The primary stakeholders for this case

The primary stakeholders for this case are the investors, stock holders and other clients that are directly doing business with the company. Furthermore, secondary stakeholders can be the company’s employees and board members. Whatever decision the company’s controller takes, it will have a direct effect on these com/tesco-and-oxfam-stakeholders/">stakeholders. b. The president’s request regarding increasing the allowance for doubtful accounts from 2% to 4% poses some ethical dilemma for the company.As the controller of the company, the controller knows what is best for the company, thus, suggesting a 2% allowance for doubtful accounts guarantees that the company will be, at least, achieve its target growth rate. However, the president wants the company to play safe, thus, suggesting an increase in allowance. Even though the president has a good intention in his request, the fact that he is overestimating the allowance poses many possible effects for the company and for the stakeholders in the long run.The company and its stakeholders might be mislead by the impression that they are achieving their target growth rate when in fact, that percentage is lower compared to the actual target growth rate that the company should accomplish. In addition, the request posted by the president does not have any quantitative data to support the decision. This, in the long run may underestimate the potential of the company in terms of financial growth because the increase in allowance in turn, means an decrease in company income (Clausen 2009).c. The company’s controller should be concerned in the company growth rate because as the company’s employee, he is also a stakeholder of the company who can be affected if wrong decisions are implemented. His job of assuring the company’s stability will be affected if wrong estimations regarding financial activities will be followed. He as the controller should make sure first if the presidentâ €™s suggestion would be suitable for the company before implementing it.If the suggestion will pose unreasonable risk for the company, then the suggestion should be abandoned and other ways on securing the company’s growth rate should be done to still achieve the target results (Clausen 2009). ? Source: Clausen, James (2009). Accounting 101 Allowance for Doubtful Accounts. Suite 101. com. Available at: http://accounting. suite101. com/article. cfm/accounting_101_allowance_for_doubtful_accounts

TV or no TV

Bess TV Is an Important issue for us, because over three quarters of British teenagers have a TV In their bedroom (pretty antisocial If you ask me! ), and they watch TV for an average of 14 hours a week. In the USA, It's over 20 hours a week. In my research for this debate, Eve discovered some amazing facts. For example, 57% of programmer contain what Is called ‘psychologically harmful' violence. That means, according to the experts, that teenagers learn to behave leniently and they accept violence as normal.In addition, they become more afraid of being attacked. Not surprising, when you learn that the average child in the US has seen up to 8,000 murders on the TV by the age of Ill Furthermore, there's the couch-potato problem. Nobody does enough exercise any more or spends enough time with friends. As a result, television is turning us all into lonely fatties – also because there's an advert for high-sugar snacks and drinks every five minutes. Think English Intermediate ; Unit 10 p. 88O oxford university press PHOTOCOPIES And finally, I believe that talent shows and shows such as Big Brother give people false expectations. They make you think that anyone can become famous – and then rich, for doing practically nothing! We did a survey in my year group and found that 63% of people want to be rich and famous, and In show business. So although I like TV, I think that we should cut down the amount we watch before our brains turn to mush. Damon I don't agree that TV Is a completely negative Influence on people.In my opinion, lovelorn Is a window on the world and therefore, It's Invaluable. I get a lot of information from the TV, and so do my friends and family. My kid brother, wads five, loves wildlife programmer, so TV is often educational. Yesterday, for example, I saw a fantastic documentary about space travel, which I learnt loads from. Without the computer-generated graphics. Remember, you can choose what you watch! What's more, many progra mmer are shown all over the world, so you could say they unite the world community.For instance, my French Nepal, Bastion, really liked The CO when it was on, so we were able to talk about that together. But TV is also fun and entertaining: it helps you relax – what's wrong with that? However, there is one aspect of TV that I don't like – the adverts, especially during a film. They ruin it for me and waste time. To sum up, TV is here and it's part of our lives. Over 96% of us have one. I'm not saying it's good to watch too much, but there's an amazing choice of programmer now with satellite, digital and broadband, so why not enjoy the positive things it offers?

Autobiography of a Yogi: Summary Essay

quite different from his or her own. The journey to assimilation is portrayed uniquely by Okada as he writes his character in ways different from other writers of whom are portraying Asian Americans at this time. In an article, written by Mr. Stan Yogi, ‘You had to be One or the Other: Oppositions and Reconciliation in John Okada’s No-no Boy,’ it is stated that Asian Americans are often portrayed as ‘docile, patient’ peoples. Many of Okada’s characters do not feature these qualities; they are often†¦ and now he’ll shrivel up like a prune if you let him. With any luck, I’ll have him holding his own fishing pole by this spring, and I’ve already got my eyes on a little pair of water skis. Who knows, maybe 20 years from now, he’ll be writing an autobiography about how growing up on the water help shape his life too.†¦ been his way of showing that you go out with a fight because of the way he ends his Autobiography. Franklin showed his successful stand against the proprietary estate holders against the tax law. Most men would not end their autobiography on the terms of a won fight like this unless they were boasting; even if a little. Conclusion The life carved out for Benjamin Franklin through the words of his autobiography is a portrait of a man who started out with self-acclaim and pridefulness that all†¦ Wherever There’s a Fight by Elaine Elinson and Stan Yogi, is a book that narrows down the struggles of man and woman of all colors to protect and extend their civil rights liberties. It provides stories of events in history that marked the lives of many people.The stories described in the book show how many people were being discriminated for the way they looked, the disability they had, their sexualaty for being black, latino, or Japanese. It gives the reader an image of all the injustices and†¦ Bam, Quay, Dino, and Yogi rode through the city for hours searching for the Hurst and eventually they gave up in order to get some rest. Intoxicated and tired, Bam drove everyone to the apartment and that’s where they crashed until the sun rose. Nessa and Olivia had stayed up worried sick about them and finally they could put their mind at rest. Now, for a chance, everyone in the house had finally fallen asleep. Nessa slept on the lounge chair as usual. Quay, Yogi, and Dino fell asleep on the floor†¦ race, gender or beliefs. Gandhi: An Autobiography and The Help portray multiple insights of the world in the 1900’s compared to modern day society. Social justice is a major theme in The Help and Gandhi: An Autobiography. In these two books we see how society can be a cruel mistress. How people of different races are treated throughout time and how the main characters never give up on hope for a better future in our community. In Gandhi: An Autobiography and The Help, the social aspect of†¦ Sexual Autobiography Shaping my sexual behavior was generally influenced by my mom. I learned to be dependent on men and use safe sex through media. Gender sex roles also placed me to be secretive with my sex life and nurturing. My body image makes me insecure when it comes to intimacy. There were no specific sexual guidelines that my family made me follow. I was raised in a family where I was able to explore and have my own opinions about sexual situations. Not having guidelines or a path made†¦ worth writing and then wrote about it in his autobiography. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin is a different beast in its literature. Unlike most books, and possibly most autobiographies as well, Franklin’s autobiography does not have a smooth flow between his three sections. These abrupt transition could be accounted for by the many years of break Franklin took in between each section. The overall theme for Franklin’s autobiography is for one to become self developing. As Franklin†¦ The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was not an easy book to read. Writing styles have changed tremendously since the 1700’s. Despite the cultural differences I learned a lot about the man and the time. Benjamin Franklin was a remarkable man. He was a printer, author, politician and an inventor. He was one of fifteen children in his family. Because he was from such a large family he was sent out to work at a very early age. He only had a few years†¦ From an Electrician to a Teacher: An Autobiography â€Å"The heart of human excellence often begins to beat when you discover a pursuit that absorbs you, frees you, challenges you, and gives you a sense of joy, meaning and passion.† – Angel Chernoof* I firmly believe that to be successful and flourish in education and childhood learning, your heart must lead you to this passion – as my heart did a year ago. Coming out of high school, my dreams were far beyond teaching and spending a lifetime discovering†¦

Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Company - Essay Example Since its inception in the United States, TiVo has penetrated to the Canadian, Australian, Mexican, New Zealand, Puerto Rican, Sweden, Spanish markets among others. Essentially, what TiVo offers is exclusive and unlimited entertainment to its users. TiVo pioneered recording programs concurrent with household viewing habits. In this program as opposed to the others, users can rate programs from three â€Å"thumbs up† to three â€Å"thumbs down† profiling. These ratings are combined to create a recommendation for its viewers. TiVo has also increased its broadband features. This has included and been facilitated by Amazon Video on Demand, Jaman.com and Netflix Watch Instantly. The advantage of this is that it provides users with unlimited access to thousands of movie titles and television shows from their homes. Perhaps the greatest contribution to the viewer’s society and the television industry is by having parental features. This way, the rate of pornography and violent co0ntent is greatly reduced as the parents get to choose what shows their children will watch. In a way therefore, TiVo is actively involved in raising a re sponsible generation. TiVo recently announced its intentions to acquire Digital smiths, a leading cloud-based content discovery service. The service which allows Pay TV operators to deliver an advanced user experience integrating search, discovery and browsing across a variety of devices will only mean more subscription to TiVo (Daft 120). Economically, these will translate to increased returns to scale for this market pacesetter. The devices include Android, Roku, Xbox, Playstation, Kindle and multiple other set-top boxes. TiVo also announced that it has increased its stock repurchase authorization by $100 million and intended to repurchase its $100 million in the first quarter of the 2015 fiscal year. In spite of having gained 234000 subscribers in the last quarter

Finance Essay on risk management and investment

Finance on risk management and investment - Essay Example Different methods of analysis, reconstruction will be used. The process will involve majorly looking at the different kind of risks inherent in the portfolio and determining ways on how to reduce the risk. Executive Summary The investor seeks to come up with a well-structured portfolio that will serve him the purpose of better returns in the future. The investor has identified seven stocks namely: Barclays, BP, Lloyd Banking, European FTS, ISHARES CHINA, EFTS CMOD SECS, MSCI BRAZIL, and TUI TRAVEL. The investor intends on investing in stock shares as his major line of returns. The portfolio seems diverse as it entails stocks from different regions. The shares are all have a fair volatility ranging from a minimum of 4% -13%.This is a major strength in the portfolio as the investor will be least faced by shares that are quite elastic. However, in my view, the investor poses as one who is a traditional investor. He selects only share stocks and avoids investing in other securities such as bonds. There arises a risk in investing shares; one can never tell the exact time to sell them off as predicting when such shares will appreciate becomes a hustle. At the same time, all these companies issue out dividends. For investor companies, investors prefer that they maintain their levels of dividends so that such monies can be used in investing in other opportunities that would profit the company. In reconstructing the portfolio, I t will involve looking at the risk levels associated with the different kind of stocks and look into eliminating the least favourable ones either through statistical analysis or by going by what the market proposes. While analysing the portfolios past performance, it will entail looking at how the individual stocks performed. Our portfolio is composed of equity based investments. This will entail looking at how the individual shares performed in the industry and across other stocks. In our case, our cut-off date will be on January 1 ,2020 for th e purpose of buying stocks. Barclays With Barclay’s stock, the return on equity has decreased significantly over the years from 23.41% to 5.65% in year 2009 through to year 2011.This means that the company has been making low returns over the years or has very high operational costs. At the same time, the company could be having very high equity levels. The price per share for the company is quite low at 2.51, meaning that it is not a very favourite stock among investors or alternatively, the investors foresee a likelihood of the prices going up. It’s good to note that the company’s volatility is a bit high at 10%.This means that the stock is likely to affect a large investor upon any change in the market conditions. The earnings per share has also increased over the years from 25.1 to 35.9 from year 2010 to 2012.This is a very positive remark for the investor as over the years they experience value for their money. The stock also pays out dividends to its share holders at the end of every financial year. This would be a good indication to a normal investor who looks into trading with shares. However, for the investor’s portfolio this would not be a positive move as the investor would view the company as failing in investment decisions. Usually, investors prefer companies that look to invest their funds in the most profitable investments, companies that can manage to increase their asset base too. The company floats only 87% of its shares and has an

