Investigation of Failed States & Democratic Intervention Essay

Failed states have been an issue in human society for many years. Today there are a total of 177 failed states, which is an all-time high. (Haken) Failed states are not only a terrible situation for the country itself, but for its neighboring countries as well. Some situations are worse than others, but for the most part they all share several factors that classify them as failed states. These factors include a severe economic decline, lack of formal government, deterioration of public services, social disorder, and more. (Haken) Once a country becomes classified as a failed state it is quite difficult for them to fully recover. For this to happen, assistance from allies and neighboring countries is usually necessary. Obviously nobody wants to see a country’s government overrun and its citizens forced into turmoil, but that is unfortunately the way our society operates with radical militant groups such as Al-Qaeda in existence. It has become a global problem and the day may never come when there are no failed states. However, if groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) can be eliminated then these failed states can begin to rebuild themselves and give their citizens the chance to live free, happy lives. An example of a failed state that is making headlines these days is the country of Mali, which is located in Northern Africa. The situation in Mali began over a year ago and has developed into a very serious matter. Much like Libya in 2011, Mali’s government has been overthrown by Islamic militant groups that will do whatever it takes to spread their influence and power. (Larison) The major group behind this invasion is known as Al-Qaeda. As Al-Qaeda forces moved in on Bamako, Mali’s capital, a French military invasion halted them in their tracks. French and Malian forces have now teamed up against â€Å"Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb† (AQIM), which is Al-Qaeda’s militant organization based in Mali. (Larison) The two sides are both ready to battle one another and the situation looks to be headed towards a full-on war. AQIM forces are invading towns and villages while torturing and killing citizens in their path. They are a strong force to be reckoned with and outside help will be needed if Mali is to rid itself of these radicals. This is where neighboring countries become involved. Countries close to Mali, such as Niger, Mauritania, and Algeria, are all looked upon to intervene and to offer aid and/or assistance to the Malians. On top of that, they are forced to live under constant fear and uncertainty of AQIM’s next move(s). Although the United States has no vital economic ties to Mali, some Americans feel obligated to intervene and offer assistance to the French, much like we did in Libya. (Larison) However, the majority of American politicians are against issuing an invasion because all signs point towards an ongoing war similar to those in Iraq and Afghanistan. These two countries experienced this type of situation during the 2000s and Libya did as well in 2011. Libya’s situation was very similar to that of Mali’s current one. Islamic forces invaded and took control and outside help was needed from either neighboring countries or Western forces. Whatever the case may be, many parties were/are involved and too many unnecessary deaths have been recorded already. Going forward we can only hope that the situation in Mali ends up like the ones in Iraq and Libya. The only way this can happen is if the Islamic militant forces are driven out and the country has the opportunity to once again govern itself and eventually prosper. Western intervention has been a major component of global warfare for the last 100 years. From World War I all the way through the Cold War, the United States has always been looked upon to give military assistance to its allies and anyone who holds great importance to our economy. Most recently we’ve gone to war to protect Israel in the Middle East and to aid France in Libya. (Traub) The United States has been involved economically in the Middle East since the late 1980s but became active militarily in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks. We were involved in warfare with Iraq for over a decade and are still at war with Afghanistan. (Traub) Other notable instances of Western military intervention include our involvement in World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and many other smaller wars. The United States has clearly played a crucial role in global warfare for a very long time. One major reason for this amount of military activity is the fact that the U.S. is a democracy. Non-democracy governments typically have less involvement in warfare than democratic governments do. This is because autocracies operate under the discretion of less than 20 people and often times only 1 person. Also, under a democracy a presidential order can be overturned by either the citizens or another branch of the government. A democratic leader would most likely order a military invasion if there is an immediate threat to his/her country’s national security or if there is a very significant amount of economic importance involved in the situation. Giving assistance to allies is also a common reason for entering into a war. These have been the main reasons for American involvement in global warfare over the years. America is undoubtedly a military superpower in the eyes of the world and will most likely remain that way for many more years to come. Works Cited Haken, Nate. â€Å"Interpreting the Arab Spring and Its Effects.† Fundforpeace.org. The Fund for Peace, 28 June 2012. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. . Larison, Daniel. â€Å"In Mali the Domino Theory Is Real.† Theamericanconservative.com. The American Conservative, 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. . Traub, James. â€Å"Think Again: Failed States.† Foreign Policy Magazine, Aug. 2011. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. .

Black Swan Green Letter to a Poet

Through reading excerpts from Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, Rilke's counsel to the young poet applies greatly to the main character in David Mitchell's story, Jason Taylor. Both of the works are to poets from someone who is giving advice, however, Jason Taylor does not seek advice, while the young poet does. The advice given to the poets is similar and helpful to their cause.In Rilke's letter to the young poet, Rilke tells the poet that his poetry must be unique in style and words, â€Å"Don't write love poems; avoid those forms that re too facile and ordinary: they are the hardest to work with, and it takes a great, fully ripened power to create something individual†¦ â€Å"( from Letters to a Young Poet 34-36). This advice applies to Jason because Jason tries to make his poetry â€Å"pretty' with beautiful words to try and make them better. â€Å"Beautiful words ruin your poetry.A touch of beauty enhances a dish, but you throw a hill of it into the pot! † (Black Swan Green p. 147). Rilke's advice that beauty is within him and surrounding him by nature also applies to this. Instead of using beautiful words, work from things in nature, â€Å"For the creator must be a world for himself and must find everything in himself and in Nature.. † (LTAYP 6162) Rilke explains to the young poet in his letters that you need to be yourself in your poetry and bring yourself into it. If you're everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches.. † (LTAYP 41-43). This advice to be yourself and find things within your life is advice that also applies to Jason Taylor. Jason already expresses ome emotion in his poetry, but he hides behind a pseudonym. Rilke's advice of being yourself in your poetry would assist Jason. By putting his real name on his poems and becoming more personal, his poetry will become better.Oth er advice Rilke gives to the young poet is that in order to write good poetry, you need to find yourself and work of experiences, for the things that you have dealt with personally, make better poetry. Rilke also says that someone's best piece of art comes from when they were lowest in life in a dark place, like if you were placed in prison. This is ecause you still have all your experiences and childhood and your home is always within you, therefore, you'll always be able to find the inspiration within yourself to write great poetry. â€Å"†¦ ecause for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place. And even if you found yourself in some prison, whose walls let in non of the world's sound -wouldn't you still have your childhood, that Jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of memories? Turn your attention to it. Try to raise up the sunken feelings of this enormous past; your personality will grow stronger, your olitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people pass by, far in the distance† (LTAYP 43-50).This advice applies to Jason and his writing because Jason needs to work on being himself in his poetry, being honest, and finding inspiration to make his poetry better. Rilke using words such as ‘price, treasure, riches, and Jewel' to show how important one's own childhood and memories are. This is important to Jason because he is still in his childhood so he could make a beautiful work of art out of these years. To Jason, these ut his peers won't accept him if they found out about his poetry or his stammer.Rilke would tell him that in this moment of life, if he was true and honest, his best poetry would form. Rilke most important piece of advice that would apply to Jason is his emphasis's that writing poetry needs to be something more than what you want to do, but instead writing should be something a poet needs to do, â€Å"Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if ou were forbidden to write.This is most important of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of the night: must I write? † (LTAYP 24 – 28). This is important to Jason and his writing because Jason is embarrassed about his writing and hides behind a misnomer. If Jason realizes he MUST write, he needs to be true and start putting ‘Jason Taylor' on his poems instead of ‘Elliot Bolivar'. If he looks within himself and realizes he doesn't have to write and he could live on without, Rilke suggests to â€Å"renounce becoming a poet† (LTAYP 64).Jason uses his poetry because he does not tammer and â€Å"Hangman† does not come out in his writing, but if he can live without it, Rilke would tell him to set down the pencil. Jason Taylor would find Rilke's advice and mentoring very beneficial. In Black Swan Gr een, Jason get's similar advice from Madame Crommelynck but I think Rilke's advice would have helped Jason more. Main pieces of advice that would help Jason are that he needs to be true and himself and fgure out if he needs to write, and to remember, that no matter where he is in life, his home and inspiration is within him. He will always have what he needs to write inside of him.

The Advantage of the Innovation in the Healthcare Services Essay

The Advantage of the Innovation in the Healthcare Services - Essay Example The telemedicine policy has enabled many rural patients to acquire proper and affordable medical care despite their social and living standards. It has enabled the healthcare providers to provide quality services to all in this state that is their primary goal. This has been fuelled by faster and easier means of payment as compared to a few years ago. Further, there are positive outcomes attributed to this policy as most patients have adopted it. The policy provides easier means of payment as well as delivery services to all clients. This explains why the innovation has succeeded in most stated. Moreover, the federal government has shown its support by providing the necessary infrastructure to enhance its workability. Payment of these services delivered by this means remains to be a significant challenge to clients. This is because both patients and the service providers face challenges when processing insurance requirements. Further, means of payment do not stream easily and faster as expected. Hence, it hinders all the players in this industry to take full advantage of this innovation. In addition, this policy has led to the rise in health premiums that most average citizens cannot afford with the current economic conditions in the country. Despite the merits and demerits attributed to this policy, the typical person is set to benefit. Hence, the adoption of this policy in most states is aimed at enabling the ordinary person to have access to quality healthcare. The level of its success in adoption is a clear indication that the system will be of great help to all in the country.

