Plato and Moral Authority

Kathryn Kelsven Dr. David Sgarlatta Humanities 253 December 21, 2012 Comparing Two Readings After reading Plato’s Apology and Leviticus 17-27, I found several differences in the way people are judged for the crimes they have committed as well as, by what are actually considered crimes or sins. I want to explore these differences by asking two questions to each reading: What kind of behavior constitutes as a sin or a crime? What is the source of moral authority behind laws and legal judgments? In Plato’s Apology, what constitutes as a sin or a crime?Socrates was accused of being a â€Å"doer of evil, and a corrupter of the youth, and he does not believe in the gods of the state, and has other divinities of his own† (Apology 1). These are all things that Meletus has brought Socrates to court for. These are all these that are considered to be a crime to Meletus and the Athenians throughout Apology, as Socrates proves this by continuously taking each item he is accus ed of and asking Meletus and the Athenians if they believe it to be true. In Leviticus 17-27, what constitutes as a sin or a crime?Throughout the reading there are several different times where the LORD speaks to Moses and tells him to let the people know that if they do not follow his command then they are disobeying him. In Leviticus chapter 22:1-2, it states. † The LORD said to Moses, â€Å"Tell Aaron and his sons to respect the sacred offerings which the Israelites consecrate to me; else they will profane my holy name. I am the LORD. †(Leviticus 22). Here, disrespecting a sacred offering is considered a sin. There are also many other examples of what is considered a sin.In chapter 19:4, â€Å"†Do not turn aside to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves. I, the LORD, am your God. †(Leviticus 19). In this case, you should not worship idols or make idols because that would be going against the LORD who is your God. Also in Chapter 17:3-4 it says, †Å"Any Israelite who slaughters an ox or a sheep or a goat, whether in the camp or outside of it, without first bringing it to the entrance of the meeting tent to present it as an offering to the LORD in front of his Dwelling, shall be judged guilty of bloodshed; and for this, such a man shall be cut off from among his people. (Leviticus 17). In this section, anyone who does not first present his killing as an offering is automatically considered guilty for bloodshed and is cut off from the people. All of these examples show what are considered sins in Leviticus, and there are many more. In Plato’s Apology, what is the source of moral authority behind laws and legal judgments? Socrates is brought before judges. After asking Meletus what he means by calling him an Atheist, Meletus says, â€Å"I assure you, judges, that he does not believe in them; for he says that the sun is stone, and the moon earth. (Apology 3). Meletus is trying to prove to the judges, being the ones that w ill make the ultimate decision of what happens, that Socrates does not believe in any gods. In the very beginning of all of this, after Socrates makes his opening statement, he says, â€Å"Tell the judges, then, who is their improver; for you must know, as you have taken the pains to discover their corrupter, and are citing and accusing me before them† (Apology 1). Again the judges are to be told something in order to prove a point.This all shows that in Plato’s Apology the judges are the moral authority behind laws and legal judgments. In Leviticus 17-27, what is the source of moral authority behind laws and legal judgments? In each chapter we see that the very first statement is always â€Å"The LORD said to Moses† (Leviticus 17-27). This statement is not only at the beginning of every chapter but it is also throughout the chapters. Each time this statement is made it is followed by a law that the LORD is giving to the people. There will also follow some sort of punishment if that law is not followed. The LORD said to Moses,†Tell the Israelites: Anyone, whether an Israelite or an alien residing in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech shall be put to death† (Leviticus 20). This is a perfect example. The LORD tells Moses what the law is and then follows up with how the people will be punished if not to follow the law; in this case they will be put to death. The LORD is clearly the one and only one to be of any kind of authority when it comes to laws and legal judgments. Both of these readings have very different ideas as to what a sin or a crime is, as well as who is the authority on the laws that have been made.Leviticus is based on there being one authoritarian who decides the laws and decides your punishments if you disobey those laws. In Leviticus you have no way to argue against you convictions. What the LORD says, goes. Also, in Leviticus there are several different criteria for what is considered a sin as com pared to Apology, where there are just a few things brought up that are considered to be a sin or a crime. Apology is based off convincing the people or the judges of what is right or wrong and letting them decide your fate. You have a chance to fight for yourself and prove yourself to be innocent.

Is space exploration worth the cost?

