Monday, September 30, 2019

Evolution of Women’s Rights Since 19th Century

Equality Rights 1 The Evolution of the Extension of Equality Rights from Classical to Modern Liberalism Malak Alkadri Social Studies 30 Mrs. Kadaoui November 30, 2012 Equality Rights 2 Towards the latter part of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, classical liberalism underwent great modifications in terms of equality rights. Its modified form even came to be known as modern or positive liberalism. It differed from classical liberalism in so far as it emphasized the significance and rationality of equal opportunities and justice.Modern liberalism has promoted the positive rather than the negative aspects of the liberation movement. The extension of women’s equality rights of the final step in the revolution of classical liberalism to modern liberalism has extended this particular group’s rights economically, socially and politically to an uttermost extent. Initially, women’s lives have improved economically. Modern liberalism has come to in terpret freedom as involving a right to basic requirements of the development and security necessary to assure the equal opportunity and personal dignity of women.Nevertheless, in the nineteenth century’s Victorian era, the emergence of women’s rights was limited. Feminism had influenced the ideology of separate spheres in which men inhabit the public sphere – the world of politics, commerce and law – and women inhabit the private realm of domestic life – child caring, housekeeping and so on (Christison, etal. 2009, p. 158). Women of all classes worked hard, yet, were still a supply of cheap labour. Whereas today, more women are employed, more girls are being educated, women are living longer and having fewer children, and the number of females in business and in politics has increased dramatically.According to the Center for Women's Business Research, female entrepreneurs generate $2. 3 trillion to the Equality Rights 3 American economy and emplo y more than 18 million people (qtd. In newint. org). One area in which women have made major progress in is education. Modernly, more women are enrolled in law school, medical school, and schools of business and finance. Young women today do not feel  social pressure to pursue only those professions which were once traditionally reserved for them, most commonly teaching and nursing.As a result, millions of women today succeed in professions that were completely closed to them in the past, such as working in open, public areas rather than at home or in healthcare areas. Also, women’s economic rights and acceptance have evolved dramatically since the final evolution of equality rights in the classical liberalism. Women have now acquired the freedom to work as they please, with rather no restrictions and a lot less government involvement. Women's economic authority has severely improved in the modern setting as opposed to thirty years ago, when women were first entering the wo rkplace.It was a rare occurrence, and rather â€Å"odd† at that time to see women at work, and now it is something common, accepted, and even encouraged. Surely, on a social level, women’s rights have defiantly evolved in the way people collaborate and treat women. There has been a collective change of consciousness in how men are expected by law to communicate with women in the workplace. While some personal Equality Rights 4 attitudes might not have changed; men and women both understand that the workplace is to be a setting to be free of hurtful and insensitive comments.Additionally, women have successfully fought for family leave rights. Afterwards, the occurrence of the â€Å"Family and Medical Leave Act† had emerged in the US by federal law in 1993 (qtd. in en. wikipedi. org). The fight is more prevalent now than it was back then. However, focusing on the cases of the United States and England, we show that the historical expansion of women’s rights also unfolded through equal treatment in the labour market. In contrast, in most African countries women gained formal political rights, at the end of colonialism before receiving economic rights.Moreover, there are many specific traditions such as foot binding and child marriage, which impact the rights of women that are specific to certain cultures. Contemporary phenomena, such as HIV/AIDS also represent challenges to gender equality that were not present in earlier time periods (Kristof and WuDunn 2009). Likewise, women’s political rights have also been extended now than ever before. You may agree that the near end of the classical period is similar to modern liberalism because people with disabilities, prison inmates, women eighteen year of age and older, and nationsEquality Rights 5 such as the Inuit without surrendering their culture were allowed to vote hence, there has not been much change in the political rights of women. I beg and plead to differ. Thirty years ago, all types of women eighteen and older may have been granted the right to vote but that’s as far as it went. Now, women are CEOs and presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton for example, serves as an American Secretary of the United States. Women are now not only given the right to vote, but the right to be voted for. Currently, US citizens can vote in the US elections.Yet, back when the country was founded; in most states, only men with real property or substantial wealth were permitted to vote. Almost all women and their votes were denied at the time. Now, since the US constitution, every individual has gained the right to vote. Although, in the 1920’s, the Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labour is formed to collect information about women in the workforce and safeguard good working conditions for women (Ann-Marie Imbornoni. 2009). You may say that the workforce now-a-days also provides a great source of security and freedom for women similar to the 19th c entury.Not necessarily. The freedom of women in the workforce has also been extended. President Baraak Obama, for instance, signed the Lily Ledbetter Fairpay Restoration Act, which allows victims of pay discrimination to send a complaint to the government against their employer within 180 days of their last pay check. Previously, victims (most often women) are now allowed to claim an unjust pay check whereas Equality Rights 6 back in the 19th century, their freedoms were under more authority than they are in the modern society (Ann-Marie Imbornoni. 009) Finally, the evolution of the equality rights of women has extremely extended since classical liberalism in the 19th century. The rights of women have extended in several different aspects especially in terms of economical, social and political rights. Men and women are now equal in regards to occupations, elections, education, job pay checks, security, and collaboration. Despite the amount of freedom women have gained, it is no long er a shock to see a women play what was then called a â€Å"man’s role† in society. Women have the right to not only vote but run for candidates as well.Young women today are not enforced to occupy the domestic part of life, or jobs that were traditionally reserved for them. Millions of women today succeeded in professions that were completely prohibited to them in the past, such as working in open, public areas. Women’s economic rights and acceptance have evolved dramatically since the final evolution of equality rights in the classical liberalism. â€Å"I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience. (Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre Equality Rights 7 References Imbornoni, Ann-Marie. â€Å"Women's Rights Movement in the U. S. : Timeline of Events (1921-1979). 30 Nov. 2012. ;http ://www. infoplease. com/spot/womenstimeline2. html; â€Å"What women have gained and what they are in danger of losing — New Internationalist. †Ã‚  New Internationalist. Nikki van der Gaag, n. d. Web. 1 Nov. 2004. ;http://www. newint. org/features/2004/11/01/women-want/; Lambert, Tim. â€Å"Women's Jobs in History. â€Å"A World History Encyclopedia. Tim Lambert, 14 Jan. 2012. Web. 14 Jan. 2021. ;http://www. localhistories. org/womensjobs. html;

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Explain Why Trotsky Did Not Become the Leader of the Ussr

Explain why Trotsky did not become the leader of the USSR After Lenin’s death in 1924 the Bolsheviks (although not out rightly stated) were in need of a new leader. The power struggle occurred from 1923-1929 and eventually Stalin effectively became the leader of the USSR due to many reasons, including the weaknesses of Trotsky. Trotsky had not been a Bolshevik initially – he converted from the Menshevik party in 1917. Therefore some of the party members doubted him as 100% trustworthy.Within the Civil War, he had created and led the ‘Red Army’ which was still very strong, and they feared that if he had the power to do so, Trotsky would use the Red Army to begin a violent coup and take over the whole country himself. On top of this, Trotsky himself hadn’t tried to build up support within the party and consequently after Lenin’s death when the party were in debate as to how the country should be run Trotsky had a difficult time trying to put for ward his ideas as many supported Stalin.In fact Trotsky had widely underestimated Stalin as a contender for the party’s leadership. He had regarded him as inferior, which may have been true if looking at intelligence, however Trotsky’s arrogance blinded him as his disregard for anyone less intelligent than himself again lost him support, whilst Stalin was gaining it throughout the judgements he put forward and the allies he was creating. In hindsight it is clear that this self-importance was Trotsky’s major downfall at this time because not only was he disliked but it caused him to make some crucial errors of judgement.Most significantly the decision with Stalin to not publish Lenin’s final testament, in which it was proven that Lenin disliked Stalin and believed he had too much power and couldn’t be trusted. It is clear that had this been publicised at the time Stalin would have struggled enormously to become the leader with the criticism of a pop ular leader before hand. However it condemned Trotsky as well and although his would’ve most likely had minor effect, he chose to keep his pride.This may have been partly because Trotsky wasn’t as driven as the other leaders in wanting to take over the party as he believed that as a Jew there would be prejudice against him as a leader due to anti-Semitism in Russia. Therefore he didn’t push himself forward. Overall Trotsky did not become the leader of the USSR because he didn’t have much support within the party and his lack of tactics and drive didn’t make him a strong contender. Both of these weaknesses were highly influenced by his self absorbed personality.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Arab Spring Complete Research Work

