Titulo Universitario

GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
British Isles: Great Britain and Ireland and UK four nations- British is no English- Though English culture is predominant, UK is a mixture- Unification of parliament as slow process only in 1800- Racial and language differences (separated organization of government)
MONARCHY
Reading the law the Quenn got an absolutepower- In the reality she has no power at all, she has to agree with parliament decisions- Three roles of monarch- Loss of prestige of the monarch
THE ARTS
Whatever artistic is confined to a small rich elite, most of people prefers their sport, television and videos- Government reduces the money to the Arts Council because it would meanfor everybody subsidize tastes of wealthy- Characteristics of British arts: the creations are individualistic and exploring personal emotions, rarely are connected with intellectual and political movements- Importance of theatre, and success because it looks behind the mask of accepted behaviour without breaking rules in person- Hollywood steals continously fine actors and directors- Most writerscome from old British colonies- Romantic novels most read- Poetry has a great deal of success.
GOVERNMENT
Two meaning of government- The Cabinet as the example of the tendency of secrecy in British policy- Powers of Prime Minister: he governs the Cabinet, decides who is in, and what are the themes; he got a big public image; he controlsthe situation of each department- The permanent body of Civil Service- Most of public services are controlled by Local governments: Councils: council tax, collecting rubbish, cleaning places, social services, some aspects of education.
PARLIAMENT
Parliament got the same powers of each European parliament- House of Commons: the mostpowerful body, got an informal atmosphere, the MPs speak in a conversational tone- It is small, with two opposite benches(reflects the party system) and in the middle the Speaker’s Chair- Tradicionally speaking MPs are ordinary people, but now politicians are professional- MPs spend much more time working than everywhere in Europe- Big respect for the own party: everybody votes how his party said, amember cannot speak against his party, he should dismiss- The Whips- The House of Lords got no power, members are not elected, but for right- In past aristocratic only, now old politicians- They correct and improve the laws decided by MPs.
POLITICAL LIFE
Politicians got no a good reputations: not criminals but liars- Policy is no a dangeroustheme, there is no passion, and even if policy is considered a dirty business, nobody demands to clean up system, nobody demonstrates, everybody is used to this stability and quietness- No respect for institutions of law, high respect for law (little tax evasion)- Generally British people prefer without any law, think is better if the state let quiet each citizen: no ID, no registering newaddresses- The state too got freedom: it can collect all information about you, can change electoral system without asking the people- Constitutional democracy or parliamentary monarchy- Without Constitution which can resolve each dispute: a lot of laws written and no, built up in different ways and during centuries, lack of laws(about PM)- In the parliament there is no a fighting atmosphere between twoparties, often opposite MPs are good friends and cooperate peacefully giving a political stability but with homogeneous choices.
EDUCATION
Three stages of education, the first and second compulsory- Public school was born in Britain in 1800 as a school to prepare sons of upper classes to take up the higher ranks of life- When in our...