Monday, September 30, 2019

Easyjet and the Recession

CONTENTS PAGE 1. – Introduction_________________________p. 3 2. – Application__________________________p. 4 2. 1. – Easy Jet profile__________________p. 4 2. 2. – PESTEL Analysis__________________p. 4 2. 3. – Porters Five Forces________________p. 5 2. 4. – SWOT__________________________p. 7 3. 0. – The Challenge_______________________p. 7 4. 0. – Recommendation____________________p. 8 5. 0. – References_________________________p. 8 1. – INTRODUCTIONAccording to Boddy (2008), management refers to the process of bringing together individuals with the sole intention of achieving desired objectives, aims and goal using available resources effectively. Composed of several vital tenets, this paper seeks to establish the relation between management and the Competing Values Framework (CVF), and how the model can effectively be implemented and their influences in an organization. Boddy settles that CVF is the most significa nt model used in determination of organizational culture with a deeper focus on a value dimension.These dimensions include the micro emphasis and organization structure, significant factors in organizational management. Management comprises of five major functions namely planning, organizing, leading and controlling and co-ordination. As such, the effective functioning of these major tenets forms essences of management with a greater concentration on long term and short term effects. One key factor of management is planning. Through planning, management is able to secure and allocate human resources, financial resources, technological resources as well as natural resources to support the predominant objectives (Stewart, 1963).On the other hand, organizing requires that managers establish a structure of working relationships to allow organizational members to interact and cooperate to achieve organizational goals. Tentatively, leading requires managers not only to articulate a clear vision for organizational members to follow but also energize and enable organizational members to appreciate and understand the part they play in achieving organizational goals. Controlling entails the process of evaluation of how well an organization is achieving its goals and taking action to maintain or improve performance.It is based on the fact that managing an activity effectively depends on periodically monitoring and evaluation. Separate activities inevitably need co-ordination and control lest they fail to achieve what is expected of them (Knights & Wilmott, 1999). Even then, it calls for managers to understand and apply the Competing Values Framework which basically empowers them to appreciate conflicting values and integrate them successfully, so that their organizations are open to collaboration and growth.Through the competing values framework, they are able to oversee teams that work towards opposite goals and integrating them at the right time, so that each value can be developed successfully. Burns (2004) clearly demonstrated the role management and ascertained that management typically involves working in a highly fragmented way. Managers play interpersonal roles, where they serve as organizational figure heads, leaders and liaison. Moreover, they play informational roles whereby they serve as informational monitors, disseminators of information and organizational spokespersons.In addition, they play decisional roles where they are organizational entrepreneurs, handle disciplinary cases, resource allocators and are organizational negotiators (Huczynski & Buchanan, 2001). To effectively play these roles, managers need the support of others and hence, they must not take that support for granted. This means, they must do things in a way that maintains an acceptable degree of internal and external support. 2. – APPLICATION 2. 1. – Easy Jet profile Easy Jet Airline Company is an excellent example of a no-frills airline based in Londo n. Stelios Haji-Ioannou founded the company in 1995.The carrier copies the Texas based low cost carrier. It has reduced its fare to almost one-third the amounts charged by State sponsored airlines like British Airways. The company mostly focuses on direct selling as a key part of controlling cost. It has the company’s URL painted on both sides of the Jets in its trademark orange. Easy Jet bases its idea on the principle that the determining factor in air transport is price elasticity. Initially, airlines operated on the assumption that the number of passengers grows in line with the economy and cutting of conveyance fees will result to reduced revenue.Easy Jet operates on 125 routes from 39 European airports. Its main airports are Luton, Liverpool, Geneva, and Amsterdam and were operating 72 aircrafts by November 2003 (Easy Jet Airline Company). The company’s mission statement is to provide customers with a safe, good value point-to-point air services. To ensure consis tent, reliable product and fares, appealing to leisure and business markets on a range of European Routes. Evidently, Easy Jet is in mass transport business. It focuses on leisure and business travellers offering them point to point air transport with safe, good value.Easy Jet as at 30 September 2009 had a staff of 8,000 people throughout Europe (Easy Jet Airline Company). 2. 2. – PESTEL Analysis PESTEL analyses are the factors that are likely to have an impact on the airline business and they need to be taken into consideration when formulating a working marketing plan for Easy Jet. Political Factor Due to the war going on in Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest of Middle East, the threat of airline attacks and air jacking is eminent. This is likely to reduce the numbers of routes to the Middle East, thereby reducing the evenue. The government does not consider air mile a taxable benefit this may give Easy Jet a level ground to compete against the State sponsored airline like Brit ish Airways. The possible East enlargement of European Union may provide viable new markets for the Easy Jet. The dynamic nature of the economy causes constant price fluctuation. This leads to increase in prices of fuel, which affects the net profit of a company, which in return reduces the amount Easy Jet, can commit to corporate social responsibility (Henry 2008). Economic FactorEasy Jet Airline is likely to be affected by increasing fuel costs, congestion, and other environmental restrictions such as noise and air pollution. In addition, there is a prospect of increased security and insurance costs to reflect the risk posted by terrorism. There is also recession, which is likely to last for a longer time this will cause business and leisure travellers to check on their travelling expenses. More business emerged for Easy Jet after the introduction of a single currency, which makes Europe, integrated (David 2001).Technological Factor Improvement in technology will have an effect on Easy Jet. This technological advancement is such as use of internet on booking of tickets, advertising, distribution, and cost synergies from industry consolidation (Henry 2008). The key issue to Easy Jet is whether these improved technologies are going to offset the upward pressure on prices and costs. For Easy Jet to gain competitive advantage they have to keep abreast with the advancement in the field of e-commerce and aircraft manufacture.Improvement in technology increasingly becomes cheaper reducing barriers to entry for competitors to join. This may result to a reduced level of profits for the Easy Jet. To counter this, research and development expenditure acts as an obstruction to deter potential entrants into the markets, this give Easy Jet a more competitive advantage over their rivals in the airline industry (David 2001). Social Factor Easy Jet values the safety of their customers, airline, and its staff. This mission statement motivates and attracts passengers to fly ag ain after assurance of safe and secure flights.Easy Jet must be heavy internet dependent for booking and checking of flights. Therefore, to satisfy customers, quick and easy service method needs to be adopted. Easy Jet maintains high, career standards, which lead to staffs to commit themselves on an excellent standard service (Henry 2008). 2. 3. – Porters Five Forces To get a better analysis of the airline industry, there is a need to use porter’s five forces. The concepts determine the competitive intensity and attractiveness of company to survive in a given market.The Threat of Substitute There is minimal competition from other alternative means of transport. The cost and time advantage of aircrafts outweighs the comfort of cars and train. Easy Jet has partly addressed this issue by providing low cost flight that has seen an increase in customer because it is first and convenient. Although, other means may be cheap but delays caused by breakdown and traffic makes cus tomers opt to travel on air (Porter 2008). The Threat of New Entrants Threats of new entrants are minimized by high capital requirements.Easy Jet started on a loan of 5 million Euros and had two aircrafts. The investment needed an initial sum of 50 Euros, which it raised to speed up expansion plan through debts. The company has purchased other airlines through acquisition and has made it have a competitive advantage over other players in the market. Easy Jet have to be aware of new entries that come with new innovate ways of doing business and incentives that will attract customers. The company should have strategies that will see it survive in this industry (David 2001).The Power of Suppliers Easy Jet Company has less power to alter the prices of fuel as prices of fuel relate directly to cost of fuel. Easy Jet operates a single type of aircraft until recently. This dependency on one manufacture could pose a serious threat in the future (David 2001). The expansion and the acquisitio ns the company has made the bargaining power on its suppliers has increased. The purchase of low cost carrier has helped the company to offer better services to its customer and retain them (Porter 2008). The Power of BuyersPower of buyers in the airline industry is much stronger because customers will window shop for better price. The customers usually exploit existence of price discrepancies; this means that the operator must regularly keep watch on the prices. Easy Jet needs to establish the customers’ loyalty because of low switching costs (Porter 2008). Rivalry among Existing Firms Easy Jet faces a lot of competition in UK. Among its key rivals is Ryan air, BMIbaby, MyTravelLite and Buzz. In its expansion plan, Virgin express, Hapag Lloyd Express and Air Berlin might become major competitors.British Airways is also a competitor though it targets other markets segments. Easy Jet focuses on offering convenient services for instance flex fare that allows free of charge chan ges to flight within a window. The company also gives its customer the option to transfer on to an earlier without extra charge. This has made the company enjoy a large market and remain competitive in the industry (Porter 2008). 2. 4. – SWOT Strengths †¢Strong e-business. †¢Innovative and flexible organization. Weaknesses †¢No customer retention policy. †¢Unappealing for business travellers. Opportunities †¢Reduced aircraft prices The recession: Favourable, as people are more con-conscientious. Threats †¢Difficulties to expand. †¢Saturated market. 3. 0. – THE CHALLENGE A recession refers to a period of economic decline or contraction in the Gross Domestic Product for six months or longer, but does not last longer than a year. It is characterized by high levels of unemployment, stagnant wage rates and decline in sales. Typically, recessions are considered a normal part of a capitalist economy and there has not been an obvious cause of a recession though most of the time, the blame falls on the federal leadership.As such, recessions portend negative and positive consequences (Handy, 1988). One of the positive effects is realized in cases of layoffs. This period provides employees an opportunity to evaluate and re-evaluate their career choices, work, skills and opportunity to secure other better jobs. As such it is a chance to invest in other potential business ventures. Many experts have termed a recession as a relaxed ambiance for starting a small business after which one can work their way to the top.Moreover, a recession presents an opportunity to save as people are hesitant to spend. Tentatively, recessions are characterized by low mortgage rates in the process providing an opportunity to invest in property. In addition, recessions lead to greater consumer and travel deals as stores offer discounts and encourage bargains to attract consumers and entice purchasing of their products (Collinson, 1992). Despite t he positive sides of recession, it presents detrimental negative consequences. It is important that to note that this process leads to lower conomic activity, falling stocks and slumping dividends and extensive retrenchment otherwise known as laying off employees. Because of this, the effect of recession in an organization cannot be underestimated. During this economic droop, there are reported cases of falling stocks, credit impairment and bankruptcy, employee layoffs and benefit reduction, cuts to quality goods and services and reduced customer access tale place (Mintzberg, 1979). This causes a discrepancy in the business operations and consequently negatively impacts its profitability. . 0. – RECOMMENDATION A business operating over a recession period, is subjected to a high risk environment, thus, the recommendable CVF model to adopt is the open systems model. The model has proved effective in steering many organizations through continuous adaptation and innovation (Pugh, 1990). The model not only encourages creative problem solving, innovation and management of change. This has lead to the acquisition and keeping of necessary external resources needed for organizational success and improved performance. . 0. – REFERENCES Boddy, D. 2008. Management: An Introduction (4th ed. ) London: FT Prentice Hall. Burnes, B. 2004. Managing Change: A Strategic Approach to Organizational Dynamics, 4thed. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education. Collinson, D. 1992. Managing the Shop floor. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter. David, F, (2001), Strategic Management: Concepts & Cases, Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River. Easy Jet Airline, Available at < http://www. easyjet. com> [May 2012]. Handy, CB. 1988. Understanding Organizations. London: Penguin.Henry, A, (2008), Understanding Strategic Management, Oxford University Press Huczynski, A. & Buchanan, D. 2001. Organizational Behavior: An Introductory Text. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Knights, D. and Wilmott, H. 1999. Management Lives. London: Sage. Mintzberg, H. 1979. The Nature of Managerial Work. Englewood Cliffs. Prentice-Hall Porter, M, (2008), On Competition, Harvard Business School Pub: Boston. Pugh, DS. 1990. Organization Theory: Selected Readings. London. Penguin. Stewart, R. 1963. The Reality of Management. London. Heinemann.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Holly Bobo

