International Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Politics - Essay Example To this the constructivists argue that customs, culture and ideas principally determine the awareness of the world that we live in. The distinctiveness and welfare of a state can be molded by ideas and this serves to have more or less lasting effects on international relations. Conflicts emerge from fundamental and controlling outcomes of standards and shared hopes, distinctiveness, culture and social processes (Baylis & Smith, 2005). The notion of liberalism maintains that in order to determine the behavior of the state, it is important to consider the state’s preferences, and does not accept the capabilities of the state for these purposes, which differ from one state to another. They are mainly dependent on the culture, economic system and the type of the government in each state. (International relations). Proponents of the dependency theory assert that all the third – world countries are not poverty stricken. In the past, these countries had been rich, but they the colonial regime exploited and impoverished them. The powerful first-world nations compelled the third world countries to integrate into the mainstream of the world economy, which rendered their economy subservient to the insatiable needs of the colonial regimes of the first-world nations. These countries were unable to satisfy the needs of their society, due to the compulsions of their colonial masters. The wealthy and industrially developed countries dominated the global economy, and were never exploited by colonialism. (The IR Theory Knowledge Base). Functionalism deals with the functionality of organizations in terms of their purposes and tasks. Most international organizations were developed to address several problems, purposes, tasks and demands. Therefore, theorists argue that the growth of these organizations was mainly based on their responsibility to sort out these issues that could arise from time to time. The neo  ­Ã¢â‚¬â€œ functionalism

'Common stock valuation' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

'Common stock valuation' - Essay Example The dividend yielded from a particular common stock is not predetermined and is variable as compared to the fixed dividend offered in the case of preferred shares. The identification of the common stock’s value becomes quite difficult as the dividend rate is not already known and is always fluctuating. The basic principle applied while stock’s value is determined is that the current value of the stock is supposed to be its present value of all upcoming cash flows that is owed by the person who has invested in the stock. In simpler terms this means that an investor’s return depends on what price he is paying for a stock. The current price of a stock can be identified through discounted value of future cash flows by applying the principle of time value of money (Moyer, 2012). This value of the stock is recognized as the stocks intrinsic value as this value is obtained from different information available about the stock. This value is not the exact value of the sto ck, but this value is near to the stocks actual value and reflects the current position of the stock. The above formula states that Po is the current price of the share and D1 is the dividend for that particular stock which is offered for the first time and the same dividend will be offered throughout and r is used to represent the common stock’s required return rate (Mayo, 2007). If a particular stock’s dividend is not constant and keeps on changing then the current value of the stock is its present value of any growing cash flows. Formula: Do is used to indicate the dividend that is offered this time, if the dividend of that particular stock keeps on growing at a continuous rate, then the current common stock’s value is value that all future dividends will have (Chisholm, 2009). The constant rate of growth of stocks is represented by â€Å"g†. This model is referred as DVM or dividend