Syed Muhammad Jalal Ud Din Asad Shah SMC Ba 5 (Journalism) Course Instructor Ma’m Rida Sohail International Mass Media and its Impact Mid-term Assignment – Arab Spring 16/11/2012 Introduction The Arab Spring, referring to the chain reaction of revolutions in the Arab world, is considered to have begun in Tunisia when a small produce seller lit himself on fire to protest the government taking away his job.Some say that this event, coupled with enough pressure from outside media sources, sparked the revolution of the younger generation in Tunisia that overthrew their prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi; others argue that the area was ripe for revolution thanks to the infusion of democracy in Iraq. Regardless of the initial cause, this single countries act started a snowball effect of democratic revolution that has rolled its way through Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Lybia, in a few smaller instances in other countries. Detailed Summary of â€Å"Arab Spring†On 17th December 2010 something occurred in the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid that should lead to a so-called â€Å"revolution†. On that day, a desperate Tunisian teenager, who tried to support the livelihood of his family with his vegetable stand there, lit himself. Again and again he was bullied and also harassed by the behaviour and conditions of the Tunisian police in this village. His self-immolation happened one year ago and he died of his injuries. This sad act sparked major protests by angry and frustrated young people in Egypt.Some followed Muhammad Buazizi example and also committed suicide after his sad death. The first so-called revolution in the Arab world has been triggered. Whether this â€Å"revolution† has been really triggered all alone from within Egypt by this sad act should be questioned. It wasn’t the first demonstration against the rise of food prices, but those protests were not able to overthrow the dictator. This changed with these protests in spr ing 2011. One should consider that these developments around these demonstrations have been driven from the outside, too.For example, the name of Former U. S. diplomat Jeffrey Feltman appears repeatedly in connection with these so-called revolutions in the Middle East. The events in Tunisia spilled over to other states and for example, the Tunisian dictator quickly left his homeland to find asylum in Saudi Arabia. Some say a bit too quickly. Even before the wave of â€Å"revolutions† (â€Å"Arab Spring†) reached Egypt, this interesting wave reached the both states Morocco and Algeria. Again, the people took to the streets in protest against rising food prices and against the corruption within the country.Of course, the people in Algeria and Morocco also protested against the injustice. Finally, the demonstrations in Egypt began on 25th of January. These protests in Egypt were primarily socially motivated demonstrations, in which the people wanted to give vent to their anger. Triggered by the financial crisis (U. S. is mainly to blame for this) the food prices and housing prices also increased in the Arab countries. Where the foreign/western countries did not intervene, the demonstrations disappeared again. Take a look at Algeria.It seems that nowadays hardly anyone reminds about Algeria that there people also protested against the government and that these demonstrations were brutally dispersed or even mowed down. It seems that the Western governments decided secretly that an Algeria under the lead of Bouteflika is safer for Europe than an Algeria, which is ruled by Islamists. Some experts of the Middle East talk about the beginning of these demonstrations and revolutions about an â€Å"Islamic revolution† (even Islamistic revolution) which is masterful ignored by the West till today.The West even ignores these statements about an â€Å"Islamic revolution† gladly. However, the results of the first elections in Tunisia and Egypt spea k for themselves: In both countries the Islamists have gained extremely more power and influence. Not surprising at all. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt supported and still supports the protests against the power of the Egyptian military. It sometimes seems that the Muslim Brotherhood also forces chaos within these protests because it might be useful for their goals.Not to mention that the Muslim Brotherhood offered people money to vote for them at these elections in Egypt. A wonderful example of the democratic sense within the Muslim Brotherhood. Sure a lot of people are able to recall the 11th February. The Egyptian dictator Mubarak resigned at this day and handed â€Å"all† the power to the Western-backed military. At the moment, the Egyptian military clings to the power in Egypt and the Egyptians are not able to reach a break to rest after their â€Å"revolution†. But this revolution in Egypt was not the last revolution of this â€Å"Arab Spring† in 2011.The Yemenis were encouraged by the events in North African countries and started to take to the streets, also to demonstrate against their Yemeni government. Shortly before this outbreak of â€Å"revolution† in Yemen, the people were again humbled by the corrupt government and the proposed constitutional amendment, which would keep the Yemeni leader Saleh for some more years in office. The frustration of the Yemenis erupted finally. As far as we know, the Yemenis always have demonstrated in a peaceful manner against the government and military.The bloodshed started as the clan of Sheikh Ahmar began to act against the Yemeni government to enforce the interests of the clan and this Sheikh. After a longer period of a back and forth and a long stay in Saudi Arabia, Saleh finally agreed to the proposal of the Gulf Cooperation Council and left his post in Yemen. Nobody exactly knows the future of Yemen. What is only certain to say is that the near future won`t be easy for the country and that you are actually able to call Yemen a failed State. Yemen always was a â€Å"forgotten† country and the situation within the country is really getting worse.The Libyan revolution should not necessarily carry this title of a â€Å"revolution†. Viewing at Libya it is indeed clear that foreign countries supported those â€Å"rebels† to overthrow the ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Not to mention the clear statements about the events in Libya by independent journalists like Lizzie Phelan and others. Although both Western countries, France and Italy, extolled the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi until early 2011 and both governments did everything in motion in order to impress the leader in oversee, it was above all France, which quickly forgot about the alliance and any agreements.It seems that the huge fear of an independent and more powerful Africa and a Libya with major projects was behind the intentions of the Europeans and the Americans. Some would al so say that this was behind the intentions of the West to destroy the structure and plans of this country. Not to mention the huge amount of important mineral resources, of course. The armed rioters were celebrated as rebels and supplied with arms and money by the West / NATO. First they helped to pass the Libyan city of Benghazi as a liberated ity to the rebels and afterwards they started a war, based on lies, to determine the fate of the finally murdered Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. After Muammar Gaddafi’s assassination and the capture of his son, Saif al-Islam, it suddenly became very silent about the situation in Libya. It seems that they want to prevent, that the Western population learns something about this false revolution in Libya and above all, they want to create time to bury all corpses of innocent. So that there won`t turn up any unpleasant questions. The truth is sometimes very brutal. Libya is now exploited and finally ruled by al-Qaeda and CIA related people .Also people in Bahrain were at the beginning of this year encouraged by the events in other Arab countries and they went on the streets to protest. The majority Shiite population wanted to achieve more equal rights and above all, that the Bahraini opposition will lose their status as mute puppets in the government. In Bahrain, it was a brutal crackdown of the â€Å"peaceful demonstrations† by the government. And all words, which U. S. President Barrack Obama had about these violence by a regime, was a gentle criticism that the Bahraini ruling family should not act brutally against demonstrators. But this was not enough.The Bahraini ruling family asked for help with the crackdown of protesters and the friendly Saudis delivered tanks and their soldiers to â€Å"bring down† the demonstrations in the neighbouring state. After all, no one really outraged about that and no one spoke about a â€Å"humanitarian intervention† in Bahrain or even in Saudi Arabia. It`s a h ypocritically world, isn`t it? The reporting on the brutal events in Bahrain has been suddenly discontinued. They remained silent. The West and others did not want to risk, that the Bahraini ruling house loses its power. After all, the United States of America own an important military base in Bahrain.Furthermore, they couldn`t risk, that the Shiites in Bahrain are really successful in receiving more power and also co-determination in the country, because this would mean that the Iranian influence is increasing in Bahrain. Nothing, what the West really wants. If there will be a resume about the so-called Arab Spring in these days, it seems that nobody is going to mention Bahrain just as Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait The Saudi king tried to bribe his people with money, to buy it finally. But this strategy has not worked especially in the east of Saudi Arabia, on the border to Bahrain, where many Shiites live.Especially in this region a lot of Shiite people were constantly on the s treets to show their protest. By a new fatwa, which declared such demonstrations against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia as un-Islamic, this known ruling family has created an almost free rein in the suppression of the demonstrations. Of course, such a fatwa is used to ban protests against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia and to justify crackdowns of protests. Also such a fatwa does not seem to be very Islamic finally, but that’s nothing new in Saudi Arabia. The fool’s freedom for the Saudi ruling house is intensified by the looking away of the West.Who wants to lose Saudi Arabia as a partner in these days? After all, there are still many sources of oil which can be exploited. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is a good partner of the West in the fight against Iran – though this country is not necessarily a true friend and ally of the West. Saudi Arabia has a very strong interest to keep the power of Iran limited and to take care with every option that the power of I ran doesn`t increase. After all, it is often about the supremacy of Sunnis and Shiites in the Arab-Islamic world. Saudi Arabia isn’t interested in losing its (religious? power/influence to Iran. At the beginning of this year 2011 there were also demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and the police in Jordan. The people protested for a new government. The Jordanian prime minister was replaced. The frustration of the Jordanian people is still palpable and there, but you do not hear anything any longer about Jordan. They do not want to take the risk to overthrow a Sunni ruler – especially not in a country where the majority of the population is actually Palestinian. It would not be foreseeable, which reaction would be triggered.So while the West deliberately keeps silent about some regions, they are running on full speed when it’s about other countries which are not the â€Å"favourite children† of the United States, other countries and organ izations. One of the best examples is Syria. In Syria, the demonstrations began relatively late and were fuelled from outside. Not to mention the financially and other support for the Syrian opposition groups within and abroad by the United States – this support started already by the Bush administration and is still continued under the administration of Peace Nobel Prize-†owner† Barrack Obama.The demonstrations in Syria began peaceful, although foreigners were smuggled into the country to force violent situations within those protests. The peaceful protests were soon stopped because of this. The arming of several bunches of extremists, Islamists and criminals did the rest. The weapons were smuggled in quantities beyond the borders of the country – even before these demonstrations in Syria have started. A not to be underestimated role in the so-called â€Å"uprisings† in Syria may have played the comeback of an U. S. ambassador to the U. S. embassy ( Damascus) in February this year.Of course, this comeback of a questionable U. S. ambassador to Syria was also helpful with the policy against Syria This â€Å"Syrian unrest† is happening since nine months – although it is said that there is a horrible crackdown of protesters by the Syrian army and security forces. Not to mention that a real â€Å"unrest† looks different to the real events within Syria. But in favour of Western policy it is sure useful to sell these events in Syria to the Western population as a â€Å"peaceful unrest† of â€Å"peaceful demonstrators†, who just want freedom and democracy.The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be overthrown, without any foreseeing of the consequences. It is easy to see these attempts of overthrow the Syrian government and President in connection with the â€Å"Foreign Policy† of America, Israel and probably (mainly? ) AIPAC. It is written on the flags of America to protect Israel, which th e U. S. President Barrack Obama again made clear in the last days. Because of this and the powerful AIPAC lobby within the USA, they have on their agenda to destroy the so-called â€Å"Axis of Evil† – despite the probably consequences.An upcoming President of the United States needs a huge financially base to become president and he also needs the support of such Lobbies and positive opinions about his attitude to Israel. Real independence is sure something different. If you destabilize Syria, an important supply line between Iran and Hezbollah is interrupted. But the West has made up its plan without Syria, which still holds well against all sanctions, propaganda and lies of Western countries, organizations as the NATO and questionable media. But it is in the stars how long Syria will survive this.What is sold as â€Å"Arab Spring† is absolutely a huge lie. A lie, what is becoming increasingly obvious, especially after the Islamists won the non-independent & qu estionable elections in Egypt and Tunisia. A lie, which has the end, that the bloody crackdown on Shiite protesters in Bahrain and the situation and events in countries such as Jordan and Algeria are simply not included in the so-called retrospective analysis. A hypocritically sale of the so-called â€Å"Arab Spring† – a recapitulation, which is more than blind in one eye. A lie by which a war was fought in Libya (and there are still clashes, of course).With tens of thousands of casualties – with a big thanks to NATO and Western interests. Whether one can still speak of a â€Å"spring† is more than questionable. The Arab states became puppets of the West, even more than already in the past. The West has tried to use his influence and how this failed â€Å"Arab spring† will going to end will be sure turn out in future. The West still missed to reach all goals yet, because the government in Syria is still not collapsed and the majority of the Syrian population supports the President Bashar al-Assad and the promised reform process.Also the Iran is far too powerful to attack it, without fearing huge consequences. There still other Arab states where dictators are in power. The West just seems to be blind or is this behaviour a confirmation of the imperialistic lies and propaganda? If you want to sell the so-called â€Å"Arab spring† as a real pro-democracy movement of the Arab youth, then you should not keep simultaneously the dictators of the Gulf States, Jordan, Algeria and Morocco in office and power. The Arab Spring is a farce, which has plunged many countries into chaos.These countries will have to fight with the consequences for the next decades. The problems, why the Arab youth mainly protested on the streets, are still there – everywhere. The acts to solve these problems of the Arab youth and societies are not even started yet if you consider Iraq, which is served as an example of democracy in this region; yo u quickly recognize that this supposed democratic government is much more corrupt than the former dictator. How the Arab population and primarily the Arab youth are going to handle this is unclear.Maybe more â€Å"Arab springs†, maybe more victims and wars. Probably. One is clear – the Arab neighbours have been weakened and this is one of the main goals of Western interests, Imperialism and also of Zionism. It is said a picture explains better than 1000 words, but when picture muddle up with words then the following appears The Nature of the Arab Spring The Arab Spring is the name that has been given to the recent wave of protests and political unrest in the Arab region of the world.This phenomenon began with the Jasmine revolution in December 2010 that overthrew the authoritative Tunisian government and has spread to neighbouring countries including Egypt, Syria and Libya. The Arab Spring has exhibited a common demand for democracy and civil rights from the nations in volved and has already lead to revolutions in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and has caused political changes across many other Arab Countries. Shifting political attitudes and values regarding democracy amongst the Arabs can be seen in the following graphNote the Democracy preference and Reject strong Leader in the Middle-East column. This survey was taken a year before the Arab Spring. The data it shows predicts remarkably well the opinion of the Arab people and was a sign of things to come. The findings have undoubtedly been correlated with the events of 2011. What is ironic is the high preference for democracy in Middle East compared with Eurasia and the fact that Middle East & North Africa region had the lowest democracy index rating (3. 