Pop Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pop Culture - Essay Example It is rightly said that a person learns and tries to adopt what he is exposed to. Taking an example of Movies which are mostly filled with violence and/or vulgarity, they have the most detrimental effects on an innocent mind. Many movies present disturbing behaviors and abnormal happening which distort the usual thinking pattern of a human mind, especially youth which are much more receptive to new things around them. Movies and TV programs, these days, present unusual and unique ways of committing crime, heroes doing impossible things, and movie characters surpassing the limits of normal behaviors and still standing successful. These things compel minds to believe that weird things stand out and are socially acceptable. Proponents of such programs say that these programs and movies are present with rating but who can stop youth from watching such programs when their parents sleep or at some friends place gathering for a combined study. The way of dressing is the reflection of oneâ⠂¬â„¢s culture. A major change in life style in this regard has been noticed recently. Youth idealize their heroes who are a pop star, a movie character, or a sports entertainment personality and try to follow him in everything walk of their lives. And these things then come up with strange sights of youth dressing up themselves in most unusual and absurd ways. And this is not only limited to their it also affects their styling like the way they do their hairs, their walks and the kind of language they use in their daily lives.

Transformational and Shared Instructional Leadership Assignment

Transformational and Shared Instructional Leadership - Assignment Example A total of 24 schools have been nationally chosen to participate in the research. Of these 24 schools, 8 schools offer elementary education, 8 offer middle school education and another 8 offer the high school education. In an attempt to keep accordance with the data that is largely structured in a multilevel fashion, the researchers have resorted to use the Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) as the primary technique for analysis. As a result of the study, the researchers have concluded that the transformational leadership is a compulsory element for the instructional leadership, though it is insufficient. In order to improve the quality of teaching and education of a school and make the students show good performance and achieve higher grades, it is imperative that the two leadership conceptions, i.e. the shared instructional and the transformational leadership exist simultaneously and mutually integrate into the leadership. Their coexistence has a substantial impact of the overall p erformance of the school, the personnel associated with it and the students. â€Å"A Review of Transformational School Leadership Research 1996-2005† (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005). Theoretical Synthesis: Transformational leadership has conventionally remained a subject of universal debate particularly with reference to its application in schools. Various studies have been done in the past to study the impact of transformational leadership on the environment of studies. However, the number of studies that have conventionally attempted to investigate the moderators and antecedents of the transformational style of leadership ion schools is very low. This particular research conducted an in-depth analysis of 32 such researches and empirical studies that have been conducted in the past from 1996 to 2005 in order to understand the nature of transformational leadership in schools, the different variables which regulate the effects of the transformational leadership on the students in an educational setup as well as the antecedents of this type of leadership. As a result of the study, researchers have reached the conclusion that the transformational leadership has obvious effects on the achievement of students in their studies and their involvement in the various activities of school, though the effect is largely indirect in nature. There is a whole range of variables that influence the impact of the transformational leadership on the performance of students which include but are not limited to the culture of the school, the commitment of mentors with their job as well as the level of satisfaction they maintain with the job of teaching. â€Å"Transformational Leadership: Industrial, Military, and Educational Impact† (Bass, 1998). Theoretical Synthesis: Leadership theory has long been focusing on the transactional exchange between the followers and a leader until the transformational-transactional form of leadership surfaced to reflect good leadership prac tices. In this research, a total of 11 questions which affect the application of the new paradigm of transformational-transactional leadership have been put forth. The 11 questions are discussed in separate chapters. Various aspects of the transformational-transactional leadership have been comprehensively discussed in this research which include its contribution to the commitment of followers, its role in relieving the stress of followers, effect of

