Camp Nou Stadium Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Camp Nou Stadium - Research Paper Example Camp Nou Stadium Camp nou is the largest football stadium in Spain and the second largest football stadium in Europe. It is located in Barcelona and seats 99354 people in a football match but in any match organized by the UEFA the stadium is reduced to 96336 people per stadium. The stadium has hosted many matches and was one of the stadiums that hosted the 1992 summer Olympics that was held in Spain. Construction of this amazing football stadium started on the 28th match of 1954. This was because the previous Barcelona stadium camp de les corts could not be expanded anymore and so the then government decided to build another bigger stadium that could accommodate all the crazy soccer fans who were increasing in number daily and increased revenue to the government. This construction began in front of more than 60000 fans of the Barcelona football club team watching the construction. Before the construction began, Archbishop of Barcelona laid the ground with prayers before the civil gov ernor of Barcelona preceded by laying down the first stone to mark the beginning of the construction. The architectures in the team were Francesca Titans, Lorenzo Garcia and Josep soteras. The construction ended on 24 September 1957 and since then it has been the official Barcelona football club stadium. This means that the construction took more than three years. After its construction, the constructor later had many tenders for more construction and the architects behind the design of the stadium were given several awards for being the best designers. Culture and society The stadium was built in a culture that was characterized by mad football support and competition with opponent football club Real Madrid that at the time had the largest soccer stadium. This led to the Barcelona fans to want a stadium that could host more people and help them be proud of it, as it was larger than the opponent’s stadium. The construction of the stadium was seen as an opportunity for the rep utable Spanish architectures to show off their architectural skills to the population by designing the best stadium ever. Therefore, the panel picked the best stadium that they felt was affordable and could last for a longer period. Foster and collaborates were the contractors they finally won the tender to build the stadium. At the time of its building, many people were fascinated by the way, that football stadiums were being built in Europe starting with the construction of Old Trafford stadium which was one of the state of the art stadiums at the time. After this, many club supporters across Europe wanted to help in the building of similar stadiums with the same capacity or even more. At this time, there were several universities that offered different courses in architecture and there were different competition on who could design and build the most efficient and best clubs. There were also upcoming technologies that were used in the building process that was of importance. Cons truction of the stadium Constructed in 1957, the tools and the methods of construction are not so different from those that are currently used. However, there is a slight difference in the tools, the materials, and the labour that was used. Trucks did transportation and cranes did loading. Since the Portland cement used in the making of concrete was not far from the site off construction, the transportation did not take a lot of time. Cranes were then used to uplift the building materials to greater heights and the major

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Example for Free

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Definition:- [Carroll, 1979; 2008, 500]: The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations that a society has of organizations at a given point in time. EU Definition of CSR: A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD): Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large Concept:- Corporate Social Responsibility is a management concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with their stakeholders. CSR is generally understood as being the way through which a company achieves a balance of economic, environmental and social imperatives (â€Å"Triple-Bottom-Line- Approach†), while at the same time addressing the expectations of shareholders and stakeholders. In this sense it is important to draw a distinction between CSR, which can be a strategic business management concept, and charity, sponsorships or philanthropy. Even though the latter can also make a valuable contribution to poverty reduction, will directly enhance the reputation of a company and strengthen its brand, the concept of CSR clearly goes beyond that. The Pyramid of CSR One of the most popular concepts of CSR was developed by Archie Carroll in the early 1990s. It is known as the pyramid of CSR. The pyramid suggests that CSR is composed by 4 different kinds of social responsibility. These responsibilities are economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. Caroll considers them to be basic economic responsibilities. The aim of economic responsibility is to provide goods and services for consumers and to gain profit out of it. (Crane, Matten, Spence, 2008, p. 62) Due to capitalism the idea of profit transformed into the extent of maximizing profits upon all other aspects. Society sanctioned businesses for their idea of maximizing profits and in this context governments legislated ground rules according to which businesses must operate. The rules indicated companies to comply with regulations and to fulfill legal obligations. Even though norms like fairness and justice are well ordered in economic and legal responsibility, ethical responsibility goes beyond the law and regulations. It embodies values, norms and expectations from stakeholders, like consumers, employees and a shareholder, for what they believe is fair and right. For a company ethical components of CSR embrace acting morally and ethically and going further than compliance with laws and regulations. (Caroll, 1991) However, ethical responsibility is intertwined with the legal conception and is pushing toward more regulations and higher expectations. The last and smallest layer of the pyramid is philanthropic responsibility. Philanthropic responsibility means for the company to be a good corporate citizen. Taking this challenge into account the company has to contribute to arts, education and the community and, therefore, endorse human welfare or goodwill. Philanthropic responsibility is sometimes put on the same level as ethical. However, the difference is that it is not seen as unethical behavior if businesses do not contribute their money to humanitarian programs.

Essay --

Legalizing Marijuana This found plant is known as marijuana it is recognized all around the world. This plant is known to be a drug/herb that gives people â€Å"high† and is also illegal in almost every location part of the world. Some nations are very strict when it comes down to enforcing the law when others are very lenient. Marijuana is known to be an addicting substance that cause death but what they don’t know is that marijuana is used to cure people in resources no others can find. A plant that has been said to not only cause illusion and memory loss but being able to help in aid people with cancer and aids. Today there is still more and more people who are deciding on siding with pro marijuana legalization for America. Citizens that never gave marijuana legalization a plain in thought or are just heavily against it are beginning to believe that legalizing marijuana would prove helpful for the United States. There are plenty of reasons why there are many people who support marij uana legalization and one basic reasons is the benefit of marijuana being a medicinal drug. Even some states in America have already legalize using marijuana for medical purposes only, while many have not done so centennially. Other countries such as Canada have already allowed medical marijuana be used. The fact in states and other nations allowing the use of marijuana to be for an important aspect such as medicine making the drug legal. Especially since it hasn’t caused any harmful problems being used that way. Marijuana is a medicine that can relieve pain for users along with other specific benefits. Marijuana has been known as a strong and important topic in the government later in these years, deciding whether or not marijuana should be leg... ...ted based on the assumptions people use and what can directly impact the United States in a positive way. People need to open up their eyes and stop being ignorant on the capabilities a drug can prove to be helpful and the fact that marijuana being legal would help the United States in dire help. People that are against it have not once looked into the benefits it hold and may never will. We all tend to seek pleasure in our life every day and everyone has their own way of achieving that. For some, that source of pleasure is marijuana and all they want to end up doing is gain pleasure like others do, but we should all be who we want be no matter how people take life whether it’s in peace but all we know is that its best to enjoy life and in harm’s way. Never in my life have I once heard a problem that is caused by marijuana and that is because it has never happened.

Lack of Closure in Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot Essay -- Theater

Closure is a very important aspect of a narrative. Closure or the lack of it accomplishes the goal of a creating a text which readers would want to continue reading to find out the ending, it helps to lead the reader on. The term â€Å"closure† according to Abbott is â€Å"best understood as something we look for in narrative, as desire that authors understand and often expend art to satisfy or frustrate† (Abbott, 57).In the play Waiting for Godot, the lack of closure is very evident throughout it. This play significantly follows the hermeneutic code, the level of questions or answers. This code has allowed for the author to grasp the attention of the readers, due to the reason people like to find and understand closures, but also allowing the author to not give a closure. Moreover, the type of play, which is an absurdist, is an important part of the reason behind this play lacking a closure. The definition of absurdist is: â€Å"A writer, performer, etc., whose work presents an audience or readership with absurdities, typically in portraying the futility of human struggle in a senseless and inexplicable world; esp. a writer or proponent of absurdist drama† (OED). The absurdist genre allows for the play to not directly answer the questions, but to leave it open so that the reader can interpret the actions to their liking, just as they would interpret situations in real life, where no events are written in stone. The dialogues and the whole picture of the play allows for easy examination as to how the above claims work out. Using the hermeneutic code, and the absurdist genre, along with a lack of closure, the author has written Waiting For Godot a play written to make the audience think. In the book The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, H... ...ith the lack of closure the author has paved many paths, making one unable to give a proper retelling of the play due to various interpretations. The play has also slyly inserted a philosophy on human life, the uncertainty and how it is a major part of human life is portrayed through this play. All these characteristic together make this play a very good play, it makes one want to live forever as to see what future generations would interpret the play as. In conclusion, this text is written to make the readers think and participate as active members in the reading of the play. Works Cited Abbott, H. Porter. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, "Waiting for Godot" Cambridge University Press; 2 edition, April 7, 2008 Beckett, Samuel. Waiting For Godot. 3rd ed. N.p.: CPI Group, 2006. Print. Vol. 1 of Samuel Beckett: The Complete Dramatic Works. 4 vols

