Gtrinh Dat Nuoc Hoc Moi

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGLISH
***
The Society and Culture

of
Major English-Speaking Countries
Ann Rogers
Morton Schagrin
Helen Young
Higher Education Press

CONTENTS
The United Kingdom of

Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Unit 1: A Brief Introduction to the United Kingdom 5

Unit 2: The Government of the United Kingdom 36
Unit 3: Politics, Class and Race 48
Unit 4: The UK Economy 64
Unit 5: British Education System 76
Unit 6: British Foreign Relations 88
Unit 7: Sports, Holidays and Festivals in Britain 100
The United States of America
Unit 1: American beginnings 118

Unit 2: The political system in the United States 133
Unit 3: American economy 146
Unit 4: Education in the United States 162
Unit 5: Social problems in the United States 178
Canada
Unit 1: The Country and Its People 194

Unit 2: The Government and Politics of Canada 205
Unit 3: The Canada Mosaic 218
Australia and New Zealand
Unit 1: The Land and the Peoples of the Dreaming 230

Unit 2: From Penal Colony to “Free Migration” 241
Unit 3: Australia as a Liberal Democratic Society 252
Unit 4: Land, People and History 263
Unit 5: Political System, Education and Economy 277

Unit 7: Sports, Holidays and Festivals in Britain 100

Queen Elizabeth II Prime Minister Boris Johnson
The United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Unit 7: Sports, Holidays and Festivals in Britain

Unit 1:
BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE UNITED KINGDOM

Focal points:
1. a complicated country with a complicated name

2. effects of its imperial past
3. a member of the European Union
4. a multiracial society
5. the significant role of London
6. cultural and economic dominance of England
7. invasion from the Roman Empire
8. settlement of the Anglo-Saxons
9. physical features of Scotland
10. cultural division between highland and lowland
11. the Battle of Bannockburn
12. independence of Scotland for 300 years
13. union with England in 1707
14. strong Scottish identity
15. brief introduction to Wales
16. a history of invasions
17. population and physical features of Northern Ireland
18. the Easter Rising of 1916
19. the Sinn Fein Party
20. religious conflicts between the Irish and the British
21. partition of Ireland in 1921
22. IRA's violence in the 1970s
23. cooperation between the British and Irish governments
24. the Good Friday Agreement
Area: total 244820 sq km
Land: 241 590 sq km
Water: 3230 sq km (Including Rockwall and Shetland Islands)
Population: more than 67 million (17/09/2019)
A Brief Introduction to the United Kingdom
The full name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. It is a highly centralized and unitary state, and its main component,
England, has been so for thousand years. As a political entity, however, Britain (is
the UK loosely called) is being the state which emerged from the union of the
ancient kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1707.
To the west of the continent of Europe lie two large islands called the British Isles.
The larger of these, consisting of England, Scotland and Wales, is known as Great
Britain. The smaller island is Ireland, with Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
England is the southern and central part of Great Britain. Scotland is in the north of
the island, and Wales in the west. Northern Ireland is situated in the north-eastern
part of Ireland. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland form the United
Kingdom of Great Britain.
Most people know something about the country because its huge overseas empire
gave it an important international role which only came to an end in the years
following the Second World War. However, the things that people know about the
UK (which they will probably call simply Britain or, wrongly, England) may have
little to do with how most real British people live their lives today.
For one thing, the days of empire are now long enough ago that only old people
remember it as anything of any importance in their lives. Britain is no longer an
imperial country, though the effects of its imperial past may be often encountered
in all sorts of ways; not least in the close relationships which exist with the fifty or
more countries which used to be a part of that empire, and which maintain links
through a loose (and voluntary) organisation called the Commonwealth of Nations.
But more important today in Britain's international relations is the European Union
of which the UK has been a member since 1973, and it is more useful when
considering modern Britain to emphasise its role as a European nation, rather than
its membership of the Commonwealth. It remains a relatively wealthy country, a
member of the Group of Seven large developed economies.
One other obvious effect of that old imperial role lies in the makeup of the British
population itself. Immigration from some of those Commonwealth countries,
which was encouraged in the 1950s and 1960s, has produced a population of which
1 in 20 are of non-European ethnicity. They themselves, or their parents or
grandparents, were born in India or Pakistan, the countries of the Caribbean, to
name only the most common.
The UK is one nation, with a single passport, and a single government having
sovereignty over it all, but as the full name of the nation suggests, it is made up of
different elements. It includes 4 parts within the one nation-state, so when
discussing Britain and the British some consideration has to be made of these
differences: for example a woman from Scotland would not be pleased if we were
to call her an "English gentleman". She is Scottish and female, and sees her
identity as different from that of men and separate from the English.
The distinction between the 4 constituent parts is only one, and perhaps the
simplest, of the differences which divide the United Kingdom. It has been already
pointed out that the UK is now a multiracial society, and these quite recent groups
of immigrants have brought aspects of their own cultures with them which sit side
by side with more traditionally British ways of life, for example, many are
Muslims, while most British people (in name at least) are Christians. And clearly
involved in the above example of the Scottish woman is the fact that men and
women do not have the same experience of life in Britain. Also Britain is divided
economically: it is a society with a class-structure. It is possible to exaggerate the
importance of this class-structure, because most countries have some kind of class-
system, but it is true to say that the class structure of UK society is relatively
obvious. The culture of a factory worker whose father was a factory worker may be
quite different from that of a stockbroker whose father was a stockbroker. They
will tend to read different newspapers, watch different television programmes,
speak with a different accent, do different things in their free-time, and have
different expectations for their children.
Another difference which marks British society is that of region. Even within each
of the four countries there are different regions: the difference between the
"highland" and "lowland" Scots has a long historical significance, for example:
north and south England are also considered to be culturally distinct, though the
boundary between them is not marked on any map, and exists only as a rather
unclear mental attitudes. Nevertheless, there is some basis to the distinction in
economic terms as the south is on average wealthier than the north.
Part of the reason for that economic difference between north and south is found in
another distinction which marks British society, a distinction which can be seen in
many societies but is perhaps particularly obvious in the UK. That is the difference
between the capital and provinces. London is in the south of the country, and is
dominant in United Kingdom in all sorts of ways. It is by far the largest city in
country, with about one seventh of the nation's population; it is the seat of
government; it is the cultural centre, home to all the major news papers, TV
stations, and with far and away the widest selection of galleries, theatres and
museums. Also it is the business centre, headquarters of the vast majority of
Britain's big companies; it is the financial centre of the nation, and one of the three
major international financial centers in the world. As such it combines the
functions of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, or New York, Washington and
Los Angeles, in one city. And given its long-standing historical role in the UK,
London is a huge weight in Britain's economic and culture life, and to some extent
the rest of the country lives in its shadow.
England
Population More than 54.79 million
Area 130 423 sq km ( UK total 244 820 sq km)
England is a highly urbanised country, with 80% of its population living in cities,
and only 2% of the population working in agriculture. Its largest city is the capital,
London, which is dominant in the UK in all fields: government, finance, and
culture. England is physically largest of the four nations, and it has by far the
largest population. This dominance in size is reflected in a cultural and economic
dominance too, which has the result that people in foreign countries sometimes
make the mistake of talking about England when they mean the UK. Significantly,
people in England sometimes make that mistake too, but people in the other three
nations would not: they might call themselves British (as might the English), or
they might call themselves Scottish or Welsh or Irish, but they certainly wouldn't
call themselves (or like to be called) English. So oddly, of the four nations, the
English feel most British, and therefore have the weakest sense of themselves as a
separate “English” culture within Britain.
British history has been a history of invasions. The Scots, Welsh and Irish are Celts
but the English are Anglo- Saxons. Many hundreds years ago, about the 4 th century
before our era, the country we now call England was known as Briton and the
people who lived there were the Britons. They belonged to the Celtic race. Their
culture, which is to say the way of thinking and their understanding of. nature, was
very primitive. They believed that different Gods lived in the thickest and darkest
parts of the world. The Britons were governed by a class of priests who had great
power over them.
In the first century AD (in 43 AD), Briton was conquered by a power state of
Rome. The Romans were practical men. They thought a great deal of fighting and
they were so strong that they usually managed to win most of the battles they
fought. The Romans were greatly interested to learn from travelling that valuable
metals were to be found in Briton. Finally they decided to occupy the island. They
crossed the sea in galleys under the command of Julius Caesar. Toward the end of
the 4th century, the invasion of all of Europe by barbaric people forced the Romans
to leave Briton because they were needed to defend their own country.
As soon as Britons were left to themselves, they had very little peace for many
years. Sea robbers came sailing in ships from other countries. And the Britons were
always busy to try to defend themselves. Among these invaders were some
Germanic Tribes called Anglos and Saxons from north-central Europe in 410 AD.
They pushed the existing population westward, and the British Isles became
divided into mainly Anglo-Saxon zones in England, with Celtic areas in Wales,
Scotland and Ireland.
One of the best-known English legends derives from this time. In the 5th century
AD it is said that a great leader appeared, united the British, and with his magical
sword, Excalibur, drove the Saxons back. This is the story of King Arthur, and has
been embellished by singers, poets, novelists and even filmmakers ever since.
Although King Arthur's real existence is in doubt, you can visit places associated
with his legend, such as the cliff-edge castle at Tintagel in Cornwall. According to
legend Arthur gathered a company of knights to him, who sat together at Arthur's
castle at Camelot (possibly the real hilltop fort at Cadbury Hill in Somerset).
Conflict between his knights led to Arthur creating the famous "round table" at
which all would have equal precedence. Perhaps this could be seen as an indicator
of the way in which the English have wished to see their monarch as something
other than a remote dictator, and have in fact managed to gradually bind the
monarchy into a more democratic system, rather than completely rejecting it.
Whatever Arthur's success, legend or not, it did not last, for the Anglo-Saxons did
succeed in invading Britain, and either absorbed the Celtic people, or pushed them
to the western and northern edges of Britain. Despite the fact that contemporary
English people think of King Arthur as their hero, really he was fighting against
them, for these Anglo-Saxon invaders were the forefathers of the English, the
founders of "Angle-land" or "England" as it has become known.
Two more groups of invaders were to come after the English: from the late 8th
century on, raiders from Scandinavia, the ferocious Vikings threatened Britain's
shores. Their settlements in England grew until large areas of northern and eastern
England were under their control. By then the English heroes were truly English
(Anglo-Saxon), such as King Alfred the Great, who turned the tide in the south
against the Vikings. There remains to this day a certain cultural divide between
northerners and southerners in England, which while not consciously "Saxon"
versus "Dane", may have its origins in this time. The richer southerners tend to
think of northerners as less sophisticated than them, while northerners think
southerners arrogant and unfriendly. They are also marked by having distinctly
different accents.
The next invaders were the Normans, from northern France, who were descendants
of Vikings. Under William of Normandy (known as “William the Conqueror) they
crossed the English Channel in 1066, and in the Battle of Hastings, defeated an
English army under King Harold. This marks the last time that an army from
outside the British Isles succeeded in invading. William took the English throne,
and became William the First of England. The Tower of London, a castle in the
centre of London which he built, still stands today.
The Normans did not settle England to any great extent: rather they imported a
ruling class. The next 300 years may be thought of as a Norman (and French-
speaking) aristocracy ruling a largely Saxon and English-speaking population. It is
this situation which produced another of England's heroic legends. This is the
legend of Robin Hood, the Saxon nobleman oppressed by the Normans, who
became an outlaw, and with his band of "merry men" hid in the forest of Sherwood
in the north midlands of England. From this secret place, armed with their
longbows, they then went out to rob from the rich to give to the poor. He has
featured in many television series and films, both British and American. Some
writers have seen in the popularity of this legend of a rebellion hidden in the green
wood a clue to the English- character: a richly unconventional interior life hidden
by an external conformity. But, like all stereotypes, this one has its weaknesses, as
many English people, especially young people, like to display their
unconventionality externally-for example English punk rockers with their vividly
dyed spiky hair. But it is certainly true that the lifeless fronts of many English
houses conceal beautiful back gardens. Gardening is one of the most popular
pastimes in England, and the back garden provides a place where people's outdoor
life at home can go on out of the public gaze. This may contrast with people from
other countries whose outdoor life might be more social-sitting on the front porch
watching passers-by.
The next few hundred years following the Norman invasion can be seen as a
process of joining together the various parts of the British Isles under English rule,
so that any English identity eventually became swamped by the necessity of
adopting a wider British identity, both to unite the kingdom internally, and to
present a single identity externally as Britain became an imperial powers. At the
same time power was gradually transferred from the monarch to the parliament.
Charles the First's attempt to overrule parliament in the l640s led to a civil war in
which parliamentary forces were victorious, and the king was executed. After a
gap of 11 years in which England was ruled by parliament's leader, Oliver
Cromwell, the monarchy was restored. Further conflict between parliament and the
king led to the removal of the Scottish house of Stuart from the throne, and
William and Mary were imported from Holland to take the throne, thus finally
establishing parliament's dominance over the throne.
Wales
Population: more than 3.1 million
Area: 20776 sq km
The capital of Wales is Cardiff, a small city of about 300 000 people on the south
coast. This southern area was an important element in Britain's industrial
revolution, as it had rich coal deposits. Coal-mining became a key industry for the
Welsh, employing tens of thousands at its height. So its recent disappearance has
been a major economic and cultural blow. But South Wales has been very
successful in attracting investment from abroad-particularly Japan and the United
States, which has helped to create new industries to replace coal and steel.
Wales is the smallest among the three nations on the British mainland, though
larger than Northern Ireland. It is very close to the most densely populated parts of
central England. Though it is hillier and more rugged than adjacent parts of
England there is no natural boundary. So Wales has been dominated by England
for longer than the other nations of the union. Nevertheless, what is remarkable is
that despite this nearness and long-standing political integration Wales retains a
powerful sense of its difference from England. It also retains its own language,
Welsh. This is a Celtic tongue completely different from English, spoken by 19%
of the population, a much higher proportion of the population than speak Gaelic in
Scotland. Again, all those Welsh-speakers are also fluent in English.
Like the rest of Britain, before the arrival of the Roman Empire, Wales was a land
of Celtic peoples, living in a number of small tribal kingdoms. Wales was
conquered by the Romans eventually, though with difficulty. The Welsh chieftain
Caradoc fought a long guerrilla campaign from the Welsh hills against the invader.
When the Romans left Britain, Wales was again a Celtic land, though again
divided into separate kingdoms, but unlike England it did not fall to the Anglo-
Saxon invaders of the 5th century.
Wales was always under pressure from its English neighbours, particularly after
the Norman Conquest, when Norman barons set up castles and estates in Wales
under the authority of the English Crown. Thus there was a need to unify Wales to
successfully resist the English. This did not happen until Llywelyn and Ruffed
brought a large portion of Wales under his rule, and by a military campaign forced
the English to acknowledge him as Prince of Wales in 1267. But when he died, the
English king, Edward the First, set about conquering Wales, building a series of
great stone castles there from which to control the population. These castles stand
today as one of Wales' greatest tourist attractions (along with its beaches, cliffs and
mountains), and tourism is now an important industry.
Edward the First named his son the Prince of Wales, and the first son of the
monarch has held that title ever since (including the present day Prince Charles) to
try to bring Wales into the British nation. The last real attempt to resist that process
was in the early 15th century when Owain Glyndwr led an unsuccessful rising
against the English. Today Glyndwr and Llywelyn are more than simple historical
figures for the Welsh; they are the almost legendary heroes of Welsh nationalism.
Their brief campaigns are the only times in history when Wales has existed as a
unified independent nation.
A hundred years after Glyndwr, in 1536, Wales was brought legally,

administratively, and politically into the UK by an act of the British parliament.
This close long-standing relationship means that modern Wales lacks some of the
outward signs of difference which Scotland possesses-its legal system and its
education system are exactly the same as in England. Often official statistics are
given for "England and Wales". However, Wales is different, and one of the key
markers of that difference is the Welsh language - the old British Celtic tongue
which is still in daily use. But as a source of the Welsh identity this is sometimes
divisive, because 80% of the Welsh don't speak the language, and yet feel Welsh.
Since most of the Welsh speakers are in the north, this deepens a cultural division
between the more populated, industrial south, and the rural north of Wales.
As in Scotland the Welsh people elect their MPs to the London parliament. The
Welsh too have nationalist party, "Plaid Cymru"(The Party of Wales), which
campaigns for an independent Wales. Of the 38 Welsh MPs, 4 are members of this
party. Under a Labour government W ales will probably gain its own parliament to
manage its own internal affairs.
Scotland
Population: 5.2 million
Area: 7.8822 sq km
Scotland is the second largest of the four nations, both in population and in
geographical area. It is also the most confident of its own identity because alone
amongst the non-English components of the UK it has previously spent a
substantial period of history as a unified state independent of the UK. Thus it is not
a big leap for the Scottish to imagine themselves independent again.
Physically, Scotland is the most rugged part of the UK, with areas of sparsely
populated mountains and lakes in the north (the Highlands), and in the south (the
Southern Uplands). Three quarters of the population lives in the lowland zone
which spans the country between these two highland areas. The largest city is
Glasgow, in the west of this zone. Scotland's capital city is Edinburgh, on the east
coast forty miles away from Glasgow. It is renowned for its beauty, and dominated
by its great castle on a high rock in the centre of the city. Both cities have ancient
and internationally respected universities dating from the 15th century.
Scotland was not conquered by the Romans, though they did try to, and for a while
occupied as far as the edge of the northern highland zone. But the difficulty of
maintaining their rule there caused them to retreat to a line roughly equivalent to
the contemporary boundary between England and Scotland. Along this line, from
sea to sea, they, like the Chinese, built a wall to mark the northern edge of their
domain, and to help defend it. It is called "Hadrian's Wall" after the Emperor of
Rome at the time of its building, and although ruined, lengths of it can still be seen
and walked along.
Nor was most of Scotland conquered by the Anglo-Saxons, although an Angle

Kingdom was established in the southeast-hence Edinburgh's Germanic name.
British Celts displaced from the south by Saxon invasion occupied the area around
what is now Glasgow, and in this same period (around the 6th century AD) people
from Northern Ireland invaded the south-west. They were called the Scots, and it is
they that gave the modern country of Scotland its name. The original Scottish
Celts, called the Pacts, were left with the extensive but unproductive highland
zone. The division between highland and lowland Scotland remains a cultural
divide today, in much the same way as north and south England see themselves as
different from each other. There are even areas in the highlands where (in addition
to English) people speak the old Celtic language, called "Gaelic".
Like England, Scotland began to experience Viking raids in the 9th century, and it
was the pressure from this outside threat that led Scottish kings to unify, forming
an independent singular Scottish state at just about the same time that Anglo-Saxon
England was also unifying. The presence of this larger powerful kingdom on its
southern doorstep was the key factor in Scottish politics from that time on, with
frequent wars between the two. William Shakespeare's play Macbeth is set in the
Scotland of this period. The town of Berwick upon Tweed near the Scottish border
in present day England is said to have changed hands thirteen times as a result of
Anglo-Scottish conflict. Despite the conflict, there were close ties between the two
countries with extensive intermarriage between the two aristocracies, and even
between the royal families. A recent Hollywood movie, Brave heart, told the story
of William Wallace's uprising in 1298, which was quelled by the English. But only
a few years later the Scots, under the leadership of Robert the Bruce, were
victorious at the Battle of Bannockburn, leading to 300 years of full independence.
In 1603, however, Queen Elizabeth the First of England died childless, and the
next in line to the throne was James the Sixth of Scotland, so he also became James
the First of England, uniting the two thrones. But for another hundred years
Scotland maintained its separate political identity. However, in 1707 by agreement
of the English and Scottish parliaments, Scotland joined the Union. There followed
two rebellions in 1715 and 1745 in which the heir to the Stuart claim (deposed in
1688 by the English parliament) to the British throne attempted to reassert his right
to rule Britain, gathering support in Scotland then marching with an army into
England. In 1745 this led to a brutal military response from the British army. The
rebel army was destroyed at the Battle of Culloden (the last battle on British soil)
in northern Scotland. Scottish highland clan (extended family group) culture was
effectively destroyed at this time, and today exists largely as a way of parting
tourists from their money by selling them "tartan" souvenirs or histories of "their"
clan. For following Culloden, and even more importantly, the agricultural changes
of the 18th century which led to depopulation of the highlands, many Scots sought
their fortune outside Scotland-in England, America, Canada, or Australia. So that
there are more people of Scottish descent outside Scotland than in it, and many of
those come back to find their "roots", forming a good target for the sellers of such
souvenirs.
The dream of an independent Scotland has not vanished. Although Scotland elects
its members of parliament to the London parliament in just the same way as the
English do and sends 72 representatives to London, the Scotland Act 1998
provided for the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and Executive, following
endorsement of the UK Government's proposals on "devolution in a referendum in
1997 when the proposal to establish a Scottish Parliament was supported by 74.3%
of the votes. In the first election to the Parliament, in May 1999, 129 Members of
the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) were elected for a fixed four-year term. The
Labour Party, which had traditionally done well in elections in Scotland, became
the largest single party. The Scottish National Party which wants an independent
Scotland is the second largest party and the Conservative Party the third largest in
the Parliament.
Scotland has a great tradition of innovation in the arts, philosophy and science. The
inventor of the telephone was a Scot, and the first man to transmit a television
picture was another. Its writers have given the world such well-known work as
Walter Scott's romances of highland Scotland, and "Auld Lang Syne" (by Robert
Burns, who wrote in the Scots dialect). But the work which many consider to best
some up Scotland's position is the famous novel Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert
Louis Stevenson, which describes how the civilised scientist Dr Jekyll transforms
periodically into the crude and violent Mr. Hyde. This description of the dual
nature of man is perhaps a good way to think of Scotland: superficially fully
integrated into the UK, but concealed beneath this is a still-strong Scottish identity.
Northern Ireland
Population: 1.8 million
Area: 14 139 sq km
Northern Ireland (often called "Ulster" after an ancient Irish kingdom which once
existed in that part of Ireland) is the smallest of the four nations, both in area and
population. With only 1.5 million people, it is smaller than many Chinese cities. Its
capital, Belfast, is a relatively small town of around 350 000 people, but is much
the biggest city in the province. Though Northern Ireland is small it is significant
because of the political troubles there.
The one thing that almost everyone knows about Ireland is that the island has been
divided by a long and bloody conflict. The simplest way of describing this conflict
is as the result of Ireland's colonial history. From the time of Queen Elizabeth I
(i.e., from the late 1590s) the new settlers, loyal to the British crown and Protestant
in religious persuasion, were granted land, position, and privileges which had been
systematically taken away from the indigenous, Roman Catholic population.
In the 17th century, the English and Scottish Protestants were sent to Northern
Ireland to stop the Irish Catholics from causing trouble. The fighting is not the one
between the two nations, but between the two religions because the Protestants in
Ireland helped the English and Scottish Protestants to fight against the Irish
Catholics. The result was the loss of the Catholics, and they had to move to the
South (Irish Republic at present)
Until 1921 the full name of the UK was "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland", not only "Northern Ireland", because the whole island of Ireland was
politically integrated with Great Britain, and had been since 1801, while Britain's
domination of the Irish dated back centuries even before that date. But Irish desires
for an independent Irish state were never lost, and one of the key issues in late 19th
century British politics was a campaign in parliament for what was called "home-
rule"-Irish political control of Irish affairs. The Third Home Rule Bill' was finally
passed in 1914, but the process was overtaken by the First World War and was
suspended for the duration of the war.
Along with the political campaign for home-rule there were groups who followed a
more direct method of pursuing Irish independence, engaging in guerrilla or
terrorist activities against British institutions and the British military forces. During
the First World War and immediately after, this activity increased, sometimes
brutally suppressed by British forces. The Easter Rising of 1916 was the most
spectacular event, in which the rebels took over Dublin's Post Office, forcing the
British to retake it by military means. The leaders of the rebellion were executed.
In 1919 a group calling itself the IRA (Irish Republican Army) expanded the
fighting. In the end the conflict became too great to ignore, and as the Sinn Fein
("Ourselves Alone") party, who were supporters of the Irish terrorists (or freedom-
fighters, depending on your point of view), gained most of the Irish seats in the
British parliament, Irish independence became inevitable.
However, there was a problem. The majority of Irish people were descendants of
the original Celtic people who inhabited the British Isles before the Romans
arrived 2000 years ago. Ireland was not invaded by the Romans, or settled by the
Anglo-Saxons who followed them into Britain, thus they were ethnically distinct
from the majority of British people. Adding to this difference was religion: most
Irish people remained Catholics, while most British people had become
Protestants. But in one part of Ireland this was not, and is not, the case. In the 17th
century, the English government, trying to increase its control of Ireland,
encouraged people from Scotland and Northern England to emigrate to the
troublesome north of Ireland. As a result the northeastern part of Ireland gained a
population who saw themselves differently from the rest of the Irish people. They
thought of themselves as British, and wished to remain a part of the British state.
Also, they were Protestants. In 1921 the idea of being a part of an independent
Irish State, where most people were Catholic, did not appeal. On the other hand
they could not "go home"-Ireland was their home: they had been there 250 years or
more. They had shown in 1913 that they would not accept union with Ireland by
organizing a show of force, and put 100000 armed men in the streets of Northern
Ireland
Faced with these conflicting demands the British government chose a compromise
and organised a partition of Ireland. The southern 26 counties would form an
independent "free state", while the 6 north-eastern counties would remain a part of
the UK. This is what happened in 1921, bringing to an end 700 years of British
rule in southern Ireland.
Unlike the other nations in the UK, Northern Ireland was given its own Parliament
to deal with Northern Irish internal affairs, based at Stormont, just outside Belfast.
The problem was that just as Ireland had not been purely "Republican" (for an
independent Irish Republic) so in the 6 northern counties the population was not
purely "Loyalist" or "Unionist" (for union with Great Britain, loyal to the British
Crown). About a third of the population was Roman Catholic, many of whom
resented the North's separation from the south and identical with the nationalist
cause. To worsen the situation, the Protestants, being the majority, controlled the
local democratically-elected parliament, and used that power to support their own
economic and social dominance in the province. Catholics found it harder to get
jobs, or to benefit from social programmes such as public housing. Schools and
sporting events were segregated. Catholics were regularly harassed by a Protestant
Police force and any indication of nationalist sentiment was ruthlessly repressed.
Understandably resentment grew, and the armed conflict known as the "troubles"
developed.
Northern Ireland today must be the only country in the world which is recognized
as an independent entity but which is governed, in effect, by three separate
jurisdictions: that of the Republic of Ireland, that of Great Britain, and that of its
own elected executive government of ten ministers.
Most young Irish people leave for England and never return; their parents do not
see a future for them up North. The Northern people are known as warm, generous,
and energetic-as long as they are among their own.
Exercises
I. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F):
1. ……….Britain is no longer an imperial country
2. ……….The Commonwealth of Nation's includes all European countries.
3. ……….1 in 10 of the British population is of non-European ethnicity.
4. ……….The stereotype of the English gentleman never applied the majority

of the British people.
5. ……….Great Britain includes 3 constituent countries: England, Scotland,

and Wales.
6. ……….Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain.
7. ……….When people outside the UK talk about England, they mistake it as

Britain sometimes.
8. ……….The Scots and Welsh have a strong sense of being British
9. ……….Scotland was never conquered by the Romans.
10. ……….Most people in Scotland speak the old Celtic language, called
"Gaelic".
11. ……….Scotland was unified with England through peaceful means.
12. ……….Wales is rich in coal deposits.
13. ……….Cardiff, the capital of Wales, is a large city.
14. ……….The title of Prince of Wales is held by a Welsh according to

tradition.
15. ………..Ireland is part of Great Britain
16. ………. "Ulster", referring to Northern Ireland, was once an ancient Irish
Kingdom.
17. ………..The capital of Belfast is a large city with half a million people
18. ………..Northern Ireland is significant because of its manufacturing

industry
19. ………..The majority of Irish people were descendants of the original Celtic
people who inhabited British Isles before the Romans arrived 2000 years ago
20. ………..Sinn Fein is a legal political party in Northern Ireland
II Choose the best to complete the statement or answer the question:
1. Which of the following is NOT considered a characteristic of London?
A. The cultural centre.
B. The business centre.
C. The financial centre.
D. The sports centre.
2. Which of the following is NOT true about the characteristics of Britain?
A. Economic differences between north and south.
B. Differences of social systems between Scotland and Wales.
C. Class differences between a white-collar worker and a blue-collar worker.
D. Cultural differences between immigrants and the British.
3. Which of the following CANNOT be found in London?
A. Teahouses.
B. Art galleries.
C. Museums.
D. Theatres.
4. Which of the following is NOT true about Britain?
A. It used to be a powerful imperial country in the world.
B. It plays an active role as a member of European Union.
C. It is a relatively wealthy and developed country.
D. It used to be one of the superpowers in the world.
5. Three of the following are characteristics of London. Which of the four is the
exception?
A. London is a political, economic and cultural centre of the country.
B. London has a larger population than all other cities in England.
C. London is not only the largest city in Britain, but also the largest in the
world.
D. London has played a significant role in the economic construction of the

country.
6. The Tower of London, a historical sight, located in the centre of London, was
built by ..............
A. King Arthur
B. Robin Hood
C. Oliver Cromwell
D. William the Conqueror

7. Who were the ancestors of the English and the founders of England?
A. The Anglo-Saxons.
B. The Normans.
C. The Vikings.
D. The Romans.
8. Which is the largest city in Scotland?
A. Cardiff.
B. Edinburgh.
C. Glasgow.
D. Manchester.
9. Why did the Scottish Kings decide to form an independent singular Scottish
state in the 9th century?
A. They needed a unified independent nation to fight against Viking raids.
B. They felt it necessary to develop their own industry.
C. They were threatened by the Anglo-Saxons’ invasion.
D. They had to do it in order to resist the English.
10.Where do the majority of people in Scotland live?
A. In the Highlands.
B. In the Lowlands.
C. In the Uplands.
D. In the west of Scotland.
11.Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Wales was invaded by the Romans.
B. Wales was occupied by the Anglo-Saxons.
C. Wales was conquered by the Normans.
D. Wales was threatened by the English.
12. Which of the following parties in Scotland still wants an independent

Scotland?
A. The Labour Party.
B. The Liberal Party.
C. The Scottish Nationalist Party.
D. The Conservative Party.
13. When did Scotland join the Union by agreement of the English and Scottish
parliaments?
A. In 1715.
B. In 1688.
C. In 1745.
D. In 1707.
14. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd is not a simple historical figure for the Welsh. He is
almost considered the legendary hero of Welsh nationalism because
A. he became the first Prince of Wales in 1267.
B. he brought the English under his control.
C. he led a historic uprising against the English.
D. he unified Wales as an independent nation.
15. Northern Ireland is the smallest of the four nations, but is quite well-known in
the world for....................
A. its most famous landmark, the "Giant's Causeway"
B. its rich cultural life
C. its low living standards
D. its endless political problems
16. Faced with conflicting demands the British government chose a compromise
and organized a partition of Ireland in 1921, because .....................
A. the British government wouldn't be able to control Ireland any longer by

force
B. the British government intended to satisfy both sides-Catholics and

Protestants
C. Catholics in Ireland demanded a partition of Ireland

D. Protestants welcomed the idea of partition
17. In the early 1970s, the IRA...........
A. killed many Protestants and Catholics
B. burned down the houses of Catholics
C. murdered individuals at random
D. carried out a series of bombing and shooting and attacked the security forces
as their main target
18. Why did the British government decide to replace the power-sharing policy
with "direct -rule" from London?
A. The power-sharing policy was not accepted by the majority of Protestants.
B. The Northern Irish Parliament could not govern the power effectively.
C. The Power-Sharing policy couldn't be carried out.
D. All the above.
III. Fill in the blanks:
1. The full name of the United Kingdom is the ...... and.................
2. The island of Great Britain is made up of

England, ................and..............
3. The United Kingdom has been a member of the..................... since

1973.
4. Britain is now a ...........society which produces a population of which
1 in 20 are of ..............ethnicity.
5. London plays a significant role in Britain's economic and cultural life.

