国家概况Ireland.doc

IrelandClimate:Ireland is not very hot during summer, nor very cold in winter, actually it has a quite temperate climate_ does not vary from one season the next.Ireland had a quite unspoiled landscape, due to the comparative poverty of the country. Conflicts often arise between those who seek development and those who seek to protect the environment.Environmentthe third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world, it lies to the northwest of continental Europe . To the east of Ireland is Great Britain. Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, the island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is the most deforested area in Europe. Twenty-six mammal species are native to Ireland, with some, such as the red fox, hedgehog and badger, being very common. Others, like the Irish hare, red deer, and pine marten are less so.The population of Ireland is estimated to be 6.5million people, with just under 4.5million in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8million in Northern Ireland. This is a significant increase from a modern historical low of 4.2million in the 1960s but still much lower than the peak population of over 8million in the mid-19th century prior to the Great Famine.Large populations of people of Irish live in many western countries, particularly in English-speaking countries including Great Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico, France, Germany and Brazil. The largest number of people of Irish descent live in the United Statesabout ten times more than in Ireland itself Historically, emigration has been caused by politics, The Irish Sea separating the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean in the south and in the north by the North Channel.The sea is of significant economic importance to regional trade, shipping and transport, fishing and so on.The Irish Hills Its name comes from the Irish immigrants who settled there from 1830-1850. It is renowned throughout the state for its beautiful scenery, especially in the summer, with its many hills and larger lakes surrounded. As for tourism, the Irish Hills offer some family-oriented locations, including family-owned restaurants and bars that offer a variety of different food. Population and migrationAccording to the 1841 census, there were 6.5 million of population. But in the late 1980s there were 3million population remained in the Irish Republic. At present, prosperity brought its population up to 4 million. This is a significant increase, but still much lower than the peak population of over 8million in the mid-19th century prior to the Great Famine.There are 4.5 million population at present in the Republic because of an increased prosperity.Reasons:Great Famine in 1845 led a mass emigration Before Great Famine, 2/3 of the Irish population depended on agriculture for a living. In 1845-1848, there was a successive and serious failure of potato crop, many Irish people starved to death or died of the diseasesBritish government appeared to be indifferent to the fate of the poorest peopleEmigrants of Irish people ( move out from his own country, while immigrants move into a foreign country ):- before Famine, emigrants were often the younger sons of farmers who were seeking to better their economic position in America and Canada. These people were not very poor; they usually had some education and some money to start their new life. Many of them became heads of families (名门望族) or succeed in political and economical life of the United States. Among them, there were 7 US presidents.-Later immigrants to the United States and Canada were entirely different; they emigrated just because of Famine. -Jewish immigrants there were an increase in Jewish immigration to Ireland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1871, the Jewish population of Ireland was 258; The Jewish population of Ireland reached around 5,500 in the late 1940s, but has since (2008) declined to around 2,000, mainly through emigration to larger Jewish communities such as those in the United States, England and Israel. The Republic of Ireland currently has four synagogues: three in Dublin, one in Cork.The civil serviceThe cabinet organized with Ministers appointed by the Prime Minister dominates sixteen Government Departments. Each Department is headed by a Minister. The civil service is independent in the performance of its duties and has no involvement in party politics.Recruitment to the civil service is by public competitive exams administered by the independent Civil Service CommissionTeachers and members of the health services, the police force, the army and the staff of local authorities belong to the wider public service, rather than the civil service proper.GovernmentAfter independence from the Great Britain, Ireland takes a polity mixed with both the Britain and the United States.Britain model: the president is primarily a symbolic head ( besides a certain power of guarding constitution, for instance, refer a proposed legislation to the Supreme Court for a decision as to whether it contains anything repugnant to the Constitution, and the power of refusing to dissolve parliament ).America model: president, not queen; checks and balancesIreland is a representative democracy: most of its offices are filled through election, either direct or indirect, by the representatives of Irish people. The Government is headed by President, not the Queen.The President appoints the Prime Minister, not necessarily the head of the Party in power.The Prime Minister organizes the Cabinet The Cabinet is organized by 16 Ministers of the Government assigned by the Prime MinisterThe legislation is interpreted by a hierarchy of courts ( 法院的特权阶级)An unarmed police force ( Guardians of the Peace ) enforces the lawThe presidentThe head of government and elected by direct vote of the people. Every citizen of 35 years of age or over is eligible to run for presidentThe term of office is seven years. A President can be re-elected once onlyThe President acts as symbolic Head of State and does not have executive functions. The GovernmentThe executive branch of the country, checked by the legislature and the judiciary, that is , the parliament and the legal system. It consists of 7-15 members, all must be elected members of the Irish ParliamentThe Prime Minister is appointed by the President on the nomination of the Parliament and must resign if he ceases to retain the support of a majority in the ParliamentThe Prime Minister nominates one member of the government to be the Deputy Prime Minister wholl take Prime Ministers responsibility when Prime Minister is absent; nominates 11 senators, appoints an Attorney General ( 检察长、首席检察官) who acts as legal adviser to the Government and may attend Cabinet meetings; assigns Ministers of the Government who organizes the Cabinet, each Minister is responsible for one Department generally and assisted by Ministers of State ( 副部长、部长助理) in their work ( who are appointed by the Minister of the Government and are not members of the Government )Parliament The legislative branch of the country, checked by the executive and judiciary. It makes law for the State, but the power of the Parliament is really secondary to that of the Government cabinet and to the work of the various Parliament Committees/Department.The House of Dail ( Commons 众议院 ) has 166 members representing the region which elected themThe House of Senate (Lords 参议院 ) has 60 members, they are not directly elected. 11 members are nominated by the Prime Minister; 43 members are elected from five panels of candidates under different headings, such as that in agriculture; the remaining 6members are elected from two universities_ three from the National Uni. of Ireland, the other three from Uni. of Dublin. The Legal SystemThe judiciary branch of the country, checked by its own hierarchy courts. The judges are appointed by the President on the advice of the government. They are guaranteed independence in every exercise of their functions, not be influenced in their work by political or personal pressures. Five decision makingEvery Ireland citizen of 35 years of age or over is eligible to run for President. Every resident citizen over the age of eighteen years may vote at the first four of the following; but the local election can only be carried out by the local residents, regardless of citizenship; EU citizen may vote at European and local election, which means the Europeans have part of the right of Ireland citizens. The reasons of prosperity:1) the conversion of governments attitude:2) the transform from inward-looking towards the outward-looking in economy. Ireland government realized3) the protectionism of agricultural economy forbid Irish products from a more open market and forced them out with cheaper imports, the result was high prices at home.4) 2)Ireland got rid of the controlling of Britain and went to a more open market in economy. Its entrance to the EU has transformed labour practice and given Ireland access to the Single Market ( 欧盟统一市场)5) 2. a population boom: 6) As is well-known, there had been 6.5 million population before 1841, but in the late 1980s there were 3 million population only, almost a half emigrated just because of poverty ( what the people ate in the belly and they had on the back ).There are 4.5 million population at present in the Republic because of an increased prosperity.7) 3. a reform of education: 8) Young people were better educated and more aware of their goal of life, they chose to remain and take up employment. Their attitude brought a radical change.9) 4. being member of European Market in 197110) _ benefited from the massive infusion of EU funding11) _ trading under the terms of Common Agricultural Policy12) _ all citizens hold EU citizenship 13) _ The people are entitled to work, to be educated and claim the social benefits of any other European member state, e.g. the students learning in UK enjoy the same right of scholarship( 1/3 tuition of the students fro non-EU ); Irish people can employed in any member state of EU; and they can enter any EU member state without visa and so on, Irish people are easy to move to France or other EU states to make a livelihood.14) Irish culture 15) House the property was historically a mark of status. The Irish are very determined to own their own houses, but the rising demand also means rising house prices, a young couple would need two good incomes to afford a house 16) Farm family business For generations, a family may live on this farm for a hundred, two hundred years, till died in this place in the same house. Now the idea is changing. The father will urged his eldest son to get a university education, and never to come back to the family farm except to visit; a younger brother or sister would run the farm as a second income17) Pursue higher education Rather than leaving school at fifteen, the youth would be most likely university-educated and headed for a professional or semi-professional career18) Independence of women Many a young girl prefers going to a leading university and taking a mans major, chemical engineering for instance. After graduation, buy herself own apartment, a fancy car. Some young ladies, although over thirty, she has no plan to marry, but dates a large number of men. If she never meets anyone to marry, she may have a baby herself. The benefits of womens liberation movement brought up A. demanding contraceptives and the right to have an abortion if necessary, so that gains control of their own fertility