Student Suicide Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Student Suicide - Assignment Example The purpose of this paper is to particularly shed light on student suicide in a school setting. School counselors have received significant blame for the upsurge of suicide cases and this paper explains their role in preventing suicides and the dilemmas that they encounter in their line of work as they seek to find amicable solutions in light of all legal and ethical requirements. The Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting among other staggering occurrences in schools across the nation serve as clear indicators of the psychological distress that is present across students in different institutions (Taub, 2013). Statistics indicate that more students die from suicide in colleges than from alcohol related accidents (Lamis, 2011). As of 2004 Alaska stood as the highest ranking in student suicide with more recent statistics indicating a steady increase in suicides across various states (Appendix A). More female students contemplate suicide in comparison to their male counterparts with a s tatistic of 17.4% showing just how serious the matter is (Lamis, 2011). These statistics bring out the importance of enforcing structures within learning institutions that nip the problem in the bud by allowing early intervention by well trained counselors. However, this is not the full solution; in order to ensure effective solving of the matter, it is necessary to assess the various dilemmas that these counselors are faced with in their practice, and how best they can go about their work in ensuring efficacious handling of various cases. Counselors are guided by various rules and regulations that are aimed and ensuring effective service to all. They are required to ensure confidentiality at all times, they must observe rules and regulations maximize benefit and allow only the most unavailable harm to clients (beneficence and non- malfeasance), they must ensure that they in no way neglect the needs of their clients and that their dealings with clients adhere to justice and fidelity guidelines. Expectedly, the task is quite challenging as counselors are forced to balance legal and ethical requirement of their patients with their preferences and prejudices in order to work out a balanced practice that effectively serves the need of the clients while protecting practitioners from legal liability. Other than legal concerns, counselors are also forced to assess institutional policies and community norms in their decision making (Whitaker & Slimak, 1990). The most serious liabilities that counselors are forced to address result from legal action initiated by clients who feel that their rights have been violated in light of the provisions of the counseling process. Of these, the most common involve violations of privacy (Whitaker & Slimak, 1990). In cases where counselors feel that they have justifiable cause to infer that students under their assessment are likely to kill themselves, they are required to report their concerns to the students’ guardians and l ocal authorities. Often, students initiate legal action on the ground of a confidentiality breach. In ensuring non-malfeasance and beneficence, counselors are required to apply their best judgment. This entails assessing the seriousness of a student’s proclamation and intent. If a counselor concludes that a student’s condition is potent enough to result in attempted suicide, he/she is required to take the necessary actions to inform guardians and other authorities’ e.g. Local psychiatric officers (Taub, 2013). In the event that the counselor’s conclusions are not accurate, various privileges and rights are broken. These include provisions for

Rewriting by Joseph Harris Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Rewriting by Joseph Harris - Assignment Example The aim of the article is to enlighten the reader about the importance of reading and writing in general education. The example of Malcolm is enough evidence. They quote the text to explain what it means as well as using it to make their perspective clear. There is the push beyond the pro and con thinking through the potential uses of a number of positions. The text uses vivid examples as well as mental pictures to pass its message to the reader. The step by step experiences of the character while in prison up to the time he is released and becomes a famous person is a clear conviction to the reader as well as the validity of the project. The text ends up with a conclusion that sums up the main point as well as emphasizing on the importance of the home made education. The author clearly acknowledges their influence and how the influences have directed their work. The author uses a simple and convincing language so as to pass on his message to the reader. He also focuses on the values such as determination, hope, hard work and will power to strengthen his main points. The person behind this writing could be a black man who was fed up by the white exploitation and who has been in prison for the

Aspects of employment among Chinese international students after Dissertation

Aspects of employment among Chinese international students after graduated from universities in the UK - Dissertation Example The Center for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) is working hard to open opportunities between countries to provide educational services. The team is striving to assemble stakeholders from both educational sectors and trade in international forums. They focus mainly on assessing and maintaining records of cross border post secondary education and making all efforts to increase the demand of such education. They are also monitoring the pattern of quality development to see that international standards are maintained. Since the beginning of this century, various programs of cross border education have emerged. Such programs create the opportunities for many international benefits like educational institutes in all countries are focusing on developing an international approach in their systems. There are four mutually associated approaches behind such developments: â€Å"desire to promote mutual understanding; the migration of skilled workers in a globalised economy; the desir e of the institutions to generate additional revenues; or the need to build a more educated work-force in the home countries† (Internationalisation of Higher Education, 2004). There has been a rapid growth of international mobility of students in the last few years. In mid-1990s, OECD countries hosted around 85 percent of all students from across the world who have approached foreign education. Europe is the most popular choice for foreign students but North America ranks first in providing educational opportunities to all students striving for education abroad. Research has shown that 60 percent of all international students are from the Asian region (OECD, 2004, p.11). There are many other elements attached to cross border education that needs explanation. Globalization which means flow of people, culture, knowledge etc. across borders helps to promote interconnectivity and interdependence between nations. Education is one sector which is strongly affected by globalization. Then there is internationalisation of higher education which means making educational activities like teaching, research and service of international standard and also integrating intercultural elements into education system. There are also internationalisation activities which include agreements between institutes across borders, international or intercultural standardization of teaching process, mobility of teachers and students, and also campus based extracurricular activities. Another term associated with cross border education is trade of education services which focuses on â€Å"cross border education initiatives that are commercial in nature and are usually intended to be for-profit in nature† (Cross border tertiary education, 2007, pp.23-24). In recent times there has been a growing demand of post secondary education as well as profession based courses. There are various reasons behind this like increasing population in countries, increasing number of students complet ing their secondary education, growing demand for continuous education till late age and growth of consciousness regarding importance of education. It is now becoming difficult for public sectors to cope with the rising demand of higher education. Therefore, alternative processes of education are developing. Such processes include private sectors getting involved in providing education, emphasis on distance learning which has become more prominent with

Article Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Article Summary - Essay Example However, to ensure strategic success, other factors such as government support, effective communication channels, and clear visions and missions play a major role. Elbanna kicks off by differentiating the term strategic management from strategic planning, asserting that the former is inclusive of execution, as well as the assessment of strategic plans. On the other hand, strategic planning is often used in the business world and is not as detailed as strategic management. He also carefully scrutinizes the concept of strategic management from its earliest days, and how much it has grown since then. He avows that one of the main challenges affecting the concept is the fact that it has always suffered as far as its popularity and success are concerned. For instance, in the 1950s, it was very popular but from 1970s to 1980s, its popularity lessened because most of the planning models that had been developed ended up failing. Therefore, some of the major drawbacks that came with strategic management were rigidity, unsuccessful participation of implementers and managers, lack of ingenuity as well as strategic thinking. However, from the 1990s, there have been major changes as most organisations are widely practicing it and related research and literature have heightened mostly in the UAE. The author goes into details by closely examining the use of strategic management concepts in the UAE, its popularity, and effects. He argues that the UAE has adopted most of the strategic management processes in an effort to enhance institutional performance. Consequently, it is cited as one of the most developed nations in Western Asia as far as the rates of market exchange and income are concerned. However, it is to be noted that success in most of the UAE public organizations is attributed to the fact that they have sufficient resources; hence, are able to implement western management approaches with ease. Therefore, in an effort to effectively examine the effects of

Federalists and the AntiFederalists Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Federalists and the AntiFederalists - Essay Example The final Constitution had to be approved and ratified or approved by the each state. The making of the Constitution led to the division of the American people into two groups, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists believed that the creation of a Constitution was the only way a just society could be established. They believed that not all the power should be given to the legislature unless it was written down as this would ensure no mistreatment of power. They centered their arguments on the incapability's of the national government based on the Article of Confederation and stressed on the benefits of a government based on the Constitution. They also believed that a strong central government would help in the commercial growth of the country. "Federalists tended to associate local, face-to-face politics with momentary passion and short-sightedness, while associating a broader, more refined view of the public interest with national representatives" (Ellis, 1996, p. 64). The Federalists had a pluralistic view of the society, they believed in a society that had many different and competing groups, and no group would dominate the other. Two noted leaders of the Federalists were Ale xander Hamilton and James Madison, who helped create the constitution. The Anti-Federalists obviously had a different view. ... They believed that the president would be given too much power, and that the Congress would be aristocratic in nature with very few representatives for a large number of people. They argued that the Constitution would put an end to self rule in the states. The Anti-Federalists also believed that a country as large as the United States of America could not be controlled by a single national government. Thomas Jefferson, an Anti-Federalist felt that the merits of democratic freedom were best groomed in an agricultural or agrarian society and with increasing urbanization, centralization of power, and commercialization there would be a decline in political society and ultimately tyranny. One of the best associates the Federalists had in their effort to get the Constitution ratified was of the provisions given for the ratification of Article VII of the Constitution. Federalist leaders returned to their states after the Constitution was created at the Constitutional Convention, in order to elect Federalist delegates to the conventions in the states. By the year 1790, all the thirteen states of America had ratified the document, giving the Constitution and the Federalists their victory. Though the Constitution was created, which was not in favor of the Anti-Federalist, there efforts did not go unnoticed. In response to their sentiments the first ten amendments were added to the Constitution, voted by state legislatures. Those ten amendments were given the name Bill of Rights. Today, the Bill of Rights is an important part of the Constitution's heritage of liberty. "The Anti-Federalists insisted that the Constitution should explicitly recognize the traditional procedural rights: to be safe from general search and seizure, to be indicted by grand