Challenges to Chinas State Capacity

Challenges to Chinas State Capacity Conor Shand Identify and describe two major and distinct challenges to state capacity faced by a country over the last decade. How has the state responded and with what success? State-building and development is a long standing component of international politics, dating back several centuries. Ever since the concept of the â€Å"modern nation state† came to fruition, governments have sought to attain and maintain stability within their boundaries, aiming to maximise the capacity of the state. However, each state with alternate institutions, environments and economies will face a variety of challenges to their respective state capacity. China, despite being one of the most significant economic and military powers in the state-system, still faces challenges in optimising its state capacity. As it is formally regarded as a second-world developing country, China still faces numerous challenges to its state capacity despite its relatively high status. Among these challenges, two in particular emerge as the foremost barriers to the maximisation of China’s state capacity; environmental issues unemployment. As China is amongst the most notable pollu tants in the contemporary state-system, with a heavily industrialised nation, its government has worked to counter detrimental environmental effects with varied success over the last decade. Likewise, in the case of unemployment, while China is one of the most powerful economies in the world, it still bears significant unemployment issues due to a number of factors, which the government has tried to address – again, with some results. Ultimately, these two issues have notably compromised China’s state capacity, and the Chinese government has responded with some degree of success to these two particular challenges. In order to identify how it is that these two issues hamper state capacity, it is important to first identify what exactly state capacity is. Neil A. Englehart uses the relatively broad definition of state capacity in stating that state capacity â€Å"refers to the willingness and capability of the state apparatus to carry out government policy.† (Englehart, 2009, p. 166) This definition is particularly effective, as there are many existing definitions of state capacity which contradict each other, due to state capacity being a concept of perception and interpretation. This is because â€Å"state capacity† as a concept aggregates a number of ideas, including military and economic strength, centralization, bureaucratic and administrative ability. (Hanson Sigman, 2013, pp. 1-3) Different governments within different states would prioritise alternate areas in order to ensure a maximised state capacity depending on what that particular government regards as important. For example, in New Zealand, there is a relatively minimal prioritization of military power, with 1% of gross domestic product spent on military costs annually. China on the other hand spends 2.1% of its GDP on military costs, hence it could be argued that China has a greater state capacity than New Zealand. (World Bank, 2014) However, as each state has a requirement for alternative prioritizations respective to their unique circumstances, it is impossible to measure a state’s capacity beyond the government’s ability to exert its policies on the state’s populace. (Kocher, 2010, p. 143) One of the most significant barriers which China has faced in maximising its state capacity over the last decade lies in environmental deterioration. Over an extended period of economic reform, which began in the late 1970’s, China has become massively industrialised, with a consistently used maxim of â€Å"first development, then environment† actively used in the 1980-90’s. (Economy, 2011, pp. 18-19) This method of reform led to China becoming one of the most industrially profitable contemporary states, with a current estimate of 45.3% of its GDP being derived from the industrial sector. (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013) While the GDP boom born out of this industrialisation can in some ways be seen as positive, it has also caused significant detriment to the environment and quantity of resources consumed in China. Air and water pollution as well as energy efficiency and deforestation have caused numerous environmental complications, with one study finding the existence of a â€Å"long-run cointegration relationship between per capita emissions of three pollutants (waste gas, waste water, and solid wastes) and per capita GDP.† (Zhang, 2009, p. 2707) The inverse relationship between China’s economic growth and environmental wellbeing created a complex challenge to China’s state capacity in that it made it difficult for the Chinese government to execute policy favouring one option without causing adverse effect to the other. In the last decade the Chinese government has sought to significantly reform the area of environmental law, with the aim of balancing out the quantity of attention given to environmental issues. A notable example of the government’s attempts to resolve the pollution/growth standoff can be seen in the 2002 Cleaner Production Promotion Law, which was introducedin the interest of advocating â€Å"cleaner production, increasing the utilization ratio of resources, reducing and preventing pollutant-generating, protecting and improving the environment, protecting human health, and promoting the sustainable development of the economy and society.† (gov.cn, 2002, p. Article 1) This law amongst others emerged in the 21st century as the Chinese government sought to bring its industrial sector into line with its environmental goals, so as to give the Chinese government a greater ability to exert its state capacity over environmental issues. This significant industrial reforms has b een accompanied by other significant ones in the last decade. The Chinese government sought to resolve the issue of air pollution created by its heavily coal-fuelled industrial sector, with a series of policies set to restrain air pollution in the future. (Zhao, Lei, Lei, Cao , 2008, pp. 8442-8444) In addition to this, the government has also addressed excessive levels of energy consumption, enabling policies which would reduce carbon dioxide emissions whilst maintaining economic development by increasing energy efficiency. (Polenske Lin, 1993, pp. 249-251) While there were some significant attempts at reform, such as the aforementioned policy changes, it is still evident that China has not been able to exert the necessary quantity of state capacity so as to reduce environmental degradation. In the words of Han Shi and Lei Zhangâ€Å"the relatively comprehensive environmental regulatory framework established since the late 1970s had failed to prevent the overall deterioration of environmental quality†. (Shi Zhang, 2006, p. 