...Country Profile Series United Kingdom In-depth PESTLE insights PESTLE Country Analysis Report: United Kingdom REFERENCE CODE: ML00002-031 PUBLICATION DATE: May 2013 WWW.MARKETLINE.COM MARKETLINE. THIS PROFILE IS A LICENSED PRODUCT AND IS NOT TO BE PHOTOCOPIED ML00002-031/Published 05/2013 Page 1 © MarketLine. This report is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied OVERVIEW Catalyst This profile analyzes the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) structure in the UK. Each of the PESTLE factors is explored on four parameters: current strengths, current challenges, future prospects, and future risks. Summary Key findings The UK has a strong democratic system, but differences between coalition partners in the incumbent government pose a challenge The UK adheres to a democratic, parliamentary system of governance known as the Westminster system. This system ensures adequate distribution of power between the executive branch led by the prime minister, the bicameral legislature and the judiciary. Growing ideological differences between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the current government is making the coalition vulnerable. Tensions between pro-Europe Liberal Democrats and euroskeptic Conservatives continue to plague British politics. Further, conflicting views on issues such as welfare reforms, immigration and the economy are straining relations. The UK economy is developed, but rising government debt...
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...THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS Wednesday, 12 April 2005 Other Environment News • Pollution "problématique" sur le périphérique parisien (Reuters) • La pollution contribuerait à faire grossir (RTL) Environmental News from the UNEP Regions • ROA • ROWA Other UN News • UN Daily News of 12 April 2005 • S.G.’s Spokesman Daily Press Briefing of 12 April 2005 BBC: UN names Earth's green champions The United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) has named seven Champions of the Earth it hopes will inspire wider protection of the planet. The winners include an Inuit activist, South Africa's president, and Bhutan's King Jigme Singye Wangchuk. The head of the Orthodox Christian Church, Patriarch Bartholomew, is cited for preaching that God wants the planet's future safeguarded. The winners will receive trophies sculpted from recycled materials. The presentation will be made at a ceremony in New York next week. Unep hopes the various projects recognised will be imitated around the globe. 'Set the agenda' The seven winners each represented a region of the world. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa is honoured for his government's commitment to providing clean water and sanitation. The king and people of Bhutan are rewarded for helping preserve more than 70% of its forest cover. Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier was recognised for fighting global warming and persistent organic pollutants in the Arctic ecosystem...
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...Edexcel AS Politics Edexcel AS Politics ExamBuster 2009 Introduction to Unit 1- People and Politics Understanding the Examination and Exam Technique Choosing your questions In this unit you are presented with four questions. They are of equal value and each question covers one of the four sections of the specification. These are: Democracy and political participation Party policies and ideas Elections Pressure groups There is no significance to the order in which questions appear. Each question is divided into three sections (a), (b) and (c). When choosing which questions to do, the following principles are recommended: It is almost certain that you will be better off choosing your strongest question to do first. You should choose questions on the basis of how well you can answer the section (c) part. The (c) part carries 25 of the 40 marks available for the whole answer. Do not choose a question simply because you can do part (a) especially well. The (a) question is only worth 5 marks. It would be illogical to choose your strongest (a) part if you cannot do well on section (c). If you cannot decide between several (c) parts, i.e. you can do more than one equally well, make your choice on the basis of part (b) which carries 10 marks. But remember, it is the (c) parts that will determine most what your overall mark will be. So, when you first look at the exam paper, look at the (c) sections first. Assessment Objectives Each question is divided into three sections,...
