British institutions

About-Britain.com - a guide :  tourism, life,  culture,  institutions

British institutions and society 

The main British Institutions - simply explained:  

• The British constitution
• The British monarchy
• The British parliament
• Political parties in Britain
• Britain, UK, England - what's what ?
• Local government in Britain
• The British education system in brief
• The regions of England
• Britain's National Health Service

 Brexit - 2016 - 2023

• A short history of Brexit, from the past to the present and the future
• The process of Brexit - a timeline of events since the referendum
• The background to Britain's relationship with Europe
• The Brexit referendum: the main arguments for and against
• Voting for Brexit : a case of wishful thinking?
• General election 2017.

The English language :  

For information about the English language, its history, grammar and other aspects, visit our partner Linguapress.com

• English grammar:  Online English grammar
• The English language :  A short history of English

About-Britain.com - British area studies

• How does Britain function?
• How is public life organised?
• How are things done differently in Britain, compared to other countries? And why?
• How strong are traditions?
• How does the British economy work?

The answers to these and other related questions form the basis of what is known, for want of a better term, as "British studies", or "British area studies", a cross-cultural discipline that takes students beyond the simple study of a language, to a study of the country or countries – or the civilisation and culture – that has given birth to that language.
   As a field of academic research and study, "area studies" is a recent concept. Until the 1980s, few universities offered transdisciplinary courses. Studying "English" or "Anglais" or "Anglistik" or "Filología inglés" meant studying literature and sometimes a bit of linguistics. Graduates knew about Shakespeare and Dickens, but generally knew very little about the workings of modern Britain or the USA, their institutions, their politics, their geography, their social issues. British politics were the reserve of politics departments, British geography was for geographers, not for students of English.... and so on.
   Things are different today. In universities and colleges worldwide, and often against strong resistance from the proponents of traditional literature based courses, area studies  have replaced literary studies as the backbone of language degrees. They are more relevent to today's globalized world where a good knowledge of Shakespeare, while being an admirable cultural asset, is usually of little help when applying for a job.
   Area studies are thus a transdisciplinary field of study; they reach into six main academic disciplines – history, geography, politics, sociology, linguistics and economics – and may reach into others too; art, music, religion, and more. To properly understand a nation, its institutions, its people, and its language, it is necessary to reach into all these areas.     


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