Lord of the Flies Symbolism Essay

Lord of the Flies Symbolism Essay The conch shell is a shell that means a lot more than just a beautiful white shell. It has great power and it symbolizes civilization and order. The boys on the island look to this conch as holding order in a crumbling society. The boys respect this conch in the beginning and no one can speak unless you are holding the conch. You will see how the conch, positioned high on a pedestal, but in the end, lays among the rocks in fine white dust. As the civilization and order on the island begins to erode, the conch shell looses power and this has a big influence on the boys. When they start to realize the conch is losing power, things will get out of order and jack is beginning to take over. Once Jack takes over, savageness is comes into play. The diminishing of the conchs importance in this story shows the start of the decline of the civilization on this island. When the conch shell is crushed by the boulder roger threw, this symbolizes the true end of civilization and the true start of a truly savage nation. The signal fire is another important symbol in lord of the flies. The fire seems to represent savageness and civilization. It is savage because it burns wildly and it is civilization in the sense that they are trying to get rescued. The fire at first is a symbol of civilization and order and because Ralph is trying to get rescued which symbolizes civilization. When the fire starts to burn out of control and one boy goes missing (the one with the big birthmark on the side of his face) this shows that the fire is becoming savage. The signal fire has many complex layersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ kind of like an onion. When the fire burns low or goes out, we begin to realize that the boys have lost the desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage lives on the island. The fire is ironic in a way that at the end of the novel, it finally gets a ship to the island. Instead of it being the signal fire it is the fire of savagery. The forest fire Jacks tribe starts as part of trying to hunt Ralph d own and kill him The evil within the boys has more effect on their existence as they spend more time on the island, isolated from the rest of society that represents the decline and is shown by Piggys specs. Piggys glasses represent civilization, science, and technology while they are trying to get rescued. Piggys glasses make the fire start representing the start of the civilization process, if that is what you want to call it. Without the glasses, they would not have been able to get rescued. They end up fighting over the gasses when the glasses were knocked off piggy and broken. That represents how the glasses have changed and how the civilization is starting to diminish. When jack steals the glasses this shows how savageness is taking over and how jack is taking over. Throughout the book, Piggy represents the civilization and the rules. As Piggy loses his ability to see, the other boys lose their vision of becoming civilized and being rescued. When the story begins, Piggy can see clearly with bot h lenses of his glasses perfectly new and the boys are still civilized. After some time passes, the hunters become more concerned with slaughtering of a pig than with being rescued and returning to civilization. Things are beginning to diminish. This is illustrated in the way that Piggys glasses are becoming more and more broken. It shows how in the beginning piggy could see clearly and things were civilized. Then when his glasses were knocked off, he could not really see and that shows how civilization is declining. When Piggys glasses are stolen, he cannot see at all which shows that civilization has completely disappeared. The beast is a thing that all the boys are afraid of, it is a product of their imagination. However, in reality, it represents the evil that lurks whit in all of us, which is causing life on the island to deteriorate. Piggy begins to say that the beast is just fear and Simon tells them, Maybe, maybe there is a beast what I mean is maybe its only us (p. 89). Jack states that the beast can take shape in any form, which is kind of showing how the beast can take shape in anybody. It is foreshadowing in how the beast will soon come out of the boys and start killing one by one. The beast changes from the beginning because it is seen as a thing but then later on they started to realize that the beast is within all of us. The beast cant be killed because it is in every single one of us. The beast is, literally a man that is not what Simon means when he says that it is only us. He is talking about the beast being the darkness that is inside each and every one of us. If this is true, then, as the Lord of the Flies later says, it is crazy to think that the beast is something you could hunt and kill. If it is inside all of us, not only can we not hunt it, we can never see it, never give it form and never defeat it. When Simon has his scene with the pigs head, the Lord of the Flies says to him, Im the beast. This makes simons other words true; you cannot hunt and kill the beast, because they have already hunted and killed the pig and it is still talking to you. Even later, when Ralph smashes the skull, makes the smile bigger, now six feet across as it lies grinning at the sky. This thing just will not die, and it torments Ralph so much, because it knows all the answers and wont tell. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon realizes that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. As the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys are leaving it and treating it as a some what god. The boys behavio r is what brings the beast into their lives because they are so savage. The more savagely the boys act, the more real the beast seems to become. Another symbol that is the presented in the middle of the book is the lord of the flies. The lord of the flies is the main theme of the book, hence the title. The lord of the flies is the head of the pig that the boys killed and chopped up. The Lord of the Flies is the bloody, severed sows head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest glade as an offering to the beast. They stuck the head on a stick and left it there for the so-called beast to come eat it. The lord of the flies symbolizes the devil or satan. The actions that the boys did to kill the pig was the last action that truly turned them to savages. That was the most savage thing they could have done. Simon has a discussion with the lord of the flies and it tells him that the beast cannot be killed and it lurks within all of us. This complicated symbol becomes the most important symbol in the novel when Simon confronts the cows head in the forest and it seems to speak to him, telling him that evil lies within every human he art and promising to have some fun with him. (This fun foreshadows Simons death in the next chapter.) In this way, the Lord of the Flies becomes both a physical picture of the beast, a symbol of the power of evil, and a kind of Satan figure who makes the beast come out within each human being. Looking at the book in the sense of the bible, the Lord of the Flies resembles the devil, just as Simon resembles Jesus. The name Lord of the Flies is a translation of the name of the biblical name Beelzebub, which is a powerful demon in hell that is sometimes thought to be the devil. The boys, have truly, been deprived of their innocence. They have witnessed that deep down inside there is a dangerous beast lurking there. The symbols help to show how the innocence is lost and how things have changed in their society. Golding is foreshadowing our lives. Slowly and slowly, we will become more and more uncivilized and the beast will come out and transform our faces and personality. The change in the symbols of the book shows the slow decline of civilization and the gradual increase of the savageness and the beast manifesting from within the boys.

