Riassunto dei primi capitoli del libro - British civilization, Sintesi del corso di Cultura Inglese I

Scarica Riassunto dei primi capitoli del libro - British civilization e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Cultura Inglese I solo su Docsity! BRITISH C. THE COUNTRY Uk stand for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, also known as Britain. Great Britain: england+scotland+wales In this country thjere is a sense of britishness which is stronger between non-white and mixed ethnic people. During time Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland became self-governing national units and the other regions of UK were called “local economic partnerships”, this encouraged localism, a sense of belonging and individual identities. Britain’s physical features influenced human settlement, population movements, military conquest, political union, industry and economy. The britain’s landscape is very various: there are industralized zones but also a lot of parks and green areas, that’s why there has hystorically been a tension between urban and rural cultures. Compared to wales, scotland and n ireland england is largest and has more population, the small distances between this countries lead to a political and economical union. Britain was originally part of the euyropean mainlanmd, buti t was separeted by the north sea during the last ice age, when water also formed valleys and rivers; the ground is higher and made of rocks in the north and the west and lower in the suoth and the east, where there are good agriculture conditions. About climate thanks to the north atlantic current there is a temperate climate.  England: covers 2/3 of great britain, population is concentrated in large urban zones such as London.  Wales: is a highland country, with a lot of hills, mountains, and river valleys. Pople live in lowland zones near the coast or the rivers, in big cities like the capital Cardiff.  Scotland: 3 areas 1. North-west and central highlands = a lot of land 2. Central lowlands = a lot of people and industries 3. Southern uplands = a lot of hills Most population is settle in edimburgh and in the industrial area of glasgow. The climate is quite cold and harsh.  Northern Ireland: shares an island with the republic of ireland, is settled near the scottish coast, that encourages migrations from and to scotland. The north coast is rocky, the south cenmtral zone is plain and fertile, and there are mountain areas. The population is sparse , the capital is belfast. Is a most rural country. CLIMATE: No extreme contrasts in britain’s temperature, with variations between coolness and mildness, usually cool in summer and cold in winter. Affected by rainfall and winds, britain is not a particulary sunny country, even if its climate variates a lot. AGLICULTURE: soils vary from the poor ones of highland britain to the fertile low-lying areas in the east and south of england. Even if 1.4% of workforce is engaged in farming andf the country imports 70% of its food requirements, agriculture is still a significant industry, productive, intensive, mechanized and specializedd. Fisheries: britain is one of the europe’s leading fishingf nations, it operates in the north sea, the irish sea and the atlantic. It is a large expanding business especially in scotland, even if employment have declined because of overfishing. Forestry: woodlands cover 12% of the total UK land area, it is the leasst forested country in europe, and depends on wood imports, but new plantings and controlled felling are reducing this dependenmce. Energy resources: primary energy resources are oil, gas, nuclear power, hydroelectric power and coal. The most important secondary source is electricitry. Britain has always produced most of its own energy needs. Nowadays britain is working on the development of existing resources and the search of alternative forms of energy: ex modified coal-burning power stations (bc coal pollutes a lot, and gas and oil are replacing it), wind power, wave power, solar energy ecc (even if their capacity is limited). Transports: motorways and truck roads are the most used ways of transport, even if there is usually a lot of traffic and streets aren’t always in good conditions. Cars are the most used vehicles, buses and coaches are used by 2% of the population. Waterways are essential for (merce). Rail services account for 5% of all passenger mileage, london underground system is huge (408km) and partly privatized, even if a lot of people complaiun about its bad services. 75% of Britain’s trade is carried by sea, that’s why ports are very important, whereas britain’s civil aviation is mostly owned by british airways. Britain invests less in transports than any orther european country, that’s why most areas lack of an adequate transport system. Comunications: competitive and expanding sector of economy, the main suppliers are private telecommunications companies (British telecom). The general post office born in 1635 include the royal mail delivery service, which is now public. Enviroment: from the rise opf the green movement in 1980 britons are more aware of the enviromental issues. Global warming effects are evident in britain: in summer droughts and floods are becaming more and more frequent. Pollution i salso caused by vehicles and aircraft usage which contributes in carbon emissions, but people refuses to give up their cars. Explotation of natural habitatis is not prevented enough, lands are used to create buildings and rubbish is a very big issue too. Factories alkso creates a health dangerous air pollution, sea and rivers are polluted by rubbish. Genetically modified crops are growing and organic farming are limited due to their