Abraham Conclusion Essay

While writing the whole play for my group, and doing research, I learned a lot of things about Abraham. God helped Abraham a lot, first with the blessing, then Lot, and even for the birth of Isaac. Most of the time when something bad happens, Abraham doubted God. God never zapped him, or kill him, He was patient. At the end, Abraham could not help Isaac find a wife himself for he is weak and old, he trusted that God will help him like the way God helped him before. I think faith means to trust God completely, 100%. True faith is shown, when you yourself could not help anymore, only God could. And you trust unto Him a very hard job, being sure that He will be able to do it. See more: Beowulf essay essay This happened when Abraham was too old to go look for a wife for Isaac, he had faith that God will find one for him, and God did. What I learned about God while reading about Abraham is that God is very patient. Every time Abraham questions or doubts him, he doesn’t get angry. I also learned that God is faithful and true to his word. Every single promise God made came true, though not the way some people expected it. Last of all, I learned that God is omniscience. Though Sarah is very old and beyond the age of child bearing, God was able to make her have her son, the son that was the one to take the true blessing, Isaac.

A Detailed Lesson Plan in MAPEH Essay

Before we start with our lesson for Today, let us have first an action songentitled â€Å"Its I who build community†Ready?Yes sir!Okay, let us do it all  together.Its I ( 3x) who build community(4x)*You*WeRoll over the ocean, roll over the seaRoll over the ocean and the deep blue sea.(The students willdo the action song)Very good!Do you like it?Yes sir! 2. Review Class, what was our lesson lastmeeting? Sir, our lesson last meetingwas all about the meaning,source and form of drugs.Very good! Where does the term drugderived?The term drug derivedfrom the Dutch word droog  which means dry.Well said! What do you mean by theword drug in the filed of medicine? In the field of medicine, drug  is any chemicalsubstance intended for use indiagnosis, cure, mitigation,treatment and prevention of diseases in animals. 3. Motivation Class, I am going to show you a short video clip.What you are going to do is to observe andafterwards I’m going to ask your reactions basedfrom the video presented.Am I understood class?Yes, sir!Now, what have had you observed fromthe video presented?We observed that the personsuffered a severe headache,He is hallucinating andexperienced difficulty inbreathing.What do you think are the reasons whythese particular situations happen?These situations happenbecause of the effects of taking or abusing drugs.Very good! B. Developmental Activities1. Presentation This morning, we are going to discussall about the classification of drugs according touse and effect. a. Setting of Standards But before that, what will you do while yourteacher is discussing in front?Listen, behave, sitproperly, understandthe lesson, cooperate,and participate.Can I expect that from you?Yes, sir! 2. Lesson Proper Class, I will group you into three. This willbe the group 1, 2 and 3. I have here some strips/photocopied materials containing the three classificationof drugs according to uses and effect. All you have to dois to discuss the topic, note/lists and write the importantdetails on your manila paper.Am I understood?Yes, sir!I will give you 5 minutes to do it. After yourgroup discussion, you are going to select 1 representativeto report it in the  class.Am I understood?Yes, sir!Go to your respective groups now. GROUP 1GROUP 2GROUP 3 Teacher supervises his students in every group.Students report what they have had discussed in their group.Teacher gives additional information and makes some clarifications asregards to the topic presented. IV. Evaluation In a  ½ crosswise of pad paper, explain briefly.1. What are the effects of abusing stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogensto:a. oneself b. familyc. community V. Assignment Have an advance reading about the topic â€Å"Prevention of drug abuse†.MAPEH-I textbook, pp. 378-380

Bonuses for senior executives in the banking sector should only be Essay

Bonuses for senior executives in the banking sector should only be paid for genuine excellence - Essay Example For example, a Sales Director will earn bonuses if turnover targets are met and exceeded (Nkomo, Fottler and McAfee, 2010: 85-93). Recent years have been characterized by an outcry against paying of bonuses to senior corporate executives. This is mainly due to malpractices by top executives to ensure they earn high salaries with little regard to how the company is performing or stockholder value. These malpractices include accounting fraud. Bonuses remain popular with firms because in today’s world of heightened competition and reduced profitability, bonuses represent a variable rather than fixed cost (Murphy, 2005: 110-117). It is also widely believed that bonuses create motivation, which leads to organizational performance. Bonuses help to attract and retain managerial talent and motivate executives to perform to the best of their abilities and prevent executive dissatisfaction. It has been argued that rather than incentivizing executives to raise shareholder returns, bonuses have been turned into rent-seeking avenues by self-interested executives. This defeats the main logic behind paying of bonuses, which is to tie executive pay closely to organizational performance (Kieff and Paredes, 2010: 44-49). At the same time, it has been argued that executive bonuses affect firms negatively. Performance-based bonuses foster individualism, business aggression and uncertainty. Bonuses create competitiveness among the executives which hurts cooperation. Bonuses encourage executives to take unreasonably high risks and make short-sighted decisions that may not be good for the firm’s long-term prospects. It is also argued that senior executives spend a great deal of time and focus on their past and expected bonuses than on the returns of shareholders. Bonuses also foster bad relations and resentment between the executive and the lower ranking staff (Marchica, 200 4: 8-15). Bonuses are rooted in two theories; the Expectancy theory and Agency

Invastigation report Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Invastigation report - Case Study Example ound 2300hrs as he went about pushing the parts for investigation by Tina, who at the time is looking the other way and trying to get something from her purse, he stops the forklift right behind Tina. The parts land on her back, right on her heels. Tina has her Achilles dislocated and her arm broken and is taken to the hospital. There was an eyewitness in the background who so it all unfold, but couldn’t really guess if an accident could happen in that situation, because it hadn’t happened in a long time. His name is Bryan workman. When I got the report from the supervisor at the company, at around†¦., I schedule an interview with the three, Bryan Workman, David Cox, and Tina Robbins in that order. Their narrations are consistent and convincing. My interview with Tina at the hospital and apparently, the company hasn’t done much; her husband hasn’t been informed of what happened to Tina at the workplace. Nobody had gone there to check up on her since being taken for medical attention. This is utter complacency on the part of the company. This is so against the laws that govern the welfare of the workman as embedded in the constitution of the United States of America. Our diagnosis of the problem reveals gross misconduct and violation of the laws guarding the workman in America. Another show of complacency lies in the fact that a workplace accident that happens at 2300hrs is reported to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) at 0230hrs. An amount off $152000.00 has been reserved for Tina’s medical cover. This, according the doctor’s report, is way too less, with their estimation standing at $1.3M. She will keep away from job for at least 6 months as she goes under recurrent checkups. In the assessment of OSHA, and in line with OSHA workman compensation provisions, a person who has suffered injuries of the nature of Tina’s deserve a compensation of not less than $2.3M. So instead of the $152000.00 reserved, Tina’s case would cost

French colonisation in popular culture of francophone countries Personal Statement

French colonisation in popular culture of francophone countries - Personal Statement Example With the French culture spreading beyond the national boundaries, one would argue that one of the major implications of the French colonization led to the spread of French language to Africans. Sonnenburg continues to emphasize that the French assumed the African syntax and made it obligatory for the Africans to speak French, a policy referred to as the assimilation process (221). Centuries later, the Francophone countries still use French as their official language. Africans adopted the Frenchman way of living. The mode of dressing changed for the Africans. Regardless of copious protests against the revolution of the Africans to Frenchmen, the French managed to change the Africans. With time, studies indicate that Africans were able to change their lifestyles to French to extent that to be elected in the legislative assembly, Africans had to lead a life similar to that of the Frenchman (220). In the case of Tunisia for example, nearly all the elite and government officials had been assimilated to being Frenchmen. Eradication of the French language and replace it with the indigenous Arabic language was completely tasking for the Tunisians. With French literacy elevated in Tunisia, this is yet another impact on the culture of Francophone colonies of Africa. In a study of colonization and France with its spheres of influence, France ought not to be linked to colonization. France has been associated with education and spread of the same to other generations (223). In one way or another, it would arguable that the French brainwashed their colonies into accepting their language and culture; thus, entire loss of the African identity. As opposed to coercion like other colonial masters, the French managed to influence he colonies into embracing the Frenchman way of living (222). Francophone countries became multicultural societies embodied with a blend of both African culture- in minute forms, and the French culture dominating the way

PROJECT mANAGEMENT( CASE STUDY) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

PROJECT mANAGEMENT( CASE STUDY) - Essay Example Number in the top of the set is the time this activity individual requires or the total time allocated to complete this activity. Compartment with 0 carries the point in time particular activity can be started. Therefore Activity A can be started at 0 point in time means that as soon as the project started and it is the Earliest Start Time (Anantatmula, 2010). Whereas Compartment with 7 refers total time consumed after completing this particular activity which means it shows the Earliest Finish Time (Brotherton, Fried, and Norman, 2008). Bottom right compartment is the time of latest finish activity. For instance, activity can be finished at the latest by 10 weeks and any further delay than 10 weeks would impact total duration of the project. Number below the complete box refers the amount of time (weeks in under study case) this particular activity can be delayed without affecting the total project time; called float (Brotherton, Fried, and Norman, 2008). For instance, activity A ca n be delayed to maximum of 3 weeks without affecting the total project time. This delay would also allow this activity to be included in the critical path and as the gap available for delay would entirely be consumed by the initially activity. So an activity can be represented as follows: Duration of the project Earliest Start Time A Earliest Finish Time Latest Start Time Latest finish Time float Path identified with red arrow is the critical path. Critical path refers to path or the flow of activities that are critically dependent on each other and delay in these activities would immediately result in delay of the project. Critical path of this project includes following activities: B-E-H-J-K-L. It is identified with activities that have zero (0) float; referring to no time cushion to delay this particular activity. It is the longest path and any delay in these activities will delay the entire project. The float of the activity D and F are 3 weeks and 1 week respectively. This mean s that activity D and activity F can be delayed by 3 weeks and 1 week respectively and this delay would have no impact on the duration of the project and project will be still completed on time. However, any delays in these activities with more than the stated time would impact completion of project on time (Alojairi, and Safayeni, 2009). Activity F has a float of 1 week and delay in this would affect the overall time required to complete the project. Manager in order to reduce time for delay in the critical path can take the benefit of float of F and G and shall take up both activities parallel. Hence, this way, two weeks benefit will be in hand to project manager. Within these two weeks manager can allocate additional resources for such as multiple panel for hiring and training staff in order to complete the project within due time or minimizing the delay. ANSWER # 1 (b) Each component of the project plays its part in order to complete the project within the duration. However, amo ng large number of factors few are regarded as critical and discrepancy on these factors such as delays can resultantly cause the delay of the entire project along with cost also being affected. Being critical these factors require considerable attention to ensure minimization of the discrepancy chances (Bredillet, 2005). For the given project of developing petrol station with convenience stores being market already explored by Tesco Metro and Sainsbury’s Local but with distinction to exploit the high income class