277) One reason for this failure lies in the fact that while the central government formally introduced the policies, local governments regulated these policies, meaning that many reforms were loosely enforced so as to avoid significant economic detriment. (Blanchard Stanway, 2014) This in turn reflects the lack of state capacity at the disposal of the central government, due to its inability to wholly implement its policies. In addition to this, some point at the lack of punitive measures employed to reduce pollution as a sign that the government is unwilling or unable to exert its desired policies, however ultimately it can be concluded that the Chinese government seems to lack the capacity on the whole to significantly curb environmental degradation. A second unique issue which China has faced in the last decade is that of unemployment, which has increased – most significantly as a result of China’s period of economic reform – from 6.1% to 11% over a 6 year period. (Giles Park, 2005, pp. 149-150 ) Previously a system of social welfare existed wherein the majority of China’s population were guaranteed incomes of some form. However this system was abandoned in the 1990’s, which led to significant increases in income inequality and unemployment in China. (Leung, 1994, p. 341) The economic reform meant that the state would become free of many previously financially draining public sector institutions, however at the same time it in turn proved a challenge as to whether China had the state capacity to either support those who were newly unemployed, or whether it could create replacement jobs for them. In the last decade the Chinese government sought to lessen the impact of this economic reform, and introducing a series of aids and safeguards in order to ensure that those who found themselves unemployed would have a â€Å"soft landing†, as the government once again faced the dilemma of prioritizing unemployment a previously secondary issue – over economic growth, the primary goal. (Angang Xin, 2006, p. 45) These aids and safeguards included concepts such as unemployment insurance, the implementation of labour contract law and other forms of welfare to ensure that people would have some form of financial support. However the drafting and successful introduction of these policies was significantly hampered by a relatively weak level of state capacity. Jane Duckett and Athar Hussein outline three primary reasons as to why the Chinese state lacked the capacity to adequately address this unemployment. The initial reason that was raised lay in the fact that the state lack ed the ability to adequately survey the nation as the degree and nature of the unemployment. Secondly, the state lacked the ability and infrastructure to enforce the participation of the people in any unemployment scheme. Thirdly, the state lacked the infrastructure to ensure that non-central government bodies holistically employed the scheme. (Duckett Athar, 2008, pp. 211-213) While there have been some moves towards reducing this unemployment, the constraints on the central government’s ability to implement its policies serve as evidence that China has a distinct inability to exert its state capacity with near-maximum effectiveness. The first, and most notable challenge which the capacity the Chinese state faced was that of environmental degradation, which additionally served to test as to whether the central government could successfully balance economic growth with environmental maintenance. While the government did implement many policies, they were only effective to a certain degree, as the lack of a wholly efficient centralized state power meant that many of the policies were not executed to the extent which had been intended by the central government. This issue again rose when the lesser-recognised issue of unemployment in China was countered by the government, as while the central government did introduce some economic reforms in order to support those who became unemployed, infrastructural issues in local governments weakened the effectiveness the Chinese government’s response, hence preventing the Chinese government from wholly exerting its full state capacity. Bibliography Angang, H., Xin, S. (2006). Urban Unemployment in China A Background Analysis. In G. Lee, M. Garner, Unemployment in China: Economy, Human Resources and Labour Markets (pp. 36-62). Routledge. Blanchard, B., Stanway, D. (2014, March 4). China to declare war on pollution, premier says. Retrieved from reuters.com: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/05/us-china-parliament-pollution-idUSBREA2405W20140305 Central Intelligence Agency. (2013, August 22). The CIA World Factbook 2013. Retrieved from Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/download/download-2013/index.html Duckett, J., Athar, H. (2008). Tackling unemployment in China: state capacity and governance issues. The Pacific Review Volume 21, Issue 2, 211-229. Economy, E. C. (2011). The river runs black: the environmental challenge to Chinas future. Cornell University Press. Englehart, N. A. (2009). State Capacity, State Failure, and Human Rights . Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 46, No. 2 (March), 163-180. Giles, J., Park, A. (2005). What is Chinas true unemployment rate? China Economic Review Volume 16, Issue 2, 149–170. gov.cn. (2002, June 29). Law of the Peoples Republic of China on Promotion of Cleaner Production (Order of the President No.72). Retrieved from gov.cn: http://english.gov.cn/laws/2005-10/08/content_75059.htm Hanson, J., Sigman, R. (2013, May 1). Leviathans Latent Dimensions: Measuring State Capacity for Comparative Political Research. APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper. Kocher, M. A. (2010). State Capacity as a Conceptual Variable. Yale Journal of International Affairs 5 Yale J. Intl Aff Issue 2 Summer, 137-146. Leung, J. C. (1994). Dismantling the ‘Iron Rice Bowl’: Welfare Reforms in the Peoples Republic of China. Journal of Social Policy / Volume 23 / Issue 03 /, 341-361. Polenske, K., Lin, X. (1993). Conserving energy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in China. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics Volume 4, Issue 2, December, 249–265. Shi, H., Zhang, L. (2006). Chinas environmental governance of rapid industrialisation. Environmental Politics Vol. 15, No. 2,, 271-292. World Bank. (2014, July 22). Data Military expenditure (% of GDP). Retrieved from worldbank.org: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS Zhang, X.-P. (2009). Energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth in China. Ecological Economics Volume 68, Issue 10, 2706–2712. Zhao, Y., Lei, Lei, Y., Cao , P. (2008). Primary air pollutant emissions of coal-fired power plants in China: Current status and future prediction. Atmospheric Environment Volume 42, Issue 36 November, 8442–8452.

