Essay queastion Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Queastion - Essay Example Muhammad captured the Mecca city later in 630 after the Mecca’s population surrendered. Mecca community accepted Islamic religion and recognized Muhammad as the supreme leader. However, quite a number of tribes were against the Muhammad’s teachings and religion. Muhammad later died leaving no message about the leadership and future of Islamic religion. A new leader was immediately declared by the top advisers of Muhammad, and Abu Bakr was chosen as the leader, However, Unlike Muhammad whose leadership style was well known, Abu Bakr was referred as the successor of Muhammad. Abu Bakr took over most parts of Arabia in his two year leadership. Tribes that were against Islamic authority faced Abu Bakr army under the leadership of Khalid ibn alwalid. The takeover of Arabia by Muslim community led to the establishment Caliph, the central control that formed strong alliance between Arabs and the Muslim community. This was one of the merits of growth and power of Islamic religion because coalition between Muslim communities led to formation of strong army. Establishment of a strong army after formation of Caliph led to the capture of other territories such as Byzantine Empire. Other cities were also captured in Iraq after the battle between Muslim troops and the Persians. New leadership of Muslim community continued the spread of Islamic religion. After the death of Abu Bakr, Umar led on capturing other territories such as Iran and some parts of Asia, with thcConquest being also expanded to northern parts of Africa and to Europe. Muhammad being anti-Christ offered death threats to those who refused to convert to Islam. Additionally, his teachings motivated soldiers in war, and were told that those who died fighting for him would be speared during the Day of Judgment in heaven. Syrians and Egyptian Christians accepted Islamic religion easily because they could not bear hardships they were facing from Christianity religions such as

Violent Video Games Essay Example for Free

Violent Video Games Essay Video games are becoming one of the favorite’s children all over the world. Every child could like to behave or act like an artist or actor whose acts are violent. The behavioral patterns of children have changed to violence and wherever they do something or any activity, they do it with a lot of violence, imitating what they saw on the video games. The world is breeding a generation of children who are violent which therefore means that the world in a few tears will be full of a generation of violent people. The minds of these children have also been changed and affected as the continued feeding into their minds with violent video games has made them to be different human beings all together. The sales of video games have grown drastically to a level which is alarming. The impact of excessive watching of the video games is clearly seen as to the way children are behaving and how they have been addicted to watching them. The hypothesis for this discussion could be â€Å"that the continued watching of violent games by the children has caused psychological problems in children and this has resulted to changes in their behavioral patterns. † Allowing the children the watch violent video games is infact doing injustice to them because it is one way of destroying them morally, socially and psychologically. An immediate action has to be taken and that a remedy must be found to protect these children from getting too much exposed to watching violent video games. For the children to grow up and develop into responsible adults in future, parents have the responsibility to find out and know what their children are watching and then take the necessary action. No parent could wish his/her child to be become violent or in any way that is against the good morals. The thesis should be supported because it is meant to protect the children from engaging themselves in watching violent video games that ultimately will influence them to change their morals and imitate bad ones. A research conducted by Anderson, C. A. , Bushman, B. J. (2001) on the Effects of Violent Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior concluded that the more children ere exposed to watching violent video games, the more there are likely to be affected psychologically . This thesis will help the parents and the guardians to be alert to check on what their children are watching and if they notice a strange behavior by their children, then they should be in a position to find out why and take the necessary action. In their book Dill, K. E. , Dill, J. C. (1998). Video Game Violence: A Review of the Empirical Literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, they argue that parents have a major responsibility of knowing what their children are doing and watching. Failure to do so will be followed by worst consequences that will be their own making. The hypothesis will also give a background for further research on violent video games and their impact on the psychological development of the children. According to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology on Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and Life by Anderson, C. A. , Dill, K. E. (2000) they argue and urge that more research should be conducted in future to find out the psychological impacts on the children and more related issues should be brought in as the parents are the contributing factors to this issue because they also watch the violent video games with their children. There are those whom may not agree with the hypothesis may be because they have not been able to gather enough evidence or may be they feel and think that children are too young to be psychologically affected by watching violent video games. Children mostly like watching violent videos which shows acts of violence that they later practice. Parents have not been keen to check on what content their children are watching, but they are the first ones to complain about the behavioral changes of their children which are deviant, rude and violent. Over the past few years, several studies (Creasey, G. L. , Myers, B. J. 1986) have been carried on the psychological effects of violent video games on children. The majority of this research looked at the associations between video game use and the aggressive behavior and also on the effects of video games on school performance. Even though the video games are designed for entertaining, challenging and educational, most of them include the violent content. Recent research on video games indicates that as many as 