Dramatic Tension in The Crucible Essay -- The Crucible Arthur Miller W

Dramatic Tension in The Crucible The play, ‘The Crucible’, illustrates how people react to mass hysteria created by a person or group of people, as people did during the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s and the Salem witch hunts of 1962. Many Americans were wrongly accused of being Communist sympathizers. The activities of the House of Un-American Activities Committee began to be linked with the witchcraft trials that had taken place in the town of Salem. This provided Miller with the catalyst to write ‘The Crucible’. Without the knowledge of the McCarthy hearings and the Salem witch hunts, ‘The Crucible’ may be seen as a melodrama and the events in the play, sensationalised. It is not a melodrama because it is not overly dramatic; the McCarthy hearings and the witch hunts inject realism in the play. The play deals with historical events and with characters that have a historical context. Through the use of dialogue, stage directions which enable us to envisage the scene on stage and characterisation we can see how dramatic tension is created by Miller. These aspects are to be explored for each act. Act One begins with Reverend Parris praying fervently over his daughter, Betty Parris, who lies unconscious on her bed. The stage directions indicate that the room is quite dark with only a candle burning and sunlight through the window lighting the room. Parris is frightened, confused and angered by Betty’s illness, perhaps wondering what he has done wrong to be inflicted with such misery. This shown by the way he prays, then weeps and then starts praying again as if he unsure even of his emotions. He is very tense and is quickly angered without provocation, for example when Tituba inquires about Betty he turns on her in fury and shouts at her to get out. He then starts to sob and in his fear he starts to mumble to Betty to wake up, his feeling of inadequacy is expressed through his fragmented, disjointed sentences. ‘Oh, my God! God help me! Betty. Child. Dear Child. Will you wake, will you open your eyes! Betty, little one†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ He turns on Abigail and confronts her and through the conversation between Reverend Parris and his niece Abigail, the audience learns that the town’s girls, including Abigail and Betty, had engaged in activities in the forest led by Tituba; Parris’ slave from Barbados. At this moment they are only provided with conflicting accou... ...he town like others before him. He and Rebecca are led out and Parris, Hale and Elizabeth are left on stage. A drum roll is heard in the background, showing that there is little time left to stop the hangings. Parris and Hale plead frantically with Elizabeth to stop him and that there is time yet but as the drum roll signifies, not much time. Elizabeth knows that this is the only way things can end so that she and Proctor can finally be at peace. She replies to hale and Parris, ‘He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!’ The loud drum roll that heightens violently at the end of the play signifies a definite end to the play. It leaves a tense atmosphere; which leaves the audience to contemplate the play and particular characters and their relevance to the title. Proctor would be seen as the one comes out of the ‘crucible’ purified. The light that shines through the window at the very end of the play makes the ending symbolic. The word, ‘new’ almost lets us forget all the tragic events that have passed and that the best solution would be to start afresh. It leaves the audience thinking there is a hope for the people of Salem especially with the presence of light.

