Importance of youth character building in eliminating corruption from thepakistani society pdf Essay

Fighting corruption has emerged as a key development issue in India in recent years. More and more policymakers, businesses, and civil society organizations, have begun to confront the issue openly. At the same time the general level of understanding about corruption has risen markedly. Until recently, it was not uncommon to hear someone discuss anti-corruption strictly in law enforcement terms. By contrast, most people working in the field today acknowledge that public education and prevention are equally important. The field has also come to appreciate how critical the role of civil society is for effective and sustained reform. A number of factors explain this growing emphasis on fighting corruption. Expansion and consolidation of democracy at the grassroots level has enabled citizens to use the vote and new-found civil liberties to confront corruption, prompting leaders and opposition figures to show a stronger anti-corruption commitment. Internationally, since the end of the Cold War, donor governments have focused less on ideological grounds for foreign assistance and concentrated more on trade and development, both of which are undermined by corruption. Countries with high levels of corruption, like India, have found themselves less able to attract investment and aid in a competitive global market. At the same time, business within the country has faced ever stiffer competition with the gobalization of trade and capital markets, and has become less willing to tolerate the expense and risk associated with corruption. LITERATURE REVIEW The body of theoretical and empirical research that objectively addresses the problem of corruption has grown considerably in recent years ( Elliot 1997, Coolidge and Rose-Ackerman 1997, Gandhi 1998, Gill 1998, Girling 1997, HDC 1999, Kaufmann and Sachs 1998, Mauro 1995, Paul and Guhan 1997, Shleifer and Vishnay 1998, Stapenhurst and Kpundeh 1998, Vittal 1999, World Bank 1997). A preliminary analysis of the literature shows that corruption in India and elsewhere is recognized as a complex phenomenon, as the consequence of more deep seated problems of policy distortion, institutional incentives and governance. It thus cannot be addressed by simple legal acts proscribing corruption. The reason is that, particularly in India, the judiciary, legal enforcement institutions, police and such other legal bodies cannot be relied upon, as the rule of law is often fragile, and thus can be turned in their favour by corrupt interests. BASIC HYPOTHESIS Preliminary examination of data from various sources suggests the formulation of a clear hypothesis concerning the role of civil society in combating corruption in India. The hypothesis is that the sustenance and success of efforts to combat systemic corruption in India is directly related to the extent of participation of the civil society in these efforts. The underlying idea is that development is not the product of set of blueprints given by the political leadership independently of the civil society but is often a joint output of the civil society itself. The pace and direction of the developmental efforts is shaped by the umbilical relationship between the state and civil society. Viewed in this perspective, anti-corruption strategies are not simply policies that can be planned in advance and isolation, but often a set of subtler insights that can be developed only in conjunction with citizen participation. Combating corruption is, therefore, not just a matter of making laws and creating institutions, but rather it is deeply rooted in the activities of the civil society itself. METHODOLOGY In recent years significant improvements have been made in the measurement of corruption, in the construction of composite corruption indices, and in the design and implementation of surveys. Beyond applying improved empirics through a multi-pronged approach to surveys, it is now possible to construct a framework linking the analytical and empirical research with operationally relevant utilization. We can effectively utilize empirical analysis in the design and implementation of action programs. The Economic Development Institute at the World Bank, in collaboration with the Transparency International and local NGOs, has developed a methodological approach integrating within one empirical framework the various components identified so far for understanding and combating corruption. This overall empirical approach links worldwide database and analysis with determinants of corruption, in-depth country analysis, and country action program (Kaufmann, Pradhan, and Ryterman 1998). In this research paper the World Bank framework is used to understand and explain the role of civil society in combating corruption in India, and consider recent initiatives for an effective action plan in this regard.

