Political Aspects of international Relations
.pdfTHE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION FOR RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VOLGOGRAD STATE UNIVERSITY
L.I. KARPOVA
POLITICAL ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
VOLGOGRAD 2003
1
Рецензенты:
А.Н. Усачева, к.ф.н., доцент каф. теории и практики перевода ВолГУ; Е.В. Клычева, к.п.н., доцент каф. английского языка ВГПУ.
Л.И. Карпова. Аспекты международных отношений.
Учебно-методическое пособие для студентов второго курса отделения «международные отношения». – Волгоград, 2003.
Предлагаемое пособие предназначено для студентов второго курса отделения «международные отношения» и нацелено на развитие навыков чтения, понимания и перевода литературы по специальности на английском языке, а также на освоение профессиональной лексики и использование ее в речи (монолог, диалог, дискуссия в группе).
Пособие предназначено для аудиторной и самостоятельной работы студентов, уже владеющих основными грамматическими и лексическими языковыми навыками.
2
От составителя:
Предлагаемое учебно-методическое пособие предназначено для студентов второго курса, специализирующихся на международных отношениях и владеющих основными грамматическими и лексическими языковыми навыками.
Пособие рассчитано на 80-90 аудиторных часов, но может быть использовано и для самосточтельной работы студентов дома (как пособие по домашнему чтению).
Цель пособия – развитие навыков чтения, понимания и перевода литературы по специальности, а также активное овладение профессиональной лексикой и ведение диалогов и дискуссий на профессиональные темы.
Пособие затрагивает основные аспекты международных отношений и состоит из двух частей. В первую часть включены восемь аспектов, освещающих средства массовой информации, международные организации, международный договор, глобальные экономические проблемы, международную торговлю, международную помощь и вопросы дипломатии.
Вкаждом аспекте тексты сопровождаются заданиями. Задания в первую очередь направлены на выделение профессиональной лексики, адекватный перевод на русский язык, использование этой лексики в речи (воспроизведение ситуаций из текста) и перевод ситуаций с русского языка на английский, используя активную лексику.
Другие задания направлены на развитие навыков ведения диалога и дискуссии на профессиональные темы с обязательным использованием изученной лексики на базе прочитанных текстов.
Вторая часть пособия включает вопро сы войны и мира (проблемы разоружения, мирных переговоров,
международного терроризма и шпионажа). Эти тексты предлагаются как дополнительные материалы для домашнего чтения.
Вданном пособии использован текстовый материал, взятый из оригинальной энциклопедии компании Майкрософт, что является гарантией аутентичности текстов.
3
Contents:
Part I. Texts for class and home work.
Aspect 1. Mass Media.
Press Associations and Press Agencies.
British Broadcasting Corporation (effects of World War II, the postwar period, recent developments).
Aspect 2. Main International Organizations.
European Parliament.
General Assembly.
UNESCO.
WHO.
Aspect 3. Treaty (validity, content, types of treaties, conclusion and ratification, termination, the Vienna Convention, UK Treaties).
Aspect 4. The New International Economic Order (NIEO, the role of UN).
Aspect 5. Foreign Aid (multilateral aid, Helsinki Accords).
Aspect 6. Globalization (production, finance, the world economy).
Aspect 7. International Trade (emergence of modern international trade, advantages of trade, government restrictions, 20th-century trends, world trade).
Aspect 8. Diplomatic Machinery (departments of foreign affairs, foreign missions, the foreign service, diplomatic conventions, protocol, privileges and immunities, language of diplomacy, diplomatic negotiations).
Part II. Additional texts for home reading.
Aspect 9. War and Peace.
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (background, accords).
Deterrence.
Peaceful Coexistence.
Postwar Terrorism.
Espionage.
Literature
4
PART I. TEXTS FOR CLASS AND HOME WORK.
ASPECT 1. MASS MEDIA.
