A Theory in Crisis Essay

People are naturally selfish, greedy and will always think about themselves especially during difficult times. That is even scientifically proven by Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution – Natural Selection, â€Å"Natural selection eliminates inferior species gradually over time. † It is the only way to survive. And yet there are still a few good men who would go out of their comfort zones to bring justice onto the table. Willie Stark had enjoyed his fair share of both the good and the bad. â€Å"Guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery; without integrity; crooked† (Stein, 1975, p. 302). Corruption can be a politician’s worst nightmare or his best friend. Sometimes, you do it against your will. But in the end, you are consumed by it, just like any other power hungry crazed individual, believing that they can make a difference. Willie Stark believed in it too. Willie was just like any ordinary farmer’s son. He grew up in the South and is employed as Mason City’s county treasurer. He wanted to make a difference by giving light into a controversy. He set out a campaign against an alleged county schoolhouse construction contract. He was working for Dolph Pillsbury, the County sheriff, who happened to favor the bid of a certain J. H. Moore over all the others. The fact that J. H. Moore did not have the lowest bid only brought more suspicion as to why he was chosen. Willie fought this, as he was on the side of Jeffers Construction, the one having placed the lowest bid. Eventually, the County sheriff got what he wanted and J. H. Moore won the contract, Willie lost his job. But he stood by his conviction and he was rewarded. Years later, the schoolhouse met a tragic fate due to the low quality construction materials that was used by J. H. Moore. The building collapsed, killing three and injuring several others. I believe this moment was one of the turning points of the story. It shows that when you stood by what you tried to fight for until the very end, the people would know of this and you will gain their sympathy. Hence, he ran for governor as planned by existing political figures. Although he did not win, this became his driving force to study law, and later to run again for the same position. Willie Stark’s character in Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men is that of a governor surrounded by all the people mixed in a perfect concoction to produce the dictionary meaning of political differences powered by blackmail, alliances and corruption. I believe that a person’s morality is gravely affected by circumstances of everyday living. One day you believe in the political system, the next day you probably would not. Maybe you encountered a bully police officer, a person trying to blackmail you, or a pickpocket. A person can be as hard as a rock when he or she stands by his/her moral and ethical principles. But even the strongest rocks are destroyed especially by secrets that are meant to damage your public image and meant to shake the very foundation of your moral beliefs. I believe that Willie Stark was corrupted by the political system. And I would like to point out three reasons why. As I have mentioned, Willie wanted to correct what he thought was wrong with the schoolhouse bid event when he stood up for the Jeffers Construction. Unknown to him, the County sheriff will still be the one to call the shots since he has authority over every single thing that happens. I believe this showed how much Willie was not in favor of set-ups in the political hierarchy, and an honest man would accept losing his job rather than sticking up to the misdoings of his superior. Another circumstance pointing to the righteousness of Willie was when he gave his support to his opponent Sam MacMurfee during his first time to run for governor. He found out the plan when Sadie Burke revealed it to him and to the dismay of all those who worked for his campaign, he announced his support to his rival on his big speech. Lastly, his efforts to build a free-for-all hospital sum up his desire to help the needy. What I see is a person who believes in the morality of things but is just caught up in the immorality and corruption that is inevitable in politics. Right from the start he was good, and he never stopped being good even if he has to do bad to be good. References AllAboutScience. org. (2002). Darwin’s Theory of Evolution – A Theory in Crisis. Retrieved December 22, 2007, from http://darwins-theory-of-evolution. com Stein, J. (Ed. ). (1975). The Random House College Dictionary. New York: Random House, Inc.

Adaklfjda

â€Å"My Birth & Childhood† – add Interesting facts about your childhood (family, location. School, hobbies) in bullet form Born on 25 August 1530-28 March 1584 in Exoskeletons, Russia Ivan was the son of Visalia Ill Elena Gallingly was his mother she acted as a regent, but she died of what many bell eve to be assassination by poison His Grandpa was Ivan the Great and he was Ivan the Terrible He became Grand Prince of Moscow at the age of 3 when his father died, but due to political intrigues going on at the time, he spent most of his childhood imprisoned in dungeon while his mother managed affairs of state.Years later when his mother died of what many believe was a poisoning, he had reached the level of education necessary to become leader of the country. Ivan was a lonely kid who was for the most part neglected by his family, who were buy sys poisoning and stabbing each other. He spent his time reading voraciously and torture Eng little animals. Hobbles Included drink ing beer, playing the trombone, raping and kill Eng people. And throwing pets out of the upper windows of the Kremlin. 2. â€Å"My Adult Life† – add interesting facts about growing up as a young adult.Marriage, implies, work, travel – In bullet form Smart and a keen reader, early on Ivan started dreaming of unlimited power. In 1547, aged 16, he was finally crowned Czar of all Russia, the first ruler to officially assume t he title. The young ruler started out as a reformer, modernizing and centralizing the coo entry. He had his first rival executed at age 13. This execution effectively ended the political struggles within the Russian state that had persisted throughout his childhood. His father died at the age of 3 and his mother died at the age of 8 Ivan had a poor health, he was largely ignoredEveryone would do terrible things to him but he would become smarter and he wool d get revenge He had 7 wives and his first one was the happiest and when she died he wen t into full ‘OFF 3. â€Å"What I Am Most Remembered For & My Death† – add interesting fact about your accomplishments, or your failures – in bullet form Ivan also pressed to turn his country into a military heavyweight. Back then, the Attar armies repeatedly devastated Russian's northeast. In 1552 Ivan crushed the Attar stronghold of Kane and then another one – Astrakhan.Ivan oversaw rapid expansion of Russia, largely by conquest, which opened Russia up o trade with Europe and new ideas, and his self- appointment as Tsar of Russia was a large factor in unifying Russia under one leader. He introduced new laws, many of which consolidated the power of his central government over the boyar of Russian's past. La was to restrict the movement of peasants helped to solidify his rule, and also laid the ground dork for serfdom, which would cause his ancestors so many headaches.Ivan IV Vehicles, known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533. The epithet â€Å"Groggy† is associated with mighty, power and strict sees, rather than horror or cruelty. Ivan oversaw numerous changes in the transition from medieval nation state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the fir SST Tsar of a new and more powerful nation. Ivan died from a stroke while playing chess with Bogged Belles In foreign policy, Ivan IV had two main goals: to resist the Mongol Golden Horde and t gain access to the Baltic Sea.Ultimately, he aimed to conquer all remaining independent .NET regions and create a larger, more centralized Russia. 4. â€Å"What_(your real name) Found the Most Fascinating About Me† – write what you, the student found the most fascinating about your character†¦ s if you were e the interviewer. One of Moscow most famous landmarks is a reminder of this drive to expand Russia ‘s borders. SST. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square was built by Van's order to commemorate Khan's invasion an d other key victories in the Attar campaign.A popular legend has it that the work was done by two architects – Position and Barman. When Ivan saw the finished cathedral he liked it so much that he had the architects blinded to prevent t hem from building anything like it elsewhere. Had 7 wife Historic sources present disparate accounts of Van's complex personality: he was scribed as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreak goofs mental illness He would kill people knock old people over, find women and do many terrible things t them, also he would rob and steal many things, lastly he would devour history books.

