Петрова DEMOCRACY PROLIFERATION Учебно-методическое пособие Воронеж Издательский дом ВГУ 2015 1 Утверждено научно-методическим советом факультета романогерманской филологии 9 декабря 2015, протокол № 4 Рецензент кандидат филологических наук, доцент Н. <...> What are the defining features of liberal democracy? 2. <...> When were the principles of liberal democracy first worked out? 3. <...> The End of History? by F. Fukuyama (1) In watching the flow of events over the past decade or so, it is hard to avoid the feeling that something very fundamental has happened in world history. <...> The past year has seen a flood of articles commemorating the end of the Cold War, and the fact that "peace" seems to be breaking out in many regions of the world. <...> Most of these analyses lack any larger conceptual framework for distinguishing between what is essential and what is contingent or accidental in world history, and are predictably superficial. <...> The twentieth century saw the developed world descend into a paroxysm of ideological violence, as liberalism contended first with the remnants of absolutism, then bolshevism and fascism, and finally an updated Marxism that threatened to lead to the ultimate apocalypse of nuclear war. <...> But the century that began full of self-confidence in the ultimate triumph of Western liberal democracy seems at its close to be returning full circle to where it started: not to an "end of ideology" or a convergence between capitalism and socialism, as earlier predicted, but to an unabashed victory of economic and political liberalism. (3) The triumph of the West, of the Western idea, is evident first of all in the total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to Western liberalism. <...> But this phenomenon extends beyond high politics and it can be seen also in the ineluctable spread of consumerist Western culture in such diverse contexts as the peasants' markets and color television sets now omnipresent throughout China, the cooperative restaurants and clothing stores opened in the past year in Moscow, the Beethoven piped into Japanese department stores, and the rock music enjoyed alike in Prague, Rangoon, and Tehran. (4) What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind <...>
Democracy_proliferation.pdf
МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РФ
ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ
ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО
ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
«ВОРОНЕЖСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»
И. В. Домбровская,
О. А. Петрова
DEMOCRACY PROLIFERATION
Учебно-методическое пособие
Воронеж
Издательский дом ВГУ
2015
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UNIT 1
Pre-reading
1. What are the defining features of liberal democracy?
2. When were the principles of liberal democracy first worked out?
3. When were the 1st attempts made to implement them?
The End of History?
by F. Fukuyama
(1) In watching the flow of events over the past decade or so, it is hard to avoid
the feeling that something very fundamental has happened in world history. The past
year has seen a flood of articles commemorating the end of the Cold War, and the
fact that "peace" seems to be breaking out in many regions of the world. Most of
these analyses lack any larger conceptual framework for distinguishing between
what is essential and what is contingent or accidental in world history, and are
predictably superficial. If Mr. Gorbachev were ousted from the Kremlin or a new
Ayatollah proclaimed the millennium from a desolate Middle Eastern capital, these
same commentators would scramble to announce the rebirth of a new era of conflict.
(2) And yet, all of these people sense dimly that there is some larger process at
work, a process that gives coherence and order to the daily headlines. The twentieth
century saw the developed world descend into a paroxysm of ideological violence,
as liberalism contended first with the remnants of absolutism, then bolshevism and
fascism, and finally an updated Marxism that threatened to lead to the ultimate
apocalypse of nuclear war. But the century that began full of self-confidence in the
ultimate triumph of Western liberal democracy seems at its close to be returning full
circle to where it started: not to an "end of ideology" or a convergence between
capitalism and socialism, as earlier predicted, but to an unabashed victory of
economic and political liberalism.
(3) The triumph of the West, of the Western idea, is evident first of all in the
total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to Western liberalism. In the past
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"superstructure" that was determined entirely by the prevailing material mode of
production.
Vocabulary Practice
1. Look for the words and expressions in the text to match the following
definitions:
(1) inattentive, shallow
(1) forced to leave a job / position
(1) increase in the popularity of smth
that used to be popular
(2) to compete
(2) vestiges
(2) becoming similar (n)
(3) varied, different
(4) sphere, area of activity, interest
(5) earlier
2. Give opposites to the words:
predecessor
to converge
apocalypse
utopia
unabashed victory
superficial
explicit
3. Give your understanding of the words / phrases in English:
egalitarian society
consumerism, consumerist society
vanguard
4. Give your understanding of the phrases / sentences in English, paying
particular attention to the underlined words:
the total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to Western liberalism
this phenomenon extends beyond high politics
these stages corresponded to concrete forms of social organization
the contradictions that drive history exist first of all in the realm of human
consciousness
for him (Hegel) the distinction between the two was only apparent
Hegel's idealism has fared poorly at the hands of later thinkers.
5. Give Russian equivalents of the following words and expressions:
universal homogenous state
superstructure
mode of production
6. Translate the given phrases / sentences into Russian:
The twentieth century saw the developed world descend into a paroxysm of
ideological violence.
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(5) someone who had a job / position
before sb else
7) likely to happen very soon
(7) the right to vote in an election
(8) long search for / attempt to achieve
smth difficult
(10) act / happen according to the rules
(11) caused by
(11) clear and exact
(11) easily noticed, obvious
(12) change smth to its opposite
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…it is the ideal that will govern the material world in the long run.
…it was at that point that the vanguard of humanity actualized the principles
of the French Revolution.
…there was considerable work to be done after 1806…
…what remains is primarily economic activity.
7. Word Formation
to exhaust → n, adj 1) likely to be used
completely and disappear; 2) complete
to converge → n, adj
diverse → n
8. Pronunciation
oust
triumph
utopia
predecessor
realm
Comprehension Check
1. What is meant by the end of history? Does this term imply that no
significant developments are likely to happen?
2. What developments make Fukuyama think that the world is nearing the
end point?
3. Compare the concepts of history created by a) Hegel; b) Marx. Reveal
the main similarities and differences between the concepts, filling in the table.
to consume → n (sb), n (smth), adj
to abolish → n (sb),n (smth)
to reverse → ≠ adj
Hegel
Marx
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Whose view does Fukuyama share?
4. What is a universal homogeneous state?
Reading and discussion
1. a) Describe life in a particular historical epoch (tribal, slave-owning etc).
You should say: which period you have chosen;
what were the benefits of life then;
what were the drawbacks of life then
and explain whether you would like to have lived then.
Some areas you might like to consider: medicine / hygiene / working
conditions / social relationships / homes / transport / clothing / education.
While speaking, try to use modal perfects.
At the end, everyone should vote on the best period to live in.
b) Do you agree with the words by Samuel Johnson (English poet, critic and
writer, 1709-1784) “I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of
government other than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an
individual.”
2. Fukuyama claims that humankind has seen “… not … a convergence
between capitalism and socialism, … but … an unabashed victory of economic
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