Editor’s Note: On January 11, the New York Times blog â€Å"Freakonomics† published a lengthy post titled â€Å"Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost? A Freakonomics Quorum†. The post featured comments provided by a number of people, including David Livingston, in response to the question. The part attributed to Dr. Livingston was just a highly-edited version of what he originally submitted to the Times. What follows is the full article that Dr. Livingston submitted on December 31 in response to their invitation to answer the question, â€Å"Is manned space exploration worth the cost?Why or why not? † As the host of a nearly seven-year-old radio talk show, The Space Show, designed and devoted to furthering space development and manned space exploration, I hear this question often. It is challenging to answer because I find often that I am left wanting for a better response, even from some of the guests and listeners to The Space Show. In general, I do think that collectively we, in the space community, do a lousy job of letting people across America know why manned space exploration is important and worth the cost.I would like to see NASA and those members of Congress most supportive of the manned space program convincingly let the public know that the value is there, where the value comes from, and why it is there. But then, I have a long wish list for what I would like to see our government do, say, and explain regarding this and other issues. In my opinion, the manned space exploration program is absolutely worth the cost. But first, consider the following because understanding the following points is crucial to understanding what manned space exploration affords us in so many areas:1. The money spent on manned space exploration is spent right here on Earth and most of it is spent in the US. We do not yet have a Bank of the Milky Way, the First International Bank of Mars, or a Lunar Mutual Savings and Loan. The money that is spent g oes to manufacturing, research and development, salaries, benefits, insurance companies, doctors, teachers, scientists, students, blue- and white-collar workers, and corporations and businesses both large and small. The money disperses throughout the economy in the same ay as money spent on medical research, building houses, or any other activity we engage in with government or even private spending. |In general, I do think that collectively we, in the space | |community, do a lousy job of letting people across America know| |why manned space exploration is important and worth the cost. | 2. Whenever we look at government spending (or any spending for that matter), it is important that we understand what is being purchased and whether there is a value for that investment.We should also ask if the value benefits a narrow group of people or a special interest, or does it have the potential to benefit large groups, even humanity. Clearly, several types of public expenditures can be con sidered investments and they can benefit large groups of people and humanity. So I also look for qualitative factors, such as the ability to inspire others to do hard work, to go the next step, to push the envelope for the next level of advancements for all our benefit.I also look to see if the public expenditure can change lives for the better and, if so, over what period of time. There are several types of public expenditures that can do some of this, but manned space exploration is able to do it all. 3. The space age is 50 years old if we calculate using the launch of Sputnik as the beginning point. Manned flight began with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961, thus manned spaceflight is almost 47 years old.A good portion of our space technology, development, and know-how was developed here on Earth when the two space powers of the time, the USSR and the US, were making treaties to work together in space, prohibit weapons in space, to rescue each other’s astrona uts/cosmonauts if necessary, and to treat celestial bodies in a way that prevented territorial ownership while allowing room for resource development for all mankind. Mankind worked together to prevent conflict in space and these efforts now have a proven and unparallel track record.Today, we have an International Space Station (ISS) with multiple countries working together for its completion, support, science, and management. The ISS Station Agreement is a model agreement that works and the two former Cold War enemies are working together to be the best we humans can be. This has always been the case with manned space exploration, as well as with all of space exploration. Did we have competition? Yes. Do we have conflict and tension? No . No other discipline, activity, venture, or multinational effort has a track record equal to manned space development.While there may be challenges ahead for our space behavior, so far we are doing fine in space, certainly much better with each oth er than we are doing back here on Earth. This is all fine, but how does this translate to manned space exploration being worth the cost to millions of taxpayers when there are other competing and important priorities for a finite amount of taxpayer money? Of course, we say that the entire NASA budget is less than 1% of the entire US budget, but I have found that saying that does not resonate with most people.Still, according to the GPO budget information, the US 2007 budget was about $2. 784 trillion and NASA got a little more than $16 billion. This means all of NASA’s spending is marginally more than half of 1% of the total US budget. In contrast, social programs receive about 98 times the amount of money spent on NASA. Another way of looking at this would be to understand that a 1% reduction in government social expenditures could just about double the NASA budget for any given year. When I started this piece, I said I hear this question a lot.So a few years ago, I decided to see what really happened to a public dollar spent on a good space program in comparison to spending that dollar on an entitlement program as well as a revenue-generating infrastructure program. I used the school breakfast program for the entitlement program. I chose Hoover Dam for the revenue generating infrastructure program. The space program I chose was the manned program to the Moon consisting of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Let me briefly summarize what I discovered.All of these programs or other similar programs, if properly managed, can produce benefits in excess to the original invested dollar. There is no guarantee that a program will be properly managed and this includes a space program. Properly managed implies many things, but I don’t think space is any more or less likely to be well managed than anything else the government does. Not all of our space programs made the short list, as I looked at several public space programs for this study before d eciding that our Moon program was the best. A mismanaged space program wastes money, talent, and time just like other programs the government does. I decided to see what really happened to a public dollar spent | |on a good space program in comparison to spending that dollar | |on an entitlement program as well as a revenue-generating | |infrastructure program. | What happened to the dollar invested in each of the respective programs? The school breakfast program was successful, increasing the number of kids getting breakfast. However, when funding for this program or this type of program stops, as soon as the last of the funds goes through the pipeline, the program is over. It has no life past government funding.There was no residual benefit lasting years after the demise of the program. I was unable to find an inspirational or motivational quality for the program leading to downstream business, economics, science, or other advancement and development. One could make the case that kids who benefited from the program went on through school to accomplish great things and I don’t doubt that. I simply could not document it in my research. Hoover Dam was very interesting. This project paid off its bond cost early, was a major contributor to our winning World War 2, and has been a huge economic factor for development in the western part of the country.It’s a major wealth builder for the United States. However, Hoover Dam requires overhead and maintenance investment on a continual basis. It needs repairs, updates, modernization, security, and it employs a labor force. Were we to stop investing in Hoover Dam, over time it would lose its effectiveness and cease to be the value to our nation that it is at this time and has been during its history. Its value to us depends on our willingness to maintain, protect, and update it as necessary.Hoover Dam and Lake Mead have given birth to thousands of private businesses, economic growth for the region, and much more. However, as with the entitlement program above, I could not find an inspirational or motivational aspect to Hoover Dam. I’ve not heard anyone say they wanted to be an engineer because of Hoover Dam. I’m sure this factor exists to one degree or another, but I could not document it either. What I discovered about our manned lunar program was different. When I did this study, it was 34 years after the last dime had been spent on Apollo, the last of the manned Moon programs.Thirty-four years later, when I would ask guests on The Space Show, students, and people I met who were involved in science, engineering, and space-related fields and businesses about what inspired or motivated them to start a space business or pursue their education, over 80% said they were inspired and motivated because of our having gone to the Moon. Businesses were started and are now meeting payrolls, paying taxes, and sustaining economic growth because the founder was inspired by the early d ays of the manned space program, often decades after the program ended!This type of inspiration and motivation seems unique to the manned space program and of late, to some of our robotic space missions. Interestingly, I found the same to be true when I asked the same question to Space Show guests from outside the United States. Thirty-four years after all funding had stopped for the Apollo program, investment and wealth building, both for our nation and others, was still going on as a result of our manned space exploration years earlier. This was a standout feature when comparing manned space exploration to other two types of government spending.As for the return we received on the dollars spent going to the Moon, the results are often controversial and inflated depending on the source. Some specific narrow segments such as medical and other technical fields have returns several hundred times the dollars invested. In fact, one bit of research I found said that the Office of Managem ent and Budget (OMB) had to refute some of very high returns because at the time they could not do the computer work to determine an effective multiplier with so many variables leading to such high outcomes.Overall, the return was probably more modest, perhaps four to seven dollars returned to the taxpayers for each dollar invested. This return outperformed the other investments as well, though in many ways my project was like trying to compare apples and oranges. However, I can accurately report that manned space exploration has the potential to return to the taxpayer many times the dollars initially spent on the program. Since we spend this money right here, employing our own people to do cutting-edge as well as traditional workforce projects, our people and our nation benefits from the manned space program.This means we build wealth for our nation and our people. Equally important, we inspire millions of school children to do the hard schoolwork in math, business, science, engine ering, and finance so they can work in space and related scientific and technical fields. This is important to us all as these disciplines are needed to lead us to new and better ways of living right here on Earth, now and in our future. Finally, we must not forget the spinoff technologies from our entire space program, but especially from manned exploration, and the fact that the manned space rogram continues to generate wealth and investment long after the program has ceased and its federal funding has been terminated. |It’s not just about what we learn out there in space, or about | |ourselves, or how to be a better steward of precious Earth. | |It’s about how we live here on Earth together and what type of | |future we want for ourselves and children. | We have our work cut out for us as we move forward in this new century. We don’t seem to get along well with each other here on Earth, but we do quite well in space.Space is our model for all nations. Notice how many more nations are talking about and wanting to get into the manned space act. India, Russia, China, Japan, and the European Space Agency, for starters, all want a manned mission to the Moon and it won’t stop there. These countries and agencies know that manned space exploration builds wealth for their nation, solves problems and enhances life for their people right here on Earth, and shows us the way for how we can all live together in peace.Manned space exploration is absolutely worth the investment. It’s not just about what we learn out there in space, or about ourselves, or how to be a better steward of precious Earth. It’s about how we live here on Earth together and what type of future we want for ourselves and children. Manned space exploration is the path to how we build a better life for ourselves here on Earth, and how we can give hope and provide inspiration for our youngsters to grow up, do the schoolwork, and accept the challenges that await them to make our world even better.Whatever we spend on manned space exploration is a bargain and our investment will be returned to us many times over, both quantitatively and qualitatively. From my perspective, we are getting this value at a bargain, as if we were all going to the dollar store for an end of the year sale. [pic] Dr. David Livingston ([email  protected] com) is host and founder of The Space Show, the only radio talk show dedicated to expanding space commerce, understanding the importance of becoming a spacefaring culture, and how best to achieve that status.The Space Show’s interviews with national and international space business, development, and science leaders are streamed online and podcasted. All programs are available for free download through The Space Show website. Dr. Livingston holds a Masters and Doctorate in Business Administration and has nearly 40 years of experience managing and starting various types of businesses. David is also a business, financial, and marketing consultant and holds a position as an adjunct professor in the Space Studies Department at the University of North Dakota.

Can the British Be Proud of Their Empire?

Can the British be proud of their Empire? Britain had the largest empire in the world, by 1900. They were ruling an estimated 25% of the globe, but just because Britain had the most power, it doesn’t mean that they used it for the best. For example, Rani Lakshmi, was an Indian Princess and when her husband died the British took his land, and the natives had no say in the matter. The British also tried to change their customs even though they didn’t want them changed. The Indians tried to fight against the British and drive them out of India, but they failed. They also punished survivors and fired cannon balls through them at a close range! On the other hand, Mrs Mary Calvert, was a Christian Missionary and sailed to Fuji with her husband and tried to change the native’s ways, as they would chop someone’s fingers off if they stole something, or if a woman’s husband died the woman would have been strangled. So Mrs Mary Calvert changed the natives, so as Christians they would stop their terrible ways. But there were many people and tribes that the British helped but many were taken for advantage. Like Chief Lobengula. He was an African Chief and was asked by the British if they could use some of his land for gold mining, in exchange for tools and guns. But the British took it too far and stole more land, and used it to build mines and farms. The Chief tried to fight against the British, but they were killed, and they took all of their land. Lord Dalhouse, was a British politician, tried to develop the Indians way of life by building roads, railways, schools, and postal systems. He also tried to stop bad Indian customs, for example when a woman’s husband died she would be burnt. But he also made Indians follow the British way of life. Cecil Rhodes, was a businessman and went to live in South Africa and mined for gold, diamonds and other minerals. But crushed any African Tribes that got in the way. Chief Crowfoot, a Chief of a tribe in Canada refused to fight against the British, the Queen said thanks and built them a railway. But since the railway came there were more English people coming and very few of his people were left. Mary Prince was born in the West Indies, she became a poor black slave and was sold several times. Some masters whipped her and others abused her. One master took her to England in 1828 but she ran away. But when she left and tried to get a job, she was always given the worst, just like all blacks. I think that the British should be proud of their empire in a way, but I think the should be ashamed of what they have done too, because they haven’t always treated everyone in another country with respect or their customs and assumed that others should follow the British way of living. But because of that many tribes and cultures were destroyed.

Police Excessive Use of Force Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Police Excessive Use of Force - Essay Example   Police brutality can be defined as â€Å"the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks, and threats by police officers and other law enforcement officers† (Police brutality. 2007). Police using force includes pushing, grabbing, kicking, or hitting a citizen. Hitting may be striking with the hand or with an object held in police officers hand. Police dogs biting a person, spraying with pepper spray or chemical, and pointing a firearm to a citizen also will come under police using force. The threat to use any of these forces will also be counted as using force. Whether the force used by the officer is â€Å"excessive† or not is defined according to the account of the victims. For female victims, any of the above-mentioned forces, even they are in small range, will be termed as â€Å"excessive’. On the other hand, male victims will have another scale for measuring the amount of force used by the police. This difference will occur in the case of r ace also. Cops enforcing law can be seen throughout the history. In the earlier times police forces have created an atmosphere of fear among the members of the society, and for subjugation and control, rough treatment was a regular occurrence. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament cite many examples of Egyptian, Roman and Israeli guards, who were an equivalent of policemen, inflicting violence mercilessly on the community. Things were not different in the nineteenth century America when Police forces were introduced for the first time there.   Marilynn S. Johnson, in her book, Street Justice: A History of Police Violence in New York City, speaks about â€Å"the routine bludgeoning of citizens by patrolmen armed with nightsticks or blackjacks† (Johnson 2004). With the increase of police forces and population, cases of police enforcement have increased tremendously by the end of the twentieth century. A survey conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in US in 2001 , Contacts between police and Public, came out with the finding that â€Å"during 1999 approximately 422,000 persons age 16 or older were estimated to have had a contact in which police used or threatened to use force against them.† (Contact between police and public. 2001). Even though this much police brutality is taking place in the country, most of the cases do not sustain. A report issued by another