Going Beyond the Pale with William Trevor Essay -- Essays Papers

Going Beyond the Pale with William Trevor In William Trevor’s short story ‘Beyond the Pale’, the reader is presented with a text that seethes with the angst of a writer whose country’s Colonial past has been gnawing on his bones. Although there is nothing unusual in this (especially in Irish writing), Trevor manages to fumble the ball in the course of his didactic strategy and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory: what should have been a successful indictment of British Colonial Rule in Ireland becomes nothing more than the grumbling of an intelligent writer who cannot negotiate his patriotic feelings. The story is presented as a first-person narrative by one of four English holidaymakers who regularly visit a small hotel, Glencorn Lodge, in County Antrim (see the Map of Ireland). All the details the narrator, Milly, supplies the reader with in the introductory paragraphs indicates a lack of Irishness in the whole make-up of this group’s holiday: Glencorn Lodge is a Georgian building, the driveway of which is lined with rhododendrons (a non-indigenous species of plant); the couple who run Glencorn Lodge - the slyly named Malseeds - are English; the garden has figs, the greenhouse has apricots and peaches - and the greenhouse is presided over by ‘old Mr Saxton, another aptronymous character. Essentially the reader is given a picture not of Ireland, but of the remnants of Imperial supremacy. So far, so good. Trevor is in control, and he has created a good backdrop for his tale. Where does it all go wrong? Quite simply, Milly, the narrator is not up to the task of telling the story Trevor wishes to unfold: for subtlety she is fine, but it is when events become more action-oriented that Milly fails to prove herself the correct storytelling device for this narrative. As the story progresses, we learn much of the four characters’ past, both together and apart - Milly is ideal as a teller of the more dubious or purely speculative elements of a character’s past. Further details indicate a lack of Irishness in this ritualized holiday along the way - for example, Strafe, one of the male characters, drinks ‘whisky’ rather than ‘whiskey’, the former indicating Scotch, the latter indicating an Irish or American distillation. In the midst of their holiday world, it is noticed that an intrusion has occurred: a red-haired man, ‘uncouth-looking’, has appeared, ... ...ard because, essentially, he is trying too hard to make the reader feel sympathy not for the English conscience (Cynthia), but for Ireland itself. Having a an admission of guilt (albeit on behalf of a nation) from one English conscience described by an English consciousness that is consumed by its obliviousness towards any reason for feeling guilt (both at a personal and national level) is an ambitious idea - one which Trevor should have pulled off. The urge to preach (which can only be regarded as some attempt to justify guilt that Cynthia feels, and, by extension, Britain should feel) should have been stifled, completely repressed. The subtle detailing of the early part of the narrative displays Trevor’s ability to deftly sketch the particulars of a scene without descending to caricature, and to embed his agenda while doing so. The loss of subtlety in the final pages (and Cynthia’s monologue does cover a number of pages) is actually a loss for the reader, because whether a reader of this story is British, Irish or otherwise, one can only leave the tale wondering who Trevor had in mind when he wrote it, and who ultimately would gain in the way he obviously intends for the reader.