Forecasting Alliances Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Forecasting Alliances - Essay Example The two powers have managed to form strong alliances that exist until today. In fact, the two exercise their mutual influences under the frameworks of Western powers across greater part of the world. The influence of the two powers have probably been due to their held ideology of democracy that intends to promote liberalization and thwart communism seen as derailing global economic, political and social integration. Much resistance against the Western powers has been coming from Russia and China, and their allies like Cuba and some Middle East countries. Despite the resistances, Western powers seem to have made significant successes bearing the spontaneous transformation of Russia and China to adopt capitalist ideologies that have seen rise in the number of billionaires found in the two countries. However, there exists consistent strategies and conspiracy by some countries to alliance with intention to challenge the Western powers. The possibility of success of the likely alliances i n challenging Western powers requires careful examination and study. Russia, Cuba and Venezuela share similar history of perpetuating communist ideologies characterized with no democracy. In fact, the three countries were once under the unity of the Soviet Union, which diminished due to unbearable influence of capitalism of the Western powers. Among the three, Russia is the only strongest in the global arena with stronger military, economic and political influence. Russia boasts of endowment of massive natural resources including natural gas, oil and metal among others. Venezuela on the other hand boasts of rich oil reserves that mark the backbone of its economy (Keck). Cuba on the other end boasts of highly trained professionals and unexploited oil reserves. Located just below the southern part of North America, Cuba and Venezuela have been depending on each other in various aspects. For instance, since 2000, Cuba has been exporting

Introduction & Conclusion for implementation of quality application Essay

Introduction & Conclusion for implementation of quality application - Essay Example Many companies have started to shift to service industry in order to earn revenue but many of them face problem to maintain quality in service. Maintaining quality is also an important issue for product marketer because improving quality in production decreases overall cost for product marketer. Valls and Vergueiro (2006) argued that deploying quality applications such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma and Quality Circle etc can decrease error margin in production for manufacturing companies. In such context, Wisniewski (2001) pointed out that there cannot be one definition of quality which can serve the purpose of all the industry. For example, quality concept for manufacturing company is defined by its production efficiency, decrease in error margin in production, decrease in production frequency of faulty products etc while quality concept for hospitality sector is defined by its ability to provide faultless responsive service to customers. Finnish marketing legend Gron roos defined the quality concept in the following manner; The consumer compares his expectations with the service he perceives he has received, i.e. he puts the perceived service against the expected service. The result of this process will be the perceived quality of service. - (Gronroos, 1984, p. 37) Valls and Vergueiro (2006) pointed out that quality applications can cover number of interrelated aspects in the organization such as leadership, customer focus, environmental sustainability, management system, knowledge management, environmental sustainability, process approach and supplier relationship. International quality management body ISO has defined 8 quality criteria and meeting these criteria can help organizations to achieve quality excellence award. These quality criteria or applications can be defined as, 1- Customer focus- Proving service to customers which can meet or exceed the expectation of customers, 2- Leadership- achieving leadership position when it comes to qua lity management and guiding employees to maintain the leadership position, 3- People- proper utilization of human resources to ensure quality in the process, 4- Process- improving process flow to in order to enhance quality of the output, 5- System Approach- controlling interrelated process in order to improve quality of output, 6- Continual Improvement- sharing and managing knowledge within the organization in order to ensure sustainable growth, 7- Factual Decision- taking decision on the basis of facts and data driven manner and 8- Mutually Beneficial Relationship- providing mutual benefits to suppliers and other stakeholders (ISO, 2012). The researcher has already undergone the three case studies such as, 1- implementation of TQM in Florida International University- in this case study, the university has planned to implement TQM in order to improve quality of education and normal learning environment, 2- implementation of European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) in Royal College Surgeons in Ireland- the institute has already became member of EFQM in 2010 and the institute has implemented the

Judicial System of England and Wales Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Judicial System of England and Wales - Essay Example The constitutional law of UK consists of statute law and case law where court of judges apply judicial precedent by interpreting the statute.(www.ilex.org) The judicial system of England and Wales comprises only of 24.9% and 6.9% are from the minority ethnic groups. It is also reported that 15.8% of judges are women whereas 3.4% are from ethnic minorities group. (Adrian Jack, 2004) According to the data retrieved from General Bar Council for the year 2008, it is reported that there were 3772 female barristers out of 12,136 self employed bar comprising 31.1% of the total employment. Among women barristers, White Britons, Irish and other white people accounted to 2750 while there were 108 from Indian origin, 63 from Caribbean, 44 of Pakistan, 43 of African origin and remaining others were from other Asian countries. Black Minority Ethnic in the self employment category comprised of 10.6%.(The Bar Council) According to same source, it is known that 89% of the self employed barristers were white whereas 11% constituted the BME group which included 14% women barrister. Under the employed barrister council, 85% of the employees were white in respect of 15% of BME group. Totally there were 46% of women in employed barrister category whereas BME women constituted only 19% and men 12%. And according to the statistics published in Judiciary of England and Wales, it is reported that there are 3820 magistrates out of which 727 were women accounting to only 19.03% and 156 were from ethnic minority groups which constituted for another 4.08%. Ethnic minorities were largely found in Deputy District Judges (MC) with 12 magistrates out of 167 wherein women were 40 only. (www.judiciary.gov.uk) It is also revealed from the reports that out of total 3820 posts, 2970 were occupied by Whites out of which only 525 were occupied by women. In regard to ethnic minority groups, out of 156 posts occupied, 51 were women and 105 were men which can further clarified as 3% ethnics in males and 7% in females, overall constituting only 4% which is very low. (www.judiciary.gov.uk) The data published in the Judicial and Courts Statistics 2007 shows that the Justices of Peace (JPs) in UK in 1990 was 28,667 out of which 16,090 were men and 12,577 were women which increased to 29,419 in the year 2008 comprising of 14, 672 males and 14,747 female JPs. The data further shows that the appointment of women in the JPs has been significantly more than men from 1990 itself which stood at 1063 as compared to 996 for men out of 2059 appointments. The present data of 2008 stands at 1899 appointments overall out of which 972 women were appointed and the remaining were men. The statistics does not reveal the number of ethnic minorities appointed during this period.( Judicial and Court Statistics 2007) Out of total magistrates in post, 92.7% were Whites whereas Black and Asian constituted only 3.8% and 2.4% respectively. (www.judiciary.gov.uk) The above data speaks volume about the gender discrimination as well as racial discrimination if not taken into consideration the data of Ministry of Justice in regard to appointment of JPs. Need for certain changes - Judicial System Adrian Jack

Pastry chef jacques torres Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pastry chef jacques torres - Research Paper Example â€Å"Chef Jacques Torres†). He spent eight years under the guidance of French chef Jacques Maximin at Hotel Negresco. He used to attend the classes during his off time. After completing the classes, he was also trained at Cannes Culinary School. While he was working in the hotel, he had participated in various prestigious food events. He received various honors and awards such as he achieved gold medal from Japanese Pastry Chef Association as well as at French Championship of Desserts (Torres, â€Å"Jacques’ Early Years†). 2.0 Beginning and Earliest Jobs In France, Jacques Torres had worked in a bakery shop named La Frangiapane as a trainer. After completing his training for 2 years as a pastry trainer, he shifted his job in Hotel Negresco which was located at Nice, France. He worked there for 8 years. Subsequently, for a few years he had worked to earn his degree as Master Pastry Chef. In the year 1980, Jacques Torres was encouraged by the prestigious Ritz-Carl ton and motivated himself towards the US, first to Palm Spring followed by Atlanta. After that period he then moved to work as Pastry Chef in the kitchen of Le Cirque restaurant in New York. This was a reputed French restaurant (Culinary Schools. Org. â€Å"World-Class Pastry Chef: Chocolatier Jacques Torres†). He received honor of the Confederation of Japan. He then joined Ritz-Carlton hotels to work as corporate pastry chef. He also trained other chefs across the US. He used to conduct occasional classes of FCI during the year 1993 when he was working in Le Cirque. He taught classes twice a month and managed entire curriculum for improvement (Sailhac, A., â€Å"French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking†). In 1989, he was inveigled to Le Cirque. His regular job in Le Cirque was to serve celebrities, royals, clients and friends along with those who loved his creations. Success had come early for Jacques Torres due to his talent, dedication, and willpower to come up with â€Å"something new, something else, always, always†. It was always an assurance to offer sweet surprises from him. He offered ’champagne truffles’, ‘bars of chocolate’, ‘covered chocolates’, ‘items for weddings and events’, and also ‘Jacques Torres chocolates’ (Torres, â€Å"Great Chefs Jacques Torres†). 3.0 Current Business Jacques Torres was French chocolatier; he has become a well known chocolate entrepreneur after his extensive efforts in his work with restaurant industry. At present, the entrepreneur produces confections from chocolate crunch puffs to Champagne truffles. Nowadays, he makes both chocolate delicacies and produced chocolate from cocoa beans. He has created and sold his own line handcrafted chocolate as well as various others high-end confectionary products to his four factories and retail locations in New York along with retail enterprise in Atlantic City at Harrahâ€⠄¢s Casino (The Sun Winefest ’12, â€Å"About Jacques Torres†). He became owner of his own chocolate shops in the year 2000 by opening a modernized warehouse with a cobble stone street in DUMBO section of Brooklyn. Jacques Torres opened his second location featuring a state-of-the-art chocolate manufacturing plant. In this place, the customers can observe the process of transformation of cocoa bean to chocolate

Mangment 3000 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mangment 3000 - Essay Example The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is an important tool to assess the needs of the people. II. Providing adequate opportunity to the individual for showcasing his/her abilities, so that the individual is able to contribute to the best of his/ her ability towards the completion of the task and growth of the company. I consider the ‘recognition’ and ‘career development opportunities’ as the most valuable ones. If someone is able to accomplish the assigned task in a satisfactory manner and the management gives it due recognition, the manager personally congratulates the individual, then it proves quite helpful in boosting the motivational levels of the person. If such testimonials are followed by promotional opportunities, then it works wonders for the individual, the team, and of course the company. If the manager is aware about my preferences for doing good work, and he gives due consideration to my needs, this will certainly help in improving the interpersonal communication and mutual respect between employees and managers. My dominant needs are safety needs and self esteem needs. While working for the company having a decent pay package with reasonable assurance of job security results in boosting the self confidence of the individual. This in turn reflects on the manner in which the individual tries to implement the strategies and jobs assigned to him. Self respect is another key attribute which works up to the advantage of the worker. Nobody likes to work for the company if he is treated in a denigrating manner. These needs certainly help while functioning in a group. If we accord due respect to every team member, we are bound to get equal respect from each team member. This brings up the required team spirit for effective functioning of the group. It is worthwhile here to mention that a team is also composed of people with differing abilities, qualification and motivation levels. A cohesive team of highly motivated and

