Fiche de révision : Actualité et institutions du monde anglophone

📋 Plan du Cours

1. Le vote par correspondance américain
2. Mémoire du 11 septembre
3. Dévolution et nations britanniques
4. Irlande du Nord et Troubles
5. Politique britannique contemporaine
6. Monarchie et Parlement britanniques
7. Institutions et société américaines
8. Puissance politique et économique
9. Organisations internationales et géopolitique
10. Méthode de l’essai argumentatif

📅 Repères chronologiques

1. 1968 to 1998The Troubles involved Nationalists or Republicans, Unionists or Loyalists, and British security forces; approximately 3,500 people died.
2. 1972British soldiers shot dead 14 unarmed Catholic civil-rights protesters in Derry.
3. 1973Roe v. Wade established a constitutional protection for abortion rights in the United States, but the Supreme Court overturned the ruling in 2022.
4. 1998Devolution was passed in the United Kingdom.
5. 1998The Good Friday Agreement ended the Troubles and established two First Ministers, one from each community.
6. 2019London introduced the Ultra Low Emission Zone and later expanded it across Greater London.
7. 14 September 2026Nationalist leaders from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland signed the Celtic independence pact in Cardiff.

📖 1. Le vote par correspondance américain

★ À maîtriser

• The Trump administration wanted standardized envelopes and barcodes for mail ballots starting with the 2026 midterm elections, and non-compliant ballots would have been rejected.

• Trump repeatedly claimed that mail-in voting was particularly vulnerable to fraud and had been rigged in favour of Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

📌 The Supreme Court ruled that the new federal mail-ballot rules could not be used for the 2026 midterm election.

Compléments

• Several states challenged the rules because they came too late and interfered with states’ authority over elections.

💡 Astuce mémo

Restrictions fédérales → rejet des bulletins non conformes

📖 2. Mémoire du 11 septembre

★ À maîtriser

• On 9/11 2026, a display in New York Harbor used 2,977 individual lights, each representing a person who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

• New York City officials released documents suggesting that past city administrations withheld information or lied about the dangers of toxic dust and debris in Lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks.

Compléments

• The current One World Trade Center opened in 2014 and is 514 metres high.

• A new moment of silence at Ground Zero honours people who died from illnesses related to exposure to toxic dust after 9/11.

💡 Astuce mémo

2,977 lumières s’élèvent au-dessus du port de New York

📖 3. Dévolution et nations britanniques

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Devolution : the transfer of political powers from Westminster to parliaments in the UK nations, which can pass laws in areas such as transport, housing and healthcare

📝 Points essentiels

• The Celtic independence pact calls for the right to hold referendums on the nations’ constitutional futures but does not itself grant that legal power.

💡 Astuce mémo

Wales is a nation, not a region of England

📖 4. Irlande du Nord et Troubles

📝 Points essentiels

📌 Catholic communities in Northern Ireland are generally Nationalists or Republicans who want independence from the United Kingdom and union with the Republic of Ireland, whereas Protestant communities are generally Unionists or Loyalists who want to remain in the United Kingdom.

💡 Astuce mémo

Catholics seek unity; Protestants defend the Union

📖 5. Politique britannique contemporaine

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• First-past-the-post : the electoral system that elects the candidate who wins the most votes in a constituency

★ À maîtriser

• Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister after the July 2024 general election, while Andy Burnham became Prime Minister on July 20th 2026.

• The No. 10 North office established by Andy Burnham in Manchester is intended to move power and resources away from Westminster towards regions and local mayors.

Compléments

• Andy Burnham was Mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 to 2026 and was elected in 2017, 2021 and 2024.

📌 Burnham paused a planned September 2026 early-release scheme for around 6,000 prisoners and excluded sexual offenders from it.

💡 Astuce mémo

Starmer → Burnham; Westminster → No. 10 North

📖 6. Monarchie et Parlement britanniques

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Life peers : members of the House of Lords appointed for life by the Prime Minister for their expertise, experience or political contribution

★ À maîtriser

📌 The United Kingdom is a parliamentary or constitutional monarchy and a democracy, not an absolute monarchy, so executive power is vested in the Prime Minister.

• The House of Commons has 650 MPs, while the French National Assembly has 577 MPs.

📌 Since April 2026, hereditary peers no longer have the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords unless they are also life peers.

Compléments

• King Charles III has been monarch since May 2023 and was born on November 14, 1948.

💡 Astuce mémo

Monarch symbolic; Prime Minister executive

📖 7. Institutions et société américaines

★ À maîtriser

📌 The United States has three branches of government: Congress exercises legislative power, the White House executive power, and the Supreme Court judicial power.

• The US Congress consists of 435 representatives in the House of Representatives and 100 senators in the Senate.

• The 2026 US midterm elections will contest all 435 House seats, 35 of the 100 Senate seats, and 39 gubernatorial elections.

Compléments

• The Supreme Court justices decide between 70 and 80 cases a year on average, after receiving about 10,000 petitions, of which they accept less than 1 percent.

💡 Astuce mémo

Congress, White House, SCOTUS

📖 8. Puissance politique et économique

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Ultra Low Emission Zone : a daily £12.50 charge for vehicles that do not meet minimum emissions standards

★ À maîtriser

• Zohran Mamdani became New York City’s youngest mayor in more than a century, its first Muslim mayor and its first foreign-born mayor in nearly 50 years.

• Mamdani’s programme includes free childcare, city-run grocery stores, a rent freeze, affordable housing, fare-free buses and a $30 minimum wage by 2030 for employers with more than 500 employees.

Compléments

• Mamdani’s Block by Block plan aims to build 200,000 new affordable housing units over a decade.

📖 9. Organisations internationales et géopolitique

★ À maîtriser

• The Commonwealth has 56 countries, including 15 Commonwealth realms whose official head of state is King Charles III and whose governments are run by prime ministers.

• The BRICS group originally comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in 2009, and later added Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates in 2024.

• Mark Carney became Canadian Prime Minister after his election in April 2025 and has had to balance Canadian sovereignty with close economic ties to the United States, which accounts for 75% of Canada’s exports.

Compléments

• Twelve countries, including Britain, Canada and France, announced trade sanctions against Israeli settlements in the West Bank on September 8, 2026.

📖 10. Méthode de l’essai argumentatif

★ À maîtriser

• 🔄 A strong argumentative essay follows three parts:
  1. an introduction
  2. a development
  3. a conclusion

📌 An introduction should begin with a specific dated or quantified case, rephrase the question, define its key terms and avoid announcing the outline.

📌 Each paragraph should introduce one main point clearly, develop a coherent argument and use logical linking words without repetition.

Compléments

📌 An essay should support its argument with at least four precise, relevant events or data from history or the news, preferably from the English-speaking world.

📌 In English, writers should avoid using we or our in an essay, check third-person singular -s and verb forms, and use idiomatic expressions and collocations accurately.

💡 Astuce mémo

Introduction → développement → conclusion

📊 Tableaux de synthèse

Les trois pouvoirs américains