Romantic Elements in Frankenstein and the Fall of the House of Usher

Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, and Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, although published in different periods, on different continents, have in common many of the main ideas that stood behind the literary movement of Romanticism (the sublime, the Romantic hero, imagination, isolation), combined with elements of the Gothic (the mysterious and remote setting dominated by a gloomy atmosphere, death, sin, pain, exotic elements, supernatural). One of the main elements that is integrated into the Romantic movement is the sublime. In his A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful , Edmund Burke defined the sublime as â€Å"Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling. In Burke’s view, the typical qualities that characterize a sublime landscape are vastness of dimensions (especially in contrast with the limitations of the human body and mind), obscurity (that blurs the definition of boundaries), deep darkness or intense light. Through the impact that magnificent landscapes and violent storms produce, and in the midst of the terrors that nature creates, the characters experience the sublime, are overflown wi th dread, fear and a sense of astonishment, which eventually allows them to sense the divine. In Frankenstein, nature is a very powerful entity that can soothe and punish; this duality is especially obvious in the connection between Victor and nature that Shelly cultivates throughout the novel. More often than not, Victor takes sustenance from nature, which provides him with what could be described as personal therapy when he is subjected to stress or torment. When he falls ill, it is not the constant care and attention of his closest friends that ensure his recovery, but the beneficial influence of the fresh ir that he breathes: â€Å"We passed a fortnight in these perambulations: my health and spirits had long been restored, and they gained additional strength from the salubrious air I breathed, the natural incidents of our progress . . . I became the same happy creature who, a few years ago, loved and beloved by all, had no sorrow or care. When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations. A serene sky and verdant fields filled m e with ecstasy. â€Å" After his brother William is brutally murdered by the Creature, Victor falls into a deep state of despair, unable to find solace in the company of the rest of his family, or his best friend Henry. Once again, it is nature that heals him and allows him to maintain his sanity:  «I remained two days at Lausanne, in this painful state of mind. I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around was calm, and the snowy mountains, â€Å"the palaces of nature,† were not changed. By degrees the calm and heavenly scene restored me, and I continued my journey towards Geneva. The road ran by the side of the lake, which became narrower as I approached my native town. I discovered more distinctly the black sides of Jura, and the bright summit of Mont Blanc. I wept like a child: â€Å"Dear mountains! My own beautiful lake! How do you welcome your wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and placid. Is this to prognosticate peace or to mock at my unhappiness? †  » Aside from providing Victor with restoration and happiness when needed, nature prove to also be an omnipotent force of foreshadowing. The lightning shredding the tree in front of Victor’s eyes is a warning that his endeavors will ultimately bring destruction. When he is notified about William’s death, nature reflects his feelings of despair and suggests dark prospects of the future: â€Å"Night also closed around; and when I could hardly see the dark mountains, I felt still more gloomily. The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil, and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings. The night that Victor gives life to his creations is â€Å"a dreary night of November†, with rain patting â€Å"dismally against the panes†. This is similar with the gloomy nature described at the beginning of The Fall of the House of Usher, where the imminent destruction of this ancient family is foreshadowed by the atmosphere of melancholy and decay and the eerie semblance of the house, covered by minute fungi and weakened by the fissure that extends from the roo f to the foundations: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. † Poe’s description of the unearthly storm that takes place on the dreadful night that brings the ultimate destruction to the ancient House of Usher is strikingly similar with the ones described in Frankestein: It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had apparently collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and violent alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house) did not prevent our perceiving the life-like velocity with which they flew careering from all points against each other, without passing away into the distance. † Although both works present an overwhelmingly powerful nature, that can foreshadow future events, the nature in The Fall of the House of Usher lacks the vast landscapes that are often depicted in Frankenstein; the prevailing feeling that dominates Poe’s story is confinement, narrowness to the point of claustrophobia: the Usher estate is shut off from light and the initial description of the house, reflected by the tarn which is in turn mirrored by the windows creates the illusion of an enclosed space, from which escape is almost impossible. The house eventually becomes the tomb of Roderick and Madeline, collapsing onto itself and sinking into the reflecting pool. Supernatural, supported by the dark themes that are prevailing in both literary works, plays an important part in the plot development, both authors dwelling on the blurred boundary between the living and the dead, with an emphasis on the mysteries of life and the mysteries of existence. In Poe’s story, Madeline’s condition causing her to fall into a coma-like state that will lead to her being buried alive is highly unbelievable, especially in combination with the account of her incredible escape from the vault, which is presented in parallel with the plot of The Mad Trist. In addition to this, the destruction of the house in the storm on the night Madeline returns to the living only to be crushed together with her brother, thus ending the Usher bloodline is just as unrealistic, yet with a great artistic effect on the reader. As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the potency of a spell — the huge antique panels to which the speaker pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant, their ponderous and ebony jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust — but then without those doors there DID stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline of Usher. There was blood upon her every portion of her emaciated frame. For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and from upon the threshold, then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated. † In Frankenstein, the major supernatural event (the creation of new life) is disguised under the appearance of a scientific experiment: Frankenstein manipulates nature in a bizarre and outlandish way, he uses electricity to animate a corpse composed of body parts collected from different cadavers. The result of his work is a creature so grotesque and uncanny, that it makes him run in fear and hide in his chamber: â€Å"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. The characters in both Frankenstein and The Fall of the House of Usher are deeply Romantic characters, with a strong propensity towards the Gothic. Roderick Usher is a strange figure, excessively reserved and somewhat mysterious, he lives isolated in a decrepit, dark and scary house. His physical appearance is quite shocking to the outside visitor, he looks dead even though he is still alive: A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a s urpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want of moral energy; hair of a a more than web-like softness and tenuity; these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be forgotten. † He suffers from a mysterious â€Å"nervous affection†, with bizarre symptoms (his senses are incredibly heightened, he can only bear to wear certain types of fabric, he cannot stand light or the smell of flowers, and all music, with the exception of some stringed instruments inspire him with horror). He often oscillates between vivacity and sullenness, between reason and incoherence, between amazement and dread. Roderick’s interests lie within the field of Arts, he is skilled at music and at painting, and the narrator compares him with a real artist, Fuseli, stating that â€Å"If ever mortal painted an idea, that mortal was Roderick Usher†. Roderick’s artistic creations reflect his state of mind, his obsession with death, the one painting of his that is described by the narrator is that of a tomb, â€Å"an immense long and rectangular vault or tunnel†, while one of the songs he plays at his guitar is The Haunted Palace. Roderick shows signs of other intellectual pursuits, he develops the idea of sentience of all vegetables and even inanimate things, like â€Å"the gray stones of the home of his forefathers†, giving as proof of their sentience â€Å"the gradual yet certain condensation of an atmosphere of their own about the waters and the walls†. Unlike Roderick, who is portrayed as an artist, Victor Frankenstein is depicted as a scientist. He is animated with a â€Å"thirst for knowledge†, a passionate desire to learn the secrets of heaven and earth; however, these feelings, noble at first are distorted into a morbid obsession, a dark hope of becoming god-like, of being liberated of earthly law and limitations, obsession that will ultimately lead to his demise. In his quest to discover the â€Å"principle of life†, Victor undergoes the study of its inevitable counterpart, death, and immerses himself in midnight labors, pillaging cemeteries and charnel houses and torturing living creatures. His ambition to create new life affects his entire being in such a way, that he undergoes intense emotional and mental changes, and manages to transcend the limited condition of an ordinary mortal, achieving a status similar to that of Dr. Faustus: â€Å"After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter. (†¦)No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source (†¦) I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? † Although not typical, the Creature is also a Romantic figure, a troubled soul forced into self-isolation, that strives to overcome his own limitations and possesses surprising depth and sensitivity. He has a dual nature, both inherently good and capable of evil, and is compared to both Adam (the creature that has been forsaken by his creator) and Satan (the fallen angel turned deviant in the absence of his god, capable of unspeakable acts of cruelty). He is torn between compassion and vengefulness, between the desire to be integrated into human society and the desire to destroy humans for rejecting and shunning him based on his grotesque appearance. He proves his benevolence when he saves a little girl from drowning and when he helps the De Laceys by providing them with firewood, but he is also a â€Å"wretched† creature that lets himself overtaken by the thirst for revenge and kills all the members of Victor’s family, including his best friend, Henry Clerval. The destinies of creator and creation are inextricably connected, they are viewed as doubles of each other: they both suffer from an impenetrable solitude, feeling like a â€Å"miserable wretch† unfit for human society, they both continually oscillate between good and evil, between elation and despair. Their identities are intricately intermingled, at one point the creature calls Victor his slave, reminding him that :†You are my creator, but I am your master†. Moreover, the reader is not able to discern who the real monster is between these two characters: Frankenstein, that out of purely selfish reasons brings the Creature into this world and abandons it, refusing to assume any type of responsibility for his actions, or the abominably-looking creature that succumbs to the dark dimension of his spirit and seeks to achieve revenge for his sufferings, thus destroying many innocent lives in the process. The same motif of the double (Doppelganger) can be found in Poe’s story, where there is a strong connection between Roderick and Madeline Usher, the last descendents of the Usher clan, the twins that mirror each other as Poe places an emphasis on the â€Å"striking similitude between brother and sister†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The siblings share an inexplicable state of illness, they are both affected by a malady for which no remedy has been found: In the manner of my friend I was at once struck with an incoherence — an inconsistency; and I soon found this to arise from a series of feeble and futile struggles to overcome an habitual trepidancy — an excessive nervous agitation. (†¦)It was, he said, a constitutional and a family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy — a mere nervous affection, he immediately added, which would undoubtedly soon pass off. It displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations.  »  «The disease of the lady Madeli ne had long baffled the skill of her physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affectations of a partially cataleptical character were the unusual diagnosis.  » â€Å"Roderick and Madeline are not just brother and sister but twins who share â€Å"sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature† which connect his mental disintegration with her physical decline. † (Martha Womak, Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†). Moreover, according to Edward H. Davidson in his book Poe: A Critical Study, the fissure in the decaying mansion represents â€Å"an irreconcilable fracture in the individual’s personality†. Roderick represents the mind, the intellect, the conscious, while Madeline is the unconscious, the embodiment of the senses (hearing, seeing, touching, tasting and smelling). One of the conceptions that Gothic cultivated was that man was born basically evil, and that humans have to struggle throughout their entire lives in order to prevent their evil nature from overtaking them. In Poe’s story the two brothers visibly struggle against their psychological issues, the mental illnesses brought on by centuries of intermarriage in the family. He uses these characters to explore the human psychology, with a special mphasis on the perverse and self-destructive nature of the conscious and subconscious mind. In Frankenstein, the Creature seems to have been born evil based on his abominable appearance, yet later on his account of his first memories reveal his innocent nature, that is distorted by the hardships and constant rejections he is subjected to. Symbols play a significant role. The House of Usher refers both to the actual mansion and the last of the â€Å"all time-honoured Usher race†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and becomes an actual character, being presented with a humanized description, with â€Å"vacant eye-like windows†. The house seems to be an extension of the siblings’ souls, mirroring their state of mind, and Roderick develops a theory that the stones of the house have â€Å"sentience† and that they embody the fate of the Usher family . The fissure that is barely visible on its facade and the fungi that cover it are symbolic of the decay of the Usher bloodline. The collapsing of the house straight down into the tarn symbolizes the linearity of the Usher’s family tree, bereft of branches, and its inevitable collapse. The two main symbols in Frankenstein are light and fire. Walton expects to unveil the secrets of the universe in the North Pole, described as â€Å"a country of eternal light. † Nearly all of Victor’s epiphanies are under the sign of light. When he becomes interested in natural philosophy, he says that â€Å"A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind†, and when his ceaseless endeavors finally lead him to the discovery of the secret to creating new life, he describes his feelings as if â€Å"a sudden light broke in upon me. He compares the creation of a new species to pouring a â€Å"torrent of light into our dark world†. However, both Victor and Walton fail to understand that light that’s too bright is also blinding and they disregard the dangerous consequences of their quests for enlightenment. The importance of fire as a symbol is prefigured by the novel’s full title: Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was the titan who gave the knowledge of fire to humanity and for his generous action he was severely punished by the Gods. In Frankenstein, Victor attempts to give the gift of the secret of life to humanity, but ends up suffering grave punishment as a result of defying God: his creation kills his entire family and destroys his life. Throughout the novel, fire is depicted as a powerful yet dangerous force that can be used both for sustenance (the discovery of the wonders of fire by the monster) as well as for punishment (the description of demons suffering in the lake of fire in hell). Concerning narrative techniques and point of view, both stories are told using first person point of view, but with significant differences. The narrator of The Fall of the House of usher is a character of whom we know very little, highly unreliable, as we have no proof of his sanity; moreover, he is called â€Å"madman† by Roderick twice at the end of the story. He is submerged into the underworld of the human mind, where irrationality prevails over reason, where fantasy suppresses reality, and he is the only one that manages to escape and tell the story of what had happened. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is also written using the first person narrative, but from multiple perspectives, using a complex narrative structure, that combines the form of an epistolary novel with that of a frame story: the plot is completely encased in Robert Waldon’s letters, who he relates his encounter with Victor Frankenstein, who in turn gives an account of his terrible life story, including the confessions and lamentations of the creature. Each shift of perspective provides the reader with new insight regarding the facts of the story and the distinctive traits of the characters involved. In conclusion, both Frankenstein and The Fall of the House of Usher can be considered landmarks of Romantic and Gothic literature, the authors managing to combine standard and specific elements in a unique and captivating manner that has kept them relevant even almost two hundred years after they were first published.