11 Movie Reviews Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

11 Reviews - Movie Review Example This movie is just as good as the first two, and I would say that it is one of the funniest movies that I have ever watched. What makes the script so good is the interplay between Chief Inspector Lee, played by Jackie Chan, and Detective James Carter, played by Chris Rock. Some of the lines that these two actors used had me laughing nonstop. The movie begins with the introduction of the Triads, a Chinese criminal organization, and Lee and Carter pursuing an assassin at the World Criminal Court. The next scene is perhaps the best scene of the whole movie. The clues lead Carter and Lee to a martial arts studio, where a giant martial arts expert confronts them. The conversation goes back and forward between Carter and the martial arts expert, with the words â€Å"you† and â€Å"me† used in a confusing manner. After this, the clues lead the two of them to Paris, France. The first place they go to is a triad hideout, where Lee manages to kill a Triad assassin called Jasmine, and Carter meets a beautiful lady, Genevieve. After Carter and Lee are told that Shy Shen, the leader of the Triads, is not a person but a number of leaders, they discover that Genevieve has the list of Triad leaders tattooed onto her forehead. The action then switches to the Eiffel Tower, where Lee and Carter go to get back Soo-Yung, an old friend of Lee. Lee manages to defeat Kenji while Carter saves Soo-Yung. The movie ends with Jackie Chan and Chris Rock walking off into the distance while dancing to the hit song â€Å"War.† Some of the scenes in this movie are similar to the prequels, but the movie still provides plenty of entertainment. Movie Review #2 – Avatar This movie was perhaps the coolest movie that I have ever watched. In fact, Avatar has now become the highest grossing film of all time. This is largely due to the fact that the movie was made in 3-D. The director of this movie was James Cameron, who is an Oscar award winning director for his work on the film Titanic, which was the previous highest grossing movie of all time. The movie starts off showing humans invading a foreign world, Pandora. The lead character, Jake Sully, played by Australian actor Sam Worthington, has been chosen to replace his brother on the mission to Pandora. Where it gets complicated is that Sully is a paraplegic, but this all changes when he gets to use his very own avatar, which is a creature similar to the local population but used by humans. On a mission into the woods, Sully gets separated from the rest of his crew. While he is lost, a local Na’vi, Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana, finds him and brings him back to her people. Back at the human base, the head of the security force is convinced to let Sully build a cover with the local population in order to gain their trust. The humans have the goal of getting hold of a mineral that is more valuable than anything else. To achieve this, the local Na’vi population must move so that the humans can go in and use the resources. This does not happen because Sully chooses to stick with the Na’vi and fight the humans for control of the land. The last scene is a huge battle between the humans and the Na’vi, which the Na’vi triumph in of course. At the end, Sully is accepted into the local culture and becomes one of them. In my opinion, Avatar is the greatest movie spectacle of all time. Movie Review #3 – Shrek The movie Shrek is one that became very successful all around the world in large part due to the quality of actors in the movie. Mike Myers (Shrek), Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona), and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) all brought star power to a movie that was

Which documents and people had the most influence on US government Essay

Which documents and people had the most influence on US government - Essay Example The declaration in this charter may have informed the founders of the government about the liberties of individuals and ensured that the form of government created was not absolute or autocratic in its power, hence the checks and balances to the presidency. The Articles of Confederation were the agreements that directed the creation of a unification of the thirteen British colonies, these articles helped in the formation of a body that not only directed the revolutionary war against Britain, but also deal with the joint diplomatic affairs of these colonies. They formed the basis upon which closer union between the colonies was made which resulted in the writing of the Constitution, formally creating the United States of America. John Locke was one of the people whose viewpoint came to influence the government of the United States greatly. This was because of his belief in the equality of all men as well as the right of the public to have a say in the management of their government. In addition, he believed in the existence of God, but despite this, he felt that man had the right to determine his own destiny (Goldie, 2004). In conclusion, it can be said that the government of the United States had a lot of influence in its creation, especially from historical documents such as the Magna Carta. Furthermore, individuals who believed in democratic ideals, such as John Locke also left their imprint in the Constitution; such influence was immensely useful in placing the United States where it is in the present

Participation 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Participation 4 - Essay Example Probability sampling uses random sampling method, where the researcher selects parties to the study randomly. This ensures that the study eliminates bias and makes it easier for the researcher to estimate the sampling error. In his article painter describes the use of probability sampling in research. The example he focuses on is on selection of households from a certain cross section area. The study may focus on selecting all households, which will include even newer households. Alternatively, in selecting a sample the researcher can exclude the newer households and consider those that have resided in the area for a while. The study, therefore, will use a cluster sample, which will focus on areas with old residents. The focus was on European waters and their efforts to improve the status of these waters. In this study, they use judgmental sampling method. In their research, they have selected certain water bodies that they intend to examine and come up with ways of improving their status. The rationale for using judgemental sampling method is that the water bodies are certain and; therefore, the researcher has to focus on a certain area of

Compare and Contrast Wilde and Hardy's Presentation of the Fallen Coursework

Compare and Contrast Wilde and Hardy's Presentation of the Fallen Woman - Coursework Example He depicts the type of woman Tess portrays by putting it her description in the story. In a very good manner, he uses narration to highlight facts about women. Hardy provokes more sympathy through his portrayal of Tess than Wilde because of the systematic way he shows her suffering. First, Tess is in a relationship that she expects to work out, but has a secret that when revealed can destroy the relationship. Hardy explains the way Alec got hold of Tess while in the woods and molested her without caring about the consequences2. Hardy could have chosen to minimize the suffering for this woman, but instead adds on more. Angel, Tess partner, leaves for Brazil on realizing that she was raped leaving her without somebody to nurse her wounded heart. Tess wishes that Alec was a lusty young farmer instead of being that entire Angel hated. Probably, the idea of being just a farmer would have lessened Angel’s heart into forgiving her. Peak of emotional sympathy happens when she had to g et executed for murdering Alec. In my opinion, she deserved to get pardoned because her actions towards Alec were based on the pain she felt and the pain he had caused her. Hardy brings more sympathy in the way he portrays Tess as the neglected woman. She is left to give birth in her village despite that her child is of a very wealthy man. Despite having just delivered, she has to ensure her survival by working as a field hand which leads to the death of her child. Hardy ensures that Tess’ misfortunes are elaborated in a narrated way. On the other hand, Wilde uses a number of characters to portray a fallen woman. The main character could be Mrs. Arbuthnot since she holds a dark secret of how she failed to stop her affair with the lord master. Her affair led to the emergence of a son out of wedlock. Wilde’s character does not provoke a lot of sympathy since; she has acquired a respectable name and lives a good life. Mrs. Allonby has had a lot of controversies in her lif e resulting to a flirtatious lady. Miss Hester can be used to portray a fallen woman since she is an orphan and has had to witness the shortcomings of life, despite being an heiress3. In addition, Jane can be identified as an indication of a fallen woman in the piece because the way she argues her points. Her arguments depict a woman of great ignorance and lack of education. Tess is used to show the different suffering women undergo and the how painful events can concurrently occur in a person’s life4. Hardy uses her to show the different ways in which women are treated in the society. During a conversation with Alec, Tess tries to bring out her own thinking about theology by rejecting sign writers words of condemnation. Her argument is purely ignored Hardy simply because he thought her agnosticism could be attributed to just a replication of angels. The fact that Tess’ ideas are not made up to something shows how the author used Tess to depict women in certain societi es. In contrast, Mrs. Arbuthnot is a woman who lost her husband but has gained a lot of respect from the people of her village. Her respect s earned from helping the poor and her neglect to associate with various people in social gatherings. Tess is identified as woman with sixth grade training in understanding and reproducing arguments. She seems intelligent and could have prospered as teacher if she was given a chance. This proves

UK supermarket sector is an oligopoly. Critically evaluate this Essay

UK supermarket sector is an oligopoly. Critically evaluate this statement - Essay Example Their trade was valued approximately at ?76.78 billion in the year 2000 and had increased by 4.5% over the years (Tyler, 2011). In this study, the discussion will critically evaluate the citation that UK supermarket sector is an oligopoly. For this purpose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Morrisons and Safeway will be included in the study since they are the top five supermarket chains. The Oligopoly Market According to Investopedia, â€Å"An oligopoly is much like a monopoly, in which only one company exerts control over most of a market. In an oligopoly, there are at least two firms controlling the market† (Investopedia, 2011). In the UK supermarket there are mainly three big companies that operate and control the market. These are Tesco, Sainsbury’s and ASDA. Its presence is also felt in the European market as most of the supplies of the supermarket are through these companies. The oligopoly market structure is such that there are few sellers, who control the market . Unlike the monopolistic competition, perfect competition and monopoly market, the oligopoly requires to think strategically. In oligopoly, the sellers are huge enough to have an influential affect upon the market. A seller needs to respond to its competitors’ choices, but the competitors are countering to the sellers’ choices. For instance, when Tesco responds towards the choice of Sainsbury’s, at the same time Sainsbury’s reacts to the choices of Tesco in the UK market (Ohio State University, 2000). In the oligopoly markets, there are tensions in relation to cooperation as well as self-interest in the companies such as Tesco, ASDA & Sainsbury’s in the UK. If all these companies limit their productivity, it will affect the prices that will tend to be high, but then there are possibilities of the companies to have an incentive to expand their output (Ohio State University, 2000). Strategic Decision in the Oligopoly Market The strategic decision is crucial in the case of firms that are interdependent. In the UK market’s supermarket sector Tesco, Sainsbury’s and ASDA are interdependent as they control the market in this segment. They cannot act independently; consequently they have to take into consideration the likely responses of the competitor in order to make any kind of alteration in the pricing and non-pricing activities. They develop the strategies based upon the probable reaction of the rivals (Economics Online, 2011). In the UK supermarket, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and ASDA need to decide strategically in certain aspects of the market that are listed below: Competition Strategic Decision The firms need to strategically decide whether to compete with the competitors or join together. It is tough to decide as a prediction made by the firms against the decision made by the rivals might turn out to be wrong (Economics Online, 2011). Pricing Decision The firms need to strategically decide whether to increase or decrease the price or to keep it at constant. It is difficult for the firms to decide. They generally undertake the