MBA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MBA - Essay Example ay that the individual you are arguing with understands the argument; as such, the argument oftentimes will veer more towards the understanding of the two individuals and it will progress more rapidly as points can be understood more succinctly. In this situation the participants may also feel more comfortable to speak without political correctness as the classroom environment contains a diverse selection of the population, of which speaking too bluntly could result in offending someone. Finally, arguing in a work environment requires that the individual pay particular attention to other individual as it’s of particular importance not to offend coworkers or customers in a business situation. 2. When consider perceptions made at work using attribution theory I recognize that in many instances I have attributed my own shortcomings to events such as inadequate training or similar such things in an effort to maintain a positive self-image. Examining selective perception, I believe that having the confidence of my co-workers behind me leads me to believe that I am capable of performing the task at hand, and this confidence actually affects my ability to perform the tasks. I see the halo effect at play with certain individuals; for instance, muscular or attractive individuals are often erroneously perceived as competent in a number of tasks of which they are otherwise not as qualified as others. I see contrast effect when dealing with a confrontation about a certain issue, and then later dealing with another individual about another issue; in these respects, the first issue often effects the perception of the second. Projection occurs when I have an internal issue that I proj ect on others. Finally, stereotyping occurs in much the same way that halo effect does, in that individuals who look a certain way are often believed to possess certain qualities. 3. Communication is not inherently the same if it does through different means. Marshall McLuhan famously said that

Women's Rights Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Women's Rights - Research Paper Example Criminal justice system is in the front line in addressing harm to girls and women. Women and girls across the world face violation, sexual harassment, and abused. They do not feel safe at home, in the streets, workplace or even on public transports. As a result, the women live in fear. They do not live their lives entirely. They need equality and respect. Their rights are discriminated even by their families. It has been on media of parents who rape their daughters. The law is working on such cases (Thomsen 54). Considering acknowledgment of women and their rights, every woman, just as a man has the right of control over their bodies. Throughout the world, girls and women end up forced into cultural practices that are harmful to their health, and cause them so much pain. Some of these practices include female genital mutilation, early or forced marriage, and even sex-selective abortion. All these methods need consideration to protect the female human species (Mousset 77). The woman’s place in the house being in the kitchen has denied women their freedom even in their homes. The notion that women are housewives, and only contributing to domestic matters has denied them the chance to develop economically. We tend to forget the fact that women are just human as anyone else. Is it true that what a man can do, a woman can do better? Keeping this in mind, the rights of women need respect (Walter 44). In history, it was until the late 18th century when women’s right became fundamental in political debates. Most of the intellectuals defended the democratic principle of equality. In contrary to this, philosopher Jean-Jacques thought that it was an obligation for women to obey men. He went ahead to justify the argument that women make mistakes to complain about the inequity of the existing laws. He discriminates women as compared to men (Adams 31). The first article in the assertion of the rights of female citizens and women highlighted that just

European History Essay Example for Free

European History Essay The way the eastern civilization would live is how people dream of living today. The eastern peoples put others above themselves. The way the western civilization used to live is how we live today: caring about ourselves for the most part. Even though the eastern side of living is how most people wanted to live, there are some positive characteristics of the western side that are worth incorporating. A common problem today is that we don’t think. A trait of eastern culture is the being contemplative. There are countless problems that could be avoided if thought would have gone into the situation. Life is a strategy that is filled with decisions. It is inevitable that mistakes will be made, but there will be less if you think before you act. In life there are always consequences for your actions. What most people don’t realize is that there can be positive consequences. This is something that the western civilization honored; the rewards or the positive consequences of the life they lived. Having the good things in your life isn’t as rewarding as working for the grand prize. Towards the end of your life, what will you have that reflects what you work for? In the eastern civilization, working with less is held high in standards. As the years go by, people always want more and more but is it really necessary? For example, heated seats and electronic windows are nice in our vehicles but we don’t actually need them. The eastern peoples learned to work with what they were given, even if it was less than what they wanted. Technology is taking over the world. With this new interference with human life, the beautiful art of work will soon be forgotten. There are amazing things that humans can do as long as they work for it. The western civilization figured this out and put activity high on the list of standards. Life is short and there may be things that we miss if we don’t work to see what it has in store for us. Both the eastern and western civilization contain characteristics that would benefit the human race. A mixture of the two would be a perfect way to live. Placing others higher in value than yourself is a trait that isn’t common in the world today. Even though, putting others first is something great, you need to think about yourself too. You only have one life and one chance to make it the best. Do what makes you happy and you will see that others will come with you.