Hydraulic Fracturing Essay

Thousands of feet below the Earth’s surface, flows vast reservoirs of one of our planets most sought after commodities. In ancient Babylon there are writings of a dark elixir oozing from the lands surface, even then the people understood how precious this material was. Oil, along with Natural gas, are exceptionally rich sources of energy. A gallon of oil surpasses the output of five kg of coal, ten kg of wood, and over fifty times the amount of energy that fifty humans can produce. The richest oil can actually provide one hundred more times the energy, than the resources used to extract it from the ground. Currently the US is entering one of the largest modern oil booms the world has ever seen. Unfortunately unlike in ancient Babylon, oil today does not simply ooze out of the ground and into our cars. New advances in science and visualization technology have given us a process known as hydraulic fracturing. Also known as horizontal drilling, or fracking, these new techniques h ave caused a great controversy and sparked a public debate over the potential risks â€Å"fracking† could ensue on our environment. Despite the negative pictures environmental lobbyists have painted, hydraulic fracturing is essential for the future of America’s economy. Its main purpose is to create jobs, a stable market, and advance the future of clean energy in the United States. Currently, there has been a focused attention on the negative environmental impacts fracking could potentially carry with it especially in the water supply. There are hundreds of on-going investigations taking place to ensure the protection of the environment as well the health of citizens who currently populate near sites that are using a horizontal drilling method. Most of the negative impacts on the environment, associated with fracking, are poorly understood by the general public. The water supply has been one of the main concerns voiced by lobbyists and various media outlets. Currently the United States government has issued extensive research on the matter through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA has focused much of its attention on the sustainability of the water supply and soil surrounding current and former drilling sites. The EPA recently released on their main website a statement  confirming the following: The EPA currently is working closely with indus try partners to identify locations and develop research activities for prospective case studies. In prospective case studies, research at the site begins before hydraulic fracturing occurs, and then continues during and after hydraulic fracturing activities. The studies to date have shown no correlation to contaminated water supplies before or after the process of hydraulic fracturing. According to the New York Times, â€Å"Shale gas is accessed at depths of thousands of feet while drinking water is extracted from depths of only hundreds of feet. Nowhere in the state have fracking compounds injected at depth been shown to contaminate drinking water.† It is important to understand the process at which the gas is extracted to understand where the areas of risk occur. â€Å"Each well contains multiple layers of steel casing and cementing to effectively protect groundwater.† (API 1) This is essential to the protection of our water supply. It is important to understand the access large oil companies have to advanced equipment and the most brilliant minds. Each year bill ions of dollars are spent on research towards the extraction and containment of natural gas as well how to dampen the carbon footprint left after drilling. Many natural gas operators have chosen to disclose the ingredients of their cocktails to the website FracFocus.org, it is operated by the Groundwater Protection Council. This website includes a public record that can be examined by drill site or well location, individuals can effortlessly view the components used to fracture detailed wells. â€Å"As of early 2012, nearly one hundred companies have already provided information about approximately ten thousand wells and that number increases every day.† (API) Companies in our modern society understand the importance of transparency. Access to websites and detailed logs have given the public the ability to make their own judgments on the safety of individual operators. This makes large and independent companies held to higher standards than ever before. While there are greenhouse gases released during the extraction process they are significantly less than our current coal-fired plants. â€Å"Shale gas emits half the carbon diox ide per unit of energy as does coal, and coal burning also emits metals such as mercury into the atmosphere that eventually settle back into our soils and waters.† (New York Times) This is of great importance to understand especially as one of the oldest and largest coal-fired plant operates in  west Texas. Advocacy groups such as the Sierra Club are fighting to shut down these highly destructive plants. â€Å"Coal and gas-fired power plants emit more than 2.3 billion metric tons per year of carbon pollution, approximately 40% of total U.S. energy-related carbon pollution.†(SierraClub.Org) Because of intense restrictions any emissions from oil and gas wells must stay within agreed state and federal restrictions to guarantee the health and well-being of residents. â€Å"Natural gas is considered a clean burning fuel because of its comparatively low emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides.†(API 1) According to the Environmental Protection Agency, natural gas-fired electricity generates half the carbon dioxide of coal-fired production. As a country we have gained a dependency on energy and as we grow new techniques will have to be discovered to maintain our consumption rate. Hydraulic Fracturing brings us closer to clean energy while having an instanta neous benefit to our atmosphere and environment by making dangerous coal-fired plants obsolete. The oil and natural gas industry resources are considerably valuable to the United States ‘economy as one of the country’s major employers and buyers of imports. Maintaining its growth through a struggling economy, America’s oil and natural gas operators carry on to deliver well-paying employment, returns to administrations and share growth for millions of Americans. â€Å"With increased access to U.S. oil and gas resources we can create 1 million new jobs in the next ten years alone.†(Green 1) That means if the nation could regulate the practice of fracking, while protecting the environment, it in return would create one million American jobs. That would not only raise our unemployment rate exponentially, but would insert millions of tax dollars back into the economy for improved infrastructure or education. â€Å"Expansion of oil and natural gas shale assets sustained more than 2.1 million jobs in 2012.†(API 1) Affordable, native natural gas is vital to refreshing the chemical, manufacturing, and steel industries. These great industries have supported our nation in the past and will continue into the future. The America n Chemistry Council determined: A 25 percent increase in the supply of ethane (the liquid derived from shale gas) could add over 400,000 jobs across the economy, provide over $4.4 billion annually in federal, state, and local tax revenue, and spur $16.2 billion in capital investment by the chemical industry That added boost to  the job market is a gift long overdue to our struggling economy. Similarly, the National Association of Manufacturers estimated that high recovery of shale gas and lower natural gas prices will help U.S. manufacturers employ 1,000,000 workers by 2025. This will directly stimulate small town communities by offering technical job positions with life-long benefits. As well the added income will help to slowly relieve the burden of debt many families are suffering from. An IHS report, America’s New Energy Future: The Unconventional Oil and Gas Revolution and the US Economy, estimates that: â€Å"Mainly due to lower energy prices, average disposable income per household increased by more than $1,200 in 2012.†(IHS 4) This has continuously been omitted from the main stream media. Numerous industry sponsored reports are connecting gushing oil and natural gas production brought on by fracking is lifting the United States economy by dropping energy costs for clients and producers. It has a direct correlation as we produce more on shore energy our costs and high import taxes decrease. This in affect has a trickle-down policy when oil costs less to extract, ship, and use then household energy bills go down. President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address the President claimed recognition for governing the leading decline in oil imports in current times and for accomplishing the lowest use of need on oil imports in sixteen years. He accredited that notable outcome somewhat to improved oil production in North and South Dakota but mainly to the substantial surge in gas production that has directly stemmed from hydraulic fracturing. There is a clear indication that the risks of fracking are reducing day by day as the benefits continue to increase. The crash of 2008 brought our economy to a grinding halt. There is currently no other market that could stimulate the economy as much as the energy sector. The United States Economy will progress substantially over the next ten years due to the shale boom. Hydraulic fracturing will reduce the cost of energy while raising manufacturing. Most importantly it will reassure chemical and technology companies will receive higher endowments givin g us an edge over our competitors. Fracking will also reduce the cost of transportation by fueling our vehicles with clean natural gas. By performing quality due diligence we can omit the fears associated with hydraulic fracturing once and for all. Joint cooperation from the US Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency will contribute access to up to date reports on the environment and public safety. Hydraulic fracturing offers us hundreds of years producing clean, dependable, sustainable energy. It will directly affect the following generations while having a positive effect on our current economy. â€Å"Hydraulic fracturing is the future without it, we would lose 45 percent of domestic natural gas production and 17 percent of our oil production within 5 years.†(API 1) Some view hydraulic fracturing in an undesirable context. I am confident in hydraulic fracturing and see it as a window of opportunity for America that will help boost the economy while giving an immediate reduction in greenhouse gases. The benefits and rewards of hydraulic fracturing simply outweighs the risks. Works Cited Brantley, Susan L., and Anna Meyendorff. â€Å"The Facts on Fracking.† Nytimes.com. New York Times, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. Efstathiou, Jim, Jr. â€Å"Bloomberg.† Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 3 Sept. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. . Green, Mark. â€Å"Energy Tomorrow Home.† Energy Tomorrow Home. API.ORG, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. Hassett, Kevin A., and Aparna Mathur. â€Å"American Enterprise Institute.† AEI. Aei.org, 4 Apr. 2013. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. Larson, John W., and Richard Fullenbaum. Americas New Energy Future. Rep. no. Vol. 3. IHS.com, Sept. 2013. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. . Pierce, Richard J., Jr. â€Å"Scholarly Commons.† Site. Gwu.edu, 2013. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. . â€Å"Sierra Club Home Page: Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet.† Sierra Club Home Page: Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet. Sierraclub.org, 2012. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Department of the Enviroment. Progress Report Webinar. Epa.gov, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. . Zobak, Mark. â€Å"American Petroleum Institute.† American Petroleum Institute. API.ORG, Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

Natchez Indian Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Natchez Indian Culture - Research Paper Example The many traditional rituals of the Natchez people are considered â€Å"primitive and brutal† and like many other Indian tribes, the Natchez people were sun worshippers, who held on strongly to the belief that their chiefs were descended from the sun. The Natchez lived in about 6-9 villages spoke their native Natchez language, a language that has been long lost. The inhabited area of the Natchez was sought after to be colonized by the English, Spanish and the French. Research pleaded that a total of four wars broke out between the Natchez and the French between 1716 and 1729. The first three appropriately termed, first, second and third Natchez war whilst the fourth one was called the Natchez Rebellion of 1729. The Natchez Rebellion was caused by French Commander Sieur de Chepart’s order to the villagers from the White Apple Natchez Village to vacate the land so he may use it as a tobacco plantation. Presently, surviving Natchez families and communities can be found dis persed in Oklahoma and the Appalachian mountains. Natchez Indian Culture The Natchez Indians were amongst the last of the Native American populous to make a home on Mississippi’s southwestern borders (Barnett, 2007). ... This â€Å"Sun† lives across from the temple, in a big adobe constructed house atop a platform mound, which the Natchez people are famous for constructing. Living close to him, is the single most important person in his life; his Principle Advisor-his mother. She is referred to as a white woman in the Natchez culture, she dwells close to the â€Å"The Great Sun† with her other children. This â€Å"family†, is considered the highest class in the Natchez Society. Nonetheless, despite being an indigenous tribe, the Natchez Indians share distinct similarities to the southeastern Indian tribes, such as being separated into two moieties as they call it. Moitie is the French word which means â€Å"half†. Moieties provide marriage partners for each other as well as other support services. Like today’s societal classing, one moiety of the Natchez tribe is considered superior or of a more established ranking than the other moiety. The Natchez were known for t heir mass cultivation of agriculture which was their main livelihood, but they also excelled at architecture and pottery, which seem to be the basics behind their mound building. â€Å"Mounds† are erected from dirt which acts as a base for their temples and other dwellings. To augment such skillfulness, they also wove textile fabrics from the inner barks of mulberry which they used for clothing. Authors Orin Lewis and Laura Redish (1998) described the dress code of the men as breechcloths and leggings. The breechcloth is a piece of cloth made of deer skin, cloth or fur which is worn between the legs that is tucked over a belt. It doesn’t cover the legs so the men wore leggings made from buckskin or soft leather, whilst the women wore wrap skirts made from