It's not only the financial .....................of the nation, but also one of the major
international financial centres in the world.
6. Britain consists of three nations, including

England, ..............and ...................
7. Britain is a country with a history of invasions. In 43 AD Britain was

invaded by ............in the late 8th century they experienced raids from
Scandinavia and in the 11th century they suffered invasions from
8. The Anglo-Saxons began to settle in Britain in the.............. century.
9. The capital of Britain is .................., which has great influence on the

UK in all fields including government, finance, and....................
10. Charles the First, king of Britain, was executed, because he attempted
to overthrow ……. in the English Revolution.
11. Name two Scottish cities which have ancient and internationally
respected universities: ..............and................
12. The battle of Bannockburn led by Robert the Bruce succeeded in

winning the full independence of..............
13. Both the Scottish and Welsh people elect their members of
parliaments to the London Parliament and each holds ............and ...........seats
respectively.
14. The capital of Scotland is ................., which is well-known for its
natural...............
15. Although Wales is the smallest of the three nations on the mainland,
it's good at getting ..........from abroad, particularly Japan and...............
16. To pursue Irish independence, the most spectacular event in the Irish
history was .......of 1916, in which the rebels occupied Dublin's...............and
forced the British to take it back by military means.
17. As Protestants were the majority of the province, they controlled the
local ........., and used that power to support their ................dominance in the
area.
18. The ................IRA believed that they had made enough progress so
that they could concentrate on a political process, and run candidates
for ..................
19. Sinn Fein, the legal ............party, supports the IRA's right to fight. Its leaders
spoke of a twin campaign for union with Ireland, both political and military,
which is known as the policy of .............
20.The Good Friday Agreement assures .............that Northern Ireland "remains

part of the United Kingdom and shall not cease to be so without ................ of
Northern Ireland".
IV. Questions for Consideration
1. What was the British Empire? What do you know about it? In what way is
the Empire still felt in Britain and in the international field?
2. Why is it not possible to sum up the British people with a few simple
phrases?
3. "British history has been a history of invasion." Please illustrate this point
with the examples from the text. How did each of the invasions influence
English culture?
4. What are some general characteristics of Scotland? How did Scotland

become part of the union of Great Britain?
5. Describe characteristics of Wales and Wales’ unification with Great Britain.
6. Are there any differences between England, Scotland and Wales in terms of
cultural tradition?
7. Are there any differences between England, Scotland and Wales in terms of
cultural tradition?
8. Why is Northern Ireland, according to the author, so significant in the United

Kingdom? What is the political problem there?
9. What are some of the factors in Irish and English history that affect the
situation in Northern Ireland today?
KEY TO UNIT 1
I.
1. T 6. F 11.T 16.T
2. F 7. T 12.T 17.F
3. F 8. F 13.F 18.F
4. T 9. T 14.F 19.T
5. F 10.F 15.F 20.T
II.
1. D
2. B
3. A
4. D
5. A
6. D
7. A
8. C
9. A
10.B
11.B
12.C
13.D
14.D
15.D
16.B
17.D
18.D
III.
1. United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland
2. Scotland, Wales
3. European Union
4. Multiracial, non-European
5. Centre
6. Scotland, Wales
7. The Roman Empire, Normans
8. Fifth
9. London, culture
10. The Parliament
11. Edinburgh, Glasgow
12. Scotland
13. 3,4
14. Edinburgh, beauty
15. Investment, the US
16. The Easter Rising, Post Office
17.Parliament, economic and social
18. Official, election
19.Political, the Bullet and the Ballot Box
20. The loyalist community, the consent of the majority of the people
39
Unit 2:
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
Focal points:
1. divine right of kings
2. the Bill of Rights of 1689
3. the Cabinet
4. the Prime Minister
5. the Constitution
6. the power and the functions of the Parliament
7. the roles of the monarch
8. the House of Lords
9. the House of Commons
Britain is arguably the oldest representative democracy in the world, with

roots that can be traced over a thousand years. Other countries also have long
political histories but these histories are marked by periods of sudden, and
often violent, change. Although Britain too has had its periods of political
instability, in contrast to say, France or the United States, the process of state-
building has been one of evolution rather than revolution. This long, unbroken
history is still apparent in Britain's current political institutions and in its
political culture.
The Monarchy
Britain is democracy, yet its people are not constitutionally in control of the
state. As a result of an historical process the people of Britain are subjects of
the Crown, accepting the Queen as the head of the state. Yet even the Queen is
not sovereign in any substantial sense since she receives her authority from
Parliament, and is subject to its direction in almost all matters. In short, she
40
reigns but does not rule. Technically, British sovereignty collectively resides
in the three elements of Parliament: the Crown, and Parliament's two
chambers, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
This curious situation came about as a result of a long struggle for power
between the Crown and the Parliament during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. In 1689, Parliament won that struggle, because it controlled most of
the national wealth. It agreed to allow the Crown to continue to function
within certain limits, and subject to Parliament's control.
The role of the monarchy today is primarily to symbolize the tradition and
unity of the British state. Obviously the prime minister and governing party at
any given time will only represent the part of the population that voted in their
favour. The Queen, however, because she is non-political, belongs to
everybody. Under the terms of the constitution her other roles are as follows:
she is legally head of the executive, an integral part of the legislature, head of
the judiciary, commander-in-chief of the armed forces and "supreme
governor" of the Church of England.
The remaining powers of the monarch are basically to summon, prorogue and
dissolve Parliament; to give royal assent to legislation passed by Parliament;
to appoint government ministers, judges, officers and the armed forces,
governors, diplomats and bishops of the Church; to confer honors such as
peerages and knighthoods; to remit sentences passed on convicted criminals;
and finally to declare war on or make peace with an enemy power. However,
in most matters of state, the Queen exercises her power according to the
direction of her Prime Minister.
In a 1988 poll, most Britons felt the Queen's most important job was to
represent Britain at home and abroad; her second most important job was to
set standards of good citizenship and family life. While the Queen has indeed
led an exemplary life, her children have been criticised for their poor behavior.
Her successor and son, Prince Charles, divorced his wife, Princess Diana.
41
Stories came out in the press alleging that they had both been having
extramarital affairs. Her middle son, Andrew, also divorced his wife, Sarah
Ferguson (popularly known as Fergie). Andrew and Fergie in particular were
both criticised for their jet-setting lifestyles and the way they squandered
money.
While the Queen is independently wealthy, much of the financial support for
the Royal Family comes from the taxpayer, supposedly in recognisance of the
fact that the royal family fulfils its role on behalf of the British people. This
had led to great controversy in recent years. In 1992, after Andrew and Fergie
had separated, newspapers published a picture of a topless Fergie and her
"financial advisor", a wealthy Texan, lounging around a swimming pool.
People were outraged because their tax money was used to support such
decadence. Shortly afterwards, Charles and Diana also announced they were
separating and allegations about their extramarital affairs began to appear in
the press.
Criticism of the Queen's children led to a more general criticism about the
monarchy and the debate came to a head in November 1992 when a fire did a
great deal of damage to Windsor Castle. The government immediately offered
50 million pounds' worth of taxpayers' money to pay for repairs. The
electorate was very angry: Britain was in a recession and basic things like
hospitals and schools had been forced to cut their services because public
money was so scarce. They thought it was very unfair that the Queen, who is
incredibly wealthy and does not have to pay taxes herself, should not have to
pay for at least part of the repairs. The taxpayer was already paying for the
running costs of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, three other palaces, a
royal yacht, a royal train and a royal plane. As a result of the controversy, the
Queen offered to start paying taxes and to accept less public money to support
her family. She also began to open Buckingham Palace to tourists in the
summer months in order to raise money to pay for repairs. Her willingness to
give in to popular demands once again endeared her to her subjects, although
42
her children still remain quite unpopular.
A less well known role of the Queen, which is nevertheless very important to
British politics, is that of a confidante to the Prime Minister. Every Tuesday
the Prime Minister attends the Queen privately at Buckingham Palace. In her
more than 40 years on the throne, the Queen has had weekly chats with 10
different Prime Ministers and they have said that her long experience and her
political neutrality make her a good source of informed observation on the day
to day problems of governance.
Interestingly, it is said that the Queen gets on much better with Labour Prime
Ministers than with Conservative Prime Ministers.
The Parliament
The word "parliament" comes from the verb "to parley", that is, to discuss or
talk. The term was first used officially in 1236 to describe the gathering of
feudal barons and representatives from counties and towns which the king
occasionally summoned if he wanted to raise money. Traditionally, medieval
kings were supposed to meet their own royal expenses out of their own
wealth. If extra resources were needed, for example, if a king wanted to wage
a war, which he frequently did he would try to persuade the Great Council, a
gathering of leading, wealthy barons which met several times a year, to give
him some extra money. By the 13th Century, kings found they could not make
ends meet by asking for money from this quite small group, and so they wid-
ened the Great Council to include representatives of counties, cities and
towns, to get them to contribute to his projects. It was in this way that the
Great Council came to include both those who were summoned "by name"(the
House of Lords) and representatives of communities (the House of
Commons). These two houses exist today and collectively we call them the
Parliament. The Commons quickly gained in political strength. They were
willing to help the King by raising taxes and passing laws, but in return they
wanted an increasing say in what the king was doing. In recognition of this,
43
Henry IV decreed in 1407 that all money grants should be considered and
approved by the Commons before being considered by the Lords, a formula
which is almost the same today. The Commons also acquired law-making
powers by the 15th century, a prerogative which had once belonged only to
the King and his Councilors.
The civil war which brought the Roundheads to power in the 17th century was
rooted in a dispute over the power of the king vis-a-vis Parliament. James I
and his successor Charles I both insisted on their divine right as kings. They
felt Parliament, representing the community, had no real political right to
exist, but only existed because the king allowed it to do so. It was the effort to
reassert the rights of Parliament that led to the civil war. The royalist armies
were defeated and King Charles I was executed in 1649. But by 1660, Charles
I' s son was restored to the throne as Charles II.
The next King, James II, having apparently learned little from the experience
of the previous decades, also tried to govern without the consent of
Parliament. Leading politicians and church authorities asked James' son-in-
law, William of Orange, to replace him. In return, William promised these
representatives that he would declare governing without parliamentary consent
to be illegal. This might have led to another civil war, but James ran away and
William took over. In 1689 Parliament passed the Bill of Rights which
ensured that the King would never be able to ignore Parliament.
The House of Lords and the House of Commons
Below the Queen is the House of Lords. It consists of the Lords Spiritual, who
are the Archbishops and most prominent bishops of the Church of England;
and the Lords Temporal, which refers to everyone else. Lords, usually called
peers, are not elected and are not considered to represent anyone besides
themselves. They sit in the Lords either because they have inherited the seat
from their forefathers (peerages can only be passed through the male line) or
because they have been appointed by the sovereign, at the suggestion of the
44
Prime Minister (a practice created in 1958). These latter are called life peers.
Because peers are appointed or given the right by their birth into a particular
family, in Parliament they speak and vote as individuals, not as representatives
of the greater interests of the country-although of course civic-minded peers
do try to serve their country rather than their own interests. Unlike those who
serve in the House of Commons, they do not receive salaries and many do not
attend Parliament at all. In 1993 there were 1213 Lords: 776 were hereditary
peers, 391 were life peers, 20 were Law Lords (a special group chosen to assist
the House in its judicial duties) and the remainders were Lords Spiritual. Only
375 on average regularly attended the sittings.
Nowadays the composition of the House of Lords is seen as being both sexist
and elitist because of the way the majority of peerages are passed down
through aristocratic patrilineal lines. It is very likely that efforts will be made
to reform the House of Lords to make it a more effective and modem
institution in the next decade.
Finally, there is the House of Commons which currently consists of about 651
Members of Parliament (MPs) elected by the people to represent them. MPs
represent voters in a particular area, known as a constituency or seat. The
number of seats varies a little bit because of changes in the population. MPs
are only allowed to sit for the lifetime of the parliament, that is, the length of
time between General Elections when a new set of MPs is elected. However,
MPs can be reelected a limitless number of times and so popular MPs have
veritable careers as parliamentarians. Unlike the Lords, MPs receive a salary
of about 31 000 pound a year. This is about the same pay as an average middle
class professional such as a doctor or an accountant would earn and it is
thought that MPs will thus be able to identify with the "typical" voter they
represent. They also receive allowances for secretaries and researchers, travel
and soon.
Parliament is the seat of British democracy, but it is perhaps valuable to

45
remember that while the House of Lords was created in order to provide a
council of the nobility for the King, the Commons were summoned originally
in order to provide the King with money. The more money the King
demanded the more the Commons questioned its use. Because of its financial
power, its ability to raise or withhold money, the House of Commons,
eventually - from the seventeenth century onwards - gained power not only in
matters of finance but also of legislation over both the monarch and also the
Lord. Ultimately the House of Commons can force the government to resign
by passing a resolution of "no confidence". The Government must also resign
if the House rejects a proposal so vital to its policy that it has made it a matter
of confidence.
The Birth of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
To ensure good relations between Crown and Parliament, the king or queen
met regularly with a group of important Parliamentarians, a group which
became known as the Cabinet. While Cabinet ministers were appointed by the
sovereign, they had to have enough support in the House of Commons to
enable them to persuade Parliament to pass laws and vote for taxes.
In 1714, the ruling Queen died without producing an heir to the throne and so
Britain had to "import" a member of the royal family from Germany to rule
Britain. The new King George I spoke English very badly and was not very
interested in politics anyway, so he left the job of chairing cabinet meetings to
one of his ministers. In time he came to be called the prime minister.
While a king or queen who was interested in politics remained very

influential, the Parliament was slowly becoming more powerful, especially as
it became more organized. In 1832, when a system for choosing the House of
Commons by popular election replaced the monarch's job of appointing
representatives, the modern political system was born. Members of Parliament
(MPs) assembled themselves into groups which eventually would become
political parties, organized groups which presented their policies and ideas to
46
the electorate for approval. The party with the most supporters in the
Commons forms the government, and by tradition, the leader of that party
becomes Prime Minister.
Most MPs belong to political parties - Labour, the Conservatives and the
Liberal Democrats are the major ones. The Prime Minister is the leader of the
political party which wins the most seats in a general election. His or her
Cabinet nowadays consists of usually around 20 MPs in the governing party
who are chosen by the Prime Minister to become government ministers in the
Cabinet. The Cabinet carries out the functions of policy-making, the
coordination of government departments and the supreme control of
government. The House of Commons is the real centre of British political life-
it is the place where elected representatives make and debate policy-and so its
role is discussed in greater detail in the chapter on British Politics.
The British Government Today
From this brief history we can see that British government today is deeply
influenced by its long past. Britain is both a parliamentary democracy and a
constitutional monarchy. While the official head of state is the Queen, her
powers are largely traditional and symbolic. The government at national and
local levels is elected by the people and governs according to British
constitutional principles.
Following a general election, the Queen invites the leader of the majority
party represented in the Commons as the PM to form a government on her
behalf. As head of the government, the PM appoints about 100 ministers, of
whom about 20 are in the Cabinet - a senior group which takes major policy
decisions. Ministers are collectively responsible for government decisions and
individually responsible for their own departments. The second largest party
forms the official Opposition, with its own leader and "shadow cabinet". The
Opposition has a duty to challenge against government policies and to present
an alternative program.
47
Although government is essentially political, it depends upon a permanent
body of officials, the Civil Service, to administer the decisions of ministers,
and to keep the wheels of government - in its broadest sense - turning. Policies
are carried out by government departments and executive agencies staffed by
politically neutral civil servants. Civil servants must be as loyal to an
incoming government as to the outgoing one, however much as private
individuals they may be pleased or dismayed at the change of government.
Because of Britain's imperial past, when many other corners of the globe were
ruled from London, we find similar systems of government in many former
colonies. Other countries which are governed according to the principles of
British parliamentary democracy are Australia, Canada, New Zealand and
India. All but India recognize the Queen as their head of state, and a
representative of the Crown, called the Governor-General, is present in such
constitutional monarchies in order to fulfill the role of the monarch.
The Constitution
British governance today is based upon the terms and conditions of the
constitution. Israel and Britain are the only two countries without written
constitutions of the sort which most countries have. Instead of having one
particular document which lists out the basic principles of how a country
should be governed, the foundations of the British state are laid out in statute
law, that is, laws passed by Parliament; the common laws, which are laws
which have been established through common practice in the courts, not
because Parliament has written them; and conventions, which are rules and
practices which do not exist legally, but are nevertheless regarded as vital to
the workings of government.
Parliament
Parliament has a number of different functions. First and foremost, it passes

laws. Another important function is that it provides the means of carrying on
48
the work of government by voting for taxation. Its other roles are to scrutinise
government policy, administration and expenditure and to debate the major
issues of the day.
Parliament is supreme in the British state because it alone has the power to
change the terms of the Constitution. For example, the decision for Britain to
join the European Union (EU) required a constitutional change because it
meant recognizing that EU law would in particular cases be more important
than British law.
There are no legal restraints upon Parliament. It can make or change laws,
change or overturn established conventions or even prolong its own life
without consulting the electorate. However, it does not assert its supremacy,
but bears the common law in mind and acts according to precedent.
Strictly speaking, the Parliament today consists of the Queen, the House of
Lords and the House of Commons. These three institutions must all agree to
pass any given legislation.
However, most everyday references to Parliament refer to the workings of the

Lords and/or the Commons, with the Monarchy regarded as a separate
institution. This is because even though the Queen must consent to pass a law,
this consent is given as a matter of course. The last royal refusal was in 1707.
Exercises
I. Decide whether the following statements are true ( T ) or false ( F ):
1. ……….It is no doubt that Britain is the oldest representative democracy
in the world
2. ……….In Britain, the process of state-building has been one of
evolution rather than revolution, in contrast to France and the US
3. ……….The oldest institution of government in Britain is the Monarchy.
4. ……….The divine right of the king means the sovereign derived his
authority from his subjects.
49
5. ……….As the king in theory had God on his side, it was thought that
he should exercise absolute power.
6. ……….The term "parliament" was first officially used in 1066 to
describe the gathering of feudal barons and representatives from
counties and towns
7. ……….Britain is both a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional
monarchy
8. ……….Common laws are laws which have been established through
common practice in the courts.
II. Choose the answer that best completes the statement or answers the
question:
1. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of British government?
A. It offers the Queen high political status and supreme power.
B. It is both a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy.
C. It is the oldest representative democracy in the world.
D. It has no written form of Constitution.
2. What happened in 1215?
A. It was the year of Norman Conquest in British history.
B. Forced by barons, King John signed the Magna Carta.
C. Henry IV granted the Commons the power to review money grants.
D. King Egbert united England under his rule.
3. Which of the following is NOT true about the Great Council?
A. They included barons and representatives from counties and towns.
B. They were sometimes summoned by the kings to contribute money.
C. They later developed into what we now know as the Cabinet.
D. They represented the aristocrats as well as the communities.
4. Under whose reign was the Bill of Rights passed?
A. James II.
B. William of Orange.
C. Oliver Cromwell.
50
D. George I.
5. Which of the following is NOT related to the Constitution?
A. It is a written document which lists out the basic principles for
government.
B. It is the foundation of British governance today.
C. Conventions and Laws passed by Parliament are part of the
Constitution.
D. The common laws are part of the Constitution.
6. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?
A. There are no legal restraints upon Parliament.
B. Strictly speaking, the Queen is part of the Parliament.
C. Parliament has the supreme power of passing laws.
D. Parliament has no power to change the terms of the Constitution.
7. Which of the following is NOT a true description of the Queen's role?
A. The Queen selects the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
B. The Queen symbolises the tradition and unity of the British state.
C. The Queen acts as a confidante to the Prime Minister.
D. The Queen is the temporal head of the Church of England.
8. Which of the following is NOT a feature of the House of Lords?
A. Lords do not receive salaries and many do not attend Parliament
sittings.
B. It consists of the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal.
C. The lords are expected to represent the interests of the public.
D. Most of the lords in the House of Lords are males.
9. Which of the following is NOT based on the fact?
A. Members of Parliament elect the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
B. MPs receive salaries and some other allowances.
C. MPs are expected to represent the interests of the public.
D. Most MPs belong to the major political parties.
III. Fill in the blanks :

51
1. .......... the ancestor of the present Queen, Elizabeth II, united England
under his rule in 829.
2. The doctrine of the "divine right of kings" held that the sovereign
derived his authority from ..........., not from ...................
3. During the civil war in the 17th century, those who represented the
interests of Parliament are called.................and those who supported the
King were called ......................
4. In 1215, some feudal barons and the Church forced King .............to sign
the ............to place some limits on the King's power.
5. In medieval times, kings would summon a group of wealthy barons and
representatives of counties, towns and cities-called ............to raise
money.
6. In 1689, Parliament passed ..................to ensure that the King would
never be able to ignore Parliament.
7. In the 18th century, King George I left the job of chairing cabinet
meetings to one of his ministers who later came to be called.............
8. In Britain, the official head of state is .........while the real centre of
political life is in ........
9. The British Constitution consists of statute law, ..........and .............
10.The most important function of the Parliament is to .................
11.Strictly speaking, the Parliament today consists of the
Queen, ..............and...............
12.Life peers should be nominated by .............and appointed by ................

1. What are some of the characteristics of the British constitutional
monarchy? How has the English monarchy evolved gradually to the
present constitutional monarchy?
2. How did the doctrine of the "divine right of kings", according to the
author, lead to the English Civil War? What do you know about the
causes of the English Revolution in the 17th century?
52
3. What is the history of English parliament? What role did the parliament
play in the Civil War?
4. Discuss the major characteristics and the main content of the British
constitution.
5. Why does the author say that parliament is supreme in the British state?
What functions does parliament have? What role does the Queen (King)
and the Prime Minister play in British government?
6. What kind of institution is the House of Lords? What role does it play
in British government?
53
Unit 3: POLITICS, CLASS AND RACE
Focal points:
1. importance of general elections
2. formation of the government
3. vote of no confidence
4. procedure of general elections
5. The Conservative party
6. The Labour party
7. Liberal Democrats
8. class system in the British society
9. upper middle-class and lower middle-class
10.the hereditary aristocracy
General Elections: Why Are They Important?
Periodic national elections are very important in the western model of

democracy. In the UK the citizen’s right to vote for the candidate of their
choice to represent them in parliament is a right that has been struggled for
over the past two hundred years. Although MPs have been elected to
parliament for hundreds of years, in 1832 only 5% of the adult population
were allowed to vote; by 1884 persistent political campaigning had increased
this to 25%; by 1919 it was 75%; and in 1928 it reached the current level of
about 99% (those excluded are Lords, certain categories of convicted
criminals, the legally insane, and resident foreign citizens-except UK resident
citizens of the Irish Republic, who may vote). The election is seen as an
opportunity to influence future government policy-or, less positively, that
whatever else the failings of the political system, at least the election provides
the opportunity to "kick the rascals out"
When Do Elections Occur?
As you will remember from the previous chapter the British people are
54
represented in parliament by one of 651 members of parliament representing
the 651 geographical areas or "constituencies" into which the United Kingdom
is divided. The party which holds a majority of those "seats" in parliament
forms the government, with its party leader as the Prime Minister. After a
government has been in power for 5 years it has to resign and hold a "general
election", in which all British adults are given the chance to vote again for
their constituency's MP. A government cannot stand for longer than five years
except in exceptional circumstances (it has happened twice this century, when
elections were a delayed until the end of the First and Second World Wars).
However, the Prime Minister can call an election sooner than 5 years. This can
happen (as in 1979) when the government loses a "vote of no confidence" in
the House of Commons. That is, an MP (usually a member of an opposition
party) puts forward a statement for the MPs to vote on saying that ''This house
no longer has confidence in the Government". If a majority of MPs agree, then
the government has effectively lost its ability to govern and is forced to resign
and call a general election. An early election can also happen if the Prime
Minister decides that the government is currently very popular (perhaps the
economy is booming) and calls an early election hoping to win another five
years rather than wait the full period and risk becoming unpopular in the
meantime and losing the election.
Who Can Stand for Election as an MP?
Anyone who is eligible to vote can stand as an MP. It is necessary only to

make a deposit of 500 pounds (a quite easily obtainable amount in the UK)
which is lost if the candidate does not receive at least 5% of the vote. This is
supposed to stop people running just for a joke: however, no British election
would be complete without its eccentric no-hopers running for parties such as
the "Monster Raving Loony Party".
In most cases, if you are not the candidate put forward by one of the main
political parties you are unlikely to persuade many people to vote for you
55
They will see it as a wasted vote even if they respect you and your ideas,
because even if you were to win the seat you would be powerless in
parliament against the big parties' representatives. A vote for an independent
candidate effectively prevents the voter from contributing to the competition
between the big parties as to which of them will form a government. There are
some small parties which have electoral success-usually these are associated
with the politics of a particular region, such as "The Party of Wales". But
people who want to make an impact in national politics must usually join one
of the big parties, and apply to be chosen as their candidate in one of the
constituencies.
What Happens in an Election?
Once the date has been set, everyone on the "electoral register" (the list of
citizens eligible to vote) receives a voting card in the mail with details of
when and where to vote. The electoral register is compiled from a variety of
sources, but it is the citizen's own responsibility to check they are on the list-
people sometimes forget to re-register when they move house for example.
Meanwhile the political parties get their electoral campaigns under way. This
involves advertisements in newspapers, door-to-door campaigning (candidates
or their local supporters come and knock at people's doors trying to persuade
voters to vote for them), postal deliveries of leaflets, and, for the main parties,
strictly limited "party electoral broadcasts" on the television: each main party
is given a few 10 minute periods of time on national TV to "sell" their policies
to the public to The time is given free, and the amount of time is proportional
to the percentage of the vote which the party received at the previous election.
They are not allowed to buy more time as this would favour richer parties over
poorer ones. Likewise the amount each candidate is allowed to spend in his
constituency campaign is strictly limited (to 7000 pounds in 1992) for th6
same reason of farness. Nevertheless, the national campaign, other than that
on TV, is not limited; with the big three parties spending between 2 and 10
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million pounds each in the 1992 election. In addition to the parties’ own
publicity, newspapers and TV programmes devote a great deal of time to
discussing the campaign, interviewing politicians, and predicting the results:
A lot of money is spent by the media on "opinion polls", in which samples of
the British population are asked how they will vote, and the results are then
applied to the whole country to try and guess the election results. They are
often wrong!
The campaigns are not simply about telling people how good your policies
are, but also about telling them how bad your opponents are. So they can be
quite aggressive and critical. Many British people complain that the
campaigns are too negative, that the politicians do not properly explain their
own policies, but instead explain why people shouldn't vote for their
opponents.
On the Election Day people go to their local voting station (often in a public
building taken over for the day, such as a school or a community centre). They
give their card to the official, who checks them off on his list and hands over
another card with the candidates' names listed on it. The voters take this into a
private booth (secrecy is an important part of the process, as if no one knows
what you voted you need feel under no pressure from anyone to vote one way
or another) and put an "X" beside the name of the candidate of their choice.
They then fold the card and take it to the sealed box beside the official and
push it through a slit in the top.
When the voting closes at the end of the day, the counting begins. Under close
supervision, teams of volunteers check the voting cards in each constituency.
The results come out over a period of a few hours. Television stations devote
long programmes to monitoring the process as the results are gathered in from
around the country, and keep a running count of the seats won by each party.
It can be quite tense and exciting in a close election. Usually by the early
morning it is clear which party is going to form the next government-as soon
57
as they have won 326 constituencies, which will give them a majority of MPs
in the House of Commons. This is a time for great celebration for them and
their supporters, and great disappointment for the losers.
The Political Parties
There are three major national parties: The Conservative party and the Labour
party are the two biggest, and any general election is really about which of
those two is going to govern. But there is a third important party, the Liberal
Democrats, who usually receive up to about 20% of the votes: not enough to
form a government, but enough to have a big impact on which of the other two
parties does so. Anyone can join any of these parties and so take part in their
internal politics: it's just a question of paying a small annual fee. All
encourage people to join since it means more money for their campaigns, and
greater legitimacy for their policies.
Current Issues
The mid-90s saw steady economic growth, and steadily reducing