Literature Reflection Paper

James Kain wrote the essay â€Å"Why Literature† and from reading that, I got the various opinions about Literature from a Literature professor’s point of view. I really liked the quote â€Å"Students always ask why they have to read this stuff. I understand their position; they have been brought up in a culture that values eternal youth in a material world† (Kain). Throughout my years in school, I have never heard any teacher or professor that understands our pains and suffering of reading, analyzing and learning Literature. Literature class is not my best choice of a class but Prof. Kain made Literature fun and exciting for me.I am so happy that I got the chance to take his Literature class because he really made it fun for us. In the way that I see it, movies, stories and poems are all the same. One is on the screen and the other two are on paper. And they both have the same motive to express feelings, stories and problems. Throughout the essay by Mr. Kain, he wrote many things that really stood out to me. â€Å"The stuff of poetry, story and drama, written by a master of the language, helps us explore our own lives and destinies† (Kain). This quote really made me think about all of the wonderful works of words that we have read in this class.What this quote means is that certain stories, poems and types of drama makes me think of our own lives and what our dreams are. Another quote that really stood out to me is â€Å"The works of poets and storytellers differ from other writings because they expose questions, emotions, doubts and fears; they illuminate the writer’s inner life, and they vitalize our language – that is, they give life and meaning to words we normally take for granted† (Kain). When I read this, it reminded me of the poem that we read by Theodore Roethke My Papa’s Waltz. In that poem, the ordinary words that we would be using in our daily lives really came to life.That poem had a lot of i nner emotions from the poet’s personal life since it was about his father who he wished had a better relationship with. The third and final quote from this that I really liked was: â€Å"Writers of literature help us do this. They give us the story of their own struggle with this noisy, marvelous, frustrating God-blessed troublesome world. They show us views of life that we could never experience by ourselves† (Kain). Poets and authors give us another look on life with their works. We may have our own issues and problems but no everyone has the same problems as us.The problems that the poets and authors give us can be so much worse than what we are facing. Always remember that everyone has their own issues and problems and they are not the same as you. In my earlier paragraphs, I mentioned the poem by Theodore Roethke My Papa’s Waltz. I really liked this poem a lot because it was the type of poem that really stood out to you and you would never forget it. By rea ding the title alone, you would think that the poem would be a nice happy one but after the first stanza, that all changes. The words in that poem were not used in the ordinary way that we would use them in our daily lives.The one line from the poem: You beat time on my head with a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt makes you think of the use of words that are in this stanza and what they mean in the context of the sentence. The short stories section of this class was not my best. I like to read stories but analyzing is not something that I can do at the top of my head. I really have to think about the story, plot and characters really deeply in order to finally come up with a conclusion on the analysis of the whole story. The one story that really got to me is The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe.This was the type of story that was so unreal and very disturbing. After reading the part about when the cat was making the noise inside the wall even though his owner killed him; it really sent chills down my spine. This is the type of story you can easily tell to people on Halloween and they would really spooked out. This type of story really let the emotions out to the reader. That is what I like about when I read certain stories and poems; I want the author or poet to expose emotions in the words so I can feel the same way as the author or poet feels.I am pretty sure that for everyone in the class, the movie The Dead Poet’s Society was by far the best thing that we have done in this class. The movie did a good job in expressing the types of freedom, wishes and desires for each of the characters. The tragic ending for one of the main characters Neal Perry was definitely an eye opening for everyone. I am sure that no one really expected that to happen. Neal had a lot of pressure from his father; going to a good school, getting the highest grades than anyone else and getting into Yale or Harvard. Neal wanted to be a f ree bird but it was his Dad that was holding him back.His main passion was acting and he still went on with it even though he knew of the consequences that would follow. This type of emotion made me think of me because I know I have a lot of pressure from my parents especially since I am a Nursing major and after getting my degree here at Neumann University, they want me to get my Masters and become a Nurse Practitioner. I feel like all students in high school and college get a lot of pressure from their parents and the main reason for that is that their parents love them and want what is best for them.This was the type of drama that really expressed emotions of every one of the characters and that is whole main idea of Literature. In conclusion, I really liked this Literature class and I am really happy that I got the chance to take it with Prof. James Kain. He really knows what Literature is and he really makes it fun for us students. Literature is not that bad; you can like many stories and poems if you like movies because basically movies are like the same as stories and poems. The only difference is that movies are on the screen, stories and poems are on paper.

Farm Households and Wage Labor in the Northeastern Maritimes in the 19th Century report

Farm Households and Wage Labor in the Northeastern Maritimes in the 19th Century report This article is entitled â€Å"Farm Households and Wage Labor in the Northeastern Maritimes in the 19th Century† written by Rusty Bitterman. Elementary, this article focuses on wage labor amongst farm households especially in the Maritimes in early 19th century. Primarily, resource-based economies were prevalent in the maritime and they included agricultural and non-agricultural practices.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on â€Å"Farm Households and Wage Labor in the Northeastern Maritimes in the 19th Century† report specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There was plenty of land and therefore any person would access the land and make a living out of it. â€Å"With a wife and axe, an industrious man might carve out a handsome competence and become truly rich and independent† (Bitterman, 1993, p. 14). However, apart from farm household labors, people got involved in waged labor. Bittterman points out that the main reason why people got involved in waged labor was to institute and maintain their own farms. Farming requires resources to run it. For instance, for a farmer to start farming, he or she requires farm inputs and seeds on top of labor to get the farming underway. This need to have money to support such events explains why many farmers assumed two roles; that is, being casual laborers or wage earners and at the same time being farmers tilling their own lands. The article points out that, the fact that most of the people around the maritime had two jobs, class distinction between wage earners and farmers was outstandingly missing. Consequently, there was no clear-cut class identity in those times and neither could the prevailing environment allow establishment of the same. The ideal of an independent farmer was to cultivate his or her land, raise families, and be independent. Independence, wealth accumulation and raising families was the dream of every farmer in the maritime. Bitterman (1993) says one would become â€Å"†¦truly rich and independent† (p. 14). However, despite the desire to become independent, these farmers had to become wage earners; a move that seemed to take away their most craved independence. So, how did wage labor fit into the lives of families striving to attain this ideal in the Maritimes? In this article, Rusty Bitterman gives a valid explanation of why farmers engaged in wage labor and how this fitted in their lives to attain the ideal farmer status in the maritime.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More During this period of early 19th century, most farmers were illiterate and amateurs in any profession. Therefore, to become independent and rich, these people had to work as wage earners to partly support their farming practices and supplement their earnings from the poorly cultivated lands. The fact that these farmers were not skilled in any filed implies that even the farming they did they did it poorly and consequently the production was low. On the other hand, in the wage labor, unskilled labor dominated the arena implying that production was poor hence poor payment. Due to lack of education, there were no set employment rules that would counter check any form of exploitation. Therefore, these conditions starting with poor farming practices which, resulting into poor yields and faced with the need of every farmer to be independent and rich, forced the farmers to take up non-farming activities to earn some income that would maintain their farms and provide for their families as aforementioned. This phenomenon explains how wage labor fitted into the lives of farmers and their families and still maintained their ideal status in the maritime. However, the writer was not convinced by the author’s argument. There are some critical concerns that the writer raises in this case. Fo r instance, the claim that farmers were independent during that time is not substantial. The article stresses the fact that there was massive paternalism between employees who partly happened to be farmers and employers who were merchants and land rulers. With this regard, independence of the farmers remains in question because their wage earning part of livelihood lay in the hands of these prominent and rich coteries of the society. To say that the farmers were independent because they cultivated their farms is null. It is clear that the farmers were not producing enough farm products to sustain them and their families giving them the independence and wealth that they craved. Actually, the article points out clearly that the reason why many farmers engaged in wage labors was to supplement their poor incomes from farming. This implies that these same farmers had to go looking for wage labors from the same individuals who were out to exploit them. This implies that independence and r ichness was not anywhere close to these farmers as claimed in the article. The article to some extent insinuates that the only people who did not have independence were the working class. This holds some truth. However, the farmers were part of the working class because they got involved in waged labor at some point. Towards the end of the article Bitterman points out that, more farmers engaged in wage labor as time went on.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on â€Å"Farm Households and Wage Labor in the Northeastern Maritimes in the 19th Century† report specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to Bitterman, there were two classes of people; wage laborers and farmers. However, a new class of wage earners cum farmers emerged and this is where independence of farmers got lost. As long as they worked as wage earners, they remained under the mercies of merchants and rich landowners and were subject to exploitation. Reference List Bitterman, R. (1993). Farm Households and Wage Labor in the Northeastern Maritimes In the 19th Century. Retrieved from, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25143668?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

The Turn Of The Screw Paper Essay Example

The Turn Of The Screw Paper Essay Example The Turn Of The Screw Paper Paper The Turn Of The Screw Paper Paper When the Governess finds Miles out in the yard, she talks with him. After the conversation, it seems that the children have found one of the Governess weaknesses. She is afraid that her suspicions of the ghosts are right. Through this event, the children are portray yet as evil. Heeler makes the argument the that the ghosts are real seem true. He does the is by making events in the novel sound unreal and make the reader think that it m just be of some supernatural power. When she says she wants Miles to help her save h m, she experiences a supernatural blast and chill that shake the room and put out he r candle. The Turn of the Screw. Novels for Students. De. David M. Galena. Volvo. 16. Dee root: Gale, 2002. 246271. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 31 Mar. 2013. The critical essay, written by David Galena, addresses both sides Of the debate in The Turn of the Screw , which are that the ghosts are real and that the ghosts are actually hallucinations seen only by the Governess. Th e Article begins to discuss the appearances of the ghosts. Galena mentions how the ghosts appear to be poor rayed as human rather than being ethereal like traditional ghost stories. He uses this a s evidence to makes the ghosts appear real. after Miles shrieks and falls into the govern Asss arms, she realizes that, though she believes she has banished the ghost, Miles has d died in the process. Galena uses Miles shriek as evidence that the Miles has been saved, and that the Governess is a hero. Fiction: 1891-1900. Henry James A Study of the Short Fiction . Richard A. Hocks. Boston: Twenty Publishers, 1990. 104125. Twines Studies in Short Fiction 1 7. Taiwanese Authors on GAVE . Web. 31 Mar. 013. The Article discusses some of Henry James works, including Hocks tries to logically counter the belief that ghosts in The Turn of the Screw are real. Such as, countering the description that the Governess gave of Peter Quinn. H socks says that when the Governess stopped in the village on the way to Fly she learned of Peter Quinn. A puzzling detail is that the governess has never seen Quinn, nor heard details of his appearance, seemingly; yet when she describes the app arition, Mrs.. Gross recognizes it as Quinn. The suggestion that in some way-?perhaps in the village e-?the governess had learned about Quinn is plausible. Hocks also discusses the point that the story was told to as a realistic story, therefore the reader would have to dry away a more logical conclusion: that the Governess is hallucinating and the ghosts are not r Turn of the Screw, The. Unicycledid Britannica Unicycledid Britannica Online School Edition Unicycledid Britannica, Inc. , 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2013. This article is a description of . It mentions how Henry James purposely made The turn of the Screw ambiguous. The Novels and Tales of Henry James , called the tale a fable and said that he did not specify details of the ghosts evil deeds because he wanted readers to supply their own vision of terror. Henry does this because the reader is enticed to read the novella because of their w ant for an ending. Cares, Wendy. Wondrous Material to Play On: Children as Sites of Gothic Lie militantly in the Turn of the Screw, the Innocents, and the Others. Studies in the Humanities 32 (2005): 1. Quietist . Freeholders, Nicole. 20 Mar. 2013 Wendy Cares discusses the controversy over The Turn of the Screw. Cares uses the author of The Turn of the Screw, Henry James, to suggest that the ghosts are real. James claims that the children in it are to be bad, full of evil, to a sinister deg ere. She mentions that understanding requires the reader to understand the multiple layers within it. Which are, the ghosts possible possession of the chi lilied and Fly.