Crytical Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Crytical Analysis - Research Paper Example Later on due to its popularity the short story was published in Best American Short Stories in 1982. Raymond Carver was a writer par excellence who believed in being minimal. Prior to writing â€Å"Cathedral† Raymond was a writer who followed the minimalist style. He believed firmly that less was more. Raymond Carver wrote three collections of short stories which followed minimalism theme. Post that he changed his style and wrote one of the best works of his career. â€Å"Cathedral† was an immaculate piece which gained popularity among the reading masses quickly. Due to its fame â€Å"Cathedral† is ranked among one of the best short stories of American literature (Werlock, 2000, p.g. 124). The story is a representative of postmodernism and minimalism. This means the short story’s plot, characters and language are shortened down to central features (Stefanescu, 2008, p.g. 1). â€Å"Cathedral† is told by a first-person narrator. The narrator a young man who begrudges the visit of an old friend of his wife. The friend is a blind man for whom the wife once read. The short story started with a situation in which the narrator and his wife await the arrival of someone. That someone is the narrator’s wife’s old friend Robert who is a blind man. Raymond Carver described the emotions and anger of the husband quite beautifully with his craft of writing. The short story starts with a couple waiting for someone. A blind man by the name of Robert is an old acquaintance of the narrator’s wife. The blind man has recently gone through a catastrophic situation in which he lost his wife Beluah. From the onset of the story the narrator comes across as being unexcited about his wife’s friend. The narrator also has a prejudiced nature against blind individuals. The narrator unfolds the story and tells the readers how his wife and Robert became friends. The narrator with a heavy heart describes that they both worked together. The narrator’s wife use

Decision Making Software Analysis and Discussion Essay

Decision Making Software Analysis and Discussion - Essay Example It allows the user to input various possible scenarios to arrive at the best possible solution for each particular situation. Decision Lab allows for the complex computation of figures and further allows for organization of data into meaningful tables and charts. Several other possible applications include: entering multiple sides of an issue or points of view for a particular situation to arrive at best case outcomes; to input data relative to assumptions or hypotheses to understand needed actions and guidelines; input data to determine the most sensible steps to take; and to perform extensive statistical data manipulation with relative ease. Visual Decision recommends the product for a wide range of applications including strategic planning, financial analysis and credit analysis. The software was designed for use with Windows which has universal appeal and application potential since it can customized for multi use integration. Additionally, the software itself is not cumbersome to use and was designed in similar fashion as MS Excel which is widely used. This reduces the time to necessary to learn new software application. Decision lab is based on the PROMETHEE and GAIA methodology.

Definitions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Definitions - Essay Example Financial System - system that enables transfer of money between savers or investors/lenders and borrowers and may also pertain to the set of implemented procedures that track the financial activities of the company. Diversification - a risk management technique that mixes a wide variety of investments within a portfolio and strives to smooth out unsystematic risk events in a portfolio so that the positive performance of some investments will neutralize the negative performance of others. Repurchase Agreement - (repo for short) is a type of short-term loan much used in the money markets, whereby the seller of a security agrees to buy it back at a specified price and time; the seller pays an interest rate, called the repo rate, when buying back the securities. US Treasury Security - government debt  issued by the  United States Department of the Treasury  through the  Bureau of the Public Debt; treasury  securities  are the  debt  financing instruments of the  United States federal government, and they are often referred to simply as  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Treasuries.† OTC Markets - decentralized (Over-The-Counter) markets of securities not listed on an exchange where market participants trade over the telephone, facsimile or electronic network instead of a physical trading floor. Adverse Selection - also called anti-selection or negative selection refers to a market process in which â€Å"bad† results occur when buyers and sellers have  asymmetric information  (i.e. access to different information): the â€Å"bad† products or services are more likely to be selected. Moral Hazard - The risk that a party to a transaction has not entered into  the contract in good faith, has provided misleading information about its assets, liabilities or credit capacity, or has an incentive to take unusual risks in a desperate attempt to earn a profit before the contract settles. Money - a medium that can be

WAL-MART ORGANIZATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

WAL-MART ORGANIZATION - Essay Example Nevertheless, history has a different story in the waves the organization has had to face on the way to today’s position as a global player. The organization internal environment business model is based on value proposition, which rides of offering everyday low price. Distribution efforts in the organization are effectively planned to have the organization have direct contact with customers through media adverts as well as through such cheap means as internet. The organization has also effective customer relations through self-service as well as automated services for efficiency and effectiveness. It highly esteems basic resources spanning from the physical ones including logistics and physical stores, human resources as well as the organizational culture. The organization acknowledges the role of the forces of internal as well as external business environments in shaping the success of the business. Despite the internal organizational structure, the organization holds own emp loyees with esteem as critical part of the internal environment of the organization. Competition as an external factor has continuously influenced the operations of the organization with special attention being taken for the sake of monitoring and keeping pace with competitive developments in the industry (Davis, 2007). Among other notable strengths of Wal-Mart organization are growth and high returns through customer satisfaction, creating profits as well as enhancing value for shareholders. The capacity of the organization to expand continuously into new markets and opening new stores, integrating new online channels as well as upholding great success in innovation and... The great vision and dedication of the top management of the Wal-Mart organization ever since its establishment has been acknowledged to play a critical role in the success of the organization. Leadership has been seen to play a great role in the performance of the organization despite the competition pressures that have been pointed out to form the basis of derailing the organization from realizing the guiding mission. This would form my basis of recommendation to the management of the organization. Competition has become quite dynamic in almost all aspects of business dealings and no one business or industry is immune to the challenge. In this understanding, adoption of rather dynamic management practices is inevitable for an organization to keep pace with the global trends. Adoption of centralized inventory system through which management of the various chain stores of the organization is inevitable in order to have the organization realizes the strategic objectives and goals. I p ropose to the owner of Wal-Mart to uphold high levels of innovation and creativity in management practices in order to cut on the rising costs and command a competitive niche through continuously offering lower prices. This is because other competitors in the industry would rise in competition through exploiting these competitive niches while the Wal-Mart organization does not.

Risk Assessment of Strident Marks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Risk Assessment of Strident Marks - Essay Example This also computes a covariance of returns between any the stocks and the market value where they have positive covariance, and those that move in opposite directions will have negative covariance. The expected return and variance of several stocks, a portfolio of these stocks that has a desired variance (risk) with a certain expected return. The expected return is the measurement of investment risk, what variances can be expected by the amount of investment. CAPM formula. The CAPM formula is: Beta is the overall risk in investing in a large market, like the New York Stock Exchange Beta is the R-squared statistic found in the regression analysis. The Beta of a Strident Marks is risk compared to the Beta (Risk) of the overall market. Beta indicates the volatility of the security, relative to the asset class (Frontline Systems, Inc. 2006). In conclusion, the Beta statistic defined by R-Square is positive 1 in the Market analysis, and 0.004 in the Stock analysis, it can be assumed, provided that the stock and market follow a normal distribution, that the stock holds a 40% greater risk than that market

Management week 8 Dis Board Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Management week 8 Dis Board - Article Example en a team or a group of people need to move towards a specific direction, feedback can be used to help determine the required changes so as to enhance performance. Thirdly, positive feedback helps in developing the required skills to succeed in a given task by creating good understanding. Finally, when positive feedback is given, it goes a long way showing others that they are valued. This way, they will see the need to continue performing optimally or make the required changes that will enhance their performance. Positive motivation has helped me in several work situations. One of such situations was when I was working on a report on the new changes that were required to make the team in my area of work to improve its output and productivity. Having spent a lot of time doing the draft, I kept doubting if it would be accepted. Hiver, after presenting the initial report and getting positive feedback that I was in the right track, I was very motivated. I went ahead to come up with a very concrete and good final

Modern dance Essay Example for Free

Modern dance Essay 1. What are the innovations of Isadora Duncan, Denishawn, Martha Graham, and Cunningham. Discuss these in relation to style, technique and theory. Many Historians say that Isadora Duncan was the first dancer to present modern dancing to the public. Duncan felt that the pointe shoes and costumes that ballerinas wore were to restrictive. She began to dance in a way that seemed to be more natural to her. Her inspirations came from the movements of the tress, the ocean and other forms from nature. Her techniques included hopping, swaying, skipping and running. She felt these type of movements were natural and expressive. Also, the history of the Greeks inspired her to dance barefoot and wear tunics similar to those of Greek style. Isadora Duncan paved the way for all modern dancers and choreographers who were to follow her. Learning About Dance pg. 61-62 Denishawn was a dance school created in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Denis and Shawn were greatly inspired by different cultures, especially the Asian cultures. Although the dances Denishawn performed werent authentic, they were still able to bring other countries dance views to American audiences. The purpose of Denishawn was to educate the total dancer. Meaning to bring together the body , mind and spirit. Learning About Dance pg. 62-63 Martha Graham developed a technique known as contracting and releasing through the center of the body. This technique can be seen throughout many of her dances. Graham would create dances that dealt with psychological issues. She would use themes relating to American life, Greek Mythology, American Pioneers and American Indians. Learning About Dance pg. 6371 Merce Cunningham was the first choreographer to not use traditional choreographic methods. He developed a new style of choreography. He did not believe dance had to have a certain storyline or theme. His theory of dance revolved around the idea of movement for movements sake. He felt that any part of the body can be used and the music, costumes design, lighting and the movements all have their own identity. He thought a dance can be about anything , just as long the main idea is about the human body moving.. In his dances he uses chance and indeterminacy methods. He uses these methods because he feels it helps him to break old habits and create exciting and new movements in dances. By using these methods what a dance is one night might be something else by the next night. Learnig About Dance pg. 65-66 2. In depth discuss one of these artistic personas (one of four). Include the art themes, and society of the time, as well as the particular contribution to dance history. Modern dance began in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It came directly as a revolt,what was understood as the restrictions of ballet. Isadora Duncan, (1877-1927), is given the credit of being the first dancer to present modern dancing. Other dancers, such as Loie Fuller and Maud Allan did perform dances that were new and different also. But, Duncans reasons for creating and moving were different to those of Allans and Fullers. Duncan began to feel that the costumes and pointe shoes were to restricting, after years of ballet training. She left technical training and began to dance in her way. She felt her new way of dancing was more natural. These natural movements came to her from different forces of nature. Like the swaying of trees and the ocean. Her technique included movements such as skipping, running, hopping and swaying. These movements were not only natural, but also expressed her. Her inspiration dancing barefoot and wearing tunics came from the history of the Greeks. The tunics did not confine her movements and they also showed the beauty of the female body. Duncan was also known as a rebel to many Americans. She found fame in parts of Europe and Russia, from 1907-1927. You could call Isadora Duncan the mother of modern dance. Isadora went out to free the body from the restrictions of ballet and created a truly modern form of dance. She began to show dance as the art of liberation. Learning About Dance pg. 61-62 pg. 70