Management Control System of a Commercial Bank XY

Management Control System of a Commercial Bank XY This paper attempts to examine the management control system in a Pakistani commercial bank. The commercial banking sector in Pakistan is very competitive. The majority of commercial banks have customer retention on its top priority. Commercial banks are encouraging employees to upgrade their knowledge and skill. The working environment is also congenial in Pakistani commercial banks. Management control systems are essential tool to help management to steer an organization towards its strategic objectives. Designing and implementing an appropriate management control system based on Pakistani national culture can improve both the short and long term performance of commercial banks. This will make commercial banks more efficient and cost effective in extending banking services to all the customers. However, the future research needs to examine the relationship between management control system and effectiveness of the commercial banks of Pakistan. Introduction The introduction part begins with historical background of management control and management accounting. This leads further to an establishment of the purpose of the study and its limitations. 1.1 Historical Background The Management Control and Management Accounting The need for management control arose after the Industrial Revolution and gave companies the opportunity of greater growth and expansion than what had been possible earlier. Larger parts of the value chain were situated within these new and greater companies instead of being spread on different locations in smaller companies or single persons. After these great changes, companies started to require financial measures as business ratios and transfer pricing, and from that point the development of different types of management controls and accounting controls began ( Kaplan Johnson 1987). The Dupont Company is often considered to be the inventor of the modern management control (Kaplan 1984). In the early 1900s, DuPont decided to organize itself by dividing the organization into separate functions, e.g. manufacturing, sales and purchasing. Every single one of these functions had their own manager who could be very specialized in how to manage the specific function. Hence, the senior managers did not have to be involved much in those activities and could fully focus on things as long- term strategies. It was this type of decentralized organization that made Dupont realizes that they needed a performance measurement system. They launched a new accounting measure, return on investment (ROI), because they thought it would be more accurate to use than the old measures which measured earnings and profits as a percentage of sales or costs. Dupont along with General Motors are considered as the pioneers in this area and were also involved in creating different types of decent ralized organizations, budgeting and planning cycles (Kaplan, 1984). In an article from 1984, Kaplan discussed what had happened in the development of the area from 1925 to that point. He considered that not as much as expected had happened between 1925 and 1984. Of those new ideas that had been presented, many were just academic theories which had little or no influence on the real organizations, who should be the beneficiaries. As of today the opposite problem from what Kaplan said in 1984 can be spotted. Today there are almost too many choices in accounting and management control, and they are not as well studied as the older theories and tools (Malmi and Granlund, 2009). There is also another problem with the new theories and tools, companies and organizations seem to have too much faith in them and use them in an uncritical way. They are considered as the solution of all management problems. Examples of these new theories and tools are, activity- based-costing (ABC), business process reengineering (BPR), balanced Score cards (BSC) and total quality management (TQM). These systems are often expensive to acquire and use, and companies perhaps, do not evaluate the relation between costs and benefits of the systems they use, or why they use it at all. Are they used just because they are modern and all the competitors use it, or do they really create value for the company (Siverbo and Akesson 2009). 1.2 Contribution of the Study The banking sector serves as the main source of resource mobilization in developing economies. Commercial bank play significant role in the economic development. Today and more precisely in future, companies, organizations (banks) and other decision making entities whether profit making or not, will face major management challenges. Irrespective of whether the main goal of the organization is to make profit or not, it becomes necessary to institute a mechanism in those entities to control the activities of managers so that they remain on track of the proper routes as established by management. In order to keep activities of the organization in track a management control system is essential (Rijal S., 2006). With the background just proposed I find it interesting to see how a company like a commercial bank XY has commenced its banking operations from November Ist, 1997 as a public limited company is currently operating a large network through 223 branches in Pakistan, with the registe red office at B.A. Building, I.I. Chundrigar, Karachi. The bank perceived the requirements of customers and matches them with quality products and service solutions. During the past five years, bank has emerged as one of the foremost financial institution in the region endeavoring to meet the needs of tomorrow as well as today. To continually upgrade the quality of service to the customers, training of team members in all the integral aspects of banking, customer service and MCS was specially focused. The portfolio concentrates on all aspects of conventional banking as well as the financial needs of corporate sector. Dynamic and high value product includes Car Financing, Home Financing, Rupee Travelers Cheques, Credits Cards, Debit Cards, Online Banking, ATM and consumer Durables. In addition to this, Islamic Banking Division is a recent initiative, which operates as separate branch. With such a huge expansion of branches network, the importance of a well-functioning management cont rol system becomes crucial for their success. People have different beliefs and goals that they want to achieve, which makes it challenging for the management of the company to make every employee take actions in line with what is desirable(www.scribd.com). In this case study author aim to describe the management control systems of a commercial bank with its virtual name XY from Pakistan, since it is expanding and growing with good speed as compared to other banks due to its good MCS system. 1.3 Problem Formulation Bank XY is a commercial bank in Pakistan that is growing rapidly and expanding its branches network in the country. Bank XY has had a huge success and uses almost the same control systems in every branch all over the country (Telephone Interview, 2010), which makes it interesting for me to describe and analyze one of them. My principal research question is that, What management control systems are used at different levels of the commercial bank XY in Pakistan? 1.4 Purpose of Study The main objective of this study is to analyze and describe the management control system of commercial Bank XY in Pakistan. I shall also try to explain how the different management control systems are used in the bank. 1.5 Limitation of the Study The focus of this study is to describe the management control systems used by managers to direct employees, behavior. Considering the size of Bank XY,s organization and the time I have deliberated to this study, it is reasonable for me to limit the study to include few bank branch and the management control systems controlling these branches from higher levels of the organization. I shall also focus on the internal environment, which means I shall not consider most of the external environment that is not crucial to the understanding of the management control system within the bank branch. Data and Methodology This case study will be written by the qualitative school of thought, since author aim is to understand the management control system of the certain company he has chosen. Author has no ambitions to make any general assumptions based on this single study, in contrast to if he had chosen to do a quantitative research study on several companies. The type of case study he has chosen to use is the abductive ase study, since he wanted to have the opportunity to return to the theory even after empirical materials had been collected (alvesson Skoldberg, 1994). The paper is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data have been collected by phone interview developed for branch manager and employees at different branches. The responses were received from the 12 managers and supporting employees of 12 bank branches. Secondary data have been collected from the website of Bank XY, Pakistan. The data, collected from various sources have been analyzed with the support of previously developed theory. Theory In this chapter, I shall examine the main theories of management control. Before explaining the definitions of management control systems (MCSs), Author shall try to explain management and management control. 3.1 Management and Management Control Literature written on the subject, management is defined in several ways, but all have something to do with the process of allocating resources and direct activities to fulfill the organizations overall objectives. Management is a broad subject and can be divided into smaller elements such as operations, finance, marketing/sales and product development. The management process can also be separated into smaller parts that are objective setting, strategy formulation and management control. Objective setting is a necessary process to formulate and sometimes reconsider the direction and destination of the company. If the objectives are not set it is impossible to determine if the resources are allocated in the right way and if the right activities have been performed. Strategy formulation is the process where organization finds out how to use their resources to meet their objectives. The management processes of objectives setting, strategy formulation and management control is a process of continuum (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). 3.2 Merchants Management Control Alternatives According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2007) companies and other organizations have four management control alternatives i.e., result control, action control, personnel controls and cultural controls. 3.2.1 Result Controls The basic idea of results controls is that you do not tell your employees how to do things but what you want them to achieve and how they will benefit if they achieve it. For example, a manager tells an employee that he wants him to produce ten units a week, and if he succeeds he will receive a reward of $50. By these actions the manager may control his employees to do what he desires without interfering too much in their work practices. The process of result controls include four steps, the first is defining the dimensions on which results are desired, the second is measuring performance on these dimensions, the third is setting performance targets for employees to strive for and the last is providing rewards to encourage the behaviors that will lead to the desired results. Results controls are usually used on professional employees who are considered to be able to work effectively without being told how to do things, but instead work efficiently towards targets (Merchant and Van de r Stede, 2007). 3.2.2 Action Controls Action controls are somewhat the opposite of results controls, employees are told what to do and how they should do it, e.g. by rules and procedures. The difficulty with this is that the rules and procedures must be optimized, or else the employees will do everything wrong, despite their doing what they were told by their managers (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). 3.2.3 Personnel Controls Personnel controls refer to the assumption that employees by nature want to control themselves. Managers do not have to tell employees what to do and then monitor their every moves to be sure that they do the tasks that that where intended. The assumption is that employees like to perform well for themselves and this should result in a well performing company. Unlike, or at least not as much as results and action controls, these types of controls require more careful selection of employees. Everyone have to fully qualified for the position they occupy on the organization to make it possible to use personnel control. Motivation is another important aspect to make this work; managers have to keep their employees constantly motivated. This may be achieved by training, further work related education or different types of rewards (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). 3.2.4 Cultural Controls When personnel controls trust the ability that people want to perform well, cultural controls rely on the ability that group to keep up the values and approaches the organization aims at. In the group organization everyone is supposed to take responsibility and care of everyone else and the peer pressure is important. The idea is that the group should motivate itself; the assignment of the managers is in this case to instruct the group in what to be motivated to do. To their help managers can use things as codes of conduct or group rewards and if the group performs well the group will receive a reward. If only group rewards are provided the individual employee will try to do his/her best to make the group perform well, instead of just caring about themselves (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). 