It is not completely known that an actual crime has occurred, there hasn’t been enough evidence to prove that there has been a crime. I would want to interview her 25 years old brother, Clint. He reported seeing her being taken into the woods by a white male with all camouflage clothing. He said he only saw the back of this male and thought it was her boyfriend until he walked outside and saw some blood in front of their house. I would interview Clint because he was the last person that saw Holly and he also saw the man that kidnapped her. I would ask questions about the man who he saw take her. Also, about the path that this man took her. Finally, if he has noticed any weirdness from his sister the past couple of days or weeks. Then, I would want to interview Heather Sullivan, which is a woman in her town, she was approached by a man a couple of months before Holly’s disappearance, but she was so startled that she dropped the glass lamp that she was holding. When she dropped it got her boyfriends attention and he scared the man off. I would like to get from her details about the man that tried to kidnap her and see if Clint and her details maybe match up. Finally I would like to interview Whitney Duncan, which is her cousin. I would want to find out how close they were and if they talked on a regular basis and if she noticed anything not normal with her. I would obtain criminal records from each of these people and see if they’ve had any criminal history in the past that might pertain to this case. Also, I would want to obtain phone and text message records from each person. I would want to identify if there were any subspecies phone calls or text messages. I would want to collect the hair that was stuck to the piece of duck tape. This evidence could tell investigators who the hair belongs to and what part of the body it has came from. Also, I would want to collect her cell phone, this can prove to investigators who she made calls to and if there were any strange or threatening text messages. Also, it could have finger prints other than Holly’s. I would investigate the blood that was found at her home to find out if it belonged to Holly. Finally, I would want to obtain the lunch box that was found in the woods. It could provide investigators with finger prints if their were any other than hers. All the evidence would be carefully placed in the right kind of container or bag. Once it is placed in the right container, it would need to be tagged with the time, location, name of the person that collected it; then it is sent off to the lab to be investigated. Once they are done it is sent off for more investigation and it should be labeled with the names of the person sending it off, the time, and location. The primary scene is Holly’s home from where she was abducted from. This is the primary because it is the main place as to where the abduction occurred. The secondary scene is the woods. This is because this was the place where she was taken to after being abducted from her home. Then, there is another scene that the public or investigators don’t know about yet because there hasn’t been any other evidence leading to another scene. As for the other persons that would be investigated and records obtained from I would also obtain the phone and text messages records from Holly as well. These records would be important because it would tell investigators if there were any unusual phone calls or text messages sent or received from Holly. Also, I would investigate her Facebook and Myspace to find out if there were any unusual things going on through her social network sites. The locard exchange principle can apply to this case if her body has been found mostly. It is possible that other fibers can be found on the duck tape that the hair is stuck to. Also, some could be on the cell phone near the ear piece if the perpetrator used her cell phone. His DNA can possibly be on the ear piece of the phone. If people that Holly knew were ruled out I would suspect that maybe a neighbor that has been stocking her could be a potential perpetrator. It could be anyone that knew her schedule and her parents schedule. Whoever abducted her had to have known that her parents were gone and that she left for school at a certain time. I would document where all the evidence was found, the times it was found, and who found the evidence. I would document all the details that witnesses know about the perpetrator that abducted her. I would find out if anyone in the neighborhood saw a complete stranger just hanging around. If someone saw that then it could be a potential stalker of Holly. I would have of course TBI because it did happen in Tennessee so they would have to be involved in this case. I would also have FBI involved in this case because it is possible that they have traveled out of the Tennessee area. Of course volunteers they can be a big help in trying to find clues that lead to the end of a crime. I would also keep posting it on TV because some things can jog someone’s memory and that could lead you to your suspect. One possible motive could be that it was someone that wanted to date her and she didn’t want to date them so they wanted to get at her and her boyfriend and cause harm to her. Another could be that it was an ex-boyfriend and she didn’t want to have any contact with him or they ended on bad terms, which could have set him off and caused him to do this to her. Finally, another motive could have been just some random stranger that had been stalking her and knew that she left at a certain time in the morning for school and knew that her parents were gone and didn’t know her brother was still in the house and he could have just wanted to cause harm to her. I think these are viable motives because really it is only possible that someone that knew her schedule could commit this. A theory could be that her ex-boyfriend wanted to still be with her and he knew that she was with someone else and he didn’t like that she was. So he wanted to get back at her. He knew that she was on her way to school so he parked his car on a road behind the woods and when he saw her at her car went and grabbed her and made her come with him. He could have put the duck tape over her mouth and she ripped it off and that’s when he made her walk to his car. She had the lunch box still in her hand when they went in the woods and he could have made her drop it and then they drove off and went to another location. Another theory could be that a stalker could have just been planning to kidnap and harm this young lady. So he would watch her a lot and see the times her parents and her left and then the morning of April 13th he walked through the woods and went and grabbed her and made her walk through the woods to a car and he took her to another destination. It is possible that maybe her parents owed someone money for something that they were doing on the side and since they weren’t home and they saw that Holly as leaving the house they decided to abduct her and harm her as well. Finally, it is possible that a coworker could have had some kind of beef with her about something and they wanted to come abduct her and take her away from her family. So they watched her throughout a couple of days and figured out the times nobody was home and when she was on her way to school. And when she went out to her car someone jumped out of the woods and grabbed her and took her with them and they are at another location that investigators haven’t discovered yet.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

TBA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

TBA - Essay Example I had trouble listening to the speaker that day. As such, I had to identify the barrier that influenced my lack of listening during the presentation. Misinterpretation and attachment to personal beliefs and values were the two significant barriers to effective listening that day. Misinterpretation is a primary cause of listening barrier during communication. In most cases, our thought force us to interpret messages in a manner that was intended by the speaker (McPheat, 2011). Misinterpretation often leads to misunderstanding the speaker’s message and may directly lead to a lack of listening to the speaker. When we add an interpretation to the speaker’s word, we introduce sources of error in the communication. Misinterpretation may have contributed to my inability to listen to the speaker on the preventive measure of HIV/AIDS. According to my interpretation, I thought that the speaker meant that abstinence is the only way to prevent the spread of the diseases. Personally, I knew that there were other possible measures as well. The fact that I interrupted the speaker wrongly led to my lack of listening. I found myself doing other stuff, browsing my phone instead of listening to the speaker. There particular facts about the speaker’s message that I misinterpreted. Firstly, the speaker meant that among the many possible preventive strategies, abstinence was the best. This does not mean that there are no other measures. Secondly, abstinence should the first step in ensuring we stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. It was clear that the misinterpretation contributed significantly to my inability to listen to the speaker. However, there are particular approaches that can help overcome misinterpretation as a barrier to effective listening. If I could have used these strategies, then I would have successful overcome the problem of lack of listening. Developing the habit of asking for