History of the United Nations †Government Essay

History of the United Nations – Government Essay Free Online Research Papers History of the United Nations Government Essay The United Nations has changed substantially its understanding, concept and action towards development since its conception in 1945. Specially since the end of the Cold War a considerable refinement in its approach could be noticed, moving more and more away from a notion of development as mere economic improvement and progressing to a much broader view that has been named Sustainable Human Development, which is centered on the empowerment of the people and good governance, aiming at eradicating world’s poverty. Historical events played a great role in reshaping this conception and among them the speed of the globalization process stands out. The main question of this essay is: â€Å"How has UN’s approach to development changed since the end of the Cold War?†. The intention here is to expose the major modifications that have occurred and the facts and events that have influenced them, as well as to show the importance, weaknesses and limits of the world organization in the international arena in relation to the development realm. Historical context in which the United Nations emerged and the progress in its conception of development until the end of the Cold War The United Nations emerged in the context of the 2nd World War, in 1945, as an attempt â€Å"to avoid the slaughter and misery of more world wars and another Great Depression- as well as the failure of the first generation of universal organization, the League of Nations† (Jolly, 2005, p.2). These were the main purposes that the organization was directed to during the first to the second decade of its existence. But the organization had broader ambitions and its original view was based on the ideas of peace, development and human rights (Jolly, 2005, p.3). In 1944 we had also the creation of the so-called Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the IMF) that were set up to regulate the world economy under the direction of the US with the immediate goal of rebuilding Europe during the post-war years (Allen, 2000, p.204). Through the decades, the action and approach of the world organization towards development changed consistently, being shaped by and shaping historical events occurring during its period of existence. For several years, development was taken only as economic development (Jolly, 2005, p.7). During the 50s and 60s import substitution and state-centered economic liberalism were taken as the best way to achieve economic growth (Allen, 2000, p.292). From the middle of the 60s till the beginning of the 80s there were some historical facts that affected the UN such as the independence of several African former colonies and the reaction of the â€Å"South† in relation to the â€Å"North† with the creation of the â€Å"Group of 77† and the emergence of the â€Å"Dependency Theory† as an attempt to make the developing countries’ priorities be taken into account in international politics (Weiss, 2004, p.231). The development view shifted a little and more stress was given to employment and redistribution with growth. There were some positive reactions to this situation from the UN’s part as it launched in 1964 the First Development Decade, and in the 70s concerns about the environment and about women’s participation were also put into the development agenda. The downside of these years also called the â€Å"debt-led growth† years – was that the developing countries increa sed their external debts substantially (Allen, 2000, p.296). The 80s were called by many authors the â€Å"lost decade† once there was a turn towards neoliberalism, conducted by the Bretton Woods agencies and the US through an agreement named the â€Å"Washington Consensus†. They started promoting â€Å"structural adjustment† in developing countries, which meant conditioning aid provision in exchange of liberalization of the economy, privatization and tax reforms (Cornia, 2004, p.7). During this period those countries were already heavily indebted and the UN had serious problems in taking action because the greater part of international funds started going to the Bretton Woods agencies. Since that decade the UN began its disagreement with the Bretton Woods agencies, once the former emphasized the importance of democracy, good governance and human rights but was backed by inadequate funds (Jolly, 2005, p.5). Structure of the organization and its main activities According to Archer’s classification, the UN is an international intergovernmental organization with a universal approach, once it has membership drawn from basically all sovereign states in the world. Its main activities and therefore its aims can be classified as general and extensive and related both to high and low politics (Archer, 2001, pp.35-63). The three main clusters the organization deals with are: peace and security, human rights and development (Weiss, 2004). The structure of the whole UN is really complex as it is composed by several commissions, committees, boards, specialized agencies and partners. I’ll expose briefly the (acho que seria melhor dizer structure of the organization, ou algo que o valha. Descrever a organizaà §o me parece muito genà ©rico) organization with regard to development matters. The core of the UN system is the General Assembly. Development issues are dealt with mainly in the Assembly’s Second Committee (Economic and Financial). The main UN organ with the responsibility of promoting development is the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and it is composed by 54 member states elected by the Assembly for that purpose. Both Committee and Council depend on the Secretariat to carry on their ideas and decisions for it is the administrative branch of the organization. There are several bodies related to development and under the coordination of the ECOSOC, such as UNDP, UNICEF, UNCTAD, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNHCHR, UNEP and WFP (Weiss, 2004, pp.246-7). The role of the UNDP, created in 1965, should be highlighted once it is centre of the UN’s development work. It provides technical assistance, concentrated mainly in four themes: advocacy, advice, pilot projects and partnership. It acts together with many other local and regional actors (Weiss, 2004, p.249). Main changes occurred since the end of the Cold War: Since the end of the Cold War the UN continued working on the enlargement of its view on development. The 80s legacy was absolutely negative for the developing countries which were indebted and had their sovereignty consequently affected. With the Fall of the Berlin Wall the situation went even worse because of the fast transition process that raised more inequality figures. The UN was not in accordance (acho que nao se usa in accordance neste sentido. Melhor, did not agree) with the speed it was been done (Jolly, 2005, p.35). The Fall also shifted the attention of agencies of development from the South towards the former socialist countries. The following years witnessed a considerable increase in civil wars and interethnic conflicts (Allen, 2000, p.163) It was in the 90’s that the UN launched loudly the idea of Sustainable Human Development (SHD), aiming at â€Å"placing people in the center of development† (Fomerand, 2003, p.77), focused on the idea of empowering people. Already in 1985 UNICEF came up with the idea of â€Å"development with a human face†. By 1990, the UNDP started publishing the annual Human Development Report, which was opposing and setting an alternative to Bretton Woods policy. The Report has been published yearly since then, and its contents broadened the development agenda and concept and showed the achievements in this sense through the years (Jolly, 2005, p.11). One good example of the expanding idea of development can be checked in 1993 HDR, which says â€Å"Human development is development of the people for the people by the people. Development of the people means investing in human capabilities, whether in education or health or skills, so that they can work productively and creatively. Development for the people means ensuring that the economic growth they generate is distributed widely and fairly†¦ [D]evelopment by the people [means] †¦ giving everyone a chance to participate† (UNDP HDR 1993:3, as quoted in Fomerand, 2003, p.78) The HDR brought with it a holistic idea of development, as the concept started to cover all areas of UN action, which is to say peace and security, human rights and sustainable development (Fomerand, 2003, p.78). The ultimate and main objective of the SHD would be to eradicate poverty in the world and the main tool to achieve it would be via â€Å"good governance†, which can be defined as a government that manages well the public sector, is accountable, respect the law and provides information and transparency of its action (Allen, 2000, p.380). This approach also stresses the importance of democratization, decentralized development and access to productive assets to gain equity so as to achieve an inclusive globalization (Fomerand, 2003, p. p.83). During the 90s there were other remarkable happenings that gave a new impulse in this novel approach to development, so as the Rio-92, a huge gathering of countries, governments and national and international organisations that took place in Brazil aiming at discussing matters mainly related to environment under the perspective of sustainable development. The result of the gathering was the â€Å"Agenda 21†, a global action plan focusing on bringing into practice the result of the discussions over the subject (Weiss, 2004, p.268). In 1995, during the Copenhagen Summit for Social Development, the General Assembly launched a Decade for the Eradication of Poverty and mobilized the whole UN system towards this goal (Fomerand, 2003, p.91). All these happenings started to affect the conflicting relation between the UN and Bretton Woods institutions, and UN alternative ideas to adjustment were being increasingly accepted by IMF and the WB. The WB committed itself to the pursuit of poverty reduction in the Copenhagen Summit. The IMF included in its mandate â€Å"structural and social aspects of fiscal policy†. In 1996, the WB and IMF published a list of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries committing to provide debt relief for a number of poor countries, and these initiatives were incremented with â€Å"poverty reduction strategies† in September 1999 in IMF programs supported by the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (Fomerand, 2003, pp.92-3). All the regular gatherings that took place in the 90s culminated in the 2000 Millennium Summit that produced the Millennium Declaration for sustainable development and adopted a programme of goals – the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) – whose overreaching intent is to reduce the world poverty, setting targets to be accomplished by 2015. The Bretton Woods institutions accepted the MDG and are now â€Å"on board† (Jolly, 2005, p.12;41-2). The eight MDG are: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women Reduce child mortality Improve maternal health Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Ensure environmental sustainability Develop a global partnership for development (un.org/millenniumgoals/ 23-1-2006) As it can be seen, the idea of development in the UN broadened notably through the decades, being the Millennium Summit the last highest point in this process. What emerged in the last years was a rich development concept reaching at last all UN spheres of action; taking into account not simply economic development but going as far as to approach environmental, human rights, population and gender issues. Twenty-five years or so ago, the remedial policy measures proposed in the name of the Secretary General would had focused on the central role of the state in the macroeconomic management of national economies to achieve employment growth, poverty alleviation, and overall development. At the international level, such reports would have proposed structural and regime changes, such as the establishment of an integrated commodity program, a common fund, and the development of codes of conducts for multinational corporations. Nowadays, the normative work of the United Nations has shifted winning acknowledgment that if development is to be both sustainable and human, what must be done (†¦) entails public corrective interventions in the operation of national and international markets. For the United Nations, capitalism is a necessary safeguard to personal liberty as well as an essential condition for economic efficiency. But laissez-faire policies alone will not suffice to achieve social justice, stability, and inclusion, or to promote rapid and large-scale improvements in living conditions in developing countries. Markets cannot by themselves reduce inequalities, correct their own imperfections, and promote social convergence and integration. (Fomerand, 2003, p.85) Conclusion: According to what was discussed in the main body of the work, it is clear that through the decades there were many advances in the UN approach to development, especially in the last 25 years. Now, the idea of development is far richer than simple economic development, and entails many more â€Å"ingredients† (no vai và ­rgula aqui?) being the peoples and their empowerment the focus of the policies as well as the promotion of good governance, having as the ultimate goal eradication of poverty through the recognition that poverty itself affects people’s realization of their rights to development (Fomerand, 2003, p.90). Although in theory it may sound all too well, it is worth making a few remarks about the omissions of the UN in its last initiatives and the main hindrances to put its policies into effect. The major omissions of the UN lately – especially regarding the MDG – are the lack of attention to important current global issues such as the arms trade, fair trade, lack of attention to the diversity of cultures (Jolly, 2005, p.13; 59) and the raise of economic inequalities in the world (Cornia, 2004, p.3). Besides, there is no sign of strategies to control and make (ser q no à © melhor colocar os sujeitos aqui?) more accountable the Bretton Woods agencies and international corporations (Fomerand, 2003, p.81). There are two prevailing hindrances to be pointed out in the UN’s work on development which are the tension between the UN and Bretton Woods agencies and the conflicting interests between â€Å"North† and â€Å"South† and their prioritization in the global agenda for development. Even though Bretton Woods agencies have broadened their approach to development in the last years, it is still true that they have diverging â€Å"philosophies† and action towards development, as the Bretton Woods keeps on an essentially neoliberal politics while the UN has a more Keynesian approach (Fomerand, 2003, p.93). This becomes even clearer when financial matters are involved. Besides the fact that the Official Development Assistance which is supposed to provide 0.7% of the donor countries GNP has been giving far less than that, a great part of the resources provided go to Bretton Woods’ hands and leave the UN with no power for action. Moreover, what tends to preva il in their policies, as both UN and Bretton Woods stand for the capitalist system, are the interests and priorities of the â€Å"Northern† countries, with lots of attention being given to market-related issues and no interest placed in international structural changes (Weiss, 2004, p.223; Fomerand, 2003, p.97). In an increasingly globalized world, where the interconnectedness of peoples and countries is remarkable, despite of UN’s weaknesses, the world organization plays an essential role in the international arena gaining much of its authority through the power and spread of its ideas worldwide and the interest and even the need of the world potencies to have their decisions legitimated by the international community (Jolly, 2005, p.47; Fomerand, 2003, p.99). With the proliferation of national and international actors involved in the world organization, the importance and influence of UN’s conception of development cannot be ignored. BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, T., and Thomas, A. Poverty and Development into the 21st Century, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000 Archer, Clive. International Organisations, 3rd ed., London: Routledge, 2001 Cornia, Giovanni Andrea. â€Å"Inequality, Growth, and Poverty: An Overview of Changes over the Last Two Decades†. In: Cornia, Giovanni Andrea. Inequality, Growth, and Poverty in an Era of Liberalization and Globalization, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. pp.3-25 Fomerand, Jacques. â€Å"The Politics of Norm Setting at the United Nations: The Case of Sustainable Human Development†. In: Dijkzeul, D., and Beigbeder, Y. Rethinking International Organizations, Oxford: Bergham Books, 2003. pp.77-106 Jolly, R., Emmerij, L., and Weiss, T.G., The Power of UN Ideas: Lessons from the First 60 Years, New York: United Nations Intellectual History Project Series, 2005. unhistory.org/UNIdeas.pdf Millennium Development Goals, un.org/millenniumgoals Weiss, T.G., Forsythe, P.D., and Coate, R.A. The United Nations and Changing World Politics, Boulder: Westview Books, 4th ed., 2004 Research Papers on History of the United Nations - Government EssayAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropePETSTEL analysis of IndiaAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2The Effects of Illegal ImmigrationDefinition of Export QuotasBringing Democracy to AfricaInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThe Project Managment Office SystemMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of Self

Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

Globalization - Essay Example We can share our ideas not in one region or to people of one region but to different people of different regions. The internet has enhanced communication networking due to which, Morris and Ogan (2002) regard internet as a new communication technology and a new media in terms of globalization. Internet plays a crucial role in our day to day lives. Nobody can negate the effectiveness of internet in our lives. Internet is employed in business sectors, educational sectors, commercial sectors, governmental sectors, scientific discovery sectors and many others. The concept of globalization is also attached with the concept of internet. It is only because of internet that people are able to communicate through long distances. It will not be incorrect to say that internet has converted the world into a global village (Steger 34). The future of internet is quite bright because of its so much effectuality in our lives. It appears that in the future the role of internet will be increased. The old media or traditional media or mainstream media includes radio broadcasting, newspapers, magazine press, film industry and television broadcasting (Gorman 230). According to Gorman (2009), the transition started in 1970 with the development of technologies after which, a concept with the name of new media came to the forefront. With internet and telecommunication, people started looking towards internet as a new media as it offered many new ways to communicate in a much faster and timely manner. The internet mode of communication is much faster as compared to other traditional media. The internet technology boost was not felt with its development as media persons regarded it something related to academics and freebies (Morris and Ogan 1). However, with the passage of time, the efficacy of internet as new media is accepted all over the world. The concept of globalization also gained ground with the expansion of internet as a global media.

The main components Kuwaiti society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The main components Kuwaiti society - Essay Example r, increased need for labour with economic expansion and reconstruction after the Iraqi invasion drew new labour from Asia, after which immigrants made up at least a third of Kuwait’s population increase. The Bedouin is another component of Kuwaiti society, such as the Mutair, the Awazim, and the Ajman, who are well represented in the Kuwaiti assembly and cabinet (p.596). They continue to retain their tribal values despite increased urbanization and integration. Traditionally perceived as government allies, Bedouins been granted welfare benefits and citizenship, although latter developments have seen some sections become critical of government. Another component is made up of the Shiites from KSA, Bahrain, and Iran that makes up a substantial minority and whose resistance to Iraqi invasion despite religious affiliations improved their standing in Kuwaiti society (p.597). Another component, the Bidun, never attained formal citizenship documents, thus is referred to as stateless. Their fate is still not settled and attempts to gain citizenships have been repressed by the government. Merchants also play role in society and, although their political role was undermined by the discovery of oil, their economic role is still significant in financial institutions and Kuwaiti privatization efforts (p.598). Finally, Islamists are an increasingly powerful component force in Kuwaiti society, despite the manifest Sunni-Shiite religious divide. From this discussion, it is evident that the Islamist component has the biggest role to play in Kuwait’s political future. This trend was started by co-option into government to fight the nationalist threat in the assembly, as well as the increasingly prominent role of the Bedouin. It continued with the capture of 36% of representative seats in the assembly in 1999 (p.599). Despite Sunni/Shiite division on the basis of tactics and priorities, their unity in attempting to change certain aspects of Kuwait’s society means that this

Osmosis And The Egg Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Osmosis And The Egg - Lab Report Example 7. The egg was placed in a clean beaker and covered with water, the amount of which was recorded. Following which the beaker was covered and it was left for a week. 8. After a week, the egg was removed from the beaker, dried, measured and weighed, and details about the appearance were noted. Finally, the amount of water that remained in the beaker was measured and recorded. Data table Measurements Baseline After vinegar After corn syrup After water Circumference (cm) 13 14.5 12.2 15.5 Mass (g) 51.5 71.89 51.6 78.5 Appearance Oval, smooth, soft Long, rubbery, more cracks Smaller, partly indented Bigger, like a rubber immersed in fluid Amount of vinegar (ml) 60.5 43 - - Amount of corn syrup (ml) 77 - 79 - Amount of water (ml) 67 - - 35 Change in liquid (ml) - -17.5 2 -32 Graph Figure 1: Starting circumference (in centimeters) of the egg and circumference following each of the experimental treatments. Figure 2: Starting mass (in grams) of the egg and the mass following each treatment. Q uestions 1. The circumference of the egg increased by 1.5cm after it was immersed in vinegar and left to stand for a week. The mass changed, increasing by around 20g. Overall, the size of the egg increased. The amount of vinegar in the jar decreased by 17.5ml. The changes were the result of osmosis. The gradient across the membrane of the egg made it such that molecules of vinegar were drawn into the egg, resulting in a lower concentration of vinegar molecules outside the egg and a higher concentration within the egg at the end of the week. The cracks in the shell of the egg were the result of an acidic reaction between the vinegar and the shell of the egg. The rubbery nature was due to the change in chemical composition of the egg, it had more liquid in it as a result of the... Water molecules will move in the direction of a high concentration of solute, and hence low water concentration until equilibrium is reached. Generally osmosis occurs across a cell membrane; however, this is not always the case. The outside solution can be grouped into one of three categories, isotonic, hypotonic and hypertonic. Isotonic is where the concentration of water is the same inside and exterior to the cell, and as a consequence water moves in both directions with no next change. A hypotonic solution has a higher concentration of water compared to the internal environment, and as a consequence water moves into the cell. Finally, a hypotonic solution has a lower concentration of water to the internal environment, so water moves out of the cell. The process of submerging the egg in liquid and leaving it for a week allowed the process of osmosis to take place. This is because the egg shell is semi permeable and is able to act in the same way that a cell membrane can in terms of allowing diffusion. Both water and vinegar were hypotonic compared to the interior of the egg and as a consequence immersing the egg in these liquids resulted in water being taken into the egg. This resulted in the egg appearing rubbery and gaining in size. In contrast, corn syrup was hypertonic compared to the interior of the egg so water moved out of the egg. As there was already an increased amount of water inside the egg it was this that was removed, resulting in the egg being similar in size to when the experiment began.