The Impact of Teenage Pregnancy Essay Example for Free

The Impact of Teenage Pregnancy Essay The reality TV series 16 and pregnant and Teen Mom are two great examples showing the everyday struggles of teenage pregnancy and a day in the life of a teenage mother. By no means do these two shows glorify teen pregnancy. Teens seem to think that they are inevitable and nothing will happen to them. All it takes is one time to have sexual intercourse to become pregnant. While being wrapped up in the excitement, lust, adrenaline, rush and at times even under the influence these young teens do not seem to think about the outcome that may occur from making the decision to partake in intercourse. The Big Brother sister Program has proved to steer children in the right direction, have a positive impact on these children and encourage these kids to be all they can be. The Big Sister program should address the issue of teen pregnancy by providing sexual education, guidance, free contraception and a respected role model to young females. Providing these teens with sexual education concerning the impact of teenage pregnancy regarding the wellbeing of a teen mother and child, loss of education, and the lack of parenting skills will influence young teens to make better decisions and teen pregnancy will decrease in our community. Teenage pregnancy may seriously impact the wellbeing of their child as well as themselves by not seeking proper medical care which may cause high blood pressure, anemia, toxemia, and Placenta Previa (Bodeeb 2011). Many teens do not even realize they are pregnant until about three or four months, Due to the fact that teens are unaware of the physical and internal changes the body makes to prepare a home in the womb for the baby. It is important for a mother to seek medical attention as soon as possible to make sure of a healthy pregnancy. The early stages of pregnancy are the most important. A mother needs to be aware of the pregnancy for such reasons as: taking prenatal vitamins, smoking cigarettes, drinking or any prescription taking while being pregnant (Bodeeb 2011). Those acts may cause serious long term birth defects and medical complications for the baby. Certain tests need to be performed while in the first few months of a pregnancy as well to make sure there are not any complications. At four months the Down syndrome test is performed on the child while in the womb. That is an issue that any mother would like to know about their unborn child so proper decisions can be made and the mother can find out where to go from then. Un Expecting bleeding may occur and a young mother may seem to think it is an abnormal period, but really it may be a miscarriage and if proper procedures aren’t taken it can result to the loss of the mother. A proper DNC must be performed. Teen pregnancy will be a challenge due to the fact that teens are not provided the skills that are needed to handle a pregnancy and mother hood. This may very well affect the wellbeing of the mother and the child. It is necessary for a teen mother to portray skills for pregnancy. Patience, maturity, and the ability to handle stress is a part of pregnancy. Pregnant teens are at more of a higher risk of postpartum depression syndrome, which starts after delivering the baby. According to CDC, girls who feel down and sad, either while pregnant or after birth should talk openly to someone they trust. Depression can absolutely interfere with taking care of a newborn (â€Å"Teen Pregnancy: Medical Risks and Realities†, 2005-2012). Postpartum depression affects many mothers life while trying to care for their child. This depression makes it hard for a mother to have the want or need to take care of their baby, cry consistently, and may cause the mother to shut herself out away from the rest of the world(†Teen Pregnancy :Medical Risks and Realities†, 2005-2012). Teens are at higher risk of this depression because they are less experienced, scared, the lack of social life and simply because they just do not know how to handle a helpless child depending on the young mother. Teens most of the time lack these skills to obtain a successful pregnancy. Bodeeb also states that according to The U. S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that babies born to teen mothers may have weaker intellectual development and may have on going medical complications. Babies born to teen mothers may have medical complications such as: The growth of the child, which is called premature birth. The earlier a baby is born the more risk there is of respiratory, digestive, vision, cognitive, and other problems (â€Å"Teen Pregnancy: Medical Risks and Realities†, 2005-2012). It is not easy attending high school while expecting a child, especially having to deal with being judged by classmates. Regardless if any teen mother is affected by the comments or snickering being made by the other students, it does not help the situation or make it any easier. These acts that occur all the time in school may cause the young mother to no longer want to attend school . Finding a sitter for the child is a burden because not all parents of a young mother are supportive of the situation. In some cases a young girl getting pregnant while still living at home and attending school may result in her getting thrown out of her home , which makes it even more complicated to attend classes. After having a child the mother is usually given six weeks for recovery and to spend time with the mother. The time missed by the student may result to failure of classes or getting behind. This is when most teens decide to not come back to school because they figure it is more of a hassle and simply do not know what to do. There are some high schools that have day cares located inside the school, but not all. It is a struggle for teens to put their child in day care, especially if they cannot find a job that will work around the school schedule and spending time with the baby. The government does provide assistance in child care but they do not pay for the whole thing. It was recently reported by CBS 2 News that Chicago’s South Side Paul Robenson High School has 115 girls who are pregnant out of 800 girls who attend the school (Roush, 2009). According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, teen pregnancy is not just local problem and birth rates have been rising during the past few years after more than a decade of decline (Roush, 2009). Soo Ji Min, executive director of the Illinois Caucus for adolescent Health, an organization that advocates for policies to promote sexual health and education among teens said that; the No child Left- behind is the culprit for eliminating sexual education in school. She claimed the lack of information in the schools led to the increase in teen pregnancies (Roush, 2009). If schools are teaching about abstinence and not giving teens the knowledge they need to know about sex and protection, these children are not receiving any information to protect themselves. To continue to discuss the importance of the statistics of pregnancy among teen girls and the impact on their education, less than half of young women who have had a child as a teenager go on to finish high school or let alone go on to pursue studies in college (Roush, 2009). It is becoming harder for anyone to find a job without a college education or nevertheless the bare minimum of a GED or diploma. Bill albert ,a chief Program officer of the National Campaign founded in 1996 to help women stated that; a teenage girl has a three in ten chance of becoming pregnant before turning 20 (Roush , 2009). Without saying adolescent mothers are bad mothers it is safe to say that young mothers lack the ability for proper parenting skills that will play a role in the impact of teen pregnancy on young mothers. The earlier stages of parenting behavior tend to occur from the risk process of stress. Diversion of attention away from socialization, urgent goals of providing shelter and substance, lack of social support, and lack of opportunities to enhance parenting skills all may contribute to the preventing difficulties faced by young mothers living in disadvantaged circumstances. Again these examples provided may be symptoms of postpartum depression syndrome. Teen mothers may simply face a barrier providing for their child and get discouraged in the process and tend to lead to the lack of judgment in providing for the child (Socio Economic Disadvantages and child Development pp185-204). Child parenting skills may consist of aggressive behavior from the child. If a child is acting out, simply unruly, often angry, gets in trouble in school, or defies the parents, these may be signs of aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior from the child is more likely to occur due to a teen having a child at such a young age (Socio Economic Disadvantages and Child Development pp185-204). A teen mothers harsh discipline strategies may also play a role in aggressive behavior from the child. It is hard for a child to discipline a child in the correct manner. In many cases young mothers tend to get overwhelmed and accidently hurt or abuse the child because they get frustrated. Just like their mothers the child of a teen is more likely to experience abuse and neglect and become pregnant as a teen as well (Cheour, 2011). In high school prom was a big deal, but if being pregnant during the occasion it may take away the memories and the pleasure of enjoying the high school experience. Time is limited with friends and sports are completely out of the option while being pregnant. Not only does a child need to remain a child with less stress as possible, there is no need for a young girl to carry the burden of having to take care of a helpless child when some of these teens can barely take care of themselves. The impact of teen pregnancy on young mothers is a more serious issue than some may seem to realize. The concern is of course in regards to a young adult having the proper education provided to decrease teen pregnancy, even if the issue may not be eliminated altogether. The children are our future and by bringing forth the Big sister program filled with volunteers that are willing to guide, assist in young teens making the right decisions, and simply just making a fun positive way of learning about safe sex the numbers of these pregnant girls in school have a chance to decrease. If this program only changes one young woman’s perspective and makes her realize the outcome that may occur from bringing a beautiful life into this world the goal will be accomplished.

The United States of America Essay Example for Free

The United States of America Essay A glimpse of the multiple experiences of the author truly negates the circumstance that the United States of America has undergone for the past years and at this moment in time. There were several occurrences that the citizens felt that there is a bit change the way the country’s system is running which positively affects their manner of living. As the author, Anthony Burgess touches quite a few areas of Politics and Religion in his masterpiece â€Å"Is America Falling Apart? † he provide his readers a sense of sensuality as regards to dealing life and accept the practical world of transformation hand in hand with an articulate connotation of being realistic not just have an animalistic point of views. Burgess started his inscription in such a straightforward approach of looking back to things he had experienced when he stayed for about a year in New Jersey, and now that he came home to Bracciano, he can’t help but notice a huge difference towards the system he perceived of proliferating the system of life and living a gay but practical existence. Given the fact that it was quite hard to tackle living in an unstable realm together with harsh approach of survival, the author still paved a way of appreciating what life could have been if there is something to look forward to, â€Å"the quality of life has nothing to do with the quantity of brand names, what matter is talk, family, cheap wine in an open air, the wrestling of minimal sweetness but of the long-known bitterness of living† (Burgess, 286). The Author extremely enlightens his readers on how the United States of America deals with life – and that is full of extravagant material things which sometimes not necessary in building a true meaning of living. It has been said that in a year or two, the possessions that we have could be easily replaced due to a very fast paced transition of what’s in and what’s hot and certainly, these material possession would leave us with nothing but just a temporary and fake notion of fame, â€Å"Let me stay for a while on this subject of consumption. American individualism, on the face of it an admirable philosophy, wishes to manifest itself in independence of the community. You don’t share things in common; you have your own things. A family’s strength is signalized by its possessions† (Burgess, 287). You can easily sense that the author wishes to embark with its readers the realization of what life is all about giving emphasis on the platform that the realm he had been for quite sometime shares a positive impact of being realistic. Not all our naked eyes can reach is imperative to adopt in our system, we also need to scrutinize things and know what we really need and not just coping with what we desire, â€Å"America made me develop new appetites in order to make proper use of the supermarkets† (Burgess, 287). Bits and pieces around us can truly fascinate our subsistence but it is still in our discretion on how we say no to what we believe is not essential for us. The author epitomized how such thing made him feel as to what extent his self discipline reaches his soul – a good point to consider in dealing with life in order to proliferate. As we grasp the first statement of Anthony Burgess in his first paragraph, noticeably, he was depressed as he brings to mind together with his arrival in Bracciano the negative atmosphere of an unstable Italian government and a disheartening mode of living, â€Å"I find the Italian government still unstable, gasoline more expensive than anywhere in the world, butches and bank clerks and tobacconist ready to go on strike† (Burgess, 286). But as we approach the second paragraph, he revived his negative statements as he tries to put some positive air of giving hope, â€Å"It is delightful to be back. People are underpaid but they go through an act of liking their work, the open market are luscious with esculent color, the community is more is more important than the state, the human condition is humorously accepted† (Burgess, 286). A fastidious alteration of a structure wherein the readers would not just suffer the feeling of depression but at the same time it gives hope to find courage in battling what life has to offer as well as what our nation has in store for us. The author’s chose of style mutually with the use of language tends to adopt unfathomable terminology which translate to its reader to go deep as well which leads them to have intense feelings as regard to the controversy of the subject matter, â€Å"Consumption, on one level, is turning insipid, especially as the quality of the artifacts themselves seem to be deteriorating. Planned obsolescence is not conducive to pride in workmanship† (Burgess, 288). The structure of the essay exemplifies a voice of echoing scream of transformation in lieu of the way the nation lead its people. Practically, the usage of comparison connotes a strong hold to the statement that would merely strike the emotions of its readers. The effectiveness of the arrival of syntax was such of great use in terms of embodying the premise of the author, â€Å"A character in Evelyn Waugh’s Put Out More Flags said that the difference between prewar and postwar life was that, prewar, if one thing went wrong the day was ruined: postwar, if one thing went right the day would be made. America is a prewar country, psychologically unprepared for one thing to go wrong. Now everything seems to be going wrong. Hence, the neurosis despair, the Kafka feeling that the whole marvelous fabric of American life is coming apart at the seams. Italy is used to everything going wrong. This is what the human condition is about† (Burgess, 287). Intensely, the Burgess conveys how America seems to approach the downfall if it wouldn’t responsible enough to prepare for what unexpected occurrence will come transversely. Analogous to this, the strength of the words seems to hit the heart of the readers as it is very unyielding as the author stresses how the norm of the United States of America seems to be alike with other nation, which in turn leaves a mark of doubt and fear if it really shares a positive impact, â€Å"America is no longer Europe’s daughter nor her rich stepmother; she is Europe’s sister. The agony that America is undergoing is not to be associated with breakdown so much with the parturition of self-knowledge† (Burgess, 290). The relentless insights of Anthony Burgess indeed provide an enormous impact to its reader. We cannot deny the fact that his masterpiece was truly a focal deliberation of passionate clamor for transformation and readiness to what may come at hand. He uses diverse area of discussion such as Religion, Politics and even Literature. â€Å"America was built on a rejection of the past. Even the basic Christianity which was brought to the continent in 1620 was of a novel and bizarre kind that would have nothing to do with great Rank River of belief that produced Dante and Michelangelo. America as a nation has never been able to settle to a common belief more sophisticated than the dangerous naivete of the Declaration of Independence† (Burgess, 289). It was believed that there was something far beyond producing money and proliferate the luxurious material possessions that the people have in their homes. There’s a lot to explore like that of the Religion that will give the people a strong faith which will help them better to achieve the abundance that they really want in their lives. Political arena comes to mind as well as Burgess stressed how powerful the United States of America had become during the past years which give them the height of admiration, â€Å"When Europe, after millennia of war, rapine, slavery, famine, intolerance, had sunk to the level of a sewer, America became the golden dreams, the Eden where innocence could be recovered† (Burgess, 289). Accordingly, as we have been saying all through out the paper, the hope that eventually, everything will be put in its proper place and that the transformation and change will be put into account, not just have a one track of doing what we want – doing what the leaders want in their realm – maybe then a bright day full of hopes and dreams will inspire every individual in the nation that they belong, as the literary text expound â€Å"Shakespeare’s period was one of poverty, unemployment, ghastly inflation, violence in the streets. Twenty-six years after his death there was a bloody civil war, followed by a dictatorship of religious fanatics, followed by a calm respite in which the seeds of a revolution were sown. England survived. America will survive† (Burgess, 290). Anthony Burgess gives us a very good way of enlightenment – a profound illumination for America to have a clamor for change as well as a vibrant implementation of platforms that they have in order to propagate their nation.

