Internet, or computers is a new necessity Essay

This paper asserts that the Internet is not a luxury anymore in everyday life, hence it is has become a new necessity and that the Internet today benefits many aspects of life physically, economically and socially. This paper will prove these assertions with evidence and counterarguments by overcoming by at least one argument that may forwarded against. Starting with physical reason, it is argued by some that Internet is should only be used by those in the office and those who have the luxury of time and money. Computers which are means to access the Internet are needed only if one has money is the justification of some. This may have been the result a survey conducted for the Americans (Pew Research Center, 2006) where the respondents were all rich and therefore they can afford to have computers that would eventually lead them to have a continuous access in the Internet. If one ask a group of people who have no money, will they then answer the same thing or will they answer that they also need the internet only that they cannot afford? This paper believes the second argument that the lack of money in the meantime is equivalent to absence of need. This is argument may be the result the of movement to give one laptop for each child by a non government organization despite the utter lack of money of every child to have the access to the internet. The hidden reason is the indispensability of having to be linked to the world to benefit from the knowledge economy. The lack of money should not be therefore a reason recognize that the need is not there. To further support this counter argument is the belief that a hungry man who cannot afford to eat does not mean that he or she does not need the food the food anymore. What the hungry do is to find the means in order to have that food. For economic reason, it is argued by some that access to the Internet via computers should only be accessed by those who have financial transactions via the network. The internet is supposed to facilitate business communications among those who are into it like the banks. The said argument misses the point of having to have access in the Internet. Who else will not need the banking industry this time? If one belongs to a third world country and waits for a cash remittance from a first world country, does he or she not know that the money will have to pass through the Internet that links the banks around the world. In case the remitter and the expected recipient will encounter a problem with the remittance, will they not require the use of the Internet to facilitate the communication? If this happened before, they can talk via phone but this time a cheaper mode is available. They can chat in the Internet and they can solve their problem from there. That point of this counter argument is that business entities use the Internet, the public will have to follow using the same because that is demanded by the need of the times. It may be explained that the banking industry are interlinked around the world, hence to say that they are not interlinked is shortsightedness. Investors from richer countries of the world are pouring their investments in poorer countries too with the expectation of the developing the market. What will this rich investor’s do is to employ people from these poor countries and the moment these workers have financial capacity, they will immediately become members of the financial community that lives on computers and the Internet. With communications to have become cheaper, the Internet has employed many which afforded people to better educate them selves. Because of the Internet, people can now study online and can transact online. Shall not the better education and better communication caused by the Internet then? For social reason, Hertlein and Sendak (n. d. ) also argued that increasingly a part of everyday life, the Internet allows users to develop online interpersonal relationships and this resulted to breach of relationships and trust and commitment of previously existing assumed romantic relationships. They thus argued for Internet infidelity resulting from these breaches. They also noted that fact that as the Internet has the ability to affect the structure, timing, and rhythm of relationships, it also inherently affects the manner in which a couple defines intimacy in a way that couples who once felt that they were close and connected may now struggle with a new set of rules and codes of conduct that are ambiguous and upon which they may not agree under the present level of technology using the Internet. Seeing the effect of such change on interpersonal relationships, they saw the effect of a â€Å"compromised intimacy and a devaluing of the primary relationship, potentially cascading into other significant problems. † (Hertlein and Sendak, n. d. ). It may be counter-argued however that what may have been termed as internet infidelity may infer that as an increased freedom to communicate and express oneself because freedom allows so. It cannot be argued that the Internet cause infidelity because it is the human person who made the choice to communicate for more freely to other people. To justify their points, Hertlein, and Sendak said that the paradoxical nature of online relationships has been noted by many where they illustrated cases of people engaged in online relationships that can choose to present a detached attachment. They explained that Internet allows for immediacy of communication and interaction while maintaining anonymity thus allowing transmittal of confessional self-disclosure. This, the authors found causes â€Å"elements of a disembodied corporeality, easily abandoned high investment and strictly private proclamations of the union. † (Hertlein and Sendak,n.d. ) Again this appears to be short sighted interpretation of the use of the Interne since it is still the human person who will make a choice and not the Internet. It may be argued that people make choices not the Internet. As further evidence against the use of the Internet, Hertlein, and Sendak found flirting in use of the Internet, masturbations committed online (Hertlein and Sendak , n. d). They cited Maheu and Subotnik who found flirtation leads to erotic satisfaction â€Å"as there is a mental ability to disassociate the online sex with anything having to do with a person’s real life. † (M Mahu & R Subotnik, 9) They also cited research estimates that about 20% of Internet users while online to have engaged in some sexual activity (Cooper, Scherer, & Mathy, 2001). On a balancing note, as counterargument against the use of the Internet, Hertlein, and Sendak (n. d. ) cited that benefits from the use of the Internet such as the shift to better intellectual and emotional relationships of individuals due to individuals’ greater appreciation for online relationships. They cited a study, where participants reported greater levels of satisfaction with their online relationships than with their face-to-face relationships (Underwood, H & B Findlay, 127-140). They also noted greater freedom to express feelings that could not be done in non-virtual relationships specially the for men. Before one knows it one is confession all sorts of things in the Internet and it is good for people psychologically. Good relationships may be produced in the net because of more freedom to express oneself or the result of an incontrovertible marketing of the self. In ace-to-face communication, one who engages in a relationship must in many aspects expose one’s identity to be potentially judged and the self cannot escape the agony of embarrassment. But in the Internet one can do many things like disguising in many names but with the eventual benefit of self discovery and more psychologically matured to face the world. Thus, Hertlein, and Sendak found that Internet users shape personal demographic information to be in better compliance with what they assume to be others’ version of the ideal mate that in so doing, a person may better come to understand how one’s own being can change. With the anonymity therefore afforded on the Internet that enhances one’s ability to promote any chosen identity, experimentation with different identities has become familiar commonly understood and practices by many in the Internet. What is the effect of all this is the social construction of self as highlighted and elevated? (Hertlein and Sendak, n. d). This paper has proven that the use of the computer or the Internet has become a necessity physically, economically and socially. The arguments forwarded against were overcome by contrary evidence. The physical reason that only in the office have need of the internet has almost made everybody not able almost able to live without the computer or the Internet because it is those who have the resources who make the world running by forcing almost every to see the benefits of the technology. One cannot refuse money passing through the high technology banking using the Internet. One will have to be eventually become part of the banking system of the international communication promoted by the Internet. The economic reasons are obvious. Who does not want cheaper cost of communication and faster way of service? Who would not want to see what is happening in the world when one will have the money to buy even a gadget to have access in the Internet? What would have caused the non-governmental organization to dream for one laptop for each child despite the financial incapacity to acquire one? Should we not rather conclude that there is a strong belief that they the acquisition of knowledge of more knowledge the faster way that will cause intellectual and economic prosperity of these children? There is also enough ground to overcome the argument that that increasingly a part of everyday life, the Internet has allowed the online interpersonal relationships that resulted to breach of relationships and trust and commitment of previously which were romantic relationships before. That the Internet has the ability to affect the structure, timing, and rhythm of relationships, to have affected the couple definition of intimacy in a way that couples who once felt that they were close and connected may now struggle with a new set of rules and codes of conduct that are ambiguous are just sighs of enlightened path for more freedom to intimacy in other forms. It was explained that what may have been termed as internet infidelity is actually a failure to appreciate and adjust to changing reality that people have become more socially adjustable indeed because of the technology. It was thus observed that people engaged in online relationships that can have a detached attachment, immediacy of communication and interaction while maintaining anonymity which transmittal of confessional self-disclosure. The finding by authors of more socially adjusted beings mere pointed to the need to have the technology these days where people could now have parties and occasions even if these people are apart from each other. The argument against by using on line or Internet infidelity is a shortsighted interpretation of the use of the technology as it is basic to understand that it is still the human person who will make a choice and not the Internet. The finding also that online activities resulted to flirtation leading to erotic satisfaction given the mental ability to disassociate the online sex with anything having to do with a person’s real life is just a revelation that man has been doing the same thing in secret with or without the Internet. The Internet was invented to serve mankind and since necessity is the mother of all inventions, one could not but accept the fact the invention has become a necessity. The ever increasing growth of the industry are living proofs Internet is to remain in the lives of many people because not only that the advantages of far outweighs the disadvantages of having the same but the technology come into being because of the need to survive. Economically speaking technology increased production and productivity although population continuously grows. Works Cited:Cooper, Scherer, & Mathy, Overcoming †¦over a 5-year Period’, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 84(2): 352–64, 2001 D Greenfield, Virtual Addiction. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications, 1999. Hertlein and Sendak, Love â€Å"Bytes†: Internet Infidelity and the Meaning of Intimacy in Computer-Mediated Relationships, n. d. , www document} URL http://www. inter-disciplinary. net/ptb/persons/pil/pil1/hertleinsendak%20paper. pdf, Accessed July 14,2007 M Mahu & R Subotnik, Infidelity on the Internet. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc. , 2001, p. 9. Nie, N. Sociability, Interpersonal Relations, and the InternetReconciling Conflicting Findings, 2001, Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 45, No. 3, 420-435 (2001)2001 SAGE Publications, {www document} URL , Pew Research Center Luxury or Necessity? Things We Can’t Live Without: The List Has Grown in the Past Decade December 14, 2006, {www document} URL, http://pewresearch. org/pubs/323/luxury-or-necessity, Accessed July 14,2007 Underwood, H & B Findlay, ‘Internet Relationships and Their Impact on Primary Relationship’, Behavior Change, 21/2, 2004, pp. 127-140.

