spoken and then written down such as
judgments made in a court, some right which
are commonly accepted in modern
democracies.
The style of politics
Question 8: Illustrate the fact that political life in Britain is comparatively informal.
Answer:
Political life in Britain is respect for privacy and love for secrecy. It is also comparatively informal. For example, in both Parliament and Government there is a tendency for important decisions to be taken, not an official public meeting; or even at pre-arranged private meetings, but at lunch, or over drinks, or in class encounters in the corridors of power.
Question 9: It used to be said that the House of Common was “the most exclusive club in London”. Explain.

Answer:

It means that all members of Parliament feel a
special sense of belonging with each other.
Question 10: There exists a genuine habit of co-operation among political of different parties. Give some examples that illiterates the practical advantage of this cooperation.



Answer:

The advantage is that very little time is wasted fighting about how political business is to be conducted fairly. For example, representatives of the parties arrange the order of business in Parliament beforehand so that enough time is given for various points of view to be expressed. All members of the parties feel a sense of belonging with each other, they make a pair.
The Party system
Question 11: Although there are more than two
parties in the country, Britain is normally described as
having a “two-party system”. Explain.
Answer:

Since 1945, one of the two big parties has controlled the government, and members of these two parties have occupied more than 90% of all the seats in the House of Commons.
Question 12: How does the origin of Britain political parties partly explain the “two-party system”?
Answer:

In Britain, Parties were first formed inside Parliament, and were only later extended to the public at large. MPs tended to divide themselves into two camps, those who support the government and those who usually do not.
Question 13: How has the idea of an “alternative government” been legal recognition?

Answer:

The leader of the second biggest party in the House of Commons receives the title ‘Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition’ and even gets a salary to prove the importance of this role.
Question 14: What is the “shadow cabinet”?
Answer:

It consists of a team of opposition MPs that would control from the cabinet if their party were governing.
Question 15: Why is it so difficult for smaller parties to challenge the dominance of the bigger ones?

Answer:

Because if any of them to have some good ideas, these ideas tend to be adopted by one of the three biggest parties who all try to appeal to as large a section of the population as possible.
Question 16: In what way can party members who are not MPs have an impact on their party’s policy?
Answer:

They can make their views known at the annual party conference.


Question 17: In what respect is the power of party members limited at party conferences?
Answer:

The appearance of unity.
The modern situation
Question 18: How do you explain that the tradition confidence in the British political system has weakened?
 Britain, despite the hardship of the second World War, could claim to be richest and most stable large country in Europe. It is now the poorest in Europe.
Question19: What may be the consequences of this loss
of confidence?
 It is quite possible that some of the distinctive
characteristics of British public life will change.
Question 20: Why may an unwritten constitution not work
efficiently in multicultural society?
Because some sections of society can sometimes
hold radically different ideas about these things.
Country Study
Britain
Chapter VIII:
The monarchy
The appearance

Question 1: Why is the position of the monarch in Britain a perfect illustration of the contradictory nature of the democratic constitution?

Answer:

The Queen has almost absolute power because the Queen is an integral part of legislation.
Question 2: Give three examples that demonstrate the seemingly `absolute` power of the Queen:

Answer:
+ She can summon a Parliament or dissolve it before a general election.
+ She can choose anybody she likes to run the government for her (PM) and choose the members of cabinet.
+ Nothing that Parliament has decided can become law until she has agreed to it. On the theory the Queen can refuse not to sign but in fact she has obliged to sign.
Question 3: Give two examples that illustrate the more `democratic` nature of the US constitution.


Answer:

+ US has ‘citizens’, the government by people and for people.
+ US people are legally described as ‘subjects’ + subject of Her Majesty the Queen.
The reality
Question 4: What is the fundamental reason why the PM must be someone who has the support of the majority of MPs in the House of Common?

