Monday, September 30, 2019

Oleana’s Phone Calls

Leanness Phone Calls David Mate's play Lean is a two character power struggle between a young college student and her Professor. By the second act of the play the struggling student, Carol, has filed a formal complaint of sexual harassment, based not on what actually happened, but on the written definition of said conduct in the universities nomenclature. By act three, unbeknownst to the professor, Carol has filed attempted rape charges against the professor. Again the charges do not reflect what actually occurred but find sound footing in the written word of law.As the story unfolds we e the power shift from the safe, smart, and accomplished professor to the worried, unknowing, and desperate student through the use and interpretation of language. At pivotal moments in the play the professor's phone rings. Calls from his wife, his real estate agent, and his secretary move the story along. Mate's phone interruptions reveal elements of character, power dynamics, and conflict to the aud ience, The phone calls also provoke the audience to draw there own conclusions about the play. Meet is an American playwright, screen writer and film director from Chicago.He has written several novels, a book of poetry, and worked in television as well. He studied at Goddard College in Vermont and at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in New York. He has taught at New York University, Goddard College, and the Yale Drama School, and he regularly lectures at the Atlantic Theater Company, of which he is a founding member. He got hi start in show business at Chicago Second City, a comedy club that produced many cast members for Saturday Night Live. Meet has won many awards including a Toni and a Pulitzer Prize.His most notable work is the play Gallantry Glen Ross, a gritty kook at cutthroat real estate salesmen. He has a distinct style of writing, especially known for his sparse and blunt dialogue referred to as â€Å"Meet Speak†. Characters often interrupt each other and thoughts or comments go unfinished. Meet says in a 1994 interview with Charlie Rose that â€Å"drama is three things; who wants what from whom? What happens when they don't get it? Why now? (Rose, Charlie Rose. November 1 1, 1994) Lean is no exception. Meet begins Lean with a revealing look at John by way of phone conversation he is having with his wife.They are in escrow on a new house and he is sorting out issues. Carol has done poorly on her paper and wants nothing more; it seems, than to improve her grade in the class. She sits across from him at his desk. It is unclear if John has invited Carol in to sit at the desk or if she entered and sat down uninvited, but what this phone call tells the audience is that the boundary between John's personal life and professional life is not well defined. Using the phone allows Meet to establish John as someone who is in a position of power. He is delegating to his wife; â€Å"†¦ Hat's why I say â€Å"call Jerry†¦ † (M eet, 1, 1) and he is needed; â€Å"I'm going to meet you there†¦.. ‘m leaving in ten or fifteen†¦ † (1, 1), and he is confident; â€Å"We aren't going to lose the deposit†¦ † (1, 1), he assures his wife. Meet conveys to the audience that John is a busy and successful man. He is in the driver's seat, accomplishing his goals and taking care of hand, her grade, but instead asks, â€Å"What is a term of 2) a phrase he uses on the phone. Rather than begin a discussion about her performance in the class Carol asks a question about the professor's personal phone call.This allows Meet to show that Carol does not know and is seeking answers to more than Just this course. The first phone call in the play allows Meet to show the audience that John is opportunistic and self serving. The professor is annoyed with and has little patience for Carol. He struggles not to interrupt her, uses bigger words than he needs to, and says things like, â€Å"l know how pot entially humiliating these†¦ [Things can be]† (1 , 39), which can only serve to move them further apart from each other. By the time the phone rings he has subtly challenged her intelligence and she has subtly challenged his ability to teach.John can take a calculated risk at this Juncture, to maintain power by disturbing Carol. Look, look, I'm not your father. â€Å"(l, 97) he says. The less than benevolent professor knows this will either enrage her or make her feel small and child like. It is a cheap shot but should she challenge or confront him for saying it, he simply has to pick up the phone to maintain his position. She does make that challenge, asking, â€Å"Why did you say that† (1, 102) and instead of answering her he picks up the phone. The conversation is short, but long enough for him to move away from answering to the comment.The phone here allows Meet to reveal an element of cowardice in John's character, and submissiveness in Carol because the inve stigation simply moves on when he hangs up. Meet leaves the audience to sort things out on their own. The next phone call reveals that John's desire to connect with his students is second to his desire to handle his own affairs. The conversation returns to the subject of Carol not understanding the class, but instead of attempting to teach Carol something he discounts his writing ability, â€Å"perhaps its Just not well written† (1, 117) referring to the book he authored and the course itself â€Å"Look.It's Just a course, it's Just a book, it's Just a†¦ † (1 , 127). John goes on to tell Carol some anecdotes ND finally says, â€Å"l am talking to you the way I wish that someone had talked to me. I don't know how else to do it than to be personal, .. But†¦ † (1,229) Carol is confused by the statement and asks, â€Å"Why would you want to be personal with me? â€Å"(1,230) In spite of much gibberish on John's part, here lies an opportunity for them to understand each other better. Carol is on the brink of understanding his methodologies, the why he teaches like he does. The phone rings as John begins to explain, but answers the phone before he can finish.To effectively help this student he needs to connect to her in some way. He has made an attempt, but the phone call lets us know that it really isn't that important to him. Likewise Carol has made an attempt, but after John ends his call Carol does not seek further explanation for a personal connection with her. Instead she pries into his private life by inquiring about the call. It appears to not mean that much to Carol either. Meet also shows that John is grasping for the power that is fading away by deciding not to answer the phone. John goes on to share some of his negative views of higher education.He claims the exams students take in college are ,263), and clears his contempt of the tenure committee of which he now awaits his nice home, and his family (1 ,273) until finally , loosing him, Carol interrupts, â€Å"l want to know about my grade. (Long Pause)† (1, 278) John's ego is dented by the interruption. Here the phone rings again. This time Meet uses the phone to alert the audience that something significant is happening. The audience's ear is now trained to pay close attention to when the phone rings. It has provided insights into the characters and help change the subject.John is finding it difficult to actually teach Carol anything and she has had enough. Carol says, â€Å"l should go. â€Å"(1,286) And John says, â€Å"I'll make you a deal† and â€Å"Let it 289). Meet shows that John is still capable of wielding power in her world. He is determining the course of the conversation. John has no bag of tricks, no skill to deliver knowledge to this student, so he crumbles. He states, â€Å"we'll start the whole class over†¦. Your final grade is an A. (The phone stops ringing)†. (1,289) The audience can hear the residual sounds of the last ring fade away as academic standards, responsibility and respect fly out the window.The audience is left wondering what Just happened. The phone is used to interrupt the flow of conversation between two protagonists. The inappropriate offer of an A has captured Carol's interests, and temporarily restored power to the lack luster professor. He has saved the deal sort to speak, and at the same time effectively removed the responsibility to impart knowledge to the student. Feeling much safer (and powerful) now he continues to espouse his particular brand of gibberish. He is making a genuine attempt to share what's in his head, but failing. She has become upset and he tries to console her.John shows compassion toward Carol and she feels comfortable enough to share with him a secret. â€Å"l always†¦ All my life†¦ ‘ have never told anyone this†¦ † (1, 436) This is a pivot point in their relationship, and yes the phone rings. Carol is about t o confide in John, to trust him. John is about to gain access to Carol in a way that could possibly help him teach her. He answers the call and proceeds to have a rather forceful conversation about the house sale. At one point he threatens to take the seller to court (1, 439). This phone call reveals to the audience that perhaps John is somewhat unreasonable and unlikable. †¦ Screw her†¦ † He says, and â€Å"†¦ Leave her there to stew in it†¦ † (1, 439) Meet shows that John is selfish, and unsympathetic. The audience is forced to agree or disagree with his behavior. Once more the phone call shows that John's priorities are for himself and not of his students needs. Carol discovers that John is not the right person to confide in. In fact she feels abandoned at this point. John is not someone she can trust. Indeed this phone call is a pivot point. It marks the beginning of the end for the professor, because teaching is less important to him than his st atus as a teacher.Again neither Carol nor John continues the conversation where they left off and the audience is left to wonder what her issue is. As the play progresses John's phone conversations clearly show that he is less confident than before, letting the audience know that he has become less powerful. Act 2 opens with the pair discussing the formal complaint of sexual harassment Carol has filled with the tenure committee. Things he said and did in Act 1 have been exaggerated or taken out of context to substantiate her claim. Her agenda now is clearly not a better grade or more understanding of the course material. She is out for his blood.She now holds some power over the professor. In Act 1 John holds court in the arena of academia of room; she is a student to be Judged. Now Carol brings accusations against John, supported by the manipulation of language and her â€Å"Group† (2, 73) She is about to explain who and what her group is to John when the phone rings. It is John's wife who is worried about the house sale, and the complaint. John is nervous and less forceful. This phone call acts to block forward progress in their communication, as it id when he was going to explain why being personal with was necessary and when Carol was about to reveal her secret..When the phone rings in Act 3 the conversation reveals to the audience that things are unraveling. Carol has come to John again. The tenure committee has confirmed Carol's complaint and John has been denied tenure. The shift in power has become obvious. Carol is forceful and aggressive in conversation. She is using big words, very different from Act 1. John is on the ropes. He is loosing his Job and is at Carol's mercy. John is unaware that Carol has filed attempted rape charges against him. Ironically he is now studying something she is an author of (the indictment).As the phone rings John is still referring to the indictment as accusations, Carol is arguing they are proven. It is his secre tary. He has neglected speaking to people in his life for some time. â€Å"†¦ L have no time†¦ † (3, 47) People are worried about him, â€Å"†¦ Tell Jerry I'm 47) This phone call acts as a catalyst for the end of the play when things come too head. From this point Carol is in a position of authority, allowing or not allowing things in the conversation, and now explaining things to John. John covers that Carol and her group are staging a coupe.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