Press Associations and Press Agencies
Press Associations and Press Agencies, organizations for the collection, transmission, and distribution of news to newspapers, periodicals, television, radio, and other journalistic and mass communications media. They are independent companies whose services are available to anyone paying a subscription fee. These news-gathering organizations originated in a general need for faster transmission of news. The invention of telegraphy in the mid19th century provided the means for this, as well as the impetus for the modern development and extension of wire and electronic services.
Present-day press agencies and associations vary in form. The best known operate as worldwide news-reporting services, providing general news coverage. Others provide national or regional coverage of routine or special news (stock market quotations are an example of the latter). Still others offer specialized services, reporting news of particular interest to persons of a specific religion or profession. Large newspapers, such as the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, and the Times, usually have their own news-gathering networks, and syndicate stories filed by their reporters; however, these papers rely on the international services for broader coverage. Straight news reports in the form of hard copy are still the mainstay of most modern press agencies and associations, but news transmission now also includes photographs, tape recordings, film footage, and video recordings for television news programmes.
Baron Paul Julius von Reuter established the pioneer British news agency, Reuters. Reuter set up his chief office in 1851 in London; beginning in 1865, cables were laid between England and Germany and between France and the United States. Today Reuters is one of the largest European agencies, with subscribers in such countries as Australia and New Zealand. Another pioneer British press group, the Press Association, was established in 1868 for speedier transmission of domestic news. Besides Reuters, the most important press agencies in continental Europe currently are Agence France-Press, set up in 1944 as successor to the Havas Agency (founded in 1835), and ITARTass, the Russian news agency, successor to Tass, the news agency of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The oldest press association in the United States, the Associated Press (AP), was formed in 1848 by six New York dailies to finance cooperatively the cost of gathering national news. From this modest beginning, it has since become
5
the largest worldwide news service. United Press International (UPI), another giant US agency offering international news coverage, was formed in 1958 by a merger of United Press and International News Service; the former had been founded in 1907 by the American newspaper publisher Edward Wyllis Scripps and the latter in 1909 by his counterpart, William Randolph Hearst. UPI was acquired by Middle East Broadcasting Centre Ltd in 1992.
An important international wire service in Asia is the Kyodo News Agency of Japan. The largest press association in Canada is Canadian Press, a cooperative with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario.
Working on the text.
Task 1.Read the text above and find the English equivalents to the following Russian phrases. Reproduce the situations from the text where these expressions are used.
1.быть доступным любому
2.организации сбора новостей
3.обеспечить средства для
4.всемирные репортерские службы
5.обеспечивать освещение новостей общего характера
6.обеспечивать освещение будничных и специальных сообщений общенационального и регионального масштаба
7.репортажи с места событий в жесткой правдивой форме
8.для ускорения передачи местных новостей
9.приемник/наследник (кому-то/ чему-то)
10.предоставлять освещение международных новостей
Task 2. Comprehension questions.
1.What provided the means for faster transmission of news?
2.What are the main forms of press agencies?
3.What is the mainstay of most modern press agencies?
4.What are the most important press agencies in Europe?
5.How did the Associated Press start its work?
Task 3. Make 8 false sentences on the content of the text and ask your partners to correct the information.
Task 4. Render the text.
British Broadcasting Corporation
6
British Broadcasting Corporation or BBC, first and biggest broadcasting organization in the United Kingdom.
The scientific origins of broadcasting are over 100 years old. However, it took 20 years and a world war to develop technologies enabling signals to go to masses of people simultaneously, rather than to individuals, so it was not until the 1920s that the major broadcasting institutions grew up.
Systems of broadcasting reflect local geographic and social conditions. The United States developed a competitive, entertainment-led arrangement, financed from advertising revenue; in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) a centralized, politically controlled system, financed by the government, was devised. Britain favoured a “public service”, with some government control and a mixed programme output, financed mainly from a licence fee paid by owners of radio receivers.
The BBC, set up in 1922, comprised the radio manufacturers, who were given a broadcasting monopoly. Company profits were limited and strict control was exercised over the operation, especially regarding controversial output. Revenue from the licence fees , some of which was kept by the government, was supplemented by royalties on the sale of receivers. John Reith, a Scottish engineer, was appointed the first general manager and became the architect of
“public service broadcasting”, in which the profit motive plays no part.
