Both Sides Of The Abortion Issue Essays - Abortion,

Both Sides of the Abortion Issue During the past quarter century, abortion has joined race and war as one of the most debatable subject of controversy in the United States. It discusses human interaction where ethics, emotions and law come together. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical dilemma that faces many individuals to create a emotional and violent atmosphere. There are many points of view toward abortion but the only two fine distinctions are "pro-choice" and "pro-life". A pro-choicer would feel that the decision to abort a pregnancy is that of the mothers and the state has no right to interfere. A pro-lifer would hold that from the moment of conception, the embryo or fetus is alive. This life imposes on us a moral obligation to preserve it and that abortion is tantamount to murder (Kolner 5). In the United States about 1.6 million pregnancies end in abortion. Women with incomes under eleven thousand are over three times more likely to abort than those with incomes above twenty-five thousand. Unmarried women are four to five times more likely to abort than married and the abortion rate has doubled for 18 and 19 year olds. Recently the U.S. rate dropped 6 percent overall but the rate of abortion among girls younger than 15 jumped 18 percent. The rate among minority teens climbed from 186 per 1,000 to 189 per 1,000. The most popular procedure involved in abortions is the vacuum aspiration which is done during the first trimester (three months or less since the women has become pregnant). A tube is simply inserted through the cervix and the contents of the uterus are vacuumed out. The most commonly used type of second trimester abortion is called dilation and evacuation. Since the fetus has bones, bulk and can move, second trimester is not as simple. When as much of the fetus and placenta are vacuumed out then tweezers are used to remove larger parts. After this, or the beginning of the fifth month abortion is serious and actually induced as childbirth. That is, the mother is given substances which puts her into labor and delivers the fetus as she would a full-term baby. About 40 percent of Americans believe that abortion should remain legal and 40 percent believe it should be banned except when the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother or is the result of rape or incest. Also 15 percent b eveit should be illegal in all cases. Although abortion is regarded as a women's right, it should be banned with exceptions because it's considered murder, has many psychological side effects and there is an alternative. Abortion is a women's own right and choice. In 1973 the Roe v. Wade decision proved this by recognizing abortion as a fundamental constitution right and made it legal in all states. The law now permits abortion at the request of the women without any restrictions in the first trimester and some restrictions in the second trimester to protect the women's health. The National Abortion Right Act League argues that without legal abortion women would be denied their constitutional right of privacy and liberty. The women's right to her own body subordinates those of the fetus and the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade argued that the women's "right to privacy" overruled the fetus's right to life. If abortion was illegal it would force poor women to bear and raise children they can't afford to bring up. There would be a number of unsafe abortions in back allies. It would also force women to give up their dreams and stay home to bring up babies. Worst of all, it would condemn victims o apeand incest to carry and nurture the offspring of their rapist.(Kolner 5) Abortion is necessary for women to have control over their own bodies and life. One activist said, "If I hadn't had that abortion my life would have been a disaster. I wouldn't have made it to medical school. I was married at that point to a very ill man and it would have been terrible to have to have my baby. People who need abortions are in some kind of turmoil and it's really a life-saving thing."(Blender 4) To ignore the rights of others is selfish and injustice. Women must have the right to control the functions of their own bodies. Revern George Gardiner pastor of the college Hill United Methodist Church, told the council that the ordnance would have done little good. "Young women need the freedom to make choices for their reproductive life

Andrew Jackson Essays - Cherokee Nation, Andrew Jackson, Free Essays

Andrew Jackson Essays - Cherokee Nation, Andrew Jackson, Free Essays Andrew Jackson Like any hall of fame, its inductees are the best in whatever they do, from baseball or football to something like being President. If you are a member of any hall of fame (including the one for the Presidents), it means that you have done something special or have a certain quality about yourself that makes you worthy to be in a hall of fame. My nominee for the Presidents hall of Fame is our seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. I'll go over his presidency, focusing on both the highs and the lows of his two terms in office, from 1829-1837. The issues that I'll focus on are states' rights, nullification, the tariff, the spoils system, Indian removal and banking policies; these controversies brought forth strong rivalry over his years of president. He was known for his iron will and fiery personality, and strong use of the powers of his office that made his years of presidency to be known as the "Age of Jackson." Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, in a settlement on the border of North and South Carolina. He was orphaned at age 14. After studying law and becoming a member of the Bar in North Carolina later he moved to Nashville Tennessee. Their he became a member of a powerful political faction led by William Blount. He was married in 1791 to Rachel Donelson Robards, and later remarried to him due to a legal mistake in her prior divorce in 1794. Jackson served as delegate to Tenn. in the 1796 Constitutional convention and a congressman for a year (from 1796-97). He was elected senator in 1797, but financial problems forced him to resign and return to Tennessee in less than a year. Later he served as a Tennessee superior court judge for six years starting in 1798. In 1804 he retired from the bench and moved to Nashville and devoted time to business ventures and his plantation. At this time his political career looked over. In 1814 Jackson was a Major General in the Tennessee Militia, here he was ordered to march against the Creek Indians (who were pro-British in the war of 1812). His goal was achieved at Horseshoe Bend in March of 1814. Eventually he forced All Indians from the area. His victory's impressed some people in Washington and Jackson was put in command of the defense of New Orleans. This show of American strength made Americans feel proud after a war filled with military defeats. Jackson was given the nickname "Old Hickory", and was treated as a national hero. In 1817 he was ordered against the Seminole Indians. He pushed them back into Spanish Florida and executed two British subjects. Jackson instead that his actions were with approval of the Monroe administration. His actions helped to acquire the Florida territory, and he became a provisional governor of Florida that same year. In 1822 the Tennessee Legislature nominated him for president and the following year he was elected the U.S. senate. He also nearly won the presidential campaign of 1824 however as a result of the "corrupt bargain" with Henry Clay. Over the next four years the current administration built a strong political machine with nationalistic policies and a lack of concern of states rights. In 1828 through a campaign filled with mud slinging on both sides, Andrew Jackson became the seventh President to the United States. Instead of the normal cabinet made up by the president, he relied more on an informal group of newspaper writers and northern politicians who had worked for his election. I believe that this made him more in contact with the people of the United States, more in contact with the public opinion and feelings toward national issues. President Jackson developed the system of "rotation in office." This was used to protect the American people from a development of a long-standing political group by removing long-term office holders. His enemies accused him of corruption of civil service for political reasons. However, I think that it was used to insure loyalty of the people in his administration. States rights played an important part in Jackson's policy's as president. In the case of the Cherokee Indians vs. The State of Georgia,

A description of the values of the 1960s and compared to the values of Essay

A description of the values of the 1960s and compared to the values of today - Essay Example To discuss it further, changes with the values of the society has been notably noticed thus, this paper aims to compare the past and present and then evaluating it through a good reflection of it. A good example for this comparative reflection paper is the television shows â€Å"Leave it to Beaver† of 1960s and the â€Å"Family Guy† of today. Both television shows focus on the story of a certain family. However, these two shows do not portray the traditional type of a family but rather the dysfunctional one. â€Å"Leave it to Beaver†, is under the production where in black and white features are visible. It is pretty obvious that this show has been quite old as well. The way characters act was somehow different and so the film style (such as sound effects, camera tricks and so on) that they had. This show represents the society where in simplicity with fun is the main goal. It is a good thing that they made the show as a contrast of what an ideal family really is so that they could get the people’s attention towards their show. Dysfunctional scenes and actions that were seen during the show are not so deeply intense that children would misinterpret it. It was just like simple immature things that Beaver did thus, making its viewers laugh. This shows that during 1960s, the values of the people are very interactive and simple. They are not so liberated about the world. The culture was not yet abuse in terms of too much immorality that people do. On the other hand, â€Å"Family Guy† discusses the values of the society today. Family Guy is a cartoon show that also portrays family dysfunctions. Just like Leave it to Beaver, it also has its main goal that is to get the attention of every family through a clear and fun demonstration of what the society of today really are. It is more liberated and straight forward of the current happenings with regards with the people’s society. Both television shows showed what type of society they have during their

Personal Protective Equipment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personal Protective Equipment - Essay Example For the purpose employers plan and execute a Health, Safety and Environmental (HS&E) Policy for its organization that monitors and assesses process, material, product, working environment, premise for identification, elimination and future prevention of a hazard. This is done through elimination of a potential hazard through substitution or reducing its impact through engineering and administrative controls. Controlling a hazard at the source is the best way to protect the employees. Substitution method involves replacing an ingredient / material use in the process or a machine with a less dangerous one. Engineering control involves building a barrier between the employees and the hazard through enclosure, isolation and ventilation (ILO, n.d.). Administrative control limits the amount of time an employee spends at a hazardous job by changing work schedules, providing longer rest period or shorter work shifts, or shifting hazardous work process where limited people would be exposed. T his measure reduces exposure time and does not eliminate the hazard. If all control measures fail then employer must provide their employees with appropriate PPE, along with training for usage, cleaning & maintenance of (CCOHS, 2011). PPE is worn to minimize exposure to a hazard and does not in any way reduce the hazard itself. Hence they are considered as the last resort / choice in control measures. A very common workplace hazard is noise pollution experienced on account of repair / maintenance being conducted nearby or in the same building on near floors or even on the same floor in an adjacent room. Usually employer provide ear plugs or muffs (PPE) as a common control measure assuming that the discomfort / hazard is temporary and would be eliminated once the repair work is done. Wearing hearing protection reduces the noise and likelihood of hearing damage however does not in any way

