Critical Theory and Other Challengers to Traditional Realism in International Relations The WritePass Journal

Critical Theory and Other Challengers to Traditional Realism in International Relations ABSTRACT Critical Theory and Other Challengers to Traditional Realism in International Relations ABSTRACTIntroductionRealism and Its CriticsRealism’s Continued Validity in an Era of Global CapitalismConclusionREFERENCESRelated ABSTRACT International relations (IR) has traditionally been a field dominated by classical realism (or neorealism) in which states are considered to be the chief actors on the international stage, which is an ‘anarchic’ system where no organizations, institutions or supra-national entities are able to control and regulate them.   This is especially true with Great Powers, empires and superpowers like the United States, which write the rules of them game while only adhering to them very selectively.   They not only control the smaller or weaker states, but the policies of international organizations, which are based on rational calculations of self-interest.   Over the last thirty years, unconventional alternatives, ranging from feminism to postmodernism to critical theory have challenged the hegemony of classical realism in IR theory.   This has been a necessary and welcome corrective to a field that was too heavily focused on issues of war, diplomacy and national securi ty, particularly in a period when the global capitalist system and the new technologies associated with it have been expanding exponentially, creating a more interdependent global system. Introduction No other factor in traditional international relations (IR) theory is as important as the central concept that states are the central actors on the world stage, and that they are motivated by self-interest.   For most of human history, the international system was one of ‘anarchy’ with no powers at a supra-national level to regulate and control the actions of states, and necessarily the Great Powers with the strongest militaries and economies dominated the world order (Reus-Smit and Snidal 2010).   Over the last thirty years, a confusing array of post-modernists, deconstructionists and post-structuralists, feminists and new theorists of globalization and global capitalism have challenged traditional realism on almost every level.   This caused a â€Å"civil war† within the discipline, with the critical theorists questioning the very existence of knowledge, rationality and reality, at least as they had been defined in the modern world after the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution (Brown and Ainley 2009).   It also led to increased scepticism about the traditional primary sources used in IR and diplomatic history, particularly the official government records of states and the diaries and letters of statesmen.   Even classical realist scholars like Kenneth Waltz found their text being deconstructed to search for hidden meanings about power and domination by Western capitalism and imperialism (Brown 1994).   As a result of all this controversy, however, the IR field has become more diffuse and pluralistic, less centred on the actions of states and ruling elites, or the policies and ideologies of the most powerful Western states. Realism and Its Critics International relations (IR) has become a pluralistic field with many meaning meanings over the last thirty years, a process that has also occurred in history, political science and the other social sciences during this critical period.   Before 1945, and indeed well into the 1950s and 1960s, it was simply taken for granted that a few Great Powers and empires controlled the world, although in more recent times, U.S. domination of Latin America or â€Å"Europe’s subjugation of the tropical world was forgotten on repressed in the memory of the discipline† (Cox 2010, p. 95).   No statesman or theorist in the past could have forgotten it, though.   In more recent times, IR longer concerns itself solely with war, politics and diplomacy between the Great Powers, but has been deconstructed and reconstructed to open the door to a host of new theories and approaches, including feminism, environmentalism, capitalist institutions and organizations, new technologies, non-stat e actors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and international institutions like the United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO) and European Union (EU). Although the IR will never be the same again, these changes, even though difficult and controversial at the time, have been for the best.   They have certainly enlivened its discourse, at least, away from earlier preoccupations with war, peace, national security and rational actors (of the like thereof in the case of leaders like Hitler).   IR has no real consensus on theory today, if it ever did, but unlike the physical sciences , the social sciences have no â€Å"universal consensus†¦to define a field† (Brown and Ainley, p. 2).   It also has to explain what is occurring in the world when states are not at war with each other or threatening to go to war, which is actually most of the time.   It has been forced to accept a plurality of theories because it deals with a complex world over lengthy periods, and the actions of a very diverse hodgepodge of groups, interests and states (Brown and Ainley, p. 12).   For this reason, there also appears to be a â€Å"seem ing lack of progress for the field as a whole†, but the truth is that reality is just messy (Reus-Smit and Snidal, p. 5). Realism’s Continued Validity in an Era of Global Capitalism Stephen Walt and other realists still insisted in the 1990s that for all the verbiage about globalization and the New World Order, the Great Powers were still in control of the system.   At that time, the U.S. appeared to be the unchallenged superpower, which had never been the case during the Cold War, and therefore realism remained the â€Å"most compelling general framework for understanding international relations† (Walt 1998, p. 43).   Although its leaders often spoke the language of globalism and Wilsonian internationalism, in reality they still acted on American self-interest and felt free to support or ignore international organizations like the IMF, UN and WTO as they saw fit.   All American presidents have issued public pronouncements in the language of democracy, freedom and liberal internationalism, no matter that a close study of their actual records shows them to have mostly been following realist policies (Nye 2008, p. 99).   Few other countries were pow erful enough within the international system to enjoy this luxury, which has been particularly true during the current recession and the latest round of IMF-style Structural Adjustment Programmes.   Liberalism was still a useful theory for explaining the influence of international capitalism and domestic politics, which constructivism took into account changes in regimes, culture and ideologies among ruling groups that classical realism tended to overlook, but fundamentally the strongest nations and empires dominated the world order as they always had. Realists freely concede that new Great Powers are emerging in the world, and that China and India have the potential to become superpowers in the future, but still maintain that regional and global organizations like NATO and the EU exist because states find them useful.   Perhaps another world war is very unlikely, particularly in an age of nuclear weapons, but the Great Powers still intervene regularly in the poorer regions of the planet to control natural resources, just as they always did in the past   (Nye, p. 103).   When one nation becomes too powerful and hegemonic in the international system, as the U.S. did after the Cold War, other powers will form coalitions and alliances to limit its influence, which Russia and China have been doing in recent years (Nye, p. 74).   For realists, none of this is new, but just part of the normal balance of power in the international order. Conclusion Traditional realism, which was one the dominant theory in IR, has indeed come under a severe challenge in recent decades from a plethora of alternative theories and definitions, which were especially necessary for the field if it was going to account for all the new developments in trade, technology, and global capitalism in the ‘postmodern’ era.   It could not survive as a serious academic discipline if it simply relied on the theoretical knowledge that existed in the very different world of 1900 or 1950, or to assume that war and diplomacy among the Great Powers are still the only worthwhile and important events that must be explained (Brown and Ainley 2009).   This is not to deny the existence of empires, great powers and superpowers, or their tremendous influence in the international system, only to insist that the world has become more complex and pluralistic in reality over the last thirty years.   Global capitalism and its opponents, the expansion of trade a nd the development of new technologies have also made the world appear to be far more interdependent and interconnected than ever before, even though there are still few international institutions that have real power over the U.S. and the other Great Powers- at least not yet. REFERENCES Brown, C., 1994. â€Å"’Turtles All the Way Down: Anti-foundationalism, Critical Theory and International Relations, Millennium, Vol. 23, No. 2 (1994), pp. 213-36. Brown, C. and K. Ainley. 2009. Understanding International Relations, 4th Edition. Palgrave MacMillan. Cox, R. 2010. The Point is Not Just to Explore the World but to Change It, in in Reus-Smit, Christian, and Duncan Snidal (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Relations, Oxford University Press, pp. 84-93. Nye, J. S. 2008. Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History, 7th Edition. Longman. Reus-Smit, Christian, and Duncan Snidal, Between Utopia and Reality: The Practical Discourses of International Relations, in idem (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Relations, Oxford UP, 2010, pp. 3-40. Walt, S. 1998. â€Å"International Relations: One World, Many Theories†, Foreign Policy, 110, Special Edition: Frontiers of Knowledge (Spring 1998), pp. 29-32+34-46.

