The Impact Of Rastafari On The Culture Through The Voices...

Chaneil Hall Professor Edmondson Independent Study: The Impact of Rastafari May 13, 2015 Reggae as a Means of Social Transformation Through The Voices of the Rastafari Jamaica, the third largest Caribbean island is not only home to tropical weather and picturesque landscapes, but also to social unrest and perhaps some of the most rebellious people. Since its existence, this nation has seen a series of revolutions and riots in efforts to reverse the unjust social, economic, and political conditions. The most influential of these revolutionary efforts contributed to the formation of Jamaica’s very own religious movement, Rastafarianism. With oppression serving as one of the driving forces for the Rastafari Movement, it is understandable why its followers are so adamant about professing their ideologies, beliefs and practices. The central language used to express the grievances of Rastafarians is known globally as the music genre, Reggae. It is not merely coincidental that the country pregnant with such radical motives also gave birth to its own music brand. By examining the music of artists such as Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Luciano and more, w e can deduce that Reggae music served and continues to serve as the most prominent vehicle for the spread of Rastafarianism. The Rastafari Movement emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s out of desires to defeat the crippling British colonial culture and to establish an identity based on the reclamation of African heritage. The men credited forShow MoreRelatedThe People Believe About Rastafarians2044 Words   |  9 Pagessmokers and Jamaican lingo talkers are in the make beliefs of the Rastafarians. Clearly those exterior references only create a more confusing understanding of Rastafarians. For anyone to call themselves Rasta, one must know everything about their culture. Unlike other religions where all one has to do is accept whatever that religion says without study, one must study the doctrine, the diet, the laws and the strict codes that obey to the Rasta faith. It is seen as a way of life rather than just anotherRead MoreChattel Slavery1359 Words   |  6 Pagesmusic (Africans had the drum - representing the voice of their gods - banned by laws, some of which remain on the statute book in Barbados to thi s day). This highlights the all-important difference between indentureship and slavery: The heart of slavery was not the horrible labour conditions. If that were so, slavery and indentureship might be comparable. The heart of slavery was the stealing of the African s soul - his language (the eyes through which one sees the world), his gods, his family,Read MoreRastafarian79520 Words   |  319 PagesRastafari This page intentionally left blank Rastafari From Outcasts to Culture Bearers Ennis Barrington Edmonds 2003 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the Universitys objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata KualaRead MoreThe Great Bob Marley1537 Words   |  7 Pagespeople would say one name, Bob Marley. Robert Nesta Marley, commonly known as Bob Marley, is undoubtedly the most famous reggae artist of all time. Additionally, he is responsible for bringing reggae to the masses, and he did this through his unique style, raspy voice, guitar playing and drumming. Bob Marley is known around the world for not only his music, but also his greater message of peace. Furthermore, Marley became a cultural icon, as he encouraged others to rebel against racism and violenceRead MoreBob Marley’s Spiritual Rhetoric, the Spread of Jamaican Culture and Rastafarianism6348 Words   |  26 PagesRhetoric, the Spread of Jamaican Culture and Rastafarianism By Mark Haner Senior Seminar: Hst 499 Professor John L. Rector Western Oregon University June 16, 2007 Readers Professor John L. Rector Professor Kimberly Jensen Copyright  © Mark Haner, 2007 The spread of Jamaican culture and Rastafarianism can be accredited to many events and technical advances in communication. Bob Marley is one of the main influences the spread of Jamaican culture and Rastafarianism due to the lyricalRead MoreThe Cultural and Human Elements of the Great Bob Marley’s Music1054 Words   |  5 Pagessufferers everywhere. As Bob Marley was quoted in ‘Catch a Fire’ saying â€Å"Facts an’ facts, an’ t’ings an’ t’ings: dem’s all a lotta fockin’ bullshit. Hear me! Dere is no truth, an’ that is de truth of Jah Rastafari.† This is an example of one of the cultural and human elements of religion that had an impact on his music. Macias 2 The struggles of the urbanRead MoreBob Marley And The Wailers1654 Words   |  7 PagesRastas). Rastafari and Jamaican independence was resistant to colonial forces and ideologies, although simultaneously, it embraced certain practices left behind from colonial presence. Rastafarianism pushed back against the British, social inequality, and unemployment. This opposition against the source of oppression led to a sense of local empowerment to combat British colonial inequality. Rastafarian symbols such as dreadlocks had a deeper meaning; dreadlocks were an oppositional culture to WesternRead MoreEssay on The End of Oppression for Jamaican Women5572 Words   |  23 Pages Women have been oppressed in many places and in many different ways over the years, but in Jamaica this continuing trend is finally to be broken. Sexual or gender inequality represents as essential and integral feature of social relations and culture construction in Jamaica, where for the past four hundred years colonial and imperialist exploitation has governed the development of economic, political, and sociocultural patterns and structures.(Harrison: Women in Jamaicas Urban Informal EconomyRead MoreThe True Beauty Of Music1430 Words   |  6 Pageshorrific living conditions they still suffered post-independence. Therefore, they decided to fight for their rights to speak and voice an opinion. In the Anglo-Caribbean region, music played a major part in people’s lives. The Caribbean people turned to Black Nationalism and began practicing their own spiritual beliefs and voicing their opinions to send a message through their songs and music. â€Å"Nations in Latin America were beginning a process of rapid urbanization. Cultural nationalism was widespreadRead MoreBob Marleys Life and Times: A Critical Analysis1526 Words   |  6 Pagesthe world a visitor can hear Marleys reggae music, or see people wearing T-shirts with his image on the front, or otherwise come into contact with Marleys legacy. He is truly a cultural icon, and during his life and even afterward, he has made an impact on society. In this paper his life and times and his influence on society will be reviewed and critiqued. Bob Marleys Biography According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography (EWB) Marley was born February 6, 1945, in Rhoden Hall, Jamaica in

Theme Of Manipulation In To Kill A Mockingbird - 737 Words

Southern Gothic is classic genre, with themes like coming of age and outcasts. In To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, it consists of the large variety of themes, such as the power of manipulation. Since manipulation is a powerful topic, many authors include manipulation in their stories, as victims of manipulation are prejudged. Common characters in this book utilized by society are Boo Radley and Adolphus Raymond. Tom Robinson is a colored man; therefore, he is different around whites. Boo, Adolphus, and Tom are victims of prejudice for not following stereotypical roles in a hypocritical town. Judged by something that is odd to the town, as disappearance, marriage, and color. With that, it becomes obvious that the town is a†¦show more content†¦In Maycomb, a colored folk and a white person having a relationship is something odd. Since, alcohol is responsible for weird behavior; it was a reason why Adolphus Raymond married a colored woman. A rumor relevant why Raym ond married a colored folk; â€Å"They said it was because she found out about his colored woman, he reckoned he could keep her and get married too. He’s been sorta drunk ever since† (Lee 215). This quote, therefore show the town’s manipulation on Raymond because of his marriage. Adolphus is â€Å"drinker†, during the court case, when Jem went outside, because he was crying, Raymond greeted him. Adolphus was a kind soul and offered Jem a drink. When Jem took a sip, he realizes it was cola, and that Adolphus is another victim, exploited by the town. After the rape trail held in Maycomb County, the readers realized that Tom is a person blamed for wrongdoing because of his skin color. Additionally, Maycomb is a racist, Southern town, with the archetype that whites are more superior to blacks. The trail consists of Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell, and Tom Robison; with the case, that Tom took advantage of Mayella. After the court, Tom was innocent, but his color lead him to his death, with wounds from 17 bullet shots. The quote, â€Å"They-they ‘preciate what you did, Mr. Finch† (Lee 286). The colored community appreciates the effort that Atticus tried to defend Tom Robison. Tom is colored folk, so even though he was innocent; the racial status is different from aShow MoreRelatedMovie Analysis : Kill A Mockingbird1571 Words   |  7 Pages If a book is retold in film format then it seems to follow logically that it now deviates from the original book, yet the same story is still being told and with To Kill a Mockingbird we see that through scene additions (or subtractions), details, and technique the film manages to preserve core points of the story for the audience. Translating the elements of the book that are solely for literature can prove tricky for screenwriters and though some manage to pull it off artistic liberty is a dangerRead MoreUse of Minor Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird1274 Words   |  6 Pagesthe privilege of discovering in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Specifically, Lee uses minor characters to effectively disprove stereotypes and establishing setting. Not only do they influence the direction of the plot, but also Scout and her development as a character. Lee carefully selects minor characters to send important messages and reinforce themes by using characters as symbols. Fundamenta lly, the minor characters in â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† are crucial in making Harper Lee’s novel beautifulRead MoreHamlet by William Shakespeare734 Words   |  3 PagesShakespeare was an amazing poet, actor and playwright. He wrote comedies, histories, and tragedies. His writings are still read today because of his use of language, complex characters, and common themes, such as love and hate. One of his most famous works of tragedy is the play Hamlet. This play is about Hamlet, a young prince who leads a life of privilege. Until tragedy strikes in the form of the death of the king, his father Hamlet. His world view changes from this point on. He becomes suspiciousRead MorePost-colonialism in The Hunger Games1957 Words   |  8 Pagesstoryline is of a game in which children kill each other. The books have reached iconic status in America and is an anomaly in the Young Adult Literature genre in that it has a female protagonist yet is popular with male and female rea ders of all ages. Collins wrote the series in response to her fears of the blurred lines between Reality Shows and televised news events (Blasingame 726). The dystopian world portrayed in the book is rife with Post-colonial themes. There are many opinions about the properRead MoreFahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury3708 Words   |  15 Pagesbelievable, since America is perceived as a very advanced country today. Therefore, the location had a significant impact on the plausibility of the novel. Nevertheless, the time period was arguably the most vital factor in supporting the storyline and themes. The plot of Fahrenheit 451 was set in the future, a central aspect in determining how the story would progress. For example, this allowed the inventions to be more realistic, while permitting Bradbury to remain imaginative. This was evident throughRead MoreEssay on Silent Spring - Rachel Carson30092 Words   |  121 PagesRIGHTS RESERVED. The following sections of this BookRags Premium Study Guide is offprint from Gales For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.  ©1998-2002;  ©2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The