43, 2010) according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (2010).This highlights another great disparity between the desire of the people and the reality. Arab Spring and the youth It's often said revolutions eat their young, but rarely has it been such a feast. On the streets of Tunis and across the Middle East, the young revolutionaries have been taken aback. A movement that spread on Face book, Twitter and YouTube is today being run by a generation that lived without computers most of their lives. Now, if the Arab Spring fails to incorporate the younger generation, it could meet the fate that so many revolutions do – leaving out those who first sparked change TunisiaThe democratic process in Tunisia is very encouraging. Regime change took place almost with no victims compared with Egypt, Libya and Syria. The elections brought to government a moderate, enlightened Muslim party, which raised the fears of secularists but is trying by all means to assure its opponents that it is open to sharing power, accepting peaceful transition of power through the election polls and building a civil state. Morocco and Algeria The king of Morocco went far beyond that of Jordan. He does not have to deal with similar delicate internal elements .As a matter of fact, he started a process of internal conciliation several years ago, and trying to preempt a revolution in his country, he allowed a reformed constitution to be legislated in May 2010, and free democratic elections on Nov. 25 of that year. The Islamic movement won the majority as expected, but the change is taking place peacefully though seriously. The change will have an impact on Morocco’s relations with its neighboring Arab countries. A positive improvement in relations with Algeria is developing.If this continues, it will allow for opening the borders between the two countries, which have been closed for 17 years. The Arab Spring is changing the way of thinking among the new regimes. The political climate between Morocco and Algeria will have an impact on resolving the dispute over the Western Sahara. This may allow for the resurrection of the Maghreb Union, which was created in 1989 but crippled as a result of deteriorating relations between Algeria and Morocco. Elections are scheduled in Algeria for 2012, and the regime promises free and democratic elections.If this happens, and it most probably will, it will add a new dimension to the reform movement in North Africa. Syria The Syrian version over the protests is similar to that of the rest of the world in that the larger, general class of the country, in this case the Sunni Muslims, are protesting the rule of the elite sect, the Alawites in Syria – including the current President Bashar al-Assad, due to the apparent disparity between classes. The protests began in mid-March but have escalated as Assad backed down for original promises of peace-talks and reform and has begun to oppose the protests with force.The situation has since escalated as military members, once members of the elite sect, have begun to defect to the protestor's side, putting the country on the brink of civil war. These latest developments in Syria and the rest of the Arab Spring are important because they prove that international accountability can, in fact, produce large-scale change in a country. When enough people or media outlets that carry enough weight get behind even a single person that is willing to stand up to the injustice, enough momentum can be generated to cause institutional change.The average American must care because we are a part of that momentum. If the average citizen lacks care, the media lacks support over certain topics, and international accountability and pressure loses its power. The Arab Spring reminds us that individual people with the courage to generate change have power if a watching world is willing to respond. By staying up to date and active in the discussion of these events, the average American too can have a part in great change for millions around the world. Egypt What where the students’ goals? The Egyptian revolution began on the 25th of January.Tens of thousands of marchers occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square to protest against Preside nt Hosni Mubarak and his government. Egyptians had been growing angrier over a number of issues including government corruption, rising prices, poverty, and social seclusion. The major point leading to the revolution was the overthrowing of the Tunisian government by fellow Arabs. As the demonstrations in Egypt grew more violent, protestors rallied behind a common goal, the complete overthrow of the President Hosni and his government. How did they communicate? The protestors consisted mostly of young â€Å"tech-savvy† Egyptians.On January 28, in an attempt to prevent the protestors from communicating, the Egyptian government shut down internet access and some mobile phone services were shut down in certain areas. This only fuelled public anger with the government demonstrators begin using non-wireless dependent devices to communicate. Through fax machines, land lines, and radio broadcasts, the protestors have been able to still coordinate their movements and get information o ut of the country. What were their activities? Isolated pockets of protest erupted into country wide demonstration on January 28 as thousands protested the government in Tahrir Square.They were met with repressive opposition by police forces (Asser). The government responded to the protests by shutting down all internet providers in order to cut off communication among the protestors. This only fuelled public anger. Protestors turned to land lines connections, fax machines and in some cases dial up connections through foreign nations such as Sweden and France to spread information (Daily Mail Reporter). Quickly, police forces melted away and the army was called in to keep the peace. On February 1st the demonstrations in Tahrir Square had terminated into the â€Å"March of The Million. Looting soon became rampant through the streets and neighbourhoods set up armed night watch groups to protect their homes. The protestors had been relatively non-violent, but on February 2 pro-governm ent demonstrators marched in Tahrir Square to meet the anti-government forces. The Scene soon erupted into violence as both sides began throwing stones and petrol bombs. Since then, the anti-government Forces erected barricades around Tahrir Square and voiced their refusal to leave until President Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down from power (Asser). Were they successful? The Protestors were successful.Under mounting pressures, President Hosni Mubarak resigned from presidency, finally ending his nearly 30 year rule. Power was then given over to the military which began drafting a new government and constitution. What has happened most recently? Since the resignation of President Mubarak, power has been given to the military which has dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution. The military said that it would give up control after a parliamentary election in the fall and a referendum was released in March for the public to vote and ratify amendments to a new constitution.Si nce then however, the military has-been blamed for slowing the pace of democratizing the nation and remaining loyal to the core of President Mubarak’s government, leading to fresh protests in the recent months. In august, Hosni Mubarak was brought into court to be tried for the deaths of those who died in the protests. In October, the military released a statement saying that an election would be held for parliament in November followed by a separate election for president. The military also announced they would now retain power even after the elections in order to see the transfer to democracy through.The Parliament will play a subordinate role to the military council for the time being until the new government is fully established and a new constitution is ratified, a process which might last until 2013. At the moment the future of Egypt has promising potential, but is still unclear. What would I have done? I would have joined the protestors in the streets. I love that I li ve in a democracy and if I lived in country like Egypt that limited my rights, I know I would jump at a chance to change things.However, if I heard that looters were out, I think would go home and help be part of a neighbourhood watch to protect my friends and family because I feel that they should come first before government. Libya What were the goals of the students? The major protest credited with starting the revolution was a demonstration held in the city of Benghazi. The protestors were angry over the imprisonment of a human rights activist named Fethi Tarbel. Tarbel openly spoke out against the government, especially in regards to the 1996massacre at Abu Salim prison where more than a 1,000 prisoners were executed.The protestors were met by police forces that used water cannons to break up the crowds and eye witnesses reported that police were driving their cars at high speeds into the crowds. The situation quickly erupted into an anti-Gaddafi protest that spread to neighbou ring towns. Public anger over the nation’s rampant unemployment, poverty, civil rights violations, and lack of free speech fuelled the protests which demanded an end to Gaddafi and his regime. How did they communicate? Revolutionaries had to be careful about communicating online because the government was monitoring sites like face book, twitter and other social networking sites.Some groups adapted and began using Mawada, one of the biggest dating sites in the Middle East, to secretly recruit new members and communicate. They would pose as couples on Mawada and swap coded messages to each other disguised as poetry and love letters. For the most part however, Libyans did not embrace the internet for communication as Egypt and Tunisia did in their revolutions. According to Nasser Wedaddy, a civil rights outreach director for the American Islamic Congress, Libyans were very afraid of the government monitoring the internet.What got information spread around was actually people ou tside of Libya who, free from Libyan jurisdiction, were able to take what photos and videos were uploaded and spread them around the media, creating much of the support for the anti government forces. What were their activities? The protests that began in Benghazi evolved into a revolution and soon rebel forces consisting of civilian recruits and army personal that had defected made the city of Benghazi their base and quickly forced all security forces out of the city.Riots spread to neighbouring cities and rebel forces burned down police stations and seized local radio stations to spread propaganda against the government. Pro Gaddafi forces moved to open war with rebel forces, engaging in ground assaults and bombing raids. Anti-government rebels were forced to retreat from the better armed pro-Gaddafi forces. Due to attacks on civilian targets, the western nations of the world gave their support to the rebel cause and began launching air raids on government strong holds and militar y groups.With military advice and equipment provided by NATO forces, the rebels began slowly advancing on the capital of Tripoli and held the city of Misrata in western Libya which was under heavy siege. After months of little progress, the rebels pushed forward with a new offensive and captured Tripoli. The rebels established the National Transitional Council which was recognized as the new legitimate government of Libya. Rebel forces went on to capture the rest of the loyalist held cities which finally resulted in the death of Gaddafi. Were they successful?The rebel forces were successful. In their last major offensive, which took place from August 13to October 20, they captured the capital city of Tripoli and all other cities still held by loyalist forces and on the 20th of October Gaddafi was finally killed in a rebel attack on his strong hold Role of Women As the world hurries to analyze and understand the events of the ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011, numerous factors will be considered, most of them highly relevant and perhaps with more of a demonstrable effect on events than the levels of female subordination.It is for this very reason that it is necessary to conduct research into the effects of female subordination. There has been talk of women’s rights in the context of the uprisings of the different Middle Eastern and North African countries, but there needs to be real, in depth analysis of the relationship between the treatment of women and the changes occurring in societies as a whole. In analysis of the events that occurred in 2011, I expect there will be much made of the nature of the previous regime, the personal styles of each of the dictators, and the economic situations of the countries, including the role of resources.I strongly believe that the factors, as well as the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the threat of terrorism and the presence of oil, are factors that affect women acutely and intensely, and that we can learn more abo ut these different factors by examining them through the lens of the treatment of women. While it is difficult to establish whether it is a case of causation or not, there is a strong correlation between the treatment of women and the repression of society as a whole. Studying the way women are affected in these situations will provide further insight into societies and prospects for the future.I have proposed analysis of specific events with the aim of developing this line of analysis further. I propose examining the relationship between the subordination of women and the level of protest experienced in varying countries knowing that it is possible that it the relationship I have predicted may not be accurate, but secure in the knowledge that it will lead to a better understanding of the factors shaping the situation in the Muslim world and potential developments in the future.It is my hope that this research would contribute not only to the study of women’s rights and the i mportance of gender equality, but also to the field of democratization studies as we observe countries that uphold the rights of women making successful, peaceful transitions to consolidated democracy. The â€Å"Social media revolutions† We have seen so far what the most important phenomena on the Arab Internet were in the years before the revolutions. But when it comes to gathering people, fast-paced communication, and – ultimately – performing a revolution, both blogs and forums are fundamentally flawed.Here comes the unique role of modern â€Å"actual† social media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. , with their widespread and mass usage, free access and equal rights. Through social networking sites, a single message – regardless if it is a manifesto, the date, time and place for a gathering or a video showing defenceless citizens killed by the army – can reach thousands of people within minutes, each and every one of them being abl e to express their opinion on the matter, gives a suggestion or share an idea, everybody being able to become an activist and organizer.As far as it is possible – because they are in many cases very intertwined – I'll try to examine separately the role played by the different channels of the social media online ecosystem. Facebook Facebook is, probably, the biggest site on the Internet now – it is almost as frequently visited as Google’s search engine page; as of September 2011, it is confirmed to have as many as 800million accounts (which is more the 1/10 of the entire human population).Naturally, it is the most popular social networking platform in the Middle East and North Africa as well for example, Egypt alone has more than 7 million Facebook subscribers; in Tunisia they form a rough 1/5 of the population of the country, and that ratio is typical for most of the countries, with the exception of Libya, where there are only around 50,000 accounts (this fact can be attributed to the heavy censorship and restrictions by the country's previous regime).This figures are the main reason why Facebook was the most important communication tool in most of the Arab spring revolutions; even though it is impossible to say that the access to the social network per se has become the reason for the revolution, it is completely impossible to tell the story of events preceding and following the iconic January 25th 2011 without accepting the crucial role that Facebook played in them. The driving force of these events is much older, and it was encoded in the very nature of the Egyptian pre-revolution regime and social structure of the country.However, it is safe to say that the revolution itself was sparkled in, and with some reservations, by Facebook. That revolution revolves two â€Å"pages†, one