Friday, September 27, 2019

MEN VERSUS WOMEN SPORTS COVERAGE AND POPULARITY Case Study

MEN VERSUS WOMEN SPORTS COVERAGE AND POPULARITY - Case Study Example This was about 13hours higher in comparison to the women’s coverage. Men in most cases tend to perform extremely well in various games. This boosts the reporter’s morale towards covering most of men’s games. In the summer Olympics in 2008 as well as the preceding years, there emerged improved air time coverage with both men and women almost getting equal air time coverage. About 46.3% of airtime coverage went to women in this year, a decrease from the previous year 2004 when the coverage was 47.9%. Nevertheless, coverage of women sports events improved heavily towards the socially acceptable sports for women. The socially accepted sports are always attractive as these sports involve minimal clothing hence women can be easily displayed as physically attractive. These kind of sports, even though are highly ranked in the media coverage among the women are not morally acceptable in the media fraternity. This research paper explains the impact of media coverage in com parison to men and women sports coverage and popularity. Women who normally take part in sports that involve either power or hard body contact are more often unlikely to receive media coverage. This is due to the stereotypical assumptions involved with these kinds of feminine events thus there is reduced women sports coverage. ... The 2010 Olympics aptly inclined towards men coverage thus rendering it biased. Most of the winter sports by their nature generally provide women with fewer opportunities to capture various sports. The make-up of the spectators whom NBC normally targets to please provides a more complex narrative than mere pandering to male sports fans for the summer Olympics in 2008. Women spectators over 18years of age in the recent Olympic Games have lost the media coverage with only 49 per cent total viewers attending while the rest are women. This reduces the lively participation by the women in these games due to the feeling of being neglected by the fellow women spectators. This in turn reduces the women sports coverage popularity in women’s sports participation fields. The sports world is almost entirely divided between men’s and women’s groups. The men’s sport has nonetheless, always dominated all forms of broadcasting coverage despite the fact that women as well competes in those exact similar sports in an increasingly professional level. The sports coverage revolves around newspaper, broadcasting, news coverage, reports and internet articles in the media houses. In United States for example, women’s sports receive a total of 1.65 of the total sports airtime on both the local, national and sports media giants such as ESPN. This is as well experienced in Australia media houses in relation to the popularity of men’s coverage in sports in relation to women’s. In Australia the situation is even demeaning with women’s sport coverage receiving only 9 per cent in relation to men’s coverage and airtime which is at 81 per cent. In the written press the numbers are always

Thursday, September 26, 2019

DYNAMIC AIRCRAFT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

DYNAMIC AIRCRAFT - Assignment Example First and foremost, Mr. Marshall got the wire specifications that the engineering department demanded for. He did this while ensuring that the engineers did not see the move as a way to censure them from specifying only one source. The engineers indicated that they required a special wire that could withstand very high temperatures hence the reason for their choice of Advanced Wire as the most appropriate source. According to Mr. Marshall, it was paramount for the engineers to indicate which type of specification to the supply manager since it was a rule in the company. Expecting to receive the governing specifications from the engineers, Mr. Marshall got samples of Advanced Wire’s ceramic-coated wire as well as its price quotations. This confirmed his fears as the prices were relatively higher than the industry averages although the ceramic-coating indeed made it be more expensive. The specifications from the engineers were of military standard type but the performance requir ements did not particularly specify that the wire had to have ceramic-coating. With this in mind, Mr. Marshall invited quotations from other suppliers who could meet the performance requirements with emphasis put on their prices and whether their samples met the specifications needed. Some five more suppliers were interested in providing the wire. The other suppliers submitted their price quotations and samples to Mr. Marshall who forwarded the samples to the production development laboratory for evaluation and analysis. The laboratory submitted its findings a week later which primarily focused on the ability of the samples to withstand high temperatures for long periods of time; the fundamental specification required by the engineers. One of the samples failed to meet the stipulated performance specifications but the other five samples exceeded the minimum performance requirements. The Advanced Wire’s sample was in fact more superior to the other sample in regards to its abi lity to withstand extremely high temperatures. The tests done on the weight of the samples, which was another important metric, showed that the wire supplied by Advanced Wire was considerably heavier than the other samples. Moreover, the conductivity attributes of Advanced’s wire was also relatively inferior compared to the other wires which exceeded the minimum performance specifications and were therefore acceptable. Furthermore, the abrasiveness test revealed that the wire supplied by Advanced Wire was less durable than the other wires by the other companies despite it passing the minimum performance tests. Armed with all this information, Mr. Marshall had the belief that indeed the engineering department might have got it wrong by stating that Advanced Wore had the best wire in the market. A fact proven wrong by all the tests performed which showed that other companies had superior products which met the governing military specifications that the engineers needed. Althoug h the wire by Advanced Wire was the most superior in reference to the ability to withstand heat owing to its ceramic-coating, it still did not justify the higher price quoted by the company. Other suppliers also met the specifications submitted by the engineers with a considerably lower price offered. Easternhouse Electric Company had the lowest asking price for the wire with a difference of $20,346 between it and Advanced Wire’

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

How do you think the United States government can be improved upon, Essay

How do you think the United States government can be improved upon, changed, or reformed, to better represent your ideal governm - Essay Example Every citizen either born or lives in the country is free and enjoys a number of liberties envisioned in the American constitution. The country tries to protect the interests of American citizens living out of the country. In order to secure a a safe society for her citizens, the country tries to develop working relationships with other countries in the international community. After more than a hundred years of independence, the country has grown both economically, socially and politically to become the world super power it is today. However, the government is still not ideal and therefore deserves a number of changes in order to create a government that protects the interest of the citizen2. An ideal government exists only in an ideal society. This implies that before changing the government into an ideal government, the society must also change to represent the different social groupings all of who must exist peacefully. Peace is an essential attribute and a tool of governance tha t most democracies such as the United States try to create in their countries. A peaceful society is conducive for development and depicts a just society that values humanity. Human rights still is an issue in the country’s social spheres. While the country has developed through the years to result in the creation of a liberal society in which everyone is free and at liberty to make his or her own choices. The society has shown some extent of laxity in accepting dynamism among its population. The victimization of minority groups such as the gay and lesbians depicts a society that is slow to accept those it considers strange. An ideal society is one in which everyone lives freely enjoying their differences3. By victimizing a section of the population, the population portrays a failure by the government in creating a free fair and just society. Political leadership make policies and their acceptance of such minority groups compel adherence to such decrees thereby improving resp ect for humanity despite the diversities that humanity present. The country has an effective legal system, one that shows respect for humanity and offers equal opportunity both for the defense and for the plaintiff to present their argument and thereafter determine an effective judgment followed by a culpable punishment. The legal system works in unison with other arms of the government through which it obtains the legislations it implements. This requires unity in the operation of the different arms of the government. An effective judicial system coupled with an ineffective correctional facility is equally unrealistic. The correctional facilities must portray respect for human rights thereby defend them. It is in jails that people exist lawlessly and carry out activities that demean the value of humanity. The government should therefore develop correctional facilities that do not only restrain offenders from interacting with the rest of the society but just as the name suggests cha nges them thereby making them better citizens. Rehabilitation of behavior begins from the recognition of the equal value of humanity in the inmates thereby defending such. However, the system must be punitive enough to earn the plaintiff the satisfaction of compensation. The United States of America is not as peaceful as it may appear. The tranquility that the country enjoys currently exhibits deeper social injustices and past transgressions that the government must address in the process of becoming ideal4. For a long

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Create easy story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Create easy story - Essay Example President Bush quoted President Dwight Eisenhower who said that Thanksgiving is a time when Americans should celebrate ‘the plentiful yield of our soil †¦ the beauty of our land †¦ the preservation of those ideals of liberty and justice that form the basis of our national life†. (Bush, 2001) Thanksgiving is a time when many American families gather together to celebrate. In cities like New York, millions celebrate even in the streets, the harbor is full of ships also joining the celebration, and everyone is as happy like they are celebrating a joyous Christmas Day. Tourists and migrants who have co-celebrated with the Americans need not wonder what’s so special about Thanksgiving. Young Americans today just alter tradition a bit and go for modernity. (Three children are playing in front of an oak barrel; the mother, in traditional American dress, is beside them, also joyfully watching; there are sacks of wheat, and in the background is a farm; the father hoisting a sack of wheat on back of a horse.) Americans celebrate film day to watch Hollywood movies and their favourite stars. Most of the young are star struck; they watch movies to see their stars. Traditionally, Americans watch films with celebrations of food and cowboy films of old, the likes of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, or the â€Å"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly† of yesteryears. Nowadays, there are varieties of adventure, sci-fi, or maybe high-tech movies such as The Star Wars, or The Transformer, and many entertaining ones which are applied with powerful special effects. Like many families around the world, Americans celebrate Christmas with gift-giving and parties. The United States is predominantly Christian; Americans worship Jesus Christ and celebrate his birth. Christmas is one of the joyous days of American holiday celebration. Everyone, young and old, celebrate it with gift-giving, while many go to places for relaxation or reuniting with old family ties.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Answer question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 10

Answer question - Essay Example The teachings by Moishe the Beadle are similar to Buber’s Hasidic teachings. Moishe teaches that there are a thousand and one ways that lead to the orchard of truth and each man has to find his own way to get there (Wiesel, 2006). Buber shares the same views as he argues that all men can access God, but each through his own way (Buber, 1958). During his various experiences, Wiesel was once in a situation where they had to celebrate the Day of Atonement by fasting. Wiesel went against traditional believes of fasting both as a symbol of rebellion against God’s silence as well as a necessary means of keeping up strength in the face of adversity and torture. Buber explains that in Hasidism, one can serve through learning, prayer, fasting or through eating (Buber, 1958). Accordingly, one should choose depending on what they view as right and avoid imitating others. On entering Auschwitz, Wiesel and his group of prisoners were greeted by a young pole with Hasidic inclination. He argues that by driving despair and through camaraderie, they will be able to overcome their hardship. Hasidism according to Buber shares a similar view as he argues that while the world is an irradiation of the Divine, it is described by independence of existence and striving and that man is to affirm the world and transform both him and the world at large to the image that God would approve. The notable difference between Buber and Wiesel accounts is the latter’s conclusion that man and man alone is the master of the universe. Buber argues that a divine spark exists in all men and that it can either be perverted or liberated and re-joined with the Origin (God) (Buber, 1958). Personally, I do not agree with Wiesel conclusion that we live in a world without God and that man alone is the master of nature and of the world. I however sympathize with