Financial Crisis Free Essays

string(61) " pleasured to borrow currency to these sub- prime borrowers\." The latest global financial crisis was exploded in 2008. This was the most serious financial crisis since the economic depression which occurred in sass and it severely impacted the global financial market. Lots of corporations collapsed during the 2008 financial recession which was caused by breakage of capital chain. We will write a custom essay sample on Financial Crisis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Although some companies did not bankrupt during that period, they also had suffered huge loss. The 2008 global financial crisis began from America. American financial crisis came from the prosperity of real estate. Before the 2008 global financial crisis, a large umber of financial derivatives were generated and financial bubble became more and more serious. Finally, American sub-prime crisis occurred which leaded to a large number of bank failure. This paper will analyze the reason of American sub- prime crisis and indicate the relevance between Shoal’s article, agency theory and the 2008 global financial crisis. This essay will argue that agency theory contributes to the 2008 global financial recession. 2 Review of the literature 2. Agency theory Agency theory has described a relationship between principals and agents. It also an solve this relationship through a contract that ‘one or more persons (the principal(s)) engage another person (the agent) to perform some service on their behalf which involves delegating some decision making authority to the agent’ denser and Neckline, 1976:308, citied in Lehman and Continue, 2013). 2. 2 Bad theory and humans morality and ethic A fter the collapse of Enron, Shoal (2005) strongly argues that business school does not need to do lots of things. In contrast, they Just need to terminate some old courses which they are teaching for their students. The reason is that the root of the issues in management practices can be found in the theories of management. Additionally, management practices which are condemned are enhanced by these ‘theories and ideas’ (Shoal, 2005: 75). Moreover, business school cannot address the issues of moral and ethic. Clansman, Setback and Heckler (1998: 77, citied in Shoal, 2005) claim that management studies is regarded as ‘a branch of’ the social sciences. Namely, the issues of business studies can be analyzed and resolved in method of social sciences. However, Ghosted (2005: 77) strongly argues that people use ‘scientific’ way o explore regulation so that they have ignored the moral and ethics of humans. Because there are some underlying basic diversities between physical sciences and business studies, some theories of physical sciences are not suitable for business studies. Furthermore, the parts of business studies which are related to physical (2005), even though ‘scientific methods’ (p. 7) exerts some positive influences, the cost is expensive. Therefore, this approach denies the subjective initiative of human. In addition, humans morality and ethic which are neglected by individuals are inevitable in human intentionality. Jensen and Michelin (1976, cited in Shoal, 2005: 75) assert that an idea which ‘mangers cannot be trusted’ was taught to their students in business school. As a result, whe n these students graduate, they hardly trust their leaders and do not realize that they should strictly maintain personal integrity. Additionally, Even though Friedman (1953, citied in Shoal, 2005) acknowledges that the duty of agents is to maximize the profit of shareholders, Shoal discounts this view and argues that compared with finding a new Job by employees, it is easier that shareholder can sell their corporation (Shoal, 2005). Furthermore, shareholder value minimization is the fundamental of the agency theory. However, Shoal (2005: 81) strongly asserts that they are not relevant and points out that these research and analyses are built on incorrect assumption, which meaner they are ‘unrealistic’. Moreover, ‘Chicago Agenda’ extreme emphasis laws and rules and against human intentionality and indicates that ethic and morals which are only relevant with persons can be removed from social science (Shoal, 2005). Nevertheless, Shoal disagrees this view and approves of the stewardship theory, because it can effectively give consideration to he profit of ‘customers, employees, shareholders’ and their ‘communities’ (Davis, Chairman and Donaldson, 1997, citied in Shoal, 2005: 81). 2. 3 Background of financial crisis The 2008 global financial recession has been described a ‘once in a century credit tsunami’ (Earl, 2009: 785). This is a disastrous blow to global financial community. Ballard (et al, 2009, citied in Huh et at, 2012) points out that many economists regarded the global financial crisis as the most serious global finance disaster since sass. Compared with only 11 banks was bankruptcy during 2003 to 2007, at least 160 American banks went broke in 2008 and 2009 (Fide, 2011, citied in Huh et al, 2012). From this statistics, it is not difficult to know how strong influence brought by this financial crisis. There is a close link between the 2008 global financial crisis and sub-prime crisis. Bernard (2007, citied in Hellenize and Chaos, 2012) asserts that ‘sub-prime mortgages are loans made to borrowers who are perceived to have a high credit risk, often because they lack a strong credit history or have other characteristics that are associated with high probabilities of default’. Furthermore, during 1990 to 2000, cause of the IT bubble economy, the American government took some steps to prevent economic downturn, such as reducing interest rate, cutting tax, decreasing the cost of sub-prime etc. Even though there were higher risks that some of sub- prime borrowers cannot repay currency punctually, the sub-prime mortgage had become an extremely phenomenon in that period, because this kind of debits can get more return due to the higher interest rate. In addition, secondary market had Thus mortgagor can easier receive mortgage credit, no matter he or she is the sub- prime borrowers or prime borrowers. As a result, sub-prime mortgage market had developed rapidly. Furthermore, a large portion of American preferred to buy a house in installment plan before the 2008 global financial crisis and some of them were sub-prime borrowers. Basic and Chine (1996, citied in Change and Chine, 2013: 14) claim that people need ‘more than enough’ fortune to certify their social status. This is why lots of American purchased a house in installment plan. Because of the higher interest rate, local banks were pleasured to borrow currency to these sub- prime borrowers. You read "Financial Crisis" in category "Papers" Goodhearted (2007) claims that in order to assess the default risk, here is no experience that the price of house has declined in the whole of America. However, the price of house started to fall from the end of 2006 in lots of areas of America (Goodhearted, 2007). Because the value of mortgage is less than the debts and the growing interest rate, increasingly sub-prime borrowers gave up repaying currency to banks. Consequently, even though lenders had sold these mortgages, it cannot cover the loss. In other words, the income gained by selling houses was not enough to offset the values of the credit and interest. As a result, these banks were suffering serious loss and some of them had to close down. 4 The link between Shoal’ article, agency theory and financial crisis In recent years, agency theory is widely used in lots of corporation and regarded it as the fundamental theory of corporate governance. Agency theory has played an important role in traditional control systems. Moreover, in this theory, shareholders use the method of supervision and reward to control mangers and employees. It is the foundation of agency theory to maximize the value of shareholders. Principals need to supervise agents whether they focus on shareholder’ interest when they are operating a corporation. However, Shoal (2005) strongly points out hat this theory does not improve the company’s performance, because it is analyzed by physical science and then neglect the moral and ethic of human. Because the different perspectives between shareholders and agents, they can make the diverse decisions. Thus some primary issues should be focused on in agency theory. Firstly, because of the diverse goals between principals and agents, how to ‘align’ them has become thorny (Lehman and Continue, 2013: 1). Secondly, how to guarantee agents carry out according to principals’ ideas. Lehman and Continue, 2013). Shareholders are interested in long-term strategies which can sustainable evolve their corporations. In other words, in long-term strategies, shareholders’ value, such as stock price and dividends, can be maximized (Klein, 2009). In contrast, agents focus on short-term strategies so that they reject long-term strategies. In this way, they not only can effect ively avoid unpredictable emergency which usually occur in long-term strategies, but also can get profit in a short time. It is why leaders Just pay attention to currently profit and overlook long-term development. For example, they may use ‘inferior raw material’ to manufacture (Lehman and Continue, 2013: 1). As a result, current margin can increase; however, they have overlooked some more corporation. Obviously, the loss of long-term cannot be estimated. This is similar as the sub-prime mortgage. Lenders prefer to lend currency to sub-prime borrowers, because of the higher interest rate. They can collect