created in protest to the murder of Khalid Said, tortured and killed by Egyptian police for posting materials exposing corrupt officials – â€Å"We are all Khalid Said†, which is English-speaking and for that reason has drawn to itself not only Arabs, but many western supporters of the Egyptian cause, and â€Å"The April 6 youth movement†, which is in Arabic; the second is far older and originally emerged around a protest action in 2008, but kept its popularity.Combined, at the time of the protest, the two major groups consisted of more than half a million people, which grew literally in a few days after they were founded. Basically, there were no events that directly preceded the protest of the 25th; there was just an idea for a peaceful demonstration that circulated through the community pages; the rally itself was simply the act of moving the anti-government protest from the online world to the physical one.That was the very role played by Facebook – it was where the protest brewed, and when it was ready to move on the streets, it managed to gather some 50,000 people on the very first day, due t o the good organization and widespread information on the social network.The follow-up of that event did not differ from any other people's uprising – more and more attended every next protest, clashes with the police and the army occurred, and, ultimately, the Mubarak government was overthrown. The important and new parts here are the methods of organization and spreading of information, which amplified and facilitated the process of overthrowing the regime.Egypt is the most clear example of the use of Facebook during the Arab Spring, it being the place where the ideas and organization grew; in Tunisia, for example, as the first country to start the chain of revolutions, no such simple and differentiated organization existed; of greater importance there was the online presence of the members of an informal group called â€Å"Takriz†, who have been doing their activist work online for the past 10 years, and just embraced Facebook as a new operational space, very useful when it comes to rapidly sharing information and reaching a broad audience.Members of this group even admit that the organizations of football club supporters were equally important to Facebook groups and â€Å"Facebook activism†. The crucial importance of Facebook is very well expressed in the words of one of the members of Takriz: â€Å"Facebook is pretty much the GPS for this revolution. Without the street there's no revolution, but add Facebook to the street and you get real potential. For that reason, when the drastic event which could be used as a pretext for mass protest activity happened – in this case, the self-inflammation of Muhammad Bouazizi – the organization was already laid, the contacts were already built and the signal for the protest was given, they grew extremely fast. Here, if not on the same scale, it served exactly the same role it did in Egypt – a public sphere in which to discuss new ideas and find followers, n organizational net work to coordinate common actions, as well as a source of inspiration, proof that the activist is not alone in his quest. In the Middle Eastern countries in which anti-government protests are now ongoing organization through Facebook is not such a common phenomenon: the only example is Syria, where the biggest protest group (in Arabic) has no less than 320. 000 members, and it is updated hourly with information, pictures and videos from the protests.In Bahrain and Yemen the groups are negligibly small and not much visited; in these cases the fact must be kept in mind that the revolutions here are more isolated and involve much less people than those in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, and the use of Facebook is not so widespread, so the need for an online public sphere is not so acute. Twitter Twitter is a completely different social network; where Facebook has complexity and many different ways to communicate and organize, Twitter has only one – simplified messages shared with the entire world, no preferences given.While Facebook can hold an entire manifesto, Twitter is limited by its 140 characters for a single message (called â€Å"tweet†); it has no pictures or video service by its own but is forced to use third-party applications to achieve that functionality. For these reasons, even though it is the second biggest social network in the world, it has only a fraction of Facebook’s user count. The Arab countries make no exception: there are only 5 million Twitter users, and almost half of them are from the UAE that is the primary reason why it was never used as a primary tool for organizing protests or gathering supporters â€Å"in the field†.Yet, Twitter played an equally important role in the uprisings. Due to its simplicity, this network is extremely well-suited to use through smart phones and mobile devices; usually the content of user profiles is updated on hourly, if not minutely basis. For that reason, while Facebook was used in the long-term planning and announcements, Twitter was the â€Å"in-the-field† tool, which allowed fine coordination between the protesters. Furthermore, an even more important role played by Twitter was bringing information on the protests outside the countries where the uprisings took place.One of the first things the regimes did when the revolutions started was to suppress all possible media channels and prevent the proper covering of the events. For example, the reporters and crew of Al-Jazeera, which is deemed to be the biggest, and actually one of the few truly independent broadcasting media in the Arab World, were forbidden to enter the country the moment when the unrests started, and for that reason the television had to rely entirely on a network of â€Å"credible and reliable† people, who had previously assisted the media, tweeting and updating information from the scene of events on minutely basis.Thus, these â€Å"twitters† turned out to be the key so urce of information for the covering of the protests and the development of the events; in Tunisia, for example, reporters of many media were allowed free passage only after president Bin Ali stepped down. Finally, Twitter was also the place where all the supporters of the Arab Spring uprisings throughout the world were exchanging news, opinions and analyses; #Egypt (with reached over a 1 ? million mentions only in the first three months of 2011) was the most used hash tag for 2011, which denotes the events in Egypt as the most discussed topic worldwide.So, Twitter was also the place where the news was spread, and keeps being spread even today. It also served as platform of the liberation campaigns, which were previously carried mainly by blogs – a fresh example comes from October 2011 when Twitter was the main space where the campaign â€Å"Alaa took place†; it called for the liberation of an Egyptian blogger who was â€Å"held for questioning† by the temporary military rule for more than two weeks, but at the end was released under popular pressure. YouTubeThere is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words; if that is true, then a video is worth a thousand pictures. There is a reason why YouTube's own search engine is second only to Google’s in terms of daily searches, and videos can sometimes reach over a few million views in a few days – the so-called â€Å"viral video† phenomenon. Video materials from the period before and during the Arab Spring period make no exception to this rule: they accumulated a lot of attention. Technically, we can separate the videos from the period into two different categories.One is what I would call â€Å"propagandist† videos: usually very graphic videos, depicting actions of the regimes, like torture, murder of civilians, bribery etc. , which were distributed and uploaded by activists aiming to raise awareness of both the Arab public and the world audience about these issues ; an iconic example here is the story of Khalid Said himself ,who was dragged out by the authorities from an Internet cafe, while he was uploading a video showing a government official taking bribe.Often, such videos were driving force powerful enough to organize mass protests, unite and focus the will of the crowds – a good example of that is Syria, where, in the end of May, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing â€Å"The corpse of a 13-year-old boy who appears to have been sexually and physically tortured by Syrian security officials†. On the very next day, mass protests of women and children broke out in the entire country, ultimately leading to a counterattack by the Syrian army, which took 15victims, and thus escalating the conflict.A similar example comes from Tunisia: a video from the days following the beginning of the revolution, showing â€Å"Kasserine's hospital in chaos, desperate attempts to treat the injured, and a horrifying image of a dead you ng man with his brains spilling out, filmed by a medical student working in the hospital. The footage was so graphic that according to a member of Takriz â€Å"That video made the second half of the revolution† Rallying large number of people shocked both by the state of the patients and care offered in the state hospital and the brutality of the government attempts to suppress the protests.The popular videos from Egypt represent the other case, or what I call â€Å"journalistic â€Å"videos: footage from the protest itself, used as a channel of spreading information about the uprisings outside Egypt itself, which have gained relatively big popularity on YouTube; for example, a hobbyist video of the first day of protest has been watched over 600. 000 times, and even simple political analyses of the current situation made inside the country have reached over 300. 000 views.Such videos were also the main source of footage for many media, since those were prohibited from enter ing the â€Å"hot zones† or the countries whatsoever and taking any recordings of the events. That also worked the other way around – YouTube was the only way protesters could access the news coverage and analyses made by various media, which were otherwise banned in their countries, for example Al-Jazeera or BBC Miscellaneous The three websites discussed above are the channels with the biggest significance for the Arab Spring; it is impossible to enumerate all the various sites and connections used during the revolutions.Photographers, both media-employed and hobbyists, shared photos on sites like Flickr and 500px; discussions were carried out on boards like 4chan, and personal communication was carried out via peer-to-peer online services like Skype etc. Conclusion for Social Media While reviewing the role of social media in the Arab Spring, one fact is obvious – it is an over-exaggeration to state that â€Å"the media is the massage†. Regardless of the amplifying effect that social media gave to all that took place, the events were invariably based on a real-world fact which reverberated in the virtual space.Still, there are at least three main functions which social media performed during the Arab revolutions 1. ) Public sphere – it was the place where ideas were discussed, information was spread and through which public awareness was raised in the first place 2. ) Organizational space – it was where the uprisings were planned and an invaluable organizational tool during the protests; 3. ) Information source – it was the only way information could â€Å"leave† the countries and reach the world publicity and conventional media.The significance of social media consolidated by the fear with which they were treated by the pre-revolution regimes. Each of them, at some point, tried to sever the access to such sites, ultimately blocking the entire Internet access or even stopping cell phone service (in the c ase of Egypt). The regimes were afraid of a medium which they could not control, and, in the end, their fear turned out to be well-grounded: the dictators were ousted by the wrath of their peoples, â€Å"amplified through Facebook†.My personal opinion is that the Arab Spring is not going to be the last â€Å"Social network revolution†. There is a good reason why the leading figure of the unrests now taking place in Russia after the parliamentary elections, Alexei Navalny, is a well-known oppositional blogger, and the organization of the protest took place in Facebook; so did that of the currently popular â€Å"Occupy†¦ † movements happening all over the world. Who knows where the opposition is brewing the next uprising in their twitter personal messages†¦ The Ultimate Conclusion The Arab Spring was not a surprise.The surprise was why it took so long to come. Many reasons came together to produce these drastic developments: the refusal of the regimes to accept the principle of the transition of power through elections and their insistence on a monopoly on power, as well as corruption, poverty, unemployment and the marginalization of youth and ethnic groups. The young generation, which represents 70% of the population, was the common element in leading the revolutions in these countries, whereas the aged ruling leaders of these countries belonged to only 7% of the population.And finally, the collective awareness, as witnessed in Tunisia when a young man protested by setting himself on fire and when a youngster died in a police station in Egypt brought masses to the streets. Arab dictatorships ruled with an iron fist and disgraced their own people to the extent that their arrogance went far enough for them to believe that they could pass their reign by inheritance to their sons. Their countries’ resources were exploited as their own and were shared between their family members, relatives and friends, while their people were l eft in poverty and underdevelopment.The U. S. and Europe knew the reality of these regimes, but for their own interests cooperated with them and turned their eyes from their severe violations of human rights and democratic values. The Arab Spring cannot be compared with the European Spring in Eastern European countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Eastern Europe’s culture, mentality and proximity to Western European countries enabled a smooth change and transition there, while these elements do not exist in the rebelling Arab countries.We all know the results: Arab dictators in Yemen, Libya and Syria declared, â€Å"It’s either me or to hell with them† and launched a war against their own people. The war in Syria is still on; no one can predict its results, but one thing we can be sure of: The people broke the barrier of fear and came out in a massive protest that will not be turned back. Masses went out to the streets and public squares in a peaceful protest and civil disobedience. But the rulers confronted it with excessive power and violence, which led to a violent reaction from protestors, pushing some of them to seek foreign intervention.No one can predict where these revolutions are heading. They all are speaking about democracy, free elections, dignity, justice, human values, etc. But translating this into reality is another issue. So far, Libya, Yemen and Egypt have proven that this will not be an easy task. The U. S. and Western European countries fear a real change in the rebelling Arab countries which may threaten their interests and concerns, and are trying to contain these revolutions.The fact that these Arab countries control the world’s largest oil reserve, located in a central strategic junction between the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and that any change may threaten the future existence of Israel can explain this. Many fears are expressed now by Arab intellectual circles about the fate of these revolutions which raised so many hopes in the beginning but soon faded as result of bloodshed, destruction and failure to make the transition to democracy smoothly and within a reasonable amount of time. The Arab Spring may not blossom soon.Good governance, transparency, democracy and rule of law have not been realized yet. Hatred and suspicion of the intentions of Western countries is growing. Conspiracy theories have become a fashion. Past experiences with the West and its relations with the former regimes are not forgotten but instead strengthens the fears that what’s going on is a new return of colonialism with new faces and new regimes. The Arab people have tried Western methods and values, and their bitter memories about their past cooperation with the former regimes are still fresh. The U.S. , the supposed leader of democracy, is losing its credibility due its double standard policy— calling for democracy and human rights for one people and denying it to another, by supporting the Israeli occupation and denying the Palestinians’ right to statehood. The recent position in the Security Council against Palestine’s membership in the UN is used as strong evidence of the U. S. ’ biased position against the Palestinians. The Arab revolutions are inspiring revolutions worldwide — even against the corruption and failure of the Western economic system.The double standard policy of the West, together with the failure of the Western system, discourages Arabs from adopting Western values, and has made them focus on the necessity of change. This change, for many people, could be achieved only by adopting the modern pragmatic Islamic approach. The Islamists seem to be the future. Whatever the U. S. or Europe may try to do to hinder this development, it will not succeed. Replacing the dictators of the past with new ones with the blessings of the West will not survive for long. The masses have learned their lesson and wil l not give up until they achieve their rights. S