Grading System Essay

I think this is a good step to change the very old education system of our country. We have progressed and developed in many field but the Educational system is same (implemented during Colonial regime). But the question arises why in only CBSE System. However, this is going to relax most of the students and parents as well. The Students and guardians were used to go under unnecessary pressure and stress twice (X & XII). The Grading system is better than marking system. Meanwhile I fee the Government should also consider on the following matters. 1. There should be one syllabus system in all over India. . This system must be applied to all board exam not only CBSE. Each and every board must follow other wise the students of CBSE will face a great consequences in future. 3. There should be one educational system in all over India. I’ve read these statements, n I think most of the people dint like it bcoz, acc to them there e will be no difference in 91 and 99. i just want to ask that in whole India how many students get above 90 and hw many below 60. obvsly more students are in 2nd category’s we should think on behalf of those who are more in the system get very depressed when they fails! their enthusiasm, will to study further get busted! So it better for those students. At least they can study further with increased enthusiasm that they have to get next grade next year. So thinking as a mess. This sys is excellent and obviously it will reduce the suicide cases adopted by the failure students. Well everything thing has both ways one is positive and another one is negative we are taking about only positive thing that is stress will be remove from students mind, inferiority complex and all that. But there is some person, who is talking about negative point of grading system, if we talk about negative point there are certain points like no students have deep knowledge about the subject and if you do not have deep knowledge you can put up your point in front of class and seminar. Another point is at the time of interview or practical we can’t go because you don’t have idea about the particular thing you have basic knowledge but at the time of practical or interview they will ask the root thing of the particular subject or thing. So these are the few examples of negativity of the grading system. This is a good initiative by kapil sibal. Maniacs of marks should understand that there is no big difference between a student who scores 99 and 90. Nobody is consistent in their scoring which at times happens even beyond expectations. So this hue and cry over marks is pessimism. Every top ranking institute ranks students upon their aptitude where a student getting 60 marks may score better than a book worm who takes 99. 9%. Marks and knowledge on the subject are two different things. Mental ability and overall personality development means more than those digits scored without any purpose of developing knowledge. This system will put an end to such stupidity. Let me clear your view about the Grading system and Marking system (fail & pass). Grading system will be a kind of regular assessment system to check the students’ progress which will allow the students to put their focus on the poor grading subjects. Guardian may check the assessment of their ward and rectify the mistake before it goes beyond control. Usually the students take easy during normal course and take a great stress at the time of Final Exam which not only put them into depression but also allow them to commit suicide either before Exam or after the result. The fear of Pass and failure become the nightmare for the students. At present, to take admission in any professional course you have to appear in test process follow by interview so it will not effect due to getting 98 or 91 or even less than 90. The only thing I realize that educational system of all Board should be one and same. However, a lot need to change in our educational system and I think this is the first step towards the introducing global system of Education in India. Continual assessment of students without board examination is likely to considerably reduce the stress of not only the students but also the parents and teachers. Secondly, continual assessment is a good concept to evaluate a student during the entire academic session. On the contrary, one time assessment via board examination does not reflect the true academic standing of a student. I must congratulate the policy makers in this regard.

Epidemiology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Epidemiology - Essay Example The most important objective is to make assessment about the injury incidence among Sri Lankan flight attendants and to depict the elements of onboard injuries (Agampodi, Dharmaratne and Agampodi, 2009, p. 1-2). The purpose of a good analytical technique is to be able to enumerate precisely each of the unidentified quantities that the laboratory will have to settle on (Maumy, Boulanger, Dewe, Gilbert and Govaerts, 2005). Assessing the occurrence of onboard injury requires the stipulation of the injuries of Sri Lankan flight attendants. One policy is to use measures, which take into consideration the quantitative nature of the onboard injury (Quantifying disease in populations, n.d.). The purpose of this assessment is to apply epidemiological concepts to critically review this given article. A vivid cross-sectional study was executed among Sri Lankan flight attendants. All flight attendants experiencing their annual physical condition and first aid preparation were encouraged to participate. Flight attendants who flew incessantly for a six-month phase prior to data compilation were incorporated in the study sample. Flight attendants experiencing preliminary training before their primary flight (novel recruits) and flight attendants who had not flown for 6 months (such as following childbirth) were kept out from the study (Agampodi, Dharmaratne and Agampodi, 2009, p. 2). The sample was not derived from a proper random sampling. It comprised of batches of flight attendants employed in the identical time period in dissimilar years. Diversities in training procedures could influence the result of the current study. Another restriction was recall bias. Accounting of injury is reliant on recollect, which count on individual traits, rigorousness of injuries and impact of the i njury on the individual (Agampodi, Dharmaratne and Agampodi, 2009, p. 4). Epidemiology is the study of how frequently ailments take place in

Philosophy Theroy- Conclusion and Premises Essay

Philosophy Theroy- Conclusion and Premises - Essay Example l of prevalent societal attitudes at the time of the film’s making, but could as easily be transferred to more modern times, forcing the viewer to focus on the psychological action occurring rather than the latest high-dollar computer graphic imagery or fast-moving car chase scene. The film opens as the judge in a courtroom informs the jury of its duties before releasing them into the jury room. As the judge speaks, the camera pans across the different faces of the men who comprise the jury as well as the big-eared wide-eyed boy defendant. As the judge gives his directions, he makes it clear that this is a capital murder case and, should the jury return with a guilty verdict, the sentence will be death. With this harsh task on their minds, the jury files quietly into the jury room, none of them looking at the defendant as they do so but with the defendant watching each one of them in turn. As the case is presented, it is made clear that the boy, just turned 18, is on trial for his life accused of having killed his own father in an angry knife attack and then callously removing himself from the home to go watch a film. It is up to the jury to decide, by a vote of guilty or innocent, whether this boy lives or dies. Either they let him go free or they condemn him to death. As the jury files into the room, it is obvious some of them are deeply affected by the weight of their decision while others are clearly convinced their conclusions are obvious. As none of the jurymen are identified by name for most of the movie, only two of them exchanging names at the very end of the film, the only way to refer to them is by their jury number, which is made easier as they sit at the table in this order. Casual chatter before they all convene officially indicates that most of the jury members feel the case is fairly solid, the boy is undeniably guilty of the crime. As the film moves forward, the reasons for this assurance are revealed. First, the boy was known to have

Summarise Anthony Giddens' and Ulrich Beck's conceptions of risk. With Essay

Summarise Anthony Giddens' and Ulrich Beck's conceptions of risk. With reference to the wider academic literature in this M - Essay Example The current modernity is part of the radical break of the transition from industrial to a risk society. Humans must now deal with the global risks introduced by scientific and technological inventions that provide conceptual and technical tools that enable humans identify, quantify, and mitigate risks. The transformations from traditional to modern societies create fundamental societal evolutions that can provide guidelines during risk management. Beck (1992) outlines characteristics and differences between two periods that have caused the risk society. The first period is the industrial society that created a class society corresponding to the primary modernization (Beck, 1992). The second period of the risk society creates a reflexive modernity. The Post-war boom and triumph of capitalism after the cold war created a new form of social organization characterized by individualization. This individualization created successive crises caused by threats to health, economic and medical activities, and scientific environment. These challenges remain at the forefront of public debates and limit expert opinions and regulations (Beck, 1992). The challenges from the scientific environment led to the Chernobyl disaster and catastrophes in Toulouse and New York. These attacks and accidents ushered in the risk society caused by advancement in the field of social advancements created by science and capitalism. According to Beck (1992), the social transformation predominant in the western societies is one of the causes of the risk society. Modernization has led to technological and scientific progress as well as disembodied risks associated with modern technology. Advancement in technology has led to incalculability of consequences associated with the use of these technologies. This was evident during the cold war due to the military inventions of the Soviet Union (Beck, 1992). Western countries felt threatened by the weapons developed by the Soviet Union during the cold wa r. The western governments had to define enemy capabilities by estimating the number of nuclear warheads owned by the Soviet Union. The west had to pinpoint the targets of the soviet missiles and plan retaliatory attacks in case the soviet army launched attacks. These uncertainties and risks were caused by technological advancements of the modern society. Industrialization and scientific innovations had led to the development of long range nuclear warheads that caused tension between the Soviets and the West. Technological inventions pose threats such as cyber crime to the western countries. Information security is a major concern for several institutions. This has led to counter inventions that protect information and curb cyber crime. Huawei, a Chinese company, has developed hardware technologies that prevent cyber crimes to ensure data security for businesses and governments (The Economist, 2012). Globalization has helped the company expand its services from china to other region s in Africa and Asia. The company has since appealed to the British government to purchase its equipment. The government has the responsibility of protecting its citizens from some of the risks and receives blame when disaster strikes. The British signals-intelligence agency is working together with Huawei to test the equipment to protect the citizens against cyber attacks (The Economist,