Homoeostasis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Homoeostasis - Case Study Example Any fluctuation in the blood glucose concentration is detected by the pancreas, which in turn responds by secreting insulin. The secreted insulin increases the conversion of glucose to glycogen. As a result, Mary’s blood glucose concentration reduces (IHW 2006). Trekking causes excess loss of water from the body in the form of sweat. As a result, the osmolality of the blood plasma rises. The increasing osmolality (stimulus) of the plasma is detected by the hypothalamus (receptor/coordinating center), triggering the secretion of ADH. ADH (effector) causes the opening of aquaporin channels in the collecting ducts of the kidney. In the process, more water is reabsorbed from the urine into the bloodstream. The reabsorption of more water (response) reduces the osmolality of the plasma. However, if alcohol is ingested, it inhibits the secretion of ADH, making the aquaporin channels to close. As a result, the body loses more water in the form of dilute urine (MMHE n.d., p. 1192). Since Jason had put on a short sleeve shirt, the peripheral nerve receptors in his skin detected the surrounding temperature and relayed an appropriate message to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus in turn stimulated his skeletal muscles, causing him to shiver. Although the shivering generated heat by friction, it was not sufficient to normalize Jason’s body temperature. However, when Jason decided to run, the activity in his muscles intensified and generated sufficient heat to keep him warm. As a result, the shivering stopped because his body had gained the necessary heat (Docherty & Foudy 2006, p. 20). Dampney, RAL, et al. (2006). Central mechanisms underlying short-term and long-term regulation of the cardiovascular system. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11985533 [Accessed 11 December

Global Financial Crisis in 2008 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global Financial Crisis in 2008 - Essay Example Precisely, some of the great organizations that succumbed to this crisis include Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac as well as Meryl Lynch. All these were recognized as brand organizations and as such, they had been nationalized effectively. In addition to this, these organizations had risk management systems entailing technical excellence. Irrespective of this, they still succumbed to the effect of the Global Financial Crisis. The question is: if they indeed had implemented a superior risk management strategy, then why did they go under? Therefore, this article aims at establishing what could be the corporate weakness that contributed to their failure.2 Despite the fact that these institutions had established the right risk management strategies, there must have been flaws within those systems. To establish and better understand these flaws, it is essential that one understand some various concepts: Interconnectivity between operational risk, credit risk and systemic risk Risk management strategies are usually established and implemented in an effort toward readying an organization for any eventual risk that may occur. There are three categories of risks that an organization faces depending on the nature of its operations. These are: Operational risks: These are usually described as breakdowns that occur internally within the control systems as well as the corporate governance and as such, it results in financial losses attributable to errors, fraud or even inability to perform timely. In addition to this, these risks cause the interest rates set by the financial institutions to become compromised in some way.3 Systematic risks: These are risks that occur within a certain market segment or within the entire market. According to financial analysts, the aftermath of systemic risks is that the value of the portfolio of an organization declines. Such risks arise due to political or even economical problems like the global financial crisis in 2008. Other factors that facilitate the occurrence of systemic risks include changes of interest rates, wars as well as calamities. Credit Risks: These are risks that arise out of uncertainty in credit worthiness of a borrower, that is, uncertainty on the ability of the borrower to meet his obligations. They usually take a variety of forms since the borrowers could be a range of parties including the sovereign governments. According to most financial analysts, all these risks are interrelated or interconnected and as such, they are the major risks that warrant an organization to establish risk management strategies. According to most financial analysts, both the systemic as well as the credit risks are commonly underpinned by the need for individuals within an organization to follow some stipulated work procedures as well as the need to engage in particular work related activities, which can be said to be strong human elements. This underpinning is what can be referred to as oper ational risks, and this is where the interconnectivity is underlain.4 These three types of risks can therefore be said to have caused the extinction of the aforementioned organizations that were major players within the economy. The most obvious reason for this is due to failed transactions. Whenever financial credit occurs, the approval of credit worthiness of any organization by the financial institutions is usually delayed. This is because during such times, credit approval must be

Philosophy of Healthcare Essay Example for Free

Philosophy of Healthcare Essay This paper analyzes seven view points on the topic of Philosophy of Healthcare. The seven view points are blended into this paper by discussing what factors highly influenced my decision to choose healthcare as my set profession in life. Also discussing the Nature of Mankind, stating a few qualities that are highly important in our society and give examples of how it is used in our everyday life. This paper will further discuss the Brokenness of Mankind and what I believe are my most important qualities that I will be able to bring into the medical field. Discuss different ways how handle conflict and stress that can someday lead to â€Å"burnout† in healthcare. Along the topic of talking about the Brokenness of Mankind, I will debate if there is a difference between healing and curing. Last, I will altercate the Value of Mankind and in what ways this could be appropriate for faith to play a part in giving care in healthcare. Keywords: none. Philosophy of Healthcare Final Project Seven Points of Philosophy of Healthcare Back when I was a young child in elementary school, my first grade teacher asked me and all my other classmates, â€Å"What do you want to be when you grow up?! One girl said a private eye investigator; a boy who played on the peewee football team for our city said he wanted to be the quarterback of any NFL team. When it was finally my turn to say what I wish to do for the rest of my life, I said I wanted to be a professional ice skater! I came to realize six years later that that was never going to be my reality and I had to think about what really would interest me. One good quality everyone said I obtained was caring for others and how I always am the first to aid someone in need. I spent most of my time in the hospital visiting my grandmother and I always thought it was amazing to see the doctors rush to a patient or watch the nurses do their rounds. I told my mother I wanted to work in the hospital as a volunteer and she said I should so I did and I fell even more in love. Seeing all of the things going on in the hospital influenced me to really pursue this profession. What also influenced me was seeing how my pediatrician cared for other kids and was always taking good care of not only myself, but others as well. In this profession people need to possess very important virtues. Some of my personal virtues are dedication, caring, and also integrity. I believe that being dedicated is a cogent virtue to have in general, but specifically as a healthcare professional. While working in the medical field you have to give time and effort to your patients and show them that you care as well. Caring would have to be another virtue that I portray and that is also very good to have. For example, if you have a patient that has been there for a long period of time, you have to show them that you care and put yourself in their position. Philosophy of Healthcare Final Project You have to show that you care, because if you don’t things will only be negative and later on will become complicated and stressful. Integrity is a very strong virtue that anyone can have because it shows that you can be trusted and that you are a very honest person. Nowadays, they have a system called HIPAA, which is used in hospitals nationwide. HIPAA is used for patient confidentiality and is an agreement that you will not discuss why a patient in there in the hospital and what is wrong with them with anyone else. This is why I believe everyone needs to have integrity. Discussion There is a plethora of ways that my top three virtues could be demonstrated. To start off, we will talk about dedication. Dedication can be shown in the medical field by setting aside time to get certain tasks done by a specific time or day. For example, if a nurse has to clean up after a patient, they have to set aside time to aid them and also be dedicated to doing it, along with that, they have to care for the patient while doing this specific task. Caring is another one of my top virtues. Caring is shown in many ways in this specific field. For example, caring for a patient while they are in the hospitality suite is extremely nice. When I did my volunteer service back in Orlando Regional Medical Center, I spent most of my time in the hospitality suite making sure every patient waiting to return home was doing okay and assisting them get into their cars and giving them anything while they waited patiently to leave. Also, integrity is highly demonstrated in healthcare. As I have stated earlier in this paper, HIPAA is a very good example of how integrity can be shown in healthcare. Philosophy of Healthcare In addition, what I believe would be my important qualities that I can bring to healthcare as a professional would have to be my ability to be loyal and true to everyone including my co-workers, the patients, and of course myself. To me, loyalty and being trustworthy are the biggest qualities that anyone can pertain in life because without it, no one can depend on you to accomplish things or to confine things either. Today in the field of healthcare, there are many cases that are conflicting and stressful. Many people try to climb their way out of this by doing numerous of strategies to get themselves out. The best thing to do is to focus on the positive and try to think of ways to make things better. Do not try to blame others for wrong doings and try not to say the first things that comes to mind in a bad situation because that only makes things worse. â€Å"In the hospital or any medical setting, you will be faced with problems and challenges almost every day. † (www. zinearticles. com). Also, building a strong communication with your colleagues can become a great advantage and can cause less burnout in the field. â€Å"Another important way to combat stress is to sharpen ones communication skills. † (www. fdu. edu). everything nowadays is communicated via e-mail, pager, text, or even social networks to try and get into contact with one another. If you have to talk to someone about a problem, simply approach them and talk face to face and not try to chase down a text or e-mail to have proof of something you said. Discussion Many people say that there is an antithesis between healing and curing. In my opinion I believe that they are both different. â€Å"Healing is a natural process and is within the power of everyone. Curing, which is what doctors are called upon to do, usually consists of an Philosophy of Healthcare Final Project external treatment; medication or surgery is used to mask or eliminate symptoms. † (www. beliefnet. com). Healing is done by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It takes time for this to happen and it takes a lot of faith to make it possible. On the otherhand, you can show up to a physician’s office or the hospital and say â€Å"Take the pain away! † and it will be gone within the hour thanks to technology today. With healing, you need to have a very positive mind set and pray to our Father in heaven to cure us with his tender loving care, instead of depending on society to cure us. â€Å"The first step is having the intention to heal, to come back into balance. † (www. stepsonthepath. com).