The 2012 Us Presidential Election Politics Essay

The 2012 Us Presidential Election Politics Essay With the 2012 United States presidential elections over, President Obama won a second term in office defeating Republican rival Governor Romney. The President won 332 electoral votes while the Governor won 206 (Huffington Post). This paper will look at why the election results occurred as they did. The key discussion will revolve on subjective grounds that take on a candidate centric approach as to why the votes fell as they did based on the candidates demeanours and their ability to appeal to voters through integrity, sincerity and leadership skills (Pika and Maltese 150). This election was very centrally focused on repairing the economy. In August 2012, a Gallup poll showed that Obama was receiving a 60% disapproval rating regarding the economy. Similar polls were conducted by other outlets that showed similar results (LoGiurato). With this disapproval, Governor Romney felt that running on an anti-Obamas economy platform would win him votes. His strategy included criticizing Obamas handling of the economy and making himself appear as the better candidate for the handling of a fragmenting economy after Obama had four years to prove that he could mend it after the large deficit left by the Bush Administration (Gabriel). However, voters were incredibly suspicious of Romney. Despite his plea for votes based on a fragmenting economy, there were other factors that made him appear untrustworthy and unrelatable in the eyes of American voters, specifically the middle class and minority groups. This includes: shifting positions, constant gaffes that made voters question Romneys sincerity and a new and unprecedented GOP extremism that reflected poorly on the Governor (Weisberg). These factors all weighed against Romney and made Obama appear as the safer choice despite economy disapproval. In Americas past, incumbent presidents lost the election because of poor economic performance (Carter, Bush Sr.) (Abramson et al. 177). Although people were looking for economic and jo b change (Jones), they did not feel that Romney was a trusted and reliable candidate. American voters felt safer with Obama as the president. Before discussing why Romney lost the 2012 election, it is also relevant to discuss factors as to why Obama won a second term in the 2012 election. In 2008, Obama won 365 electoral votes (Mayhew 200). Although the votes were less for the 2012 election, his victory then managed to carry on to another successful term, with similar demographics voting for the president again. These demographics include: African Americans, Hispanics, women and youth (Abramson 118). These are also the same groups that were least likely to vote for Governor Romney which will be discussed later on. These groups may not have entirely approved of Obamas record but did not feel that Romney was a better choice. The President won over 90% of the black vote in both the 2008 (ibid.) and 2012 election. History shows that most African Americans vote Democratic in elections however Romney appeared particularly unpopular amongst this group, more so than former Republican candidates like John McCain and George W. Bush. This may be due to the recent accusations of racism seen in the GOP. These accusations may be based on possibly racist statements that Republicans made throughout the election (Rosenberg). Such accusations are based on incidents like Republicans implying that the President was born in Kenya, Romneys Welfare Ad that appeared to attack poor black people and the proposal of voter ID laws that would require voters to show ID with an address on it, like a drivers licence. The Brennan Centre for Justice noted that African Americans have drivers licenses at half the rate of whites. This would make it easy to suppress African Americans from voting, likely for Obama (ibid). In fact, after the election was over, former and current Florida GOP leaders admitted that the voter ID laws were meant to suppress black voters from voting for the Democrats (Palm Beach Post). Obama also captured about 70% of the Hispanic vote, nationwide. Two key issues that were important to Hispanics appeared to be the economy and immigration. Many did not approve of Obamas record on either but felt he was the safer choice. With regards to immigration, Obama deported a record number of illegal immigrants during his term (Preston). However, he also implemented DACA and vowed to continue to support the DREAM Act, both acts would provide amnesty for young illegal immigrants in school or in the military. The impreMedia and Latino Decisions polls showed that 60% of Hispanic-Obama supporters knew an illegal immigrant and felt Obama was the better choice for their road to legality (Foley). Romney appeared to be severely conservative towards the issue of illegal immigration during the Primaries. His statement regarding self deportation for illegal immigrants is something that tarnished his attempted image as an immigrant-friendly candidate along with vowing to veto the DREAM Ac t (ibid.). Although he tried to move away from the self deportation statement once he secured the nomination, it was not forgotten by both voters and the President (ex. Obama referenced this during the second presidential debate when a question was raised about illegal immigration reform) (Boroff and Planas). Hispanics cite this as a reason for why they did not vote for the Governor. Another group that Obama overwhelmingly won over were women. Obama was extremely popular amongst this group, as he was seen as the pro-woman candidate. Romney was seen as being out of touch with women which made women back Obama even more. Romneys was anti-abortion, vowed to overturn Roe v. Wade and planned to cut insurance coverage to contraception (Brokes). Obama also spent time discussing equal pay for women and signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009 (White House Blog), an Act that Romneys running mate Paul Ryan rejected which may have also contributed to the lost womens vote. Governor Romney tried to appear as the pro-woman candidate during the second presidential debate by sharing an anecdote about the lack of women working in his cabinet in Massachusetts (despite that the question was regarding equal pay for women) and stating that he would not deny access to contraceptives for women (ABC News). These statements did not help the Governor gain much momentum as many pro- women groups, like We Are Woman and Planned Parenthood (WAW) were already latched onto re-electing Obama. The last demographic to add momentum to Obamas presidential victory were youth. This was a key demographic in helping Obama win his first term and it helped again. Obamas celebrity status may have helped with this group particularly because Obama was endorsed by many liberal Hollywood icons that youth may be familiar with and may be swayed by their opinion such as singers and actors. Obamas appearance in pop culture, like magazines and talk shows, made him popular amongst youth who saw him as a charismatic, young and cool Democrat who promised change and fresh ideas post-Bush (Pika and Maltese 189). Obamas ability to communicate and relate with youth garnered him votes in both elections and this ability to entice an audience, like a room full of college students, was seen as Obamas biggest asset (ibid). Romneys commitment to creating more jobs is what may have gained him some popularity amongst youth who would be looking for jobs when they finish school but it was not enough to pull ahead of Obamas own promise of job creation, to keep student loan interest rates low and his ability to captivate an audience with the same factors as he did in 2008 (ABC News). It is also important to cite Obamas achievements during his term for why he won a second term in the office. Some of Obamas biggest achievements include the following: signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, bailing out the auto industry, sending out the order to kill Bin Laden, ended the war in Iraq, passing health care reform and passing the Stimulus (Glastris et al.). While many people felt Obama was merely the better choice over Romney, Obamas achievements are also credited for reasons he won a second term in office. Romneys lost Presidential bid can be partially blamed on his inconsistencies and flip flops. When Romney was running for the Republican candidacy during the Primaries, he had to claim to be severely Conservative despite being a moderate governor in Massachusetts (Fahrenthold). This ability to appear severely Conservative won him the GOP nomination amongst a growing right wing extremism within the GOP (will be discussed later) but did not make him popular amongst the general voting population. Romney attempted to redefine himself as a moderate in order to please the general audience. However, in front of the GOP he would revert back to being very right wing on social and economic policies. Despite his attempts to move to the centre, especially during the debates, Obama and social media made this extremely difficult. Obama ran many ads that challenged Romneys flip flopping (ex. Romnesia speech) and a growing usage of social media made it difficult for people to forget Romneys changing positions. What would have otherwise been yesterdays news usually became a viral topic on the internet for weeks. Such flip flops that may have hurt Romneys image thus costing him the election include the following: including abortion legislation in his agenda (vowed to repeal Roe v. Wade and de-fund Planned Parenthood) but stated in a key swing state, Iowa, that theres no legislation with regards to abortion that Im familiar with that would become part of my agenda. He also changed positions on health care (from the time he was Governor to his run for president) (NY Times), and changed positions on immigration reform, support for gun control laws and his secretive tax plans from when he was running for the Republican nomination to when he was running for the President in order to appear more moderate (Westen). However, because people did not forget his statements, mostly due to the easy ability to circulate and find information on the internet, Romney appeared to be extremely insin cere in his statements. These inconsistencies made it difficult for Americans to understand who Romney truly was thus he was seen as highly untrustworthy and Americans feared of what he would actually do if he got into office (NY Times). Similar to the reasoning above regarding Romneys loss, his campaign was full of gaffes that weakened his image as a potential president and made it difficult for Americans to relate to him and imagine him as a sincere and relatable president (ibid). Citizens saw Romney as a rich business man who was mostly concerned about the wealthiest 1% of the population and who did not seem interested in the rest of the population. Political strategist James Carville explains that Romneys gaffes were most damaging to him because they confirmed who people thought he was (Dickinson) He goes on to explain that this is the worst thing that can happen to a politician, to confirm negative popular beliefs about that politician thus hurting their image (ibid.). One gaffe that confirmed peoples potentially negative beliefs about Romney was the 47% comment made in front of private donors. Romney essentially ruled out 47% of the voting population as potential voters and appeared apathetic towards their need s because he claimed that they were dependent on government and their services, something Romney did not support (ibid.). He felt that they would vote for Obama because he was seen as the president who supported dependency, according to Romney, thus did not feel he had to cater to them (Rosenberg). This comment, like his flip flops, went viral on the internet thus making it difficult for people to forget the statement. Like Carville explained, it confirmed peoples belief that Romney was unrelatable and apathetic towards the middle class (Dickinson) therefore gaining more momentum for Obama, a candidate that people saw as more sincere and relatable than Romney. Obamas ability to charm and captivate an audience helped him win the presidency again. Romneys apathy and insincere behaviour towards the middle class, and especially minority groups, who found it particularly difficult to relate to him, lost