Pollution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pollution - Essay Example By steps taken for eliminating toxic substances from production process and by diminishing production of harmful materials people can safeguard the environment and human health. Different forms of pollution Air pollution Air pollution can be caused when pollutants like carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, oxides of sulphur and nitrogen and also materials like dust, smoke and compounds of lead are emitted directly into the atmosphere. Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (49% to 55%), chlorofluorocarbons (14% to 25%), methane (12% to 18%), nitrous oxides and other gases (13% to 19%). Some natural sources of air pollution are volcanoes, forest fires, â€Å"oceans, swamps, lakes, vegetative matter and insects† (Faiz, Sinha, Walsh and Varma, 1990, p. 3). Other sources which are caused by human activities are fuel like coal and wood burning and most importantly transport which is a major contributor towards air pollution. All the pollutants get dispersed in th e air and pollution is measured by the mass of the pollutants per volume of air. This depends on a number of factors like quantity of emission, altitude and atmospheric conditions. Rain cleans the air which gets rid of harmful materials, but these substances can react with oxides of sulphur and nitrogen to produce acids which may cause damage to buildings, forests and water bodies. This is popularized as acid rain. Solar radiation can produce ozone which can disrupt the atmospheric balance near the ground. (Faiz, Sinha, Walsh and Varma, 1990, pp. 3-5) Air Pollution To reduce air pollution it is necessary to set the standard of ambient air quality. In US there are two sets of standards of air quality and they are primary and secondary. The primary standard of air quality is designed in the way to protect the health of human beings and for this purpose those people who are more easily affected by air pollution (viz. children and the elderly people) are taken into consideration. Second ary standard of air quality is designed for general public welfare. This includes air pollution effect on soil, water, crops, animals, climate, economy and human comfort (Faiz, Sinha, Walsh and Varma, 1990, p. 8). In 1970, Clean Air Act Amendments was enacted and it changed the structure of air pollution control in US. This Act was further amended in 1977 and it imposed restrictions on plants and factories in areas having clean air to avoid any damage to air quality. Public concern about air pollution increased in the late 1980s and numerous bills were passed to improve the existing air pollution regulatory measures and also to deal with new problems like acid rain and global warming. (Bailey, 1998, pp.78, 79) Oil Pollution It was the â€Å"Torrey Canyon† incident in 1967 which awakened the public in regard to oil pollution. Since then the Oil Pollution Compensation has seen numerous changes. The incident caused the public to make loud protests against oil pollution. This led to development of international conventions to provide compensation to those who bear the cost of cleaning up or to those who face pollution damages from continuous spill of hydrocarbon mineral oil from tankers. These international conventions were developed under International Maritime Organisation. (Azab, Shorbagy and Ghais, 2005, p.3) In the Arabian Gulf, concentration of petroleum hydrocarbon (PH) average to about 26 ug/l of surface water and about 5 ug/kg of the bottom. As there will be continuous rise of production and transportation of oil, the concentration of PH in water will keep on growing especially in water areas where there is maximum flow of traffic.

Executive summary for a project Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Executive summary for a project - Case Study Example tified that the core weakness within the replenishment process is delay time where delays at the bottleneck are longer: the time taken in completing the critical activities such as assembling of the required merchandise to be taken to the stores, or ordering of the required merchandise from the suppliers to fulfil market demand (longer lead time). In most instances a FIFO discipline most likely have higher delay time and lower outflow rates even in the best case scenario where there is regularity in processing of the merchandise. Such impact constrains the output rate at the bottleneck. The core solutions derived from the problem analysis to develop a â€Å"To-Be† replenishment process aimed at increasing operational excellence includes: Optimising lead time through adoption of just in time technique; the selection of a few strategic and trusted suppliers for whom a strategic partnership is made and the company’s replenishment process is integrated into such supplierâ⠂¬â„¢s systems; Vendor managed Inventory system which give control to the suppliers and ensures effective flow of accurate information on the level of merchandise required, which can be enhanced through incorporation of radio frequency Identification (RFID) system in the products; and cross docking where products are transported directly from the suppliers to the stores with the merchandise undergoing little to nil handling. Attaining operational excellence is critical for any business as organisations cannot afford to have quality issues, high cost operations or even long market cycles (Oracle 3). Notably, one of the core advantages that businesses often attain to achieve is effective inventory management to not only ensure high quality fresh products but also lower costs. Optimal inventory management is vital for any business organisation. The core benefits of having a much leaner inventory includes reduction in operation costs, higher customer satisfaction, and increased sales. In deed Lee (1)

Pollution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pollution - Essay Example By steps taken for eliminating toxic substances from production process and by diminishing production of harmful materials people can safeguard the environment and human health. Different forms of pollution Air pollution Air pollution can be caused when pollutants like carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, oxides of sulphur and nitrogen and also materials like dust, smoke and compounds of lead are emitted directly into the atmosphere. Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (49% to 55%), chlorofluorocarbons (14% to 25%), methane (12% to 18%), nitrous oxides and other gases (13% to 19%). Some natural sources of air pollution are volcanoes, forest fires, â€Å"oceans, swamps, lakes, vegetative matter and insects† (Faiz, Sinha, Walsh and Varma, 1990, p. 3). Other sources which are caused by human activities are fuel like coal and wood burning and most importantly transport which is a major contributor towards air pollution. All the pollutants get dispersed in th e air and pollution is measured by the mass of the pollutants per volume of air. This depends on a number of factors like quantity of emission, altitude and atmospheric conditions. Rain cleans the air which gets rid of harmful materials, but these substances can react with oxides of sulphur and nitrogen to produce acids which may cause damage to buildings, forests and water bodies. This is popularized as acid rain. Solar radiation can produce ozone which can disrupt the atmospheric balance near the ground. (Faiz, Sinha, Walsh and Varma, 1990, pp. 3-5) Air Pollution To reduce air pollution it is necessary to set the standard of ambient air quality. In US there are two sets of standards of air quality and they are primary and secondary. The primary standard of air quality is designed in the way to protect the health of human beings and for this purpose those people who are more easily affected by air pollution (viz. children and the elderly people) are taken into consideration. Second ary standard of air quality is designed for general public welfare. This includes air pollution effect on soil, water, crops, animals, climate, economy and human comfort (Faiz, Sinha, Walsh and Varma, 1990, p. 8). In 1970, Clean Air Act Amendments was enacted and it changed the structure of air pollution control in US. This Act was further amended in 1977 and it imposed restrictions on plants and factories in areas having clean air to avoid any damage to air quality. Public concern about air pollution increased in the late 1980s and numerous bills were passed to improve the existing air pollution regulatory measures and also to deal with new problems like acid rain and global warming. (Bailey, 1998, pp.78, 79) Oil Pollution It was the â€Å"Torrey Canyon† incident in 1967 which awakened the public in regard to oil pollution. Since then the Oil Pollution Compensation has seen numerous changes. The incident caused the public to make loud protests against oil pollution. This led to development of international conventions to provide compensation to those who bear the cost of cleaning up or to those who face pollution damages from continuous spill of hydrocarbon mineral oil from tankers. These international conventions were developed under International Maritime Organisation. (Azab, Shorbagy and Ghais, 2005, p.3) In the Arabian Gulf, concentration of petroleum hydrocarbon (PH) average to about 26 ug/l of surface water and about 5 ug/kg of the bottom. As there will be continuous rise of production and transportation of oil, the concentration of PH in water will keep on growing especially in water areas where there is maximum flow of traffic.

Inequalities in Chile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Inequalities in Chile - Essay Example Their role in ensuring the same may well go beyond into the future with a view to making the economy great as well as rising the living standards of the citizenry. Lately, there have been emerging trends in the world that have necessitated a close scrutiny in order to unravel the reasons behind them and their relationship to growth (OECD, 2009). There exist a number of inequalities that may impact the growth prospects of a country. Therefore, comprehensive assessments should be carried out in order to establish the underlying trends so as to address this phenomenon at the earliest opportunity and unearth possible facts. Chile has always enjoyed stability in democracy as well as the economy across South America. In the whole of Latin America, the people of Chile have benefited from improved standards of living, efficiency and effectiveness of the government that has the lowest levels of corruption and a functioning democracy that serves the interests of all citizens in the region. Nev ertheless, despite having all these developments in democracy with resolute institutions coupled with a continued growth in the economy, there have been reported levels of inequality in the socioeconomic platform that can be traced from the previous leadership that failed to guarantee a fair treatment to everyone in the society (Robinson, 2001). This kind of inequality in the Latin America region emanates from social decadence with roots way back in colonialism time where the monopolistic aspect of the royal families controlled the economy to a great extent. This action left large chunks of wealth to a few individuals who became filthily affluent, something that widened the gap between those at the helm of leadership and those in the ‘working nation’ with this phenomenon staying long enough even after attaining self-government (Barron, 2009). This led to unnecessary pressures in the social setup, thus jeopardizing the stability that ensures victory within a democratic c ountry in the class of Chile. This country also followed the same route that rewards a few people in the economy which saw immense pressures mount in the 1970s due to the idea to redistribute the wealth acquired unfairly to those who never had any or those with meagre traces (Suter, 2010). To address this inequality, several policies were drafted that aimed at charting the best way possible to redistribute the wealth for the benefit of all. This was also to nationalise all other major sectors and tackle the inequality amicably. Notably, there was very little growth at the time of this inequality and there could be no growth since wealth accumulation was directed to one side of the rich and powerful (Anastassiou, 2011). However, the effort to undertake the redistribution was met with friction amongst the affected, thus bruising the economy with the unending chaos experienced that was evident from how the policies were implemented. The dictatorial leadership altered the economic struc ture leading to an eventual coup with the economy status still struggling to regain strength soon after the coup. With the elapse of time, the then general constituted a team of experts to address the problem and undertake an overhaul that saw Chile on its feet again. Their activities’ objectives were concerned with tackling inflation that was biting heavily and other monetary policies that remained strict and tight. Many barriers to trade came to an end with some tariffs facing abolishment to pave the way for more lucrative business deals within and without the country (Boesten, 2010). The economy was given a facelift that made the country start exporting some of its surplus, thus leading to a

Using Affirmative Action to Promote Womens Essay Example for Free

Using Affirmative Action to Promote Womens Essay The empowerment of persons who are vulnerable and excluded, promotion of social justice and equity are the main concerns of social policies, and this should transcend all aspects of society, including participation in governance and decision making. Inspite of the pivotal role women in Ghana play within the family, they are invisibly represented in governance and decision making sector of the economy. This is because there is no concrete policy measures in place to ensure that the structural inequality between men and women are taken into account in promoting participation in policy decision. Efforts are being made at various levels to address the marginalization of women in Ghana’s politics and other spheres of life, but this still remains an area of concern. In a country where women constitute about 51 percent, their involvement in development issues and political leadership should be of grave concern, and given due consideration. Affirmative action Policy is therefore viewed as the appropriate instrument to enhance women’s participation in governance and decision making in Ghana. This paper will therefore review women’s participation/empowerment in Ghana; outline various commitments seeking to enhance women’s participation in Ghana; the Affirmative Action Policy and finally look at expected outcomes of the Affirmative Action Policy and how it will enhance women’s participation in Ghana. WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN GHANA Although there is no law in Ghana that prevents women from participating in politics or in areas of Ghana’s economic or social life, women are generally under-represented in politics and in public life. There seems to be no long term strategic framework put in place to address this failure. This has been attributed to a lack of political will and a deficient commitment to gender equality among political parties. Gender advocates have asked that government and its agencies, political parties and relevant public and private institutions should take actions that ensure and assure their active commitment to improving the current situation of women’s low representation in politics and public appointive positions at all levels.