The Red Turban Rebellion in China

The Red Turban Rebellion in China Disastrous floods on the Yellow River washed away crops, drowned villagers, and changed the rivers course so that it no longer met up with the Grand Canal. The hungry survivors of these catastrophes began to think that their ethnic-Mongol rulers, the Yuan Dynasty, had lost the Mandate of Heaven. When those same rulers forced 150,000 to 200,000 of their Han Chinese subjects to turn out for a massive labor corvee to dig out the canal once more and join it to the river, the laborers rebelled. This uprising, called the Red Turban Rebellion, signaled the beginning of the end for Mongol rule over China. The first leader of the Red Turbans, Han Shantong, recruited his followers from the forced laborers who were digging out the canal bed in 1351. Hans grandfather had been a sect leader of the White Lotus sect, which provided the religious underpinnings for the Red Turban Rebellion. Yuan Dynasty authorities soon captured and executed Han Shantong, but his son took his place at the head of the rebellion. Both Hans were able to play upon their followers hunger, their displeasure at being forced to work without pay for the government, and their deep-seated dislike of being ruled by barbarians from Mongolia. In northern China, this led to an explosion of Red Turban anti-government activity. Meanwhile, in southern China, a second Red Turban uprising began under the leadership of Xu Shouhui. It had similar complaints and goals to those of the northern Red Turbans, but the two were not coordinated in any way.   Although the peasant soldiers originally identified with the color white (from the White Lotus Society) they soon switched to the much luckier color red. To identify themselves, they wore red headbands or hong jin, which gave the uprising its common name as the Red Turban Rebellion. Armed with makeshift weapons and farm implements, they should not have been a real threat to the Mongol-led armies of the central government, but the Yuan Dynasty was in turmoil. Initially, an able commander called Chief Councillor Toghto was able to put together an effective force of 100,000 imperial soldiers to put down the northern Red Turbans. He succeeded in 1352, routing Hans army. In 1354, the Red Turbans went on the offensive once more, cutting the Grand Canal.  Toghto assembled a force traditionally numbered at 1 million, although that is no doubt a gross exaggeration.  Just as he began to move against the Red Turbans, court intrigue resulted in the emperor dismissing Toghto. His outraged officers and many of the soldiers deserted in protest of his removal, and the Yuan court was never able to find another effective general to lead the anti-Red Turban efforts. During the late 1350s and early 1360s, local leaders of the Red Turbans fought among themselves for control of soldiers and territory. They expended so much energy on each other that the Yuan government was left in relative peace for a time. It seemed as if the rebellion might collapse under the weight of different warlords ambition. However, Han Shantongs son died in 1366; some historians believe that his general, Zhu Yuanzhang, had him drowned. Although it took two more years, Zhu led his peasant army to capture the Mongol capital at Dadu (Beijing) in 1368. The Yuan Dynasty fell, and Zhu established a new, ethnically-Han Chinese dynasty called the Ming.