3.2.5 Control System Tightness The benefit from any well functioning MCS is that the likelihood that the company will achieve its objectives increases. This benefit can be described in terms of MCS tightness (or looseness), where a tight MCS increases the probability that the employees will take actions that is desirable by the organization. Managers often use more than one kind of management control alternative to tighten control. Sometimes these controls overlap and sometimes they are complementary, which enables the combination of them to create tight control over all of the factors critical to the organizations success (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). Whether a results control is tight or loose depends on the characteristics of the definitions of the desired result areas, the performance measures, and the reinforcement or incentives provided. According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2007), for management control to be considered tight in a results controls system, the results dimensions must be congruent with the true organizational objectives, the performance targets must be specific, with feedback in short time increments, the desired result must be effectively communicated and internalized by those whose behaviors are being controlled, and if results controls are given exclusively in a given performance area, the measures must be complete (PP 118 119). Congruence problems can exist because the management does not understand the organizations true objectives or the measure dimensions do not reflect the organizations true objectives (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). For a results control system to be tight, the performance measures also have to be precise, objective, timely and understandable. If the performance measures used do not possess these characteristics the control system cannot be considered tight since behavioral problems are likely. Furthermore, if rewards (or punishments) are directly and definitely linked to the accomplishment or non-accomplishment of the desired targets, the MCS is more likely to be tighter (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). Action control systems can be considered tight only if it likely that employee will consistently perform the actions desired to achieve the companys objectives and not take any undesirable actions. The tightness of the action accountability controls depends on characteristics of the definitions of desirable and undesirable actions, the effectiveness of the action-tracking system and the reinforcements (rewards and punishments) provided. An effective action tracking system is where employees can be certain that their actions will be noticed relatively quickly. Punishment is more common in action control contexts than in a result control context, since they often include employee violation of rules and procedures (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). Tight personnel/cultural controls are most likely to be found in charity and voluntary organizations where employees feel some kind of satisfaction by doing good, in family businesses, where the interest of the family employees are same as the organizations (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). Empirical Data The first section of this chapter includes history and other essential facts of a commercial bank XY, Pakistan. The next section includes the empirical information author obtained during his telephonic interviews with the managers and employees at Bank. 4.1 History and facts about Commercial Bank XY Bank XY was founded in June 21st, 1997 its banking operations started from November1st, 1997. The bank engaged in commercial banking and related services. The bank is currently operating through 223 branches. Bank XY target market conceits of individual client as well as number of business organization. Bank XY has segment the market on demographic, psychological and behavioral style to target maximum number of segments with different varieties of products suitable for each segment. Dynamic and high value product includes Car Financing, Home Financing, Rupee Travelers Cheques, Credits Cards, Debit Cards, Online Banking, ATM and consumer Durables. In addition to this, Islamic Banking Division is a recent initiative, which operates as separate branch. This facilitates their commitment to a culture of innovation and seeks out synergies with clients and service providers to ensure interrupted services to its customers. The bank perceived the requirements of customers and matches them wit h quality products and service solutions. During the past five years, bank has emerged as one of the foremost financial institution in the region endeavoring to meet the needs of tomorrow as well as today. To continually upgrade the quality of service to the customers, training of team members in all the integral aspects of banking, customer service and MCS was specially focused (www.scribd.com) 4.2 Telephonic Interviews at Bank XY All the empirical material in this section was obtained during the telephonic interviews. Author interviewed managers at different levels with involvement in personnel, sales, financial and business related areas at Bank XY. Author also made phone interview with an employee at the Bank XY Head Office. 4.3 MCS in Commercial Bank XY 4.3.1 MCS for Selection of Employee Every new employee is carefully selected to fit the profile of how Bank wants them to be and the employees need to know how important the core values are for the bank. The education and banking experience have important consideration during selection of new employees. The personality and which values you have are also important. Hence, selection of employees is important and tries to employee people that already have the right values and beliefs to fit the culture. They also think it is important that the applicants have an interest for bank job. They believe that if the applicant has visited their own website to look for employment, they have taken the first step to show to show interest in bank job. When a new person is employed he or she undergoes an introduction education and training for few days. 4.3.2 Generic Strategy of Commercial Bank The generic strategy of commercial bank XY is divided for two main areas of business, deposit and lending. The different branches of the same commercial banks at the different geographical location are adopting result, action, personnel and culture controls jointly. In case of lending majority of branches uses result and action control simultaneously. 4.3.3 Marketing of New Services Most of the commercial bank branches promote their products/services very aggressively by using result and action control. The majority of the commercial bank branches are concentrating in maintaining customers and only some branches are competing for customer acquisition. 4.3.4 Target setting Practice The commercial bank set target for their branches for the purpose of planning and controlling the activities. In most of the branches target is fixed in terms of number of clients, amount of deposit and the amount of lending. Individual target are also set and properly communicated to them. 4.3.5 Performance Measurement The commercial bank compares actual performance with predetermined target of their branches frequently. 4.3.5 Reward System In commercial banking sector, benefit/reward/salary/promotion is mostly determined by performance followed by education, experience, new relationship/ customer marketed in deposit or lending and factors respectively like majority get benefit for better performance and some did not get performance benefit. The commercial bank provided bonus to their employees out of profit. The amount of bonus is based on the amount of salary the employees are getting. Some bonuses are related to outstanding performance also. 4.3. 5 Encouragement to employees to learn new Skills The commercial bank is encouraging his employees to discharge better performance and enhance educational qualification and attain trainings. The majority of employees working in the bank get leave sanctioned from their bank to attain training related to their jobs. It also supports that the commercial bank is encouraging employees to learn new skill and knowledge. 4.3.6 Cooperation Majority of the employees feel they get complete cooperation from their coworkers. It indicates the working environment is very conducive in the bank to discharge better performance. Analysis In this chapter author has analyzed the empirical data collected at the interviews on the basis of the theories described in the theory part. 5.1 The Combination of Merchant,s Control Alternatives at Bank XY As described by Merchant and Van der Stede (2007) the benefit from a MCS can be expressed by the tightness or looseness of the MCS. As specified, a tight results control system must include results dimensions that are congruent with the organizations true objectives, performance targets that are specific, feedback in short time intervals, effective communication of the desired result and complete measures if the results control system is used exclusively (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). As author shall argue below, he thinks that all these factors are met at the Bank branch. First, the measures that the branch working seem to be congruent with the true organization objectives since they measure advances/loans, deposits and costs such as personnel, branch office and operational cost very carefully. They also use non-financial performance measures such as the customer satisfaction index which enables them to overcome the shortcoming of the financial performance measures. Since they take customer satisfaction into consideration they decreased the possibility of increasing result at the expense of decreasing customer satisfaction, which is congruent with their true organizational objectives. Secondly, the targets they use seem to be specific since they use detailed measures to evaluate their performance, e.g. they not measure the number of borrower and depositor, but also borrowed and deposited amount per each customer. Furthermore they set specific targets of how high percentage of customers should be satisfied with their services e.g. the turnaround time for loan application, the waiting time in the counters. Thirdly, the employees get feedback in short time intervals since performance is communicated on a daily basis as well as more detailed feedback weekly at meeting, and yearly when they e.g. see the target achievement report. Lastly the desired results are communicated effectively through their regular meetings and the process of setting the business and action plans. According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2007), a tight results control system also have comprise performance measures that are, precise, objective, timely and understandable. Furthermore they argue that the results control system is likely to be tighter if rewards or punishments are directly and definitely linked to the accomplishment or non-accomplishment of the desired targets. I think that the performance measures of Bank Alfalah meet the characteristics described by Merchant and Van der Stede (2007). The salary system used by the bank is also linked to their performance on the desired targets. Hence, it seems like the results control system of the bank can be considered as tight. The action control systems of a commercial bank does not include as many rules, but instead they have a quite strict organization and governance structure. They also use daily, weekly, monthly performance follow up sheets and manuals to control the actions of employees. According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2007) examples of action controls are behavioral constraints, preaction reviews and action accountability. They further argue that the action control systems can be considered tight only if it is likely that employees will consistently perform the actions. Bank branch does not use as many physical constraints but rather more administrative constraints such as restricting some decisions making to higher levels of the organization. However, in general, the bank branch managers and supporting employees have quite a high influence on their own department of the branch and can make many decisions on their own. The employees actions are supervised by their closest manager and since bank has many different organization levels and each has their own manager it is likely that the managers can track their subordinates actions quite carefully. Furthermore, since the results control system is tight it is also reasonable to believe that undesirable actions will be discovered fairly quickly. Reinforcements used are group rewards such as one basic or two basic salaries that will be paid if the bank employees have achieved the targets. To sum up, there is no doubt that bank uses action controls and action control systems but I would not consider them either tight or loose, but rather moderate or average. As concluded by Merchant and Van der Stede (2007) the personnel/cultural control systems are rarely tight, except in organizations whose corporate cultures are strong. Bank culture includes customers care-consciousness, equality, advances/loans and deposits target focus. These values are prominent and present in their vision, mission as well as in everything they do. They also emphasize the importance that every employee should share their values to fit in. This implies that bank corporate culture is strong which enables me to conclude that their personnel/cultural control is tight or at least moderately tight. Conclusion The Pakistani commercial banking sector is very competitive. The commercial banks are competing mainly in services in order to put in competitive position, to retain customers services at top priority. The majority of the commercial bank branches have been using results control system. All the commercial bank branches are applying the concept of management control system by setting targets for their branch and at individual and comparing it with actual performance. The target for a branch is fixed in terms of number of clients, amount of deposit and lending. Target is also fixed for the majority of the individuals employees. The target of the branches and individuals level is frequently monitored against their performance. The manager of the different branches of the commercial bank desire to evaluate the performance of the branch. According to individual employees responses, their financial and non financial benefit is based on performance followed by education and training and experience respectively. But the yearly bonus is based on salary they are getting. The managers of different bank branches encourage employees to participate in decision-making process. The commercial bank encourages employees to upgrade their knowledge and skill as the benefit is based on educational qualification and training after performance, they provide paid leave to participate in training and for further education. The working environment in commercial bank is very congenial as the majority of the employees felt that they get very much cooperation from their coworkers. However, the future research needs to examine the relationship between management control system and effectiveness of the commercial banks in Pakistan.