Maersk Group (Maersk) Human Resource Development

Introduction My 48 hour exam project is a case study of A. P. Moller – Maersk Group (Maersk); the objective of my assignment is to elaborate on Maersk`s talent management challenge, focused on development. Furthermore I will describe the cosmos of Maersk learning and competence development and provide alternative angles of conducting in this cosmos, in accordance with my own perspective. My ontological standpoint for this exam is constructivism (Olsen & Pedersen, 2005). The reality perceived is therefore not objective but created, or constructed, by man’s interpretation.This does not signify that I will avoid handling theories that are ontological objectivistic in order to discuss and compliment the various learning and competence development challenges of Maersk; but rather discuss the objective views and theories, and its contrasts to my standpoint. Organizational Change at Maersk Maersk have developed from a very standardized, family run company with certain and spec ific ways of running things; to a worldwide organization that have had to change in order to keep up with the time and trends.The major change in Maersk way of dealing with their learning and competence development occurred in 2008; Maersk had before 2008 a very objective approach to learning which were aimed towards trainees (Case, Page 7). In 2008 the People Strategy Sessions (PSS) is created and a shift towards a more individual development process has begun. PSS is developed to identify individuals, primarily in top management positions, that have a necessity for learning and competence development. These individuals is identified via Key Performance Indicator (KPIs) Learning and Competence developmentHolt Larsen defines competence as a result of a learning process (Holt Larsen, 2010). Competence development is therefore the learning process where the Maersk employees’ know-how and skills are improved; where the employee becomes good at what is required, and not just real ly good, this is what Holt Larsen believes falls under qualifications (Holt Larsen, 2010). Competence development therefore results in the employee’s knowledge, within a specific area of expertise, growing deeper and more elaborate.This knowledge is then transferred into actions, the employees ability to use his or hers knowledge in concrete and unknown situations is therefore an indication on whether or not the employee is competent, hence; good at what is required. Holt Larsen elaborates on this by stating that an employee can be qualified to do his job, but if the attained knowledge cannot be transferred into action due to, for example; the company culture, what the employees are allowed or what the employee’s experience allow him to have the courage to do.Then the employee can be defined as incompetent, since the assignment is not completed (Holt Larsen, 2010). Holt Larsen mentions three learning barriers (company culture, rules and confidence) that affect some emp loyee’s ability to complete their assignment in tasks where their competences fall short. When an employee began his or her career in Maersk, they would possess formal competencies (Ellstrom & Kock, 2008) in the form of, for example, a high school or a college degree (Case, page 8).Maersk’s old way of providing learning and competence development to their employees can through my perspective be seen as a very universal, or objective, way of providing competence development. The standardized development programs were, in Maersk’s defence, designed for employees who did not possess competencies that exceeded the formal kind. The Maersk learning and competence development strategies that came after 2008 were also designed to include experienced individuals (Case, Page 7) who already possessed actual competencies.An example, based on the theory, of an employees’ actual competence development (Ellstrom & Kock, 2008) could be a result of; job rotation in the fo rm of assignments in various different Maersk departments. Furthermore internal evaluations, on the job training; informal learning in work and mentoring by superiors (Ellstrom & Kock, 2008) would be advisable to Maersk. The latter mentioned experiences can be seen as a way of developing the Maersk employee’s competences (Wahlgreen, 2002).Which one of the latter mentioned experiences that works best, is according to my standpoing depending on the individual employee that it is applied on; this correlates with the Maersk initiative â€Å"talent intimacy†, where the managers were encouraged to acquire the knowledge on how each of their individual employees learns best (Case, Page 10) In order to understand the terms learning and competence, one has to understand the similarities and contrasts between them. According to Hermann learning is a process were competencies is enabled. Learning is consequently he most important part of the competence development process (Hermann , 2003). In the case of talent intimacy Maersk is therefore able to archive competence development by the managers acting on behalf of Maersk, to learn about the individual employees; hence, the organization is learning. The latter correlates with Argyris & Scons theory of Organizational Learning (Argyris & Scons, 1996); the talent intimacy process encouraged the managers to act as agents (Argyris & Scons, 1996) which enabled Maersk to learn as an comprised entity, containing individuals.This can be seen as a shift away from the more objective way of evaluating and developing the employees that Maersk made use of before 2008, and is very much aligned with my standpoint. The learning is therefore facilitated vertically by means of the subjective way that Maersk observes its employees. In contrast, Maersk has developed an increased focus on KPIs when evaluating their employees. This objective way may hinder learning and the division of knowledge to spread horizontally throughout the o rganization. They KPIs of Maersk is linked to a reward system; according to Elkj? (2005) it can â€Å"hinder a productive organizational learning, if the behaviour in the organization influenced by defensive communication forms† (Elkj? r, 2005, Page 41). The managers can perceive that they have something to lose by sharing knowledge horizontally in the organization, if sharing could have a negative consequence on their own KPIs, or a positive influence on the KPIs on they co-workers/†competitors†. Elkj? r elaborates â€Å"win/loss behaviour draws attention away from finding and correcting errors. And instead moves the attention towards the individuals protection of themselves† (Elkj? r, 2005, Page 42).This problem can be worsened or alleviated by group size (Laezear & Gibbs, 2009), individual performance evaluation will have a tendency to distort the incentives of the individuals and therefore create fewer incentives for the Maersk employees to cooperate wi th their co-workers (Laezear & Gibbs, 2009). Regrettably measuring group or business unit’s performance increases the risk and decreases the controllability of the measurement. This learning process at Maersk, it seems, is either facilitated or hindered by the New HR processes; depending whether the processes subjective or objective.On the basis of this it would therefore be advisable for Maersk to use other angles, dimensions and parameters when identifying, evaluating and categorizing their employees, with the purpose of learning and competence development What should Maersk do with their high- and low performing employees? Concerning identifying, evaluating and categorizing; Since the development plans of the Maersk employees is based on evaluation and categorizing, it is relevant to look into various theory and ways of doing just that.Employees are often divided into top performers and poor performers, or A- and B employees (Naqvi, 2009). In the Case of Maersk the employe es are categorized as High Performers, Successful and Less Successful (Case, Page 6). According to Naqvi (2009) employees should not only be retained, but also nurtured for elevated responsibilities. Correspondingly, the mass of B employees should continuously be developed and trained for better performance, making optimal use if the employees competencies (Naqvi, 2009).The theory of Naqvi therefore corresponds with the process created by Maersk to analyse which leaders that underperform and therefore is in need of learning and competence development (Case, page 9 and 10). According to Stevens (2008) it is important to identify the skills that distinguish top- and poor performers from each other. By doing so it will become possible to; get an accurate job match with the right people getting the right jobs, to advance in succession planning, to provide a high level of job satisfaction and to accurately identify training- and competency development needs.The objective perspective; whe re talent is objectified as a size that can be measured, grouped and categorized, is very similar to the concept, talent management as fit tool (Schuler and Jackson, 2008).. Through this perspective talent is reduced to pieces of a puzzle, where it is up to the management to select, measure and assemble all the pieces in a manner that conform with the business strategy; subjectivity is thus ignored. I will elaborate on this concept later on.If the necessity to divide the employees of Maersk into groupings is inevitable due to; for example, the need to ease the top managements evaluations and discussions regarding the employees or to lower evaluation costs: A less simplified and general model could be utilized (appendix: 1) (Haskins and Shaffer, 2010). The 9 grid talent matrix is a more advanced, but still a straightforward way of evaluating an organizations talent pool. The horizontal axis considers the performance while the vertical axis considers the leadership potential. The 9 gr id alent matrix is an excellent method of identifying development needs amongst the employees. In addition it promotes dialog amongst the management team and consequently provide an adequate assessment, compared to if it was one person who evaluated the employee, as well as calibrating the different manager’s ratings and expectations. Both Maersk evaluation approach and the 9 grid talent matrix has the advantage that they are relatively easy to approach and rather inexpensive. The disadvantages of them is that they are very one-dimensional, in the sense that it the person being evaluated is only being evaluated by his or her superiors.A potential multidimensional evaluation approach at Maersk could be a 360 degree performance evaluation (Burton & Delong, 1998). In this approach the subject is being evaluated by both his superiors, co-workers, subordinates, costumers/suppliers and by himself. This evaluation system should consequently portray are more complex and adequate eval uation compared to the one-dimensioned evaluations. The 360 degree system essentially facilitates and creates individual development plans for the subject.Another advantage to the 360 degree evaluation is that it uncovers good performers that may not do well in the act of promoting themselves. Furthermore it uncovers individuals that might be a little too good at promoting themselves. A general disadvantage with subjective evaluations, one-dimensional as well as multidimensional, is that they suffer from grade inflation (Laezear & Gibbs, 2009); this implies that people are reluctant to give low ratings; it is therefore hard to distinguish performance and to show the best and worst performers.The disadvantage of the 360 degree evaluation is that it is time consuming and therefore the evaluations costs are higher, compared to the subjective ways of evaluating. This is arguable a fact that should be acceptable to Maersk to ignore, since the PSS evaluations only comprise of the top 120 positions in the company (Case) What seems obscure is that Maersk chooses