NOTION 1 : FORMS AND SEATS OF

POWER
Intro :
The power take several forms and seats. I will speak you of political power. In
politic, power is ability to influence peoples behaviour in order to live togheter,
members of a community, accept rules, regulations and laws. It can create social
cohesoin but also lead to tensions and conflicts.
We have chosen to focus on the history of Britain and more particuraly the period
of the British Empire under Queen Victorias reign, a special period when the
colonies were ruled by the Empire. With time the Empire we have known
disappeared to give birth in 1926 to the commonwealth ; an institution based on
equality and democracy. The question that we will raise now is how we
abandonned the idea of Empire to create the commonwealth ? In the first part we
will see the principles and characteristics of the empire for then turn to a
definition of the commonwealth.

I : The British Empire :

Firsty, I will begin to present the principles of British Empire. We notice that the
British Empire dealt with a quarter of the worlds population, was nicknamed
The Empire never sets on . The Britons successfull to create a home away
from home . They also showed to the natives the British way of doing things,
they imposed their customs and by doing this they rule natives. This is exactly
what say Paxman in a documentary for BBC entilted Making ourselves at
home . An other document link this idea of superiority of Britons, this document
is a photo named Rule Britannia , he shows us 3 hunters surrounded by
hunting trophies. We can guess 2 black men behind the hunters they are here
only to display elephants tusks and remain in the background. Hunters are
proud, dignified, important, they successful to rule their environment and people
living insit, its a perfect illustration of colonisation. The next document presents
an other power, this is a painting by Thomas Jones Barkers, it shows Queen
Victoria and an embassador for an Eastern African country in a submissive
attitude. She receive a bible who symbolises the settlers culture in general. The
power by the culture is named the soft power, its a influence who rule natives
peacefuly, gradually.

II : The Commonwealth :
In the second part I will to define the Commonwealth and his values. The first
document is an extract from a speech by Joseph Chamberlain, its a justification
of colonisation, Chamberlain say that the colonisation was very good for colonies
owing to a paternalistic spirit who bring blessings for their. Never he mentions the
firt motive who was the exploitation of natural ressources and the cheap
labourforce. The next document is a text named The wind of change this
extract highlights the fact that the Bristish have to allow and accept the
independance of their colonies. Today its not a Empire who stand up in front of
us but the commonwealth. We have studied 5 quotations on the commonwealth
and i will do a synthesis to make a definition of Commonwealth : So the United
Kingdoms abandonned the idea of Empire (called brutes ) for the concept of
Commonwealth, based on equality, sharing power, political democracy and the
respect of human rights. Within the Commonwealth, peoples dont only exchange
goods, they also share values, ideas and sense of belonging to a community of
contries. Moreover, we have listened a speech by the Canadas Prime Minister
during a diner with important people. This last makes a toast to the Queen
Elizabeth the second. The Commonweath is an idealism due to his values as
fairness, democraty and equality. Each country is equal in status and the
allegiance to the Crown make an unity. The Queen is an incarnation of those
values.

Conclusion :
In conclusion, the British Empire had to allow and accept the claims of
independance from the colonie countries in order to keep tights links with their
former colonies : thats how was born the commonwealth. Personnaly i totally
aggre with the idea of Commonwealth because i think that the power must be
share. The fact that create an institution like that with a lot of countries bring a
important power and diversity. Today the United Kingdom leave the Europe,
we can deepen this analysis and explain the Brexit by the fact that the
their former colonies give them an independence that every country
would like.