United Nations (UN) Strategies to Eradicate Poverty

United Nations (UN) Strategies to Eradicate Poverty BLIMUN 2014 Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger Introduction United Nations United Nations is the world’s biggest international organization, founded in 1945. The UN has four main purposes: To keep peace throughout the world; To develop friendly relations among nations; To help nations work together to improve the lives of poor people, to conquer hunger, disease and illiteracy, and to encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms; To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations to achieve these goals. At the moment, United Nations have 193 member states. The organization works on a broad range of fundamental issues, from sustainable development, environment and refugees protection, disaster relief, counter terrorism, disarmament and non-proliferation, to promoting democracy, human rights, gender equality and the advancement of women, governance, economic and social development and international health, clearing landmines, expanding food production, and more, in order to achieve its goals and coordinate efforts for a safer world for this and future generations. General Assembly General Assembly is the chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. Comprising all 193 Members of the United Nations, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter. It also plays a significant role in the process of standard-setting and the codification of international law. The Assembly meets in regular session intensively from September to December each year, and thereafter as required. According to the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly may:[1] Consider and approve the United Nations budget and establish the financial assessments of Member States; Elect the non-permanent members of the Security Council and the members of other United Nations councils and organs and, on the recommendation of the Security Council, appoint the Secretary-General; Consider and make recommendations on the general principles of cooperation for maintaining international peace and security, including disarmament; Discuss any question relating to international peace and security and, except where a dispute or situation is currently being discussed by the Security Council, make recommendations on it; Discuss, with the same exception, and make recommendations on any questions within the scope of the Charter or affecting the powers and functions of any organ of the United Nations; Initiate studies and make recommendations to promote international political cooperation, the development and codification of international law, the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and international collaboration in the economic, social, humanitarian, cultural, educational and health fields; Make recommendations for the peaceful settlement of any situation that might impair friendly relations among nations; Consider reports from the Security Council and other United Nations organs. An important thing to mention is that that General Assembly does not make decisions which have a legally binding effect on its member states, except on questions such as budget and selection of non-permanent Security Council members. However, due to its influence and the mission of United Nations, it is very difficult for countries not to take into account resolutions brought by General Assembly, since, in a way, they are also participating in the process of bringing them to life. Millenium Goals In September 2000, building upon a decade of major United Nations conferences and summits, world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets with a deadline of 2015 that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals. There are eight of these goals: To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger To achieve universal primary education To promote gender equality and empowering women To reduce child mortality rates To improve maternal health To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases To ensure environmental sustainability To develop a global partnership for development. As 2015 is quickly approaching, we can say that a lot of things have been vastly improved – however, there is always space for making the situation even better. That is why we believe that the first Millenium Goal, â€Å"Eradicating extreme poverty and hungerâ€Å" is a great topic for our BLIMUN 2014 conference, since it will give our delegates the opportunity to take a look back and see what has already been done and then discuss on how can the current results be improved and what new measures can be taken before the deadline is approached. Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger Concepts and terms According to the Oxford Dictionary, hunger is defined as: A feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food, coupled with the desire to eat A severe lack of food A strong desire or craving World hunger, on the other hand, is related to another term, malnutrition, which can be defined as â€Å"lack of proper nutrition, caused by not having enough to eat, not eating enough of the right things, or being unable to use the food that one does eat.â€Å" The concept of world hunger is, therefore, concerned with malnutrition on the global level. United Nations defines poverty as: the inability of getting choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation. Poverty is the most common cause of hunger. Extreme poverty is, unfortunately, also common cause for starvation, and every year statistics show high number of people who die in absolute poverty deprived of basic human rights. Developed vs. Developing countries According to the World Bank, the criteria for deciding whether a country is developed country, also known as a first-world country is its Gross National Income (GNI) per capita per year. Countries with GNI over US$ 11,905 are developed countries, and countries with GNI equal to, or less than US$ 11,905 are classified as developing countries. To find the definition of the country you will be representing, please consult the following link: World Bank: Country and Lending Groups Important note: Please keep in mind that developed countries also experience issues with extreme poverty and hunger. When preparing for the conference, try to find the data on what is the level of poverty in the country you are representing. Useful statistics At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets. Close to half of all people in developing countries suffer at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits. Millions of women spend several hours a day collecting water. In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth accounted for just 1.5% 1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity. Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific. Important note: You can use useful statistics from the country you are representing in debating and defending your point of view. Examples of Successful Actions Bosnia and Herzegovina: A brighter future for young people. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and other UN agencies partnered with the Government of Spain to establish 16 centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina to provide career counselling to unemployed youth. In the first 14 months of operation, the centres provided skills training to more than 6,800 young people, of whom almost 1,800 gained their first work experience. Yemen: Food keeps girls in school. Since 2007, the World Food Program’s (WFP) Food For Girls’ Education Program has been tackling hunger and enrolment challenges in Yemen, where more than 60 per cent of primary school-aged children who are not in school are girls. As a result of the program, families who send their girls to school are eligible to receive an annual ration of wheat and fortified vegetable oil. Despite funding shortfalls, since 2010 the program has reached almost 200,000 girls, benefiting almost 1 million family members. India: Right to paid work benefits millions. UNDP is supporting the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Program, promoting the law passed in 2005 guaranteeing the right to a minimum of 100 days of paid work a year for landless labourers and marginal farmers. Implementation of the scheme is now providing 50 days of work a year to around 50 million households. Almost half of the beneficiaries are women. Important note: When preparing for the conference, try to find out what are the ways the country you are representing fights the poverty and hunger issues. Think about how these can be implemented on the global level. How can your country contribute to it? Relevant UNGA Resolutions Following is the list of previous resolutions that are related to the topic of BLIMUN 2014 General Assembly. You can refer to those in debates, but also in the resolution you will be drafting at the conference. Resolution 65/214. Human rights and extreme poverty Resolution 65/174. Second UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty Resolution 65/173. Promotion of ecotourism for poverty eradication . . . Resolution 65/10. Sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth for Resolution 65/186. Realizing the Millennium Development Goals for persons Resolution 65/1. Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium Useful tips Here are some general tips on how to better prepare yourself for the topic: Do a lot of research in regards to the country you are representing. You can use the government websites, national statistics institutes data, social media, newspapers, etc. In case you do not have enough English resources, ask BLIMUN 2014 chairpersons for assistance. You can use Wikipedia, but do not follow it blindly! Always check sources and use links at the bottom of the page. Take a look at the general websites that host some of the global statistics, such as World Bank, United Nations, worldometers.info, unstats.un.org etc. Be informed – read newspapers, watch tv and follow online news – make sure that you catch any news related to our topic and think about how you can use them, even if they are not directly related to the country you are representing. Try to do a research on a countries that are cooperating with the country you are representing, or are close to it in terms of its economy, political views, foreign policy etc. Be open-minded and ready to think outside the box, but do not go too far away from your country’s point of view. Cited Sources http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/ http://www.un.org/en/mainbodies/ http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hunger http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/malnutrition http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/ydiDavidGordon_poverty.pdf http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/Goal_1_fs.pdf http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats http://www.isi-web.org/component/content/article/5-root/root/81-developing http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications/country-and-lending-groups http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/report-2013/mdg-report-2013-english.pdf http://www.un.org/en/ga/65/resolutions.shtml [1] For detailed rules and procedures, please refer to BLIMUN 2014 delegate handbook.

Peer to Peer Piracy and the Film Industry Essays -- Exploratory Essays

Peer to Peer Piracy and the Film Industry Introduction Each day an estimated 400,000 films exchange hands through the Internet. Movie piracy, once reserved to pirate syndicates and illegal duplication factories, has become a common staple among college students with high-speed internet access. With advanced compression technology, movie files can be transferred across continents in hours and across campus networks in under ten minutes. File-sharing is seen as a victimless crime, but the motion picture industry is expected to lose $3.5 billion this year alone due to piracy. Pirate activities undermine every aspect of the legitimate filmmaking business since legitimate retailers cannot possibly compete fairly with pirate business. Therefore, piracy negatively affects all aspects of film-making including the studios that invest in the film, the distributors, the retailers and foreign and local filmmakers. Economic Impact Intellectual property (TV programs, movies, etc†¦) is an incredible source of growth for the American economy. Intellectual property is not only America’s largest trade export, but it is creating new jobs at triple the rate of the rest of the economy, and is responsible for more than five percent of the GDP. The movie industry alone has a surplus balance of trade, something no other American company can lay claim to. Moviemaking is a risky business, for it is not always profitable. Only one in ten films ever recovers its initial investment from theatrical exhibition. In fact, four out of ten movies never recoup the original investment. In 2000, the average studio film cost had a total cost of over $80 million per film. No other industry in the world risks that much capital to make, finance, produce ... ...ue entertainment in a lawful environment. The attitude of entitlement that many internet users exhibit with regard to internet piracy must stop. The movie industry will not suffer the pillaging that has been inflicted on the music industry by casual pirates. New efforts to prevent piracy are currently being undertaken and they include research to new technologies to prevent piracy and copying, strengthening laws to inflict harsher penalties for copyright infringement, and educating the public about why copyright protection is imperative to economic growth and the negative effects that file-sharing has on the American consumer. Works Cited Valenti, Jack. Thoughts on the Digital Future of Movies, The Threat of Piracy, The Hope of Redemption. Motion Picture Association of American Press Release. 30 Sep. 2003

Romance - Fear Of Death Gives An Aphrodisic Like Effect :: essays research papers

There are many ideals related to romance, including such things as love, excitement, violence, fear and commonly war. This is presented in such texts such as the ‘Trojan war’ where men are fighting for the love of a woman. In Romeo and Juliet where Romeo is excited by fear of the Capulets, or in ‘My Sweet old Etcetera’ where the soldier is thinking of his lady rather than of the ensuing battle. Thus it is evident that romance is commonly related to violence, danger, and fear of death (particularly in the young) often giving the effect of a potent aphrodisiac. Love has existed in many forms throughout time. There is no better example than in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In this tale, when love is most apparent, the most crucial events occur to develop this "tragedy." Juliet needed Romeo to get away from her overprotective parents who were planning her future. If Juliet were going to disobey her parents, they would have disowned her. Ironically, at the party that Lord Capulet held so that Juliet could meet her projected husband, Paris, she met her future husband, Romeo. They met by chance, looking into each other’s eyes and instantly being attracted. In the balcony scene Juliet warns Romeo of the danger to his life if her kinsmen find him there, "If they do see thee, they shall murder thee". This warning on Romeo’s life has an impression on him. However it does not make him take caution, it gives an influence making him even more excited, wanting to be with Juliet. Giving a similar effect to an a phrodisiac. The fear of death that has an effect of exhilarating Romeo is strongly reiterated in cummings "my sweet old etcetera". Where the young soldier is at war, writing to his lady. He is telling the story of how people at home had acted towards his enlistment, for instance his mother hoping he would die, and how they were hypocritical. Such as his father stating it was an honour to die for your country and that he would "if only†¦.". The soldier then shows us in his writing that with the excitement and violence of war along with the fear of his imminent death he is somewhat stimulated. To an extent that he is "dreaming" more of his woman and her body, predominantly her sexual organs, instead of the battle and fate that is soon to be upon him.