Management Practices and Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Management Practices and Operations - Essay Example A second problem is the arrival pattern of trucks to pick up products that materially contribute to gridlock within the facility. The company has identified various factors that can affect the customer satisfaction because of waiting time and provide a framework for showing managers which of these factors are under their control. The main solution for the problem lies in the queuing or waiting line models. 1.2.1 Queuing theory or waiting line theory is primarily concerned with processes characterized by random arrivals (i.e., arrivals at random time intervals); the servicing of the customer is also a random process. If we assume there are costs associated with waiting in line, and if there are costs of adding more channels (i.e., adding more service facilities), we want to minimize the sum of the costs of waiting and the costs of providing service facilities.( Queuing models – waiting lines). The diagram focuses on the causes rather than the effect, because there may be a number of causes for a particular problem. This technique helps us to identify the root cause of the problem in a structured and uncomplicated manner. It also helps us to work on each cause prior to finding the root cause. (Applying the fishbone diagram and Pareto principle to Domino, 2004). â€Å"Breakdown maintenance is reduced to the minimum by resorting to planned/ scheduled maintenance. And computerized software is used to redesign the plant layout to minimize handling cost. ABC analysis is carried out to reduce the inventory carrying cost. When carrying out an ABC analysis, inventory items are valued (item cost multiplied by quantity issued/consumed in period) with the results then ranked. The results are then grouped typically into three bands. These bands are called ABC codes.† (ABC analysis, 2009). The stocks are not meeting the requirements, or in other words, stocks which are in frequent demand are not stored in sufficient quantities. Production

The Most Popular Globalisation Politics Essay

The Most Popular Globalisation Politics Essay Globalization is a buzz word today. The concept of globalization is one that has become widely used in debates in politics, business and the media over the past few years. A decade ago, the term GLOBALIZATION was relatively unknown but today it seems to be on the tip of everyones tongue. Globalization refers to the fact that we all increasingly live in one world so that individuals, groups and nations become interdependent. The economies of the world are being increasingly integrated. It is often portrayed solely as an economic phenomenon. It is no more a new phenomenon. The world has experienced several waves of globalization over the past few centuries. It is also true that globalization is a process that cannot be taken as granted. Even developed countries and established societies feel compelled to look for ways to enable them to deal effectively with the NEW GLOBALISM. This NEW GLOBALISM is characterized by the rise in the importance and influence of international financial markets. With the inventions of mobile phone and internet people over the globe have come closer. The world is becoming a smaller place. Work can now be outsourced to any part of the world that has an internet connection. The transnational corporations play a major part whose massive operations stretch across national borders, influencing global production process and the international distribution of labour. Although economic forces are an integral part of globalization, it would be wrong to suggest that they alone produce it. Globalization is created by the coming together of political, social, cultural and economic factors. It has been driven forward above all by the development of information and communication technology. They have intensified the speed and scope of interaction between the people all over the world. Currently, globalization enjoys immense popularity. It is a key word in not only the dominant theoretical and political discourse but also in everyday language. In its most general sense globalization refers to the cross-national flows of goods, investment, production and technology. For many advocates of it, the scope and depth of these flows have created a NEW WORLD ORDER with its own institutions and configurations of power that have replaced the previous structures associated with the nation-state. The economies of the world are now being increasingly integrated. This economic integration takes place through four channels (a) Trade in goods and services (b) Movement of capital (c) Flow of finance (d) Movement of people DEFINITIONS OF GLOBALIZATION: Since the word globalization appeared in dictionary, its meaning has undergone a massive transformation. Just two dozens of definitions of globalization illustrate the problem in grappling with this phenomenon. Some of the definitions are given below. JEFFREY L WATSON describes globalization in cultural terms. He defines it as the process by which the experiences of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, can foster a standardization of cultural expressions around the world. The official World Bank definition of globalization is globalization is stated not surprisingly in purely economic terms, as the freedom and ability of individuals and firms to initiate voluntary economic transactions with residents of other countries. Globalization is a word invented to convey the false hope of an integrated, inclusive world, has in reality meant the opposite: the rejection and exclusion of hundreds of millions who contribute little or nothing to production and consumption and are thereby useless by twenty first century capitalism. -, SUSAN GEORGE, KHALEEJ TIMES, 2004 Globalization is a process that has been going almost throughout