Hunting should be legal Essay Example for Free

Hunting should be legal Essay The subject of keeping hunting legal is a controversial topic. I believe that hunting should be legal. If not, many animals would die because of overpopulation. A substantial amount of our food comes from hunting animals. Many years ago, some people used hunting to survive because they couldnt buy a lot of their food. Another question is that isnt fishing the same thing as hunting so should they stop fishing if they stop hunting? Some people feel disheartened over it. Also people entreat their Congressmen to keep hunting legal; still others are uncertain whether it should be legal or not. Ultimately, I think that it should be legal if not there would be a dominate amount of animals. Here are seven reasons why hunting should to be legal in every state. There is overpopulation with many animals. One season without hunting could be fickle to the population of animals. Many of these animals will die in winter by illnesses, starvation, etc. if they are not killed during the hunting season. If hunting were illegal, the animal population would grow larger and out of control. The population of animals would grow, but the amount of food would decrease. The animals would slowly die of a grim, inhumane death of starvation. It is a proven fact that a link exists between hunting and flu cases. The more hunting that occurs in a certain area, the fewer flu cases there are in that area. Scientists are not quite sure why this trend happens, but they cannot deny the findings. One reason might be ticks might carry the flu virus. If there are fewer animals for the ticks to infest, there are fewer ticks to carry the virus. The overpopulation of animals like bears and mountain lions has resulted in attacks against people. If the population of predator animals is controlled, then the more food there will be for these animals, and they wont attack people when searching for food. Farm animals and rural pets are killed by wild animals because there is not enough food to go around. As stated in reason three, the animals will have more food, if there are a smaller number of them. Commercial farms have lost crops because of wild animals. So actuality, to stop hunting would only hurt the economy. As the herd of grazing animals gets larger, the animals seek food where they can find it. They will eat the farmers crops for food. Sometimes, they eradicate acres of crops. There are many cases where animals have actually broken into peoples homes and caused a considerable amount of damage while looking for food. Since the animals cant find food in their own habitat, they move into developed areas searching for food. Many auto accidents are cause by wild animals. Drivers either hit the animal or swerve to miss them and get injured or even killed. Pennsylvania leads the list of the highest number of auto accidents involving deer. State Farm estimates that 1. 5 million vehicles collide with deer every year, resulting in 150 motorists deaths and $1. 1 billion in vehicle damages. From www. unsolvedmysteries. com/usm401731. html www. medicalecology. org/diseases/lyme/lyme_disease. html http://money. cnn. com/2005/11/04/news/newsmakers/deer/.

Personal Reflection on a Film: Awakenings

Personal Reflection on a Film: Awakenings Allison Bartha Writing Assignment #1: Awakening The film Awakening relates to the study of medical humanities we have learned about and provides numerous examples of how emerging different actives into the patients lives to benefit the patient, family and Doctor. Therapeutic actives demonstrated in the film allows for reaction and response from the patients that is clear to the audience watching. I think this film can be beneficial to anyone who wants to learn more about medical humanities and the purpose behind the treatment. In out text Health Humanities Readers we read about the different types of therapy such as art, music and literature. We see the use of intersection approach throughout the film in relation to the patients health and health care as discussed in the first module of this course. Awakening shows through medical humanities the ability to communicate between non-responsive patients and the provider. Thoughout the film we see the social interaction between the Doctor and his patients. We see the importance of a go od professional patient and provider relationship. When the patients family and the patient trust the Doctor, it allows for tests and different treatment plans to take place in the best interest of the patient. Using medical humanities allows for better care from the provider in result to a purpose for the patients. In this case, catatonic patients are benefiting from humanities. This film was released in 1990 starring Robin Williams as Dr. Malcolm Sayer. Dr. Sayer discovers certain stimuli reactions beyond the catatonic states they appear to be in. Activities such as catching a ball and music start to reveal the patient response. One patient Leonard Lowe learns to communicate through the Ouija board with Dr. Sayer. Dr. Sayer learns about the drug for Parkinsons disease called L-Dopa and believe there could be a breakthrough for his patients. He believed there could be a breakthrough for his patients to be recovered from their disease. Lowe is first in the trail run for this theory, which completely awakens him from his catatonic state. This inspired Dr. Sayer to seek out founding to help his other patients experience awakenings back to reality. The founding went through and soon all the catatonic patients woke up to a new reality. Lowe was the first to be on the drug, though the film we see him adjust to is new lifestyle. After being on the drug for a while side effects start to occur facial and body tics that are hard for him to control, shortly after the side effects occur Lowe returns to his catatonic state. Patients start to fear the side effects as they watch Lowe return to his disease. Shortly after all the patients start to go back to their original states regardless the increased dosages of L-Dopa. Although the awakening did not last there was an appreciation of the value of life. Dr. Sayer went right back to the Ouija board in communicating with Lowe. The movie Awakenings shows a very committed, patient, caring bedside manor by Dr. Sayer. Dr. Sayer is very persistent and courageous, despite his criticism and put down he never gives up on his hypothesis. I think this is something we look past in todays culture. We live now in very fast past society where medical providers seem to be busy, moving from one patient to next. Working at a Doctors office, I schedule patients, I see first-hand the intensity and fast pace our providers go through in order to meet their quote of patients for the day. Someone like Dr. Sayer would be hard to come across in todays reality. Dr. Sayer never gives up on his patients and he fights for them when other Doctors disagree with his theory. His motivation is the success of treating his patients, not the social recognition. Dr. Sayer learned about his patients and their conditions before treating them. Human touched is so important throughout this film. This movie shows views a glimpse of mental health il lness and inspirational insights on the human behavior. We see change in the behavior of the employees before the awakening happens and their behavior after. Prior to the awakening, the workers were just going through their everyday motions without any emotions. However after it is clear they connect with the patients and are joyful. Awakenings is a life-affirming movie that provokes deep thought into the value of our lives. This movie made me think about the important things I have in my life, my family, a good job and being able to attend college. Without a good health body, I would not be able to maintain a job or even be successful in school. Seeing in this film the patients in catatonic state of mind, they have restrictions like going on outside, even a set eating time. They will never be able to interact in a way that we can. Watching this movie really made me appreciate more my health and family. This movie has set me back to be more grateful for what I have and to appreciate the simple things like, work, my job and life. I notice today people do not know how to live and they struggle with appreciating the simple things. This movie was heart breaking when the side effects came Lowe returned to his catatonic state. We need to be grateful. I found the part of film when Lowe tries to gain his freedom to inspi ring. Lowe explains his feeling about the simple things in life like going for a walk most of us take for granted. Time is limited but we are infinite. Everything we do leads to our life we choose to live, and it is our choice to make our life meaningful. Awakening was a great refresher to its audience that we are often too much caught up with negatives aspects in our life. We forget and take for granted the things we do have. Something as simple as brushing my hair, I am capable of doing, yet someone with catatonic or other unfortunates are struggling to just hold a brush. Things we consider normal like reading the newspaper, going for walks, even access to social media sites that we are bless with, some people see those as a struggle. Watching this film, I can express my feelings of gratitude of just being thankful I am happy, healthy and alive. This film reminded me of the little things I need to stop and appreciate more often. I watched this film with my little brother and it was interesting to see his reactions throughout. My little brother is 13 and can be found on his phone most of the time. By the end of this film, he was struggling to stay awake as it was a school night but asked me if I could leave it there so he could finish it the next day. He ended up staying up to watch it before going to bed and we talked about it the next day. I am glad I watched it with him to hear his in take on the film giving me someone else to talk to about their reactions. I was honestly shocked as to how much information he picked up. He understood the different things the Doctor was doing to get a reaction from the patients like with the ball and music. I was surprise he noticed the clip where Dr. Sayer made the dose stronger as he kept upping and upping it. This was the first time my younger brother has been expose to someone with such disability so he was asking my dad many questions. Questions like, how does someone get like that, are they born that way, do they have to stay in that hospital forever, can they understand people just not respond? Hearing the thoughts of a 13 year old throughout the movie I feel made it a better watch. Watching this movie could not have come at a better time, and it is funny how I happened to choose this film over the other ones. I walked into the video store with the list and told the worker I need one of these films for a class, I dont care which one. Awakening caught his eye, as he knew they had it, so that is what I rented. This week was a rough week at work. Typically, boss issues and schedule not working out for fall class was having me stressed. I was struggling with the idea that my work may not work around classes and I could potentially lose my job. I kept thinking life is just not fair and that I do not have a backup plan I need to just figure it out. After watching Awakening I take back everything I said about my struggles. This movie made me take a step back and look at my life in a completely new perspective. I should grateful for things I have and not take for granted my job. I am finding it so hard to explain this in this paper the importance it is to just be gratef ul for things we have, because some people are just struggling to make it to tomorrow. This movie has such a powerful impact on the appreciation of life and the value of meaning and purpose. When I was watching this film, I looked it up to read some information on it and found it to also be a novel. I do intend to purchase the novel and do some summer reading. I also learned that this movie is based on a true story! When I think of watching a film or a class this is not what I had in mind. I will forever remember this movie and its impact it has left on me. When am struggling and having a bad day, I will appreciate what I have.

Symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird :: free essay writer

Symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird  Ã‚   Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is an astounding portrayal of Southern tradition and human dignity, a novel whose themes and lessons transcend time and place. The book is narrated by a young girl named Scout who matures over the course of the story from an innocent child to a morally conscience young adult. The cover of the novel displays a knot-holed tree containing a pocket watch and a ball of yarn, accompanied by the silhouette of a mockingbird soaring over the trees through a twilight sky. The portrait on the cover is an emblem that signifies the nature of Scout's maturation and the underlying themes presented by Harper Lee. Lee's signified themes, ethically rich and profoundly humane, epitomize traditional Southern mentality. The story commences during the summer in Maycomb County, Alabama, in a children's world. Scout is a young girl around the age of ten and her older brother Jem is about thirteen. Their summer days consist of playing make believe, fictional games from dawn until dusk with their friend, Dill, from Montgomery, Alabama. In the child's world, the twilight sky represents the rising sun, the dawn of a new day, and the commencement of a full day of children's games and activities. The child's world that exists during the daytime is a world flourishing with innocence and simplicity. However, the daytime is the only time when the child's world exists, for when the sun falls, curfews draw Scout, Jem, and Dill back to their homes for the evening. When daylight fades and the moon begins to rise, the games subside and the make believe, fictional world ceases to exist until following morning. The twilight sky portrayed on the cover represents a rising sun, and thus, the inconsequential child's world . The knot-holed tree housing the pocket watch and the ball of yarn portrayed on the cover is another signifier for the child's world. The tree is on the edge of the Radley property and the pocket watch and ball of yarn within it were placed there by Boo Radley. Boo is an instrumental character to the make believe child's world because of the great ambiguity and elusiveness that he represents. Neither Scout, Jem nor Dill has ever seen Boo Radley; all they know about him are the stories they have heard from Miss Stephanie Crawford, their neighbor and potentially reliable source.

The Government And Environmental Policy Essays -- essays research pape

The Government and Environmental Policy The purpose of the United States' public policy law is to implement restrictions in an effort to solve problems, which can be seen with the Clean Water Act. Public policy has also been employed to reform the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Although the United States government is noble in it's efforts to preserve the environment through these acts, the internal structure of public policy often retards these acts' effectiveness. This paper will explore the many ways in which factors such as horizontal implementation, divided government, and other forms of public policy affect the environmental legislation involved with the aforementioned acts. The main factors involved with the Endangered Species Act of 1973 involve horizontal implementation structure and divided government. Before one can discuss how these policies affect environmental legislation, a brief description of each must first be lucidly explained. When our government was founded, a system of checks and balances was implemented between the executive, judicial, and legislative branches to ensure that no one part of government gets too much power. Although this limits the power of any one person in government, it often slows down the ability of government because a consensus can be difficult with so many people working together. Another problem is that there are many subgovernments affecting the legislation as well, such as interest groups like the Sierra Club, Administrative Agents like the Environmental Protection Agency, and Congressional Committees. Because these groups add to the total number of people working on the legislation, the original noble ideology of making policy for the good of the nation is voided. Also because there are so many differences of opinion, few drastic changes are made, instead small incremental changes are made which take up lots of time and retard the effectiveness and enforcement of the legislation. In addition to this chaotic turmoil, four steps must be implemented in order to pass a bill. These are initiation & definition, formulation & enactment (legitimation), implementation, and evaluation. The most relevant one of these steps is horizontal implementation when one considers the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. This policy is the process that puts a law into effect after it has been legitimized. Congres... ...ne." (Adler, pg. 1) The Act's goals as set forth by Congress was to eliminate toxic discharge into significant bodies of water by 1985, improve water quality for marine and freshwater life by 1983, and for all "toxic pollutants in toxic amounts" into water. Of course that act has had mediocre success, and only through continued cooperation of the government's branches will further progress be made. In conclusion, it has been shown how different branches of government, different administrations, and different policies all worked together to retard the implementation of the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act of the early 1970's. Although these processes do act in a system of governmental checks and balances as the founders of this country wished, the effectiveness of the acts take many years of careful compromising to become significant. REFERENCES 1. Adler, Robert W., et. al. The Clean Water Act 20 Years Later Island Press Washington, D.C. 1993 2. Horton, Tom "The Endangered Species Act: Too tough, too weak, too late." (1992) Audubon Vol. 94 pgs. 68-74

The Communist Manifesto Essay -- Communist Manifesto Essays

The Communist Manifesto   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marx describes the problem in great detail in the first chapter. He feels there is a problem between the bourgeoisie and the proletarians. The bourgeoisie were the oppressed class before the French Revolution and he argues that they are now the oppressors. The proletarians are the new working class, which works in the large factory and industries. He says that through mass industry they have sacrificed everything from the old way of religion, employment, to a man’s self worth and replaced it with monetary value. He is mad that the people of ole that use to be upper class such as skills man, trades people, & shopkeepers, are now slipping into the proletarians or working class. He talks of the bourgeoisie getting to be so greedy that they are forced to nest all over the world to hock their goods. This is talking about the new import and export system that has formed. He says the working class has to deal with the flux of the market and is disposed of more eas ily than the machines used in the market. He says that they actually become part of the machine while working. Doing the simplest and most monotonous part of the job. In this new system Marx says â€Å"as repulsiveness of work increases, the wage of work decreases†. He also prophesizes that machines will become so advanced that the wages for man will become one extremely low rate. He says the proletarians live a life of exploitation. By being exploited at work in the w...