How Today’s Managers Use Scientific Management Essay

An overview During the past 57 years, Pakistan’s experiences with democracy have been transitory, as brief democratic rules have been followed by prolonged military regimes.As a nation, Pakistanis have time and again refused to delearn the incremental lessons in parliamentary democracy. Due to this fact, the four military regimes that Pakistanis saw finally reverted to controlled and guided democracy in quest for legitimacy. ‘Basic democracy’ of General Ayub Khan and ‘Islamic democracy’ of General Ziaul Haq were the efforts to appease popular sentiments and ‘sustainable democracy’ of General Pervez Musharraf is also not different from the two previous experiments with democracy. All the three military dictators patronized and promoted their own factions of Pakistan Muslim League — the party claimant to be the founder of the country — to block the way of normative political forces. In order to supplement their efforts to monopolize the political sphere, the military rulers as unfair referees framed biased rules for the political game. The outcome was a paralysed parliament run by privileged puppets. So-called intellectual brigades mostly comprising retired generals and former bureaucrats nursed not only militarization of state and society but also pleaded for authoritative presidential system. However, with the exception of Ayub Khan none of the military rulers succeeded in such efforts. Ayub Khan’s so-called presidential system immediately collapsed  with his ouster from the political arena. Shockingly, such debates still exist to eclipse the future of parliamentary democracy in Pakistan. The argument derives its logic from the experience of certain East Asian nations that mortgaged their political liberties for economic growth in first place. In this scenario, a qualitative judgement on Pakistan’s democratic experiences can only point to trends and perceptions. Integrity of a nation state The lack of continuity in the democratic process meant that most of the interests groups in the country, whether economic or sub-national at one stage or the other, feel that the system is not fully responsive to their interests. It is generally perceived that during the undemocratic regimes, sub-nationalist forces grew in their disenchantment with the state and governance pattern. Conversely, whenever there have been even quasi-democratic governments, these sub-national entities felt to be part of the system and voices of dissent against state have been considerably mild. To that extent, the democratic experience in Pakistan has played some part in assuaging the concerns of the federating units. Interestingly, with the exception of a few hardcore jihadi outfits, all major religiopolitical parties have been stakeholders in the democratic process. Despite their cherished theological dream and desire of caliphate, the religious parties competed and contested all general elections in the country. The story of ethnic and nationalist voices from periphery namely smaller provinces — Balochistan and NWFP — is not different. These forces have fully participated in the democratic institutions to plead for their demands. Democratic institutions Juxtaposed to above-mentioned trends, the governance and the democratic institutions have not been sufficiently participatory and democratic in their conduct, and failed to cobble up some institutional mechanism for making decisions democratically. The conflicts between the opposition and ruling party often led to use of state apparatus against the opposition parties. Thus, it has been common to see rulers of yesterday as prisoners of today. Therefore, the democratic empowerment remained an illusive dream, and execution and exile emerged as alternatives for the politicians. Many  political observers agree that although the country’s political leadership commendably fought for democratic governance whenever they faced a military rule, there own actions in power have been autocratic.â€Å"Despite making struggle for restoration of democracy, they have failed to build a legal framework, create a pro-democracy environment and most importantly build a policy framework in which   conflicts may be resolved through negotiations, by making bargain, and by building consensus.† (Saeed Shafqat — Democracy in Pakistan: Value Change and Challenges of Institution Building) In this context, no wonder that conflicts between different political forces in the 1980s and 1990s were resolved through the military mediated coercive state powers. Both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto launched major military operations in Karachi to counter Muttahida Qaumi Movement. Though the conflict was not entirely political in nature, during the course of events such operations backed by the military establishment somewhere crossed lines from merely a law and order restoration to political vendetta. Present discontentment among Baloch nationalists over the alleged abuse of their resources by the federal government, especially in Gwadar, points to the inability of the state to satisfy the federating units. Moreover, the way these concerns are being addressed exemplify that nothing has changed in terms of coercive methodologies employed to settle major political issues. Constitutional amendments In order to evolve and erect a fair social contract between the state and the citizens, Pakistan has had three constitutions in 1956, 1962 and 1973, two interim constitutional arrangements in 1947 and 1972, and two major attempts of constitutional engineering in 1985 and 2002. All these attempts were to oscillate the power pendulum towards the designer. The casualty in the process was the rule of law and a viable social contract between the rulers and the ruled. In spite of these odds, Pakistan has exhibited unique resilience to survive. The critical question, however, remains that whether instability would stay as the professed policy of the powerful civil-military establishment or Pakistan would finally witness any moment of democratic triumph? Flawed legislation Legislation process that traditionally flows out of the constitution and contemporary needs of the society is often considered as the most important function of democratic institutions. Unfortunately, this process has been highly flawed even in the democratic eras. In the statute books, majority of the laws are those inherited from the colonial rulers, whereas the second biggest chunk is the set of presidential ordinances (though these are later converted into acts of parliament without any major changes), and very few laws that epitomize the brain of legislators. The tradition of private member bill has never been encouraged in Pakistan. Role of state institutions in protecting citizens The state has miserably failed in protecting life and property of its citizens. The actions to curb the crime have been selective and demonstrative, and that too marred by corrupt practices of the functionaries in different state agencies responsible for providing protection to masses. The state of affairs in the country’s police department and judiciary is no secret, and popular perception is that all efforts on part of the state have been mere an eyewash. Registration of cases by the police even on commission of a crime of heinous nature is very difficult for a common citizen, particularly the poor. In some instances, cases are registered even months after commission of a crime and obviously this leads to loss of critical evidence to prove the cases. Not only this, even if an aggrieved person gets a case registered, the rampant corruption in judiciary makes the accomplishment of justice impossible for the weak and vulnerable segments of the society. Thus, this state of affairs has badly shattered the public confidence in the state institutions, leading to aggravation of situation at the grassroots through giving further boost to the lawlessness and prevalence of uncertainty among the masses. Decision-making and people’s voice Lack of a culture of public debate before legislation is one of the major reasons that today there may be thousands of laws on the statue books but their enforcement is very weak. Sometimes, multiple laws to address any  single issue empower the law enforcers to employ their discretionary powers. Drivers of legislation are often self interests of the ruling class, expediency or some external pressures when it comes to things that have a global perspective. Constitutional amendments to strengthen the interests of the ruling party or one-sided amendments by the military rulers are also not uncommon. Therefore, the present lawmaking system has been unable to keep pace with the changing realities. The government often comes up with quantitative figures to project its legislative performance that in fact is nothing more than minor amendments to the existing laws. Similarly, policy formulation also remain highly personalized and outside the ambit of the parliament. Lack of credibility of elections Country’s record in holding fair and free elections is also not very impressive. It has become a common practice of the defeated parties or politicians that they invariably blame the state for manipulating the elections, and the reason for such scepticism is ingrained deep in the country’s political history. Understandably, when the state institutions (military and civil bureaucracy) seem to have a lucid tilt towards a particular political force or the other, the losing party has all the reasons to suspect the transparency of elections. Moreover, the results of the elections are further manipulated when it comes to the formation of a government. Many a time, the party that has gained larger number of votes or larger number of seats is kept out of the power through post election alliance making. This exercise could be a positive development if entirely left to the dynamics of politics alone, as this could lead the political parties to create some kind of minimum consensus. But contrary to this fact, the outside players, like intelligence agencies, take up the responsibility of forging the alliances. Such manipulations not only create further doubts about the democratic process but also have inbuilt flaws and instability. Such alliances mean that the government has no connection with the masses. Pakistan’s history also testifies to another fact that though the people are allowed to elect governments, they have rarely been given an opportunity to vote out governments. The elected governments have been mostly removed through some arbitrary and discretionary power vested in the head of the  state or by direct military intervention. In a sense, people in the country are not fully aware of the power that their vote may have. Communication gap between political parties and masses Despite a majority of people in the country accepts that democracy is the best system of governance, political parties have not really been able to capitalise on this broad consensus. As the infrastructure of the political parties over the past two decades has lost the ability to educate masses at the grassroots level, and the parties are less interactive with them, the creed known as political workers is becoming extinct. Political parties are now talking to the electorate through media alone, and this practice has led to an ample communication gap between the parties and the people. While this gap increases, some other impediments in the development of democratic culture continue to influence the common man’s mindset. Textbooks taught in schools do not talk favourably about political parties as institutions. Rather these books target some of the elected leaders while eulogising the military rulers of the country. Even the overall sense of the textbooks does not come out positively for a democratic system of governance. The common perception propagated vehemently by the establishment that members of the parliament do not remain in touch with the electorate once they are elected. Although a deep look at the mechanisms of politics suggest this may not be true, as it might have almost been impossible for politicians to get reelected if they completely lose contact with the electorate, it is largely true in case of big landlords who  have such clout in their constituencies that they cannot be defeated whatever the situation may be. However, in case of some politicians from the urban centre, the past elections have proved this perception wrong. Public perception of democracy Despite all odds pitched against vibrant and transparent democratic governance, 88 per cent Pakistanis value democracy as a good political system. In a survey, conducted between August 15, 2001 and February 28, 2002, 2,000 people were interviewed, and only four per cent of respondents preferred military rule over democratic governance. However, the level of  trust in political parties was pretty low as compared to the civil service and the armed forces. See table below: Answers Questions Yes in % Is democracy a good political system? 88 Is democracy despite its problems better than other political systems? 82 Is military government good for Pakistan? 4 Is a strong leader better to make decision without consent of the 34 Parliament? Should technocrats make key decisions rather than elected 19 government? Is Pakistan run by big interest groups who looked out for themselves 89 rather than the benefit of the people? Are you satisfied with handling of country’s affairs by the gov ernment 43 (military government)? Are you happy with the country’s political system? 8 Do you have confidence in political parties? 28 Do you have confidence in civil service? 50 Do you have confidence in armed forces? 86 Would like to have higher economic growth? 76 Would like to have more say in decision making? 4 Would like to see improvement in law and order situation? 57 Would like to see higher economic growth? 76 (Data Published in Daily Times on November 24, 2004.) The survey was published as part of a publication: Human Beliefs and Values. The lead author was Ronald Inglehart, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and president of the World Value Surveys Association. The book is a cross-cultural scorebook based on surveys in 82 countries conducted between 1999 and 2002. According to another opinion poll, conducted by the Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Consortium (PLSC), in Pakistan 45 per cent people believe that political parties are essential and necessary for democracy but 62 per cent think that the parties primarily serve their own interests. Only 13 per cent consider political parties do serve the public interest. These figures show the political parties have to put their house in order to gain wider acceptance and reclaim their lost ground. Mushrooming of political parties Political parties have mushroomed in Pakistan in the past couple of decades. Every shade of political opinion or religious/sectarian group is now organized as a full-fledged party. Thanks to the constitution, there is no condition of the minimum membership for registration of a political party. Presently, over 90 parties submit their internal election certificate and annual income and expenditure statements to the Election Commission of  Pakistan to qualify for an election symbol. As many as 62 participated in the general elections in 2002, and 16 parties and two alliances got representation in the National Assembly, 12 parties and two alliances won seats in the Senate, and a few   more in the provincial assemblies. This is the highest number of political parties to reach the democratic institutions in Pakistan. Interestingly, seven out of 15 parties have just one legislator and another one — Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (Patriots) later renamed and registered as the Pakistan People’s Party — parachuted from the opposition to the treasury benches after the establishment facilitated division of the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians. Amazingly, majority of defectors hailed from Punjab and many of them have been given ministerial slots. Role of intelligence agencies in politics The role of the intelligence agencies that are mostly controlled by the military establishment is also a major impediment in the growth of democratic culture. The attempts to downgrade the political forces have been a consistent strategy for the establishment. These outfits work behind the scene to purchase loyalties or force politicians for forging alliances to serve the purposes of the establishment, particularly the military. Infliction of political parties by corruption A large number of Pakistanis believe that corruption inflicts political parties, and that political leaders have failed democracy.In Global Corruption Report 2004, published by the Transparency International, Pakistan figures in a category of states where investment in political parties can yield desired policy outcomes sought by the investors in the game. This study conducted by World Economic Forum to expose the extent of political corruption around the world is based on the results of 2003 Executive Opinion Survey in the Global Competitiveness Report. The report places Pakistan in the category of the countries with ‘medium political corruption’ where the culture of irregular payments in government policymaking, policy consequences of political donations and odd reality of illegal political donations do exist. However, the facts belie the popular  perceptions about political corruption. Who is really tainted? An answer came on February 28, 2003 when a federal minister told the National Assembly that the National Accountability