A Close Critical Reading of Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” Essay

Humans do not only learn from each other’s experiences. Sometimes, things in nature create within an observer or participant of a phenomenon in nature, a profound realization about life. Elizabeth Bishop’s â€Å"The Fish† shares to the reader a said effect. The poem describes a simple fishing experience, but the event, prompted by a particular fish that the speaker catches, awakens within him a sense of awe as to the worth of the otherwise everyday sea creature. The narrative poem has a simple story. It is about someone who goes fishing one day. After the speaker catches the fish, however, it becomes an object of curiosity for him. The introspection begins an internal struggle as to whether he should keep the fish or not. In the end, he chooses to throw it back into the sea. Using a number of literary devices, however, Bishop is able to dramatize through words the internal struggle and in the process, illuminates and heightens the ordinary experience. The fish, for one, is not described as an object. It is referred to as a â€Å"he†. This personification, however, is not to give the fish human attributes but to clue the reader that the poem is about more than catching a fish. The fish remains a fish all throughout the poem, but it is in the speaker’s mind that it becomes symbolic and therefore to be treated as an ordinary fish by the reader. More than this, it is actually the imagery, the similes and metaphors, which the writer uses to physically describe the fish that appeals the reader’s senses and sympathy for the fish which, in turn, lifts the poem to its higher meaning. â€Å"He (the fish) didn’t fight† (5) when the speaker catches him. Its skin is like â€Å"like wallpaper†¦stained and lost through age† (13-15). On its jaw â€Å"hung five old pieces of fish-line†¦all their five big hooks/grown firmly in his mouth† (51, 54-55). This set of imagery suggests that this particular fish is old and has fought a lot of battles already. Its body has suffered the scars of past struggles and is battle-worn. The simile of the five fish hooks as being compared by the poet to â€Å"medals with their ribbons†¦a five-haired beard of wisdom† (61, 63) recalls to the reader’s mind the medals on the suit of a five-star general who has fought wars and come out of them battle-scarred yet proud of every ribbon and scar. There is a tone of respect upon the speaker for the fish. At this point in the poem especially, the second half of the long single-stanza, there is an irony in the transformation of the creature from ordinary fish in the first line to the revered creature in the latter part of the poem. This reverence is what convinces the speaker to â€Å"let the fish go† (76). The act of letting go, too, is another ironic event in that any fisherman would not let go of something he has worked hard to get. But to the poet, it is not a waste of effort because it is a show of his respect for the fish. After staring at the fish for a long time, â€Å"victory filled up/ the little rented boat† (65-66), the speaker expresses. It is a score of victory for the fish because its scars have convinced the speaker that this fish has fought all its life and now deserves respect for being a survivor. Ultimately, the poem could be seen as an allegory to the beauty of a survivor’s ugly scars and physical deformities. The fish, with its rough skin â€Å"infested with tiny white sea-lice† (19) hanged with â€Å"rags of green weed† (21) and â€Å"five old pieces of fish-line† (51) stuck in its mouth, has grown ugly with age. Yet, these marks are not simply brought about by age but from years of struggling and freeing itself from past attempts of other fishermen to catch it. Those are its own marks of beauty and honor. Reference: Bishop, Elizabeth. â€Å"The Fish†.

The advantages and disadvantages of encouraging more migrants into the United Kingdom

There are many negative points about migrants coming into our country, but there are just as many positive points. But how many migrants are too much, and how can we say stop to migrants when they are the foundation of today's society? Different groups around the world have been migrating into England since the early Iron Age. The first settlers to arrive in England were during the expansion of the Proto-Celtic movement, in about 500 BC. Then between 300 and 500 AD, the great migration movement started; England was bombarded with new settlers from all around Europe. There were the Angles and Saxons from modern Germany: the estimated total number of Germanic settlers varies between 10,000-200,000. There were also many Scandinavians tribes migrated into England between the late 8th century into the early 11th century, like the Vikings and the Varangians. As you can see migrants are the foundation of today's society, all of our ancestors were originally from somewhere else. So why is it a problem for migrants to be coming into our country in this century? The problem is that England being a small country can't physical cope with the demand for more living space. England already has a high birth rate and increased numbers of older people are living longer. So how can we cope with the non-stop flow of migrants coming into our country? From about 1991 to 2001 the population increased rapidly due to migrants coming into the country and starting families. More than one in 10 now living in the UK is foreign born, and one in 3 people living in London was also foreign born. About 8.2% of the English population was born in a different country but have been living in England. â€Å"letting the UK population spiral out of control, as the Government has done in recent years, will make Britain increasingly vulnerable to resource problems as the 21st century unfolds and is a recipe for future insecurity.† OPT, Optimum Population Trust If we don't act now against population rise, England could face the same problems as India and China. Will England be forced into sterilizing a vast number of women and men? â€Å"The UK's population is also forecast to grow by 40 per cent over the next seven decades, from 61 million today to over 85 million by 2081† Office for National Statistics The rise in migrants and asylum seekers has lead parts of the UK to major impact problems; one being the need for more housing. Many of the migrants and asylum seekers that come into the country don't have anywhere to live; because they are the government main concern to house as quickly as possible, they are on priority list to get council house. â€Å"Foreign migrants are being favoured over UK citizens when it comes to social housing, around 11% of new migrants have been allocated social housing.† First online This means that many British people waiting a house won't be given one as quickly as a non-born resident. Another problem with the high amount of migrants and mainly asylum seekers is that they are being given benefits. Asylum seekers are not allowed to work until they have been granted a place to stay in England as a Refugee. This has caused elevated rises in many asylum seekers not working, 3 out 10 are not working. As the rise migrants workers come into the country, there are fewer places for British born people to find work. Most public service jobs have been taking by the migrants and most health services have hired workers from other countries. â€Å"The hotels and shops in my remote Scottish community are filled with workers from the EU, now there are no jobs for the local young people, so most of them on into close towns or cities.† Geva Blanette BBC news talk night Another factor which is a disadvantage of migrants is the increase of malaria, HIV and TB. Many British born children are immune from malaria, HIV and TB, and England didn't fear these 3 killing diseases as much as other countries. But as the amount of migrants and asylum seekers increase, the amount of cases of these disease increases. Facts show that, 70% of individuals diagnosed with HIV, TB and malaria in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were non-UK born. Most of the migrants infected with these diseases are from devolving counties, 45% of non-UK born tuberculosis cases originated from South Asia and 39% from sub-Saharan Africa. Could the government being doing more to try and stop this rise of 3 killer diseases. The facts are that England just doesn't have room to accommodate all these migrants and provide them all with a job and we don't need to be burdened with an outburst of diseases. Migrants are coming into our country and bringing new foods, new materials and more workers. We should encourage these new ethnic ideas and ways of living. These foreign workers are happy to do the jobs which English workers aren't happy to do; they also tend work harder for the same money. â€Å"Migrants work harder, earn more and pay more tax than Britons!† Home Office So if we do send these migrants home who will do the jobs that were happy to do? Whole sectors of the economy and many public services have become highly dependent on migrant labour, and would collapse overnight if those workers were no longer available One major industry that relies greatly on migrants is the health sector, 30% are doctors and well over 10% of nurses. In education, overseas teachers play an important role in staffing schools, and a growing number of London education authorities are recruiting staff directly from abroad. The rapid increase in demand for workers in the IT industry means that over 50,000 people have been recruited. â€Å"It also suggested that the work ethic of the new arrivals was also having a positive impact on British workers† the independent Migrant workers contributed à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6 billion to the country's economic growth last year and earned, on average, higher wages than the British workers. â€Å"High levels of skills – higher on average than the UK natives and that employ migrants found them to be harder workers and reliable â€Å". Home Office Migrants are becoming part of the foundation of our society they are the strawberry pickers, the dentists, the doctors, the nurse's, carers, taxi drivers, cleaners, bus drivers, waiters and train drivers. We need them to help us make a better life. There has been much discussion in the media on the idea that migrants may have a big effect on employment and befits for British-born workers, but there is little evidence little on effect employment or befits. â€Å"The overwhelming majority of empirical studies agree that there is essentially no statistically significant effect of immigration on labour market outcomes† Glover The population rose by 189,000, due to the high number of migrants and also people leaving the country. This steady increase over the last decade has shown that the UK can't cope with the massive growth. But the government figures show that migration has given the UK a life line to an economy suffering from lack of skills and struggling to support growing bills. I personally feel that we should allow people from different countries and races to work in The UK; I feel that the UK can befit greatly by the mixed culture and races. The need for migrant workers is shown by many facts and I believe that they can make a huge difference for our economy. But I also feel that the government should be doing more to stop un-wanted people coming into our country who are not prepared to work. The government should have stricter laws and rules on who should be allowed into the UK.