End of like care in the United States Current Reality and futrue Essay

End of like care in the United States Current Reality and futrue Promise A policy review - Essay Example With age, serious health complications arise. Given the general body weakness and poor immunity, most chronic diseases are terminal to the old. Previous research has proven that open discussion on care treatment between patient and doctor improved the patient satisfaction among the elderly. The old experience less fear and anxiety, they feel an appreciation towards their wishes, and it provides them the opportunity to die with dignity. On the other hand, end life care can be a serious burden to the elderly suffering from chronic illness, it prolongs pain and suffering. It is also a heavy burden when bills ought to be paid to prolong the life that will soon end (Giovanni, 135). Most women than men experience end of life care due to their prolonged life span as compared to the male counter parts, as a result, most elderly women than men end up in nursing homes or homes for the elderly. The negative impact in this is the fact that a majority of this women end up widowed and alone (Giovanni, 135). A majority of the old individuals suffer from cognitive impairment; a condition characterized by memory problems beyond the expected aging process. End of life care program provide the necessary understanding and facilitate memory gain. A majority of the unaware would not handle the situation in the same manner. Older adults dying in countryside areas due to chronic illness are many due to the limited access of health care facilities, lack of transportation, limited social services, and lack of adequate housing. The benefits arising from end of life care to this category of the elderly include household care and respite care (Giovanni, 135). The elderly managed to receive medication and support from any

139 DB wk4 ED Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

139 DB wk4 ED - Essay Example The camaraderie, team work and interdependence amongst employees ensure that the performances reflect varied cultures and are nothing short of spectacular (Berson). Cirque du Soleil’s mission is to ‘provoke the senses and to evoke the emotions of people around the world’ (Cirque du Soleil). The employees put in their best and strive to develop new acts and performances to entertain customers from different regions. This unrelenting commitment to innovation has been instrumental in Cirque du Soleil’s success. It is important for Cirque du Soleil to be a good corporate citizen to attain international goodwill and build a loyal set of customers. Ethnocentrism plays a pivotal role in enabling the company discharge its corporate social responsibility. The management of Cirque du Soleil believes that the world can be made a better place. The company strives to build win-win situation with all stakeholders including employees, customers and neighbors. It draws inspiration from its own artistic and cultural diversity (Cirque du Soleil). Cirque du Soleil respects the law of the land and treats each culture with respect and

Helios Essay Example for Free

Helios Essay The author makes a point that the corporations should look to the city of Helios for new business opportunities or a new location. Author makes this point on the evidence that the unemployment in the city has been lower when compared to the regional average and that it has historically provided more manufacturing jobs than its share of the region. Further, the author says that Helios is attemption to expand its economic base by attracting companies to focus on Research an developmen of innovative technologies. However, the evidence provided by the author does not straight away lead to the conclusion that the corporations should consider Helios as a new location for seeking business opportunity. The following paragraphs explains how the evidence is not sufficient and the assumption incorrect. Firstly, the author states that the unemployment rate was lower in Helios when compared to the regional average. However, Helios being a industrial center of a particular region, its unemployement rate cant be compared with the region, but shall be compared with other developed cities. Further, author states that Helios has provide more than its share of regions manufacturing jobs. It fails to provide the information regarding its share of jobs in other sectors. The author wrongly assumes that the high share of jobs in manufacturing sector as a representative of its share of total jobs. Further, unemployment rate and high share of manufacturing jobs are not the criterions that corporations look for when investing in a new location. The author should have provided some other information which corporations look for in order to make a more logical conclusion. Further, author states that Helios is attempting to expand its economic base by attracting companies that focus on research and development of innovative technologies. Author fails to state what is being offered by Helios to attract the corporations. Author once again fails to provide complete information. Author must have stated the various schemes, stimulus packages, tax exemptions, land allocation etc which could be offered to the companies if they invest in Helios. Thus, the author does not provide valid evidences and complete information in order to evaluate the argument putforth. Author should provide additional specific and relvant information so that corporation can evaluate whether to invest in Helios or not.

The Awakening :: essays research papers

The Awakening The Awakening by Kate Chopin was considered very shocking when it was first published because of the "sexual awakening" of the main character, Edna Pontellier, and her unconventional behavior. Chopin moved to New Orleans after her marriage and lived there for twelve years until the death of her husband. She returned to St. Louis where she began writing. She used her knowledge of Louisiana and Creole culture to create wonderful descriptions of local color, and she incorporated French phrases used by the Creoles. The Awakening begins at Grade Isle, a vacation spot of wealthy Creoles from New Orleans. Edna is there with her two sons and her husband Leonce who comes and goes because of business. Edna is not Creole, but her husband is. She has never felt like she fits in with their lifestyle. Edna has always done what is expected of a woman, including marrying a man she did not love. He regards her as a possession rather than an individual. While on vacation, Edna falls in love with Robert Lebrun. She often goes to the beach with him. She begins to realize for the first time, at age 28, that she is an individual. Edna feels like one who awakens gradually from a dream to the reality of life. After this discovery, Edna changes. She disregards her husband's wishes and often ignores her children. She learns to swim which also makes her begin to feel more independent. Edna befriends two women, Mademoiselle Reisz, a pianist, and Madame Ratignolle, a motherly lady. Distressed when Robert leaves for Mexico, Edna often visits Mademoiseel Reisz to whom Robert often writes. Edna continues to disregard the customs of society. Her husband becomes Lowe 2 very upset and insists that they must observe less convenance if they want to keep up with society. He tries to get her to attend her sister's wedding, but she refuses. Leonce goes to New York on business, but Edna refuses to go with him. The children are with their grandparents so Edna enjoys her time alone. She starts an affair with Alcee Arobin. He introduces her to the importance of sex, which she did not enjoy with her husband. She closes up her house and moves to a smaller one. Upset, her husband puts a notice in the newspaper, which says that their house is being remodeled. He tries to hide Edna's strange behavior from his friends.