Answer:
This because the law says that `her` government can only collect taxes with the agreements of the commons so if she did not such a person the government would stop functioning. In fact, the person she chooses is the leader of the strongest party in the House of Commons. The PM decides who the other government ministers are going to be.
Question 5: Give two examples that demonstrate she fact that the Queen has no real power.

Answer:

In reality the Queen has almost no power. When she opens Parliament each year the speech she makes has been written for her. She makes no secret of this fact. She very obviously reads out the script that has been prepared for her. If she strongly disagrees with one of the policies of the government, she might ask the government ministers to change the wording in the speech a little beforehand. She cannot actually stop the government going ahead with any of its policies.
The role of monarch and the value of the monarch
Question 6 : Why is the clear separation between the symbol o government and the actual government so important?

Answer:

Because of the stability of the country.

Question 7: How can the monarch prevent the government from becoming dictatorial?


Answer:

The monarch could refuse the royal assent and the bill through Parliament, which was obviously terribly bad and very unpopular.
Question 8: How does the Queen’s practical role indirectly help the real government.

Answer:

The queen can perform the ceremonial duties for the government has more time to get on with the actual job of running the country.
Question 9: In what respect is the monarchy economically important?

Answer:

+ Symbol of continuity
+ Expression of national pride
+ Even in the hard time it has no chance for dictatorship
+ Help the country’s tourism industry

Question 10: What part do the royals play in the people’s daily lives?

Answer:

+ Royal events bring the color to the people’s daily lives
+ The lives of Royal provide a source of
entertainment to the British
Ex: stories about the Royal family members.

The future of the monarchy

Question 11: In what way has the people’s attitude
towards the royal family changed?

Answer:

The people’s attitude towards the royal family decrease day by day.
Question 12: In what context are anti-royalist opinions mostly expressed? Give two examples.

Answer:

On the subject of money
Ex: In the early nineties Conservative MPs protested at how much the royal family was costing the country. For the whole of her long reign Elizabeth II had been exempt from taxation.
Question 13: The future royal style may be ‘a little less grand, a little less distant’. What does this mean? What event seems confirm this?

Answer:
Means Royal may become closer to people and keep close in touch with the public.
The event; a TV programme about a year in the Queen life which showed revealing details of her private family life was broadcast for her 40th anniversary. Parts of Buckingham palace were, for the first time, opened for public visits.
Country Study
Britain

Chapter VIII:
The Government
Question 1: Explain the two meaning of the term ‘the government’ of Britain.

Answer:

+ All politicians (appointed by the Monarch) to help run the Government and Depart and other special responsibilities(100).
+ The cabinet = PM + other members of the cabinet(20).
Question 2: Britain has a ‘single – party government’. Explain.

Answer:

+ All members of the cabinet belong to the same party.
+ Britain has no coalition Government (British politician have no coalition Government)
Question 3: What does the Government convention of ‘collective responsibility’ mean?
Answer:

+ Every member of the government share the responsibility to every policy made by the government.
+ Not allowed to criticize the government’s policy in public.

The cabinet
Question 4: In what way is the principle of ‘collective
responsibility’ realized within the cabinet?

Answer:

+ The ‘cabinet’ meets once a week.
+ Take decisions about new policies.
+ All members must be seen to agree
Question 5: What’s the ‘cabinet office’?

Answer:

It is an organization which is to help run the complicated machinery of a modern government.
Question 6: What is the function on “cabinet committees”?
Answer:

It runs a busy communication network, keeping ministers in touch with each other, drawing up the agenda for cabinet’s meetings. It also does the same things for the many cabinet committees.
The Prime Minister
Question 7: In what respect is the PM’s position indirect contrast to the Queen’s?

Answer:

Although the Queen has much power but in reality she has very little, on the contrary, the PM not to have much power but in reality he has a very great deal indeed.


Question 8: State briefly the three reasons why the PM is much more powerful than the other ministers.