Total Quality Management (TQM) in Fly Emirates

Total Quality Management (TQM) in Fly Emirates .Emirates in the Middle East is the major airline and subsidiary of emirates group. It is the national airline of Dubai, United Arab emirates which thus operates near around 2000 passengers flights in a week from its hub at Dubai international airport, terminal 3 to 100 destinations in 60 countries in the 6 near about continents. The organization is a subsidiary of the emirates group which has more than 50,000 employees and is owned by the government of Dubai under the corporation of Dubai. The other cargo activities are thus undertaken by the Emirates sky group division. The airline has been ranked among the top 10 worldwide in terms of passengers, revenue, etc. and has thus become the largest airline in the middle east in terms of revenue, passengers, fleet size, etc. and in the recent survey of 2009, the airline was the seventh largest in the world in terms of the passenger carried and fourth largest in terms of scheduled international passenger kilometers flown. The organization has thus built a strong brand name as the trendsetter in the industry, peculiarly in terms of service excellence and the consistency of profitability and thus the organization was ranked fifth best airline in the world from all the perspective by the research consultancy by Skytrax in the year 2009. (2009) culture of the organization The airline is the subsidiary of The Emirates group. The culture of the organization have always been in providing facilities up to the brim and up to the certain extent and that is why the organization have always been in top 10 airlines around the world. It is the quality of the organization that it has been steadily capturing the traffic from North America to South Asia and almost all the continents of the world, allowing all the passengers to bypass the traditional hubs of London, Paris, Frankfurt; the home bases of British airways, Air France with the transit stop at the Dubai international airport instead. The culture has also been to change the organization to the brand name and thus from 2004, the company changed its slogan to Fly Emirates. In the year 2008, the organization launched a slogan mainly around their root network of 100 destinations in more than 50 countries across six continents Fly Emirates. Keep discovering and most recently it launched a campaign to promote D ubai as the destination using the slogan Fly Emirates. Meet Dubai. And some more like The finest In the Sky, Be Good to Yourself, When was the last time you did for the first time. The culture has been to provide optimum quality services to the passengers. They thus provide different class of seats like the First class which thus have a full suite, complete with closing doors to ensure privacy, a mini-bar and a coat rack. It also includes the feature of 58 cm LCD screen and a 2 meter fully flat bad and thus for the first class, they were ranked second by Skytrax. After the first class, they have the business class with the feature seats of 150 cm that recline to flat beds, 43 cm wide TV screen and thus these passengers have the ability to customize and save seat and the third is thus the business class. The organization culture thus includes innovation and providing new ideas and thus has the perspective of providing every possible feature to the passengers and for that they were th e first airline who launched IFE system for all the three classes. IFE thus stands for In flight entertainment system which thus have the feature like ICE which stands for Information, Communication and Entertainment. The culture has also been in investing different events like the organization is the official sponsor of the Fifa World cup, sponsors of many football groups like AC Milan, Arsenal F.C. they will thus also sponsor Rugby world cup 2011 and thus their branding have thus made them the official partner of International Cricket Council up to 2015. Another quality culture of the organization is that they have been always expanding their staff and recruiting more and more staff which is thus a good sign for the companys growth. The global financial crisis have thus not impacted much on the airlines and thus they are recruiting more staff and thus they tell that their plans are on going and always promising and their aim is thus to acquire the number one position for maintain ing the quality and the serviced rendered and not the size. total quality barriers faced by the organization There are many quality barriers that have been faced by the organizations that thus include the fare problems, the pilots problems and not delivering any facilities on the lounge. The fare problems thus include the problems that are faced by the customers on the online booking. They just complain that if there is a problem in their website and many a times they do not get any response. A fare problem thus include that while booking a ticket when the customer looks in the fare conditions, system tell them Skywards flex and when they look on miles they earn, the system shows them the both legs Saver. Another problem on the website is that while the customers are looking at the mileage calculator, the system always shows saver. Another problem include that while going through the whole process, the endorsement box always reads flex fare and when the customers go the manage booking, the system shows saver fare, then the customer call the reservation counter, they tell them to call the Sk ywards and the Skywards do not know it. Another problem includes many of the times the customers are not replied for their complaints. The problems become severe when the pilots complaint about the organization and make a statement that another threat or another accident is possible. The pilots say that there is a concern about the morale, management and the fatigue of the UAE based airline. The pilots say that they do no want to see another smoking hole in the ground. Another pilot says that often they are made to flight to their maximum allowable time and the accident which took place on march 20 at the Melbourne airport, the reason for the accident was that the pilot had rarely slept in the day and before that accident the pilot had flown more than 95 hours in the last month an thus the pilots thus made the statement that if a fatigue related accident is going to take place, it will be definitely from the Fly Emirates and another pilot says that when people are tired, mistakes u sually occur and the result of the mistake of the pilot can take many lives. Another flaw that has been usually observed in the Emirates is that not giving privilege to the old customers and thus making a feeling that it is rather running for the new passengers. These are some of the quality barriers that the organization has faced and is facing now too. (2006) reasons for why these elements are barriers to total quality and why these barrirs are considered to be total quality barriers When we look into the matter of the fare problem, it is the barrier to the total quality as the fare problem can not only reduce the quality but can also take some critical eroticization from the customers, there are millions of customers that do the online booking and if they face a problem sooner or later every time they book their tickets, certainly they will just remove their habit of going through this airline and would thus prefer some other airline. The several customers while booking if undergo through a problem, it is the responsibility of the company to sort out their problem when the complaint is put forward by the customer but when the complaint is not dealt with, the customer rather becomes unhappy by the facilities provided and rather do not prefer the same airlines again the next time he travels. The pilots problems are thus a severe one and thus have to be sorted out. At the time of global crisis, the Fly Emirates thus appointed fewer less pilots and thus the major pr oblem that arose was the fatigue problem. A person when tired and not completely fit tends to do some mistakes and the pilots mistakes can take lives of lot of people. This will thus reduce the faith of the customers in the airlines and could pose a serious threat for the economy of the airlines. The flaw that arose in the recent times was also the crucial one. Emirates is thus not giving privilege to the old customers and thus they feel it is running only for the new passengers. At the international business level, you have to take care of the old customers as to broaden your business farther and farther. The travelers that will sooner become your permanent customers have to be dealt with properly and thus they are the people who indirectly promote the business characteristics of a quality culture and the differences between FLy emirates culture and quality culture Quality culture is thus a culture maintained in an organization to thus have the quality maintained. The culture thus is inducing in the organization to thus have a future good prospect. It thus includes providing quality facilities to the customers to the maximum. Characteristics of the quality culture thus include brooding up the business to have a good mind set in the people minds that the organizations always maintains quality. The difference between the Fly Emirates culture and quality culture was thus that they failed to provide quality to certain customers and thus the customers were disappointed. The factors might be many to make the difference between the emirates culture and the quality culture but once the customers is dissatisfied with the facilities, he never prefers the organization again and when the customer put forwards a complaint to the organization and then no regards are paid, the quality of the organization is thus not maintained. Likewise quality culture within an organization tells to deal with every customer properly and with quality while the Emirates could not develop relationship with the old customers, could not satisfy the customers properly and thus the quality of the organization could not be maintained. report and analysis of the total quality system of fly emirates Fly Emirates has always been known for the quality and that is why they have been ranked under 10 by Skytrax. The managers have always been saying that their basic motive is to acquire number one position in quality but not in size. The quality is always maintained by the organization. The organization was the first airline in the world to introduce a personal entertainment system on a commercial air craft. All the three classes have in flight entertainment system which thus include ICE system. ICE thus stands for Information, Communication and entertainment. The facilities thus they serve in the three seats of class are as follows The first one is thus the first class which thus has a full suite, complete with closing doors to ensure privacy, a coat rack, a mini bar and storage. They also feature an ICE system of 58 cm LCD screen and the seat converts into the 2 m fully flat bed and thus they were ranked second by Skytrax in the yea 2009. The business class feature seats with 15 0 cm pitch that recline to 200 cm long angled flat beds. Other features include privacy partition, massage function, winged headrest, an overhead seat of light and two individual reading lights, USB ports, in seat power supply and an RCA socket for laptop connection and a 43 cm wide screen of TV. The economy class thus offers a 30 inch seat pitch and standard seat width. The seat features adjustable head rests, an ICE in flight entertainment system. Thus they are always leading from the front providing the quality and maintaining the quality system in their organization. how cultural change could be implemented and maintained within the fly emirates The organizations culture has certainly less flaws but these flaws had to be removed by changing the culture of the organization. It includes satisfying every customer and taking a feedback from the customer and thus implementing on the feedback. For example if a certain lot of people claim that the sitting facilities in the business class are not comfortable, the organizers can have a look at the needs of the people and make the people feel comfortable and make them think they are listened and made them grow faith in the organization. This is the best method for the promotion and growth of the organization as the customers will help increase the customers as mouth publicity is the biggest publicity in the business class. It also includes developing a good customer organization interface by maintaining the old relations, giving privileges to the old customers. The failure of addressing the culture of an organization is thus the most frequent reason for the management initiatives that have limited the resources. We can thus say that the cultural change could be brought by change in behavior towards the old customers, developing a good customer organization interface, dominant values and looking towards the need and the beliefs of the people make the customers feel that they are an integral part of the organization, commitment by the organization and keeping it firm. Thus the culture of good team work as the organizers could thus be developed like investing at the proper place and many more. recommendations on improvement of total quality management system of fly emirates There are many recommendations that can be given to the organization on improvement of the total quality system of Fly Emirates. The recommendation thus include creating a consistency of purpose to serve the customers, adopting new philosophies and new ideas at different times, ceasing dependency on something peculiarly to rather achieve more success, improving constantly with time with new projects, new services offered and with new plans ejected. The recommendation also include opening up a different institute for training up the pilots, adopting and instituting leadership within the organization and driving out fear from every employee of the organization, separate distances between various staffs and managers, equal treatment to every employee should be given and thus the success should be shared among every employee, set some targets for the workforce, influence them by some slogans, removing barriers that rob people of pride of the workforce and removing the annual ratings and the merit system. Start a program that could institute self improvement within every employee of the organization, put everybody in the organization to work for accomplishing the transformations. The recommendations also include developing or creating some ethics for the organization which could rather maintain the discipline of the organization, creating the integrity, building up trust among the customers to have more business in the future. The communications among several employees is thus too important as the communications bind the employees together and bind everyone together. So these were the recommendation on improvement of the total quality management of Fly Emirates. (Emi10)