him votes that likely went towards the President, the candidate who appeared more rel atable to the average American. Another reason that may explain Romneys inability to win the Presidency is that he was never truly the popular choice for the Republican nomination. Before election night, Westen stated that if Romney did lose the election, it would be because Romney was not very appealing to the base (Westen). Romney did not appear to be popular amongst Republicans. He ran for Republican nominee in 2008 and lost. In this election, his name was not mentioned early in the race as a popular choice for president the way other names were mentioned, like Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie. According to CBS, 58% of Republicans wanted more choices. This essentially means that 58% of Republicans likely were not satisfied with Governor Romney as the Republican nominee but wanted Obama out of office regardless of who the other option was (Montopoli). This dislike for Romney may be due to his moderate positions as a Governor. However, because of the GOPs extremism, Romney had to change positions and appear to be more conservative than he actually was in the past. James Carville explains that if Romney had run as a moderate, he would not have made it past the primaries (Dickinson). This conservatism may have gained him some popularity amongst very rightist Republicans however this popularity likely shrunk when he began to move to the centre. Romneys strategy to adapt to whatever the voters wanted him to be made him unfavourable amongst the GOP and amongst the general voting population. The GOP saw that he became a moderate and the general population saw what he was during the primaries and questioned his sincerity on his positions. The last and possibly most critical reason that Romney lost the Presidency against incumbent Obama was because of the new and growing extremism of the Republican Party and a general distaste for Republicans altogether. Political Scientist Renford Reese called this election one that was winnable for the Republicans. The economy was in bad shape and the unemployment rate is at 8%. Many who voted for Obama in 2008 were disappointed in his performance over the past 4 years in office. However, because of this growing conservative extremism of the party that got the best of Romney, he lost the election (Reese). The party is seen to be losing touch with the middle class. It continues to appear to cater to the wealthiest of the population and appears uninterested in minority groups. The primaries essentially consisted of a negative anti-Obama sentiment and discussions of being against various social issues in a context that seems outdated. This includes anti-gay, anti-womens rights, anti-imm igration, anti-minority, anti-welfare, anti-health care reform, anti-global warming, anti-unions, and anti-education (Reese). This growing extremism of the GOP makes their voting population very narrow and makes them appear unelectable. In order to win the base, Romney had to have been in agreement with most of these named positions whether it was sincere or not (Dickinson). The candidates who did not take on such extreme positions, like Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul, did not stand a chance in winning the Republican nomination. Romney was not certain of his nomination early on, so his severe conservatism had to be dragged out long enough to ensure it which hurt his strategy of smoothly moving to the centre. Once he began to do it, it was too late as Obama had already latched onto his extreme statements and used them against Romney in ads and debates (Weisberg). Further hurting his transition to the middle were various Republicans who constantly made statements that made the GOP appear d istasteful. This includes Missouris Todd Akin and Indianas Richard Mourdock whose statements on legitimate rape and pregnancy from rape being Gods will continued to make the GOP appear anti-womens rights (ibid.). Both men lost their seats, reflecting what voters thought about their obscure statements. Moreover, Arizonas immigration laws that appeared to endorse racial profiling and the proposed voting laws that would suppress African American voters also reflected poorly on the GOP, making them appear racist (Reese). There will always be Americans who vote Democrat and Americans who always vote Republican. However, it is the swing voters who matter most. If the GOP hopes to win the 2016 election they must reassess their party and produce candidates who can relate to the general population and who do not take on such extreme (and often religious) positions. James Carville, who served as Bill Clintons political strategist at the time of his Presidential bid, notes that the Democrats w ere losing the popular vote for 20 years. Clinton came along and ran as a centrist presidential candidate and won (Dickinson). This is what the Republicans need to do. They must step away from this growing extremism towards religion and social positions and take on moderate positions that can appeal to an ever growing diverse nation where white-males are no longer the only Americans they feel they need to appeal to (Reese). Only then may they have a chance at winning in 2016. People were looking for change after Obama with a fragmenting economy, but they did not feel safe with Romney (Jones). Governor Romney may have had a chance at winning the Presidency had he initially ran as a moderate however he would have had no shot at winning the primaries. The growing disconnects between the GOP and the voting population is increasing and it was responsible for Romney losing the election. Romney had to appear severely conservative (Fahrenthold) in order to win the nomination but attempted to appear moderate after that in order to win over the general population. However, Obama made this difficult for him when he and his staff latched onto obscure statements made by the governor, such as the 47% comment and his support for self deportation (Dickinson) and used them against him in debates and ads thus reminding the voters of what Romney was like during the primaries, someone unrelatable to the average American. On top of that, Obama used the same popularity and hyp e he received from the 2008 election to win over similar demographics in this election. This includes African Americans, Hispanics, women and youth (Abramson 118). These are the same groups that did not vote for Romney. They essentially all felt disconnected with Romney and were afraid of what his presidency would bring. They felt safer with Obama. Romneys constant flip flopping and gaffes made him look uninterested and distrusted to the population (NY Times). He did not come off as a sincere candidate rather he came off as a politician who would say anything to please voters. Now that Romney had led two unsuccessful presidential bids, the GOP must reorganize themselves and use the strategy that Clinton used to win the presidency as a Democrat: start and stay in the centre (Dickinson). Obama won a second term because of his charisma and his successes in his first term but most importantly because voters felt safer with him as President as opposed to a nominee who said anything to pl ease the population and who came off as distrusted and unable to connect with the average American. Citations Abramson, Paul, John Aldrich and David Rohde. Change and Continuity in the 2008 and 2010 Elections. Washington, DC: CQ, 2012. Boroff, David, and Rogue Planas. Romney Says He Favors self-deportation' New York Daily News. 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. . Brockes, Emma. Why Obama Won the Womens Vote. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2012. . Dickinson, Tim. How President Obama Won a Second Term. Rolling Stone. 23 Nov. 2012. . EDITORIAL; The Moderate Mitt Myth. The New York Times. 13 Oct. 2012. . Election Results. The Huffington Post. 19 Nov. 2012. . Fahrenthold, David A. Mitt Romney Reframes Himself as a severely Conservative Governor. Washington Post. 17 Feb. 2012. . Foley, Elise. Latino Voters In Election 2012 Help Sweep Obama To Reelection. The Huffington Post. 07 Nov. 2012. . Former Florida GOP Leaders Say Voter Suppression Was Reason They Pushed New Election Law. The Palm Beach Post. 25 Nov. 2012. . Gabriel, Trip. Romney Blasts Obama as a Failure on the Economy. The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 July 2011. . Glastris, Paul. Obamas Top 50 Accomplishments. The Washington Monthly. Mar.-Apr. 2012. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2012/features/obamas_top_50_accomplishments035755.php?page=1>. Jones, Jeffrey. Economy Is Paramount Issue to U.S. Voters. Economy Is Paramount Issue to U.S. Voters. 29 Feb. 2012. . LoGiurato, Brett. Obamas Approval Ratings On Economic Issues Are Miserable. Business Insider. 16 Aug. 2012. . Montopoli, Brian. Poll: 58% of Republicans Want More Presidential Choices. CBS News. 9 Jan. 2012. . Pika, Joseph, and John Maltese. The Politics of the Presidency. Washington, DC: CQ, 2012. Preston, Julia. Record Number of Foreigners Were Deported in 2011, Officials Say. New York Times. 7 Sept. 2012. . Reese, Renford. Opinion: GOP Extremism Killed Romneys Chances. Daily News. 7 Nov. 2012. . Rosenberg, Paul. The Racist Nature of the Republican Partys Most Effective Lies. Al Jazeera. 6 Sept. 2012. . Second Presidential Debate Full Transcript. ABC News. 17 Oct. 2012. . Slack, Megan. From the Archives: President Obama Signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. From the Archives: President Obama Signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. 30 Jan. 2012. . We Are Woman. We Are Woman. . Weisberg, Jacob. Why Romney Lost. The Financial Times. N.p., 7 Nov. 2012. . Westen, Drew. Americas Leftward Tilt? The New York Times. N.p., 3 Nov. 2012. .

Claudius, the Bad Guy in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- Shakespeare Ham

Claudius the Bad Guy in Hamlet  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   This essay will thoroughly delineate the character of King Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, show his place in the drama, and interpret his character -- with the assistance of literary critics.    Philip Burton in â€Å"Hamlet† discusses Claudius’ sudden rise to the Danish throne upon the death of King Hamlet I:    The fact that Claudius has become king is not really surprising. Only late in the play does Hamlet complain that his uncle had "popped in between the election and my hopes." The country had been in a nervous state expecting an invasion by young Fortinbras, at the head of a lawless band of adventurers, in revenge for his father’s death at the hands of King Hamlet. A strong new king was immediately needed; the election of Claudius, particularly in the absence of Hamlet, was inevitable. What is more, it was immediately justified, because Claudius manages to dispel the threat of invasion by appealing to the King of Norway to curb his nephew, Fortinbras; the ambitious young soldier was the more ready to cancel the projected invasion because the object of his revenge, Hamlet’s father, was now dead, and in return he received free passage through Denmark to fight against Poland (Burton).    The drama opens after Hamlet has just returned from Wittenberg, England, where he has been a student. What brought him home was the news of his father’s death and his uncle’s accession to the throne of Denmark. Hamlet has also learned the disturbing news of the new king’s â€Å"o’erhasty marriage† to Hamlet I’s wife less than two month’s after the funeral. It would seem initially that Gertrude, rather than Claudius, is to blame for the protagonist’s â€Å"violent emotions† (Smith 80); thus ... ...et.htm    Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Lectures and Notes on Shakspere and Other English Poets. London : George Bell and Sons, 1904. p. 342-368. http://ds.dial.pipex.com/thomas_larque/ham1-col.htm    Faucit, Helena (Lady Martin). On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters. 6th ed. London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1899.    Jorgensen, Paul A. â€Å"Hamlet.† William Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publ., 1985. N. pag. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/jorg-hamlet.html    Mack, Maynard. â€Å"The World of Hamlet.† Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.   