Art Tatum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Art Tatum - Essay Example In spite of his blindness, though, Art Tatum grew to become one of the great jazz musicians of his time. Tatum’s musical ability manifested itself at an early age. By the age of three, he was replicating music he had heard on the radio on the piano. His parents encouraged him in his music and eventually sent him off at the age of 16 to attend the Columbus School for the Blind. While learning how to read Braille, Tatum also studied music, both at his school and later with Overton G. Rainey, a classic pianist, at the Toledo School of Music. Tatum’s jazz talent was thus primarily self-taught but was good enough to get him his own show on the local radio station by the time he was 18. One year later and Tatum was working at Ohio’s Waiters’ and Bellmans’ Club, playing piano with singer Jon Hendricks. News of the young player began to spread and famous jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Joe Turner and Fletcher Henderson began dropping in as they passed through town to hear him play. It wasn’t until 1932 when Tatum was 22 that singer Adelaide Hall decided to bring him to New York as her accompanist and his music began to be recorded. The earliest known recording is a 1932 test pressing of ‘Tiger Rag’, which was professionally recorded the following year. The song provides an excellent example of Tatum’s abilities as it features crashing bass notes, flowing cascades on both the left and right hands and a brutally fast tempo that showed off Tatum’s amazing dexterity. Tatum also participated in so-called ‘cutting contests’ while he was in New York, competing against other pianists such as Fats Weller and James P. Johnson for bragging rights that he never lost. Between 1933 and 1938, Tatum traveled around playing his piano visiting many of the large cities with big jazz followings including Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and several locations in England,

Dell in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dell in China - Essay Example With this rise in production, the country's revenue will expand together with individuals buying power. One of the social changes happening in China is the role of computing and computing equipments in the social system. The case mentioned that top-level managers are becoming more and more technologically adept as they are becoming internet savvy. The country is still immature in terms of technology. This is one of the most important considerations for Dell as it also wants to employ its direct-model strategy in China through the utilization of internet technology. The patronage of internet is hampered by the government's regulation which is speculated by the people to be against them. The major strength of Dell, Inc. is its utilization of a business model which enables it to reap various benefits which are not enjoyed by its competitors. The direct business cut a significant amount of cost in the company's supply chain by eliminating the less value adding activities in the value chain. Inventories were kept low and technological breakthroughs are delivered to the customer within a week opposed to previous two months. The direct business model also enabled the company to market directly to the customer, thereby offering more customized products. Another strength of Dell's is its cost leadership strategy.

How Much Does Culture and Lifestyle Affect Behavior Assignment

How Much Does Culture and Lifestyle Affect Behavior - Assignment Example Our societal lifestyle is the outcome of our social values, norms, and customs which are deeply rooted in our behavior. This idea supports the fact that a person accustomed to a negative habit or situation would perceive it in a positive way. Consequently, he would be inclined towards it despite various restricting rules. Excessive restrictions or binding laws in a society may often compel people to adopt a particular behavior out of curiosity. Although biological impressions tend to develop innate behavior, culture and lifestyle maintain a significant impact on peoples’ social behavior. Education, training and religious preaching are considered to be the effective ways of controlling negative impacts of a society. A learned fellow is believed to be more mature in handling the negative societal impacts than a person not cultured to perceive the difference between good and bad. Technology is another determinant of measuring cultural influences on human behavior. People living in a technically advanced area are more affected by the good and evil that technology brings into their lifestyle. Technology may nurture a rather advanced culture that accepts certain notions which are otherwise condemned in a conventional society. Scientists also regard certain psychological disorders as the outcome of a person’s culture or lifestyle. These may include obsessive-compulsive disorders or the psyche of overdoing things etc. Thus, it can be deduced that culture and lifestyle play a major role in affecting human behavior. In today’s world of globalization managers often come across a culturally diversified workforce. Such dealing demands a little more than the conventional management concepts.

A variety of English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

A variety of English - Essay Example 29). In their discussion on language variation Becker and Bieswanger (2006, p. 174) specify that a variety of English language may stem from three distinguishable components which can be identified as 1) geographical 2) sociolects and 3) functional. As stated previously, geographic varieties are explored through the recognition of characteristics that are linked with the adoption of dialects on the basis of region. However, the notion of sociolects encompasses the critical influence of social aspects in addition with economic components as the key factors for determining the extent of language variation as it emerges as an outcome of social status, nature of job or work and affiliation with groups. Accordingly, the aspect of functional varieties is linked with the selected use of language as per the existing scenario and the specific requirements of interaction with regard to the given situation (Becker and Bieswanger 2006, p. 174). Once the basic assessment of language variation has been conducted, it is important to suggest that the concept of a standard denotes that a specific linguistic system is labeled as the norm in a society and thus distinguishes itself from the variation of linguistic systems which may exist in the same society. As an integral concept in the study of linguistics, the notion of variety has been incorporated into scholarly works and analysis to identify and apply the teachings of the discipline for comprehending the role of language as the most significant element of human reality and the social construct. In alignment with this view, this paper comprehensively explores the popular debate on the notion of whether the existence of language variation in English can possibly encourage the language to emerge as truly neutral means of communication and correspondence. The paper incorporates scholarly articles and sociolinguistic

Cleopatra - Her Influence & Effect on Culture Essay

Cleopatra - Her Influence & Effect on Culture - Essay Example What make Cleopatra’s influence on culture so strong are the remarkable facts of her life. Ascending the throne at a tender age of 17, she was forced to go into exile 3 years later. Languishing in exile in Arabia, she mustered all her resources in raising an army. The romantic side of her life has added to the allure of her legend. This includes â€Å"her enchantment of Caesar (smuggling herself into the royal palace, according to Plutarch, in a rolled-up sack) and her legendary appearance, dressed as Aphrodite in a gilded boat, before Mark Antony. Even Shakespeare's febrile description of the spectacle -- "So perfumed that/The winds were love-sick" -- is based on contemporary accounts.† (Denny, 2001, p.40) But her relevance to the contemporary world is not something immutable, as demonstrated by recent developments surrounding her legacy. As historians utilize forensic and other advanced research techniques to revise historical accounts, many unknown facts pertaining t o iconic figures like Cleopatra have emerged. One such is the logical deduction by American scholar Martin Bernal (the most prominent of a long line of Afro-centrist classical historians). Bernal claims that most previous historians underestimated the culture of Egypt as they were unwilling to acknowledge that Greek, and by extension all European, civilization had its beginnings in Africa. But, thanks to Bernal, this Afro-centrist view became more acceptable - indeed more fashionable to articulate. The clearest manifestation of this change in public perception and acceptance of historical facts is witnessed in the British theatre scene. â€Å"In the summer of 1991 two productions of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra were running in London. In each of them  Cleopatra was played by a black actress: one of whom, Donna Croll of the Talawa Theatre Company, told a reporter 'the fable of the white  Cleopatra is just another way of bleaching out history'... Just as  Cleopatra had pr eviously been co-opted into playing a part in discussions about the ethics of suicide, the status of a wife and the comparative merits of aristocratic or autocratic government, so in the last years of the twentieth century she found herself at the centre of a debate about race relations.† (Hughes-Hallett, 2006, p.70) It should be remembered that Egypt and Rome of first century BCE were multi-racial societies. Being the centers trade and politics, the cities hosted tens of thousands of slaves. Cleopatra’s father was a Ptolemy, his stock being derived from descendants of one of Alexander’s generals. His roots could be traced to Macedonia, where natives tend to be fair of skin color. â€Å"Theoretically he, and all his forebears for over two centuries, had been the offspring of incestuous brother-sister marriages, and were therefore purebred (as well as inbred) Greeks. In fact, it occurred more than once that the heir to the throne of Ptolemaic Egypt was the child of a royal concubine of unrecorded origin. Cleopatra was one such case. We do not know who her mother was.† (Hughes-Hallett, 2006, p.70) It is highly likely that Cleopatra was thus inter-racial, thus adding to her exoticism. The fact