Answer:
+ He has the power to appoint people to all kinds of jobs and confer honours on people.
+ PM’s dominance over other ministers is the power of the PM’s public image.
+ All ministers except the PM are kept busy looking after their government departments
Question 9: The PM’s power of ‘patronage’ imply?
Answer:

The PM’s power of ‘patronage’ imply the Queen appoints people to government jobs on the advice of PM.

Question 10: What phenomenon clearly shows the strength of the PM’s power of ‘patronage’? Explain.

Answer:

“Cabinet reshuffle” change the cabinet quite frequently.
Question 11: In what way does the PM’s public image strengthen his power?

Answer:

He appears in the public directly. Everybody in the country can recognize the PM easily.
Question 12: How does the PM exercise more direct control over government policy than the other ministers?

Answer:
He knows more what are going on than the other ministers do.
+ Power of patronage to the power of cabinet reshuffle (appointing and dismissing ministers)
+ Power of public image to the PM can appear in public to explain the government policy.
+ Direct communication with cabinet committee, office, minister under the PM’s control.
The civil service
Question 13: How do you explain that senior civil servant’s often know more about government matters than their ministers?

Answer:

The government comes and goes, but the civil service remains. They stay at the position for along time
Question 14: In what way respects are senior civil servants ‘better off than ministers’?

Answer:

These people get higher salary, have absolute job security and stand a good chance of being awarded an official honor. Moreover, civil servants know the secrets of the previous government which the present minister is unaware of.
Question 15: Civil servants are ‘politically impartial’. Explain.

Answer:

Their power depend on their staying out of ‘politics’ and on the being absolutely loyal to their present minister.
Question 16: What aspect of the civil service is severely criticized?

Answer:

Civil servants do not have enough expertise in the matters such as economics or technology, and that it lives too much in its own closed world, cut off from the concerns of most people in society so they have to appoint experts from outside to help them in various projects.
Central and local government
Question 17: In what respect is the relationship between local and central government in Britain different from that in the Federal US?
Answer:

The central government have powers only because the states have given them powers. Local government authorities only have powers because the central government have given them powers.
Question 18: What kind of tax are local councils allowed to collect?

Answer:

Tax based on property.
Why was the ‘poll tax’ so unpopular? Because this charge was the same or everybody who lived in the area covered by a council.
Question 19: How do you explain the modern trend of greater and greater control by central government?

Answer:

There are now more laws governing the way councils can conduct their affairs. Perhaps this trend is inevitable now that national party politics dominates local parties, local elections are becoming rarer and rarer.
Country Study
Britain

Chapter IX:
Parliament
Question 1: What are the main activities of the British Parliament?



Answer:
Members are elected every five years.
It makes new law.
It authorize the government activities, gives authority for the government, to rise and spend money.
It controls and discusses government activities.
Question 2: What two houses does the British Parliament consist of?

Answer:

House of Commons and House of Lords
Parliament business

Question 3: What are the basic procedures of the Commons?

Answer:
MP is debated on a particular proposal
Follow by a resolution which either accepts or rejects this proposal ( they will have to vote)
Question 4: In what particular way do MPs vote?

Answer:

MPs have to vote for or against a particular proposal. They do this by walking through one or two corridors at the side of the House-one is for the ‘Ayes’ those who agree with the proposal and the other is for ‘Noes’ those who disagree.
Question 5: What are ‘committees’ (two kinds)

Answer:
Committees are groups of people whose job
is to investigate either the activities of
government in a particular field or to
examine proposal for law.
Two kinds of committees: Permanent and
occasional committees.
- Permanent committee is to investigate the activities of government in a particular field such as finance, project…
- Occasional committee is to examine particular proposals for laws.
The party system in parliament
Question 6: What is the function of ‘whips’?

Answer:
When a ‘division’ takes place, whips make sure that MPs vote according to their party’s wish. Whips act as intermediaries between backbenchers and the frontbenchers (keep the backbenchers to inform the leaders’ opinion of a party)
Question 7: What make them powerful people?