Geography SBA Essay

To identify and explain the processes which led to the formation of limestone in the areas of Bog Walk, Lluidas Vale, Ty Dixon and Moneague. Methodology On May 20, a group of 4th form Geography students from Meadowbrook High visited the different limestone areas of Lluidas Vale and The Ty Dixon Caves in St.Catherine, and Moneague in St. Ann’s. I collected data by means of photography and jotting down important details. As well as use of the senses, visual being the most effective, as well as tactile perception which was also effective. We went along to the various stops; I took my notes and asked questions thus elaborating on what I didn’t grasp properly. As the tour guide, Mr. Daley, explained the different features, expounded on their formation as well as provided suggestions for the SBA composition. This information benefits as secondary information. I faced only one challenge which was traversing the landscape in unsuitable footwear and inclement weather. Nevertheless I managed to capture the essence of the areas and their features. I tried to capture the images on the camera as best as I  could, by experimenting at different angles, ranges and utilizing close ups to capture the general importance. Analysis & Discussion Stop 1: Bog Walk Gorge Our first stop was along the road within the Bog Walk Gorge, located 5 miles south of the Bog Walk Village one of the oldest historic towns in Jamaica. While at this location, it was evident that the limestone feature formed was composed of pure limestone, because the lighter the rock is in color, is the purer its composition of limestone is. It was also observed that chemical weathering, the change in the chemical structure and sometimes physical appearance of a rock, was acting upon the rock in the form of carbonation. This is the reaction of rainwater, carbon dioxide and limestone to form calcium bicarbonate, a weak carbonic acid which is soluble, making the rock easy to decompose when it comes into contact with water. Clints and Grykes were evident, as visible in figure 1.0, contributing to weathering. Clints and grykes are a result of carbonation in the weaker joints and cracks of a rock leaving ridges and groves. The ridges are Clints and the groves are grykes. Plate 1.0 (Chemical weathering acting on the rocks) The entire gorge is rich with lush and varied vegetation which makes for some impressive and dramatic scenery. Another feature formed at the gorge was a cavern, which is a large extensive cave with a deep chamber and interconnecting passages. When the roof of a cave collapses, large depressions called gorges result, hence the name â€Å"Bog Walk Gorge†. The gorge was originally an underground river system which collapsed. The cliffs on both sides of the gorge seemed to still possess potential to collapse. The main river has a tributary coming from the Above Rocks District located in St. Andrew. The major river processes in the area are Hydraulic Action, the sheer force of flowing water on the base of the river bed, and Attrition, when rocks, carried by the river, smash together and break into smaller,  smoother particles. Stop 2: The Bog Walk Bridge Our second stop was made at the entrance to the Pleasant Hill Community, The Bog Walk Bridge; 83.9 km away from Kingston. Here we examined a bridge which was oxidizing. This is a chemical reaction in which substances combine with oxygen to form an oxide: For example, the combination of iron with oxygen to form an iron oxide (rust). I saw ridges which descended from the mountains to the lower parts. These are called interlocking spurs. There was also a flood warning system present as well. It showed the heights of the river and the level of seriousness to be taken hence flooding must be a threat to this community. Gabion basins were also observed along the banks to help keep them in place. The width of the river was approximately 10-13m wide (at points). Plate 2.0 (example of oxidation) Stop 3: Lluidas Vale, St. Catherine Our third stop was at Lluidas Vale, worthy Park in St. Catherine. At this location we observed a sinkhole which was its main feature. A sinkhole is when a joint becomes enlarged to such an extent that a deep vertical hole is created, down which a surface may disappear. A sinkhole was created due to a tributary flowing onto the surface and came upon the land rising upward and eroded the foot of the slope. Overtime the tributary then began to flow underground. Not much water was observed on the surface. The land closer to the sinkhole appeared somewhat moist. A Polje was evident at this location; this is an elongated depression or basin, formed by the synchronization of caves. A polje is found in karstic geological regions of the world, with areas usually 5 to 400 km ². The polje occurs in Troy Formation. This limestone feature is displaced by NE-SW trending faults to produce large-scale fault blocks, which are important controls on the geomorphology of the area. Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them. A more recent alluvial and limestone debris cover occurs within the vale, whereas the steeply sloping rim of the polje to the west, north and east is within Troy Formation limestone group. To the  south and southwest of the vale, rocks of the Yellow Limestone Group crop out, while further south older cretaceous volcanic and sedimentary strata are exposed. In Luidas Vale processes are dominated by mass is a plateau area that has been severely eroded so that the relief is sharp. The Yellow Limestone Group consists of limestones (Stettin and Chapelton Formations) and clastic rocks (E.g. Guys Hill Formation). The limestone of the Yellow Limestone Group give rise to doline karsts, with low residual hills, with the dolines locally amalgamated to form uvulas in the Stettin Formation movements and surface water erosion, forming a typically dissected terrain, this is the Lluidas Vale polje which is developed within a down faulted block of Tertiary white limestone and it has a strong structural control through NW-SE trending faults. The floor of the vale also appears to be structurally controlled in that a series of down-faulted limestone blocks are present and overlain by a s equence of limestone rubble, bauxitic soils and alluvium which extends to over 30 m thickness. Lluidas Vale is a Rand- or Border-Polje