The Process Model in Policy Changes

The Process Model in Policy Changes This paper advances the theoretical framework of the stagist heuristic framework or sometimes known as the process model in attempting to explain and analyze the policy activities which led to the enactment of Quebecs Tobacco Act  [1]  of 1998. The main premise of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness of the process model in understanding the policy making process through a comparative study between this model and the Advocacy Coalition framework (ACF). I employ, and borrow, the case study of Bretton et al., (2008) that offers an alternative outlook to the developments of the Tobacco Act using the Advocacy Coalition Framework. This paper concludes with a discussion of the models which satisfactorily reflect the reality of how policies are formulated and enforced. 1. Introduction This paper is organized into 4 parts. Part one sketches the theoretical perspectives of the stagist heuristic model and examines the factors and processes leading to the adoption of the Tobacco Act. Crucially, this part will highlight the critical role of policy actors in affecting policy processes and outcomes. Part Two provides a critical analysis to the effectiveness of the model by elaborating the advantages of the model. Part Three will go on to provide criticisms of the model by comparing it with the advocacy coalition framework used in analyzing the Tobacco Act of 1998. This part will present the many criticisms of the stagist model, using mainly contributions offered by Lindblom Woodhouse (1993) and Sabatier (1999). Finally, Part Four concludes with a brief overall assessment of the framework, considering in particular, its status as an analytical tool for understanding policy making in the real world. In the context of this paper, policy analysis is defined as a set of interrelated decisions taken by a group of political actor or group of actors concerning the selection of goals and the means of achieving them within a specified situation where those decisions should, in principle, be within the power of those actors to achieve (Jenkins, 1978: 35). From Jenkinss (1978) definition above, which acknowledges public policy as a set of interrelated decisions taken by numerous individuals and organizations in government, I will form the basis of this paper. I will focus solely in understanding the processes or what Jenkins (1978) referred to as interrelated decisions leading to the adoption of the Tobacco Act. His definition also correlates to Lasswells conceptualization of knowledge of rather than knowledge in policy making, in which the latter (i.e. knowledge in), is more substantive and prescriptive (Dunn, 1981; Hogwood Gunn, 1984, Hill, 1993). The policy domain is inherently complex, and so analysts have made use of various models of simplification to comprehend the overwhelming situation and to understand it more thoroughly. Through the lens of the stagist heuristic model, policy analysts have been able to synthesize the complexity of such process into a series of functional phases, which frame this overtly political process as a continuous process of policy making. 1.1. The Stagist Heuristic Framework As pioneered by Lasswell (1956), and modified by Jones (1970), Mack (1971), Rose (1973), Anderson (1975), Jenkins (1978), Brewer De Leon (1983) and Hogwood Gunn (1984), this ideal-type framework adopts a technocratic approach to public policymaking, embracing linear and logical progression from agenda setting and concluding with policy evaluation and termination. The chronological orders of the policy life cycle are commonly categorized as problem definition, agenda-setting, policy formulation, implementation and finally evaluation (Dunn, 1981; Hogwood Gunn, 1984; Sabatier, 1999; Dye, 2002; Colebatch, 2002). 1.1.2. Problem recognition and definition. Hitherto, the greatest impetus to the developments of policy science crystallizes on a response to a myriad of social problems within, what Lasswell terms as policy orientation (cited in Dunn, 1981; Hogwood Gunn, 1984; Howlett Ramesh, 2003). Similarly, the process model presupposes the recognition of problem triggered by a felt existence of problems or opportunities (Dunn, 1981). A problem is defined as an unrealized value, need, or opportunity which, however identified, may be attained through public attention (Dunn, 1981: 44) which needs to do something about as pointed out by Wildavsky (1979) a difficulty is a problem only if something can be done about it (Wildavsky, 1979:26). However, problem recognition and definition are not straight forward activities. According to Birkland (2007) because a problem is a process of social construction, as mirrored by Dunn (1981) who states how the problem is in the eye of the beholder (Dunn, 1981: 27), it depends on subjectivity of interpretations held by various stakeholders. And so, the majority ruling may be ill-defined and, at times, may even be misframed  [2]  (Baker, 1977). In addition, as Steiss Deneke (1980) suggests, problems are seldom mutually exclusive because they often exist in a hierarchical relationship to one another, and the solution of one may depend on the solution of another, either higher or lower in the hierarchy (Hogwood Gunn, 1984: 124); therefore may often lead to a further redefinition and modification of the problematical situations (Wohlestetter, 1976; Wildavsky, 1979; McRae Wilde, 1985), which, in turn, lead to the creation and realization of more problems (Wildavsky, 1979), which I go on to address in the following paragraph. Quebecs Tobacco Act was primarily enacted as a response to the growing concerns of the public towards the issue of passive smokers or secondary smokers. As reported by Breton et al. (2008), the Tobacco Act was enacted to protect the fundamental right of non smokers to enjoy a smoke free environment than by the harms to health (Breton, et al., 2008: 1682). However, the definition of the issue leads to the discovery of more social problems. On one hand, problems such as addictiveness of smoking, prevalence of youth smokers (which have significantly lead to raising educational awareness of the hazards of smoking), how the majority of the population are non smokers and, finally, the financial burden to the public health care system are brought to attention. On the other hand, protesters of the bill have contested the lethality to passive smokers, arguing that such intervention might impede the competitiveness of the tobacco industry (through the implementation of tax) and, thus, affect t he economy of the province. In liberal democracies, such as Quebec, problem identification and definition are conceptualized as highly pluralistic, involving diverse policy stakeholders such as the public (population, retailers), individuals (Minister of Health), organizations (e.g. Quebec Division of Cancer society, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, Hospital industry), interest groups (e.g. Tobacco manufacturers, Non Smokers Right Association, Tobacco workers union, Events Rallying for the Freedom of Sponsorship group), the media, policy communities (Regional Public Health Directorates [RPHD], columnists and journalists, Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control [CQCT] and also mentioned U.S administration) (Dunn, 1981; Sabatier, 1991; Kingdon, 1995; Dye, 2002; Howlett Ramesh, 2003); the actual agenda setting is characterized by different patterns in terms of actor composition and the role of public. There are outside initiation as well as inside initiation  [3]  (May, 1991 cited in Fisher, Miller Sidney, 2007); mobilization and consolidation  [4]  (Howlett Ramesh, 2003). In this case, the tobacco control adheres to Howlett Ramesh (2003) concept of consolidation; whereby due to the impending agitation of the issue amongst the public and subsequent contraband crisis of cigarettes smuggling in the US, policy elites (prominently the new Minister of Health and the National Assembly [NMA]) have seized the opportunity for government legitimacy in tobacco control by, effectively, propagandizing the issue to the public via regularly intervening in the media on different aspects of tobacco control and visiting MNAs cabinets (Breton et al., 2008: 1685). 1.1.3. Agenda setting Next, I explore the agenda setting phase which Birkland (2007) defined as the process by which problems and alternative solutions gain or lose public and elite attention (cited in Fisher, Miller Sidney, 2007: 63). The elevation from systemic agenda into institutional agenda  [5]  is usually dominated by power struggles between groups competing to elevate or block issues from reaching the institutional agenda (Cobb Ross, 1997); acting singly or, more often, by building strategic coalition with others (Sabatier, 1991; Lindblom Woodhouse, 1993). From the case study, this process is signaled by the agenda of the new Minister of Health and the tabling of the bill by the Council of Ministers at the legislative meeting. As part of his strategy in building a winning coalition, the Minister successfully gathers allies and supporters for the bill by establishing the CQCT; embracing Sabatiers ACF model. In addition, Breton et al. (2008) mentioned that the Minister of Health has also announced plans to include in the bill provisions that prohibit active involvement of tobacco companies in sponsoring arts and sports events. Spearheaded by the centralized coordination of the CQCT, the winning coalitions which compose of Non Smokers Association and various municipalities through representatives from the RPHD, effectively debated the bill and gathered political support from the Council of Ministers at the parliamentary commission meetings, which resulted in the official adoption of the bill on February, 1998. 1.1.4. Policy formulation and decision-making. In the traditional stage model of the public policy process, policy formulation is part of the pre-decision phase of policy making in which the political interchange described by Lindblom (1993) as competition of ideas emanates. It involves identifying and/or crafting a set of policy alternatives to address a problem, and narrowing that set of solutions in preparation for the final policy decision. This approach to policy formulation, embedded in a stages model of the policy process, assumes that participants in the policy process recognize and define a policy problem, consequently moving it onto the policy agenda. During this stage of the policy cycle, expressed problems, proposals and demands are transformed into government programs. At the same time, studies of policy formulation have been strongly dominated by the effort to improve practices within governments by introducing the techniques and tools of rational decision making. In all political systems people gather facts, interpret them and debate issues. This stage is when the Minister establishes centralized command through CQCT to formulate the policy to tackle the issue of public smoking. In addition, the continuous dialogue and consultation involved in an agreement of the bill with NGOs, municipalities, health institution, local and regional organizations as well as oppositions falls into this stage. Crucially, the bill was also amended to streamline the phasing out of tobacco industry sponsorship but offered no alternative solution to youth smoking and did not contest the actual harms on health of tobacco use (Breton, et al., 2008: 1 686). Brewer DeLeon (1983) usefully define decision making as the choice among policy alternatives that have been generated and their likely effects on the problem estimatedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it is the most overtly political stage in so far as the many potential solutions are winnowed down and but one or a select few picked and readied for use. (Howlett Ramesh, 2003:162). The models on decision making are classified as rationalism which asserts utility maximization to complex policy problems in which policy relevant information was gathered and then focused in a scientific fashion on the assessment of policy options (Howlett Ramesh, 2003:166); and incrementalism which describes policy making as a political activity of maintaining the status quo through gradual and continuation of past policies. 1.1.5. Implementation. Dye (2002) defined implementation as the implementation of policies through organized bureaucracies, public expenditures, and the activities of executive agencies (Dye, 2002: 15). Intra- and inter- organizational coordinating problem and interaction of field of agencies with the target group ranked as the most prominent variables accounting for implementation failures (MacRae Wilde, 1985; Howlett Ramesh, 2003). Another explanation focuses on the policy itself, acknowledging that unsuccessful policy implementation can be, though by no means the only, result of bad implementation, but also bad policy design, based on wrong assumptions about the cause-effect relationship (Hogwood Gunn, 1984; Fisher et al., 2007: 52). The study of implementation is dominated by the concept of top-down centralized implementation and bottom-up implementation. The top-down school or the vertical dimension represented, for instance, by scholars like Van Meter Van Horn (1975), Hood (1976), Gunn (1978), Nakamura Smallwood (1980) and Mazmanian Sabatier (1983), conceive of implementation as the hierarchical execution of centrally defined policy intentions (Fisher et al., 2007:89). Proponents of the bottom-up or horizontal approach include Lipsky (1971, 1980), Ingram (1977), Elmore (1980), and Hjern Hull (1983) who have emphasized the fact that implementation consists of everyday problem strategies of street-level bureaucrats (Pressman Wildavsky, 1973; Colebatch, 2002; Fisher et al., 2007). In this case, the policy implementation correlates closely with the top-down approach because the implementation is based on the commitments and directives from the top echelon of the government i.e. Minister of Health and Ministry of Health. 