more properties in a short time. In addition, if the housing price is higher than the price of mortgages, borrowers will try their best to repay the debt, because they do not want to lose their house. To assume, if a mortgagor cannot timely repay, house, as a mortgage, will belong to the bank. Namely, when the bank sale this house, it can get extra property immediately. In this case, lending currency to borrowers, even though they are sub-prime borrowers, it is hardly to get damage to lenders. However, loaners have only noticed the short-term profit, therefore, they loaned mortgage to sub-prime borrowers instead of prime borrowers; however, they had neglected sustainable development, especially when the price of house dramatically declined. In fact, when the housing price decreased, some borrowers preferred to give up the mortgage to lenders, especially the value of house is lower than the loans (Klein, 2009). In other words, banks only can receive these mortgages instead of the loans. As a result, huge loss derived these banks collapse. Furthermore, mortgage lender also can resell theses mortgage to investment bank. However, some of them had hided some information in order to a higher price (Klein, 2009). In this way, some drawback of mortgage cannot be known by a new buyer. What is worse, these shortcomings may be modified to become some advantages to attract others. This fraud and sharp practice had continuing occurred. Namely, there are increasingly investing companies were involved in this event. Nevertheless, because the housing price decreased, these mortgages had devalued, which caused a serious debt crisis. Shoal (2005) points out that business school should open some ethic courses to teach their students more accountable. Obviously, he has predicted this perspective. Initially, if lenders do not only pay attention to short-time strategies, they did not only pursue the minimization of value in a short time and preferred to lend currency to prime borrowers rather than sub-prime borrowers. Even though the price of house decreased, borrowers are bound to consider their reedit, because they do not want to be classified in sub-prime borrowers. Additionally, they had stable Jobs to ensure the possible of repayment. Namely, banks may not consistently suffer such a huge blow. Furthermore, in order to earn greater profit, some agents had lent more than 20 times cash than the value the company’s security assets. Was (2010) convincingly points out that ‘highly leveraged balance’ existed in some financial institutions. For example, investment banks’ liabilities-to-assets ratio was 0. 96 at the end of 2006 (Was, 2010). In other words, the majority of assert was borrowed. Even though these agents used insurance to transfer risk, blind pursuit of interests had brought some huge hazard. Sometimes, if an agent is indeed regarded as a selfish man, it will damage the benefit of his or her corporation. Even though it may be reasonable that agent should some underlying differences between physical science and business studies. In other words, some theories which are correct in physical science cannot be reasonably used in business studies. Eisenhower (1989, citied in Lehman and Continue, 2013: 1) points out that it is a significant issue that if an agent makes a decision, it will be fisticuff for principals to check whether this decision is beneficial for the company, such as ‘creative accounting’ which is seriously harmful the profit of corporation. Furthermore, managers may not want to spend capital on ‘long-term research and development’, because it can reduce the short-term interest (Lehman and Continue, 2013: 2). Therefore, even though it seems exact that mangers should maximize the value of shareholders, Shoal discounts this view. He (2005:81) convincingly argues that this is the ‘unrealistic assumptions’ and humans moral and ethic have been overlooked in this theory. In fact, shareholders and agents have the diverse goals, which meaner that shareholders are interested in long-term strategy; oppositely, agents prefer to focus on the short-term strategy. Because of the unrealistic assumptions, agency problems which contribute to the 2008 global financial crisis are ignored. 3 Implication in article 3. 1 Stewardship can remit financial crisis In Shoal’s article, he argues that stewardship theory which can be alliterative to replace the agency theory can remit the problem between principals and agents (Shoal, 2005). Stewardship theory does not advocate personal interest, but the elective profit. In this theory, collective profit is higher than the personal benefit. Hernandez (2008) points out that agents’ and shareholders’ benefit can be aligned in stewardship theory. ‘Responsibility’ and ‘psychological ownership’ are combined with the profit of shareholders (Block, 1996; Davis, Chairman, and Donaldson 1997; citied in Spheres et al, 2012:2). In other words, they have become a collective and the interests of collective have closely linked with personal profits. According to Hernandez (2008), employees can feel more responsible and fulfill their obligations in stewardship theory. Because the interest has become consistent, the conflicting goals may not exist. Compared with agency theory which monitoring is necessary between shareholders and agents, shareholders and staff can cooperate in a harmonious environment. Furthermore, stewardship is also beneficial for realizing the interactions between sales personnel and consumers (De Router, De Gong and Wetness 2009; Hernandez, 2008, citied in Spheres et al, 2012). Therefore, it is good for a corporation to pay attention to customers, staff and shareholders simultaneously. Take sub-prime crisis makes an assumption, if the majority of corporation accepted he stewardship theory instead of the agency theory before the 2008 global financial crisis, the credit tsunami might not occur or it was not as heavy as this. Interest among agents’, shareholders’ and customers’ are tightly relevant. In other words, agents and shareholders may not only focus on the short-term profit and ignore long- place. Therefore, they may prefer to lend currency for prime borrowers while limit the amount of loans which is loaned to sub-prime borrowers. In addition, when lenders resell their mortgage, they may not deliberately hide weak information and ay not modify shortcomings in order to resell a higher price. Even though the agency theory has been extensively used in the world, Shoal has realized the drawback of it and try to replace it. The agency theory has contributed to the 2008 global financial crisis to a large degree. Namely, Shoal has forecasted the issue which has widely existed in the majority of companies. Furthermore, the stewardship theory advocated by Shoal can effectively remit the problems between shareholders and agents. It also can decrease the harm brought by financial crisis to some extent. 4 practice relevance 4. The power of government While it can effectively decrease the probability of financial crisis that using the stewardship theory replaces the agency theory, it is not enough. Therefore, the power of government cannot be overlooked. Because it can cause economic bubble that a government continually slash interest rates or dramatically reduce interest rates. However, American government had constantly reduced the interest rate thirteen times from 2001 to 2003. As a result, it caused the boom of American real estate. In addition, the application condition of sub-prime mortgage had decreased. A large umber of people preferred to purchase a house in installment plan, which caused the 2008 global financial crisis. Therefore, except for the stewardship theory, government also should pay attention to the frequency and the range of decreasing rate. Excessively fast decline the interest rate or oversize decrease them may cause economic bubble, which can harm for the domestic financial market. What is worse, it can lead to global economic crisis. Thus improper regulations may indirect lead to financial crisis. In addition, it is important that government should limit the rate of the sub-prime mortgage in any investment bank. Klein (2009) points out that regulation which can defend financial marker should be built by government. In other words, reasonable legislative can effectively prevent financial crisis. Consequently, the effect of government cannot be ignored. It also can effectually protect financial market and prevent huge loss. While the dominant economic system is free marker, governmental macro-control, which is beneficial to the current economic system, is inevitable. 5 Conclusion Agency theory has described the relationship between principals and agents. Even Hough the foundation of the agency theory is to maximize the value of shareholder, Shoal (2005: 81) convincingly points out that it is incorrectly built on an ‘unrealistic crisis. Because sub-prime borrowers have the lower credit and lower repayment ability, when the value of mortgage was less than the loan, they preferred to give up repaying the debt. As a result, sub-prime lenders had to sustain the huge loss. However, agents only focused on the short-term profit. They preferred to loan currency to sub-prime borrowers. Therefore, borrowing currency to sub-prime borrowers had become a common phenomenon in that period. Even though Shoal’s article was published before the international financial crisis, he was still aware of the problems of agency theory in economic system. While agency theory is accepted by the majority of corporations, it still has some serious problems. How to cite Financial Crisis, Papers