Sunday, September 22, 2019

The eventual fall of the Ottoman Empire Essay Example for Free

The eventual fall of the Ottoman Empire Essay How far did the reforms during the period 1826-39 contribute to the eventual fall of the Ottoman Empire? The Ottoman Empire (1299-1924), founded as a medieval dynasty, collapsed and re-emerged as a modern constitutional state in less than seven centuries. The crucial question is why? What caused so momentous a transformation? There is much historical debate as to the causes for, and underlying factors in the empires collapse. Ive focused my study on the reforms passed during the period 1826-39, for I would consider these central in understanding the nature of the empires transformation. The years between 1826 and 1839 were a key turning point in the empires history and relations with foreign powers. In this period, crucial wars were fought, reforms ratified and institutions dismantled. Sultan Abdulmecid declared in 1839, [my empire] will prove [] that it is worthy of a prominent place in the concert of civilised nations. As Suraiya Farooqhi et al, in their detailed study of the latter centuries of the empires history put it, such events are important for they physically acknowledged, reaffirmed, and maintained the new centralizing/westernizing course of the Ottoman state.i Historians, whose studies are based foremost on European sources e.g. Lord Kinross and Feroz Ahmadii, tend to see the reforms as progressive, and attribute the empires collapse to a failure to industrialise. On the other hand, other historians, e.g. E.Eldemiii and Professor Maksudoglu, as well as Stanford J. Shawiv, all of whom rely more heavily on Ottoman sources, see the reforms as far more degenerate. Maksudoglu suggests Osmanli [Ottoman] sources have been neglected and ignored. v Shaw argues that Ottoman history has been discussed but always from the European perspective, through the light of European prejudice, and largely on the basis of European sources.vi It is due to a neglect of Ottoman sources that many historians have misinterpreted the causes of the empires collapse; there exists an unnatural bias towards the conventional European justification. As Goodwin suggests, foreign historians tend to blame the international forces of capitalism their capital, their force and suggest that the West reduced the empire to a peripheral producer of raw materials.vii Nevertheless, most historians agree that European influence proved to be of ever-increasing significance in determining the empires transformations. Ahmad suggests that ministers from the Sublime Porte visited Europe, in particular France, more frequently and returned home impressed with what they saw and learned.viii In the 1830s, an Ottoman poet wrote: Go to Paris, young sir, if you have any wish; if you have not been to Paris, you have not come into the world.ix Although the poet was probably writing for the purposes of entertainment, not necessarily for historical accuracy, the extract offers insight into not only the opinion of the poet, but his influence on the audiences perception. The likelihood of the sources reliability, although anonymous, is further strengthened when looked at in the context of Eastern, in particular Muslim, society. The oral tradition was, and still is of significant importance. The point made by Ahmad and the poet shows how the Ottoman view of Europe shifted significantly in the period; Europe had something to offer the empire. Ministers visiting Paris understood the basis of European superiority and in turn saw the need to drastically alter their own system. The Janissary purge of 1826 was first of the Sultans drastic alterations. It was impossible to introduce military and administrative reform whilst faced with the staunch opposition of the conservative ulema [Islamic religious authority], supported by the Janissaries. Ahmad agrees; as he puts it, such schemes were impossible to introduce while the conservatives were so strongly entrenched. Backed by the Janissaries, they were sufficiently powerful to depose reformist sultans and execute their grand viziers.x As Mansel points out, the official history of enumerated acts of insubordination by the corps [stretched] back to the reigns of Selim I and Suleyman.xi By combining evidence from these sources, we can see that the abolition of the corps, also known as the the purging of the garden of the empire of savage and useless weeds, or the Blessed Event was inevitable. The abolition removed the final vestiges of conservatism, thus making it possible for foreign governments to influence the Sultan and the Sublime Porte [Ottoman government]. It was the beginning of an era of almost continuous reform, as Mansel put it, it seemed that only the Janissaries had delayed the empires return to the openness of the reign of Fatih and the early sixteenth century.xii The Janissaries created a climate of fear and disorder. The ulema had largely supported the Janissary reign of misrule, preferring conservative anarchy to innovation and reform.xiii By 1826 the Janissaries had managed to alienate the ulema, and even the common citizens were against them. This was partly due to the treatment of the citizens by the Janissaries and also, as Ahmad suggests, because of the Janissarys poor performance in the Greek insurrection of 1821. Mahmud II waited eighteen years to abolish the Janissaries, who had overthrown and executed his predecessor, Selim III. They were becoming a law unto themselves and were now even unable to fight; they were less soldiers, and more private citizens who just so happened to be on the military payroll. My argument is strengthened by R. G. Grant, who agrees that the Janissaries, once so admired, became a weakness through their political intriguing and their conservatism, which obstructed military reform.xiv Although Grant is correct, the Janissaries did obstruct military reform, they helped to defend the empires citizens against the Sultans excesses, as Maksudoglu argues, [after 1826] top officials lived a luxurious and corrupt life, while the government borrowed substantial sums of money from European powers, and inflation reached unprecedented levels. xv As Goodwin suggests it was no longer the Ottoman peasant to whom the sultans had to answer for their extravagance. There were no Janissaries now to growl at the dissipation of the court.xvi In 1875, due to the Sultans lavish spending, the empire declared bankruptcy. There is no doubt that this contributed to its collapse. The ulema, fearing a similar fate [as the Janissaries] offered the government no resistance. As Mansel put it, [the ulema] fearing similar annihilation if they opposed the government, [they] kept silent.xvii The Blessed Event was more revenge, than considered reform. As Cunningham notes, years later a British general watched with his own eyes as the Sultan supervised workmen striking the Janissary bonnets off gravestones in a Pera burial-ground.xviii Goodwin substantiating Cunninghams argument states: Janissary headstones, topped by the cocky turban of the order, were knocked over.xix Claims of acts of vengeance are supported by the eye-witness account of British Dragoman, Bartolomeo Pisani: Every corrner of the town is searched and every Janissary officer that is caught is conducted to the Grand Vizier and by him ordered to death [].xx The 1826 Janissary purge paved the way for further reform; without the Janissaries, the conservatives were powerless, and in a state of disarray. The abolition of the Janissaries impacted significantly upon Ottoman society. Suraiya Farooqhi et al propose that in Constantinople, the destruction of the Janissary corps had economic and social, as well as political implications: in Istanbul [Constantinople] and many other cities, the Janissaries had played a crucial role in the Ottoman urban economy.xxi According to Maksudoglu, many shopkeepers held paid Janissary posts.xxii The Anglo-Turkish Convention (1838) abolished protectionist policies. Charlotte Jirousek, an expert in consumption studies, agrees that the convention formally established a policy of free trade and removed the longstanding protections on domestic manufacturers.xxiii Suraiya Farooqhi et al argue that the 1838 Anglo-Turkish Convention eliminated state monopolies and removed many of the barriers in the way of European merchants.xxiv The convention had a devastating impact on Ottoman manufacturers and craftsmen, Mansel agrees that the convention opened the empire to a flood of British goods and ruined many Ottoman crafts.xxv The destruction of the Janissary corps (1826) and the Anglo-Turkish Convention (1838) further integrated Ottoman and European economies, just as the 1839 Tanzimat decree more closely aligned the Middle Eastern with Western political structures. Mansel argues, it was the Sultans reason and his determination to save his monarchy, which drove him to modernise.xxvi Ahmad suggests that the reformers had become more convinced that the empires penetration by industrial Europe and its absorption into the expanding world market was the only way for the empire to survive and prosper.xxvii Though a valid argument, attempting to achieve absorption into the world market without first addressing pressing domestic social concerns deemed the economic reforms counter-productive. Mansel agrees, as a result of the 1838 treaty, beggars became more common on the streets of the city [Constantinople].xxviii Glenny cites a failure to industrialise as a principle cause behind the empires collapse. Though his argument is understandable, it isnt entirely accurate. There were attempts to industrialise, in so far as to mirror European industrial development. According to Mansel, the phrases English standards and European standards were constantly recurring in official letters. xxix The Armenian Dardian dynasty was central to the Ottoman industrialisation process. Hovhannes Amira Dardian, an international entrepreneur visited England and France at government expense to study the latest industrial techniques and to purchase steam engines. In November 1831, the first Ottoman newspaper, Takvim-i Vekayi (Calendar of Events), or Moniteur Ottoman was printed in both Ottoman and French editions. Disagreement between Glenny and Mansel ought not to be seen as a weakness in my argument since Glenny is focusing specifically on the Ottoman guild system and not on general industrialisation. Between 1826 and 1839 the Ottoman Empire struggled to control key provinces; Kinross describes the empire as continuing to shrink in extent, retaining despite decay its internal organs while losing through disruption its outlying limbs.xxx Though, Maksudoglu argues that European powers decided to end Osmanli suzerainty over Greece.xxxi Disagreement between Kinross and Maksudoglu may be more apparent than real, since Maksudoglu, as he confesses, is founding his assertions primarily on Ottoman sources. European influence proved pivotal in inciting the territories to rise up against Ottoman governance. The War of Independence exposed the weaknesses of the Sultans reforms. As Mansel agrees, the Sultans reforms did not help the Ottoman Empire in its struggle against the Greek revolt.xxxii The War of Greek Independence began 25 March 1821 and is certainly one of the central elements in bringing about the case for reform. The War of Greek Independence, though initially taking the form of a Greek cultural renaissance, was in fact an attempt by the Greeks to actively destabilize the Ottoman Empire; as Glenny suggests: the Greek rebellions of 1821 were not spontaneous reactions to deteriorating social and economic circumstances.xxxiii By June 1827, after six years of war, the Ottomans under the leadership of the commander Reshid Pasha, succeeded in subjugating continental Greece, this ought to have signalled the end of the war, instead occupation of mainland Greece prompted British, French, and Russian intervention; the Russians, in particular, put immense pressure on the Ottomans. Maksudoglu, strengthening the line of argument, argues that the Russians were guilty of inciting the Greeks to revolt.xxxiv The Austrians under Metternich favoured the suppression of the rebellious Greeks. The British, encouraged by the ambassador Sir Stratford Canning, fought the Ottoman government. According to Mansel, in an effort to persuade the Ottoman government to recognise Greece, European ambassadors, who felt physically threatened in Constantinople, left for the island of Poros between December 1827 and June 1829.xxxv On 20 October 1827, the Ottoman fleet was completely obliterated at the Battle of Navarino. The support of British, French and Russian navies for the Greeks insurgents violated the 1827 Treaty of London in which the three great powers had committed themselves to securing an armistice between the Greeks and the Ottomans, without taking part in the hostilities between contending parities.xxxvi The British, as suggested by Glenny, were egged on by the philhellenic sentiments of Sir Stratford Canning.xxxvii Kinross agrees: the great powers, the rival expansionist empires of Austria-Hungary and Russia, intrigued from behind their adjoining frontiers, marking