ASOS Case Study Essay

ADVERTISING & DIGITAL MARKETING 1. Describe how ASOS applies the marketing mix online? With the help of a marketing mix, the company can meet its marketing objectives. There are seven points which are popularly known as the 7P’s, they are product, place, price, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. Product- ASOS uses an online platform to sell fashion. ASOS has a wide range of clothing from shoes, coats, accessories, swimwear, nightwear and many more. Under ASOS wide range of famous brands are available like Nike, Adidas, Calvin Klein etc. except this ASOS sells brands at competitive rates with other online sites. It has about 50,000 products available and is widening its range everyday Price ASOS believes in reasonable pricing strategy, but many of their products are expensive especially the high end brands. Most of the products sold are those worn by celebrities that are sold at cheaper rates than other brands. The best thing about ASOS is that they have sales now and then, and most of the products go on 50% sale. ASOS doesn’t have free delivery service which could be one negative impact. Place ASOS only uses an online platform to sell their products, and operates totally via the internet. So customers don’t have to visit any stores, they just need to log in to the website- select the products- add them to basket- and pay. ASOS has a warehouse where they keep the stock and when ordered by customers, it delivers from there. They have a huge warehouse of 32,500 square meters. They have a head office which is located at: Greater London House Hampstead Road London NW1 7FB UK Promotion ASOS promotes itself by giving out discount codes. They are always active in emailing their registered customers about the updates fashion. Once the customer has purchased a product, they will start receiving the newsletter and booklets about the website. As they are on internet they promote it by posting videos of catwalks, fashion shows and more. They even promote themselves on social networking sites as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. People People are the employees that work for the business, without them it’s impossible to handle such a huge business. These employees are highly trained and professional in their work. In ASOS the customer service is bit different than what is provided in the retail stores. These people are highly skilled in the IT sector, so they are updated with the trends. Some of the BOD who are in charge of ASOS are Chairman-Lord Waheed Alli, Chief Executive- Nick Robertson, and Non- Executive Director- Karen Jones. Process Shopping experiences at ASOS are totally different from any other high street store. Customers are not able to try the product but they can only see it through images. The product they want to buy, will then be passed on into the basket and then it can be purchased through PayPal, credit card. The delivery will be expected in 4-5 working days. Physical Evidence As mentioned before ASOS operates totally from an online platform, so it does not have any physical evidence. The physical evidence is the receipt or the printouts of the products they have purchased. The official website of ASOS is http://www.asos.com/. At ASOS they regularly update their website with new products and promotions. 2. Summaries the integrated communications strategy used by ASOS? ASOS is now number two retailer in UK. They are among the hugest retail online fashion store. Their recent activity was to open an e-tailing shop inside Facebook, and it was launched on 27th January 2011. ASOS is always working hard to change the market trend. Customers can now track their deliveries. Customers  can shortlist their products, choose color. ASOS also included catwalk features for women wear. So repeatedly ASOS is trying its best to communicate with their customers on an integrated level ASOS used various communications methods. a. They have increased the pages of their magazine to 116. The first three issues of magazine generated more than 1.5 million pounds in sales and 9% was the average response rate. After that magazine on menswear was also launches in May 2008, which talked about style, trends, entertainment and good fashion sense. b. ASOS always is in contact with their 1.8 million customers. The newsletter helped in sales by 137% in 2001 c. In 2006, there was almost 2236 fashion editorial content about asos.com and its products , which also helped the sales go up by 59% d. ASOS acts as a best friend would to its customers. This means customers spread the word to other people. Most of its customers feel that they have a personal relationship with ASOS. This type of word of mouth has helped the sales go up and helped building loyalty. It was seen that 15% of customers visited the site on recommendation of friends. e. In the last survey by asos.com 73% of customers stated that they spread the word to th eir friends. ASOS has a team of 30 customer service advisors. This team responds to emails, newsletters and updates the social networking site and regularly communicates with its customers. To connect with customers ASOS is always active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and they even have their own magazine app for iPhones. To get more engaged, they launched the F-store in 2011. Now they have more than 1.7 million likes on Facebook, more than 325k followers on twitter and more than 440k followers on Google+. 3. What risks do you think managing as ASOS expands overseas? ASOS has to continuously change its market segment in such a changeable industry. People nowadays are unpredictable and their fashion sense changes regularly. Building brand loyalty in such changeable markets is very difficult, and building loyalty is the key to success for ASOS. The main question here is how ASOS will create a stronger connection with its customers in a difficult issues? Since ASOS doesn’t have any physical evidence, for e.g. A Store, a shopping bag etc. There are a number of risks that come hand in hand with  the benefits of expansion: 1. Personalized content will increase to keep in mind the different locations, their cultures, climates and buying habits 2. Things as trial and returns are also more complicated when businesses expand worldwide 3. Communicating with a personal effect to make each customer feel unique and appreciated takes a lot of effort and when a platform becomes worldwide there is a huge mix of customers that could become loyal, to deal with each one on its own level is also a challenge 4. Delivery channels also have to broaden, new ones also need to be created, new management for each part needs to be recruited etc. 5. Quality control needs to be maintained when a company goes into mass production If we talk about popularity ASOS is less well known outside Europe. GAP and ZARA are the main competitors of ASOS as they also have online shopping platform, and they are well recognized all over the world in compare to ASOS. So for ASOS to be popular all around the world, it has to target new segments and build the loyalty around the world. ASOS is starting to gain popularity in Australia and USA as they opened their new offices there. With further expansion of ASOS, they should start to consider making more warehouses around the world. Most of their stuff is made in China, Eastern Europe or many other low cost countries, and are then shipped to the UK. They could be more active on social networking sites, post videos on You-Tube in different languages, so people can get engaged to them. Social networking can be a problem at the start. Except this, CRM can be a major problem as well. ASOS can enhance Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for some promotional engines like interest graph. Customerâ€℠¢s interest can be measured through Business Intelligence Data collected online. As mentioned before the main problem would be to create loyalty to the customers, so another way to enhance CRM is to give the customers loyalty program. As ASOS target markets are same in UK and some other countries, if ASOS has to go worldwide, it has to change their target audience from youth to everyone, to attract all demographic segments. ASOS would face many competitors around the globe, there would be many fashion websites similar to ASOS. 4. Identify the key elements of ASOS’s strategic marketing plan? Situational Analysis- ASOS targets customers who are young and know the sense of fashion, the latest trend. And except this they enjoy shopping online more than going to the actual shop, standing in the queue. To shop online ASOS is providing user friendly interface on their mobile devices also. SWOT Analysis- Strength: ASOS has variety of products from shoe wear to accessories. People don’t need to go out and shop and waste their time, they can easily call for products online according to their choices. Weakness: This can be weakness too, if some people wants to go out to shop and see the products, feel them or try them, they can’t as they don’t have any physical evidence. ASOS should work hard to make their product recognized, by putting adverts or small articles in magazine about ASOS. Opportunity: To be more active on Facebook, as the people worldwide may not know ASOS that much, but through social networking to be in contact with them. Updating their fashion on Facebook page or group. Answering their problems and dealing with their complaints. Threat: ASOS has many rivalries, such as GAP, ZARA and H&M and many more who are also dealing online fashion store. As mentioned before there are no physical evidence on ASOS where people could go and try clothes, or exchange or take refunds. Competitor- ASOS has many competitors who want to become like it, but they can’t. The top most competitor of ASOS are GAP and ZARA, as they both also targets the same target markets and now they even started the online shopping platform. And they both are active on the social networking websites too. The strategy of ASOS covers a lot of area from designers, marketing to customer services. Customer loyalty is their main key element. They consider customer as their king. But this is not the end. By being active on social networking and internet will not help ASOS that much. ASOS always kept design in their mind as the priority. So their designer kept this in the mind as ASOS  targets young people and youth, so they want updated fashion and new trends every time. In order to meet this need ASOS became partners with London College of Fashion and promised to give internships to the 2nd year and 3rd year students. Even the corporate culture helped ASOS in many ways, as trading director said à ¢â‚¬Å"our approach is simple, we work hard and we do it†. Marketing and customer service are other point which as important as others. They believe in speedy, reliable and convenient deliveries. There is no minimum order amount, so in this way customer can start building trust. So customer can order and start building loyalty. ASOS emails their customers so that they can track their delivery. Return and refund policy is also there. In 2012 ASOS also started their international office in Sydney and New York to give better customer services. They even give 10% discount to students to promote their brand between youth. ASOS have tailored their website with different languages. They have even introduced cat-walks and ramp shows on the website to get engaged with the consumers. 300 videos are been uploaded every day. Many IT people are working hard to make ASOS #1 website. They are using many web-trends analytics and visitor data marketing, which helps them to analyze the best campaign. Beside this, the business intelligence data is also one important key element of ASOS. They use web based application to track and to sa ve the database of their customers. Except all this they even used warehouse management system to read the code. Apart from this, ASOS’s 2nd market strategy is that one can sell their old clothes, which will be bought by ASOS and they will pay you back and from that money you can shop at ASOS. If you see the best technology, ASOS is the best example. The high technologies used and IT people working under ASOS are highly skilled. Except this customer relationship is their key element and the most important part of ASOS. Bibliography College, E. (2011, December 18th). http://press.emerson.edu/imc/2011/12/18/asos-is-now-as-seen-on-facebook/#more-1407. Retrieved from http://press.emerson.edu/: http://press.emerson.edu/imc/2011/12/18/asos-is-now-as-seen-on-facebook/#more