Corporate Social Responsibility Multinational Corporations

Question: Discuss about the Corporate Social Responsibility for Multinational Corporations. Answer: Introduction: Earlier the company used to emphasis on the quality and the price of their products to gain competitive advantage in the market. The global market today has changed a lot and the company as well as its stakeholders, not only rely on these things to gain competitive advantage. Today the corporate social responsibility plays an important part or role because it helps in gaining corporate reputation (Baumann-Pauly, Wickert, Spence Scherer, 2013). Therefore, along with the Annual report the company or the organizations have to provide the Corporate Social Responsibility report at the same time. The Swiss company Nestle, too, emphasis more on the Corporate Social Responsibility factor, apart from emphasizing on the quality and the price of the product. Nestle is a company that was founded in the year 1866 and this particular company operates in almost 195 countries. The company has 468 factories, around the world and at the same time, the company has almost 33,000 employees working for this company. Moreover, the particular company has 2000 brands, both globally as well as nationally. The Swiss company not only believes in the Corporate Social Responsibility but at the same time, the people believe in the Corporate Shared Values as well. The three important Corporate Social Responsibility factors that have influenced Nestle are the following: Ethical Among the ethical activities, one of the most important ethical activities is having the Fairtrade certification. Nestle received the Fairtrade certification for one of its product, known as the Kit-Kat (The Nestl Sustainability Review, 2016). The particular product has received the Fairtrade certification in the year 2010 (The Nestl concept of corporate social responsibility as implemented in Latin America, 2016). The Fairtrade Kit-Kat bar is the part of the initiative that has been taken by the Nestle Company and the name of this particular initiative is The Cocoa Plan initiative. Another important initiative that has been taken by the Nestle Company is providing nutritious food, to the consumers of the product (Kruschwitz, 2013). The foods or the products that are being provided to the customers should be health beneficial to the customers. The products that are being provided to the customers are not affordable but at the same time, it is accessible as well. Economical The Corporate Social Responsibility includes the economic factors, where, the support provided to the farmers in the rural areas, for their development is the most important thing. In developing countries like Latin America, Nestle is having almost 72 factories that are providing to the people living in the country. The values and the skills that the people in Nestle have are passed on to the people living and working in the factories of Latin America (The Nestl concept of corporate social responsibility as implemented in Latin America, 2016). The factories not only help the employees to gain the skilled and the values but also help them and their families with a stable income (Crane, Palazzo, Spence Matten, 2014). The company also helps and supports the farmers, so that they become productive and supply good quality raw materials, which include the milk and the coffee to the company. One of the instances of the farmers receiving support from the company can be traced back to 1930, when in Brazil many farmers are saved from bankruptcy, because Nestle came up with their new product Nescafe. Discretionary The discretionary factors at first include the sustainable factors that are being used by the company for the protection of the ecology or the environment. Therefore, for the production of the products the company has reduced the usage of water. The company has reduced 70% of their usage of water in the agricultural field. The company is also efficient enough in safeguarding the raw materials in an efficient way, and at the same time it help in protecting the raw material for the environmental reason as well (Payaud, 2014). The particular company use almost 3% of their expenditure, which is around 45 million pound for the environment protection. The company has taken initiative to provide convenient and safe water supply to the people. Therefore, they have set up or rather they have organized water initiative programs in many different and various communities. The efficient use of the water helps the supply chain of the company in more than one way. Therefore, this particular Swiss C ompany has taken initiative to protect the scarce water that is there. Nestle has also encouraged efficient use of the water for both the manufacturing process and at the same time for the distribution process as well. Aims and Objective Nestle is one of the most important global food manufacturer in the world and it is one of the leading manufacturer in the world. Nestle has the objective of providing the best nutrition and ensures proper health and well-being to the people living in the world. It can be put in this way, that Nestle has the objective of being the leader in nutrition, as well as in Health and Wellness. Therefore, Nestle is such a company that is trusted by all the stakeholders and compare to its macro competitors, Unilever and DANONE, the company enjoys quite a high market sale. The company has the major aim or the goal of fulfilling their 39 commitments, by the year 2020, and if possible even before this particular time. The company has the goal of being there in every household that is there around the world and at the same time, it helps in promoting the quality life of the people living around the world (Chou, 2014). The company also had the goal of providing both tasty as well as the healthy foo ds to their consumers. (Figure 1: Nestle and the Story of the Company Source: Nestle, 2013) Strategy Nestle is aligned to the United Nation Millennium Development Goals, and thus the strategy that has been adopted by the company is the Creating Shared Value Strategy (Miah, Griffiths, McNeill, Poonaji, Martin, Morse Sadhukhan, 2015). The particular strategy provides respect to not only to the people and culture but at the same time to the nature as well. Creating Shared Value or the CSV actually helps in creating commitment that helps in building compliance and sustainability. The particular strategy helps in mitigating the operational risk that the company may faces and at the same time, it helps in protecting the reputation that has been earned by the company. Creating Shared Value therefore helps in ensuring competitiveness as well as the long-term success of the company in the market (Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2012, 2016). The CSV helps in creating a value for both the shareholders and the society. CSV is a theory that has been propounded by Michael E. Porter and Mark Kramer. CSV is unlike the Corporate Social Responsibility or the CSR, it is something more than gaining competitive advantage and it is more about philanthropy as well. The particular strategy helps in aligning with the overall corporate strategy of the organization. The CSV helps in fulfilling the commitment that the company tries to achieve by the year 2020. The CSV also align with the principles of the company that are there (Porter Kramer, 2016). Creating Shared Value has a particular structure and Nestle follows that structure in order to achieve the goal and the objectives that it has set for itself. The framework of the CSV includes the following things at a simplified level: Agriculture and the Sourcing The particular factor helps in reducing the risk related to the contaminants that are there in the raw material sourcing. The particular factor ensures that the companys long-term agricultural requirement is protected and at the same times it ensures quality and at the same time competitive prices for the users (Holzinger, Wartzek, Schiffer, Leichtfuss Nestle, 2016). The research activities that are being carried out by Nestle, helps in meeting the quality and the brand requirement. The direct farm assistance that is being provided by the company helps in meeting the quality and the brand requirement. For instance in Filipinos the consumers of Nestle rely mainly on the coffee products that are being provided by the company. Therefore, in Filipinos, the Company has come up with such an agronomy program that had helped the farmers to yield the product of their farm, both in terms of quality and quantity (Mithil Islam, 2014). The Nestl Experimental and Demonstration Farm, or the NEDF is such an organization had helped Nestle in this particular program. The centre of this organization is located in the Tagum City. Nestle also aims at improving the working conditions of the labor working in the factory. Nestle through this particular stage aims at achieving better environmental management, from the raw material supply chain. Knowledge transfer and at the same time farm assistance again are those things that are the part of this particular framework. For example, Nestle has provided farm assistance to the Ivorian farmers, who are equipped in producing 1.3 million tons of coffee. The Ivorian farms although, faced a problem because of this increase in production of the coffee. Moreover, the coffee plants that were there in the country also became old and sick and thus caused a problem for the farmers. Nestle therefore, had an agreement with the Ivorian government, and under the Cocoa Plan Initiative, the company, provided assistance, so that there is the renewal of the cocoa plants. The example of the knowledge transfer can be found in the assistance provided to the farmers of Filipinos. Knowledge and training is provided to the farmers through three days seminar or through three-week advance course. If the farmers want to improve, their farming skills then there are being provided with the on-site training as well. Manufacturing and Distribution The next or the second factor that is included within this particular framework includes the Manufacturing and the Distribution factor. The particular factor includes providing food safety through the improved operations that are there in the organization. Nestle tries to food security to the people by ensuring the prices of the products are low and by ensuring that the products that are available in the market is accessible to the people. The company tries to meet the standards that are there in the organization by complying with the regulation that are there. The food security is being provided to the people by following the business principles and the code of conduct. Nestle has set safety requirements for each of their products and especially the products that are there for the infants have to follow the stringent regulation. The particular factor also includes the risk management issues that are related to the food safety. Nestle have their own external laboratories where the ta sk is being carried out. In case any risk is being identified the peers of Nestle is being informed about it. Products and Consumers The Creative Shared Values include the products and the customers as the third most important factors. The Company aims at providing nutritional food to their consumers and they emphasize on the health and the wellness of the consumers. The nutritional food, which the company would provide requires local level research. The company carries out local level research, which would help in providing tasty and the healthy foods to the consumers. For example, the company has come up with DFit ice cream that contains fewer calories, because almost 40% of less sugar is there in the ice cream. Advantages The particular CSV strategy that has been adopted by the company is beneficial for the company in more than one way. The CSV strategy that has been adopted by this particular company is not only an important strategy of the company but also this particular strategy has helped the company to gain competitive advantage at the same time. The strategy that has been adopted by Nestle allows them to set up their factories in the developing countries, but that does not mean they have compromised with the profit that is being earned by them. The particular strategy has helped the company to earn profit even by operating through the factories based in the developing countries. In fact, the company has almost 45% of their factory located in the developing countries. The company tries to attract the investor and the same time, the potential investors through the CSV strategy that is there. The CSV strategy that has been taken by the company has helped the company to increase its share prices at the same time. (Figure 2: The Rise in the Stock Price of Nestle from the year 2010 Source: Content, Scully, Content, Smith, Insider, Rosoff, et al. (2015) The particular strategy has helped the company to create direct employment and at the same time, it has increased the food production at the same time. Apart from creating the employment opportunities for the people, the particular strategy has helped the company to sustain in the market for the period of around 150 years (The Nestl Sustainability Review. 2016). The particular strategy had helped Nestle to integrate with all the culture and thus promote the brand to the people of each culture. Therefore, the company had made connection with the people of all the cultures; and had made research in the local level as well, and created foods whose flavor is related to the flavor at the local level. Thus this particular strategy has turned out be advantageous and the beneficial for the company in many ways. Difficulties and the Strategies to Overcome the Difficulties Creating Shared Value is good but there are certain difficulties related to it and among those entire difficulties one that is most important is that there are no Key Performance indicator. The Key Performance Indicator will help in sharing the knowledge with the farmers regularly, or at least periodically. The KPIs or the Key Performance Indicator will help in enhancing not only the quality of the product but at the same time, it helps in enhancing the food security procedures at the same time. The CSV strategy does not have any measurable method and this lack of measuring the productivity gain through strategy requires an improvement because it could give rise to many difficulties as well. The company should target to make an investment in the model farms. The model farms investment will help in the cultivation of the 4Cs that are there in the market. The 4Cs include not only the Customer Want, Cost, Convenience, as well as the Communication at the same time. The 4Cs are the internal requirement of a company and proper care should be taken to fulfill this particular requirement. Education is one of the most important things that have been given importance in the Nestle action plan. According to this particular action plan, the company should provide proper education to the people not only through the printed medium but also at the same time through visual method at the same time (Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2013, 2016). The company also aims at providing education to the customers through different social media also, which include social media like Facebook and YouTube. (Figure 4: The Action Plan of Nestle Source: Content et al., 2015) The internal capabilities of Nestle will help the company to achieve the goal that it has set for itself; but then there are certain internal limitations of this company as well. Therefore, to combat the internal limitations of this company it is important to come up with an effective strategy that will help the company to gain competitive advantage. The strategy should be such that it will help the company to sustain in the competitive market. References Baumann-Pauly, D., Wickert, C., Spence, L. J., Scherer, A. G. (2013). Organizing corporate social responsibility in small and large firms: Size matters. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(4), 693-705. Chou, A. (2014). How and Why Multinational Corporations Pursue CSR Strategies: The Case of Nestle in China. Available at SSRN 2420273. Content, P., Scully, S., Content, P., Smith, A., Insider, B., Rosoff, M. et al. (2015). Business Insider - Business news, trends and insights. Business Insider. Retrieved 14 June 2016, from Crane, A., Palazzo, G., Spence, L. J., Matten, D. (2014). Contesting the value of creating shared value. California management review, 56(2), 130-153. Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2012. (2016) (1st ed.). Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2013. (2016) (1st ed.). Holzinger, F., Wartzek, F., Schiffer, H. P., Leichtfuss, S., Nestle, M. (2016). Self-Excited Blade Vibration Experimentally Investigated in Transonic Compressors: Acoustic Resonance. Journal of Turbomachinery, 138(4), 041001. Kruschwitz, N. (2013). Creating shared value at Nestle. MIT Sloan Management Review, 55(1), 1. Miah, J. H., Griffiths, A., McNeill, R., Poonaji, I., Martin, R., Morse, S., ... Sadhukhan, J. (2015). Creating an environmentally sustainable food factory: a case study of the Lighthouse project at Nestl. Procedia CIRP, 26, 229-234. Mithil, M., Islam, R. (2014). How to create a self-sustaining business model for promoting NESCAFE. Nestle, M. (2013). Food politics: How the food industry influences nutrition and health (Vol. 3). Univ of California Press. Payaud, M. A. (2014). Marketing strategies at the bottom of the pyramid: Examples from Nestl, danone, and procter gamble. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 33(2), 51-63. Porter, M. Kramer, M. (2016). Creating Shared Value (1st ed.). The Nestl concept of corporate social responsibility as implemented in Latin America. (2016) (1st ed.). The Nestl Sustainability Review. (2016) (1st ed.).