Friday, September 27, 2019

Les Miserables By Victor Hugo -Social Injustice Essay

Les Miserables By Victor Hugo -Social Injustice - Essay Example These themes are stressed by Hugo’s thoughts and views on politics, religion and justice; this forms a major part of the discourse. Though each of the mentioned themes are evident throughout the novel, they become more clearer on following certain characters who form the spine of the novel. These are, Jean Valjean and Javert, it is through these characters that we witness the extent of social injustice in early France. Social Injustice in Early France Social justice takes many forms; however, this study restricts its analysis to the three forms of social injustice highlighted by Hugo. Hugo in his book Les Miserables brings into focus three areas that require urgent attention, education, criminal justice and the welfare of women. These also happen to constitute a major part of social injustice not only as discussed by Hugo but also as highlighted by different social definitions. A look at France at the time of Hugo’s writing reveals a largely stratified society which was yet to receive the promises and aspirations of those who participated in the French revolution of 1789. It is understood that proper governance which would inevitably translate to social justice was one of the major driving force prior to the French Revolution. Therefore, it was hoped that with the revolution social justice would be achieved. Social justice in this regard referred to equitable distribution of resources, observance of equity in terms of gender and equal employment opportunities. However, close to a century after the revolution this still remained a pipe dream as highlighted in Hugo’s book. French socialists largely blamed capitalism; they argued that capitalism was an immoral system. They looked at capitalism as the reason behind the long working hours, child labor, poverty of working people, unemployment, income inequalities, social injustice and multiple other problems (Pejovich 18). It is these very concerns that form the backdrop of Hugo’s Les Mise rables, he is concerned of the rampant inequality and disregard of human equity. This particular concern is highlighted in the case of Fantine a young energetic woman. She is left to care for her child after the child’s father deserts them; she undergoes immeasurable suffering including a six month jail term for defending her dignity. This is just one instance of injustice against women in the novel; other injustices identified by the French sociologists are rife in Hugo’s book. Child labour is seen in the case of Cosette, Fantine’s daughter who is forced to work by her custodians who still go ahead to demand money for her upkeep. In short, early France was driven by struggles between two main stratifications, the rich and the poor. The rich decided how the poor would lead their lives and provided for systems which completely ignored the rights and privileges of the poor. Most notably, they used law enforcers to continually suppress the poor in a bid to ensure s ubordination. The face of such force in Hugo’s Les Miserables is Javert, Javer was born of a convict father but later denounced both his parents. He chose to work in prison as a guard; at one point he was mandated to guard against a chain gang whose one of the members happened to be Jean Valjean. Javert later on joins the police force, through his new position he is mandated to rid the city off offenders. One of the offenders is Jean Valjean who is apparently a repeat

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Social Networking Sites Are Good Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Networking Sites Are Good Society - Essay Example Steve Chazin, a former managing director at Apple is quite categorical in his statement that social networking has changed the lives of people for the better as all humans do have a need to feel connected to each other (Are Social†¦). Danah Boyd, researcher at the Microsoft and experts in media, has more discreet view on the subject that those who do not understand social media look at only negativities and see social media as evil (Are Social†¦). Aric Sigman, a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and recipient of the Chartered Scientist award from the Science Council is of the view that online contacting displacing face-to-face contacting will bring about some sort of physiological changes such as illness or higher premature mortality. (Are Social†¦) In one of the study done at University of Maryland on 200 students (Conger, 2010) giving up all social networking sites for a day had some amazing findings. On asking students how they felt during this pause, students came out with a reply of having anxious mood and frantic cravings that typically felt by a person who goes through withdrawal from any addictive stuff. In such context, it has been said that social networking sites would destroy our brain and bodies as has been voiced by Susan Greenfield, a neuroscientist from U.K; however, so far, no any published scientific studies have validated such claims (Conger, 2010). On the contrary, it has been found that the more people are engaged with any social site, the better they feel. This is what argued by Moira Burke, a researcher from the Human-Computer Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (Conger, 2010). The reason for favorable feelings stems... This essay discusses that the more people are engaged with any social site, the better they feel. This is what argued by Moira Burke, a researcher at the Human-Computer Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (Conger, 2010). The reason for favorable feelings stems from the emotional support that friends, acquaintances or family provide. The feeling of having more social capital triggers a sense of well-being in them. In another study done at Cornell indicates that social capital garnered online also propels better physical health. Though it has been warned in some quarters that social networking would drive people into isolation; it has helped reap benefits from online contacts. Fowler and Christakis from Harvard University have completed many studies on the aspects of attitudes, health behaviors, and on happiness among social networking site participants and they have reached the conclusion that as people influence each other in their normal interactions, similar is the behavior pat tern found at social networking sites. This paper makes a conclusion that a social networking has gone a long way since its modest start about 15 years back. Facebook, Twitter, Orkut and many other sites have now millions of users who share their daily experiences and understandings on a myriad of issues. In the era of globalization, these sites are being extensively used for the various causes and will continue to grow as one of the formidable social tools for masses.