External Influences on Building Design

External Influences on Building Design Many people don’t realise how hard it can be to design something. Especially building, this is why architect’s job isn’t easy. The massing and overall design of the building is influenced by number of different factors and how important they are differs for each design. I would like to highlight the most important ones, and highlight which one of them cross reference quite often.       As Richard Rogers said â€Å"form follows profit, and this is aesthetic principle of our times†, unfortunately this is main factor impacting the design and all the other processes in architecture. Although it’s not the only one. Other example is often on the very beginning of the project – the site. Size configuration, topography this has huge impact on design. Sometimes we can change slightly topography, but site shape would be more of an issue. Often in extreme cases this becomes the asset of finalised project, like it happened in Tokyo project â€Å"A life with large opening† often called â€Å"gap house† designed by ONDESIGN. Next factor is often one of the most influential in good and also in the bad way. These are and include number of people, starting from client all the way to neighbourhood, which sometimes influences the design. Probably one of most important stakeholders is user/client, they often provide driving force for the design. As they may be personally involved in process of design and then construction. Possibly the best example of this could be STAMP HOUSE designed by Charles Wright Architects. This project in was directed and influence by various factor of which the most challenging was client, that desired carbon neutral, off-grid architectural statement that would be: â€Å"new face of tropical architecture†. Effectively this particular project was as highly influenced by client’s introduction of environmental design. Final design was to minimalize impact on environment (as client requested), so that ecosystem around it would not be affected. Therefore architect’s had to work very closely with experts and various organisations. Effectively this lead to zero carbon project that is level 5 cyclone proof and therefore classed as a cyclone shelter, additionally it’s flood proof and wouldn’t suffer from any natural disaster as it uses on sight solar panels and rain water collected in 25000 litres tank that is also located on the site. Another very influential stakeholders are neighbours and community groups. They often effect not only design but also whether building will be completed or not. Good example could be found in Manchester where public was picketing construction of new Manchester Metropolitan University campus building, the site chosen by MMU has previously been picketed by same group of people and that was probably what caused investment to fail. This time it was different partially due to professional manner of architect’s, MMU and local government. Although as many people claim the main role in this case was played by another influential and sometimes critical factor – economic status. As the economic crisis emerged rate of investment started drastically falling down, MMU used this fact to gain planning permission for Birley Fields proposal and convince authorities and residents. This just reinforces and relates back to famous Rogers quote â€Å"Form follows profit, is the aesthetic principle of our times†. This briefly mentioned local government as they are stakeholder representing local and public interests. They are often main body that appoints people to ensure, that building at it final stage is safe to use. Which obviously needs to be considered and included during design stage. Unfortunately not everything could be predicted like 9/11 terrorist attack. Although government and designers with engin eers do their very best to prevent similar disasters from happening. This includes meeting and exciding building regulations, fire regulations and many more. These also relatively strongly influences the design. Number of people work to make sure building is safe the most important and influential of which is engineer or team of engineers. They do all the hard calculations, and this is what they have done in case of WTC. Architects and engineers jointly admitted that they designed World Trade Center to withstand air plane collision. Although it was impossible for building to handle this with so intense fire inside it. This leads me to another factor that strongly influences design that makes it possible and functional. Even greatest building on the earth without sufficient services and structure to support it – is a disaster. This is why engineer and sometimes ME engineer effect design. Often especially in big projects architect and structural engineer work in collaboration to create final design. This is evolution from the sentence said by Louis Sullivan about his new Wainwright Building – â€Å"form follows function†. Even if architect and engineer work close together they are often limited by construction methods and processes, like it almost happened with Beetham Tower in Manchester. The design caused a lot of dispute on how and whether it would be possible to safely construct four-metre cantilever which is definite land mark in Manchester’s skyline. Frank Lloyd Wright found similar problem when he proposed Mile High Illinois which was proposed in 1956 and never been built, simply because construction methods wouldn’t allow it then and possibly even now it cou ld be challenging to construct this proposed building. Although this shouldn’t be a reason not to design it there are number of projects that has been designed and either not build or changed during construction because this coordination between architect and engineer wasn’t successful. Similar cooperation would be good between ME engineer and architects. Although services that ME is taking care of often are not of particularly important at the design stage and therefore sometimes they tend to be pushed to blank box where they should be placed or they not even included at all. Unfortunately this is often not enough place and highly effects aesthetics of interior. This wasn’t case in Pompidou Centre in Paris where all the services are on the external faà §ade and therefore services engineer strongly effected or actually created the appearance of this building. This innovative design created very industrial appearance, also its good place to realise how many serv ices and work goes into parts of building that are usually hidden. Possibly hiding all this causes people to think anyone can build a building and call it   architecture – and this is incorrect. Another influencing factor is definitely sustainability. This factor is more and more often mentioned in client’s requirements as its good for PR. Although due to global warming and heat island effect more and more government’s and authorities include some form of sustainability in their building regulations. And therefore it’s definitely outside of architect’s influence. Although sometimes this as well as other restrictions allow great designs to be created and to emerge, similarly like it was with Pompidou Centre with services, they allowed it to be great building. Often sustainability of the building doesn’t cause huge effect on the design, although it has to be considered from the start. Another strongly influential factor that I would like to mention is time. As we know ‘time is money’ this is wha t Benjamin Franklin said, and it’s still valid. Different people need quick design for number of different reasons. No matter of reason this influences the design. It may be that because architect need to finish design very quickly and he can’t refine all the. It could be that someone works really well under pressure and therefore final design may come out brilliantly. In most cases where time is important factor client decide to use unconventional building process called ‘Design and Build’ this means that construction starts as soon as architect creates rough shape. That causes that some of the details can’t be changed as they may already been built. This isn’t something new, it’s happening for long time, one of best examples is Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, this Roman Catholic basilica designed by architect Antoni Gaudà ­, construction started in 1882, this is 122 years ago, and it’s still not finished. This wouldn’t be possible without this construction method, and hopefully if finished in 2028 as current estimates show it would be definitely one of the longest construction processes in the history. As visible on photo above it’s not surprising, because as its being build, the attention to the details and the beauty of construction is at the highest possible level. Other influential factor that in my opinion is fundamental is the function. The role of architect is to find the solution for many, sometimes very hard problems. This is what in my opinion defines good architect. It’s not only how ‘pretty’ the building is, or how tall, it’s about how well architect or even designer thought about potential issues and how he solved it. Otherwise building is just – a shed. Functional but without thought putted into it, althought because â€Å"form follows function† or at least it should, the design supposed to reinforce the function, an d definitely not to go against it. This is what many people claim that has happened in case of Vitra Fire Station designed by Zaha Hadid, even though she is great architect, specific to her design style. As many people claim, the sculptural fanciness of designer caused building to be not functional as fire station and had to be handed over, and now it’s â€Å"used for exhibitions and events and continues to be one of the highlights on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein.† And I’m not disputing fact that it’s obviously architectural highlight of the area. Although it’s definitely in its design more suitable for exhibition area rather than fire station, because in case of fire it was hard for fire engine quickly leave, to the extent that some people called it dangerous. And therefore I think it’s important to create great designs, but not to forget about primary needs of the place, even factory or storage buildings could be architectural statement not only a building. There are many, many more factors that affect architectural designs all over the planet. Some more and other less, it all depends on client , and situation that the building is being build, however definitely most important and most influential is function followed by site, money and the client. References: Shoebox dwelling. 23 Oct 2012. House in a Gap. [Online]. Available at:  http://shoeboxdwelling.com/2012/10/23/house-in-a-gap/ [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Ondesign. Unknown. A life with large opening. [Online]. Available at:  http://www.ondesign.co.jp/english/works/062/#workTitle [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Oxford Dictionaries. Unknown. Oxford English Dictionary – stakeholder. [Online]. Available at:  http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/stakeholder [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014]   Charles Wright Architects, Unknown. Stamp house publication. [Online]. Available at:  ww.wrightarchitects.com.au/projects-2/contact/stamp-house/ [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Manchester Evening News, 26 Feb 2011, Revealed: New plans for Manchester Metropolitan University’s new Hulme campus. [Online]. Available at:  www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Manchester Metropolitan University. Unknown. Birley Fields campus publication. [Online]. Available at:  www.mmu.ac.uk/birleyfields [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] 9/11 Blogger. 21 Feb 2007. What the World Trade Center Building Designers Said: Before and After 9/11. [Online]. Available at:  http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/210207designers.htm [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] History, 25 Jan 2001. Unknown. 911 Facts with Hero and Victim – interview with Frank DeMartini. [Video online] Available at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl1GfcD3KZ0 [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] World Trade Center. n.d. [Image online] Available at:  http://www.photosup.biz/img/world-trade-center-new-york.html [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Beetham Tower. n.d. [Image online] Available at:  http://www.cityadvisor.info/[emailprotected] [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Wainwright Building. n.d. [Image online] Available at:  http://www.essential-architecture.com/STYLE/STY-Sullivanesque.htm [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Frank Lloyd Wrights mile-high building. n.d. [Image online] Available at:  http://www.wbez.org/blog/john-r-schmidt/2011-08-25/frank-lloyd-wrights-mile-high-building-90793 [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Gagnon, B. 20 Sep 2009. Sagrada Familia 01. [Image online] Available at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sagrada_Familia_01.jpg [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014]   SBA73. 21 Feb 2011. Sagrada Familia nave roof detail. [Image online] Available at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sagrada_Familia_nave_roof_detail.jpg [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Zaha Hadid. Unknown. Vitra Fire Station Publication. [Online]. Available at:  http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/vitra-fire-station [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Anniina Koivu. 11 Jun 2013. Happy Birthday Fire Station. [Onilne]. Available at:  http://www.vitra.com/en-gb/magazine/details/184799 [Accessed: 22 Mar 2014] Form follows profit1200921975