to move away from the objective approach when it concerns competence development. But when choosing who to actually provide with learning and competence development they make use of something as objective as performance indicators.As one Maersk employee puts it; â€Å"Maersk Line is incredibly driven by objective settings and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and schemes that dictate behaviour† (Case, Page 7). Concerning the high performing employees at Maersk; Maersk emphasizes a great deal on performance when evaluating the individuals in the top positions of the company, but could other parameters be applied in conjunction with performance? And how should they act towards their high performing employees? It is an interesting actuality that almost all high-potential (HIPO) employees are high performers.But only approximately 29% of high performers have the potential to succeed in higher senior positio ns (Corporate Leadership Council, 2005). In correlation 47% of high performers is not HIPO`s due to shortcomings in aspiration (Corporate Leadership Council, 2005). These low performers have the highest, 44%, probability of succeeding at the next level. In comparison high performers with shortcomings in engagement consist of 48% of the high performers who are not HIPO`s, and they do only have 13% probability of succeeding at the next level.The high performers, who have shortcomings in ability, have a 0% probability of succeeding at the next level (Corporate Leadership Council, 2005). On the basis of this it would therefore be advisable for Maersk to explore the development opportunities and increase the ambition levels, amongst the high performers with short comings in aspiration. With the remaining high performers it would be advisable for Maersk to keep them motivated in their current positions.Concerning how Maersk should act regarding, improving the performance, through developm ent, amongst the employees where it is needed; Under Allen (Case) the idea for a more individualized employee training, that is applied due to low performance has been a process used by Maersk since 2008. It is a commonly expressed proposal and notion, that all companies will be able to enhance their operational and fiscal performance by developing and incorporating HRM practices with the aim of an increased performance (Kaufman, 2010).The Strategic HRM processes that are perceived as being able to increase the performance are described as high-performance work practices (HPWPS) (Kaufman, 2010). The HPWP entail various ways of increasing the employees performances as a result of providing better work conditions, by means of; introducing compensation incentives, by providing the employees with job training which will enable them in performing new ssignment, do better in their existing assignments and give the employees a greater sense of belonging at Maersk, additionally a higher lev el of job flexibility, amongst other things, should help increase the employees satisfaction, motivation and decreasing the employee turnover, thus retaining them, these aspect would all lead to a higher performance and productivity. By attempting to differentiate between the different theoretical aspects and their link between the HRM processes and the organizational performance, they are separated into three perspectives (Kaufman, 2010).Pfeffers Universalistic perspective has identified seven HRM practices that will succeed in increasing performance when implemented, in all situations, due to the fact that they are universal: employment security, selective hiring of new personnel, decentralized decision making and self-managed teams, pay-for-performance, extensive training, reduced status differentials and information sharing. The universalistic perspective can be perceived as a very objective view.The truth discovered in the factors effects are therefore according to ontological objectivity (Christensen, 2002) seen as a final, universal, absolute and concluding truth and knowledge, which cannot be distorted by the individuals subjective way of considering the findings. Via the Configurational perspective (Kaufman, 2010) the combination of the various practices and the impact of these is lesser simplified than with the universalistic perspective and would therefore enable the possibility to better grasp the angle that is required in order to archive performance enhancement amongst the employees at Maersk.The concept behind the configurational perspective is that some of the practices have a synergetic link with some of the other practices which will lead to an increased performance enhancement when combined. The practices will as a result perform better if they are equally aligned in a synergetic and parallel package, which will therefore fit horizontally. Correspondingly the practices will implement in a more optimal way if they complement and are aligned w ith Maersks business strategy in a vertical fit.The concept of fit is therefore relevant from my standpoint, as opposed to the universalistic perspective; it is meaningful in the case of Maersk to mention the proposition of the Best Fit (BF) model (Kaufman, 2010). The concept of the BF model is that the optimal practices and practice combinations vary in accordance with the unique and concrete in the specific situation. The concept of BF correlates with Allen`s and Maersk HR idea of individualized employee training the concept of talent intimacy; and consequently correlates with my standpoint. Maersk Talent management – perceived as a fit toolMaersk have through their newly developed People Strategy Session (PSS), attempted to create a process that ensures â€Å"getting the right people in the right jobs at the right time† (Case, Page 5). The talent management (TM) in Maersk can therefore be perceived as a Fit tool. According to Schuler and Jackson (2008) one of the ma in ways that international companies can archive and maintain a global competitive advantage is by effectively meeting the challenges in global TM, in core warranting that they have the right people, with the right competencies and motivation at the right time and in the right position (Schuler and Jackson, 2008).TM used as a fit tool can therefore help Maersk to archive; an optimal utilization of Maersks resources (their employees), a most advantageous productivity and a competitive advantage. According to Schuler and Jackson (2008) the concept of TM is about planning for, attaining, choosing, motivating, developing and maintaining the individuals with the right skill combinations and levels of motivation, both internally and externally, in coherence with the strategic course of the multinational organization in a vibrant and very competitive global environment (Schuler and Jackson, 2008).TM is spoken of as a part of the fit that transients throughout the entire corporation. TM ena bles the possibility to secure that the right talents are placed at the right locations – and this placement of talents should be coherent with Maersks overall strategy. In correlation with the latter mentioned, Maersk should therefore be seen as a puzzle or a jigsaw, where the objective is to get all the different pieces to fit perfectly together.In order to do so, Maersk should make use of HRM processes that can measure the talents competencies, output and abilities, and subsequently find out where they fit. In Maersk the individuals were reviewed and divided based on their performance (Case). When TM is used as a process that assures that the right employee is linked to the right job, TM can be seen as a fit-facilitator. The talent is simplified into performance and objectified as a component that has a certain and transparent internal, that can be measured and matched to a ertain job description. This assumption is only possible if one has a perspective that assumes that competences are measurable and therefore transparent; in the case of Maersk they are measured by performance. Maersk does therefore not take the intangibles or latent (Bramming, 2001) competencies into account. The latent competencies, of the individual Maersk employees, are extremely harder, more time consuming and therefore more costly to plot out. To elaborate, the intangibles (Laezear & Gibbs, 2009) are much harder to quantify.For example, the initial revenues and profit from a business unit may be high, but if the general customer satisfaction is low, it will damage the organization in the long run. A less objectivistic perspective could be that a perfect fit does not exist. No matter what position an employee is put in, he will always have shortcomings and will probably also have skills that exceeds what is required of him. The situation that demands competences that the employee does not possess will therefore drive the Maersk employee to learn (Chambers et al. , 1998) and th erefore develop his or hers competencies.If a perfect fit is avoided Maersk would therefore facilitate the employees learning and developing in their positions, and at the same time the positions would develop with the employees; thus the Maersk as an organization will learn and develop. Conclusion The optimal way of Maersk to act concerning learning & competence development is to provide it in a manner and at a time that the management and the individual employee perceives it as needed; Either in order for the employee to expand its role or performance; within its position, or when the possibility to rise to the next level occurs.It is not recommendable to provide competence development solely on the basis of unsatisfactory performance; the learning and development processes may be at a risk to be seen as a punishment, rather than a privilege and opportunity. Furthermore the increased focus on individuals KPIs will inevitably create internal competition, which will consequently hin der learning, throughout the organization.Regarding identifying, evaluating and categorizing in order to decide which high ranking employees that is in need of employee training, a more complex and adequate evaluation system is recommendable. Furthermore it should not only be the bad performers that is selected for development, through the 360 degree evaluation and dialogue a development plan should be created amongst all participants The high performing employees that do not have the ability or engagement to be a high potential, should be acknowledged for being a high performer, and encouraged and motivated to stay in their role.Concerning the high performers with lack in ambition, the development possibilities and professional reasons for lack of aspiration should be explored. Concerning increasing the performance though development amongst the employees were it is needed, it is advisable to continue to focus on the individuals reasons, the specific situation, what drives and moti vates the employee to learn and develop, and if nothing of the latter is successful, consider if the individual is the right person for Maersk.Regarding placing the right employees, in the right position at the right time; some competencies might be measurable, but some are definitely not. In order for Maersk to grow, positions should not be seen as fixed or static, of course an employee has to live up to certain qualifications in order to do the work demanded by the position. Beyond that, a slight mismatch between the employee and the position will probably lead to a growth and development of the position, as well as the employee; hence will Maersk learn and develop. ——————————————- [ 1 ]. Original text †forhindre produktiv organisatorisk l? ring, hvis adf? rd i organisationen er pr? get af defensive kommunikationsformer† [ 2 ]. Original text †En †vinde/tabe-adf ? rd† tr? kker opm? rksomheden v? k fra †at finde of rette fejl†. Og flytter den i stedet hen pa individers beskyttelse af sig selv† [ 3 ]. A survey of more than 11,000 employees at 59 global organizations