English (reading) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English (reading) - Essay Example For those who require serious medical attention, the situation is even more pathetic since they expectedly ring up higher medical bills. â€Å"Almost 30% of the U.S. population either had a high financial burden of healthcare costs or were uninsured.† (Cunningham, 2006). According to (U.S. Government, 2009), the average household spent 2500$ on out-of-pocket medical expenses. Also tight economic conditions result in a great number of layoffs and medical expenses become quite difficult to bear for the unemployed persons. So the help from the government naturally becomes mandatory to resolve the issue. There is a huge body of evidence suggesting the healthcare issues, to be the ultimate responsibility of the government, since the healthcare expenses are spiraling out of control. Who is going to take all the blame if even the government, with all its powers and resources becomes impassive in such circumstances? Recently in November 2009, President Obama finally got the healthcare reform passed. The point of the bill is to make healthcare a completely government-controlled system. Still the bill seems a bit likely to relieve the problem because many families would still find their healthcare expenses rise beyond what they feel they can easily afford. â€Å"I ended up spending over 4000$ out of my own pocket despite having what’s considered high quality, employer-sponsored health insurance.† (Bradford, 2010). Also the government plans to increase the healthcare costs of the average American family by 4000$. â€Å"For the average single American, the cost of healthcare insurance today is about $4,600. The report found that this cost will rise to $8,200 in 2019.† (Gingrich, 2009). Still the bill is an innovative approach from the government to taper the healthcare crisis. The main problem is a group of corrupt people who are keen to maintain the sour issues. â€Å"High-ri sk individuals face notorious difficulty in accessing private health

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Wrongful and Unfair Dismissals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Wrongful and Unfair Dismissals - Essay Example The WTO helps in solving disputes which arise between countries, when there is money involved it becomes quite obvious that there will be disputes between the countries. When so many countries participate in global trade, every country will make sure that they make the most of this opportunity and in doing so they often ignore the interests of the other member countries and this is how a dispute arises. But WTO very efficiently resolves all the disputes. The disputes are solved by arriving at a neutral judgment. This neutral judgment is arrived at based on a legal foundation; this is how an issue is resolved. WTO was found in the year 1995, so it’s relatively a new concept but a concept if capitalized upon can reap sweet results for the countries interested in strengthening their Economy. There is a very strict principle which the WTO adopts which is that it treats every member country equally, no priority of any kind is shown towards any country be it America or Russia or for that matter any other country. WTO as an organization can be better understood with the help of a graph.... However, if the employer breaches any term of the agreement, an employee is at liberty to resign and seek compensation for constructive dismissal. Every contract of employment has an implied mutual duty of trust and confidence. Recently tow cases were considered to determine whether a claim for damages can be pursued in the courts where a dismissed employee claims to have suffered psychiatric injury and consequent financial loss as a result of an employer's behaviour and when the employee has already won a case in employment tribunal for unfair dismissal The House of Lords heard appeals in the cases McCabe v Cornwall County Council and Eastwood and another V. Magnox Electric Plc. There was difficulty in deciding the case given the decision given in earlier cases of Johnson v Unisys Ltd. A Majority of their lordships held that an employee could not use a breach of the implied terms of trust and confidence to claim damages for psychological injury if the damage arose because of the manner of the dismissal itself. The employees in the conjoined appeals claimed that events prior to their actual dismissals were the cause and therefore the basis for their respective legal actions. Looking at the facts of McCabe, she was a teacher at Mounts Bay School in Cornwall. Following complaints of inappropriate behaviour made against him by female pupils, he was suspended. While on suspension he was required to attend a disciplinary hearing. Meanwhile he began to suffer psychiatric illness. Over the next three years there were further disciplinary hearings and in 1996 his dismissal was confirmed. In December the same year Mr. McCabe won a case of unfair dismissal and was awarded

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Property & Possession Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Property & Possession - Essay Example he House of Usher, there is an alteration on the expression of highly-sentimental heroines by showing the two male characters that struggles from tense susceptibilities, and the more penetrating account is the dandification of Roderick Usher. An expression of Usher’s possession of the property is the oneness or the singleness between the house and the sister, and the coherence of events that takes place in the house and the way it affects Usher. By and large, there is an overwhelming linkage between the structure itself, which is the house, and the human body. The possession is therefore established in the conspicuous familiarity of Usher on the details of the house, telling the unnamed narrator that the house is alive (Meyers 111). This substantial understanding of the behaviour and characteristics of the house presents an element of ownership; thus, forming custody. Meanwhile, gazing at Manfred in The Castle of Otranto, in the beam of man’s captivity in the public domain, it is imperative to understand the logic of the whole story. In the novel, in order to renew and extend the family lineage, overturn the illegal act of usurpation, and, and eventually, deride the prophecy that forecasts the downfall of Otranto’s family, Otranto finds it necessary to marry Isabella, who is incredibly aloof to the idea of getting married to Otranto. If Manfred as the element of the public domain is taken into consideration, it becomes well-defined that there is a constant encounter between Otranto and himself in a rather perplexing and suffocating no-man’s ground amid the private and public realms. On one hand, there is a need for Otranto to deliver to the anticipations of being a person of informing, sanity, and logic. On the other hand, Otranto is armed with states of mind that are regarded as being in the possession of the private domain. At the start of the story, there is a though-provoking essence within the passages that incredibly exemplifies the vagueness and

Monday, September 23, 2019

Advanced Manufacturing Processes I( Laser Manufacturing ) Assignment

Advanced Manufacturing Processes I( Laser Manufacturing ) - Assignment Example This is in the aim of supporting the dental prosthesis i.e. denture, bridge, crown, or facial prosthesis in addition to acting as an orthodontic anchor (Graf, 2014). Usually made of titanium, these are implanted through the biological process of osseointegration, aiding in the formation of an intimate bond to the bone. In general, such a biomedical implant usually comprises of a metal base structure, and a deposit (comprising of a first metal and an anti-microbial material) formed onto a metal base structure wherein the formed deposit is not derived by either electro-plating or anodization. Apart from titanium, the metallic dental prostheses are also made of platinum, stainless steel, gold, tantalum and cobalt-chrome amongst other alloys (Pompa, et.al 2015:1). Typically, implants and dental prostheses consist of a titanium (tooth-root resemblance) screw, having either a smooth or a roughened surface. Notably, most of the dental implants used are manufactured using commercially unalloyed titanium that is available in four different grades. The grades are differentiated by the amount of iron, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon contained. The cold work toughened CP4, containing maximum impurity levels of 0.50% of Fe (Iron), 0.40% Oxygen, 0.015% Hydrogen, 0.10% Carbon, and 0.05% Nitrogen, is the most widely utilized titanium for various bio-medical implants. An auxiliary component such as the Grade 5 Titanium (6AL-4V), which is a bit harder than the CP4; contains 4% vanadium alloy and 6% aluminium. It is mainly utilized in the manufacture of abutments and abutment screws that aid in the implantation process, as well as holding the prostheses in place. The importance of Titanium in bio-medical dental prostheses amongst other functionalities is influenced by core characteristics, which make it highly durable (Gu, Meiners,