recorded history and that has conferred huge benefits. Globalization involves change, so it is often feared, even by those who end up gaining from it. ANNE O KRUEGER, 1st Deputy Managing Director of International Monetary Fund, 2002. The Marxists define globalization in terms of expansion of capitalist enterprises. The liberals, on the other hand, to the emergence and expansion of free market economy. There is an increasing interdependence of world economy and internationalization of production. Globalization is also often used interchangeably with internationalization. It also refers to interdependence, universalism or Americanization. Many define it in terms of deterritorialisation which means that border is no longer a limit today. Although globalization may be thought of initially as the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the spiritual, such a definition begs further elaboration. Despite a proliferation of definitions in contemporary debates, there is scant evidence in the existing literature of any attempt to specify precisely what is global about globalization. For instance, all the above definitions are quite compatible with far more spatially confined process such as the spread of national or regional interconnectedness. THE SHAPING OF GLOBALIZATION: The term GLOBALIZATION emerged because the visibility of our globally connected life calls for a world to sum up the phenomenon of this interconnectedness. But if we look under the hood of our daily existence, one could see a multitude of threads that connect us to faraway places from an ancient time. Without looking into the past, anything cannot be explained. Everything carries in itself the imprints of a long journey. As such, globalization is not an exception to this. Most of what we eat, drink or use originated somewhere else than where we find these objects today. Almost everything we associate with a nation or take pride in as ours is connected with another part of the world, however, remotely. The term globalization reflecting awareness of these global connections, grew out the very process it describes a process that has worked silently for millennia without having been given a name. NAYAN CHANDA in his book BOUND TOGETHER: HOW TRADERS, PREACHERS, ADVENTURES AND WARRIORS SHAPED GLOBALISATION describes vividly the process of globalization and what it had undergone through. The Director of publications for the Yale Centre for the study of globalization here in offers an alternative description of the term. Also, THOMAS L. FRIEDMANS THE WORLD IS FLAT have explained how the mobile capital, trade and technology have created todays instantaneously connected and interdependent world. NAYAN CHANDA describes how traders, preachers and adventurers spearheaded the reconnection and closer integration of settled communities that had come into existence some twelve thousand years earlier. According to him, traders are those people who produce or carry products and services to consumers in distant parts of the planet and in the process, have created an interconnected world. He further anchors that it is hard to image this veritable rock star of the high tech world as a modern incarnation of those traders in the early years of the Christian-Era who transported merchandise by camel caravans on the Silk Road or the Dutch traders who shipped cloves from Southeast Asia. ADAM SMITH called the basic human instinct for TRUCK AND TRADE for profit, which has grown since the dawn of civilization and connects a widening part of the world through a web of connection. FROM CAMEL-COMMERCE TO E-COMMERCE: The traders and financiers being ready to take risk of long journeys and life abroad for profitable transactions, they emerged as the most important connectors. The means of transporting the fruits of trade have progressed from donkey and camel to sail and steamboats, from container ships and airplanes to fiber-optic cables. The modes of payment have evolved from barter, cowries, metal coin, paper money and credit to electronic bank transfers and online payment systems like PAYPAL. These developments enabled the speedy transportation of large quantities of goods and the traders and entrepreneurs also grew. Multi National enterprises replaced individuals and groups of traders, all successors to one of the earliest examples, the East India Company, founded in 1600 BC. If one counted the shareholders of these businesses, the number of people promoting world- wide trade could be in the hundreds of millions. The difference between the Camel Caravans borne C-COMMERCE of the past and todays E-COMMERCE is in the scale and speed of such transactions. Thus it is not surprising that in the popular imagination, foreign trade has become synonymous with globalization. Both necessity and a taste for the exotic have led humans to engage in commerce. As agriculture developed and surplus food was available, a class of people attracted by the prospects of profit and perhaps by a sense of adventure became travelling merchants to look for goods and novelties that could be bought with gold or silver or bartered for whatever they had. Traders frequently worked with the sanction of the ruler and paid tax. However, often the ruler himself took charge of trade to ensure a supply of luxuries and profit to be made from commercial transaction. The traders trading in Silk Road reached its peak in the thirteenth century. There also was a transportation revolution in the fifteenth century. The transportation revolution that linked the continents created the conditions for the emergence of the first multi-national trading company. According to N CHANDA, the human beings were initially originated in Africa and he takes into account that it is the place from where the root of global process started its journey. Human beings in search of food and various other needs of life left Africa and became globalised by migrating to various parts of the world. The history of our human ancestors journey out of Africa is the best proof of that aspect of human nature. But the human journey did not stop with the beginning of sedentary agriculture. The desire to find new and more hospitable areas to settle spurred the early migration of agrarian population through-out