89% of the games contain violent content and therefore, among the games that are purchased and played by the children contains violence. Playing violent video games increases the aggressive behaviors of children, increases their aggressive cognitions, their aggressive emotions, their physiological arousal and decreases their prosocial behaviors. These effects have psychologically affected the children and completely changed their behavioral patterns. Parents do not often put limits on how much time the children are allowed to play video games and how often the same parents checked on the contents of the video games. Even a few of them check the video content and found it to be violent, on a few occasions could deny their children from watching them. (American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, 2000) Children have perfected the best ways to convince their parents to buy for them the video games they could like to watch. They even convince their parents that the video games they are about to watch are not violent, to which their parents just accepts without any further investigation. The parents have been victims of violence meted against them by their own children who have become violent through watching violent video games. Children spend most of their time, especially during holidays to watch video games at the expense of their educational studies. The contents of the video games being played could certainly affect the relationship between the amount of their play time and their school performance. Children who use computers to play violent or non-violent video games perform more poorly in school, whereas those who use computers in performing school work performed better. This is clear indicator that excessive or continued watching of violent video games intoxicates the mind and changes the reasoning and concentration of children on educational maters (Dill, K. E. , Dill, J. C. 1998). Teachers in various schools are raising concern on the changed behavior patterns of the children. They are saying that the children have become rude, brutal and bullies amongst the other children and to the teachers. The children feel superior and muscular enough to respond to any fights. The boys are the majority victims than the girls, though girls are also interested in watching violent video games but not as boys. Boys quite often harass girls using the techniques they have watched, liked and imitated. They feel that they are mature enough and can behave exactly like what they watched on the video games. This makes them to forget that they are still young children whose minds have been tainted with violent materials (Van Schie, E. G. M. , Wiegman, O. 1997). Conclusion Children should not be allowed to watch violent video games when they are still young. This greatly affects their psychological development, changing their behavioral patterns. It is painful for parents and guardians when the children they are supposed to take care of become rude, violent, deviant and act as if they are criminals by dressing, way of speaking. It is their responsibility to make sure that whatever material their children watch has the right material content and teaches good morals. If the children will experience psychological problems through watching violent video games, even their academic performance will go down. The acts of violence copied by the children will be of negative impact to them, hence we will in future have a society which will be violent. Something must be done through concerted efforts to rectify the situation before it is too late. As children begin to see the world in aggressive terms and therefore begin to act aggressively, their personality changes to become more aggressive and hostile. These changes will result in increased opportunities for aggressive behavior, because of both changes in the individual’s personality and the changes in the situations the individual (child) is likely to get involved in as others react to the individual. This is all brought about by watching violent video games. Recommendations Several recommendations can be of great help and these include; the parents should play the video games with the children. From this they will be able to know what their children are exposed to watch and how they will react to different features in the game, parents should know their children, in that if a child becomes aggressive after watching violent video games, they should stop buying such games regardless the child’s age, parents should talk with the children if they sense that their children are disturbed after watching a violent video game. This could be an opportunity for the parent and the children to discuss more deeply on the video games, the parents should set limits for watching the video games. Infact they should censor the video games before the children watch them and the video game makers should be informed that the games they are making and selling for children to watch are more violent and bringing more harm to the children and so should make games that are children friendly. The teachers at school should also assist the parents in counseling the children who they discover that they have been victims of watching violent video games. If this has affected their class work, they should inform their parents so that they can look for a way forward together to help these children to return to normality. References American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, American Medical Association (2000). Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children Anderson, C. A. , Dill, K. E. (2000). Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and Life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Anderson, C. A. , Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of Violent Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A meta-analytic Review of the Scientific Literature. Psychological Science. Creasey, G. L. , Myers, B. J. (1986). Video Games and Children: Effects on Leisure Activities, Schoolwork, and Peer Involvement. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly, 32 Dill, K. E. , Dill, J. C. (1998). Video Game Violence: A Review of the Empirical Literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior Lynch, P. J. (1999). Hostility, Type A Behavior, and Stress Hormones at Rest and After Playing Violent Video Games in Teenagers. Psychosomatic Medicine Van Schie, E. G. M. , Wiegman, O. (1997). Children and VideoGames: Leisure Activities, Aggression, Social Integration, and School Performance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Is multicultural-nationalism possible?