unemployment figures. These are usually good signs for a government, but as
the next election approaches (summer 1997) John Major’s Conservatives
remain unpopular: well behind Labour in the opinion polls. Part of the reason
for this is that the Conservatives have been in power for so long, people are
ready for a change. Also there have been a lot of stories in the news about
government corruption. Additionally the Conservatives are seen as divided
internally on their policy towards Europe: some pro-integration, some against.
Particularly there is division on the topic of monetary union-whether the UK
should give up its own currency (the pound) and join in with the rest of
Europe in a new European currency (the Euro). Popular government services
such as health and education are not seen to be “safe” with the Conservatives.
All these factors mean that the new-look Labour Party under its new leader
Tony Blair became more popular, and he won the election in 1997.
58
Class
Social class is a complex topic, but one which is difficult to avoid when
discussing British society, which is often seen as a society in which "class" is
more important than in other countries. This is true to a certain extent, but
should probably not be exaggerated. Most countries have some kind of class
structure, in that there exist broad groups within society which share types of
employment, income levels, and certain cultural characteristics. But important
in the idea of "class" is that it makes a difference to an individual's "life-
chances" which group or class he or she is born into. So if a middle-class
couple (perhaps a doctor and a teacher) have a child it is more likely that that
child will also acquire middle-class education, employment and income levels,
than will the child of working-class factory workers. This is certainly the case
in the UK, though it should be stressed that it is far from impossible for the
working-class child to acquire middle-class status: it is simply statistically
much more unlikely than for his middle-class school-friend.
British society is considered to be divided into three main groups of classes:

the Upper Class, the Middle Class, and the Lower or Working class. Most
British people grow up with a deep knowledge and understanding of the class
system even if they are not very conscious of it. Most people know which
class they belong to and are able to tell which class another person belongs to
by the way they speak, their clothes, their interests or even the type of food
they eat.
Social class is not only about behavior and attitudes. For example, although
many upper class people are rich and may own a lot of land, having a lot of
money does not make a person upper class. It is also important to come from a
particular kind of family, have friends who are considered suitable, have been
to a certain type of private school and speak with the right kind of accent.
There are people who are poor but who do not think themselves as working
class because their family background, education, political opinions..........are
59
different to those of most working class people. Many people do not like the
class system but it is impossible to pretend that these differences do not exist
or that British people do not sometimes form opinions in this way.
Race
People abroad often think of the UK as an exclusively "white" country. It is

not. Around 5% of British citizens are from non-European ethnic groups.
Although small ethnic minority populations have lived in the UK for a long
time, particularly in port cities such as Liverpool and Bristol, the majority of
such immigrants have arrived in the last 40 years. Mostly they originated in
countries of the now almost vanished British Empire, whose citizens used to
have the right to live in the UK. Two areas of the world in particular have
supplied the majority of Britain's recent immigrants: South Asia, that is, India,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka; and Caribbean countries such as Jamaica and
Trinidad.
This has a number of consequences for British society, mainly positive,

though with some indirect negative effects. On the positive side such
immigrant groups bring their culture with them, which increases the variety
and interest within British culture: for example, the UK, which used to have a
bad reputation for food, now has a cuisine as varied as any, with Indian and
Chinese restaurants in every community, as well as many other varieties in
bigger cities. This variety in restaurant food has resulted in more
experimentation at home, so that shops now carry a much wider variety of
goods to supply the demand, and there are many TV programmes and books
devoted to all kinds of different cooking.
The negative side of things lies largely in the attitude of some of their white
neighbours. In many countries where there has been substantial immigration
there has also been trouble in the process of assimilating those immigrants,
and unfortunately the UK is no exception. Immigration is not evenly spread
across the country, so some areas, especially the larger cities, and particular
60
areas within those cities have quite high proportions of ethnic minorities.
Some London boroughs have more than 30% of the population from non-
white groups. Often people used to an ethnically uniform society feel their
way of life to be threatened by the newcomers, and perhaps see themselves as
being in economic competition with them, especially if they do feel
economically insecure, and fear losing their jobs. For some people too,
cultural difference is seen not as positive and interesting but as distasteful.
Forty years ago it was not unusual to see signs on pubs (bars) or guesthouses
saying "no blacks". Thankfully this is no longer the case, and would anyway
be illegal following various pieces of race relations legislation, but
nevertheless despite much progress, and much official action to minimise
racism, both subtle and overt oppression remains.
Exercises
1. ………In the UK, a government cannot stand for longer than five years
except in exceptional circumstances.
2. ………The parliament can call an election sooner than five years.
3. ………Anyone who is eligible to vote with 500 pounds as deposit can
stand as an MP. .
4. ………Each main party is given some time on national TV to "sell"
their policies. The time is not given free and has to be paid by the party.
5. ………The amount spent in national campaign is not limited other than

that on TV.
6. ………Secrecy is not an important part of the voting process.
7. ………There are two major national parties in the U.K. according to the
text.
8. ……….Liberal Democratic party is the newest of the major national
parties.
9. ………Children from the upper-middle-class usually have a better
61
education than those from the working or middle- class.
10.………The majority of middle-class people today have working class
parents or grandparents.
11.………One of the distinctive features about the British class-system is
that it has also retained a hereditary aristocracy. .......................
12.………The majority of Britain's recent immigrants have mainly come
from North Asia and Caribbean countries.
13.Most immigrants earn a living by opening restaurants or becoming
writers or musicians.
14.………The immigrants have problems of unemployment, under-
representation in politics and unfair treatment by police and by the
justice system.
question:
1. Which group of people cannot vote in the general election?
A. Members in the House of Commons.
B. Lords in the House of Lords.
C. The UK citizens above the age of 18.
D. The UK resident citizens of the Irish Republic.
2. By whom is a "vote of no confidence" decided?
A. The House of Commons.
B. The House of Lords.
C. The two major parties.
D. The Prime Minister.
3. The Prime Minister. Which of the following is NOT true about the
electoral campaigns?
A. Big parties can buy time to broadcast their policies on the television.
B. There is a limit on the amount of money candidates can spend in their
constituency campaign.
C. Candidates and their supporters go door-to-door persuading voters to
62
vote for them.
D. Candidates criticize each other's policies to show how good their own
policies are.
4. How many seats in the House of Commons should a party hold at least
in order to win the election?
A. 651.
B. 326.
C. 626.
D. 351.
5. Which of the following description about the Conservative party is
NOT true?
A. It has been in power for an unusually long period of time.
B. It prefers policies that protect individual's rights.
C. It receives a lot of the funding from big companies.
D. It is known as a party of high taxation levels.
7. Who is the leader of the Labour party at present?
A. John Major.
B. Tony Blair.
C. Harold Wilson.
D. Margaret Thatcher.
8. Which of the following is NOT true about life peers?
A. They are not from the aristocratic families.
B. They cannot sit in the House of Lords.
C. They earned their titles through their outstanding achievement.
D. The titles cannot be inherited by their children.
9. Which of the following statements is NOT true about class system in
the UK?
A. People of different classes tend to read different kinds of newspapers.
B. Class division is only decided by people's income.
C. Though social advancement is possible, class affects a person's life
chances.
63
D. The way people speak may identify them as belonging to a particular
class.
10. Which of the following is NOT characteristic of the hereditary
aristocracy in the UK?
A. The noble titles can be inherited by the children.
B. They usually own historic houses in the country.
C. They are the richest people in the UK.
D. The senior members can be lords in the House of Lords.
12. Which of the following is NOT a true description of the situation of ethnic
minorities in the UK?
A. They are well represented in the British Parliament.
B. They are economically poorer than the white population.
C. They are treated unfairly by the justice system.
D. They are threatened by some racist groups.

1. The UK is divided into ...............constituencies with each of them
represented by a member in ....... ..
2. The party which wins the majority seats in parliament forms ............
and its party leader becomes .................
3. Normally, a government can be in power for .......... years, and then it
has to resign and hold a general election.
4. If a government loses a ............... in the House of Commons, it has to
resign.
5. The amount of time given to each party in the "party electoral
broadcasts" is proportional to the .............. which the party received at
the previous election.
6. The media conducts ............... to try to predict the result of the election.
7. There are three major parties in the UK: ............., the Labour party
and ............
8. .............. was established by the Labour government in 1948, providing
64
health care for all the people.
9. From 1979 to 1997, ......won 4 consecutive elections and was in power
for quite a long time.
10.............is the leader of the Conservative party while ............ is the
leader of the Labour party.
11.People who do unskilled office work and skilled well-paid manual work
are likely to be described as ................ class.
12.A university teacher would probably read a newspaper
like ...............while a manual worker would probably read ...........
13.One distinctive feature about the class system in Britain is that it still
retains a ......
14.Most of the recent immigrants come from South Asian countries such as
........... Pakistan and Sri Lanka; and ............. countries such as Jamaica
and Trinidad.
1. Who can stand for election as an MP in the UK? Why are small parties
and independent candidates powerless in the election campaign for the
formation of a government?
2. What are the three big parties in the UK? What are some of the
similarities and dissimilarities between the three parties?
3. What are some of the recent political trends in the UK? Are these trends
more democratic or undemocratic? What is the author's opinion?
4. How are people in the UK divided into different classes? What are
some of the main features in the division? Is the class system similar to
that of the United States?
65
Unit 4: THE UK ECONOMY
Focal points:
1. absolute decline and relative decline of British economy
2. the main sectors of the UK economy
3. primary industries
4. secondary industries
5. tertiary industries I service industries
6. agriculture
7. energy production
Absolute Decline and Relative Decline
By the 1880s the British economy was dominant in the world, producing one
third of the world's manufactured goods, half its coal and iron, half its cotton.
The amount of British shipping was greater than that in the rest of the world
put together. But even by 1900 this was no longer the case, the UK having
been overtaken by both the United States and Germany; and certainly from
1945 until the present, the story of the UK economy is usually thought of as
one of decline. This is understandable but rather misleading, as it has in fact
been a period of steady economic growth and rapidly increasing living
standards. Britain remains one of the Group of Seven large industrial
economies. But there are reasons for describing this period as one of decline.
Britain entered the post-war world as one of the successful allies of the
Second World War, with some of its chief competitor nations such as
Germany and Japan, economically destroyed. Also Britain was the centre of a
still vast empire. According to the figures, the UK was second only to the
United States in the international economy. Thus Britain was then in an
apparently strong economic position, a position it clearly no longer occupies,
which indicates some sort of decline.
But the basic positive-seeming facts describing the size of the economy, the
66
high proportion of world trade that was British, and so on, in 1945, did not
reveal important negative facts about the UK's position even then. Firstly the
country had gone heavily into debt in order to finance the war, selling many of
its accumulated overseas assets, and borrowing large amounts from the United
States and Canada. These debts meant that the UK entered the post-war era
with a major economic problem.
Secondly, the era of empire was over. India, popularly known as "The Jewel in
the Crown" of the British Empire, gained its independence in 1947, only 2
years after the end of the war. This was the largest element in the empire,
providing raw materials and a big market for British goods. This relationship
with India was no longer available, and the rest of the empire quickly followed
India to independence. In the 1940s, many countries were granted
independence and left the Commonwealth, refusing to recognise the British
monarch as the head of their new states and leaving Britain as just a medium-
size European country, with a population only one fifth the size of the US.
Thirdly, despite the relatively rapid and trouble-free process of decolonisation,

Britain was still forced to maintain a substantial and expensive military
presence in many overseas locations until the process was completed (mostly
by the end of the 1960s). Also its position as one of the shapers of the post-
war world required substantial military contributions both as one of NAT0’s
major partners, and as a member of the UN Security Council. All this had the
result that Britain spent a higher proportion of its national wealth (and
especially of its research and development budget) on the military than most
of its competitors. Military expenditure tends not to generate an economic
return in quite the same way as other industrial investment.
Fourthly, although Britain was quite badly damaged by German bombing

during the war, its industry survived comparatively unaffected. This
contrasted greatly with some of its competitors-especially the main losers in
the conflict, Germany and Japan, who almost had to start again from nothing.
67
This apparent disadvantage for them may have worked in their favour in that
as they had to invest, they could invest in most modern equipment and new
products. British industry however could continue with its older factories and
pre-war products, and given its other economic problems, did so - a problem
in the long-term. It also meant that output was initially very low in these two
potentially large economies: so while Britain looked securely wealthier than
them in 1945, a catching-up with the UK was inevitable as they recovered.
This failure to invest sufficiently in industry also reflects a longstanding and

continuing problem in the UK economy. Even without the particular
circumstances of the post-war world, relatively low rates of investment (the
amount of money businesses put aside from profits to reinvest in the business
in new products and production methods) were characteristic of the British
economy in relation to other developed economies. Economists have pointed
to the lack of a close relationship between industry and banks in the UK-again
a contrast, particularly with the two most successful post-war economies,
Japan and Germany, where banks and industrial firms have very close links.
Economic historians have suggested that this may be due to the fact that the
UK was the first economy to industrialise, and industrial firms, without
foreign competition, grew used to financing their own development, without
need to borrow from banks. Banks therefore, not able to find good investment
opportunities in the UK, looked overseas for investment opportunities. A low
rate of domestic industrial investment coupled with a very high rate of
overseas investment is still a characteristic of the UK economy. So, amongst
European nations, Britain is, the largest investor in China, but sells fewer of
its own manufactured goods here than do Germany or France.
The point to note is that the comparatively strong economic position Britain
found itself in 1945 was in many ways deceptive. So the decline from Britain's
apparently good fortunes at that point until now is thus not as extraordinary as
it might seem, being the result of already existing basic problems. And it
should also be remembered that this was not an absolute decline: Britain is not
68
poorer, or producing less than it was in 1945, in fact (like most countries) it is
a lot wealthier and more productive than it was then. The problem is that
though it has improved, other countries have improved more rapidly, hence
the slide from being the 2nd largest economy (after the United States) to being
the sixth, as it is at present. And even many smaller economies have overtaken
the UK in terms of output per head of population. So the UK has experienced
economic decline, but this decline is relative to some other economies rather
than absolute. Nevertheless, this relative failure is a serious cause of concern
to the UK governments.
The Current UK Economy
National economies can be broken down into three main areas: "primary"
industries, such as agriculture, fishing, and mining; "secondary" industries,
which manufacture complex goods from those primary products; and tertiary
industries, often described as services, such as banking, insurance, tourism,
and the selling of goods.
Britain's agricultural sector is small (producing 1.4% of the national wealth)

but efficient, producing 58% of the UK's food needs with only 2% of its
workforce. Three quarters of Britain's land is used for agriculture, with about a
quarter of that under crops-wheat and barley are the two commonest. The rest
is grazing for animals, including cattle (both dairy and beef), though sheep are
the most numerous livestock. The beef industry has been hit badly by BSE
disease in cattle leading to a 1996 ban on beef exports. The pest agricultural
land is in the southeast of England.
The fishing industry provides 55% of the UK demand for fish. Scottish ports
land the majority of the fish caught.
Energy production is an important part of the UK economy, accounting for

5% of the national wealth. Since the 1970s, when oil and gas were discovered
under the North Sea, Britain has become a major oil and gas producer, in
69
addition to its older coal mining industry, which now only accounts for about
1/4 of energy supplies, the rest being divided between oil, gas, and nuclear
energy. This abundance of energy resources means that the UK has become an
overall exporter of energy. The technology required to extract oil from the
difficult offshore conditions has given UK companies a strong position in the
offshore oil industry around the world. Three of the biggest ten companies in
Britain are to be found in the energy sector: Shell (half Dutch), British Petro-
leum (BP), and British Gas. The world's largest mining company, RTZ, is a
UK company which operates mines all over the world.
In the secondary sector of the economy, manufacturing industry remains

important, producing 22% of national wealth. British companies are active in
all major fields of manufacturing industry, but are particularly strong in
pharmaceuticals (the British company GlaxoWellcome is the biggest drug
company in the world), chemicals (ICI is the second largest paint
manufacturer in the world), aerospace (overall the UK industry is third in size
in the world) and food and drink (Scotch whisky being a major export).
Britain has a big electronics industry (the fourth largest in the world) but like
the car industry (which includes Ford, GM, Peugeot, Nissan, Toyota) this is in
many cases foreign owned. Britain's last major independent car company,
Rover, was recently bought by the German company BMW. A high-
technology engineering industry has developed around the motor-racing
business, with many of the world's racing cars, both for Formula One, and the
American Indycar series, being designed and built in Britain. Mc Claren and
Williams are two of the most successful of these companies. The recently
privatised British Steel is the world's fourth largest steel company.
Like most developed economies Britain has seen a relative shrinking of the
importance of secondary industry and a spectacular growth in tertiary or
service industries, which now produce 65% of national wealth. A lot of this is
domestic activity such as retailing, tourism and so on, but Britain is also a
major international provider of services, accounting for about 10% of the
70
world's exports of such services. 70% of the UK's workforce is employed in
the service sector. The financial sector is an important part of this service
industry, as London is one of the top three financial centres in the world. It has
the greatest concentration of foreign banks in the world, accounts for 20% of
all international bank loans, and is the world's largest foreign exchange
market. As well as banking, dealing in commodities and insurance are
important processes in "The City"-the name given to the historic area at the
centre of London where all this business is concentrated, at the heart of which
is the London Stock Exchange, one of the busiest share-dealing centres in the
world. Advertising is another major business service in which UK companies
are highly successful.
Exercises
I. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false ( F ) :
1. ……..By the 1880's the British economy was dominant in the world.
2. ……..Both the US and Canada overtook Britain in economy by 1900.
3. ……..By the end of World War II, Britain had gone heavily into debt
in order to develop its manufacturing industry and borrowed large
amounts from the US and France.
4. …….Another reason for British decline is the loss of its colonies,
especially India, which gained its independence in 1947.
5. ……..In the 1970s, with the soaring price of oil and high rates of
inflation, Britain went through a bad period. In 1979, the Labour party
had to step down from the government.
6. ……..The leader of the Conservatives, Margaret Thatcher started a
series of reforms. An extensive programme of privatisation was carried
out and she was successful in an all-round way.
7. ……..Tertiary industries include banking, insurance, tourism,
agriculture and the selling of goods.
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8. ……..Britain has a large sector of agriculture producing 11.6% of its
national wealth.
9. …….. According to the text. the tertiary industry produces
approximately two-thirds of the national wealth.
10.……..The service industry in the UK employs 70% of the total work
force.
II Choose the answer that best completes the statement or answers the
question:
1. Which of the following statements is NOT true about the UK economy?
A. Britain remains one of the Group of Seven large industrial economies.
B. Britain has experienced a relative economic decline since 1945.
C. There has been a period of steady decreasing of living standards.
D. Some smaller economies have overtaken the UK in terms of output per
capita.
2. Which of the following was NOT the reason for the relative economic
decline since 1945?
A. Britain did not invest in modern equipment and new products.
B. Britain spent a high proportion of its national wealth on the military.
C. Britain had been heavily in debt to finance the war.
D. Britain had carried out the nationalisation of the businesses.
3. Where is the best agricultural land in Britain?
A. In the southeast of England.
B. In the northeast of England.
C. In the southeast of Scotland.
D. I n the northeast of Scotland.
6. Which of the following used to be the last independent car company in the
UK?
A. Ford.
B. Peugeot.
C. Rover.
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D. BMW.
III Fill in the blanks:
1. "The Jewel in the Crown" of the British Empire……….., which
provided……………. and a big market for British goods, gained
independence in 1947.
2. A low rate of industrial investment coupled with a very high rate
of--------------investment is a characteristic of the UK economy.
3. Since 1945, the UK economy has experienced ………….decline rather
than ………………….decline.
4. In the 1970s, the devaluation of the UK currency forced the Labour
government to borrow money from----------
5. In 1979, the Conservative party under……………came into power and
carried out a programme of -----------------'
6. In recent years, Britain is second only to the US as a destination
for…….. investment .
7. The UK economy can be divided into three main sectors: industries,
secondary industries and ……………. industries.
1. Please define "absolute decline and relative decline" in the UK

economy. How does the author explain the reasons for the absolute
decline and relative decline?
2. What are the three main areas in national economies? Describe the
development of each of the three areas in the UK economy.
3. The author believes that Britain, like most developed economics, has
seen a relatively shrinking of the importance of secondary industry and
a spectacular growth in tertiary or service industries. Why is it so? Do
you see a similar growth in tertiary industries in Vietnam in the past 20
years or so? How is this growth related to the reform and opening up to
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the outside world?
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Unit 5: BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM
Focal points:
1. the purpose of the British education system
2. the relationship between education and social class
3. the influence of the Church on schooling
4. comprehensive schools
5. grammar schools
6. the National Curriculum
7. public schools
8. GCSE
9. old universities
10.The Open University
Many people think school is just about teaching children what are often called
"the three R's"-"reading, riting and rithmetic" (reading, writing and
arithmetic). In other words, the purpose of school is to provide children with
literacy and the other basic skills they will need to become active members of
society. But the purpose of the British education system is also to socialise
children. Children are taught practical skills; but in school they also learn the
rules and values they need to become good citizens, to participate in the
community, and to contribute to the economic prosperity of an advanced
industrial economy.
It is no surprise, then, that the state is heavily involved in deciding when,

where, how and what children are taught. It is also, be no surprise that these
decisions are often very controversial. Should naughty pupils be punished
physically? Corporal punishment is currently banned in the UK, but some
people - including the government minister responsible for education - would
like to see the return of the cane. What sort of English should children learn to
speak? Should children be forced to speak in a standardised way rather than
with regional accents and idioms? Or do local variations in the way people
75
talk contribute to the richness of British culture?
Such controversies are not just about education. They reflect the deeper
divisions in British society as a whole. Britain is a society in which social
class is still very important: class inequality can be erased or continued
according to educational policy. If you understand the importance of the
relationship between education and social class, you can understand a great
deal about British culture and society.
The enduring feature of British education is the continuing debate over how
"equal" educational opportunity should be. Sociologists have found that 51 %
of British people are working class and 49% are middle class. While the split
is about half and half, the opportunities for working class and middle class
people can be very different. In Britain, the accent you speak with, the clothes
you wear, and the schools you attend are all markers that identify your social
class. In Britain, where you are educated is still very important to your future.
Nowadays, the British education system is run by the state, which provides
funding, oversees standards, and tries to make sure that all British children
receive a quality education. One of the largest, most important government
departments is the Ministry of Education.
But the state was not always involved in educating British children.
Historically, education was voluntary and many of the schools that existed
were set up by churches. The influence of the Church on schooling is still
strong: until very recently, religious education was the only subject which the
state insisted all schools teach their pupils (other subjects were left up to
schools to decide upon). Daily prayers and singing hymns is still a regular part
of school life. In keeping with changes to British society, however,
Christianity is no longer the only religion officially recognised. In some cities,
the state funds schools which have the Islamic religion rather than the
Christian religion as their creed.
76
History
Before 1870, only 40% of children under 10 went to school regularly. The
main receivers of a more advanced education were the sons of the wealthy.
One of the changes to British society brought by the Industrial Revolution was
the government's decision to become increasingly involved in taking
responsibility for the education of children. In 1870 the government passed a
law which called for government-funded education. By 1880, attendance at
school for children between 5 and 10 was compulsory rather than voluntary;
and by the end of the First World War, the school leaving age was raised to 14
in order to dissuade children from leaving school in order to work to support
their families.
Other major changes to the British education system were caused by World
War II. When the Germans began dropping bombs on British cities, 750 000
school children were "evacuated" to live in the countryside where it was
hoped they would be safer. Schools were closed or used for war purposes and
education continued in the countryside on an ad hoc basis. As a result of this
disruption of the old system, the government, with the assistance of the
Church (a conservative force) and newly powerful trade unions (a more
socialist influence) began planning to reconstruct the education system. This
time, the new system would emphasise equality.
The result was the 1944 Education Act which made entry to secondary
(middle) schools and universities ''meritocratic''. Children would be admitted
to schools not because they were of a certain social class or because their
parents possessed a certain amount of money, but because of the abilities they
displayed. All children were given the right to a free secondary education and
the main concern was to make sure more children had access to a good
education.
This first attempt to try to create a less elitist school system failed. In spite of
the government's high hopes, working class children still left school at a
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younger age and with fewer qualifications than middle class children. Because
entrance to schools was based upon exam performance, the children of the
middle classes performed better. They had more free time, more access to help
if they were having trouble (their parents could hire tutors, for example) and
valued education more than their working class peers who were often under
pressure to quit school and find jobs in order to help their families.
Central governments, working with teachers and local government officials

continued to experiment with policies to try to raise the quality of education of
all pupils, not just the middle classes. In the 1960s, comprehensive schools
were introduced all over the country, which ended the division between
grammar schools - where the most academically capable pupils were sent to
be prepared for university - and vocational schools where less successful
pupils were sent to learn trades. Entrance exams were abolished and schools
were no longer allowed to let children "compete" for places.
In 1976 British education was the focus of a new controversy when the
Labour party started "the Great Education Debate" about national standards
and styles of teaching. The Labour Government was concerned about the
inadequate skill level of the labour force and a new initiative to prepare
children for employment was launched. Just three years later, with the victory
of the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher, education again
became a big political issue. While the new government thought that job
training was very important, it felt schools were not paying enough attention
to teaching pupils the traditional "three Rs." Therefore, in 1989 the
government introduced a National Curriculum. Now all children throughout
the country must study the following subjects: English, mathematics, science,
religious education, history, geography, technology, music, art, physical
education, and a modern foreign language. They must also pass national tests
and schools are ranked according to the success of their pupils in reaching
national targets.
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This is a very big change: previously, the central government only set broad
education policy guidelines and provided funds. Practical decision-making
was carried out by Local Education Authorities (LEAs), located at regional or
city levels, which based their policies on local conditions. Teachers also had a
lot of individual power to decide on what to do in the classroom. Now all
teachers are told what to teach and their schools are now ranked according to
how well they perform this task. Thus the National Curriculum has
reintroduced competition between schools. Good schools attract good pupils
and therefore attract more funding. More funding means they can hire better
teachers, buy more books and equipment and therefore produce even better
pupils.
The Present Education System
Education in the UK is compulsory. Children are legally obliged to attend

school from the ages of 5 (4 in Northern Ireland) to 16. In 1992 there were 9.5
million full-time school/college students.
Parents can choose between sending their children to state schools or to

private schools. State schools are funded by local and central government.
About 93% of pupils receive free education from the public sector. The
government also sometimes assists schools established by religious groups.
Since 1993, parents have the right to express a preference for a particular state
school for their children. A system of "league tables” comparative tables
which rank schools according to public examination results, truancy rates,
destinations of school leavers, and so on - are published in order to help
parents make choices. While children usually attend the school they live
closest to, now ambitious parents sometimes move to a different
neighbourhood in order to be close to a well performing school. Needless to
say, good schools tend to be in middle class neighbourhoods and it is the
wealthier middle classes who can most easily afford to move if they think it is
necessary.
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In the private sector there are independent schools which are commonly, but
confusingly, called public schools. (They are called public schools because
they were originally seen as "public" alternatives to having private tutors in
aristocratic households.) Independent schools receive their funding through
the private sector and through tuition rates, with some government assistance.
Independent schools are not part of the national education system, but the
quality of instruction and standards are maintained through visits from Her
Majesty's Inspectors of Schools. Parents choose to pay fees in order to send
their children to these schools because the quality of education is such that
their children have a better chance of getting into good universities and/or
getting better jobs when they leave school.
Up to age 5, children may have some pre-primary schooling in nursery

schools, daycare, or play groups. The government has no obligation to provide
such facilities and so many are private enterprise arrangements. However, the
state realises such provision is important, especially now that many mothers
work, and so they provide some financial support.
Between the ages of 5 to 11, pupils mainly attend state sector primary schools.
These schools are called co-educational or mixed schools because they admit
both boys and girls.
From the age of 11 up to around the age of 19, students attend secondary
schools. More than 80% of pupils in secondary schools in England and Wales
attend mixed schools; 60% in Northern Ireland; Scotland, nearly all.
About 90% of secondary schools are comprehensive schools which admit

children without reference to their academic abilities. Such schools provide a
general education. Pupils can study everything from academic subjects like
literature and sciences, to more practical subjects like cooking and carpentry.
Foreign languages are taught as an integral part of the National Curriculum,

reflecting the importance of Britain's relationship with Europe.
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Those children who do not attend comprehensive schools attend grammar
schools instead. Grammar schools select children, usually at the age of 11,
through an examination called "the 11-plus". Those who show academic
potential are admitted to the grammar schools where the emphasis is on
advanced academic work rather than the more general curriculum of the
comprehensive schools. In Northern Ireland the grammar school/non-grammar
school division is still common, but throughout the rest of Great Britain
grammar schools are becoming increasingly rare.
After 5 years of secondary education, (at about age 16) English, Northern Irish
and Welsh students sit their GCSE exams (General Certificate of Secondary
Education). GCSEs are the main means of assessing pupils' progress in their
final 2 years of compulsory education. Based on these results, pupils then
decide what avenue of education they would like to follow. They have a
number of choices. At the age of 16, they can decide to quit school and find a
job; or they can prepare to sit exams for university entrance; or they can
concentrate on vocational training. Every 16 & 17 year old is guaranteed a
place in full-time education or training.
Pupils who hope to attend university carry on their academic study in the sixth
form for a further two years and then sit A-levels exams (General Certificate
of Education-Advanced). Most pupils try to achieve 3 or 4 A-levels in the
subjects they are most proficient at. Since admittance to universities depends
largely on A-level results, the two years spent in the sixth form are very
important and often very stressful for British pupils. Among first year
university students getting to know each other, the most common question
after "What's your name?" and "Where are you from?" is "What A-levels did
you take."
Other pupils who decide not to go to university may choose to take vocational
training. The vocational equivalent of A-levels are GNVQs (General National
Vocational Qualifications), which provide a broadly based preparation for
81
work or for taking further vocational .
Higher Education
British universities are public bodies which receive funds from central
government. This differs from the United States which, in addition to public
universities, also has privately funded universities which are often very
wealthy. In the UK, the amount of funding each university receives is based
on its size, the number of students it teaches, and the research it conduct. So
far, the UK has only one privately funded university, the University of
Buckingham.
Higher education has a long history in the UK. Oxford and Cambridge date
from the 12th and 13th centuries, while the Scottish universities of St
Andrews, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen from the 14th and 15th
centuries. The rest were founded in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1960s
there was a large expansion in the numbers of universities and many new
universities were built. In 1992 the number grew again when polytechnics
and other higher education establishments were given the right to become
universities. By 1994, Britain had 83 universities.
University campuses are full of people of different ages and nationalities

studying many different things. In 2003/4 there were 1379 000 full-time
students, 231 000 who came from overseas. While most of the students are
studying for their first degrees, about 64 000 were working on postgraduate
qualifications. There are about 30 000 full time university teachers paid
wholly from university funds. The government tries to encourage the best
overseas students to study in Britain by offering scholarships. In 2003/4,
nearly 32 000 overseas students received some kind of help.
Universities, reflecting the trend throughout the education system, have

traditionally been rather elitist. Most students were from the middle classes,
attended good schools, performed well in their A-levels and received a fully-
82
funded place in a university. In recent years, great efforts have been made to
increase the numbers of and kinds of people that pursue higher education. For
example, whereas in 1980, 1 in 8 pupils went on to university, by 1990 it was
1 in 5, and by 2000 it was to be 1 in 3. Access for mature students and
students without traditional A-level qualifications is widening.
The Open University offers a non-traditional route for people to take

university level courses and receive a university degree. People can register
without having any formal educational qualifications. They follow university
courses through textbooks, TV and radio broadcasts, correspondence, videos,
residential schools and a network of study centres. Tens of thousands of
Britons, from housewives to coal miners, from teachers to ballet dancers
"attend" the Open University each year. It was the Open University which
provided the inspiration for the founding of China's TV and Radio University.
First degree courses are mainly full time and last three years, except in
Scotland where they take four years. Degree titles vary, but usually one
receives a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or a Bachelor of Science (BSc), for a second
degree Master of Arts (MA) or Science (MSc) and Doctor of Philosophy
(PhD). In the older Scottish universities, Master is used for a first degree in
Arts subjects, and in Oxford and Cambridge the BA converts to an MA
several years later, upon payment of a fee.
Exercises
I. Decide whether the following state.ments are true (T) or false (F):
1. ……..The purpose of British education is not only to provide children
with literacy and the other basic skills but also to socialize children.
2. ……..The state seldom interferes with the decision of when, where,
how and what children are taught.
3. ………The enduring feature of British education is the continuing
debate over what should be taught in schools.
4. ……....The 1944 Education Act made entry to secondary schools and
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universities "meritocratic".
5. ……….Public schools are part of the national education system and
funded by the government.
6. ……….British universities are public bodies which receive funds from
central government.
7. ……….All secondary schools in Britain are run and supervised by the
government.
8. ……….In Oxford and Cambridge the BA converts to an MA several
years later, upon payment of a fee.
9. ……….Independent schools get money mainly through the private
sector and tuition rates, with some government support.
10.………Grammar schools select children at the age of 11 and provide
them with a general education.
question:
1. In Britain, the great majority of parents send their children to
A. private schools.
B. independent schools.
C. state schools.
D. public schools.
10. In Britain, children from the age of 5 to 16
A. can legally receive partly free education.
B. can legally receive completely free education.
C. cannot receive free education at all.
D. cannot receive free education if their parents are rich.
11. If a student wants to go to university in Britain, he will take the
examination called
A. General Certificate of Education-Advanced.
B. General Certificate of Secondary Education.
C. the common entrance examination.
D. General National Vocational Qualifications.
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12. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. Parents send their children to public schools because they are rich.
B. their children can get better jobs when they leave school.
C. their children can have a better chance of getting into a good
university.
D. their children prefer to go to public schools.
13. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the Open University?
A. It's open to everybody.
B. It requires no formal educational qualifications.
C. No university degree is awarded.
D. University courses are followed through TV, radio, correspondence, etc.
14. In the examination called "the 11 plus", students with academic
potential go to
A. grammar schools.
B. comprehensive schools.
C. public schools.
D. technical schools.
15. Which of the following is NOT included in the National Curriculum?
A. Children must study the subjects like English, mathematics, science
and so on.
B. Children must sit in A-level exams.
C. Children must pass national tests.
D. Teachers must teach what they are told.
16. Which of the following is NOT true about the British education
system?
A. It's run by the state.
B. It's funded by the state.
C. It's supervised by the state.
D. It's dominated by the state.
17. Which of the following schools would admit children without reference
to their academic abilities?
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A. Comprehensive schools.
B. Secondary schools.
C. Independent schools.
D. Grammar schools.