in that it is not surrounded on all sides by limestone but bordered to the south by volcanic and clastic sedimentary strata of the Central Inliers in the Juan de Bolas Mountains. The latter is the source of the Rio Cobre and Murmuring Brook which flow northwards towards the vale. The Rio Cobre flows north through the centre of the vale, but turns abruptly south eastwards and flows a short distance along the fault scarp before sinking. In the polje, the river and Murmuring Brook are both ephemeral streams flowing only after rainfall. The north and northwest border of the vale is marked by well developed cockpit karst. A number of small alluvial fans occur on this part of the vale in heavy clay soils representing the residue of limestone dissolution. Much lighter alluvial soils occur on the eastern and southern part of the vale due to more frequent flooding. The western margin of the vale is marked by a less steep slope containing dolines and small conical hills grading to tower karsts towards the polje. There were also caves in the area containing stalactites, stalagmites and pillars. A stalagmite is an icicle like deposit of calcium carbonate which rises from the floor of a cave. A stalactite is another icicle like deposit of calcium carbonate hanging from the caves roof or growing downward. A pillar is a slender vertical structure of stone used as a support or for ornament. These features can be seen a diagram 1.2. The  landforms occurred on a west-facing fault scarp above Lluidas Vale polje. The area was also covered with shrubs and natural vegetation mainly closer to the slope. Stop 4: Ty Dixon During our stop at Ty Dixon where tower karsts, the name given to all landforms in areas of limestone, and dolines were evident. A doline is a funnel shaped or conical shaped solution hollow which is formed when several shallow holes unite. There seemed to be an eroded highland that left a residual hill forming tower karsts and dolines. The tower karsts seemed approximately 40m tall. A tower karst is isolated steep sided residual hills. At the base at the end of the residual hills, there were shallow caves which were generally covered with shrubs and natural vegetation. The vegetation of the area was cultivated on the flat areas, where irrigation and accessibility is better, of mainly sugar cane while in other areas, like on the tower karsts there were natural vegetation. Stop 5: Moneague Moneague was once one of the largest and most important towns in St. Ann, due to its convenient location along the main North to South. The Moneague Ponds was once located on a flood plain. While at this location houses were visible within close proximity of the ponds. Debris such as trees, trunks and barks could be seen in the pond. The soil was heavily saturated with water (waterlogged) and appeared darkened in color. The water in the pond, however was light blue and fairly clear. There was natural vegetation surrounding the pond, this is evident in plates 5.0 and 5.1 Plate 5.0 (Moneague Ponds) Plate 5.1 (Lush natural vegetation surrounding the ponds) Effect of Limestone Limestone affects the environment as it induces highly alkaline dusts which are air pollutants. It also has effects on health, in particular for those with respiratory problems. The dust also has physical effects on the surrounding plants, like it blocks and damages their internal structures and abrasion of leaves and cuticles, as well as chemical effects which may affect long-term survival. Benefit of Limestone As it has its effects, limestone also has its benefits. Adding limestone to water in order to neutralize it is known as â€Å"liming.† When limestone is added to ponds and lakes, it has the effect of adding calcium and protecting the water from becoming too acidic. The benefit of limestone in this situation is that it restores and helps to maintain the ecology of the water and makes it supportive of aquatic life. It is also an inexpensive method of slowing down acidification. Conclusion In conclusion to my studies, I have identified the features of limestone in the areas of study. Our first stop was along the Bog Walk Gorge, where the rocks composure was mainly of pure limestone. Chemical weathering was acting upon the rocks resulting in faster decomposition and the formation of clints and grykes. At our second stop, the Bog Walk Bridge, located in the Pleasant Hill community, it was observed that the community bridge was under oxidation. A flood warning system was also visible, suggesting that flooding is a threat to this community. Our stop at Lluidas Vale, Worthy Park in St. Catherine, was the most informative one. Here we observed a sink hole formed by a tributary, As well as a polje in Troy formation. To the South and South West of the vale, rocks of the Yellow Limestone Group crop out, while further south older cretaceous volcanic and sedimentary strata are exposed. In Lluidas Vale processes are dominated by mass is a plateau area that has been severely eroded so that the relief is sharp. The floor of the vale also appears to be structurally controlled. The North and North West border of the vale is marked by well developed cockpit karsts. Much lighter alluvial soils occur on the eastern and southern parts of the vale due to more frequent flooding. The western margin of the vale is marked by a less steep  slope containing dolines and small conical hills grading to tower karsts towards the polje. There were also caves in the area containing stalactites, stalagmites and pillars. During our stop at Ty Dixon where tower karsts and dolines were evident, there seemed to be an eroded highland that left a residual hill forming tower karsts and dolines. We also came across the Moneague Ponds, which was once a flood plain and is now heavily waterlogged. Debris could be seen in the light blue color pond; the soil was heavily waterlogged and appeared dark ened in color. Bibliography http://www.discoverjamaica.com/gleaner/discover/geography/features.htm Holmes, D. and Warn, S. (2003) Fieldwork Investigations- A Self Study Guide, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2000. (1991) The Longman Atlas for Caribbean Examinations, London: Longman Caribbean. Allen-Vassell, M., Fraser, L. (1993). A Guide to Field Studies in School-based Assessment for CXC Geography. Caribbean Publishers