Bureau had recovered Rs1.8 billion from 87 senior officials and Rs770.10 million from 149 officials working at lower levels. The second biggest recovery of Rs450.10 million was made from military officers and the much-maligned politicians were at number three as Rs260.20 million were recovered from 17 politicians. Abrupt policy changes In fact, Pakistan first time experienced across the board general elections in 1970 and people clearly voted in favour of the parties that were challenging the established order. Though these elections resulted in the break up of Pakistan, still the process is described as the most transparent one. After creation of Bangladesh in 1971, the remaining part was led by a leader who tried to establish supremacy of the elected leadership over bureaucracy. This gave a new impetus and confidence to the polity to aspire for civilian control over state institutions. But General Ziaul Haq’s martial law tried to reverse whatever had been achieved by the polity. There were many steps like party-less polls at the local level and also later at the federal and provincial levels. Creating new breed of politicians and doling out state funds for development work to strengthen them were some of the steps that affected the political process negatively. However, as soon as an elected parliament was in place the tussle for supremacy once again started. Driven by demands of the electorate for development, jobs and resolution of their problems by 1999, the polity in fact had increased influence and autonomy to an extent where it started to vie for control over the military appointments. In 1999, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ultimate downfall was a consequence of an attempt to replace the army chief (General Pervez Musharraf) with a general of his own choice, as earlier he had succeeded in securing resignation from General Musharraf’s predecessor (General Jehangir Karamat) in October 1998. Before  that, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had removed an army chief in 1972. Except the two mentioned instances, the military mostly decided its affairs on its own, without allowing a civilian chief executive to do so. Role of civil and military bureaucracy The elected representatives had largely been powerless. This could be judged easily through role of deputy commissioner as envisaged by the British when they introduced this office for the basic administrative unit (district) in the then India and the functions a deputy commissioner performed till introduction of a new local government system (or devolution of power by the Musharraf regime) in 2001. Through introduction of a new local government system, the Musharraf regime institutionalised the supremacy of elected public representatives at the district level over deputy commissioner. It handed over many powers of the deputy commissioner to the district nazim. In a way, the wish of the polity to have a better control over state affairs at the local level has been granted and accepted. However, in this case too the establishment opted to provide a lease of life to traditional political elite by allowing them to contest for election to the office of district nazim. This way, the fresh blood was recruited as councillors with 33 per cent representation of women. Second odd that goes against the spirit of meaningful devolution of power is that the role of military has been institutionalised at the federal level with a president who is also the chief of army staff and the National Security Council that has representation of the armed forces and is headed by the president. In the words of Jehangir Karamt, a former chief of army staff, the new amendments in the constitution including the one under which the National Security Council has been established were an attempt to settle the question of civil-military relationship on terms of the military. Even at the district level the military establishment is not ready to allow party-based elections as that would mean strengthening the political parties at the grassroots level and once able to organise would again be ready to challenge the military dominance in the affairs of the state. Role of people In the whole equation, where do the people stand? For the people, the elected members remain the only access to the legislatures. However, Pakistani democracy is yet to reach a level where access to parliament means that their issues are debated and laws are framed to safeguard the public  interests. An opinion poll, conducted by the IFES in 2004 on behalf of the Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Consortium with support from the USAID, revealed that the people tend to be satisfied with the closest tier of government. However, the disturbing finding of the survey was that majority of the respondents fall in the category of â€Å"don’t know† and it reflects their apathy towards democratic governance. Satisfaction/dissatisfaction with institution Institution Very/somewhat satisfied % Army 58 Union Council 28 District Government 19 Town/Tehsil Council 18 Judiciary 18 Provincial Assembly 15 National Parliament 14 Election Commission 12 The Senate 10 Very/somewhat dissatis fied % 10 23 22 23 27 19 20 17 18 Don’t Know % 33 49 59 59 56 65 66 70 72 Public Opinion in Pakistan-2004 Role of judiciary In functioning democracies a void is filled by the judiciary. But besides corruption, the lack of proper infrastructure and interference of executive in the domain of judiciary are some of the major impediments. Only in the Supreme Court of Pakistan 25,000 cases are pending, though the Chief Justice of Pakistan claims that during the last year a record number of cases were disposed of. The number of pending cases in the lower courts also runs in hundreds of thousands. In absence of speedy justice, medieval jirga (tribal jury) system competes with formal judiciary in various parts of the country. â€Å"There is a backlog of civil and criminal cases at the level of subordinate judiciary in all provinces. In the province of the Punjab, the number of cases presently pending is 111,839 sessions cases, 343,732 criminal cases and 439,460 civil cases. In the province of Sindh, the number of pending cases comes to 109,833, in NWFP the figure is 96,332 whereas in Balochistan, it is 5,454.† — The figures have been taken from speech of the Chief Justice of Pakistan on beginning of new judicial year on October 4, 1999, available at: http://www.ljcp.gov.pk/ Continuous tussle between different power centres in the country has also led a large number of cases of political nature being decided in the superior courts. In a sharply divided society that translates into question marks over the credibility of the judiciary. Judiciary has not served its cause well by accepting supra-constitutional arrangements to work under. Pakistan’s superior judiciary till date is working under an oath administered to them after promulgation of the  Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) 1999. The PCO 1999 was introduced to facilitate General Musharraf. Constitution was restored in 2002 but the judiciary has so far not taken a fresh oath. The lawyers community has been very critical of this role of judiciary, and even today all the major bar associations of the country continue to question the credibility and legitimacy of courts. The Supreme Court Bar Association has for the first time in the country’s history published a whitepaper about the undemocratic role of the superior judiciary and continues to campaign for supremacy of the constitution and independence of judiciary. The collusion between the judiciary and the autocratic rulers has had a very adverse impact on the country’s political and social fabric. Many of the laws that were brought on the statute books by the military rulers to back their particular agenda could not be repealed. Many controversial laws now have the religious seal of approval. This means that even democratic majority cannot amend and change these laws as it fears that such a change may bring adverse reaction by the aggressive religious lobbies. Many of these laws have a potential to be used for selective justice against minorities, women and marginalised sections of the society. This is evident from the laws like blasphemy and Hudood laws. Attempts to change these have met stiff resistance despite attempts by some elected members across the party divide but these have often hit roadblocks. Functioning and outlook of political parties In Pakistan, democracy’s inability to sustain and deliver on the long-term basis not only lies in the unwillingness of the military establishment to let political process take its own course but also in the way the political parties function and grow. The political parties in their outlook remain personality oriented. Each party is recognised by the name of one person. Even breakaway factions if they do not try to give themselves a proper nomenclature and try to stick to the parent party’s name will be recognised with the name of prominent leader heading the faction. The elitist leadership of most of the populist parties limits their ability to articulate, propagate and protect the interests of all societal groups. Majority of the mainstream parties excluding those representing religious right are dominated by the landowning classes. These classes bring their  traditional mode of control and manipulation to party politics also. As a result the political parties whenever they had an opportunity have strengthened a system of governance that is more paternalistic where the local political influential provide solutions like jobs, development, etc, but in the process constitutional governance is ignored. People’s participation in policy formulation at the party level is also scant. Most parties believe in the top down approach and tend to follow the decisions of leadership on critical matters. Party workers most often than not will be wondering what way their leadership is going or what kind of compromises these parties are making to win power. Religious parties have another kind of internal conflict in their discourse about democracy and democratic governance. The religious right has participated in most of the elections since the creation of Pakistan with the best electoral performance in 2002 when these parties joined hands and contested from a single platform. Now at least in one province, the alliance is running a government and in another is a coalition partner. On the other hand, the jihadi offshoots of the religious right do not agree that democracy is the path that can bring the change they desire for. Role of media and freedom of expression During the last 57 years, the pattern of governance in Pakistan thrived on the culture of secrecy and information blockade. Resultantly, Pakistanis suffered bad and corrupt governance. Apathy and cynicism emerged as the logical by-products of such closed culture that retarded the citizen’s capacity to monitor public institutions run on taxpayers’ money. However, now there is a new hope. This hope can transform into good governance and engaged citizenship provided the government functionaries internalize the new spirit of open access to information. Amongst the non-party political influencers, media besides some organised civil society groups play an important role. Pakistani media environment is going through a rapid transformation. Besides privately owned vibrant print media, a number of new FM radio stations, cable television networks, satellite televisions and interactive websites on the Internet are catering to the citizens’ information needs. The unprecedented proliferation of new media outlets  could be attributed to the open media policy of the government. Since March 2002, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) is engaged in providing enabling environment to media entrepreneurs. The role of new enabling information and communication technologies and their cost effectiveness also cannot be ignored. Encouraging feature of this entire scenario is that emerging media voices are no more confined to urban centres alone, and rather rural areas, though at small scale, are also on their way to alleviate their media poverty. All this will have long-lasting impact on the way society and politics have to move over the next decade or so. The most lasting of these was the introduction of media friendly laws that after years of martial law provided breathing space to the country’s print media. Pakistan’s media has in fact fought long and hard for its freedom. The changing world realities also played a major part in ensuring that media is given space and opportunity to play its role. But all said and done, it would be highly risky to conclude that the media is free of any pressures from both the state and non-state actors. While guarding its freedom, media is quite cautious of the fact that whatever freedom it enjoys must be used with care and caution. And a large part of that caution means that some institutions and personalities are not probed enough through quality investigative journalism. Columnists and commentators can express their opinions rather freely. In a recently conducted nationwide survey by the Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Consortium, it was revealed that for 43 per cent people the source of information on political situation is state-controlled Pakistan Television, for 16 per cent Radio Pakistan, for 13 per cent Geo TV, for 12 per cent daily Jang, for nine per cent BBC Radio and for equal percentage daily Nawa-e-Waqt. Among the rest are ARY TV (seven per cent), FM Radio (five per cent), Indus Vision TV (four per cent), Kawish newspaper (four per cent), family and friends (37 per cent), ‘Hujra,’ ‘Chopal,’ and ‘Bethak,’ etc, (12 per cent). The reasonably high percentage for family, friends, ‘Hujra,’ ‘Chopal’ and ‘Bethak’ provides a hint that the media and the medium that exists at proximity remains an enriching source of information. Citizens need information to follow and scrutinize actions of the government. Accurate and timely information enables them to have a meaningful say in decision-making processes and enhances their ability to hold the government accountable. Globally, the idea of citizens’ right to  know is gaining grounds as a proactive concern and today more than 57 countries of the world, including Pakistan, have formally acknowledged it by adopting freedom of information laws. Resultantly, the culture of openness is replacing the centuries-old practices of secrecy in the arena of governance. A democratic government is expected to function in a transparent fashion so that the citizens know what their government is doing at taxpayers’ expense. This enables them to keep a check on the executive and legislative powers, and assess the efficiency of these vital pillars of a state. It ensures transparency in social and economic fields, facilitates rule of law, equality and fair competition. Free flow of information helps citizens articulate their informed political and economic choices. In democracy and governance discourse, information is described as ‘the oxygen of democracy.’ The logic is that if people do not know what is happening in their society, if the actions of those who rule them are hidden, then they cannot take a meaningful part in the affairs of that society. The president of Pakistan promulgated the Freedom of Information Ordinance on October 26, 2002 that came into force at once. Its manifested purpose is to provide for transparency and freedom of information to ensure that the citizens of Pakistan have improved access to public records to make the federal government more accountable to its citizens. The Local Government Ordinance 2001 also envisages that the meetings of District Council shall be open to public unless the council by resolution decides to hold any in-camera meeting. Similarly, the Tehsil Municipal Administration is supposed to seek approval of the Tehsil Council to the plans prepared after due process of information dissemination and public inquiry. Tehsil administration as per law is also required to maintain with the assistance of district government, union and village councils a comprehensive database and information system for Tehsil Municipal Administration and provide public access to it on nominal charges along with maintaining municipal records and archives. Through the Local Government Ordinance 2001, the Tehsil Municipal Administration has also been asked to assign or contract out any of its functions to any public-private, public or private organization only after inviting public objections. The functions of tehsil nazim envisage presentation of a performance report at least once in six  months. The law has provisions to collect and maintain statistical information at union level for socio-economic survey and asks to disseminate information on the matters of public interest. The law requires that Union Council will place a monthly and the annual accounts and other necessary statements at a conspicuous place for public information. Similar clause exists regarding information about the staffing and the performance of the office of a local government during the preceding month. The law also empowers the citizens to have access to information about any office of the district, tehsil and union administration on the prescribed forms on payment of fixed fees. Presently, these enabling provisions are not being used effectively. Perhaps, the government institutions have not divorced the mindset of secrecy and the citizens are also not adequately trained and capacitated to make use of these laws.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 20