Managing Quality, Customers and Performance Essay

Managing Quality, Customers and Performance - Essay Example This statement sums up the kind of efforts required to deliver value to the customer and for producing a quality product. An individual's beliefs or conceptions about what is desirable, good or bad - forms the value system (Kotler, 1974). For Hotel Hilton, Optimus Ireland's Best award in December 2006 will go a long way towards encouraging it to perform still better. Innovation, excellence and value addition go hand in hand in today's competitive environment. Customers and the target segments are crucial stakeholders for hotel Hilton. Different types of value addition strategies are adopted by businesses to grow. These could involve trying out different types of market-product combinations, carrying out the business according to certain sets of principles, segmenting the market in their own way, or relying on the feedback of customers for shaping the final service. All this is possible only with the coordination and management of employees of the hotel, service processes, technology and other resources in order to produce better services for the customer. Hilton Hotels Corporation is recognized all over the world as a well known hospitality company1, offering guests and customers the finest accommodations, services, amenities and value for business or leisure. The group has been serving its customers for more than 80 years now. Conrad Hilton purchased his first hotel, The Mobley, in 1919, in Cisco, Texas. The first hotel to carry the "Hilton" name was built in 1925 in Dallas. There's no looking back since then. Today Hilton Hotels Corporation develops, owns, manages and franchises over 2,900 hotels, resorts and vacation ownership properties worldwide, with brand names like Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Hampton, Hilton Grand Vacations and Conrad (Datamonitor, 2006). In recent years, Hilton has been able to boost its leading position in the corporate travel and conference markets while making significant inroads into the growing leisure sector. The hospitality sector has become very much competitive with more and more companies entering the hospitality business with innovative ideas and newer technology. In order to maintain brand advantage, Hilton is constantly developing products and services designed to meet guests' changing demands and offer an enhanced experience. In order to create more opportunities for growth the shareholder of Hilton Group approved the sale of its hotels operation to Hilton Hotels Corporation for $5,900 million in January 2006. With the present operations in more than 80 countries, the hotel chain promises much more as the awards like the Optimus Ireland's Best award encourages it to do more. 3. Role of Quality The final service/ product and quality are to be valued by the customers. Quality is a function of value addition or vice-versa. The value that has been added to the product has to be seen in relation to the customer's needs and expectations. In general, for an organisation there are both external and internal customers. The external customers are those who use the services of the hotel while the internal customers are the employees and other internal stakeholders. Once the service is delivered to the intended

Public Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6500 words

Public Evaluation - Essay Example The evaluation process offers an overview of the possibilities through which policy makers are able to make precise and clear judgments on a particular policy implemented. Varied models attempts to explain the way evaluation process in policy can lead to successful policy making. This essay explains the significant methodologies employed in the evaluation process. It also focuses on varied approaches that were put a cross in an attempt of revealing the implication of evaluation and the way it can help policy makers to address policy issues. Evaluators employ collaborative relationships in order to collect adequate data that actors will analyze in order to determine in case a certain policy is effective or ineffective. Therefore, they employ varied methodologies in order to deal with contingencies that might modify the formal way of policy evaluation (Alkin 2010, p. 58). For the policy makers to understand a policy problem, they have to evaluate it through collecting data or informati on and analyze the collected data in a manner that enables them to find the desired solution to the problem. For instance, the stakeholders involved in the evaluation process let say an environmental policy, may gather adequate information through use of quantitative method in order to arrive at the desired goals. The policy analysts can chose the quantitative design model for analyzing the policy such as non-parametric or parametric experimental methods. The quantitative methodologies can include observations, interviews, questionnaires and surveys. Alternatively, the can chose qualitative design as a model for policy analysis such as observation, focused groups, interviews, surveys and case study analysis. These methodologies are significant because they can enable stakeholders to gather unbiased and precise information of a certain policy; thus making modifications or changes where necessary (Vedung, 1997, p.229). Radin (2006, p. 547) argues that performance measures as indicator s for public policy complexity. Therefore, he employs some approaches especially classical approach to reveal the measures of policy performance. Although, the author narrows this approach without the organization context in which the policy operates; thus reliability and neutrality of data requires evaluation. However, Radin does not defend classical approach because it logic, insensitive to the proper role of professional knowledge. The outcomes are also an enormous amount of misplace tasks, which can actually paralyze government rather than improving it (Radin (2006, p. 549). Performance measurement has become one of the significant indicators and a mechanism for data management. Radin uses numerous case studies especially that of government performance and results act and program assessment rating tool as effective approach toward policy performance measurement ((Radin (2006, p. 548). The case studies are appealing and it mostly tackles on the way performance measurement is empl oyed as an indicator for policy performance determination. However, the performance measure approach has some drawbacks, thus other models such as goal-attainment model attempts to reveal the way a policy can become successful. Vedung (1997, p.555) reveals the way stakeholder involved in

Aging population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Aging population - Essay Example It secondly followed by south Dakota, which has 10% of youth aged between 20-24 .The youth unemployment rate in this state is only 8.4%.the Third number falls to Lowa state. It has a low rate of 11% of unemployed youths (Christine, pg.3). Increased fertility, migration and mortality rate always have tremendous effects on the overall pattern of people in America. Like in Lowa state, the population is mainly composed of youth due to the increased fertility rate. Majority of Lowa youths marries at an average of twenty three years compared to the typical American average of twenty five years. This leads to increased birth rate across the state thus leading to the increased number of young people. Secondly economic trends have an impact on the age structure (Christine, pg.3). In many states like Lowa and Dakota has attracted many young people due to the employment opportunities they offer. This has attracted many young unemployed Americans in these states thus leading to increase of the young group in these states. California has been affected by both internal and international migration. It has faced steady outflow of young people looking for jobs in other states. As these younger people move north and west in search for jobs, the older population is left behind. This has made Florida to have large proportion of older people compared to other

Sustainable Management Future Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sustainable Management Future - Dissertation Example In addition, according to teleological theory, an action is good if the outcome is desirable. For example, by companies building more schools for children in such developing countries, they will help the children to improve their later lives and be more resourceful people to the companies and the society in future, which is a desirable outcome. Consequently, some companies with FDIs in developing countries have undertaken to support local education by building local schools for their workers’ children (Dagdemir and Acaroglu, 2010) Scenario 3 Integrity may be defined as the fit between course and calling. It is as a result of consistent and continuous relationship between the mission, vision, and values of an organisation and the values of an individual. Integrity is defined by individuals themselves. Integrity goes beyond ethics in that it is the characteristics that define an individual that are considerate, transparent, honest, ethical, and compassionate. Trust is critical i n defining integrity; a person who does not attract trust and confidence is not regarded as trustworthy, implying their value is destroyed (Quigley, 2007). On the other hand, loyalty results from mutual relationship based on trust, fairness, and integrity, all values that define the success of a company. Loyalty refers to doing the job that one is obligated to do, and doing it to the best of one’s ability, with both elements of integrity and honesty. Therefore, Integrity complements loyalty, without which the value of loyalty loses its meaning. Sometimes, it is good to lie in business, though such lies must be ethical. Boylon (2000) explains utilitarianism theory by stating that an action can only be considered morally right when the act results in more good for... In postmodern view of values, a dilemma or fragmentation is accepted as part of human condition. However, in this case, there are no established truths or values (Holtzhausen & Voto, 2002). What is thought to be true is as a product of discourse emerging from both power and knowledge. The manager has to portray organizational activism in their decision making process, portraying a need to change from traditions. For example, a manager in an ethical problem will try to change from acting normally by upholding the dignity of the people involved as employees and championing for the rights of such employees. The manager will thus look beyond profits for the organization to consider the concern of all those involved, and try to resist the dominant power that may work against such involved parties. For example, if a company is making a loss, the manager will not hasten to cut wages or sack employees, but will fight to resist this by trying different methods that will ensure all parties eme rge from the crisis more empowered. In pragmatic consideration of values, the inability to ground any values in overarching theories such as Marxism, Christianity, Islam, or capitalism does not prevent people from making sensible decisions for ensuring a civil and well-mannered life .

Software Engineering Term Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Software Engineering Term - Essay Example They are primarily used in the requirements analysis and aims to simplify the transition to object-oriented design and programming. Ans: Reference architecture models are more abstract and describe a larger class of systems. They are a definite way to inform the designers about the general structure of that class of system. They are usually derived from a study of the application domain. One such example is the OSI reference model. The lower levels are concerned with physical interconnection, the middle layers with data transfer and the upper layers with the transfer of semantically meaningful application information. With the advancement of technology, a layer could be transparently re-implemented without affecting the system using other layers. Ans: Object-oriented design (OOD) is concerned with developing an object-oriented model of a software system to put into practice the identified requirements. Many OOD methods have been described since the late 1980s. The most popular OOD methods include Booch, Buhr, Wasserman, and the HOOD method developed by the European Space Agency. OOD can yield the following benefits: Ans: In can be from different angles. ... 3. The operations with the object class are in the lower section of the rectangle. 4. What is a Reference Architecture Model Please give an example. Ans: Reference architecture models are more abstract and describe a larger class of systems. They are a definite way to inform the designers about the general structure of that class of system. They are usually derived from a study of the application domain. One such example is the OSI reference model. The lower levels are concerned with physical interconnection, the middle layers with data transfer and the upper layers with the transfer of semantically meaningful application information. With the advancement of technology, a layer could be transparently re-implemented without affecting the system using other layers. 5. What is object oriented design Ans: Object-oriented design (OOD) is concerned with developing an object-oriented model of a software system to put into practice the identified requirements. Many OOD methods have been described since the late 1980s. The most popular OOD methods include Booch, Buhr, Wasserman, and the HOOD method developed by the European Space Agency. OOD can yield the following benefits: maintainability through simplified mapping to the problem domain, which provides for less analysis effort, less complexity in system design, easier verification by the user; reusability of the design artifacts, which saves time and costs; and productivity gains through direct mapping to features of Object-Oriented Programming Languages 6. What are the major activities in Object-Oriented Design Ans: The object oriented design includes the following activities: Understand and define the context and the modes of use of the system Design the system