1.1.5. Evaluation. Finally, evaluation is the post hoc analysis of policies and programmes carried out by government agencies themselves, outside consultants, the press, and the public (Dye, 2002:15) through collecting, testing, and interpreting information about the implementation and effectiveness of existing policies and public programmes (Majone, 1989: 167). The plausible normative rationale is that policy making should be appraised against intended objectives and impacts form the starting point of policy evaluation, which forms the basis for justifying government actions for continuation or termination of public programmes and enables accountability of government offices especially in democratic setting (Majone, 1989). However, from the case study, it is unclear whether any form of evaluation was carried out or not. 2. Advantages. Despite depicting the developments of the Tobacco Act in a series of stages, as mentioned by Hogwood Gunn (1984) in the dividing lines between the various activities are artificial and policy makers are unlikely to perform them consciously or in the implied logical order (Hogwood Gunn, 58), Lasswell, as Hudson Lowe (2004) note, did not conceptualized these stages as real, in the sense that they encompass clear beginnings and ends. Rather, their function being merely analytic-to help us explore different dimensions of the policy process. He [Lasswell] is more concerned with the value systems, institutions and wider social processes that shaped policy in the real world (Hudson Lowe, 2004: 5). Therefore the process model does provide valuable descriptive analysis of the policy process. As explained above, the process model helps to disaggregate an otherwise seamless web of public policy transactions, as each segment and transition are distinguished by differentiated actions and purposes. Furthermore, the cumulative analyses of the various stages, arguably, contribute to the disentangling of the intricate political and social interdependencies, manifested in the policy arena, to bring about an ordered and manageable system  [6]  (DeLeon, 1983). Furthermore, this process framework has significant strategic implications. Firstly, by analyzing the policy actors and processes in discrete stages, it assists in identifying how stakeholders may support or resist health policies (ODI, 2007); and therefore develop strategies in building winning coalitions as mentioned by Easton (1979) which states how the process model lend themselves to the identification and study of interactions, not only among the various stages in the process but also among various participating organizations and between organizations and the lager social and economic environment (cited in Hogwood Gunn, 1989: 25). Although this might be more applicable to the ACF, such advantage also applies to the process model especially during the agenda setting phase. As described above, in the agenda setting phase, the process model highlighted and identified various policy stakeholders and analyzed the relationship of policy advocacies which resisted (Tobacco Manufacture rs and Tobacco Workers Union) against those whom supported the bill (Minister of Health and Non Smokers Association); thereby enabling the assessment of the cumulative effects of various actors  [7]  , forces, and institutions that interacts in the policy process and therefore shape its outcome(s) (Jann Wegrich [2007] cited in Fisher, Miller, Sidney, 2007: 44). Secondly, it also helps in identifying and addressing various obstacles that undermine successful implementation of policies (ODI, 2007). The process model follows the assumption of how public policy making is a goal oriented process aimed to reach a goal or realize an objective or a purpose (Anderson, 1984 cited in Colebatch, 2002:85), henceforth policy makers are able to identify constraints, which in this case, a negotiation with oppositions and gathering public support for the bill ensured the successful adoption of the bill. Finally as pointed out by Hogwood Gunn (1984), the process framework is rather flexible in the sense that it enables us to systematize existing knowledge without precluding the integrating of future insights (about stages, influences, interactions, etc) to the framework (Hogwood Gunn, 1984: 25). In other words, it improves the prospects of technical evidence considered during policy formulation leading to evidence based policy making. The most common method in the British government in gathering technical information for systematic analysis of policies is through trial and error achieved by carrying out a pilot test before actual implementation of policies. 3. Criticisms: A better understanding in policy making. On the contrary, Parkinson (2008) in his lecture, quite rightly so, argue that the process model resembles a mechanistic tool that describes checklists of parts present in the policy making arena; parallel to Nakamuras (1987) notion of a textbook approach (Sabatier, 1999). Henceforth, the top down legalistic framework is an artificial portrayal of the policy process (Dunn, 1981; Sabatier, 1999) as stated by Lindblom (1993) that deliberate, orderly steps are therefore not an accurate portrayal of how the policy process actually works. Policy making is, instead, a complexly inter-active process without beginning or end (Lindblom Woodhouse, 1993: 11). In other words, these processes do not evolve in a pattern of clear cut sequences; instead the stages are constantly meshed and entangled in an ongoing process which is more accurately resembles a primeval soup (Kingdon, 1995; Howlett Ramesh; 1995). Therefore, the process model leads to the imposition of hypothetical explanation of future events which may be inappropriate or misleading with actions occurring fitfully as problems become matched with policy ideas considered to be in the political interests of a working majority of the partisans with influence over the policy domain (Lindblom Woodhouse, 1993 : 10). 3.1. Rationalization of processes. Hogwood Gunn (1984) question the coherence and rationality of the process model as a blueprint for action by giving rational explanation or justification of past acts, even when the acts in question do not lend themselves to such treatment (Hogwood Gunn, 1984: 26). Furthermore, Lindblom (1993) also argue that the stages are not hierarchical which proceeds from agenda setting and concluding with evaluation; rather they often overlap loop with each other as analysis proceeds. This is further elaborated below. Firstly, Lindblom (1993) argue that there may not even be a stage when problem definition occurs, since participants often vary widely in their ideas about the problem (Lindblom Woodhouse, 1993:10). He explains that this is because policy sometimes is formed from a compromise among political participants, moreover, none of whom had in mind quite the problem to which the agreed policy responds (Lindblom Woodhouse, 1993:10). Secondly, Lindblom Woodhouse (1993) also point out the inaccuracy to suggest that the decision-making phase exist. As suggested by Heclo (1972) a policy can consist of what is not being done (Hogwood Gunn, 1984: 21) and, thus, equally important, are the decisions to keep issues, that would be inconvenient, firmly off the agenda for political success in winning the disputes that arise. In other words, policy may emerge without any explicit decision, by failure to act as or the power of nondecision making (Bachrach Baratz, 1962; Heclo, 1972). Bachrach Baratz (1962) which exhibits the existence of institutional bias so that key groups are excluded in what is termed as the three dimensional view of power, in which power is used to exercise to control over the agenda of politics and of the ways in which potential issues are kept out of the political process (Lukes, 2005: 25). Furthermore, stating decisions are taken exclusively in the decision-making phase is rather inaccurate, becaus e in reality, decisions are constantly being made regardless of the stages you are in. For example, during the policy formulation, policy makers makes decisions on which alternatives to adopt for consideration and hence to implement; and during the implementation stages, policy makers make decisions on the choices of policy instruments to be utilized (Hill, 1993; Howlett Ramesh, 2003). Thirdly, Lindblom Woodhouse (1993) also argued that implementation and evaluation cannot be separated from the other steps. As mentioned by Lindblom Woodhouse (1993) an attempt to implement one policy almost always brings new problems onto the agenda, meaning the implementation and the step called agenda building collapse into each other (Lindblom Woodhouse, 1993: 10). An example from the case study is that during the implementation of the Quebec Tobacco Act, to include taxation on tobacco and a ban on tobacco sponsored arts and sports event, subsequently led to the discovery that such measure might impinge the competitiveness of tobacco industries and affect the economy of the province. Finally, policy evaluation often regarded as the end of the line, does not actually constitute a step in policy making unless it throws light on possible next moves in policy, in which case evaluation becomes intertwined with all other attempts to appraise and formulate options for reshaping government activity (Lindblom Woodhouse, 1993: 10). Moreover, I think that the evaluation phase overlaps with the agenda setting phase and the policy formulation phase. During the agenda setting and policy formulation phase, policies are also evaluated needed to persuade and influence people in adopting and supporting the bill. 3.2. Multiplicity of interactions. On the other hand, Sabatier (1999) note the framework oriented scholars towards looking at just one stage at a time, thus neglecting the entirety of the process by stating that they portrayed a disjointed, episodic process rather than a more ongoing, continuous one (Sabatier, 1999: 23). In addition, Sabatier Jenkins Smith (1999) set out 5 major deficiency of the heuristic approach; it provides little description of how policy moves from one stage to another; it cannot be tested empirically; it is essentially a top down which fails to take account of street-level and other actors; and it disregards multiple levels of governmental interactions. Finally, it does not provide an integrated view on the gathering of policy related information, apart from the evaluation phase (Parsons, 1995; Sabatier, 1999) as pointed out by (Majone, 1989) the effectiveness in solving social problems centres in bringing more information and systematic analysis into the policy making process. From the case study, it is clear that the process model is limited in its capacity to provide institutional analysis of government interactions because it is primarily conceived to provide systematic analysis of the overall policy making process, unlike institutionalism perspective which focuses on the role and relationship of government institutions which regards public policy as an institutional output of the mechanisms of the government where it is authoritatively determined, implemented and enforced by these institutions (Dye, 2002:12). Furthermore, the process model adheres to the view that policy making is a hierarchical top down process which initiates from agenda setting and finally ends with evaluation stage and therefore only takes account of authorized decision makers. Finally it is also rather limited in empirical research on each stage and only makes an attempt to describe systematic gathering of information in the evaluation phase only. However, on the other hand, I wou ld have to disagree with Sabatier (1999) in that the process model does not provide clear distinction between the stages and the progression from one phase to another. I think the primary distinction of the stagist model lies in the context of policy environment and policy stakeholders involved  [8]  . Henceforth taking the definitions which I presented above of each stage and the ones offered by Dye (2002: 14-15), the demarcations between the stages are summarized in the table below: Phase Policy Stakeholder (i.e. who are involved) Policy Environment (i.e. where does it take place) 1. Problem identification Individuals, public and private organizations, interest groups, think tanks, mass media and policy communities. Public debates, consultation with public, and sometimes top level government officials identify it themselves. 2. Agenda setting Public officials acting as gatekeepers as well as involvement of policy entrepreneurs. Mostly done by the Executive branch of the government and in government offices. 3. Policy formulation Primarily done by government officials in Executive agencies, but may also involve interest groups, congressional committees, and think tanks. Again done in Executive government offices but may also involve the Legislative branch of the government i.e. Parliament or Senate. 4. Implementation Primarily street-level bureaucrats and occasionally involving public participation. Carried out in formal government institutions. 5. Evaluation Done by government agencies but may also involve the public through medias, consultants and think tank organizations. Also very important is the use of citizen juries to evaluate public programmes. Evaluation is carried out in government offices, but also may be carried out in NGO organizations (such as EU, UN etc) and non-governmental institutions. In addition, Breton et al., (2008) successfully utilize the ACF to explain how the interactions of multiple policy advocacies have impacted policy change, which is another major deficiency of the stagist heuristic model. As mentioned by Majone (1989), both continuity and change are inherent in the conception of policy (Majone, 1989: 35) and therefore should be accounted for in the models in its capacity to comprehensively capture the policy making process. For example, the ACF manage to show how the changes in the external events directly impact the core beliefs of tobacco subsystems and hence resulted in the adoption of Tobacco Act (Refer to Fig.2 in Breton et al., 2002: 1683). However unlike the ACF, process model does not provide description on how policies are impacted by change. Moreover the process model assumes that every policies starts from scratch i.e. always starts by identification of problems. Conversely, policies may be enacted not from new problems or opportunities that emerge, rather continuation of past policies in which case, the problem identification phase may be invalid. 4. Conclusion In conclusion, the process model provides valuable insights in directing analysts attention to critical features in the policymaking process, and on elucidating the policy process paradigm. Furthermore, although the ACF model is conceived to account for the entire policy process, it is limited in its capacity to explain only the policy formation (i.e. agenda setting and decision making). In other words, both models differ in their level of analysis, which I hope have been successfully demonstrated above. On the other hand, the idea of breaking down the making of public policy into phases, may well impose stages on reality that is infinitely more complex, fluid and interactive; but to adopt a cyclical metaphor, it is not necessarily an unreasonable or unrealistic way of looking at what happens when public policy is made. Nonetheless, the process model does still provide some useful insights in public policy making. In my opinion, the most important thing is not to look at one best model to explain a particular policy rather a combination of models is needed as pointed out by Dye (2002: 12): These models are not competitive in the sense that any one of them could be judged best. Each one provides a separate focus on political life, and each can help us to understand different things about public policy. Although some policies appear at first glance to lend themselves to explanation by one particular model, most policies are a combination of rational planning, incrementalism, interest group activity, elite preferences, game playing, public choice, political processes, and institutional influences.