History - Essay Example He currently earns a salary of $ 1 per month in a show of his philanthropy thereby investing the rest in numerous donor foundations. His success story begins back in his college days where he teamed up with a group of colleagues to create numerous computer programs and software applications. The journey to stardom as a social network entrepreneur has encountered myriad challenges most of which he overcame successfully thereby becoming the leading entrepreneur in the industry. Mark Zuckerberg had an average childhood just as most American children. He was born in White Plains, New York in 1984. While he currently bears no religious inclination, he was born a Jew with his conferment in the religion occurring while he was thirteen. He attended Ardsley High School alongside his other siblings namely Randi, Donna and Arielle. At school, Zuckerberg excelled in classical studies. Additionally, he had exemplary performance in physics, astronomy and math. Besides his exemplary in academics, Zuckerberg portrayed leadership and sports ability factors that influenced his selection to serve as the captain of the schools fencing team. He graduated from high school and applied to Harvard where he would later develop his career in software development. Zuckerberg ventured into software development early in life while in middle school. In the 1990s for example, his father, Edward Zuckerberg began teaching him different programming languages. He perfected in Atari BASIC programming. His father later hired David Newman to tutor him thereby growing his interest and skills in software development. Owing to his immense interest in computer programming and software development, Zuckerberg performed exemplarily with Newman calling him a prodigy in software development. Among his early success in the practice while still in middle school was a program he name â€Å"ZackNet†. He developed the

