- •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
Second ceasefire
On 9 February 1996, less than two years after the declaration of the ceasefire, the IRA revoked it with the Docklands bombing in the Canary Wharf area of London, killing two people and causing £85 million in damage to the city's financial centre. Sinn Féin blamed the failure of the ceasefire on the UK government's refusal to begin all-party negotiations until the IRA decommissioned its weapons.[92]
The attack was followed by several more, most notably the Manchester Bombing, which destroyed a large area of the centre of the city on 15 June 1996. It was the largest bomb attack in Britain since World War II. While the attack avoided any fatalities due to the rapid response of the emergency services to a telephone warning, over 200 people were injured in the attack, many of them outside the established cordon. The damage caused by the blast was valued at £411 million. The last British soldier to die in the Troubles, Lance BombardierStephen Restorick, was also killed during this period, on 12 February 1997, by the "South Armagh sniper".
The IRA reinstated their ceasefire in July 1997, as negotiations for the document that would become known as the Good Friday Agreement were starting without Sinn Féin. In September of the same year Sinn Féin signed the Mitchell Principles and was invited into the talks.
The UVF was the first paramilitary grouping to split as a result of their ceasefire, spawning the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) in 1996. In December 1997, the INLA assassinated LVF leader Billy Wright, leading to a series of revenge killings of Catholics by loyalist groups. In addition, a group of Republicans split from the Provisional IRA and formed the Real IRA.
In August 1998, a Real IRA bomb in Omagh killed 29 civilians. This bombing largely discredited "dissident" Republicans and their campaigns in the eyes of most nationalists. They became small groups with little influence, but still capable of violence.[93] The INLA also declared a ceasefire after the Belfast Agreement of 1998.
Since then, most paramilitary violence has been directed inwards, at their "own" communities and at other factions within their organisations. The UDA, for example, has feuded with their fellow loyalists the UVF on two occasions since 2000. There have also been internal struggles for power between "Brigade commanders" and involvement in organised crime.[94]
Provisional IRA members have also been accused of killing men, such as Robert McCartney, Matthew Ignatius Burns and Andrew Kearney.
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.
After the Second World War England lost its political independence, becoming an American satellite.
Being an American ally, England has become a reliable Fifth Column in the European Union. The British government has been trying its best to prevent Europe from unifying processes, once protesting against founding European Central Bank and the singe European currency “euro” and attempting together with the US to quarrel the European states with one another and to direct their aggression against the third one like Yugoslavia. Due to its pro – American foreign policy, Great Britain has become the second leader of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. right now the U.K. and the US are at the head of all NATO’s military operations, like “The Shield of the desert”, “The Storm in the desert”, in 1991, “The Fox in the desert” in 1998 and the anti – Yugoslavian aggression in 1999. Speaking about the NATO’s last campaign, the U.K. and the US destabilized an ethnic situation in Europe, because during the NATO’s bombardments tens and thousands of thousands of Albanian refugees poured into Germany, Albania and some other countries. That needs no saying, the Albanians from Kosovo and Methokia complicated the social – political situation in these states. Its result was the criminal increase and the growth of unemployment among the immigrants.
As a matter of fact there are only two alternatives of the British foreign political development. The first one is changing nothing but England should know nowadays most political analysists agree that soon playing the role of a sort of a oikumena, the US will exert itself to the utmost. The American industry and production cannot compete with the European ones not only in the world but even in its domestic American market. It is the beginning of the political and economic degradation of the USA without which the U.K. means nothing. And it is out of question, no European state will want to deal with the former American satellite. The British future is awful, I think.
But there is the second way: a very close both political and economic co – operation with the Eurounion. Well, and what would Great Britain be able to propose? firstly, the reorganization of the NATO’s troops into the Eurounion’s ones, liquidation of the American military bases in Europe; secondly, substituting dollars for “euros” in golden currency reserves of the European states.