Case Study Summary Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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E-Commerce Systems - Essay Example The direct financial service is advantageous in terms of efficiency in the achievement of needed services. This can be attributed to the fact that, a company or institution provides goal specific services. For example for a bank or a credit card company, one must be linked directly to the site of a specific company. Through the said system less complication can be met. For that matter, the clientele that can be attracted are those who know the discipline and are sure of what they need and want, and those who are not familiar with complicated online systems. For that matter, the said system of financial services can be considered advantageous to a wide variety of consumers. One disadvantage of the said system though is the danger of putting trust on a single entity as compared to the system with intermediaries which in the said case can be considered more secure (Carlon, Ryan and Weledniger, 2010). The financial services with intermediaries on the other hand can provide benefit such as the decrease in transaction costs due to the sharing of assets, goods and services of the different groups and companies that comprise one system. This structure also increases security based on the fact that risks that can be encountered are shared by the whole group. A disadvantage that can be cited though is the complex structure that can create certain problems in different transactions and financial services (Carlon, Ryan and Weledniger, 2010). Australian Government Treasury (1999) Financial Products, Service Provides and Markets – An Integrated Framework [online]. Available from: [Accessed 20 May 2010]. Carlon, M., Ryan, M. and Weledniger, R. (2010) The Five Golden Rules of Online Branding [online]. Available from Dynamic Logic, AdRelevance and 24/7 Media: [Accessed 20 May 2010]. Reverse auctions

Death penalty Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Death penalty - Research Paper Example In some communities, however, the death penalty among its members was shunned because of the fact that it was forbidden to spill the blood of fellow community members. In such cases, this sentence was often reserved for times of conflict with neighboring communities where captured individuals, especially leaders, were sentenced to death. The continued use of the death penalty to punish a diverse number of crimes in the modern world has come to receive praise and condemnation in equal measure. Those, who advocate for it, argue that it serves as a deterrent to crime, since those who are given the death penalty serve as an example to would-be criminals (Fagan, 2006). Furthermore, they state that there are those individuals, such as murderers, who if sentenced to death, would be good riddance from society. This is because of the fact that they will have been removed from society on a permanent basis, thus ensuring that they are kept from repeating the same crimes that they have committed . They further argue that the death penalty is a just punishment for those individuals who commit such heinous crimes as child murder and serial killing, because these are human beings without a conscience who must be completely removed from society. In addition, they state that the death penalty is completely justified especially when applied to cases where individuals are serial murderers or have committed mass killings; acts which are unforgivable in most human societies in the world (Vollum et al, 2004). It is argued that sentencing such people to death is a means of showing the members of society that such acts cannot be tolerated and that if they are committed, then the lives of the offenders would be forfeit. There are some among those who support the use of the death penalty, who have gone as far as to state that not applying it on people who have committed such crimes as murder and genocide is a miscarriage of justice (Davis, 2002). For them, those who call for the abolitio n of the death penalty are not living in a realistic world, because its abolition is likely to increase the occurrence of terrible crimes in human societies. Furthermore, it is stated that the punishment of a crime must be painful in proportion of the crime committed and this is used to justify the death penalty since leaving murderers alive would be unfair to the families of their victims. The opponents of the death penalty, on the other hand, argue that its application in all manner of cases is a violation of the human rights of the individuals who have committed crimes. They argue that not all of those who are sentenced have a desire to commit murder and that in fact, there are many who only commit murder in self-defense since to do otherwise would have meant their own deaths (Rogoff, 2008). Another argument that they give is that the application of the death penalty is discriminative since most of those people who are sentenced tend to come from minority groups which do not have the resources to get the best representation in the courts (Lynch and Haney, 2000). They state that the use of the death penalty is an act of violence and that its continued use encourages the propagation of a culture of violence within the human society.

Is consumerism good or bad for the world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is consumerism good or bad for the world - Essay Example will be explained in detail below using several theories such as Maslow’s theory, Herzberg’s needs theory and other motivational theories as well. The counterarguments of consumerism are from critics. Consumerism from its definition by various individuals and researchers is economically beneficial as people purchase goods in bulks which in the long run saves money and time both of which are economical (Roche, 2009, pg. 12). Economists actually support the idea of consumerism in as far as purchasing in large quantities is concerned but not when it comes to wastage in large amounts. This excessive consumption is an indication of the large amounts of money the consumers have and this is present in many of the first world nations who have a lot of money and hence the means to spend them in large consumption. Consumerism according to Maslow leads to achievement of satisfaction for the individuals who engage in it. People engage in consumerism in order to try and seek psychological satisfaction and also because they aim to achieve a sense of self-actualization (Burger, 2010, pg. 5). They therefore engage in consumption of objects and other things that would lead to derivation of that satisfaction. Even though many do not reach self-actualization, they still manage to fulfil some of their needs and hence getting the satisfaction they desire. The consumption of things such as energy, food, security, good job, having a lot of money and family are some of the things most people desire and try to achieve and which when achieved lead to satisfaction. All these would not have been possible without consumerism. Also as a result of the positive outcome brought about by consumerism to majority of the benefactors, they are motivated to put more effort in the future in order to get the same results a s is explained by Vroom’s expectancy theory. Consumerism is an indication of wealth whether personal or that of the whole nation. Statistics indicate that wealthy nations such

South East Asia Currency Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

South East Asia Currency Crisis - Essay Example These factors included currency speculation, financial imbalances, exchange rate collapse, high inflation rates, excess borrowing and investment in the these countries that were facing crisis, trade deficits, political inflexibilities, and to some extent restrictions imposed by IMF package. As a result, the impacts resulted in the stock market failure, currency depreciation, decline in per capita GDP, excessive borrowing to save the economies, investment withdrawal, international agencies bank ratings to those exposed to the crisis, and fluctuation of imports and exports affecting the countries’ return. Some countries relied on the IMF to provide capital to stabilize the exchange rates and prevent further liquidity in those countries. Other measures involved reforming the monetary policies, financial regulation and asset management. While a country like Japan solved their bankruptcy case with their reserves, other comparative nations in the crisis had depleted theirs. Studying the crisis is a constant reminder of how worse a currency and stock market failure can become a contagion in linked markets. It also allows researchers to examine how each economy solved the crisis after spreading from Thailand, exploring the differences in policies taken and

Governments Balance Law and Order with Individual Freedom Essay

Governments Balance Law and Order with Individual Freedom - Essay Example The Government outlines the individual rights and freedoms in the constitution, which comprise a set of guidelines to govern the people. Thus, individual liberty needs a basis in law, but additionally, it must integrate the requirements of social order. This means that maintenance of law and order balances with individual freedom to guard and define the sphere of liberty of the individual and promote order in the society. Despite, democratic governments supporting the importance of freedom, they must put limits on individual freedoms. In this regard, provisions should forbid those deeds that would cause panic or harm for the general good. By this, the government ensure that it maintains law and order and at the same time offering individual freedom. In the United States, there is limitation of individual liberty to guard citizens from one another, to guarantee order in society and to uphold the common interests of the society. Therefore, the law must permit the sensible exercise of f reedoms.The Government can also strike this balance by supporting the social systems in the society that realize the goals of freedom and order. Fagin (2007) asserts that the society uses numerous strategies to attain these goals, including social standards imposed through the social forces of the family, government, religion and school. Through these social institutions, people learn the principles and requirements for good behavior and receive punishment when they infringe these social standards.