Sunday, September 22, 2019

America’s Two Assemblies Essay Example for Free

America’s Two Assemblies Essay Introduction The U.S. government is composed of a bicameral Congress. The first one is the Senate, which is represented equally by the states. The second one is the House of Representatives, which is represented by population. This setup is proposed by the Connecticut Compromise, which combines the proposal of New Jersey and Virginia regarding the issues surrounding the creation of a new Congress. New Jersey, one of the smaller states, insisted that each state should have equal representation in the Congress. But the Virginia Plan argued that a legislature based on population is more fitting. So as a result, the two proposals were combined satisfactorily forming the two houses of the Congress (Lader 2002, 55). The U.S. Senate, or the upper house, is bestowed with different powers, one of which is the power to approve the laws and treaties created by the presidential or the executive branch of the government, as well as the ones coming from the lower house. It approves the laws and treaties by the virtue of two-thirds of votes of the whole Senate population. If that number is not reached, the law can be outwardly rejected, shelved, or is requested to be amended (Powers and Procedures 2006, 1). The lower house, or the House of Representatives, on the other hand, is bestowed the power to create bill which, in turn will turn into a law that the whole nation will follow, and eventually, benefit from. The House of Representatives meets to create bills and resolutions, discusses them, and passes them on to the Senate for further review and ratification (The Legislative Process 2006, 1). These are the basic functions of both the Houses. The functions of creating laws will be further discussed in this paper to show that these two assemblies are essential in any system of government to ensure checks and balances on government power. II. Making a Law A bill starts from an idea of a person. It won’t matter if he is a part of the Congress, a social group or organization, or just a regular citizen. The idea then is brought to the House of Representatives so that they can hear out the pros and cons about it. A group especially designed to cater to the needs and the interest of that idea hears it. For example, if the idea is about education, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce handles it. The law starts from a single thought that is processed and formed into a bill (Donovan 2004, 6-11). All American law starts out this way as a bill. A bill is a document that proposes an entirely new law or an amendment to an existing one. The bill can be passed by any member of the Congress, even though the idea of making a law comes from government departments or from political parties, as announced in the party platforms during election campaigns. A bill passed by a member of the House of Representative as projected by the government is called the â€Å"Government Bill.† If an individual member of the Congress passes a bill, it is called a â€Å"Private Member’s Bill† (Brody 2001, 1-3). A bill is not a law yet; it has to be approved first by both the Houses of the Congress, and should be affirmed by the incumbent President. The two Houses of Congress will be assessing the bill and has the power to add proposals to make the necessary changes in it. These proposals are usually debated on; speeches are crafted to pronounce a member’s stand towards the bill. The Congress will be voting towards the approval or the shelving of the bill. Usually, the bill has to be read thrice and has to go through all the necessary changes before it is successfully passed on each House of Congress (Holder 1997, 1-4). Here, we see the interaction of the two Houses of the Congress. A law can impact the nation’s economy, and so that the lawmakers themselves, either from the upper or lower house won’t make a law that would benefit them individually or wholly. Intense deliberation and scrutiny is performed on the every bill that was conceptualized and is passed in the hope that it will be implemented only to benefit the many (Brady McCubbins 2002, 17). III. The Showcase of Balance The innate need of one House of the Congress for the other shows that there is balance in the legislative branch of the government itself. One cannot exist without the other. A bill will not become a law in the absence of either the houses. There would be no law implemented and conceptualized by just one House alone. A single law has to go through the process as required by both the Houses of the Congress (Sajo 1999, 69). These laws, on the other hand, will not become valid without being finalized and approved by the executive branch of government, which is composed of the President and his Cabinet. The final say still belongs to the Head of State. But he cannot influence the Congress as to what laws they should make or ratify. The executive branch can propose and lobby for a bill, but it cannot fully instruct the Congress to just pass it in its favor. Even if the bill is proposed from the above, it still has to go through the same processes. No special treatment is given (Sajo 1999, 89). At this point, the balance between the two branches of the government, namely executive and legislative becomes evident. The President of the United States in his supreme power and capacity, cannot, in any way, influence the Congress to absolutely work for him. He cannot mandate what laws he wanted to be created and passed over to him for finalization. In essence, his office is equal to the legislative office. They work in parallel of each other, so that one cannot take advantage of one another (Sajo 1999, 99). Without the Congress doing its job, the President will have the freedom of making laws himself for whatever reasons he finds urgent. And laws have a big impact to a nation. One wrong law could mean economic distress. One selfish law could suppress freedom. One inappropriate law could wreak havoc. Without the Congress, the President will have his absolute power. The U.S. democratic form of government is gone and a totalitarian form of government will take its place. When that happens, the power shifts heavily to the executive branch of the government (Borrelli 2002, 18). Another branch of the government is the judicial branch. Although the branch does not actively participate in the law-making process, it is directly involved in the implementation of such laws. Even if the legislative body makes the laws and the executive finalizes it, they do not participate in the process of making sure that the laws are fully observed and strictly followed by all members of the society. This is the job of the judiciary. The law applies to all, and that includes the lawmakers who created them and the President of the United States himself. Without the judicial branch of government doing its assigned task of maintaining harmony and peace within the nation’s constituents, the laws would become worthless (Berger et al 2001, 606). IV. The Law and the Society A harmonious society simply cannot exist unless the people who belong in it respect all the governing law implemented to a considerable degree. Laws have the power to settle certain issues in the society and the government. If all people respect the law enough, they would choose to reconcile their individual differences to the context of what is right and valid, as provided by the law’s provisions. All laws should be respectable and sound enough to be appreciated by everyone. Law and morality should also come hand in hand; otherwise, the people will have to choose either to lose their morality or their respect of the law. Laws are created so as to maintain justice in the society; therefore law and justice should be one and the same in the minds of the people (Bastiat 2004, 22). Lawmakers should take it upon themselves to make and amend laws according to the interests of the general public and not for their own personal gains. Laws should help accelerate the resolution of current social conflicts and national dilemma. Every law in the land should represent their citizens accordingly. The law is so powerful it can make a society; and that power is also enormous enough to destroy it in a rather big and convincing way (Lempert Sanders 1986, 15-20). And this is the main responsibility bestowed upon the shoulders of the legislative branch of government. A balanced government cannot exist in the absence of the Congress. The power will swing indefinitely to either the judicial or the executive branch. And the result of that can prove to be perilous to the society (Lempert Sanders 1986, 26-27). V. Conclusion The American law is intensely compiled, created, and enacted to serve a greater purpose in the society. The burden of enhancing the laws does not depend solely on the solons and lawmakers. We, as individual members of the society, have an immense duty to promote and participate in the creation of these laws as well. We have to be active members of the society and have to make a mark for our own good. We should all help the legislative branch to preserve the balance of power in the government and the society. Works Cited Bastiat, Frederick. (2004). The Law. Montana: Kessinger Publishing. Berger, Marsall J., Schatz Gerald S., Laufer Deborah S. (2001). Federal Administrative Dispute Resolution Deskbook. Illinois: American Bar Association. Borrelli, Maryanne. (2002). The Presidents Cabinet: Gender, Power, and Representation. Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers. Brady, David W McCubbins, Matthew D. (2002). Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress: New Perspectives on the History of Congress. California: Stanford University Press. Brody, David C. (2001). Criminal Law. Maryland: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Donovan, Sandy. (2004). Making Laws: A Look at How a Bill Becomes a Law. Minnesota: Lerner Publications. Holder, Angela R. (1997). The Meaning of the Constitution. New York: Barrons Educational Series. Lader, Curt. (2002). Barrons How to Prepare for the Ap U.S. Government and Politics. New York: Barrons Educational Series. Lempert, Richard Sanders Joseph. (1986). An Invitation to Law and Social Science: Deserts, Disputes and Distribution. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Powers Procedures. (2006). United States Senate. [Online] Available at http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/powers.htm. Sajo, Andras. (1999). Limiting Government: An Introduction to Constitutionalism. New York: Central European University Press. The Legislative Process. (2006). United State House of Represenatives. [Online] Available at http://www.house.gov/house/Tying_it_all.shtml.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Ford Motor Companys Human resource management