International Law Case Brief Essay

Facts: George Christian Hanna (23 years old) is a stateless person trying to find a country for refuge. In 1954 the United Nations addressed the problem of â€Å"stateless† persons to solve the problem when one seeks refuge within a country; however, Canada is not a signatory. Spending most of his life as a ship-bound passenger, Hanna does not have a homeland. Hanna applied for refuge from The â€Å"Gudveig† a Norwegian motor-ship in which he was treated as a â€Å"stowaway† and imprisoned for more than 16 months. During these 16 months aboard the ship, Hanna made at least three trips to Canada. Hanna found himself in Canada looking for immigration status after being released by the act of habeus corpus. Immigration was not given and an order of deportation was handed down. The order was appealed on the basis that the order is defective, incomplete, and impossible to interpretation or enforcement and beyond the authority of the immigration officer. Issue: Is the deportation order made by the immigration officer (acting as a special inquiry officer) legal and made within the means of his power? Decision: The deportation order would force Hanna to be imprisoned aboard The â€Å"Gudveig† for an indeterminate amount of time. The circumstances that this deportation order created are not acceptable and the order was found to be illegal and Hanna was to be released from detention. Reasoning: The deportation order included four directives. Directive No. 2 thru No. 4 was discredited by the court and No. 1 was the only directive considered and it went as follows: that Hanna be deported to the place whence he came to Canada. The court found that this meant many different things and that it was not possible to find where Hanna came from before he stepped into Canada. The fact remains that Hanna is a â€Å"stateless person† and there is no mutual agreement on where he is actually from. The court was not  satisfied with the affidavit of the immigration officer which fixed his birthplace as Djibouti in French Somaliland. Also the court was not satisfied with the Norwegian lawyers claims that he is an Egyptian who was born in Alexandria. Other interpretations such as the port in which this journey began in Eritrea and the port which Hanna came to Canada from in Beirut, Lebanon did not satisfy the court because even is the Lebanese authorities agreed Hanna stowed away from their port, they country is quite foreign to him. The court noted that it had referenced other authorities cited by counsel where deportation orders were made without all the facts being present. None of those orders though were comparable to the Hanna case, because this deportation order was not to deport to a country but back into detention aboard a ship. The immigration officer delegated to the owners of The â€Å"Gudveig† the responsibility for interpreting the deportation order, which brings the court to believe that he himself (immigration officer) does not know what the order means. This fact alone is enough for the court to reason that the order is illegal. The judgment was found in the favour of Hanna because the deportation order was impossible to interpret and enforce.