Is multicultural-nationalism possible? Introduction: Nations- states used to be the premier and most important form of human gathering, where this implies that this entity does have the necessary requirements of existence as a state such as (people, territory, sovereignty, etc) along with having just one nation within its territorial borders. This was later changed due to the influx of immigration all over the world where immigrants move between countries either because of wars or seeking employment and better economic conditions or any other necessitating reason. This phenomenon led to the situation we are facing recently that almost all states now are culturally or religiously or ethnically diverse. Popper states this in such a criticizing way, Principle of the national state is not only inapplicable†¦it is a myth†¦and utopian dream†¦. So, having multinational states became a fact that we have to deal with. The coinciding between the states borders and the inclusion of a nation is no longer the only form of countries. There are even cases when there are stateless nations. This made Connor observes that now we can almost find only seven nation-states remaining, he named them: the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Japan, Luxembourg, Iceland and Norway. To be able to deal with such multinational states, we need to understand what both (multiculturalism and nationalism) mean. This will help us answer the main question of the paper; whether multicultural nationalism is applicable or not? Nationalism and multiculturalism: Nationalism is deeply related to nations, being the social phenomenon that refers to the unique relation between individuals and their homeland. Citizens identify with their nation through the commonalities they share (history, values, myths, identity, language, customs †¦etc). A central aspect of nationalism is that the individuals identity is being formulated through their membership to their society. Nationalism has different forms where Sweeney identifies four types: The Civic Nationalism which is a desirable form of nationalism since it focuses on the civic values that unites the citizens, it stresses on both the territorial and cultural bonds and thus manages to recognize the various ethnic communities. The Ethnic Nationalism whose focal point is the common descent. The State Nationalism which calls for the superiority and the dominance of the ethnicity of the majority and finally Multicultural Nationalism which is a new phenomenon arising form the era of globalization we are living in and the high degree of interdependence that we witness all over the globe. Usually, both (civic and state nationalisms) are referred to as top-down nationalism being directed by the state institutions, unlike the (ethnic nationalism) which depends upon the public, arising from the bottom to up. From Sweeneys famous typology, we can see how both the ethnic and state nationalisms are traditional forms of nationalism , unlike the other two types which are more modern and also similar in some aspects. Brown defines multicultural nationalism as, a vision of community which respects and promotes the cultural economy and status equality of its component ethnic group. This means it goes beyond the mere civic tolerance towards the different communities within the society, rather it respects them and is interested in such diversity. That is why I consider it wider than the civic nationalism since it encompasses it all; recognition of diversity, tolerance, respect and interest in promoting such diversity through different governmental and societal mechanisms. Generally, Nationalism is perceived as a positive movement which is needed to strengthen the loyalty of nationals towards their country, uniting them to fulfil the national interests. But with the rise of multinational states, whether due to the existence of minorities, immigrants or indigenous groups, this claim is being questioned. Nationalism is no longer merely perceived as a positive force, rather now it is a double sided force. Through observing history we notice how sometimes violent banal nationalist movements lead to bloody wars and confrontations between different national groups especially when each of them is promoting their nationalism or if there is a minority which is calling for self independence. This can be seen clearly in what used to happen between the Scottish and the British in the United Kingdom. Thus, a rationalization of nationalist sentiments is what is needed nowadays to strike a balance between the new phenomenon of multinational states. On the other side, Multiculturalism is not only a phenomenon; it is considered as both a descriptive demographic term to describe the existence of culturally different groups within a certain society; It refers to this feature of having multiple cultural and/or ethnic and/or religious backgrounds between the citizens, and it is also seen as a political concept to refer to the public policies adopted by a specific government to deal with the cultural diversity within its society where it calls for mutual respect and tolerance and acceptance for the diversity. As a public policy, multiculturalism first emerged in Canada to solve the problem between the French and the English divisions. Parekh succinctly describes what multiculturalism means in this quote; â€Å"Multiculturalism doesnt simply mean numerical plurality of different cultures, but rather a community which is creating, guaranteeing, encouraging spaces within which different communities are able to grow at their pace. At the same time it means creating a public space in which these communities are able to interact, enrich the existing culture and create a new consensual culture in which they recognize reflections of their own identity† Like nationalism, multiculturalism also has different types. Grillo distinguishes between two kinds: the weak multiculturalism and strong multiculturalism where the former exists when multiculturalism only prevails in the private sphere while in the public sphere all citizens are required to fully assimilate and get absorbed within the majoritarian culture and values forgetting about their own culture ,while the latter exits when cultural diversity is recognized both in the public and private spheres, allowing the immigrants and minorities to preserve their national identity while integrating with the whole society. Multiculturalism is considered an inescapable situation we have to deal with, bearing in mind that huge efforts should be exerted by the state and the wider society to ensure that the diversity within any one society leads to unity and exchange of benefits between cultures, rather than disintegration and ghettoization. From this, we can see how both nationalism and multiculturalism are desirable phenomena on condition that their limitations are avoided, promoting only their positive side. Is Multicultural Nationalism possible? An important question rises about whether nationalism can be multicultural or not? Can they both coexist together? Kernerman highlights that the main objective of multicultural nationalism is striking a balance between both the diversity and the unity of the state, so that state is able to preserve its national sentiments and identity while at the same time promoting diversity and multiculturalism. He believes that the main question to answer is; how are the various manifestations of diversity to be recognized and understood in relation to one another and to the political community? It is important to notice that we will focus in here on the multicultural state nationalism which tackles the way of dealing with the immigrants, accommodating them within the society while preserving the states original national identity. But, it is important to mention that on the other hand there is the multicultural sub- state nationalism which is concerned with the sub state nationalisms within countries. But, it is not the focus of this paper. To understand how multicultural state nationalism