out spheres of influence, stirring up satellites, and preparing to move when the moment was ripe.xxxviii The great powers crucially interfered in the affairs of the Ottoman provinces, destabilising the empire. Agreement between Glenny and Kinross reinforces the argument. In 1832, the Ottoman Army was convincingly defeated in Syria by Mehmet Alis Egyptian army led by his son, Ibrahim Pasha. The Sultans new army made up initially of ex-Janissaries, proved just as ineffective. Kinross describes the Sultans new troops as being not yet a match for so practiced an enemyxxxix. Marshal Marmont, a former marshal of Napoleon I and Charles X proclaimed: they are not troops; they are a reunion of men the character of whose general appearance is a miserable and humiliated air. It is clear that they are aware of their weakness.xl Agreement between Kinross and Marshal Marmont strengthens the argument that the 1826 Janissary purge was, to a large extent, a failure. The Sultan succeeded in getting rid of the Janissaries, but failed to effectively replace them. As Count Helmuth von Moltke, who in 1835 was brought from Prussia to train the army, put it: it was indispensable for him to clear the site before setting up his own building. [] The first part of his great tas k the Sultan carried through with perspicacity and resolution; in the second he failed.xli From the outset, Mehmet Ali was a thorn in the side of the Sublime Porte, as Kinross put it, he was the Sultans menacing vassalxlii. The Sultan was forced to turn to the Ottomans traditional enemies, the Russians. According to Kinross, this was because British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston, who at the time was pursuing a policy of retrenchment of his armed forces, rejected his plea for aidxliii. Though on the other hand, Lord Ponsonby is said to have accused the Sultan of throwing his crown into the lap of the Emperor Nicholas and reminded him of the power of the British to stop the Russians and Mehmet Alixliv. In 1840 the British forced Ibrahim Pasha from Syria and bombarded Alexandria. Mehmet Ali pulled his troops out of Crete and Arabia and accepted the hereditary governorship of Egypt. By 1839 the Ottoman Empire had significantly deteriorated. The Tanzimat decrees (1839) were issued in exchange for support in Egypt. As Goodwin argues, in 1839, in return for the powers putting pressure on Mehmet Ali to accept hereditary governorship of Egypt, he issued [] a reformist charter.xlv Kinross describes the reforms beginning in 1839 as nothing less than the transformation of Turkey from a medieval empire, based on the principles of Islam into a modern constitutional state, based equally on the secular principles of the West.xlvi The assertions of both Goodwin and Kinross strengthen my argument; the Tanzimat issued in secular principles, although it was promulgated in order to receive foreign support in Egypt. Western powers used the artificial doctrine of nationalism as a means by which to incite the non-Muslim citizens of the empire to rebel against the Government. As Goodwin put it, nationalism was a pretence.xlvii My argument is strengthened by Maksudogluxlviii, Eccleshall et al, and in part, by Glennyxlix. Kinross adds, inspired by nationalist feelings, they sought to break free of the empire and carve up the country between them.l According to Goodwin, the Philhellenic movement is often accredited with being responsible for revitalising the Greek spirit and alerting the western governments to the suffering of the empires Greek Christians. This argument is both misleading and certainly untrue. The majority of the Philhellenes were more driven by personal greed than by a desire to see Greek independence; all observers, both Greek and non-Greek, exempt Lord Byron from this criticism. Glenny also points out that: Turkish rule over parts of Greece was no longer viable.li The tributes paid to Byron after his death, by both European politicians and literary figures pressured the British government to adopt a more interventionist stance.lii Most historians agree that the preservation of the Ottoman Empire was in the best interests of the great powers. According to the British Foreign Secretary Lord Castlereagh, barbarous as it is; Turkey forms in the system of Europe a necessary partliii. Wellington declared: The Ottoman Empire stands not for the benefit of the Turks but of Christian Europe.liv A Russian secret government committee in 1828 came to the conclusion that the advantages of the preservation of the Ottoman Empire outweigh its disadvantages (since it would probably be replaced by powers under influence of Britain or France).lv In the context of nineteenth century Europe, the preservation of the Ottoman Empire was a necessity for the great powers, but only in the sense that it was essential that the empire didnt come under rival control. The agreement between Castlereagh and Wellington focuses specifically on retaining the balance of power, and not on preserving the empire as a goal in and of itself. In conclusion, the reforms passed in the period 1826-1839 significantly contributed to the empires collapse. Although the Janissary purge, as argued by Ahmad and Mansel, was necessary as they were no longer effective; without them, the Sultan was allowed to accumulate debt unhindered. Debt led to inflation, soaring food prices and general discontent. The ulema, fearing similar treatment [as the Janissaries] were forced to remain silent. The Janissary purge failed to cure the problem of an ineffective army, and merely served to avenge the acts of disorder carried out by the corps. Without the Janissaries, and with the ulema now impotent, there was no defence against harmful reform e.g. the 1838 Anglo-Turkish Convention flooded the empire with British goods and ruined many Ottoman manufacturers, other reforms, though not necessarily harmful, proved nevertheless ineffective. As Kinross points out by Metternich and others [] [they] were cynically dismissed as an essay in window dressing.lvi If it were not for the Janissary Purge, then it is possible that the empire would have been in a better position to defend itself against foreign intervention and the Sultans excesses. i Suraiya Farooqhi, Bruce McGowan, Donald Quartaert and Serket Pamuk An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire Volume II 1600 1914 Cambridge University Press (1994) 2 Feroz Ahmad, The Making of Modern Turkey, Routledge (1993) iii E.Eldem, Pride and Privilege: A History of Ottoman Orders, Medals and Decorations, Istanbul (2004), p35 iv Stanford J. Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Cambridge University Press (1991) 5 Mehmet Maksudoglu, Osmanli History 1289-1922, International Islamic University, Malaysia (1999), pxxv vi Stanford J. Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Cambridge University Press (1991), pvii vii Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Chatto Windus, London, (1998), p238 viii Feroz Ahmad, The Making of Modern Turkey, Routledge (1993), p24 ix Anonymous, quoted in Phillip Mansel, Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire 1453-1924, John Murray (Publishers), (1995), p256 10 Feroz Ahmad, The Making of Modern Turkey, Routledge (1993), p24 xi Phillip Mansel, Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire 1453-1924, John Murray (Publishers), (1995), p238 xii Ibid p249 13 Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Chatto Windus, London, (1998), p.292 14 R.G.Grant, Battle a visual journey through 5,000 years of combat, DK, (2005), pg34 xv Mehmet Maksudoglu, Osmanli History 1289-1922, International Islamic University, Malaysia (1999), p214 xvi Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Chatto Windus, London, (1998), p311 xvii Phillip Mansel, Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire 1453-1924, John Murray (Publishers), (1995), p274 xviii Allan Cunningham, Anglo-Ottoman Encounters in the Age of Revolution, (1993), p34 xix Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Chatto Windus, London, (1998), p298 xx Bartolomeo Pisani, quoted in, Phillip Mansel, Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire 1453-1924, John Murray (Publishers), (1995), p238 21 Suraiya Farooqhi, Bruce McGowan, Donald Quartaert and Serket Pamuk An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire Volume II 1600 1914 Cambridge University Press (1994) xxii Mehmet Maksudoglu, Osmanli History 1289-1922, International Islamic University, Malaysia (1999), p209 xxiii Charlotte Jirousek The Transition to Mass Fashion System and Dress in the Later Ottoman Empire p213-230 Donald Quartaert, editor Consumption Studies and the History of the Ottoman Empire xxiv Suraiya Farooqhi, Bruce McGowan, Donald Quartaert and Serket Pamuk An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire Volume II 1600 1914 Cambridge University Press (1994) xxv Phillip Mansel, Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire 1453-1924, John Murray (Publishers), (1995), p258 xxvi Ibid, p250 26 Feroz Ahmad, The Making of Modern Turkey, Routledge (1993), p24 xxviii Ibid p258 xxix Ibid p254 xxx Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, (1977), p.440 xxxi Mehmet Maksudoglu, Osmanli History 1289-1922, International Islamic University, Malaysia (1999), p210 xxxii Phillip Mansel, Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire 1453-1924, John Murray (Publishers), (1995), p247 xxxiii Misha Glenny, The Balkans 1804-1999 Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, (Granata Books), London (1999) p26 xxxiv Mehmet Maksudoglu, Osmanli History 1289-1922, International Islamic University, Malaysia (1999), p208 xxxv Phillip Mansel, Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire 1453-1924, John Murray (Publishers), (1995), p248 xxxvi The Treaty of London (1827), quoted in, Misha Glenny, The Balkans 1804-1999 Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, (Granata Books), London (1999) p34 xxxvii Ibid xxxviii Lord Kinross, Ataturk A biography of Mustafa Kemal, father of modern Turkey, William Morrow and Company, New York, (1978), p8 xxxix Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, (1977), p467 xl Marshal Marmont, quoted in Phillip Mansel, Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire 1453-1924, John Murray (Publishers), (1995), p259 xli Count Helmuth von Moltke, quoted in, Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Chatto Windus, London, (1998), p302 xlii Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, (1977), p467 xliii Ibid p468 xliv Phillip E. Moseley, Russian Diplomacy and the opening of the Eastern Question in 1838-1839, Harvard, (1934), p78 xlv Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Chatto Windus, London, (1998), pg304 xlvi Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, (1977), p440 xlvii Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Chatto Windus, London, (1998), pg295 xlviii Mehmet Maksudoglu, Osmanli History 1289-1922, International Islamic University, Malaysia (1999), p207 xlix Robert Eccleshall, Vincent Geoghegan, Richard Jay, Rick Wilford, Political Ideologies, Unwin Hyman, London (1990) l Lord Kinross, Ataturk A biography of Mustafa Kemal, father of modern Turkey, William Morrow and Company, New York, (1978), p8 li Misha Glenny, The Balkans 1804-1999 Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, (Granata Books), London (1999) p35 lii Ibid, Lord Castlereagh liii Ibid p248, The Duke of Wellington liv Ibid lv Ibid lvi Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, (1977), p475 Bibliography Feroz Ahmad, The Making of Modern Turkey, Routledge (1993) Allan Cunningham, Anglo-Ottoman Encounters in the Age of Revolution, Routledge (1993) Robert Eccleshall, Vincent Geoghegan, Richard Jay, Rick Wilford, Political Ideologies, Unwin Hyman, London (1990) E.Eldem, Pride and Privilege: A History of Ottoman Orders, Medals and Decorations, Istanbul (2004) Suraiya Farooqhi, Bruce McGowan, Donald Quartaert and Serket Pamuk An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire Volume II 1600 1914 Cambridge University Press (1994) Misha Glenny, The Balkans 1804-1999 Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, (Granata Books), London (1999) Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Chatto Windus, London, (1998) R.G.Grant, Battle a visual journey through 5,000 years of combat, DK, (2005) Halil Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire; The Classical Age 1300-1600, London (1973) Charlotte Jirousek The Transition to Mass Fashion System and Dress in the Later Ottoman Empire Donald Quartaert, editor Consumption Studies and the History of the Ottoman Empire State University of New York Press (2000) Lord Kinross, Ataturk A biography of Mustafa Kemal, father of modern Turkey, William Morrow and Company, New York, (1978) Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, (1977) Mehmet Maksudoglu, Osmanli History 1289-1922, International Islamic University, Malaysia (1999) Phillip E. Moseley, Russian Diplomacy and the opening of the Eastern Question in 1838-1839, Harvard, (1934) Stanford J. Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Cambridge University Press (1991)