Answer:

They are powerful people because they ‘have the ear’ of the party’s leaders, they can have an effort on which backbenchers get promoted to the frontbench and which do not.
Question 8: What is ‘a free vote’?

Answer:

When MPs are allowed to vote according to their own beliefs and not according to party policy. Their own belief is involving in the moral, whether parliament should abolish the capital punishment (death penalty).
Question 9: What important decisions have been made in this way?

Answer:

Some quite important decisions, such as abolition of the death penalty and the decision to allow television cameras into Commons have been made this way.
The House of Lords

Question 10: What feature makes the House of Lords ‘undemocratic’?

Answer:

The hereditary is non-elected factors.
Question 11: How is its power to refuse a law proposal limited?

Answer:

House of Lords can delay legislation. After a period of which can be as short as 6 months the proposal becomes laws anyway whether or not the Lords agree.
Question 12: What are ‘life peers’?

Answer:

Life hereditary awarded to distinguished retired politicians that entitles them to sit in the House of Lords.
Question 13: ‘The modern House of Lords is a forum for public discussion’. Explain.

Answer:
Its members do not depend on party politics for their position; it is sometimes able to bring important matters that the Common has been ignoring into the open. It is the place where proposals for new laws are discussed in great detail – much more detail than the busy commons has time for and in this way irregularities or inconsistencies in these proposals can be removed before they become law.
Country Study
Britain
Chapter X:
Elections
Question 1: How can you demonstrate from the figure on page 98 that the British electoral system seems "illogical"?

Answer:

- Labour party received less than half of the votes but won nearly 2/3 of the seats in the House of Commons.
- Liberal Democrat: one in every six people voted for it, but it won only one on 14 of the seats in the Commons.

Question 2: What is the term "general elections" not quite suitable?

Answer:

Because it does not count the total national votes/ because at the same time there’re 659 different elections happen and 659 MPs were elected.
Question 3: Explain: "first-past-the post" system.

Answer:

“first-past-the post” is the candidate who has the most votes to each constituency (electoral area), to vote for only one representative, to seat in parliament
Formal arrangements

Question 4: When do legally speaking, elections have to take place? What happen in practice?
Answer:
An election has to take place at least every five years but in practice the interval between elections is always shorter than 5 years, sometimes 4 years. The reason is when a party has a very small majority in the House of Common or no majority at all, the interval can be much shorter.
Question 5: What is required from the people who want to be candidates in a constituency?

Answer:
+ Anyone can be a candidate in case he/she has to pay $500 with the Returning Office
+ No need to be backed by any political party (but in fact no…..candidates)
+ At least 18 years old can be on the electoral register.
+ If the candidate get more than 5% of the total votes (that constituency) he/she can get the money back.
Question 6: Who is eligible to vote?

Answer:
+ Must be:
At least 18 years old.
On the electoral registration, election is not compulsory, so elector must register if they wish to vote.
+ Must not be:
Membership of the House of Lords
Sentenced into prison (at the time of election)
Insanity
Recent results and the future

Question 7: In what regions of Great Britain do the Labour and Conservative parties traditionally have the strongest support?
Answer:

The North of England, Wales and most of the inner areas of England cities support the Labour Party while the South of England, Scotland and most areas outside the inner cities support Conservative Party
Question 8: Why did Britain after the 1992 elections seem to become a "one-party-state"

Answer:

Because three periods before the Conservative Party was successful and in 1992 election they were also successful so that Britain was considered as a “one-party-state” at that time.
Question 9: Why were many political observers worried about this situation?

Answer:

If there’s only one party there would be no democracy party will become an autocratic and dictatorial regime.
Question 10: What dramatically change happened in 1997 ?
Answer:

In 1997 the picture changed dramatically, reflecting the weakening of the class system because not only the working class support the Labour Party but the Middle Class also support
Chapter XIV:
Education
Country Study
Britain
Question 1: What are the basic features of the European educational system.