exists, it is important to examine the states response and its policies regarding immigrants and the relation between those immigrants and the society as a whole to discover the possibility of having strong common feelings uniting all the citizens no matter where they originally come from. Can a multicultural society achieve both integration of immigrants while achieving national unity and cohesion? The paradox of multicultural societies: Nationalism vs. Multiculturalism? A debatable issue always takes place in multicultural societies and that is how to achieve the states national unity? Some suggest equal treatment for all citizens regardless of their origin; religion or ethnicity and that citizenship should be difference blind, while others believe this is illogical, calling for the recognition of differences and even going further calling for the adoption of policies that reflect these differences. This second approach believes that this will be more integrative to immigrants fostering their sense of loyalty and belonging to the society. Due to this endless debate, we find that immigrants and minorities issues are gaining attention in states policies and debates, issues such as (minorities rights, immigrants representation, collective rights, states loyalty†¦etc). This increases the role of the state especially that such issues can not be left to the different communities within the society to resolve especially when each one of them will be aiming at deepening their national identity more than the others identities. This will lead to disunity and absence of common loyalty. That is why the state should be the main actor in the creation of a common identity that bonds all the citizens including the immigrants. This identity should be as inclusive as possible focusing more on civic symbols and signifiers rather than cultural and ethnic ones. Different states differ in the way they fulfil this role depending upon their histories, their legal frameworks, their national interests†¦etc. But, all states should ai m at ensuring that its national identity is preserved and not threatened by immigrants, rather is being inclusive for them. Parekh highlights an important equation that is needed to achieve this: â€Å"If immigrants are to make an emotional commitment to society, the latters view of its national identity needs to be inclusive and hospitable enough for them to identify with it. Its self understanding should take full account of their presence; its view of its history should include the story of their arrival, settlement and contributions; its official symbols should symbolize them as well, and not be allowed to become the monopoly of a section of it; its national events should recognize their presence and contributions and not become occasions to display the solidarity of the rest of society against them†. One of the best ways to achieve such equation is through the creation of a sense of common belonging between citizens. Such a process is double sided; it requires the efforts of both the immigrants from one side and the state along with the wider society form another side. Both should aim at fulfilling its duties so that its rights can be met by the other side. This is even formulated as one of the EU common basic principles of immigrants integration policy as follows: Integration is a dynamic, two-way process of mutual accommodation by all immigrants and residents of the Member States On the immigrants side, They do have the right to ask for certain claims from the government and even modifications within the polices of the governmental institutions so as to help them better integrate in the society but it is necessary for them to fulfill their obligations as citizens, being the only way they can secure that their rights will be met by the state. Since immigrants settled willingly in the host society, they are expected to be loyal and to abide by the laws and rules of this society, especially that it is the rights of the nationals to act upon the preservation of their own society where they lived their whole lives, offering sacrifices for maintaining its well being. Consequently, immigrants must prove they are loyal to the society, showing all signs of good faith. This comes in different forms; (respecting the constitution and laws, being productive workers to add economic value, interacting socially and politically with the wider society†¦etc). This will make the immigrants an inseparable necessary component within the host society being active loyal citizens. But still this does not require them breaking ties with their original homelands, but they just are expected to be committed to the well being of the host society. In return to this, the immigrants can claim some cultural rights from the host society, such as: Asking to be excluded from some laws that may be hindering some of their religious practices. The state needs to take such claims into consideration because it will show how the state respects the immigrants cultures even if their practices are differently perceived from the majority but still as long as they are not harmful for the wider society, they should be allowed to practice them. Calling for assistance to pursue some activities which help them get integrated within the society. Such as helping them acquire the cultural competence needed to adapt with the society (offering language classes, teaching them the societal life style, having publications about the societys traditions, customs and history†¦). Also, sometimes this assistance is needed to overcome disadvantages that prevent the immigrants from practicing some of their rights or daily life practices, either because they are discriminated against and in this case the state is required to fight this racism or because these practices or activities were designed in a way that only fits the majority without considering others. Immigrants can ask to be properly represented in the states institutions and governmental bodies so as to have voices that call for their rights and needs and to allocate them their shares of the public resources. Such a mechanism also helps greatly in fighting discrimination. Thos representatives can ask for some symbolic representation to the minorities such as national holiday or official name for the minority†¦etc. The state and the wider society on the other hand should be meeting the other side of the equation by helping the immigrants to integrate, taking all the measures that can help in this. From observation, we can notice that the states integration policies differed over time due to some changes that took place such as: The influx in immigration especially that the old assumption that their number will decreases or that they will dissolve in the society did not happen, on the contrary they are increasing steadily compared to the western societies birth rates, especially that these societies are facing an ageing problem. The increase in the immigrants consciousness about their rights due to the increase in the human rights organizations along with the democratic movements that make equality and justice basic priorities that can not be negotiated. Thus, this encourages minorities to have representatives calling for their needs and rights. Such changes increased the necessity to respect the minorities and immigrants rights and it added a burden over the states to meet their role in integrating the immigrants within their societies. Consequently, from the states side, there must be a commitment to help the immigrants integrate getting over any disadvantages they have (lack of knowledge about host society, being stereotyped†¦). The state needs to work on different levels to fulfill this role: The state needs to address the exclusion problems that face the immigrants who get discriminated against in many spheres of life especially economically and socially .The state must set penalties on discriminatory acts against immigrants being illegal, this will increase the immigrants loyalty to the state, being just to them, looking