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Universal Coverage Essay Example for Free

Universal Coverage Essay Health insurance is a term that explains a form of coverage that meets ones medical expenses. This form of insurance pays for medical expenses and sometimes may encompass insurance on disability and long-term nursing needs. There are two ways that one may get access to services of health cover firms, one of them is that, insurance may be offered by the government subsidized program i. e. the Social Insurance Program or the second alternative is by private medical insurance firms. The package may be obtained collectively e. g. by a company to insure its employees etc or may be obtained individually by customers. However in either case, the covered persons pay premiums to get protection from high or unpredicted medical care expenses. The government may offer such benefits of paying healthcare costs via a Social welfare program. Universal Coverage is described as the affordable medical care insurance that extends its coverage to all eligible residents of the country. It’s sometimes called Universal Healthcare. The coverage of such programs are greatly varied in terms of funding mechanism and organizational structure especially the extent to which they are funded by the public. Normally, the general public always has to pay their medical care expenses through health insurance schemes that are a compulsory requirement. Some pay through taxation and at times both tax and medical insurance programs may be used to meet the healthcare bill. According to the Institute of Medicine, The United States of America has been confirmed to be the only developed regime that doesn’t offer the Universal Coverage. Otherwise, many other developed nations and the developing countries offer the Universal healthcare coverage system of health insurance and it’s the trend all over the world. Introduction Health insurance is coverage that takes care of medical bills. Governments have come up with policies that regulate this health insurance programs. The Medical care insurance policy is a contract that binds a health insurance company and the person in question. The contact may be renewable annually or upon the agreed period of time. The contract usually described the type and the amount of medical expenses to be covered in the agreed duration and is usually paid in advance as evidence of coverage in the booklet. The Universal Coverage as mentioned earlier describes a situation where everybody is covered for the basic medical care services as per the government policy as long as one is an eligible resident of the region in question. Universal medical care coverage has been mistakenly likened to ingle-prayer; a type of medical cares where the government pays all the healthcare expenses. Most governments in the world currently provide Medical care universally with Singapore having the most efficient and successful medical coverage in the world. Probably t due to this reason that it has the country records low infant mortality rates and long life expectancies. The U. S is the only country that does not offer Universal coverage. The U. S government has established policies that recommend reforms in the healthcare by the year 2010, based on the per capita expenses. The situation in the country is that per capita expenses on medical care services is almost twice as much as other developed countries, but still has high infant mortality rates and short life expectancies. Health Insurance in the U. S In 2005, a bill was presented to the House of Representatives of the U. S proposing the introduction of a Universal health care coverage that would combine both public and private coverage. The discussions in the U. S on universal coverage are usually confused with the concept of single prayer scheme which is sometimes called socialized medicine. This perception usually becomes a major hurdle for the enactment of the universal coverage (Lerberghe 2005) Many of the medical service providers in the U. S will concur to charge the insurance Companies if the clients are willing to assent his signature to an agreement that the amount not paid by the insurance company would be their responsibility. Medical care in the U. S is provided by different legal entities and it has been noted that the U. S is highest spender on health care services. (Porter Teisberg 2006) A greater percentage of the U. S population have some form of medical insurance cover individually or through employers while others are granted by the government. There are certain publicly financed medical care schemes that are meant to provide assistance to the elderly, disabled, children and the poor. Federal law authorizes the general public to access emergency medical services despite their ability to meet the expenses. The health care coverage in the U. S depends so much on the private sector and the non-profit insurers and is the main source of medical coverage for the Americans. Public programs provide coverage services to older people and low-income earners including families that meet certain requirements to be entitled to this cover (Lerberghe 2005). Some of the public programs are Social insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP. In 2006, it’s estimated that over 47 million people did not have any medical care cover for some part of the year (Anderson 2007). In 2004, the United States medical cover providers employed almost 471,000 workers directly. Since 2001, the health insurance costs in the States are rising at a very alarming rate that there is need to re evaluate the effectiveness of their system of healthcare payment. In the year 2007, most of the low-income earners and unemployed did not have medical cover. Those without medical insurance that year, summed up to about 15. 8% of the total population. The efficiency and the quality of the U. S medical care system raises questions on whether its worth the million of shillings that the government spends each year. A research by the world Health Organization in 2000, found out that the U. S was the highest spender on healthcare services yet it lagged far much behind in effectiveness of its performance (Haley Deevey 2001). Since universal coverage has proved to be more effective, there have been many proposals presented to the U. S administration to encourage transformation process of the current system to enable it to extend its coverage universally, rather than via a complete restructuring of the entire system. Considering that, most Americans covered by private insurance companies receive their benefits through employer sponsored schemes, it has been suggested that the employer ‘pay or play’ be used to expand coverage. However analysts have suggested that the proposed pay or play plans will be restricted in their capacity to include the working poor. Other observations made included the fact that this proposed plan basically excludes small companies, do not differentiate individuals who may be able to access other forms of healthcare insurance, from those who do not, and may cause the overall employer compensation expenses to rise. Universal Coverage As defined earlier, universal health coverage is the situation where by the government covers everyone’s basic medical care services as long as the people meet eligibility requirements of the region. Only America does not provide the universal coverage to its citizens of all the industrialized countries (Mayes 2005). This has seen America’s health care coverage system collapse! Almost a third of the Americans are not insured at some time of the year, this according to the research by Commonwealth Fund with the number of those supposedly covered dangerously under insured (Baker 2000). There arises situations when the insurance companies fail to meet the expenses of the medical services provided to their clients, in such cases, the affected persons may face a serious and tough decision making moment that they have to choose between healthcare services and other life necessities. As many as about half of the bankruptcies reported in the U. S are contributed to by medical debts and more than three-quarters of them are due to the medical debt the insurance had at the beginning of the sickness (Mayes 2005). The population that is covered collectively by employer is steadily loosing the benefits as more and more charges are being pushed towards the employees, while the young and unemployed minority are suffering for being under insured and usually pays disproportionate split of their income to the insurance coverage (Emanuel Fuchs 2005) Several issues have been raised to solve the problem of healthcare expenses and analysis made for the best possible alternative. In many occasions of discussions, universal coverage has been confused with â€Å"single payer† healthcare system. The Single-Payer healthcare system is the U. S’s term that describes the payment of all players in medical care service from single fund. The players here, being doctors, hospital and other related trades like pharmacies. The Canadian medical care system, the British, and the Australia’s Medicare are all single payer systems. The U. S’s Medicare and Medicaid are also described as single payer systems. The single payer system has only one financial source for paying all the medical service providers. Some people have argued that the single fancier of the single payer system is the government, but in Countries such as the U. S the matter is left for analysts and the patient never bears the individual accountability for all the expenses (Mayes 2005). The single payer system has been proposed to help transform the current and collapsing system of health insurance in the U. S. It is different from the Universal health care system where the government has total control of the healthcare systems including administration, employing doctors and other staff, despite the fact that logically all these are single payer systems! Meanwhile, when the term is used to imply these differences, the stakeholders in medical care industry remain independent and may confer with the government for funding. The single payer has been proposed to change the current system of the Americans, however critics oppose the fact that it would offer better quality of healthcare at a cheaper expense by saying that this would affect the quality of medical care and discourage innovations and therefore give free market approach and tax incentive as the better options (Emanuel Fuchs 2005) Some organization support universal coverage, these organizations that advocate for the implementation of the universal coverage do so due to its efficiency and advantages. The main supporters are; doctors, nurses and organizations such as Healthcare for everyone, Physicians for a National health Program and National health Insurance. The supporters argue that medical care is a basic human right and everyone is entitled to it, provision of medical care to the whole nation would profit the country economically, and that the profit motivation could negatively affect the quality of the healthcare services provided. Cutting costs is the main issue that raises concerns in the healthcare service provision. It would be much better to cut down costs rather than maintaining since the current economic crisis does not call for increased expenses. Currently, the U. S government has sacrificed its healthcare service industry to financial plan cuts. Communities especially those living in the poor neighborhood are needlessly vulnerable to diseases that otherwise could have been corrected or prevented. Cost cutting demands have lead to humiliating of occupations of medical care service providers like nurses and home-care workers. Processes such as screening, early diagnosis, and prevention measures that are efficient cost cutting methods have been short changed. Though cost cutting is very important, it should not sacrifice the quality of healthcare services to be provided. For the health care crisis in the American system and cost cutting pressures that are mounting on the budgetary allocations, have caused the quality of health care to be compromised in the name of cutting costs. Human rights activist argue that the sanctity of life should be respected and life protected no matter the cost.