New Paradigms in the Study of the Civil War Essay

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies. Civil wars since the end of World War II have lasted on average just over four years, a dramatic rise from the one-and-a-half year average of the 1900-1944 period. While the rate of emergence of new civil wars has been relatively steady since the mid-19th century, the increasing length of those wars resulted in increasing numbers of wars ongoing at any one time. For example, there were no more than five civil wars underway simultaneously in the first half of the 20th century, while over 20 concurrent civil wars were occurring at the end of the Cold War, before a significant decrease as conflicts strongly associated with the superpower rivalry came to an end. Since 1945, civil wars have resulted in the deaths of over 25 million people, as well as the forced displacement of millions more. Civil wars have further resulted in economic collapse; Somalia, Burma, Uganda and Angola are examples of nations that were considered to have promising futures before being engulfed in civil wars. Formal classification James Fearon, a scholar of civil wars at Stanford University, defines a civil war as â€Å"a violent conflict within a country fought by organized groups that aim to take power at the center or in a region, or to change government policies†. The Correlates of War, a dataset widely used by scholars of conflict, classifies civil wars as having over 1000 war-related casualties per year of conflict. This rate is a small fraction of the millions killed in the Second Sudanese Civil War and Cambodian Civil War, for example, but excludes several highly publicized conflicts, such as The Troubles of Northern Ireland and the struggle of the African National Congress in Apartheid-era South Africa. That the Party in revolt against the de jure Government possesses an organized military force, an authority responsible for its acts, acting within a determinate territory and having the means of respecting and ensuring respect for the Convention. That the legal Government is obliged to have recourse to the regular military forces against insurgents organized as military and in possession of a part of the national territory. That the de jure Government has recognized the insurgents as belligerents; or That it has claimed for itself the rights of a belligerent; or That it has accorded the insurgents recognition as belligerents for the purposes only of the present Convention; or That the dispute has been admitted to the agenda of the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations as being a threat to international peace, a breach of the peace, or an act of aggression. That the insurgents have an organization purporting to have the characteristics of a State. That the insurgent civil authority exercises de facto authority over the population within a determinate portion of the national territory. That the armed forces act under the direction of an organized authority and are prepared to observe the ordinary laws of war. That the insurgent civil authority agrees to be bound by the provisions of the Convention. Causes of civil war in the Collier-Hoeffler Model Scholars investigating the cause of civil war are attracted by two opposing theories, greed versus grievance. Roughly stated: are conflicts caused by who people are, whether that be defined in terms of ethnicity, religion or other social affiliation, or do conflicts begin because it is in the economic best interests of individuals and groups to start them? Scholarly analysis supports the conclusion that economic and structural factors are more important than those of identity in predicting occurrences of civil war. A comprehensive studies of civil war was carried out by a team from the World Bank in the early 21st century. The study framework, which came to be called the Collier-Hoeffler Model, examined 78 five-year increments when civil war occurred from 1960 to 1999, as well as 1,167 five-year increments of â€Å"no civil war† for comparison, and subjected the data set to regression analysis to see the effect of various factors. The factors that were shown to have a statistically significant effect on the chance that a civil war would occur in any given five-year period were: Availability of finance A high proportion of primary commodities in national exports significantly increases the risk of a conflict. A country at â€Å"peak danger†, with commodities comprising 32% of gross domestic product, has a 22% risk of falling into civil war in a given five-year period, while a country with no primary commodity exports has a 1% risk. When disaggregated, only petroleum and non-petroleum groupings showed different results: a country with relatively low levels of dependence on petroleum exports is at slightly less risk, while a high-level of dependence on oil as an export results in slightly more risk of a civil war than national dependence on another primary commodity. The authors of the study interpreted this as being the result of the ease by which primary commodities may be extorted or captured compared to other forms of wealth, for example, it is easy to capture and control the output of a gold mine or oil field compared to a sector of garment manufacturing or hospitality services. A second source of finance is national diasporas, which can fund rebellions and insurgencies from abroad. The study found that statistically switching the size of a country’s diaspora from the smallest found in the study to the largest resulted in a sixfold increase in the chance of a civil war. Low per capita income has been proposed as a cause for grievance, prompting armed rebellion. However, for this to be true, one would expect economic inequality to also be a significant factor in rebellions, which it is not. The study therefore concluded that the economic model of opportunity cost better explained the findings. Population size The various factors contributing to the risk of civil war rise increase with population size. The risk of a civil war rises approximately proportionately with the size of a country’s population. Gleditsch et al. did not find a relationship between ethnic groups with polygyny and increased frequency of civil wars but nations having legal polygamy may have more civil wars. They argued that misogyny is a better explanation than polygyny. They found that increased women’s rights were are associated with less civil wars and that legal polygamy had no effect after women’s rights were controlled for. Duration of civil wars Ann Hironaka, author of Neverending Wars, divides the modern history of civil wars into the pre-19th century, 19th century to early 20th century, and late 20th century. In 19th-century Europe, the length of civil wars fell significantly, largely due to the nature of the conflicts as battles for the power center of the state, the strength of centralized governments, and the normally quick and decisive intervention by other states to support the government. Following World War II the duration of civil wars grew past the norm of the pre-19th century, largely due to weakness of the many postcolonial states and the intervention by major powers on both sides of conflict. The most obvious commonality to civil wars are that they occur in fragile states. Civil wars in the 19th and early 20th centuries Civil wars through the 19th century to early 20th century tended to be short; the average length of a civil war between 1900 and 1944 was one and half years. The state itself was the obvious center of authority in the majority of cases, and the civil wars were thus fought for control of the state. This meant that whoever had control of the capital and the military could normally crush resistance. If a rebellion failed to quickly seize the capital and control of the military for itself, it was normally doomed to a quick destruction. For example, the fighting associated with the 1871 Paris Commune occurred almost entirely in Paris, and ended quickly once the military sided with the government. The power of non-state actors resulted in a lower value placed on sovereignty in the 18th and 19th centuries, which further reduced the number of civil wars. For example, the pirates of the Barbary Coast were recognized as de facto states because of their military power. The Barbary pirates thus had no need to rebel against the Ottoman Empire, who were their nominal state government, to gain recognition for their sovereignty. Conversely, states such as Virginia and Massachusetts in the United States of America did not have sovereign status, but had significant political and economic independence coupled with weak federal control, reducing the incentive to secede. The two major global ideologies, monarchism and democracy, led to several civil wars. However, a bi-polar world, divided between the two ideologies, did not develop, largely due the dominance of monarchists through most of the period. The monarchists would thus normally intervene in other countries to stop democratic movements taking control and forming democratic governments, which were seen by monarchists as being both dangerous and unpredictable. The Great Powers, defined in the 1815 Congress of Vienna as the United Kingdom, Habsburg Austria, Prussia, France, and Russia, would frequently coordinate interventions in other nations’ civil wars, nearly always on the side of the incumbent government. Given the military strength of the Great Powers, these interventions were nearly always decisive and quickly ended the civil wars. There were several exceptions from the general rule of quick civil wars during this period. The American Civil War was unusual for at least two reasons: it was fought around regional identities, rather than political ideologies, and it was ended through a war of attrition, rather than over a decisive battle over control of the capital, as was the norm. The Spanish Civil War was exceptional because both sides of the war received support from intervening great powers: Germany, Italy, and Portugal supported opposition leader Francisco Franco, while France and the Soviet Union supported the government . Civil wars since 1945 In the 1990s, about twenty civil wars were occurring concurrently during an average year, a rate about ten times the historical average since the 19th century. However, the rate of new civil wars had not increased appreciably; the drastic rise in the number of ongoing wars after World War II was a result of the tripling of the average duration of civil wars to over four years. This increase was a result of the increased number of states, the fragility of states formed after 1945, the decline in interstate war, and the Cold War rivalry. Following World War II, the major European powers divested themselves of their colonies at an increasing rate: the number of ex-colonial states jumped from about 30 to almost 120 after the war. The rate of state formation leveled off in the 1980s, at which point few colonies remained. More states also meant more states in which to have long civil wars. Hironaka statistically measures the impact of the increased number of ex-colonial states as increasing the post-WWII incidence of civil wars by +165% over the pre-1945 number. While the new ex-colonial states appeared to follow the blueprint of the idealized state – centralized government, territory enclosed by defined borders, and citizenry with defined rights -, as well as accessories such as a national flag, an anthem, a seat at the United Nations and an official economic policy, they were in actuality far weaker than the Western states they were modeled after. In Western states, the structure of governments closely matched states’ actual capabilities, which had been arduously developed over centuries. The development of strong administrative structures, in particular those related to extraction of taxes, is closely associated with the intense warfare between predatory European states in the 17th and 18th centuries, or in Charles Tilly’s famous formulation: â €Å"War made the state and the state made war†. For example, the formation of the modern states of Germany and Italy in the 19th century is closely associated with the wars of expansion and consolidation led by Prussia and Sardinia, respectively. Such states are considered â€Å"weak† or â€Å"fragile†. The â€Å"strong†-â€Å"weak† categorization is not the same as â€Å"Western†-â€Å"non-Western†, as some Latin American states like Argentina and Brazil and Middle Eastern states like Egypt and Israel are considered to have â€Å"strong† administrative structures and economic infrastructure. Historically, the international community would have targeted weak states for territorial absorption or colonial domination or, alternatively, such states would fragment into pieces small enough to be effectively administered and secured by a local power. However, international norms towards sovereignty changed in the wake of WWII in ways that support and maintain the existence of weak states. Weak states are given de jure sovereignty equal to that of other states, even when they do not have de facto sovereignty or control of their own territory, including the privileges of international diplomatic recognition and an equal vote in the United Nations. Further, the international community offers development aid to weak states, which helps maintain the facade of a functioning modern state by giving the appearance that the state is capable of fulfilling its implied responsibilities of control and order. The formation of a strong international law regime and norms against territorial aggression is strongly associated with the dramatic drop in the number of interstate wars, though it has also been attributed to the effect of the Cold War or to the changing nature of economic development. Consequently, military aggression that results in territorial annexation became increasingly likely to prompt international condemnation, diplomatic censure, a reduction in international aid or the introduction of economic sanction, or, as in the case of 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, international military intervention to reverse the territorial aggression. Similarly, the international community has largely refused to recognize secessionist regions, while keeping some secessionist self-declared states such as Taiwan in diplomatic recognition limbo. While there is not a large body of academic work examining the relationship, Hironaka’s statistical study found a correlation that suggests that every major international anti-secessionist declaration increased the number of ongoing civil wars by +10%, or a total +114% from 1945 to 1997. The diplomatic and legal protection given by the international community, as well as economic support to weak governments and discouragement of secession, thus had the unintended effect of encouraging civil wars. There has been an enormous amount of international intervention in civil wars since 1945 that served to extend wars. While intervention has been practiced since the international system has existed, its nature changed substantially. It became common for both the state and opposition group to receive foreign support, allowing wars to continue well past the point when domestic resources had been exhausted. Superpowers, such as the European great powers, had always felt no compunction in intervening in civil wars that affected their interests, while distant regional powers such as the United States could declare the interventionist Monroe Doctrine of 1821 for events in its Central American â€Å"backyard†. However, the large population of weak states after 1945 allowed intervention by former colonial powers, regional powers and neighboring states who themselves often had scarce resources. On average, a civil war with interstate intervention was 300% longer than those without. When disaggregated, a civil war with intervention on only one side is 156% longer, while intervention on both sides lengthens the average civil war by an addition 92%. If one of the intervening states was a superpower, a civil war is extended a further 72%; a conflict such as the Angolan Civil War, in which there is two-sided foreign intervention, including by a superpower, would be 538% longer on average than a civil war without any international intervention. Effect of the Cold War The Cold War provided a global network of material and ideological support that perpetuated civil wars, which were mainly fought in weak ex-colonial states, rather than the relatively strong states that were aligned with the Warsaw Pact and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In some cases, superpowers would superimpose Cold War ideology onto local conflicts, while in others local actors using Cold War ideology would attract the attention of a superpower to obtain support. Using a separate statistical evaluation than used above for interventions, civil wars that included pro- or anti-communist forces lasted 141% longer than the average non-Cold War conflict, while a Cold War civil war that attracted superpower intervention resulted in wars typically lasting over three times as long as other civil wars. Conversely, the end of the Cold War marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 resulted in a reduction in the duration of Cold War civil wars of 92% or, phrased another way, a roughly ten-fold increase in the rate of resolution of Cold War civil wars. Lengthy Cold War-associated civil conflicts that ground to a halt include the wars of Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua . See also The Logic of Violence in Civil War War of Independence Wars of national liberation References