Saturday, August 31, 2019

Impacts of Punk Culture

Although its origins can be traced back in the late 60's, even earlier, punk culture showed itself in the early 1970s and evolved in time. It seemed to form a distinct youth culture that in turn provoked a media-driven moral panic with certain ideologies, fashion choices, visual arts, dance styles, literature and films cluster around a loud – aggressive genre of music called â€Å"punk rock† and prompted notable cultural change. For decades, the punk culture shaped people's characters, perspectives about life. Even though there were a lot of negative opinions from people (Especially considering the word â€Å"punk† was a slang term used for describing certain groups of youths at the bottom of the social scale) who do not approve the punk culture about how distractive and harmful the ones who live their life dedicated to punk culture. Saying â€Å"Suffused with self-reflexive irony, these punkshave recycled cultural images and fragments for purposes of parody and shockingjuxtaposition, thereby deconstructing the dominant meanings and simulationswhich saturate social space†(Moore, 307) and claim they are a threat for the society. The punk culture has been providing the freedom of self-expression, self-esteem many of the punk culture followers lack of in many areas and bringing them together and show people their capability, the real power they have in life to change the world.Punk culture gave people a type of freedom that supports being an individual. Before people embraced the punk culture expressing opinions that are out of the societies liking were not okay. However, punk culture is mainly based on knowing every individual has a different approach to a topic and supporting to emit these opinions openly, without fear. According to punk culture the first step to be an independed individual requires not accepting everything the society tells you, not following rules they teach you, not listening what the authority says; just use your own mind to guide yourself, use your power to do everything that was normally supposed to be hidden, as society says, to bring to the front, to in front of the society's face. In order to follow that movement, the most prevalent core value in the punk subculture that created itself is Do-It-Yourself (or D.I.Y.). For example, punk music bands adopted the Do-It-Yourself subculture to record their own music, to release their own records, to book their own shows and tours, radically to spread their own ideas with the minimum amount of outside assistance. They made their own merchandise for their fans, sometimes even with the help of their fans. The outgrowth of hardcore punk in the 1980s would not have been possible without D.I.Y. Because no major labels showed interest in punk, punks were forced into creating almost every aspect of the subculture (Moran, 62). D.I.Y. in the punk subculture is often not a choice because of the low economic income of individuals in the subculture. At some point punks had no choice other than not rely on anyone but themselves. To follow the D.I.Y. method, the punk did not have to have the same perspective about world. There were virtually no politics in uniform except for doing it yourself. One of the articles used to create this research gave the example of Screwdriver, a white supremacist band, and Crass, an anarchist punk band, as both being classified as â€Å"punk† bands despite their lack of shared values. Being a participant in the punk subculture suggests that one must be active in the creation and support of other members of the movement (Moran, 63).The fashion sense the punks promotes individual freedom and self – appreciation. The punk fashion, again, is supported by the D.I.Y. method. A lot of clothe items is made, sewed and put together by the person who wears the clothes. Punk was a radical style marked by unconventional combinations of elements and materials and a high shock value. What began as an anti-style aimed at thumbing its nose at the established norms of high fashion ended up having a great deal of influence on the fashions of the late 1970s and beyond (1). The look of punk was basically wearing almost entirely black, pants with holes in them, especially on the knees, which deliberately ripped, composed their outfits mixing, matching, and layering as they saw fit. To have a altered, more individual look was the main key to look punk. Quite often the garments were torn, colored, with the items bought at second-hand or military surplus shops. Black turtlenecks, short leather skirts or tight leather pants or jeans, leather jackets customized with paint, chains, safety pins and metal studs, and heavy leather boots were essential for the look. The clothes were often decorated with obscene or disturbing words and images. What is now called punk is generally dated to 1972 when the British fashion designers Malcolm McLaren (1946–) and Vivienne Westwood (1941–) opened their London boutique, First called Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die and later renamed Sex, sold a variety of black leather and rubber designs and became a central meeting place for those in the emerging punk music scene (1). Gender based clothing was no longer ideal for them to express their self-image, the idea of â€Å"There is no gender, clothes are just piece of fabric† began to assimilated by the punks and spread to world. Speaking of self-image and expression, re-creating your image other than wearing ‘punk appropriate' clothes were being espoused such as dying natural hair with vibrant hair colors, different haircuts and styles (for example, spiked haircut, achieved by applying large amounts of gel or Vaseline to one's hair and then rubbing talcum powder into it to dry it into spikes that stuck out away from the head, or shaved parts or all of their heads, creating mohawks), doing obscure make-up looks with darkened eyelids and lips for both men and women, piercing multiple body parts, doing tattoos which is considered to be only can own by the prisoners a.k.a. bad guy (which supported punks to provoke the society) and creating new methods and styles for these acts (for example dermal ‘anchors' piercing). Doing all of these punk styles, seeing others to do them too, enabled punks to feel more comfortable and safe in their own skin with the freedom of self-expression.The genre of music punk culture creates helps people to express their emotions. In general, punk rock was a negation of the dominant trends in popular music. It contained attitudes, approaches and subject-matter that had been excluded from the practice of popular music, which by the mid-1970s was more than ever. Punk rock was intensely contradictory. Frequently, the same musician used both progressive and reactionary elements (sometimes even in the same song). The main style of punk rock was fast, loud and aggressive rhythm and used of harsh, very expressive language in lyrics which disturbed many other people due to the political statements they partake. Punk groups have produced songs about unemployment (Career Opportunities, Right To Work), the Notting Hill carnival (White Riot), the monarchy (God Save The Queen) and general expressions of an apocalyptic rebellion (Anarchy In The UK, London's Burning), many of these songs have not been broadcast as a result of formal or covert censorship, it is worth dealing in some detail with the most prominent of them (Laing, 124). The punk performers claimed they were ‘exposing the reality'. Also, again, the usage of the D.I.Y., the records were made quickly and cheaply in small recording studios, manufactured and distributed locally through a company set up by a manager or local entrepreneur, such as a record shop owner, created not perfect copy of the records compared to the earlier music styles that embraced the clean sound of music. However, this imperfect image of punk music represents did not back-fired like the others (anti-punks) assumed. Listeners liked the natural vocal and sound approach. Another approach the punk performers focused on was sexuality, the aggression they present was usually sexual. The Rolling Stones used this approach a lot to their advantage. Another style called â€Å"glamrock† (glamorous rock, named after the fancy, over-the-top style the performers choose) performed by David Bowie, Queen and others was also an influence on this style. The punks support each other's idea, that's why the punk culture created big, worldwide communities. Firstly, studying a punk concert, seeing the communication and relationship between the performers and the audience, also between the audience itself is a very efficient way to choose. Participants perform the carnival rituals of faux violence, and in doing so establish, maintain, and sustain the resident punk community and culture. The activities near the stage give the impression of chaos. Audience participants readily mounted the stage and dove or ran back into the crowd. Band members easily entered and left the audience (HerrMann, 166). Punk rock can be played in concert at either venues or basement shows, aired on radio stations, or recorded to albums or bootlegs for dissemination by the punk wing of the cassette culture. Parties also serve as an important component of a punk scene, providing an event to exchange music and reinforce scene solidarity. Punks mostly interact with one another in their local area, forming a local punk scene. In dozens of countries worldwide, almost all major cities, many medium-sized cities, and a few small towns have such scenes. The worldwide punk community may sometimes be called the punk scene. Another approach to observe the community supported by the punk culture the ideas and acts support equality such as feminism, meaning to support equality between women and men and LGBTQ+ community and understand that they were big steps to enlighten people's minds and change their perspectives. The ones who struggle with their own sexualities and genders were supported by many communities. Of course not everyone was happy with that, but it was just the beginning. Punks were scruffy, dirty in clothing and language, but at the same time with a sense of parody and steeped in irony. The punk culture was a celebration of chaos. Punk was a culture that reflected a consumer-based society moving out of affluence into real economic, social, and political crisis. The Punks intentionally disconnect themselves from the parent culture and represent themselves as inscrutable. The music they created was crude and chaotic. Unlike any previous music-based youth culture, the punks attempted to break down the barriers between performers and audiences. All of these facts had a big role to shape the world we now have.WORKS CITED* HerrMann, Andrew F. Never Mind the Scholar, Here's the Old Punk: Identity, Community, and the Aging Music Fan. In Studies in Symbolic Interaction. 2015.*Laing, Dave. The Sound of Our Time â€Å"Interpreting Punk Rock†. Quadrangle Books, 1970.*Mooran, Ian P. Punk: The Do-It-Yourself Subculture,† Social Sciences Journal. 2010.*Moore, Ryan. Postmodernism and Punk Subculture: Cultures of Authenticity and Deconstruction, The Communication Review. 2004.*Punk.† Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages. 10 Apr. 2018, www.encyclopedia.com.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Thyroid Cancer Specific Purpose

The purpose for my informative speech is to inform my audience about Thyroid Cancer. Thesis: How often do you know people with Thyroid Cancer? Not much? Thyroid Cancer is a nodule in the thyroid region of the neck. Many adults have small nodules in their thyroids, but typically fewer than 5% of these nodules are found to be malignant. Organization Format: My Speech will be organized in Chronological order. Introduction: I.Attention getter: I believe that if, at the end of it all according to our abilities, we have done something  to make others a little happier and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances†¦we must try. I didn’t always know this and I am happy that I lived long enough to find it out. -Roger Ebert; thyroid cancer survivor Relevance statement: Today, Thyroid Cancer has the highest cure percentage that any other cancer has. It is common in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute about 37,000 people are diagnosed with thyroid cancer each year. We know that Thyroid Cancer is curable, but it does have some high side effects. It is also known as a small tumor. Thyroid cancer occurs in the cells of the thyroid. A butterfly-shaped gland located at the base of your neck, just below your Adam's apple.Your thyroid produces hormones that regulate your heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and weight. II. Topic Disclosure: Thyroid cancer is a cancerous growth of the thyroid gland. Its Symptoms may vary depending on the type of thyroid cancer. III. Preview: Today I’d like to share with you and educate you on Thyroid Cancer and its Symptoms, treatments, causes and preventions. A. Symptoms: How every individual has different side effects depending how the cancerous the gl and B. Treatments: What is the cure of thyroid cancer, and keeping in good health.C. Causes and Preventions: The cause of Thyroid cancer, how to prevent it and why people get it. Body: 1. Thyroid cancer is a cancerous growth of the thyroid gland. Many symptoms of Thyroid Cancer can lead to negative side effects. †¢ A. The thyroid is located on your neck by a gland. Swelling of the neck, Difficulty swallowing, enlargement of the thyroid gland, roughness or changing voice, Neck swelling, and Thyroid lump (nodule) are symptoms of thyroid cancer. Some Symptoms may vary depending on the type of thyroid cancer or tumor a person has.Most people don’t know that they have Thyroid Cancer until they go to the doctors and they get examined. 2. The Treatment for Thyroid Cancer varies depending on the type of tumor. A. Having surgery is usually the treatment for the tumor. The entire Gland is removed. If the surgeon notices that the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, then they will also be removed. B. Radiation therapy is the medical use of ionizing radiation as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells. It is delivered by taking radioactive iodine is often used, with or without surgery.Radiation therapy with an external beam of radiation can also be used. C. After the treatment, you need to take a thyroid hormone to replace what your glands used to make. A thyroid hormone is responsible for regulation our hormones. The dose of the treatment is usually a little higher than what your body needs, which helps keep the cancer from returning. D. If the cancer does not respond to surgery or radiation and has spread to other parts of the body, chemotherapy may be used, but this is only effective for a third of patients. 3. The cause in thyroid Cancer can occur in all age groups. A. People who have had radiation therapy to the neck are at higher risk. Radiation therapy was commonly used in the 1950s to treat enlarged thymus glands, adenoids and tonsils, and skin disorders. People who received radiation therapy as children are at increased risk for getting thyroid cancer. As they get older the symptoms are rare. B. 1. There are different causes of Thyroid Cancer. Anaplastic carcinoma (also called giant and spindle cell cancer) is the most dangerous form of thyroid cancer. It is rare, and does not respond to radioiodine therapy.Anaplastic carcinoma spreads quickly and invades nearby structures such as the windpipe (trachea), causing breathing difficulties. 2. Follicular carcinoma accounts for about 30% of all cases and is more likely to come back and spread. 3. Medullary carcinoma is a cancer of nonthyroid cells that are normally present in the thyroid gland. This form of the thyroid cancer tends to occur in families. It requires different treatment than other types of thyroid cancer. 4. Papillary carcinoma is the most common type, and usually affects women of childbearing age.It spreads slowly and is the least dangerous type of thyroid cancer. 4. To test someone for Thyroid cancer, you must go to the medical office and a physical examination can reveal a thyroid mass or nodule which is usually in the lower part of the front of the neck, or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck. A. Once tested, the results can be as stated; showing paralyzed vocal cords, Thyroid biopsy showing anaplastic, papillary cancer cells. Final Transition statement: In conclusion, Thyroid cancer can be cured. It takes a long process to be cured but by staying healthy and getting monthly check up, you life can change.We know that there is a lot of types of thyroid cancer, but some are highly curable. Conclusion: As I educated you about thyroid cancer, I hope everyone has a good vision on the types of thyroid cancer, symptoms, treatment, the cause and why people get thyroid cancer and how people get tested on their glands for thyroid cancer.Works Cited Wyckoff Cindy. Roger Ebert. 2 march , 2010 . 15 October, 2010 . Wikipedia. Thyroid Cancer. 3 Oct ober 2010 . 15 October, 2010 . National Cancer Institute. Thyroid Cancer. . 15 October, 2010 .