after their rights. But, if the state did not respond to discrimination taking place, the immigrants will feel inferior and more alienated which make them easily attracted by terrorist organizations. The state needs to adopt policies that help the immigrants get over any disadvantages they face due to their transitional positions as we stated earlier (language classes, citizenship classes, equal employment opportunities†¦etc).Such policies may be accused of being discriminatory, but actually they are not since the immigrants are usually the least advantaged category in any society. The state also shall make changes to the educational system so as to be more multicultural. This will help in creating attachments and a sense of belonging between the students and the citizens afterwards by fostering values such as tolerance, mutual respect and understanding, respect for diversityetc. These values are necessary in such multinational societies as it ensures that each community preserves its national culture and identity but still all communities will be sharing one common civic identity that tighten the relations between them for the good of the society. This shall be leading to active citizens who are both responsible and productive. Such multicultural education will be teaching the students about the relationship with The other. this learning process will enhance their critical thinking about themselves and the immigrants. They may include histories about how these minorities contributed to the host society or mentioning their major historical events and national h olidays. All this shall be implemented in a multicultural educational atmosphere where the administrators and teachers are all committed to promoting diversity and protecting the cultures of the students while fostering a common sense of identity. Also, the civil society does play a role in bringing together different communities together in shared activities and interests to increase their sense of having a civic common identity which transcends the ethnic and national differences, while everyone is still retaining its own national identity and culture. How to make these efforts work together while avoiding the critics stated against them? These are the efforts and roles that need to be pursued by the state, the immigrants and the civil society. Cooperating together to ensure the preservation of a common sense of identity along with the preservation of each ones national culture and identity, helps greatly in the success of the integration of the immigrants within the host society easily and quickly. It makes them integrated without being alienated or discriminated against. We find at the end by looking at different multicultural societies how all the communities are cooperating together having many shred interests and feeling a common sense of loyalty to the society, while at the same time they all feel both equal and different. This is the equation that need to be maintained; to assure that the national identity of the state (of the host society) is preserved while being inclusive to other different national communities through an over arching civic identity. These efforts sometimes are criticized by being discriminatory to nationals in favor of immigrants as stated earlier- but it is not, it just an engine for affirmative actions since the disadvantages faced by immigrants are much more than other citizens face. Also, some analysts think that such efforts are repressive imposing obligatory civic integration from above on the whole society. To avoid this we must ensure that the process of integration is smoothly undertaken , ensuring the help of all sectors of the society (civil society, citizens, local association, the government, the immigrants†¦etc) to assure the shared willingness of all to be one common whole, facing any disadvantages that may arise to achieve the common good for the whole state and the wider host society without threatening anyones culture or national identity, rather being more inclusive and more understandable to all differences while maintaining one common civic ground. An important mechanism that can be a safe guard that integration is not imposed rather is a natural flow of interaction between the different communities is through encouraging dialogues between these communities with their different cultural backgrounds both through their representatives and between normal citizens as well. This dialogue it will help them understands one another culture and creating more common grounds between them. On the other hand, it will be asserting every ones loyalty to his/her own national identity through critical analysis and constructive self criticisms. Such actions shall be ensuring on the long run that both the differences are understandably respected and that the states national identity is protected and even enriched through dialogue. Others believe that on the contrary, the states now are less willing to accept/ integrate immigrants rather they count on their immigration policies as a mechanism to lessen immigrants entrance. But this is exaggerating, where although it is true that some countries have every strict immigration policies but still others are moderate. Countries in general tend to refine the immigrants accepted to entry to ensure the success of its integration policies according to its societal framework. Such immigration policies try to make sure that immigrants will be an added value to the society not an economic burden and that they are willing to commit to be good citizens to ensure a peaceful multicultural society that both preserves it identity while respecting its diversity. But still an important basic rule should be taken into consideration, immigration policies ought to be seeking the national interests of the state as a priority and in applying such a vision, it can not be accused of intol erance or discrimination against prospective citizens as long as it is logical in its requirements and limits. By avoiding these limitations and consolidating all parties efforts, multiculturalism and state nationalism will be coexisting peacefully. Conclusion: As Brown believes that when a country adopts the ideology of a multicultural nationalism it means; the nation is viewed as a community bound by a commitment to the values of ethnic diversity and inter-ethnic equity An authentic multicultural state nationalism can flourish when both diversity and state national identity are being promoted and respected. Multicultural governance can achieve that with its focus on having a strong active citizenship along with a respected multicultural societal framework. Such multicultural authority not only protects diversity found within the society, rather it also works on flourishing it. In this way the citizens -including immigrants- can belong to the nation state as a whole while at the same time keeping their attachment to their cultural or ethnic community. Multicultural governance, with the different state policies that aim at integrating the immigrants and with the efforts of both the private and civil associations along with the commitment of the immigrants to be loyal integrated citizens, creates a society where cultural freedoms are protected and national state identity is also asserted. The state needs to put in mind while doing her national policie s that immigrants are citizens in training who need all the help and support to lead a good life in the host society where they can be active loyal citizens. It should be noticed by now how multiculturalism neither negates nor avoids nationalism rather it just implies a society with various internal micro nationalisms. That is why they can work together as long as the efforts undertaken are genuine seeking the creation of spaces where various cultures are respected without weakening the states national identity. Since multiculturalism goes beyond tolerance towards recognition of others, it entails the reassertion of all identities and cultures involved in such an interaction.