Exemplification Model Essay: Violence on Campus Essay

Violence on college campuses is gradually acquiring broad social significance. For many years, college campuses were believed to possess sufficient level of student safety and security. Violence and campus life seemed the two incompatible categories. However, as news are overfilled with the examples of violence in colleges that range from mass shootings to incidents of rape and assault, parents and education professionals are becoming more concerned about the atmosphere, in which students are bound to spend several years of their college life. Numerous examples confirm the relevance of campus violence issues. Addressing these issues is impossible without a systemic approach to defining and preventing violence on campus. Students must also understand how to prevent, to report, and to explain specific acts that hinder their freedoms or violate their basic rights on campus. Campus violence remains one of the most serious issues, which college and university students have to address. Either in the form of direct physical abuse or emotional pressures, many students report experiencing violence on campus. For example, the authors of the recent study published in The Journal of Adolescent Health surveyed 2,091 students in three universities on the subject of campus violence. As a result, 17 percent of male students and 16 percent of female students reported having experienced some kind of violence in the six months preceding the research (Stone). That campus violence remains an issue is further supported by detailed statistical research. Between 2005 and 2007 the number of reported murders on campus has grown from 4 in 2005 to 41 in 2007; 2 cases of negligent manslaughter were registered in 2007; the same year, the number of forcible offenses reached 1400; almost 800 cases of robbery and 1300 aggravated assaults were reported to authorities (U. S. Department of Education). These figures reveal the shocking truth: college students living on campus are subject to a whole set of physical and emotional threats. Moreover, the majority of these threats come from inside the campus. â€Å"Students are responsible for 80% of campus crime, although rarely with weapons† (Siegel). Thus, neither electronic alarm systems nor better safety grounds can secure students from becoming victims of a crime. The truth is in that research regarding violence on campus is scarce. On the one hand, professionals in education and students lack a clear definition of campus violence and thus are not always able to report the incidence of violent assault or emotional threat to authorities. On the other hand, college authorities are willing to silence the cases of violence as a matter of preserving their positive reputation. However, even the scarce information on college violence reveals several tendencies. First, campus violence often happens between students, who know each other or have already met on campus. For example, Siegel writes that â€Å"four percent of female students stated that they had been raped, predominantly by other students. Researchers report that 74% of sexually related crimes were committed by fellow students†. Second, in case of mass assaults, these are the students on campus, who become instruments of such violent attacks: for example, the case of mass shooting Steven Kazmierczak on February 14, 2008 at NIU University implies college authorities’ inability to trace possible violent threats and to protect students from similar assaults (Schlueter). Stone refers to her girlfriend, who became the victim of numerous fights with her boyfriend – a bright example of campus violence. Third, in many cases, students simply fail to define violence. â€Å"The definition of violence is hard to pinpoint, and that may be why people don’t speak out† (Stone). In this atmosphere, students should be given a chance to look deeper into what violence is. This is impossible without a profound and detailed research of what violence is and how it can be prevented. Students on campus must be able to delineate violence threats from insignificant cases of possible quarrels and conflicts between students. Students should know statistical figures and far-reaching implications of campus violence. Conclusion Violence on campus is gradually becoming a matter of the major societal concern. Numerous examples confirm the growing violence complexities on campus. Unfortunately, in the current state of research, universities and colleges fail to protect their students from violence threats; nor are they able to develop effective prevention and violence reduction strategies. Beyond the need to give a single specific definition to campus violence, colleges and universities should realize that the majority of violence dangers originate from inside the campus. As such, addressing and eliminating the discussed violence issues is impossible without a detailed systemic and scientifically grounded approach. Works Cited Schlueter, K. â€Å"Campus Violence Increases. † 2008. Chicago Flame. 02 August 2009. http://media. www. chicagoflame. com/media/storage/paper519/news/2008/02/25/News/Campus. Violence. Increases-3232501. shtml Siegel, D. â€Å"What Is Behind the Growth of Violence on College Campuses? † USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), May, 1994. Stone, L. â€Å"Both Sexes Suffer Campus Violence: Study. † 2009. The Province. 02 August 2009. http://www. theprovince. com/news/Both+sexes+suffer+campus+violence+Study/1795356/story. html U. S. Department of Education. â€Å"Campus Security. † 2008. U. S. Department of Education. 02 August 2009. http://www. ed. gov/admins/lead/safety/campus. html#data