Strengths Paper

â€Å" A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. †~ Jim Rohn Throughout history, people have needed leaders to help them handle certain situations and work through problems. Anybody can become a leader, but first they must determine what their strengths are. There is now a test that one can take online that outlines their five top strengths and explains in detail what each one means. It varies for each person that takes it, but my top five strengths are achiever, adaptability, strategic, restorative, and relator.The first of my strengths is achiever. This means that whenever I start something, I like to finish it and generally do whatever it takes to reach that goal. My second strength, adaptability, in a way, ties into the first one. Adaptability means being able to approach problems from different angles and finding new ways to complete things when one idea doesn't work. I feel like these two strengths relate to me pretty well. I do not like to leave projects open ended whenever I start them and I'm usually pretty good at ‘rolling with the punches. These two allow me to tackle situations in a variety of ways and leave me with plenty of the proverbial â€Å"plan B's† in case any of the first attempts do not work properly. My third strength, strategic, also aids my ability to work through problems. This particular strength allows me to think about the situation fully before jumping into it. Once I figure out what's happening, I can come up with a plan that best suites the circumstances and work on accomplishing it. By nature, I have found out that I more of a planner.I like to lay things out in my head before I start so things run more smoothly once I begin, which works well with my strategic strength. The last two strengths, restorative and relator, confused me for a little bit. I can put myself into other people's shoes easily and I would much rat her mend my broken relationships than burn those bridges, but I wouldn't necessarily put them into my top five. It's not a bad thing by any means, though! As a whole, these five strengths work well together nicely and, in a certain situation, could play off of each other in a very effective way!For example, let's say that I worked at a burger joint downtown. Well, everyone gets hungry and the need to eat usually overwhelms any other feeling that one could have. So, here's the scene: it's a hot summer day and after classes, I decide that I'm going to go get some free food at the restaurant that I work at. Walking in, I know what I want to achieve: I want a big, juicy burger with mustard, ketchup, tomatoes, pickles, onions, and cheese with a side of fresh onion rings. I grill the burger, pull out the buns, and head to the fridge to grab all the condiments.I generally only like to make one trip, so I carry all the items to the table where my burger is waiting. Little did I know that so meone had spilled Coke earlier in the day! As I slip on the spill, the pickles and ketchup fall to the tile in the kitchen and shatter. I have to adapt to the new situation, so I come up with a new strategy. Banana peppers and a little bit of mayo would fill in for the dropped items nicely! I bring all the items over to the table and restore what could have been a disaster.I can now take my delicious lunch outside, find someone that I can relate to, and have a conversation over fresh burgers and crispy onion rings. Everybody has the potential to be a leader. Before they assume this responsibility though, it is best that they find out what their top strengths are so that they can benefit a larger amount of people more effectively through their actions. For me, my top strengths are achiever, adaptability, strategic, restorative, and relator. With these, I can figure out problems, find out ways to solve them, get others input on the subject, and come out of the situation intact.