Comparing the Victorian Times of Great Expectations with Today Essays

Comparing the Victorian Times of Great Expectations with Today There are many things about the Victorian Age that are different from our way of life today. Evidence of this can be found in such elements of the 1800's as courting manners, child- rearing, transportation, housing and careers. The novel and film Great Expectations give many examples of the contrast of the present and the past. Victorians were a very class-conscious society. These days, just about anyone can manage to have fairly nice clothes, a decent car, a place to live, and reasonable job security. Not so in Victorian times. Great Expectations clearly illustrates the rich and poor extremes of the society. As a boy, Pip was seen as obviously poor by Estella, due to his calling knaves jacks, and having coarse hands and thick boots. She was disgusted even to be around him simply due to this fact. Pip simply couldn't afford many nice clothes because he was a blacksmith's son. The other end of the dress spectrum is shown by Pip's trip to the tailor later in the book. His money has all of a sudden made him an important man and he can have only the finest clothes. He spends much of the book walking around London decked out in suits and a top hat like he's better than everyone. While dress prejudices still exist in today's times, they are not as drastic as they seemed to be in the Victorian period. If you're looking to go to a bar and pick up a one-night stand, the 1800's are not the spot for you. Many marriages w...

Haiti: Development

Why is Haiti underdeveloped? (15) Haiti is a Caribbean country located on the island of Hispaniola. It is the poorest country in the western hemisphere with its GDP at just $1, 200. The country has suffered through political violence throughout its history and was struck by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7. 0 in 2010. These two major events during Haiti’s history left the country in ruins and since Haiti has not seemed to recover. Throughout the course of this essay I will go into further detail as to why Haiti is extremely underdeveloped.Haiti has a very low life expectancy at 62 years in comparison to the UK which is 80 years. This shows that between these two countries there are major differences between factors that influence life expectancy. In comparison to the UK, in Haiti poorer medical care is received by the population and this also shows how bad the standard of living is in Haiti. In Haiti, the total fertility rate is 3. 07 babied per woman whereas in the UK its 1. 91. This shows that in Haiti the emancipation of women is lower which means the country cannot develop.Another major social fact is that 52. 9% of Haiti’s population is literate. Half the population are unable to read or write and this means that they cannot get good jobs or look after their families better and move them out of poverty because they lack a huge skill. These social factors stop Haiti from developing. Haiti has suffered mass political instability over the years. The brutal dictatorships of the physician Francois and his son left tens of thousands of people killed during their 29-year rule.Since then the US intervened and forced Haiti to return to a constitutional government in 1994. However there were allegations of electoral irregularities, ongoing extra-judicial killings, torture and brutality. A bloody rebellion plus pressure from US and France forced the President Mr. Aristicide out of the country. In the present day Haiti is still plagued by violent conf rontations between rival gangs and political groups. The UN has described the human rights situation as â€Å"catastrophic†.This political instability over the years is a massive obstacle to Haiti developing. However the biggest factor as to why Haiti is so underdeveloped is the environmental factors. Haiti lies in a region prone to earthquakes and because of its tropical climate it suffers many tropical storms. This leaves areas with severe deforestation and vulnerable to flooding. Haiti is not equipped to deal with these natural disasters. In January 2010 Haiti was struck by an earthquake, 7. 0 on the Richter scale, this was the country’s worst earthquake in over 200 years.Tens of thousands of people were killed and this led to mass international aid being received by Haiti. A year later and Haiti is still struggling to recover from this earthquake. This shows exactly how underdeveloped Haiti is because they are constantly being hit with natural disasters but they ar e ill-equipped at dealing with them. This is a huge obstacle to development because it means that money cannot be spent on things that make a country more developed such as education or business. Also, following the earthquake, the economy is still recovering.The damage to Port-au-Prince caused the country’s GDP to decrease by an estimated 8%. Haiti was ranked 145 of 182 countries in the 2010 United Nations human development index with 57. 3% of the population being deprived of at least 3 of the HDI poverty measures. Most Haitians live on less than $2 a day. This fact is crucial as to why Haiti is underdeveloped. This shows that as Haitians don’t have that much money they cannot afford for their children to go to school so more and more children are being born into poverty.Therefore these children can never leave poverty so the country cannot develop as the majority of the population is in poverty. In conclusion, Haiti is underdeveloped because of many social, politica l, economic and environmental reasons. However I think the most important factor as to why Haiti is so underdeveloped in the environmental factors. Haiti must spend money on taking care of natural disasters instead of factors that help a country to develop. So in my opinion the fact that Haiti receives a lot of natural disasters is stopping them from developing.