SwoT Essay Example for Free

SwoT Essay Before identifying the potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Sharp faces in solar panel market. We must first examine the solar panel industry as a whole. The future growth of industry and the demand for solar panels is contingent on two economic drivers. These two factors include what types of energy will be used to fuel the growth of developing nations and how and where the energy is produced. The first economic driver that could potentially increase the growth of the industry lays in the fact that securing traditional energy as a means of fueling growth is ecoming increasingly more expensive with an ever-growing demand. The growth in demand for traditional energy can be attributed to the development of countries such as China and India. The second economic driver that will dictate the growth of the industry is the fact that over the next few decades developing nations will shift away from centralized energy production to more local production. On the grounds that developing countries dont have the current infrastructure such as electrical grids and decentralized energy production is much more cost effective than building such infrastructure (Bradford, 2006). In closing, the future growth of the solar industry hinges on developing nations using renewable energy to fuel their growth and leap frog the expense of constructing infrastructure to distribute traditional forms of energy with decentralized production. After identifying the two drivers that will dictate the future growth of the solar panel industry, we can examine the projections made about the future growth of the industry. The current market is over five billion dollars annually with new markets continuing to develop. Predictions have been made that the solar cell manufacturing ndustry will be a twenty- five billion plus industry by 2010 (CSU, 2007). While the solar panel industry has experienced a steady stream of growth for the last six years with growth estimated at a rate of thirty percent annually (Businessweek, 2006). In conclusion, the solar panel industry has experienced a consistent annual rate of growth that will only continue to increase with the growing trend towards renewable energy. Now that we have examined the economic drivers that will fuel the growth of the industry and the current growth the industry has experienced we can began to xamine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Sharp faces. The foundation of Sharps strength in the solar panel industry stems from their experience manufacturing solar powered fuel cells. Since 1963 Sharp Corporation has been mass producing solar powered fuel cells. This translates into roughly forty years of production experience. With Sharps solar panel division being the second largest producer within the industry. Another crucial strength that Sharp possesses is its effective utilization of its working capital generated from its sale of consumer lectronics. Sharp uses this working capital to fund research and development and gain a foothold in developing markets as a means of achieving their long-term goal of becoming an industry leader. Sharp is currently allocating billions of dollars to the research and development of new cutting edge technology before industry rivals beat them to the punch (Hall, 2008). In addition, to investing in new technology, Sharp is increasing their production capacity with construction of a new factory in to produce solar panels suitable for the climates in Southern Europe, Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and Africa (Williams, 2008) pcmag. Finally, Sharp has Just recently announced a partnership with Italian energy company costing 1. 05 billion dollars to build several solar power-generating plants in the next four years. With Sharp collecting royalties from Enels sales generated from the new plants. In summary, one of Sharps biggest strengths is their ability to effectively utilize their working capital and take the necessary actions to accomplish their long-term goal of being the industry leader. After evaluating the strengths Sharp brings to the ndustry, we can begin to evaluate their weaknesses within the industry. One of the greatest weaknesses of Sharp stems from the fact that they are headquartered in Japan. Which has the highest production costs in the entire world . The high production costs of manufacturing in Japan poses a serious threat by hampering their ability to offer prices competitive with those of the competition. Who manufacture their products in countries with much lower labor costs. Another weakness of Sharp is the susceptibility to changes in the value of other countries currency eroding their sales (Funding Universe, unknown). In summary, the weaknesses of Sharp Corporation consist of manufacturing in the world most expensive country and their vulnerability to changing exchange rates negatively impacting their sales. After reviewing the weaknesses of Sharp within the industry we can now examine the opportunities Sharp has within the industry. With the growing trend towards transitioning to renewable energy sources, there are multiple opportunities within the industry that Sharp can capitalize on as a means achieving growth. One of the greatest opportunities presented to Sharp Corporation within the industry is Europes oal to obtain twenty percent of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2020. Even if only a quarter of the renewable energy quota were generated through solar power, the entire industry would have to multiply their production by twenty-five (Schenker, 2008). Europes commitment to renewable energy presents Sharp with the opportunity of unlimited demand for their solar panels. On the grounds that the industry will most likely not be able to increase production capacity to meet the ambitious goals Europe has set for themselves. In summary, Europes commitment to enewable energy poses a substantial opportunity for Sharp to increase their presence within the industry. With the growing trend of modernization brought on by globalization developing nations present Sharp with yet another opportunity to achieve growth. Solar energy has proven to be one of the best solutions for providing electricity to the rural communities around the globe. With 1. 6 million people in developing countries not having access to electricity grids. Sharp has the opportunity to invent and manufacturer solar panel products, which are suitable to the needs of those living ithout, access to electricity (EPIA, 2009). So, as Sharp continues to improve production efficiency and cut costs, they are presented with the valuable opportunity of developing solar panel specifically suited to the needs of those in developing nations. The opportunity to provide solar panel products to developing nations would out the goal of taking action that help Sharp become a global company while contributing to the construction of a sustainable society (Sharp, 2009). In summary, the developing world and the 1. 6 million people without electricity present Sharp ith the opportunity of new markets while helping to strengthen their dedication to social responsibility. After examining the opportunities that are currently available to Sharp within the industry, we can begin to examine the current threats Sharp faces. Before February 2008 Sharp held the ranking of number one producer within the industry. However, they have recently been replaced by Q-cells. Founded in 1999 in Germany, Q-cells was able to surpass Sharp due to their ability to acquire the necessary amount of poly silicon during the recent shortages (Calflnder, 2008). In ummary, the German company Q-cells poses a serious threat to Sharp, with their ability to rise to the number one position ten years after going into business. Sharp also faces a serious threat from manufacturers abroad, whose governments provide larger subsidies than the Japanese government. Sharp faces a serious threat from competitors in China, where the government subsidies aimed creating a stronger market for domestic manufacturer is three times as large as the current subsidies offered by the Japanese government. In summary, Sharp faces an international threat from manufacturers within China whose government subsidies far surpass hose offered in Japan. In conclusion, what once began as small metal works shop has transformed into an international corporation. With the foundation of their success being attributed to the corporate culture created by its founder Tokuji Hayakawa. His emphasis on the importance of investing in the development of new technologies is the reason Sharp is where they are today. With Sharps abundance of working capital, and the opportunities that exist within Europe and developing nations Sharp will almost certainly be able to reclaim their spot as the number one industry leader.