Independence from political and business control, provision for minorities, impartiality, and respect for broadcasting as a serious cultural force became its hallmarks.
Having weathered the political difficulties of Britain's General Strike in 1926 the company became a corporation in 1927, with a remit to “educate, inform, and entertain” the public. It obtained its authority through a renewable royal charter and with a board of governors, representing the public interest, and appointed by the government, which also set the level of the licence fee.
Under Reith's strict control, the BBC rapidly gained a reputation for high standards. Drama, music of all kinds, including the Promenade Concerts (the “Proms”), children's programmes, news and current affairs, and religious programmes were soon all obtainable by the great mass of the British public, backed by the Radio Times (from 1923), a highly successful programme magazine. Educational broadcasting began in 1924; a regional service, planned from 1926 and started in 1930, offered choice; and experiments with television started in 1929 using the system invented by another Scottish engineer, John Logie Baird. A full television service ran from 1936 to 1939, but Baird's mechanical system was dropped in favour of a more sophisticated electronic version. One of Reith's greatest achievements was the start of overseas broadcasts in English, through the creation of the Empire Service,
7
now called the World Service. During the 1930s, described as “The Golden Age of Radio”, the BBC was, however, forced to recognize the power of competition, when the public began listening to lighter fare from commercial stations transmitting from France.
The Effects of World War II
In 1939 World War II forced the closure of the television service and, under necessary censorship conditions, BBC Radio sought to provide as accurate a picture as possible of the war's progress while maintaining the morale of a beleaguered population. A special Forces Programme was created in 1940 and the output lightened in tone with entertainers such as Tommy Handley in his famous ITMA programme and Vera Lynn, the “Forces' Sweetheart” singer, and the new Desert Island Discs series—still going strong—with its original format of talk and music centred on a celebrity. Serious programming also flourished, with classical music more popular than ever, the Radio Doctor giving advice on health and fitness, J. B. Priestley delivering his famous controversial Postscripts to the 9 o'clock evening news, and Mr Middleton dispensing advice on gardening, especially on growing vegetables. The Empire Service underwent huge change, and expanded from 1938 as foreign language broadcasts began with Arabic, soon joined by most European and East Asian languages.
From 1940 onward the BBC became the sole conveyor of some kind of truth and a source of hope to many European resistance movements. The Victory Campaign evoked a huge emotional and practical response with its “V for Victory” slogan. Many Allied leaders, including General de Gaulle, sent messages to their people from the BBC studios in London. As D-Day approached, coded messages were sent to men and women in the
“underground”, planning to help the Allied invasion while the German Service, headed by Hugh Greene, later a BBC director general, sent warnings to the German people, whose broadcasting system he helped reorganize after the war.
The Post-War Period
The BBC had expanded greatly during the war and the problems of reconstruction were formidable. The television service restarted in 1946 and became a great success, especially following the outside broadcast of the 1947 wedding procession of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and the Duke of Edinburgh. On radio, the Forces Programme became the Light Programme, and in 1946 the Third Programme was devised to provide serious music and cultural programmes. The BBC thus had three distinctive radio channels alongside its regional output from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and its major centres in England. By 1950, 30 hours of television and
8
260 hours of radio were broadcast each week. As transmitters were built, half the population was soon able to receive television pictures.
Expenditure on television soon seemed set to equal that on radio, and audiences moved increasingly to the new medium, live coverage of the 1953 Coronation of Elizabeth II being a major turning point. By the time the BBC monopoly was broken by the arrival of Independent Television (ITV) in 1955, over 90 per cent of the population had access to television. The age of competition began and the BBC had to fight for survival. At first it failed badly and its share of the audience slumped to 28 per cent in 1957.