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Peer pressure at school

The school playground is often a mine field of potential social challenges for many children. While some children thrive in the playground, few are immune to at least some difficulties with their peers. This article highlights seven common peer problems your children may face at school. Teasing and bullying Teasing and bullying are unfortunately still common in the school yard. These issues will often not occur until after age seven or eight, and research indicates that at least three out of five sixth grade students experienced or participated in bullying in schools in New South Wales. See links below for more information. Loneliness Making friends is more challenging for some students than for others. Some parents become concerned if their children do not have a large number of friends. However, research indicates that the number of friends your child has is less important than the depth of the friendships. Better to have a narrow but deep pool of friends than a wide and shallow friendship circle. Good friendships take time, attention, and more time to develop. Get your children together with other kids regularly to solidify their relationships. Ostracism Some children will be intentionally left out of activities. There may or may not be teasing and bullying involved. This is a particular challenge, not just in the schoolyard, but also when birthday party invites are being distributed. Missing out can make a child feel awful. If your child is being ostracised, provide support, encourage alternative friendships, or consider involving your child’s teacher. Gender Issues Boys and girls are beginning to learn about one another throughout primary school. Most of the time boys and girls will choose to play separately. But by around age nine, some children are beginning to have an increasing awareness of the opposite sex and may even start to claim boyfriend and girlfriend status. While this can often be harmless, in many instances having a boy or girlfriend can create significant social challenge. Teasing can occur. Children can be unceremoniously dumped when friends uncover the ‘relationship’ and spread rumours about it. Most teachers and parents will typically agree that boyfriend and girlfriend relationships should be discouraged in primary school years. Many parents would prefer to discourage them until at least age 16! ) Being Cool†¦ or Not By around the age of nine, many children have a keen sense of what is cool and what is not. Much of this is controlled by what they are exposed to via the media (through the Internet, television, and movies). If your child has not got the latest media gadget (e. g. ipod or mobile phone), seen the latest movie, or does not know the words t o the hottest song in the country, they may feel excluded and could be teased or ostracised. This does not mean that children should be indulged or that your personal standards should be altered, but sensitive parents will likely take care to discuss such issues with their children and seek mutually agreeable solutions. Poor performance Children who perform poorly in academic (or other pursuits such as sport) may be excluded or find distance between themselves and their peers. This is a challenge that can be overcome using strategies outlined. Marginalising Minorities Children who present obvious differences to the majority of students, such as race, religion, or even socio-economic status, can often suffer socially because of the perceptions that they are not like everyone else. These issues can be particularly salient for girls once they reach age ten to twelve, although both genders can be affected. Skin colour or ethnicity, like religious habits, cannot and should not be changed to accommodate the majority. Instead, tolerance can be promoted by parents and schools to aid in peer relationships. Peer pressure â€Å"He who saves one life it is as though he saves the world†. You make the call, you have control over what you want to do or not do. Do you really want to do it, or are you too scared to stand up for yourself and just say no? You must stand up for yourself, and be confident with your decision. What if you say yes? What if you decide not to stand up for yourself? What if you are not confident? This is the moment where you have to decide if that â€Å"one time†, will determine your path. But you really have to stop and think for a moment. Is what you are doing a complete and true definition of you? Whose life are you really leading? There are two kinds of peer pressure. The Positive kind, and the Negative kind. The positive kind of peer pressure is, being pressured or convinced to do a certain task that you may not have had the confidence to complete or to do yourself. Another kind of positive peer pressure is when friends convince you not to do something that may not have been in your best interest. Negative peer pressure is just what it sounds like—It is when Peers try to make you think that they know what is best for you. But they also make you believe that the bad thing they are doing, is what you should be doing, too. They try to direct you down a path, which is not the correct one. They push for you to have JUST ONE drink. To smoke JUST ONE cigarette†¦. But, the thing that you can do to save yourself is not always the easiest thing to do– saying NO. But just saying no may or may not be the end of the problem. What it means is that you have to be certain and confident with your choice, and have the inner strength to know that you are doing the right thing. Being accepted by people who want you to be a follower, and to go down what may be the wrong path, is being accepted or thinking that you will be accepted by people who are not really your friends. Many people forget what the true definition of friend is. Peer pressure, is something that is commonly used on teens. Peer pressure is used, both in positive and negative ways, unfortunately it's used more often in negative ways. Because of this, I feel that peer pressure is more harmful than beneficial. Peer pressure can be a very powerful tool against teens. It can be used to onvince peers to drink, smoke, steal and many other things. Too many times teenagers end up in jail, pregnant, or in some other kind of trouble because of something they were pressured into doing. They do things they have never done before like; lying to their parents, drinking alcohol, smoking, and sometimes illegal things. They do all these risky things because they have been pressured into doing what is â€Å"co ol†. It can be very hard to stand up for yourself, as a teen trying to fit in, especially when your being ganged up on by your peers to do something you wouldn't normally do. Peer pressure can also be used by teens to convince other teens to go to church, not party, or hang with the wrong crowd. Although this kinda of peer pressure is rarely used, it's very beneficial. Sometimes when one teen see's another going down the wrong path and making bad decisions, they try to pressure them into doing the right thing. Teens often tell each other to â€Å"be safe† when their; having parties, drinking, or putting themselves into any situation that they could get into trouble. Although this is positive peer pressure, it's normally not as powerful or convincing as negative peer pressure because it implies that what that teen is doing, is okay or safe. Peer pressure is a very diverse tool, that can be used for good and bad, but overall it's a more powerful tool when used in a negative way. Because of this and the fact that negative peer pressure is used more often, I believe that peer pressure can be, but is not, more beneficial than harmful. Peer pressure is the influence of a peer group to an individual, causing them to change their attitudes, values and behaviour. It refers to any individual who is being persuaded in doing something that is against their judgment but does not have the courage to stand their ground and do the right thing. It weakens the sense of an individual because of the saying â€Å"everybody is going to do it† which makes them think that such thing is correct. It causes the youth to strive for social acceptance which makes and individual do something he/she is not comfortable of doing. Peer pressure is most commonly associated with the youth, especially the students, because they spend most of their day in school with their friends and classmates. Although peer pressure does not necessarily have to be negative, it also has some positive sides. It can make a student strive for academic success because of their peers or it can improve the study habits of students. The study habits of students are highly affected by peer pressure. Study habits are the approach on how school works are done and how students budget their time in doing tasks. It is crucial to the performance of students but also easily affected by peer pressure. It may cause some positive or negative effects. Peers may influence their classmates to study or not. Students also study together.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Business and society Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business and society - Research Paper Example e draft Norms mainly when these norms are imposed on corporations directly under international law and the duties of human rights that are provided by the state. On the other hand, the article contains a detailed conceptual empirical review of current international standard imposed on the business environment regarding the relation of businesses and society. The article reviews legal international norms that govern corporations globally as well as the voluntary initiative of businesses to its communities (Ruggie, 2007, p. 7). In conclusion, the article identifies strategies for establishing a framework to reduce gaps in administration and adherence to human rights by businesses. In attempt to minimize bias between globalization and transnational corporations, the Draft Norms incorporated ‘other business enterprises’ which are also affected by the draft. On the other hand, the draft exempted nationally operating businesses that have no connection with transnational corporations. Increasing in corporation network lead to establishment of parents and subsidiary corporation which have separate legal entities. Subsidiary companies are liable to laws distinct enacted in that particular country. However, the transnational corporation’s network is not directly governed by international laws. To this effect, a move to develop global legal standards for transnational corporations poses a major challenge. Transnational Corporation has greater influence on realization of rights than the state. The main objective of international laws is to provide a direct and uniform corporate responsibility to all corporations that are not enacted into domestic laws. In this perspective, the Draft Norm enumerated rights that the states have not recognized and some are still debatable at global level. On the other hand, the Draft Norms provides that not all rights pertain to businesses, but it provides no principled basis for making that determination. These rights are included and

Finance Assignment Wal-Mart Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Finance Wal-Mart - Assignment Example Walmart operates in Mexico with its first overseas store being a Sam’s Club situated in Mexico City in 1991. In Mexico, there are 2,290 retail stores as of 2015 with 251 Walmart Supercenters, and 160 Sam’s Clubs. By January 2014, Walmart had 209,878 employees in its Mexican stores, clubs, and retails (n.d.). a) Walmart’s annual report for the financial year that ended 2014 addresses foreign exchange risk management in the section â€Å"Foreign Currency Risk† (Walmart 31). This segment argues that Walmart is susceptible to variations in the value of foreign currency because of its â€Å"net investments and operations in nations other than the United States† (31). c) The type of currency exposure that Walmart hedges is instabilities in overseas currency exchange rates. This type of exposure is related often to the predicted outflows of â€Å"principal and interest of non-US denominated debt† (31). d) One hedging techniques used by Walmart is taking part in currency swaps and labeling particular overseas-currency denominated, longstanding debt as â€Å"net investment hedges† (31). Another technique is labeling overseas-currency denominated, longstanding debt as â€Å"nonderivative hedges of net investments† of particular overseas activities (32). Nigeria seems to be the biggest concern in terms of currency volatility and country risk. Today, political views and policies are dependent on key deviation in policy course provide the personality-oriented characteristic of Nigerian political affairs. In 2015, currency matters will be the focus of the Central Bank of Nigeria (BMI Research 2015). After the aggressive tightening of monetary measures in November 2014, the Central Bank of Nigeria may find it essential to add tightening courses of action in an attempt to anchor inflation anticipations and calm nervous markets. These tightening courses of action make up the leading cause of currency issues in Nigeria for Walmart (2015).

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

A critical review and response to a relevant research paper in Essay

A critical review and response to a relevant research paper in relation to safeguarding. (5000 words) - Essay Example Childcare professional all over the world, have always put the interests of the child first, more so when it comes to ‘physical abuse and risk to life’(Hagan, 2006 pg 24). They are right to be so, since, child safeguarding and protection are more of a right than a necessity. Safeguarding covers the aspects of a child spanning from early life to maturity. Safeguarding focuses on the development, factoring potential risks and vulnerabilities while cultivating an atmosphere ‘focused on children as future citizens’ (Parton, 2011 pg 856 – 857). Child protection is quite essential in its own respect, however, safeguarding outweighs protection since it is curative preventive rather than curative. Cleaver et al., (2009 pg 13) firmly insists that children should be put at the center of the safeguarding process. Parton’s (2011) study purposed to shed light on policy development and debate in England, in relation to child protection and safeguarding. He lays emphasis on the significant change in policy over the years. By having this article published by the British Journal of Social Work, with the authority and command it bears in this field, the article asserts it strength and relevance. It is, however, not enough to vouch for an article based on who, or where it featured; there is the need for further scrutiny and research by all stakeholders. This helps influence practice and even policy. In this essay, therefore, I will critically aim at analysing Parton’s article, giving a summary and a critique thereof. Parton’s main purpose was to reflect in a critical way, the developments in policy, as well as debates in England in matters of child protection and safeguarding (Parton, 2011). By emphasizing on policy changes in a span of 20 years, he aimed at putting the state on the spotlight in matters of its contribution to this change. The researcher neither portrays the state as having failed in matters of policy development, nor does he

Monday, August 26, 2019

AT&T Cooperate Social Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

AT&T Cooperate Social Responsibility - Essay Example The current changing legal, economic, and social settings require ethics programs with the aim of protecting the corporation and its stakeholders, including customers, employees, stockholders, among others which can be achieved by proper corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) may be defined as the â€Å"legal, economic, ethical, and discretionary outlooks that society has on organizations at a given time" (Carroll and Bocholt, 36). The model of corporate social responsibility implies that organizations have philanthropic, ethical, and moral responsibilities as well as their responsibilities to make a fair return for stockholders and comply with the legal system. A traditional understanding of the corporations proposes that its principal, if not exclusive, responsibility is to its stockholders, or owners. However, CSR obliges organizations to adopt a wider view of its responsibilities which includes not only stockholders or owners, but many other communities as well, including suppliers, customers, employees, the local community, environmental groups, state and federal governments, and other notable concerned groups (Carroll and Bocholt 13). ... AT&T remains committed in making the sphere a better place by the implementation of proper corporate social responsibility, and they evidently get recognized for their corporate citizenship. At AT&T, hundreds of thousands of staffs have long held their principal value that they do not simply support their communities but they remain members of them, too. That is why for over a century, they have helped shape these communities though their philanthropic efforts by volunteerism and giving to make their people â€Å"make a difference†. For over 26 years, the AT&T Foundation remains fundamental in enriching and consolidation the diverse communities they serve. The Foundation supports non - profit organizations and programs that nurture inclusion and create opportunities for the diverse population (Carroll and Bocholt 51). AT&T diversity supplier program and its commitment to minority owned industries stand recognized nationally. The organization remains among the leading companies globally when it comes to realizing and doing business with different suppliers. Since 1968, the company Global Supplier Diversity body connects certified diverse minority, disabled and women veteran - owned business initiatives (MBE, DVBE and WBEs) businesses with opportunities to make available products and services to AT&T organization around the world. AT&T Global Supplier Diversity Program started in 1968 with the foundation of AT&T MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) Program. In addition to this MBE Program, the WBE (Women Business Enterprise) Program got launched in 1980 and the Enterprise DVBE (Disabled Veteran Business) Program in 1993. These 3 programs have enabled the beneficiaries to

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Understanding the Nature of Groups and Teams Essay

Understanding the Nature of Groups and Teams - Essay Example In most cases, individuals form groups, which later become a team. According to psychoanalytical object-relations theory (Sher, 2004), individuals, groups, and teams are not independent entities but rather are constructs that bond organizational expectations to human feelings and beliefs. Groups and teams rely on a matrix style of management (Gilley & Kerno Jr., 2010), are influenced by the existing organizational authority, and participants show commitment because of the expectations demanded by their organizations. The distinction between groups and teams is that while groups demand a lot of control, planning, and direction in its leadership, are guided by a series of well established goals and objectives, reward members depending on performance (Seat & Sundstrom, 2004), and used when executing specific functional tasks in an organization, teams demand collaborative relationships among members, are guided by a mission in fulfilling their mandate (Offermann, 2006), and can exist in or outside an organization. Therefore, teams are groups with a higher purpose in achieving goals because of creativity, mutual sharing of benefits, attributes, small member size mostly between 5-12 people, and a shared purpose. A group or team is always formed in handling different problems in an organization. Therefore, the management must be keen when determining which one to use for effective task execution and complimentary results. It is best to use groups in instances where tasks are easy, especially when results are expected within a specific timeframe in order to measure the expertise of each member on service delivery, and only if there is a well defined a guiding purpose. However, whenever the management deems there is complexity in task execution, which demands collaborative interactions, availability of enough and reliable resources, teams are given a priority (Gilley & Kerno Jr., 2010). In most occasions, organizations rely on teams