Friday, September 20, 2019

An Overview of Security

An Overview of Security Security Introduction Security is the level of imperviousness to, or insurance from, damage. It applies to any powerless and profitable resource, for example, an individual, staying, group, country, or association. As noted by the Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM) in the OSSTMM 3, security gives a type of insurance where a division is made between the benefits and the danger. These partitions are nonexclusively called controls, and frequently incorporate changes to the advantage or the threat (Herzoq, 2014). Computer security is considered to be a security that is applied to computing devices such as smartphones, computers as well as computer networks such as private and public networks, including the whole Internet. The computing security covers all the procedures and mechanisms by which information, digital equipment and services are protected from unauthorized access, change or destruction, and are of growing importance in line with the rising reliance on computer systems of most societies worldwide (Musa, 2014). Interview An interview was conducted in order to broaden the views: What is the difference between http and https? Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a convention utilized as a part of systems administration. When you write any web address in your web program, your program goes about as a customer, and the computer having the asked for data goes about as a server. At the point when customer demands for any data from the server, it utilizes HTTP convention to do so. The server reacts again to the customer after the solicitation finishes. The reaction comes as site page which you see just in the wake of writing the web address and press Enter. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a mix of two separate conventions. It is more secure approach to get to the web. It is blend of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) and SSL/TLS convention. It is more secure approach to sending appeal to server from a customer, additionally the correspondence is absolutely scrambled which implies nobody can recognize what you are searching for. This sort of correspondence is utilized for getting to those sites where security is needed. What is the difference encoding, encryption and hashing? The purpose behind encoding is to change information with the goal that it can be legitimately (and securely) devoured by an alternate sort of framework, e.g. double information being sent over email, or review unique characters on a site page. The objective is not to keep data mystery, but instead to guarantee that it’s ready to be legitimately devoured. Encoding changes information into an alternate organization utilizing a plan that is openly accessible so it can without much of a stretch is turned around. It doesnt oblige a key as the main thing needed to translate it is the calculation that was utilized to encode it. The motivation behind encryption is to change information to keep it mystery from others, e.g. sending somebody a mystery letter that just they ought to have the capacity to peruse, or safely sending a watchword over the Internet. Instead of concentrating on ease of use, the objective is to guarantee the information cant be devoured by anybody other than the planned recipient(s). Encryption changes information into an alternate arrangement in such a path, to the point that just particular individual(s) can invert the change. It utilizes a key, which is kept mystery, in conjunction with the plaintext and the calculation, keeping in mind the end goal to perform the encryption operation. All things considered, the cipher text, calculation, and key are all needed to come back to the plaintext. Hashing fills the need of guaranteeing trustworthiness, i.e. making it so if something is transformed you can realize that its changed. Actually, hashing takes subjective include and produce an altered length string that has the accompanying qualities: The same information will dependably create the same yield. Different dissimilar inputs ought not deliver the same yield. It ought not to be conceivable to go from the yield to the info. Any adjustment of a given data ought to bring about extreme change to the hash. Hashing is utilized as a part of conjunction with confirmation to create solid proof that a given message has not been adjusted. This is proficient by taking given information, encoding it with a given key, hashing it, and after that scrambling the key with the beneficiarys open key and marking the hash with the senders private key. At the point when the beneficiary opens the message, they can then unscramble the key with their private key, which permits them to decode the message. They then hash the message themselves and contrast it with the hash that was marked by the sender. In the event that they match it is an unmodified message, sent by the right individual. Why hackers are a step ahead from security? Moderate size organizations are in a tight spot. As their capacity to gather client information expands, so excessively does the trouble of ensuring that information. Also during a period when computerized data consistently ventures by means of cell phones and in the cloud, a programmers right to gain entrance to that information multiplies. Usually the business runs speedier than efforts to establish safety. Income originates from the business, so there is normally a race [for security] to stay aware of the business. On the off chance that there is another ability to make speedier income by utilizing a cell phone or another portable computer or even another type of purpose of offer in the field, generally efforts to establish safety are not promptly contemplated. How do you deal after being attacked by a hacker? Hackers are winning the battle against todays enterprise security teams. In the year since Target suffered a record-breaking data breach, it has become clear that the lessons learned from that attack have not been widely applied. At the time of composing, 636 affirmed information ruptures have happened in 2014, a 27% expansion over the same period a year ago, with prominent victimized people, for example, Home Depot, ebay, Jpmorgan Chase, Dairy Queen, Goodwill and numerous others. The assault surface as it exists today is not at the border, yet inside the IT environment. Programmers utilized approve certifications to plant charge card taking malware on a number of Targets purpose of-offer (POS) frameworks. Truth be told, as indicated by the 2014 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, approved qualifications were utilized by programmers as a part of 76% of all system interruptions. When a clients certifications have been traded off, programmers can move along the side through a sy stem totally undetected without activating edge based discovery programming. Why the security keep the backup outside the city? A report from Pandalabs found that 30 million new malware dangers were made in 2013 – a normal of 82,000 consistently. There is no real way to stay aware of this quick rate of malware creation, which is continually developing. Firewalls and against infection marks are sufficient to stop normal dangers, however do nothing to stop an aggressor with legitimate certifications imitating a client. Rather, IT groups need to stay one stage in front of programmers by checking the qualification use for suspicious client action as a consequence of stolen certifications or noxious insider (Staying one step ahead of hackers, 2014). Which is the best op.system for security using? There is a list of operating systems that are being widely used; however the best operating system which is being used is one which has security focused. The one of operating systems is OpenBSD which is an open source BSD operating system and is one which is heavily concerned with security. On the other hand, another operating system is EnGarde Secure Linux which is also considered to be a secure platform designed for servers. References Staying one step ahead of hackers. (2014). Retrieved 12 16, 2014, from IBM: http://www.ibm.com/midmarket/us/en/article_security_1402.html Herzoq, P. (2014). Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual. Retrieved 12 16, 2014, from isecom: http://www.isecom.org/research/osstmm.html Musa, S. (2014). Cybersecurity: Understanding the Online Threat. Retrieved 12 16, 2014, from evollution: http://www.evolllution.com/opinions/cybersecurity-understanding-online-threat/

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The American Olympic Association Essay -- Sports, Training, Olympic Ga

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC), initially named the American Olympic Association, was formed in 1896. Members of the committee sought to provide assistance to United States Olympic athletes with training and other needs. As the USOC is not government funded the committee has relied heavily on corporate funding and private donations (â€Å"Team USA,† 2011). However, over the years while the continued appeal of the Olympic Games remained, the increased cost of housing, clothing, and caring for U.S. athletes along with other professional sports vying for corporate sponsorship, made obtaining funding difficult. Thus, the USOC was challenged with persuading corporate benefactors that investing in the Olympic Games was a lucrative and cost effective venture (O’Rourke, 2010). Therefore, the methods used by the USOC to persuade companies to invest as well as motivating factors underlying corporate sponsorship are explored. Case Analysis Persuasion Message The ability to communicate effectively is essential in business (O’Rourke, 2010). In order to provide information, convey a message, and explain an idea, communication tools must be applied daily (N, 2005). The most important communication tool is the persuasive (N, 2005). This is due to the fact that whatever is being conveyed at the workplace requires a degree of persuasion (N, 2005). Hence, persuasion is the ability to move an individual or group into action. Boyer and Stoddard (2011), describe persuasion as â€Å"the act of getting a sentient being other than yourself to adopt a particular belief or pursue a particular action (p. 1). Therefore, in order for persuasion to be effective a level of trust between the parties must exist (O’Rourke, 2010). Thus, the challen... ... their association with the Olympic movement and develop interventions including updated marketing and promotional strategies to correct the problem. Moreover, an exclusivity right for some corporate sponsors has caused corporations without this type of contract to feel second rate which creates the possibility for ambush marketing to surface (Palomba, 2010). Ambush marketing is a company’s attempt to associate itself directly or indirectly with an event, team, or celebrity without being granted proper permission or pay the necessary licensing fees. As a result, official sponsors may not receive the full benefit or commercial value of paying to be legitimate sponsors (Palomba, 2010). Therefore, the USOC needs to protect legitimate sponsors by enacting or enforcing protective legislation to curtail or eradicate ambush marketing tactics (Palomba, 2010).