Friday, September 27, 2019

Mechanisms Used in Common Law and Civil Law in Transfer of Syndicated Coursework

Mechanisms Used in Common Law and Civil Law in Transfer of Syndicated Dept - Coursework Example It is also subject to being added upon by legislation from a law making legislature such as parliament. Here previous rulings give guidance on current cases and are referred to. It originated in England and is still used commonly there and in former Great Britain colonies such as Australia, New Zealand Canada and in most countries of the commonwealth. Debt syndication is a situation where many lenders come together to offer credit to an individual entity, a conglomerate, or a government to spread out the debt risk among the participating lenders (called the syndicate) and share in the profits of the debt proportionately under a single syndicated loan agreement. This paper gives an analytical introspection into common and civil law in reference to transfer of syndicated debt. Loan amounts involved in syndicated debts are normally much larger than normal debts, and a default could have serious ramifications on a single lender, hence the need to spread the risk among many lenders. There is a lead borrower known as the ‘agent’ that does most of the administrative work concerning the loan or contributes proportionally larger debts.1 A syndicated loan can be provided as a term loan provision where a specified amount of loan is provided over an agreed time period of time called the ‘term. In addition, the borrower is usually allowed, under the given circumstances, a brief time after the loan availability to withdraw money up to the maximum limit and then repays in installments (amortization) or once at the expiry of the term (bullet payment). The syndicated loan may also be provided as a revolving loan facility where the borrower draws portions of the loan amount for a given period, for instance, within three to six months after which the repayment is due and can draw from the loan facility to repay the outstanding loan. This is a concept which is referred to as rollover loan. A syndicated loan can also be in the form of a general loan where new bor rowers can come into the agreement under specific circumstances and may also combine rollover loans and multiple term loans. This is a concept which is legally defined within the law.2 The borrower usually starts by approaching the lead borrower (agent) who advises the said borrower and contacts other lenders. The agent is the contact person with the borrower and represents the views of the syndicate. The agent also monitors how the borrower meets terms and conditions of the loan agreement. In addition, the agent keeps all records, collects all payments and interest from the borrower, and then pays both members of the syndicate at a fee. After a loan is approved with the requisite legal requirements satisfied, the borrower can then access the loan under the agreed terms. In this case, the borrower may wish to transfer the loan to a third party for a variety of reasons listed in the following part of the discussion. Acquire Capital The borrower may sell its interest in the syndicated loan if it is a long term loan facility to get capital or benefit from new better loan facilities. Reduce or Avoid Loss The borrower may experience difficulties and decide to sell its loan commitment to distressed debt specialists Capital

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Us formative history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Us formative history - Essay Example They are document 1, document 2, document 3, and essay on the New World of Indians. Document 1 is a myth by Iroquois explaining the world’s beginning. The myth illustrates that the world never existed in the beginning, not even the land, the creatures, or the men. However, there was only the ocean that occupied entire space and the great air void above ocean surface. Document 2 illustrates the 1448 historic events of the battles between the Portuguese and the West Africans. The Portuguese directed their voyage to Cape Verder where two Guineas were captured in the past. On reaching the shore the Portuguese found a village with houses and men willing to defend it. Alvaro Fernandez killed the leader of the village, and the Guineas stopped fighting on realizing that their leader is dead (Jones 107). Document 3 explains the 1493 encounter of Christopher Columbus with the Native People. Christopher Columbus passed by Indies, using the fleet given by the King and the Queen, and saw several islands with many inhabitants. The inhabitants walk around naked; save for some women who cover their private parts with a plant leaf or some specially made cotton material (Morison 55). The essay explains the New World of the Indians. Even though the encounter of the Americas by the Europeans led to major effects in the Indian society; the indigenous people had inhabited the Americas for approximately millennia. The New World was experienced when the Indians encountered the Africans and the European, in the Virginia and also the California. The contact brought vast changes to the Indians society (Johnson 24). Document 1 describes the world origin myth. The sea had fish and deep sea creatures. The birds lived in the air, and the sky world had a man and his pregnant wife. The wife fell through a hole in the sky and landed on the back of the huge sea turtle. The woman gave birth to a daughter, who on reaching maturity bore quarrelsome twins. Right handed twin

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Islamic Banking in Bangladesh Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Islamic Banking in Bangladesh - Essay Example Islamic / Shariah based Banking System. Operation of Islamic Banking.. The main focus of the report is the Islamic Banking system; which is indicated a way to the light. Methodology: Research type: It is an exploratory research. Source of data: In this report all-necessary information to prepare are collected from secondary data. Secondary data: I need much information for the report, which we get from secondary data. These are: Annual Report of different banks. Different types of brochures of EXIM Bank Ltd. Books and Journals (Details are available at Bibliography). Research approach: As the research is based on secondary data Traditional Research approach has used as (Query from Internet, Journals, Books etc). Analysis & reporting: I have used different types of statistical tools and computer software for analyzing and reporting my gathered information, such as - Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, SPSS. Limitations of the Study: The study had to be completed under certain constraints, which barred it to be more effective. Some of these constraints are listed: Every organization has their own secrecy that is not revealed to others. Another limitation of this study is Banks policy of not disclosing come data and information for various reasons, which could be very much useful. No contacted method used because research conducted based on secondary data. Despite the limitations, I have tried my best to prepare the report. If you find any mistakes please consider it cordially. Islamic Banking: Islamic banking has been defined as banking in consonance with the ethos and value system of Islam and governed, in addition to the good governance and risk management rules, by the principles laid down by Islamic Shariah. Interest free banking is a narrow...All the data for this analysis has collected from secondary sources. The primary objective of this report is to comply with the requirement of my course. But the objective behind this study is something broader. Objectives of the study are summarized in the following manner: Islamic Banking: Islamic banking has been defined as banking in consonance with the ethos and value system of Islam and governed, in addition to the good governance and risk management rules, by the principles laid down by Islamic Shariah. Interest free banking is a narrow concept denoting a number of banking instruments or operations, which avoid interest. 5. The Islamic banks have no provision to charge any extra money from the defaulters. Only small amount of compensation and these proceeds is given to charity. Rebates are give for early settlement at the Bank's discretion. Islamic Shariah prohibits 'interest' but it does not prohibit all gains on capital. It is only the increase stipulated or sought over the principal of a loan or debt that is prohibited. Islamic principles simply require that performance of capital should also be considered while rewarding the capital. "The prohibition of a risk free return and permission of trading, as enshrined in the Verse 2:275 of the Holy Quran, makes the financial activities in an Islamic set-up real asset-backed with ability to cause value addition"4. Islamic banking system is based on risk sharing, owning and ha

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Nursing - patient with copd and vascular dementia scenario Essay

Nursing - patient with copd and vascular dementia scenario - Essay Example Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD) COPD generally refers to a condition wherein the airways are destroyed, narrowing the airways and eventually obstructing the air flow, impairing gas exchange. This condition is a combination of chronic bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. It is an irreversible, incurable, progressive but a preventable condition (Black & Hawks, 2005; British Lung Foundation, 2007). It is estimated that 3.7 million people in the United Kingdom are suffering form COPD, while only 900,000 are currently diagnosed, leaving the remaining 2.8 million unaware of their disease (British Lung Foundation, 2007), while 25 million in the United States (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2009). Among those who are greater than or equal to 65 years old, the occurrence is estimated to be 34 out of 1000 (Torres & Moayedi, 2007). These values tend to increase over time due to increased tobacco consumption worldwide. COPD ranks from fourth to sixth as the leading cause of sickness and death worldwide (Mathers & Loncar, 2006; Viegi et al, 2007). According to Berry and Wise (2010), mortality can be predicted by the values of forced expiratory volume in one second, ratio of inspiratory and total lung capacities, and the BODE index (body mass index, obstruction, dyspnea and exercise capacity). Despite the severity of this condition, it is frequently under-diagnosed and under-treated (Viegi et al, 2007). Almost all cases of COPD developed symptoms, more than half manifests productive cough and half of the cases passed the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease criteria for emphysema (Lundback et al, 2003). Age, gender, race, smoking history, blood type, alpha1-antitrypsin variation, socioeconomic status, occupation, pollution exposure and infections are the known risk factors for developing COPD (Cohen et al, 1977). Race is also a factor in developing COPD, wherein whites has an odds ratio of 3.1 in dying from this condition (Meyer et al, 2002) though African Americans appear to be more susceptible to the effects of COPD than whites (Chatila et al, 2004). Among those risk factors, smoking is the most prominent cause of COPD. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 40% to 74% who die from COPD are smokers (Mannino & Buist, 2007). Meyer et al (2002) reveals more than 80% of deaths from those who experienced smoking before and during COPD morbidity, while the odds ratio of those who currently smokes versus those who stopped smoking are 6.5 and 3.7 respectively. Aside from irritants from smoking, occupational-related vapours, gas, dust and fumes exposure is also a risk in developing COPD (Blanc et al, 2009). The numerous irritants, either from cigarette smoke or from environmental pollution, stimulate inflammatory response along the bronchi and the alveoli. The COPD-related effects of this response are increased mucus production and the release of protease and elastase, enzymes that can damage the lung’ s connective tissues. Without adequate alpha1-antitrypsin to counteract the effects of these enzymes, tissue destruction will be progressive. This destruction collapses the alveoli, allowing air pockets to form between the alveolar spaces. The elasticity of the alveolar walls is also altered, making expiration more difficult. These air pockets increase the lung area that cannot facilitate gas and blood exchange, thus this is where the manifestations of emphysema set in. As the gas