Ford Motor Companys Human resource management Executive Summary Human resource management is one of the pillars on which stands the foundation of any and every organization. It deals with various aspects of organizational structure and looks into several organizational policies thereby playing a vital role in strategic planning of an organization. Though human resource management is a vast topic, job analysis and recruiting processes are highly significant. Thus, through this weekly summary, this paper will answer various discussion questions pertaining to the same. This essay will look at Ford pertaining to the organizational infrastructure including recruiting procedures, job descriptions, its elements, classifications, job analysis and methodologies as well as elements has a major scope in the corporate world. However, what I found the most important as well as the most interesting and pragmatic sub topic through this weeks learning experience is all about performance appraisal or performance evaluation. Performance appraisal is a â€Å"distinct and formal management procedure used in the evaluation of work performance† (Introduction: Performance Appraisal) or as the detailed definition of the procedure suggests, performance evaluation a structured formal interaction between a subordinate and supervisor, that usually takes the form of a periodic interview (annual or semi-annual), in which the work performance of the subordinate is examined and discussed, with a view to identifying weaknesses and strengths as well as opportunities for improvement and skills development† (Introduction: Performance Appraisal). Hence, the importance of performance evaluation becomes obvious and can be applied to our organization through various methodologies including graphic scale, checklist, forced choice, ranking, paired comparison, forced distribution, MBO, and BARS (Dessler, 2000) as well as with the aid of incentives, bonuses and word of appreciation and a pat on the back. Research by Luis et al. (2001) suggests that performance evaluation when applied adequately can reap massive fruitful results including improved customer satisfaction diffusing from employee satisfaction, ameliorated work performance and product quality, ease in retaining trained and diligent work force and so on and so forth. Business Strategy Review: Ford Motor Company is a global corporation made up of the worlds most recognizable cars, trucks, and Suvs (www.fordmotorcompany.com). It consists of eight major companies that can be separated into three categories based on their origins. First there is Mazda, which comes from Japan. Next we have the American automotives, which are Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury. The third group consists of European cars, and they are Land Rover, Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Volvo. Together they make the Ford Motor company the worlds second largest manufacturer of cars and trucks. The Japanese company offers consumers a wide range of prices, because of this people of all economical stature buy their products. Together the three American companies provide the same price ranges. Finally, the European line is strictly for the high rollers. In this essay, I have researched these eight companies and found that the reason for the Ford Motor Companies success lies within the fact that they have all the consumer gr oups covered. The only company in the first group is Mazda. For the less financially endowed, they have the Protege, and the 626.Those with a little more money might go for the luxury of the Millenia, or perhaps the Miata if they are looking for a sportier car. Mazda also makes a minivan, for all the soccer moms and large families, called the MPV. Price ranges for all of these automotives come from $12,000 and go up to $33,000. The second group also covers the price ranges fairly well. Ford takes care of the cheaper cars with its Focus and Escort, which go for $11,000-12,500. The Explorer is the most purchased SUV in the world, probably because its right in the price range of most working Americans at $16,000-35,000 (except for teachers of course). One of the most popular cars that Ford produces is the Mustang, its got a legacy in America that is backed up by the thousands of people who purchase it ever year, most of which are males that have been blessed with money at an early age. A Mustang starts at $21,000 and goes up to $32,000. Then we have the Lincoln, purchased by the rich retired people and the Mafia. All the Lincolns are sleek, luxurious, and expensive. These cars are large and powerful, giving both safety and comfort to their owners. Recently the Navigator was developed, and provided the wealthy people of America with an SUV of their own. At last we come to the third group. All these companies fit well together because of their prices, they are all priced over $36,000. Land Rover provides amazing SUVs to those who have the ability to purchase them. The next three, with the addition of Lincoln, make up the Ford Motor Companies Premier Automotive Group. These three companies aim their sales at upscale consumers worldwide. The Aston Martin is known for its high-tech products, and its high prices as well. Jaguar is an amazing car that combines sportiveness, elegance, and raw power. Volvo itself stands for safety, durability, and a premium mode of transp ort. One cannot drive down any road without seeing a Volvo at some point. The European cars provide toys for even the wealthiest of people and back their prices by producing the most precise and breathtaking cars to hit the road. HR Strategy Planning and strategic decisions about recruiting include both internal and external recruiting. There are various internal sources of recruiting that work effectively to accomplish the targeted organizational goals. As Buford, Bedeian Lindner (1995) Zoller (1996) define, â€Å"recruiting is the process of generating a sufficiently large group of applicants from which to select qualified individuals for available jobs† and apart from the external sources including media advertising, walk-ins, public and private employment agencies, educational institutions, state agencies, government programs, direct recruiting (Lindner Zoller), there are internal sources that are effective. These internal sources of recruiting include employee referrals and internal job postings (Lindner Zoller). Good, experienced, trained and hard working employees when make referrals, organizations must feel obliged. This is because, employee referral is one internal source that has so far proved quite effective in the recruiting procedure worldwide. Employee referrals minimize the work load and share the responsibility with the management which otherwise remains solely responsible for recruiting the right people at the right time (Lindner Zoller). What makes this internal source effective is the reason that those applicants that are referred by the working employees have a clearer picture of the organizational expectations, aims and vision and can shape their expectations from the organization and their duties accordingly in a better fashion than applicants that are recruited directly through other sources (Lindner Zoller). Another very effective internal source of recruiting is internal job postings. Vacancies year round can be filled in by the working as well as the deserving employees that can be found, located and analyzed internally through the application of performance appraisal. â€Å"These vacancies may represent promotions (upward moves) or transfers (lateral moves). Posting and circulating notices of vacancies maximizes employee awareness of job openings. The notice should include such items as title, department, job summary, qualifications, and salary and should be placed on bulletin boards, announced in meetings, and otherwise communicated to employees† (Lindner Zoller). Thus, this internal source of recruiting remains effective to date as it involves internal inspection and review of the working employees without having to tap the external sources. Interviewing is one of the principal elements of recruiting and obviously the most crucial of all. Both the interviewer as well as the interviewee need to be well-prepared, focused, confident and most of all considerate and well- informed. However, an interviewer must have a clear knowledge what he or she can and must or should ask. The kinds of questions depend basically on the types of interviews. There are roughly and generally three kinds of interviews that classify the types of questions that an interviewer can ask the applicant during the process of recruitment (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc). These types include: (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc.) Ø Structured Interview (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc.) Ø Unstructured Interview (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc.) Ø Behavioral Interview (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc.) Hence, an interviewer can ask direct, highly focused, rigid, limited, specific and definitive questions with the aid of â€Å"Structured interviews† (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc.). These questions include pointed questions that belong to a particular set of questions or are a part of the sequence. Through unstructured interviews, an interviewer can ask questions that are more â€Å"conversational† and involve a rather â€Å"give and take of information† (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc.). In addition to the above, an interviewer can ask questions as classified by the behavioral interviews wherein â€Å"the interviewer will ask very pointed questions regarding how you have handled specific kinds of situations, or how you would anticipate dealing with the kinds of challenges presented on the job. A sample question in a behavioral interview might be describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see thing s your way or describe a time you dealt with a difficult customer or co-worker† (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc.). Sample questions that an interviewer may ask, include the following: (*All questions are taken verbatim from the research sources under consideration) What are your career goals and objectives? (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc.) Tell me something about yourself. (Insurance Staffing Consultants Inc.) What do you see yourself doing five years from now? (Mulligan) How do you make yourself indispensable to a company? (Mulligan) Whats your greatest strength? (Mulligan) Whats your greatest weakness? (Mulligan) Tell me about a time when your course load was heavy. How did you complete all your work? (Mulligan) Tell me about a time when you had to accomplish a task with someone who was particularly difficult to get along with. (Mulligan) How do you accept direction and, at the same time, maintain a critical stance regarding your ideas and values? (Mulligan) What are some examples of activities and surroundings that motivate you? (Mulligan) Tell me how you handled an ethical dilemma. (Mulligan) Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a problem with no rules or guidelines in place. (Mulligan) However, where there are certain guidelines for interviewers for asking the possible questions that can be termed as positive. Interviewers must be very careful regarding the critical as well as responsible job that they are shouldering. On the same account, interviewers must not ask certain questions that should be avoided. These interview questions include those questions that might provoke the interviewee. In addition to the above, questions that are capable of or have even a slight probability of providing a cultural clash or serve as communication barriers or are too personal must not be inquired by the interviewee who is the prospective employee of the company. Questions that are capable of compelling the applicants to get off the track and get offended or burst out must be avoided at all costs. Discriminatory questions or questions that reflect the interviewers bias or prejudice or suggest offensive remarks or the â€Å"systems† prejudice must be avoided at the time of the interview. Moreover, in case of the interviewer and the interviewee belonging to different genders, questions that suggest gender discrimination thereby arousing sentiments of resentment must also be avoided. Thus all sorts of questions or statements that have even the slightest possibility of creating negative emotions including irritation, mental disturbance, feelings of resentment, hatred or might offend (and so on and so forth) the interviewee must be avoided by the interviewer during the process of recruitment that is while interviewing. Budget: Flexible Staffing Flexible staffing options have various advantages as well as disadvantages. Here is a list pertaining to the same: Ø â€Å"Temporary reassignment† is one of the primary flexible staffing options. With the help of temporary reassignment, organizations can â€Å"cross-train† their employees thereby generating â€Å"generalists and specialists† (Flexible staffing Options).however, disadvantages include affected employee morale. This is because â€Å"the employee may feel that management is using him or her. Clear and positive communication is essential in these situations† (Flexible staffing Options). Moreover, â€Å"managers must monitor the assignment and determine a course of action should the assignment become permanent† (Flexible staffing Options). Ø â€Å"Job Sharing† is another form of flexible staffing. It also has various advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include the following: Ø Organizations benefit economically in a way that they save fifty percent of the performance incentives when employees share duties and do not hold full-time status (Flexible staffing Options). Moreover, the over time charges are also occasionally applicable and â€Å"employee satisfaction and productivity is often increased because the job structure has provided the hours needed to meet personal concerns and he/she generally has the energy and motivation to produce more in less time† (Flexible staffing Options). Ø However, there are several jobs that cannot have a dual nature and therefore cannot simply be shared among employees. Furthermore, the â€Å"paperwork† increases to almost double when more employees are working on the similar tasks. â€Å"Job sharers would need to have similar organizational styles, be able to communicate effectively and efficiently, and work together well and if one job sharer resigns, it can sometimes be difficult to recruit another person in a timely manner to share the position† (Flexible staffing Options). Conclusion Hence from the above discussion, it is evident that human resource management is a vast field with a wide scope and offers a rich array of sub fields regarding personnel management as the weekly summary suggests. Success of the recruitment plan can be gauged with the aid of constant review and weekly or bi- monthly or monthly and quite often annual evaluation of the recruitment plan. Thorough scrutiny can reveal the weaknesses and strengths of the recruitment plan thereby revealing the success factor of the recruiting and staffing strategies. The performance of the recruiters both the recently hired employees and the previously more trained employees can be used as one of the most obvious, pragmatic, clear and expedient metric to evaluate the success of the recruitment plan. Sound and professionally efficient performance of the recruiters will imply that the recruitment plan is successful. Lethargic and upsetting performance by the recruiters that might disturb the organizational equilibrium and serve as the obstacle in the path of the organizations success can be used as the evaluation tool for the success of the recruitment plan. Moreover, review of the recruitment plan in terms of the guid elines given by various consulting firms and other organizations can also help in gauging the success of the recruitment plan. The best way to handle a candidates competing job offer is to exactly know the requirements or simply put the demands of the candidate. If money is the motivator or professional prestige in terms of the designation or a fancy title is what the candidate is looking for, simply hit the point and provide him with better incentives, bonuses or an attractive package which he finds far better than the opposing firm. Moreover, look for the weaknesses of the competing firm and try to focus on your strengths and bargain accordingly both with the candidate and the competitor if need arise. In order to make a recruiting plan work for the well-being of ones organization, it is highly significant that ALL the strategic recruiting considerations must be addressed by the human resource managers in a recruiting plan. This is because if the strategic recruiting considerations are not addressed, chances are that the organization might fall prey to the highly competitive nature of the corporate world. With the world rapidly transmuting into a global village, firms need to be strategically sound in their recruitment procedures in order to hire the best possible employees available to the market thereby generating huge profits and augmenting customer satisfaction as well as establishing their reputation as a successful brand name. Hence, if the strategic recruiting considerations have loopholes, the organization will fail to have an experienced and well-trained as well as competent workforce essential for the accomplishment of the organizational goals. References 1. Introduction to performance appraisal. Retrieved July 6, 2003 from: http://www.performance-appraisal.com/intro.htm 2. Dessler G (2000). Human Resource Management, Eighth Edition. Copyright 2000, 1997, 1994, 1991, 1988 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. Compilation. Copyright _ 2002 by Pearson Custom Publishing. 3. Luis R. Go ´ mez-Meji ´a, Balkin D. Robert L Managing Human Resources, Third Edition. Copyright _ 2001 by Prentice-Hall A Pearson Education Company, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458. 4. Buford, J. A., Jr., Bedeian, A. G., Lindner, J. R. (1995). Management in Extension (3rd ed.). Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Extension. Zoller, C. (1996). Filling a Position in a Small Business, Extension Fact Sheet: Small Business Series, Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Extension 5. Lindner Zoller. Recruiting employees for small businesses: a little planning goes a long way. . Retrieved July 6, 2003 from: http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/1382.html 6. Interview Tips. Insurance Staffing Consultants. Retrieved July 6, 2003 from: http://www.insurancestaffing.net/interview_tip00.htm 7. Mulligan B. Interviewers Favorite Questions and Answers. Retrieved July 6, 2003 from: http://www.jobweb.com/Resources/Library/Interviews__Resumes/Interviewers_92_01.htm 8. Flexible Staffing Options. Retrieved July 6, 2003 from: http://www.ps.vt.edu/supervisorscorner/flexstaff/