Can Participatory Democracy Replace Representative Democracy Politics Essay

Can Participatory Democracy Replace Representative Democracy Politics Essay Over the past years, it has been observed that liberal democracy and it is choices of representations that is founded on appropriation of power through provoked consent has not been able to deliver freedoms and development and therefore, is considered a non functional choice. This essay is arguing that participatory democracy is not only a viable alternative to representative democracy. But it is the only viable option for the troubled societies of the modern era; it descends from democracy in its true form direct democracy and hence leads to progress and development. Which constitute it attraction as a renewed theory seeks response to representative democracy crisis. This essay used the model of Kerala in India to provide a case example of that participatory democracy with all its positive achievement is yet, to be empowered through proper participation and enriched experiences. Using critical analysis the essay will provide discussions on the notions of democracy in general, representative democracy and its critiques and overview of participatory democracy origins and features shortly try to draw the distinction between participatory democracy and deliberative democracy consecutively then overview of discussions around the Model of Kerala participatory democracy, finally discussions between PD/RD in the context of the developing world. Democracy: the contested notion According to William Connolly, democracy is a fundamentally contested notion on which it is impossible to reach an agreement (Barber, 1984). Although the differences in opinions might be frustrating it still does not destroy the worth of the contested concept. Before we indulge in the discussion whether participatory democracy is a viable alternative to representative democracy or not, we must understand what those terms stand for and how contested visions interpreted them, but first understanding the term democracy in its essence. Although a recent article by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen (2005) highlights revealed evidences that democracy has been theorised in many civilisations including Asian, African as well as in European and American. But, as part of our Eurocentric knowledge (said 2003); the word democracy commonly makes its origins from ancient Greece. With the supremacy of the Roman Empire, the theory of democracy declined. However, it found its way back into the European thought with the fall of the Roman Empire, primarily because of the translation of Aristotles politics into Latin in the early 1260s. (Beetham 2005) Since then debates on democracy have become a vital part of the Western culture and have continued to grow and merge into mainstream thought process. It is interesting to note that when Aristotle spoke about democracy in his work, he meant direct democracy; a form in which people rule and are ruled in turn. The underlying issue is that self-government is deemed as a critical element of democracy or in fact the essence of democracy. In present times where most discourses on democracy are occupied by discussions on election; elections are held for relatively longer times, indulge in exhaustive policy-drafting roles, the conditions of democracy are not met and hence the government no longer remains a democracy but turns into an oligarchy, despite the participation of all citizens in the election process. However, with due course of time, with redefinition, the notion of democracy has gained a new history to a certain extent, one which has almost nothing to do with its roots in ancient Greece (Bruce 2004). The previous concept of democracy had evolved because of historical incidents where lower classes, mostly the peasants, acquired a more active and unique civic status. Hence this form democracy origin begins with European feudalism rather than Athenian democracy. In our modern era, many people regard democracy as sacrosanct, and they are not eager to adopt or even try different governing. Amartya Sen (1999) in his article Democracy as a Universal Value, building on the argument that there are diverse origins for democracy criticising the tendency toward oversimplification that The practice of democracy that has won out in the modern West is largely a result of a consensus that has emerged since the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution(p.15) and it need to be exported to the rest of the world. He rejects the claims that Asian values and traditions are not supportive for democracy, providing examples from Asia and Africa history, making the point that democracy is a universal value (p.16). One important issue coincided democracy practice and theory is the majority rule. Dahl (1989) provides rational justification for accepting the majority rule using four different ways including: maximising the number of people who can exercise self-determination in collective decisions (p.138); majority rule is more likely can reach correct decisions, finally it maximise the utility based on maximising the satisfaction on decisions and there is no other cost-effective rule. Although justification form authors who favour or disfavour majority rule are always present it has been accepted in most practices of democracies. For instance see David Estlund (1997), who argues against the majority rule and fair proceduralism and favour of fair deliberative proceduralism. However, in this regard the term democracy has been understood as government by consent (Bhagwati 1995). The term democracy became a reference to a field where different parties test the strength and feasibility of their respective point of views, or even as a reward to be accomplished by a party that can provide the most solid, logical and convincing arguments (Barber 1984). The western practice of democracy was heavily shaped by the consequent politics of representation that followed the French and American revolutions, moving away from the face to face interaction of the ancient Athenian city direct democracy to representative democracy (Dahl 1989). REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY Similar to the overall democracy concept, the notion of representative democracy is no less contestation (Saward 2008). The varieties of human experiences in practicing representation enriched the notion, and made it almost impractical to define using dictionaries statement. The theories have gone far, for example Michael Saward (2008) is claiming that all democratic politics is representative politics (p.1005), denying that the direct democracy is not more democratic than the representative democracy and representative democracy is not in contrast with direct democracy but incorporating it. However, I can outline three peculiarities in order to understand representative democracy mainly 1) Election: people vote to elected officials to be considered as their democratic representatives; they have 2) Delegation: they are delegated by their trustees, to practice 3) Mediation: they are assigned to speak on behalf of social groups interests within a forum normally referred to as assembly or parliament etc, having discussions to reach a 4) Collective decision making( Laver and Kenneth A. Shepsle 1994). In short, Representative democracy is about having fair voting process and the result of that voting determine who will decide and what decision are going to be decided. Representation is based on the assumption that members of the society and social agents thriving for Nobel goals of their own society can act as the engineers of social evolution, in settings of cooperation, harmony, dialogue, respect for variations in culture and also for economic agents, opens up bright promising avenues for growth and progress. Primarily this assumption is challenged by the situation of the developing world of today where many democracies collapsed (Diskin 2005). In the early seventeenth and eighteenth centuries coupling the growth of liberal thought in many western regions, division of powers theory and human right culture that claimed by the mentioned revolutions; the overall representative democracies form of governance and mixed governments has referred to as liberal democracies. Best example for this is England, which a mixed government where the King represented monarchic principle, the aristocratic one being represented by the House of Lords and the House of Commons symbolizing democracy. Now since the King was also identified as an executive, the legislature being the House of Commons, and the House of Lords at least to a degree as the judiciary (Chavez and Franklin 2004). Â  Within a representative democracy it is assumed that wide-ranging public and political association bonding the society, triggered from outside the political dome of liberal democracy for a mutual enlistment of forces of the entire society and productive cadres from the political groups set up the stage for a powerful and solid representative democracy (Gruegel 2002). In a similar manner as they interact in real life in social procedures and dealings. Expertise, skill and charisma are the true skills of any good governance, but only once reliability, democracy and integrity are ensured (Huber and Stephens 1997). Leadership is not by self-postulation in representative democracy which prevents turning suspected support, intellect or expertise into the key sources for any claims to leadership. Gentle, honest, moral, intelligent and social skills acquire enough space to speak for it and perform in a political liberation operation based on progress, representation and ideology, rather than be dominated into exclusion by the immorality and deficits that hold command over the otherwise political scene (Kaufman 1997). David Beetham (2005) out line some principles to distinguish representative democracy form other forms particularly oligarchy to justify rule by the few including equal right for all citizens to elect and be elected for all public office except for those position that requires special qualifications. Transparent official and legal access to it, freedom of expression, and the right of forming associations including media firms and other forms of associations, with the possibility of influencing decisions from the bottom up, the rights of citizens are legally protected and they have the right to vote on constitutional amendments and changes. Undeniably, those are human rights together with other political, social and economical rights are essential frame work for any of our modern eras forms of democracy, but not necessarily related only to the representative democracy. The overall practice and theory of liberal democracy or representative form of governance has been critiqued and challenged by many political theories, importantly in this essay I will provide a brief overview about those theories, because re-theorising direct democracy in the name of participatory democracy has built its advocacy on the below areas of analysis: The domination of elite theories: the classics elite theorist like Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano Mosca, and Robert Michels, tried to articulate the gap between the governing group and the rest of society and highlight the domination of powers in few people hands, interestingly the critiques goes both side socialist and liberal arenas as it focus on the issue ultimate domination by few people to take the decisions, for Michels within any attempt to institutionalise the society there are going to be an iron law of oligarchy: an ultimate domination by few people in case of governments they are beaurocrats. A more recent attempts to articulate the same gap arguing that the public policies are and administration outcomes not reflecting the will of the citizens, but rather they are from an elite consensus (Bachrach 1967; Van den 1979). The Marxist critiques of the state being a tool in the hands of the oppressor ruling class; which focus on the structural classification of the society, and articulates the domination of economical sphere, upon the politics and ideology without the necessity for ruling class members to personally oversee the workings of the government. In the Marxist views the liberal democracy has been seen as distancing the masses from any genuine form of participation, and creating representative bodies (parliaments) which exclude and alienate the bulk of the population (Blaug and Schwarzmantel 2003 p.232) The anarchist critiques which emphasises the rule of propaganda in controlling the public, and the media is naturally in the hands of the powerful (Chomsky 2003 p. 246) and see the state has broken the social contract ; hence the call is for resistance and rebellion for aim of free Society. The modern political theories critiques, one dimension is the claims that economic factors exert a powerful effect on voting decisions, depending on government economic performance the political support can operate (Sander 1994 p.93). Another dimension is the valid critique that within a representative democracy there are dynamics for exclusion. One convincing critique is the feminist one, which clarify the fact that the basic unit of liberal democracy has always been a man, an actor in the public sphere, a male property accumulator (Blaug and Schwarzmantel 2003 p.301). Given the destructive nature of the criticism that dominated the discourse around liberal democracy (Duncan 1983 p.196), the liberal theorists in return considered remittances by practicing deliberative opinions polls and referendums in expanding the practice of democracy (Beetham 2005). David Beetham (2005) theoretically argues that a government can be a democracy only to the extent that that the selection to every office, or to each office, except the ones which necessitate expertise and skill, ought to be made by lot. This implies that nobody gets to enjoy the same position more than once except for the case of military positions (Beetham 2005), thus any theory of civic skills must take into account that citizens are embedded in networks of social, as well as political, relationships(Mutz 2006 p.150). One can argue Beetham (2005) that changing the faces would not change facts outlined by the above theories that representative democracy is not representing the will of people. Conse quently, led to what Herbert Marcuse stated as a mutilated crippled and frustrated human existence (as cited in Duncan 1983 p.195). Participatory democracy: For participatory democracy a likely starting point is the notion of sovereignty or of self-government. Amongst the contemporary theories of democracy, this is the oldest and the only one that is widely accepted by citizens and political leaders, the theory was initially presented in writings of Thomas Paine, United States constitutions preamble and even in Lincolns address of Gettysburg (Beetham 2005). A key component of this concept is political independence, that is, a given set of people shall not administer themselves if they were subjected to any form of governance by anybody outside that set/group. This is considered as an essential requirement for participatory democracy. Another prerequisite is that the given independent set cannot be subjugated by any monarchy, any other traditional aristocracy, or any other group, but is only accountable to and is controlled by the population in general (Pinkney 2003). The theoretical starting point of this stipulation is that in general p eople are fundamentally concerned with leading their own lives and have a basic right to do so (Gaventa 2004). Digging in ancient Greeks theories of direct democracy and thoroughly studying the social contract of Jean Jacques Rousseau together with on liberty of John Stuart Mill, Carole Pateman (1970) came up with notion of participatory democracy aiming to reconstruct democracy by providing structural institutions reforms for participation. According to her the distinction criterion of the ideal form of participatory democracy, that