Silence Of The Lambs Essays - Hannibal Lecter,

Silence Of The Lambs THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS The novel The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris is said to fall under the genre of psychological horror. The stories that fall under the genre of horror include a few essential elements: a villain or one seen as evil to create an initial story line. The foil is the next element; a foil is a person who tries to stop the villain from going through with the evil plan or plot. These two elements naturally lead to conflict between the two persons or groups and then from this conflict ? suspense, the last element is added. Suspense is important to keep the reader interested and to keep the story line going. When psychology is added to a story, the definition of horror is changed completely. There are still those few essential elements above but there is also a few more added. The story now has something to do with the mind and how it works, and there is really no definition for that. The mind and it's workings are a mystery to us and that mystery of the mind ad ds to the suspense and therefore the idea of psychology and horror are able to go together and become one. This essay will prove that The Silence of the Lambs is indeed a psychological horror according to the five criteria above along with other sources. The first element to a psychological horror is a villain, and the villain is The Silence of the Lambs is Mr. Jame Gumb. He is a white male in his mid thirties, ?most serial killers are white male, unemployed, intelligent and experience financial difficulty.?(Bonata, 3) Gumb is all of these things, he is unemployed but a very skilled seamstress, and using these skills is making himself a second skin out of women who he is able to take control of and render them powerless. He is also very intelligent but is anable to interact with other people and therefore remains unemployed. He experienced financial difficulties until he was the recipient of a large sum of money from an inheritance. ?The unconscious fear of women goads some men with a compulsive urge to conquer, humiliate, hurt, or render powerless some available sample of womanhood.? (Menninger, 183) Gumb was deeply disturbed and unable to overcome the death of his mother and he wanted to be like her and resented any woman because he feels that he should have been born a woman instead of the man that he is. He is sewing a skin of women to try to become more like his mother and less of the man that he is. This is how he received his nickname ?Buffalo Bill? because the way he murders and then skins his victims. Jame Gumb is a very disturbed individual and his ?violence and crimes are often attempts to escape from insanity.? (Menninger, 181) Jame Gumb is in a word where he believes that he can become a woman and live somehow be with his mother again or even attempt to become her. ?Men who are violently afraid of their repressed but nearly emergent homosexual desired often try to overcome these fears with violent demonstrations.? (Menninger, 183) Jame Gumb did no t know what he was in terms of sexuality and decided that he would rather be a woman than a man. This desire drove him to commit such horrible crimes and try to become a woman using their skins. The foils to Jame Gumb are a much stronger force that he is or could ever be, they are the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the FBI. They want to stop the murders as soon as possible so that no other lives are lost and the country can get back to normal without living with the fear of a serial killer on the loose. Along with the FBI, an X-psychiatrist named Dr. Hannibal Lecter and, Clarice Starling they try to stop the murders and regain order to society, this is not an easy task and there are many obstacles along the way. The first obstacle is that the whereabouts of Gumb are unknown and his identity has alluded the FBI since the

Fault in our Stars Book Talk Essay Example

Fault in our Stars Book Talk Essay Example Fault in our Stars Book Talk Essay Fault in our Stars Book Talk Essay Essay Topic: Talk The Fault in Our Stars Her parents decide to send her to a cancer support group where teenagers meet and discuss about their lives with cancer. Stubbornly, she agrees to go, opening the doors to a impolitely different life. At the support group, she meets an attractive boy named Augustus Waters, a former basketball star whose leg was amputated due to cancer. Throughout the novel, Augustus and Hazel grow closer and closer, developing an inseparable relationship. In a short amount of time, their lives turn upside down; through seemingly endless hospital stays, to traveling abroad. In spite of the typical predictions of a story about a teenager with cancer and a crush, unlike any other book with similar characteristics, The Fault In Our Stars is filled with unpredictable and Jaw-dropping scenes. One scene after another, I was astonished by the dramatic chain of events. This captivating book taught me Just how one persons misfortune can have an effect on many others. : Additionally, this novel taught me to always have an optimistic outlook on life, despite of tough obstacles that l, and others, may face. John Greens beautiful writing made me feel as if I were a part of Hazels life. Experiencing a powerful, contrasting range of overwhelming happiness and laughter, as well as striking heartaches, I couldnt stop flipping the pages to see what would happen next. The suspense was so intriguing. It is the most realistic, fictional book I have ever read. In the world today, there are many people affected by cancer. In this novel, you can see how hard life is for teenagers at such a young age to deal with the hardships of cancer. However, this book also shows that even for people with cancer, the sky the limit. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is willing to go onto an emotional roller coaster ride of humor, romance, and tragedy. What holds the responsibilities of the tragedies of fate? Is it true? Does the fault lie in our stars? Or does it lie within ourselves? Grab and read the book to find out!

The American Political System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The American Political System - Essay Example The American political system is indeed on that is rightfully the envy of the other countries. The system of check and balance within our political system should be considered the greatest strength of our government. However, it is this very strength that also weakens our political structure in a certain way. Too much check and balance in the legislative arm of the government results only in never ending filibustering which in turn prevents the government from effectively governing the society that they are supposed to lead. Just look at the recent events between the White House and Congress and you will know that I am stating a well known fact. Check and balance, when done incorrectly by our government leaders instead ends up weakening our political and economic structure. If I were given a chance to change something about the American democratic system, it would have to be the electoral college. Although the college is good as a provider of check and balance within the two party system, it stifles the true will of the people by allowing their individual belief and voices to be heard because individual votes are not counted in favor of either two party system candidate. Therefore, an electoral college proclamation of a president cannot really be considered to be the real voice of the people thus, one cannot actually say that the president elect has the overwhelming support of the American

SPIRITUAL NEEDS ASSESSMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SPIRITUAL NEEDS ASSESSMENT - Essay Example In the future, I would focus more on spirituality to make my approach universal rather than being specific because not all people welcome religion. The tool however helped for the interviewee to open up that sometimes he has a need for someone bigger than him when he feels lonely. The tool is non-judgmental and compassionate in approach and this helped me get through the defenses of the interviewee. The spiritual experience I had with my interviewee was fulfilling. At first he was resistant and does not want to admit that he too, just like all of us, needs some divine guidance. Eventually however, he softened and he in fact calls out for God during his moments of despair. The non-judgmental approach of the tool help him opened up which he used to find very difficult for fear of reprisal. On my end, the tool helped me connect and get through the seemingly tough exterior of the interviewee. It also helped me understand that the stress and negative experiences that the interviewee undergone made him hard and defensive. For example, when I asked about his down moments, the interviewee initially played tough that he can handle anything. The tool help me get through him and address his spiritual need. The experience affirmed by belief that all of us need â€Å"Somebody† bigger than us especially during our tough times. As the saying goes, â€Å"there is no atheist in a foxhole† because human strength will always fail us. We could appear tough just like my friend but it is really just a defense mechanism to make him look strong with his peers. Deep inside however, he also have spiritual needs which when explored, is actually bigger than most of us because it has long been repressed due to his negative experiences and fear that society may judge him as weak. When I made him open up, it was like a floodgate of pent up emotions and suppressed pains that has long been buried beneath him. I promised that whatever he tells

A student should participate in study groups Essay

A student should participate in study groups - Essay Example For example, if two students, both equally intelligent and capable, completely complement each other’s skills in a physics course, then it is only logical that they work together in order to learn from the other’s experiences and abilities. Study groups, like a group in the workplace, seek to fulfill the goals of each member to the extent that each member’s objectives are aligned with the other members of the group. Usually, it is the case that members of a study group are interested in achieving a better grade, and this desire is what unites the individuals in their efforts to help others and in turn help themselves. Students should participate in study groups because such groups offer knowledge, experience, and skills that individuals alone could not realize. Study groups have been shown to be successful, particularly in fields where knowledge is particularly specialized, such as in more in-depth fields like physics, chemistry, and computer science. Research ha s demonstrated that students retain more information by devoting time to hands-on laboratory work and with faculty. In addition, study groups are helpful to students insofar as they encourage individuals to become active learners and to become better collaborators with peers (Guo 190). As such, study groups tend to produce higher results on academic performance than individual work. In a study of perceptions of academic support services by engineering students, researchers Charlotte Amenkhienan and Lori Kogan observed that students thought that study groups were invaluable. Individuals thought the chance to describe course material to others assisted in a clearer understanding of the notes. Moreover, in order to add more to the group talks, members of study groups retained an incentive to finish work in a suitable manner. Students who had trouble in their classes found it difficult to identify fellow students with whom to make study groups. This was described as a limitation to fres hman year academic performance. As the authors wrote, â€Å"Their inability to establish contacts with fellow students precluded their ability to take advantage of valuable peer networking and study group opportunities† (Amenkhienan and Kogan 536). In other words, the study groups were instrumental to some students’ success, while the inability to actually participate in them in other cases was a burden on their academic performance. This corroborates findings from other research that study groups are an asset to students of specialized fields. In one case of study group effectiveness for students, a pre-medicine undergraduate student named John decided that he should form a study group with other pre-medicine students because he had trouble with mathematics. Sure enough, John was able to put together a study group of pre-medicine students, some of whom were strong in mathematics, others in physics, others in chemistry, and others in biology. John was able to leverage his strength in biology to help a fellow member of the study group, Kevin, who was especially strong in mathematics. Together, the students could work collaboratively while doing well in their courses. This specialization of skills within the study group provides for personal improvement that one would not have access to outside of the group. If John had continued without participating in a group, his academic success would be