The Great Crew Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Great Crew Change - Research Paper Example This crisis which resulted into a significant gap in the workforce by both ages and experience was referred to as the great crew change. The great crew change has created major dilemmas to the oil industry as the baby boomers are currently approaching their retirement age leaving insufficient and less experienced workers to continue with the projects. This presents a possibility of losing the tribal knowledge in the sector, irrespective of how hard and vigorous the recruitment drive is done. This paper will therefore discuss the impacts of the great crew change, its scope of effect and the overall steps that have been made to mitigate the situation (Clark, Davidson, Guilford & Parry, 2006). The expected mass exodus of experienced petroleum engineers is expected to have impacts on various countries including but not excluded to the United States. The depression that affected the oil industry in the 80s and 90s affected major developed economies and this has been attributed to the experience gap that is currently witnessed in the industry. Companies operating in the oil and gas industries in different countries of the world are facing the great crew change according to a workforce forum conducted in cape town in 2008. Despite the fact that the United States statistics on workforce gap being available, the effects have been felt in other countries with some countries suffering from the knowledge gap most (Irgens, 2008). According to the Brazilian NOC petrobras, the 90s was occasioned by minimal recruitment of geoscientists and petroleum engineers. This resulted into a situation where the scientists in the company either have 10 years less experience or even more that 20 in some instances. The Indian economy and oil industry has also been affected by this phenomenon according to the Indian national oil company which believes that the perceptions that were created in the 80s and 90s pushed away potential engineers (Clark,

Depending on your choice; Either Organisational culture OR Leadership Essay

Depending on your choice; Either Organisational culture OR Leadership - Essay Example (HP) managed to become the biggest global seller of PC with a total of 49,434 shipments and 18.2% market share back in 2007 (Pettey, 2008). It line with this, the company offers a wide-range of products and services related to digital photography and entertainment as well as computer related products such as PC, laptops, and printers for personal and business use aside from large IT storage, servers, and software. (HP, 2008a) For this study, organizational culture of Tesco and HP will be identified and examined followed by determining which among the two organizations have a stronger organizational control. In the process of going through the main discussion, its respective managers’ approach to control organizational culture will be tackled in details. Organizational culture is â€Å"a set of norms, beliefs, principles and behaviour that gives the organization a unique character† (Brown, 1995). Once a company has formed a positive cultural practice within a business organization, there is a higher chance for the company to cope with internal and external business challenges. For instance: Setting a positive perception about organizational change on employees can make it easier for a business to deal with a wide-range of business challenges which contributes to the increase in the company’s annual revenues and profitability. Likewise, setting a positive organizational culture can help the managers create a more conducive working environment which could significantly increase the work performance of its employees (Armstrong, 2007). When it comes to setting organizational culture, Tesco considers not only the welfare of its loyal and prospective customers but also its existing employees. As part of improving its customer services in each of the Tesco stores, the company make it a habit to increase the number of its staff to help out in addressing the main concerns of its customers (Tesco, 2009a). On the other hand, HR management of

More Than Just a Story Essay Example for Free

More Than Just a Story Essay Joanna Bartee’s critical essay of Kate Chopin’s short story, The Storm, maintains that the entire story is an allegorical look at feminism and sexual reservations in the Nineteenth Century. She maintains that the storm is a metaphor for the pent up sexual energy that culminates in an extramarital affair while Calixta’s husband and son ride out the actual storm at a small grocer’s store nearby. Bartee points out that Chopin was in touch with her own feelings regarding sexuality and through this story she was able to express her views though she chose not to make them known through publication in her lifetime. Freud said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar; the opposite is also true. Bartee makes an effective argument that her assessment is correct by backing up her opinions with pertinent blocks of dialogue from the story and by simply pointing out the obvious. To begin Bartee says that the title of Chopin’s short story has a dual meaning, and though the tale unfolds during a raging storm, the storm of the title is representative of repressed human female sexuality. While Alcee comes to the home of Calixta seeking refuge from the storm it is more a rhetorical device to enable the plot to unfold as it does. The physical storm is irrelevant to the actual theme, which is sexuality and human desire. Bartee says that initially the story begins with just the facts that can be gleaned from a read, assuming the reader is capable of taking a bit of latitude. She tells us that the two main characters, Calixta and Alcee, were once lovers and have now met in the present time of the short story, during a powerful storm. She is reading more into this assessment than is actually said in the story when she declares, â€Å"†¦Calixta and Alcee, had a flirtation several years before the story takes place, but each made a more suitable marriage to someone else and they have not seen each other since,† (Bartee). It is known from the story that they had a flirtation but as for each making a more advantageous marriage, that seems to be speculation. Joanne Bartee’s essay addresses the title, saying that ‘The Storm† is metaphor for the pent up passions of a Victorian period. It seems logical that this is the case, for the author flaunts it at every opportunity. She says, â€Å"They did not heed the crashing torrents, and the roar of the elements made her laugh as she lay in his arms,† (Chopin II-20), to describe the passion of the two. Then she says, â€Å"The rain was over; and the sun was turning the glistening green world into a palace of gems. Calixta, on the gallery, watched Alcee ride away,† (Chopin III-1) to describe the parting of the two, saying that the storm of passion had ebbed. Bartee quotes critic Robert Wilson as well, saying that Wilson believes, Chopin’s title refers to nature, which is symbolically feminine; the storm can therefore be seen as symbolic of feminine sexuality and passion. † Bartee points out that Claxita is the essence of domesticity as the story opens, totally unaware of an impending storm. This storm will not only be the one of nature but rather the storm of her pent up desires, released when her former paramour arrives unexpectedly. She is sewing, while her husband’s Sunday clothes are airing out on the porch. Bartee believes this is an allusion to polite and proper society in that Sunday clothes can be taken to mean those clothes that her husband would wear to church, accompanied by his wife and child. Early in her critique Bartee says that the entire short story is filled with illustrations of how the storm is the driving force and main theme of Chopin’s story. She also points out that the story was published posthumously, years later, indicating, perhaps, a reluctance to share her views with a Victorian public, believing it was too graphic to be read with her name attached to it. While it is mild by today’s standards, at the time that it was written it must have been considered a bit risque to have a woman author put her name to a story to obviously full of not only secret sexual desires and passions but infidelity and adultery. The idea that the storm passes just as the tryst is completed and Alcee is riding way is certainly an indication that the natural storm and the storm of passions, which have obviously been sated, are one and the same. Bartee points out that Calixta’s husband, Bobinot, wisely waits out the storm at the general store just as he avoids the passions of wife as well. He is aware of what the natural storm can do and does not intend to let it batter him, likewise, Bartee says, he is aware of the passions of which his wife is capable and he does not mean to allow himself to be battered that the emotional storm brewing in his wife’s psyche. Bartee believes that Bobinot is aware of the situation, though this seems to be conjecture on her part. If this is the case then Bobinot is hiding from the passions of a wife by avoidance, and there is not enough information given to make that claim. Bartee points out the obvious with clarity and most of what she says seems logical, but at this point she appears to be taking a leap of imagination that is not justified by the text of Kate Chopin. Calixta seems content to do her familial chores, tending to her home and seeing to her husband’s clothes. Bartee says at this point that many of the chores that she has to do are done in obvious frustration and are also symbols of the sexual repression of this Nineteenth Century homemaker. This may be the correct assessment as Chopin says that Calixta, â€Å" †¦ unfastened her white sacque at the throat. It began to grow dark, and suddenly realizing the situation she got up hurriedly and went about closing windows and door,† (Chopin II-1). This, Bartee implies, is the foreshadowing that a bad storm is about to blow, and it may overwhelm her. She is leery of how bad it is going to get and takes some nominal precautions to protect her home from the approaching storm. Bartee does not address the symbolism inherent in the actions of Calixta during the initial meeting of the two former intimates. Alcee asks for permission to take shelter on Calixta’s porch, but they both quickly realize that such shelter is totally ineffective against the fury of the storm, which, obviously at this point is not only refers to the weather but more pointedly, to the raging emotions beginning to build in the man and woman. When Calixta invites Alcee into the home of her family it is virtually a paradigm shift in her attitude toward both the old flame and to her duties as wife and mother. â€Å"He expressed an intention to remain outside, but it was soon apparent that he might as well have been out in the open,† (Chopin II-5). The two then find it appropriate to ‘put something under the door’, to further isolate them from the outside world. The description of her husband’s clothing, intimate possessions, which cover and protect a man, are exposed outside the home. There is a real possibility that they can be lost, damaged or destroyed, just as her marriage can be lost, damaged or destroyed by her emotional storm of passion. This symbolism of them hanging outside, exposed to the elements, Bartee says, is symbolic of the danger that Calixta feels concerning the approach of the storm. He husband’s intimate possessions are in danger of being destroyed or lost. Bartee writes, â€Å"They are in danger of blowing away from the strong winds that are approaching with the storm,† (Bartee). Alcee grabs Bobinot’s pants, which, Bartee says Wilson describes as a subversion of the constraints which Calixta, as a married woman, should be feeling. Bartee likewise correctly assesses the description Chopin gives the reader of symbolically putting away a cotton sheet. This sheet, that covers a marriage bed, is in sight when Alcee arrives, but as the two characters talk, Calixta pointedly puts the sheet out of sight, and, if could be inferred, out of mind. Bartee does not mention that the author describes the view she has of the marriage bed itself and that Calixta is aware that the son’s sleeping couch are in view as well. This could also be taken as symbolic of the intimate glimpse Calixta is permitting a virtual stranger, an outsider to her family, to have of her home and private life. Chopin describes the scene thus, â€Å" The door stood open, and the room with its white, monumental bed, its closed shutters, looked dim and mysterious,† (Chopin II-9). Bartee’s opinion is that in symbolically putting away the cotton sheet, an object of domesticity, getting it out of their sight, Calixta is now symbolically clearing her mind, removing any obstacles that might stand in the way of the two as they move inexorably toward the inevitable passionate union toward which the story has been leading. Bartee quotes lines from the story saying that not only do the two lovers lack any remorse, they feel renewed and invigorated by their act. Bartee says, â€Å"Chopin writes, So the storm passed and everyone was happy. † Bartee does not mention what seems to be more than a casual comment immediately prior to that line. Chopin’s penultimate line reads, â€Å" Devoted as she was to her husband, their intimate conjugal life was something which she was more than willing to forego for a while. † This refers to the wife of Alcee, who, it seems, although unaware of the details of the tryst and the storm, has profited from it. The fact that everyone is happy must therefore include Alcee’s wife, and she is temporarily relieved of the more mundane of her ‘wifely duties’. Still, Bartee makes an effective argument that her view is correct by backing up her opinions with pertinent blocks of dialogue from the story and by simply pointing out the obvious. Works Cited Bartee, J. The Storm: More Than Just a Story Retrieved 5-23-07 from http://facultystaff. vwc. edu/~cbellamy/Southern%20Literature/SL%20Chopin. htm Chopin, K. The Storm 1898