Speluncean Explorers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Speluncean Explorers - Essay Example In the process, ten people from the rescue team lost their lives and the entire operation appeared grim. The trapped explorers faced imminent death from starvation. They contacted the rescue camp and explained their condition. The clinician present at the camp informed them that they would die within ten days while the head of the search team informed that they would require at least the same number of days to release them. In order to stay alive, the five decided to prey on one of their own, Roger Whetmore. From the evidence presented, Whetmore was the brainchild behind the idea and provided effective ways of determining the one to eat given their grim situation. The five cast a dice thereby determining that they should kill and eat Whetmore. After the rescue team had succeeded and after the five men had regained their health, the commonwealth indicted them for the murder of Roger Whetmore. In the case, both the trial judge and the jury found the four guilty of killing Whetmore. In their ruling, the jury and the judge followed an integral statue in the society that stated, "Whoever shall willfully take the life of another shall be punished by death†. However, the four appealed the ruling the extra ordinary circumstances to the Supreme Court of Newgarth where I am to review their evidence and provide a new ruling. Among the basic issues that the case present is the need to determine the guilt or innocence of the four men, they killed their colleague, and they have admitted doing so in a previous court. The laws of the land are clear on how to deal with people who kill others. However, the four base their argument on the uniqueness of their case. This implies that besides determining whether the two are guilty or innocent, my court will determine the applicability of the since the case tries the basic dictates of the law in the society. Given the facts presented before the court, I reverse the ruling of the high court that

ENG315 week1 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

ENG315 week1 - Coursework Example In the long run, the system control could no longer work as expected and there were some managerial-worker conflicts in the company. Given an opportunity to change the flow of information in decision making at this company, I could prefer the predictive control of distributed decision making method. The system has got four key aspects, which include; the predictive mode of team decision making, the fitness function as the second aspect, thirdly there is the optimization of information structure and finally the forecast decision making requirement. This system achieves convenience by the fact that stakeholders act as both decision makers and implementers. Although all of us make decisions every day, some of the decisions are straightforward while others are complex and indirect. In business decision making, this systematic approach to decision making is essential to address critical elements that can result into timely decisions (Bhushan & Kanwal, 2004). Moreover, there is no conflict of interests because every stakeholder is involved in decision making as well as implementing. With this organization, every stakeholder is motivated to work since every contribution is considered

Irish Housing Policy Essay Example for Free

Irish Housing Policy Essay The legacy of anxious tenant and the battle for security of tenure continues to educate much political debates and imagery around housing. The longing to be free of landlordism usually is the primary factor for owner occupation at any cost. Many people view Irish as a conservative race by nature. In the field of housing, unique features have developed over the years which make Irish different from other European states. One of these features is the longing to own one’s own home. Successive regime have acknowledged this natural tendency towards this type of tenure and the need of providing it by introducing measures structured to encourage home ownership over the years. Irish housing policy has been greatly controlled by developers and house building companies since the 60s. This is still same today because possession of riches, properties, land and housing is not extensively divulged (O’Connell, 2007). Evolution of Irish Housing Policy Current Irish housing policy has been struggling to tackle the economic development of the past ten years. The upsurge of the economy since the mid 90s resulted to a fast growth in demand for housing mainly in the major cities, with a belated growth in housing development/production. Between 1993 and 2001, the real economic growth was approximately 8% per annum (Norris and O’Connell 2002). Irish emigrants returning home hunted housing in the thriving economy and the pace of new household establishment rose due to absence of emigration in the history of Ireland state. This led to a flourishing housing market and housing price inflated by 20% per year. All this unanticipated development occurred without a rational housing policy suitable for a modern industrializing nation. House builders and developers were left to address the new phenomenon (Norris et al 2007). Politicians complained of the rising prices which were excluding part of the population from accessing housing. This led to development of measures and plans for allowing access to those excluded from the market. One of the key responses of the government was the 2003 partnership agreement which had pledged to provide some ten thousand affordable housing units for low economic group who could not afford housing in the market. This was done by coordinating housing developer and market to develop cheaper units for sale. The state offered assistance through local government and provided subsidies of some state land (Norris and O’Connell 2002). The establishment of social housing policy in Ireland has mostly been seen as a responsibility of the domineering class to integrate the poorest of the low economy into the national community. Attempts to address social segregation of many Ireland population which finds it roots from historical residualisation of social housing have birthed another development and building chances instead of any real resource distribution (O’Connell, 2007). However, the 21st century Ireland housing policy is mostly dealing with housing equity, affordability, mortgage securitization and seasonally horrors of homelessness. The year 2000 was marked with increased social housing construction but this failed to recapture the relative output seen before the 80s. To this end, a number of policies have been formulated and introduced with mixed accomplishment. The first and immediate reaction to drops in social housing was a changing towards housing allowances for private renters (rent supplement) as a way of accommodating low economic households. Though this was structured as a short term housing support, the number of claimants and duration of claiming increased and the scheme became a parallel housing arrangement (Norris et al 2008). Doubts on the efficacy of this scheme and the poor quality of houses rented to claimant made the government to respond by announcing a new Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) in 2002. The local government was made responsible for administration of rent supplement claims and take long term lease from private renters for letting to these households. This was aimed at reducing rental costs and improvement of the quality of accommodation. Social housing reduced its role as a means towards home ownership in the 90s. This led to difficulties in home purchasing and the government came up with schemes to enable the poor householders to purchase their own house. These schemes included the affordable housing scheme, the shared ownership scheme and the mortgage allowances. Between 1991 and 2002, 29% home owners availed themselves for the schemes but there was a question of the sustainability of the scheme due to high mortgage arrears (Norris et al 2007). In 2003, 38% of home owners in the shared ownership scheme had over 3 month arrears (Norris O’Connell 2002). Conclusion Severe economic recession and related political predicament which has hit Ireland in the recent years has made future social housing prediction difficult. However, the mood of latest housing policy changes is an indication of likelihood of expansion of state intervention in the housing system. There has been a radical increase of private rented sector regulation as well as mainstream social housing production (Cowan 2006).