draws the basic distinction between representative and direct democracy; is the equal opportunity of citizens to participate in decision making and in creating institutional platform for this participation based on the argument that individuals and institutions cannot be understood apart from each other. She takes the discussion further to look at the conditions of equal participation arguing that having representatives in the public domain will not ensure proper level of engagement of citizens on decisions affecting them. One of her major views, is the more part icipation the more stable system of democracy can be obtained. She argues that all social and political including family, employment institutions are to be democratised in order to reach the aspired ideal of representative democracy. She also emphasised the necessity of democratic training to be grounded at the family level as foundation for political public participation. A major shift in Patemans notion of participatory was done by Benjamin Barber (1984) who also draws his work on Rousseau and the classics, he critiques of representative democracy which he considers thin meaning not very democratic and contradicting the Western values of social Justice, equality and freedom because of the second outline in the previous mention peculiarities of representative democracy saying: It delegates and thus alienates political will at the cost of genuine self-government and autonomy. As Rousseau warned the instant people allows itself to be represented it loses its freedom. Freedom and citizenship are correlates; each sustain and give life to the other (p.145). For him the absence of community sense in representative democracy makes equality just a fiction while social justice depraved by encroaching self-sufficiently and personal autonomy. Going back to Sen (2005) and Said (2003) and many others, indeed those principles and values are not Western, they are just human values, maybe Benjamin Barber failed to express the manner of values and relate them to the West, but he succeeded to emphasise the role of community in order to strengthen participatory democracy. When he prioritise community participation over individual participation, indicating that community participation when combined with essential training means real participation in setting the agendas for deliberation, legislation and on policy implementation. The individual participation is just another rational for individualism. From the same point of favouring training, without direct link with literature of participatory democracy or the mentioned theorist framework, Paulo Freire (1970) coming from socialist prospective and using Marxists lexicons writing Pedagogy of the Oppressed a book that influenced and informed participatory democracy theory and practice. Freire (1970) laid out important foundations for developing world experiences of participatory; first by directing participation from the intellectual rhetoric of the west into the developing countries, secondly by centring the dialogue in the heart of participation to reach consensus and agreements and indeed the earlier dialogue begins the more truly revolutionary will be the movement (p.128); thirdly and most importantly attributing the theory with social movement aspects of empowering the people through abolishment the teacher-student dichotomy as very basic roles in participation. To summarise the explanation of notion of participatory democracy, I can extract from the reviewed materials and from the above discussion cornerstones of participatory democracy, which involve 1) Democratic active political participation in all society institutions 2) Direct community involvement in dialogue and decision making. 3) Expansion of people participation in governance. 4) Empowering the community through the provision of relevant trainings. 5) Expansion of civil society role within the society. It is very important to distinguish between participatory democracy and deliberative democracy, because there is overlapping between participative and deliberative theories as both points of views are mutually supporting. In general, participatory democracy stresses on the extent of citizen participation, while on the other hand, deliberative democracy focuses on the quality of citizen participation (Fisher 2003). In order to comply with the participatory standard, it is essential for all citizens to be politically active with an additional requirement that their involvement be sincere and not driven be any logical reason. While these positions are unique, some advocates of either view contest the benefits of embracing the other one. In short, the advantages of complete citizen partnership will increase if their participation was reasonable, whereas, more widespread participation would boost the advantages of reasonable debate amongst the public. The most vivid distinction in the two ways is that participatory democracy possesses the tendency to absorb and merge civil society into its political system, whereas, the deliberative democracy identifies and even acknowledges the independent reality of the political domain (Webster 2002). Finally, in deliberative democracy different views continues to discuss until reframing a point of view that is mutually acceptable, while in participatory people may accept voting as an exit mechanism from the discussion. Having discussed the cornerstones of participatory democracy, it is now worthy to mention that over the past twenty years or so participatory institutions have gained popularity throughout the developing nations in an attempt to intensify the quality of democracy. In countries such as India, Brazil, Indonesia, Venezuela, local governments have experimented with participatory form of government to foster accountability and create active and well-informed citizens which help in establishing the atmosphere for realizing social justice (Prendergast 2005). In these states, participatory democracy has been able to produce set political and social progresses which have immensely deepened the quality of democracy (Fisher 2003). Social capital was generated, empowerment of citizens became a possibility and most of all government systems started to became fair and transparent. Insights of participatory democracy More relevant to reality than theory is to provide a case, in order to analyse the rigour of the claims in the previous analysis of the theoretical framework, through summarising the outcomes of many studies and researches done around one case which is Kerala in India. The justification for selection of Kerala could be: it is an experience of participatory democracy within a developing country, it attracted hundreds of scholars from around the globe by claiming success in transforming the society (Ramanathaiyer and MacPherson 2000), literature is available, the size of participation claimed is very big compared to other places, it involve both rural and urban areas, it is relatively happened within an worlds largest democracy and the developing countries oldest democracy when compared to other examples of Porto Alegre of Brazil and south Africa, it broke through and within a society feudalism specifically caste system and then draw some lessons learnt from the case. Note worthily the Kerala model of participatory democracy has been referred to: in consulted literature as socialist democracy (Heller 2009; Williams 2009) participatory development Participatory governance (Fung and Wright 2003; Hordijk 2005). For the aim of consistency and for the subject of our essay I will keep it as Participatory democracy. Inheriting a burden of a developing region, with a diversity of social stratifications the socialist governments in Kerala adopted participatory approach in engaging the people in their own development (Parayil 2000). Village councils empowered through involvement in the preparation of detailed development plans that are then put to vote in village assemblies, 140 Assembly constituencies created, mass planning and participation conducted at least 10% of the population participated in planning activities, public meetings and seminars are routine for instance Maitreesh Ghatak and Maitreya Ghatak (2002) states that:Since 1998 meetings have been regularly held in practically all of the around forty-five thousand constituencies over the state(p.49)., trainings learning-by-doing workshops to directly involve citizens in decision making, the process made to connects the peoples deliberations to actual decisions is more direct and less subject to bureaucratic alteration, social-economic data collection, cadastral plan updating by citizens, On the construction of small bridges and roads many cases of public taking, and drains by themselves, participatory developmental project skills and experiences developed leading to mobilisation of local resources and voluntary networks and excellent projects deliverable in many cases below the estimated budgets, have been reported. Hundreds thousands of citizens are volunteering in planning execution of developmental projects. Networks and structures of expertise retired skilled workers were created and made functional. Mass social and community mobilisation campaigns conducted (Heller and Isaac 2003; Parayil 1996; Ramanathaiyer and MacPherson 2000; Ramachandran 2000). Many strategies to enhance citizen participation were adopted including but not limited to: (1) allocation of funds that mandates that certain amounts must be spent on interventions targeting the needs of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, addressing women, children, the disabled, and the elderly; (2) participation, in which one-third of the number of seats in the committees and assemblies is reserved for women and a proportionate number is reserved for marginalised castes and historically disempowered tribes and communities in the assemblies; (3) massive capacity-building and awareness raising intervention and campaigns to sensitize the involved with the planning process as well as the assemblers and committees; and (4) continuous monitoring and evaluation for these components at many levels (Chettiparamb 2006). The allocation of funds in practice was proportionally high Starting in 1996, about 40 per cent of the state government controlled funds were devolved from the bureaucra cy to panchayat village planning councils (Ghatak and Ghatak 2002 p.53). It has been argued that this led to corruption cases (Das 2000), Indeed it did at the beginning but through transparency and participation in monitoring the practice has remarkably improved in terms of development there have been some positive outcomes already, including a decline in the prevailing cynicism towards development activities(Datta 1997 as cited in Crook and Sverrisson 1999). Kerala participatory democracy model has already established its success in development, centring planning and mass participation as instruments of social mobilisation in decentralised administration; in which the ultimate aim of decentralisation has to be to give opportunity for as much direct participation of people in daily governance as possible (Isaac 2000 p.7). As well as supporting microfinance, which aims, alleviate poverty and empowers women (Devika and Thampi 2007) In this state of 30 million of population, successive waves of social movements, a rich and competitive sector of civic organizations and citizens who know and use their rights have kept political parties and the State accountable, producing Indias most competitive party system and its most efficacious state (Heller 2000). Chettiparamb (2006) stressed that the confidence in civil society institution that competent of decision making was moderately aligned with goals of participatory democracy, democratic decentralization, and deliberative planning (p.188). Success was based not on upraising some subaltern vision but by first destroying feudalism through popular land reform policies and incorporating many people in the anti feudalism policies and campaigns, then continuing to expand a participation on civil society. The expansion of political and social citizenship can become the basis for creating social change in Kerala. Applying examples from farming, small industry, and the informal sectors, Patrick Heller (1999) analysis of the political dynamics through which active participation has reduced the capitalist growth and transformed the state from a period of open class struggle and oppression relationships to one of citizenship conciliation. His work concludes that the model provide broader indulgent to the complicated relationship between participatory democracy and market economies in the context of developing country. Ramachandran (2000) explains that high participation in Kerala and devolution of government into institutions and the government commitment in participation have increased the government expenditure on education and this is the explanation for higher literacy and better health awareness in Kerala. Citing comprehensive statistical records and using a Chinese methodology in evaluating the development in Kerala, Ramanathaiyer and MacPherson (2000) research revealed a paradox that the state has achieved high scores according to the Physical quality of Life Index and Human Development Indicator and low economic growth according to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures in compared to other states which adopted representative notions in governance. Although the research has well documented the success of Keralas participatory democracy model it remained sceptical to the overall Known development goals and their contradictions with each other for example; achieving higher literacy rate does not really translate into higher employment where unemployment reaches 21.19 per cent(p.45). However, relatively recent statistical records provides evidence on growth and improvements and sustainability in Keralas human development indicators; surveys proves that as well, such as the National Famil y and health National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) (MHFWGI 2006); for instance in 2007 a research by Zacharia and Rajan indicated that unemployment has dropped to 9.4 per cent (Kumar 2007). Hence Sen (1999) capabilities argument in development as freedom: there is more to be achieved in development than just GDP statistics, however, poverty is a major but not the only problem in the developing world, Kerala model stimulated the debate on the many concepts of development. The Kerala model of participation remarkable achievement in social development indicators has led to question united nations common used indicators such as literacy rate, infant mortality rate, life expectancy, fertility rates, etc whether they are reflexive indicators for social development, While poverty still in the state (Kurien 2000). In contrast there are some scholars who argue that GDP as indicator is not properly reflexive and thus illusory (Pritchett 2000) or Kerala income is underestimated (Ahluwalia 2000). Veron (2001) is arguing that Kerala model addressed some failures in term of community based sustainable development, relying on ecological and environmental aspects incorporated in his drew conceptualisation of sustainable development. He also sees the participation has not gone deep enough, thus Kerala model has already included allocation of increased funds for village development plans, and has implemented decentralised planning process that that aims to involve the civil society at every stage (p.612). Since the 1960s Kerala received attention accreditation and praises, for instance Samuel Huntington (1968 as cited in Heller 2009) describes it as an example of successful political modernization in the developing world. And continued to be judged positively for example Amartya Sen (1997 cited in Parayil 2000) appreciated it with concerns about the economic growth. There are many legitimate questions about what would happen when the socialist movement stop wining the elections?; Can this participatory mov