Obama and Bush in the Iraq war Essay Example for Free

Obama and Bush in the Iraq war Essay On April 11, 1991, the Gulf war ended with a cease fire that was negotiated between the United States and its allies and Iraq. A policy of containment was maintained by the United States and its allies towards Iraq. This policy encompassed various economic sanctions by the United Nations Security Council, the enforcement by the United States and United Kingdom of Iraqi no flying zones and inspections to prevent Iraq from developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. In October 1998, the United States official policy toward Iraq became regime change with the enactment of the Iraqi liberation act. The act provided for the transition of Iraq to a democracy following the withdrawal of United Nations weapons inspectors. This legislation however did not correspond with the terms that were set out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 which basically focused on weapons and weapons programs and made no mention of change of regime. The United States and the United Kingdom launched the Operation Desert Fox one month after the Iraq Liberation Act was passed. The rationale behind the campaign was to restrict the ability of Saddams government to produce chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. On the other hand, United States national security personnel hoped that the exercise would weaken Saddams grip on power. With the election of Bush as the United States president in 2000, the United States became actively inclined toward the policy of regime change in Iraq. The Republicans campaign became prior to the elections called for complete implementation of Iraq Liberation Act and the ousting of Saddam. The invasion of Iraq may have been planned since the inauguration with the first National security meeting discussing the invasion (Hamilton, 2004). However, there are also claims that the National Security Council discussions were a continuation of Clintons administrations foreign policy. However, little formal step was made by the Bushs administration toward invasion despite its stated interest in liberating Iraq until the September 11, 2001 attacks on the twin towers. The rationale behind the invasion of Iraq after the 9/11 attacks has been questioned as there was little to suggest that Saddam had any cooperation with Al Qaeda. Shortly after the attack, President Bush announced the new war on terrorism which was backed by the doctrine of preemptive military action. Why Bush Started the War The Bushs administration considered Saddam Hussein to be a major distraction and threat not only to American security but also to global peace. As such, the only way to guarantee the global stability and peace was by ousting Saddams regime. The administration believed that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction and thus rushed to conquer the country before they could fire any weapon. The administration also believed that Saddam was a major sponsor of terrorists and with the 9/11 attacks, the American people were thirsting for some form of action. The electorate of the United States was skillfully convinced that the best solution to the problem of terrorism was to get Saddam Hussein. As such, the main reason that was given by the Bushs administration as a justification for the invasion was the Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Other reasons were that Saddam supported terrorism and held the people of Iraq captive. Another primary motive which was however not stated with regard to the invasion of Iraq was the consolidation of oil resources in Iraq (Holtzman, 2006). A report which was commissioned before the September attacks by Dick Cheney indicated unambiguously identifies Iraq as the main destabilizing influence to the flow of oil to the international markets from the Middle East. The report also indicated that Saddam had expressed a willingness to threaten to employ the oil weapon and to use his own export program to influence and manipulate oil markets. Iraq was a destabilizing influence to global oil flow from the Middle East and therefore United States military intervention was inevitable (Moore, 2004). Within the American grand design for the world, oil plays a major role. The Middle East id the only place that is capable of satisfying the demand for oil as it contains the world’s largest reserves. An increase in the demand for oil was conceived by the Bush administration as inevitable, and Iraq was a stumbling block. The invasion was thus necessary for the United States to guarantee its energy needs. By securing a strategic position in the Gulf region through establishing a friendly and compliant government in Iraq, the United States will not only manage check the OPEC but also influence the conduct of other global powers. Why Obama is against the war According to Obama, Iraqs invasion without any clear rationale and without strong international support had the capacity to lead to instability not only in Iraq but also in the Middle East (Ambinder, 2007). The invasion, according to him, would fuel sectarian warfare. The Sunnis, having been empowered by Saddam, were likely to discover that they were the targets of Shia radicals who sought for revenge for the way that they were treated and power to control Iraqs future. Iraqs insurgency will thus be inspired, not only by the desire to kill the Americans but also by the ambition to be in power when the United States leaves. Obama also opposed the war because he envisioned a situation whereby the attacks would increase leading to the death of more American young people. The difference between Obama and Bush with regard to Iraqi war became clear in 2007. The year marked a critical turning point in the war in Iraq. It was during this period that Iraq sunk into a state of savage sectarian chaos with three thousand civilians dying every month. It was also during this period that the American people lost hope in the war and were thus prepared to bring the troops back to America. However, instead of letting the soldiers go back to America, a move that was favored by both Republicans and Democrats, Bush ordered a troop surge to ease the violence, suppress al Qaeda in Iraq and set the stage for political reconciliation. Obama had much to say concerning this issue, predicting that the surge would not be effective (Stone, 2009). Obama was not convinced that the twenty thousand additional troops would not solve the sectarian violence in Iraq. According to him, the effect will instead be reversed (Obama, 2002). This move, in his view, would not solve the long term political strife between the ethnic and religious groups in Iraq. Obama believed that strategic defense is a much more preferable approach to the entire war, an idea that many people seem to agree with. He opposed the war on the premise that the United states did not know how much it was going to cost, what the exit strategy would be and how the invasion itself will affect the relationship of the United States with the rest of the world. Again, he doubted the soundness of the American intelligence and held that capturing Bin Laden ought to have been the priority. Obama felt that because Al Qaeda had not been put to rest, it may act as distraction. Obama conceived of the invasion of Iraq unwise use of the military. According to him, the invasion brought more problems than solutions as more and more money was being used, more American soldiers were being killed and Al Qaeda had grown stronger. With regard to the reduction of the surge due to the deployment of more troops, Obama felt that it the reduction of violence was mainly as a result of the sacrifice by the soldiers. According to Obama, the Bush administrations judgment concerning the length of the war, the conception of America by the Iraqis as the liberator and the view that there was no history of violence between the Shiite and the Sunni were all wrong. Obama referred to the war in Iraq as a dangerous distraction. His view is that central front in the war on terror was never Iraq but the terrorist themselves. As such, his position is that the terrorists should be attacked directly. His new strategy has therefore been to directly fight Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His first priority has been to end the war in Iraq as he had opposed it from the onset. With his position that the war in Iraq was unnecessary, Obama has made it his responsibility to redeploy the United States combat troops that propel Iraqi leaders toward a political solution, rebuild the military and refocus on Afghanistan and broader American security interests. His plan is to remove the combat brigades from Iraq by 2010 and to send additional combat brigades to Afghanistan. The worth of Iraqi war Assessing the worth of Iraq war requires that one reflects upon whatever would have happened in the Bush administration would have not gone to war in March 2003. There is no secret concerning the things that have gone wrong ever since the United States invaded Iraq but it cannot also be assumed that everything would have gone right if the United States had not invaded Iraq. It is a fact that there was a heavy casualty which does not go well with the American public. However, there is need to address what the alternative to war would have meant. Many people agree that Saddam was not the best leader. Other individuals like Madeleine Albright compared him to Hitler, a comparison that cannot be far from the truth in many respects. Saddam had contempt for human life, killing thousands of his own citizens beside threatening and butchering his neighbors. It may therefore be argued that removing such a man from power was worth some sacrifice. A more intriguing question is however whether the failure of the United States to go to war with Iraq in 2003 would have produced a lasting peace or would have postponed war. It may be said that Saddam would have pushed toward confrontation and war regardless of what might have been done. He brutally and patiently pushed his way to power in Iraq after which he impatiently and brutally made himself the dominant figure in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. In all these instances, he employed war and the threat of war as his principal tools. In short, Saddam was in every conceivable way a threat not only to his people but also to world peace. However, some individuals have argued that even though Saddam posed a threat to world peace and stability, he would have been contained through sanctions and no-fly zones which would have acted as deterrence (Hunt, 2008). This argument was advanced even before the war even with the belief that he had weapons of mass destruction. For the majority of Americans, the question of whether the war was worth fighting revolves around whether the weapons of mass destruction were recovered or not. However, the major issue is whether Saddam could have been contained. Even though the war in Iraq has remained unpopular, the Iraqi people can claim some success with regard to the introduction of democracy. With the help of the United States, the Iraqi people have been successful in establishing the first Arab democracy. This is a major achievement with regard to the war on terror and for the purpose of liberty. The different ethnic and religious groups can now work together in a national army. They have made important steps in repossessing their country from the insurgents that have invaded their homeland. The Iraqi troops are solely responsible for clearing the Basra and Sadr City. The oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein was ousted. Conclusion The main difference between Obama and Bush on Iraq war lies in the objective of the invasion. The bushs administration saw it as a war against terrorism while Obama felt that there were better ways of fighting terrorism rather than invading Iraq. A sensible argument for the invasion was not that Saddam was about to attack anyone with a nuclear bomb. It was that the preservation of containment would nit have been indefinite and that Saddam was defying the international community repeatedly and that this defiance seemed to both the Clinton and Bush administration to be succeeding gradually. It may therefore be argued that if the Bush administration would have not gone to war then the United States would have faced a more daring and dangerous Saddam Hussein. References Ambinder, M. (2007, April 21). Obama’s Iraq evolution. National Journal, 39(16), 79-80. Retrieved on March 29, 2009 from EBSCO host database. Hamilton, W. (2004, April 17). Bush began to plan war three months after 9/11. The Washington Post, p. A01. Holtzman, E. (2006). The impeachment of George W. Bush; A handbook for concerned citizens, New York: Nation Books. Hunt, T. (2008. March 18). Bush: Iraq war worth it. The Huffington Post, Moore, J. (2004). Bushs war for reelection: Iraq, the White House, and the people. John Wiley Obama, B. (2002, October). Barrack Obama’s 2002 speech against the Iraq war. Retrieved on April 23, 2009, Responsibly ending the war in Iraq. (n. d. ). The White House. Stone, M. (2009, May 9). Bush 2007 v. Obama 2009? The Global Buzz. Retrieved on March 29, 2009,