Cores of Realism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cores of Realism - Essay Example This essay examines the relevance of the core ideas of Realism in a contemporary world. It explores the roots of the theory, from Machiavelli, Hobbes and Rousseau to Morgenthau, Beitz and Doyle. The core assumptions are that states are inherently self interested, unitary actors performing on an anarchic global stage.It looks at modern problems of Realism presented by a re-emergence of liberalism, the emergence of globalisation and its apparent incompatibility with democracy. Realism is a term we commonly use to define a motivation for behaving in accordance with truths and facts which exist independently of sentiment, emotive persuasions or overtly ideological tendencies. Within politics and more specifically, international relations, Realism has come to mean to mean a rejection of moralistic or ethical concerns in favour of a more pragmatic approach to policy and diplomacy. Realism places emphasis on the national security of a state rather than focusing on the application of moral c oncepts such as justice. Are these ideas still relevant in today's society or is there significant evidence to suggest states are primarily motivated by concepts of what is right, rather than what is necessary These issues will be explored throughout this essay, beginning with an investigation into the history of Realism. The roots of Realism can be traced back centuries to Machiavelli (1513) and Hobbes (1651). Both have had and continue to have a major influence on the shaping of political theory, particularly with their most celebrated works, The Prince and Leviathan. The latter claims that "in the nature of man, we find three principle causes of quarrel. First, competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory. The first, maketh men invade for gain; the second for safety; and the third, for reputation" (Hobbes 1651/1996, p. 83). Because of Man's natural tendency to be driven by competition and aggression, he will find himself in a perpetual state of war. Though the implementation of a sovereign will, in some way, offer salvation from the immediate state of war between individuals, it will not prevent conflict between states, which have their own interests to protect. It is therefore "the office of the sovereign for which he was trusted with the sovereign power, namely the procuration of the safety of the people; to which he is obliged by the law of nature." (Hobbes 1651/1996, p.175). This overriding aim of national security takes precedence over the individual concerns of those within the state. Indeed, Hobbes argues that the sovereign "can be no injury to any of his subjects" (p.117) which essentially gives the sovereign carte blanche to act upon their own decision without appeal to the general public. In particular, "is annexed to the sovereign the right of making war, and peace with other nations and commonwealths." (Hobbes 1651/1996 p.119). Machiavelli takes a similar and arguably, more radical view with regards to the implementation of policy (1513/1999). The thrust of his book, The Prince is in how to maintain the most powerful state. His view of man is that they "are ungrateful, fickle, liars and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them well, they are yours" (Machiavelli 1513/1999, p. 54). The thrust of the book is in how to maintain the most powerful state. It offers an early form of utilitarianism, which is an important aspect within the core ideas of Realism. He argues that, "By making an example or two he will prove more compassionate than those who, being too compassionate allow disorders while lead to murder and rapine. These nearly

Assignment - Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assignment - Interview - Essay Example He gained working experience in server administration, and simultaneously specialized in network storage technologies by taking a certified course. His combination of skill, knowledge and experience saw him rise very fast up the corporate ladder. He now leads the ICT department of Travelways Inc. and takes a special interest in ensuring that there is no disruption to the ICT support his team provides to the organization. 1. Travelways Inc. is a travel and holiday organizer. Every aspect of its functioning right from the initial stage when a prospective client makes an enquiry is dependent on ICT. Clients access our servers for all information they require at all stages of their travel and holiday. We use the Internet to make contact with airlines, railways, shipping corporations, hotels and tour operators all over the world to book passages and make reservations. The very business of Travelways Inc. can be termed a ICT business. Its ICT department is the most crucial department. 3. Yes, some disasters are unavoidable in spite of all precautions. Of course, we have a disaster recovery plan integrated with out business continuity. I would like to distinguish between the two. The Disaster Recovery Plan or the DRP is usually specifically concerned with the restarting of a crucial set of ICT systems and infrastructure components. The process of Business Continuity Planning or BCP, on the other hand, is concerned with the enterprise as a whole, and deals with business functions rather than application systems. What however needs to be understood is that Disaster Recovery is a core component of any Business Continuity effort with many overlapping areas. They address the same basic problem. 4. Yes, many companies first build a working DRP before taking the next logical and inevitable step and developing an overall BCP. If the relation between the two processes is understood well enough, then knowledge gained in one

Idealistic Politics Essay Example for Free

Idealistic Politics Essay The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, said Karl Marx, who is considered to be one of the worlds most seminal thinkers. Marx categorized these classes in two broad categories; the bourgeoisie versus the proletariats, the upper class opposed to the lower class and the caste that have access to the factors of production against everybody else who are compelled to sell their labor. In political terms the bourgeois were the committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie (Marx, 20) and in order to reduce any friction, tension or resistance towards their supremacy they then laid down a set of ideals and values for all classes and citizens. The ultimate goal of having a monotonous set of principles was to disintegrate existing ideals and values by instigating the proletariats to fully accept the bourgeois set of principles by suspending their own. History, however, has yet to see such an outcome where the bourgeois triumph in instigating such circumstances successfully. What occurs in such circumstances instead is a conflict due to inconsistency that occurs between the dogmas of both classes; whereby the reality based ideals of the proletariats clashes with the idealistic values of the bourgeoisie. These conflicts in turn affect the political ideologies and actions since the politics is the arena where the battle of principles occurs, primarily due to two reasons. The first being that these conflicts will not surface in the first place except in the political arena due to the austere nature and secondly the outcomes will not be accepted unless at a level were they are made public and irreversible. Evidence of these conflicts exists in our texts and films, however in differing contexts. In Antigone, Creon represents the bourgeoisie and Antigone the proletariats; in A Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences the arts and sciences were the corrupting vales instigated by the intellectuals whilst the savage being was the unlearned and naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve proletariat, and finally in Marxs Communist Manifesto where the distinctions are extremely clear among the two classes. In the course of my paper I wish to examine the strength and weakness of each of these ideal societies and their implications to political ideology and action. The values of Karl Marxs idealist communist society may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property (Marx, 34). He believed that once private ownership was abolished people would change, and this would finally end the history of all class struggles. Communism to Marx was an extension or a purer form of socialism, whereby the people owned everything and everybody worked for the system, hence no form of personal interests was vested in the system. This assumption was made by placing a gamble on human behavior, probably the most unpredictable factor to place any form of wager on. Marx was assuming that among a whole class of people no interests [were] separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole (Marx, 33). The society that Marx visualized was one where all the citizens desired only the interests of the society by not desiring to satisfy their personal interests. History, however, does not have a basis for pure communism where a group of people have ceased to exist without any possessions and have lived only by the idea; the closest analogy one could give would be of hunter-gatherer societies. These societies, however, existed during the prehistoric times where human attitudes and behaviours were not being constantly reshaped by the changing economic systems in which people find themselves nowadays, which Marx himself mentions as there being no such thing as fixed human nature. Therefore, communism could never work because it goes against human nature. People are naturally more competitive than cooperative. Moreover, the possibility for revolution to occur where the bourgeoisie were to come down in their social status to the level of the proletariats and the proletariats rise to eminence of the bourgeoisies could only occur if human nature were to be dismantled, self memories be wiped out and in other words for the revolution to occur success fully in needs to be self induced. Marx in an indirect manner implies how ones self worth has decreased with the current system when he discusses the dynamics of wage labour and whether it creates property for the laborer. He states that the system is self-defeating for the laborers, which cannot increase except upon condition of begetting a new supply of wage-laborer for fresh exploitation (Marx 34). If we were to refer back to the analogy hunter-gatherer societies the fruits of ones labour were immediate; when an individual hunted his reward was immediate and did not wait for his fruits or live only in so far as the interest of the ruling class requires it (Marx. 35). In short mans worth and dignity has been demoralized and every individual has been converted in paid wage laborersand has reducedrelations[s] to a mere money relations (Marx, 21). Individuals were not bounded by the social status hunter-gatherer since everyone shared and everyone knew their worth. The advantage of this system is that it does not create any room for friction to occur because it does not include the idea of individuals desiring to wish to control the environment or vest any personal interests into the system. This can primarily be attributed to the value the system advocates of not wishing to differentiate people under any circumstances; the system does not know race, ethnicity and differences of age and sex no longer [have] any distinctive social validity (Marx, 26), a trait of hunter-gatherer societies, which Marx so dearly desires. These values would in turn affect the political ideologies of a system trying to covert to communism by picking on the one essential condition for the existenceof the bourgeois class, the formation and the augmentation of capital: the condition for capital is wage labour (Marx, 32). Therefore, the conflicts that would arise would be those that regarding wage labour and its supply; the bourgeoisie would advocate any action that would enhance the competition between laborers the key behind keeping a continuous supply of wage labour opposed to the proletariats immediate aim of cutting off this supply and by doing so ensuring its immediate aim of overthrowing the bourgeois supremacy. Any decline in wage labour would threaten the bourgeoisies capital by reducing its turnover, hence weakening their foothold in the marketplace in turn inhibiting their ability to constantly revolutionize the instruments of production in order to exist and survive (Marx, 21). The bourgeoisie quest to seek a continuous wage labour would see a shift in their political ideology; they would seek to manipulate cities, provinces and other nations that are weak cause them to become dependent on them. The consequence of such political centralization would lead to the epidemic of overproduction, whereby the only manner in which the crises can be overcome is by the conquest of new markets, and by the and by the more through exploitation of the old ones (Marx, 25). However, such exploitation of markets can occur only to a certain limit, until other nations impose regulations confiding the system to resort to desperate measures and turmoil, which occurred with China. Chinese products flooded the world market until recently and now they have been rejected entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and do not enjoy the benefits of free trade. Therefore, China have used enforced destruction of a mass of productive forces (Marx, 25) to decrease their output, which has lead to a lot of turmoil inside the country with dogmas of the government political stability and international recognition and the working class subsistence and a better life clashing against each other further depressing the situation. Like Karl Marx, J.J. Rousseau also painted a picture of ideal society. In his Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences he condemns how societies have succumbed to arts and sciences that have molded our behavior, and taught our passions to speak an artificial language (Rousseau, 6) with the desire to please one another with performances worthy of their mutual approbation (Rousseau, 4). He believed that individuals were imprisoned in the values and ideals of society that the arts and sciences strengthened, whereby everyone followed and nobody dared to be prompted by their inner selves in order not be seen as outcasts, resulting in man losing his individuality. In a nutshell, Rousseau believed that the arts and sciences had tainted origins and they reinforced our crimes by fostering our desire for comfort by transforming individuals into sugar coated pills, whereby jealousy, suspicion, fear, coldness, reserve, hate and fraud lie constantly concealed under the uniform and deceitful veil of politeness (Rousseau, 7). He in turn pictured a society were he believed man was innately pious was not restrained by societys decorum therefore abandoning the possibilities o the vices that evolve in modern societies are nonexistent. He understood virtue in terms of bravery, courage and strength in other words he saw it in raw military power. The weaknesses in Rousseaus painting of the ideal society are the assumptions that are embedded in the question that he was addressing Whether the restoration of the arts and sciences has had the effect of purifying or corrupting morals? Rousseau has to assume that there has been a revival in the arts as well as assume a relationship between abstract and applied knowledge with morality that being the human behavior and customs a society embraces. Such assumptions lead Rousseau to base his argument on a set of contradictions. He idealized the values of the Persians, Germans and Spartans who had an unusual social structure where there was no study of abstract education, no accumulation of property and military virtues were emphasized. The idealizations of such societies contradicted his resentment for etiquette or what he referred to as the veil of politeness, since there exists no organization whereby more discipline, etiquette or order to our rude but natural morals is required than military organizations. Throughout the discourse the theme of man becoming corrupt once he enters society and losing his individuality because they all act the same under the same circumstances alike (Rousseau, 6) is repeatedly emphasized. This argument in itself is self-defeating because if it is the grouping of people that induces people to conceal themselves and live among uncertainty, Rousseaus ideal society would truly only function for isolated individuals since such a level of purity could not occur in the natural dynamics of human societies. When individuals interact, the views and ideals of others will indeed affect the way the individual will live his life, since it is part of human nature to conform to the rules and regulations of others, which are a collection of ideals and values that compromise the principles of society. For a society to function in harmony there has to be some common ground whereby all the different members of that society must conform to and must sacrifice some of their individual ideals for the betterment of the society. Rousseau argues that man would not have to sacrifice his own ideals if he was not placed in the blasphemies of modern societies since he assumes humans are sincerely good and everyone would approve of the actions of others. This in itself breaks Rousseaus argument since there is exists no yardstick to measure good and even if there were to exist such a measure, differences on which good is appropriate would in turn cause conflicts. The simplicity of the society Rousseau describes is its initial strength; the simpler ones life, the palette on which he is to express his bad perspectives becomes less like the American savageswho live entirely on the products of the chase[and] yoke, indeed, [cannot] be imposed on men who stand in need of nothing (Rousseau,5). In a society where the needs do not exceed the basic physiological, safety and social needs and are readily satisfied the room for corruption becomes minimal. Therefore, I believe Rousseaus attack on the arts and sciences is not so much on their origins or sources but more so on how it manages to widen our needs to include self-actualization and self-realization needs, which are needs that are satisfied by luxuries and how we appear in relation to the people surrounding us; a need where the veil and corruption required to have those needs satisfied. Rousseaus painting of such an ideal society would not require a political system, however if all his assumptions were suspended the political implications would be drastic. In politics rarely is something said literally and in a society where the members innately believe that everyone is sincerely good, would not be capable of reading between the lines and would end up in turmoil since other nations would manipulate their naivety. Furthermore, in a society where abstract knowledge such a geometry and economics is not taught the politicians will be incapable of drawing upon actions that will be favour their society, since politics is the evil of all sciences and without a good base in its basic terminology that being the abstract sciences one will be incapable of mastering it and using it to his advantage. Speak from their heartoffend someone.do not take care In Antigone the Greek tragedy, morals, egos, and gender issues were the epics around which principles were based upon. Follow one man Harun Al Rashid..Mamluks..they use to be all loyal Lower class has less say in the political era in order to stop the formation of proletariats which is so important for the revolution to occur. Political laws that protect private property Enhance competitiveness (p.21) Dependence of poor countries on rich ([.23) Eradicate opposition immediately Strength of prletarits p.28 trade unions p.32 existence remains on capital 1) Basecaus they lay down ideals that seem utopian only to them, they forget 2) Might have noticed that there are more cons than pros Several of our texts paint images of ideal human society. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these imagined societies. How do these imagined ideal societies interact with political ideology and political action. Bibliography Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. New York: Bantam, 1992. Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays Antigone, Oedipus The King, Oedipus at Colonus. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1977. Communism Could Never work Because it goes against human nature. People are naturally more competitive than cooperative. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/nature.html