Free Essays: Comparison of Beowulf and The Seafarer :: comparison compare contrast essays

A Comparison of Beowulf and The Seafarer    Beowulf and The Seafarer  Ã‚   In a comparison between â€Å"Beowulf† and â€Å"The Seafarer† one finds two contrasting beliefs in fate and the sea from the story’s main characters. Beowulf is resigned to fate and is humble before the force of the sea, while The Seafarer is fearful of the powers of fate and the sea and is unwilling to accept them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though the actions and thoughts of Beowulf give him a god-like appearance in the story he believes that God and fate work together. He boasts of his encounters with devilish sea creatures saying, â€Å"I treated them politely,/ Offering the edge of my razor-sharp sword.† This strong statement reveals Beowulf’s divine and invulnerable self-confidence. To Beowulf, â€Å"Fate saves/ The living when they drive away death by themselves.† Beowulf is compelled to observe fate but does not feel it should completely rule him. He allows fate to direct his life, but not govern his actions. A display of Beowulf’s belief in fate is evident when he says, â€Å"Fate will unwind as it must.†Ã‚   Meaning, there is a master plan to the world with which he must live.   When Unferth taunts him, Beowulf replies by questioning Unferth’s manhood and makes a fool of him in front of everyone.   Boasting, â€Å"Neither he nor you can match me.† Though he tests fate, he has a more fearful respect for the sea.   He knows its power from his race with Brecca. The seas were dark and harsh, but he remained humble and ventured through the murky waters because of this respect.   As a contrast to Beowulf’s beliefs, the Seafarer feels that fate destroys all and takes everything away. Fate is an all mighty power to him and no man can control it, no matter what he does. â€Å"†Fate is stronger/ And God mightier than any man’s mind.† This shows the Seafarers fearful surrender to these unearthly powers. â€Å"Wondering what fate has willed and will do.† Yet with all this fear and sorrow he does not accept it, but rather wills it away. He is afraid of its power and ability to be stronger than any man. Though he fears fate he is ambivalent toward the sea. This indecisiveness is so overpowering it has taken over his life. While ashore, safe and secure visiting his favorite mead hall, he longs for the embrace of the sea.

Describing The Obelisk :: Egypt Monuments Essays

Describing The Obelisk Whether you are driving past it on the freeway or it catches your eye as you leave the movie theater, the obelisk that stands in front of the Irvine Spectrum Center is a commanding sight to see. The 50-foot high fiber optic wonder is an impressive display of ancient shape and modern technology. During the evening hours, the needle rhythmically fades from one color to another, changing shades and hues. In daylight, it is a gleaming white beacon to all who look on. It is the identifying feature of a large business center know as the Irvine Spectrum. It is located where the 5 and 405 freeways connect in Irvine. This plaza contains a diversity of shops and restaurants, as well as commercial and business buildings. It is also the site if the Edwards 21 Cinema Complex and Edwards Imax 3-D Theater. Irvine Spectrum is surrounded by expanses of land that have yet to be developed, or are undergoing preliminary steps of development. This center is used by both young and old who shop, eat, and w ork there. Many people go to the Irvine Spectrum for the sole purpose of visiting the most technologically advanced movie theater in the world - the Edwards Imax 3-D Theater. I believe that this attraction is one of the main reasons the obelisk stands in front of the complex. When The Irvine Company, the development firm which built Irvine Spectrum, decided to have this one of a kind theater located at Irvine Spectrum, I think they were searching for something which would represent the grandeur of the new attraction. I believe the obelisk is that something. The stately shape is easily identifiable as one that has endured the test of time, while the advanced fiber-optics which cover the surface add new-age technology to ancient symbolism. The combination of these two factors into the structure of the obelisk parallels the theater because both are classics with a new twist. The obelisk, however, also parallels its counterparts from thousands of years ago. From the remains of great civilizations of the past, obelisks are found to be one of the most easily identifiable monuments of all.

Myer Holdings Limited (Myer)

Prospective analysis – forecast The previous reports have already approached the industry and financial analysis of Myer. This report will analyze the forecast, valuation and application of Myer, including forecasting the major data, valuating share price under four model and discussing the opportunity and challenge of Myer. 1. Forecast sales growth rate As one of the most important indicators, sales can reflect directly Myer’s financial performance and influence other indicators. Therefore, the forecast of sales growth rate is the foundation for forecasting Myer.Based on the previous annual reports from 2007 to 2011, Myer’s sales are not optimistic and the average growth rate is negative 2. 89%. The decline of both global economy and purchase power of consumers in Australia will lead to the depression of whole industry and unsatisfied performance of Myer in 2012. Additionally, growth of 20% online shopping shows that more and more consumers prefer to purchase on line instead of in the shops . Therefore, negative 1% of sales growth rate for Myer can be assumed in 2012. However, Australia would have a weakening global economy impact and have strong national growth in the future .According to IMF, Australian economy growth rate is expected up to 3. 5% in 2013 . Considering the previous performance of Myer, 2% of growth rate can be assumed for 2013. After that, 3% of growth rate can be assumed from 2014 to 2017 and the sales would approximately even to 2007. (See below chart) Previous years ‘00020072008200920102011Average rate Sales3,002,3532,940,3312,798,9162,825,0342,666,803? sales growth? -2. 07%-4. 81%0. 93%-5. 60%-2. 89% Future years ?2011201220132014201520162017 Sales growth? -1%2%3%3%3%3% 2. Forecast ATO & calculate NOAAccording to the past five years’ data, Myer’s Assets Turnover ratio (ATO) declined slowly following the decrease of sales, apart from 2011 down quickly. Therefore, the average rate 2. 05 can be used to predict the future years. (See below chart) ? 20072008200920102011Average rate ATO2. 02 2. 282. 152. 001. 772. 05 3. Forecast PM & calculate NOPAT Profit Margin (PM) is another important indicator in forecasting Myer’s performance. This indicator relates between the sales and cost of goods sold and operating costs. The competition in retail industry is stronger than before.That means through increasing sales or decrease COS to increase PM is more difficult. The change of PM fluctuated markedly in the last five years. In order to fairly predict the data, the average of 7. 5% can be used as the future PM growth rate. (See below chart) ? 20072008200920102011Average rate profit margin4. 7%13. 4%4. 9%7. 8%6. 6%7. 5% 4. Forecast net dividend payout Dividend payout is a significant indicator to influence share price. Therefore, estimating this rate means the people can determine Myer whether focuses on benefiting shareholders and beautifies share price or not.According to the past 5 years, only 3 years Myer paid dividends. After calculation, the average rate based on 3 years is 45% and 5 years is 27%. However, 27% is too low for shareholders if Myer earn more profit base on the forecast. In addition, most of dividends payout is higher than 50%. Therefore, the forecasting dividend payout rate is estimated by 45%. (See below chart) ? 20072008200920102011Average rate(3yrs)Average rate(5yrs) Dividend0%50%0%28%59%45%27% 5. Forecast cost of debt and debt balance Basically, cost of debt means the expense of liabilities.Determining the cost of debt is as well as setting up the financial structure such as how much debt Myer plan to borrow. According to the previous data, Myer repaid a huge amount of debt in 2010 and led to the cost up and net debt down. However, the debt did not rise up again and kept the similar level as 2010. Therefore, concerning about the cost of debt, the average of 10. 75% seems more reasonable to predict the future. (See below chart) ? 20072008 200920102011Average rate % cost of debt6. 25%6. 41%6. 36%30. 31%4. 41%10. 75% net debt (ND)928,503 856,242 904,258 414,574 457,362 ?Prospective – Valuation Four methods are used to valuate Myer, DDM, DAE, DAOE and DCF. In addition, two ways are used to determine cost of capital, which are CAPM and WACC. In CAPM model, risk-free rate, risk premium rate and ? are assumed separately 4. 5%, 6. 5% and 1. 1. It is not easy to determine ? because it changes every day. Assuming 1. 1 for? means the fluctuation of Myer share price is a little stronger than the market but not too much . Therefore, cost of capital (Re) is calculated by the formula and equals to 11. 65%. This Re is used in DDM and DAE. In WACC model, because Re is 11. 5%, Rf is calculated by formula and equals to 11. 43%. This Rf is used in DAOE and DCF. The share price is calculated by these 4 different models. (See below chart) ModelForecast Share price in 2012 DDM1. 7423 DAE2. 4548 DAOE2. 5603 DCF2. 5603 DDM is influen ced strongly by dividends because this model uses dividends to calculate value of shares. If the company does not pay dividends, the share price would be lower. Myer is estimated to pay dividends in 45% and the share price closes to market share price. (See below chart) DateLast % Change High Low Vol * 24 Oct 20121. 950-1. 27% 1. 621. 9306,259,477 This model is easy to understand Myer’s business conditions. However, this is affected by dividends too much and dividends are not always linking the value creation , the valuation model seems very limited. Obviously, this cannot reflect the Myer’s real value and conditions. Additionally, compared to DDM, DAE involves in other indicator abnormal earnings to value Myer share price and is better to present Myer’s conditions. Myer share price in DAE is higher than DDM because it reflects book value of equity and PV of future abnormal earnings to add share value.Therefore, this is more close to the real performance of Myer . Also, DAOE model is similar with DAE apart from that DAOE focuses on the equity which is determined by operating abnormal earnings. This eliminates the influence of Myer’s financial activities to calculate abnormal earnings. However, Myer’s financial value has been added to the equity finally. Therefore, this can reflect Myer’s condition in operating. Finally, DCF model focuses on cash flow which results in the equity increases. Usually, it can get the same share price with DAOE, but does not affected by accounting rules.However, investments are treated as losses for cash flow, which can bring more future benefits to Myer. Therefore, if Myer plans to use investments to produce free cash flow, then this model is very close Myer’s real conditions. Prospective – Sensitivity On one side, Myer is department store and compete in retail industry. Seasonality is more significant aspect in retail industry. The boom seasons for Myer are the end of financia l year and Christmas holidays. Also, the weather, new products in season or other factors are the aspects which Myer is sensitive.On the other side, according to Appendix 4, the four models of sensitivity can be analyzed. For the indicators of sales, ATO, dividend payout, DDM is the most sensitive, while DCF and DAOE are not sensitive. However, DDM is not sensitive in debt, while DCF and DAOE are most sensitive. Application Opportunities According to the forecast analysis and valuation, Myer has some possible opportunities to improve herself and get rid of the difficult conditions although the depression of condition expands the whole retail industry. Myer is predicted to pay more dividends to their shareholders in forecast analysis.This will addict more investor to buy shares and this can push the share price to rise up. Also, the book value of equity for Myer can be increased and this leads to no one can buy Myer’s share lower than book value. Therefore, a higher merger val ue or acquisition value can be created. Eventually, Myer will get more capital to investment. Therefore, Myer has an opportunity to invest this implemental capital. Concerning about the future economy, Australia will have strong domestic economy increase . As a result, Australian consumption and requirement will be up.Therefore, keeping and maintaining domestic consumers are still the main tasks for Myer. With the online shopping eroded the traditional shopping stores, Myer should improve their online shopping services, such as beautifying and making it convenient for customers. Myer’s CEO announced they would launch a new â€Å"omni-channel† service to stimulate consumers shop online . Obviously, Myer has already recognized online shopping is the main method to regain market share. Additionally, expanding the overseas market seems a good lamb for Myer to increase profit.Recently, Australia government has signed two Free Trade Agreement negotiations with China and Japa n separately. This provides a firm foundation to encourage more foreign investments between Australia and both of countries . Therefore, Myer can be provided more supports to invest in China and Japan. There are three reasons for Myer to choose China rather than Japan to set up the first overseas branch. Firstly, 1. 34 billion of China population is more stable for consumption foundation than 127million of Japan . Secondly, the advantage of exchange can provide more benefits for Myer to invest in overseas.Thirdly, more products of Myer are produced by China; therefore, setting up branch in china can save the delivery cost and tax. Challenges Although Myer’s forecasting is more profitable, it still has a potential challenge for borrowings. First of all, the purpose of loan for Myer may be to expand its shops or update its online shopping. These have more chances to be long-term debts instead of short-term debts. However, when they are in the lack of cash flows, Myer may pay di vidends through borrowings. Although this can be short-term debts, it is not for earning profit.Therefore, both of these are risky for debtors. Secondly, the figure shows that Myer would not plan to increase its financial expenses. That may be Myer prefer to get more funds from shareholders and her own operates rather than debts. This looks lower risky than people’s anticipation while it also means Myer would slow the repayment of debt and the previous debt risky will be raised up. Thirdly, the steady growth rate of dividend payout shows Myer would pay more dividends to benefit their shareholders when they earn more money instead of pay the debt or reinvest.In other words, Myer prefer has more long-term debt than short-term debt and maybe the benefits will be impaired. Therefore, the debt’s risk of Myer tends to be increased by Myer’s trend. Fourthly, the debt leverage looks healthy. However, the decrease of debt leverage is because not only the debt decreases, but also the net operating assets increase. Above all, Myer probably has problem when debt from debtors. Therefore, a detailed loan structure should be planned to make debtor have more confidence and willing to borrow money to Myer.This loan structure need to concern about the percentage of debt and equity for Myer. Also, the percentage of long-term debt and short-term debt should be considered. In addition, the purposes of debt need to be clear, easy to understand and report to debtors and shareholders. Conclusion To sum up, these analyses are really useful to approach Myer’s conditions and performance, and also can give some particular information through valuation. However, there are not perfect analyses; people still need to look for more effective analyses to value the firm.