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Promotion Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Promotion Strategies - Essay Example The new technological trends affected a lot the way companies performed the advertising of their products. There has been a major shift from offline advertising to online advertising alternatives. This paper analyzes the global changes in advertising by performing research on the subject and through the case study of Estee Lauder. Selling products online which is referred to as e-commerce has become a huge force in the retailing business. In 2006 the overall e-commerce retail sales in the United States accounted for $104 billion dollars and this segment has a great growth potential considering the online community is rapidly expanding and currently has nearly 1.1 billion users worldwide (Plunckett Research, 2007). The widespread use of the internet and the birth of the convergence age are shifting advertising dollars from traditional written press to the internet since many people are no longer using the traditional press as their primary medium for obtaining information about current affairs. The internet has replaced traditional media due to its convenience, variety of selection, and the speed of the information travels. â€Å"Printing subscription have suffered with people finding they can get news from a variety of free online sources, including new, online only publication, professional blogs and news a ggregation sites† (Holahan, 2007). Online advertising is a booming business and companies are finding that it is cheap effective way to reach mass amounts of potential customers. Estimates performed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (AIB) determined that in the US $13 billion was spent on online advertising in 2006 and this figure is projected to grow by 87% in 2008 (Plunckett Research, 2007). Online advertising has also allowed further globalization of products worldwide. Companies in Europe are utilizing this advertising medium to target

Friday, August 23, 2019

The Role of Women in the Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Role of Women in the Society - Essay Example In the historic times women had to face a lot of difficulties they were torn out from their rights and endured men’s unfair and barbaric behavior. They were ruled and controlled over by a men-oriented society, now things have changed; women have indeed risen from their past stature. They fear not the dominant and authoritative gender, instead they stand parallel and rose up to the challenge of being treated as the inferior one. Women today are independent unlike the ancient times, when traditionally women played the roles of an obedient daughter, caring sister, loyal wife and a loving mother. Education has diversified the typical role of a woman that they have played for so many years. Today women opt to become business women, mathematicians, engineers, doctors, economists they even appear for elections. Throughout the last 3-4 centuries the changes that women have undergone are phenomenal. They have made their foothold in politics, offices yet still have power over the househ old stuff, because women were considered dumb and absurd. There have been times when women were abolished from making their voice heard in many areas of life because they were seen as less informed and less learned for example in politics, government policies they were even stripped from their right of casting votes for the presidential elections. Although now in modern times the workforce in any organization is full of hard working and powerful women. Despite the many drastic changes that have been in the world there had also been a one more subtle one which is the role that women play now in the household. Over the time women from being the homemakers, housewives and caretakers of the children have switched places with being the bread winners just like men. Women were considered as followers but now they have exchanged places and become leaders of the society (Kleinberg, 1988). Gradually women are overtaking men’s quotient level. The stereotypical character women have playe d for so long is now dissolving, which was that women would stay home and take care of the children, cooked, washed dishes and cloths, cleaned the house all in all took care of the domestic house responsibilities while men earned. The broader picture has changed, now women and men of the house both take care of the domestic chores and earn. Despite all the changes, women still face one troublesome situation even in the modern times which is the offensive negative sexual attention women receive. They bear insulting comments in the work place and are considered as a â€Å"piece-of-meat†. One out of 6 women becomes victims of sexual assaults while for men the ratio is 1 out of 33. The vast difference in these statistics is not shocking because women have always been treated in that way some nations are still unsafe for women to go out freely without a male companion. Even though women have evolved, gained success and yet they have un-succeeded in gaining respect. While women hav e been tagged with ugly sexist comments and terms, they are making their ground in numerous occupations educations, politics, etc. Although women have evolved from being mere housewives, still they are held responsible for the household day to day chores. Though the work is as not as tough as in the older times because manual work has been replaced with more modern technologies and methods. It is an awkward fact that there is a sense on embarrassment attached to the notion of being a housewife. In many nations the thought of staying home, awaiting the return of their husband is looked upon as a waste of man power. Woman now is considered as a being with potential that should do their bit for the betterment of economy. Mothers are given all

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Kedarnath Temple in Himalayas Essay Example for Free

Kedarnath Temple in Himalayas Essay One of the holiest pilgrimages for the Hindus, Kedarnath Temple Jyotirlinga is located in the picturesque surroundings of Rudra Himalaya Range at a height of 12000 feet on a mountain named Kedar. Near Kedarnath is the source of the river Mandakini that joins Alakananda at Rudraprayag. This place is approximately 150 miles away from Hardwar and 132 miles north of Hrishikesh and is accessible by foot. The temple at Kedarnath enshrining the Jyotirlingam of Shiva opens only 6 months a year (April-November) when the sun enters the zodiac sign of Aries and it is closed when the sun enters Scorpio. The priests then go to Ukhimath, where the worship of Kedareshwara is continued during the winter season. Tradition has it that when undertaking Kedarnath Yatra pilgrims first visit Yamunotri and Gangotri and bring with them the holy waters from the sources of the rivers Yamuna and Ganga and offer abhishekams to Kedareshwara. The traditional pilgrim route is Haridwar Rishikesh Devaprayag Tehri Dharasu Yamunotri Uttar Kashi Gangotri Triyugnarayan Gowrikund and Kedarnath. The alternative route to Kedar from Rishikesh is via Devprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag and Ukhimath. Legend Behind Kedarnath Temple Legend goes that Nara and Narayana two incarnations of Vishnu performed severe penance in Badrikashraya of Bharat Khand, in front of a Shivalingam fashioned out of earth. Pleased with their devotion, Lord Shiva appeared in front of them and said that they may ask for a boon. Nar and Narayan requested Shiva to take up a permanent abode as a Jyotirlingam at Kedarnath so that all people who worship Shiva shall be freed from their miseries. According to yet another popular legend related to Kedar Temple, Goddess Parvati worshipped Kedareshwar to unite with Shiva as Ardhanareeswarar. Besides, the Pandavas are believed to have visited this area several times. Arjuna is believed to have come here to pray to Shiva to obtain the coveted Pasupataastra. The other Pandavas are believed to have come here in search of him, where Draupadi came across the heavenly lotus Kalyana Saugandikam, and requested Bhima to bring here some more of the same. It was during his venturing out to seek these flowers that Bhima met Hanumaan. Significance of Kedarnath Temple Located in the lofty Himalayas, Kedarnath Temple is one of the best known Shivasthalams in India and is considered to be one of the most sacred pilgrimage centers of the country. It is believed that by praying to Kedareshwar, one can get all his desires fulfilled. Importance of the shrine can be further understood from the beliefs that Upamanyu prayed to Lord Shiva in this place in Satayuga while in Dwapar, the Pandavas worshipped Lord Shiva here. Even the spiritual leader Adi Sankaracharya is closely associated with Kedarnath. Structure of Kedarnath Temple Kedarnath Shrine is scenically placed amidst the lofty, snow covered mountains and grassy meadows covering the valleys. Immediately behind the temple is the high Keadardome peak, which can be sighted from great distances. It is believed that the temple of Kedarnath was constructed by the Pandavas. At the entrance of the temple is the statue of Nandi, the divine bull of Shiva. Walls inside the temple are exquisitely carved with images. The revered Shiva Lingam housed in the temple is in the unusual pyramidal form. Kedarnath Kedarnath is on the bank of the Mandakini River between Gangotri and Badrinath. As the crow flies Kedarnath is only 42km from Badrinath. Over 100,000 pilgrims come here each year. It is believed that Sankaracharya passed away here about 820 AD. Kedareswar Siva is the presiding deity. Behind the Kedarnath temple is an impressive mountain range, with the beautiful Kedarnath Mountain (6,970m). Kedarnath Temple This Lord Siva temple at Kedarnath is said to have been built by the Pandavas to atone for their sins procured during the Kurukshetra war. It is believed that this temple was originally constructed by the Pandavas, and the present temple was reconstructed by Sankaracharya in the 8th century. One of the 12 Siva-Jyotirlingas is in this temple. The temple is dedicated to Lord Sada Siva and is considered to be one of the major Siva temples in India. Inside the temple there is an irregular, three-faced linga, representing the hump of Lord Siva when he took the form of a bull. It is about 3m (9 ft) long, 1m (3 ft) wide, and 1.3m (4 ft) high. Pilgrims are allowed to touch the linga, perform worship, abhishek (bathe), and massage the linga with ghee. There are deities of goddess Parvati and Ganesh in front of the main altar door. Outside the second door are Lord Krishna, the five Pandavas, their wife, Draupadi, and their mother, Kunti. In the temple is a Lakshmi-Narayana Deity, which was installed by Adi Sankaracharya. The temple faces south, which is a unique feature, as most temples face east. This temple is very solidly built. The temple opens the first week of May and closes either the last week of October or the first week of November. May/June is the busiest time of the year. Worship of Sri Kedarnath is continued in the village of Okhimath in the winter by the priest from the Kedarnath Temple. The waiting time to enter the temple in the afternoon is about 15 minutes, otherwise if you go at 7 am the waiting time may be two hours or more.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Against Space Program Funding Essay Example for Free

Against Space Program Funding Essay Opening Statement: The government uses approximately 17.6 billion dollars of the taxpayers money to fund NASA every year. We shouldn’t be funding NASA that money when our economy is the worst it’s been since the Great Depression; we need to focus and spend our money on the problems here on Earth. NASA hasn’t done anything significant in space in years. And it’s incredibly risky and dangerous going up there. Arguments: 1)Our economy is the worst it’s been since the Great Depression, why are we even considering funding NASA 17. 6 billion dollars when we have big problems here?! Barack Obama, our soon to be President, agrees. We elected him so he must be doing something right with the changes he wants to make. Millions of Americans die from preventable diseases all because they don’t have healthcare, and millions more go to bed hungry at night because they can’t afford to eat. If we took that 17 billion dollars and used to help people get health insurance at least our world would be a better place. Also, global warming issues like that are happening. If those NASA scientists used their knowledge to figure out a way to better help the earth instead of space, we’d be so much better off. 2)NASA hasn’t made any kind of discovery in recent years that’s been of any kind of use to us. Sure, finding out Pluto doesn’t really count as a planet is cool and all, but how does that help us in anyway?! It doesn’t make a difference if we know how many planets there are right now, what matters is that we use our money to help stop destroying the Earth try to fix the damage we’ve done. It’s great that we have the technology and skills to travel into space, but it’s becoming unaffordable and we have bigger expenses on our hands. 3)Its incredibly risky and dangerous traveling to space. Remember the space shuttle Columbia tragedy? Also, the radiation on Earth and Space is very different and the radiation in space can cause damage to human cells and possibly cancer. Osteoperosis is another risk. Because of microgravity, bones become brittle and a full recovery when arriving back on Earth may not occur. Space travel can also cause temporary and sometimes permanent hearing loss. And the biggest danger while in space? The debris that is constantly orbiting earth  travels at high speeds and can be deadly if collided with. Closing Statement: Before we continue any more exploration in space, we need to focus on exploring the ways we can help the Earth. We don’t need to spend 17 billion on NASA to find out facts that aren’t of great importance, to put the astronauts and people on the launch site in danger, and when we have so much work to do on Earth. The money will be better spent on fixing the economy and making the Earth a better place.