Byzantine and the Impact of Islam

Byzantine is a Roman empire or the empire of Greeks in the Middle East. The history of Byzantine is a continuous line from the latter centuries of Rome to the very beginning of the modern time. It’s about the culture of the Greece and Rome that has a unique cultural history based on synthesis of Roman, European and Islamic elements when it suffered three crisis of external invasion, internal civil war and economy that later made the administrative center less important. (Bury, J. B. 1989).The emperor of Byzantine Empire was Justinian who occupied territories by the Goths and the main occupants of the empire were Christians, but after the fall of Rome; Christians who were horribly persecuted by the Byzantines welcomed the Muslims conquerors with open arms just to tolerate their religion. (Barker, J. W. 1966) By the time justinian resigned Byzantine was in a financial crisis. Later Heraculius succeeded him. When the throne was assumed, a forty-year old Arab named Muhammad swept the streets with messages of Islam across the entire empire.At the end of his regime Muhammad’s message came to pass and Muslims armies emerged and started making raids into Byzantine territory in Syria and began to conquer the Persian territories. (Bury, J. B. 1989) Because of the disaffected populations of Christians and Jews who had been persecuted earlier, the Muslim quickly conquered Byzantine territories in the ninth century. Their victory did not last long because of the Islamic government under Caliph deteriorated and Byzantines started to dominate the Asia Minor and by the tenth century they reconquered most of Syria and became more powerful and influential again.The crusaders The Byzantines however saught help from the Europe against the Muslims conquerors. Europe decided to assist them despite their cultural differences as they shared a common religion with the Byzantines. In 1204 the crusaders attacked the city of Constantinople a goal that the Muslims had been tr ying to conquer for centuries and conquered the Muslims. In 1261 the Byzantine Empire ceased to be an empire and was known as a small kingdom that later in 1453, the Constantinople city was permanently conquered by the Ottoman Turks and was renamed Istanbul.(Diehl, C. (1957) Byzantine Christianity Byzantine Christianity was a different religion from the Latin Christianity, what made it look different was the role of the emperor in matters regarding the faith. While for the Latin Christians the pope in matters of faith was almost solidified. Later the Byzantines inherited the roman idea and practiced a form of Christianity whereby theological authority was vested in the emperor. Through this theological authority it created a permanent breach in the world of Christianity between the west and the east.The breach was to produce iconoclastic controversy that the worship of images and icons was a sign of pagan belief. Only Christ and God should be worshiped this was angulated by Leo the saurian who had turned the tide against the Muslim in 717. The collapse of the Byzantine empire in 1453 saw the Russians believe that they were inheritors of the Byzantine empire and later began the roman empire. (Amis, R1995).Byzantium Empire and impact of IslamThe Byzantine Empire was able to survive for a period of time though not easily achieved through Heraculius some of the empires were kept together despite confrontation on the three sides of empire, and was able to save the empire from the Muslim. (Diehl, C. (1957) His effort worked but his 200,000 troops were killed and a lot of wealth lost during the war with the Persians. After the fight with the Persian he thought of rebuilding the empire but this was not to be as the empire was again attacked by another threat of Islam. The Muslims again got the opportunity to invade Persia and the Byzantine and this surprised both of them.The Persia and the Byzantine Empire did not have strength to fight back the Muslims attacks and th is paved way for Muslims to conquer the eastern provinces of the Byzantines. (Bury, J. B. 1989) The Muslims invasion in the empire weakened the internal division and many Christians wanted to keep their faith and always looked upon religious sects as heretics. Most of them who were persecuted to them life under Islam was good compared to Byzantines because Muslims did not look down upon other religion and this resulted to Muslims being welcomed to Byzantine Empire.Finally when Heraculius died the Muslim got opportunity to conquer the eastern provinces of Byzantine Empire. In the 14th and 15th centuries Islam was already being accepted by the Albanians and later it was in quick acceptance by other nations. . (Diehl, C. (1957) After the death of Mohammed Islam spread very fast and outside Arabia its spread was aided by various political upheavals. The long series of wars between the Byzantine and Persian empires is always credited for this fast spread in the near east especially after the triumph of the Muslims.The Byzantine Empire had the character of imposing Christianity on the population it conquered, for this reason the Syrians and the Egyptians resented and resisted the attempts made by the Byzantine Empire to impose Christianity on them. (Diehl, C 1957) Therefore when the Muslims came to these particular areas they were readily accepted to forestall any attempts that the Byzantine were trying to make, this led to the fall of Syria to the Arab armies to be followed soon by the fall of Iraq and Persia with Egypt falling in 640 AD with very little resistance.With this conquest Islam soon spread to most territories of the Near East and Africa. (Diehl, C. 1957) In the Byzantine Empire there was fierce fanaticism that included interdenominational strife and religious persecution amongst the Christians themselves, compared with the practice and the doctrine of the Islamic faith that tolerated other religions it endeared itself to others. For example the Byzantin es brutally attempted to suppress Christian sects who questioned the established Church.Also there was oppression of the peasants who were heavily taxed. The Empire also suppressed non-orthodox Christian teachings. Opposition to Islam after the conquest was weakened by the fact that under the Muslims, taxes were not very heavy like before and the non-orthodox Christian sects could now operate comfortably. (Diehl, C 1957) The spread of Islam in the better part of Middle East was made possible by Arab victories over Byzantine armies. The Byzantines were the major enemies to be encountered by the Aryans from the Arabian Desert.The encounter with the Byzantines was the first of many major battles between Muslims and Christians. It was Omar who acted as Caliph or head of the Moslem community in 634-44AD that initiated the fast expansion of the Arabs and Islam. Omar achieved the first great successes of Arab armies outside of the Arabian Peninsula when he conquered the Byzantine Empire ru led by the Emperor Heraclius. Omar's armies attacked Syria, seizing large areas. In 636AD at the Battle of Yarmuk the Byzantine Army were greatly humiliated by the Arabs when they defeated them.This saw the Arabs entering Jerusalem and Damascus in 638. It was during these period that it is believed Christianity replaced Christianity in this particular area as a result of the weakness of the Byzantine Empire. Arab rulers imposed a personal tax on all non-Muslims, which encouraged many to convert to the Muslim Faith. In the new Caliphate there was no forced conversions but happened later. At first the Arabs did not consider converting anyone because of the taxes they collected which provided great incomes.(Diehl, C 1957) Cultural and intellectual factor Islam as a religion does not recognize superstitions but is a simple and rational religion that emphasize on knowledge and learning. Through learning as the foremost priority to humankind the Islamic civilization spread through many co untries. The Muslim never destroyed things in middle east as the Christians in Spain what they did was to defend what was positive and eventually embrace it.Political and economic impactIslam was seen as a religion without any political and economic principles. However Islam preached a new concept of human relations avoiding nationalism and class divisions. Islam main concern and interest was humankind’s relations with God. Politically Islam perception was that the supreme power rests with God and equality before the law is a major principle of the political system. (Diehl, C. (1957) In Balkan nations, emergence of Islam was very important compared to the Byzantines Empire.Islam also emphasized on the economic aspect of life and this was clearly shown through justified ways of making profits, possession of property and not overspending and everybody must earn a living in an honest way. Islam came up with obligatory and voluntary laws that have played important roles in the ec onomic system of Islam. Before Islam spread to Balkan nation and Byzantine Empire people who lived there had some kind of social chaos but Muslims brought a new approach to the social lives of the Balkans.For example: Muslim women played a crucial part in the institution of family and were always considered equal in every aspect to her male counterpart. A woman is always the first to show kindness, love, and sincerity and educate. While for Christians, women are seen as devils instrument to harm or hurt people. (Diehl, C. (1957) When they conquered Byzantine Islam played a role in regulating the slavery and sanctioned better conditions for the slaves and even encouraged the prohibition of slavery.Islam also brought together the Middle East and came up with a common language known as Arabic and a common religion known as Islam. After all this positive impact of Islam in Byzantine Empire some of the rules set up are not applicable in the 21st century. At one time there were most power ful, rich and advanced people and today they have created four empires, which include Umayyad, Abbasid, Mogul and Ottoman Empire. Their decline can be traced to about 1700 when the west caught up with the Ottoman the great Muslim empire and started misinterpreting the Koran.(Amin, H. A. 1989).REFERENCESAmin, Hussein Ahmad (1989).The present state of the Muslim umma. Muslim World Amis, Robin (1995).A Different Christianity: Early Christian Esotericism and Modern Thought. Albany: Suny Press, Barker, John W. (1966).Justinian and the Later Roman Empire. The University of Wisconsin Press, Bury, J. B. (1989).â€Å"Roman Emperor from Basil II to Isaac Komnenos,† English Historical Review. 41-64 & 251-286. Diehl, Charles. (1957).Byzantium: Greatness and Decline. Rutgers University Press.