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...GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS AS LEVEL UNIT TWO GOVERNING THE UK “Never, never, never give up” Winston S Churchill 1874-1965 1 GOVERNING THE UK 50% of AS [25% of A2] UNIT TWO SAMPLE QUESTION Answer one question from Section A and one question from Section B in 80 minutes. Spend 40 minutes on Section A and 40 minutes on Section B SECTION A QUESTION ONE PRIME MINISTERIAL POWER “For too long the big political decisions in this country have been made in the wrong place. They are not made around the Cabinet table where they should be, but they are taken on the sofa in Tony Blair’s office. No notes are kept and no one takes the blame when things go wrong. That arrogant style of government must come to an end. I will restore the proper process of government. I want to be Prime Minister of this country not a President (Source: David Cameron, The Times, 5th October 2006) “The Cabinet is the committee at the centre of the British political system. Every Thursday during Parliament, Secretaries of State from all departments as well as other ministers meet in the Cabinet Room in Downing Street to discuss the big issues of the day. The Prime Minister chairs the meeting, selects its members and also recommends their appointment as ministers to the monarch. The present Cabinet has 23 members (21 MPs and two peers). The secretary of the Cabinet is responsible for preparing records of its discussions and decisions”. (Source: From a modern textbook) (a) What...
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...July 2011 European growth and renewal: The path from crisis to recovery The McKinsey Global Institute The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), the business and economics research arm of McKinsey & Company, was established in 1990 to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving global economy. Our goal is to provide leaders in the commercial, public, and social sectors with the facts and insights on which to base management and policy decisions. MGI research combines the disciplines of economics and management, employing the analytical tools of economics with the insights of business leaders. Our “micro-to-macro” methodology examines microeconomic industry trends to better understand the broad macroeconomic forces affecting business strategy and public policy. MGI’s in-depth reports have covered more than 20 countries and 30 industries. Current research focuses on four themes: productivity and growth; the evolution of global financial markets; the economic impact of technology and innovation; and urbanization. Recent reports have assessed job creation, resource productivity, cities of the future, and the impact of the Internet. MGI is led by three McKinsey & Company directors: Richard Dobbs, James Manyika, and Charles Roxburgh. Susan Lund serves as director of research. Project teams are led by a group of senior fellows and include consultants from McKinsey’s offices around the world. These teams draw on McKinsey’s global network of partners and industry...
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...ANNUAL REPORT 2010 TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL IS THE GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATION LEADING THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION. THROUGH MORE THAN 90 CHAPTERS WORLDWIDE AND AN INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT IN BERLIN, WE RAISE AWARENESS OF THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION AND WORK WITH PARTNERS IN GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS AND CIVIL SOCIETY TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT EFFECTIVE MEASURES TO TACKLE IT. www.transparency.org WE ARE A GLOBAL MOVEMENT SHARING ONE VISION A WORLD IN WHICH GOVERNMENT, POLITICS, BUSINESS, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE DAILY LIVES OF PEOPLE ARE FREE OF CORRUPTION Editors: Alice Harrison and Michael Sidwell Design: Sophie Everett Cover photo: © Reuters/Yannis Behrakis Every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained in this report. All information was believed to be correct as of June 2011. Nevertheless, Transparency International cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of its use for other purposes or in other contexts. ISBN: 978-3-935711-79-1 Printed on 100% recycled paper. ©2011 Transparency International. All rights reserved. This report provides a snapshot of how the Transparency International movement was active in the fight against corruption in 2010. For the purpose of conciseness, national chapters, national chapters in formation and national contacts are referred to as chapters, regardless of their status within Transparency International’s accreditation system. Visit www.transparency.org/chapters for their current...
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...stands at around £946,319, 240,034, 83.7% debt to GDP ratio whilst the US has a national debt of over $13,492,377,103,199. ‘Thanks to Mr Osborne, Britain now has the earliest, most aggressive programme to cut government borrowing in the G7, despite widespread fears about the strength of the UK and global recovery’ (Flanders, 2010). In this essay I will focus on Britain’s budget deficit, in particular the Emergency Budget, presenting various topics for debate in relation to different aspects of the budget. I will further expand into broader topics such as the recession as a whole, the previous Labour government, other countries situations and subsequent response and the theory behind the policies undertaken, whether driven by political or economic incentives for example. Throughout the essay I will attempt to present ideas in a balanced approach, clearly showing the difference between positive and normative statements. An economies growth rate fluctuates over a period of time, known as the economic cycle. It shows the changes over time in the macro economy such as a recession where growth falls below the trend growth rate: a negative output gap. Such events are cyclical and the general period of time between one boom and another is usually five to eight years (Peter Cramp, Informe). Gordon Brown was keen to avoid successive budget deficits to fund government spending for the expansion of the economy, when New Labour came to power in 1997...