The End Justifies The Means Philosophy Essay

The End Justifies The Means Philosophy Essay One of the major political thinkers known to us is Niccolo Machiavelli. He is well known for the phrase the end justifies the means which is continually being the subject of discussions and discourses today (Adams and Dyson). With Machiavellis principles, we are now faced with the issue whether the desired ends is justified by the means used to achieve them. The issue will be explored in the light of Niccolo Machiavellis The Qualities of the Prince and Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail to ascertain the meaning of the phrase the end justifies the means. It cannot be denied that there are implications and difficulties when unworthy means are used to achieve worthy ends. However, one thing is sure: if an end or goal is worthy, any mean to achieve that end is justifiable provided that both ends and means are noble and good. The question whether the end justifies the means depends on the type of goal or end a person wants to achieve and the means they use. If both the means and the ends are equally noble and good, there is no question because the ends are justified by the means. This is the stand I have chosen to take. Although there are different views about the meaning of Machiavellis expression, I agree with the belief that both the ends and means should be good. Individuals are known at times to use Machiavellis phrase or expression as an excuse when they try to achieve their own goals no matter how immoral, illicit, and wrong their means are. For many individuals, it does not matter what means are used long as they get what they want. To justify their ends by some type of means sometimes involves doing a wrong thing when trying to achieve a positive end. They justify the wrong act by pointing to the outcome that was good. The wrong justification can be seen in some horrors in human history such as t he Holocaust, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski, the World Wars, and even the bombing of the World Trade Center. There are a lot of justifications made by many people about the ends these events serve, but one thing is true, the ends are noble but the means are not. To compare the two in what is considered wrong and morally right, one example is an individual lying about their qualifications on their resume when trying to get a good job. This individual would later justify the lying by saying that it is a means to receive a larger income to provide for his or her family more effectively. Another example would be justifying an abortion to save the mothers life. These two examples create a dilemma between what is done and what ought to be done. Machiavelli states, Because how one lives is so far distant from one ought to live, that he who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation; for a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil (Machiavelli, The Prince Ch. 15). Considering these two examples, the lying and taking of an innocent life can be viewed as both equally wrong. On the other hand, the end which is providing for ones own family and the saving of a womans life are both morally right. However, one must learn to distinguish what should be done in order to avoid the consequences of what is done. What if the individual lying about his or her resume was not given the job because he lied? What if the baby aborted has the cure for cancer in his or her mind? The wrong means used can lead to ruin rather than good. It cannot be denied that we all have taken part of the end justifies the means debate at some point in our lives. Means used must also be ethical, social, and morally upright. Therefore, if one mean in itself is morally bad, it cannot really serve an end that is good, even though it would appear good on the surface. A goal or purpose achieved through an upright approach is the thing justified, not those immoral, illicit, and wrong. One significant proof of a justified means to an end is exemplified in the nonviolent demonstration against segregation fought for by Martin Luther King Jr. There are a lot of ways for the African Americans back then to achieve equality and freedom in American society. They can bomb the White House. They can coerce the government through unlawful means and other immoral and wrong acts you can imagine. However, Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers chose to gain freedom through a peaceful means. Here, we can see that both the means and the ends are noble and good. His famous writing Letter from Birmingham Jail laid down the agenda of their non-violent campaign. In his letter, Martin Luther King Jr. showed that the unjust treatment of Negroes and their segregation can be solved through peaceful means. A non-violent campaign however can produce tension but it is up to the protestors to handle the tension. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, King says, Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. 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. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shock-ing. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth (Jr. 216). Martin Luther King Jr. died as a result of the demonstrations he started but the ends are met. His belief was opposed by the Whites during that time. The Whites also uphold the idea that the end justifies the means. They say that what they do to the Negroes is done because of self-preservation. The government during that time works to preserve the State so they acted on what to be done: give the African Americans what they want. The death of Martin Luther King Jr. proved that both the ends and means may be noble, that it can be justified. Martin Luther King Jr. is an example to be followed when applying the phrase the end justifies the means. As stated by Thayer, Be strong is therefore the first and last commandment for nations and princes to observe; and Machiavelli instructs them how to use their strength (Thayer 476). In this case, Martin Luther King Jr. knew what means to use for his desired end. No one can use bad means for any good end. In saying this, it can be compared to a person trying to build a good house from bad materials it does not work. The phrase the end justifies the means can fool us all if we do not look closely to what it says. What we fail to see in this statement is the end itself. Is it really good? We all fail to see and carefully examine the means and how they affect the ends. There are a lot of difficulties and complications when unworthy means are used to achieve worthy ends. An example would be the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazi regime (Gilbert 32). Is this end worthy after all the events that happened? Another example would be the two World Wars. Are the ends of such brutal means necessary? These complications are frequently seen in wartime situations and the political field. Governments do not care whatever means they employ just to win. They just think about victory although it means losing many lives, property, and even more morale. In these two situations, the only judgment is success and any means that would contribute to success is thought to be justified, but not by everyone. Any success can be used as the standard by which we all measure the benefit of the means. However, some benefits are superficial and do not last long. The misuse of the phrase the end justifies the means contradicts Machiavellis main point that a prince ought to think about future events and prepare for potential problems. If a person really thinks in a Machiavellian perspective, he or she would use necessary means to achieve an end to avoid future complications (Machiavelli, The Prince Ch. 14). People who pursue their dreams and their goals are more likely to take a path that is filled with obstacles. It is known that goals are achieved through very hard work. The means to attain such goals are different from the goals itself. One thing should be remembered though; both means and ends must be noble and good. What I have shown is that the ends or goals of any individual can always be justified by the means used to achieve it if only they are worthy enough. As Machiavelli points out, But to exercise the intellect the prince should read histories, and study there the actions of illustrious men, to see how they have borne themselves in war, to examine the causes of their victories and defeat, so as to avoid the latter and imitate the former (The Prince Ch. 14). There are a lot of horrific examples in justifying immoral, illicit, and wrong means but Machiavelli teaches us to learn from past experiences to achieve ends through noble and good means. In conclusion, we are all but humans who err most of the time. The values that we have as humans are what make us humans. Any means we use which violates our perception of morals and righteousness can never justify the end or the goals no matter how worthy they may seem to be. As seen in the Martin Luther King Jr. example, there are in fact a thousand ways to achieve one single end and it is up to you whether to use the noble means or the wrong means.

Chinese Culture :: Cultural Identity Essays

The communist government thought that the liberation of women, who make half the population of China, was necessary for China to have complete freedom (Heng). Child weddings were banned, concubines were outlawed and brothels were closed. Women were allowed to hold real jobs. Some went to night school, or worked at the factory (Wudden). Laws were passed that equalized women under the law. The major ones were, The Chinese constitution of the early which 1950s. Which stated that Chinese women enjoyed equal rights with men in political, economic, social, cultural, and family life. The state protected women's rights and interests, practiced equal pay for equal work, and provided equal opportunity for women's training and promotion (Heng). The Marriage Law, which eliminated arranged marriages, saying that both women and men were free to choose their marriage partners, and widows were allowed to remarry (Heng). The Inheritance Law, which recognized the equal right of women to inherit family property (Heng). The Labor Insurance Regulations Law of 1951 guaranteed women 56 days of maternity leave with full pay (Heng). The Land Reform Law of the early 1950s provided rural women with an equal share of land under their own name, protecting their economic independence (Heng). After women got married conditions remained much the same, only instead of being subject to a father they were subject to their husbands. Like they had to with their brothers and fathers they had to obey their husbands absolutely and without question. Their husbands often had two or three wives. A major change though when a woman got married was that she was also subject to her mother in law, a relationship that was often very nasty (Zhou). When a woman’s husband died she couldn’t remarry, that would be disloyal to her husband. Even if she had no food it was better for a woman to die of hunger than remarry.

Tylenol :: essays research papers

Tylenol What Happened?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In October of 1982, Tylenol, the leading pain-killer in the United States at the time faced a crisis. Seven people in Chicago were reported dead after taking Tylenol. 12-year-old Mary Kellerdman of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois, his brother Stanley Janus, and his wife Theresa Janus, Mary Reiner of Winfield, Paula Price, and Mary McFarland of Elmhurst Illinois was the last victim of the cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. This happened bﴱᄃecause there was Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules that had been distributed and tampered with. The capsules contained 65 milligrams of cyanide. The amount necessary to kill a human is five to seven micrograms, which means that the person used 10,000 times more poison that what was needed.. The tampering had occurred when the products reached the shelves. The connection between the deaths and the Tylenol was discovered within days by two off-duty firemen who were listing to their pol ice radios. Phillip Cappitelli and Richard Keyworth were the men to make the connection and tell there superiors. What did Tylenol do?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tylenol is part of the Johnson & Johnson Company. Once they made the connection between the report and the Tylenol they put customer safety first, before they worried about the company’s profit. The company immediately informed customers not to consume any type of Tylenol product. To throw away what they had until the extent of the tampering could be determined. Johnson and Johnson stopped all production and advertising. The recall included approximately 31 million bottles of Tylenol.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tylenol’s credo is, â€Å"We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses, and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services. We are responsible for our employees, the men and women who work with us throughout the world. We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well. Our final responsibility is to our stockholders. How they recovered?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To recover from the crisis Tylenol did a number of things. The first, they knew that that needed to gain consumer confidence so when they re-introduced the product there was a triple-seal tamper-resistant seal. They become the first company to comply with the Food and Drug Administration tamper-resistant packaging. Second they needed to motivate customers to buy the product, so they offered a $2.50 coupon on their purchase. They were available in the newspapers as well as a free number to call. Tylenol :: essays research papers Tylenol What Happened?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In October of 1982, Tylenol, the leading pain-killer in the United States at the time faced a crisis. Seven people in Chicago were reported dead after taking Tylenol. 12-year-old Mary Kellerdman of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois, his brother Stanley Janus, and his wife Theresa Janus, Mary Reiner of Winfield, Paula Price, and Mary McFarland of Elmhurst Illinois was the last victim of the cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. This happened bﴱᄃecause there was Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules that had been distributed and tampered with. The capsules contained 65 milligrams of cyanide. The amount necessary to kill a human is five to seven micrograms, which means that the person used 10,000 times more poison that what was needed.. The tampering had occurred when the products reached the shelves. The connection between the deaths and the Tylenol was discovered within days by two off-duty firemen who were listing to their pol ice radios. Phillip Cappitelli and Richard Keyworth were the men to make the connection and tell there superiors. What did Tylenol do?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tylenol is part of the Johnson & Johnson Company. Once they made the connection between the report and the Tylenol they put customer safety first, before they worried about the company’s profit. The company immediately informed customers not to consume any type of Tylenol product. To throw away what they had until the extent of the tampering could be determined. Johnson and Johnson stopped all production and advertising. The recall included approximately 31 million bottles of Tylenol.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tylenol’s credo is, â€Å"We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses, and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services. We are responsible for our employees, the men and women who work with us throughout the world. We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well. Our final responsibility is to our stockholders. How they recovered?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To recover from the crisis Tylenol did a number of things. The first, they knew that that needed to gain consumer confidence so when they re-introduced the product there was a triple-seal tamper-resistant seal. They become the first company to comply with the Food and Drug Administration tamper-resistant packaging. Second they needed to motivate customers to buy the product, so they offered a $2.50 coupon on their purchase. They were available in the newspapers as well as a free number to call.