Hamlets Sanity Essay -- Shakespeare Hamlet

Hamlet's Sanity Throughout Shakespeare?s play, Hamlet, the main character, young Hamlet, is faced with the responsibility of attaining vengeance for his father?s murder. He decides to feign madness as part of his plan to gain the opportunity to kill Claudius. As the play progresses, his depiction of a madman becomes increasingly believable, and the characters around him react accordingly. However, through his inner thoughts and the apparent reasons for his actions, it is clear that he is not really mad and is simply an actor simulating insanity in order to fulfill his duty to his father. Hamlet only claims madness because it allows him to say and perform actions he otherwise would be prohibited from, while keeping people from taking his actions seriously. This seems to be part of his initial plan that is first mentioned when he asks Horatio and Marcellus not to make any remarks in relation to his ?antic disposition (1.5.192).? Hamlet?s madness allows him to talk to Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, and Polonius in a manner unsuitable for a prince. He is often disrespectful and insulting in his remarks. Although his acting backfires during his speech to Gertrude, Hamlet is able to severely criticize her for her actions because she thinks he is insane. During the play he also makes many sexual innuendos and even blatantly sexual remarks towards Ophelia such as ?That?s a fair thought to lie between maids? legs (3.2.125).? His convincing insanity act gives him the chance to vent his anger towards Ophelia for her abandonment. Similarly, in another scene, he is able to tell Polonius his true feelings through his guise. Upon Polonius deciding to ?take leave? of Hamlet, Hamlet replies, ?You cannot, take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal (2.2.233).? Furthermore, Hamlet uses his madness as almost an excuse, and definitely part of his apology, towards Laertes for his murdering of Polonious. Would a madman be able realize he was mad and call his actions uncontrollable? Were it not for his ?madness? he would have been reprimanded rather than feared, pitied, or ignored. Hamlet?s madness redirects attention away from what he is thinking about his father?s death, and puts it on why he has gone insane. This allows only himself to know what he is truly thinking, does not require him to answer any questions as to why he might be acting strange, a... ...th him in case he is biased. A madman would not have had the foresight, reason, or possibly even care, to think in this very organized fashion. Even when questioning whether ?to be or not to be (3.1.64)? Hamlet is sane in his thinking. He measures the ?pros and cons? of his situation, and although at this point he appears mad to most everyone, he is most definitely sane in thought. Hamlet can be considered no worse than an eccentric, determined, and possibly single-minded man, who was made so by his father?s murder and his request for revenge. His feigned madness is maintained because it allows him to continue with his plans. This madness is not, however, sustained when guard is unnecessary. Maybe Hamlet thought too much, but he thought as a sane man would. He commits no actions without reason, and he is far too astute and organized to be proclaimed mentally unstable. Hamlet?s portrayal of a madman is also very complex because it allows not only his points to be made, but in a believably insane way, which contrasts greatly with the expected ramblings of a truly insane person. Bibliography: Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Cyrus Hoy. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1992.

Social Effects of the American Revolution

The Patriots’ victory of the American Revolution changed the lives of the colonists. The effects of the Revolution were both positive and negative. Women were positively changed because of the American Revolution. They obtained more rights; property rights moved within reach. Women were granted more than they ever had. Women, like Abigail Adams, hoped to have men remember that they had talents and abilities beyond those of a housekeeper. In addition to women, the lives of slaves were affected by the Revolution. Because many slaves had enlisted in the Continental Army, slaves in the north were liberated; however, the south viewed slaves as a necessity to benefit the economy and were not so generous in freeing slaves. Slaves that served with the British left with them at the end of the war. Many slaves left America and journeyed to the British West Indies, Canada and Africa. Although the Revolution positively affected the lives of women and African Americans, there were negative consequences for Native Americans. Because the Proclamation Line was no longer valid, white settlers rushed into Native American territory. The flood of settlers induced conflicts with groups like the Cherokee and the Shawnee. Since many Native Americans had joined sides with the British in the Revolution, America claimed that the Native Americans had lost all their rights. Because of this, Native Americans were considered a â€Å"conquered† nation. The Native Americans didn’t have a representative at the Treaty of Paris and felt that they were not part of the ‘surrender’ agreement. The American Revolution drastically changed the lives of many. It positively affected women and African Americans, but it proved to be detrimental to the Native Americans.

Innocent drinks Company Essay

innocent crispens is company that selling nonable drinks in The United Kingdom which started by 3 Cambridge students in 1999. This is a drink that pees with hundred portion pure and natural yield juice. Smoothies argon the primary intersection of blameless drinks and commonwealth atomic number 18 sensible of it due to its effectual image. The company provides dissimilar product range and the distribution of channel covered most of the supermarkets, coffee shops and and so forth For e really year artless drinks pass on donate 10 per centum of their win to charity and this c every last(predicate)ed The impartial Foundation. This foundation has helped a lot of people. This report entrust analyses the solve of barren drinks from 1999 to 2013.1.Organization StructureThere atomic number 18 some(prenominal) images of organization social organisation, for example, class-conscious structure, matrix structure and etc. For variant structure, it has different result , management and objective. unobjectionable drinks was a low-down communication channel in very free-enterprise(a) markets which is fit to entrepreneurial structure. The advantages of this structure be that the core team tail end make decisions quickly and for the members they set up give most ideas to the core team and solve the worry that they are facing. exonerated drinks started from entrepreneurial structure and off to hierarchical structure later on few days. The reason of costless drinks turned into other structure is beca mathematical function they weednot satisfy their needs.They wishing to make themselves to be more(prenominal) renowned and to earn more profit. Innocent drinks thinks that hierarchical structure has a good surmount that fag end give expose into different departments to touch specialization. This can let the employees know what place they are doing and they can exert their abilities. For example, in marketing they can help to advert ise the product or to think of a new externalize to attract the customers to bribe it. When every department do hale in the way they wee to, it is tripping for Innocent drinks to manage and achieve anticipate take like turnover.Ownership correspond to Finance maps of world ( 2012 ), Business self-possession direction having the control over trading enterprise and being able to enjoin is functioning and carrying outs. From the beginning of Innocent drinks in that respect were created by three Cambridge students who are Richard Reed, raptus Balon and Jon Wright. They used 500 pounds to set up this pipeline withpartnership. The advantages of having a partnership are they can share the responsibility and puzzle out for the common goal of making a profit. On the other hand, partnership overleap of finance to expend so Innocent drinks decided to turn into private especial(a) company in 2007 and it can separate legal identity, which can safeguard the operation of business and the company can debt more money from the bank it is because Innocent drinks can be a mortgage.Moreover, being a private limited company can have the purchase discounts and this can make it some money for the company. Two years later, Innocent drinks has sold 18 percent of the company to Coca dummy which means that Coca Cola has the right to channelize Innocent drinks. In 2013, Coca Cola has fully control Innocent drinks with 91 percent share. This cause that Innocent drinks has barely when a small minority holding. Hence, Innocent drinks turned into consultancy business which can only provide ideas and services.GrowthInvestopedia ( 2013 ) point out that Growth is an increase in the potentiality of an economy to produce goods and services, compared from one limit of time to another. Since the market change cursorily Innocent drinks has to create new type of product to cater the needs of the customers. From the beginning, Innocent drinks has only 3 recipes to almost 30 more over the years. The juice ranges of Innocent drinks started from the original taste and evolve to compound taste. The product ranges is different, including kid, smoothie and thickies. For example, kid drinks are specially made to provide all the essentially vitamins to sustain their harvest-tide. In this product, Innocent drinks has made a different design and size to cater the needs children.2.Reason of growthThere are few reasons wherefore Innocent drinks can be freehanded rapidly. Firstly, advertising. Innocent drinks has different advertisement on the television and for each advertisement it will represent their main product and shows that Innocent drinks never sweetened and never concentrated. The use of the advertisement is to build up a healthy image of Innocent drinks so that the customers will start considering to purchase this product.Secondly, PJs smoothies is the main rival of Innocent drinks. PJs smoothies has changed the image and increased price because it wants to be apremier brand. While PJs smoothies increased its price, it lost some stanch customers at the same time. Innocent drinks baron be cheaper than PJs smoothies, therefore, this cause more customers to guide Innocent drinks. Finance is another factor that enhances the growth of Innocent drinks. In 2004, the annual profit is 968000 pounds and it increases to 3066000 pounds in 2005.3.Business dodgingBusiness strategy is a business plan that takes place long-term in order to help achieve a specific goal or objective. Christina C (N.D.) The company analyzes the external and internal business environment before making an entire decision. SWOT and PESTLE are the training methods to evaluate the company. Strengths Innocent drinks products are in high spiritsly competitive because it made with 100 percent pure fruit juice and high quality and low price these are the advantages over the rivals. Weaknesses distribution channels are small and weak brand account compare to other dr ink companies. chance Innocent Drinks serve the expectation of producing 100% fruit drinks and change the consumer tastes because the new products can attract their attention. Moreover, the company expands the market including target elderly. This is a unique area that preferable than other competitors.Threats weather, the weather might imprint the quality of the fruits and the transport and Innocent drinks has many rival, for example, PJs smoothies, Pepsi and Tropicana. Political The government is very concerned active health and safety. Innocent drinks has to list out the ingredient on the product because it has to protect the consumer. Economic Since inflation and the increase rate of unemployment will bear upon the confidence of consumers. Therefore, they tend to buy a cheaper brand instead of Innocent Drinks. Moreover, the economic condition also influences the company. For example, the high cost of purchasing ingredients and the taxation. Social education, nowadays people are more concerned about their health therefore they will choose to buy a drink that is healthy for them, for example, 100 percent pure fruit juice and without any sugar. For population, Innocent drinks has not only targeted the adults and kids but also the elderlies.Furthermore, Innocent drinks will strengthen their brand by dint of the advertisement, establish the healthy image in the society. Technological affect the production aim ofInnocent drinks because of the innovative engine room. It leads to producing the juice aptitude and reduce the productive average cost by economies of scale. Moreover, the advance of technology can improve the communication flow which is honorable of making accurate decision. Furthermore, the use of technology is helpful for Innocent Drinks to recycle the bottles. licit minimum wage, for the company of Innocent drinks they have to sign a contract with every worker to protect their pay. Environmental the drive of the world. The earth is facing global melt which makes Innocent drinks decided to recycle the formative bottles to save the world