The Motorcycle Diaries Review Essays

The Motorcycle Diaries Review Essays The Motorcycle Diaries Review Paper The Motorcycle Diaries Review Paper Life. What is it? What does it mean? Does it define our very existence? Is it the minds most dwelled upon subject? Is it not the question that every human being regardless of race, color, ethnicity or gender attempts to figure out? It is what Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Alberto Granado (Rodrigo De la Serna) set to find out on their journey of South America in the film â€Å"The Motorcycle Diaries†. Ernesto Guevara is a young, good looking medical student from Buenos Aires, Argentina, armed with an immensely strong will, an intense desire to explore and discover, while focused on learning about and making a difference in the world around him. Alberto Granado is a relatively young biochemist, also from Buenos Aires, who is very close friends with Ernesto and his family. He is a radiant, fun loving character who although is not as good looking as his younger comrade, makes up for it with his â€Å"let’s do it at all costs† attitude and someone who shares the fundamental beliefs of expiernceing life and making a difference in the world with Ernesto. He, as well as Ernesto, leaves a tremendous impact on the viewer. The movie directed by Walter Salles and released in 2004, begins in 1951 with the two ambitions filled thinkers, packing for their journey encompassing the entire South America. After the packing concludes and a few minor scenes pass, Ernesto waves goodbye to his family, boards Albertos motorcycle called â€Å"The Mighty One† and with that the two are off to face the answer’s to life’s most unanswered question, Itself. The two explorers begin their journey across their native country with their hopes high and minds churning at full throttle. They ride â€Å"The Mighty One† like outlaws through the open road, enjoying life at its climax with no regrets. A few days later they arrive in Miramar, Argentina to be greeted by Ernesto’s girlfriend Chichina Ferrreyra. Ernesto is deeply in love with this woman. The relationship between Ernesto and Chichina is almost fairytale like, as if destiny was steering its path. Ernesto and Chichina share a very sexy love scene, without the sex, letting the viewer know that he or she is not witnessing puppy love, but a real and everlasting bond between the two characters. Ernesto gets lost in his love, temporarily forgetting the reason of his journey, only to be reminded by Alberto. With Alberto’s wakeup call the two are back on the road, except with more luggage, the test of Ernesto’s love for Chichina. As the two men continue their amazing journey, they encounter various hardships and mountain- like obstacles in their way of making it to Peru to volunteer in a Leper colony. This is the climax and defining part of the movie. The answer of their entire quest is answered in the scenes in this section of the film. From this point until the end of the film, we realize what Life really means. Events that show true humanity and compassion occur here. The impact of these events is so strong, that it could even change the way a viewer looks at daily life. This film would definitely be categorized as a â€Å"must see†. During the communist uprising in the 1950’s, many people did not see the poverty and injustice that was going on at the time. This is heavily supported by the movie as well as the movie review in the â€Å"New York Times†. The times tells us of Ernesto (Che) seeing this and giving his life, to introduce the end, to these atrocities. They state â€Å"At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony has confirmed his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, Ernesto makes a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. † In this speech is when he highlights these problems. This type of subject is a great selection to be exposed to the entire world and one of my favorite parts of the movie. The reason for this is, when hardships of different peoples are exposed, more often than not, something is done about them and they end. Also, witnessing this gives you an understanding of purpose, of life, that no word in language can describe. One just has to watch the movie to attain this incredible life changing understanding. The filming and directing were amazing parts of the movie. Throughout the entire film I felt as if, I too were traveling with Ernesto and Alberto. The exposure of the different beauties of some neighboring countries in South America drove home Che’s main idea he formed while on his trip. This was the idea of a united South America. In other words this wonderful directing portrayed the idea that all things alike, in other words family, should come together. So in this case all things beautiful (the countries shown in the film) should be united. I must say that I loved this film, however everything has its faults. The only thing I can say that I didn’t like was the history given at the end. Che went on to become a communist revolutionary in Cuba, violently helping kick the United States out. This is supported by real information given at the end of the film in text. I feel somewhat disappointed that a man of such intellectual prowess as Che would result to violence for an answer to what he saw as lives problems. He had gone from a promising young medical student to a communist radical, however I must say that he was seen be people of other backgrounds as a hero for later changing his ways to non violence. This is stated on the website www. science. jrank. org. It says â€Å"Ches theory contained an implicit criticism of most Latin American communist parties, which had all but abandoned revolutionary violence. † â€Å"The Motorcycle Diaries† was a life a changing film to me. It brings me no surprise that it was met with load of positive critical acclaim. Everyone wonders about life. We all ask that same question to ourselves. Well, it’s time to answer it. Bibliography 1. Marxism In Latin America. Marxism In Latina America. Other Free Encyclopedias. Web. ;http://science. jrank. org/pages/10094/Marxism-in-Latin-America-Foquismo. html. 2. Scott, A. O. On the Road With Young Che. The New York TimesMovie Review. The New York Times, 24 Sept. 2004. Web. http://movies. nytimes. com/2004/09/24/movies/24MOTO. html

Rock Provenance by Petrologic Methods

Rock Provenance by Petrologic Methods Sooner or later, almost every rock on Earth is broken down into sediment, and the sediment is then carried away somewhere else by gravity, water, wind or ice. We see this happening every day in the land around us, and the rock cycle labels that set of events and processes erosion. We should be able to look at a particular sediment and tell something about the rocks it came from. If you think of a rock as a document, sediment is that document shredded. Even if a document is shredded down to individual letters, for instance, we could study the letters and tell pretty easily what language it was written in. If there were some whole words preserved, we could make a good guess about the documents subject, its vocabulary, even its age. And if a sentence or two escaped shredding, we might even match it to the book or paper it came from. Provenance: Reasoning Upstream This kind of research on sediments is called provenance studies. In geology, provenance (rhymes with providence) means where the sediments came from and how they got where they are today. It means working backward, or upstream, from the grains of sediment we have (the shreds) to get an idea of the rock or rocks they used to be (the documents). Its a very geological way of thinking, and provenance studies have exploded in the last few decades. Provenance is a topic confined to sedimentary rocks: sandstone and conglomerate. There are ways of characterizing the protoliths of metamorphic rocks and the sources of igneous rocks like granite or basalt, but theyre vague in comparison. The first thing to know, as you reason your way upstream, is that transporting sediment changes it. The process of transport breaks rocks into ever smaller particles from boulder to clay size, by physical abrasion. And at the same time most of the minerals in the sediment are chemically changed, leaving just a few resistant ones. Also, long transport in streams can sort out the minerals in sediment by their density, so that light minerals like quartz and feldspar can move ahead of heavy ones like magnetite and zircon. Second, once sediment arrives at a resting place- a sedimentary basin- and turns into sedimentary rock again, new minerals may form in it by diagenetic processes. Doing provenance studies, then, requires you to ignore some things and visualize other things that used to be present. Its not straightforward, but were getting better with experience and new tools. This article focuses on petrological techniques, based on simple observations of minerals under the microscope. This is the kind of thing geology students learn in their first lab courses. The other main avenue of provenance studies uses chemical techniques, and many studies combine both. Conglomerate Clast Provenance The big stones (phenoclasts) in conglomerates are like fossils, but instead of being specimens of ancient living things they are specimens of ancient landscapes. Just as the boulders in a riverbed represent the hills upstream and uphill, conglomerate clasts generally testify about the nearby countryside, no more than a few tens of kilometers away. Its no surprise that river gravels contain bits of the hills around them. But it can be interesting to find out that the rocks in a conglomerate are the only things left from hills that vanished millions of years ago. And this kind of fact can be especially meaningful in places where the landscape has been rearranged by faulting. When two widely separated outcrops of conglomerate have the same mix of clasts, thats strong evidence that they once were very close together. Simple Petrographic Provenance A popular approach for analyzing well-preserved sandstones, pioneered around 1980, is to sort the different kinds of grains into three classes and plot them by their percentages on a triangular graph, a ternary diagram. One point of the triangle is for 100% quartz, the second is for 100% feldspar and the third is for 100% lithics: rock fragments that havent fully broken down into isolated minerals. (Anything that isnt one of these three, typically a small fraction, is ignored.) It turns out that rocks from certain tectonic settings make sediments- and sandstones- that plot in fairly consistent places on that QFL ternary diagram. For instance, rocks from the interior of continents are rich in quartz and have almost no lithics. Rocks from volcanic arcs have little quartz. And rocks derived from the recycled rocks of mountain ranges have little feldspar. When necessary, grains of quartz that are actually lithics- bits of quartzite or chert rather than bits of single quartz crystals- can be moved over to the lithics category. That classification uses a QmFLt diagram (monocrystalline quartz–feldspar–total lithics). These work pretty well in telling what kind of plate-tectonic country yielded the sand in a given sandstone. Heavy Mineral Provenance Besides their three main ingredients (quartz, feldspar, and lithics) sandstones have a few minor ingredients, or accessory minerals, derived from their source rocks. Except for the mica mineral muscovite, they are relatively dense, so theyre usually called heavy minerals. Their density makes them easy to separate from the rest of a sandstone. These can be informative. For instance, a large area of igneous rocks is apt to yield grains of hard primary minerals like augite, ilmenite or chromite. Metamorphic terranes add things like garnet, rutile and staurolite. Other heavy minerals like magnetite, titanite and tourmaline could come from either. Zircon is exceptional among the heavy minerals. It is so tough and inert that it can endure for billions of years, being recycled over and over like the coins in your pocket. The great persistence of these detrital zircons has led to a very active field of provenance research that starts with separating hundreds of microscopic zircon grains, then determining the age of each one using isotopic methods. The individual ages arent as important as the blend of ages. Every large body of rock has its own blend of zircon ages, and the blend can be recognized in the sediments that erode from it. Detrital-zircon provenance studies are powerful, and so popular nowadays that theyre often abbreviated as DZ. But they rely on expensive labs and equipment and preparation, so theyre mainly used for high-payoff research. The older ways of sifting, sorting and counting mineral grains are still useful.