The fight back by radio, in competition with television, and by BBC TV, in competition with ITV, was initiated by one director general, Sir Ian Jacob, and completed by another, Sir Hugh Greene, who was knighted in 1964. By the end of the 1950s expenditure on BBC television equalled that on radio and, thenceforth, the gap widened dramatically, but the BBC's audience share took longer to recover. Radio continued to excel in many fields, with The Goon Show attracting big audiences and creating new comedy styles, while old favourites such as The Archers (which started in 1951 and is still running) continued its early success. On television an adaptation of 1984 by George Orwell created a stir, while Panorama, the BBC's current affairs “flagship”,
Sportsview, and Zoo Quest by David Attenborough set new standards and attracted large audiences. Children's television and television for schools also started in the 1950s, a period of expansion and experiment.
A major reorganization of radio occurred in 1967 with the opening of Radio
1, a response to “pirate radio”, and the renaming of the Light, Third, and
Home services as Radios 2, 3, and 4. In the same year, BBC Local Radio started in Leicester and within 6 years there were 20 such stations, making special programmes for local communities, for example, those with large Asian and Afro-Caribbean populations.
The late 1950s and 1960s saw the BBC introducing a remarkable number of technical innovations, including VHF (very high frequency) and stereo radio, efficient video recording, satellite transmissions, colour television, and a second television channel, BBC 2. In the same period the BBC's Television Centre was opened in west London, a Radiophonic Workshop set up, and work began on the teletext system Ceefax, which went public in 1972. These all enhanced the quality and range of programmes: stereo sound improved music quality; satellites, such as Telstar, enabled intercontinental broadcasts; BBC 2 offered more choice; and colour added to the enjoyment of drama, sport, light entertainment, and nature programmes. Huge successes such as
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Dad's Army, Civilization, Horizon, and Omnibus all belong to this period.
9
In the 1970s and 1980s popular television audiences often reached 20 million and radio audiences 5 million, but troubles began to loom with a worsening economic climate, partly caused by the oil crisis of 1973. Programmes such as
Yesterday's Men and The Question of Ulster were criticized by politicians, with whom the BBC had to deal over the licence fee and other issues. Broadcasting and its effects on vulnerable groups such as children became a subject of heated debate. One outcome was the setting up of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission in 1981. BBC broadcasters were taking their social responsibilities seriously with programmes for deaf and disabled people joining those for blind people, as well as a multimedia campaign on adult literacy. Programmes for the Open University started in 1971. However, entertainment, sport, and news and current affairs were the chief ratings battlegrounds, with the BBC and ITV sharing the television audience roughly fifty-fifty.
The late 1970s was dominated by economics and the issues raised by the work of the Annan Committee on the future of broadcasting. Inflation made the period “increasingly gloomy” for the BBC, in the words of the chairman,
Sir Michael Swann. While ITV could control its income partially, the BBC could do little, apart from increasing the relatively small amounts obtained through sales of programmes and books. One indirect outcome of the Annan Report was the creation of the advertising-financed Channel 4, designed to be innovative and experimental. This came on air in 1982, thus completing the television duopoly with the BBC, considered by many as the high-point period of British television.
In a 1978 White Paper the BBC was described as “arguably the single most important cultural organization in the nation”. The Shakespeare Project (the televising of Shakespeare plays backed up by explanatory programmes), Life on Earth, Yes Minister, The Boys from the Blackstuff, and Timewatch are just some examples of television programmes which testify to this.
Recent Developments
The 1980s and 1990s have seen yet more rapid technical change, increased competition, and, for the BBC, an ideological shift in government attitudes: the Conservative government of 1979 to 1990 under Margaret Thatcher challenged the corporation's basic principles, while satellite and cable transmission opened up the possibility for more channels and, it is hoped, more choice. The BBC was at first invited to develop two direct- broadcasting-by-satellite (DBS) channels, without any government assistance, and a fierce debate developed as to the practicalities. The plan fell through after the expenditure of much effort and money, with the highly competitive, commercial Sky Channel (now British Sky Broadcasting, or BSkyB) becoming the eventual main provider of satellite television in Britain.
10