Politics and Development in Asia

1. In what political respects is the developing world truly developing, and in what significant parts of it are not? Discuss and substantiate by giving examples (Focus: Asia)In understanding political developments in Asia, being the bulk of the world’s developing nations, I begin this paper by looking at the historical developments that have largely shaped and defined the Asian nations. More importantly I focus on the Southeast Asian region of the continent due to its diversity as well as the pervading regional cooperation that has directly affected, if not impacted other Asian countries during the years after World War II. Secondly I would draw three distinctions of how developing nations are truly developing with respects to three vital political areas, mainly: the functions of the government, the electoral process and the participation of civil society. These three aspects would focus on how developing nations in Asia have managed to progress politically after its democracy was established.Historical OverviewGeographically speaking the Asian continent spans 17 million square kilometers and is home to a population of over 4 billion people. In the past 60 or so years it has largely been host to over a dozen developing nations such as: the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and also to progressive developing or developed nations as well. This balance between developing and developed nations is attributed to the influences and a country’s experience under colonial rule. During this era, Europeans believed that Asians were largely backward both socially and economically and only served for the economic enhancement of its parent nation (Charskykh, 2005), more importantly the locals in these countries served the purpose of being the labor force of their colonial masters. It was through this labor and various instances of social, physical and mental discrimination that many of the Asian countries that had been colonized were f orced to revolt.This sense of nationalism, even at its most infantile  stages (as seen in Philippine society) had helped to consolidate and unify the different levels of society to enact political change that would help in the betterment of the country. Revolution being the catalyst for political change in Asia has helped foster the spread of independent governments, however it can also be said that revolution wasn’t the only catalyst for the development of early political change in the region.It was during the events that occurred after World War II—the Cold War—that further changed the political landscape of the Asian region, the age of multi-polarity in Richard Haas’ article on The Age of Non-polarity (2008) draws a distinction that countries were further developed wherein power of two sovereign nations (the United States and the USSR) helped numerous Asian countries as a means of spreading ideological and political attitudes among different countrie s. The age of non-polarity as well as the effects of the Cold War helped to consolidate and change the different Asian countries political institutions, structures and the very mechanisms, which are evident in today’s countries.Political DevelopmentIt can be said that countries in Asia, seeing from the events or circumstances that had shaped it historically, is seen as a progressive continent host to many of the world’s developing nations. In recent years, Asia has played a large role in defining East-West relations both politically and economically. With the growing influence and presence of China, the world has turned its eye on the eastern portion of the map and thus, this has helped to bring in numerous investments and interests to the region. However, despite this surge of regional interest, Asia still has many issues to tackle, such as the role of democracy and the democratization process that some countries are sorely lacking, this is part and parcel to the form ation of their government, its role and function that should help and aid the people. Secondly, the electoral process, which has served to gauge how democratized a country is to the point that it is willing to progress.More importantly, the electoral processes in a developing country is often observed and watched because of how it affects the people—being the  most basic right to political participation and representation—and by large its effects on a country’s relations with its Asian and global neighbors. Lastly the participation of civil society, in any democratized nation, civil society plays a key role in strengthening and forwarding the issues that are important to the people to the government. More than that, civil society has also played a role in disciplining the government through its â€Å"expose and oppose† tactics, tactics that have helped initiate change in the government through the passing of laws and reforms that would protect the basic rights of the citizens.Functions of the GovernmentAs mentioned earlier, Asian governments being a direct product of independence from the de-colonization process or a product of a bi-polar world order are currently experience what political scientists call the â€Å"third wave† of democracy. This third wave according to Samuel Huntington (1990) is essentially characterized by the loss of legitimacy of authoritarian regimes, a growth in economic output, changes in the Catholic Church; regional contingency factors; and external factors (notably the influence of the European Union and the US). Huntington’s Third Wave of democracy enabled many newly independent countries to establish themselves in their region, much in the same way the Philippines, India, Indonesia and Malaysia did after the Second World War and the subsequent years after. Moreover, because of the waves of democratization, these fledgling governments sought to establish their own national identity as well as strengthen its patrimony. Hence we see governments working to abolish and reform parts of their system from colonial influences or vestiges of it.Hence, governments in Asia are functioning however to use the standards of many Western nations, there are countries that are still in need of further development. Governments in this continent are developing in the sense that immediately after their independence they had begun instituting change, the passage of laws that would be favorable to its people and not to its foreign neighbors or former colonial masters. More importantly, it was the passing of their own constitution, which embodied their own ideals and aspirations.Besides that being a democratic country, governments have taken into effect the very thing that they weren’t able to have under colonial rule, their rights and privileges. Like any other democratic country, the government as well as its branches is tasked with the preservation of their constituent’s ba sic human, political and social rights. Moreover the governments of Asia during this third wave of democratization have largely distanced itself from the use of its military to coerce the people into action, as seen in the case of the political upheavals in Indonesia, Malaysia and even the Philippines that help restore civilian rule and enact legislation that places all decision-making processes of the military under civilian authority.Hence, the role of the government and its development in the political landscape of Asia is essentially characterized by the waves of democracy that had followed after numerous political and social upheavals that had happened in the region that had allowed for democracy to proper. Moreover, the political development of Asia is largely attributed to the national identity that had been formed prior to their independence as well as the belief that civilian authority should pervade in all aspects of the government structure.Electoral ProcessesThe electora l process of Asia and by large any democratic country for that matter has been part and parcel of strengthening the democratization of any country. More importantly the electoral processes is seen as the establishment and legitimizing of a government that would adhere to the standards of different political watchdogs, media and Western governments that have investments in a particular Asian country.Electoral process as a measure of political development in developing nations usually stems from the desire to fulfill some of the promises of democracy or change the democratic landscape to as fulfill the problem of diminished and failed expectations of democracy as embodied in Mark Warren’s article on democratic participation (p. 679, 2002), drawing from the  experiences from the Asian countries such as Thailand; democracy through its elections has failed to address the needs of its people. This has led to the disillusionment or disenfranchisement of voters that have led citize ns to become critical of their government.Elections in Southeast Asian countries strengthen the political participation of different levels of society by allowing greater sectoral participation as well as the existence of party-list systems that aim to bridge the gap between the government and civil society itself. More importantly elections are a way for allowing a wide-range of issues and platforms of dialogues to be tackled and addressed so as to initiate reform and change within a system that a citizen may no longer believe in. It is because of this most basic political aspect that citizens are duly empowered to create an environment that would allow them greater representation and for their issues to be heard because the electoral processes in any democratic country is an avenue for change.Civil SocietyThrough the efforts of electoral processes in developing nations, civil society also plays a larger role in the development of democracies in the continent. Civil society is the representation of the people to the government; they serve as the platforms of dialogues as well as the source of political lobbying and confrontation. Such as the case in Myanmar where various civil groups protested against government action levied by the military junta against Aung San Suu Kyi, in China the protestation of their freedom to express themselves freely has been an issue that had led to the pullout of some international companies that had censured their content.Besides these all too familiar modes of political confrontation, civil society also lobbies for issues that marginalize a certain group of people. They represent and voice out the concerns of societies that the government may have neglected to address. Secondly civil society also exposes and opposes those people in the establishment of their crimes. Governmental crimes that range from graft and corruption to other irregularities in the system that seek to create inequality or those that would benefit only a cert ain individual or group of people that would directly benefit from such  a malfeasance.Another aspect of civil society in Asia is that it is vibrant, in the sense that these groups are constantly vigilant of the government’s movements, procedures and every minute detail that would affect the people. One could say that the government cannot move without some group or party noticing it. Because of this vibrancy there is a wider range of perspectives and opinions that the government has to address to allow equality and participation of the people and the groups that represent their interests.ConclusionPolitically speaking, the developing nations in Asia are truly developing albeit at a slow pace, however these countries face numerous problems such as the prevalence of cacique democracy, patron-client relationships, the growing incidence of graft and corruption as well as the lack of accountability and transparency. Besides these institutional problems, Asian countries are quic k to act using means that would question the legitimacy of a government (i.e. People Power revolutions both in the Philippines and Indonesia).Thirdly, political developments in an Asian country has only helped to serve the elites of society by creating laws that would greatly benefit them or help them stay in power. And lastly there is the proliferation of political dynasties and the existence of bureaucratic powers that have limited the progression of democracy and equality in the government. 2. Are the main political trends experienced by the developing world in recent decades summed up best by increasing diversity or alternatively growing convergence? Discuss extensively (Focus: Asia).In today’s globalized world, political trends have been largely varied in different parts of the world, yet each of these trends have helped in the establishment of strong governments and a vibrant civil society. The growing political trend of today’s developing world is the use of med ia as a platform of dialogue and garnering a wider influence that spans not just local but international borders as well.Secondly, the sudden rise of terrorism and the increase of regional and global security at the onset of the 21st century, has made steady grounds in the discussion of what could  and should be done to address political upheaval brought about by the events of September 11, 2001 in the United States. Thirdly, the further strengthening of regional and international economic and political cooperation, with respects to China, Singapore and Japan as emerging economies of the 21st century and how this has affected Western influences in the continent.MediaAs mentioned earlier in my introduction, one of the prevailing political trends of the developing world is the use of media—in all its forms—to further the cause of both civilian and the government. In this highly globalized world, the media is at the forefront of providing information that would either h elp or discredit a politician or the government. In recent years, the prevalence of media in all aspects of society was seen through the formation of websites designed for greater interaction (Web 2.0) that allows ordinary people to post, comment or critique on issues that are miles apart.During the 2008 US elections, media helped to bolster the presence of candidates running for the presidency, using new technologies that allowed ordinary people’s opinions and questions to be heard and also to evaluate these candidates based on their answers. Hence, in Zaller’s paper titled â€Å"A Theory of Media Politics† (1999)â€Å"For politicians, the goal of media politics is to use mass communication to mobilize the public support they need to win elections and to get their programs enacted while in office. For journalists, the goal of media politics is to produce stories that attract big audiences and that emphasize the â€Å"Independent and Significant Voice of Journ alists.