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...takes no institutional stand on economic policy matters and its core funding comes from its Institutional Members and sales of publications. Because it draws on such a large network of researchers, its output reflects a broad spectrum of individual viewpoints as well as perspectives drawn from civil society. CEPR research may include views on policy, but the Executive Committee of the Centre does not give prior review to its publications. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and not those of CEPR. Chair of the Board President Director Research Director Guillermo de la Dehesa Richard Portes Richard Baldwin Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke Contents Introduction Richard Baldwin and Coen Teulings 1 Opening the debate 1 Reflections on the ‘New Secular Stagnation...
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...------------------------------------------------- Background This course is designed for government officials, development consultants and practitioners, students of development, and those who have keen interest in governance and financial management. Nowadays, effective public financial management is considered critical in combating corruption, alleviating poverty, and ensuring the effective use of internal and external resources. This course is a fundamental course that aims to provide basic understanding of effective public financial management systems to the participants in a better, quicker and efficient way by making them familiar with various internal and external techniques available to strengthen the fiscal transparency and management that is catalyst for economic growth and development. This UNITAR e-learning course will give a holistic overview of the concept and techniques of public financial management. The course will discuss the role of internal controls and audit system as well as the role of external audits in ensuring efficiency and integrity in public financial management and in combating corruption. The course is designed especially for public officials and development practitioners, but is also open to the general public who want to be aware of public financial management instruments and techniques. Some previous knowledge of public financial management and familiarity with financial concepts will be assumed in this course. ------------------------------------------------- ...
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...PART 2 The Global Marketing Environment CHAPTER 2 The Global Economic Environment Case 2-1 The Global Economic Crisis I n his 1997 book One World, Ready or Not, William Greider described the United States as “the buyer of last resort.” Greider explained that, for many years, the United States was the only nation that was willing to absorb production surpluses exported by companies in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Greider asked: “Who will buy the surpluses when the United States cannot?” The conventional wisdom has long held that strong spending by consumers in other nations would keep the world economy humming. However, by 2008, Greider’s question was taking on a new urgency and the conventional wisdom was being tested. An economic crisis that had its roots in lax subprime mortgage lending practices began to spread around the globe. In the United States, where the crisis began, economic misery was widespread: The housing market collapsed, real estate values plummeted, credit tightened, and job growth slowed (see Exhibit 2-1). As the price of oil passed the $100 per barrel benchmark, the average price of a gallon of gasoline rose to $4. American consumers were, indeed, less willing and less able to buy. However, the crisis was not confined to the United States alone. Consumer-goods exporters in Asia, which Exhibit 2-1: The bursting of the global real estate bubble was only one aspect of the worst recession in decades. The ripple effects from the economic...
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...Transport policy in 2011: a new direction? RESEARCH PAPER 11/22 2 March 2011 This paper outlines the changes made to transport policy by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government and looks at some of the long term transport challenges the government is likely to face over the course of this Parliament. It complements and updates House of Commons research paper 10/28, Transport policy in 2010: a rough guide. Louise Butcher Matthew Keep Recent Research Papers 11/05 Social Indicators 18.01.11 11/06 Scotland Bill [Bill 115 of 2010-11] 19.01.11 11/07 Estates of Deceased Persons (Forfeiture Rule and Law of 19.01.11 Succession) Bill [Bill 8 of 2010-11] 11/08 Unemployment by Constituency, January 2011 19.01.11 11/09 Fixed-term Parliaments Bill: Commons Stages 21.01.11 11/10 UK Defence and Security Policy: A New Approach? 21.01.11 11/11 Health and Social Care Bill [Bill 132 of 2010-11] 27.01.11 11/12 Economic Indicators, February 2011 01.02.11 11/13 Anonymity (Arrested Persons) Bill [Bill 9 of 2010-11] 02.02.11 11/14 Education Bill [Bill 137 of 2010-11] 03.02.11 11/15 Budget Responsibility and National Audit Bill [HL] 08.02.11 [Bill 143 of 2010-11] 11/16 The Local Government Finance Settlement 2011-13 08.02.11 11/17 Legislation (Territorial Extent) Bill [Bill 10 of 2010-11] 08.02.11 11/18 Wash-up 2010 11.02.11 11/19 Unemployment...