Elections Are A Major Institutional Pillar Politics Essay

Elections Are A Major Institutional Pillar Politics Essay Elections are a major institutional pillar of liberal democracy. They are the dominant element of political process as they provide the platform for exercising the basic rights of the people associated with democracy freedom of speech, association, choice and movement and the like. They also form the individuals rights of participation in the political process. For the masses they are the opportunity to make the political leaders accountable for their stewardship during the time they were in power, as well as subject to their power as the final sovereign of the country. An election is a competition for office based on a formal expression of preferences by a designated body of people at the ballot box.  [1]  As Yogesh Atal had observed, elections computes public opinion.  [2]  Therefore, elections signify the power of the people and provide legitimacy to the authority of the government. On the importance of elections, Norman D. Palmer, has observed: Elections are particularly conspicuous and revealing aspect of most contemporary political systems. They highlight and dramatize a Political System, bringing its nature into sharp relief, and providing insights into other aspects of the system as a wholeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã‚  [3]   Popular elections are at the heart of representative democracy. And, that holding periodic election is the hallmark of representative democracy based on the active interest of the people. The functioning of democracy demands maximum involvement and participation of the masses in democratic process of the country.  [4]  These are the central democratic procedure for selecting and controlling leaders.  [5]  Elections are episodes of political action during which the preferences of citizens and the conduct of politicians, based on their past agency record and their prospective promises, intersects and interact.  [6]  In the opinion of Robert A. Dhal, the election is the central technique for ensuring that government leaders will be relatively responsible to non-leaders.  [7]  The political class sees elections as an opportunity for renewing their mandate to exercise legitimate power. In this sense, elections constitute a vital bridge linking the masses to the political c lass.  [8]  In addition, growing commitment to democratic elections is also an affirmation of a growing popular commitment to the rule of law.  [9]  Democracy, particularly, its liberal version, may be defined as a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realms of citizens, acting indirectly through competition and cooperation of their elected representatives.  [10]   In fact, elections in a democratic system of governance provide the voter with a meaningful choice of candidates, and are distinguished by several characteristics, including a universal franchise, a secret ballot, the involvement of political parties, contests in every, or almost every, constituency and campaigns regulated by strict and fair rules.  [11]  This implies extensive competition for power; highly inclusive citizenship and extensive civil and political liberties. Also, in-between elections, citizens must be able to influence public policy through various non-electoral means like interest group associations and social movements, which invariably involve cooperation and competition among citizens.  [12]   The use of elections in the modern era dates to the emergence of representative government in Europe and North America since the 17th century.  [13]  Modern democracies are typically based on representative models in which citizens elect their representatives to govern and frame policies on their behalf. Full democracies are those systems in which there are universal suffrage, regular elections, an independent judiciary, relatively equal access to power for all groups, and extensive civil liberties that are combined with protection for minorities and disadvantaged groups.  [14]   The developments and want for electoral democracy across societies are quite fascinating. Indeed, some twenty-five years ago there were only about thirty-five democracies across the world, most of them being wealthy and industrialized nations, particularly in the West. Today, the number has grown to about 120. Huntington (1999) argues that at least thirty countries turned democracies between 1974 and 1990;  [15]  while Diamond (1997) takes Freedom House data to show that that the number of democracies increased from 39 in 1974 to 118 in 1996.  [16]  Consequently, and more precisely, democratic government out-numbered all other governments. Jaggers and Gurr (1995) claim that the proportions of the democracies rose from 27 percent in 1975 to 50 percent in 1994.  [17]   It is assumed by critics that many of the new democracies are being hollowed out.  [18]  The effect is the spread of electoral democracy where political parties battle for control of government through comparatively free and fair election;  [19]  but not liberal democracy with an effective rule of law behind individual and minority freedoms and protections.  [20]  A claim to liberal democracy may serve to legitimize state authority nearly everywhere, but the reality falls far short of the global triumph of liberal democratic government. The remarkable consensus concerning the legitimacy of liberal democracy served as the premise of Fukuyamas thesis on the end of history.  [21]  Doubts about the quality of new democracies imply that the new democracies may enshrine democratic principles that fail to operate in practice, and that the populations do not therefore enjoy liberal democratic freedoms. Defining electoral politics Though psephologist and scholars often make use of the term electoral politics, the phrase is, very rarely defined accurately. Still, as term in common political discourse goes, this is, in particular, not vague or elastic. The definition that follows is partly descriptive; that is to say, it is designed to reflect what most people seem to mean when they use the term and to suggest what the term ought to. The word election is of Latin origin and is derived from the root eligere. Election literary connotes, the public choice of person for office. It may be regarded as a form of procedure recognized by the rules of an organization, whereby all or some of the members of the organization choose a smaller number of persons or one person to hold office of authority in the organization.  [22]  According to Websters dictionary, election means the act or process of choosing a person for an office, position or membership by voting. An election, as William B. Munro (1926) writes long ago, consists of a regular series of events.  [23]  These events differ from political system to another as provided by the respective legal provisions of that particular system, but always include voter registration, nominations of candidates, seeking access to the electorate, voters preferences and the like. It is a formal act of collective decision that occurs in a stream of connected antecedent and subsequent behaviour.  [24]  Elections are the principal mechanism by which the citizens hold government accountable, both retrospectively for their policies and more generally for the manner in which they govern.  [25]  Hence, it can be said that electoral politics is the study of the political process, involved in the electoral process, ranging from the nomination of candidates to the final outcome of an election and can be conceptualized as a set of activities, in strategic cooperation between numerous participants in t he electoral process. This naturally involves the study of campaign strategies (the electoral behaviour), and the mobilisation of resources by political parties and the candidates; the role of youth power, organised groups and influentials. In simple terms, electoral politics is s an index of popular consciousness, articulation and participation of the electorate in the decision  [26]  of the society. Electoral politics seeks to analyze the major features in the conduct of elections, democratic or otherwise, and the process involved therein to ascertain electorate opinion of a given geographical area. It is through election that political preferences of the electors are expressed and ordered. The process of electoral politics presents the electors with a decision task that requires a particular choice between the contending candidates. Thus it may be said that electoral politics, is a means of translating the popular will into an elected assembly.  [27]  But at the same time it must be conceded that elections are clumsy instruments of choice.  [28]  In such circumstances, the study of election and electoral system has been a continuing source of interdisciplinary conflict, largely between political scientist s and sociologists.  [29]   The Review of Literature: There is considerable body of theoretical and empirical literature on elections and its allied discipline, in both the developed and developing democracies, that identifies several functions performed by elections in liberal democracies. A brief history of the literature available so far is examined in the pages that follow: Scholarly studies of electoral politics have a long and vibrant history. Most works on electoral politics primarily focus on voting behavior. The 1940s saw the birth of scientific use of survey research to examine academic voting research in the study of electoral politics. Under the direction of Paul Lazarsfeld, the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University interviewed a probability sample of Erie County, Ohio, during the Roosevelt-Wilkie presidential race.  [30]  The findings of the study were published in the book titled The People Choice.  [31]  The authors determine why people vote as they do focusing mainly on social groupings, religion, and residence. They argue that people tend to vote with their groups, and to that extent people take longer time to arrive at voting choice. Later, a second panel study conducted by the Columbian School in 1948 provided a more influential book, Voting.  [32]  It examines the factors that make people vote the way they do based on the famous Elmira Study, carried out by a team of skilled social scientists during the 1948 presidential campaign. It shows how voting is affected by social class, religious background, family loyalties, local pressure groups, mass communication media, and other factors. The work of Lazarsfeld and his Columbia colleagues demonstrated the rich potential of election surveys as data for understanding campaigns and elections. The next, and even more important, advance in election studies emerged in the following decade at the University of Michigan.  [33]  It created the most significant milestone in the whole tenet of electoral research, The American Voter.  [34]  It explored the so-called psychological model, in its study explaining peoples political choices; and found out how people voted were mainly their party identification. The work established a baseline for most of the scholarly debate that has followed in the decades since.  [35]  However, political scientist like V.O. Key  [36]  attacked this work, in which he famously asserted, voters are not fools. Key argues against the implications of Campbell et al.s book, and Converses later addition,  [37]  about the ignorance and unreliability of American voters. He analyzed public opinion data and electoral returns to show what he believed to be the rationality of voters choices as political decisions rather than responses to psychological stimuli.  [38]   In the years that followed, Nie, Verba, Petrocik  [39]  presents one of the best treatments on the subject in the form of The Changing American Voter. It analyzes and evaluates the changes which have taken place since the publication of The American Voter. The resultant is that electorate has both responded and contributed to the major political shifts of the 60s and 70s; it depicts how and why by citing substantial statistics and figures. However, this argument finds many critics. Among them, Smith  [40]  posits a more bleak political landscape in which the typical voter knows little about politics is not interested in the political arena and consequently does not participate in it. To support this view, Smith demonstrates how the indices used by Nie, Verba, and Petrocik during the 1960s were methodologically flawed and how a closer examination of supposed changes reveals only superficial and unimportant shifts in the ways voters have approached the ballot box since the 195 0s. Miller and Shanks  [41]  in their study, presents a comprehensive analysis of American voting patterns from 1952 through the early 1990s, with special emphasis on the 1992 election, based on data collected by the National Election Studies. It also presents a unique social and economic picture of partisanship and participation in the American electoral process. Michael S. Lewis-Beck  [42]  re-creates the outstanding 1960 classic, The American Voter, by following the same format, theory, and mode of analysis as the original in the form of The American Voter Revisited. It discovers that voting behaviour has been remarkably consistent over the last half century and quite surprisingly, the contemporary American voter is found to behave politically much like voters of the 1950s. Across the Atlantic, the study of electoral behaviour was no less momentous. A number of scholars and researcher, alike took up the topic in academic research till date. Butler and Stokes  [43]  offer an explaination of British voting behaviour since 1945 with greater emphasis on sociological and historical factors and on changes at the macro and elite level. Harrison  [44]  provide a detailed explanation of how the British political system came to acquire the form it has today by analysing topics such as civil liberties, pressure groups, parliament, elections and the parties, central and local government, cabinet, and monarchy. Birch  [45]  provides a comprehensive account of British political institutions, of the way in which they operate, and of the society in which they developed. Pugh  [46]  present an insightful survey of changes in British politics since the election of 1945 and examines Labour Partys evolution into a national rather than sectional party. David Powell  [47]  examine British politics on the eve of war, the author assesses the impact of war on the parties and the political system and the process of realignment that followed in the interwar period. Hough and Jeffery  [48]  present a comparative perspective on the new dynamics of electoral competition following devolution to Scotland and Wales. It brings together leading experts on elections, political parties and regional politics from Britain, Europe and North America to explore the dynamics and interactions of national and regional arenas of electoral competition. Johnston and Pattie  [49]  analyses the dynamics of electoral behaviour into its geographical context. They show how voters and parties are affected by, and in turn influence, both national and local forces. Kavanagh  [50]  analyse the methods of political choice and decision-making in electoral democratic institutions. The focus throughout is on key topics of voting behavior, election rules, the media, election pacts, and the consequences of elections. Wolfinger and Rosenstone  [51]  present an assessment of the sociological, motivational, and political factors that account for variation in electoral participation. Lupia and. Harrop and Miller  [52]  examine competitive electoral systems as well as non-competitive ones. McCubbins  [53]  present an impressive treatment of one of the most important issues in democratic theory: the individuals inability to make fully informed decisions. It redefines the research agenda in democratic theory and information and also intends to lay foundations of a new theoretical approach to institutional design Bendor, Diermeier, Siegel and Ting  [54]  provides a behavioral theory of elections based on the notion that all actors, that is, both politicians as well as voters are only bounded rationally. The theory constructs formal models of party competition, turnout, and voters choices of candidates and the like. These models predict substantial turnout levels, voters sorting into parties, and winning parties adopting centrist platforms. Bogdanor Butler  [55]  analyses the main electoral systems of modern democracies, and places them in their institutional and historical context. Diamond and Plattner  [56]  addresses electoral systems and democracy comparing the experiences of diverse countries, from Latin America to southern Africa, from Uruguay, Japan, and Taiwan to Israel, Afghanistan, and Iraq. As the number of democracies has increased around the world, a heated debate has emerged among experts about which system best promotes the consolidation of democracy. Diamond  [57]  sets forth a distinctive theoretical perspective on democratic evolution and consolidation in the late twentieth century. These include strong political institutions, appropriate institutional designs, decentralization of power, a vibrant civil society, and improved economic and political performance. Courtney  [58]  argues that elections are governed by accepted rules and procedures of the political system and it is important for citizens to understand their own electoral system. Sawer  [59]  presents an edited volume on Australian electoral history providing a broad commentary on continuing democratic challenges. Roberts  [60]  provides explanations and analysis of the German federal electoral system; discusses the role of electoral politics in relation to political parties and to the public. Lindberg  [61]  studies elections as a core institution of liberal democracy in the context of newly democratizing countries. He gathers data from every nationally contested election in Africa from 1989 to 2003, covering 232 elections in 44 countries, argues that democratizing nations learn to become democratic through repeated democratic behavior, even if their elections are often flawed. Cowen Laakso  [62]  presents electoral studies of multi-party politics in 14 African countries during the 1990s. Hesseling  [63]  offers theoretical and historical assessments of election observation and evaluates policies and their implementation in specific case studies. Diamond and Plattner  [64]  examines the state of progress of democracy in Africa at the end of the 1990s. The past decades third wave of democratization, the contributors argue, has been characterized by retreats as well as advances. Piombo and Nijzik  [65]  in their edited work give an account of democratic elections in South Africa since April 1994 after her liberation. Norris  [66]  analyses whether there are legitimate grounds for concern about public support for democracy world-wide; or are there political, economic, and cultural factors driving the dynamics of support for democratic government. It shows how citizens in contemporary democracies relate to their governments. Later on, Norris  [67]  focuses on democratic deficits, reflecting how far the perceived democratic performance of any state diverges from public expectations Popkin  [68]  concludes that voters make informed logical choices by analyzing three primary campaigns Carter in 1976; Bush and Reagan in 1980; and Hart, Mondale, and Jackson in 1984 to arrive at a new model of the way voters sort through commercials and sound bites to choose a candidate. Powell  [69]  argues that elections are instrumental in linking the preferences of citizens to the behaviour of policymakers His empirical findings prove that if this is taken as the main function of democratic elections the proportional vision and its designs enjoyed a clear advantage over their majoritarian counterparts in using elections as instruments of democracy.  [70]  Brennan and Lomasky  [71]  offer a compelling challenge to the central premises of the prevailing theories of voting behavior. Niemi and Weiberg  [72]  present collection of essays that explore some of the controversies in the study and understanding of voting behavior. Caplan  [73]  takes a persistent look at how people who vote under the influence of false beliefs ultimately end up with government that delivers miserable results. LeDuc, Niemi and Norris  [74]  in their edited volume provide a broad theoretical and comparative understanding of all the key topics associated with the elections including electoral and party systems, voter choice and turnout, campaign communications, and the new politics of direct democracy. Zuckerman  [75]  in his edited volume uses classic theories to explain individuals political decisions by a range of political scientists; advances theory and method in the study of political behavior and returns the social logic of politics to the heart of political science. Cox  [76]  employs a unified game-theoretic model to study strategic coordination worldwide that relies primarily on constituency-level rather than national aggregate data in testing theoretical propositions about the effects of electoral laws. Norris  [77]  gives a masterpiece of synthesis, original theorizing, and empirical analysis of an impressively large number and variety of cases. This book looks at public opinion data linking attitudes, party choices, and electoral systems in ways that the game theory literature usually fails to come to grips with. Norris combines institutional and survey data from 32 widely different countries to assess the possibilities and limitations of implanting democracy through institutional engineering. Franklin  [78]  demonstrate how voter turnout can serve as an indicator of the health of a democracy, and concludes that declining turnout does not necessarily reflect reductions in civic virtue or increases in alienation. Dalton  [79]  introduces the reader to the knowledge we have of comparative political behavior, and the implications of these findings. The analyses focus on the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and France in a broad cross-national context. Dalton offers the theory that the quality of citizen politics is alive and well whereas the institutions of democracy are in disarray. Further, Dalton  [80]  documents the erosion of political support in virtually all advanced industrial democracies. It traces the current challenges to democracy owing to changing citizen values and rising expectations. The author finds that these expectations are making governing more difficult, but also fueling demands for political reform. Prysby and Books  [81]  examines how and why individual political behavior can be influenced by various contextual characteristics of the locality in which the individual resides, an

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Online Distance Learning Essay -- Teaching Education

Online Distance Learning Throughout the past few decades, online distance learning has become a prevalent method of teaching. Through the use of technology, the field of education has been slightly altered to fit the needs of both the educators and their pupils, by developing a communication system. For example, creating email addresses and generating websites, where the teacher and student can interact. The development of online distance learning is beneficial to the future of education because it provides more opportunity for students. What exactly does â€Å"online distance learning† mean? â€Å"A type of education where students work independently and communicate with faculty and other students via computer based communication† (Roman, Harry). Distance learning is predominately computer based but is currently being supplemented by television and two-way interactive video connections. The courses offered in the distance learning program range from basic literacy to highest graduate level programs. This unique offer allows students of all ages and abilities to participate and earn course credits. Online distance learning is a fast growing industry, there are eleven distance education mega-universities in the world, and the number is increasing rapidly. Until recent years, this would have seemed unrealistic, but because of the steady rise in technology, society has been able to grasp this concept. Online distance learning has become common throughout all parts of the United States because of the advantages that it has over traditional education. â€Å"Nobody is looking over your shoulder, there’s no commute, and the weather is never an issue† (Bowler, Mike). â€Å"The thing I like best is that you can do [schoolwork] whenever... ... 7. Setoodeh, Ramin. Technology: The Connected Classroom. September 27, 2004, MSNBC. Retrieved Oct. 16, 2004. Newsweek. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6039076/site/newsweek/ 8. Chennai. Multimedia Centres in Classrooms! October 17, 2004 Kerala Online, Retrieved Oct. 17, 2004. http://www.keralaonline.com/technews.asp?folder=Tech&file=8_704.xml 9. Attracting and Keeping Quality Teachers. (2004). National Education Association, Retrieved December 3, 2004, from http://www.nea.org/teachershortage/ 10. Feistritzer, C. E. (1998, January 28). The Truth Behind the ‘Teacher Shortage.’ The National Center for Education Information, Retrieved December 3, 2004, from http://www.ncei.com/WSJ-12898.htm 11. Krunholz, J. (1997, July 24). Teacher Shortage Emerging. National Center for Policy Analysis, Retrieved December 3, 2004, from http://www.ncpa.org/pi/edu/pdedu/pdedu162.html