Central Asia and India. Migration has continued through-out history. The curiosity about what lay beyond the human border had led generations of explorers to undertake dangerous journeys and bring back knowledge that has connected wider and wider areas of the world. In the days, when travel was extremely hazardous, the journey of exploration was often not just for the sake of new information. Within three centuries, their discoveries led to the biggest migration in human history. Even after every corner of the planet was discovered, humans contributed to travel. Yesterdays curious travellers who set out to find out what lay beyond the next mountain or ocean are todays tourists. Yesterdays fortune seekers and bonded immigrant laborers in a foreign land are todays immigrant, legal and illegal. Since the beginning of modern warfare with its casualties the number of refugees has swelled. As the means of transportation and conditions of travel have evolved, the movement of people across the globe has grown in volume with more people living in a country other than where they were born. In 2005, there were nearly 200 million migrants in countries around the world. Even though most of the worlds people have never crossed their home countrys border, dispersal of their compatriots through the world has created a global village where the progenies of ancestors who walked away from Africa are connected as par N CHANDA. The human world has been expanding through exploration and adventurous journeys, and the web of connections has been growing for a long, long time. The desire to live better, to convert others to ones belief, and to learn what lies beyond ones borders have been the prime motives bringing countries and people in contact, peacefully or violently. Warriors make up the fourth group of actors who have hastened the integration of the world. Also, the imperial power built and secured long distance trade routes and boosted commerce by providing currency and legal structures. In their urge to build empires, kings and sultans devoted state resources to explore beyond their borders. They spent state funds to organize expeditions and to acquire scientific and technical knowledge necessary for long distance travel. Empires worked like gene-mixers, intervening the different genetic strains that marked geographically dispersed humans after their ancestors had left. In the process, they brought about microbial and biological unity. In his book, N CHANDA argues that rather than a synonym for the late capitalism globalization is an expression to the human desires that date back to the dawn of time when the first humans left in African homeland and set out in search of a better life. Globalization he describes is not a scheme dreamt up by a few Western Finance Ministers, corrupt industrialists and the International Monetary Fund. It is an age-old drive as natural as breathing. FACTORS INFLUENCING GLOBALIZATION: Explaining all social changes is complex but it is not difficult to pinpoint some of the factors that are contributing to the rise of globalization in the contemporary society. These factors can be discussed mainly under three headings - The Rise of Information and Communications Technology, The Economic Factors and The Political Factors. THE RISE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY: The explosion in global communications has been facilitated by a number of important advances in technology and the worlds telecommunications infrastructure. In the post-second world war era, there has been a profound transformation in the scope and intensity of telecommunication flows. Traditional telephonic communication which depended on analogue signals sent through wires and cables with the help of mechanical crossbar switching has been replaced by integrated systems in which vast amounts of information are compressed and transferred digitally. Cable technology has been more efficient and less expensive. The development of fibre-optic cables has dramatically expanded the number of channels that can be carried. The impact of these communications systems has been staggering. In countries with highly developed telecommunications infrastructures, homes and offices now have multiple links to the outside world. The Internet has emerged as the fastest growing communication tool ever developed. These forms of communication technology facilitate the compression of time and space. Widespread use of the internet and mobile phones is deepening and accelerating process of globalization. More and more people are becoming interconnected through the use of these technologies and are doing so in places that have previously been isolated or poorly served by traditional communications. INFORMATION FLOWS: If the spread of information technology has expanded the possibilities for contact among people around the globe, it has also facilitated the flow of information about people and events in distant places. Every-day the global media bring news, images and information into peoples homes, linking them directly and continuously to the outside world. Individuals are now more aware of their interconnectedness with others and more likely to identify with global issues and processes than was the case in the past. This shift of global outlook has two significant dimensions: (1) First, as members of a global community, people increasingly perceive that social responsibility does not stop at national borders but instead extends beyond them. There is a growing assumption that the international community has an obligation to act in crisis situations to protect the physical well-being or human rights of people whose lives are under threat. In recent years, earthquake in ARMENIA and TURKEY, floods in BANGLADESH, and MOZAMBIQUE, famine in AFRICA and hurricanes in CENTRAL AMERICA have been rallying points for global assistance. There have been stronger calls in recent years for interventions in the case of war, ethnic conflict and the violation of human rights. (2) Second, a global outlook means that people are increasingly looking to sources other than nation-state in formulating their own sense of identity. This is a phenomenon that is both produced by and further accelerates process of globalization. Local culture