Entry Strategy in the Market of Scotland for Sony Corporation Assignment - 2

Entry Strategy in the Market of Scotland for Sony Corporation - Assignment Example This research will begin with the statement that international business is a comparatively complex phenomenon that requires managing a large number of variable factors associated with the business. Internationalization of business becomes important due to multiple factors such as saturation of the home market, expanding opportunities in the foreign markets, economies of scale in the global production and many more. However, before entering into international business, a firm must analyze its own capabilities in terms of whether it is strong enough to participate in the global business process as well whether it will be profitable for the firm to expand business in the targeted foreign market. Once the capabilities of both the entities are ensured, the company must decide on the foreign market entry strategy that it is going to incorporate. In this context, the firm should also confirm whether it will standardize their existing business practices in the target market or adapt the busi ness process, prevailing in their target market. Once all these foreign market strategies are evaluated, the company will be able to formulate its marketing and expansion strategies solely for this particular market, depending on the competitiveness of the host country. Such strong market evaluation and accordingly strategy formulation will definitely bring success to the company in its international business. With the rapid expansion of globalization and liberalization of economies, the business world is experiencing huge progression in international trade. International trade refers to all the commercial transactions and trade and investment that take place between governmental and private organizations from different countries. Naturally, organizations participating in international business are highly exposed to the global competition and the constraints of international trade. Therefore, such organizations are bound to formulate business strategies that will help the organizations to perform successfully in the international market and to ensure their long-term sustainability. Fundamentally, a strategy of international business concentrates on the aspects regarding how an organization, especially private organizations can maximize their profitability. However, in order to sustain in the globally competitive world, relevant strategies should be implemented in every aspect of business s tarting from sources of raw materials, methods of productions and operations, logistics and supply chain as well as marketing and financial process. In fact, as social and cultural prevalence tends to be different in various countries, organizations should incorporate appropriate strategies for different markets.

Microsoft, Tesco, Google.com Market Segments Essay - 13

Microsoft, Tesco, Google.com Market Segments - Essay Example According to the study market segments in terms of promotion ergo become imperative. Market segmentation basically refers to specialising and specifically focusing on one kinds of consumers. Segments can be based on a variety of factors some of which include gender, geography, industry, age groups; or they can be a little bit more specific e.g. democrats in the USA or soccer fans etc. As the paper outlines by concentrating on one particular part of the market the producers are not just able to market their product better, they can even improvise and enhance their goods in a way which makes them the most appealing for their customers. Geoffery Yeo further defines market segments as, â€Å"Market segmentation is a technique widely used in he market research industry. It can be defined as ‘the process of splitting customers into different groups, or segments; within which customers with similar characteristics have similar needs†. How does one segment the market for food? E veryone needs food, however, if that was the only thing that crossed a producers mind then he would end up with a burden of a segment which consists of not just people from the UK, but the whole world. Focusing on what kind of food one is selling is extremely important, in our case we will be focusing on fast-food. Segments for this market will be created based on a number of factors: they can either be demographic or psychographic. Demographic factors take into account the age, sex, gender, income etc of the consumers, where as the psychographic factors look into what attracts and appeals to consumers the most. For a fast-food organisation to function properly in the UK it would have to focus primarily on psychographic factors.