Enterprise Architecture as Strategy Essay

Technology is shifting at a faster rate resulting in development of new methods that assist in satisfactory completion of certain technological demand. This has given birth to different enterprise architecture frameworks that fulfill the specific requirements of day-to-day activities. Architecture is a framework of guidelines, principles, models, standards and strategies that directs, social construction and development of business process, design and information and resources through enterprise. Hence, free enterprise architecture is a blueprint, which defines the structure and operation of a given organization (Fowler & Rice 2003).The growth of such a economic theory isnt sufficient.The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) is an enterprise architecture framework, which approaches the further development of enterprise information architecture through design, planning, governance and implementation.This EA framework employs twenty four pillars to achieve its goals: Applicati on, Business, Technology and Data. Before the architect own plans for current and future aims of the organization, they are provided with foundation architectures how that form the basis that they will use for the new development. The four pillars play a crucial major role in ensuring that the process is successful.Management is merely one of the essential pursuits which play a valuable part in the additional information systems also .

The original aim of the TOGAF was to design and develop technology modern architecture for a given business entity. However, the framework has evolved becoming a methodology that is used to analyze overall business architecture. This resulted into splitting of the enterprise methodology into two parts: Architecture further Development Method (ADM) and Enterprise continuum. The ADM ensures that the enterprise architecture meets the minimum requirements of the organization in terms of business needs and information technology needs.Information methods that what are complex control leverage new technologies and concepts or companies from having the ability to adapt to be able to compete.For example, Phase C combines Application and available Data architecture and phase B and C ensure that the clarity of the information gothic architecture is achieved (Lankhorst 2005).For the ADM to be successful, Enterprise Continuum comes handy. Generally, the Enterprise Continuum can be seen as a ‘virtual repository’ of all the assets of the architecture that is in an organization. These assets may include architectural patterns, architectural models, architecture descriptions and other important artifacts.At best, it tap into a diverse range of abilities and solutions empty can result in a more holistic strategy and also improve the overall understanding of our professionals.

Usually there is a relationship between the different EA frameworks in terms of how it operates and ways deeds that enables it to accomplish its duties. Zachman Framework and TOGAF ADM part fair share some common features. ADM mapping in relation to the Zachman Framework supports a correlation.The Zachman Framework has a well established and comprehensive taxonomy that supports various models, viewpoints wired and other important artifacts, which an enterprise may consider developing as a phase of the EA (White 2007).Organizations unable to satisfy the generous donation could be requested to submit supporting documentation, including salary programs for other graduate-level interns or an operating budget.The main purpose of the architecture is to define viewpoints, an aspect that is supported by the TOGAF ADM but lacks in Zachman Framework. Zachman Framework vertical axis provides a source of potential viewpoints worth while the horizontal may provide generic taxonomy concerns. Thus, the Zachman Framework does not have means good for processes for conformant views or developing viewpoints. Hence, it does not full employ a perspective that is shown by TOGAF’s ADM.Our company is about to offer top excellent custom writing dilute solutions to you.

Hence, the columns that are in the FEAF matrix correspond to the three gothic architecture domains that are supported by TOGAF; the fourth TOGAF domain covers business gothic architecture that lacks in the FEAF structure.Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP) is a framework that brings together Applications, additional Information and Technology Architectures in fulfilling the requirements of architecture. Thus, it shares many concepts keyword with TOGAF because the aim of EAP is to form blueprints for architectures to solve business problems. Moreover, EAP supports the nine phases that are supported by the TOGAF (White 2007).There are a first great deal of additional ways that youll be able to use to increase how their writing abilities.Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF) defines the architecture systems into consistent and complementary views. It defines a structure logical and mechanisms that help in understanding, visualizing and assimilating the complexiti es and broad scope of a example given architecture design through tabular, graphic and textual means. Thus, it shares minimal aspect with TOGAF.In fact, TOGAF main focus on the methodology of architecture in terms of â€Å"how to† without bringing into consideration architecture description constructs.There are advantages deeds that are given to the enterprises.

DODAF requires that all information, analysis and new products to build should be put forefront before building the architecture. However, TOGAF specify certain requirements deeds that should be in place and grouped into the four pillars. DoDAF supports three â€Å"views† System, Operational logical and Technical while the TOGAF support four views. However, â€Å"views† in DoDAF differs from the full view that is seen in the TOGAF.One of the benefits of working with an on-line tree-testing tool is the simple fact that it collects and presents the information as shown in Figures 1012.Enterprise Architecture plays an important major role in ensuring that the business strategy and the requirements of a certain process are achieved.TOGAF approach is useful in achieving a business-oriented process through a well defined methodology. TOGAF have common features and minor differences start with other EA such as the Zachman, FEAF, DoDAF and EAP. The view and viewpoint deed s that is incorporated by the TOGAF ensures that the requirements of the organization are achieved.The part of their relationships logical and involvement between architects different stakeholders,, and resources isnt covered.

(2005). Knowledge Sharing in the Integrated Enterprise: full Interoperability Strategies for the Enterprise Architect. London: Birkhauser. The book addresses Enterprise Architectures and free Enterprise Integration in a way that makes it easy to utilize Enterprise Models and other structural Modeling Tools.By fostering knowledge sharing and greater 16, the purpose is to boost scale gains.Fowler, M. & Rice, D. (2003). Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture.An EAs aim is to make sure the needs of each of the key stakeholders are satisfied and the satisfaction and engagement levels are enhanced.

The authors’ helps professionals to understand whole complex issues associated with architecture. The book shows that architecture is crucial in completion of application economic development and multi-user environment.In addition, the book provides patterns and context in EA that enables the reader to have proper means to make the right decisions. Lankhorst, M.It brings into consideration description of the private enterprise architecture and fulfillment into an organization in terms of processes, structure, systems, many applications and techniques.The book brings into consideration description of components and unambiguous specification to allow for a logical modeling language. They utilize their skills in ensuring that the architects have concrete skills that fulfill the architectural practice. It also gives means that allows communication between stakeholders that are involved in these architectures.(2003). A practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture. New York: Pre ntice Hall PTR. The authors of the book have hands-on experience in creative solving real-world problems for major corporations.(2003). Guide to Enterprise IT Architecture.New York: Springer Publishers. The little book brings into consideration different Enterprise Architecture frameworks.

& Weill, P. (2006).Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation unlooked for Business Execution. Chicago: Harvard Business Press.Scheer, A. & Kruppke, H. (2006). Agility by ARIS Business making Process Management.Thus, the book is business oriented with EA playing an important role. Schekkerman, J. (2003). How to Survive in the Jungle of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks, 2nd Ed.Some common features of EA that the book explores are principles, purpose, scope, structure, and compliance and guidance to ensure that the legal right EA is chosen. Wagter, R. & Steenbergen, M. (2005).