Journey for Truth: The Life of Sojourner Essay

The contribution of the life, philosophy, and activism of Sojourner Truth was that she was effective in preaching to the community as a freedom fighter, abolitionist, and feminist. Representing many classes of people in Antebellum United States, she was able to illuminate for others the hardships and desires of black people, the poor and oppressed, and women. As slaves, blacks had no personal freedom. They had no rights to themselves or their families, were whipped and tortured, experienced segregation and denial of citizenship, were denied salaries, and, women especially, endured the devastating agony of having their babies and children stripped from them and sold off to other arrogant and inhumane slave masters. In an effort to encourage radical change in her time, Truth took up the risky cause of making speeches against the strong forces of evil and in support of the righteous values of freedom and respect. Liberating herself and other people was not limited by class, racial, economic, or gender lines, rather she held the torch of freedom as a beacon for all oppressed people to follow, calling for empowerment of the weak, tolerance for differences, and protection for all people (Waxman, 2007). Truth was born into slavery in the late 1790s, in a more rural area outside of the bustling New York City. At the age of nine, Truth, then named Isabella, was sold by the slave master away from her parents and one remaining sibling to another New York slave owner. For nearly thirty years, she experienced a life of extremely difficult conditions, being repeatedly sexually abused and physically assaulted, and some of her children were forcibly taken from her and sold into bondage. Luckily, after the New York Emancipation Act of 1827, Truth was freed along with other former slaves of this Northeastern region, and in 1843, Truth was inspired to assume her new name and began a mission of journeying across the country as an itinerant preacher, supporting the efforts of abolitionists and feminists in the North, becoming actively involved in breaking down the slave system and pressing for the rights of all subjugated people (Mullings, 2005). Truth’s most famous speech at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851 is a wonderful demonstration of the strength of her ideals and the power of her words. In an excerpt from Brah and Phoenix’s 2004 article, Truth is quoted as having preached: That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody helps me any best place. And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm. I have plowed, I have planted, and I have gathered into barns. And no man could head me. And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much, and eat as much as any man–when I could get it–and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne children and seen most of them sold into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain’t I a woman? (p. 77) Her sharply painful and moving words, rich with truth and experience, sent tides of strength and power through the country’s movement for all levels of freedom in regard to all kinds of people. In countering tyranny with liberty, and violence with peace, Truth became an emblem of the almost suffocated soul which was able to rise up, speak out, and lend valuable energy and motivation to the essential activism of her time. In defending her womanhood, her personhood, her right to full citizenship and social inclusion, Truth demanded respect during a time when evil was easily cast down the noses of the dishonorable elite. Standing firm in her beliefs and finding power in the spirituality of goodness, Truth was able to meet eyes with her oppressors and effectively shake the foundations of a flawed system.

Battling Cancer essays

Battling Cancer essays During a shower one-day, you notice a lump that was not otherwise there. The next day you see a doctor. The lump you have identified is diagnosed as cancer. Now you need to figure out what to do. There is no absolute cure for cancer, but there are different ways to treat it. Doctors use according methods like radiation, chemotherapy or drugs to treat various types of cancer. Another way of treating cancer is with alternative forms of medicine by using acupuncture and natural herbal remedies. These treatments are more often used in cases that can not be treated very or at all. However, when using the combination of the two treatment techniques, one can receive the full benefit of all available options. The medical profession is beginning to acknowledge and accept this idea of allowing alternative medicines in conjunction with traditional medicines to ease suffering as well as prolonging the lives of cancer patients. In order to make a decision on treatment for cancer, one must understand what cancer is and the current treatments used. Cancer starts when a cell ceases to function properly, mutates, and begins to multiply rapidly. A cancer cell has an abnormal chromosome which sends the wrong message to the other parts of the cell, which causes the cell to grow rapidly as it multiplies. These multiplied cells can form a lump called a malignant tumor, attack organs and organelles such as bone and bone marrow, or destroy tissue in areas like the lungs. All of these cases are referred to as cancer. Cancer knows no boundaries and plays no favorites; it can be found among people of all races and ages, both rich and poor, black and white, male or female. Cancer is a very serious disease many people live with. On average, about 1.2 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year. Cancer is not a contagious dis ...