Meiji Japan, Colonialism and Beyond

The most influential aspects that would come out of Japan’s war with China, (the First Sino-Japanese War 1894-1895) and the war with Russia (Russo-Japanese War 1904 – 1905) did not occur during the wars themselves, but rather in the years following the conflicts. These wars were, essentially, the precursors to the Imperial Japan of World War Two infamy. The First Sino-Japanese War showed Japan that the reforms and modernizations of the Mieji Restoration were working as opposed to China’s Self Strengthening Movement that had been a domestic failure. â€Å"War was†¦declared on 1st August 1894, and although foreign observers had predicted an easy victory for the more massive Chinese forces, the Japanese had done a more successful job of modernizing, and they were better equipped and prepared. Japanese troops scored quick and overwhelming victories on both land and sea.†1   This war also established a relationship with western nations that resulted in tremendous improvements in Japan’s military. So profound were this improvements that Japan would later wage a successful war of for the â€Å"rights† to imperial interests against Russia that had a far superior military. In a way, Japan’s involvement in these wars did show the nation had developed similarities with Western nations beyond simply modernizing domestically in social and industrial terms. The foreign policy of Japan began to mimic the least desirable aspect of all of Western Europe’s foreign policy. This area of foreign policy was an emphasis on imperialism and colonization. The classical tradition of imperialism and colonization involved superior powered military incursions into other countries in order to conquer the nation, subjugate the people and strip the indigenous natural resources from the conquered nations. Winning the wars with China and Russia help set the stage for the coming of an Imperial Japan that would wage a massive war in the Pacific Seas during World War Two. By 1895 Japan was beginning to see the fruits of their labor as the defeat of China in several wars and the annexation of Taiwan brought Japan political recognition from many European countries.   Recognition from the European countries meant an escape from many of the treaties that had been forced upon Japan in the 1870’s, and an alliance with England in 1902.   Japan had finally won the respect of the developed world as a military power; however, they were still viewed as an inferior culture and were not afforded the same courtesies as predominantly Anglo-Saxon nations.2 With the war with China, Japan established a foothold as a colonizing empire as it would claim Korea as the prize for its expansion. With Russia, the victory was even more complex. In the part of the world where Japan resides, the bulk of the colonial incursions and wars were bought between eastern nations and western nations as well as eastern nations vs. other eastern nations. Japan’s victory against Russia marked the first time an eastern power defeated a western power in a war, the shockwaves of which reverberated throughout the world. Japan’s standing had greatly increased while Russia’s standing was greatly diminished. For Russia, the loss was yet another link in the chain of events that would lead to the Bolshevik Revolution and for Japan, the second link in the chain (a second victorious war) that would lead to Japan’s brutal World War Two imperialist fantasies was solidified. Imperial powers are amoral, but they are not suicidal. That is, it is rare that imperial expansions are undertaken against strong or powerful nations. Japan’s wins in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Japanese-Russian War were important in the sense that, for lack of a better explanation, saw Japan gain valuable experience in the art of waging war. Furthermore, they established to the world that they were a viable, major power. More importantly, internally, the wins provided feedback to the rulers that Japan’s military strategies worked and that their army and navy was indeed formidable. The seeds were planted with these victories that laid the foundation for even further expansions that would result in the World War Two’s War in the Pacific. Imperialist nations to not launch wars that they feel they are going to lose. In terms of colonizing, a loss would be self-defeating and a drain of the nation. A successful colonization incursion eventually pays for itself by way of the colonized nation providing wealth in terms of losing the rewards of its natural resources. The victories in the wars with China and Russia emboldened Japan to have faith enough in itself to join the Axis powers. The expansion of the military from its victories against China and Russia lead to an immorality that would yield biological war in China and forced starvation in the Philippines. The mere fact that Japan attacked a superpower the size of the United States speaks volumes for the confidence Japan had in its military prowess. On the surface, these two wars Japan was involved with were seemingly successful and expanded Japan’s colonial interests and ambitions, but ultimately, the wars proved disastrous as they were step towards Japan’s downfall World War Two only brought Japan defeat, humiliation and devastation via the Atomic Bomb. Works Cited Anon., â€Å"Imperial Japan†, available , Internet, accessed 05 November 2006. Russo-Japanese War Research Society, â€Å"Forerunners, The Sino-Japanese War†, available from http://www.russojapanesewar.com/phila-2.html, Internet, accessed 05 November 2006. National Clearinghouse for U.S.-Japan Studies, â€Å"Japan's Imperial Family†, available from http://www.indiana.edu/~japan/iguides/imperial.html, Internet, accessed 05 November 2006. 1 Russo-Japanese War Research Society, â€Å"Forerunners, The Sino-Japanese War†, available from   http://www.russojapanesewar.com/phila-2.html, Internet, accessed 05 November 2006. 2 Anon., â€Å"Imperial Japan†, available from http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jearnol2/ MeijiRestoration/imperial_japan.htm, Internet, accessed 05 November 2006.