Monday, August 19, 2019

Analysis of Epic Poems Essay -- Epic Poetry Iliad Greece Greek Literat

Analysis of Epic Poems An epic poem is a long poem that tells a story about heroes. The Iliad is a great epic poem written by Homer in the 8th century BC, reflecting on events that occurred around 1200 BC during the time of the Olympian religion. â€Å"There were twelve chief gods who supposedly lived in Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. The twelve Olympian gods were common to all Greeks, who thus shared basic polytheistic religion (Spielvogel 84).† The first of the two excerpts I will discuss from the Iliad, is during the time of the Greek and Trojan War. At one point, the powerful god Zeus forbids the other gods to intervene in the war, but Zeus’s wife Hera, wants her brother Poseidon to help the Greeks during this time. Hera decides to distract Zeus’s attention by seducing him with her looks. She bathes herself with ambrosia, fixes her lovely and ambrosial curls, puts on her finest earrings, and dresses in intimate apparel. Hera then makes her way down under the clouds where Zeus could see her. Zeus then approaches her and asks where she is going. Hera lies to him and tells him she is on her way to visit her parents. He is so attracted to her that he insists they must make love above the clouds before she goes. Hera plays hard to get, and suggests they go to a place where they can’t be seen. Zeus then tries to persuade Hera by telling her that no woman, out of the many he's had relations with, had ever melted about his heart like she does. After many attempts, Zeus convinces her to make love to him under the golden cloud. Afterwards, they fall asleep, giving Poseidon his chance to help the Greeks. Although immortal, the gods seen in the Iliad, seem to be very human like; except for the fact that they are forever youthful. Zeus expresses himself to be a strong, powerful, horny, charming, but also, unintelligent god. On the other hand, Hera is seen as a seductress. She is a liar, and a very devious woman who uses sex to get what she wants. The second excerpt from the Iliad, is a face to face fight scene between the Trojan Prince Hector, and the Greek hero Achilles. Previous to this event, Achilles had chased Hector around the city of troy three times looking for revenge. Finally, the goddess Athena steps in and tells Achilles that she will trick Hector by disguising herself to be his brother Delphobus; and when he turns ar... ...and fruits of their victories, and, as usually happens, growing corrupted by flattery and idleness, show a tendency to violence and arrogance, it is in these circumstances, more than ever, that the constitution is seen to possess within itself the power of correcting abuses (Tierney & Scott 103.)† References Homer. â€Å"The Iliad,† Trans. Richmond Lattimore, in Tierney and Scott, Western Societies: A Documentary History. Plato. â€Å"The Republic,† Trans. B. Jowett, in Tierney and Scott, Western Societies: A Documentary History. Plutarch. â€Å"Life of Lycurgus,† Trans. A.H. Clough, in Tierney and Scott, Western Societies: A Documentary History. Polybius. â€Å"The Histories of Polybius,† Trans. E.S. Shuckburgh, in Tierney and Scott, Western Societies: A Documentary History. Spielvogel, Jackson. Western Civilization to 1715., West Publ. Co, Inc., St. Paul: 1999 (4th Ed.) Thucydides. â€Å"History of the Peloponesian War,† Trans. B. Jowett, in Tierney and Scott, Western Societies: A Documentary History. Xenophon. â€Å"Oconomics,† Trans. J.S. Watson, in Tierney and Scott, Western Societies: A Documentary History.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Leadership in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest and Leadership in the Rea

Leadership in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Leadership in the Real World The theme of leadership in the ward does not mirror the outside world very accurately, as in contemporary society a leader of a society or an organisation is almost always accountable to a person senior to him. This is not seen in the novel, as Big Nurse seems to be answerable to no one, in fact, it is arguable that everyone answers to her. A hierarchy or class system operates inside the ward which can be clearly seen throughout the course of the novel. Patients living within the ward are ‘classed’ according to the state of their mental health or to the condition of which they suffer from. Chief describes the method of discriminating patients from one another: ‘Across the room from the Acutes are the Chronics†¦ Not in the hospital, these, to get fixed, but to keep them walking the streets†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (17) Patients are divided into two categories of Acutes & Chronics: Chronics are those patients who have a condition which is untreatable, ’machines with flaws which cannot be repaired’ (17) and can only be controlled with medical methods. They will spend the rest of their lives inside the ward of the hospital. Patients who are seen as being likely to recover from their illness, and will return to society. Acutes are those patients e.g. Harding, who are seen as being likely to recover from their illness, and will return to society. Chronics can either have full use of their bodies or can be again sub-categorised into Wheelers and Vegetables; Those whose movement is impaired to such an extent, they can only move by being pushed around in wheelchairs. Vegetables are patients who, through excessive ECT ‘Shock Shop’ (18) or through t... ... the rules. Although many countries have abolished the use of corporal or capital punishment for serious crimes, North America is one such a country where, depending on the state, a person may face capital punishment by lethal injection, electric chair or gas chamber. The ward applies corporal punishment in the form of the ECT and it may be argued that a lobotomy is a form of capital punishment because the patient has little or no quality of life left after the procedure, so they might as well have been killed. Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest mirrors, in the behavior of it’s characters, contemporary society very accurately and can still be relied on, as a contemporary text, an accurate display of the treatment of patients within a mental hospital today. Works Cited: Kesey, Ken. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Viking, 1962

Saturday, August 17, 2019

My Most Successful Moment to Date Essay

Through all my years of high school I was homeschooled. This was due to the fact that my mom was taking care of my grandparents in Florida, at the time we lived in North Carolina, and my dad traveled for work; therefore, there was no body to take us to school. Online school became the only option in that situation. As a way of staying busy and getting out of the house I always worked odd jobs that would hire me at the age of 15. In 10th grade, I was working a full time nannying job with four children, three dogs, one cat, a traveling dad, and an insanely fabulous, motivated mom. My main priority and attention was spent to insure the care of their six month old daughter, Jemma. She was, among many other jobs I had in the house, my most important and likeable responsibility. She was a very intelligent toddler, with a lot of attitude and charisma. She had blonde straight hair with a single curl at the very bottom and big brown eyes. Feeding her was never an issue, as to say she ate anything and everything you put in front of her, which would explain the fact that her rolls had rolls. She loved going on long walks, the family pets and anything with bright colors. She was also very easy going. As a very young baby she never cried or made any real noises at all. By the time Jemma had turned one she had made no attempts to talk. Due to our concern of her lack of speech, Jemma’s mom, Michelle, and I decided to teach her an alternative way of communicating until she learned to talk. It didn’t take very long for us to come up with an idea. Now a days there are a couple alternative speeches being taught to babies no matter what their speech predicament is. Since I was fluent in sign language and it seemed the most practical we agreed to give it a try. I got to work immediately teaching her as much as her mind could absorb each day. I made flash cards, bought books, and even downloaded some apps on my phone to help her progress along. Within a weeks time Jemma signed her very first word, â€Å"bottle†. Read more: Essay About  Proudest Moment To no one surprise though, of course, because we all knew this is what was always on her mind! What seems  like a small accomplishment, if you’ll even recognize it at that, meant so much to me. The sense of pride and accomplish I felt in that very moment was overwhelming. Because of my hard work and dedication this beautiful child could now start tell us what she needed. The progress only continued and the excitement continued to rise every day. It was amazing this small, plump, happy, little baby could comprehend so much so quickly; moreover, the fact of how focused and eager she was for every lesson. In just a few short months, Jemma had learned almost everything I had to teach her. It got to the point where I had to look and keep up with her instead of the other way around and boy, did she made sure we â€Å"listened† to every last word she had to sign. Like a cat she would sit there and just grab at you continuously until she felt that she had your full attention to look and see what she had to say. The feeling of pride and success I had in those few short months of Jemma’s constant improvement, is one I’ll never forget. At the age of 15.5, a young child myself, I had given a child the gift of communication. Though many could have done exactly what I did and probably even better than I; it’s something that I single-handedly completed, happily. That feeling is one no one can ever take away from me, but also one that cannot be mimic or reproduced again to the same level. To this day, I have seldom done anything that, in my eye, is so meaningful that I have had the privilege of enjoying that same exact feeling of self-importance and success, as I felt teaching Jemma sign language.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Women in Power: Queen Elizabeth

Women in Power: Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth I was the most remarkable women leader in English history. She was born on September 7, 1533 at Greenwich Palace. Her birth was not celebrated; instead it was a bitter disappointment to her father King Henry VIII, who was highly anticipating the birth of a son. Her mother was executed for treason shortly after her birth Elizabeth lost all heredity to the throne. After Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour died, however, Elizabeth was placed back in the order of succession after Edward and Mary by act of parliament.When she came into power, Elizabeth I had to clean up the big mess that was left by her sister Mary’s five year reign. Mary had abruptly changed the national religion from Protestantism to Catholicism, and she was not going to hear any objections. She mercilessly hunted down and executed Protestants who refused to convert. After Elizabeth I took the throne-she switched back to Protestantism and, as Miriam restored religious order in England. Under Elizabeth I, religion and nationality were almost the same.Her first act as Queen was to form a loyal government: she replaced the Privy Council with qualified advisors such as nobles, lawyers, and businessmen. Although she had an excellent board of advisors, she did not allow them to dominate her decisions. Elizabeth was determined to set up a safe and stable government. During Queen Elizabeth’s forty-five year reign, England prospered considerably. Her reign witnessed a wide increase in literacy and achievements in the arts. Famous writers such as Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, and Christopher Marlowe emerged.England also expanded significantly overseas. Elizabeth encouraged explorers like Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins. Her sponsorship of explorers like these led to the establishment of English colonies around the world. Under her rule, a middle class of merchants, tradesmen, and craftsmen flourished. Elizabeth I embraced the new scientific thinking of the Renaissance and important scientists such as Sir Francis Bacon and Dr. John Dee emerged. Her leadership established England as one of Europe’s leading nations.Elizabeth’s economic achievements were not her only ones; she also had many triumphs in the battlefield, the Spanish Armada being one of them. In 1588, King Phillip of Spain set out to invade England. His plan was to sail one-hundred ships down the English Channel and meet up with the forces of Duke of Parma, who was making their way from the Netherlands, and hopefully overwhelm England. But Elizabeth’s men were keeping watch on the shores of England, and as the first ship was spotted the fighting began. While English soldiers and sailors were out fighting for their country, Elizabeth was on her way to Tilbury.She was not going to sit trembling inside a guarded Palace while her people fought, but was going to go to the coast of the battle and ‘live or die ’ with them. This is where she made one of her most famous speeches, the Tilbury Speech, â€Å"I know I have the body of a meek and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a King, and a King of England, too. † Queen Elizabeth I truly cared about her people, and she was not afraid to defend them. Spain suffered a humiliating loss, and England proudly celebrated their victory.The victory was especially remarkable, considering Spain was the most powerful country in the world in the sixteenth century. Queen Elizabeth I managed to stay alive even though she was the target of many conspiracies and scandalous rumors. Before she even became Queen, she was accused of being involved in the Puritan rebellion by her half-sister, Mary. She was held prisoner in the Tower of London and suffered through torrential questioning. Elizabeth was also the center of a vicious rumor that she allegedly took part in romantic activity with her step-mother Katherine Parr’s husban d, Thomas Seymour.This could’ve easily ruined her reputation, but the rumor was waved off and gossip soon stopped. Assassination conspiracies were also a threat to the Queen. Mary of Scots firmly believed that she was the rightful heir to the throne, and she had constructed several plots to kill the Queen. The fact that Elizabeth had survived through all this turmoil is very remarkable. Queen Elizabeth I had truly earned the love and devotion of her people. Before she was crowned, most people did not believe that a woman could take on the responsibility of ruling a country; Elizabeth proved them very wrong.Her accession day, November 16, even became a national holiday. Queen Elizabeth I developed her image of the devoted ruler who courted her subjects’ opinions and as Gloriana, the goddess around whom England revolved. Queen Elizabeth I was the strongest monarch in English history. Throughout her reign she proved that she really did care about her country and the peopl e in it. She successful in keeping the country together and safe, as many before her had failed to do. Even after four-hundred years, the people of England still love and remember her.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Business, Government & Society – Notes on Relevant Journals