Role of Institutions in Policy Making

Role of Institutions in Policy Making INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of institutions in influencing policy outcomes. First part of the paper provides a brief introduction to the study of institutions in political science. This is followed by description of factors influencing policy outcomes. Final part of the paper looks at the limitations of institutions, which pose additional constraints on policy outcomes. INSTITUTIONS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE The study of institutions is central to the subject matter of political science and, to an even greater extent, public administration. According to Lowndes (1996:181), â€Å"focus upon institutional arrangements for the delivery of public services is generally held to be defining of the sub-discipline of public administration†. March and Olsen (1984) argue that social, political, and economic institutions have recently become larger, more complex and resourceful, and therefore more important to collective life. According to them, attention to political institutions has increased in the literature on legislatures, budgets, public policymaking, local government and political elites. According to Scharpf (1989), much of comparative political science research may be characterised as an attempt to explain and predict the influence of political institutions on the choice of public policy. INFLUENCING POLICY OUTCOMES SETTING NORMS IN DECISION MAKING March and Olsen (1984,1989) see institutions as providing order in political life. Institutions increase capability by reducing comprehensiveness. Institutions express norms of decision-making and behaviour, providing a logic of appropriateness. Rules produce variation and deviation as well as conformity and standardisation. Institutions generally change in an incremental way through responding to environmental signals. AFFECTING POLICY OUTCOMES Institutions are often seen as â€Å"set of factors affecting the interactions between policy actors and hence the greater or lesser capacity of policy-making systems to adopt and implement effective responses to policy problems (Scharpf 2000:764)†. According to Gorges (2001), the European Commission and other EC institutions played a significant role in social policy-making. The European Commission sought to increase both its policy domain and its legitimacy, continually insisting that it would not abdicate its power to initiate policy. Although it is actors that are the proximate causes of policy responses, institutional conditions, to the extent that they are able to influence actor choices, are seen as remote causes. Actors are strongly influenced by the institutional rules to which they owe their existence and by institutional and cultural norms that define the criteria of their success or failure (Scharpf 2000). According to Scharpf (2000:770), â€Å"in sociological ins titutionalism, institutions are defined very broadly so as to include not only externally imposed and sanctioned rules but also unquestioned routines and standard operating procedures and, more important, socially constructed and culturally taken-for-granted worldviews and shared normative notions of appropriateness. In that view, therefore, institutions will define not only what actors can do but also their perceptions and preferences—and thus what they will want to do. Institutions constrain, but do not completely determine, policy choices (Scharpf 1989). Certain policy options are unlikely to be chosen under certain institutional conditions. According to Scharpf (1989), policy choices are simultaneously influenced by at least four sets of factors, institutional, situational, preferential and perceptional. Institutional rules will affect policy by restricting options, constituting actor constellations, regulating their modes of interaction and by structuring the incentives of the participating actors (Scharpf 2000). Institutions are imposing substantive prohibitions to policy outcomes. Countries differ in the range of institutionally permissible policy options and there is an increasing tightness of international legal constraints. For example, the power of governments to determine wages and working time was routinely exercised by most countries but is ruled out in Germany. Moreover, the tight control of capital transfers and the highly discriminatory regulation of credit markets that facilitated the success of macroeconomic full-employment strategies in Sweden until the mid-1980s would now be ruled out by EU directives liberalising capital markets and financial services. The rules of negative integration, in particular European competition law, have become a major constraint on all ec onomic policy options that could be construed as inhibiting or distorting free competition in the markets of EU member states. Institutional rules also define the constellations of actors that may participate in the adoption and implementation of policy responses and their permissible modes of interaction, which could be classified as mutual adjustment, negotiated agreement, voting, or hierarchical direction. Although most policy choices result from multi-actor interactions, some countries whose political institutions approximate the ideal Westminster model have the option of treating any major policy problem in a single- actor constellation. Here, all relevant policy choices are potentially determined by the preferences and perceptions prevailing in a unified action center. Hierarchical direction becomes an institutionally available mode of interaction, as exemplified in Britain, New Zealand, and possibly France. In rational-choice institutionalism, incentives are defined by refere nce to the self-interest of the corporate and collective actors involved in the policy process, for example, governments, political parties, central banks, labor unions, their subunits, or the individuals acting for them. In single-actor systems, the incentives that have the most direct effect on policy choices are constituted by the mechanisms of political accountability. In multi-actor systems, accountability is weakened and policy outcomes are more affected by incentives favoring cooperation or conflict between the veto actors. CRITICAL JUNCTURES AND DEVELOPMENTAL PATHWAYS Ikenberry (1994) characterises political development as involving critical junctures and developmental pathways. According to the first principle, different founding moments of institutional formation send countries along broadly different developmental paths. The second principle suggests that institutions continue to evolve in response to changing environmental conditions and ongoing political maneuvering but in ways that are constrained by past trajectories. According to Thelen (1999), where state-builders faced geopolitical competition early, they were forced into greater concessions to the financiers, merchants, and administrators who financed and staffed the bureaucracy, resulting in patrimonial systems. Where rulers confronted geopolitical pressures later, they found themselves in a quite different world, where developments in education and finance made these side payments unnecessary, resulting in greater bureaucratic autonomy. Over time, some avenues of policy become increas ingly blocked, if not entirely cut off, as decisions at one point in time can restrict future possibilities by sending policy off onto particular tracks (Thelen 1999). DIFFERENT THEORETICAL APPROACHES Although it is generally accepted that challenges to which policy actors may have to respond are influenced by the institutional setting, the dominant strands of current institutionalist theorising, rational-choice institutionalism and sociological institutionalism, differ in their conceptualisation of these influences (Scharpf 2000). LIMITATIONS Institutions have limitations which have a significant effect on policy outcomes. These limitations are focus on structures and efficiency, focus on stability, political manipulation and policy networking. FOCUS ON STRUCTURES AND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY It has been argued that compliance with structures and practices often becomes more important than its actual efficacy (Lowndes 1996). According to DiMaggio and Powell (1991), it is the demand for similarity of structure and functioning, rather than for increased efficiency, that drives organisational change. According to Thelen (1999), the institutional approach begins with the observation that markets, embedded in political and social institutions, are the creation of governments and politics. The main purpose and effect of institutions are often seen as economising on fraction costs. Lowndes (1996:186) describes institutions as â€Å"efficient organisational frameworks, which arise to solve problems of complex economic exchange†. The critics of the new institutional economics, however, object to the proposal that a universal economic logic determines the choice of institutional systems, regardless of culture and circumstance or power and politics (Lowndes 1996). FOCUS ON STABILITY North (1990) stresses stability rather than efficiency as the economic rationale for institutions, arguing that technically inefficient institutions persist because they contribute to stability and harmony in interaction and because they are deeply embedded in culture and tradition. According to historical institutionalism, institutions do more than channel policy and structure political conflict. Thelen (1999) claims that institutions are socially constructed in the sense that they embody shared cultural understandings of the way the world works. This means that even when policy makers set out to redesign institutions, they are constrained in what they can conceive of by these embedded, cultural constraints. For example, the evolution of Japanese security policy shows how collectively held norms define appropriate conduct, shape actor identities, and influence actor interests, and in doing so, inform how political actors define what they want to accomplish (Thelen 1999). Pearson (20 00) claims that path dependence can be used to explain the analysis of European party systems, labor incorporation in Latin America, the outcome of state-building processes in Europe, and the comparative development of health care systems. According to Thelen (1999), the problem with this approach is that dominant cultural norms emerge out of concrete political conflicts, in which different groups fight over which norms will prevail. Dominant policy paradigms can and do shift at times and organisational fields are often imposed by powerful actors. According to Stinchcombe (1997), it is legitimacy and not automaticity that explains why people follow scripts in the first place. Furthermore, the entrenchments of certain institutional arrangements obstruct an easy reversal of the initial choice (Pearson 2000). The conception of path dependence, in which preceding steps in a particular direction induce further movement in the same direction, is well captured by the idea of increasing returns. In an increasing returns process, the probability of further steps along the same path increases with each move down that path because of the costs associated with exit or change. According to North (1990), institutions induce self-rei nforcing processes that make reversals of course increasingly unattractive over time. This, according to Arthur (1994) leads to unpredictability, inflexibility, nonergodicity and potential path inefficiency. POLITICAL MANIPULATION In politics, institutional constraints are ubiquitous (Pierson 2000). Politics involves struggles over the authority to establish, enforce and change the rules governing social action in a particular territory. According to Gorges (2001), the institutional change could be influenced by material and ideal incentives the policy entrepreneurs provide. Furthermore, change is most likely when there is an increase in the effectiveness of individuals seeking change and a decrease in the blocking power of individuals whose interests are served by the current institutional arrangements. Institutions are not neutral coordinating mechanisms but in fact reflect, and also reproduce and magnify, particular patterns of power distribution in politics (Thelen 1999). Thus, political arrangements and policy feedbacks actively facilitate the organisation and empowerment of certain groups while actively disarticulating and marginalising others. â€Å"Manipulated by utility-maximising politicians and bur eaucrats, institutions degenerate over time. They come to serve the individual, private interests of officials and any conception of the public interest is lost (Lowndes 1996:188)†. Public officials seek to augment their status and material through increases to budgets under their control, and utility-seeking politicians attempt to maximise votes by promising benefits and service enhancements, which results in waste and over-supply of government goods and services (Niskanen 1973). An alternative to the budget-maximising thesis is provided by bureau-shaping theory which accepts that bureaucrats are self-serving, but denies that they pursue a single course of utility-maximising action (Lowndes 1996). In rational-choice institutionalism, institutional rules are understood as external constraints and incentives structuring the purposeful choices of self-interested rational actors (Scharpf 2000). Thus, when certain actors are in a position to impose rules on others, the employment of power may be self-reinforcing (Pierson 2000). Actors may use political authority to generate changes in both formal institutions and various public policies designed to enhance their power. Skocpol (1992) argues that institutional arrangements affect the capabilities of various groups to achieve self-consciousness, organise, and make alliances. For example, the fragmentation of the state, as well as the organisation of party competition along patronage lines, actively mediated against the development of a unified working class that could then spearhead the movement for comprehensive social policies in the United States. Scharpf (2000) does not agree with this notion, arguing that actor preferences have at least two dimensions individual and organisational self-interest on one hand and normative obligations and aspirations on the other. INSTITUTIONS AND THE â€Å"POLICY NETWORKING† The policy network approach is concerned with the institutionalisation of relations between governmental and non-governmental actors (Lowndes 1996). The concern is with actual institutional practices rather than with formal organisational arrangements. Jordan (1990) refers to an institution as an extra-constitutional policy-making arrangement between industries and clientelistic groups. Lowndes (1996) points to the traditionally fragmented structure of British government and the influential role played by interest groups in policy-making. In such environment, â€Å"policy is made not by a unified government machine but by an assortment of actors, governmental and nongovernmental, linked together in more or less formal and coherent networks (Lowndes 1996:190)†. Furthermore, institutions are embedded in networks of other institutions, and it is difficult to change one institution in a matrix because of this embeddedness. According to Lowndes (1996), policy networks routinise rel ationships, promoting continuity and stability. One example is the EU, where the European Commission has often granted access to, and attempted to institutionalise the participation of interest groups as a way of securing legitimacy for its proposals before presenting them to the Council of Ministers (Gorges 2001). The Commission has attempted to sustain and expand the Community political system by providing information to the social partners, forcing them to re-evaluate their interests and priorities, and supporting the development of a Community/Union system of interest intermediation by providing a forum for conflict resolution. The capacity for effective policy responses is affected not only by the quantity and quality but also by the diversity of policy-relevant information and analysis provided by an institutionalised information infrastructure (Scharpf 2000). Policy coordination in Austria, for example, was greatly facilitated by the fact that the government, the political parties, and the social partners relied on the analyses provided by a single economic research institute. In Germany, by contrast, unions and employers maintain separate research institutes, the federal government supports altogether six such institutes, the federal labor administration and the Bundesbank maintain large in-house research capacities, the independent Council of Economic Advisors relies on its own research staff, and the big commercial banks have their own macroeconomic research departments. The downside of the monopoly model is the risks of groupthink, or the failure to pay attention to observations, interpretations, and recommendations that do not conform to the dominant worldview (Scharpf 2000). This was arguably the case in Britain in the early 1970s, when policy makers in the treasury continued to rely on the Keynesian recommendations derived from the single macroeconomic simulation model, even when the economy had ceased to respond as predicted (Scharpf 2000). However, when the analyses of institutionalised information monopolists do fit the problem, they will facilitate effective problem solving in single-actor systems and effective coordination in multiactor systems. The pluralistic model, by contrast, will provide protection against the institutionalisation of error. CONCLUSION The paper has explored the role of institutions in influencing policy outcomes. Institutional conditions, to the extent that they are able to influence actor choices, are seen as remote causes. Institutions influence policy outcomes by setting norms in decision making. Furthermore, institutional rules affect policy by restricting options, constituting actor constellations, regulating their modes of interaction and by structuring the incentives of the participating actors. Although it is generally accepted that challenges to which policy actors may have to respond are influenced by the institutional setting, the dominant strands of current institutionalist theorising, rational-choice institutionalism and sociological institutionalism, differ in their conceptualisation of these influences. Limitations of institutions, such as the focus on structures and economic efficiency, the focus on stability, political manipulation and policy networking, further influence policy outcomes. BIBLIOGRAPHY Arthur W.B. (1989). â€Å"Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and lock-in by Historical Events†. Economy Journal, Vol. 99. Ashford, D. E. (1977). â€Å"Political Science and Policy Studies: towards a structural solution†. Policy Studies Journal, Iss.5, pp.570-583. DiMaggio, P and Powell, W. (1991). â€Å"Introduction†, in W. Powell and P DiMaggio The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (eds). University of Chicago Press. Gorges, M.J. (2001). â€Å"The New Institutionalism and the Study of the European Union: The case of the social dialogue†. Western European Politics, Vol.24, Iss.4, pp.152. Ikenberry G.J. (1994). â€Å"History’s Heavy Hand: institutions and the politics of the state†. Conference on The New Institutionalism, University of Maryland. Jordan, G. (1990). â€Å"Policy Community Realism versus New Institutionalist Ambiguit†. Political Studies, Vol.38, pp.470-84. Lowndes, V. (1996). â€Å"Varieties of New Institutionalism: A critical appraisal†. Public Administration, Vol.74, pp.181-197. March, J. and Olsen, J. (1984). â€Å"The New Institutionalism: Organizational factors in political life†. The American Political Science Review, Vol.78, No.3, pp.734-749. March, J. and Olsen, J. (1989). â€Å"Rediscovering Institutions: the organizational basis of politics†. Free Press, New York. Niskanen, W. (1973). â€Å"Bureaucracy: Servant or Master?† Institute for Economic Affairs, London. North, D. (1990). â€Å"Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance†. Cambridge University Press. Pierson, P. (2000). â€Å"Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics†. The American Political Science Review, Vol.94, No.2, pp.251-267. Scharpf, F.W. (1989). ‘Decision Rules, Decision Styles and Policy Choices’, Journal of Theoretical Politics,Vol.1, Iss.2, pp.149-176. Scharpf, F.W. (2000). â€Å"Institutions in Comparative Policy Research†. Comparative Political Studies,Vol.33, pp.762-790. Skocpol T. (1979). â€Å"States and Social Revolutions.† Cambridge University Press. Stinchcombe A.L. (1997). â€Å"On the Virtues of the old Institutionalism†. Annu. Rev. Soc. Vol.23 Thelen, K. (1999). â€Å"Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics†. Annual Review of Political Science, Vol.2, pp369-404.