1. The two oldest universities in Britain are ………. and……………
2. Two famous public schools mentioned in the text are ……….and
…………..
3. Children in Britain must receive a full-time education legally from the
ages of ………to…..
4. Pupils from the ages of 5 to ……..mainly attend state-run ……………
schools.
5. Students attend………………schools from the age of 11 up to around
the age of 19.
6. Parents can choose between sending their children to state schools
or…………schools.
7. Parents from the wealthier middle class prefer to send their children
to……………schools so as to have better education.
8. Comprehensive schools provide a general education, teaching students
everything from …………….subjects like literature and science to
more…………….subjects like cooking and carpentry.
9. Name two of the four Scottish Universities dating from the 14th and
15th centuries …………….and ……………..
10.In Britain, people can go to the ……………without having any formal
educational qualifications.
11.GCSE stands for…………………….
12.GCEA stands for……………………..
13.GNVQs stands for…………………..
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1. What are the purposes of the British education system? Please comment
on these purposes. What are the main purposes of the Vietnamese
education system? Are there any differences or similarities in the
education of the two nations?
2. How does the British education system reflect social class?
3. What are the major changes that have taken place since World War II?
Is British education moving towards more progress or more equality?
Pick up some examples from the text to illustrate your points.
4. Why does the author say that universities in Britain have been rather
elitist?
5. What is the Open University in Britain? What do you think of this

system?
87
Unit 6: BRITISH FOREIGN RELATIONS
Focal points:
1. active in setting up the United Nations
2. foreign policy influenced by its history and geopolitical traits
3. long-term physical separation from the European continent
4. the involvement of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
5. the Treasury
6. the permanent member of the UN Security Council
7. the member of the EU
8. the member of the Commonwealth
9. the special relationship with the United States
10.the presence of superpower bases in Britain
11.its participation in NATO
After a lengthy fight with the Axis powers, the United Kingdom eventually
emerged victorious and with its empire still largely intact. While some former
colonies like Canada and Australia had been granted their political
independence, they still looked to Britain as the centre of their political and
cultural world and assisted loyally in British efforts to defeat Hitler's army.
When the war ended, Britain was the largest military power in Western Eu-
rope. Its power and prestige ensured it would have a big influence on the
postwar international order.
Britain was active in setting up the United Nations and, in recognition of its
continuing importance to world politics it was awarded a seat on the UN
Security Council, along with the other recognised "great powers" of the Soviet
Union, the United States, China and France. But the era of the "Great Powers"
was already over. The United States and the Soviet Union soon emerged as
new "superpowers" which, because of their military superiority, were
qualitatively more powerful than all other countries.
88
The age of imperialism was over too. On the one hand, the British could no
longer afford to maintain its empire; while Britain had won the war, it had
paid a terrible price in terms of lives and in terms of economic destruction. On
the other hand, the British realised that countries should be granted the
independence and left to run their own affairs. People and territory should not
just be treated as a source of economic resources for the ruling centres of
commerce in Europe.
Foundations of Britain's Foreign Policy
Perhaps the most important single factor which influences British policy-
makers is its history. Because Britain lost its empire so recently, British
policymakers frequently forget that Britain is not as influential as it used to be
in world affairs. Historians argue that the British foreign policy-makers retain
very conservative and traditional views of Britain's role as a world power and
point to many major foreign policy decisions as examples. One example was
the controversial and expensive decision for Britain to build and maintain its
own independent nuclear weapons capability to ensure it would remain
superior to most other states in terms of military capability. Other signs of
foreign policy conservatism lie in the continuing debate over how much
national sovereignty Britain should relinquish to the EU.
A second decisive influence upon the way Britain conducts its external affairs
is geopolitical. Britain is an island state, and this is considered an important
psychological factor as well as one which has influenced Britain's economic
and military development. Because it is an island, Britain quite naturally
developed as a nation of seafarers who roamed the globe looking for territory
and economic opportunities. The settlement of Canada was based on the
desire to develop the fur trade, and Australia proved to be a convenient place
for transporting criminals (it was cheaper to send criminals to the undeveloped
lands of Australia than to keep them in prison in Britain). China provided
Britain with its favourite national drink, tea.
89
How Foreign Policy is Made
The Prime Minister and Cabinet decide on the general direction of Britain's
foreign policy. The main government department involved is of course the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), but many other government
ministries also play a part in formulating and executing the government's
decisions.
The Ministry of Defenee, although it is considered less important than the

FCO, is an important player. It is responsible for ensuring Britain's defence
and managing Britain's involvement in its military treaty commitments. The
Department of Trade and Industry is concerned with formulating international
trade policy and managing British commercial relations with other countries.
In recent years, several large -trade delegations led by the British Trade
Minister have visited China.
A less obvious, but extremely influential player in Britain's foreign policy is

the Treasury. The Treasury makes decisions on how much money other
departments can have each year. If the Treasury decides to give more money
to the Overseas Development Agency (the government department in charge
of distributing foreign aid) or less money to the military, their own policies
will have to be changed accordingly.
Since Britain is a parliamentary democracy, the government's foreign policy in

theory represents the desires of its electorate, but in fact British citizens are
more concerned about issues closer to home. On the whole, they are not very
inclined to try to influence the direction of Britain's foreign policy. There are a
number of different interest groups however, and it is interesting that the rare
occurrences of civil disobedience in the UK often involve foreign policy
issues. The anti-nuclear weapons movement is very strong and occasionally
mounts large scale, though usually peaceful demonstrations. There have in the
past been small, more violent demonstrations concerning issues like the
British government's support of the South African apartheid government.
90
British Security and Defence Policy
Britain spends more on defence than most other advanced industrial countries
and maintains larger professional forces. It is the third largest spender in the
world and is ranked fifth or sixth in terms of its military power. It is a member
of the nuclear "club", maintaining an extensive nuclear capability which
makes it a little brother to the nuclear superpowers and therefore more
powerful than those countries who lack nuclear weapons.
The keystone of British defence policy is its participation in the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation, more commonly known as NATO. The purpose of
NATO is to protect member states against aggression, to provide a foundation
for security in Europe, and to provide a forum for transatlantic defence
cooperation (the USA and Canada are also members). NATO has promised it
is a threat to no country and that its weapons will only be used in self-defence.
95% of Britain's defense expenditure goes to meeting NATO requirements.
Britain was proud to be invited to lead the newly established Rapid Reaction
Corps, NATO's recently established land-based force which is designed to
provide an early military response to a crisis.
In addition to its NATO commitments, Britain retains an independent nuclear

weapons capability. Since Britain is a traditional sea power, it is perhaps no
surprise that its nuclear force is a naval one. Britain has three or four nuclear-
armed submarines. This nuclear force is assigned to NATO, but is fully under
the command of the British government, and could be used independently if
the British government ever thought it was necessary.
It is highly unlikely that Britain would ever use, or need to use, its nuclear
capability and there are many Britons who feel it is unsafe and unnecessary to
rely upon nuclear weapons. But nuclear weapons are important for the prestige
of a country as well as its protection. All of the permanent UN Security
Council members have independent nuclear weapons capabilities.
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Exercises
1. ……When the Second World War ended, Britain no longer was the
largest military power in Western Europe.
2. ……The UK was awarded a seat on the UN Security Council in
recognition of its contribution in setting up the United Nations.
3. ……According to the text, the most important single factor which
influences British policy-makers is its history.
4. ……The Prime Minister and Cabinet decide on the general direction of
Britain's foreign policy.
5. ……The main government department involved is the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO).
6. ……Britain is parliamentary monarch.
7. ……There are about 60 members of the Commonwealth.
8. ……The British host a large American military presence and there are
63 American military bases in the UK.
9. ……Britain is not a member of the NATO due to its disagreement with
some European countries on defence policy.
question:
1. The author holds that Britain had a big influence on the postwar
international order because
A. it used to be a great imperial power.
B. it had a strong military power and prestige.
C. it defeated Hitler's army.
D. it got support from its former colonies.
2. Which countries are the permanent members of the UN Security Council?
A. France, China, Germany, Russia and Britain.
B. The United States, France, Britain, Germany and Russia.
C. China, Russia, France, Britain and the United States.
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D. China, Britain, France, the United States and Japan.
3. How much of the globe did Britain rule in its imperial prime?
A. A fourth of the globe.
B. A fIfth of the globe.
C. A third of the globe.
D. Two-thirds of the earth.
4. The present British foreign policy is mainly influenced by some of the
following factors. Which one is an exception?
A. Its imperial history.
B. Its geopolitical traits.
C. Its special relationship with the United States.
D. Its schizophrenic attitude to Europe.
5. Which of the following is not involved in making the British foreign
policy?
A. The Queen of Britain.
B. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
C. The Prime Minister and the Cabinet
D. The Ministry of Defence and the Treasury.
6. Nowadays the British foreign policy is largely shaped by its participation in
A. the Commonwealth.
B. the European Economic Community.
C. the United Nations, the EU, NATO, etc.
D. a European federal government.
7. Which of the following statements is not true?
1. Britain hosts a large American military force.
2. 63 American military bases are under the command of Britain.
3. There are 63 American military bases in Britain.
4. Britain is an outpost of an American-dominated military bloc.
8. Which of the following countries does not have nuclear weapons
capabilities?
A. Britain.
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B. The United States.
C. Italy.
D. Russia.
9. Three of the following factors have contributed to Britain's special
relationship with the United States to a certain degree. Which is the
exception?
A. Britain and the United States share the general ideas in many respects.
B. They have common interests in every respect.
C. They agree generally on how the world economy should be managed.
D. They have special links in culture.
10. Why does Britain have its nuclear naval force?
A. Because it's one of the developed countries in the world.
B. Because it's a traditional sea power.
C. Because it has an advanced industry.
D. Because it's able to produce submarines.

1. When the Second World War was over, Britain was active in setting up
the United Nations and became one of the…………….permanent
members of …………
2. The present foreign policy of Britain is greatly influenced by
its………..history and also by its………….
3. Britain's special relationship with………………is another major factor
which influences the British foreign policy.
4. Britain's physical isolation has long been reduced by the development
of…………and more recently by the opening of ……………., which
links Britain to continental Europe.
5. The general direction of Britain's foreign policy is decided by
……………and ……………..
6. The main government department also involved in making Britain's
foreign policy is ……..
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7. According to the author, Britain is a democracy, so the government's
foreign policy in theory represents the desires of its……………
8. The Commonweath was believed to be set up as a ………….for
continued cooperation and as a sort of support…………
9. There are………….members of the Commonwealth including
developing countries as well as ……………industrial countries.
10.Britain spends more money on …………….. than most other
developed nations and it is the third largest spender in the world and is
ranked……….. in terms of its military power.
11.As an outpost of an American-controlled military……….., Britain hosts
a large American military presence as well as the NATO……………..
1. What and how did the British empire end? How did the British react to
this reality? How did the end of British imperalism influence the
psychology of the British and the making of Britain's foreign policy?
2. What are the foundations of Britain's foreign policy?
3. How is Britain's foreign policy made? Does the government's foreign
policy represent the desires of British citizens?
4. Why does the author say that the decision to join the EC was and
remains controversial in Britain?
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Unit 8
SPORTS, HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS IN BRITAIN
Go over the following focal points before reading the text:
Sports:
1. football
2. "Football hooligans"
3. FA
4. Tennis
5. Wimbledon
6. cricket
7. golf
8. horse racing
9. the Grand National
10.the Royal Ascot hunting
Holidays and Festivals:

1. Easter
2. Bonfire Night
3. Christmas
4. three traditions of Christmas
5. Boxing Day
6. the Battle of the Boyne
7. Orange Marches
8. St Patrick's Day
9. Hogmanay
10. Burns Night
11. Halloween
12. the Eisteddfod
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Sports
Having a drink at the local pub, going for a walk in the country, working in
the garden or watching sports on the telly (television) - these are all ways in
which many British people like to relax on weekends or when their daily shifts
at work have ended. Such activities tell us about how modern Brits like to
spend their free time; but if we look more closely, we can see these activities
are not just recent inventions, but are deeply rooted in the British experience
over centuries. Going to a public house for a glass of ale, working the land or
going to watch a ball game were familiar activities in Shakespeare's time. If
today's British person were to be transported 500 years into the past, he or she
would find many familiar pursuits and games played in rough but recognisable
forms. And because many of the sports we see played throughout the world
today were born in Britain, the history of such activities is of interest to people
everywhere.
In the past, Britain was a mainly agricultural society with most people
involved in farming. Britain was also a very religious society and the
influence of the Christian Church on peoples' lives was very great. Such
influences are still evident in today's sports and leisure activities. One very
obvious example is how Sunday-the day of the week when everyone'
traditionally went to Church-is still the day that most people have off in the
UK.4 In recent years the government has changed the laws and now some
shops and pubs are allowed to open on Sundays, but such changes are very
recent and very controversial.
Football
The idea of sports having seasons - like the football season - also comes from
the natural rhythms of an agricultural society, where the timing of harvests
and the general weather affected how people spent their timeS. Football is a
boisterous sport still played in winter and early spring when the weather is
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cool and often wet. In the winter, bad weather kept people in doors and there
was not so much work to do on the farm. Men used to doing hard, physical
labour found they needed to release their energies and so got together
regularly to play rough, fast games like football. There are legends that
suggest that games like football and rugby actually derived from the "sport" of
ancient warriors celebrating victory by kicking around the decapitated head
of an enemy . There is a similar grisly tale told about origins of bowling: it is
said that in ancient times, Scottish warriors rolled the skulls of their enemies
along the grass for sport.
While all social classes used to join in the local football match, during the
Renaissance the idea began to emerge that some sports were too rough for
aristocratic young men. One influential writer of the era described football as
"nothing but beastly fury and extreme violence" and not at all suitable for
gentlemen. In Shakespeare's time, football was played in the cities as well as
the countryside. Visitors from abroad sometimes complained about stumbling
into the midst of a rough and dangerous game when walking the streets of
London, while local householders and merchants were troubled by having
their windows broken by stray foqtballs. Drinking hard went along with
playing hard and at half-time, players and spectators often got very drunk
which led to even more unrefined behaviour.
Today, violence is still associated with football. "Football hooligans",

supporters of rival teams, sometimes clash before, during and after matches
and occasionally run riot through the town, breaking windows and beating
eacll other up.' Some football fans paint their faces and sing or chant football
songs and it is not too difficult to imagine their warrior-ancestors. While
football violence gets a lot of attention, before big matches when trouble is
expected, police patrol the streets, pubs near the football grounds are closed,
and shops lock their doors and shutter their windows. The selling of tickets,
the seating in stadiums and security in general is more strictly controlled and
every effort is made to ensure that spectators can just sit down and enjoy the
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game, which they do in their millions. Over 20 million tickets are sold to
Football Association (FA) games each season. The FA is the league or
association that the major teams compete in, for a trophy title known as the
FACup.
Tennis
A more gentle sport that is a sure sign that summer has arrived is the popular
game of tennis. Wimbledon, actually a London suburb, is where the world's
best players gather to compete on grass courts. It is one of the major events of
the British sporting calendar and probably the most famous tennis event in the
world. Besides actually watching the tennis matches, other activities closely
associated with the "Wimbledon fortnight" are eating strawberries and cream,
drinking champagne and hoping that it doesn't rain.
Tennis was invented in Britain and it owes its origins, literally, to the Church.
Church records indicate that by the mid-15th century, people were making a
game of bouncing a ball off·the side of their local churches or cathedrals, first
using the hand, and later a racquet.
Cricket
Cricket was one of the very first team sports in Britain to have organised rules
and to be played according to the same rules nationally. By 1787 the rules
were fixed, a full century before national rules were fixed for other sports like
tennis, rugby and football. (In other sports, each local village or county played
by different rules, and even today Americans and Canadians play football
according to different rules). The reason that fixed rules were applied to
cricket so early on was a financial one: aristocrats loved betting on cricket
matches and if people were going to risk money on a game, they wanted to
ensure that the game would be played fairly.
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Before the Victorian era, and in modem Britain, people from all walks of life
play cricket, but in the 19th century, cricket became a sport associated with
the upper classes. It was a kind of a "snob" game played by boys who attended
public schools. Cricket also became popular in places where the public school
system was adapted, like in the colonies of Australia. New zealand, India and
Pakistan.
As generations of public school boys grew up to become the civil servants and
rulers of the UK and its colonies, cricket becatne associated with a set of
moral values, in particular the idea of "fair play” which characterised British
government. Sir Ian Bancroft, a high level civil servant in the 1980s,
remembered that when he began his career in Whitehall, one day his
government minister was so angry that he threw the telephone at him. Sir Ian
said he knew exactly how to respond: "having played cricket I was able to
catch it and hand it back to him politely."
British English is still full of references and phrases to cricket which those not
familiar with the game will be baftled by. To be "on a sticky wicket" is to face
difficulties: to "throw a googly" is to act unpredictably. And if someone tells
you that what you are doing is "not cricket" it means that you are not behaving
ethically or honourably in a situation, whereas if you are "playing with a
straight bat", you are an honest person.
The rules of cricket are as obscure as the language. With most sports, you can
understand what is going on by simply watching for a while, but with cricket
this is not the case. However, whether you understand the game or not, it is
enjoyable to watch. It is a very distinctive sport: the players wear white
trousers and appear quite formally dressed. Spectators gather around the
"green", a large field. in chairs, enjoying the sun, sipping drinks and watching
the teams play. Another unusual thing about cricket is that matches do not last
just a few hours. They can go on for days.
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Golf
The game of golf was invented by the Scottish and today avid golfers around
the world dream of playing on the famous and ancient golf course at St
Andrews, not far from Edinburgh. The Scots took their recreation seriously:
by the 16th century, golf was already so popular that the Archbishop of St
Andrews was only allowed to keep his rabbit warrens on the links (golf
course) as long as his rabbit-raising activities didn't interfere with people who
wanted to play golf. And while many students of British history have heard of
Mary Queen of Scots, the tragic and beautiful queen who was beheaded in the
16th century during a controversy over the succession to the throne, few know
that she liked to play golf. Indeed, she became the object of gossip and
criticism because she was seen out on the links shortly after the death of her
second husband.
Horse Racing, Hunting and Equestrianism
The true sport of British Kings (and Queens) is not skiing or golfing, but horse
racing. Organised national horse races have been held throughout Britain for
hundreds of years. At the heart of medieval life was the horse, a symbol of
authority and wealth and necessary to travelling, hunting and warfare. The age
of English chivalry is full of stories, songs, poems and depictions of the brave
Knight on his steed. History records that knights raced for 3 miles in the year
1190, for a prize purse of £40. In fact, racing was not a good sport for knights
who were clad in heavy iron armour. Medieval tournaments more commonly
had activities to show off the bravery and military prowess of the knights,
such as jousting. Sports which involve the riding of horses are still considered
rather snobbish or aristocratic sports because of course the average British
family cannot afford to own a horse. However, there are stables which rent
horses and offer riding lessons at affordable prices. And of course just about
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everyone can afford to place a bet on a horse race now and then.
There are two kinds of horse racing: flat racing, where horses and riders
compete on a flat, oval track; and steeplechasing, which is racing either across
the countryside, or around a course designed to represent the obstacles you
might encounter in the countryside (hedges, ponds, hills, and so on). The
Grand National is the world's most famous steeplechase. Established in 1837,
in recent years the Grand National has become increasingly controversial
because of the dangers involved. Every year some horses (and riders too) can
be injured in trying to negotiate a jump for example. Badly hurt horses are
usually shot, and animal lovers find it unacceptable that animals should be
hurt and killed just for our enjoyment. Now the Grand National course is
designed to be difficult enough to be exciting, but not so difficult as to cause
serious injuries.
While it is the sport of kings, 'kings and commoners alike enjoy betting on the
horses. In any town centre you can go into a betting shop and place a bet on
the horses. The biggest social event associated with horse racing is the Royal
Ascot, where people dress up and go to show off how fashionable they are as
well to watch the races and place their bets. Women especially wear very
elaborate and exotic hats and after the races, the television and newspapers
will often have stories featuring the sorts of hats and outfits that were worn.
Another horsy sport associated with the aristocracy is equestrianism, sports

which can involve riding skills such as show jumping and carriage driving, as
well as speed.
Hunting for wild game was born of necessity, but it developed into a
recreational pursuit in medieval England. It became so popular that great lords
surrounded their houses with deer parks where they could go hunting
conveniently. They sometimes arranged for the servants to herd the deer into a
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comer of the park so that even the delicate aristocratic ladies could take their
bows and arrows and bag a deer for dinner. Many of the ancient manor houses
you can still visit in Britain have their herds of deer, although now these are
more for decoration than for sport.
More common than hunting within an enclosed park was chasing an animal
across the countryside on horseback, with a spear, arrows, and dogs and
servants to assist. In the Middle Ages, the boar was the favourite quarry, and
later the wolf. Both were hunted into near extinction. Modem hunters usually
chase foxes nowadays: their medieval forebears would sneer at such an
insignificant quarry. Hunting foxes and rabbits is also disapproved of by many
British animal lovers who think such "blood sports" are unnecessarily cruel.
A hunting meet is a very exciting thing to watch: huntsmen and women

mounted, traditionally clad in red jackets, white jodhpurs and high boots, On
their beautiful horses surrounded by barking, excited hunting dogs and
anxious servants, charge across the green fields and hedgerows of the
countryside. But as the reason for all this activity is to chase and kill a tiny
rabbit or fox, Animal Rights groups"find this an unacceptable recreation for a
society that is supposed to be civilised. There have been recent attempts to
pass laws in Parliament to ban blood sports. These attempts have been
defeated by narrow margins. Since many MPs and Lords are from wealthy
families which enjoy hunting, they tend to vote against these efforts to ban
one of their pastimes.
Holidays and Festivals in Britain
Knowing a little bit about British holidays and customs and their origins is a
good way of understanding what Britons find important in their lives and
communities. Throughout the year the British celebrate many holidays which
reflect the religious, historical, social and cultural diversity of their country.
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Some holidays are celebrated throughout the country and mark important
events of the Christian calendar. Other holidays are based on local customs
and traditions which reflect the variety of experience in different regions.
What almost all of the holidays have in common-whether they are local,
regional or national-is that they provide an opportunity for families and
friends to get together to visit, eat, exchange good wishes and enjoy each
other's company and hospitality.
Religious Holidays
Although Britain remains a mainly Christian nation, most Britons do not go to

church regularly or engage in Christian worship. Because of immigration and
changing beliefs, most of the world's religions are practised in Britain, with
sizeable Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities and numerous smaller
groups. The result is that although many Christian festivals are observed they
have been adapted to fit the needs of a modem, secular society. It is not
unusual to find non-Christians as well as Christians participating in some of
the activities surrounding Christmas and Easter.
Christmas, December 25th, is the biggest and best loved British holiday.
Schools close for the holiday period, as do shops and offices, so people can
spend time at home with their families. While Christmas has a Christian
meaning - it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christcelebrations of the Winter
Solstice have taken place since ancient times and some "Christian" traditions
such as decorating the house with evergreen plants like holly and ivy, or
kissing under a twig of mistletoe, are actually Celtic or pagan traditions.
Nowadays, Christmas is celebrated by most Britons by exchanging gifts and
Christmas cards, preparing holiday foods, and decorating homes and
workplaces with coloured lights, Christmas trees and ornaments .
There are three Christmas traditions which are particularly British: one is the
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Christmas Pantomime, a comical musical play. The "panto" is usually based
on a version of a traditional children's story like Cinderella, written to include
songs and jokes which can be enjoyed by adults and children. The main male
character-the "principal boy"-is played by a young woman. In the days when
women wore long skirts, it was considered rather naughty to see a woman
appear in an outfit which revealed the shape of her legs. The main female
character is a middle-aged, often ugly woman called "the Dame." The Dame is
played by a man, often a famous actor or sportsman. When he appears in
heavy make up, skirts and woman's shoes, it is considered very humorous. The
audience is encouraged to cheer the hero on and boo when the villain appears.
Another British Christmas tradition is to hear the Queen give her Christmas
message to her realm over the television and radio. The British Queen is also
the Queen of other nations, like Canada and Australia, and so her message is
broadcast to her millions of subjects throughout the world. She usually talks
about the year that has passed and expresses her hopes for the future.
A third British tradition, which is also celebrated in countries with British

heritages, is Boxing Day, which falls on the day after Christmas.
Traditionally, it was on Boxing Day that people gave Christmas gifts or
money to their staff or servants. Now that most British people do not have
servants, this custom is no longer observed and most people cannot even tell
you what one is supposed to do on Boxing Day. However, a new Boxing Day
custom has emerged, in the cities at least: shopping. Shops open up to sell off
all their Christmas stock decorations, food, cards and gift items at low prices.
But for most people, however, Boxing Day is a day for visiting, eating and
relaxing.
For church goers it is Easter, not Christmas, which is the most important
Christian festival. Easter commemorates the Cruciflxion and Resurrection of
Jesus Christ. It occurs in the spring, when schools and universities close for a
break. While Christians attend many church services over the Easter period,
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for most people the main symbol of Easter is the Easter egg, originally a
Christian symbol of new life. Nowadays people give each other chocolate or
candy Easter Eggs which are often very large, elaborate and expensive.
Christmas and Easter have been adopted and celebrated by nonChristian

people who emphasise the secular rather than the religious aspects of the
holidays. There are also many non-Christian festivals which are observed by
people with different beliefs and many schools and workplaces will allow
such people to take time off to allow them to celebrate a particular special day.
For example, there are about 1.5 million Muslims in Britain, many who
observe traditional Islamic festivals such as Ramadan, a fast which lasts 29
days during which nothing can be eaten or drunk between dawn and nightfall,
and ends with a festival. There are also Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and
even Pagan groups which observe days which are important to their
communities. In London, the overseas Chinese community marks Chinese
New Year with dragon dances, fireworks, parades and family celebrations.
National Holidays
One of Britain's most impressive and colourful festivals happens on the

second Saturday in June when the Queen's Birthday is officially celebrated by
"Trooping the Colour" around Buckingham Palace in London. The UK, unlike
most countries, does not have a "national day," but the pomp and ceremony
surrounding the Queen inspecting her troops draws hundreds of people. The
ceremony derives from old military traditions in which regimental flags were
paraded before the monarch. In the 18th century such pageantry used to occur
daily, but early in Victoria's reign it was decided that this ceremony should
only be held on the sovereign's birthday. British diplomats abroad will often
have a special party or event to celebrate the Queen's birthday.
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Holidays in the 4 Nations
It is in the local festivals of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland

that the distinctive cultural and political identities of the four nations of the
United Kingdom can be seen. Many festivals and customs have been invented,
adopted and used to serve political or religious functions in times of conflict.
For example the historic battles between the Protestants and Catholics in the
17th century are commemorated, often with symbolic or even real violence, in
England and Northern Ireland. Special days in Scotland and Wales
demonstrate their national pride in their unique languages and cultures and
remind us that there is much more to the UK than "the English" and
"England".
England
The English do not celebrate their famous writers or battles or patron saints,
although they have all these things. However, one truly English holiday is
BonfIre Night- sometimes called Guy Fawkes Nightcelebrated in the early
autumn.
On the evening of 5 November 1605, a plan to blow up the British Parliament,

kill the Protestant King and replace him with a Catholic king was discovered.
One of the conspirators, Guy Fawkes, was found in the cellars of Westminster
with 36 barrels of gunpowder. He and the other members of his gang were
arrested, tortured and killed. Protestant politicians decided that the Gunpowder
Plot had failed because God wanted the Protestants to continue to rule
England. Parliament passed a legal act calling for a "Public Thanksgiving to
Almighty God" for revealing the plot, to be held on the anniversary of the
event. Nowadays, English people still celebrate this event in the traditional
way. In early November, gangs of small children appear on British streets,
often with a straw emgy called the "Guy".
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The biggest BonfIre Night celebration is held in the small medieval town of
Lewes, where torchlight parades wind through the narrow streets. The
paraders wear costumes and carry models of severed heads on pikes, often
dripping blood, which represent Protestantism's enemies. When the paraders
reach the BonfIre, fIreworks are used to fight mock battles between Catholics
and Protestants. At the end of these battles, giant effigies of the Pope and Guy
Fawkes are blown up with fIreworks.
Northern Ireland
Another festival which comes from the 17th century battles between Catholics
and Protestants is the Protestant celebration of their victory at the Battle of the
Boyne (12 July) in 1690. The Catholic King James II was forced off the
throne in 1688. William of Orange,41 affectionately known as King Billy, was
invited to take the throne and James was driven into exile. With the help of the
French and the Irish-both Catholic nations-James tried to retake the throne but
his forces were defeated by King Billy on the banks of the Boyne River in
County Kildare, now a part of Ireland.
The Twelfth is the high point of what is known as the Marching Season, when
Protestant "Orangemen" take to the streets wearing their traditional uniforms
of bowler hats, black suits and orange sashes, marching through the streets
singing, banging drums and playing in marching bands. The Orangemen often
clash-verbally, legally or sometimes violently - with the Catholics as they
attempt to parade through Catholic neighbourhoods, symbolically asserting
their continued dominance over the Irish. During Orange Marches there is a
massive police and aimy presence surrounding the parades and the atmosphere
can be very tense.
Northern Irish Catholics celebrate the birthday of the patron saint of Ireland,
St Patrick, on March 17 each year. Patrick was a Catholic bishop who lived in
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the 5th century and is thought to have brought Christianity to Ireland. He lived
in Great Britain, but at the age of 16 was captured by Irish raiders, taken to
Ireland and made a slave. He eventually escaped and returned to Britain,
where he had a dream in which the Irish begged him to return. Although his
memories of years of slavery in Ireland made him hesitate, he followed this
call and had a very successful missionary career.
According to popular legend, St Patrick drove snakes (the Christian symbol of

evil) out of Ireland. In another legend it is said that he used the three leafed
clover, or shamrock, to explain the Christian trinity (Father, Son and Holy
Ghost) to the pagan Irish. The shamrock is a popular symbol to wear on St
Patrick'sDay, and it is also considered very lucky to wear something green.
Scotland
While most British people welcome the coming of the New Year with parties,
in Scotland, New Year's Eve called Hogmanay-isthe major winter celebration,
and overshadows Christmas which is a very quiet affair. How Hogmanay is
celebrated varies throughout Scotland, but one widely practised custom is
"first footing". There is a superstitious belief that the ftrst person to cross the
threshold of a household in the New Year can bring luck and prosperity: the
appearance of a young, preferably dark haired and handsome man, is
considered particularly lucky. First footers often bring a bottle of spirits,
alcohol, a lump of coal or a peat as a gift and are given a "dram of whisky" as
their reward.
Each year Scottish people all over the world celebrate their most beloved
national poet, Robert Burns, by holding a Burns Supper on the evening of
his birthday (25 January). Burns wrote mainly in the Scots
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dialect and his poems drew on older traditions of Scottish folk songs and
stories and so have a wide popular appeal.
Halloween is a Scottish festival that comes from the great feast of the pagan
Celts which marked the arrival of the winter half of the year. Halloween is
notable for showing the darker, supernatural side of Celtic custom -
communion with the dead, mischief, fortune-tell-ing and masquerades are
common practices. Children make "turnip lanterns." Turnips are hollowed out
and holes are cut to make eyes, nose and mouth. Then candles are placed
inside the turnip and it is set in the windows to scare away witches and other
evil spirits.
Wales
Wales has some of the oldest and richest literary, musical and poetic traditions
in Europe. Poems written in the traditional Welsh language and style are
governed by ancient codes and conventions which can be traced back to the
Druids, who instituted rigid rules of composition to help them to correctly
memorise and pass on poems and stories. In pre-14th century Wales, to
become a bard or harper required years of study and was considereq.a
profession, like law or medicine.
This poetic tradition has been celebrated for centuries,in eisteddfod, a Welsh
word meaning a gathering where people recite verses and sing songs. In 1536
Wales was officially joined with England (it had been controlled by England
for hundreds of years) and English became the national language. Speaking
Welsh was seen as a bad thing. As recently as the 19th century, Welsh
schoolchildren could be punished for speaking Welsh. The Welsh language
began to die, but Welsh speakers fought hard to preserve it. One way they
accomplished this was to celebrate their culture and their language each
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August with a really large Eisteddfod which would remind people throughout
the UK of Wales' special cultural heritage. The Eisteddfod is now the largest
popular festival of music making and poetry writing in Europe.
At the Eisteddfod, tents and pavilions are erected around a big open space: in
the different tents competitions are held to find the best choirs, translators,
essayists and poets. The highlight is the crowning of the two bards who have
written the best poems of the festival.
Conclusion
The British calendar is full of holidays and festivals which demonstrate the
different cultures and histories of the people who make up Britain. Holiday
customs have changed as times have changed. Ancient pagan traditions were
adapted by the church as Britain became a nation of Christians. Now that the
Christian church is not as influential as it was in the past, Christian holidays
and customs have changed again so they can be shared by people throughout
the country ,whatever their backgrounds and beliefs. Thus Welsh people can
celebrate Bums night, Londoners can watch Dragon Dances at Chinese New
Year, Muslims can enjoy chocolate easter egg and Christians can go shopping
on Boxing Day. Such holidays' remind us of how cultures change and
influence each other; they also give us an 6pportunity to share in the rich
cultural herltage of the Unite Kingdom.
Exercises
1. ……….The tradition of having Sunday off derived from the Christian
Church.
2. ……….The origin of Bowling lies in the victory celebration ceremony
by the ancient warriors
3. ……….Tennis is usually regarded as a winter and spring sport.
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4. ……….The game of golf was invented by the Scottish.
5. ……….The extremist animal-lovers' groups would like to have horse
racing banned.
6. ……….Easter is the biggest and best loved British holiday.
7. ……….Christmas Pantomime is one of the three Christmas traditions
that are particularly British.
8. ……….It is commonly believed that Boxing Day involves the sport of
boxing.
9. ……….The biggest Bonfire Night celebration is held in London.
10.……….In Ireland, New Year' Eve called Hogmanay (December 31st) is
the major winter celebration
questions:
1. Which of the following was NOT an activity in Shakespeare's time?
A.Playing football.
B. Having a drink at the pub.
C. Working the land.
D.Attending the Grand National.
2. Which of the following sports was NOT invented in Britain?
A.Football.
B. Tennis.
C. Basketball.
D.Cricket
3. Which of the following is NOT true about football in Britain?
A.Millions of people attend the FA games each season.
B. "Football hooligans" sometimes have violent clashes.
C. It was invented by the Scottishpeople.
D.It was once described as "beastly" violent
4. Where is the international tennis championships held?
A.Wembley.
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B. Wimbledon.
C. London.
D.Edinburgh
5. Which of the following is truly a sport of the royal family?
A.Cricket.
B. Skiing.
C. Golfmg.
D.Horse racing.
6. Which one of the following is NOT particularly British Christmas
tradition?
A.Enjoying the Pantomime.
B. The Queen broadcasting her Christmas message.
C. Eating chocolate eggs.
D.Shopping on the Boxing Day.
7. Easter commemorates
A.the birth of Jesus Christ
B. the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
C. the coming of spring.
D. the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
8. Which community observes the traditional Ramadan?
A. Hindu.
B. Sikh.
C. Jewish.
D. Muslim.
9. Which celebration particularly happens on the Queen's birthday?
A. Bonfires.
B. The Orange March.
C. Trooping the Colour.
D. Masquerades.
10.Which of the following commemorates the Battle of Boyne?
A. The Bonfire Night celebration in Lewes.
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B. Trooping the Colour in London.
C. The Eisteddfod in Wales.
D. The Orange March in Northern Ireland.
11.Of which people is Robert Bums a national poet?
A. The Welsh people.
B. The Irish people.
C. The Scottish people.
D. The English people.
12.On which day is Halloween celebrated? .

A. October 31 st.
B. November 5th.
C. March 17th.
D. December 25th.
III. Fill the blanks:

1. The FA Cup stands for …………..
2. Phrases like "on a sticky wicket" and "playing with a straight bat" are
associated with the sport of ………….
3. There are two kinds of horse racing: flat racing and …………..
4. People usually dress up and show off their fashionable clothes and
elaborate hats for the social event called …………..
5. Compared with football ………….. is a more gentle sport which
owes its origins to the Church.
6. Traditionally, people gave Christmas gifts or money to their staff or
seryants on………….., which is the day after Christmas.
7. Many Muslims in Britain observe a traditional Islamic festival called.
………….. ,during which nothing can be eaten or drunk between dawn
and nightfall.
8. The Bonfue Night, which is celebrated in November, sometimes is also
called…………..
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9. On March 17 each year, northern Irish Catholics celcbrate the birthday
of………….., who is said to have brought Christianity to Ireland.
10.Overseas Chinese community in Britain often celebrates Chinese New
Year with …………..dances and ftrework.
IV. Tell what you know about the following in you own words:
1. “Foootball hooligans”
2. Cricket and “fair play”
3. Wimbledon
4. The three traditions of Christmas in Britain
5. Orange Marches
6. Eisteddfod
Questions for Consideration
1. Find some examples from the text to demonstrate how Christian Church has
influenced the sports and leisure activities of the British.
2. Why is cricket very English? Why does the author believe that cricket was
associated with a set of English values?
3. How do the British celebrate Christmas? In what way does this holiday and
the ways of celebration in Britain reflect western cultural tradition in
general and British traditions in particular?
4. In what way are the Welsh people different from England, Scotland, and
Northern Ireland in celebrating their holidays?
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Unit 1: American Beginnings 44
Unit 2: The Political System in the United States 51
Unit 3: American Economy 58
Unit 4: Education in the United States 62
Unit 5: Social Problems in the United States 69
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Unit 1: AMERICAN BEGINNINGS
A New Land
The American continents were peopled as a result of two long--

continuing immigration movements, the first from Asia, and the second from
Europe and Africa. The first movement began probably 25 000 years ago
when Siberian tribes, in search of new hunting grounds or of refuge from
pursuing enemies, crossed over the Bering Strait to Alaska. By 1492, over 10 -
20 million people, mistakenly called Indians by Christopher Columbus,
inhabited the Americas. They developed their own aboriginal cultures, which
ranged from the simple to the complex, from those of the primitive tribes to
the brilliant civilizations of the Aztecs, the Incas and the Mayas. But their
technological development had lagged behind that of Europe and Asia.
The second migration to the Americas began with the expansion of

Europe at the start of the modem period from the 16th century. In 1492,
Columbus persuaded the king and queen of Spain to finance his voyage. He
believed that by sailing west from Europe, he could reach the Far East. He
never succeeded, but instead he landed on one of the Bahamas Islands in the
Caribbean Sea and "discovered" the New World. Based on Columbus'
discovery, the Spanish king could claim the territory in the Americas and later
Spain conquered the new land and established a huge empire and grabbed
enormous wealth from the Indians. In 1497, another Italian sailor, John Cabot
who was in the service of the English king, arrived in today's Canada and the
English king claimed that the whole of the territory of North America
belonged to England. Enforcing this claim, the Englishmen began to establish
permanent settlements in North America by the beginning of the 17th century.
Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries
The English permanent settlements in North America began in the 17th

century when Western Europe was undergoing great changes. During the
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Middle Ages (between 500 AD and 1500 AD), Europe was under the single
spiritual authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The feudal system of
serfdom prevailed. The peasants, or the serfs, were tied to the soil and worked
in the fields for their lords. Merchants and craftsmen were handicapped by the
social disorders. Art and learning were controlled by the Church. By the 16th
century, some new and powerful social forces began to emerge which led to
the awakening of Europe and the discovery of America. The first new force
was the development of capitalism. The growth of capitalism produced two
new classes-the bourgeois class and the working class. With the fast
development of commerce and trade, the bourgeoisie became increasingly
powerful in politics as well as in economy. They wanted to share power with
feudal lords and in some countries such as England they wanted to have more
power from the king so that they could have free development. The English
Revolution was the result of this growth of capitalism.
The second major force that brought about the modern development of
Europe was the Renaissance, which was marked by a changing outlook on
life. The God-centered world was challenged by the great progress in natural
and social science. People began to be more confident in themselves and show
more interest in the world about them. Many challenged the authority of the
Bible and were willing to observe experiment and test truths for themselves.
This attitude pushed the development of technology.
The third influential force was the Religious Reformation, a religious

reform movement that started from Germany. In 1517, Martin Luther, a
German professor of theology, put up "95 Thesis" on the church door in
protest against abuses and corruption in the church. He argued that the Pope
had no right to sell "indulgences" for the remission of sins. He believed that
sinful men could win salvation neither by good works nor through the church
or the Pope, but only by faith in Jesus Christ and through a direct relationship
to God. And the only true guide to the will of God was the Bible. Because
Martin Luther protested against the Catholic Church, the Reformation came to
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be called the Protestant Reformation. Soon after Martin Luther began his
revolt, John Calvin, a Frenchman, who had fled to Switzerland, started his
reform movement. Calvinism which had many followers in England will be
dealt with later. In England, King Henry VIII, because of the political disputes
with the Roman Catholic Church and because of his personal marital
problems, broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and set up the Church
of England, and he became the head of the Church of England himself. These
religious reforms had much in common. They all challenged the authority of
the Pope and the Catholic Church which controlled people's religious beliefs
and interfered in political affairs of the nation states. The individual Christian
believers who supported the Reformation believed that human beings could be
saved only by faith, by establishing a direct contact with God, not through the
church or its priests. These reforms reflected the rise of nationalism in Europe,
represented the demand of the bourgeois class for free development and ex-
pressed the desire of ordinary working people, especially the serfs, for the
liberation from the feudal control. Therefore, the Protestant Reformation was
welcomed by leaders, middle class and working people in Europe, especially
in Western European countries. As a result, the Protestants and their
denominations spread far and wide.
Against the background of those emerging new forces, the 13 English

colonies that would become the United States of America were planted in
North America.
The Settlement in Virginia
The first English permanent settlement was founded in 1607 in

Virginia. This was organized by the London Company with a charter from the
English king James I. The company sent three small ships with 144 English
men to Virginia. During the long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, 44 people
died and 100 survivors landed by the side of a river, the James River, which
they named after their king and began to build a town called Jamestown. Most
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of the 100 colonists were adventurous English gentlemen including some
business people who refused to do any manual labour, and very few of them
were willing laborers. Yet the London Company had wished to have a quick
return for its investment and had instructed them to hunt for gold and other
wealth as soon as they landed in Virginia. When the colonists settled down,
they did not grow food. Instead, a few laborers among them started to dig for
gold and look for other riches while those English gentlemen were idle, doing
nothing. Unfortunately, nothing was found. Soon they ran into the shortage of
food. When the second group of men was sent by the London Company with
supplies, all but 38 of the first arrivals were dead. Jamestown was in a great
crisis. Then Captain John Smith took the leadership. He imposed discipline by
making everyone work. A few years later, another colonist, John Rolfe began
to experiment with the West Indian Tobacco and this plant grew well in
Virginia soil. Tobacco cultivation quickly spread up and down the settlement
and yielded profits by selling tobacco to Europe. Meanwhile, John Rolfe
married the princess of an Indian tribe chief. This marriage led to the ending
of hostility between the white people and Indians for some time. The planta-
tion of tobacco saved the settlers and the marriage gave time to the colonists
for development.
In 1619, two events took place in Virginia, which would influence the
shaping of American culture a great deal. On July 30, 1619, in the Jamestown
church, the delegates elected from various communities in Virginia met as the
House of Burgesses to discuss, along with the governor and his council
members who were appointed, the enactment of laws for the colony. This was
the first example for the future United States, the first meeting of an elected
legislature, a representative assembly, in North America. It was thought to be
the brilliant example of self-government of Americans although white
servants did not have their representatives. A month later there occurred in
Virginia another event. A Dutch ship brought in over 20 Negroes, who were
bought to be held as servants for a term of years. Thus a start had been made
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toward the enslavement of Africans within what was to be the American
republic. The two events combined constituted a unique American
phenomenon. On the one hand, the English and other Europeans went to North
America for seeking freedom. But on the other hand, these very white people
who were seeking and fighting for their own freedom deprived black Africans
of their freedom. George Washington was a great fighter for American
freedom, and Thomas Jefferson was a chief author of the Declaration of
Independence, and yet both of them were slave owners, each with over 200
black slaves.
Puritan New England
New England today includes Massachusetts, Connecticut, New

Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island in the Northeast of the United
States. The second enduring English settlement was established in
Massachusetts Bay in 1620. It was founded by English puritans who separated
themselves from the Church of England. As mentioned above, King Henry
VIII cut off the political relationship with the Pope in Rome and set up the
Church of England, but there was no reform in religious beliefs and practices.
A group of people thought that the Church of England was too catholic and
wanted to "purify" the church, hence the name "puritans". These puritans were
Protestants who followed the doctrine preached by John Calvin. They had
some different religious beliefs from the Catholic Church. They believed that
God was incomprehensible to man, and the power of God was all-knowing,
yet hidden and unknown to man, while Catholics believed that God could be
reached through his representative on the earth- the Pope. Puritan salvation
was different from that of Catholics. Puritans were convinced that human
beings were predestined by God before they were born. Some were God's
chosen people while others were predestined to be damned to hell. Therefore
no good works could save anyone, and nobody knew if he or she was God's
elect. But Catholics argued that a person could confess his or her sin, do good
works and give money to the church and buy back his or her soul. Was there
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any evidence for Puritans to show that some people were God’s chosen
people? Puritans believed that everyone had a calling, which was given by
God. The success of one's work or the prosperity in his calling was the sign of
being God's elect. Therefore, everyone must work hard, spend little and invest
for more business. Working hard and living a moral life were their ethics. How
could Puritans find God's will and establish a direct contact with God? They
concluded that the Bible was the authority of their doctrine. So every Puritan
must read the Bible in order to find God's will and search for one's individual
contact with God. To be able to read the Bible and understand God's will,
education was essential for Puritans.
Such Puritan beliefs were heretical to the Church of England, so they

were cruelly persecuted. Some of them were thrown into prison and even
executed for their religious beliefs. Some of them fought back and started the
English Revolution. Oliver Cromwell, one of the Puritans, became the
revolutionary leader, overthrew the monarchy, had King Charles I beheaded
and founded a republic. Some other Puritans thought that England was too
corrupted and hopeless and decided to separate themselves from England.
They fled to Holland where there was religious freedom. There they were
allowed to meet and hold their services without interference. But as
foreigners, they were not allowed to join the Dutch guilds of craftsmen, and so
they had to work long and hard at unskilled and poorly paid jobs. They were
further troubled as their children began to speak Dutch, marry into Dutch
families, and lose their Englishness. Some of the Puritans decided to move
again, this time across the Atlantic, where they might find an opportunity for a
happier living and also worship as they pleased. The leaders of this group of
Puritans found the necessary funds for the voyage from some merchants in
London. In 1620, 35 Puritans and 67 non-Puritans took the ship Mayflower
and left Holland for North America. Before they reached their destination, one
of the Pilgrim Fathers drew up an agreement which was called the Mayflower
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Compact and was signed by 41 of the passengers. They formed their own
religious community and set up a civil government for the general good of the
colony they were going to found in the new land. They settled at Plymouth,
Massachusetts. A much larger Puritan colony was established in the Boston
area in 1630 and by 1635 more Puritan settlers were migrating to nearby
Connecticut.
Puritanism in New England changed gradually due to the frontier

environment and the mobility of the population. As time went on, many of the
new generations no longer adhered to the orthodox Puritanism. Many moved
to the West and other parts of the United States. Today, Puritans are no longer
in existence. But their legacies are still felt in American society and culture.
For example, the Puritans hoped to build "a city upon hill" - an ideal
community. Since that time, Americans have viewed their country as a great
experiment, a worthy model for other nations. This sense of mission has been
very strong in the minds of many Americans. New England also established
another American tradition - a strain of often intolerant moralism. The Puri-
tans believed that governments should enforce God's morality. They strictly
punished drunks, adulterers, violators of the Sabbath and other religious
believers different from themselves. Roger Williams, one of the Puritans who
protested that the state should not interfere with religion, was driven out of
Massachusetts. In 1635, he set up Rhode Island colony, which guaranteed
religious freedom and the separation of church and state. The Puritans also
have left rich cultural heritage to future Americans. The American values such
as individualism, hard work, respect of education owe very much to the
Puritan beliefs.
The American Revolution
Those four patterns set by the early colonial leaders were filled with
meanings for the future development of the United States. By the early 1760s,
the 13 English colonies in North America had developed a similar American
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pattern in politics, economy and cultural life and enjoyed the same frontier
environment. The English people and Europeans had become Americans and
they were ready to separate themselves from the Old World. The American
Revolution officially proclaimed the birth of a new nation of Americans. On
the eve of the American Revolution, while the 13 English colonies occupied
the Atlantic coast, from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south,
the French controlled Canada and Louisiana. Between 1689 and 1815, France
and Britain fought several wars, and North America was drawn into every one
of them. In 1756, England and France began to fight the Seven Years' War,
known in America as the French and Indian War. The English government
invested soldiers and money in North America and won a great empire. The
British forces captured several Canadian strong points such as Quebec and
Montreal. The Peace of Paris, signed in 1763 between Britain and France,
gave Britain title to Canada and all of North America east of the Mississippi
River.
Britain's victory led directly to a conflict with its American colonies.

The British government argued that Britain had spent large sums of money to
defend their American colonies in those wars, and that the colonists therefore
should pay a part of those expenses. As a result, the British government began
to charge new taxes on sugar, coffee, textiles and other imported goods. For
instance, with the passage of the Stamp Act, special tax stamps had to be
attached to all newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents and licenses. The
Quartering Act passed by British Parliament forced the colonies to house and
feed British soldiers. But the Americans feared that new taxes would make
trading difficult, and that British troops stationed in the colonies might be used
to crush the civil liberties which the colonists had heretofore enjoyed. The
colonial Americans insisted that they could be taxed only by their own
colonial assemblies. "No taxation without representation" was their rallying
cry. The colonists refused to obey the British laws, so British soldiers were
sent to Boston.
127
In 1773, a group of patriots responded to the tea tax by staging the
"Boston Tea Party". Disguised as Indians, they boarded British merchant ships
and tossed 342 crates of tea into Boston harbor. British Parliament then passed
the Intolerable Acts: The independence of the Massachusetts colonial
government was sharply curtailed and more British soldiers were sent to the
port of Boston, which was now closed to shipping. In September 1774, the
First Continental Congress, a meeting of colonial leaders who opposed British
oppression in the colonies, met in Philadelphia. These leaders urged
Americans to disobey the Intolerable Acts and to boycott British trade. At the
same time, the colonists began to organize militias and collect and store
weapons and ammunition in order to defend themselves. On April 19, 1775,
the first shot was fired when 700 British soldiers went to capture a colonial
arms depot in a small town of Concord near Boston. Thus the American War
of Independence began.
In May 1775, a second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and

began to assume the functions of a national government. It founded a
Continental Army and Navy under the command of George Washington. On
July 2, 1776, the Congress finally resolved that "these United Colonies are,
and of right ought to be free and independent states." Thomas Jefferson of
Virginia, assisted by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, drafted Declaration
of Independence, which the Congress adopted on July 4, 1776. The Declaration
officially proclaimed the independence of 13 North American colonies. It
solemnly declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal; that they were endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness." Most importantly, it explained the philosophy of governments: "to
secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed;" "whenever any form of gov-
ernment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter
or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on
128
such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their safety and happiness." This theory of politics and a
guiding principle of the American Revolution came from John Locke, an
English political philosopher in the 17th century.
The War of Independence came to an end in 1781 with the victory of

North Americans. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 and Britain had to
recognize the independence of the United States. A new American nation was
thus born.
1. How did modem development in Europe influence the settlement of

North American colonies?
2. In what way did Puritanism influence American culture?
3. What were some of the causes of the American Revolution? Explain the
Declaration of Independence.
Unit 2: THE POLITICAL SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES
The peace treaty of 1783 recognized the independence of the United

States and the former 13 British colonies along the coast of the Atlantic
became 13 states of the new nation. These 13 states were: Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire in New England in the
Northeast; Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey in
the Mid-Atlantic, and Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in
the South. Although the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that 13
united colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states",
they were not very clear about the future political system of the United States
and about the relationships between the states and the government of the new
nation. A. constitution was badly needed.
129
Articles of Confederation
When the War of Independence was over, the United States was not one
unified nation as it is today. Each new state had its own government and was
organized very much like an independent nation. Each made its own laws and
handled all of its internal affairs. During the war, the states had agreed to work
together by sending representatives to a national congress patterned after the
"Congress of Delegates” that conducted the war with England. After the war
was won, the Congress would handle only problems and needs that the
individual states could not handle alone. It would raise money to pay off debts
of the war, establish a money system and deal with foreign nations in making
treaties. The agreement that set this plan of cooperation was called the Articles
of Confederation.
The Articles of Confederation failed because the states did not co-
operate with the Congress or with each other. When the Congress needed
money to pay the national army or to pay debts owed to France and other
nations, some states refused to contribute. The Congress had been given no
authority to force any state to do anything. It could not tax any citizen. Only
the state in which a citizen lived could do that.
Many Americans worried about the future. How could they win the
respect of other nations if the states did not pay their debts? How could they
improve the country by building roads or canals if the states would not work
together? They believed that the Congress needed more power.
The Congress asked each state to send delegates to a convention in

Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration of Independence had been signed,
to discuss the changes which would be necessary to strengthen the Articles of
Confederation.
The smallest state, Rhode Island, refused, but delegates from the other 12
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states participated. The meeting, later known as the Constitutional
Convention, began in May of l787. George Washington, the military hero of the
War of Independence, was the presiding officer. 54 other men were present.
Some wanted a strong new government. Some did not. Constitution
In the course of the Convention, the delegates designed a new form of

government for the United States. The plan for the government was written in
very simple language in a document called the Constitution of the United
States. The Constitution set up a federal system with a strong central
government. A federal system is one in which power is shared between a
central authority and its constituent parts, with some rights reserved to each.
The Constitution also called for the election of a national leader, or president.
It provided that federal laws would be made only by a Congress made up of
representatives elected by the people. It also provided for a national court
system headed by a Supreme Court.
In writing the Constitution, the delegates had to deal with two main
fears shared by most Americans.
One fear was that one person or group, including the majority, might
become too powerful or be able to seize control of the country and create a
tyranny. To guard against this possibility, the delegates set up a government
consisting of three parts, or branches, the executive, the legislative and the
judicial. Each branch has powers that the others do not have and each branch
has a way of counteracting, and limiting any wrongful action by another
branch.
Another fear was that the new central government might weaken or take
away the power of the state governments to run their own affairs. To deal with
this the Constitution specified exactly what power the central government had
and which power was reserved for the states. The states were allowed to run
their own governments as they wished, provided that their governments were
republican.
131
The Constitution opens with a statement, called a Preamble, which
makes it clear that the government is set up by “We, the People" and its
purpose is to “promote the general welfare and secure the blessing of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity.”
Before the new government could become reality, a majority of the

citizens in 9 of the 13 states would have to approve it. Those in favor of the
adoption of the Constitution argued long and hard in speeches and writing.
They finally prevailed, but the states made it clear that one more change
would have to be made as soon as the new government was established.
Representatives of various states noted that the Constitution did not

have any words guaranteeing the freedoms, or the basic rights and privileges
of citizens. Though the Convention delegates did not think it necessary to
include such explicit guarantees, many people felt that they needed further
written protection against tyranny. So, a “Bill of Rights” was added to the
Constitution in 1791.
Legislative Branch
The legislative branch is made up of elected representatives from all of

the states and is the only branch that can make federal laws, levy federal taxes,
declare war or put foreign treaties into effect. It consists of a Congress that is
divided into two houses:
The House of Representatives comprises lawmakers who serve two-

year terms. Each House member represents a district in his or her home state.
The number of districts in a state is determined by a count of the population
taken every 10 years. The most heavily populated states have more districts
and, therefore, more representatives than the smaller states, some of which
have only one. In the 1980s, there were 435 representatives in the House of
Representatives
.The Senate comprises lawmakers who serve six-year terms. Each state,
132
regardless of population, has two senators. That assures that the small states
have an equal voice in one of the houses of Congress. The terms of the
senators are staggered, so that only one-third of the Senate is elected every
two years. That assures that there are some experienced senators in Congress
after each election.
The main duty of the Congress is to make laws, including those which
levy taxes that pay for the work of the federal government. A law begins as a
proposal called a "bill." It is read, studied in committees, commented on and
amended in the Senate or House chamber in which it was introduced. It is then
voted upon. If it passes, it is sent to the other house where a similar procedure
occurs. Members of both houses work together in "conference committee” if
the chambers have passed different versions of the same bill. Groups who try
to persuade congress- men to vote for or against a bill are known as "lobbies".
When both houses of Congress pass a bill on which they agree, it is sent to the
president for his signature. Only after it is signed does the bill become a law.
Executive Branch
The chief executive of the United States is the president, who, together
with the vice president, is elected to a four-year term. Under a Constitutional
Amendment passed in 1951, a president can be elected to only two terms.
Except for the right of succession to the presidency, the vice president's only
constitutional duties are to serve as the presiding officer of the Senate the vice
president may vote in the Senate only in the event of a tie.
The powers of the presidency are formidable, but not without limi-
tations. The president, as the chief formulator of public policy, often proposes
legislation to Congress. The president can also veto any bill passed by
Congress. The veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate
and House of Representatives. As head of his political party, with ready
access to the news media, the president can easily influence public opinion
regarding issues and legislation that he deems vital.
133
The president has the authority to appoint federal judges as vacancies
occur, including members of the Supreme Court. All such court appointments
are subject to confirmation by the Senate.
Within the executive branch, the president has broad powers to issue
regulations and directives regarding the work of the federal government's
many departments and agencies. He also is commander in chief of the armed
forces.
The president appoints the heads and senior officials of the executive
branch agencies; the large majority of federal workers, however, are selected
through a nonpolitical civil service system. The major departments of the
government are headed by appointed secretaries who collectively make up the
president's cabinet. Each appointment must be confirmed by a vote of the
Senate. Today these 13 departments are: State, Treasury, Defense, Justice,
Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing
and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy and Education.
Under the Constitution, the president is primarily responsible for

foreign relations with other nations. The president appoints ambassadors and
other officials, subject to Senate approval, and with, the secretary of state,
formulates and manages the nation's foreign policy. The president often
represents the United States abroad in consultations with other heads of state,
and, through his officials, he negotiates treaties with other countries. Such
treaties must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. The president
also negotiates with other nations less formal "executive agreements" that are
not subject to Senate approval.
Judicial Branch
The judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court, which is the only
court specifically created by the Constitution. In addition, the Congress has
established 11 federal courts of appeal and, below them, 91 federal, district
134
courts. Federal judges are appointed for life or voluntary retirement, and can
only be removed from office through the process of impeachment and trial in
the Congress.
Federal courts have jurisdiction over cases arising out of the Con-
stitution; laws and treaties of the United States; maritime cases; issues
involving foreign citizens or governments; and cases in which the federal
government itself is a party. Ordinarily, federal courts do not hear cases
arising out of the laws of individual states.
The Supreme Court today consists of a chief justice and eight associate
justices. With minor exceptions, all its cases reach the Court on appeal from
lower federal or state courts. Most of these cases involved disputes over the
interpretation of laws and legislation. In this capacity, .the Court's most
important function consists of determining whether congressional legislation
or executive action violates the Constitution. This power of judicial review is
not specifically provided for by the Constitution; rather, it is the Court's
interpretation of its Constitutional Role as established in the landmark
Marbury V. Madison case of 1803.
Checks and Balances
When Americans talk about their three-part national government, they

often refer to what they call its system of "checks and balances”. This system
works in many ways to keep serious mistakes from being made by one branch
or another. But sometimes they do not work the way as they are supposed to
work. Here are a few examples of checks and balances:
If Congress proposes a law that the president thinks is unwise, the

president can veto it. That means the proposal does not become law. Congress
can enact the law despite the president's views only if two thirds of the
members of both houses vote in favor of it.
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If Congress passes a law which is then challenged in the courts as
unconstitutional, the Supreme Court has the power to declare the law
unconstitutional and therefore no longer in effect.
The president has the power to make treaties with other nations and to
make all appointments to federal positions, including the position of Supreme
Court justice. The Senate, however, must approve all treaties and confirm all
appointments before they become official. In this way the Congress can
prevent the president from making unwise appointments.
Bill of Rights
To all Americans, another basic foundation in their constitution is the