Ikea Strategic in Action Essay

Part strategic position and strategic choice which mention above are underlining company environment, capability, and its strategy. Strategy in action will consider on how strategy act in organisation (Johnson et al., 2011a).This part of report will evaluate them considering their suitability. Evaluation IKEA strategies regards Suitability Suitability refers to the strategy is used to evaluate whether the strategies address the key ‘opportunities’ and ‘constraints’ underlined by the organisation’s strategic position (Johnson et al., 2008). This criterion can be examined by checking the strategic options against the environment, capabilities and the stakeholder expectations. Therefore, the analysing of PESTEL, Five Forces and strategic capabilities of IKEA in section above will be helpful for evaluating and understanding suitability. It appears that suitability is used to evaluate whether overall rationale of strategy is suitable in terms of environment and capabilities and stakeholder expectations or not. Therefore, this part of report not only evaluates IKEA strategies and capabilities regard in suitability but its successes and difficulties will be analysed. Firstly, from PESTEL analysis, IKEA takes advantage from ‘hybrid’ and ‘cost leadership’ strategy to response to its environment. IKEA’s products are cheap and differentiate; these are good opportunities to survive in economic recession. Additionally, IKEA’s core customers (middle class with moderate disposable income) are affordable to buy products even if in economic recession. Moreover, IKEA capabilities are strong global brand and low cost products with flat packaging which is its core resource and competence. Combining its capabilities and its strategies will benefit IKEA to achieve in environment changed and competitive circumstance. However, the difficulty is about import issue. All IKEA normally sources products from the same places in order to keep it standard. However, in some countries the import taxes are very high. For example in China, the import taxes on products from Poland to China are up to 22% (Burt el al., 2011). However, to stand its low price strategy and survive in China market, IKEA overcome this difficulty by sourcing goods from local country to reduce cost of taxation (Burt el al., 2011). In overall, it can be seen that in these circumstances and environmental change, the strategies IKEA has been used is a good opportunities to overcome those threats and suitable in its environment. Secondly, from Five Forces analysis, IKEA strategies and its capabilities can go along with external environment very well. It is normal that buyers are looking for cheap products but high quality. IKEA strategies are support customer needs. Furthermore, IKEA unique resources such as strong brand combining with its ‘hybrid’ strategy will maintain existing customers and gain more new buyers. In a term of power of supplier, IKEA’s strategies are suitable to supplier expectations. To generate low cost products, IKEA has to reduce cost of sale per unit by purchasing a large volume of material s from supplier. As well as suppliers, they also want to sell their products as much as possible. Moreover, considering in threat of new entry, IKEA strategies and capabilities are difficult for new entrants to compete. These are the reasons why IKEA takes opportunity from its strategies and capabilities among these threats. In addition, in the rivalry situation, it can be assumed that whether other companies offer low cost products but its quality, design, and brand image may not be the same as IKEA. IKEA considers in quality as well as the price. However, in high competitive markets, IKEA may face difficulties. For example in China which local products are normally cheap, IKEA low price strategy may not attract to this market. Giving a suggestion, in order to offer only low cost products, IKEA should build brand image as a high quality brand and offer Swedish-designed product which differentiate in Chinese customer perception. In overall, it appears that IKEA capabilities and its strategies are suitable to compete in the rivalry situation. IKEA generates its strengths and overcome the weaknesses in a suitable way. Thirdly, evaluation of suitability of IKEA strategies and capabilities according to Ansoff analysis of 4 possible development directions will be examined. The suitability will be evaluated whether these options will match to future scenario. The future scenario which matches in a term of economical environment is predicted that the world economy will maintain very weak in 2013 and slightly decrease between 2014 and 2016 (The Guardian, 2012). Apart from evaluation the suitability of IKEA strategies and capability, the suitability will be used to assessment whether IKEA strategic options meet the stakeholder expectations (Johnson et al., 2008). Table 5 Evaluation of suitability – Direction of growth In overall, IKEA strategies and capabilities are suitable in the environment and meet the expectation of stakeholders. Market penetration may be the most appropriate direction that IKEA should carry on at the present time to the future scenario predicted. There is no major investment needed. The IKEA current strategies and its capabilities is now effective under this circumstance. However, there is a difficulty in IKEA’s strategies. IKEA is a global company which generates same strategies almost every market called one-size-fit-all approach (Stern, 2012). Although, one-size-fit-all approach will benefit IKEA to control it global strategies easily, the difficulty will occur. The problem is every market is all difference. The one-size-fits-all approach on all IKEA staff and customers is good to share the same value but for all market is not suitable. The different markets have different circumstance. For example, according to Anders Dahlvig cited in Stern (2012), the differences between countries were great in China and Sweden. China is different territory. Chinese labour policies are poor for IKEA co-worker vision. Chinese workforce depends on the authority of the boss which is difficult to adapt to the more free and easy way of the new employer (Stern, 2012). Moreover, in the future, if IKEA wants to expand their market and make the differentiation, the policy and restriction in some countries may be serious such as in Islamic countries, and the differentiation needs lots of investment and knowledge. IKEA should consider how to stay the low price while a lot of investment is needed.