The Drop Out Rate in Education in Cambodia

The Drop Out Rate in Education in Cambodia Introduction The number of students who drop out school in the basic education level is still very high although the government and the other stakeholders have been striving to cut down on number. It is very clear that there are number of things which cause those children to abandon their studies. It is, however, still a skeptical whether the demand side or the supply side which has the most influence on this phenomena. The government of Cambodia has considered the capacity building and human resource development as priority. In the Rectangular Strategy of the Royal Government of Cambodia has emphasized several points related to the education quality improvement at all levels. Like stated in the policies and strategies in ESP (Education Strategic Plan) 2006-10, there are a lot of reforms have been made in order to reach the Millennium Development Goals. The six EFA Dakar goals: 1- Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. 2- Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girl, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality. 3- Ensuring that learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes. 4- Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults. 5- Elimination gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls full and access to and achievement in basic education of good quality. 6- Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuri ng excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. Source: UNESCO (2000 b), as cited in FE of IFL, pp 66-67 In those reforms, there have also been the strengthening tasks with other partnerships between the public and private sectors. These important tasks are really applicable for implementing the development goals for the betterment of the quality of education. Without doing the reforms, it is not effective form for the implementation because the concept or the social context does not respond to the strategic plan. The strategic plan and the resource of mobilization and utilization can not be cut off from the the understanding from the context or it will be failed to implement. (MoEYS, (2006) Education strategic plan 2006-2010). The objectives of the Ministry of Education, the implementers received the commands from the Royal Government of Cambodia, are to conduct the holistic development within the Cambodian youths. Young people are considered as bamboo shoots which can replace the old and dying bamboo, so building up the capacity among them is compulsory. The development of understanding among young people needs to be done for all sectors. In addition, the Ministry of Education attempts to contribute and engender a sense of nationalism and civic pride because it is really essential for them to determine their own identities. It also strives to upgrade the concept of high standards of morality and ethics in order to build up a good country that people can live in harmony. According to this stance, three main purposes have been set. The first purpose is the equitable access to education that indicates that all Cambodian children have right to receive education at least 9 years (finished grade 9). They receiv e education for free of charge in which the Ministry of Education calls for to promote this prestigious opportunity for all young Cambodians. Secondly, promote the service quality and efficiency of education; so for the Ministry strives to promote the quality of education in all levels especially the low level of education. It has created more supporting programs. In that the establishment of teaching materials is also paid the utmost care. Third, the Ministry intends to introduce the the idea of capacity building for decentralization in which new curricular has been put to manipulate this concept within young Cambodians through lesson of decentralization. The curriculum has been set by focusing much on the expansion of decentralization (Education strategic plan 2006-2010). According to the strategies and policies that the Ministry has set and determined above, it is not uncertain to fully understand what can be the things that have come as constraints to make students at basic level stop study. A long with the stimulants that the government have distributed, the families have to have some involvements to keep students remain in school. The government has continuously conducted reforms to find and to determine the weak points. Thus, this paper is to seek for the deep understanding on the hardships on the demand side and the capacity of distribution of the supply side. We also study to find out how the government of Cambodia manipulates with these challenges. Challenges That Lead to Dropping Out There are several significant challenges which lead to the dropping out among children. Some challenges are ignited by the supply sides while the other is caused by the demand sides. There have been several researches revealed the challenges that lead to the dropping out. The world Bank, in 2004, did stress the problems that lead to the drop out. Each year there is high rate of enrollment at basic level, but they eventually abandoned the school. These phenomena were caused by some factors. First, there is the increase of child labor at the very young age; children were exploited by several means without getting any care from the society or it is lack to be care by the related individuals. Second, there was late enrollment of the children and after a few years in school they felt embarrassed because they saw themselves as big; eventually, they quit. Third, there was lack of readiness for the enrollment; at the beginning of the enrollment the families seemed to have ability to send the m to school and later on it was impossible to do, so they stop. Fourth, there is the significant number of incomplete the low level school. Fifth, the lack of qualified teacher was identified as the ignition of the school abandon among the young children. Finally, the identification of the cause was the lack of health-environmental facilities such as playground and libraries (WB 2004). In fact the number of enrolment at primary level is quite big. The process of their studies can proceed only for a few years and after that the big number become smaller and smaller. There are numbers of complicated obstacles for these drops out. According to the data conducted by EMIS, only 45 per cent of children who start primary school can eventually finish grade sixth and among them, there are only thirty-eight per cent can go to lower secondary school; some of them didnt finish grade 9; in lower secondary school; there are three years which most students can only reach grade 8. It is such a big number of drop out which will be foreseen as number that will be much downgraded to reach grade 9. With this high percentage of drop out, it takes 10.8 years for a child to complete his or her education in primary school (EBEP 2006-2010). Recently, the Royal Government of Cambodia announced its practical way in improving the education system. Also it proclaimed the great achievements. In the contradict to this, there are still some big problems remain behind the achievement. The drop out rates is still high among primary school children and only small number that can accomplish grade 9. This phenomenon is a constraint for the Ministry in reaching its goal in stimulating the young people to receive basic education from grade 1 to grade 9 by the year 2015. Along with this, some constraints are identified by the Ministry of Education. In order to identify such problem, the Ministry created another department called Education Sector Support Program (ESSP) to detect and identify the problem. The challenges are found as follows: i) low access to basic education, particularly lower secondary schooling, among children from poor families, girls, ethnic minorities, children with disabilities, and children who are living in rem ote areas. ii) high dropout rates in basic education, with this most dropouts occurring in upper primary school before children have completed the full cycle. iii) uneven quality and standards in basic education (Benveniste 2008, p 15). In 2005 the World Band wrote that the transition period is another main cause of the drop out. The drop out occurs when they finished grade 6, and they are awaiting to pursue to grade 7. The number of children about 75 percent were able to go through from primary school and among that only 52 percent went on their studies to the secondary school and finished their basic education (from grade 1 to grade 9). During this interval, the decisions of the children as well as their parents are abruptly changed for some reasons (World Bank 2005). Supply-Side Factors So far the Royal Government of Cambodia that has the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports as an acting figure in implementing the educational policies has been working really hard to reduce the dropout rate among the basic education. The Ministry itself is looking for the the causes and it invests a lot of money in building facilities and instructional materials in recent years. Moreover, the government also set up policies to reduce the house whole financial burdens by letting children to enroll school for free. A long with this the necessity for the children to study is also supported. However, this support is still not enough for the children. The significant barrier for disadvantaged children is the direct cost. In recent year, the government commanded the removal of formal entry to enable them to enroll. Moreover, the Ministry strives to disseminate the information of free of charge enrollment for children. Some educational billboards about the importance of enrollment have been displayed in public to draw the understanding among parents. Unexpectedly, when students have already enrolled, some problems still occurred associated with the informal fees through providing the extra class to students or the like. This phenomenon should be combated for it functions as great constraint that lead to the drop out (Benveniste 2008). Another strategy to combat the dropout rate is to build up relationship with the community so that they can understand; they will support the enrolment and keep their children in school. In the citation of Education Strategic Plan 2006- 2010, there is the promotion of the relationship between homes and communities. The reasons of this expansion are to promote a shadow education which is considered as the important stimulant to achieve the objectives that have been launched. The campaign aims to disseminate the community- based information of holistic intervention at the early ages. The investments in early age among children has been increased from USD 0.19 million in 2006 to USD 0.3 million by 2010. The promoting program was supported by PAP (Priority Action Program) (Benveniste et al 2008). To ensure the stimulant package to upgrade within the children enrolment, the Ministry has also launched some other practical projects. In that, child friendly schools are seen significant to push the enrollment and to persuade children to remain in school. However, the campaign to spread the information about this project is not widely done so that parents do not fully understand the significance of it. If the parents know that they will value and help to encourage their children to remain in school. World Bank (2005) addressed other kind of constraints that lead to the dropout is the quality among teachers. The word quality in here does not really focus on the knowledge of the responsible subjects, but also the art or talent of teacher to harmonize with the students. Teachers need to have psychological knowledge to call for the interest among students. Qualified teachers can help students to stay in school more. In order to reform this, the project of quality improvement interventions program is also launched and a lot of money has been used to conduct this ability upgrading project. A long with student retention, promotion, and especially in student learning is done accompanying with teacher improvement. In the program of upgrading the quality of education, one dollar per pupil has been increased. The program also focuses on teacher training and this prestige implementation lead to the increase in points the students get between 0.70 and 1.05. After the implementation, there is the observation of increase in literacy as well; one dollar was invested in the upgrading policy, one percent was also excelled in student literacy. Another important task that the Ministry of Education pays its concentration in order to reduce the dropout is the investments in health care and skills training. Besides that, it goes to the the modernization of infrastructure.(World Bank: Quality Basic Education for All 2005) The followings are the components that can be used to stimulate the aspect of pushing the students to remain in school. The practical ways of encouraging students to remain are to enlarge the services to be available such as building up more school houses so that students are easy to get to school. This should be done in both primary and secondary school. Next, there should be the expanding of operating budget for these two levels. To do this can also lead to the elimination of gathering the illegal money. Thirdly, the development of remedial classes must be done. Fourth, the instructional material must be available to improve the quality of teaching and make the learning enjoyable for students. Sometimes it is hard for students to understand the abstract concept, so the use of teaching material can help students to form pictures in mind; they can understand better (World Bank 2008). Demand-Side Factors Elimination of unofficial fees. Unofficial fees are the significant constraint that make students families cant afford education for their children. In fact, under the support of the government, students do not pay for registration at the beginning of the new academic year. Surprisingly, students need to pay like bicycle parking fees; it is not a compulsory pay but students need to do unavoidable because they dont know where to park. The parking fees are thought to be too high sometime. Other unofficial fees are the fees students pay for the extra class. Students are not put pressure directly, instead they are put pressure indirectly through, for instance, giving low mark. Extra classes are reported in only 6-7 percent of small rural schools, but in more than 40 percent of large urban schools. Fees also vary considerably from less than R300 per class in small rural school to more than R500 in big urban schools (Araujo 2008. p. 58). Some other problems are identified for the demand side. These problems are the obstacle to miss persuading the students to remain in school. The primary education, especially the repetition of grade 1, 2 and 3 and the drop out of grade 5 and 6 still has some issues which have to be solved timely such as: a/Documents related to Child Friendly School program are not widely available. b/ PB budgets cannot be accessed at the start of the financial year, this impacts negatively on conducting activities and the achievement of targets. c/ The teaching hours and school calendar are often curtailed. d/ Insufficient access to textbooks reduces the quality of education and coverage of the curriculum. e/ Insufficient infrastructure, including: latrines, sources of water and sanitation, libraries in many schools in remote and disadvantaged areas impacts on students attendance and performance. f/ There are insufficient teachers in rural and remote areas undermining the quality of education and learning in these areas. g/ The capacity of District Training and Management Teams (DTMT) in all provinces and capital city is not strong enough to help the teachers and school directors improve school performance (National Education Congress Summary Report-Academic Year 2008-09 p.4) Work force The number of dropouts in the rural areas is higher than in the urban. In rural areas, children are subject to do works such as looking after cattle in the fields; besides that, those children need to do more chores like carrying water from ponds, wells nearby, and firewood to supply home. That is a great burden for them to manage time to study. When they are so busy with this kind of work, they seem to have no feeling to read books (Dy 2004). What the Government Should Do to Reduce the Dropout Rate In order to reduce the number of dropouts, the government should do several jobs such as staff training, financing, evaluating, facility providing, setting clear policies, and other program monitoring. As stated in the Congress Report (2009), staff training is important in reducing the dropout rate for it helps students to gain their knowledge quite well. It also relates to the quality of education. When students get good academic achievement, their families as well as themselves feel really proud so that they have strong commitment towards education. Sometimes, the academic achievement can insult students and their families and in the end student can quit their studies. Another important thing for the government to do is to finance especially on building more school building quite near to their home. The government has to ensure that one village there is one primary school. Besides the school buildings, financing on teaching materials is also important to achieve the effective academic result. Moreover, the government should provide more money for teachers. If teachers have high salary, it is clear that they spiritually have committed to their teaching and their teaching will have good result. Setting up clear indicators as well as other policies related education is extremely significant. Dy (2001) stressed the importance of clear policies making. Prioritizing the policies making is to pave the way clearly that the Ministry could access their goals. The Ministry of Education that has administrators to implement the policies should particularly focus on primary education by conducting special training for all teachers as well as the school principals. Conclusion It has been observed that the dropout rate is still remaining high even though the government has been striving its works to eliminate or to reduce. The areas that are considerably indicated as high are in rural. The problem is that in those remote areas really face many difficulties for children while the urban areas students seem to use most of their time in learning. In contrast to the city children, rural children use most of their time to do house work and other non-academic affairs. Although these problems occur, the government is the one which has significant function to stimulate the reducing process of the dropout among children in lower education.