Bill of Rights, adopted in 1791. This consists of 10 very short paragraphs
which guarantee freedom and individual rights and forbid interference with
lives of individuals by the government. Each paragraph is an Amendment to
the original Constitution.
In the Bill of Rights, Americans are guaranteed freedom of religion, of

speech and of the press. They have the right to assemble in public places, to
protest government actions and to demand change. They have the right to own
weapons if they wish. Because of the Bill of Rights, neither police nor soldiers
can stop and search a person without good reason. They also cannot search a
person's home without legal permission from a court.
The Bill of Rights guarantees Americans the right to a speedy trial if

accused of a crime. The trial must be by a jury and the accused person must be
allowed representation by a lawyer and must be able to call in witnesses to
speak for him or her. Cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden.
There were 16 other amendments to the Constitution as of 1991. The

changes are not many considering that the Constitution was written in 1787.
Only a few need to be mentioned here. One forbids slavery and, three others
guarantee citizenship and full rights of citizenship to all people regardless of
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race. Another gives women the right to vote and another lowered the national
voting age to 18 years.
Political Parties
There is one more very, important part of the American political scene
which is not part of any formal written document: the political party system.
Political parties are organized groups of people who share a set of' ideas
about how the United States should be governed and who work together to
have members of their group elected in order to influence the governing of the
country. When members of a political party form a majority in Congress, they
have great powers to decide what kinds of laws will be passed. With
exceptions, presidents tend to appoint members of their party or supporters of
the views of their party to executive branch positions, including those of
secretaries (heads of federal executive agencies) within the presidential
cabinet.
The writers of the Constitution feared that parties representing narrow

interests rather than the general interest of all the people could take over the
government. They hoped the government would be run by qualified people
who did not have a second loyalty-a loyalty to a party. They believed their
government would work well without parties. Despite this, parties began to
form shortly after the Constitution went into effect.
Today, the United States has two major political parties. One is the
Democratic Party, which evolved out of Thomas Jefferson's party, formed
before 1800. The symbol of the party is the donkey. The other is the
Republican Party, which was formed in the 1850s, by people in the states of
the North and West, such as Abraham Lincoln, who wanted the government to
prevent the expansion of slavery into new states then being admitted to the
union. The symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant.
Americans do not have to join a political party in order to vote or to be

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a candidate for public office. However, running for office without the money
and campaign workers a party can provide is difficult. Many voters become
members of a party because they feel strongly about the party goals or want a
voice in selecting its candidates. Whether or not they belong to a party, voters
may cast ballots for any candidate they wish. Everyone votes in secret, and no
one can know how another vote or force another person to vote for any
particular program or candidate.
One concern many Americans have about their political system is the
high cost of campaigning for public office. These costs have risen sharply in
recent years, in part because most candidates, in order to reach a large number
of voters, buy advertising time on television. In 1990, the average winning
candidate for election to the House of Representatives spent $406 000 – more
than four times the average spent in 1976.
People worry that the high cost of getting elected may force candidates
to spend more time raising money than dealing with important issues and may
discourage many qualified people from running for public office. They are
also concerned because much of the money to fund political campaigns comes
from organized interest groups rather than individuals. Many Americans
question whether, after election, these officials will feel more beholden to the
groups which gave them money than to the people they represent.
The concerns of the public and of elected office-holders themselves

have started a movement to change the financing of elections. Some people
advocate voluntary spending limits. Others want the government to set limits.
It is uncertain exactly what changes will be made, but public concern is so
great that reforms in political campaign spending are bound to come soon.
1. Why did the Articles of Confederation fail? Was it necessary to change

the Articles of Confederation and write a new constitution for the new
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nation of the United States at the time?
2. What is a federal system? What are some of the major differences

between a federal system and a confederation?
3. What are some of the major powers of each of the three branches of the
US government? How are the three branches supposed to check and
balance each other?
4. What is the Bill of Rights? Do you think that it was necessary to write
the Bill of Rights explicitly into the US Constitution?
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Unit 3: AMERICAN ECONOMY
Industrial Revolution
The birth of the United States and the publication of Adam Smith's book
came at a time when yet another kind of revolution was taking place, the
Industrial Revolution. In England, especially, machinery run by water power
and later by steam power was used to manufacture cloth. This changed the
ways that people worked. Instead of weaving cloth at home, people worked in
factories where the machinery made much more cloth in a short time.
Americans lost no time in industrializing their new nation and in

building trade with other countries.
The United States that emerged from the American Revolution of 1776
was principally an agricultural country. It would remain so for another century,
but some early decisions by American social and political leaders planted the
seeds of industrial growth. For example, the first Secretary of the Treasury,
Alexander Hamilton, persuaded Congress to establish a protective tariff- a
tariff high enough to discourage imports and give domestic industries time to
grow. This and other Hamiltonian measures gave great encouragement to
business in general.
Early American industries depended largely on skilled artisans working

in small shops to serve a local market. But the Industrial Revolution that
started in England during the 18th century did not take long to cross the
Atlantic. It brought many changes to American industry between 1776 and
1860. Because labor was scarce in the United States and wages were high,
employers welcomed any new method that could reduce the requirement for
labor.
One key development was the introduction of the factory system which
gathered many workers together in one workplace and produced goods for
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distribution over a wide area.
A second development was the "American system" of mass production

which originated in the firearms industry about 1800. The new system required
precision engineering to create parts that were interchangeable. This, in turn,
allowed the final product to be assembled in stages, each worker specializing
in a specific operation.
A third development was the application of new technologies to

industrial tasks. Large water wheels and water turbines drove the machinery of
early factories. As the steam engine was perfected, it provided an alternative
source of energy, first for mobile operations such as powering steamboats and
locomotives, then for factories. The textile industry, the dominant American
industry for many decades, completed the switch to steam power after 1860.
The economic activity increased as a result of new inventions. Some of

the inventions were original American ideas; others were adapted from
inventions created elsewhere. The 19th century saw the introduction of new
farm machinery, sewing machines, the telegraph, railroads, food-processing
plants, the telephone, the perfection of the electric light bulb, the phonograph,
the camera, moving pictures and many other devices. The 20th century brought
still more, among them the airplane, the use of aluminum, mass production of
automobiles, radio, television, various electric household products and
computers.
A fourth development was the emergency of new forms of business

organization, notably the bank and the corporation, which facilitated the
growth of industry. The first American commercial bank appeared in the 1780s
and more banks soon followed. For many years, the only paper money
consisted of "bank notes" that represented a particular bank's promise to pay.
Banking policy was highly controversial and early attempts to establish a
national or central bank were short-lived. Not until 1863 did the United States
create a truly national banking system with a standard paper currency.
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Finally, the construction of railroads beginning in the 1830s marked the
start of a new era for the United States. Large infusions of private capital from
Europe mainly after 1850, helped to pay for the railroad lines that soon snaked
across the North American continent. Local, state and national governments
contributed both money and land. Private American investors contributed, too.
The greatest thrust in railroad building came after 1862, when Congress set
aside public land for the first transcontinental railroad.
Up to the 1880s, the bulk of Americans' income came from farming. The
census of 1890 was the first in which the output of American factories was
shown to exceed that of American farms. Thereafter industry in the United
States grew by leaps and bounds. By 1913, more than one-third of the world's
industrial production came from the US.
The century's two world wars spared the United States the devastation
suffered by Europe and Asia, and American industries proved capable of great
production increases to meet war needs. By the time World War II ended in
1945, the United States had the greatest productive capacity of all of the
world's nations.
The 20th century has seen the rise and decline of a succession of
industries in the United States. The auto industry, long the centerpiece of the
American economy, has had to struggle to meet the challenge of foreign
competition. But over the years many new industries have appeared. Their
products range from airplanes to television sets; from microchips to space
satellites; from microwave ovens to ultra-high speed computers. Many of the
currently rising industries are among what are known as high-technology or
"high-tech" industries because of their dependence on the latest developments
in technology.
The Roots of Affluence
No single factor is responsible for the successes of American business
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and industry. Bountiful resources, the geographical size of the country and
population trends have all contributed to these successes. Religious, social and
political traditions; the institutional structures of government and business; and
the courage, hard work and determination of countless entrepreneurs and
workers have also played a part.
The vast dimensions and ample natural resources of the United States
proved from the first to be a major advantage for national economic
development. With the fourth largest area and population in the world, the
United States still benefits greatly from the size of its internal market. The
Constitution of the United States bars all kinds of internal tariffs, so
manufacturers do not have to worry about tariff barriers when shipping goods
from one part of the country to another.
A population of more than 250 million people provides both workers

and consumers for American businesses. Thanks to several waves of
immigration, the United States gained population rapidly throughout the 19th
and early 20th centuries, when business and industry were expanding.
Population grew fast enough to supply a steady stream of workers, but not so
fast as to overwhelm the capacity of the economy.
Rapid growth helped to promote a remarkable mobility in the American
population ₋ a mobility that contributes a useful flexibility to business life.

Census figures show that, over a five-year period, about one family in ten
moves to a new state (the United States contains 50 states in all.). Mobility has
been not only geographical but also social and economic. Lacking the rigid
social classes of many European nations, the early United States provided
many opportunities for advancement, although mainly for those who were
Caucasian. Racial barriers that long blocked advancement for darker-skinned
peoples, however, have largely disappeared in the past three decades. Class
structure today is quite fluid.
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The American people have possessed to an unusual degree the en-
trepreneurial spirit that finds its outlet in such business activities as
manufacturing, transporting, buying and selling. Some have traced this
entrepreneurial drive to religious sources. They have said, for example, that a
"Puritan ethic" or "Protestant ethic" imbues many Americans with the belief
that devotion to one's work is a way of pleasing God, and that success in
business can be an onward sign of God's blessing. Others have put forward a
contrary view. They have argued that capitalist enterprise often is characterized
by a material acquisitiveness that could develop only in the absence of deep
religious feeling.
A variety of institutional factors have favored the success of American

business and industry. Mindful of the potential for abuse that lay in a powerful
government, the founders of America’s political institutions sought to limit
governmental powers while widening opportunities for individual initiative.
The relative reluctance of American political leaders to intervene in economic
activities gave great freedom to market forces. By channeling economic
initiative into activities that promised the greatest return on investment, free-
market institutions fostered dynamic growth and rapid change. One result was
a rapid accumulation of capital, which could then be used to produce further
growth.
1. Do you agree that "cultivators of the earth are the most valuable
citizens"? Give your reasons.
2. It is known to all that buying and selling stocks is a risky business. Why
do you think there are still so many people involved in it?
3. Give examples of industries which are declining, and industries which

are fast developing in the United States.
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Unit 4: EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES
Going to School in America Today
Each fall more than 70 million young Americans walk thorough the
doorways of about 100000 elementary and secondary schools for the start of a
new school year. Filling classrooms from kindergarten to the 12th grade, they
attend classes for an average of five hours a day, five days a week, until the
beginning of the following summer.
These students are part of one of the most ambitious undertakings in the
history of education: the American effort to educate an entire national
population. The goal is-and has been since the early decades of the republic-to
achieve universal literacy and to provide individuals with the knowledge and
skills necessary to promote both their own individual welfare as well as that of
the general public. Though this goal has not yet been fully achieved, it
remains an ideal toward which the American educational system is directed.
The progress which has been made is notable both for its scope and for the
educational methods which have been developed in the process of achieving
it.
About 90% of American students attend public schools (schools

supported by American taxpayers). The other 10% attend private schools, for
which their families choose to pay special attendance fees. Four out of five
private schools in the United States are run by churches, synagogues or other
religious groups. In such schools, religious teaching are a part of the
curriculum, which also includes the traditional academic courses of reading,
mathematics, history, geography and science. (Religious instruction is not
given in public schools.)
The combined expenses of both education systems, public and private,

exceed $190000 million a year. From that point of view, American education
is a powerful consumer. Who decides how many of these thousands of
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millions of dollars should be used annually for teachers' salaries, new
computers or extra books? Private schools that meet state standards use the
fees they collect as they think best. But where public taxes are involved,
spending is guided by boards of education (policy makers for schools) at the
state and / or district level. The same thing is true for decisions about the
school curriculum, teacher standards and certification, and the overall
measurement of student progress.
Education - A Local Matter
From Hawaii to Delaware, from Alaska to Louisiana, each of the 50

states in the United States has its own laws regulating education. From state to
state, some laws are similar; others are not. For example:
All states require young people to attend school. (The age limits vary:
32 states require attendance to age 16; eight to 18; etc.) Thus, every child in
America is guaranteed up to 13 years of education. This is true regardless of a
child's race, religion, sex, learning problems, physical handicap or inability to
speak English.
Some states playa strong role in the selection of learning material for
their students. For example, state committees may decide which publisher's
textbooks can be purchased with state funds. In other cases, decisions about
buying instructional material are left entirely to local school officials.
Americans have a strong tendency to educate their children about major

public concerns-problems such as environmental pollution, nuclear issues,
neighborhood crime and drugs. Responding to public pressure, boards of
education in different areas often add courses on various relevant issues to the
elementary and secondary school curriculum.
What an American Student Learns
American students pass through several levels of schooling – and thus,
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several curricula-on their way to a high school diploma. They attend:
Elementary School. In statistical reports published by the federal

government, "elementary school" usually means grades kindergarten (K)
through 8. But in some places, the elementary’ school includes only grades K
__6. And sometimes grades 4, 5 and 6 make up what is called a "middle grade"
school. (Many Americans refer to the elementary grades as "grammar
school.")
Secondary School. Again, in statistical reports, "secondary school"

generally means grades 9 - 12. These grades are popularly called "high
school." However, in many district "junior high school" includes grades 7 - 9.
And when grades 7 - 9 are included with the 10th, 11th and 12th grades, all six
are said to form a "senior high school.”
Although there is no national curriculum in the United States; certain

subjects are taught in all K to 12 systems across the country.
Almost every elementary school provides instruction in these subjects:

mathematics; language arts (subject that includes reading, grammar,
composition and literature); penmanship; science; social studies (a subject that
includes history, geography, citizenship and economics); music; art; and
physical education. In many elementary schools, courses in the use of
computers have been introduced. And in, some cases; a second language
(other than English) is offered in the upper elementary grades.
Most secondary schools offer the same "core” of required subjects:

English, mathematics, science, social studies and physical education. But
school boards differ greatly from one district to another in the amount of class
time they want high school students to spend on these basic subjects. In some
high schools, for example, students must complete three years of mathematics
before graduation. The national average is lower.
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Students are guided by school counselors in choosing electives, which
can range from specialized academic to vocational subjects.
For example, high schools offer more than one year - in most cases,
several years-of math, science and the other: core subjects. After; they
complete the required units in these core areas (for example, one year of
American history), students can take additional units as electives (perhaps a
year of European history and a year of world political issues).
Other elective courses vary from school to school. Some high schools
specialize in particular types of subjects-business education, or industrial
trades, or foreign languages, for example. A student planning to be a physician
would want to attend a school offering many electives in science.
Education in a New Nation
Americans trace the origins of their nation to the English colonists

(settlers) who came to the eastern coast of North America in the early 17th
century. The largest group of these first colonists, the Puritans, founded the
Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Like others who followed them to
America, the Puritans sought the freedom to practice their religion - a freedom
they could not enjoy in their native country. They found this freedom in the
small towns and villages they built on the edge of the forest in Massachusetts.
One of the things the Puritans believed was that every person should be
able to read the Bible. One hundred percent literacy seemed like a dream in
the 17th century. Within just a few years after their arrival, they took steps to
set up a system of education in their colony:
In 1634, they opened a "Latin grammar" school, a school for those who
wanted to prepare for college.
In 1636, Harvard College was founded for the training of religious

ministers.
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In 1634 and 1638, the Puritans passed laws declaring that all property
could be taxed for the common good, which included the support of schools.
In 1642 and 1647, the Bay Colony passed laws requiring all parents to
provide reading education for their children.
Thus, in less than 20 years, the Puritans introduced two practices that
still influence American youth: compulsory education for all children and
public taxation for schools. The situation was different in other British
colonies in North America. In Pennsylvania, for example, where there were
several different religious groups; decisions about education were left to the
leaders of each church. In southern colonies such as Virginia, those who could
afford tutors hired them for their sons (and sometimes for their daughters).
The older sons of wealthy landowners were sent to England for their
education. Occasionally, a landowner might allow a literate adult to teach
reading to the children of poor whites and, perhaps, a few blacks. But mostly,
custom forbade the teaching of children of slaves to read. Throughout the
colonies, young men and women could receive an education in reading by
becoming an apprentice in a small business. It had been a practice in England
to have young boys and girls live with the families of those for whom they
worked (bakers, printers, etc.). In return for a youth's work, the business
owner promised to teach him or her to read, as well as how to do a craft (bake
or print, for example). This practice was brought to North America.
On July 4, 1776, the 13 colonies issued a Declaration of Independence,

and went to war for their freedom from England. They won the war for
independence in 1781, and negotiated a favorable treaty in 1783. But it was
not until 1789 that they shaped a unified national government. The shape and
power of this new government, described in the Constitution, were determined
after many debates and compromises. The new United States was to be a
federal republic-a union of states with a strong central government
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representing all the people.
The states did not easily give up their own political powers to this new
central government. In fact, the 10th Amendment was added to the
Constitution to guarantee that ''powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution ... [would be] reserved to the [governments of the] States ...”
One of these reserved powers was the right of each state to provide for the
education of its people.
Actually, at the end of the 18th century, elementary education

throughout the United States was in local hands. State governments were
allowing local districts (small town, and villages) to set up and run their own
elementary schools. Most often, these schools, were in one-room buildings,
with one teacher for all the students who could attend. The teacher, who was
hired by a committee of citizens, had to teach what the local community
expected. And so the future was decided: Education in the United States was
to remain in the hands of state and local governments.
Learning to Be World Citizens
After 1920, the K to 12 education in America remained very much the

same until World War II. That tragic event introduced changes that affected
every institution in America - including the schools. American parents-
especially young couples who married in the late 1940s wanted their children
to be educated for the postwar world. At the same time, American blacks and
other minority groups demanded, educational opportunities equal to those of
whites. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that the practice of segregating
blacks into separate schools was unconstitutional. By 1945, the United States
was a nuclear power, a member of the United Nations, and a competitor with the
Soviet Union for world influence. American jobs were changed by new
technology (especially by the computer), and American businesses spread
around the globe. Television brought the faces of presidents, entertainers and
people from all over the world into America's homes each evening.
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Discoveries by scientists opened new secrets of the stars and of the atom.
Between 1950 and 1960, more new knowledge was developed than in all of
the world’s history before 1950.
Schools were asked not only to teach this new information, but to help
students ask their own questions about it. The "inquiry" method of learning,
focusing on solving problems rather than memorizing facts, became popular.
More science courses were added to the curriculum, some as a result of the
orbiting of the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, by the Soviet Union in 1957.
The federal government began to spend millions for the development of new
science curricula and for training teachers to use them. (Federal spending
would spread to other fields, too, especially for programs to aid students with
learning difficulties. By the early 1980s, the federal government was spending
about 8 to 10 thousand million dollars annually on elementary and secondary
education.)
But a good secondary education was no longer enough for many

Americans. In one school district after another, parents insisted on high school
programs that would prepare their sons and daughters for admission to a
university. More and more Americans viewed the university as the doorway to
a medical or law degree, a position in government, or a management position
in a major business office.
Higher Education
Out of more than three million students who graduate from high school
each year, about one million go on for higher education. Simply by being
admitted into one of the most respected universities in the United States, a
high school graduate achieves a degree of success. A college at a leading
university might receive applications from 2% of these high school graduates,
and then accept only one out of every ten who apply. Successful applicants at
such colleges are usually chosen on the basis of: (a) their high school records;
(b) recommendations from their high school teachers; (c) the impression they
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make during interviews at the university; and (d) their scores on the Scholastic
Aptitude Tests (SATs).
The system of higher education in the United States is complex. It

comprises four categories of institutions: (1) the university, which may
contain: (a) several colleges for undergraduate students seeking a bachelor's
(four-year) degree and (b) one or more graduate schools for those continuing
in specialized studies beyond the 'bachelor's degree to obtain a master's or a
doctoral degree; (2) the four-year undergraduate institution-the college-most
of which are not part of a university; (3) the technical training institution, at
which high school graduates may take courses ranging from six months to four
years in duration and learn a wide variety of technical skills, from hair styling
through business accounting to computer programming; and (4) the two-year,
or community college, from which students may enter many professions or
may transfer to four-year colleges or universities.
Any of these institutions, in any category, might be either public or

private, depending on the source of its funding. There is no clear or inevitable
distinction in terms of quality of education offered between the institutions
which are publicly or privately funded. However, this is not to say that all
institutions enjoy equal prestige nor that there are no material differences
among them.
Education for All
In 1944 Congress passed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, soon

popularly called the "GI Bill of Rights." ("GI" at the time, was a nickname for
the American soldier. The nickname came from an abbreviation for
"Government Issue"-the uniforms and other articles "issued" to a soldier.) The
Act promised financial aid, including aid for higher education, to members of
the armed forces after the end of World War II.
In postwar America, other groups sought their place on America's
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campuses, too. The enrollment of women in higher education began to
increase. Racial segregation in elementary and secondary education ended,
and thus blacks achieved an equal opportunity to get into any college of their
choice.
By the end of 1960s, some colleges introduced special plans and

programs to equalize educational opportunities-at every level, for all groups.
Some of these plans were called "Affirmative Action Programs." Their goal
was to make up for past inequality by giving special reference to members of
minorities seeking jobs or admission to college. (In the United States, the term
"minority" has two meanings, often related: (a) A minority is any ethnic or
racial group that makes up a small percentage of the total population; (b) The
term also suggests a group that is not the dominant political power) Some
colleges, for example, sponsored programs to help minority students prepare
for college while still in high school.
US colleges and universities are also enrolling a higher percentage of

non-traditional students-students who have worked for several years before
starting college or students who go to school part-time while holding down a
job. In 2000, about half of college students were 25 years of age or older and
43% were part-time students.
1. What is the goal of education in the United States? Discuss the

similarities and differences in Great Britain, the United States and
Vietnam concerning the goals of education.
2. How did American education begin to develop?
3. What do you think some of the characteristics in education that are

particularly American?
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Unit 5: SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE UNITED STATES
Racial Problems
Unlike most other peoples, Americans are primarily a nation of

immigrants. The citizens or their ancestors immigrated from many parts of the
globe-some as refugees from religious and political persecution, some as
adventurers from the Old World seeking a better life, some as captives
brought to America against their own will to be sold into slavery. Though
people all share a common American culture, the nation contains many racial
and ethnic subcultures with their own distinctive characteristics. These
differences might seem trivial or irrelevant to outside observers, but they have
contributed to racial conflicts that have been a persistent social problem to
American society.
The United States was founded on the principle of human equality, but
in practice the nation has fallen far short of that ideal. American society is a
stratified one, in which power, wealth, and prestige are unequally distributed
among the population. This inequality is not simply a matter of distinctions
between social classes; it tends to follow racial and ethnic lines as well, with
the result that class divisions often parallel racial divisions. The first settlers
from "Anglo-Saxon" northern Europe quickly took control of economic assets
and political power in the United States, and they have maintained this
control, to a greater or lesser degree, ever since. Successive waves of
immigrants from other parts of Europe and elsewhere in the world have had to
struggle, long and hard to become assimilated into the mainstream of
American life. Some have succeeded and have shared in the "American
dream"; others-notably those whose ethnic or racial characteristics differ most
markedly from those of the dominant groups-have been excluded by formal
and informal barriers from full participation in American life. The result of
this discrimination has been a severe and continuing racial tension in the
United States that has periodically erupted into outright violence. Particularly
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since the civil rights demonstrations, ghetto riots, and other unrest in the
1960s, race and ethnic relations have been a major preoccupation of social
scientists, politicians and the general public.
In the United States, any group other than the dominant white Anglo
Saxon Protestant majority is a minority group in American society. These
racial and ethnic minorities mainly refer to the blacks, Native Americans or
American Indians, the Hispanics, and Asian Americans. The social and
economic conditions of Native Americans are probably worse than those of
any other minority groups.
The blacks used to be the largest of the racial and ethnic minorities in
the United States. Their history in the United States has been one of sustained
oppression, discrimination, and denial of basic civil rights and liberties.
The 1960s saw the great civil rights movement whose goals were to end
segregation laws completely and fight for the equal rights for the colored
people. Many American blacks began to have a new mood. They had feelings
of pride; they declared that "black is beautiful"; and the black community
showed signs of unprecedented self-confidence. Equally important, many
black leaders began to disclaim full integration into the American mainstream
as the goal of the black minority. Instead, they argued, blacks ought to coexist
with other groups in a plural society containing different and distinctive
communities living in mutual respect.
Race relations between black and white still leave much to be desired,
although there is unmistakable evidence of some improvements in attitudes.
However, there is a sharp divergence between the races on the question of
how much progress has been made in ending discrimination. The majority of
whites believe that there has been a lot of progress in getting rid of
discrimination, but more than half of the blacks felt that there has not been
155
much real change.
Poverty
Poverty in the United States does not simply mean that the poor do not
live quite as well as other citizens. It means many old people eating dog and
cat food to supplement their diets. It means malnutrition and deprivation for
hundreds of thousands of children. It means greater susceptibility to disease,
to alcoholism, to victimization by criminals, and to mental disorders. It often
means unstable marriages, slum housing, illiteracy, ignorance, inadequate
medical facilities, and shortened life expectancy. Poverty can mean low self-
esteem, despair, and stunting of human potential.
The problem of poverty in the United States is aggravated because it

occurs in a society in which the overall distribution of wealth (property and
other capital) and income (wages, salaries, and other earnings) is very
unequal. Most of this wealth has not been accumulated through the hard work
or imaginative skills of those who now enjoy it. It has been inherited. Just as
the children of the poor are born into poverty and tend to remain there, so the
children of the rich tend to enjoy a lifetime of affluence.
The continued existence of poverty in a generally affluent American

society raises serious moral questions-and inevitably creates fierce conflicts of
interest and many political controversies.
Drug Abuse
Drug abuse in the United States has come to be regarded as one of the
most challenging social problems facing the nation. Indeed, the very word
"drug" excites strong emotions, and opinion polls since the late 1960s have
shown that the "drug problem" is perceived by most Americans as a major
threat to our society, particularly to its younger members.
Drug abuse in the United States is a social problem because it has a
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wide range of social costs, or dysfunctions-some obvious and measurable,
some hidden and difficult to quantify.
Crime: There is a strong association between some forms of drug use

and crime. The use of alcohol, for example, is highly correlated with violent
crime; more than half of those committing murder and other violent assaults
have consumed alcohol immediately before the crime. Heroin addiction, too,
is related to crime, although not so directly to violence. Heroin addicts may
need as much as $100 a day to support their habit, and most addicts find that
they must steal in order to raise these sums. In addition, users of illegal drugs
have to rely directly or indirectly on criminal networks that manufacture,
smuggle, and distribute these drugs. The profits from this illicit commerce are
vast and the Mafia and other criminal syndicate have become deeply involved
in the supply of heroin and, more recently, of cocaine.
Automobile accidents: Alcohol use is directly responsible for tens of