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Objectivity in Journalism Essay -- Reporter News Reporting Events Essa

Objectivity in Journalism Public journalism has changed much during its existence. Papers are striving to actively involve readers in the news development. It goes beyond telling the news to embrace a broader mission of improving the quality of public life. The American style of journalism is based on objectivity and separates us from the bias found in most European partisan papers. American journalism is becoming too vigilant in being objective that the dedication to investigating stories tends to be missing in the writing. Public journalism works to incorporate concepts from partisan and objective writing to increase the flow of information and improve the quality of public life. The partisan press is presented as an opinion newspaper which generally argues one political point of view or pushes the plan of the party that subsidizes the paper.1 This style is dominantly used in Great Britain. Leonard Doyle, the foreign editor at The Independent in London, feels that this is the best style of delivering news. Partisan journalism strikes at the passion and immediacy of the subjects covered in the news. The reports are based on more narrow discoveries of facts and evidence. The partisan news is very competitive which in turn creates popularity for reading the papers. Doyle says that the British are among the best informed in the world.2 The 20th century American style of news deals with objectivity. This style distinguishes factual reports from opinion columns. Reporters strive to remain neutral towards the issues they cover, and allow readers to make their judgments.3 The Washington Post?s Michael Getler describes that news that is most beneficial should be delivered in a method that is bey... ...se information that is bias and opinionated. The most notable aspect in European partisan papers is that one can sense the desire and interest the writer has in the topic by their opinions and explanations. I feel that if Americans took the European approach, more people would be attracted to reading papers and interacting with the information they are given, and in turn there could be a better informed nation. Works Cited ?Brits vs. Yanks: Who Does Journalism Right 2004. Columbia Journalism Review. Issue 3: May/June. . Campbell, Richard. Media & Culture: an introduction to mass communication. Bedford/St. Martin?s: Boston, N.Y. 2005. Cunningham, Brent. ?Re-thinking Objectivity.? 2003. Columbia Journalism Review. Issue 4: July/August. . Objectivity in Journalism Essay -- Reporter News Reporting Events Essa Objectivity in Journalism Public journalism has changed much during its existence. Papers are striving to actively involve readers in the news development. It goes beyond telling the news to embrace a broader mission of improving the quality of public life. The American style of journalism is based on objectivity and separates us from the bias found in most European partisan papers. American journalism is becoming too vigilant in being objective that the dedication to investigating stories tends to be missing in the writing. Public journalism works to incorporate concepts from partisan and objective writing to increase the flow of information and improve the quality of public life. The partisan press is presented as an opinion newspaper which generally argues one political point of view or pushes the plan of the party that subsidizes the paper.1 This style is dominantly used in Great Britain. Leonard Doyle, the foreign editor at The Independent in London, feels that this is the best style of delivering news. Partisan journalism strikes at the passion and immediacy of the subjects covered in the news. The reports are based on more narrow discoveries of facts and evidence. The partisan news is very competitive which in turn creates popularity for reading the papers. Doyle says that the British are among the best informed in the world.2 The 20th century American style of news deals with objectivity. This style distinguishes factual reports from opinion columns. Reporters strive to remain neutral towards the issues they cover, and allow readers to make their judgments.3 The Washington Post?s Michael Getler describes that news that is most beneficial should be delivered in a method that is bey... ...se information that is bias and opinionated. The most notable aspect in European partisan papers is that one can sense the desire and interest the writer has in the topic by their opinions and explanations. I feel that if Americans took the European approach, more people would be attracted to reading papers and interacting with the information they are given, and in turn there could be a better informed nation. Works Cited ?Brits vs. Yanks: Who Does Journalism Right 2004. Columbia Journalism Review. Issue 3: May/June. . Campbell, Richard. Media & Culture: an introduction to mass communication. Bedford/St. Martin?s: Boston, N.Y. 2005. Cunningham, Brent. ?Re-thinking Objectivity.? 2003. Columbia Journalism Review. Issue 4: July/August. .

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Interest Groups and Government Policies Essay

Interest groups help communicate and legitimize government policies in several ways. As instability is sure to attract political activity[1], it also attracts interest groups to meddle in such political activity. When certain government policies conflict with the specific interests of these groups, they can call the attention of the government through public demonstrations or protests. They can also use mass media to inform the general public about their views on certain government policies, thereby communicating not only their position on the issues involved but also the government policies being addressed. On the other hand, when certain government policies support the interests of these groups, they can further enhance the legitimacy of such policies by conducting a public forum designed to increase the public’s awareness on such policies, thereby gathering more public support. Even without interest groups, communicating and legitimating government policies can still be achieved. For the most part, people can still organize themselves without holding a collective interest other than the inclination to either support or protest an existing government policy. Since a more developed country is most likely populated by more interest groups[2], governments faced with the task of issuing specific policies in order to foster economic growth are most likely to face opposition from certain interest groups who oppose such policies. One example is when a government decides to issue a policy of free trade in response to the need of increasing the country’s trading activities so as to stimulate the economy. Interest groups opposing the government policy of free trade can stage demonstrations in public locations. Doing so can increase their chances of being heard by the government and, in consequence, compelling the government to adjust its policies accordingly. At the same time, these interest groups will openly communicate to the public the reasons why they oppose the policy without forcing them to join their cause. At the least, public demonstrations serve the purpose of informing the public and the government that a sector of the society opposes certain government policies. Mass media plays a key role in communicating the views of interest groups towards government policies. Since individuals interact with issues emphasized in media coverage[3], there is reason to believe that interest groups can reach and influence public perception through mass media in general. Interest groups can publish their articles through paid newspaper column space on a specific date of issue that they feel will have a lasting and strong impression on readers. Interest groups opposing specific provisions in government policies on healthcare, for instance, can pay for a space in a major newspaper where they can state their reasons for opposing the provisions and the alternatives that can be done. The method will most likely reach a large part of the population due to the large circulation of a major newspaper, thereby informing a broad segment of the public. Television and radio shows also provide avenues for interest groups to communicate to the public their position on government policies. For example, an interest group opposing the existing government policy on carbon emissions can either make a request to television networks to provide them with a show where they can air their views or accept invitations for discussions or interviews on television. Whether or not these interest groups are able to convince the viewing public, it is likely that they are still able to communicate a portion of the substance of the government policy on carbon emissions. On the other hand, interest groups can also legitimize government policies, especially those that are aligned with their concerns. One way of achieving it is to conduct a public forum where people can participate or simply listen to discussions about the policies. For instance, interest groups can hold a public forum in the town hall and discuss immediate concerns regarding the current government policy on immigration. With the immigration policy favoring their side, these interest groups can disseminate the information about the benefits of the policy which can eventually translate to more public support. Since the key principle is that the people is the source of the government’s power, public discussions conducted by interest groups which are able to gather public support for government policies further legitimize such policies. The pressure of interest groups to their Congressional Representatives can also legitimize government policies. Letters to Congressional Representatives coming from interest groups can help inform these representatives that a portion of their constituents are in support of a government policy that the representative may or may not actually favor. Through such letters, interest groups can put a pressure on their dissenting representatives to favor the government policy regardless of political affiliations. Signature campaigns when taken together with letters to Congressional Representatives can add more weight to the support given to government policies, giving these representatives more reason to align their positions with the public perception. Nevertheless, government policies can be communicated or legitimized to a certain degree despite the absence of interest groups. Other ways to achieve the goal of communicating and legitimizing government policies include signature campaigns, public dialogue with government officials and infomercials sponsored by the government. Through the initiative of a few individuals, signature campaigns can be launched in support of or opposition to certain government policies. Signature campaigns of this nature do not necessarily require the leadership of interest groups since private individuals can also gather public signatures even without an affiliation to any specific interest group. The purpose is to simply gather signatures as many as possible without attempting to form a formal group out of the total number of participants. Public dialogue with government officials can also be a way to inform the public about government policies. The dialogue can be sponsored by the office of the concerned government official or the local members of the community. Through dialogue, government officials are able to discuss in detail the purpose and nature of certain government policies. People are also given the chance to ask relevant questions to the government official whose response can further inform the public. Airing infomercials over the television or radio is also a way for the government to communicate its policies to the public and to further show the legitimacy of such policies. Since an infomercial is basically a â€Å"one-way† type of communication, it can simply inform the public about government policies at best. Government policies communicated to the public through radio or television infomercials are already assumed to be legitimate; the government is presumed to disseminate information about government policies that are lawful and approved by the concerned government agency. Despite the possibility of communicating and legitimating government policies in the absence of interest groups, it is better if interest groups are still able to challenge or reaffirm government policies especially when taken in the context of a democratic society. The presence of interest groups can indicate the health of the political activity in any country. In their absence, the legislature and the government in general may possibly overlook vital social and political concerns or abuse their power to create and enforce policies. Bibliography Bischoff, Ivo. â€Å"Determinants of the Increase in the Number of Interest Groups in Western Democracies: Theoretical Considerations and Evidence from 21 OECD Countries.† Public Choice 114, no. 1/2 (2003): 197-218. Domke, David, Dhavan V. Shah, and Daniel B. Wackman. â€Å"Rights and Morals, Issues, and Candidate Integrity: Insights into the Role of the News Media.† Political Psychology 21, no. 4 (2000): 641-65. Levmore, Saul. â€Å"Voting Paradoxes and Interest Groups.† The Journal of Legal Studies 28, no. 2 (1999): 259-81.