Английский язык для специальных и академических целей: Международные отношения и зарубежное регионоведение. Часть 1 | страница 88

UNIT III

THE ROAD MAP FOR UNIT III

VERBAL JOUST

Holding a one-to-one debate on a politically relevant topic (for details see p. 116)

TERM PRESENTATION

Making a power point presentation based on one's analysis of an issue relevant to the topic “EU: At the Crossroads” (for details see p. 109)

PROJECT WORK

Compiling a Video Library (for details see p. 117)

Stage 1

Finding a video clip on the topic “EU: From Coal and Steel to a Bigger Deal”. Preparing a short statement on its merits

Stage 2

4—+

Writing Vocabulary notes and Listening/Viewing and Comprehension tasks to make the item ready for use in class

Stage 3

Peer viewing and reviewing

1. Do you see Europe as one entity? Is the European Union, in your opinion, synonymous with Europe?

2. Which part of Europe plays a leading role in the international arena?

3. Do you think that politically Russia is part of Europe?

Unit III. EU at the Crossroads

TEXT A

Europe is still in the process of reorganizing itself after the loss of its empire and two devastating world wars, and it remains to be seen whether that reorganization will be peaceful. Europe is not going to regain its empire, but the complacent certainty that intra-European wars have ended needs to be examined. Central to this is the question of whether Europe is a spent volcano or whether it is merely dormant^>1. The European Union has a total GDP of over $14 trillion, a trillion more than the United States. It is possible that a region of such wealth — and of such diversity in wealth — will remain immune from conflict, but it is not guaranteed.

It is unreasonable to talk of Europe as if it were one entity. It is not, in spite of the existence of the European Union. Europe consists of a series of sovereign and contentious^>39>>40 nation-states. There is a general entity called Europe, but it is more reasonable to think of four Europes (we exclude Russia and the nations of the former Soviet Union from this list — although geographically European, these have a very different dynamic from that of Europe):

— Atlantic Europe: the nations that front the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea directly and that were the major imperial powers during the past five hundred years.

— Central Europe: essentially Germany and Italy, which did not come into existence until the late nineteenth century as modern nation-states. It was their assertion of national interest that led to the two world wars of the twentieth century.