A Little Background Information

I'm starting this blog as not only a requirement for my global news media class, but as a tool to help me learn how to follow and interpret international news. In order to make this blog effective, I have decided to report on two countries: Luxembourg and Monaco. I chose both these countries together because they are fairly small (Monaco being the second smallest independent country in the world), both install French as one of their official languages and both countries interest me. Over the course of this semester I will report on news in both countries and hopefully will find news that ties both of them together and I will also tie in concepts and terms from class. I will now take the time to give a little bit of background information about both countries.

Luxembourg is a small country with a population of 483,799 and an area size of 2,586 km² and it is surrounded on three sides by France, Germany, and Belgium. Because of this close proximity, it shares similar characterisitics with all three of these countries especially in languages. The language of Letzeburgesch is similar to German and is the native tongue of the country, but French is used in the government and other administrative purposes. The government can be described as a Grand Duchy or principality but enlists the use of a parliamentary system that works jointly with the head of state (Duke). Most of its economic power derives from banking, insurance and steel, as well as wine and agriculture. Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union and because of this, the country uses the Euro. Currently, the Head of State is Henri I, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and the Head of Government is Jean Claude Juncker, a member of the Christian-Social Party (CSV).

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Monaco is like Luxembourg where it is very small country in population and size but also like Luxembourg it is a economically wealthy country as well as a "tax-haven". It is the second smallest country after the Vatican with an area size of 2 sq. miles and a population of 32,965. It is surrounded on three sides by France and is best known for its casino and its formula one racing event titled, "Monaco Grand Prix." Because of its close proximity to France, it shares many customs with this country as well as France has a very strong influence on the small country. Its' main source of revenue is tourism; it brings in a lot of foreigners because of its climate and tourist-geared activities. Being a constitutional monarchy, Prince Albert II is the Head of State and Frenchman Michel Roger is the Minister of State.

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