identities in various parts of the world are experiencing powerful revivals at a time when the traditional hold of the nation state is undergoing profound transformation. For example: in Europe, inhabitants of Scotland and the Basque region of Spain might be more likely to identify themselves as Scottish or Basque or simply as European rather than as British or Spanish. The nation state as a source of identity is waning in many areas, as political shift at the regional and global levels loosen peoples orientations towards the states in which they live. THE ECONOMIC FACTORS: Globalization is also being driven forward by the integration of the world economy. In contrast to previous eras, the global economy is no longer primarily agricultural or industrial in its basis. Rather it is increasingly dominated by activity that is weightless or intangible. This WEIGHTLESS ECONOMY is one in which products have their base in information. It is the case with computer software, media and entertainment products and internet-based services. The emergence of the society has been linked to the development of a broad base of consumers who are technologically literate and eagerly integrate new advances in competing, entertainment and telecommunications. The very operation of the global economy reflects the changes that have occurred in the information age. Many aspects of the economy now work through networks that cross national boundaries. In order to be competitive in globalizing conditions businessmen and corporations have restructured themselves to be more flexible and less hierarchical in nature. Production practices and organizational patterns have become more flexible, partnering arrangements with other firms have become commonplace and participation in worldwide distribution networks has become essential for doing business in .a rapidly changing global market . TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS: Among the many economic factors that are driving globalization, the role of transnational corporation is particularly important Transnational Corporations are companies that produce goods or market services that produce goods or market services in more than one country. These may be small firms with one or two factories outside the country in which they are based or gigantic international ventures whose operations crisscross the globe. Transnational Corporations (TNCs) are at the heart of economic globalization. They account for two-thirds of all world trade, they are instrumental in the diffusion of new technology around the globe and they are major actors in international financial markets. According to DAVID HELD, 1999, TNCs are the linchpins of the contemporary world economy. TNCs became a global phenomenon in the years following the second world- war. By the turn of the twenty-first century, there were few economies in the world that stood beyond the reach of TNCs. Over the past decade, the TNCs based in industrialized economies have been particularly active in expanding their operations in Developing Countries and in the societies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The argument that manufacturing is becoming increasingly globalised is often expressed in terms of GLOBAL COMMODITY CHAINS, the worldwide networks of labour and production process yielding a finished product. These networks consist of all pivotal production activities that form a tightly interlocked chain that extends from the raw materials needed to create the product to its final consumer. THE ELECTRONIC ECONOMY: The Electronic Economy is another factor that underpins economic globalization. Banks corporations, fund managers and individual investors are able to shift funds internationally with the click of a mouse. This new ability to move electronic money instantaneously carries with it greater risks, however. Transfer of vast amounts of capital can destabilize economies triggering international financial crisis such as the ones that spread from the Asian tiger economies to Russia and beyond in 1995. As the global economy becomes increasingly integrated, a financial collapse in one part of the world can have an enormous effect on distant economies. POLITICAL CHANGES: A third driving force behind contemporary globalization is related to Political Change. (1) First, the collapse of Soviet-style communism that occurred in a series of dramatic revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989 and culminated in the dissolution of the Soviet Union itself in 1991. Since the fall of communism, countries in the former Soviet bloc have been moving towards Western style in political and economic systems. This development has meant the end to the system that existed during the Cold War. The collapse of communism has hastened the processes of globalization but should also be seen as a result of globalization itself. The centrally planned communist economies and the ideological and cultural control of communist political authority were ultimately unable to survive in an era of global media and an electronically integrated world economy. (2) Second important political factor leading to intensifying globalization is the growth of International and Regional mechanisms of government. The UNITED NATIONS and the EUROPEAN UNION are the two most prominent examples of international organizations that bring together nation states into a common political forum. (3) Finally, globalization is being driven by international governmental organizations (IGOs) and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). An IGO is a body that is established by participating governments and given responsibilities for regulating or overseeing a particular domain of activity that is transnational in scope. The first such body, the INTERNATIONAL TELEGRAPH UNION, was founded in 1865. As the name suggests, international non-governmental organizations differ from IGOs in that they are not affiliated with government institutions. Rather, they are independent organizations that work alongside governmental bodies in making policy decisions and addressing international issues. TYPES OF GLOBALIZATION: There are many types of globalization which gives us the ability to describe it in many different fashions. The varying