Berend (2000) From Plan to Market, From Regime Change to Sustained Growth in Central and Eastern Europe * After the state socalism collapsed in Central and Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, the Washington consensus of 1989 (a broadly accepted set of criteria for a reform program) was adopted as a blueprint for the process of transformation. * Central elements: * Macro-economic stabilization (for countries with significant inflation and indebtedness) * New institutions Legislation * Price and trade liberalisation * Radical privatization * Most of the â€Å"transformatologyâ€Å" literature is based on the assumption that the elimination of deformed non-market economies, a restoration of market, and private ownership, paired with a laissez-faire free market system would automatically solve all major economic/social problems of the transforming countries. The economic crisis within the Central and Eastern Europe area started much earlier – in the mid-late 1970s when growth slo wed significantly and the terms of trade for the state socialist countries began to deteriorate (1973 first oil shock 20% decline, for some even 26-32%) Schumpeter’s theory of â€Å"structural crisis†: advancements in technology lead to decline of the old leading sectors and export branches based on old technology, generating wide-ranging slow-down and decline and causing an economic crisis even in rich, advanced countries.However, although rising new technology led to the emergence of new industries, new leading export sectors and an impressive new boom in the US and other advanced countries, the Central and Eastern Europe countries experienced a â€Å"peripheral structural crisis† – they suffered all the negative consequences of a the â€Å"structural crisis† but due to not having sufficient resources for R&D, know-how and financial sources, they were not able to take advantage of the technological development.After 1989, when the countries of th e region lost the protection from Comecon’s isolation and regional self-sufficiency, they were forced to enter the world market and compete with the advanced countries (already adjusted to new technology) and also on their own opened domestic market. Consequence: the peripheral structural which had prolonged since 1973 continued and worsened during the 1990s. Also contributing to the economic crisis: serious macro-economic policy errors e. excessive devaluation of the currency; too abrupt opening to trade with the West; and the failure in government management of the state sector * Foreign trade deficits increased dramatically and nearly all countries in the region dropped into an indebtedness trap – debt service consumed about 40-75% of the countries’ hard income and quite a few started to lose control over inflation * Economic policy during the transition: Change was too fast countries of transformation should not have attempted to jump directly from a central ly planned to a laissez-fair economy and from an entirely state-owned to a 100% privatized economy * State regulations and government policy were needed self-regulating mechanisms were not yet developed, market imperfections and non-market friendly behaviour were present * Suggestion (Kolodko) : A regulated market, instead of a self-regulation market, a mixed economy with a restructured and efficient state-owned sector for at least a period of time, and a â€Å"fine mixture between market and stae† would have been a more natural transition from plan to market * However, this approach was not adopted and led to a collapse of many old companies (lost a bulk of their value and had to be sold for a fraction of their previous value) mass unemployment, sharp decline in living standards (especially for vulnerable layers of society) * Outcome: Industry recovered only in two countries – Poland and Hungary * Some experienced a new crisis – Bulgaria and Romania * Russia an d Ukraine as well as several other successor states of the Soviet nion had experienced constant decline throughout the entire decade * Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia – market economies are functioning, economic decline and rapid inflation are over, the annual economic growth is impressive * Performance differences: * Often explained by the lack of determination to pursue radical reforms author agrees * However, besides pursuing systemic change, the countries in transformation also have to adjust to the â€Å"structural risis†, by restructuring the economy according to the requirements of modern technology to reach a sustained and higher than average growth technological and structural transformation of the economy are central elements of the transition * Window of opportunity slowly opened after 1989 when direct foreign investment became the key factor in technological modernization and restructuring in the area but only played an important r ole in the three frontrunners of transformation – Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia * In addition, not all investments contributed to restructuring, some of them served only to enlarge the investors’ markets. However, key investments were made in the most backward infrastructural sphere, especially telecommunication that serves as the basis for any kind of technological progress to date. * Investments had positive effects on Eastern Europe where they generated growth of domestic business which led to economic growth (especially in Poland).Big transnational businesses were also obliged to reinvest some of its profits and to use domestic products and sub-contractors initiated small local business activities. * Russia, the successor states of the Soviet Union, and most of the Balkan countries exhibited minimal progress in restructuring. FDI was minimal in this area and mostly went into the extracting branches of oil, gas and raw materials; transnationals are present but do not develop processing industries and export branches. Consequently, this area was unable to adjust to the late 20th century technological revolution and declined into a continuous peripheral structural crisis. In those Central European countries, where impressive FDI assisted technological-structural adjustment, transformation is paving the way to sustained growth and catching up with the West. These countries became memers of NATO and are candidates for EU membership. Murrell (1993): What is Shock Therapy? What Did it Do in Poland and Russia? Poland: * Shock therapy failed in Poland * The reform program implemented in January 1990 comprised a number of related measures * Fiscal policy was tightened considerably budget surplus in Q1 1990 * Real value of the money supply was halved * Tight limits were placed on credit * Trade liberalisation removed all restrictions * Anti-inflation wage tax was set at strict levels Government made a commitment to privatisation on a massive scale * Soli darity and the Catholic Church were two of the strongest social institutions in Eastern Europe helping to maintain the shock therapy model * Once it was realised that the shock therapy was not going to produce as many benefits as expected, it came under severe attack gradually, many of the elements of the initial program were withdrawn or weakened monetary policy was loosened * Further movement away from the shock program occurred throughout 1991 in the face of massive and open opposition to the government’s policy * Fiscal and monetary policy were considerably loosened budget deficit began to rise to the levels of 1989 * Reversal of trade policy tariff rates increased and selective protection was endorsed * Although policy was modified during the two years following the big bang, the commitment of the large part of society to change was never in doubt. * Change was inexorable (kohklematu), given the collapse of the communist regime that had blocked reforms that had been dema nded for so long. * Nevertheless, Polish economy started to show first signs of success after policy was rescued from the shock therapists. Russia: Stages of the reform chronology in Russia are similar to those in Poland, but without a successful outcome * Less preparatory reform during the communist period in Russia * Core group of reformers were radical and ambitious, and more removed from its own society than were the Polish reformers * Radical reforms had hardly advanced beyond their explicitly destructive first phases before they were rejected by society * By 1991 economic reform in the Soviet Union had hardly progressed beyond the stage of decentralisation within the old system and it was still very equivocal * Price controls and state orders contributed to about 75% of economic activity * Small private sector did not thrive on its own, it was in a symbiotic relationship with the state sector * Law on contract had not been implemented by the end of USSR * Russia’s econo mic and political leaders still did not fully comprehend the difficult conceptual and institutional issues related to establishing macroeconomic control and they had little experience Russia could not match Poland’s years of contact with the West, the experience and knowledge of its policymakers gained in the worldwide academic community, and the years of learning in interactions with the world financial community. * In 1990 and 1991, the Russian government had been gradually gained power (and this was accelerated by the failed coup). * In late October 1991, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced his intention to launch a radical attack on the country’s economic problems. He had been given freedom in administrative and policy choices for one year and he decided to assign the policymaking duties to a group of theorists, who had a strong preference for rapid change and who had vague idea about how to bring this change about * Murrell argues that shock therapy was the guiding force of policy as Russia began real economic reform in January 1992. * The reform (1992) was certainly more radical than the Polish big-bang, including: * Freeing of most prices * Removal of the old supply system * The complete liberalisation of imports * A thoroughgoing change in the tax system * Rapid closing of the budget deficit * Stringent tightening of monetary policy * A privatisation program with very ambitious goals Preparation for early convertibility of the ruble together with and immediate relaxation of rules on foreign exchange trading * Renegotiation of the existing trading relationships with the other ex-republics * There was greater determination in Russia to undermine the existing institutions of government; the incoming government viewed its mission as an attack on the old Soviet system. * In several areas, the degree of shock, the amount of policy implementation, and even actual policy were unclear * Uncertainty about the nature of policy was present even among those at the apex of government * As early as February 1992, criticisms about the economic policy started to arise * As 1992 proceeded and the economic crisis became more threatening, some old mechanisms of control began to return * Broad powers to control prices and to use central directives on production * To avoid large scale bankruptcy, the government began to make credit available to nterprises in significant amounts * Due to a threat that better enterprises were being brought down with the bad ones, directors of enterprises formed an alliance along with independent labour unions to put pressure on the government, which was forced into compromise with these interest groups * Direct consequence of the policies introduced in January 1992 was that the political forces representing the dominant economic interests of the old Soviet system were much stronger than they had been before those policies were introduced * The short burst of shock therapy in Russia had considerable s uccess if destruction is counted as a goal. But the destruction of the old was hardly matched by the creation of market-oriented institutions of economic control. Blanchard (1994): Transition in Poland * First two years: * Large decreases in GDP * Even larger decreases in industrial production * Output stabilised in mid-1992 * Employment declined initially more slowly than GDP, but has kept declining despite the turn in output * Hardening of budget constraints * Subsidies to state firms were decreased Tax arrears, interenterprise arrears and bank loans were limited and decreasing * Sources of output decline during the first 2 years: * Stabilisation * Price liberalisation * Collapse of trade between Central and Eastern Europe countries * State firms are controlled by workers with uncertain stakes and horizons, and have limited access to finance; state has remained de jure owner of state firms but is not able to exercise its control rights control has reverted to the workers * Led to slow adjustment of employment to decreasing output, appropriation of profits to workers in the form of wages and low restructuring and investment * Slow privatisationFidrmuc (2003): Economic reform, democracy and growth during post-communist transition Key point: There are merits to simultaneous democratisation and liberalisation – democracy reinforces economic liberalisation, which in turn leads to better growth performance. Democracy is clearly not a necessary condition for high growth (as the examples of Chile and China illustrate), but as the experience of the post-communist transition countries shows, democracy results in policies and institutions that facilitate economic reforms and create an environment that is favourable for growth. However, democratisation alone is not the key to growth; it is through its positive impact on economic liberalisation that it improves growth performance. By 1993, barely 3 years into transition, three frontrunners – the Czech Repub lic, Hungary and Slovenia – attained a level of political freedom and civil liberties comparable to the UK, France or Germany. * Most post-communist countries succeeded in sustaining at least a moderate level of democracy, despite very turbulent economic and political developments, military conflicts or coup attempts. * The high speed of democratisation reflected not only the desire of these countries’ citizens to live in democracy, but also the encouragement or outright pressure from Western governments, international organisations and especially the EU which made democracy and explicit precondition for accession negotiations. Democracy has a positive effect on progress in implementing market-oriented reforms. * Economic liberalisation, in turn, has a positive effect on growth * Therefore, democracy indirectly improves growth performance. * Economic performance during transition and initial conditions affected the progress in democratisation – countries that we re more developed at the outset of transition and those that grew faster during transition in turn implemented greater degree of democracy. Growth performance during transition: * All post-communist countries experienced dramatic contraction of economic activity at the outset of the reforms, but the subsequent transition paths diverged considerably. Some countries reached the bottom of transformational recession after 2-4 years and then recovered * Some, most notably Poland grew at impressive rates subsequently * Others (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Romania) experienced a second dip later on * In contrast, most Soviet Union countries experienced deep and protracted depression with little subsequent recovery –> for Moldova and Ukraine, transition resulted in a decade of continuous decline * By 2000 only 4 countries have exceeded the 1989 level of output * Berg et al. (1999) found that the initial output fall is attributable primarily to initial conditions and macroeconomic instability, whereas the effect of liberalisation on growth was overwhelmingly positive. When considering separately the effects of liberalisation on state and private sectors, they conclude that liberalisation contributed to the contraction in the state sector, but this was more than compensated by the expansion in the private sector. The further a country lies from Brussels, the more reluctant it was to implement radical economic reforms – therefore, being father away from Western Europe is associated with lower growth, although the relationship is often not significant. * Engagement in military conflicts, not surprisingly, lowers growth. * On the other hand, once the war is over, the affected countries tend to grow more rapidly as they make up for the loss of output. * Government expenditure does not have a significant impact on growth Democracy and growth: * The post-communist countries implemented, at least initially, economic and political reforms simultaneously. In so me cases, political reforms even preceded the economic ones.Hellmann (1998): Winners Take All: The Politics of Partial Reform in Postcommunist Transition Key point: A conventional approach suggests that in the short-term, economic reforms are believed to generate high transitional costs before long-term gains are realised. Therefore, politicians in democratic systems are reluctant to undertake radical reforms whose benefits will not be realised before the next elections. For an economic reform to be successful, governments need to focus on restraining the net winners of the reform as they are the one’s responsible for setting the highest obstacles for the advancement of the reforms. The partial reform model: Explains why some countries have maintained partial reform over time, even though the short-term costs are higher and the overall gains are lower than those associated with more comprehensive reforms * Explains why post-communist countries in which the net winners of the reform process appear to have significant political power over economic policy-making nevertheless have remained mired in a partially reformed economy * Provides a possible explanation for the strong link between democracy and economic reform among the postcommunist transitions that stresses the advantages of including the very groups that suffer from the transitional costs of reform Conclusion: The costs of transition have been substantial in all transition economies – to varying degrees, each country has faced some combination of high inflation, high unemployment, declining real incomes, decreasing state services, and increasing uncertainty. * However, the losers of the reforms have not constituted the main political obstacle to the progress of reform. * In fact, it is these countries in which governments have been most vulnerable to the losers’ threat of an electoral backlash against reform that have adopted and sustained the most comprehensive reform programs. * In contrast, governments insulated from electoral pressures have made, at best, only partial progress in reforming their economies. * Moreover, economic reforms, once adopted, have rarely been reversed, even when the reform governments that initiated them have been ousted.In addition, there have been cases in which electoral backlashes were followed by intensification of reform in some areas * Partial reforms were predicted to generate rent-seeking opportunities arising from price differentials between the liberalised sectors of the economy and those still coordinated by nonmarket mechanisms * Rapid foreign trade liberalisation without complete price liberalisation managers were able to sell their highly subsidised natural resource inputs (oil/gas) to foreign buyers at world market prices * Privatisation coupled with the creation of an effective corporate government structure reduces asset stripping by enterprise insiders. Actors who enjoyed extraordinary gains from the distortions of a partially reformed economy have fought to preserve those gains by maintaining the imbalances of partial reforms over time – the winners from an earlier stage of reform have incentives to block further advances in reform that would correct the very distortions on which their initial gains were based. In effect, they seek to prolong the period of partial reforms to preserve their initial flow of rents, though at a considerable social cost. * Therefore, the challenge posed by the winners is based on a set of assumptions about the costs and benefits of reform that differs from the assumptions of the conventional J-curve pattern upon which most existing models of the political economy of reform are based. J-curve assumes that economic reforms generate concentrated costs in the short term and dispersed benefits over the long term, whereas Hellman has demonstrated that in the postcommunist transitions, economic reforms have tended to produce highly concentrated gains to particula r groups in the short term, while dispersing the transitional costs of reform throughout the economy. * The partial reform model stresses the need to restrain the winners by increasing competition with other groups or by restricting their ability to veto reform measures unilaterally. * In this view, expanding political participation to include the losers in the policy-making process could place limits on the concentrated political power