Dwight D. Eisenhower - Biography

Dwight D. Eisenhower - Biography Dwight D. Eisenhowers Childhood and Education: Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890 in Denison, Texas. However, he moved as an infant to Abilene, Kansas. He grew up in a very poor family and worked throughout his youth to earn money. He attended local public schools and graduated from high school in 1909. He joined the military in order to gain a free college education. He went to the West Point from 1911-1915. He was commissioned a second lieutenant but continued his education in the military eventually attending the Army War College. Family Ties: Eisenhowers father was David Jacob Eisenhower, a mechanic and manager. His mother was Ida Elizabeth Stover who happened to be a deeply religious pacifist. He had five brothers. He married Marie Mamie Geneva Doud on July 1, 1916. She moved many times with her husband throughout his military career. Together they had one son, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower.   Dwight D. Eisenhowers Military Service: Upon graduation, Eisenhower was assigned to be a second lieutenant in the infantry. During World War I, he was a training instructor and commander of a training center. He attended the Army War College and then joined General MacArthurs staff. In 1935 he went to the Philippines. He served in various executive positions before the start of World War II. After the war, he resigned and became the president of Columbia University. He was appointed by Harry S  Truman to be the Supreme Commander of NATO. World War II: At the start of World War II, Eisenhower was chief of staff to Commander General Walter Krueger. He was then promoted to brigadier general in 1941. In March 1942 he became a major general. In June, he was appointed commander of all U.S. forces in Europe. He was the commander of allied forces during the invasion of North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He was then named Supreme Allied Commander in charge of the D-Day invasion. In December 1944 he was made a five-star general. Becoming the President: Eisenhower was chosen to run on the Republican ticket with Richard Nixon as his Vice President against Adlai Stevenson. Both candidates campaigned vigorously. The campaign dealt with Communism and governmental waste. However, more people voted for Ike leading to his victory with 55% of the popular vote and 442 electoral votes. He ran again in 1956 against Stevenson. One of the main issues was Eisenhowers health due to a recent heart attack. In the end he won with 57% of the vote. Events and Accomplishments of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Presidency: Eisenhower traveled to Korea before he took office to help conclude the peace talks. By July 1953, an Armistice was signed that separated Korea into two with a demilitarized zone at the 38th parallel. The Cold War was raging while Eisenhower was in office. He began building up nuclear weapons to protect America and to warn the Soviet Union that the U.S. would retaliate if fired upon. When Fidel Castro took power in Cuba and then began relations with the Soviet Union, Eisenhower placed an embargo on the country. He was concerned about the Soviet involvement in Vietnam. He came up with the Domino Theory where he said that if the Soviet Union could topple one regime (like Vietnam), it would find it easier and easier to topple further regimes. Therefore, he was the first to send advisors to the region. He also created the Eisenhower Doctrine where he asserted that America had the right to aid any country threatened by Communist aggression. In 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy who had been trying to reveal Communists in government fell from power when the Army-McCarthy hearings were televised.  Joseph N. Welch who represented the Army was able to show how out of control McCarthy had become.   In 1954, the Supreme Court decided in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 that schools should be desegregated. In 1957, Eisenhower had to send federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to safeguard black students enrolling for the first time in a previously all-white school. In 1960, a Civil Rights Act was passed to include sanctions against any local officials who blocked blacks from voting. The U-2 Spy Plane Incident occurred in 1960. On May 1, 1960, a U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was brought down near Svedlovsk, Soviet Union. This event had a lasting negative impact on U.S. - U.S.S.R. relations. The details surrounding this event are to this day still shrouded in mystery. Eisenhower, however, defended the need for reconnaissance flights as necessary for national security. Post-Presidential Period: Eisenhower retired after his second term on January 20, 1961. He moved to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and wrote his autobiography and memoirs. He died on March 28, 1969 of congestive heart failure. Historical Significance: Eisenhower was president during the 50s, a time of relative peace (despite the  Korean Conflict) and prosperity. Eisenhowers willingness to sent federal troops into Little Rock, Arkansas to ensure that local schools were desegregated was an important  step in the  Civil Rights movement.