North Koreas Influence of Peace in North East Asia

North Koreas Influence of Peace in North East Asia North Korea and North East Asian Peace and Security Current security issues in North East Asia, raised by North Korea Nuclear Test. Please examine how far North Korea can affect the peace and stability in Northeast Asia and how other countries such as America, Japan, China, and Russia react on this issue. And lastly, How to solve this security issues permanently and increases future stability in the area? Abstract The following dissertation will discuss and evaluate North Koreas influence and effect upon peace and security within the North East Asia region. This dissertation will evaluate North Koreas relationships with other countries in the North East Asia region such as South Korea, Japan, and China. Countries from outside the immediate North East Asia region like the UnitedStates, Russia (as the largest successor state of the Soviet Union) and to a lesser extent Britain and France also have an interest in the North East Asia Region. All these countries have an interest in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear tests. For instance these countries must consider how the actions or the potential actions of the North Korean government are able to influence or effect peace and security within the North East Asia region. Nongovernmental organisations like the United Nations and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as the International Atomic Energy Aut hority (IAEA) have taken a great deal of interest in how North Korea effects the peace and security of its immediately neighbouring countries. These organisations are taking North Koreas nuclear programme as well as its ballistic missile capacity into account when they regard the North Korean threat to peace and security going beyond the confines of the North East Asia region itself. This dissertation will evaluate the development and changes in North Korean government policies that have influenced and arguably threatened peace and security of the North East Asia region from Koreas initial division at the end of the Second World War through to the present day. North Korea has been regarded as a threat to the peace and security of the North East Asia region ever since Pyongyangs decision to invade South Korea provoked the Korean War of 1950 to 1953. The Korean War as will be discussed set the mould for North Korean defence and foreign policies, whilst ensuring the importance of the relationship with China and Russia. The North Korean regime, as will be shown, has been very reluctant to embrace and adopt any kind of economic or political reforms, preferring to use its scant resources on maintaining and expanding its military capacity. It is also continuing its nuclear weapons programme, long drawn talks having yet to result in effective nuclear disarmament, and thu s undermining peace and security within the North East Asia region, and when issues of nuclear proliferation are concerned outside that region. Finally the following will explore whether there are any ways in which North Korea can finally become a country that its neighbours in the North East Asia region could trust and believe will not threaten their common peace and stability rather than a country that they mistrust. The United Nations is an organisation that could offer the North Korean assistance to overcome its failed economy in return for the ending of North Koreas nuclear programme and potentially aggressive foreign policy. The main onus for international efforts to contain North Korean nuclear weapons development has been by the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. The prospects for the international community being able to monitor and eventually close down North Koreas nuclear weapons programme, dismantling any weapons already constructed will also be discussed and evaluated. Introduction Korea has a long history of being a definable and separate nation state, although it was for many centuries subject to Chinese and later Japanese control (Lenman, 2004, p.450). Japanese control of Korea was ended by its defeat in the Second World War, which would inadvertently lead to the partition of Korea (Whitakers, 2007, p.892). The division of Korea was caused by the way that the Allied powers liberated the country from Japanese occupation, United States troops cleared the south, with the Soviet Union being responsible for clearing the north. This was intended to be a temporary division along the 38th parallel that would provoke the hottest conflict of the Cold War, as well as creating a dispute that continues to destabilise the peace and the security of the North East Asia region. As with the division of Vietnam the division was purely carried out as a reflection of the distribution of American and Soviet armed forces at the time of the Japanese surrender in September 1945 (Gad dis, 2005, p.41). It was Kim Il Sung who had previously fought the Japanese for many years that emerged as North Koreas first political leader, and he would be the man most responsible for his countrys attempt to re-unite Korea by force. Kim Il Sung was also responsible for North Koreas subsequently militant defence and foreign policies that has remained stridently anti-Western, militaristic, and potentially aggressive towards its immediate neighbours in the North East Asia region ever since. It was Kim Il Sung that decided to re-unite Korea by force, after his realisation that diplomacy would not bring about such a re-unification led to the plan to invade South Korea, although he seems to have pre-empted similar plans that the South Koreans had hoped to implement. Kim Il Sung went ahead with that invasion with the approval of the Soviet Union and China, and the apparent indifference of the United States, which had already withdrawn its military garrisons from South Korea during 1949. However, the Nor th Korean invasion which, was launched in June 1950 persuaded the United States to lead the United Nations forces into defending South Korea and driving the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel. The United States had been able to take advantage of the Soviet Unions representative not been at the United Nations due to the Soviet decision to boycott the organisation due to Communist China being excluded from the Security Council (Evans Newnham, 1998, p. 293). The United States decision to intervene in the Korean War started its long -standing military alliance with South Korea to guarantee South Korean security from the continued threat of North Korean aggression. The Korean War itself would drag on for three years with the North Koreans having to rely on large-scale Chinese military intervention and covert air support from the SovietUnion. North Korea only survived after the American led United Nations forces had captured the majority of North Korean territory due to Mao Zedo ng sending in the Chinese army. The conflict could have escalated, due to the involvement of Soviet aircraft that could have provoked a war between the superpowers yet both Moscow and Washington did not want an all out war to start due to the Korean War (Hobsbawm, 1994 p. 228). After the Korean War the prospects for Korean re-unification seemed to be remote, with the two Korean states being integrated into the alliance systems of the Soviet Union and the United States respectively. North Korea was therefore firmly in the communist camp, and initially enjoyed strong and productive political, economic and military relationships with both China and the Soviet Union. South Korea was a willing member of the United States alliance system and received substantial monetary and military backing from the United States, and later significant economic investment from Japan that would make it wealthier than North Korea. The United States government was not bothered by the Seouls regime lack of democratic practices just as long as it remained fervently anti-Communist (Hobsbawm, 1994 p. 228). Kim Il Sungs North Korean regime was in contrast avowedly Marxist-Leninist in ideological outlook, whilst trying to create a strong sense of North Korean nationalism that was decided ly anti-American and increasingly isolationist in perspective (Heywood, 2003 p. 179). The Korean War meant that neighbouring countries such as South Korea, Japan, and China kept an interest in political and diplomatic developments that involved North Korea, the former as potential enemies, the latter originally as an ally. The balance of power during the Cold War meant that North Korea could only pose a threat to the peace and security of the North East Asia region if that suited the Soviet Union, and to a lesser extent China. The Kremlin to a large extent kept the regime in Pyongyang in check, not wishing to provoke further conflict, and realising that the United States would not tolerate North Korea attempting to invade South Korea again, or indeed developing its own nuclear weapons. On the other hand the Soviet Union exported missile and nuclear technologies to North Korea as part of its military and economic aid packages to the Pyongyang regime (Gaddis, 2005 p. 60). The fighting during the Korean War was heavy, the agricultural sector being particularly adversely affected, and the war had devastated North Koreas economy. American bombing had also heavily damaged the North Korean capital city, Pyongyang. The number of North Korean fatalities, 419,000 was testimony to the high human costs of the conflict, with around 3 million people dying during its course (Castleden, 2005, p.299). The scale of destruction did not prevent a strong economic revival and rapid industrialisation, although most of those improvements were brought about by considerable amounts of help from China and the Soviet Union (Castleden, 2005, p.300). Large-scale industrialisation in North Korea would therefore have undoubtedly been much harder to achieve without that substantial aid that North Korea received from China and the Soviet Union. The Soviet decision to export nuclear technology to North Korea, for the non-military use of generating electricity would later allow Pyongy ang the opportunity to start its own nuclear weapons programme. That would have been unthinkable at the height of the Cold War, as neither the Soviet Union nor the United States would allow any of their satellite states to disturb the nuclear power balance between them. However, once the North Korean regime believed that the Soviet Union and China would no longer offer North Korea any meaningful kind or level of protection that is indeed precisely what the North Korean regime decided to do (Lenman, 2004, p.451). North Korea would continue to operate a planned economy even though that would eventually fail to adequately support its military build up and its civilian population. The North Korean government opted to keep its military infrastructure expanding rather than attempt economic reforms or adequately providing for its people (Heywood, 2003 p.137). The Soviet Union would have certainly disapproved of North Korean plans to develop its own nuclear weapons, yet the Soviet Unions in fluence upon North Korean military and defence policies had waned long before its own disintegration in 1991 (Gaddis, 2005, p.264). North Korea arguably became a threat to the peace and stability of the North East Asia region due to the nature and character of its hard line Stalinist regime. Kim Il Sung was a Marxist dictator in the mode of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. However for the majority of the Cold War period the North Korean threat was seen to be much less pronounced to the non-communist parts of the North East Asia region than the more obvious threats of the Soviet Union and China (Gaddis, 2005, p.60). Kim Il Sungs craving for power meant that North Korea dedicated and continues to dedicate a large percentage of its national budget and resources towards internal repression and building up its military strength to threaten the other countries of the North East Asia region. However, North Koreas conventional weapons would not be enough to successfully invade South Korea whilst the United States continues to offer full protection against such attacks, even if their purchase had almost bankrupted the Pyongy ang regime (Castleden, 2005, p.303). Despite the faltering of the North Korean economy in the last two decades or so, Pyongyang seems to be more interested in threatening South Korea and Japan with nuclear weapons and ballistic weapons than feeding its own population. Although North Korea should be wary of what happened to its erstwhile ally, the Soviet Union whose excessive and unsustainable military expenditure played a major part in its eventual collapse (Tipton, 1998, p.434). However, although the North Korean regime decided to start its nuclear weapons programme that decision violated North Koreas formal and legal pledges not to proliferate its own nuclear weapons. North Korea had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and had joined the IAEA, which meant that it was not supposed to start its own nuclear weapons programme at all (Evans Newnham, 1998 p. 68). For the North Koreans there were other examples of small and large sized states that had already broken their promises and legal commitments not to develop their own nuclear weapons. Those states nuclear weapons programme with varying degrees of reaction from the official nuclear powers of the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, China, and France. Countries such as Israel, India, and Pakistan have gone on to successfully acquire their own nuclear weapons with little or no action been taken against them to make them give up those devices. The North Korean regime understood that it could dev elop nuclear weapons with the possiblity that the United Nations and the leading powers would not be able to take any effective action to take those weapons off North Korea (Fukuyama, 2006 p. 80). Chapter One North Korean defence and foreign policy misrepresented or a threat to peace and security? Since the foundation of North Korea as a separate nation state its defence and foreign policies have been geared towards the re-unification of Korea on Pyongyangs terms, rather than South Koreas terms (Rayner Stanley, 2006, p.234). As far as the North Korean regime of Kim Il Sung was concerned the re-unification of Korea was not an issue that should concern any other countries apart from North and South Korea themselves. It was the context of the Cold War that complicated the strategic, military and diplomatic situation concerning the dispute between North and South Korea about which country should over power the other to dominate a reunified Korean state. In military terms North Korea is the strongest, in economic terms South Korea is the strongest (Tipton, 1998, 434). On the one hand the assistance of China and the Soviet Union was useful for the economic development of North Korea and also as a means of building up the countrys military power. On the other hand the Cold War meant that the United States was more alert about the need to protect the countries in the North East Asia region that were opposed to communism, like Japan, South Korea and South Vietnam (Gaddis, 2005, p.60). The Cold War meant that the United States was unwilling to allow any more parts of North East Asia to fall under communist rule. After all the presence of United States forces in Japan had allowed the United Nations forces to resist Kim Il Sungs invasion of South Korea. North Vietnam would eventually overcome South Vietnam despite the best efforts of the United States, yet the terrain of Vietnam was different from that of Korea and the North Vietnamese had better military tactics than the North Koreans (Hobsbawm, 1994, p.228). Whilst the Cold War continued, North Korea was not seen as the main threat to peace and security in the North East Asia region, superpower rivalry meant that the Soviet Union and the United States mistrusted each other more than they mistrusted any other stat e. China would also emerge as a major power within the region, one that eventually took independent policy decisions from those of the