of the winners and prevent them from sustaining a partial reform equilibrium. * One of the fundamental tenets of the politics of economic reform has always been to create a constituency of winners with a stake in sustaining and advancing the reform process. This has been a common strategy both for making the reforms irreversible and for building up the necessary political support for further reforms. * Yet a comparison of the post-communist transitions suggests that the winners can do far more damage to the progress of economic reform than the losers . * Therefore, the success of economic reform depends both on creating winners and constraining them. * Paradoxically, the most effective means of constraining the winners in the post-communist transitions has been to guarantee the political inclusion of the very constituency that most existing political economy models seek to exclude: the short-term losers of reform. Progress in the implementation of market reforms could reduce the private gains to the initial winners over time, while increasing efficiency gains for the economy as a whole from winners’ perspective, J-curve is reversed * Countries that adopt more comprehensive reforms at the start have a narrower gap between the income curves of winners and losers. More on PARTIAL REFORM and other information: Roland (2002): The Political Economy of Transition Normative political economy – focuses on the decision-making problem of reformers Reformers face 2 types of political constraints: * Ex ante political constraint s – feasibility constraints * Ex post political constraints – related to backlash and policy reversal Relaxing political constraints – 4 options: 1.Building reform packages that give compensating transfers to losers from reforms * Easiest way – ‘Buy their acceptance’ * In the real world and transition economies it is hard to do 2. Making reforms partial to reduce opposition * Partial reform, usually in the framework of a gradualist strategy, has some clear disadvantages. It yields lower efficiency gains than a complete reform. * However, partial reform also has several potential advantages over full reform – it is less costly in terms of compensation payments to losers. * If partial reform is less costly to reverse than full reform, political acceptability can be easier than for full reform because it provides an option of early reversal. If a partial reform is implemented, a continuation toward full reform seems unattractive to a majo rity then it is always possible to come back to the status quo (Russia – turned back too early?! ) * Gradualism thus lowers the cost of experimenting with reform and thus makes a move away from the status quo more easily acceptable to a majority. * Partial reform can also build constituencies for further reform through the use of â€Å"divide and rule† tactics (showing that rejection of a current reform plan can lead to the adoption of a plan that would hurt them even more, they may prefer to accept the first one) and the optimal choice of sequencing of reforms (e. g privatisation of those enterprises with â€Å"good† outcome first) 3.Creating institutions that make a credible commitment to compensating transfers * Can offer benefits * However entails economic costs * E. g extending voting franchise- ensuring poorer segments of population vote 4. Waiting for deterioration of the status quo to make reform more attractive * Sometimes only option is to wait * Howev er, decision-making paralysis may occur if political decision making is characterised by different parties trying to push the burden onto the other parties Understanding the difference in transition paths between central European countries like Poland and Russia and the former Soviet Union on the other hand: * Law and property rights: One argument – the extent of state capture and rent seeking was much more important in former Soviet Union countries than in central Europe and this difference goes a long way in explaining differences in output performance (EBRD, 2000; Hellman and Shankerman, 2000) * Geopolitical factors * Quite important, although they have been underestimated since the beginning of the transition – in geopolitical terms, the transition represents the shift of central Europe and the Baltic states toward western Europe several nations are given the opportunity to have more interaction with western Europe or even join the European Union * Entry to the EU implies adopting the political and economic system of the west. The potential reward of belonging to the club of western nations makes it more worthwhile to undergo the cost of transition.Moreover, the geopolitical factor increases the perceived cost of reversing transition policies, since such reversals would raise the risk of being left out of the western club, an outcome than many in central and eastern Europe would view as disastrious. Geopolitical impact of transition for Russia: * Transition represents the loss of the Soviet empire and also of territories (Ukraine or the Baltic States) – wound to Russian nationalist pride * Trauma of the loss of superpower status could be compensated for by economic gains from transition to a certain extent. Unfortunately, such gains have not materialised so far for the majority of Russians. Entry of Russia into the EU is neither expected nor especially desired. * Thus, resistance to transition proved much harder in the former Soviet Un ion than in central and eastern Europe. Sequencing: The sequence of reforms in transition economies are roughly in line with political economy theory, which suggests that reforms expected to be more popular should be adopted first and the less popular reforms tend to be delayed. For example, in both Central and Eastern Europe, democratic reforms preceded economic reforms because support for democracy was much stronger than support for economic reforms. * Apart from political reforms, certain other institutional changes can be decided at an early stage of reforms. For example, establishment of institutions for competition policy should be among the first reforms to be implemented in transition economies.This reduces the danger of existing monopolies going into private hands, which may have enough power to prevent the government from introducing competition policy or any other measures that are opposed to their interests. * Another important early step in the sequence of transition re forms is encouraging the development of a small private sector prior to more comprehensive reforms (in Hungary, small private sector was already producing 10% of industrial output by 1990) * As the Big Bang Price Liberalization in Vietnam showed, the prior existence of a viable private sector buffered the shocks of economic liberalization and macroeconomic stabilization and facilitated a supply response.In Vietnam, after the implementation of a radical price liberalisation, output initially fell, but an impressive growth in agriculture still led to positive growth in GDP. * In transition economies, the best firms tend to be privatized first as the privatization of more profitable firms creates political support and goodwill to for further privatization and other reforms. * Another set of sequencing issues arises with regard to mass privatization. Mass privatization in countries like Russia created a sudden and strong concentration of economic power among insider managers. This is es pecially dangerous because a sudden shift of economic power to insider managers may make it easier for them to threaten or use bribery against politicians and regulators to take advantage of subsidies or favorable legislation.The insider uses the threat of reducing economic activity and destroying jobs which leads to inequality of wealth which in turn might increase political instability. Trade-off between the speed of reforms and the size of budgetary transfers: * The theory of political economy suggests that faster reforms involve higher compensation costs like unemployment benefits and pensions due to a higher level of restructuring. In addition, there are claims that a faster rate of restructuring in transition economies is associated with a worsening fiscal state. * However, the role of the social safety net in helping overcome political constraints is quite clear.In the case of central European countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, the social safety net has helped to m itigate the negative ffects of transition on income inequality, especially for the most vulnerable proportions of the population. Role of political institutions: * When it comes to the role of political institutions and the progress of reforms, there are contradicting views. * Empirical analysis by Hellman and EBRD has found that stronger executive branch of government tends to be associated with less progress in reform, whereas there tends to be a positive correlation between the broadness of coalition and the progress of reforms. * However, empirical findings by Rubini and Sachs, among others, have shown that weak executive branch and broad coalition goverments are obstacles to reforms. Faster progress in reforms due to broader coalition may be explained by the fact that if reforms are accepted by broader coalitions, perhaps there is less chance they can be reversed. * However, broad coalitions tend to paralyze decision making due to the holdup power of some groups and to differin g views within the coalition. * Another possible interpretation is that the population is eager to get reforms implemented, whereas the politicians and those holding office are opposed to it. In that case, closer checks on the executive branch and frequent elections are a way to force the politicians to move, whereas politicians with more discretion would choose to block reforms. According to Roland, the most likely explanation for the positive correlation between progress of reforms and broadness of coalitions and weakness of the executive branch is that it is likely that the countries where it was the easiest to push for democratic reforms, are also the countries where resistance to economic reforms was relatively smaller. Whereas in countries with less initial support for reforms, it is quite likely that both democratic reform and economic reform are less advanced. Therefore, the differences in initial conditions of reform are what determine the intensity of political constraints , and thus the initial choice of political institutions, and hence the initial choice of policies. Popov (2000) – Shock Therapy vs Gradualism:Primary issue regarding transition performance – strength of institutions Secondary – speed of reforms * By now most economists would probably agree that because liberalisation was carried out without strong market institutions it led to the extraordinary output collapse in CIS states * The worse initial conditions for transformation, the greater the probability of the deep transformational recession, and hence the more likely delays in liberalisation * Gradualists objected to the elimination of old regulations and institutions before the new ones are created, warning that the institutional vacuum may have a devastating impact on output Transformational recession Supply-side phenomenon – reallocation of resources (restructuring) due to market imperfections is associated with the temporary loss of output Argument: Di fferences in economic performance in post-communist countries during transition appear to be associated predominantly not with chosen reform paths, but with the magnitude of initial distortions in industrial structure and external trade patterns, and with the initial level of economic development. The higher the distortions (militarisation, over-industrialisation, â€Å"under-openness† of the economy and the share of perverted trade flows), the worse is the performance as measured by the GDP change. And the higher was GDP per capita before transition, the greater were distortions embodied in fixed capital stock, the more difficult it was to overcome these distortions to achieve growth. The impact of speed of liberalisation appears to be limited, if any. Reasons (distortions): * High defence expenditure and the need for conversion * Overcoming the effects of the Cold War Defence expenditure was abnormally high – declines in defence output were not offset by increases in non-defence output * Reallocation of resources from industry to services * External trade distortions – the degree of openness of socialist economies (the share of external trade in GDP) * In most countries, including the majority of the former Soviet republics, trade was relatively underdeveloped * A bit better in Azerbaijan, Hungary and Vietnam * Shift to world market prices in interrepublican trade led to reduced trade – prices used were completely different (resource commodities underpriced, finished goods overpriced) Policy factors: institutions, rule of law and democracy The decline of the institutional capabilities contributed a great deal to Russia’s and CIS poor economic performance * Regardless of the criticism against â€Å"big governments† and too high taxes in former socialist countries, the downsizing in the government that occurred in most CIS states during transition went too far – drastic reduction of government spending (50% and more in real terms in the course of just several years) cannot lead to anything else but institutional collapse * In addition, in most CIS states the reduction occurred in the way that instead of shutting some programs down completely and concentrating limited resources on others, governments kept all programs half-alive, half-financed and barely working Three major patterns of change in the share of government expenditure: 1) Under strong authoritarian regime – China Cuts in government expenditure occurred at the expense of defence, subsidies and budgetary financed investment, while expenditure for â€Å"ordinary government† remained largely unchanged 2) Under strong democratic regimes – Poland * Budgetary expenditure, including â€Å"ordinary government† expenditure declined only in the pre-transition period, but increased during transition itself – social safety nets? 3) Under weak democratic regimes – Russia * Reduction of the general le vel of government expenditure led not only to the decline in the financing of defence, investment and subsidies, but to the downsizing of â€Å"ordinary government† which undermined and in many nstances even led to the collapse of the institutional capabilities of the state * Russian pattern of institutional decay proved to be extremely detrimental for investment, and for general economic performance To sum up, Gorbachev reforms of 1985-91 failed not because they were gradual, but due to the weakening of the state institutional capacity leading to the inability of the government to control the flow of events. Similarly, Yeltsin reforms in Russia, as well as economic reforms in most other FSU states, were so costly not because of the shock therapy, but due to the collapse of the institutions needed to enforce law and order and carry out manageable transition. Therefore, there is enough evidence that differing performance during transition, after factoring in initial conditions and external environment, depends mostly on the strength of institutions and not so much on the progress in liberalisation per se. Democratisation without strong rule of law usually leads to the collapse of output.After allowing for differing initial conditions, it turns out that the fall of output in transition economies was associated mostly with poor business environment, resulting from institutional collapse. Liberalisation alone, when it is not complemented with strong institutions, cannot ensure good performance. Ericson (1991): The Classical Soviet-Type Economy: Nature of the System and Implications for Reform Characteristics of the Soviet-type economic system: * A hierarchical structure of authority * Rigid, highly centralised planning of production and distribution * A commitment to maximal resource utilisation * Formal rationing * Exhaustive price control * The lack of any liquidity or flexible response capability * The lack of legal alternatives to assigned economic rela tionships * Absolute and arbitrary control by superiors Incentives that are geared to meeting the plans and desires of evaluating superiors Any economic reform must struggle against these characteristics and their natural consequences. One important consequence is that while the administrative superstructure has been subject to rather frequent â€Å"reform†, the physical structure of production and interaction has changed only very slowly. Strengths and weaknesses of the traditional Soviet-style system: Strenghts: * Very good at mobilising scarce resources and concentrating on a few clear, well-defined objectives (that can be expressed in measurable, quantitative and communicable terms and that yield large observable outcomes) * Building of major heavy industrial capacities * Collectivisation of agriculture * Post-war reconstruction of industry Development of an unprecedented military-industrial complex * Maintenance of the world’s last true empire Weaknesses: * Centra l authorities lack the information and physical capability to monitor all important costs * Decisions made in ignorance of opportunity costs lead to a vast range of negative externalities: * Damage to the capability of users to produce (especially with needed quality) * Unusable output forced on others in the system * Destruction of the resource base due to improper exploitation * Collateral damage to agriculture etc * Incentives used lead agents to: * Avoid any change or risks * Shun innovation * Ignore information important to others * Work to rules regardless of the impact on othersThus, while the traditional Soviet economic system has been effective in achieving a few centrally definable and achievable objectives, it is also inherently wasteful and inefficient in the pursuit of those objectives. Implications for reform: 2 monumental obstacles: * Vast resource commitment – however, lack of resources currently available in Soviet-style economies is probably not the most ser ious obstacle, for it might be dealt with through aid from abroad * Primary obstacle: characteristics of the Soviet-style system are interconnected and mutually supporting, altering one or a few is merely disruptive of the stable functioning of the system and its effectiveness.Thus, a meaningful reform must eliminate all characteristics more or less simultaneously. THEREFORE Partial reforms will not suffice The analysis implies that radical reformers are correct to seek the total replacement of the traditional system. Radical marketization and privatisation undercut of destroy each of the nine defining characteristics of the traditional system. Fischer & Gelb (1991): The Process of Socialist Economic Transformation Enterprise reform: * Enterprise reform, which requires the imposition of bottom-line discipline, definition and change of ownership, and reform of management, is the heart of the transformation process. Two phases (opinions differ which should come first) * Restructuring * PrivatisationSlow privatisers argue that firms should be sold off gradually after restructuring. They emphasise the danger of severe economic dislocation if too much change is attempted quickly. Fast privatisers argue that the benefits of a rapid and irreversible shift to private production outweigh the costs of reduced state revenue. They believe that comprehensive and rapid ownership reform is necessary to increase efficiency. * Broad distribution of shares, or vouchers with which shares can be bought, across the population The Role of the State: * Redefining the previously all-encompassing role of the state is one of the greatest challenges for reform.Institutions and professions taken for granted in market economies have to be re-created and reformed to support markets: * Secure legal environment to protect property rights and regulate commercial relations * Accounting and audit systems are needed to organise and monitor information * Investments in human capital to complement the system reforms in areas such as: accounting, credit and market analysis and bank inspection. * Management skills need to be upgraded and modernised (especially in finance and marketing) * In some areas, such as financial markets, reform may require a greater state role than before. * Reforming governments need urgently to: * Introduce broad-based taxes and to develop the capacity for tax administration, rather than continue to depend on profit remittances from state enterprises. * Institute a social safety net, especially for those affected by the new phenomenon of open unemployment * Liberalisation of labour and capital markets is also important.Labour market reform measures to make it easier to hire/fire labour, relaxation of wage regulation, introduction of unemployment insurance, establishment of institutions (inc. employment agencies) to encourage labour mobility. Capital market reform development of financial markets and private sector institutions (inc. banks). However, freeing input markets should not be an early priority. * Enterprise reform is the heart of the transformation process. 