Justification Of Violence Essay -- essays research papers

Justification of Violence Violence and the justification of it has been an issue for as long as the world has been in existence. There are many conflicting opinions on the subject, many in favor and many opposing the idea. I am personally split on the issue; I believe that in some cases, violence can be justified; however, I also believe that in others, it cannot be. In my opinion, the only instance in which violence can be justified is self-defense. I believe that if an innocent person is attacked for some reason and their life is put in danger, they have the right to fight back to save themselves. How can a person let themselves be attacked and do nothing to help themselves survive? It's almost unreasonable to believe that. There are plenty of situations that fit this example. One of them is rape. If a woman is being attacked and sexually forced to do something she did not consent on doing, she has the right to fight back and prevent it from happening. Rape does not only involve sexual assault; there is much physical assault involved, also. Many women are held at gunpoint, knife, tied or beaten by their attackers, and this is not right. Any woman under these circumstances should fight back and do what they have to do to save themselves before it's too late. Other situations which call for justifiable violence, in my opinion, are robbery at gunpoint and any other type of unprovoked violence. Other than self-defense, I do not believe violence should be tolerated at any cos...

Computer Hacking :: essays papers

Computer Hacking Precis of 'Who's reading your E-mail" The article exposes the vulnerability of computer data and of corporations with the popularity of the Internet. The Internet can allow hackers access to any computer in the world, with understated ease. Break-ins can go virtually undetected. Major corporations and government security departments have acknowledged that hacker break-ins are out of control. Some companies are too fearful to join networks because of this. Software programs brought out to deal with the growing problem, such as firewalls, are no longer totally effective. New technology has been developed such as ''Pilot Network Services' (offering supervised Internet access); 'Netranger' (a monitor device used by Pentagon) and 'Encrypton' (software that jumbles messages). The basics of computer security (using difficult passwords, and guarding of data) are not being met in a disturbingly large number of American companies surveyed. A new bill demands that system operators become responsible for security. Hackers can be prosecuted (with subsequent heavy penalties) only if the exposed company has actively shown that it was security conscious. Further more, exposed companies are liable to other companies if their lack of security precautions allowed their computer network to become an opening for other company break-ins. Companies are dis-inclined to report breaches in security as it denotes a poor image and highlights their vulnerability. Clients demand security, and lack of it will send them elsewhere. Billions of dollars annually is spent on protection devices. Others are utilizing the expertise of former convicted hackers to fine tune and update their security features. It is a case of befriending the enemy in order to learn more. These hackers come out of goal with a ready market for their expertise, and great financial rewards. The explosion of the Internet use, and networks around the world have brought with it a need for greater security consciousness amongst its users and systems operation managers. Technology needs to be constantly updated in the war against the ever-growing insidious and malicious hacker. Precis of 'Hackers: Taking a byte out of computer crime' by W. Roush. Roush discusses the changing face of computer crime with the advent of the modem and stricter laws. The article touches on the effect these changes are having on hackers themselves, and the measures that are put in place to deal with the problem. It also explores the common ground which hackers and computer security experts agree on. In the 1960's the dictionary definition of a hacker was that of a "computer virtuoso". Hackers comprised of young, computer literate and rebellious gangs vying for the status symbol image and thrill of breaking into a computer network. This all changed with the popularity of the modem and an increasing