Monday, September 23, 2019

Social Class and Education in the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Social Class and Education in the USA - Essay Example However, education is becoming elusive for more and more people each year, especially for the working class. But then again, people classified as working class are not the only ones who encounter such difficulty. Even the middle class, at times including those in the upper echelon, have a hard time sending their kids to good schools that provide high quality education. This paper discusses the factors that bring about this condition of education in the United States (US). In this paper, I intend to argue that rising income disparity and unbalanced funding system for schools are the primary reasons why it becomes harder for people who are not in the upper class of society to attend good schools. Apart from these, I assert that surging cost in relation to schooling and Americans' mounting consumption rather than saving up for future investment such as education are also major factors that exacerbate the state of US education. Since elementary and secondary schooling are mandated by law, college education is emphasized in the discussion. In the tertiary level, problems in education become more evident as students and families are more exposed to higher spending and more options. In terms of income equality, the US ranks only 92nd is the world income distribution ("Wikipedia"). In the US, although income inequality rose more slowly during much of the 90's, those with higher incomes continue to pull away, thus, widening the income gap. People with higher incomes are said to be concentrated in California and New York City. With higher earnings, people working in these states are more likely to get to good schools and perform well. To illustrate this point, it is deemed that roughly 44% of the student population at Stanford University is comprised of people from California. Such may be somehow explained by the fact that those with higher incomes have greater allocation for education. Furthermore, due to the higher cost of living in these states, these people are probably more driven to land higher paying jobs to sustain their lifestyle. They seek better education since there are greater opportunities available in the labor market for highly educated individuals. Moreover, it is seen that those in the upper class have greater chances of pursuing higher level of education. As at 2000, the percentage of families who are able to send their children to school with respect to their annual income is summarized as follows: Annual Income Bracket Percentage of People who are able to send their Children to College $62,629-$96,040 26.7% $35,902-$62,628 12.2% Below-$35,901 8.6% ("Seattle Post Intelligencer") In the table above, it is seen that participation rates in college vary depending on total family income. People belonging to the upper income bracket are more likely to send their kids to schools. As we move down the income range, there are lesser families who can afford to send their children to school. This trend is due to the fact that people with lower earnings would initially have to address their basic necessities such as food, shelter and clothing. These bare essentials would have to be answered first prior to the cost of further schooling. If their disposable income is already depleted with their spending food, rent and clothes, then the children's schooling are at times foregone. Often, college

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Williams Presents Essay Example for Free

Williams Presents Essay Eddie and Mickey were born from the same mother Mrs. Johnston, but they have extremely different lives. They were identical twins; they look exactly the same. But Mrs. Lyons separated them and made them have a different life. From then on, one of them, Mickey stayed with Mrs. Johnston lives in a big, poor family and the other one who was taken by Mrs. Lyons became very rich and got everything. They have been in a different world because of many factors surrounding them to rich or poor from the moment they have been born. I think the most influential factors are the family they have got and the family classes different. The different kind and level of education they have got did also influence them much. Also, the religion of the family is one of the factors that affect the life of the child as well. Different thing has different amount of influence to Mickey and Eddies life. I am going to discuss the factors one by one. The social context is messy at the time between late 70s and early 80s that the play was set. It is called recession. Margaret Thatcher is the Prime Minister; she encouraged people to make lots of money. As a result, the rich people in middle or upper class can earn much money but the poor people in working class lost their jobs. Life is very hard for working class, as they get poorer without a job. Mickeys family is suffered from this social climate. His family is poor. Unlike Eddie, his family is in middle class, he is rich. They have a great contrast in their life because the classes are different. Marilyn Monroe is the social icon of the day at that time. She is very glamorous, rich and she represents a life of fantasy. Everyone wants to be her. We know that from the book on p. 14, Act 1, Scene 1, it said He told me I was sexier than Marilyn Monroe, which is about Mr. Johnston said her wife was sexier, lovelier than Marilyn Monroe. It shows the value of that time. But that is what totally different from Mickey. Mickey is poor; he dressed scruffy. He lives in council house and his family is working class. He does not have money to buy everything he wanted. But Eddie, he is rich, he has got new clothes, and he looks smart. He lives in private house and his family is middle class. They are exactly the same, but the way of living is really different with one of them is living in a rich environment and another lives in a poor world. This is how the classes different influence their life. The size and people in their family have also influenced them. Mickey has a big family with 7 brothers and sisters. The speech of the mother in p. 14, Act 1, Scene 1, told us about that. She said: Seven hungry mouths to feed and one more nearly due. Mickey is the youngest in the family; he has to fight for food and everything with the elder brothers and sisters. Therefore, he needs to grow up fast and look tough to protect himself in case of beaten up by others. He also wants to his elder brother Sammy because he wants to get older so he can do everything he loves. We can see how much he wants to be Sammy in the book on p. 30, Act 2, Scene 1, he has repeated the sentences I wish I was our Sammy. - for five times. He does everything Sammy did; however, Sammy was not a good example for Mickey to learn. So Mickey becomes a joker and streetwise since he has got influenced by his brother Sammy. The family of Eddie, we know that he is the only child in his rich family and they are in middle class. He lives with his mum only most of his life. We dont know much about Eddies father because the book does not mention about him much. Mrs., Lyons, Eddies mother, loves her son very much. She gives him a good shelter, gives him everything he wanted. This makes very weak and soft and he will not know the hardship of the working class since life is easy for him. Time ran through quick by dramatic devices in the book. We can see how much difference between Mickey and Eddie over a long period. At first, when they are born, they are not much different from each other in either class or education. But when they are at the age of 17, Mickey is dropped out from school and on the other side Eddie was going to University. Then, when they both go to work, Mickey loses his job and Eddie is the boss of a factory. The education level made them have such a big difference. Mickey is poor educated as he left school when he was 17. He was study in government school. Normally, there is nothing bad to study in government school. But compare to Eddie, Eddie was study in private school, he was well educated. He could use a dictionary at the age of seven while Mickey do not even know what a dictionary is. We knew that from the conversation between Mickey and Eddie. Eddie said, I shall look it up in a dictionary. from p. 33, Act 2, Scene 2. From the speech of the narrator at p. 56, Act 4, Scene 1, we know Mickey and Eddie are getting older as they are 18. This is the job of narrator to take us through time and speed things up. Eddies goes into a University straight after he left his college but at that time Mickey was already dropped out from the school and working in a factory. Then, Eddie got a job, which is the boss of the factory, straight after he finished his studying. By that time Eddie becomes really powerful and rich but the other one, Mickey, is just a worker in a factory! They are identical twins but we can see how education makes them go into a different life. Superstition is one of the influences. Mrs. Johnston is very superstitious as we can see from the several events from the book. On p. 18, Act 1, Scene 3, Mrs. Lyons put a pair of new shoes on the table then Mrs. Johnston saw it and tell her never do this. This is a superstition thinking that something had will happen to you, which you will never notice. This shows that Mrs. Johnston is superstitious. I believe that she believes in religion. And this makes Mickey kind of superstitious as well. He believes what blood brother is. On the other side, I dont think Mrs. Lyons has any religion at all. She does not respect Mrs. Johnston and always use the weakness of Mrs. Johnston, that she is superstitious, to coerce her into doing something. At first Eddie does not believe any superstition things but Mickey influences him. He admires Mickey and everything Mickey does. He likes Mickey and wants Mickey likes him as well. On p. 32, Act2 2, Scene 2, we know Eddie gives sweets to Mickey. This reflected he is eager to please. Eddie used to dont know much about colloquial until Mickey told him. He thought everything Mickey said was smashing. And he believes that what Mrs. Johnston told her on p. 35, Act 2, Scene 2, about bogeyman. This shows that he is nai ve and innocent. In conclusion, I can divide the influences on the lives of Mickey and Eddie in four main sections. The differences between Mickey and Eddie in the family, the social class they are, the education they have and the religion of the family. They are identical twins but they have got a very different life, I think it is because these things that I have mentioned before influenced them.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Mining Engineer Essay Example for Free