Why Lawyers are Good for Healthcare essays

Why Lawyers are Good for Healthcare essays Healthcare, in its most basic context, can be viewed as an essential human right, and as such, certain standards must be upheld within healthcare if the best interests, and indeed the very lives of patients are to be protected. Thankfully, the presence of lawyers has helped to protect the public from the flaws and shortcomings of the healthcare system. With this statement in mind, solid, logical arguments can be made to validate the role of lawyers in the modern healthcare system and beyond. Organized healthcare enjoys a distinct advantage over the patient from several points of view; generally speaking, doctors and hospitals hold the power to decide whether a patient lives or dies, and as such, the tendency of the patient in the past was to relinquish all rights in the pursuit of being cured of a disease or recovering from trauma (Annas, 1989). This has put the patient, ironically enough, in the dangerous position of having no protection and basically taking a gamble with their wellness and survival. Beyond this surrender on the part of the patient, the true motives of the healthcare industry have degraded to an all out pursuit of profits over the provision of the best care that is humanly possible. In the pursuit of a fat bottom line, healthcare has cut staffing to bare minimum levels, compromised care to lethal levels in many cases, and the like. This is proven by the outrageously high number of fatalities from preventable complications such as infections, careg iver error, substandard facilities, and deliberate negligence (Forsythe, 2000). In the midst of this healthcare crisis, fortunately, lawyers have stepped forward to provide an improved view of healthcare-as it should be. The Lawyers View of How Healthcare Should Be Because of the life and death power that the healthcare industry holds, it can be fairly argued that healthcare as a whole has lost sight of the fundam ...