Discuss the Difficulties in Seeking to Adopt a Common Social Policy

Assignment 2-Take Home Exam (Question 3, 5 and 6) Question 3 Discuss the difficulties in seeking to adopt a common social policy and social welfare agenda among the E. U. member states. Introduction A social policy is a public policy and practice in the areas of health care, human services, criminal justice, education, and labor. (Malcolm Wiener Centre) In European Union, it has passed a long way to seeking adopt a common social policy and social welfare agenda among the E. U. member states. Caune et al has summarized the process of social policy into three steps followed by the milestone of EU.First stage was to create a common market and keep the national welfare policies. During the first stage E. U. did seek to establish a certain policy, such as freedom of movement for workers and freedom of establishment and equal pay and rights for migrant workers. The second stages was Maastricht treaty that creating Maastricht criteria as new economic policy regime and established ‘sof t law management’. The thirds stage was focus onwards coordination and competition of national welfare policies. The treaty of Lisbon which is the recently moment in E.U. social policy, it defines E. U. seeks to assess the significance of the poverty/social inclusion open method of co-ordination in terms of what it indicates about the EU’s engagement with social policy. From the historically, EU was did a lot of works to creating social policy and social welfare agenda. But E. U. still faces many difficult to making a common social policy among E. U. states. Furthermore, this essay will mainly discuss on the difficult in seeking to adopt a common social policy and social welfare agenda among the E. U. ember states which are based understand and analyzed the history and concept of E. U. social policy. Discussion From the three stages of form a social welfare system, we could found European Union has really well social welfare systems as an example for the rest of the wo rld. It has maintained social equality among EU members which defend weaker market participants and guarantee them acceptable standards of living. However, EU is now face great challenges, such as rapid growth in EU expansion and integration, growing competition among member states for investments.Most of them are now becoming difficult to a adopt a further common social policy EU, such as increasing about personal expectancy, population migration process, growing income inequality and the existing social exclusion. These difficulties are mainly coming from two sources which are national and European level. If EU aims to form a common social policy, they will firstly facing a problem of different social policies pursued by member states. Rutkauskiene indicated that there is† no unanimous opinion about all existing social policy in EU. (Rutkauskiene, 2009) Every member states have their social policy depends on different typology, such as Mediterranean model and antipodean mode l. These different social policy models in the place which lead EU faces a huge challenge-too many different social policy model in the members will hinder the process of adopt a common social policy in EU. One of the objectives of common social policy is maintain social equality among EU member state but each member state has a different economic situation that leading to different budget on social welfare expenditure.Hence, there will be conflict between different countries investment on the social welfare. One of the example are from the EU integration process, employee are free to move to a low cost countries and also employee from poor countries can move to a member state that has a better work condition. The enlargement or integration of European has becoming one of the difficulties in order to adopt a common social policy in EU because it has direct on the social issues, such as unemployment rate and fair work rights.Traser describe enlargement had already, in 2004, caused pu blic anxiety about large numbers of low-skilled and semiskilled workers from the new Member States seeking both employment and benefits in the EU-15, and displacing national workers with cheap labour. (Traser, 2005) The issues about free movement of employee is only one example about the differences of economic situation between member states but it can be a main difficulties for EU to adopt a common social policy because the members state are only stand for their own country and competing with other member states.In the European level, EU are also did a lot of work trying to leading member states participate on the process of adopt a common social policy but it is difficult as well. Since the Maastricht Treaty a concept of ‘soft law’ management measures are used to implementation of the EU activates. This has given to the control measures that are based on voluntarism, education and the sharing of best practices. (Rutkauskiene, 2009) In other world, member’s sta te is voluntary participation in an exchange of information or action.The European council collected all these soft measurement 2000 in Lisbon and give them a name of ‘Open Method of Coordination. (OMC)† (European Council Web) In the European council website explained OMC- set goals are monitored and supervised, best practices are shared and there is a scope to share. (European Council Web) But there are one important feature of the OMC is that goals and achievement are established at the EU level, while the measure and practice to achieving them are left for national governments. Many scholar are debate the disadvantage of this method.OMC is the lack of obligation to implement any agreements, and the lack of sanctions for failing to meet any obligations (Szyszczak, 2006). In other words, EU did not give in to any suggestion about policy to national government, and national government did not need to adequately orient their active measures according to OMC goals. Moreove r, each member states can present their own conclusions on the certain policy areas in their national actions plans, such as pension and health care area. Rutkauskiene has found a greatest number of faults in pension’s area caused by OMC. Rutkauskiene, 2009) Everyone is too different in their personal needs and clamming to adequate for all is not feasible. So a government policy should be set a minimum pension sum to be guaranteed and set of this agreement among EU member states. In other worlds, it is necessary that guidelines for changes in indicator evaluation are set, thereby blocking the way for different understanding about social affairs. From the different argument on OMC policy we can it was mainly established a principle of turning into coordination among EU member state but it facing difficulties turning this policy into an operational manner.Vandenbroucke state the post challenge of Lisbon treaty is EU need an operational social policy. (Vandenbroucke, 2002) Unfor tunately, according to the discussion that the current OMC policy has some disadvantaged that made difficulties for EU to adopt a common social policy. Conclusions This essay has started with an introduction milestone of adopt the EU social policy. The difficulties in adopt a common social policy among EU member states have been compounded furthermore by the fact that large number of state in EU and each of them implementing a different social programs and social policy measures.Then we look on how European Union to dealing with this difficulties of great variety in the social policy systems. We have been chooses the current model to coordinate of social affairs in 2000 at the signing of Lisbon strategy which are Open Method of Coordination. Based on the analysed from different academic literature, â€Å"the main shortcomings of the OMC were identified as the lack of obligation and no sanctions for failing to carry out the activities set out in the agreements reached. (Rutkauskiene , 2009) Hence, the inefficiency of current policy is other main difficulties in adopt a common social policy. At the end, the process of adopt a common social will be forward in the future and the difficulties are also coming continuously at different stages. Reference Arnaudova, F. Z. L. A. A. (2011). Growth, well-being and social policy in Euroep: trade-off orsynergy. European Social Policy Centre Concuil, E. , from http://ec. europa. eu/invest-in research/coordination/coordination01_en. htm Daly, M. (2006). EU Social Policy after Lisbon.Queen's Univeristy, Belfast. Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. Retrieved 10 Jan 2013, from http://www. hks. harvard. edu/centers/wiener Palier, P. R. G. a. S. J. a. B. (2011). The EU and the Domestic Politics of Welfare State Reforms. England. Rutkauskiene, L. (2009). Problems in the formation of the common EU social policy: Vilnius Univeristy. Szyszczak, E. (2006). Experimental Governance: The Opend Method of Coordination. European Law Jou rnal. Traser, J. (2005). Report on the free movement of workers in EU-25: who's afarid of EU enlargment? Brussels:European Citizen Action services. Vandenbroucke, F. (2002). The EU and Social Protection: What should the Euroepan Convention Propose. Retrieved from http://econstor. eu/bitstream/10419/44291/1/644397675. pdf Vobruba, G. Debate on the enlargement of the Euroepan Union. University of Leipzig. Question 5 the single market is the fundamental economic underpinning of the EU. Discuss why  this single market is problematic in the EU with regards to the digital technology sector Introduction The Europe commission in a 1985 white paper launched the single market programme.The main purpose of single market is ‘seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people – the EU's â€Å"four freedoms† – within the EU's 27 member states. †(European Commission Web) It was launched as the fundamental economic integration of the EU. It creates large benefit to the enterprise and EU-citizens. The European commission and the EU’s executive arm, has target ‘energy, digital and transport sectors as priorities for depending market integration. †(Egen) In relating to the digital technology sector, the world economic is now more deepening on the digital technology.A 2010 study commissioned by the European Policy Centre from Copenhagen Economics showed that an integrated European Digital Single Market (DSM) would lead to an increase in GDP of at least 4%, with concrete benefits for consumers and citizens. (Economics, 2010) European commissions have already been set in motion about importance of digital single market. For example, Monti report had already highlighted the importance of developing the digital single market, which was also reflected in the digital agenda and the single market act.However, there are still many problem existed in the EU with regards to the digital technology sector. This e ssay will outline of the reasons of why this single market is problematic in digital sector, which are mainly because of less enforce on inappropriate regulation in the member states and cost effectiveness and differences in provision of the infrastructure and ‘old national monopolists’. Discussion In Pablo’s report, which has summaries the European commission need to work more on to build trust and confidence in digital single market.Echeverria has indicated that â€Å"European Commission need to stresses that the consumer rights directive marked an important step forward in terms of increasing legal certainty for consumers and businesses in online transactions, and today constitutes the main consumer protection instrument for online services. † (Echeverria) A single market strategy will require a higher level of legal regulations in regarding to issues such as cybercrime, data privacy and spam while ensuring free movement and the possibility of transacti ons on the internet.Otherwise this single market will be a problematic in digital sector because of the existence of a patchwork of different legal provisions and barely interoperable standards and practices. Also the consumer can’t access the full benefits from this strategy if this regulation is poor. European commission’s report of building the digital single market has identified more and more pollution is using the digital technology now. (Commission, 2011) Peoples are now using more internet service to making a convenience life, such as the online cross border trade.Moreover the digital single market will allow citizens to have access throughout the EU to all forms of digital content and services. So in order to creating single market digital sector, if people are not use digital service in a safety environment then there will be a data protection problems. The other reasons of why  this single market is problematic in the EU with regards to the digital technol ogy sector, which is cost effectiveness. In Zuleeg’s report has determine that a single digital market will require large scale investments in fixed and mobile networks, with much of this investment needing to come from private operators. Zuleeg, 2012) Especially in the European finical crisis period, Europe government and private operator will need to have spent more to support this investment by developing new investment vehicles and guarantees. Michelle Egan also defines a digital single market is a long way of investment and still have many barriers now. (Egan) But the single market in digital sector will improve productivity and contribute to increasing Europe’s medium to long term competiveness. It also brings out benefit beyond the economic which it can help some societal problem, such as fragmented labor market and environment problems.According to all of this facts, we can finding the single market can bring large benefit to citizens and social but it will nee d to put extra investment by government and private operator. So this single market will bring out a conflict between internal users and external stakeholders because of cost effectiveness. A study by Copenhagen economic has list out â€Å"there is a range of national and international operators, totalling close to 100 mobile operators. â€Å"(Copenhagen economic) In the Australia digital sector there are mainly one operator provide the most mobile and internet infrastructure which are Telstra.The digital sector is fragmented in European compared with other countries. The most of the digital companies are competing on a national scale instated of across borders. None have continent-wide operations and provide difference in provisions of infrastructure. One of the example is there are still less operator can provide mobile service across borders and also with a high roaming fees. However the single market strategy in digital sector is trying to integrate these companies into one gr oup.This single market strategy may become problematic in the digital technology sector because a fragmented supplier industry may hamper certain developments. From the overall finding, we can operator is the main stakeholder with a large impact on the digital sector. The study by Copenhagen has further explained this fact as â€Å"a lack of market consolidation with ‘old national monopolies’ keeping their strong position in local markets due to government protection in the past. â€Å" The operators are stress on their profit and ignore the importance of single market.One of the major benefits of European single market is increasing competition, leading to lower prices and better welfare for consumers and society as a whole. But the operator has main power in the national market and can refuse price convergence. Conclusion At the end, the single market in digital will have large impact on European economy either in public sector or employee or consumers or producer s ides. But according to the nature of digital technology sector which is fragmented industry and investment barriers so the single market has being a problematic in this industry.Reference Completing the internal market White paper from European Commission to European Council (1985). Brussels. Commission, E. (2011). Building the digital single market-cross border demand for content services. Echeverria, P. A. On completing the digital single market Economics, C. (2010). The conomic impact of a european digital single market. Egen, M. Twenty years after the completion of the EU's single market programme, member states have still not eliminate all barriers to trade. London: The london school of economic and politcal science. Zuleeg, F. (2012).A digital single market by 2015. eSharp. European Mobile Indsutry Obeservatory. (2011) Monti, M. (2010). A new strategy for the single market. â€Å"The Single Market†. Europa web portal. http://ec. europa. eu/internal_market/index_en. htm. Retrieved 03 January 2012. Question 6 what are the problems to be encountered in forming a European sense of identity among the citizenry of the EU? Introduction A sense of a national identity is â€Å"the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status. (Smith, 1993) Usually, these are nation-states but it also can implied an entity group of European Union. McCormick writes sense of European identity as â€Å"a related term of Europeanism refers to the assertion that the people of Europe have a distinctive set of political, economic and social norms and values that are slowly diminishing and replacing existing national or state-based norms and values. †(McCormick, 2010) Johan Borneman indicates the practices of Europeanization in term of languages, money, tourism and sex and sport. Borneman 1997) European Union are getting practice on this through the creation of the European single market, the expanded the European Union from twelve members in 1985 to twenty-seven members in 2007 and link the legislative and policy frameworks of EU with European identity. As we explained before EU has a long history of this integration process but there are still many problems encountered in forming a European sense of identity among the citizenry of the EU. There are especially in some countries are having this problems such as British.Moreover, this essay will discuss on the main problems that are in forming a European sense of identity among the citizenry of the EU. It also will consider some examples in English. Discussion Medrano has summarized the main problems into three section which are â€Å". 1) conflated behaviour in referenda on reform treaties of the European Union, support for European integration, and identification with Europe, 2) conflated different dimensions of European identity, and 3) failed to unpack the various meanings that citizens a ttach to the idea of identification with Europe† (Medrano, 2010)In the detail, the first problems are mainly concerned on the public debate on European identity. Many people see no opportunity to influence supranational decisions effectively because there are lacks of intermediary actor primary covering European issues. In the public, the media or journalists are both have lack of supporting on EU news. Vreese said â€Å"It is difficult to ‘sell’ an EU story. † (Vreese, 2004) Medrano has asked many journalists do you agree you play an important role in ‘crating a European identify’. (Medrano, 2010) The most of them unanimously agreed that the answer should be ‘NO’.Some journalists believe their role is to create engagement and interest and not to influence identity. One of the examples is in British, the public opinion is divided and the country is becoming the most of skeptic members in EU with regards to EU policy of common curre ncy and the enlargement. There is other problem influencing public opinion about Europe, such as difference in social-demographic characteristics. Most of researcher has find men being more supportive of Euro-pan integration and higher levels of education are associated with being more positive towards the EU.The second problems listed by Medrano, can be described as there are having many dimensions of European identity either by national or citizen. If there are too many dimensions of European identity that will results a lack of precision use in the use of the sense of European identity. The official dimensions of European identity is a precondition for a democratically legitimise European Union with feeling of belonging together of the people living in the member states, including the awareness and the support of common values, achievements and aims.But in related to a real case the European identity is far lagging behind national identity. Fukuyama has given one example of Franc es created a strong national identity by built around the French languages. (Fukuyama, 2012) In order to compared within the EU’s dimension, EU are more stress on political and policy identity but the nation’s dimensions are more focus on culture and social level. EU has 27 members within different culture and religion. These countries have already built on different level of national identity.EU is now trying to integrate this national identity into one common identity which is European identity. So EU needs to conflate different dimension of European identity. The third problems is failed to consider the citizen’s ideal about European identity. The EU defines concept of European identity are most physically based, such as free movement of goods and service. But the officials should to promote a sense of belonging to Europe citizens emotionally. Medrano stated there are lacks of identification with Europe among citizens are mostly interested in the emotional di mension of identification. (Medrano,2010)Besides of Medrano’s measured three problems, there are still many other problems in order to create a sense of European identity. One of these problems are EU has less use any knowledge or instruments of identity policy to deliver the sense of European identity, such as education. Walkenhorst writes â€Å"without a sense of commitment and knowledge of citizenship rights the European peoples cannot establish a democratic identity in the sense of supporting the EU as a legitimate political system†. (Walkenhorst, 2004) EU also will not being able to demonstrate its benefits for the European citizen without using an instrument of identity policy.For instance, provide more education or program on spread the sense of European identity will also help to avoid the problems of different religions. EU has different religions identity, such as Christian and Muslim. The concept of European identity need to consider the ideal of multicultur alism and democracy. Conclusions This essay draws an analysis of the problems encountered in forming a sense of European identity which are based on an understanding what is a sense of European identity and how could generate a sense of identity.Since the firstly forming a European Union, EU are trying to creating a sense of European identity. A sense of national or regional identity is an emotionally feeling belongs to a group. EU did a lot of work that letting people are physically feeling of European citizen, such as free movement of people and goods. One of the examples, are Eurostar given people are more mobility in traveling around European. However, EU is now facing problems on ignored the citizen’s emotionally feeling of European identity and conflicts of different dimension about European concept of identity.Each member state and citizens has different dimension about European identity. The best way to solve this problem is using accurate instrument to spread the ide al of European identity, such as education and media. But the fact is there is lack of use media and education that results a problems in forming a sense of European identity. Reference Adrian Favell, E. R. , Theresa Kuhn, Janne Solgaard Jensen and Juliane Klein. (2011). The Europeanisation of Everyday Life: Cross-Border practices and Transantional Identitifcations Among the Eu and Third-Country Citizens. Foweler, J. B. a. N. (1997).Europeanization. Annual Review. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/2952532 . Fukuyama, F. (2012). European Identities Retrieved from http://blogs. the-american-interest. com/fukuyama/2012/01/10/european-identities-part-i/ Margaret R, A. (2008). Perceptions of European Identity among EU Citizens: An Empirical Study. McCormick, J. (2010). Europeanism: Oxford University Press. Medrano, J. D. (2010). Unpackiing European Identity: CAIRN, INFO. Smith, A. D. (1993). National identity: Univeristy of Nevada Press. Versteegh, M. L. C. (2010). European Ci tizenship as a New Concept for Euroepan Identity.