† For citizens, the goal is to monitor politics and hold politicians accountable on the basis of minimal effort†.Another instance of the use of media to change or forward opinion and movement was during the elections in Iran that were heavily critical of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election to the presidency of Iran. His re-election served as a catalyst for media and the Internet to react and criticize what  the public perceived as the massive fraud and failure of elections that was happening. On Myanmar, during the events that led to the arrest of an American that had â€Å"trespassed† opposition leader’s Aung San Suu Kyi’s home led to a media storm that called for the violation of human rights of both the leader and the American.Thus, media as a political trend is vastly critical in denouncing governmental actions that it perceives as the limitation of political movement (freedom of speech and expression) as well the protection and adv ancement of issues that span borders. It is evident that through the Internet and other forms of media that political issues are now known globally, that one portion of the world can already actively participate in issues that are important to them.Security and TerrorismEven before the events of September 11, 2001 terrorism and security in the developing world, specifically the Southeast Asian region of the world, had been experiencing increasingly high levels of terrorist activities due in part to the movement of terrorist cells that had existed during the height of the Cold War and after the fall of Communism in 1991 led to the establishment of different Islamic terrorist groups in Central Asia then would later branch out to the different regions of Southeast Asia. According to Ambassador Alfonso T. Yuchengco in his speech titled â€Å"Islamist Terrorism in Southeast Asia† (2003) he mentions that the movement of these splinter groups led to the formation of the Jemaah Islam iyah terrorist cell which has been operating in different parts of Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines.The terrorist group has played a large part in redefining internal security in the region due to its attacks following the events of 9-11 such as the 2002 Bali Bombings and other campaigns of terror done by the JI in Indonesia,. More importantly, Yuchengco stressed on the growing problem that this groups are privately trained and funded by Middle-Eastern groups such as the Al Qaida network. This has led to a crackdown of terrorist and militant groups as well as the pressuring of the United States of respective SEA governments to crackdown on suspected militant groups, individuals and organizations (Vaughn, B., et al, 2009).Regional and International CooperationWith the bulk of developing nations concentrated in the Asian regions as well the various emerging economies in Asia, it is evident and imperative that one of the political trends in developing nati ons is the bolstering of regional and international cooperation both economically and politically.The bolstering of these two types of cooperation is vastly seen in the scope of Foreign Policy goals as both milieu and direct national goals. Milieu in the sense that these Asian nations are doing not for the self-interest of their country but rather â€Å"nations pursuing them are out not to defend or increase possessions they hold to the exclusion of others, but aim instead at shaping conditions beyond their national boundaries†. And secondly, direct national goals those that focus on national dependence, or national/collective security or the enhancement of trade relations and negations between two different nation-states (Wolfers, A., 1962).Regional and International cooperation has since become a trend due to the growing number of emerging and so-called â€Å"Tiger Economies† that have helped attract the interests of Western nations in the continent, this has helped to bring in foreign direct investments. More importantly the cooperation isn’t just focused primarily on nation-states economic agreements with one another but also the existence of international NGO’s aimed at developing different parts of developing countries. These NGO’s sole purpose is to help achieve sustainable development and provide livelihood and to help alleviate poverty and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor (Todaro, M., 2008).Increasing Divergence or Alternatively Growing ConvergenceFrom the effects of globalization it is evident that the through the political trends of the media, security and terrorism, and regional and international cooperation among developing and developed nation-states there is an alternatively growing convergence. Through the events following the end of the Cold War as well as numerous political upheavals in Asian and European countries that have led to countries being democratized, there is a convergence of political trends.Convergences in the sense that the factors  mentioned earlier have been able to establish significant changes in the internal political structures of a country, which have ultimately affected its relations with its neighboring countries. This convergence of political trends enables countries to share the same ideas and perspectives regarding key issues that would help or empower their country and other countries as well. Because of the strengthening of key issues, there are greater levels of cooperation and dialogue that helps in the advancement of relationships between nation-states.3. Identify and discuss the internal (domestic) and external factors that contributed to the democratization of a developing world. After identifying, discuss the comparative importance of both factors in the process of democratization. (Focus: 1 Asian country).PhilippinesThe Philippines has long been considered to be the bastion of democracy in the Asian continent, moreover it is also its old est democratic country. In nearly a century, the Philippines has progressed democratically internally through the following aspects: democratic transitions after Marcos’ regime, the existence of constitutional reforms. On the other hand the external factors that contributed to the democratization of the developing world are: the Philippines’ relations with former communist countries and its relationship with the Islamic countriesInternal FactorsInternally, the Philippines contributed to the democratization of the world by showing exactly how it transitioned democratically from an authoritarian regime to that of a democratic one. It was the events of People Power I and thereafter that showed how much progress the Philippines had made during its darkest days. The People Power revolution showed that when the government becomes a problem, as specified in some of the categories when a democratic government is no longer a democratic one when its people has lost its trust on the government, it destroys the community order and many more.These  distinctions helped to unify the people to action because of the belief that democracy should fulfill and meet the expectations of its people. In the context of Philippine society, Marcosian rule helped to create a vibrant civil society hence Clifton Sherrill (2006 p. 224) states, â€Å"the need for such groups is critical given the existing social order.Because the traditional elites dominate society, only through mass organization can the lower class establish an audible political view†, in this statement it was evident that political participation by the people were severely limited. In any democratic country, civil society allows for the people to voice out their concerns, that Mark Warren (2002 p. 681) states that when the government has failed to realize the promises it had set out to fill, the citizens become critical of their government, thus the establishment is seen as â€Å"incompetent, untrust worthy, and even corrupt†.More importantly civil society drawing their experiences from the Martial Law period has opted to stay on the streets, since civil society is composed of different groups each with varying opinions â€Å"these groups have consistently played a crucial role in mobilizing civil society to defend the democratic transition and to check authoritarian tendencies on the part of political elites† (Eaton, K., 2003, p. 487). Hence it can be concluded that from our experiences under Marcos’ rule we have managed to create a democracy that is more critical and observant of the movement of the government. It is able to discernAnother aspect of democratic transitions after Marcos’ rule are the constitutional reforms enacted, mainly the creation of a multi-party/party-list system and the safeguards embodied in the constitution against authoritarian tendencies. Firstly the 1987 Philippine constitution allowed and introduced provisions that were â €Å"designed to widen democratic space and allow for greater participation of other sectors in Philippine society† and more importantly the inception of the party-list law was to serve as the mechanism for proportional representation in the different marginalized sectors of society (Teehankee, n.d. p. 180; p. 182).Through the introduction of such a provision, this allowed for greater civic participation of the people, the allowing of different marginalized groups help to put key issues of concerns such as: development, rights and those that have minimal representation or who have no voice in society (i.e. the  unborn). On the other hand, the framers of the constitution also included specific portions in the constitution that would limit the powers of the president and the military. Some of the basic safeguards is the often cited principle of â€Å"checks and balances† but more than that, the constitution also implemented provisions such as the declaration of martial law with the concurrence of the congress, the creation of the Sandiganbayan to curtail graft and corruption within the government (De Leon, H., 2001).External FactorsExternally the Philippines has contributed to the democratization of developing countries by pursuing a foreign policy that is mutually beneficial to both parties. In this portion of the paper I will be discussing how the Philippines in a span of 50 years or so years has maintained diplomatic and democratic relations between Islamic countries and former Communist countries. These external relations done by the Philippines shows how democracy has helped the country establish important economic and political linkages with many of the world’s fledgling democracies and maintain cordial relations with international organizations with regards to its own internal conflicts. I begin by looking at the Philippines and its relation with the Islamic countries, then by looking at the Philippines and its relations with a commu nist country, particularly that of China.The Philippines and the Islamic countries relationship has long been a colorful one, it stems from the Philippines’ relations with other Islamic nations. A relationship that had relied heavily on global interdependency in the Middle East, due to the large supply of oil in the region, the need to expand the markets of the Philippines, and the growing number of OFW’s in the region (Wadi, J., 1998). It was because of these key factors that the Philippines has remained strong diplomatic relations with the other Islamic countries, this type of relationship was geared towards a mutual interdependence both financially and economically. However, the Philippines had also play a significant role with regards to its special relationship with the United States.This relationship with the US as well as their influence over the Philippines’ foreign policy had alienated other countries, particularly Pakistan after the creation of the Isr aeli state in  1948. It was only in 1973 during the Arab oil boycott that the Philippines â€Å"embarked on an unprecedented diplomatic offensive to recognize almost twenty countries in the Islamic world in the 70s†. This form of action helped to bolster the presence of the Middle East not just in the Asian continent but also help in the growth of their presence in the Southeast Asian region. The pursuit of mutual interdependence is largely seen as an effort to democratize relations between former colonial countries as well as to establish strong cultural and economical linkages that would help the Philippines in tackling many of its internal problems, notably the conflicts in Mindanao.The second aspect is the relationship of the Philippines with other communist countries notably the People’s Republic of China (PRC) during the 1970s when it was advocating for the implementation of the â€Å"One China Policy† in the UN. The relationship of the two countries are strongly linked with our earlier formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC) or Taiwan, during the height of the Cold War, the Philippines had maintained a decisively strong anti-communist stance and thus resolved to deal mostly with Taiwan, which at the time was the duly-recognized Chinese country.Our foreign relations with the ROC (due in part to the influence of Americans) were primarily focused on maintaining a strategic military advancement within the region as well as the curtailing of the spread of communism within the region. However, much in the same way that the 1973 Arab oil boycott affected the country, under the presidency of Marcos, the country began establishing more formal diplomatic relations with the PRC. A relationship that was to help the Philippines sustain growth by accepting oil shipments from them in exchange for the PRC to import Philippine products such as coconut oil, lumber sugar, copper ore, and other metals. Hence in the years that fol lowed, even after the fall of communism, the country’s relationship with China has been economically and culturally focused (Lim, B., 1998).Comparative ImportanceThe comparative importance of the two factors is seen in their reciprocation  towards one another. In the context of Philippine politics and society, internally we face numerous problems that hinder our growth and development, especially after numerous political and social upheavals that have constantly marred our progress and image towards other Asian nations. However, through the enactment of certain reforms internally, we are thereby creating a political landscape bereft of anomalies and other discrepancies that would otherwise hinder the maturation of the country’s political system.It was because of the events of Martial Law and the People Power Revolution during the early 70’s and the late 80’s that we have managed to transform the country into one that is highly critical of the actions of the government and yet allow it to function within the rule of the civilians as opposed to the rule of the military. More importantly, through the advancement of civic participation within the country, the Philippines is able to garner a wider perspective and opinion on the issues that it needs to tackle. By creating a strong society, the country is able to externally project itself as able to handle different and vital political relations that would be beneficial to the establishment of a stronger society both politically and economically.