Mining Engineer Essay 1. Introduction Concerning the development of field of study, this paper will elaborate several issues regarding the mining engineer. They include the background of mining engineering, the requirements needed to be mining engineer, earnings for mining engineer professional and many others. 2. Education/Training Mining engineering like other engineering degree requires the mastery of several subjects such as mathematics including trigonometry, geometry calculus, and algebra; general science (physics, chemistry, and biology), and also social and humanities studies, information technology, and some courses in English since jobs in mining usually involve many people from different cultural background and languages (Daub, 2006). The course to obtain bachelor degree in mining engineering usually takes about 4-5 years. While the first two years, students learn about mathematics and genera science, the specialization of mining engineering occurs in the last two years in which students learn about geology, mine management, physical mineralogy and petrology, and explosive engineering. Some universities that provide mining engineering include University of Arizona, University of Utah, and West Virginia University in the U.S (Daub, 2006) and University of Exeter and in the U.K. in the University of Exeter (2007), the undergraduate students will have extensive course in mathematic and physics in order to arm the students with problem solving capability. 3. Job Skills, Talents, and Experience Mining engineering not only requires technical expertise but also physical fitness since jobs in mining engineering involves hiking, working in variety of condition such as daylight, rainy, windy etc (Daub, 2006). Particular jobs in mining engineering involves open-pit or underground mines, construction supervisory, safety issues, equipments operations and maintenance, information processing, to name a few (Sloan Career Cornerstone Center, 2007). Table 1 shows the comparison of several mining engineers in terms of required skills and talents in which each has different required capabilities. Table 1 Comparison of Skills and Talents between Mining Engineers No. Type of Engineers Required Skills/Talents 1 Blasting Engineer ï‚ § Develop blasting schedule and technique to intensify long-term goals in production 2 Sr. Mining Engineer ï‚ § Capable of developing and applying economic models to geological information system 3 Mine Engineer ï‚ § Performing routine activities in the operation and maintenance of mining equipment and systems 4 Senior Project Geologist ï‚ § Capable of designing and operating drilling programs to examine exploration potential in a location Source: (Sacrison Engineering, 2007; Kinross Gold Corporation, 2007) 4. Earnings Salary or earning for mining engineering jobs varies based on experiences, skills, industry, and job types. However, general mining engineers typically earn about $46,000 annually at minimum. However, for engineer who works in coal exploration may earn at least $50,000 per annum (Daub, 2006). Meanwhile, according to 2005 salary survey that conducted by National Association of Colleges and Employers, typically, mining engineers may expect starting salary about $48,643 per annum. Table 2 shows salary distribution in 2004 (Daub, 2006). Table 2 Distribution of Mining Engineer Salary in 2004 Distribution of Engineers 10% 25% 50% 75% 90% Salary $39,700 $50,500 $64,690 $83,050 $103,790 5. Benefits/Health Factors In addition to attractive salary packages for mining engineers, they also receive several allowances such as travel, overtime, and medical allowances that not only cover the engineers but also their family (wife/spouse, children) (Daub, 2006). 6. Employment In the U.S., the employment of mining engineer span from west to east coasts. However, there are concentrations of minerals in several areas such as Northern Michigan and Northern Minnesota for iron, Southwest for copper, and West Virginia for coal exploration (Daub, 2006). The purpose of jobs in mining engineering is to gather natural resources as raw materials for further processed that performed by other companies in order to produce final products or services (Sloan Career Cornerstone Center, 2007). 7. Typical Day There are two general job types for mining engineers: office and on site jobs. For office jobs, the working day is typically from Monday to Friday. However, for on site jobs, they may conduct various working days that differs from one company to another. For example, a company may set rules 2:1 that means 2 month of full time jobs in exploration sites and 1 month for the breaks (Sloan Career Cornerstone Center, 2007). 8. Conclusion Mining engineer is an attractive job since the occupations are often associated with high-wage jobs. However, as a rule, higher jobs mean higher risks. Therefore, we find that the underlying reasons of high-wage jobs for mining engineers are that they face high risk and require special skills. Works Cited Daub, Travis C. â€Å"Mining Engineering.† 2006. Retrieved January 26, 2007 from http://www.graduatingengineer.com/futuredisc/mining.html Kinross Gold Corporation. â€Å"Senior Project Geologist.† 2007. Retrieved January 29, 2007 from http://www.miningusa.com/employ/Kinross/KINROSS12.htm Minova USA Inc. â€Å"Mining Employment – Southwest.† Retrieved January 26, 2007 from http://www.miningusa.com/employ/sw.asp Sacrison Engineering. â€Å"Mining Employment – Southwest.† 2007. Retrieved January 29, 2007 from http://www.miningusa.com/employ/sw.asp Sloan Career Cornerstone Center. â€Å"Mining Engineering Overview.† 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2007 from http://www.careercornerstone.org/pdf/mining/mining.pdf University of Exeter. â€Å"BEng Mining Engineering (UCAS code J110).† 2007. Retrieved January 29, 2007 from http://www.uec.ac.uk/csm/undergraduate-study/mining-engineering/