costs. POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT The slow weakening of non-democratic monarchical and aristocratic power led to political and legislative authority being centralized in london in a UK parliament, with his government and prime minister. This changes some social coinditions: growth of political parties, extension of the vote to all adults, development of local government, some political powers were transferred to scotland, wales and northern ireland. But meanwhile there were also political, social and religious conflicts. The government in london was criticized: too centralized, tooo remote, too controlling and unable to solve the needs of the people; it must be reformed and retained. Labour could gover only with the support of the liberals and a number of smaller parties, the liberal democrats held the balance power. The largest minority party (Labour) became the official opposition, leaders of theb coalition governments and opposition parties sit in the House of Commons. Inside parliament the Whips (Mp’s chosen from the parties) keep discipline, outside parliament control rests with the national and local party organizations. Uk government: is the executive arm of the political system, it is centred on whitehall in london, where its ministers are located. In the government there are 100 ministers from both houses of parliament. The prime ministeri s choosen by the monarch and is the leader of the majority party commons, he sits in the commons and was the historical link between monarch and parliament. Cabinet: a smalln executive body in the government, 20 senior ministers who originally had meeting with the monarch, and nowadays is a parliamentary body, it initiates and decised government policy. Governmenmt departments/ministries: the chief instruments by which the government implements its policy. Civil service: careeer administrators who staff departments, their centre is the cabinet office, whose secretary is the head and responsible of the civil service. Uk parliamentary control of government: british governments have historically tended to govern pragmatically, this provide balance between efficient government and public accountability. In the commons there are frequent examinations of governments programmes, and in 1967 the parliamentary commision for admininstration was created, it investigates alleged bad administration by ministers and civil servants. Devolved structures: is a smaller political unit. Devolution was first broached in ireland which established its own parliament, later were also created the scottish parliament and the assembly in wales and northern ireland. Devolution allowd these countries to decide more of their own affairs. Its beginning wasn’t easy, and it still nedds to settle down, buti it strengthen the UK. Local government: Britain has had a local government for centuriues (from the anglo-saxon division of england into large countries). It prevides local services throughout the UK (education, health, transports, etc), people nowdays want it more free from central government interference and control. Attitudes to politics: british polititians and political parties are not admired (politics lie) and don’t have a good public opinion. But even if there is a political aphaty and scepticism from people who decide to not vote and want more accurate political informations, from some poles people appear to be more interested in the political process than is assumed. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Britain’s historical position as a colonial, economic and political power has declined, its international status was reduced. Today it is a medium-sized country who compete with emerging global economic powers such as USA or China, but the national self-interest is still evident in attempts at global cooperation and the concerted fight against terrorism. It i salso a large exporter of goods and services. Its foreign policy is based on the idea that overseas objectives can be attained by persuasion, cooperation and actively working with other nations. The USA has often been Britain’s closest ally, they share language, culture, history and they are m ilitary parteners. It ha salso relationships with Europe, and cooperates economically and diplomatically with 160 nations. It is also a permanent member of the UN security council, usefull to achieve many of its own foreign policy objectives, such as peacekeeping. Britain’s major defence alliance is with the NATO, which provide its members with greater security. Nevertheless britain mantains its own militarydefence with both conventional and nuclear forces. So britain can operate militarily outside the NATO; buti t would be more expensive. The arm forces nowadays are volunteers and also females. The empire and commonwealth: the british empire was built up for 4 centuries from the 16th century, by the 19yh century british imperial rule and possessions had embraced a quarter of the world’s population. In 1931 the empire became the british commonwealth of nations and most colonies became indipendent (only a few remain, like Gibraltar). The present commonwealth is an assopciation of 54 indipendent states , british monarchi s its non-political head, and the prime ministers of the states meets every 2 years to discuss common problems. English is the common language and they have also the commmonwealth games every 4 years. Ireland and northern ireland: Northern ireland is constitutionally a part of the united kingdom. Ireland was first controlled by Anglo-norman england in the 12th century, but there were rebellions from the native, hich increases when the catholic part of them refused to accept the protestant reformation. Oliver cromwell crushed rebellions in ireland, since the protestant William 3’ obtained protestant dominance in northern ireland. 