Answer:
+ Full time education is compulsory up to the middle teenage years
- The academic year begin at the end of summer.
- Compulsory education is free of charge.
+ There are three organized of stages:
- First stage: Primary
- Second stage; Secondary
- Third: Tertiary
Stage is ‘further” education at university or college
Question 2: What was the reason why the British government was one of the last to organize education for everybody?

Answer:

Britain was leading the world in industry and commerce, so, it was felt, education must somehow be taking care of itself.
Question 3: What happened to the existing "public school" when the British government finally began to take an interest in education?

Answer:

The government left alone the small group of schools, which had been used in the 19th century to educate the sons of the upper and upper-middle classes 9publis schools)
Question 4: Give 3 typical characteristics of these public schools.

Answer:
Used to be for upper and middle class and for boys only
The emphasis was on “character building” and the development of “team spirit” rather than on academic achievement.
The aim was to prepare young men to take up positions in the higher ranks of the army, in business, the legal profession, the civil service and politics
Question 5: How do you explain that the pupils from these schools formed a "close group` within society after finishing their education.

Answer:
When the pupils from these schools finished their education, they form the ruling elite, retaining the distinctive habits and vocabulary which they had learnt at school. This group separated from the rest of the society.

Organization
Question 6: It is a characteristic of the British educational that there is comparatively little control the central government. Give two illustrative examples.
Answer:
For example: Education is managed not by one, by three, separate government departments: The department of Education and Employment is responsible for England and Wales alone. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own departments. Within England and Wales education has traditionally been seen as separate from ‘training’, and the two areas of responsibility have only recently been combined in a single department.
Question 7: What is the function of the Local Education Authority (LEA)

Answer:

+ It does not itself set or supervise the making of the exams which order teenagers do.
+ In general as many details as possible are left up to the individual institution or the LEA.
Question 8: How do you explain this `grass - roots` independent of the British school system?

Answer:

Each school has its own community. For example, they have their own uniform or union hall.

Recent development
Question 9: Why was the passing the `eleven plus` exam so decisive for young person`s future life?
Answer:
Before 1965 most children had to take exam at about the age of eleven. If they passed this exam, they went to a grammar school where they were taught academic subjects to prepare them for university. If they failed, they went to secondary modern school where the lessons had a more practical and technical blast. (`Eleven plus` means the age from 11 to 18)
Question 10: What changes did the traditional division into grammar school and secondary modern schools undergo during the 1970s?

Answer:

They were combined into comprehensive school. Comprehensive schools introduce both grammar and secondary modern schools.
Question 11: What were the disadvantages of the "comprehensive school" system.

Answer:

The comprehensive school system has also its critics, many people felt that there should be more choice available to parents and disliked uniformity of education given to teenage.

Question 12: What two major changes were being introduced by the government since 1980s?

Answer:
Strategy in the late 1980s, two major changes were introduced by the Government:
+ The first of these was the setting up of the national curriculum. For the first time in British education, there is now a set of learning objectives for each year of compulsory state schools are obliged to work towards these objectives.
+ The other major change is that, schools can now decide to ‘out put’ of the control of the LEA and put themselves directly under the control of the appropriate government department.
Question 13: In what way did the introduction of the national curriculum change priorities the subject matter of teaching?

Answer:

At the lower primary level, this mean a greater emphasis on what are known as ‘the tree Rs’ 9reading, writing, and arithmetic). At higher levels, it means a greater emphsis on science and technology.
Public exams
Question 14: Give three arguments supporting the statement that the exams for school children (from age 15 onwards) illustrate the lack of uniformity in Britain education and the `hands off matter of teaching`?

Answer:
+ First, these exams are not set by the government but rather by independent examining boards
+ Second, the boards publish a separate syllabus for each subject. There is no unified school leaving exam or school leaving.
Third, the exams have not