Soviet Union. The United States government however, remains wary of North Koreas intentions towards the rest of the North East Asia region (Gaddis, 2005, p.61). The peace and security of the North East Asia region altered during the 1960s, not as a result of changes in the Cold War, but as a result of alterations in the relationship between North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union. The regime of Kim Il Sung had not wished for North Korea to be reliant upon either China or the Soviet Union as soon as the country had recovered from the Korean War and had become economically self sufficient. By the mid 1960s the North Korean regime believed that it become self-sufficient and no longer such high levels of aid from China or the Soviet Union. Kim Il Sung wanted to maintain military links with China and the Soviet Union, yet did not wish for North Korea to be a mere client state of Beijing or Moscow. North Korea was not going to be like the majority of communist states in Central and Eastern Europe were in relation to the Soviet Union. Although of course the North Koreans did not have to worry about invasion by the Soviet Union if it took much of a n independent from Soviet policy (Castleden, 2005, p.301). North Koreas military power was originally reliant upon Chinese and Soviet built equipment and the regime could not afford weapons from any other countries outside of the communist bloc (Gaddis, 2005, p.61). Under Kim Il Sungs leadership North Korea could not get away from its close economic links with the Soviet Union until the latters collapse in 1991, which in turn would have very detrimental affects upon North Korea (Watson, 1997, p.246). The strong relationship between China and the Soviet Union declined dramatically towards the end of the 1960s resulting in border clashes between the two states. The break down in the relationship between China and the Soviet Union meant North Koreas most powerful allies would spend more time arguing with each other than the United States. Pyongyang did not back either state publicly although Kim Il Sung regarded the Soviet Union as a more reliable ally, and unlike Beijing, Moscow did n ot occasionally make insulting comments about the North Korean leader (Watson, 1997, p.240). Whilst the North Korean economy seemed to enjoy impressive growth rates from the 1950s through to the 1970s, the country arguably did not have or develop the infrastructure or indeed have the resources to become a serious threat to peace and security in the North East Asia region. North Korean economic policy was heavily influenced by the planned economies of China and the Soviet Union, and was as unsuccessful in North Korea as they had been in China and the Soviet Union (Heywood, 2003 p. 152). Kim Il Sungs regime collectivised agriculture and began the process of large-scale industrialisation. The collectivisation of agriculture commenced in 1946 when estates with Japanese owners were confiscated in the north under Soviet guidance (Tipton, 1998,p.304). Collectivisation and the modernisation of agriculture increased the life expectancy of the North Korean population. Industrialisation at least during the 1950s and 1960s appeared to be impressive. However much of that economic growth was due to the revenues raised from the export of natural resources to the Soviet Union and the receipt of aid from the Soviet Union (Watson, 1997, p.246) Economic growth could have been stronger if it had not been hampered by Kim Il Sungs decision to make expenditure on the military as high as possible, and his governments main priority. The military build up was meant to unnerve the South Korean government. In terms of total expenditure South Korea spent more on its military expenditure than North Korea. This was mainly due to North Korea being regarded as an ever-present threat to South Korean security. There were differences as to how the two countries military expenditure was regarded in the North East Asia region and beyond. South Koreas military expenditure was seen as being justified as it would deter North Korea. On the other hand, North Koreas military spending was viewed as being unjustified, aggressive and a sign of Kim Il Sungs megalomania, policies that his son, Kim Jong Il has continued (Gaddis, 2005, p.61). North Korea had one major disadvantage if its regime wished to outspend South Korea in terms of their defence budgets, as they were poorer. Whilst North Korea found it difficult to find foreign investors, South Korea was able to attract very high volumes of investment, especially from the United States and Japan. South Koreas increasing levels of wealth meant it could easily match North Koreas military build up, without reducing the living standards of its population, or driving its government towards insolvency (Tipton, 1998, p.304). In terms of any future conventional war between North and South Korea, South Korea held key advantages. Firstly, the South Korean population was twice the size of its neighbour to the north, potentially allowing for its armed forces to have twice the number of personnel in war- time conditions. In 1985, South Korea was estimated to have a population of 41.2 million compared to North Koreas population of 20.1 million people (Watson, 1997, p.262). South K orea was economically more productive and therefore wealthier than North Korea, with the latters seemingly impressive growth rates beginning to slow down by the start of the 1980s. An example of the growing disparity between the countries was the per capita income, whilst it was $790 for North Korea in 1982, it was $1,840 for South Korea in 1983. In economic terms, North Korea could not realistically afford its high levels of military expenditure, although Kim Il Sungs regime was determined to carry on with spending money it believed kept the regime in power and made it a continuing danger to its capitalist neighbours (Watson, 1997, p.262). In the following decade North Korea was widely regarded as bring an increased threat to the peace and security of the North East Asia region, despite the countrys economy going in to a steep decline. Whilst the North Korean regime refused to scale down its military expenditure its agricultural sector, especially suffered an alarming drop in productivity that contributed to an estimated two million North Koreans dying of starvation during the 1990s. Despite famine and economic decline the North Korean regime still used scarce resources to develop its nuclear weapons programme. North Korea barely increased its economic productivity during the 1990s and was by then considerably poorer than South Korea. To give a stark contrast, South Korean per capita gross domestic product (GDP) reached an impressive $13, 700, whilst North Korean GDP languished at $900. It was a paradoxical situation in which, although the North Korean regime could increasingly threaten its neighbours with missiles and nuclear weapons, yet it would eventually need emergency aid from those countries to prevent more of its own population starving to death (Pipes, 2001, p.152). On paper at least, North Korea has impressive conventional military strength with around 3,500 tanks and 2,500 armoured personnel carriers, whilst the army had 950,000 troops. The North Korean air force has 590 combat aircraft, whilst the navys 88 submarines could pose a serious threat to shipping in the North East Asia region in the event of a future war. However it is the potential development and possible of nuclear weapons that causes a greater concern than North Koreas conventional arsenal (Whitakers 2007, pp.893-94). South Korea has smaller armed forces yet still has a standing army 560,000 strong and 2,330 main battle tanks. South Korea would no doubt have to increase those numbers if 94, 450 Americans were not based in South Korea (Whitakers 2007 p. 895). However, it was not just North Koreas strength in terms of conventional weapons that means it is regarded as being a threat to peace and security in the North East Asia region. The United States government has long suspected that North Korea has played a part in sponsoring and supporting terrorism within the North East Asia region and indeed further afield. The suspicions of the United States have been founded upon the anti-American rhetoric that the North Korean regime its content to produce from time to time (Gaddis, 2005, p.261). South Korea had previously accused North Korea of trying to undermine internal stability by supporting dissident South Korean groups and calling for the re-unification of Korea (Tipton, 1998, p.304). North Korea was one of the countries that the administration of Ronald Reagan denounced as being terrorist states back in 1985. The Reagan administration viewed North Korea as being a risk to international peace and security within and beyond the North East A sia region (Ward, 2003, p.349). North Korea did not have any moral or political hang ups about selling weapons such as assault rifles to other countries that found it hard to acquire weapons due to arms embargos or sanctions. For instance, North Korea sold surplus Soviet manufactured assault rifles to Iran during the early years of the Iran-Iraq War. Such arms sales may have contributed to the United States accusing North Korea of being a terrorist state. The North Koreans could have countered that these claims were hypocrisy on the part of the American government that sold a much greater volume of weapons to any state or organisation that was anti-Communist, or if it suited the United States interests to do so. Hypocrisy that was demonstrated by the Iran –Contra Affair in which the money from arms sales to Iran was used to fund the Contra forces in Nicaragua (Fisk, 2006, p.278). North Korea also supplied ballistic missiles to the Iranians and even sent engineers to Iran to e nsure those missiles successfully reached Iraqi targets, especially Baghdad. The willingness of the North Koreans to sell missiles to the highest bidders certainly increased concerns about Pyongyang posing a threat to peace and security (Fisk, 2006, p.281). Surveillance and interceptions of cargo ships have provided evidence that North Korea will sell weapons to terrorist organisations as well as any state that can afford them. For instance, the Spanish navy intercepted a North Korean merchant ship that was officially taking cement to South Yemen. Once aboard that ship the Spanish found ballistic missiles that could have been used by the terrorist group that had brought those missiles. The Middle East is a volatile region at the best of times, so the ability of North Korea to supply ballistic missiles to governments and terrorists groups in that region is another concern for the United States and other Western countries (Davies, 2003 p. 238). It was during the early 1990s that the prospect of North Korea carrying out a successful nuclear weapons programme became the cause of major international concern. In the United States, the administration of President Bill Clinton was determined to persuade the North Korean regime to halt that nuclear weapons programme peacefully by preference, or by force if necessary (Clinton, 2004 p. 561). Aside from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan were, and still are the countries that are most anxious to prevent North Korea acquiring and keeping nuclear weapons. Britain and France have also been involved in international efforts to prevent North Korea acquiring nuclear weapons as members of the United Nations Security Council, and as signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (Evans Newnham, 1998 p. 381). South Korea and Japan are particularly anxious and insecure about North Koreas attempts to produce nuclear weapons because they would be the most obvious targ ets if North Korea ever decided to use nuclear weapons. That anxiety is increased because the South Koreans and the Japanese are well aware that the North Koreans have the technical capacity to fit nuclear warheads to its force of ballistic missiles that can reach all the major cities in South Korea and Japan. China is also anxious that the nuclear weapons programme of North Korea does not provoke a military confrontation between North Korea and the United States that would bring widespread destruction and shatter the peace and stability of the North East Asia region. China remains keen to continue its impressive economic growth rates and also hopes to maintain political stability in the region, a stability that North Korea has a strong propensity to disrupt. China is therefore willing to act as a go between to prevent conflict arising between the United States and North Korea that would be very damaging to the North East Asia region as a whole (Cheek, 2006 p.136). That also means t hat China is willing to back the efforts of the United States, South Korea, and Japan to reduce the North Korean threat to peace and security (The Guardian, February 14 2007). Russia, as the main successor state to the Soviet Union, on the other hand has attempted to maintain strong economic, military, and economic links with North Korea. Those links leave Kim Jong Il hoping North Korea has more leeway in its disputes with the United States and the United Nations over its plans to acquire nuclear weapons. Whilst Russia is caught between promoting its economic links with North Korea without harming its relationship with the United States that improved with the latters war on terror in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, it would normally put its relationship with the United States first. The Russians and North Koreans remain keen upon maintaining a strong relationship between each other, although that is based on pragmatism rather than a common ideological outlook. Whilst the Russian government believes that like the Chinese government it could help resolve the international disputes that currently mean that North Korea is regarded as been a threat to peace and s ecurity in North East Asia region (Meir, 2004 p. 417). North Koreas defence and foreign policy was seen and remains seen as a serious and increasing threat to the peace and security of the North East Asia region because of the nature of the Pyongyang regime itself. That is due to Kim Il Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong Il concentrating upon the maintaining of their personal hold on power. That hold on power is through a strong military with undoubted loyalty to the national leader, and via a system of forced labour and prison camps that detain political dissidents or opponents of the regime. The regimes internal position is also protected and promoted through a cult of personality for Kim Il Sung and now Kim Jong Il that rivals other cults of personalities witnessed in other communist regimes. It most closely resembles the cults of personality experienced in the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, or China under Chairman Mao Zedong, especially during the tumultuous period of the Cultural Revolution (Castleden, 2005 p. 301). The Nor th Korean regime during Kim Il Sungs lifetime not only managed to copy Chinese and Soviet propaganda techniques; the North Koreans also managed to emulate their purges. Such pronounced levels of dictatorship have always managed to make the United States suspicious of North Korean intentions. The South Koreans and the Japanese tend to reinforce American concerns over the de-stabilising effects of North Korean defence and foreign policies. The South Koreans and the Japanese therefore have fears for their safety as without an American military presence in the North East Asia region they would not be able to defend themselves from North Korean attacks. As the United States and its North East Asian allies do not trust North Korea, the United States uses satellites to monitor North Korean military activity and its nuclear installations, whilst the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) constantly carries out surveillance operations (Lane McCormack, 1993 p. 178). Chapter Two Containing the North Korean threat to peace and security in the North East Asia Region To a large extent North Korea is widely considered to be a threat to peace and secu