Flannery OConnors Good Country People Essay -- Good Country People

Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" In "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor, uses symbolism in the choice of names, almost to the point of being ironic and humorous. These names center around the personality and demeanor of the characters. Hulga, once known as Joy, simply changed her name because it was the ugliest she could think of. Mrs. Freeman's name is ironic because she is burdened by the land that she works, so is not really free. Mrs. Hopewell?s name is also ironic, because she trys to provide hope, but is in fact empty in her talk. Each one of these characters names, Hulga, Mrs. Freeman, and Mrs. Hopewell, show the symbolism used by Flannery O'Connor. Hulga, the daughter to Mrs. Hopewell, was actually named Joy at birth. At the age of ten, Joy lost one of her legs in a hunting accident, and from that point on became a depressed realist. At the age of twenty one, Joy moved out of the house, went to college, and legally changed her name to Hulga. Hulga most likely changes her name to spite her mother, because Joy is such a beautiful name and Hulga is such an ugly one. ?She [Hulga] had arrived at it first purely on the basis of its ugly sound and then the full genius of its fitness had struck her...She saw it as the name of her highest creative act.? Hulga alo changes her name because of the true way she feels inside. Hulga is the ugliest name she could think of and it shows her inability to love or become close to anyone. ?One of...

My Media Life :: Essays Papers

My Media Life When I was growing up I was always taught that television was a privilege – one that could be taken away if I neglected other important things in my life. Some of my earliest memories of my mother’s control on my television watching consist of a small basket in which we would â€Å"deposit† our TV slips each time we watched a program or a movie. Each week she would give my brother, my sister, and I slips of paper with a certain amount of â€Å"time† available for us to watch TV written on them. We had to be careful not to use them all up in the first couple days of the week or else we wouldn’t be able to watch anything else all week. I can’t remember exactly how much time she would give us, but I remember it varying depending on the season (she gave us more time in the summer) and our age (as we got older, the more time we were allowed). My mother’s ingenious idea to establish this system upon us not only controlled how much TV we watched, but also taught us some very early lessons on time management. My mother wasn’t all that strict though with this system. For example, if we were watching a program with the whole family, such as the newest episode of Home Improvement, Full House, or Rescue 911, she would let us watch for free. If we were watching educational programs then she would let us watch for free. If we were watching a family video on a Friday night, she let us watch for free. And of course, Saturday-morning cartoons were obviously free. As we got older, my mom kind of just let this system fall out of practice. We were outside enough, climbing in the pine trees in our backyard, riding bikes all over the neighborhood, or swimming in our 4.5-foot above-ground pool. She wasn’t worried about us not getting proper exercise outdoors. Television was simply a way to pass the rainy days and afternoons when it was too hot to be outside. When trying to recall some of the television programs that were a part of my childhood, I can think of many.

Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Schumann

Ludwig van Beethoven faced hearing problems which he noticed at about age 26. He accepted at age 32 that he would possibly become completely deaf. He tried to suppress the problem by using headphones though by age 50, he could hardly hear any sound. This however did not deter him from writing his 9th and final symphony (Hosler, 2009).His career was badly affected as he surged into depression and became embarrassed that he would lose his auditory sense though he was a composer. Both the music of the romantic period and other art forms of the period focused on bringing out the expression of intense feelings and emotions.Both aspects were ruled by the depiction of beauty, strangeness and sublimity. Both music types are nourished by and closely linked to other forms of art such as poetry and drama. Classical music is dominated by the aspect of sound building and universality whereas romantic music is predominated by sound feeling and individualism. Ideals of order, control and equilibriu m are associated with classical music while romanticism is deep in passion, movement, fantasy and imagination. Question 2 (Robert Schumann)Robert Schumann intensified his composition after marrying Clara who led him into orchestral music and chamber works in an effort to expand his style. As a result, his love for the piano facilitated a good combination with symphonic orchestration which enabled him to produce the â€Å"Piano Concerto in A Minor†. Robert had seven children with Clara and this created a new dimension of composition in that they started composing songs for children and those about children such as â€Å"Child Falling Asleep† (Schneider, 2002).Johannes Brahms is the composer of the famous Intermezzo and Cantata Rinaldo in addition to his first published work on sonata in C major. Fredric Chopin is the composer of the famous Revolutionary Etude and Opus in addition to writing about lovers who part in his popular Les Adieux (library. thinkquest. org, n. d) . Richard Wagner wrote about ten operas which are today regularly performed in opera houses. He also invented the leitmotiv which is a form of signature tune for events, persons, physical objects and emotions.The orchestra pit and orchestration invented by Richard brought new aspects in the sound properties of the theatre. Composers and other music professionals have gained a lot of knowledge and have been inspired by the harmony, melodic structure and the great orchestration present in Wagner’s inventions. The inventions have been a source of dynamism in the world of music (Roy, n. d). References Hosler, H. (2009). Medical Mystery Behind Beethoven. Retrieved July 13, 2010, from http://lifebridgeblogs.blogspot. com/2009/11/medical-mystery-behind-beethoven. html library. thinkquest. org. (n. d). The Romantic Era Composers. Retrieved July 13, 2010, from http://library. thinkquest. org/15413/history/history-rom-comp. htm Roy, E. (n. d). Wagner the Innovator. Retrieved July 13, 2 010, from http://www. bikwil. com/Vintage10/Wagner-Innovator. html Schneider, E. (2002). Robert and Clara Schumann – a biography. Retrieved July 13, 2010, from http://www. essortment. com/all/robertclarasch_rjya. htm

CW Introduction

The founder of Lid was by a man named Dieter Schwartz who currently has a net worth of around $15. 2 Billion he got that success from being the founder of Lid. He is the CEO and chairman of the company and Dieter is also the CEO of the hyper market Kaufmann. The company Lid has been around for many years and they were founded in the year 1 930 when the company was founded in Germany. The first ever Lid store was opened in the year 1973 and the store started to gain a lot of consumers by the sass's.Lid then decided to branch their stores outside of Germany and as of now the store can be found in nearly every country in Europe. Lid loves to sell top quality products and sell them for the lowest prices available. The first ever UK store of Lid was established in 1 994 and they are still growing in the UK and more than 600 stores. 1 An evaluation of the strategic position of the company (500 – 600 words*) There are many different ways that Lid are trying to keep their strategic po sition of the company. This will include the many plans that Lid has for true plans and development.Which include plans such as there expansions? There have been reports that to maintain Lid's strategic position is by expanding the amount of stores they have and they soon want to have an empire of 1 500 stores and this will maintain their strategic position as more stores and thus this will mean more business. I will also include a SOOT analysis of Lid which show the strengths of the company and show the strengths and weakness of the company. Strengths in Lid include Has a good range of branded products and also has its own Bargain labelsThey usually build their places in deprived areas where cheap food and items are needed by that area and they sell items that suit most of peoples incomes Lid usually open on Sundays and holidays Is going to expand their store count to 1500 stores Weakness in Lid They are still pretty small compared to bigger brands There isn't many chain stores aro und Opportunity To gain a further stronghold and to expand in other countries like Africa and Asia Threats The increase in competition with Laid and other business meaning more intention for Lid Cost of all products PESTLE analysis for Lid an PESTLE analysis evaluates the following areas of Lid which include the following Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental. Political – The political areas that can affect Lid are as follows the government intervening with wages and having Lid have National Minimal wages.

The Cellmate

â€Å"The Cellmate† by Crystal Arbogast â€Å"The Cellmate† is a text by Crystal Arbogast, and the story is set in a small town called Whitesburg Kentucky in the USA. The story takes place in the summer of 1925, and includes a protagonist and two important supporting characters. The title obliviously indicates that the story will have something to do with a cellmate; therefore we can say that the title is some sort of foreshadowing. Crystal Arbogast has used the third person limited as point of view, and furthermore her style of writing is quite detailed.Some of the themes in this short story are prejudice, death penalty or the fact that there has to be a co-existence between the good and the bad in the world. The plot is about Andy, a man who lives in Whitesburg who is known for his homemade liquor. On this exact Indian summer day in 1925 there is only one thing that seems to disturb the inner peace of our protagonist, and that is the fact that a young man called Lloyd is in prison for having killed a woman and for this reason is sentenced to death the following day.As Lloyd does not fit Andy’s idea of a killer, he continues to wonder whether he really killed this poor woman and if so, perchance someone else had anything to do with the murder. In the story some townspeople ponder that Lloyd’s mother, Annie, was the one who persuaded him to kill that woman. Later in the afternoon Andy is bound to pass the night in the same cell as the killer Lloyd, due to the sheriff’s amusement. In the following morning Lloyd was executed. Later when Andy was released, he decided to take care of Lloyd’s dearest possession; his horse, which was Lloyd’s last wish.The story begins with the author describing the beautiful nature and landscape of Whitesburg, which she also describes as â€Å"truly God’s country†. Moreover she uses the literary device circular composition, which means that the opening and the finish is s omehow linked together; in this story it is the beginning’s sunrise which is joined to the ending’s sunset. The sun can be a symbol of life, and by starting and ending with this powerful symbol, we could interpret that life will go on no matter what. There will always be a day after tomorrow.Additionally, the opening tells us that Andy sees Whitesburg Kentucky as â€Å"truly God’s country†, whereas, the ending shows us humanity at its worst and best. Andy represents the goodwill in humans, and takes on the burden of a young man’s last wish, for no other reason than feeling sorry for Lloyd. However there will always be people like the sheriff and Lloyd’s mother, and these are the people who most likely are unaware to the pleasure of helping others or the touching joy of sunrises and sunsets.There are three characters that stood out the most, and those are the protagonist Andy Sturgil and the two supporting characters, the Sheriff and Lloyd. A ndy Sturgil is an interesting character, because he is dynamic. In the opening we learn that he brews his own liquor, and the fact that the Sheriff is onto him, makes Andy look like a carefree and chancy man. On the other hand, he is the one in the story that shows empathy and compassion towards the â€Å"killer† (Lloyd), Andy is truly a goodhearted man. Men do not show emotions, however the story portrayed some quiet feelings.However, perhaps the most interesting character is Lloyd, caused by his role in this short story. Lloyd gives the impression of having a child mentality and it appears as he is non-violent, and for this reason I find it hard to believe that he could have killed that woman, without someone pulling the strings. And then there is the Sheriff, who is a power-hungry and egocentric man, and the towns bully. Besides it looks as if the Sheriff actually feels threatened by Andy, perhaps because Andy is a cherished man in his town.

Comparing Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King on Unjust Laws Essay

In today’s society, it is often unclear where to draw the line between good morals and effective government. It is for this reason that many times, laws that are enacted for the â€Å"good of the people† can be in direct conflict with a person’s conscience. Due to the various struggles that the United States has faced in building a government, this topic has been a popular discussion throughout American literature. Although they did not live during the same time, American writers Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King, Jr. ach wrote about how a person should not follow laws that they believe to be immoral. Thoreau’s main concern pertained to the legal existence of slaves and slave-owners, and a century later, King spoke out against legal segregation in the South. In his â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail,† Martin Luther King, Jr. shares the same attitude with Henry David Thoreau’s work, â€Å"Civil Disobedience† concerning just and unjust laws; however, they each had different means of executing their beliefs. Both men agree that if a law is unjust, it is one’s duty to break that law, and do instead what they believe to be right. Thoreau considers that when unjust laws exist, a person has three choices of action: obey them, obey them while working to change them, or transgress them at once. He proposes, â€Å"It is not a man’s duty†¦to devote himself to the eradication of†¦even the most enormous wrong; †¦but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and†¦not to give it practically his support. † (Thoreau 4). Thoreau also ponders whether it is better to decide what is right and wrong by one’s own conscience. He declares, â€Å"It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume, is to do at any time what I think right. † (Thoreau 1). King, who was a devout clergyman, places one’s moral obligations under the eyes of God. He defines a just law as â€Å"†¦a man-made code that squares with the†¦law of God. † (King 177). King and Thoreau believe that the act of going against the law should be done in a passive manner. King explains, â€Å"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. † (175). These writers also coincide that once someone has broken a law, he or she must be willing to accept the consequences, including the possible penalty of imprisonment. In fact, both men spent time in prison for their acts of civil disobedience. Thoreau was sent to jail after six years of refusing to pay his taxes, due to his opposition to both the Mexican-American War and slavery in America. King was sent to jail for leading several peaceful protests, including a boycott. However, King was imprisoned for much longer than Thoreau, who only spent one day in prison, but was unwillingly bailed out by his aunt. In fact, it was from jail that King wrote his letter, in an effort to defend his actions in Birmingham, which he believed to be completely necessary and justifiable actions of protest. Both Thoreau and King felt that by going to prison, and dealing with the consequences of their actions, they were solidifying and therefore strengthening their protests. Thoreau and King were also of the same mind that a law must be respected regardless of whether it is just or unjust. King fears that anarchy will result if laws are not respected; Thoreau describes that rebellion will be the consequence if laws are not given respect. King declares, â€Å"†¦An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for the law. † (King 179). King states his position as one that disagrees with a law, and therefore goes against it in an effort to change it with respect to the government. Both writers agree that getting rid of the government is not the goal, but rather to change its ways. Thoreau articulates, â€Å"†¦to speak practically and as a citizen†¦I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it. † (Thoreau 1). Exercising passive resistance is the basis of the title of Thoreau’s work, and King presents several examples of civil disobedience in his letter, such as the Boston Tea Party. King himself not only exercises passive resistance, but he provides the procedure to be followed for any nonviolent campaign. With the exception of King’s added religious beliefs, Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King, Jr. shared the same ideas concerning civil disobedience and the ways in which one should deal with just and unjust laws, although they demonstrated their viewpoints in different ways. Both of these writers believed that any law that was in conflict with a person’s conscience should be respected, but still challenged in a passive manner. To prove this belief, both Thoreau and King practiced it themselves.