Comparing the Heroes in The Dream of the Rood and Beowulf Essay

The  Heroes in The Dream of the Rood and Beowulf  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In The Dream of the Rood, the poet has added elements of the idealized heroic death (as exemplified in Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon) to the crucifixion. He has also eliminated details of the story that tend to render Christ as a figure of pathos, in order to further Christ's identification with the other glorious warriors Anglo-Saxon poems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When a hero meets his death, for example, he is usually surrounded by faithful retainers (as is Byrhtnoth) or at least one steadfast companion, such as Beowulf's Wiglaf. The gospel clearly states that Jesus died ignobly, in the most humiliating fashion possible, and that his disciples kept themselves from Golgotha in order not to be implicated alongside him. The crowd mocked Christ with fake veneration. The poet must realize, however, that his audience will not accept a Lord who did not die a radiant death, and was not universally lamented. He says instead that "all creation wept, bewailed the king's death -- Christ was on the cross." After Jesus is taken down, the poet asserts that a grave was carved for him "of bright stone", and that the soldiers sung a dirge for him in the eventide. Men came "from afar, hastening to the prince." [165] The rood extols upon Christ's shining beauty as he died. Very noble, but there's little biblical suppo rt for this account. Also rooted in the heroic tradition is the subsequent gold-plating and raising of the cross. Just as Beowulf asked that a "bright mound" be erected in his honor, and the gold in the dragon's cave becomes as a monument to him, so do the disciples unearth and gild the rood. The idea of God himself lacking a proper gold-drenched headstone was unthin... ...e most such works, it tries to convince heathens to convert by co-opting the extant value system. Christ emerges as a powerful king who will stoically suffer for us, and reward us, for the price of our piety. Sources Cited and Consulted Heaney, Seamus, trans. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2000. Mitchell, Bruce and Fred C. Robinson (eds.). "The Dream of the Rood: or A Vision of the Cross." A Guide to Old English, 6E. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. 256-263. O'Keeffe, Katherine O'Brien. "Heroic values and Christian ethics." The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature. Ed. Malcolm Godden and Michael Lapidge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 107-125. Wheelock, Jeremy I. "The Word Made Flesh: 'Engel Dryhtnes' in The Dream of the Rood." English Language Notes. March 2000, Vol. 37 Issue 3: 1.

The American Dream in Hester Street and Eat a Bowel of Tea Essays

Many years ago, people have immigrated to a new world where they can hope for a more beautiful existence, for the wealth, for the freedoms, for the better opportunities and most importantly, for the American Dreams. As each new era of foreigners migrate to America, they face the obstacle of conforming to mainstream America. As â€Å"Hester Street† and â€Å"Eat a Bowl of Tea† portrayed, immigrants come to this land of opportunities with the hopes and dreams of a better life for themselves or their families. In â€Å"Hester Street†, Jake, a Russian Jewish immigrant who lived in New York's Lower East Side for five years, leaving his wife behind, and taking up with a new woman and earning enough money to support his dance hall ways. On the other hand, in â€Å"Eat a bowel of tea†, Wah Gay is a traditional Chinese immigrant who owns a club in Chinatown, and sends all his money to his wife back in China, who he has not seen in 20 years because of the inequitable immigration laws that had prevented Chinamen bringing their women into the country. These immigrants fall within a lower social class, as a result they strive to conform to a more facilitating and suitable lifestyle. As they begin to build a new life in America, they face the process of assimilation. America holds an idea of a mainstream society; consequently those individuals not fitting this image are left with feelings of abandonment and insecurity. As a result, they feel pressured in achieving the American dream. Let’s look at the examples the movies give us. In â€Å"Hester Street†, Jake, a self-made Yankee, has abandoned the traditions of his culture by cutting off his beard and earlocks, and he has adopted the mannerisms of his new country, including a new girlfriend who runs a dance hall. When his wife Gitl and son Yossele join him from the Old World, Jake was embarrassed. He looks down his wife because she retains her religious ways, wearing the wigs and scarves. He even insists on calling their son Joey and trying to modernize them both. Jake is a typical immigrant who wants to be assimilated as soon as possible, once they gain acceptance and recognition, they begin to look down upon the new immigrants coming into the country, sometimes even family members. Its ironic how quickly one forgets the past and repeats history in terms of the mistreatment and hostile hospitality a new immigrant once received. In â€Å"Eat a... ...against foreigners, but the problems of the dislocated immigrants struggling to preserve their culture while adapting to a new one still exist. New immigrants who desire to conform still have to deal with the way they talk, dress, and behave. Most immigrants have attempted to learn the English language, with their accents barely noticeable at times. In addition, they are willing to take any job available to support the family, and they work in many different jobs that are as physically demanding as they are diverse. The American Dream, is about becoming something, to the best way to achieve fulfillment of ones life. The dream is and always has been a reality. The more that Americans and immigrants insist on the dream as a right, and pursue it with determination, the more likely it will be to remain a live option accessible to all. The dream does not originate from America; it derives from us, the people. If we exert all our efforts, we at any moment in American history are more likely to be what the country had intended to become. With that predicament already visible, every advance we make may very well lead to another, and every realization of the American Dream will evolve.

Neighborhoods and Deliquence Essay

How does one know for sure whether or not their family is being brought up in the right type of environment? An abundance of people raise their children in neighborhoods where the youth may be pressured and lured into situations that can generally lead to only problems and complications. There is not necessarily one right answer to prevent this from happening. It is not as simple as keeping adolescents from getting into bad situations by locking them up a closet their entire lives; however, there can be other ways to approach and deal with these ypes of issues involving Juvenile delinquency. Nowadays, the area in which a person lives and raises their families, may have a significant amount to do with the circumstances in which their kids get involved with gang affiliation, drugs and committing violent acts. To begin, there are numerous places where which gangs or gang affiliation is present, yet there are certain areas in which gangs are more apparent. For example, according to an article from SF gate, â€Å"A 1 5-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the slaying of another teenager near a troubled Oakland apartment omplex, authorities said Tuesday†¦ The slaying happened in a neighborhood where two buildings had recently been condemned because of code violations and fears of imminent gang activity, and police suspect that Erik and his killer were members of rival gangs. â€Å"(SF Gate). Henry Lee who wrote this article gives a perfect example of how many young teens are getting into gangs. This shooting happened in Oakland were a lot of violence goes on, because low income families live in the bad neighborhoods their children grow up with many bad influences around them. Another example is, in reference to this article from SF Gate, â€Å"The action came a week atter police noticed that nearby buildings were covered with gang graffiti a gang members had punched holes through the walls of the complex as an escape route, apparently girding for a possible attack, authorities said. Rival gang members then sprayed over the graffiti, police said. â€Å"(SF Gate). This article is mainly about how a young child gunned down rival gang members, but analyzing this more thoroughly it states how children are getting into gangs at a young age because of the neighborhoods they are growing in. Young children are getting into gangs and committing violent acts because of the neighborhood they are growing up in. Furthermore, drugs are another influence that children of a young age are getting into because of the neighborhoods they are growing up in. For example, from an article of World Youth Report, â€Å"The use of alcohol and illegal drugs by Juveniles is one cause of delinquency, as they are often compelled to commit crimes (usually theft) to obtain the cash needed to support their substance use. Drugs play a huge role in when it comes to Juvenile delinquency because young children get into them. The reason for that is because of the neighborhood the child grows up to. A good comparison is a child growing up in Oakland compared to a child growing up in Marin. In Marin one doesn’t see children drug dealing at the corner compared to Oakland were things like that do happen and children are involved. Another example from the article of World Youth Report, â€Å"Many young people retreat into the confines of their own groups and resort to drug use for psychological or emotional escape. Drugs can also be used as a getaway drug because of problems they might be having ut it wouldn’t be a problem if the children were being raised in the right type of environment. Drugs have a big influence on children when growing up in a bad neighborhood. Finally, there is the issue of violence amongst youth. Violence is also a huge issue around the world, but is more generally seen in conflicted neighborhoods. An example from an article of World Youth Report, â€Å"Quite often, advantage is being taken of illegal opportunities as young people commit various offences, become addicted to drugs, and use violence against their peers. † Violent acts that children do at a young ge because of the neighborhoods they grow up in. Many kids do more violent acts because they are in gangs and required to or because of anger. Children doing violent acts do them because of the life style they grow up in. Back to the article form SF gate where the fifth teen year old teen shot and killed a rival gang member. Being that young and already murdering someone is a problem in our society because kids that age should be in a gang or exposed to all that violence. Many gang members recruit small children so they can get them to commit violent acts and they won’t be trailed as adults. Another example from the article of World Youth Report, â€Å"Some groups and subcultures tend to use violence as a means of solving interpersonal conflicts, and the atmosphere thus created is an important mediating factor contributing to delinquent or criminal behavior. Violence can also be interpret as solving problems with their fists, these ways of solutions are used by many kids and they get it from the neighborhood they are growing up in. Violence is a major influence on children because of the neighborhood they are growing up in. To reiterate, there are many reasons tor why children can be driven to Juvenile elinquencies but the main reason is neighborhoods because of gangs, drugs and violence. Children when growing up in bad neighborhoods are exposed to many things because gangs, drugs and violence are in bad neighborhoods. Many children move into more and more bad neighborhoods and are being exposed to gangs, drugs and violence. There are some solutions that we can approach to stop kids from getting involved in these bad influences. One solution is providing programs like the Big Brother Big Sister program to have a role model to guide them down the right path. Another solution is reducing the gangs in neighborhoods and getting them off he streets. If we were able to develop a program were low income families can be located to good neighborhoods and have an agreement to live their instead of a bad neighborhood that would fix the problem. Though there are many solutions making them come true is a different story but there are many programs out there that provide kids with the help and attention they need.