thousands of highway accidents and injuries; the drug is blamed for half of the
annual total of road traffic fatalities.
Effects on individuals: Drug dependence takes a significant toll in terms

of personal health and safety. The heavy user of drugs is much more likely
than a member of the general population to be killed or to commit suicide,
either deliberately or accidentally. Use of heroin increases one's chances of
premature death through overdose, infectious diseases such as hepatitis and
Aids or suicide. Many drugs have severe and sometimes irreversible effects on
mental as well as physical health. Drug dependence, too, may affect other
areas of the individual's life, ranging from the home to the work place to
personal relationships with friends.
Economic losses. The cost of alcohol abuse alone totals over $43 billion
a year in accidents, medical bill, lost production, and so on. It is difficult,
however, to estimate the total economic costs of drug use. One reason is that
there are many indirect costs society must pay to support drug-dependent
157
persons. Treatment and control of drug abuse constitute a major drain on law-
enforcement and other public resources. Chronic drug abusers, for example,
may become unemployable and end up on the welfare rolls.
Crime
Crime is one of the most serious social problems facing the nation.
Former President Nixon remarked on several occasions that crime is the
"number one enemy" and that "we must declare war against it." (Ironically,
President Nixon and many of his top administrative officials later faced
criminal charges-with, some being imprisoned-in connection with the
Watergate affair.)
It is generally agreed that serious, violent crime has reached alarming

proportions in the United States. Those arrested for crimes are
disproportionately likely to be male, young, a member of a racial minority,
and a city resident. Males are arrested about four times as often as females;
only juvenile runaway cases and prostitution are females arrested more often
than males. There are two major reasons why males are more often arrested.
One is the sex role stereotyping which encourages males to be more
aggressive and daring, while females are encouraged to be more passive and
conforming to rules and norms. The second reason is the tendency of police
officers and the courts to deal more leniently with female offenders. However,
it should be noted, in the past decade, crime among females has been
increasing at much faster rate than among males, a negative side effect which
has been attributed to women challenging the traditional sex roles of passivity
and conformity.
Members of racial minority groups have a disproportionately higher rate

of arrests. The arrest rate for the black population is three times higher than
for whites. One reason for this higher rate is that a higher proportion of the
black population is poor or unemployed; and there are high correlations
between poverty (and unemployment) and the types of crime classified by the
158
FBI as most serious. An additional reason for the higher arrest rates among
minority groups may be racial prejudice. A number of studies have shown at
the probability of arrest, prosecution, conviction, and incarceration for an
offense that is committed decreases as the social status of the offender
increases.
1. The author says that the United States was founded on the principle of
human equality, but in practice the nation has fallen far short of that
ideal. Illustrate this point with what you have learned from this text.
2. Discuss the origins, development and current situation of the black-

white relations in the United States.
3. What does poverty mean in the United States? Why is poverty a social
problem in America?
159
C anada
Unit 1: The Country and its People 73
Unit 2: The Government and Politics of Canada 78
Unit 3: The Canada Mosaic 81
160
161
Unit 1: THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE
Area 9 976 139 sq km
Population 31.9 million (2004)
Languages English/French
Government Parliamentary democracy
Official Head of State Queen
Capital City Ottawa
In size, Canada is the second largest country on earth. In terms of

economic power, it is a member of the Big Seven, the world's leading
industrial nations, ranking along with the United States, France, the United
Kingdom, Italy, Germany and Japan. Canada plays an active role in
international affairs, often taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian
missions and spearheading aid and development programs. Its scenery of
mountains, oceans, forests and prairies is spectacular. It has a lively and rich
culture, with many world famous actors, pop stars and writers. In annual
"quality of life': surveys produced by the United Nation each year, Canada
regularly is rated as having the best standard of living in the world because of
its health care, education, clean-environment, social welfare, and so on.
In contrast to its physical size, economic power and international

prestige, Canada's population is very small. The current population is about
31.9 million - about the same as the Changing city! This paradox of hailing a
small number of people in a very large, resource-rich area gives rise to some
of the misleading perceptions people have about Canada.
162
Most of Canada lies very far north. Large tracts of the country are wild,
virtually unpopulated Arctic tundra, full of dangerous animals and freezing
temperatures. But most Canadians live in the south of the country. About 90
per cent of the population is estimated to live within a few hundred kilometers
of the Canadian-American border, in a climate that is much less extreme.
The Regions of Canada
With an area of nearly 10 million square kilometers, Canada is the

second largest country in the world. Located on the North American continent,
Canada stretches "from sea to sea" (the' country's motto) - bordered by the
Pacific Ocean on the west coast and the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast. To
the south, lies the United States. Canada and the US share the longest
undefended national border in the world, a symbol of their good relations.
Canada occupies about half of the North American continent. Its

physical geography includes mountains, rivers, oceans, and prairies and a
variety of different climates. Canada consists of ten provinces and two
territories, and the nature, culture and economic life of these provinces are
largely dictated by their terrain.
The North
To the north, Canada extends up into the Arctic Circle to the North
Pole. The north is a scarcely populated area of ice and oceans which is
sometimes called "the Land of the Midnight Sun" because during the height of
summer the sun does not set. Most of the inhabitants are aboriginal peoples
and indeed, several Aboriginal languages have been granted the same official
status as French and English.
Along the northern border, the coastlines are literally forming, melting
and breaking away and floating off in the form of ice floes. It is difficult to say
exactly where Canada begins and ends. But in this harsh, inhospitable region,
it does not matter very much as no one is actually counter-claiming what
163
Canada considers its territory-although during the Cold War, Canada
occasionally protested about American nuclear submarines patrolling the
northernmost ocean regions.
The traditional northern economy was based on hunting and trapping

animals for food and pelts, activities which are still carried out by some of
native inhabitants. In the late l800s, thousands of miners poured into the
Yukon during the Gold Rush, hoping to make their fortunes. Nowadays, the
northern economy is developing its oil and gas deposits, and the Inuit peoples
depend on arts and crafts, as well as hunting, for their livelihood.
The West
The Western-most province is British Columbia - popularly known by

its initials, BC - which has three major mountain ranges running through it.
The largest range, the Rockies, is the world-famous mountains which divide
BC from Alberta, and contain over 50 peaks higher than 3.350 meters. You
have almost certainly seen pictures of a turquoise-jewel colored lake
surrounded by snowy peaks - this is Lake Louise, located in the Rockies and it
is probably the most famous image of the Canadian landscape.
The mountain ranges in combination with heavy rainfall in BC create

ideal conditions for generating electricity, and BC is Canada's second largest
producer of hydroelectric power. Its main economic mainstay, however, is its
forests. British Columbia has the most valuable forestry industry in Canada. In
recent years, this industry has come under threat as environmentalists have
tried to have logging stopped.
The Prairies
East of the Rockies lie the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan

and Manitoba, Canada's breadbasket. The prairies are flat and featureless and
have a harsh continental climate. The winters are cold and the summers are
hot, but the terrain is well-suited to farming. During the late 1800s, the
164
Canadian government encouraged the settlement of the prairie provinces by
offering cheap lands grants to Europeans who would emigrate and settle there.
Over 3 million people, mainly from continental Europe came, tempted by the
cheap land and high prices of wheat.
Wheat is one of Canada’s biggest agricultural crops. Alberta is the

country's main beef and feed producer, and Manitoba - known as the Land of
100 000 Lakes – produces hydroelectricity as well as a wide variety of crops
and livestock. The prairies are also rich in energy resources.
Central Canada
Moving still further east, we come to the oldest part of Canada, that is,
the part of the country that were first settled, Ontario and Quebec. The first
colonist settled in Quebec, in the early 1600s, and from that point on, the
history of Canada was a history of exploring and pushing further west,
conquering new and uncharted territories.
Ontario and Quebec are huge provinces with farming, mining and
forestry industries, but they are actually the industrial heartland of the country,
where most manufacturing and heavy industries are located. They are also the
most densely populated provinces and have the largest cities. Toronto is
located in Ontario and, because it is well-known, it is commonly assumed to
be Canada's capital - but in fact that honor goes to the much smaller city of
Ottawa, also in Ontario. Montreal is Canada's second largest city, located in
the mainly French-speaking province of Quebec. Montreal is considered a
rather classy, highly cultured European-seeming city which just happens to be
located on the North American continent More than half of Canada's
population live in these two provinces.
The Atlantic Region
Finally we come to the Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick, Nova

Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, which are also known as the
165
Maritimes Nova Scotia was actually the first part of Canada to be settled, in
1604, whereas Newfoundland was the last province to join Canada-in 1949.
Newfoundlanders voted to join Canada. These maritime provinces are small in
population and largely rely on the fishing industry for their economic wealth.
They are traditionally rather poor and so money from the richer Canadian
provinces is transferred to them, in order to ensure they enjoy the same quality
of life as the richer areas. However, they are rich in farming and forestry
products, and the spectacular scenery of the region makes it a popular tourist
destination.
In terms of its geography, then, Canada is very varied. Its geography is

very important in understanding the different natures of the Canadian people.
Canada is a country made up of largely immigrants, and it was the geography
that largely dictated the kinds of immigrants which came.
History
While the vast regions of North America were long populated by

Aboriginal peoples-the native Indians-with rich cultures and highly developed
societies, Canada as a concept and a country is a very recent phenomenon.
European contact with the landmass that would one day become Canada is
thought to have begun with the arrival of Norsemen (Vikings) in the 11th
century who came from the northern European regions and explored Canada's
far north-but they did not stay.
Settlement by Europeans did not begin until the 17th century. It was
French colonists who first settled Canada. The earliest major settlements were
established 1n Nova Scotia in 1604 and Quebec in 1608. The French were
essentially interested in Canada's rich wildlife which provided the basis of the
fur trade and the Company of New France was set up to facilitate a growing
trade in beaver pelts, which were made into highly sought after fashion items
in the rich societies back home in Europe. Indians trapped animals and traded
the pelts for European items they desired.
166
The British were jealous of the French success and soon began to
compete for territory and trading centers. The Hudson's Bay Company was
founded in 1670 to rival the French company, and for over 200 years
exercised power over the Canadian north. You can still shop in Hudson's Bay
Company stores today-although now they are fashionable department stores
rather than places to trade beaver pelts for snowshoes and gunpowder.
Throughout the 18th century there were battles fought between the
various Indian tribes and the French and British entrepreneurs. The constant
wars fought between Britain and France faraway in Europe also affected the
fortunes of what would one day become Canada, as overseas territories and
rights were won, lost and traded. American history also affected Canada's
history: following the American War of Independence, many of those who had
remained loyal to the British monarchy left the newly republican America to
settle north of the border. The French Revolution also caused concerns in its
far-flung colonies and interests. This age of European uncertainty provided the
impetus for the merging of the different areas into a confederation. In 1867
Canada was born when Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia all
joined together. As time passed, other provinces and territories also joined.
What’s in a name?
What does the word “Canada” means? Its actual derivation is uncertain,
but many explanations exist. These stories about the very word "Canada" are
indications of the diverse cultural background of the country. Some say that it
comes from the Spanish for "nothing here", which might well have been the
comments of the Spanish explorers who, looking for a passage to Asia,
encountered this large, wild, forested, apparently unpopulated islands off the
west coast of the country. (In fact, it was explorers who mistook Canada for
India that began calling Aboriginal peoples "Indians").
Others suggest the name of Canada comes from one or more of the
languages spoken by the First Nations (a term now use to describe original
167
Canadians). In Cree, it means "clean land"; in Mohawk, "castle"; to the
Iroquois, ka-natal meant "village".
1. Why is Canada regularly rated as having the best standard of living in the
world?
2. Why do Canadians seek a national identity? What is so unique about

Canadian culture?
168
Unit 2: The Government and Politics of Canada
Historical Background
Canada's political system reflects the two major foreign influences on

the historical development of the country: on the one hand, its legacy as a
former colony of Britain, and on the other, the powerful influence exerted by
its neighbor to the south, the United States.
In Britain, the central government in London wields most political

power. Canada retained British structures, but it was impossible to recreate
British conditions in a vast, unknown, unpopulated wilderness. Over time,
strong provincial governments were persuaded to join into the Canadian
"confederation", usually after the founding fathers in Central Canada promised
to grant new members special favors. For example, British Columbia agreed
to join confederation on the basis that the railroad would be extended all the
way to the west coast. In the 1980s, when the federal government tried to save
money by closing down little used rail services in the west, British
Columbians fought back with the argument that their railway was protected by
the Canadian constitution.
Provincial governments operate on the same model as the federal

government at a lower level. Each province is led by a Premier, who is head of
the provincial house, called the legislative assembly. Provincial governments
have a great deal of power over controlling the local economy, and education
and health systems. For example, China might be visited by trade delegations
from a particular province as well as representatives of the whole country.
American ideas influenced the Canadian system to some degree. For

example, freedom of speech and freedom of information are much more
valued in contemporary Canada than they are in Britain, and these values owe
169
much to the American protection of such rights. Nowadays, when Canadian
society appears to outsiders to be so similar to American society at first
glance, it can be difficult to capture the essence of what makes Canadian
society feel different. The answer can in part be found in the two slogans
which define the political aspirations of the two countries. While the United
States was founded on the idea of individualism - Americans aspire to "life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - Canadians chose to found a nation
based on "peace, order and good government". In other words, for Canadians,
the well-being and liberty of individuals must sometimes be sacrificed for the
greater good of the community.
Structures of Government
As a former British colony, Canada's system of government was based

on the British system of parliamentary democracy. This is often referred to as
"Westminster-style" democracy, named after the British House of Commons.
Like other former colonies like New Zealand and Australia, many Canadian
laws, political practices and customs were brought from the "Old Country"
and adapted to the different conditions of the new country. At first glance, the
similarity between British and Canadian political conditions are great; but
when you look more closely, you can see important differences which have
arisen from the experience of governing a huge but sparsely populated
country.
Like Britain, Canada is a monarchy. The official head of state is the

Queen, who is also the Queen of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and
other former British colonies. The Queen is Canada's queen in her own right;
if, for example, Britain decided to become a republic, the Queen would still be
the Queen of Canada. Because she does not live in Canada, she is represented
by an official called a Governor-General. When heads of state visit Canada,
170
they will first be greeted by the Governor-General, before being welcomed by
the Prime Minister.
Both the Queen and the Governor General occupy roles which are
largely ceremonial. Most Canadians would be unable to tell you the name of
the current governor general, or identify him or her in a picture. And while the
Queen and her family are regarded with affection by most Canadians, the
monarchy as such bears little relevance to the governing of modem Canada.
The biggest difference between Canada and the UK is that Canada is a

federation - that is, it is ten provinces and two territories, each with their own
government, which have joined to form one country. The government of the
whole country is referred to as the "federal government", to distinguish it from
the lower level governments of each province. These provinces all have a
great deal of power in relation to the federal government.
The Canadian parliament is divided into a lower house, the House of

Commons, and an upper house called the Senate. Canadians vote in elections
for people they want to represent them .in the House of Commons. These
Members of Parliament (MPs) each fill a "seat" in the House of Commons,
which represents a particular electoral district.
Electoral districts are based on population rather than geographic size,

so there are more MPs from urban areas and very few from the sparsely
settled, wilder regions of Canada. The House of Commons contains about 300
seats. Because most of the Canadian population is concentrated in Ontario and
Quebec, these two provinces have the most seats and therefore the most power
in the House of Commons. This has caused a lot of trouble because the
provinces with smaller population; feel they are not adequately listened to by
"Central Canada".
As is the case in Britain, MPs generally all belong to political parties.

The party that wins the most seats forms the government; the party leader
171
becomes Prime Minister, and so, like in the UK, the most important person in
Canadian government is the Prime Minister. The Cabinet, chosen by the Prime
Minister, consists of senior MPs from the governing party. They are usually
given particular areas of responsibility, like external affairs, multiculturalism,
or health and education.
The Senate, the upper house, is not elected. It is appointed by the

Governor General, who acts on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
The Senate is not like the US Senate, but analogous to the House of Lords in
the UK, although the Lords can earn their seat by right of birth as well as by
being appointed. To balance the fact that the Commons is dominated by MPs
from populous Ontario and Quebec, senators are, by tradition, picked to
represent the regions more equally. There have been calls in recent years to
reform the Senate and make it an elected body.
1. Discuss the similarities and differences in the government systems

between the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.
2. What are some of the characteristics of the Canadian party system?
3. What are some of the things that make Canada a unique and interesting
country?
172
Unit 3: The Canadian Mosaic
Many people are familiar with the notion that American society is a
“melting pot”. The melting pot conveys the idea of successive waves of
immigrants coming to the new country of the United States and throwing off
their old customs, languages and traditions in flavor of becoming “American”.
In contrast, Canada, also a nation of immigrants, is usually described as

being a “mosaic”. When the British allowed the defeated French the right to
retain their language, religion and customs in Canada, the stage was set for a
different kind of country to emerge in which no particular concept of an
overarching Canadian identity would be promoted. Instead, both French
speakers and English speakers were equally “Canadian”. When new settlers
brought their different customs and ways of life to their new Canadian home,
they did not throw them off completely, but adapted them to the new
environment. Thus Canada, it is felt, resembles a mosaic of different cultures
which overlap but do not overwhelm each other.
Multiculturalism has caused something of a problem in that Canadians

often feel they lack a "national identity." But in fact, this patchwork quilt of
different nationalities and communities is central to what Canada is: a
multicultural, bilingual country where efforts are made to protect, promote and
celebrate the ways of the different kinds of people who live there.
The first Canadian
Thousands of years before the first European explorers "discovered" it,

the land that would one day become known as Canada was populated by tribes
of aboriginal people. These people used to be called "Indians: it is said that
when Columbus discovered America, he thought he had arrived in India and
thus accidentally misidentified the native population as being "Indian". Since
the 1980s native Canadians have' been officially referred to as "the First
Nations": "first" because they are the original inhabitants of the country, and
173
"nations" because there is not one single group or culture-there are many
"nations", or tribes, which have different languages, customs and beliefs. The
term "Indian" was discarded because it did not reflect the rich cultural
diversity and contributions of these peoples. Calling them "Indians" is like
calling all the people who live in Europe and North America "western
people." While it is not incorrect, it is not very descriptive. The First Nations
now make up about 3% of the Canadian population, and their numbers are
increasing due to high birthrates.
The languages, beliefs, customs and activities of the First Nations

varied according to where they lived. The life-style of the people who
inhabited Canada's coasts depended on fishing and hunting; those who lived
on the prairies were nomads that hunted herds of buffalo which provided them
with food, clothing and tools; and in central and eastern Canada. the First
Nations grew crops as well as hunted.
In addition to the First Nations, Canada's constitution officially

recognizes two other special groups of aboriginal peoples. In the far north are
the Inuit (Eskimo), a group who adapted to the harsh conditions of the arctic
climate by hunting seals, whales, caribou and polar bears. Today, some of
these people still live this way; others can now make a living through selling
their carvings and handicrafts which are prized by collectors for their beauty.
The final group is the Métis, who emerged when French fur traders married
Indian women. In appearance and in life-styles, their children inherited
characteristics from both their European and aboriginal backgrounds and their
close involvement in the fur trade made their economic development different
from other aboriginal peoples. For these reasons it was decided that the Métis
constituted an aboriginal people different from the other two groups.
Canada's aboriginal peoples were vital to the fur trade and thus played a
huge role in Canada's economic development, but they were treated very
badly by their white Europeans who came to colonies Canada. Native peoples
174
were coerced into signing treaties which allowed settlers to take over their
land, and they had been treated as second class Canadians for centuries. They
were forced to live on reserves, and until 1961, were forbidden to vote or
consume alcohol. They are a sector of Canadian society that remains
discriminated against today.
While in recent years their situation has improved, and they have
become more politically active, aboriginal peoples are still, as a group,
Canada's poorest inhabitants. They have less money than any other ethnic
group, including new immigrants. Their income is less than half the Canadian
average; their life expectancy is 10 years lower than the Canadian average;
their infant mortality rate twice as high they are vulnerable to diseases like
tuberculosis which are more commonly seen in the third world than the first
world. The suicide rate of native Canadians is the highest in the world, and the
second highest incidence of lung cancer in the world is found in Inuit women.
International human rights groups and the United Nations have criticized the
Canadian government's systematic discrimination against its native
population, and Amnesty International has called Canada "barbaric" in its
treatment of the First Nations.
The situation is improving slowly. Federal and provincial governments

are engaged in negotiating land claims and rights settlements which are aimed
at giving Native Canadians more control over their economic, social, and
political futures. In general, while there is still a lot of work to be done before
the First Nations will be able to flourish as a distinct and integral part of
Canada, nowadays most Canadians agree that they have been treated badly for
far too long and that it is time for a change.
The Settlers
175
Canada, like the US, is very much a nation of immigrants. The number
of aboriginal peoples was very small compared to the size of the country and
in the last two centuries the Canadian population has grown because of
official government immigration policies. These policies have largely been
determined by economic considerations, and while nowadays Canadians
celebrate their multicultural heritage, the policies which brought settlers to
Canadian shores were always based on practical economic considerations. In
short, immigration meant importing labor, and even today immigration policy
is based on who the country needs to help it prosper.
Immigration policy has traditionally followed the demands of the

changing Canadian labor market. From the 1890s through the 1920s, for
example, the governments wanted to settle the Prairie Provinces and develop
the mining industry and so it encouraged immigration from central and
Eastern Europe, a source of farmers and miners who would bring the skills
necessary to develop these two industries in the new country. In the same
period, Chinese laborers fled the political upheavals and economic
deprivations in their country and came to Canada to help build the railroad.
They were denied many rights, but nevertheless decided to stay in Canada and
now, for example, the west coast city of Vancouver is home to the second
largest Chinese community in North America, after San Francisco. Japanese
came to fish, Ukrainians came to farm and Finns came to harvest the forests.
Sometimes, Canada had difficulty tempting enough new immigrants: for
many, the United States was and remains the first choice.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, when thousands were thrown
out of work, Canada's immigration market was closed to virtually everyone
but Britons and Americans. It refused to accept refugees fleeing from Hitler's
Germany and banned Asian immigration. But when World War II ended, an
economic upturn, demand for raw materials and increased consumer spending
meant that Canada opened its doors again and looked abroad for workers.
Nevertheless, it was those nationalities Canadian policy-makers thought
176
would fit most easily into Canada that were courted, and restrictions on Asians
persisted, while Britons, Americans and Northern Europeans were welcomed.
They were offered special low fares, land grants, and other incentives to come,
and come they did. Between 1947 and 1991, the Canadian population
doubled, rising from 13 million to 27 million - and this was largely due to
immigration.
Immigration policy is directed by both provincial and federal gov-

ernments, and at time this has led to particular tensions. When the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, in both Canada and the United States, the
Japanese population, which was mainly concentrated on the west coast of
North America, suddenly seemed to be a potential security threat to the local
population, who feared they would assist in an invasion. In Canada, federal
policy-makers were not worried about the small numbers of west coast
Japanese, but local governments campaigned hard to have this "threat" dealt
with. In the end, the Japanese were removed from the coasts and kept in
camps east of the Rocky Mountains.
In more recent years, the federal government has encouraged Asian

immigration, offering passports to those with capital and/or entrepreneurial
skills. Would-be immigrants with more than $250 000 (Can) to invest in
businesses that will create jobs and wealth were welcomed to apply to come to
Canada, along with their families, in the Immigration Act of 1976. Again, this
federal policy, which created a new category of "entrepreneurial immigrants”,
has had consequences for local populations. In the late 1980s: Vancouver,
already the home of a long-established Chinatown, became a magnet for rich
business people from Hong Kong. In most cases, immigrants are poor and
begin their new life at the lowest rung of society, but wealthy Hong Kong
immigrants arrived able to buy up property and businesses, and their presence
rapidly changed the way Vancouver looks. Cantonese traffic signs and
shopping centers that catered to Chinese customers soon sprang up in areas of
the city.
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Canada continues to encourage new settlers to its shores. The incentive
remains largely economic. Canada has an aging population and a falling
birthrate. Policy-makers realize that they need to encourage immigration in
order to ensure a strong work force and the tax base the government needs to
support its expenditures into the next century.
There have long been racist overtones to Canadian attitudes to im-

migration, in that white Europeans have been favored because it was felt they
would fit most easily into Canadian society. This, along with the purely
economic concerns that have informed immigration policy, makes Canada
look hardheaded rather than humanitarian. Canada's refusal to assist refugees
in World War II is a particular source of shame, and more recent governments
have tried to make amends for such injustices, such as apologizing to loyal
Japanese Canadians who were imprisoned and had their property taken away
during the war.
More positively, Canadian public opinion was moved by the plight of

the Vietnamese "boat people" who fled their country in large numbers in
1979. Public opinion persuaded the government to assist the boat people and
by the end of 1980, Canada had the highest per capita intake of Vietnamese
refugees in the world, topping 60000 Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians.
In recent years, there has been increasing fear that Canada as we know
it will disappear. This is because the mainly French-speaking province of
Quebec has thought that its linguistic and cultural heritage is threatened by
remaining in a country that is mainly English-speaking. Quebeckers have also
felt that they have been economically dominated by English Canada. As a
result of these worries, many French Canadians feel they should separate from
the rest of Canada and become an independent state, since they have not been
able to reach an agreement to protect Quebec's "distinct society".
Many Canadians both inside and outside Quebec regard the possibility
of Quebec independence with despair and continue to work to find a way to
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meet the concerns and interests of all Canadians, including French speakers
throughout the country.
Some 600000 French speakers live outside Quebec. The federal

government tries to keep their culture alive by offering French-language radio
and television programs and protecting the right of French speakers to attend
French-speaking schools. In areas where there are enough francophone to
warrant it, government offices offer bilingual services. And everyone
throughout the country has the right to a criminal trial in either official
language.
1. How do you understand "multiculturalism"? What is the advantage of

living in a multicultural society? Do you think there is multiculturalism in
China?
2. Give your comment on Canada's practical economic approach to

immigration. Is it natural that people tend to accept more readily those
who fit more easily into their society?
3. Why is immigration an explosive political issue?
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Australia and New Zealand
Unit 1: The Land and the Peoples of the Dreaming 87
Unit 2: From Penal Colony to “Free Migration” 90
Unit 3: Australia as a Liberal Democratic Society 94
Unit 4: New Zealand: Land, People and History 97
Unit 5: Political System, Education and Economy 102
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Unit 1: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLES OF THE DREAMING
The continent of Australia lies between equatorial South East Asia and
the Antarctic. With a coastline of 30 000 kilometres and a land area of 7 682
300 km2, it is the largest island in the world. Its land area almost equals that of
the United States. It is also the smallest, flattest and driest continent in the
world. The country also includes Tasmania, an island just to the south, the
Torres Straits Islands off the northern coast of the mainland and a small
number of islands in the Pacific and the Indian Oceans.
The landscape of the country is extremely variable. In the north are

tropical rainforests; snowfields occupy the plateau landscapes of the southeast
whilst, in the centre and the western areas of the continent, two thirds of the
land is desert or semi deserts. However, it is in the Mediterranean and
temperate climates of the hills and fertile plains bordering the east, south and
the south west of the continent that 80% of Australians live today
The Peoples
We do not know exactly how long the country has been occupied but
the earliest discovered site of occupation is about 47 000 years old. To put this
in perspective, since the First Fleet arrived in 1788 there have been only eight
generations of settlers. On the other hand, there have been at least 18 500
generations of the Peoples of the Dreaming.
The Peoples of the Dreaming belonged to over 500 different groups or

nations with different languages and cultures but they were bound together by
their belief in the Dreaming. "The Dreaming" or "The Dreamtime" is the most
enduring religion in Australia today. It is based on the central principle that
the people who live on the continent have special responsibilities to the land-
that the land owns them and that they hold it in trust as the home of their
creator. However, in the immensely variable landscape of the country,
different cultures and different languages developed within this broad
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framework of the Dreamtime.
"Dreamtime" or "Dreaming".
The expression "Dreamtime" is most often used to refer to the "time

before time", or 'the time of the creation of all things', while 'Dreaming' refers
to an individual's or group's set of beliefs or spirituality. For instance, an
indigenous Australian might say that they have Kangaroo Dreaming, or
Wombat Dreaming. These are the many separate stories that explain the
creation of whichever features of the land that form the country of anyone
group.
Because the peoples of the Dreaming developed an intricate under-

standing of the land their intellectual skills became important to the colonists
and developers who took over the country after 1788. The first industries that
were developed after the settlements were the sealing industries. White
sealers, in Tasmania, and on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, were quick
to understand the value of the knowledges of the local peoples whose land
they had invaded. On both islands the sealers abducted young indigenous
women and used their manual and intellectual labour to catch and prepare the
seal skins and the meat and blubber from which the sealers extracted their
profit. Later, the pastoralists exploited the Peoples' understanding of the land
in the development of the great cattle and sheep stations that created massive
wealth for the new white "owners”.
Contact and the Concept of Terra Nullius
The British were not the first foreigners to make contact with the
Peoples of the Dreaming. In 1405, Zhu Di the Ming emperor commissioned
his admiral Zheng He to take 317 of his ships to the Middle East and Eastern
Africa. Between 1405 and 1433 Zheng He made seven trips routinely passing
through what we now call Southeast and South Asia and there is evidence that
several ships from that armada landed on the Am Islands to the north of
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Arnhem Land. Some Northern Territory stories incorporate concepts, for
example of reincarnation, that are more often associated with Buddhism than
with the Dreaming and there are rock paintings in the Northern Territory
which could be interpreted as portraying Chinese junks weighing anchor or
images of the Buddha. Moreover, the kangaroo, an animal indigenous only to
Australia was known in 15th century China.
Although Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Arab seafarers may have

landed in northern Australia well before 1500 AD, Australia was essentially
unknown in the West until the 17th century. However it did exist in late
medieval European logic and mythology as a great Southland, or Terra
Australis, which was thought necessary to balance the weight of the northern
landmasses of Europe and Asia. Terra Australis often appeared on early
European maps as a large, globe-shaped mass in about its correct location.
There are records in the art of the Peoples of the Dreaming of the arrival
of various European travellers, Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch explorers.
However, it was the British who took over the country in the late 18th century,
declaring it to be "terra nullius" – an unowned wasteland which could,
legitimately, be colonised.
By declaring Australia "terra nullius" the British were not only

claiming that they could take possession of the land but that they could
dismiss those who had lived there for 18000 or so generations as a people who
were not fully human and who were certainly not "civilised". The 500 Peoples
of the Dreaming were not recognised. These one mil-lion or so people who
lived on the land were instead grouped together under the one name: "the
Aborigines", the generic term meaning "the original natives of the land."
The Policy of Assimilation
By the beginning of the 20th century the policy of protection had been
replaced by the policy of assimilation. "Assimilation" was founded on the
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belief that the white culture was the progressive and superior whereas the
Dreamtime was only a form of superstition. Children were taken away from
their parents to be placed in church-run institutions and the missionaries on
the "protected reserves" set out to destroy the culture of the Dreaming and to
replace it with Christianity. As the children grew to adulthood, many of them
had lost both their families and their culture. They were employed as domestic
servants or on cattle stations but were paid only with food and clothes or with
wages that were only a fraction of those paid to white workers. Young
Aboriginal women were continually at risk of rape on the reserves,
institutions, and in their places of employment.
There was a major contradiction underlying the official relationship of