processes of globalization can be mainly placed into four areas - (a) ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION: Economic and technical globalization regards all the phases of the economic fashions. It includes industrial and financial globalization, encompasses the rise and expansion of Multi National Enterprises and the emergence of world-wide financial markets and better access to external financing for corporate, national and sub-national borrowers. (b) POLITICAL AND MILITARY GLOBALISATION: It refers to the spread of political interest to the regions and countries outside the neighbor-hood of political actors long-distance networks of interdependence in which force, and the threat or promises of force are employed. (c) SOCIAL AND CULTURAL GLOBALISATION: This involves the movements of ideas, information, images and people around the edge. (d) ENVIRONMENTAL GLOBALISATION: It refers to the long-distance transport of materials in the atmosphere or oceans, or it can relate to the biological substances such as pathogens or genetic materials. For example the spread of the HIV virus and the effects of ozone depleting chemicals. THE GLOBALIZATION DEBATE: In recent years, globalization has become a hotly debated topic. Most people accept that there are important transformations occurring around us. DAVID HELD and his colleagues (1999) have surveyed the controversy and divided its participants into three schools of thought which are as follows- (1) THE SCEPTICS (2) THE HYPERGLOBALIZERS (3) THE TRANSFORMATIONALISTS (1)THE SCEPTICS: Some thinkers argued that the idea of globalization is overrated that the debate over globalization is a lot of talk about something that is not new. The sceptics in the globalization controversy believe that the present levels of economic interdependence are not unprecedented. They point out that the modern globalization differs from the past only in the intensification of interaction between nations. The Sceptics agree that there may now be more contact between countries than in the previous era, but in their eyes the current world economy is not sufficiently integrated to constitute a truly globalised economy. This is because the bulk of trade occurs within three regional groups Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America. Many sceptics focus on processes of regionalization within the world economy such as the emergence of major financial and trading blocs. To sceptics, the growth of regionalization is the evidence that the world economy has become less integrated rather than more so. Compared with the patterns of trade that prevailed a century ago, it is argued that the world economy is less global in its geographical scope and more concentrated on intense pockets of activity. Sceptics reject the view that globalization is fundamentally undermining the role of national government and producing a world order in which they are less central. According to Sceptics, national governments continue to be key players because of their involvement in regulating and co-ordinating economic activity. (2)THE HYPERGLOBALIZERS: The hyperglobalizers take an opposing position to that of the sceptics. They argue that globalization is a very real phenomenon whose consequences can be felt almost everywhere. Globalization is seen as a process that is indifferent to national borders. It is producing a new global order, swept along by powerful flows of cross-border trade and production. KENICHI ONMAE sees globalization as leading to a Borderless World a world in which market forces are more powerful than national governments. The hyperglobalisers focus on the changing role of the nation-state. It is argued that the individual countries are no longer in control of their economies because of the vast growth in the world trade. National governments the politicians within them are increasingly unable to exercise control over the issues that cross their borders. Citizens recognize that politicians are limited in their ability to address these problems and as a result of this, they lose faith in the existing systems of governance. Some hyperglobalisers believe that the power of national governments is also being challenged from above by new regional and international institutions. When these shifts are taken together they signal to the hyperglobalisers the dawning of a global age in which national governments decline in importance and influence. -ALBROW, 1997 (3)THE TRANSFORMATIONALISTS: The Transformationalists take more of a middle position. They see globalization as a central force behind a broad spectrum of changes that are currently shaping modern societies. According to them, the global order is being transformed, but many of the old patterns still remain. These transformations are not restricted to economics alone, but are equally prominent within the realms of politics, culture and personal life. Transformationalists contend that the current level of globalization is breaking down established boundaries between internal and external, international and domestic. In trying to adjust to this new order, societies, institutions and individuals are being forced to navigate contexts where previous structures have been shaken up. Unlike hyperglobalisers, the transformationalists see globalization as a dynamic and open process that is subject to influence and change. It is developing in a contradictory fashion, encompassing tendencies that frequently operate in opposition to one another. Globalization is not a one-way process but a two-way flow of images, information and influences. Global, migration, media and telecommunications are contributing to the diffusion of cultural influences. According to Transformationalists, globalization is a decentred and reflexive process characterized by links and cultural flows that work in a multi-directional way. Because globalization is the product of numerous intervened global networks, it cannot be seen as being driven from one particular part of the world. The hyperglobalisers argue that rather than losing sovereignty, countries are seen by transformationalists as restructuring in response to new forms of economic and social organization that are non-territorial in basis. They argue that we are no longer living