B. demanding the right to divorce C. taking a state or semi-state job with equal right to be promoted D. being paid maternity leave of 18 weeks ( and later, unpaid 14 weeks parental leave )E. sharing the housework together with their husbands ( cook, iron a shirt or look after children )5) Wider sight of job Rather than emigrating to the United States or Britain in search of employment, they would be looking forwards the new member states of the EU for job opportunities or in global rather than local terms6) Contradictory relation with the British The attitudes of the Irish people to the English are contradictory which forms a love/hate relationship, their admiration and condemnation of the English often go hand-in-hand. E.g. the nationalists believe Irish people should speak their own language-the first official language of the Irish Republic, while almost every Irish speaks English.The reason is perhaps there has been so much movements ( 走动、联系)between the British and Ireland that almost every Irish family has relations in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.The British regard the Irish, at best, dreamy and impractical; at worst, lazy and over-drunk. But the fact is quite the oppositive, the Irish workforce is young, highly educated, entrepreneurial and disciplined.7) The differences of the two religion Since 1970s, together with the rapid social change, the Roman Catholic Church has lost its dominance as a value in Irish culture. Now it matters little whether a person is Protestant or Catholic. The differences of the two religion :Catholics: believe the Pope speaks with the authority of Christ _believe the One True Faith ( Faith in God )indirect in speechmore often speak the Irish language_be involved in native sports such as hurling (爱尔兰曲棍球)send their children to Catholic schools and universitiesProtestants:_believe they can direct access to God through prayer and study of Bible_believe the Triple in One Faith ( faith in Jesus; faith in May; faith in Bible )_live in oled, big house_like horse-riding and English sports, such as cricket_ speak plainly and open8) Family-oriented Family is the central to Irish life, the Irish are very conscious of their extended family and often maintain close relations with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Three-generation-family Thirty years ago, Irish families were large. Its very common for a family to have 8 or 9 children, the most might be up to 16 or more Single mothers A third of all children are born to single mothers. Before womens liberation movement, children born outside of marriage were regarded as a matter of shame, many were given up for adoption. Now many single mothers choose to keep their children and raise them themselves. Some single mother marry the childs biological father some years after the birth of him which proves her fertility and which comes from the ancient Breton law in Ireland.9) Social communication The public house or pub are the main communal facility in both city and countryside. Ireland has been, traditionally, a rural and agricultural culture, the massive people lived in towns, villages or isolated farms, only the ruling class lived in big cities. Even these dwellers were one or two generations in cities. Because of the reason mentioned, Irish people have no much sense of civic responsibility, nor they pay much attention to the state of public property. The public house or pub are patronized, every neighborhood has a pub. Where people meet friends, get together with neighbors, enjoy music and story telling and so on. Pub is particularly important for men, they drink a lot there.10) Less attention to schedules It is almost an exception of foreigners. Irish people pay less attention to schedules, they stress completing task well. They often mix up the time of work and social life. They may go to dinner to celebrate an important occasion or go to a pub nearby to enjoy others company, or go to help his/her fellow worker when asked at work time or in meeting; 11) Stress team work Irish people stress team work, they can work together well because they know a great deal about each other. The team spirit extends beyond work, they enjoy life together in pub.12) Stress trade union They stress trade union, they pay to become members. Every trade and peofessions has its own union. The union is legally constituted. It will advice its members to work according to the work protocols, adopt some legal procedures against the employer and protect its members. Trade unions are widely recognized in Ireland.13) Talk culture One element of the Irish native culture is the talk culture, which originates from peasant culture. An oral to a written culture only slowly transferred from the late 19th century. The ability to talk is greatly valued among people, even among the most literate classes. The quality adds great pleasure to the day-to-day routine, it is also the key to Irelands successive business and diplomatic efforts as well as the important basis for Irelands reputation as a culture of great writers.On the basis of talk culture, Ireland has a bumper harvest of reputable writers_ including those who were in fact English as they lived or wrote in Ireland during the time of British colony . There are four winners of the Nobel Prize for literature: the poet Yeats, seamus Heaney, the playwrights, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett. There are other famous literary men, such as playwright Oscar idle, novelist James Joyce and so on. The Celtic Tiger:Ireland became a rich country in 1990s which greatly surprised the world. The media called it a tiger because its sudden wealth came with all the swiftness and ferocity like a beast.Post-industrial economy:Based on the hi-technique and international trade