Ecjs THE BRITISH MONARCHY AND US REPUBLIC TODAY• • METHOD 1

Method 1 Docs

Stage 1 - Introduction: presenting the documents
Similarities: Both documents show the evolution of British royal power.
Differences: The 1st document is a diagram showing the UK parliamentary monarchy set up by the Declaration of Rights of 1689, after the 1688 Glorious Revolution whereas the 2nd document is an article by Alan Watson, dealing with the Queen's role today, published in The New York Times, on June 4, 2013, 60 years after the coronation of QEII.
Announce structure: In a first part, we will see royal power in 1689 thanks to/with the first doc. and in a second part I will describe it today using doc. 2.

Stage 2 - Analysing the documents

DESCRIBING - What you see (docs)
 INTERPRETING - What you know (notions)
1. Firstly, the diagram shows royal power in 1689

- Political power : head of state monarch chooses the CM + Cabinet ; holds the executive pw but controlled by Parliament (legislative);
- Religious power : head of the Church of England

- Politically: monarchy (def), parliamentary monarchy (def), sovereignty of the people (def)
- Religiously : Anglican (def)
2. Secondly, the article explains the role of the queen today

P1 The queen has no real power
She reigns but doesn’t govern : she doesn’t decide foreign or domestic policy,: the PM & gvt do it for her
P2 However she has a major role
- UK / she symbolises unity & stability
- CW / she created an equal and diverse CW

A queen without power
- The PM is the head of gvt and holds the executive power (def)
But a major symbol
- in the UK: 1 Queen, many PMs
- in the Commonwealth (def)

Stage 3 - Concluding
Assess docs (reliable/biased justified): To conclude, these documents are unbiased as we can’t see the authors’ opinion (the diagram describes the UK political system & the article givse facts), and reliable as we have their full references and the NYT is a quality US newspaper.
Sum-up ideas These documents show how British parliamentary monarchy changed since 1689 with the monarch evolving from a real power to a strong symbol.
+ Open We may wonder what is the role & power of the US head of state, ofits president.