Australian Democracy Essay

Australia is run by a democratic system at all 3 levels of government (Federal, State and Local). Democracy means in Greek â€Å"rule by the governed†. A democrary has key fundermentals that sustains that type of leadership. In a perfect democracy every citizen has equal accessible amount of power and freedom. In Australia everyone Australian citizen over the age of 18 has a single vote to elect persons seeking election to the relevant level of government. This is one great example to the world community of fair rights and freedom. Although a prime minister governs Australia, their power is indirectly only accessible through the people’s vote Australia has grown since the first settlement on the Indigenous lands, we have created states and territories, education for our people and developed a safe community for people to live in. We have grown as a community and we have embraced our culture from this land and from the migrants to the country. In the beginning there were conflicts between the British and Indigenous people as the settlers occupied their traditional territory. This occupation issue has been festering over the years and has resulted in land claims similar to what has happened in Canada. From convicts to well educated and harmonious citizens we have become one of the most respected and multi-cultural communities, unlike other countries where there is discrimination of other cultures or totalitarian regimes in power. These along with lack of education are major reasons that lead to conflict and subsequent war within a country. In Australia we embrace our multicultural society and advertise this as an advantage for migrants to come to our country to boost our declining birth rate and ageing demographics. Being an Australian citizen you have guidelines and responsibilities that you have to follow they are: – Obey the laws and fulfil your duties as an Australian citizen – Enrol on the Electoral Register and vote at federal, state, territory and local government elections and referendums – Serve on a jury, if called upon – Defend Australia, should the need arise From these guidelines you have to respect the law, vote for your leader, become a concerned citizen and defend your country if it is needed. These rights express the freedom and voice that you have in Australia. If an unelected leader ruled you, you wouldn’t have these rights and freedoms, which Australian citizens have. The powers of the federal government are outlined in the constitution. The constitution also outlines the role of States, Judiciary and the Governor-General. This constitution can only be altered by a majority of the states having a majority of voters approving the proposed law, only 1 alteration to the constitution has happened in over 100 years and that was the granted of suffrage to the aborigines. Comparing the Australian system to another country with a totalitarian regime ruling for example in China, there is an estimated 500,000 people that are currently enduring punishment without charge or trial. Whereas in Australia you would go through court to be judged by a jury to receive the punishment required (This is exemplified by the detaining of David Hicks in Guantanomo Bay without a trial, even though he may have committed serious crimes, he should have at least had a fair and proper trial shortly after his arrest). There has been harassment, house arrest and abuse of human rights in China due to protests against the government, an issue that Australia does not face. Another interesting comparison is Fiji a place I have visited. Whilst there I noticed the non-integration of the Fijians and Indians. Consequent to this there is always tension between the two races and that is why there have been many coops over the years. The army has too much power and is able to topple the government, a situation that would be intolerable in Australia. The main issues facing Australia in 2008 are the distribution of wealth, positioning Australia for globalisation, the poor socio-economic status of our indigenous people and subsequent poor health and living condition of the indigenous people, the ageing of Australia and subsequent global warming and its subsequent impacts on the economy and the ecology. With the distribution of wealth, the government has introduced welfare to work measures and due to this and the robust economy 600,000 people have returned to work from welfare in the last 10 years. People on Centrelink payments are basically living day to day and need more money to be able to live a reasonable life style. The downside of this booming economy and persons working is the affordability of housing being an all time low. With globalisation Australia is finding a great proportion of manufactured goods being made in China. In addition our Call Centres are being staffed by more and more overseas staff (mainly Indians). Australia is lucky to be endowed with abundant resources, but this employs very few people. Due to the high cost of our labour market compared with 3rd world countries we need to continually establish niche industries that require highly educated people. The Howard government introduced a taskforce to tackle the problems faced by indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory Emergency Response was primarily initiated to give the aboriginal children a better and safer future. It is early days on this initiative, but this may be a starting point in addressing this imbalance in our society. Australia like many 1st world countries is experiencing an ageing workforce. Couples are having fewer children and later in their life, to assist couples the government has introduced a Baby Bonus payment, increase Child Care payments and has an immigration policy targeted to supplement the declining birth rate. This essay has outlined all the current positive aspects of Australian society, but we need to address the future and the sustainability of our environment for our grandchildren. The federal government is addressing this issue by introducing a carbon-trading scheme. This carbon trading scheme, where the tax on carbon producing goods and services go into a positive influence on the environment, for example planting trees. The Australian government is following leads by other countries in this circumstance. Australia may have its problems e. g Obesity problems, homeless persons, cost of housing. But these pale into insignificance when compared with issues faced by countries with civil wars and health epidemics (such as Aids in Africa). Australians give money to overseas charities, a great example of this was the tsunamis experienced South East Asia. Following this catastrophic event the Charity Organisations were inundated with money. In addition the Federal Government gives substantial sums of money to our Pacific neighbours. Australia although not a power on the world stage can impose a lot of influence in the Pacific Islands. Australia is a far from perfect country but through a democratic system anyone of voting age can do things to address the problems that they see as an important issue. This can be illustrated by the election of the Rudd government on its environmental and workplace relations’ platform. The Howard government argued that without India and China aboard any carbon trading scheme would not work. They are probably right in this issue, so the Rudd government needs to set up a fair and equitable trading scheme and find some way on imposing a carbon tax on any goods and services we get from countries that do not have a scheme in place. Research Essay on Democracy and Citizenship in Australia â€Å"Australia is an excellent example to the world of a democracy which values the participation of its citizens in all levels of government. Discuss† In this essay I will examine the development of Australian society and subsequent rights given to Australian citizens, thus addressing the guiding question as quoted at the top of the paper. Australia is run by a democratic system at all 3 levels of government (Federal, State and Local). Democracy means in Greek â€Å"rule by the governed†. A democrary has key fundermentals that sustains that type of leadership. In a perfect democracy every citizen has equal accessible amount of power and freedom. In Australia everyone Australian citizen over the age of 18 has a single vote to elect persons seeking election to the relevant level of government. This is one great example to the world community of fair rights and freedom. Although a prime minister governs Australia, their power is indirectly only accessible through the people’s vote Australia has grown since the first settlement on the Indigenous lands, we have created states and territories, education for our people and developed a safe community for people to live in. We have grown as a community and we have embraced our culture from this land and from the migrants to the country. In the beginning there were conflicts between the British and Indigenous people as the settlers occupied their traditional territory. This occupation issue has been festering over the years and has resulted in land claims similar to what has happened in Canada. From convicts to well educated and harmonious citizens we have become one of the most respected and multi-cultural communities, unlike other countries where there is discrimination of other cultures or totalitarian regimes in power. These along with lack of education are major reasons that lead to conflict and subsequent war within a country. In Australia we embrace our multicultural society and advertise this as an advantage for migrants to come to our country to boost our declining birth rate and ageing demographics. Being an Australian citizen you have guidelines and responsibilities that you have to follow they are: – Obey the laws and fulfil your duties as an Australian citizen – Enrol on the Electoral Register and vote at federal, state, territory and local government elections and referendums – Serve on a jury, if called upon. – Defend Australia, should the need arise From these guidelines you have to respect the law, vote for your leader, become a concerned citizen and defend your country if it is needed. These rights express the freedom and voice that you have in Australia. If an unelected leader ruled you, you wouldn’t have these rights and freedoms, which Australian citizens have. The powers of the federal government are outlined in the constitution. The constitution also outlines the role of States, Judiciary and the Governor-General. This constitution can only be altered by a majority of the states having a majority of voters approving the proposed law, only 1 alteration to the constitution has happened in over 100 years and that was the granted of suffrage to the aborigines. Comparing the Australian system to another country with a totalitarian regime ruling for example in China, there is an estimated 500,000 people that are currently enduring punishment without charge or trial. Whereas in Australia you would go through court to be judged by a jury to receive the punishment required (This is exemplified by the detaining of David Hicks in Guantanomo Bay without a trial, even though he may have committed serious crimes, he should have at least had a fair and proper trial shortly after his arrest). There has been harassment, house arrest and abuse of human rights in China due to protests against the government, an issue that Australia does not face. Another interesting comparison is Fiji a place I have visited. Whilst there I noticed the non-integration of the Fijians and Indians. Consequent to this there is always tension between the two races and that is why there have been many coops over the years. The army has too much power and is able to topple the government, a situation that would be intolerable in Australia. The main issues facing Australia in 2008 are the distribution of wealth, positioning Australia for globalisation, the poor socio-economic status of our indigenous people and subsequent poor health and living condition of the indigenous people, the ageing of Australia and subsequent global warming and its subsequent impacts on the economy and the ecology. With the distribution of wealth, the government has introduced welfare to work measures and due to this and the robust economy 600,000 people have returned to work from welfare in the last 10 years. People on Centrelink payments are basically living day to day and need more money to be able to live a reasonable life style. The downside of this booming economy and persons working is the affordability of housing being an all time low. With globalisation Australia is finding a great proportion of manufactured goods being made in China. In addition our Call Centres are being staffed by more and more overseas staff (mainly Indians). Australia is lucky to be endowed with abundant resources, but this employs very few people. Due to the high cost of our labour market compared with 3rd world countries we need to continually establish niche industries that require highly educated people. The Howard government introduced a taskforce to tackle the problems faced by indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory Emergency Response was primarily initiated to give the aboriginal children a better and safer future. It is early days on this initiative, but this may be a starting point in addressing this imbalance in our society. Australia like many 1st world countries is experiencing an ageing workforce. Couples are having fewer children and later in their life, to assist couples the government has introduced a Baby Bonus payment, increase Child Care payments and has an immigration policy targeted to supplement the declining birth rate. This essay has outlined all the current positive aspects of Australian society, but we need to address the future and the sustainability of our environment for our grandchildren. The federal government is addressing this issue by introducing a carbon-trading scheme. This carbon trading scheme, where the tax on carbon producing goods and services go into a positive influence on the environment, for example planting trees. The Australian government is following leads by other countries in this circumstance. Australia may have its problems e. g Obesity problems, homeless persons, cost of housing. But these pale into insignificance when compared with issues faced by countries with civil wars and health epidemics (such as Aids in Africa). Australians give money to overseas charities, a great example of this was the tsunamis experienced South East Asia. Following this catastrophic event the Charity Organisations were inundated with money. In addition the Federal Government gives substantial sums of money to our Pacific neighbours. Australia although not a power on the world stage can impose a lot of influence in the Pacific Islands. Australia is a far from perfect country but through a democratic system anyone of voting age can do things to address the problems that they see as an important issue. This can be illustrated by the election of the Rudd government on its environmental and workplace relations’ platform. The Howard government argued that without India and China aboard any carbon trading scheme would not work. They are probably right in this issue, so the Rudd government needs to set up a fair and equitable trading scheme and find some way on imposing a carbon tax on any goods and services we get from countries that do not have a scheme in place.