Chaucers The Wife of Bath :: Chaucer Wife Bath Essays

Chaucer's The Wife of Bath Chaucer’s character, the Wife of Bath, grabs the reader’s attention immediately as she sets the stage for giving an account of her beliefs on love and life: â€Å"Housbondes at chirche dore I have had five.† Because of her blunt honesty at the very beginning of her Prologue, the reader senses that the Wife of Bath feels no shame and carries no regrets about her many marriages. This is confirmed when the Wife proclaims, â€Å"Of whiche I have piked out the beste.† She displays two attitudes throughout the piece: living life to the fullest and loving to gossip about her past. We see this first attitude as the Wife looks back on her life and says, â€Å"But Lord Crist, whan that it remembreth me / Upon my youthe and on my jolitee, / It tikleth me aboute myn herte roote – / Unto this day it dooth myn herte boote / That I have had my world as in my time.† The Wife expresses joy over the life she has lived and seems completely satisfied with all that took place. Much of the history she entrusts to her fellow pilgrims details her sexual drive. Her sexual appetite represents her great desire for vivid living. The Wife is not bitter about any of her marriages. Even when the husbands seemed bothered by the fact that she acted like the man in the relationships in that she was demanding, controlling and sexually dominant, she did not mind. She actually reveled in the fact that she had complete control in four of her five marriages. This sexual appetite parallels her attitude of enjoyment and pleasure in life. Instead of feeling shameful about her overactive sex drive, she simply said, â€Å"God bade us for to wexe and mulitplye.† She does not feel disgraced by her actions; instead, she sees herself as simply following God’s orders. Additionally, she feels that her sexual appetite is sanctioned by God because, â€Å"He saide th at to be wedded is no sinne: / Bet is to be wedded than to brinne.† Because she is married, she is allowed to pursue her desires to their full force and feel no shame because she is not burning with a forbidden passion for a man that is not her husband. The second attitude expressed is that of a love for gossiping about herself.

Did Microsoft Violate Antitrust Policy?

â€Å"The US complaint has been filed by a Tangent, a small Burlingame, California-based hardware vendor that says it is a Microsoft certified partner, but has still been â€Å"caused significant harm† by â€Å"Microsoft's exclusionary and restrictive practices†[1]The Northern California Company Tangent, who is also a Microsoft Certified Partner, has claimed that Microsoft has caused them â€Å"significant harm† through â€Å"exclusionary and restrictive† practices.[2]In its complaint, Tangent describes patterns of anticompetitive practices by Microsoft.     The activities listed by Tangent incorporate the procedure of no-option bundling of Outlook (electronic mail software) with Office (a suite of word processing, financial, media and various business software) and Active Directory (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol which provide central authentication and authorization services for Windows based computers) with Windows Server (host integration). The forced process under the bundling system also includes the Windows Media Player (a software application player and library for digital media) and Windows Media Server (advanced live video and audio streaming functionality) along with the desktop personal computer and the server operating system, e.g. XP, Vista, etc.Tangent attorneys’ stated in the law suit, â€Å"Microsoft's exclusionary and restrictive practices†¦have caused significant harm to (Tangent) by increasing, maintaining or stabilizing the price it paid for Microsoft's operating system software above competitive levels,† [3]In a filing with the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Tangent’s resident territory and the right of the plaintiff to file locally, is in the clear supportive position to show cause of how Microsoft has historically continued to engage in anticompetitive conduct and practices. Thereby causing irreparable financial and market damages by directly man ipulating by different means in a number of forms the price Tangent has paid for Microsoft's operating system software.   Clearly upon comparison and review the prices are openly above competitive degrees.Tangent has been able to list in the detail the historical relation of the personal computer and the Microsoft factor.   They contend that Microsoft, in the letter of the law as well as the spirit, has still failed to operate within number of instruction guidelines and continues to violate Section 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.,  §2.Tangent has taken on the interesting position of requesting a jury to hear the case instead of a judge.   Clearly, the intent is to appeal to peers or citizens who will hear testimony as to the unfair practices of Microsoft.   There is the grave risk on the part of the Tangent argument that the issues are very complicated and so technically that only engineers or legally trained experts can decided on the case.   It can be equally promised that Microsoft lawyers will attempt to convolute the issue to a level of complicate techno speak in order to confuse the jury and possible deadlock or mistrial.   Either way, the path for appeal is being paved.Without the normal constraint of frank competition in the marketplace and also because of â€Å"exclusionary practices† invoked by Microsoft as a standard practice, Microsoft has been able to perform in a way that the increases the â€Å"playing field† edge in its favor. Additionally, this method employed by Microsoft works to preserve or artificially maintain prices at anti-competitive conditions that cause harm to vendors and business partners. [4]In essence, Tangent has charged that Microsoft has artificially inflated prices for the cost of the operating system software for certified partners who have no other choice in the matter thus injuring Tangent.One of the strongest positions taken by Tangent against Microsoft is that the Microsoft server OS (operatio n system) includes specific, unique, undocumented programs and screens (interfaces) accessed and employed by its servers to communicate seamlessly and tacitly with one another.   Primarily, the use of several servers (server farm) is within a multiple network server community.â€Å"Tangent alleged further that Microsoft entered into restrictive agreements with OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and system builders, limiting or eliminating their ability to feature non-Microsoft products.† [5]Cleary, the most important aspect of the Tangents argument, which in this case can be asserted by any plaintiff, is for Microsoft to cease marketing products under the guise that the uniformity of it’s software is standardize and practical.   This is not the case nor has it been in quite a while.   The position by Microsoft does not give rise to a supportive community of certified partners.   Candidly, it causes a minor panic.Microsoft’s secretive and clandestine modus operand lends it self to a sense of obvious guilt.   The resistance to the release of the source code for any of it’s of its operating systems underlies its non-competitive practices.Demonstrating no lack of indignation, Microsoft has chosen not to respond to any comments on this complaint or that fact any other.   Their practice has been to only to acknowledge that the case is being reviewed.Tangent is based in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame and builds custom configured-to-order desktops, notebooks, thin clients and servers primarily for educational institutions, government agencies, business markets and proprietary enterprises.   The company is using the Microsoft Operating Systems. [1]   -Microsoft faces fresh US and EU antitrust complaints 23rd February 2006 [2] http://wowtechminute.com/93/antitrust-lawsuit-antithesis/ Antitrust Lawsuit Antithesis Posted by Brent Norris Technology News March 2006 [3] http://news.com.com/Computer+maker+files+an titrust+suit+against+Microsoft/2100-1014_3-6041788.html By Ina Fried Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: February 21, 2006, [4] http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=29797 Off at a tangent By INQUIRER staff: Monday 20 February 2006, 10:10 [5] http://www.channelinsider.com/article/Tangent+Suit+Claims+Microsoft+Soaked+Partners/171923_1.aspx   Tangent Suit Claims Microsoft Soaked Partners DATE: 21-FEB-2006 By John Hazard