2 phases: restructuring and privatisation. Slow privatizers vs fast privatizers. Reforming governments will have to introduce broad-based taxes and develop the capacity for tax administration, rather than continue to depend on profit remittances from state enterprises. The reforming goverments will also have to develop a social safety net. Sequencing of reforms: Reforms need to include macroeconomic stabilisation, price reform, trade reform, small-scale privatisation, new regulations for private investment, the creation of emergency unemployment insurance and the start of work on new tax, legal and regulatory institutions. * For countries with severe internal/external imbalances, priority no. 1 has to be macroeconomic stabilisation (e. g sharp cuts in firm-specific subsidies, tight credit limits, trade liberalisation at a heavily depreciated exchange rate, fixing th e nominal exchange rate (in countries with high inflation)). Stabilisation can be assured only by following consistent macroeconomic policies over periods of years. Shleifer (1997) : Government in Transition Key point: Russian government is less effective in serving the market economy – as well as its people – than the Polish government. But why? Arguments to the effect hat Russia is historically and culturally incapable of good government (such as low trust and anti-market culture) lack support. More convincing argument: Russia has not had as radical a change in its government, in terms of both structure and personnel, as Poland or the Czech Republic. Comparison of Poland and Russia: * Both were industrial economies at the time reforms began * Both economies faced substantial disruption from the collapse of COMECON and other trade following the demise of the Soviet Union * Both economies were in poor condition when the reforms began, suffering from inflation, goods sh ortages and declining production. * Both experienced a near-collapse of the state prior to transition. In Poland – total demise of the communist party and its military regime * In Russia – the Gorbachev government faced a similar crisis, which led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of independent Russia * After communism collapsed, both countries moved to fragmented, rapidly changing party systems and â€Å"semi-presidential† regimes, in which a conflict between president and legislature was present from the start. * Both were led in their transition by charismatic, populist presidents committed first and foremost to the destruction of communism. However, despite these similarities as of 1990, the two countries appeared in 1996 to have very different results of their reforms. I argue that an essential part of transition to capitalism is the transition of government.Despite similar economic reforms, government in Russia continues to retain su bstantial political control over economic life, and moreover uses this control to pursue predatory policies toward business. The political transition in Russia has not gone nearly as far as it has in Poland, and this slowness of political transition disturbs economic growth. Government in transition: * Even when the communist power collapsed, some remnants of a large government often remained, ready to continue political control. The principal goal of the political transition was to replace these remnants with institutions supportive of capitalism. This entailed two steps: * Depoliticisation – government control replaced with control by market orces * Price liberalisation – eliminates price controls that were used by planners to either stimulate or discourage production of particular goods, or to create shortages that allow planners to maintain their power over resource allocation. * Stabilisation – imposes a harder budget constraint on the government, and thus prevents politicians from using subsidies to encourage firms (and regions) to pursue political ends * Privatisation – removes direct control over firms from the government * New functions taken on by government: provision of laws and regulations that support a market economy. * The state had to be weakened overall, but strengthened in a few areas. * However, even with the three radical measures taken, the government retains much regulatory power which it can use to either support market economy or hurt it. Shock therapy does not guarantee depoliticization (as politicians can still exercise control in other ways) or a transformation of government institution which includes: * creation of laws and legal institutions that protect private property, enforce contracts between private parties, but also limit the ability of officials to prey on private property * creation of regulatory institutions that deal with competition, securities markets, banking, trade and so on * Despite sho ck therapy, politicians in Russia, particularly at local level, retain enormous control over economic life, which they use to pursue political ends and to enrich themselver. * This makes them rather different from politicians in Poland * Russia is also behind in creating the institutions of a new market economy. ALSO Transition of government into one that supports markets from the one that preys on them has gone further in Poland than in Russia – regulators of small business exert more power over business in Moscow than in Warsaw and use this power to enrich themselves. In addition, the Russian government has not yet successfully taken on the basic market supporting functions, including police protection. * Russia is much more of a laggard in the transition of its government than it is in shock therapy. Human capital of politicians: Key point: Lack of turnover of human capital in Russian politics may well be a serious reason for the poor performance of its government * Many R ussian politicians are communist leftovers experiencing significant hardships understanding what is expected from them. Few of these leftover politicians have transformed themselves into capitalist politicians. In Poland, 75% of local leaders elected in Poland in 1990 had no record of government service and 45% of newly elected mayors were under the age of 40 – in Poland the people have largely changed and been replaced by a younger crowd, with some experience in both democratic politics and market economy, whereas in Russia, the local leaders are largely the very same people who were there before the reform began. In this respect Solidarity changed Poland – Russia would be a very different place politically if it had a similar revolution from below. Incentives of local politicians to support private business * Campaign support * If politicians need to collect campaign contributions to run their elections, they might favour new business as a source of potential campaig n donations * Local tax base * If politicians need to provide public goods to attract votes, and must collect taxes to pay for these goods, they would support the growth of new business to broaden the tax base * Personal share holdings Local politicians may support private business if they effectively become shareholders in it and profit personally when it does well Poland vs Russia: Elections: * Poland had held elections more consistently than Russia and officials at very local level – where small business would actually have a political say – are all elected. * Because of elections, Polish politicians appear to be much more supportive towards private business than Russian politicians. Tax base * In Poland, the principal source of funds for local governments are local taxes and fees, especially property taxes incentive to the local politicians to broaden the tax base to increase revenue through new business formation and employment * In Russia, over 2/3 of local gover nment evenues comes from their share in taxes collected by central government through negotiation governors have little incentive to broaden their tax bases and instead focus on negotiations with Moscow Personal financial incentives: * In Russia, many of the local officials see a rather short and insecure future for themselves in politics. If the private economy grows, they are likely to lose power because they will not be acceptable to the new business elites or will be replaced by younger politicians during new elections. Absence of political security may prevent the politicians from accessing the future profits of the firms, therefore many local government officials simply destroy local business through excessive corruption and regulation – they take what they can while they can. Initial conditions Poland had been pursuing economic reforms at least since the 1980s (much longer than Russia) Polish private sector was well established by 1990 when reforms began (by 1986 1/3 o f the Polish labour sector was employed in the private sector) * Poland had a much more substantial legal history and tradition to rely on – many of its commercial laws were adopted as soon as reforms began because they were based on Poland’s own pre World War II laws * National tradition made the implementation of at least some institutional reforms much easier. * Russia had been building capitalism for a much shorter time – Gorbachev’s reforms allowed some quasi-private firms in Russia, but few compared to Poland. Russia’s history of market institutions is sparse too – pre-revolutionary laws were an instrument of autocratic control, not protection against it; regulatory agencies have been created from scratch, employees often view their jobs as mandates for personal enrichment rather than efficient regulation. * However, author believes that importance of initial conditions can be overrated – many countries in Eastern Europe, such a s Slovakia and the Czech Republic, are growing rapidly even though they had as little private business before the reforms as Russia did. Some countries of FSU are also growing despite having a limited history of legal traditions and public institutions. With proper political incentives, initial conditions are often overcome. Suggestions: Acceleration of elections at the sub-regional or local level * Fiscal federalism – more generally the tax system – needs to be reformed as well. * Institutional reforms need to continue – legal reforms are most important among those, but creating functional bureaucracies, one at a time, is also crucial. * Russia made the mistake of beginning with economic reforms and delaying the political and institutional reforms (however, author believes that business pressures are likely to play a critical role in the political transition of Russia and of course they did not exist before economic reforms) Estrin (1991) – Privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe Key points: Appropriate mode of privatisation depends on the development of capital market institutions and the availability of foreign or domestic private capital * Transition must be rapid to be effective, so reforming governments have been faced with the tasks of selling assets whose value is far in excess of domestic resources. Privatisation: * Objective: to improve enterprise performance and national economic efficiency and to help public finances (Vickers and Yarrow, 1988) * Definition (Milanovic) – transfer from the public to the private sector of ownership in such a way that private individuals become the identifiable ultimate owners Seven central areas in which property rights and the mechanism of resource allocation must be altered in order to build a functioning market sytem: 1) Ownership and control 2) Means of allocation 3) Aims of the System 4) The Allocation of Labour 5) The Allocation of Capital 6) International Trade 7) Role of StateReformers in Central and Eastern Europe strongly believe that their recent history proves that when the state is owner, it will always interfere in the operation of firms in such a way as to hinder the beneficial impact of competition Hinds (1990) – absence of effective private property rights is at the heart of the failure of actual socialist systems, and must be immediately eradicated by widespread privatisation. Privatisation: * Important way of raising government revenues, but it will not affect the state’s long-term financial position if enterprise efficiency is not changed; may still be sensible from a revenue point of view is short-term conditions call for additional expenditures with limited availability of taxation or other income sources * Important element in building markets Significant role in the formation of labour market institutions and the process of wage bargaining * Privatisation prevents a reversion to the old systems How to Privatise and to W hom? One of the main problems – mass privatisation in countries where domestic savings are small and capital market institutions weak Arguments FOR selling state’s assets: * Considerable revenues * If monetary overhang threatens to destabilise the macroeconomy, privatisation could absorb some of the excess liquidity. * Owners established through a process of financial exchange will have the strongest demand effective corporate governance Arguments AGAINST selling state’s assets: * Unequal distribution of income and wealth Traditional modes of privatisation are very slow and most analysts agree that for transition to be effective the changes must be fast * Valuation problem – nothing upon which to base valuation (no relevant record of profitability), a significant proportion of companies are loss-making, thus it is likely that sales price will be negative * No domestic actors with the resources to buy Most of these problems are resolved by a free distribut ion of the state’s holdings: * No need to value the assets initially * No need to find domestic purchasers * Privatisation could be extremely rapid * Provided an operational scheme can be devised, privatisation can be constructed in a highly egalitarian way, preventing the early concentration of wealth in the hands of the nomenklatura or black marketeers who otherwise would be the people most likely to gain from privatisation Disadvantages of free distribution: * Losing the revenues from sales Possibility of weak governance if capital ownership is dispersed – central issue is whether population at large are the appropriate owners to dramatically improve company performance Potential buyers or recipients: * Public at large – external privatisation or privatisation from above * Transfer of ownership to shareholders * Foreigners – access to hard currency, superior management skills and technical know-how * Insiders – internal privatisation or privatis ation from below * Involves the sale of shares to workers and managers in the firm * Attractive: * Could be administered quickly and relatively easily, yet could still provide some revenue to the government * Participative organisations may be more productive * Negative: Yugoslav experience: employee control may conflict with effective corporate governance * No establishment of credible procedure for wage determination and for reducing inflationary pressures * Clearly not suitable for companies that require a significant degree of restructuring (probably the vast majority) * Unjust – workers and managers in profitable firms stand to gain considerably from the privatisation process, while those employed in loss-making firms would obtain nothing * Potential for bribery and corruption as workers and managers can use insider information to undervalue the assets or to transfer them illicitly into their own hands Roland (1994) – On the Speed and Sequencing of Privatisation a nd Restructuring Big bang approach – fast privatisation through mass privatisation plans with no definite sequencing, leaving the task of restructuring to the owners of the privatised firm Key point:Political constraints necessitate a gradual approach to restructuring and gradualism has implications for the speed and sequencing of privatisation. In particular, we ward on the danger of privatising too fast firms where restructuring should best be delayed for political reasons. Conclusion: A condition for successful gradual restructuring is a screening mechanism to separate good firms from bad ones. It is crucial to separate thee firms and their channels of finance, so that good firms would become independent of government through government and face hard budget constraints while bad firms would remain under government control with strengthened control. Arguments for the big bang view of mass privatisation: * Speed Price liberalisation in a state-owned enterprise economy will n ot give the correct incentives, thus it is necessary to achieve very quickly a critical mass of private ownership in order to get firms to respond to market signals. * If not done: * Danger of inertia – due to firms not taking new profit opportunities * Danger of continued soft budget constraints – loss-making firms expect to be bailed out * Importance of getting the State out of the economy * Committing the State to avoid continuous intervention in enterprise activity * Absence of clarified property rights * Danger of large scale decapitalisation by managers who have de facto control without assigned property rights Experience: * Poland Plan: combining fast privatisation through giveaways together with strong control rights given to mutual funds to avoid dispersed ownership of firms * Political constraints have played a major role in blocking Polish mass privatisation – in 1994, four years after the beginning of â€Å"big bang† in Poland, it is still not implemented * Russia * Speed of privatisation – obvious success (about 1/3 of workers were in privatised firms by end of 1993) * Problems with restructuring * Former managers are still in control (workers did not sell their shares to outsiders to assure outsider control; managers preventing them) Political constraints: There are 2 main sources of political constraints to privatisation: * Ex-ante political constraints – feasibility constraints * Proposals may be blocked – e. in Poland where coalition in power preferred distribution to workers whereas the Polish mass privatisation programme involved distribution to the population at large * In Russia, policy-makers took into account ex-ante political constraints by designing a giveaway plan favouring managers and workers (Boycko, Shleifer and Vishny (1993) justify that this was the only way to get privatisation adopted) * Sometimes coalitions push forms of privatisation that are economically not sensible but poli tically difficult to avoid * Ex-post political constraints – concern the danger of backlash and reversal of given politics * This may be the case when a programme advertised as very egalitarian induces a high concentration of wealth in the hands of a small number of people * However, political constraints related to redistribution of wealth and income may not be the most serious * More serious political constraints are related to serious income risks related to restructuring – general knowledge that there will be a massive shift from heavy industry to services, from big to small enterprises, but in most cases, nobody knows in advance which enterprises will survive and which will die Experience: * Big bang restructuring is not ex ante feasible * Gradual restructuring may be more acceptable ex ante because: * Gradualism allows for â€Å"divide and rule† tactics * Gradual resolution of uncertainty may enhance ex ante feasibility * Aggregate uncertainty related to u ncertainty: restructuring may be positive but it can go wrong, too advantage to moving gradually by starting to restructure only a subset of enterprises or sectors * Gradual eform packages tend to start earlier – Hungary and China * Optimal sequencing: * Better to start with reforms having the highest expected outcome for a majority and to delay the reforms that are expected to hurt the most Gradual restructuring and privatisation policies: * No political constraints – restructuring may be left to the new private owners * Political constraints – very fast and non-differentiated approach to privatisation danger of partial renationalisations (subsidising a great number of firms) and general delays in restructuring (due to soft budget constraints/no incentives) * Gradual privatisation policy allows for: Establishment of a screening mechanism separating good from bad firms * Best firms tend to get privatised first as they are more likely to find a buyer less large r edundancies and better performance * Privatisation may be slow, but it is possible to speed it up: * Managers incentives to restructure before privatisation especially when given shares * In Poland, although mass privatisation has been blocked, successful privatisation has continued at a fast speed especially in smaller and medium enterprises through a â€Å"liquidation programme† – management buyout * Emergence of a sound private financial system If good firms get privatised first, bad firms remain under state control private savings are allocated to good firms with high yieldings sound financial system may emerge * A credible pol