Types Of Pollution And Their Causes Environmental Sciences Essay

Types Of Pollution And Their Causes Environmental Sciences Essay Pollution  is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes discomfort to the  ecosystem  i.e. physical systems or living organisms.  Pollution can take the form of  chemical substances  or  energy, such as noise, heat, or light. Pollutants, the elements of pollution, can be foreign substances or energies, or naturally occurring; when naturally occurring, they are considered contaminants when they exceed natural levels. Pollution is often classed as  point source  or  nonpoint source pollution. POINT SOURCE POLLUTION A  point source of pollution  is a single identifiable  localized  source of  air,  water,  thermal,  noise  or  light  pollution. A  point source  has negligible extent, distinguishing it from other pollution source geometries. The sources are called  point sources  because in mathematical modeling, they can be approximated as a mathematical  point  to simplify analysis. Pollution point sources are identical to other  physics,  engineering,  optics  andchemistry  point sources except that their emissions have been labeled Water pollution from an  oil refinery  wastewater  discharge outlet Noise pollution from a  jet engine Disruptive  seismic  vibration from a localized seismic study Light pollution from an intrusive  street light Thermal pollution from an industrial process  outfall Radio  emissions from an interference-producing electrical device Types of air pollution sources which have finite extent are  line sources,  area sources  and  volume sources. Air pollution sources are also often categorized as either stationary or mobile. NON POINT SOURCE POLLUTION Non-point source (NPS) pollution  is  water pollution  affecting a water body from diffuse sources, such as polluted  runoff  from  agricultural  areas draining into a river, or wind-borne debris blowing out to sea. Nonpoint source pollution can be contrasted with  point source  pollution, where discharges occur to a body of water at a single location, such as discharges from a chemical factory,  urban runoff  from a roadway  storm drain, or from ships at sea. NPS may derive from many different sources with no specific solution to rectify the problem, making it difficult to regulate. It is the leading cause of water pollution in the  United States  today, with polluted runoff from agriculture the primary cause. Other significant sources of runoff include  hydrological  and  habitat modification, and  silviculture  (forestry). Contaminated stormwater washed off of  parking lots,  roads  and  highways, and  lawns  (often containing  fertilizers  and  pesticides) is called  urban runoff. This runoff is often classified as a type of NPS pollution. Some people may also consider it a point source because many times it is channeled into municipal storm drain systems and discharged through pipes to nearby  surface waters. However, not all urban runoff flows through storm drain systems before entering waterbodies. Some may flow directly into waterbodies, especially in developing and suburban areas. Also, unlike other types of point sources, such as industrial discharge, wastewater plants and other operations, pollution in urban runoff cannot be attributed to one activity or even group of activities. Therefore, because it is not caused by an easily identified and regulated activity, urban runoff pollution sources are also often treated as true nonpoint sources as municipalities work to abate t hem. MAJOR FORMS OF POLLUTION ::: The major forms of pollution are listed below along with the particular pollutants relevant to each of them: AIR POLLUTION Air pollution  is the introduction of  chemicals,  particulate matter, or  biological materials  that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the  natural environment  into the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a complex dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet  Earth.  Stratospheric  ozone depletion  due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earths  ecosystems. NOISE POLLUTION Noise pollution  (or  environmental  noise) is displeasing human, animal or machine-created sound that disrupts the activity or balance of human or animal life. The word  noise  comes from the Latin word  nauseas, meaning seasickness. The source of most outdoor noise worldwide is mainly  construction  and  transpHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportortation systems, including  motor vehicle  noise,  aircraft noise  and  rail noise.  Poor  urban planning  may give rise to noise pollution, since side-by-side industrial and residential buildings can result in noise pollution in the residential area. Indoor and outdoor noise pollution sources include  car alarms, emergency service  sirens, mechanical equipment,  fireworks, compressed  air horns, groundskeeping equipment, barking dogs, appliances,lighting  hum, audio entertainment systems, electric  megaphones, and loud people. SOIL CONTAMINATION Soil contamination  (soil pollution) is caused by the presence of  xenobiotic  (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. This type of contamination typically arises from the rupture of  underground storage tanks, application of  pesticides, percolation of contaminated surface water to subsurface strata, oil and fuel dumping, leaching of wastes fromlandfills  or direct discharge of industrial wastes to the soil. The most common chemicals involved are petroleum  hydrocarbons,  solvents, pesticides, lead and other  heavy metals. This occurrence of this phenomenon is correlated with the degree of industrialization and intensities of chemical usage. The concern over soil contamination stems primarily from health risks, from direct contact with the contaminated soil, vapors from the contaminants, and from secondary contamination of water supplies within and underlying the soil. Mapping of contaminated soil sites and the resulting cleanup are time consuming and expensive tasks, requiring extensive amounts of  geology,hydrology,  chemistry  and  computer modeling  skills. It is in  North America  and  Western Europe  that the extent of contaminated land is most well known, with many of countries in these areas having a legal framework to identify and deal with this environmental problem; this however may well be just the tip of the iceberg with developing countries very likely to be the next generation of new soil contamination cases. RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION Radioactive contamination, also called  radiological contamination, is radioactive substances on surfaces, or within solids, liquids or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirable, or the process giving rise to their presence in such places. Also used less formally to refer to a quantity, namely the  activity  on a surface (or on a unit area of a surface). Contamination does not include residual  radioactive material  remaining at a site after the completion of  decommissioning. The term radioactive contamination may have a connotation that is not intended. The term radioactive contamination refers only to the presence of  radioactivity, and gives no indication of the magnitude of the hazard involved. Radioactive contamination is typically the result of a spill or accident during the production or use of  radionuclides  (radioisotopes), an unstable nucleus which has excessive energy. Contamination may occur from radioactive gases, liquids or particles. For example, if a radionuclide used in  nuclear medicine  is accidentally spilled, the material could be spread by people as they walk around. Radioactive contamination may also be an inevitable result of certain processes, such as the release of radioactive  xenon  in  nuclear fuel reprocessing. In cases that radioactive material cannot be contained, it may be diluted to safe concentrations.  Nuclear fallout  is the distribution of radioactive contamination by a  nuclear explosion. THERMAL POLLUTION   Thermal pollution  is the degradation of  water quality  by any process that changes ambient water  temperature. A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a  coolant  by  power plants  and industrial manufacturers. When water used as a coolant is returned to the natural environment at a higher temperature, the change in temperature (a) decreases  oxygen  supply, and (b) affects  ecosystem  composition.  Urban runoffstormwater  discharged to surface waters from  roads  and  parking lotscan also be a source of elevated water temperatures. When a power plant first opens or shuts down for repair or other causes, fish and other organisms adapted to particular temperature range can be killed by the abrupt rise in water temperature known as thermal shock. SOURCES AND CAUSES Air pollution comes from both natural and man made sources. Though globally man made pollutants from combustion, construction, mining, agriculture and warfare are increasingly significant in the air pollution equation. Motor vehicle emissions are one of the leading causes of air pollution.  China,  United States,  Russia,  Mexico, and  Japan  are the world leaders in air pollution emissions. Principal stationary pollution sources include  chemical plants, coal-fired  power plants,  oil refineries,  petrochemical  plants,  nuclear waste  disposal activity, incinerators, large livestock farms (dairy cows, pigs, poultry, etc.),  PVC  factories, metals production factories, plastics factories, and other heavy industry. Agricultural air pollution comes from contemporary practices which include clear felling and burning of natural vegetation as well as spraying of pesticides and herbicides About 400 million metric tons of  hazardous wastes  are generated each year.  The  United States  alone produces about 250 million metric tons.  Americans constitute less than 5% of the  worldHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worlds_populationHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worlds_populations population, but produce roughly 25% of the worlds  COHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide2,  and generate approximately 30% of  worlds waste.  In 2007,  China  has overtaken the United States as the worlds biggest producer of CO2. In February 2007, a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), representing the work of 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries, said that humans have been the primary cause of global warming since 1950. Humans have ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the consequences of global warming, a major climate report concluded. But in order to change the climate, the transition from fossil fuels like coal and oil needs to occur within decades, according to the final report this year from the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Some of the more common  soil  contaminants are  chlorinated hydrocarbons  (CFH),  heavy metals  (such as  chromium,  cadmiumfound in rechargeable  batteries, and  leadfound in lead  paint,  aviation fuel  and still in some countries,  gasoline),  MTBE,zinc,  arsenic  and  benzene. In 2001 a series of press reports culminating in a book called  Fateful Harvest  unveiled a widespread practice of recycling industrial byproducts into fertilizer, resulting in the contamination of the soil with various metals. Ordinary municipal  landfills  are the source of many chemical substances entering the soil environment (and often groundwater), emanating from the wide variety of refuse accepted, especially substances illegally discarded there, or from pre-1970 landfills that may have been subject to little control in the U.S. or EU. There have also been some unusual releases of  polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, commonly called  dioxins  for simplic ity, such as  TCDD. Pollution can also be the consequence of a natural disaster. For example,  hurricanes  often involve water contamination from sewage, and  petrochemical  spills from ruptured  boats  or  automobiles. Larger scale and environmental damage is not uncommon when coastal  oil rigs  or  refineries  are involved. Some sources of pollution, such as  nuclear power  plants or  oil tankers, can produce widespread and potentially hazardous releases when accidents occur. In the case of  noise pollution  the dominant source class is the  motor vehicle, producing about ninety percent of all unwanted noise worldwide. EFFECTS HUMAN HEALTH Adverse  air quality  can kill many organisms including humans. Ozone pollution can cause  respiratory disease,  cardiovascular disease,  throat  inflammation, chest pain, andcongestion. Water pollution causes approximately 14,000 deaths per day, mostly due to contamination of  drinking water  by untreated  sewage  in  developing countries. An estimated 700 million  Indians  have no access to a proper toilet, and 1,000 Indian children die of diarrhoeal sickness every day.  Nearly 500 million Chinese lack access to safe drinking water.  656,000 people die prematurely each year in  China  because of air pollution. In  India, air pollution is believed to cause 527,700 fatalities a year.  Studies have estimated that the number of people killed annually in the US could be over 50,000. Oil spills can cause  skin  irritations and  rashes. Noise pollution induces  hearing loss,  high blood pressure,  stress, and  sleep disturbance.  Mercury  has been linked to  developmental deficits  in children and  neurologic  symptoms. Older people are majorly exposed to diseases induced by air pollution. Those with heart or lung disorders are under additional risk. Children and infants are also at serious risk.  Lead  and other  heavy metals  have been shown to cause neurological problems. Chemical and  radioactive  substances can  cause  cancerand  as well as  birth defects. ENVIRONMENT Pollution has been found to be present widely in the  environment. There are a number of effects of this: Biomagnification  describes situations where toxins (such as  heavy metals) may pass through  trophic levels, becoming exponentially more concentrated in the process. Carbon dioxide  emissions cause  ocean acidification, the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earths oceans as CO2  becomes dissolved. The emission of  greenhouse gases  leads to  global warming  which affects ecosystems in many ways. Invasive species  can out compete native species and reduce  biodiversity. Invasive plants can contribute debris and biomolecules (allelopathy) that can alter soil and chemical compositions of an environment, often reducing native species  competitiveness. Nitrogen oxides  are removed from the air by rain and  fertilise  land which can change the species composition of ecosystems. Smog  and haze can reduce the amount of sunlight received by plants to carry out  photosynthesis  and leads to the production of  tropospheric ozone  which damages plants. Soil can become infertile and unsuitable for plants. This will affect other  organisms  in the  food web. Sulphur dioxide  and  nitrogen oxides  can cause  acid rain  which lowers the  pH  value of soil. POLLUTION CONTROL :: Pollution control is a term used in  environmental management. It means the control of  emissions  and  effluents  into air, water or soil. Without pollution control, the waste products from consumption, heating, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation and other human activities, whether they accumulate or disperse, will degrade the  environment. In the hierarchy of controls,  pollution prevention  and  waste minimization  are more desirable than pollution control. PRACTICES:: RECYCLING :::: Recycling  involves processing used  materials  (waste) into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce  energy  usage, reduce air pollution (from  incineration) and water pollution (from  landfilling) by reducing the need for conventional waste disposal, and lower  greenhouse gas  emissions as compared to virgin production.  Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the Reduce,  Reuse, Recycle  waste hierarchy. Recyclable materials include many kinds of  glass,  paper,  metal,  plastic,  textiles, and  electronics. Although similar in effect, the  composting  or other reuse of  biodegradable waste   such as  food  or  garden waste   is not typically considered recycling.  Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing. In a strict sense, recycling of a material would produce a fresh supply of the same material-for example, used office  paper  would be converted into new office paper, or used  foamed polystyrene  into new polystyrene. However, this is often difficult or too expensive (compared with producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so recycling of many products or materials involves their  reuse  in producing different materials (e.g.,  paperboard) instead. Another form of recycling is the  salvage  of certain materials from complex products, either due to their intrinsic value (e.g.,  lead  from  car batteries, or  goldfrom  computer  components), or due to their hazardous nature (e.g., removal and reuse of  mercury  from various items). Critics dispute the net economic and environmental benefits of recycling over its costs, and suggest that proponents of recycling often make matters worse and suffer from  confirmation bias. Specifi cally, critics argue that the costs and energy used in collection and transportation detract from (and outweigh) the costs and energy saved in the production process; also that the jobs produced by the recycling industry can be a poor trade for the jobs lost in logging, mining, and other industries associated with virgin production; and that materials such as paper pulp can only be recycled a few times before material degradation prevents further recycling. Proponents of recycling dispute each of these claims, and the validity of arguments from both sides has led to enduring controversy. PROCESS OF RECYCLING Collection A number of different systems have been implemented to collect recyclates from the general waste stream. These systems lie along the spectrum of trade-off between public convenience and government ease and expense. The three main categories of collection are drop-off centres, buy-back centres and curbside collection. Drop-off centres require the waste producer to carry the recyclates to a central location, either an installed or mobile collection station or the reprocessing plant itself. They are the easiest type of collection to establish, but suffer from low and unpredictable throughput. Buy-back centres differ in that the cleaned recyclates are purchased, thus providing a clear incentive for use and creating a stable supply. The post-processed material can then be sold on, hopefully creating a profit. Unfortunately government subsidies are necessary to make buy-back centres a viable enterprise, as according to the United States Nation Solid Wastes Management Association it costs on average US$50 to process a ton of material, which can only be resold for US$30. CURBSIDE COLLECTION Curbside collection encompasses many subtly different systems, which differ mostly on where in the process the recyclates are sorted and cleaned. The main categories are mixed waste collection, commingled recyclables and source separation.  A  waste collection vehicle  generally picks up the waste. At one end of the spectrum is mixed waste collection, in which all recyclates are collected mixed in with the rest of the waste, and the desired material is then sorted out and cleaned at a central sorting facility. This results in a large amount of recyclable waste, paper especially, being too soiled to reprocess, but has advantages as well: the city need not pay for a separate collection of recyclates and no public education is needed. Any changes to which materials are recyclable is easy to accommodate as all sorting happens in a central location. In a Commingled or  single-stream system, all recyclables for collection are mixed but kept separate from other waste. This greatly reduces the need for post-collection cleaning but does require  public education  on what materials are recyclable. Source separation is the other extreme, where each material is cleaned and sorted prior to collection. This method requires the least post-collection sorting and produces the purest recyclates, but incurs additional  operating costs  for collection of each separate material. An extensive public education program is also required, which must be successful if recyclate contamination is to be avoided. Source separation used to be the preferred method due to the high sorting costs incurred by commingled collection. Advances in sorting technology (see  sorting  below), however, have lowered this overhead substantially-many areas which had developed source separation programs have since switched to comingled collection. Sorting Once commingled recyclates are collected and delivered to a  central collection facility, the different types of materials must be sorted. This is done in a series of stages, many of which involve automated processes such that a truck-load of material can be fully sorted in less than an hour.  Some plants can now sort the materials automatically, known as  single-stream recycling. A 30 percent increase in recycling rates has been seen in the areas where these plants exist. Initially, the commingled recyclates are removed from the collection vehicle and placed on a conveyor belt spread out in a single layer. Large pieces of  corrugated fiberboard  and  plastic bags  are removed by hand at this stage, as they can cause later machinery to jam. Next, automated machinery separates the recyclates by weight, splitting lighter paper and plastic from heavier glass and metal. Cardboard is removed from the mixed paper, and the most common types of plastic,  PET  (#1) and  HDPE  (#2), are collected. This separation is usually done by hand, but has become automated in some sorting centers: a  spectroscopic  scanner is used to differentiate between different types of paper and plastic based on the absorbed wavelengths, and subsequently divert each material into the proper collection channel.[4] Strong magnets are used to separate out  ferrous metals, such as  iron,  steel, and  tin-plated steel cans  (tin cans).  Non-ferrous metals  are ejected by  magnetic eddy currents  in which a rotating  magnetic field  induces  an electric current around the aluminium cans, which in turn creates a magnetic eddy current inside the cans. This magnetic eddy current is repulsed by a large magnetic field, and the cans are ejected from the rest of the recyclate stream.[4] Finally, glass must be sorted by hand based on its color: brown, amber, green or clear. GREEN HOUSE GASES AND GLOBAL WARNING Carbon dioxide, while vital for  photosynthesis, is sometimes referred to as pollution, because raised levels of the gas in the atmosphere are affecting the Earths climate. Disruption of the environment can also highlight the connection between areas of pollution that would normally be classified separately, such as those of water and air. Recent studies have investigated the potential for long-term rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to cause slight but critical  increases in the acidity of ocean waters, and the possible effects of this on marine ecosystems. Global warming  is the increase in the  average temperature  of  Earths near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. According to the 2007  Fourth Assessment Report  by the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  (IPCC), global surface temperature increased 0.74  Ã‚ ±Ã‚  0.18  Ã‚ °C  (1.33  Ã‚ ±Ã‚  0.32  Ã‚ °F) during the 20th century. Global dimming, a result of increasing concentrations of atmospheric  aerosols  that block sunlight from reaching the surface, has partially countered the effects of warming induced by greenhouse gases. Climate model  projections summarized in the latest IPCC report indicate that the global  surface temperature  is likely to rise a further  1.1 to 6.4  Ã‚ °C  (2.0 to 11.5  Ã‚ °F)  during the 21st century.  The uncertainty in this estimate arises from the use of models with differing  sensitivity to greenhouse gas concentrations  and the use of differing  estimates of future greenhouse gas emissions. An increase in global temperature will cause  sea levels to rise  and will change the amount and pattern of  precipitation, probably including expansion of  subtropical  deserts.  Warming is expected to be  strongest in the Arcticand would be associated with continuing  retreat of glaciers,  permafrost  and  sea ice. Other likely effects include changes in the frequency and intensity of  extreme weather  events,  species extinctions, and changes in  agricultural yields. Warming and related changes will vary from region to region aroun d the globe, though the nature of these regional variations is uncertain.  As a result of contemporary increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, the oceans have become  more acidic; a result that is predicted to continue. The  scientific consensus  is that  anthropogenic  global warming is occurring.  Nevertheless,  political  and  public debate  continues. The  Kyoto Protocol  is aimed at stabilizing greenhouse gas concentration to prevent a dangerous anthropogenic interference.  As of November 2009,  187 states had signed and ratified  the protocol. The  greenhouse effect  is the process by which  absorption  and  emission  of  infrared  radiation by gases in the  atmosphere  warm a  planets lower atmosphere and surface. It was proposed by  Joseph Fourierin 1824 and was first investigated quantitatively by  Svante Arrhenius  in 1896.  The question in terms of global warming is how the strength of the presumed greenhouse effect changes when human activity increases the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases have a mean warming effect of about 33  Ã‚ °C (59  Ã‚ °F).  The major greenhouse gases are  water vapor, which causes about 36-70 percent of the greenhouse effect;carbon dioxide  (CO2), which causes 9-26 percent;  methane  (CH4), which causes 4-9 percent; and  ozone  (O3), which causes 3-7 percent.  Clouds also affect the radiation balance, but they are composed of liquid water or ice and so have  different effects on radiation  from water vapor. Human activity since the  Industrial Revolution  has increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, leading to increased  radiative forcing  from CO2,  methane, tropospheric  ozone,  CFCs  andnitrous oxide. The  concentrations  of CO2  and methane have increased by 36% and 148% respectively since 1750.  These levels are much higher than at any time during the last 650,000 years, the period for which reliable data has been extracted from  ice cores.  Less direct geological evidence indicates that CO2  values higher than this were last seen about 20 million years ago.[41]  Fossil fuel  burning has produced about three-quarters of the increase in CO2  from human activity over the past 20 years. Most of the rest is due to land-use change, particularly  deforestation. Over the last three decades of the 20th century,  GDP  per capita  and  population growth  were the main drivers of increases in greenhouse gas emissions.  CO2  emissions are continuing to rise due to the burning of fossil fuels and land-use change.  Emissions scenarios, estimates of changes in future emission levels of greenhouse gases, have been projected that depend upon uncertain economic,sociological,  technological, and natural developments.  In most scenarios, emissions continue to rise over the century, while in a few, emissions are reduced.  These emission scenarios, combined with carbon cycle modelling, have been used to produce estimates of how atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will change in the future. Using the six IPCC  SRES  marker scenarios, models suggest that by the year 2100, the atmospheric concentration of CO2  could range between 541 and 970 ppm.  This is an increase of 90-250% above the concentration in the year 1750. Fossil fuel reserves are sufficient to reach these levels and continue emissions past 2100 if  coal,  tar sands  or  methane clathrates  are extensively exploited. The destruction of  stratospheric  ozone by  chlorofluorocarbons  is sometimes mentioned in relation to global warming. Although there are a few  areas of linkage, the relationship between the two is not strong. Reduction of stratospheric ozone has a cooling influence.  Substantial ozone depletion did not occur until the late 1970s.  Ozone in the troposphere  (the lowest part of the  EarthHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_EarthHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earths atmosphere) does contribute to surface warming. 8 most polluted cities in India ::: Sukinda, Orissa Number of people affected:  2,600,000 Type of pollutant:  Hexavalent chromium and other metals   Source of pollution:  Chromite mines and processing Hexavalent chromium is: a nasty heavy metal used for stainless steel production and leather tanning that is carcinogenic if inhaled or ingested. In Sukinda, which contains one of the largest open cast chromite ore mines in the world, 60% of the drinking water contains hexavalent chromium at levels more than double international standards. An Indian health group estimated that 84.75% of deaths in the mining areas where regulations are nonexistent are due to chromite-related diseases. There has been virtually no attempt to clean up the contamination. Sukinda has been listed in the Top 10 most polluted places in the world by the US-based Blacksmith Institute. Labourers work at a road construction site near Vapi Vapi, Gujarat Number of people potentially affected:  71,000 Type of pollutant:  Chemicals and heavy metals Source of pollution:  Industrial estates If Indias environment is on the whole healthier than its giant neighbor Chinas, thats because India is developing much more slowly. But thats changing, starting in towns like Vapi, which sits at the southern end of a 400-km-long belt of industrial estates. For the citizens of Vapi, the cost of growth has been severe: levels of mercury in the citys groundwater are reportedly 96 times higher than WHO safety levels, and heavy metals are present in the air and the local produce. Its just a disaster, says Fuller. Vapi has been listed in the Top 10 most polluted places in the world by the US-based Blacksmith Institute. Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab Number of people affected:  155,416 Type of pollutant:  High dust and smoke particulate Source of pollution:  Industrial units Gobindgarh in Punjab, also known as Loha mandi, recorded suspended particulate matter (microscopic particles in the air such as dust and smoke) level of 252 micrograms per cubic metre in 2007, 320 percent higher than the national standard level of 60 micrograms. Known for its iron and steel factories, it is one of the most polluted city in the country. The population in Gobindgarh shows a higher prevalence of symptoms of angina and cardiovascular disease. A ragpicker rows boat in polluted Gomti river in Lucknow Lucknow, UP Number of people affected:  30 lakh Type of pollutant:  High dust and smoke particulate Source of pollution:  Industrial units, vehicles Vehicular emissions are the main cause of air pollution in Lucknow. In recent years there has been a rapid rise in vehicular

Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-State in Latin America

Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-State in Latin America Book Review: Miguel Angel Centeno. Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-State in Latin America. Penn State University Press 2002. Centenos book begins with the mystery of absence of interstate war-what he calls limited war-in Latin America, and then goes into the genealogy of state development in South America and the role of war on that continent. His historically contextualized analysis of warfare takes up the imbricated factors of class structure, organizational power, and international restraints in Latin America. He characterizes the Latin American states institutional and administrative capacity as not well developed as a result of divisions among dominant class structures, foreign power influence and control, which in turn have contributed to the states relatively peaceful history. He succinctly argues that they have been relatively peaceful because they dont have sophisticated political institutions to manage wars -the no States-no Wars argument.[1] Centeno contends that the lack of strong state institutions and limited state capacity accounts for these states inability to create autonomy and finance these wars through internal revenue; rather, this created dependency on foreign government loans that in turn weakened local capacity to create autonomy and thwarted the establishment of strong central institutions.[2] Foreign loan dependency created the conditions for the weakening of the possibility of creating strong central institutions that resulted in limited state capacity and the associated limited scale of war.[3] According to Centeno, limited war[4] do[es] not require the political or military mobilization of the society except (and not always) in the euphoric initial moments.[5] Foreign intervention based on trade interests also limited the scale of Latin American wars.[6] Centeno substantiates his argument with assessments of the capacity of Latin American governments to collect taxes, raise troops, and establish effective bureaucracies. Equally important is his argument about the ability of governments to galvanize nationalism, an ethos that creates a coherent concept of nation.[7] Based on comparative insight derived from North Atlantic nations, he argues that compared to Latin American states, these nations have more capacity to mobilize millions of troops to fight, financed through internally raised revenue from taxes.[8] I believe Centenos work is important as it provides a thorough analysis and critique of state-building theory based on empirical study. His work invests more attention in the Latin America region and makes a country-specific study to understand the particularities and nuances of generic state-building theory. His work draws attention to institutional analysis of states. As he writes, [This] magnificent display of institutional failure deserves further attention.[9] Centeno argues that Latin America has fought limited wars and further inquires into the meaning of this in an attempt to better understand the relationship between war and state-making. His work opens the door for deconstructing conventional nation-building theory, which is largely based on a Eurocentric account of war. Grounded in a set of empirical data and rigorous analysis, Centenos critical work illustrates how war contributed to the weakening of institutions, paying due attention to the fiscal aspect of the state, and shows how war in Latin America ruined institutions and resulted in more entrenched internal divisions.[10] He discusses the institutional capacity of the state as a central theme to explain and critique the regional history and political development, and he examines wars impact, how it has shaped state-society relationships, national identity and fiscal development. Centeno repeatedly emphasizes the fact that states in Latin America did not develop the kind of institutional strength of their Western European counterparts. The author is puzzled by the process and experience and consequences of war in Latin America and how this relates to states institutional strength and capacity to undertake war in a way that has shaped their creation. Based on multiple cases, Centenos historical development of each case and the experience of war illustrates the exigencies, contextual factors, and relational dimensions that all must be taken into account in order to determine, understand and explain variations and commonalties across the continent. This theoretical approach and these methodological insights are critical to assessing the development of the state based on European history and experience while complementing the theoretical discussion of the development of the state on both levelscapturing country-specific variations and theorizing or bringing in theoretical explanations for differences and commonalities. Understanding and explaining regional and country-specific variations using comparative methods provides relevant details to critically engage conventional state-building theory. Through this work, I learned that understanding variations and contextualizing analysis case by case is an important approach. The author uses the prism of war-state development bellicist model[11] as an important theoretical framework to problematize and further explain the nuances and regional and country-specific conditions and factors that alter and critique Eurocentric generalizations of the causal relationship between war and state development. Indeed, Centeno uses the counterfactual realties of Latin America to successfully refute the European model of state-building theory that suggests that wars created modern states and enhanced their institutions, creating the capacity for states to exploit resources, monopolize violence and make more wars. In fact, he successfully illustrates how (limited) wars in Latin America destroyed institutions and thwarted nation-state building. Here, he introduces internal factors such as class structure, internal elite divisions and the enduring impact of postcolonial chaos, noting how all contributed, along with the international factors related to how trade interest played out and to debt/loan dependence. An important lesson we can draw from this book is that the experience of war in Latin America, its role and influence on state creation (both the types and kinds of state formation) are distinct here, different from the significant role war played in the development of some European states. No doubt more cases from Latin America and elsewhere would further refute, contextualize, deconstruct and critique the conventional presuppositions, assumptions and models of state-building theory. The complex historical realties of states problematize and create an elaborated space for other factors, beyond war, providing complementary explanations related to creation of the state. Centenos central message is that the link between war and state-building is contingent on historical specificities and case-specific factors. However, his work does not help us to understand how strong states could develop without wars. The logic in Centenos theory and argument is important as it highlights important elements in appraising the link between war-making and state-making as understood in conventional theories, putting the focus on certain contingent factors-history, domestic socio-economic and political structures, and international politics. [1] Centeno, M. A. (2002). Blood and debt: War and the nation-state in Latin America. Penn State Press.p 26 [2] Ibid p 28 and Chapter 3 [3] Ibid [4] Ibid p 20-26 [5] Ibid p 21 [6] Ibid p 26 and 72-73 [7] Ibid p. 23, 7 and Chapter 4 and 5 [8] Ibid p 108- 109 191 and Chapter 5 [9] Ibid p 17 [10]ÂÂ   Ibid p 142 -145, 14, 6-7 and Chapter 3 [11] Ibid p. 19 and 266 What Makes a Teacher Effective? What Makes a Teacher Effective? What do you think it means to be an effective teacher? An effective teacher utilises aspects of their background, professional knowledge and personality to boost students academic growth (Whitton, Barker, Nodworthy, Sinclair, Phil, 2004). The favourable characteristics that follow an effective teacher are their high confidence, optimism and knowledge of the content. Effective teachers are confident in their knowledge, skills and their ability to guide students as well as feeling secure about their status as master of their subject. As well as having confidence in themselves, teachers must have confidence in their students, and believe that they will learn (Killen, 2013). The teacher should have strong beliefs that even the most complicated concept can be explained in such a way that students find it easy to learn. The teachers deeper understanding of the content should provide a means that makes it easy for them as teachers to alter known concepts to suit the students, making it easier for students to consume (Killen, 2013). Teaching is more than just presenting content, our Australian curriculum displays content that students must intake and how their academic level should be judged e.g. Tests and exams. A starting point for an effective teacher is to understand that learning is based on understanding the concept of the content, and the means of an effective teacher is to motivate learners from a state of not understanding to deeper understanding (Killen, 2013). Teachers must be able to create an environment where learners can understand the content presented. Specific techniques that are used to effectively create this environment involve the transformation of the content to something that is easier to understand, motivating learners and engaging them in learning tasks and the teachers adaptability to different students and different learning styles (Killen, 2013). Interactions with students gives teachers the chance to know what is happening around the class room so teachers have a chance to manipulat e their teaching style to best suit the students (Whitton et al., 2016). Why do teachers need to purposely plan for learning? Planning is an important technique teachers use to amplify student achievement as well as teacher satisfaction, the best teachers are able to organise and deliver the best learning experience through thoughtful planning. Overall planning put into class rooms should meet the curriculum requirements and learning needs, to further extend student academic achievement and make the learning experience worthwhile (Whitton et al., 2016). In order for students to meet the learning goals set out by the curriculum, teachers must understand the importance of effective planning. An effective plan helps students to learn purposefully with more efficiency as time is always a constraint in a class room, a developed plan also helps the teacher to clarify what goals are set for students and a step by step process on how to achieve those goals (Killen, 2013). An in-depth plan can boost the teachers confidence as it mirrors to the teacher that they understand the content the students want to learn, the increase in confidence will propel the overall teaching effectiveness. Purposely planning for learning is a must if a teacher is to grow in the art of teaching as it develops the teachers capability for effective teaching and gives a mean to reflect on their planning and effectiveness (Killen, 2013). A plan for learning needs to be effective in order to ensure the learning procedure is productive. Teaching can be simplified into a learning cycle: Planning, implementing then evaluating. Planning requires thorough knowledge of the students in the class their age, gender, interests, learning styles, academic talents and social / emotional states all come into effect when identifying the most effective techniques to be highlighted in the plan (Whitton et al., 2016). Knowledge and understanding of the curriculum must also be taken into account when setting up the plan so learning outcomes can be met. With an active and comprehensive plan the implementing of the actual teaching shows more effectiveness, evaluation of the lesson taught will provide feedback to the teacher on if the content and process was suitable for the students (Whitton et al., 2016). The purpose of the lesson taught must be clear so that students know why each lesson is important, simultaneously the lesson should al so be used by the teacher as means to guide their planning (Killen, 2013) How can effective teachers best engage students in learning? Engaging students in learning is just as important as teaching the students. In order for learners to take in the content being taught they must be focused on the objective and have a clear understanding as to why theyre being taught this. Various strategies are used together by teachers to best engage students to learn. Lesson introductions are one of the major components to involve learners and have them drawn into the learning experience, a lesson introduction should spark the students interests and have them feel connected to the learning environment (Whitton et al., 2016). Just as we discussed in the tutorial in week 3 examples to get the class interested in learning are setting up display materials, objects that students can touch and build understanding through a hands-on experience (e.g. cutting fruit into pieces when examining fractions) or reading a childrens book as audio-visual resource. The introductions should always be related to the topic and spark interests (Whitton et al., 2016). Just as lesson introductions lesson closures should also be given high amounts of attention. The lesson closure must also be relevant and involve the learners to make them aware that the lesson is over. Recapping what occurred, having groups display their work or discuss amongst themselves are good closures that give the teacher an idea if learning outcomes were met during the lesson (Whitton et al., 2016). Therere are many teaching and learning strategies, all the strategies can be broken down into 4 planning components: content, process, products and environment. The content is what is taught, process is how the content is taught, products are the teachers themselves that guide and help students (Whitton et al., 2016). Discovery learning is a strategy used that challenges students understanding and their thinking skills, this strategy of learning focuses on the students, expecting them to develop a solution and a method to the solution (Whitton et al., 2016). Discovery lessons require hands-on research activities to best engage the students. The advantages of discovery learning are that students are involved in the process of learning, the actives used in this type of learning are more meaningful and students acquire their own research and reflective skills (Westwood Peter, 2008). Why is developing positive communication skills important for effective teachers? The idea of enforcing positive communication skills upon teachers to further present in the classroom serve a clear purpose, an effective teacher will use their communication skills to create a rich and positive learning environment. Specific teaching strategies, skills and attitudes impact the learning environment as a whole and in turn these characteristics of the teacher can be manipulated and adjusted and then presented with strong communication skills to the students in order to gage their interests and create a healthy, productive classroom (Whitton et al., 2016). In an educational setting the relationship the teacher has with the students has a significant impact on the communication that occurs between teacher and student (Howell, 2014). If a teacher builds a positive relationship with their students there is a direct influence on the type of communication they will engage in, positive relationships opens a positive environment and negative relationships will generate a negat ive environment (Howell, 2014). An effective teacher will aim to promote a positive learning environment through means of displaying approachability and showing assertiveness in their communication. Assertiveness is categorised as communication style as well as aggressiveness and passivity (Howell, 2014). A good teacher will avoid aggressive and passive styles in communicating as they foster a negative learning environment but should focus on being assertive. The assertive teacher will display the capabilities to be an effective active listener; non-judgemental; able to express himself with honesty; respect others values; able to check on others feelings, all while being proactive, flexible, trustworthy and confident (Howell, 2014). All these highlighted qualities make the teacher approachable, if a student finds a teacher approachable theyre more likely to confide with the teacher and should they have a problem in the future they will feel encouraged to come to the teacher to share their concerns and feelings (Whi tton et al., 2016). By advocating positive relationships and communication, through assertiveness and approachability teachers promote a healthy and positive classroom environment for effective learning (Whitton et al., 2016 Howell,2014). References Whitton, D., Sinclair, C., Barker K., Nosworthy, M., Humphries, J., Sinclair, C. (2016)Learning for teaching: Teaching for learning. VIC, Australia: Cengage Killen, R. (2013). Effective teaching strategies: Lessons from research and practice. South Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning Australia. Retrieved from http://CURTIN.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1696408 Westwood, P. (2008). What teachers need to know about. VIC, Australia: ACER Press. Retrieved from http://search.informit.com.au.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=569324157817332;res=IELHSS Howell, J. (2014). Teaching and learning: Building effective pedagogies. South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/lib/curtin/detail.action?docID=4191370