"Assimilation". Whilst it officially meant that both peoples would become as
one, with the Aboriginal people merging into the larger Australian society, in
practice, assimilation was accompanied by segregation. Aboriginal people
were excluded from the social, the political and the working life of
mainstream Australians. They had unequal conditions of entry into public
houses, swimming pools and cinemas and were excluded from mainstream
education and health services. They were also excluded from many forms of
employment and from citizenship: Aboriginal people could not vote.
The double loss, of traditional culture and exclusion from mainstream

Australian society and culture, led to Aboriginal people being labelled as lazy,
stupid and drunken and dirty. This combination of exclusionary practices and
cultural prejudices paralleled the systems of apartheid practised in the United
States and South Africa. Racism was an entrenched part of Australian culture
until the 1960s and operated at the personal and the institutional level.
1. What are the unique features of the Australian continent?
2. Discuss the social and cultural values embodied in the Dreaming.
184
3. What do you know about Zheng He's voyages in the 15th century? Do
you think his fleet got to the northern part of Australia? Why?
4. What is the impact of the assimilation policy on the indigenous people?
Unit 2: FROM PENAL COLONY TO “FREE MIGRATION”
Australia as a Penal Colony
After European settlement in 1788, Australia was politically organized

as a number of separate British colonies, eventually six in all: New South
Wales, Tasmania, Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria, and South
Australia.
The first period of the colonisation of Australia, lasting from 1788 to

the 1830s, was based largely on the "unfree" labour of the convicts: NSW,
Tasmania, and Queensland were established as convict colonies; Victoria and
South Australia, both established in the 1830s, were settled as 'free', or non-
convict, colonies. Western Australia, established in 1828 as a free colony,
turned to convict labour in 1850 and became a convict colony for 19 years
until 1869.
So the first generations of non-Aboriginal, native-born Australians were

born and reared in the convict and non-convict families of NSW. Despite the
predictions of the moralists of the time, these children turned out to be far less
criminal than their peer generations in the Mother country. What was family
life like in this extraordinary form of society-the penal colony of NSW?
Family Life in the Convict Colony
At the end of the 18th century families in Europe, especially those in

Britain were in a state of transition, moving from the families of rural life to
the new urban families of the manufacturing towns and slums of the early
185
industrial revolution. So life in the penal colony was based on a culture that
was itself subject to changing values. Moreover, for the first few decades after
1788, the colonial workforce was based largely on convict labour. Men vastly
outnumbered women. However, family life was being established in the
colony although with some significant variations from life in the "mother
country".
Portia Robinson's description of the lives of working families in the

convict era from 1788 to the 1830s reveals that many wives of convicts made
desperate efforts to be brought out to live with their husbands. The majority of
requests were denied. For these wives, being left behind in the UK often
meant deprivation, even death, for them and their children. However, a few
wives were allowed to sail with their convict husbands.
In the first decades new families were often formed in the colony in a
brutal way. When a ship with women convicts or "free" women migrants
docked, first the Government officials and senior officers, then the sailors and
''free'' working men were allowed to go on board to claim a woman as a
servant and/or a concubines. Convicts could claim the remaining women. The
women who were not claimed either slept on the streets or were sent to the
"Female Factory" - a prison in Paramatta. Single women were at risk of being
viciously treated and this abuse was so much part of the institutional culture of
the colony that Governor Macquarie was censured for punishing one group of
his officers for their abominable treatment of women. For women this vicious
system meant that they were obliged to work and sleep with one man or bear
the considerable risks of being shared between men. Women in the colony had
little choice between an informal family relationship or prostitution.
So families were formed in various ways: some arrived together, some

arrived separately and were reunited, whilst others were newly formed in
NSW. The convict husbands of free wives could be allotted to them as "ticket-
of-leave" servants. In these cases, the husband was expected to provide for the
186
family through his labour on land that had been formally allocated to the wife.
The partnerships between convict men and convict women were less
secure: Margaret McDonald, a convict from Edinburgh, applied to have her
convict husband assigned to her but the authorities deliberately separated the
couple by assigning them to masters in different areas of the colony.
Moreover, whether the wife was "free" or "convict", if the convict husband
had a special skill required by the government, he was less likely to be
assigned to her. For example, Ann Evans, a free wife with two children, came
to the colony two years after her husband, a carpenter, had been transported
for life. Portia Robinson records the response of the authorities to Ann's
petition. The government would not free him from his convict servitude
because ''The husband of the Petitioner is a Cabinet Maker and in the present
state of the Public Works he cannot be spared".
Many of the women and men, who had been transported as convicts,
lived together and had children without having been officially married in
church. In Australian terms, these were "de facto" families. "Currency
children" was the name given to these first generations born in NSW and
several visitors to the colony favorably compared the physical stature and easy
demeanour of the "Currency" children with those of the children reared in the
industrial towns and slums of England.
Convict partnerships were not the only form of family of this era. There
were also "free" families of people who came over with the transported
convicts, families of soldiers or administrators of the colony or people who
arrived as "free settlers". However, the majority of men in the early years of
the colony did not have wives. The majority of men, of course, were also
convicts.
Work Life in the Penal Colony
Most convicts lived as servants and labourers but there were also
187
convict tradesmen and clerical and administrative workers. Francis
Greenaway, a convict architect who had been convicted of forgery, was
responsible for some fine buildings that still stand in Sydney today. Initially
the convict work force rarely received wages and for some years imported rum
was the currency of the colony. Macquarie, who took over as governor in
1810, used this massive force of convict labour to expand the colony by
building up to fifty townships around Sydney. At this time some convicts,
especially those who were "mechanics" or tradesmen, were able to earn wages
in their spare time-that is, after three o'clock in the afternoon. They could earn
between six and eight shillings a day, higher wages than those earned by free
workers back in Britain. Other convicts, especially those who worked for the
pastoralists, were not so lucky.
By 1821 the population of NSW had increased to forty thousand and the
majority of women in the colony were "free" colonists. Women ran the new
businesses of the colony with their husbands. Those who had been widowed
were operating as independent publicans, dealers, traders, and shopkeepers
able to request in their own names assigned extra servants and grants of extra
land. In the next stage of the history of the colonial family economy, however,
we trace the decline of this female independence.
From Convict Transportation to "Free" Migration
By the early 1820s there was pressure from the majority of the "free"
settlers, in NSW, to replace convict transportation with "free migration" and to
establish a "free market" economy. Attempts by the British Colonial Office to
reinstate the practice in the colony brought about mass anti-transportation
demonstrations in Sydney and Melbourne. The British Government then lost
its political nerve for reintroducing convicts to eastern Australia.
By the middle of the 19th century, all six States had achieved virtually
complete internal self-government under their own colonial Parliaments. So
the 1830s and 1840s formed the early years of the modern (non convict)
188
system of the Australian Political Economy.
By the mid 1830s, the free migrants considerably outnumbered the

convict population of Australia.
During the period of the gold strikes in Australia in the 1850s so many
people made their own way to Australia that the population nearly doubled
without the help of government-assisted migration. However, for 140 years,
from the 1830s to the latter half of the 20th century, it was the policy of
government-assisted migration of 'free labour' that played a major part in the
development of the modem political economy of Australia. Let us look more
closely at the history of this key policy and at the story of the man who
proposed it.
1. What is convict transportation? How did it affect the development of

the colonies?
2. Describe women's situation in the colonial Australia.
3. What does the author mean by "family life was being established in the
colony although with some significant variations from life in the mother
country"?
189
Unit 3: AUSTRALIA AS A LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
The Formation of the Australian Political System
Australia has what has been called a "Washminster" form of polity. In

other words it is a mixture of the US, Washington system of government and
the British, Westminster system: the political structure is based on a
Federation of States and has a three-tier system of government but the chief
executive is a Prime Minister not a President.
Although Australia has a three-tier system of government-the

Australian Parliament at federal level, six state governments and about 900
local government bodies-the Prime Minister and his Cabinet at federal level is
the acknowledged centre of Australian parliamentary powers. For example,
there are some parliamentary powers which are shared by federal and state
governments but, when there is any inconsistency between the decisions of the
two levels of government, the Commonwealth or federal laws overrule the
laws of the state.
At the federal level there are two houses of parliament-the House of

Representatives, or the Lower House, and the Senate. The Senate, even though
it is called the Upper House, does not have the power to enact legislation. Its
role is to consider and perhaps propose amendments to the Bills, that is, the
proposed pieces of legislation, which the Lower House initiates. If there is
sufficient disagreement between the House of Representatives and the Senate,
then the Governor-General can call a "double dissolution": both Houses of
Parliament are stood down and there is an early general election. However,
this power of the Senate is employed rarely.
Within the pluralist paradigm, it is citizens who ultimately control the

government through the electoral system. Citizens vote for members of
parliament. The members of parliament generally belong to one of the two
major political parties, the Australian Labor Party (ALP), or the Coalition. As
190
its name implies, the Coalition comprises a combination of two parties-the
Liberals and the Nationals. Each party sets out a party programme - a set of
basic principles and policies that align with those principles.
This system, according to pluralist theory, has the following

advantages.
 The difference between the two party programmes means that citizens
can choose, at each election, which set of policies they would prefer to be
enacted over the following three years of government. It is this ability to help
to elect one's own government from parties with reasonably clearly defined
political programmes that underpins the political citizenship of the Australian
people.
 This system secures transparency and thus accountability.
 Even when the major party is in power their policies should be subject
to the continuous scrutiny of the opposing party, both on the floor of the
house, in the Senate committee system and through political debates in the
media.
 Pluralism provides for a ready made alternative government as the

major Opposition party comprises not only back-benchers, but also “shadow
ministers" and a "shadow cabinet", who are sufficiently informed about
current aspects of their shadow portfolios for the opposition to be competent
to take over should any government collapse.
 Citizens can exert their power between elections through their

membership of major interest groups. These include not only the political
parties, but also other associations such as unions, employers' groups,
environmental groups and so on. Citizens, according to the pluralist
interpretation, can have a continuing input into party policies through their
membership of such groups. Nevertheless, it is the voting system which is the
191
keystone of the pluralist and liberal theory of citizen power.
In contrast with many other liberal democratic societies, Australia has a

system of compulsory voting. At each election all citizens of voting age (over
18 years) must attend their local electoral station. However, there is no law
saying that citizens cannot spoil their vote so casting a vote per se is not
compulsory.
Formally, the executive branch of government is headed by the

Governor-General who is the representative of the Queen. However, the
British monarch has no real power in Australia. The Governor-General acts
only on the advice of the Executive Council that comprises himself and the
Cabinet.
The only recent exception to this rule was the 1975 dismissal of Gough
Whitlam who was then the Labor Prime Minister of Australia. The leader of
the opposition, Malcolm Fraser, had persuaded Sir John Kerr, the Governor-
General that as the Upper House had refused to pass the Supply Bill granting
money to the government, Whitlam should be dismissed and he, Fraser,
should be appointed as “a caretaker Prime Minister”. This dismissal was
generally interpreted as a major constitutional crisis created by the flouting of
the uncodified or unwritten conventions of government. The Governor-
General attracted such political and popular animosity. It is unlikely that any
future Governor-General would attempt to exert this power again.
1. Do you think the Australian government system is a democratic one?

Why?
2. Why do you think Australia adopted the "Washminster" form of polity?

192
Do you think it reflects the advantages of both systems?
3. Do you think the pluralist form of government is ideal? What are its
drawbacks?
4. Do you think the government can improve the efficiency of the social
welfare and social security services by contracting them out to private
sector? Why?
5. Is the loss of social capital a necessary cost in maintaining a country's

strong economy? Why?
193
Unit 4: NEW ZEALAND: LAND, PEOPLE AND HISTORY
New Zealand is a special country in many ways. It is a small country

with a small population, a long way from the large powerful countries, but
many people know about New Zealand.
Maybe when someone mentions New Zealand you think of a clean,

green image: fresh air; clean rivers, lakes and sea; clean food; green trees and
mountains and blue skies. Some people are aware of New Zealand because it
has an interesting geological history. The islands of New Zealand have been
separated from other land for millions of years, and they have unique plants,
birds and insects.
Some people know about New Zealand because the Government and
people speak out against nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Some people
may know that in 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world
where women could vote for .a new government.
Some people know about the Maori people and their central place in the
life, culture and politics of New Zealand.
Some people know New Zealand produces a lot of meat and dairy
products. Some people just know that a lot of tourists go to New Zealand and
enjoy their holidays there.
Whatever you know about New Zealand you will learn more from these
two units. If you meet someone from New Zealand or if you ever have the
chance to go to this country, perhaps you will remember something you .learn
here, and that will make you feel more at home.
Geography, Land and Environment
Situated in the southwest Pacific Ocean, New Zealand is a large, long

group of islands, 1- 600 kilometres from north to south. New Zealand has
194
another name, "Aotearoa," meaning "a land of the long white cloud" in the
native Maori language. This long group of islands is made up of two main
landmasses, the North Island and the South Island, separated by Cook Strait.
The third largest island, Stewart Island, is south of the South Island, and there
are many smaller islands, including uninhabited isolated islands hundreds of
kilometres offshore. Its nearest large neighbour - Australia - is almost 2 000
km away.
With a land area of 270500 square kilometres, New Zealand is similar

in size to Japan or the British Isles. A huge diversity of physical geography
has produced a wide variation in landscape. The North Island has been formed
mostly by volcanoes, some of which are still active, and the Auckland city
skyline is dominated by the cones of extinct volcanoes.
Although most of the land is 200 metres or more above sea level there
are extensive fertile lowlands in both islands, and rolling plains in South
Canterbury and Hawkes Bay.
New Zealand is in the southern temperate latitudes midway between the

Equator and the South Pole. The capital city, Wellington, is the southernmost
and windiest national capital city in the world. It is the same distance south of
the Equator as Beijing is north of the Equator. The climate is maritime: no part
of the country is more than 120 km from the sea. Slow-to-change sea
temperatures produce moderate temperatures.
A large number of native birds and plants, insects (many flightless),

spiders and snails, as well as all native earth worms, are found only in New
Zealand. There are no snakes, but several other native reptile species.
Favourable geographic features, low population and a late development

of industry mean New Zealand has avoided the air, water and land pollution
problems of more densely populated and heavily industrialized countries.
The New Zealanders

195
New Zealand's population has grown steadily over the last 150 years,
and reached approximately 3.84 million in October 2001. New Zealand is
lightly populated with an average of 13.2 people to a square kilometre. One
quarter of children live in one-parent families.
Around 80% of New Zealanders identify themselves as having some

European ancestry. Their forebears came mainly from Britain, but also from
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, former Yugoslavia and other nations. The
next largest population group are Maori, about 15% in 2001.
Significant groups of Chinese and Indian people have lived in New

Zealand for generations, and almost every other country in the world is
represented in the population mix.
Refugees from Europe, many of Jewish and Polish origin, arrived in the
1930s, and during and after World War II. Since then, more refugees have
arrived from Hungary, Chile, Russia, Eastern Europe, Iraq, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Somalia and Ethiopia.
Both immigrants and refugees have been welcomed into New Zealand
society and contributed their different ethnic and cultural values to the New
Zealand way of life.
English and Maori are the official languages and English is the
language spoken by almost all New Zealanders. Maori is the first language of
about 50000 people; a further 150000 speak Maori as a second language and
thousands more learn some Maori language each year. Many names of places,
plants and birds are Maori, and many other Maori words have enriched New
Zealand English.
New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right
to vote (in 1893). Today a Ministry of Women's Affairs advises the
government on policy matters relating to the equality and rights of women.
196
Maoritanga
Maoritanga means "Maori culture", and embraces the language,

customs and traditions that make up the rich heritage of the indigenous people
of Aotearoa New Zealand. One in seven people identify themselves as New
Zealand Maori. Maori people today have adopted many aspects of western
life, and Maori businesses make up one of the most important parts of the
private sector. At the same time, many Maori sustain their own unique culture,
which colours and enriches the New Zealand way of life.
Although some Maori still live in their tribal areas, over 80% of the
Maori population live in urban areas. These urban Maori have established
multi-tribal meeting places or marae, which enable them to continue their
maoritanga, and to ensure the culture and traditions continue to be passed
from generation to generation.
The Treaty of Waitangi was an instrument designed to bring law and

order to the trading settlements and to protect Maori rights in dealings with the
settlers. It reflected the attitudes prevailing in Britain at that time. Then Maori
people began to restrict land sales, however, the government came under
pressure from the increasing number of British settlers. Relations between
Maori and settlers deteriorated and war broke out in the early 1860s. By the
1890s less than one-sixth of New Zealand was owned by Maori.
Maori and Pakeha alike may study Maori language. Maori is the second
official language, and it is recognized in Parliament and in courts of law.
Since the 1970s, the language has become revitalized, with total-immersion
Maori language schools, and a significant increase in studying of Maori at all
educational levels, including university.
History
New Zealand - Aotearoa, "land of the long white cloud" - was settled
over 1000 years ago by voyagers from East Polynesia.
197
These settlers, the forebears of today's Maori, lived in tribes based on
family networks. They adapted quickly to the new environment, and by 1200,
had settled the North and South Islands. Using the abundant natural resources
for food and trade, Maori developed a rich culture; oral traditions, handed
down through generations, continued this. The Maori language was not written
down until the Tate 18th and early 19th centuries.
By the time the first European navigators arrived in 1642, most Maori
lived in the warm climate of the upper North Island. Dutchman Abel Tasman
anchored offshore in that year, naming the country Staten Land, later New
Zeeland. Englishman James Cook visited in 1769; he sailed around the whole
coast and made a fairly accurate map. He traded with Maori and claimed the
land for the British.
Sealers and whalers followed, and, in 1814, Christian missionaries. By

1840, 2000 Europeans lived among a Maori population of 115000. In that
year, over 500 chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, retaining ownership of
natural resources but giving up the right to govern to the British Crown. For
both Maori and Pakeha, the Treaty continues to hold a central place.
British settlers arrived in the 1840s and 1850s, establishing towns and
clearing land for farms. Maori and settler interests sometimes clashed,
resulting in war during the 1860s. With the loss of Maori, and the effect of
European diseases such as smallpox and measles, the Maori population fell to
42000 in 1896.
Settler society boomed after the gold rushes from the 1860s. Roads,
railways and public buildings were constructed, and national education
introduced. A new wave of British, European and Australian migrants arrived
to populate the towns and develop farmland.
Economic depression in the l880s produced social and economic

198
change. New Zealand led the world in granting votes to women in 1893,
wages were regulated, and old-age pensions began in 1898. Maori political
leaders initiated a Maori renaissance started earlier under the influence of the
Maori King movement and Maori religious prophets. Health and welfare
improved and the Maori population rose. Maori and European soldiers fought
alongside the British in the First World War (1914-1918), as they would do in
the Second (1936-1945).
Worldwide economic depression hits New Zealand in the late 1920s:

unemployment and poverty increased rapidly. Expanding state welfare from
the 1930s-higher pensions, unemployment and sickness benefits, and
subsidized medical care-improved conditions.
Inflation and unemployment grew in the 1970s, and government

spending on social welfare increased with the introduction of National
Superannuation in 1976 and a range of other income support measures.
From its settlement 1000 years ago, New Zealand today is a unique
blend of South Pacific and European cultures with a national identity of its
own.
1. What are some of the distinct features of New Zealand's geography?

Find out similarities and differences in terms of geography between
New Zealand and Australia.
2. What are the structural components of New Zealand's population? In

what way are they related to New Zealand's history?
3. Discuss the Maori culture in New Zealand. Is it similar with the

Aboriginal culture in Australia?
4. When did the first European navigators arrive in New Zealand? How
did New Zealand evolve to what it is today?
199
Unit 5: POLITICAL SYSTEM, EDUCATION AND ECONOMY
Government
New Zealand is an independent state, governed by a democratically

elected parliament. New Zealand has no written constitution. The Constitution
Act 1986 defines the relationship between the legislative (Parliament),
executive (Government departments and agencies) and judicial (the courts)
roles of government. The Head of state is the British monarch Queen
Elizabeth II in her capacity as Queen of New Zealand, represented by a
Governor-General. The Governor-General's agreement is required for an Act
of Parliament to become law.
Since 1950, Parliament has had a single chamber, the House of

Representatives, which follows British Westminster traditions. Important
functions include passing laws, supervising the government's administration
(the government cannot raise or spend money without parliamentary approval)
and receiving (and acting on if possible) petitions from citizens with
grievances.
There are currently 120 Members of Parliament (MPs), who are all
elected. Six of these are Maori MPs, who represent Maori voters only. Several
of the MPs representing the mixed populations of general electorates are also
of Maori descent. Citizens of Maori heritage choose whether to register on the
Maori or the General roll of electors, and may change their registration from
time to times.
From the age of 18, every New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
must enroll on the Electoral Roll and is entitled to vote in the elections. These
are secret ballots held every three years. More than 80% of eligible voters visit
polling booths in their electorates, or cast a special vote if they are travelling,
sick or overseas. Enrolment is compulsory, but voting is not. Anyone whose
200
name is on the Electoral Roll may be asked to serve on a jury in a court of
law.
For more than half a century, the two main parties in the House of
Representatives have been the National Party (centre-right) and the Labour
Party (centre-left). The Prime Minister is the leader of the party in power.
Members of Parliament who belong to the party not in power are known as the
Opposition-they analyse, debate and may oppose legislation introduced by the
government.
The parliamentary election in 1996 was held for the first time under the
proportional representation system known as MMPR (Mixed Member
Proportional Representation). This follows a national referendum which
decided the change in 1993. Under the previous voting structure, voters had
only one vote, deciding the Member of Parliament for their own electorate.
Under MMPR, each voter has two votes, the first for a candidate in their
electorate, the second for a political party. The second vote, counted over the
whole country, decides the number of seats that each party will take in
Parliament. Under MMPR there are 120 Members of Parliament, 64 elected
directly and 56 from lists selected by the political parties. The proportion of
these list MPs from each party depends on the second vote. If 30% of voters
vote for a particular party in their second vote, that party will end up with 30%
of the seats in Parliament.
MMPR offers an opportunity for a range of parties to gain seats by

achieving at least 5% of the party vote. The Green Party gained 6 seats in the
1999 election. In the same year 14 Maori, 36 women, three Pacific Islanders
and one ethnic Chinese were elected. Neither the National nor the Labour
Party has held a majority of seats in Parliament since 1996. Government has
been a coalition of at least two parties.
The Prime Minister chooses up to 20 MPs to form the Cabinet. They

are then known as Ministers, and take responsibility for making government
201
policy. Ministers' responsibilities are called "portfolios." Ministers may be
responsible for more than one portfolio.
Officials, working in government departments and ministries, are called

"public servants." In New Zealand the appointment of public servants is
independent of the political process. So although Ministers may change
according to the party in power at anyone time, public servants - including the
most senior levels - remain in their positions.
Over the last 15 years there has been significant reform of Government
affairs. Departmental functions are now more clearly specified, chief
executives and managers are fully accountable for the efficient running of
each organisation and the costs of governmental activities are more
transparent.
Education
Education in New Zealand is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 16,

and tuition in state schools is free to New Zealand residents.
Children living in areas too isolated for them to attend school, or who
cannot attend for medical or other reasons, are able to receive education by
taking correspondence courses. At primary and secondary school levels,
parents may choose to send their children to state or to private schools or,
under certain circumstances, educate their children at home.
An elected board of trustees governs each school. State schools charge

fees to foreign students who are not New Zealand residents, except for
exchange students.
Primary school education is compulsory for children from six years of

age, but most New Zealand children start at the age of 5-often on their 5th
birthday. (The school year begins in late January or early February.) Children
spend about two years in the infant classes (or junior school), depending on
202
their progress and when they started their first year in school. They then
progress through Standards 1 to 4 and, in some schools, Forms 1 and 2. In
some areas children aged about 11-13 attend an intermediate school for two
years, in Forms 1 and 2, bridging primary and secondary education. If there is
no intermediate school in the area, this education continues in Forms 1 and 2
at primary school.
At about the age of 12-13, children enter one of about 350 secondary
schools, usually called colleges or high schools. A small number of state
schools are boarding schools where students live at school. In the larger cities,
state schools may be co-educational or single-sex. Most secondary school
students wear uniforms.
Private schools are often single-sex, and are usually connected to a

religion. They have the same standards of accommodation, staffing, equip-
ment and curriculum as state schools. Some scholarships are available, but
most students pay fees for their education. Some private secondary schools
accept boarding pupils from country areas or overseas.
Students with special educational and developmental difficulties, such

as intellectual or physical disabilities, learn in regular school classes, special
schools or special education classes in ordinary schools. About 60 day and
residential special schools provide teaching and other services for children
with special education needs such as deafness or blindness.
Economy Agriculture
New Zealand is a rugged country, with little flat, naturally arable land,
and its reputation as the world's largest farm has been the result of hard work.
Today' thriving agricultural export trade is the result of more than a century of
hard work by farmers, scientists and exporters. Every kind of animal farmed,
almost every food plant and crop, is descended from stock brought in from
overseas and adapted to local conditions. Some 14 million hectares are grazed
203
by 50.2 million sheep and about 8 million cattle.
The relationship between farmer, land and nature is a delicate balance.

Constant effort is needed to resist introduced nuisances such as rabbits,
opossums, bracken, thistles and gorse. Farmers are the backbone of the
economy, and media comment and advertising mean that even city dwellers
are very much in touch with the issues affecting them.
New Zealand is a world leader in agricultural research and advisory

services. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries plays a major part in
enforcing agricultural security, animal welfare and pest and disease
management. Biological control of some plant pests is already proving
successful. Quarantine regulations for all live imports are strict, but alpacas,
llamas, water buffalo, emus and ostrich are being imported and established.
New Zealand's climate allows almost all livestock to remain outside all
year round, feeding almost entirely on pasture. For extra winter feed, farmers
tend to raise their own hay, or food crops such as turnips. The use of artificial
foods for sheep and cattle is rarely necessary, so problems encountered
overseas - such as bovine spongiform encephalitis (Mad Cow Disease) have
been avoided.
Although pastoral farming remains the main land use, other crops are
being planted. Major exports include kiwi-fruit, apples and pears, stone-fruit
(peaches, plums apricots etc), onions, squash, flowers and berry-fruit. Grapes
are increasingly planted as New Zealand wine achieves international
recognition.
Cereals such as wheat, barley and oats are grown in the South Island;
maize in the North.
Export markets are being developed for a number of subtropical fruit -

particularly avocados and persimmons.
204
1. What are some of the similarities between New Zealand and Britain in
the government system? What are some of the peculiar features of New
Zealand's government system compared with Australia or Britain?
2. Why does the author say that New Zealand's reputation as the world's
largest farm has been the result of hard work? In what way is New
Zealand's agriculture similar with Australia?
205

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HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

The Society and Culture

Higher Education Press

The United Kingdom of

Unit 1: A Brief Introduction to the United Kingdom 5

The United States of America

Unit 1: American beginnings 118

Unit 1: The Country and Its People 194

Australia and New Zealand

Unit 1: The Land and the Peoples of the Dreaming 230

Unit 1: A Brief Introduction to the United Kingdom 5

Great Britain and Northern Ireland

of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Unit 1: A Brief Introduction to the United Kingdom 4

Unit 2: The Government of the United Kingdom 16

Unit 3: Politics, Class and Race 23

Unit 4: The UK Economy 28

Unit 5: British Education System 32

Unit 7: Sports, Holidays and Festivals in Britain

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE UNITED KINGDOM

1. a complicated country with a complicated name

Area: total 244820 sq km

Land: 241 590 sq km

Water: 3230 sq km (Including Rockwall and Shetland Islands)

Population: more than 67 million (17/09/2019)

A Brief Introduction to the United Kingdom

Population More than 54.79 million

Area 130 423 sq km ( UK total 244 820 sq km)

Population: more than 3.1 million

A hundred years after Glyndwr, in 1536, Wales was brought legally,

Population: 5.2 million

Nor was most of Scotland conquered by the Anglo-Saxons, although an Angle

Population: 1.8 million

1. ……….Britain is no longer an imperial country

2. ……….The Commonwealth of Nation's includes all European countries.

3. ……….1 in 10 of the British population is of non-European ethnicity.

4. ……….The stereotype of the English gentleman never applied the majority

5. ……….Great Britain includes 3 constituent countries: England, Scotland,

7. ……….When people outside the UK talk about England, they mistake it as

8. ……….The Scots and Welsh have a strong sense of being British

9. ……….Scotland was never conquered by the Romans.

11. ……….Scotland was unified with England through peaceful means.

12. ……….Wales is rich in coal deposits.

13. ……….Cardiff, the capital of Wales, is a large city.

14. ……….The title of Prince of Wales is held by a Welsh according to

15. ………..Ireland is part of Great Britain

18. ………..Northern Ireland is significant because of its manufacturing

II Choose the best to complete the statement or answer the question:

1. Which of the following is NOT considered a characteristic of London?

A. The cultural centre.

B. The business centre.

C. The financial centre.

D. The sports centre.

2. Which of the following is NOT true about the characteristics of Britain?

A. Economic differences between north and south.

B. Differences of social systems between Scotland and Wales.

C. Class differences between a white-collar worker and a blue-collar worker.