in a state centric world. The governments are now being forced to adopt a more active and outward looking stance towards government under the complex conditions of globalization. GLOBALISM VERSUS GLOBALIZATION: JOSEPH NYE, the former Dean of the Harvard University in his famous articles on globalization makes a distinction between the terms Globalism and Globalization which most of us think to be similar. According to him, Globalism describes the reality of being interconnected while Globalization captures the speed at which these connections increase or decrease. There are important differences between the two as in, globalism seeks to describe and explain nothing more than a world which is characterized by networks of connections that span multi-continental distances. It attempts to understand all the inter-connections of the modern world and to highlight the patterns that underlie them. In contrast, globalization refers to the increase or decline in the degree of globalism. It focuses on the forces, the dynamism or speed of these changes. In short, globalism can be considered as the underlying basic network, while globalization refers to the dynamic shrinking of distance on a large scale. Globalism is a phenomenon with ancient roots. Thus, the issue is not how old globalism is but rather how thin or thick it is any given time. He describes the Silk Road trade which provided an economic and cultural link between ancient Europe and Asia as thin globalism and todays world wide interconnected trade system as the thick globalism. Hence, according to him, getting from thin to thick globalism is globalization. In THE PARADOX OF AMERICAN POWER he argues that globalization is not as American a phenomenon as many people assume that it is. American culture does not always flow into other societies unchanged nor does it always have political effects. IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION: The process of globalization has affected each and every country of the entire world. The industrialized and the developing societies have developed in inter-connection with one another and are today more closely related than ever before. Those of us living in the industrialized societies depend on many raw materials and manufactured products from developing countries to sustain our lives. Conversely, the economies of most developing states depend on trading networks that bind them to the industrialized countries. If we take a close look at the array of products available in the market, we can see that the products in a store have been made in

Comparing Henry Miller and Jack Kerouac Essay -- Authors Writers Big S

Comparing Henry Miller and Jack Kerouac I. Introduction It has never been an uncommon thing for one to retreat to nature in an attempt to ‘find one’s self,’ and somewhat clichà © these days is the retreat to nature to ‘find God.’ Hundreds of books, essays, seminars, and retreats devote themselves to helping one understand how to find enlightenment and healing through connecting with nature. It is a phenomenon that transcends religious boundaries—everyone, from Buddhists to Christian Mystics to Quakers, seems to think that the key (or, at least, one of the keys) to enlightenment lies in nature. As one may suppose, this is not a new concept. Throughout literary history, there is a distinct trend of authors praising the virtues of nature, singing of the peace that it brings and the enlightening attributes of these places away from the noise and clutter of the cities. Shakespeare tells of finding â€Å"tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, [and] sermons in stone†(Shakespeare); William W ordsworth implores us to let nature be our teacher; Goethe claims that there is rest and respite on the mountain top; and George Washington Carver admits that he tries commune with nature everyday. It seems that from Henry David Thoreau right down to contemporary authors, no generation or writing period has been devoid of at least one prolific author who takes to nature in order to find the answers. Two such authors, searching for†¦well, searching for that certain enlightenment and repose that can only be found in nature, were Henry Miller and Jack Kerouac. And despite the fact that Big Sur, California, is the chosen destination for revelation for both authors and that both authors are torn between the introspective qualities of being ‘secluded,’ and the desire for connectedness to society, they were from (moderately) different lifestyles and backgrounds and viewed the revelations that nature bestowed to them individually quite differently. By contrasting the situations and temperaments of the two authors, one can begin to see why their experiences differed so greatly. II. Henry Miller Henry Miller, born in December of 1891, spent the majority of his childhood in Brooklyn (†Henry Miller† 1). He attended high school, but never finished college; instead, he worked a variety of jobs that never lasted long, from driving a cab to working in a library (ibid.). In 1917, he ma... ...city (thus, they are very occupied with what is happening in their community.) This seems to be Miller’s salvation, while at the same time being Kerouac’s downfall. Regardless of why it worked for one and not the other, it is evident that both sought what so many today seek: to connect themselves with God and to find peace by submersing themselves in nature. Bibliography â€Å"Beat Page, The.† Rooknet.com. 4 December 2004. Ferguson, Robert. Henry Miller: A Life. New York: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1993. â€Å"Henry Miller.† 1. Levity.com. 7 December 2004. â€Å"Henry Miller.† 2. Literary Kicks. 7 December 2004. â€Å"Jack Kerouac.† Literary Kicks. 4 December 2004. Kenedi, Aaron and John Miller, eds. â€Å"Henry Miller-Big Sur.† Where Inspiration Lives: Writers, Artists, and Their Creative Places. Navato: New World Library, 2003. Kerouac, Jack. Big Sur. New York: Peguin Books, 1992. Miller, Henry. Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch. New York: New Direction Publishing Corporation, 1957. Shakespeare, William. â€Å"As You Like It.† 1623. Literature Online. Proquest Learning and Information Company. Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, MT., 2 January 2005.