Nursing Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nursing Leadership - Essay Example This is what, in turn, moulds the outlook of the nurses, patients and relations. There is a requirement of leadership in nursing for there to be an efficient running of everyday functions. However, this cannot be termed as the mere part that nursing leadership plays. Another role of nursing leadership is to know the way visions can be made to be realized (El-Meligi, 2005), which means, the way patients can be provided with a safe climate or the way they can be treated such that they feel respected. Every nurse administrator attempts to develop accurate prescriptions for care delivery systems which can be capable of providing high-quality and gainful patient results. For explaining what quality of nursing care is it can be said that it is the care which the nurses provide in keeping with the conventional nursing care standards (Grujic, O'Sullivan, & Wehrmacher, 1989). There are several determinants which can be made use of for determining the kind of nursing care that is being provided.

Data analysis task Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data analysis task - Assignment Example Both of the genes contribute fragments to the gel that have been sectioned by the enzyme. These portions have complementary bases to the probe, thus forming more bands. Simply, there is a copy of R and r portions in the heterozygote. The lighter bands represent homozygote state. That is, there is less DNA to map. This can only imply that half the DNA is present. 7) When the blot was probed at high stringency with a probe made with DNA that flanks the R gene (as seen in Figure 1) a smear typical of thousands of hybridising bands was seen. How could this be explained? 8) The turnaround time for Southern Blot analysis is typically around 10 days. Now that you have identified the region in which the mutation lies explain with detail how a faster test could be designed? Now that the portion has been identified, a faster test would only need one to cut the DNA at the specific location. After that has been done, the cut portion is denatured, pre hybridized and transferred to a gel block. Alternatively, it could be run through PCR and analysed using an electronic DNA

Nutrition assessment (food record) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nutrition assessment (food record) - Essay Example Make dough balls and leave for 10 minutes. Roll the dough balls into circles 5 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. Bake each circle in oven preheated to 5000F for 4 minutes until it puffs up. Turn over and bake for an additional 2 minutes. over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent. Stir in tomatoes, salt, sugar. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 90 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, basil, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and meatballs and simmer 30 minutes more. Serve. Wash and cook the rice with coconut oil. Fry the lam beat in a pan until it turns golden brown. Add the onions and all the spices. Mix and fry again for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Serve with diet coke and green salad. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and garlic and cook, occasionally stirring occasionally. Add the flour and cook for cook for a minute. Add the half-and-half and cook until thickened. Add the chicken broth and cook until thickened again. Add the salt, the thyme, parsley, remaining spices, spinach, chicken, and gnocchi. Simmer until the mixture is well-cooked Preheat the oven to 450Â °F for at least 30 minutes. Make the dough into a ball and then work it to form flat dough. Add the tomatoes, cheese and grilled chicken (as toppings). Bake the pizza for 15 minutes, or until it is browned and the cheese is

The position of non-executive director Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The position of non-executive director - Essay Example The researcher of the current paper states that there is no distinction made between the responsibilities of a non-executive director and an affiliated director. According the United Kingdom company law, however, both have distinct roles while fulfilling their responsibilities. The affiliated director is an employee of a company and is given an executive position and authority to involve in the day to day business operations of the company; on the other hand, the non-executive director is not an employee of the company; consequently, he or she does not possess an executive position or executive authority similar to the executive position or executive authority extended to the affiliated director. In addition to that, the affiliated director receives salary or remuneration for his or her services performed for the company; on the other hand, the non-executive director charges fees for providing his services for the board. Fundamentally, the functions of the non-executive directors are to provide a creative contribution to the board with the provision of objective criticism. Also, the non-executive directors are required to ponder over the board matters and avoid straying into the executive direction, which is the role of the affiliated directors. And, at the same time, the affiliated directors involve and carry out the executive decisions for the company on day to day basis in contrast to the function of the non-executive director. ... Consequently, the Sarbanes-Oxley 2002, in the United States, and Higgs Review of Non-Executive Directors in 2003, in the United Kingdom, revitalized the role of the non-executive director and gave more clarity to the participation and contribution of the non-executive director. Dispersed and concentrated ownership Particularly, in the United States and the United Kingdom, the dispersed ownership, which is also identified with the term â€Å"outsider systems† (Maher and Andersson, 1999), is featured with relatively high turnover along with widely dispersed share ownership; in the dispersed ownership, a more equitable distribution of information and a considerable emphasis is given to the protection of the shareholders rights and, especially, those of minority investors. On the other hand, concentrated ownership, also known as insider systems, have features such as the presence of ownership concentration or concentration of voting power in a few hands along with a multiplicity o f corporate holdings and inter-firm relationships. The specific examples, denoting the concept of concentrated ownership, include familial control, banks, holding companies and other non-financial institutions. Both types of ownerships offer different sorts of advantages. The dispersed ownership provides the benefits such as extended liquidity of stock; as a result, the investors can easily avail the better risk diversification possibilities; and, at the same time, the corporate governance framework in the dispersed ownership encourages the use of public capital markets (OECD, 1999); on the other hand, the problems such as supervision and monitoring of management, which remains to be a point of high tension in

CNN International and Al-Jazeera Arabic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

CNN International and Al-Jazeera Arabic - Essay Example CNN International started transmissions on January 1, 1984 at first broadcasting to American business travelers in hotels. The huge bulk of the network's programming primitively consisted of simulcasts of the two domestic CNN channels, CNN/US and Headline News. However, the quantity of news programming created by CNN International especially for international viewers significantly enhanced, in 1990, which came forth as an internationally oriented news channel with staff members of various national backgrounds. On July 4, 1997, CNN International was awarded the Liberty Medal and in accepting the medal on behalf of the network, Ted Turner said: "My idea was, we're just going to give people the facts†¦We didn't have to show liberty and democracy as good, and show socialism or totalitarianism as bad. If we just showed them both the way they were†¦clearly everybody's going to choose liberty and democracy." ... ates was launched on January 11, 2009 and CNN International adjusted half an hour in its schedule with a new evening prime program for the Middle East viewers â€Å"Prism†. From January till September 2009, CNN International conformed more programs that went pitched to a primetime European audience with a few titled after CNN International charismas especially the interview program Amanpour. The channel plunged a new tagline "Go Beyond Borders", accenting the international view that gives the information in this string and the plurality of the audiences and also referring to the various platforms to broadcast their contents, along with a new logo on September 21, 2009. The Channel amalgamated its general newscasts (CNN Today, Your World Today, World News, World News Europe and World News Asia) into a single newscast entitled World Report. CNN International has launched new programs for evening-prime and meliorated its schedule from 2010. The Domestic CNN has increased the CNN International schedule by adding the new talk show program â€Å"Piers Morgan Tonight† in 2011. Today, CNN International has six variants namely: CNN International Europe/Middle East/Africa, based in London, England, United Kingdom; CNN International Latin America based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; CNN International North America based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; CNN International Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong SAR, China; CNN International South Asia based in Hong Kong SAR, China; and CNN International Middle East, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.3 Al-Jazeera Owned by the state of Qatar and headquartered in Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster through the Qatar Media Corporation. Al Jazeera was initially launched as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite TV channel and

MGT599 MoD 2 SLP Assignment External Environment Analysis Essay

MGT599 MoD 2 SLP Assignment External Environment Analysis - Essay Example Furthermore, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulations are also introduced by the Food Standard Agency in order to safeguard the food products through proper analysis and evaluation of biological, chemical and physical risk arising at the time of developing or manufacturing it (Food Standard Agency, 2011a). This law is introduced in order to protect the food product from procurement of appropriate raw materials, handling, manufacturing and ultimately selling or consumption, by target customers. Therefore, by procuring proper raw materials, high quality of ingredients might be offered to the customers, so as to reduce the intensity of obesity or any other harmful disorder. This regulation acts as an opportunity for the Kraft food group as it might prove effective in attracting a wide range of customers towards the brand. By improvement in the range of customers, the profitability and brand value of the Kraft food group may get amplified in the market among other rival players. Economic: The economic factors such as consumer spending, disposable income, inflation, unemployment etc might offer significant impact over the organization offering food products. The recent economic downturn of 2007-2008 created considerable changes over the food retail industry. This crisis also offers negative impact over the buying behavior of the customer, due to lack of disposable income. As the rate of unemployment increases; the rate of per capita income of the customers decreases significantly and so their buying behavior also gets hindered significantly (Mintel Group Ltd, 2009). Therefore, due to reduction of the buying behavior, the rate of total sale and profitability of the organization reduces that hinders its total revenue and market share. Thus, such type of economic impacts acts as a threat for the Kraft food group as it decreased its total sale and profitability in the

Negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia Essay

Negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia - Essay Example paranoid delusion and aggression were of increased intensity; when aripiprazole 15 mg was administered, Two weeks later the positive symptoms, paranoid delusion and aggression appeared. (Ponde MP, Novaes CM.. 2007) He complains of hearing voices talking to him and claims the television is sending special messages to him particularly, called delusions of reference. He also is so paranoid in the sense of having Somatic Delusions of false body illnesses beliefs the patient convinces himself of including cancer presence. Other cognitive symptoms where also present such as disorganized thoughts, difficulty in concentrating and in following instructions given in hand, difficulty in completing tasks and memory retaining problems. Another patient. 52 years old came with the following negative signs and symptoms of schizophrenia; apathy, lack of emotion, poor or nonexistent social functioning and depression. (Peralta V., Cuesta M. J., Martinez-Larrea A., and Serrano J. F. (2000) The patient apparently has disorganizational issues here is mostly speechless, and when asked a question replies in a short meaningless manner. This is called alogia or poverty of speech fluency, and he probably has psychomotor retardation. He also seems to stare blankly with incoherent body language or lack of it, in addition to attention impairment. (Potkin S. G., Alva G., Fleming K., Anand R., Keator D., Carreon D., Michael Doo, Yi Jin, Wu J. C., and Fallon J.H. 2002) He also has an affective flattening and diminished motivation representation; anhedonia and apathy, diminished motivation, moodiness with sudden switching from happiness to sadness and exacerbation of emotions in a strange manner. (Mary E. Kelley. Daniel P. van Kammen. and Daniel N. Allen. 1999) Peralta V., Cuesta M. J., Martinez-Larrea A., and Serrano J. F. (2000). Differentiating Primary from Secondary Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia: A Study of

The Black Holes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

The Black Holes - Research Paper Example In circumstances where the neutron star is extremely large, the 0forces of gravity outweigh the pressure gradient and this leads to a collapse. Such a neutron star collapses and shrinks until it finally turns out into a black hole. On such a scientific basis, this paper seeks to explain the properties, concepts, and space-time phenomena underpinning concept of the black hole formation. There are different types of black holes. The most common ones are; charged, rotating, supermassive, and static (Schwarzschild 150). Importantly, these four types of black holes are made up of the same fundamental elements; the singularity, the photon sphere, and the event horizon. However, the rotating black hole has an ergosphere which is a combination of two photon spheres. An interesting property about a black hole underlies the absorption of light and any other matter. Electromagnetic light once absorbed by a black hole cannot be reflected back. This originates from the most defi ning quality of a black hole which regards its emission of gravitational waves. A black hole emits strong gravitational waves that cause light to bend towards it (Schwarzschild 120). As suggested by Green (145), gravitational waves are disturbances in space-time curvature that are caused by the motion of matter. Being transmitted to a speed close to that of light, gravitational waves do not propagate through space-time. Even though gravitational waves travel straight through matter, the strength associated with them reduces as the distance from the initial source increases. As noted by Hengel (103), most black holes tend to be in a steady spinning motion as a consequence of the gravitational waves. It is this steady motion that absorbs matter and rotates it within the ring (the event zone) that is usually formed around the black hole. Such

Mao Zedong Essay Example for Free

Mao Zedong Essay Mao Zedong took over the running of China from the GMD in 1949. The country was in an awful situation; it was weak, bankrupt and had little power. There were several reasons why the country was left in such a state. The Emperors who had ruled China for centuries had failed to modernise the country and China still believed in the ancient traditions of life. Foreign intervention had also hindered the development of China and caused problems. Foreign countries, such as Hong Kong, which was controlled by Britain and Mares, which was controlled by Portugal, controlled the main port areas in China. The intervention of foreign influence meant that China was unable to make important decisions for themselves. The world wars and the civil wars also affected China. The continuous battles between the GMD and the CCP striped the land of valuable resources. At the end of the civil war the defeated GMD left China for Taiwan and took the countries gold reserves. When the CCP took over as the governing body of China, they were bankrupt and had little power or resources. Mao Zedong decided action needed to be taken and this was one of the reasons why the second five-year plan was introduced. In 1950 Mao decided that China needed financial support, and so turned to Russia. Russia was the first communist country and was a natural place to look for help. China and Russia signed the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance. China was provided with financial aid and technical advice. They received $300 million over 5 years and 10,000 engineers and planning experts to help develop Chinas economy. The First five year plan was drawn up under the influence of the Russian advisers, to develop the economy. The plan gave priority to the development of heavy industry e. g. steel, coal and machinery. But it neglected light industry such as cotton making and food processing. This meant that the growth in living standards was slow. The first five year plan achieved great success in the development of heavy industry. The output of coal increased from 63. 5 million tonnes in 1952 to 124 tonnes in 1957. The output of steel also increased. It rose from 1,9 million tonnes to 5. 8 million tonnes. The Second five year plan was introduced in 1958 to build upon the successes of the first five year plan. Maos aim was that the second five year plan would improve both industry and agriculture at the same time. The main target of the plan was to catch up with the Western powers. Mao intended that the Chinese economy would overtake Britain in 15 years and America in 20-30 years. Mao took over China when it was very weak and very vulnerable. Under the guidance of the Russian advisers Mao introduced the first five year plan. During this plan some improvements were made, but Mao still decided further sacrifice was needed to move China forward. During Maos tour of the countryside in 1958 he said he had witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses and decided this was the way to change China into a modern country. Mao had a vision to make China into one of the worlds leading industrial nations at the same time as improving her agriculture. To do this Mao introduced the second five year plan, which he called the Great Leap Forward. When Mao received financial aid from Russia in 1950, he described this as getting meat out of the mouth of a tiger. Mao knew it was dangerous but also knew it was the only way to develop China. Mao also introduced the Great Leap Forward because he realised he had to develop China as they could not rely on Russia forever, and must stand on its own. Mao wanted to conduct the Great Leap Forward in a socialist way. Cooperatives and then communes were set up to gather the tremendous energy of the masses. The peasants. The peasants were very important in Maos plan. Mao was going to use the huge amount of peasants to change China. 80-90% of the population were peasants; Mao had plenty of people to carry out tasks. During he first five year plan the peasants had been set up into lower and higher stage co-operatives, this was to share the workload. In the second five year plan these co-operatives were developed into communes. The function of the communes was to act as a unit of local government with a committee made up of peasants, party members and soldiers. Each commune had an eating hall, schools and houses of happiness for the old. They were also set up as a unit of work organisation and finally a unit of the communist party. Mao encouraged the peasants to work by using propaganda. The government made every effort to whip the people into a frenzy of enthusiasm for work. They used posters, slogans and newspaper articles to urge the Chinese people to work, also loudspeakers played revolutionary music and stirring speeches to encourage work. The peasants may have been Chinas biggest resource but they were also theirs biggest problem as there was a tremendous amount of them and it was difficult to feed them all. China had very poor relations with America and there was a risk of conflict. The USA feared that China would spread communism to Asia and then to other parts of the world. The USA also showed its support for the GMD and in 1949 sent a US fleet to Taiwan. This was to show China that its support lay with the GMD and not them. This enraged Mao. In 1950 the USA sent troops to South Korea against the Chinese backed North Korea who were attempting to spread communism. In 1953 the relations between China and the USA were again affected. The USA blocked Chinas application to join the UN (United Nations) because they did not want to accept that the CCP was the governing body of China. China felt threatened by the USA and wanted to strengthen itself so it could stand up to countries like America. This was one of the reasons why the second five-year plan was introduced. China also had difficult relations with Russia. To begin with the two countries had a strong Relationship and then it fell apart. China and Russia seemed to be natural allies against the Western powers, as they were both communist countries. In 1950 Russia and China signed a Treaty of Friendship. But Mao realised this was dangerous, he states it was like taking meat from the mouth of a tiger. Mao wasnt the only one who thought this deal was risky. Khrushchev, the leader of Russia states that conflict with China is inevitable. He also said Mao is bursting with a impatient desire to rule the world. So conflict between the two countries seemed certain. In the mid 1950s the relations between the two countries began to deteriorate, due to several reasons. First Russia promised to help China develop atomic weapons but when asked they refused. Secondly China made claims for land at the India border but Russia failed to back them. China also claimed the right to control Taiwan and Russia again failed to support them. Finally Russia and China themselves had border disputes which weakened relations even further. China began to feel isolated by the breakdown of relations and Mao decided China must develop to survive. Then in1960 Russia withdrew aid, relations at this time were critical. Mao knew he had to act and the poor relations between China and Russia was a main reason why the second five-year plan was introduced. Only a few months after Mao introduced the Great Leap Forward things began to go dreadfully wrong. There were problems in industry and agriculture. The government put too much pressure on people and machinery. Often people would fall asleep at their post and machines would regularly overload due to the increased workload. The idea of the backyard steel campaign was also a failure. It produced impure steel which couldnt be used and steel that could be used was just left to rot. The backyard steel campaign took many peasants away from farming and so less food was being produced. The campaign also used valuable resources it used a lot of wood and coal. Many railway locomotives were unable to be used because of the lack of coal available. The crops that were grown began to die due to bad planning. The crops were place in show fields were there was little room, little and not much water. Bad weather also hindered the production of food. In some parts of the country crop fields were flooded by the heavy rains, whilst other crop field were left without any water and the crop were left to die. During the 3 bitter years 1959-61, over 20million people died as a result of lack of food. This was due to bad planning and the awful weather conditions. When the Russians withdrew their aid in 1960 the second five-year plan collapsed. Mao then lost support and the moderates kicked him out of office. Mao was left with the post of chairman of the party but had no control in the economy or the running of the country. During the second five-year plan the following successes were made. The population was reorganised into communes, this was such a success because there was over 700 million peasants living in China. To start with the plan achieved early success in the production of food and steel. There were also 600,000 furnaces set up to aid in the production of steel. The Chinese peasants also constructed a dam and canal. These were completed in record time. The second five-year plan also suffered a lot of failures. Poor planning caused these. The backyard steel campaign wasted resources such as coal and timber and took peasants away from food production. The output of the steel was impure and unusable. There was competition between communes, which led to each commune setting ridiculous targets. This led to the government believing it had more food and so food rations were increased. The second five-year plan ended in complete failure causing the deaths of more then 20million people from starvation and other related diseases.