Learning Outcome/Assessment criteria Essay

1.1Describe how being supported to live at home can benefit an individual? The service users gain a greater sense of normality, they will have more time to spent with loved ones or more likely to get visits from friends and family, they will be able to maintain a little more control and choice over daily routines. the individual service users can be surrounded by there own possessions with which can hold fond memories that are attached to some items from friends and family.individual service users see more:analyse factors that influence the capacity of an individual to express consent Being supported in there own homes, will have less interruptions or noise from other ’tenants or residents’ of the house which can cause or who may confused of situations e.g. review meeting or 1 to 1 personal meetings of how they are progressing in confidents and independence in there own homes. Support for service users makes it possible to maintain their independence and physical ability and encourages individual service users with there disabilities to maximise their own potential and independence in ways which: †¢ maximise their independence and confidence †¢ maximise their rights and choice †¢ maintain their privacy †¢ maintain their confidence in there support received †¢ they are consistent with their personal beliefs and preferences †¢ meet safety requirementshomes. †¢ meet safety r†¢ maintain their confidence in there support received 1.2 Compare the roles of   people and agencies who   may be needed to support   an individual to live at home? 1.3 Explain the importance of providing information about benefits, allowances and financial planning which could support individuals to live at home? 1.4 Explain how risk management contributes to supporting individuals to live at home? 2.1 Identify with an individual the strengths, skills and existing networks they have that could support them to live at home? 2.2 Identify with an individual their needs that may require additional support and their preferences for how the needs may be met? 5.2 Identify any changes in an individual’s circumstances that may indicate a need to adjust the type or level of support?