1921: ireland was divided into 2 parts, most countries of southern ireland became the irish free state, the countries in the north became northern ireland and remain part of the UK. After the 2WW in Nireland there were fights between protestants and catholics, there were also rebellion agains UK, buti t remained under UK power. In 1999some political power was devbolved by the westminster parliament to Nireland assembly and its executive, even if it had a lot of up and downs (suspended various times)now the assembly is working well. THE LEGAL SYSTEM Britain don’t have a common legal system, but 3 separate elements with different procedures: one for england and wales, one for scotland and one for northern ireland. British court cases are divided into:  Civil law: involves non criminal private rights and settles disputes between individuals or organizations.  Criminal law: protects society by punishing criminals against the state (is the state who persecute someone). Legal history: the legal system is independent from the execuitive and legislative branches of government. It serves citizens and the state interpreting and applying the law. It is changed during time, and now involves citizens more directly than before. English legal history has been conditioned by 2 concerns: the law should be administrated by the state in national courts and judges should be indipendent of royal and political control. The same law is applied to the whole england. 3 main sources of english/welsh law are: 1. Common law: is thge oldest, and was born after the norman conquest. Common law decisions form precedents to be applied to new cases, the supreme court create new precedents. 2. Statute law: originally created by the monarch, in 19th and 20th centuriues statutes multiplied because the society was larger and needed different and more rules. 3. European union law: it became part of the english law after britain’s entry into the european economic community in 1937. 4. Scottish law: derives from legal principles and rules modelled on both roman and english law 5. Northern irish law: has a similar common law tradition to england and wales. The court system is divided into criminal and civil courts under the central direction of the ministry of justice. 2 levels of criminal courts: 1. Magistrate’s court: for less serious case, serve local areas there are 2 types of officials try cases in the courts: justice of the peace and district judges, the last ones are qualified lawyers and full-time officials, the first ones are amateur. Each person under accuse must first appear at this court, it can try summary offences or send him to the crown court. Magistrates have limited power of punishment, and their sentences vary in differet areas. 2. Crown court: administrated by the ministry of justice it has jurisdiction on more serious cases, and on all indictable criminal offences. Innocence or guilt is decided by a jury of 12 citizens. Appeal courts: is a safeguard against mistakes of justice, mostly caused by police tempering. The criminal division of the court appeal make appeals, which may go later to the supreme court. Civil courts: civil law proceedings are brought in the country court or in the high court. England and wales have a country court for each district, it handles money, property, contract, divorce and family matters. The high court of justice is in london, with a lot of small branches. Civil appeal courts: the high court hears appeals from magistrates’ courts and country courts. However the main avenue of appeal is to the court of appeal, it deals with appeals from all lower civil courts on questions of law and fact. Civil procedure: a civil action in the country or high court begins when the claimant serves documents with details of a claim on the defendant, who can defend the action with his document. It is usually taken a decision in civil cases, even if most civil disputes are decided out of courts. The court salso decides the expenses of the action. Civil law procedures were reorganized in 1999. Criminal procedure: through the crown prosecution service the state brings a person to trial. Arrests for criminal offences are usually made by police, butr any citizen can make a citizen’s arrest. Whenm a person is arrested is then brought to magistrate’s court, if no charges are brought he is then released, if them are brought the process go on. Each side of the trial can call witnesses to be questioned. After the prosecution and the defence have concluded their cases the magistrates decide the verdict and the sentence. In the crown court the jury delivers the verdict and the judge pronounces sentence. The jury: main element of criminal trials, it is the citizen’s link with the legal process. 12 jurors who give their verdict, the judge accept the mayority verdict, the jury doesn’t decide the pèunishment. The british legala aid system: created in 1949 to help eligible people who could not afford legal representation. The legala id depends on the merit of the case and the income level. (people say thgat it should be expended). Crime and punishment: britain spend more than other countries on public order and safety buti has a lot of violent crime. A lot of these offences are non reported and a lot of crimes remain unsolved. Kinds of crimes that are increasing are: gun and knife ones, household bulglaries, robberies, fraud and forgery. On the other hand is decreasing the number of domestic violence, sexual offences, bulglary and robbery. A lot of young people in gangs are involved in drug, alcohol and violence related crimes, this is due to a lack of