Cultural Differences :: essays research papers

I Know I Am But What Are You? Cultural Differences in The Tempest, Montaigne’s Essays, and In Defense of the Indians Paper #2 The Tempest, In Defense of the Indians, and Montaigne’s essays each illustrate what happens when two very different worlds collide. As Europe begins to saturate New World soil, the three authors offer their accounts of the dynamic between the European invader and native other. Though each work is unique in its details, they all share a common bond: Shakespeare, de Las Casas, and Montaigne show the reader how European colonialists use differences in appearance and language to justify theft and slavery. The Tempest’s Caliban serves as an instrument to highlight the colonialist notion of the other. Caliban is the original inhabitant of the island; it is his native land. But Caliban is ugly. Prospero claims that he is "not honored with human shape" (p. 17), and so the new European inhabitants never think of him as a potential equal- they see him as their inferior. This initial incongruity between characters supports further dehumanization of the native for the remainder of the play. Caliban’s appearance does not only contribute to the Europeans’ poor estimation of him, but it also serves as the justification of his slavery. When Trinculo says, "Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish and half a monster" (p. 55), he communicates two important concepts. First, Trinculo reinforces the idea that Caliban is more animal than man. Next, he assumes that Caliban’s exterior mirrors Caliban’s interior. Caliban’s physical deformities, according to Trinculo, also indicate deformity of character. Together, these faults aid Prospero’s justification of forcing Caliban to "serve in offices that profit us" (p. 18). A second factor of Caliban’s oppression is language. The ability to communicate that ends man’s isolation from others and leads to civilization. When Prospero discovers Caliban, the native has no knowledge of Europe, much less its tongue. Miranda and Prospero take it upon themselves to educate Caliban in "civilized" language. Miranda says: "I pitied thee, took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour one thing or other, When thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble, like a thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes with words that made them known." (p. 20) Miranda believes that communication indicates that one is civilized. She does not for a moment consider that Caliban’s "gabble" was most likely his own language, the language he used to with Sycorax.