Business Law Enron/WorldCom Essay

1. Introduction The goal of a large number of criminal acts is to obtain as much as profit for the individual or group that carries out the act. Just like bribery or robbery, accounting scandals that shock telecommunications industry within the past two years, also have similar intention that is to make money to benefit a person or a group of people through illegal acts while disguising their illegal origin. Concerning the accounting scandals in Enron, in this paper, we will elaborate the story of Enron and World Com scandals discussing how the company’s situation relates to bankruptcy, insurance, and/or employment law. 2. Accounting Scandals Enron, Global-Crossing, and WorldCom recent cases have become a history in finance and telecommunication areas. The history tells us how fragile the monitoring process of the company’s financial system is. The situation leads to accountancy scandals that hurt investors, employees, and the industries. In many reports on Houston Chronicle, we can conclude that the case of Enron emerged as the company and its auditor cooked up the books to show bogus profits. This is done so to attract the public so that they are interested to invest their money during the company’s initial public offering (IPO).   Previously, the company has already performed manipulation of commodity prices in order to obtain huge profits due to unregulated energy derivative market. Moreover, the bankers also join this bogey as they have been giving loans and would like to reduce their risk hoping that Enron would obtain much money from IPO so that Enron can fulfill their obligation to the bank. Therefore, in this accountancy scandals there are at least three actors: the first is Enron, the company that has a pile of debt that was off balance sheet. The second actors are auditors; they acted as consultants that helped the Enron to write a fake figure of the company’s profit in the book. The third actors are bankers that issued good analyst reports for Enron financial performance and acted as underwriter. By doing so, Enron can raise much money to pay their loans to banks and back to the evil business when Enron run out of money again. Amazingly, within three years, the fake report gives Enron over $10 billion of investors’ money. The illegal action like cases of MicroStrategy and Xerox has caused the declining public trust on stock markets and auditors (AFL-CIO, 2007; Turner, 2002). 3. Bankruptcy and Insurance The case of Enron, WorldCom and other accounting scandals still leave public with many questions regarding the way the companies try to recover from the scandals especially when it comes to fair treatment for the hurt employees. The term â€Å"fair† refers to equal treatment for CEO and their workers. Remember the shocking Enron case a few months ago that many of people fail to recognize what went wrong at Enron, an energy-trading giant and once the seventh-largest company in U.S. The lawsuits and official investigations on Enron show that the bankruptcy has sent more than 6,100 of Enron employees into unemployment. In addition, it also causes serious fault at workers’ health care and retirement savings—for many, their life savings—because worker 401(k) plans were halted while the company stock price tumbled (AFL-CIO, 2007). Although the company’s performance went bankrupt, however, the Enron’s executive still obtain bonus checks for more than $55 million, in addition to $50 million in bonuses just weeks earlier. The Enron’s case is one example of increasing â€Å"pay gap† between CEOs and workers (AFL-CIO, 2007). Moreover, she also points out that the Project 911 turned out to give many benefits for Enron’s management instead of giving benefits for workers. In the Project 911, Enron was to pay the company’s executives $105 million worth of bonuses prior to the company’s bankruptcy filing in December 2001 (Steffy, 2005). However, according to the new bankruptcy law, which President Bush signed in April, a company might give their executives excessive compensation in the form of retention bonuses only if they have another job offer. It means that under new law, executives will not be paid to stay until they show proof they intend to leave (Steffy, 2005) The new law had driven the bankruptcy court to approve $38.2 million in additional retention bonuses in 2002 and another $29 million in 2003. The situation soon raises critics since the come with an inherent paradox. At the management level, the company took questioned decision to reward the very few people who drove the company into collapse. In other words, Enron was enticing a failed management to stay (Steffy, 2005). This situation refers to moral crisis since the company was paying attention to bonuses for the company’s executives instead of taking care of their employees. Although the case of Enron has become symbol of wrong model of corporate America, few observers expect it to become a lasting symbol (Ivanovich, 2002). In short, the first thing American companies should do is providing variable compensation scheme in which employees’ benefits will increase as the companies’ benefits increase as well. Therefore, employees will fee fairly treated and in turn increase their motivation. 4. Employment Law The cases on Enron and WorldCom present new atmosphere regarding the employment law since it involves whistle blower, a person who disclose the scandals. Since whistle blowing leads to negative impact for the blower, it is imperative that any person that intends to whistle blowing to do it effectively. Sherron Watkins, the person who discloses the scandals at Enron, is one example of whistle blower. In addition, whistle- blowing also greatly affects the executives of a company who are given information from an employee. In order to protect the whistle blower, Sarbanes-Oxley Act rule out there should be no discrimination against employees who disclose the wrongdoing in a company (Hails, n.d.). Amidst the fierce situation at Enron, Congress is still busy passing new laws in response to the latest news about corporate misdeeds. In fact, this is really not the best solution to the problem of corporate fraud at Enron.    Considering that whistle blowing leads to negative impact for the blower as it happens at Enron case, it is imperative that any person that intends to whistle blowing to do it effectively. Below is guideline that helps an employee to determine whether a situation merits whistle blowing: a) Magnitude of consequences A person intends to conduct whistle blowing consider the impact of a action that he consider as wrongdoing. If only one person will be harmed by an action, it does not call for any whistle blowing action (England, 2007) b) Probability of effect The person must be sure that a wrongdoing happens or will happen that requires for whistle blowing. If he is not sure about the situation, he had better not perform whistle blowing (England, 2007) c) Temporal immediacy The person must think the urgency to whistle blowing. If he considers it is urgent to prevent greater losses, he can conduct whistle blowing immediately (England, 2007) In addition, lots of accounting scandals incidences have driven NYSE to issue new guidelines intended to enhance the accountability and integrity and of NYSE-listed companies by strengthening the corporate governance and disclosure practices of those companies. Harvey Pitt, SEC chairperson, the person behind the birth of the guidelines, asks NYSE to review its corporate governance listing standards. Based on the facts, since most scandals involve insider, therefore senior managers should personally liable for criminal charges and damages. Concerning this issue, congress also has passed the Sarbanes Corporate Accountability Bill that one of its main provisions includes the fact that the chief executive officer and chief financial officer now have to sign off on a company’s financial records and may assume criminal liability if they are wrong. Under such circumstances, in the event that such scandals exist, investors and employees should not bear the responsibility for their own actions. This is because in this developed economy, people from all over the world have been willing to invest in ‘pieces of paper’ because of a basic trust that there are systems in place to make the ‘pieces of paper’ valuable. Therefore, it is the government’s responsibility to maintain people trust to invest in a piece of paper by providing an oversight system that works to protect the investor. Learning from these events, it is government’s responsibility to improve standards, controls and accountabilities. While companies should improve their employees moral in order to prevent any financial scandals in the future. This is imperative since most business schools lack of morality in their curriculum.

Islam Definition Essay

For the past few months I have been overseas working in the wonderful country of India. I’ve observed many different things; many unusual things about this country. India has a wide variety of cultures and religions. The holiday I have learned about is called Hajj. Hajj means ‘to set out for a place’. Hajj is the pilgrimage that Muslims make to Makkah or also called Mecca , Saudi Arabia, and is one of the five basic requirements of Islam. It is a religious high point of a Muslim’s life and is an event that every Muslim dreams of being part of. Hajj is a religious obligation to be fulfilled at least once in the course of the life of each Muslim law grants, and is a series of detailed rituals. It is a Muslims obligation to be mindful of their friends and family and to all humans whatsoever. Islamic followers believe that every nation should have a unity so they can all worship God. They believe that through culture people will come together as a whole to praise God, and learn each other’s difficulties. All official duties are suppose to be completed between the ninth and thirteenth day of Hajj. There are three main pillars that are to be performed during Hajj. The first pillar is to get into a state of â€Å"Ihram† and intend to perform the pilgrimage. The second pillar is to stay at the field of â€Å"Arafat† on the ninth day of Hajj. If the person cannot complete the pilgrimage then he/she will have to try to complete it the following year. The third pillar is additional circling of the â€Å"Ka’ba† which is done after the first pillar and is performed from the tenth day of Hajj till the end of the month. These past couple months in India have been a great experience. I’ve learned a lot of new things, which has been something different for me. I would love to come back and visit all of the people that I have met, because everyone was so nice. Learning about the Hajj was very interesting to me, and I will go back and share all of my experiences with everyone back home.

Introduction to Marketing Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Introduction to Marketing Assignment - Essay Example Such companies usually thrived on advertisement revenue of third parties due to internet user visits rather than selling music. Most of these companies sold music without any copyrights from the authentic Electric and Musical Industries Ltd. The phenomenon of illegal downloading spread like wildfire due to ease of access and zero cost. This resulted in huge losses for the music industry. The industry had to act quickly as sales at retail CD/DVD shops plunged at an unprecedented speed. It could either fight against the latest technology, or adapt to it. The initial response was of resentment. Representatives of the music industry stormed to fight against this latest innovation which, according to them, threatened the very existence of wholesale and retail CD/DVD shops and stores. However, they soon realized that the internet served as a huge opportunity for private owners to reach a much wider audience if they channelize it properly. Consequently, attempts were made by the music indus try to offer all the music tracks through internet by creating legal websites in order to make sure that the consumers could access them anytime from anywhere and avoid the dilution of the music industry resulting from illegal downloads. Online albums of renowned artists were made available through legal websites. The availability of music online via legal means proved to be the saviour for the music industry which had suffered considerably as a result of piracy. Hindrances: Despite this bold step, the music industry failed to gain expertise on how to utilize full potential of the internet as a result of technical difficulties. Formats of music files varied and website owners who had supplementary products provided a format of music only compatible with such supplementary product, e.g. the Apple iTunes store provided music formats that were only compatible with the iPHONE. Songs of other file formats were needed for other music players resulting in significant inconvenience. The Way forward for EMI: 1) Availability, Security and Adaptability:- EMI must overcome the issue of incompatibility if it is to prosper in the online music sales business. The instinctive suggestion is to ensure availability of music in all formats; however, with significant patent laws and legal intricacies in place, it is important for EMI to measure each step when moving forward. The first step is to ensure an online facility that has a fully functional payment system, a method to keep a count of sales, consistent checks on potential violation of patent laws across the internet, and availability of technical personnel to ensure proper functioning of the system and availability of songs in all formats. Such technical people may include college graduates or free lance workers who have the expertise to toy with file formats and convert a specific file into a highly compatible and generic form. 2) Marketing and Promotional Mix: - The internet shall be the main medium to market EMI’s online facility due to convenience and a lower cost. Several specific modes such as social networking websites and viral marketing is extremely essential to attract customers who are hooked to pirated songs. EMI shall also take steps to move towards a gradual transformation towards the internet in terms of remitting official patented songs along with DVD/CD stores. This step is extremely important as the entire functioning of the music industry hinges upon it. Steps shall also be taken in collaboration with representatives of the music

Taxation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Taxation - Assignment Example When the government decreases its levy on goods, there will be a high consumption rate and more production by the firms. This decrease of levy on goods leads to increase in capital (David 1817). Corporations are also subject to taxation by the government. Corporations pay taxes to the government for services provided. Corporations fill out forms as required by the state laws and hence recognized by the government (Leandra 2002). It is the duty of the corporation to pay taxes to the government for services provided and failure to do so can lead to legal actions towards the corporation. Before investors make an investment plan, they identify the tax system of their investment location. A tax system that is negatively designed does not favor the investor’s interests and will drain their resources and time. The different types of taxes levied by the government are indirect taxes, direct taxes, progressive taxes and non-progressive taxes. Generally, this paper will look at UK tax system and also recommendations made in the Mireless review. The paper will also explain the benefits that will come with the proposed recommendations and also the parties that will be affected by the recommendations. The taxation systems in UK today do not favor the households. It oppresses them through the heavy taxes that are imposed on them by the government. The taxation system has influenced the amount of money that people save and the manner in which they do so (Stuart, James and Christopher 2012). This system does not lead to economic growth since people are not encouraged to save. It has led to inflation in UK hence calling for reforms in the taxation system. The United Kingdom’s tax rate is among the highest in the world. Despite people earning high incomes, they have been subjected to high tax rates hence little savings by the income earners. A high increase in income tax has also led to the rise of other related taxes such as taxes on allowances,