- •1) Describe the geographical position of the British Isles offering an explanation for its advantages and disadvantages. Define the term “continental shelf”, its importance for the economy.
- •3)Examine the main stages in the formation of the population of Great Britain (Ancient Britain, The Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons) their contribution.
- •4)Describe the Danish raids on England. The struggle of Alfred the Great and its results. Scandinavian borrowings in England.
- •6)Give the main characteristics of the modern population of Great Britain (size, destiny) Immigration and its effects: the visible minority and it’s role.
- •7) Analyse some national traits of the British people and character. How did geography and history affect the British character? How different are they from other nations?
- •8) Describe Great Britain as a constitutional monarchy, its role and social influence.
- •9)Describe the structure and composition of the British Parliament. The House of Lords, main functions and recent changes. The House of Commons: fuctions and role. Devolution.
- •10)Discuss the Electoral system. The majority electoral system and its peculiarities.
- •11)The composition of the Britih Government. The role of the British Prime Minister and the Cabinet. Explain the term “Shadow Cabinet” and its significance.
- •12) Expand on the formation, development and role of the Commonwealth of Nations in the contemporary world and of Britain’s contributions to this organization.
- •13)Discuss the British in their private life, their love of gardens. Leisure and sports in their lives.
- •14)The conflict in Nothern Ireland, its solution.
- •Riots of August 1969
- •Violence peaks and Stormont collapses
- •Sunningdale Agreement and uwc strike
- •[Edit]Late 1970s
- •[Edit]Hunger strikes and the emergence of Sinn Féin
- •Paramilitary ceasefires and peace process
- •First ceasefire
- •Second ceasefire
- •15)Give a general assessment of the role of Britain in the present world. The main issues of the home and foreign policy of the present government.
- •16)Сharacterize the major political parties in the uk (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats and other)
- •17) The role of the church in Britain today. The established churches in the country. Decline of church attendance, reasons.
- •1)Give an account of the geographical position of the United States, its advantages and disadvantages. The size of the country, its composition.
- •Intermontane Plateaus and Basins
- •2)Outline the physical features of the us. The chief mountain ranges and plains the main rivers and lakes. The climatic regions. The main mineral resources and their role.
- •Illegal Immigration
- •6) Discuss the reasons, development and consequences of the War of Independence (1775-1783).
- •7) Expand on the basic values of the American nation. Explain their importance. The "frontier heritage*, the heroes. What is political correctness? Refer to examples in language.
- •9) The prelude, chief events of the Civil War (1861-1865) and its major consequences.
- •10) The development of the usa after the Civil War. The Monroe doctrine. American expansionism at the end of the 19th century.
- •11) Describe how and when the American Constitution was adopted. The structure of the Constitution and its principles. The Bill of Rights and its role.
- •12) The role and the structure of the Congress - the supreme legislative body. Its main functions (the Senate, the House of Representatives).
- •13) Examine the institution of the American presidency, its power and functions. Give a motivated criticism of the home and foreign policy of the present administration.
- •14) Describe the process of presidential elections, their indirect character. What is meant by an "electoral college". Comment on the results of the presidential elections of the year 2008.
- •15) Explain what is meant by a "strict division and separation of powers" between the Congress, the President, the Supreme Court and the system of checks and balances under the Constitution,
- •16) Characterize the main political parties in the usa (the Republicans, the Democrats history, political platform and role today).
- •17) Describe the national Symbols of the usa: the flag, the Great Seal, the National Anthem and the 10 federal holidays.
- •Independence Day
- •Veterans' Day
- •Valentine's Day
12) Expand on the formation, development and role of the Commonwealth of Nations in the contemporary world and of Britain’s contributions to this organization.
The present Commonwealth comprises Britain and most of her old empire: 54 states, scattered over all the inhabited continents, with a population estimated (in 1994) at 1.4 billion. Mozambique, not a former British colony, was admitted as a special case in 1995.
The term ‘commonwealth’, in this context, dates from the early 20th cent., and grew out of the realization that several of Britain's older-established colonies were already self-governing in all essential respects. To call them ‘colonies’, or an ‘empire’, appeared to undervalue their real independence, and the new word was felt by some to express better the form the empire would take: a federation of equal nation states. This development was not to everyone's liking, however. Enthusiasts for the ‘commonwealth ideal’ had generally envisaged the dominions taking an equal share in the formulation of policies that would then be common to them all: instead it came to mean that they would have equal rights to separate policies of their own.
This privilege was established in the early 1920s, after disputes within the Commonwealth over the Washington naval conference of 1921-2 and the Chanak affair in 1922. In 1923 Canada became the first dominion to conclude a treaty with a foreign power (the Halibut Fish treaty) without reference to Britain; and the pattern for the future was set. It was formalized by an important pronouncement of the 1926 imperial conference, defining dominion status; and by the 1931 statute of Westminster, which confirmed the dominions' legislative autonomy. For the moment this only applied to colonies of European settlement, and not to the ‘non-white’ colonies. That changed in 1947, when the newly independent nation of India was admitted to the Commonwealth. That established the multiracial character of the Commonwealth as it exists today. As decolonization progressed, other ex-colonies followed. Many old imperialists regarded this process with pride. Some of them saw the new Commonwealth as the culmination of the empire. In a way it was, for there had always been a strong tradition of what was called ‘trusteeship’ in British imperial thought. The idea that the Commonwealth could be a kind of empire-substitute, however, was soon shattered. The newest members regarded their hard-won national independence jealously, and there were sharp clashes between members, especially over the issue of apartheid, which forced South Africa to leave in 1961. So the Commonwealth became much less than the united ‘third force’ in the world that the imperial optimists had envisaged.
As it stands now, it is totally unlike any other international organization of states. It has a secretariat, and a secretary-general (set up in 1965), but little else in common. It has no power, no united policy, no common principles, and no shared institutions. Most member states are parliamentary democracies, but not all. Most have retained English legal forms, but not all. Most play cricket, but not all. The single constitutional feature common to all member states is that they acknowledge the British monarch as symbolic head of the Commonwealth, but fewer than half recognize her or him as the head of their own states. It was once thought of as an economic unit, a potential free (or preferential) trade area, but that was never convincing, and collapsed when Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973.
Nevertheless the Commonwealth still serves a purpose, as a forum for informal discussion and co-operation between nations of widely disparate cultures. That function is served by a host of specialist Commonwealth institutions (the Commonwealth Institute in London, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Commonwealth of Learning); and by biennial conferences of Commonwealth heads of government. The ideal it represents still flickers, albeit fitfully.