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...BRAZIL: Over the past few years, Brazil has moved from a country with great promise 'some time in the future' to being seen as one of the hottest investment opportunities in the world. A more stable political system and currency, coupled with vast mineral wealth of the country make Brazil a 'must' for all companies with truly global ambitions. With a population of 194 million, Brazil represents the fifth largest market opportunity in the world — after China, India, Indonesia and the USA. It is also the fifth largest country in the world by geographic size. An IMF (International Monetary Fund) report indicates that Brazil leads all other South American countries in terms of infrastructure and technological development. Combine these facts with the stabilising economic and political landscape — (the twin nightmares of corruption and hyper-inflation ravaged the country for decades) — and it is easy to see why Brazil attracts a higher percentage of total global foreign direct investment year on year. However, anybody wishing to do business with Brazil and the Brazilians should be aware of the various cultural and structural barriers which might confront them. Probably the most pervasive barrier encountered by the unwary traveller would be the 'Custo Basil' or the 'Brazil Cost'. This term refers to the very real extra costs of doing business in Brazil — corruption, governmental inefficiency, legal and bureaucratic complications, excessive taxation, poor infrastructure, inflation...
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...Media History Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Mass media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.3 1.1.4 1.1.5 1.1.6 1.1.7 1.1.8 1.1.9 Issues with definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Forms of mass media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Professions involving mass media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Influence and sociology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethical issues and criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 1 2 6 6 7 8 10 10 10 10 11 11 12 12 12 12 16 16 17 17 17 17 17 17 18 19 20 21 21 21 1.1.10 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.11 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.12 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.13 External links . . . . . . . . ....
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...the world economy? Part IV summarises key aspects of UK and EU relations with China. The Paper ends with a select bibliography of key sources. The Research Paper is intended to act as a platform for a series of Library Standard Notes that will address in more depth specific issues about China that there is space here only to discuss briefly. Jon Lunn, Maria Lalic, Ben Smith and Claire Taylor INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE SECTION Ed Beale, Ed Potton, Ian Townsend and Dominic Webb ECONOMIC POLICY AND STATISTICS SECTION HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY Recent Library Research Papers include: List of 15 most recent RPs 06/21 06/22 06/23 06/24 Unemployment by Constituency, March 2006 Direct taxes: rates and allowances 2006-07 The Northern Ireland Bill [Bill 169 of 2005-06] Social Indicators [includes article: Social statistics at parliamentary constituency level] 06/25 Economic Indicators [includes article: Appointments to the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England] 06/26 06/27 06/28...
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...3: Culture While this Hong Kong pedestrian appears not to notice the Nike billboard behind him, featuring NBA star LeBron James wearing the Air Zoom sneaker, the Chinese people certainly did notice. The Oregon-based Nike corporation was forced to pull its “Chamber of Fear” promotion, based on a Bruce Lee movie, after an outraged public objected to the image of a U.S. athlete defeating a kung fu master. In the global marketplace, cultural differences can undermine even the most elaborate promotional campaign. inside Culture and Society Development of Culture around the World Elements of Culture Culture and the Dominant Ideology Case Study: Culture at Wal-Mart Cultural Variation Social Policy and Culture: Bilingualism Boxes Sociology in the Global Community: Life in the Global Village Sociology in the Global Community: Cultural Survival in Brazil Sociology on Campus: A Culture of Cheating? “Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people's time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people. While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects and associated philosophy are unique. The fundamental belief underlying the whole...
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