Friday, September 20, 2019

International Law and International Organization

International Law and International Organization Introduction Generally public international law primarily is the laws of states, in all its forms. This includes the many international dealings of states with each other. The purview of international law includes the institutions which operate under its broad coverage.[1] International law is presupposed on the concept of equality of states, which are subject to international laws, subject to their recognition of any rule of law as binding upon them, with the same principle applying to the courts. Hence for the system of international law to be further recognizable, there comes the need for international organizations or institutions. Thus, if there is no identifiable institution either to establish rules, or to clarify them or see that those who break them are punished, how what can is called international law be law.[2] The role of force in international law has been largely misinterpreted to favor powerful states, hence the equality of states in international law, but without a unified system of sanction in international law, the use of indiscriminate force by nation-states would be almost inevitable.[3] The inability of the structure of international law to properly deter any aggressor country would continually breed new levels of aggression amongst states, hence the need for international organization.[4] History of Relationship between International Law and International Organization. International law has been developing steadily since the Second World War, and forces have been consistently playing a critical role in the international scene, as this include international organizations. As the complexities of life has multiplied so has the response of international law. International organizations are product of the ingenuity of corporate international to spread its globalization and promote international law. Meanwhile, among many international organizations, the United Nations facilitates international diplomacy, the World Health Organization coordinates international public health and protection, and the International Labor Organization monitors and fosters workers rights around the world.[5] Historically, international law addressed only relations between states, and war was the major reason for international diplomacy between countries, but today international organization have a major part to play in the executing of international goals. Treaties are the foundation for the establishment for international organization, and usually the establishment treaty or agreement is what determines the limit and extent of the powers of the organization. International organizations have a limited degree of international personality, especially vis-à  -vis member States. They can enter into international agreements and their representatives have certain privileges and immunities. The United Nations gets its power from the charter of the United Nations 1945, and in the dispensing of its functions it is divided into different arms. History of international organization in world politics today The idea of nations-states having and establishing bodies to secure its interest in another country or promote a certain cause around the world is not new to international legal system. Without going back into medieval Europe where countries had consuls which represented the interest of their mother nation. The private International associations sprang from the realization by non-governmental bodies, whether private individuals or corporate associations, that their interests had an international character which demanded the furtherance of those interests via a permanent international association with like bodies in other countries. In those fields where co-operation between governments became imperative, there developed the public international unions; these were, in fact, an essay into international organization in the administrative sphere. There developed a gradual transition from the private corporate unions to international organization.[6] Thus, in 1840, the world Anti-Slavery Convention was established, and in 1863 a Swiss philanthropist, Henry Dunant, Created the Red Cross.[7] Modern international organizations The need for increased international participations and cooperation fostered the need to developed more stable organizations to checkmate the politics of the nation-states hence acting independent of the states i.e. subject only to the agreement creating them. The powerful nature of states and sovereignty of these states led to the private international charter companies becoming an extension of their home countries, hence a need to bring more independent organization. In 1903 the International Office of Public Health was created, and in the field of economics the establishment of the Metric Union (1875), the International Copyright Union (1886), the International Sugar Union (1902) and the International Institute for Agriculture (1905) may be mentioned as early forerunners of present-day international organization. A major breakthrough for modern international organization was in the year 1919 and the Versailles peace Settlement which followed the First World War, American president advocated for a general association of nations.[8] The League of Nations was the first international organization which was designed just to organization operation between states as a result of the war, its specific aims was to guarantee peace and the establishment of a system of collective security, following which an attack against one of the member-states of the League would give the rest the right to come to the attacked states rescue, but sadly the league of nations failed in preventing war, which was its major objective. In 1945, the United Nations was established as a successor to the League of Nations. Since the creation of the UN, much of international law and diplomacy has been developed, shaped, implemented, and enforced through U.N. bodies and related international organizations. International organizations both make international law and are governed by it.[9] Functions and Structures of International Law and Organizations In an attempt to discuss the structure of international law and international organizations, to highlight the sources of international law and its enforcement mechanisms. It is of general knowledge that the main function of international law is to promote peace and cooperation among nations-states, any other function would be specific to an arm or organization operating in the international sphere. A vast network of international laws and dozens of international organizations make globalization possible, the scope and authority of international law have thus expanded dramatically during the era of globalization. Historically, international law addressed only relations between states, but globalization has changed international law in numerous ways. For example, as globalization has accelerated, international law has become a vehicle for states to cooperate regarding new areas of international relations (such as the environment and human rights).[10] Because of the need for enhanced international cooperation, age hold topics of sovereignty are becoming malleable.[11] The structure of international law involves, Public International Law (The relationship between sovereign states and international entities such as International Criminal Court and international criminal courts), Private international law, this involves jurisdictional conflict in resolving transnational issues. Since there is no parliament to make international law the way domestic Legislatures create laws for one country, the major source of international is treaties between states, also the customary state practice, general principles of law common to many countries, domestic judicial decisions, and the legal scholarship.[12] Enforcement of International Law and Structure of Organisation Within International Law In an international system where there is no overarching authoritative enforcer, punishment for non-compliance with the rules of public international law rules, hence the deriding insinuations that it is not law. Some of the enforcement mechanism in the international legal system include Reciprocity is a type of enforcement by which states are assured that if they offend another state, where the other state is primed to respond in the same measure. There is mutuality of response, as was witnessed in the cold war, between geopolitical powers of the era. The fear of reprisal or reciprocal action act as a form of deterrence, to prevent a state from committing acts against another state which it may not itself be able to withstand. The killing of prisoners of war or the imposition of heavy tariffs on products from a certain country to limit the imports. Guarantees of reciprocal reactions encourage states to think twice about which of their actions they would like imposed upon them. Collective action: several states act together against one state to produce what is usually a punitive result, in a bid to force such state from refraining from an act or from continuing with an action. Example is the commonwealth sanction of South Africa during the apartheid regime. Similarly, the United Nations imposed joint economic sanctions, such as restrictions on trade, on South Africa in the 1980s to force that country to end the practice of racial segregation known as apartheid. Name and shame:[13]Most states dislike negative publicity and will actively try to avoid it, so the threat of shaming a state with public statements regarding their offending behavior is often an effective enforcement mechanism. This method is particularly effective in the field of human rights where states, not wanting to intervene directly into the domestic affairs of another state, may use media attention to highlight violations of international law. In turn, negative public attention may serve as a catalyst o having an international organization address the issue; it may align international grassroots movements on an issue; or it may give a state the political will needed from its populace to authorize further action. A recent example of this strategic tactic was seen in May 2010, when the U.N. named the groups most persistently associated with using child soldiers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America[14] However since international organizations are established under international law, law serves two important purposes in relation to international organizations. On the one hand international organizations rely upon law and legal technique as the primary means of their protection[15]. On the other hand one of the major claims to legitimacy of international organizations is their rational-legal foundation. It is therefore important to provide a legally coherent account of the relations between international organizations and national legal systems, particularly where the rights of individuals are concerned.[16] The constituent instrument establishing the organization will set out the functions and goals of the organization and the structures and powers through which these are to be achieved. In particular international organizations are usually endowed with organs of their own, including an assembly or council, at which the membership is represented in plenary, to determine the direction and policy of the organization, and a permanent staff employed by the organisation which will at very least service the representative organ, but also will often carry out the policies of the organization or assist, supervise or coordinate their execution by others. Some organizations, or course, have more sophisticated organic structures requiring more clearly defined separation of powers. Political and Economic Interdependency Within The Organisation and The States International organizations, otherwise known as intergovernmental organizations, or IGOs, are formed between two or more state governments. Some IGOs operate by making decisions on the basis of one vote for each member-state, some make decisions on a consensus or unanimity basis, while still others have weighted voting structures based on security interests or monetary donations. In the General Assembly of UN, each state has one vote, while in the Security Council, five states are permanent members and have a veto over any action. The World Bank arranges its voting according to the Member States shareholding status, which is roughly based on the size of the states economy. This is often thought of as the one dollar = one vote approach to representation. There are nearly 2,000 international organizations that deal with a wide variety of topics requiring international cooperation, such as the International Civil Aviation Organization, the Universal Postal Union, the International Organ ization for Standardization, and the International Organization for Migration (United Nations, 2003). The relationship of an organisation to its member States is complex and multi ­faceted, On the one hand the organisation is the servant of the member States, in that the member States as a collectivity establish the organisation, fund it and determine its direction and policy.[17] However once the organisation is established individual members owe numerous duties to the collectivity, including not only the specific duties contained in the constituent instrument such as to contribute to the funding of the organisation, but also duties of good faith and cooperation[18] It follows that where the membership has collectively empowered an organisation to act, each member States must respect the rights of an organisation to act accordingly, and must eschew any interference which would amount to an undue unilateral attempt to modify the collective will. The United Nations Charter 1945 Article 100 provides: In the performance of their duties the Secretary General and the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any Government or from any other authority external to the Organisation. They shall refrain from action which might reflect upon their position as international officials responsible only to the Organisation. The implication of the above is that the United Nations in the charter was trying to forged an isolated relationship and freedom from interference from states and hence the United Nations is not an extension of any country and the principle of equality of states is enshrined in Articles 2 of the charter 1945, and this was departure from the position under the league of nations where governments were responsible for their national in the league civil service, hence one of the many factors that contributed to the failure of the league of nation was the inability to secure freedom from the nation states. Article 105(2) of the charter provides for independence and immunities to necessarily exercise independent functions. A key feature of the united nation which highlights the interdependence between the organization and the states is the Charter also provides that, in the territory of each of its members, the Organisation shall have such legal capacity as may be necessary for the exercise of its functions and the fulfilment of its purposes (Art. 104). This has been interpreted to confer on the United Nations organisation legal personality subject to the laws of the nation states, i.e. to enable it to contract, hold and dispose of property and to be party to legal proceedings.[19] In the reparations case that the Organisation had the capacity to bring an international claim against both a government (de jure or de facto) of a Member State and of a non-Member State, responsible for injuries to an agent of the Organisation in the performance of his duties, with a view to obtaining reparation in respect of damage caused to the Organisation[20] Finally the interdependence of the UN, for its enforcing of international obligations on members states is the bane on the organisation. In the quest not to create a super state superior to all states which a members of it are. The fear by the states was not surrender their sovereignty to the UN, and hence the UN is more of a cajoling organisation. Until the UN, can enforce international obligations without the help of the strong state, the UN may not be said to be fairly balanced to handle international aggression. International Law and the Need for Multilateral Intervention State sovereignty is the concept that states are in complete and exclusive control of all the people and property within their territory. State sovereignty also includes the idea that all states are equal as states, since all states are equal in this sense, one State does not have the right to interfere with the internal affairs of another state. Practically, sovereignty means that one state cannot demand that another state take any particular internal action. Under the concept of state sovereignty, no state has the authority to tell another state how to control its internal affairs. Sovereignty both grants and limits power: it gives states complete control over their own territory while restricting the influence that states have on one another. Globalization is changing this view of sovereignty Similarly, states no longer view the treatment of citizens of one state as only the exclusive concern of that state. International human rights law is based on the idea that the entire global community is responsible for the rights of every individuals.[21] Multilateral intervention by a 3rd party state maybe views as any form of external force which attempt to limit the external sovereignty of a state. This may be the imposition of sanctions by the UN, acting as a front for the powerful member states to secure their own national interest. Otherwise multilateral intervention may be the intervention of a state in another to protect the former national interest through war. The law of armed conflict (also called the law of war) can be divided into two categories. The first concerns the legitimate reasons for starting a war, known by its Latin terminology, jus ad bellum (Right to Wage War). The laws during war, jus in bello (Justice in War), are also called international humanitarian law. Article 2(4) UN Charter All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.(United Nations, 1945). Some regard this as the prohibition of the use of force outside of UN-approved actions. On the other hand, others consider this clause only non-binding rhetoric, especially considering the history of armed conflict since the UNs birth in 1945. In my opinion the UN Charter and CIL do recognize that a state is entitled to use force without international approval when it is acting in self-defense. However, the events that trigger this right to self-defense are subject to debate. Most international lawyers agree that self-defense actions must be immediately necessary and proportional to the attack the state is trying to repel. Russian aggression against Georgia in 2005. The applicability of Art. 2.4 In this era of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, some contend that legal self-defense also extends to pre-emptive attacks to prevent the development of a military threat. Geneva Conventions of 1949 (ICRC,1949 Some of the most important principles of jus in bello are that there must be a valid military purpose to every attack (military necessity), that attackers must try to avoid killing non-combatants (the principle of distinction between military and non-military targets), and that if non-combatants are killed, their deaths must be in proportion to the military necessity of the attack (proportionality). Once armed conflict has begun, international humanitarian laws begin to apply.[22] New directions in international law and organization interdependency This is the new world order, to create a more central world, as certain challenges are global in nature and there may be need to act swiftly irrespective of territorial sovereignty. International Human Rights Law International human rights law is different from most areas of international law because, rather than governing relations between states, human rights law governs a states relations with its own citizens. The modern human rights law movement has its roots in the post-WWII trials of Nazi leaders at Nuremburg. The world community recognized that the mass atrocities committed during WWII were too serious to be handled under domestic laws because the crimes committed were crimes against all of humanity. Subsequently, the creators of the UN recognized the reaffirmation of fundamental human rights as one of its most important purposes, and in the first year of its existence, set out to ensure that goal. The first step took place when The Human Rights Commission-at the time the lead UN body of human rightsproduced the International Bill of Human Rights, which is composed of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and two binding treaties, the International Convention on Civil and Politica l Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). On March 15, 2006, recognizing the need to update its human rights organizations, the General Assembly of the UN created the Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Council was created with the specific intention to address the heavy criticism that The Human Rights Commission had received for allowing far too many states with poor human rights records into the delegation (BBC, 2006). This new body is responsible for further strengthening and promoting human rights around the world. One of the Councils many tools for protecting human rights is the innovative Universal Periodic Review, which allows for the examination of the status of human rights within all member states. Less than two weeks after the formation of the Human Rights Council, on March 27, 2006, the Commission on Human Rights met for its sixty-second and final session A sophisticated system of agreements and monitoring organizations exists to promote respect for the rights enshrined in these documents, both on international and regional levels, as with the European Convention on Human Rights and its Court of Human Rights, and the American Declaration and American Convention on Human Rights and their Inter-American Commission and Inter-American Court on Human Rights International Environmental Law Environmental law revolves around a core theory that the earth has limited resources that must be jointly enjoyed and cared for, regardless of their physical presence in the territory of one state as opposed to another. Environmental law attempts to bring states into agreement on issues such as desertification, sustainable development, biodiversity, endangered species, hazardous materials, climate change, and trans-boundary pollution, all of which have been the subject of major international treaties, such as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Conclusion As noted earlier, there are nearly 2,000 international organizations that deal with a wide variety of topics requiring international cooperation, including diplomacy, trade, aviation, migration, development, and many, many others. As with international law in general, these organizations are crucial to managing globalization, but are controversial because of their impact on state sovereignty. The United Nations is a complex network of organizations. Just as any government may be divided into branches, such as the judiciary, legislative, and executive, the UN also has various bodies with different functions. The overarching framework of the United Nations incorporates five principal organs, but a vast array of underlying specialized agencies, programs, funds, and related organizations maintain ties with the UN while operating under differing levels of independence. Article 24 of the UN Charter confers upon the Security Council the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. As such, the Security Council is the only UN body that can pass resolution that the member states are legally committed to obey. The Security Council is also the only part of the UN that can authorize the use of force and there by physically enforce its resolutions, hence it is the arm twister of the organisation. The Security Council has 15 members, including five permanent members, China, France, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S., and ten non-permanent members selected on a regional basis by the GA. The five permanent members have the authority to veto any substantive issue. The Security Council can meet at any time and has previously established peacekeeping operations, international tribunals, and sanctions [1] J. Bentham, Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, London, 1780. [2] H. L. A .Hart, The Concept of Law, Oxford, 1961. [3] L. Henkin, International Law: Politics and Values, Dordrecht, 1995 [4] Security Council resolution 221 (1966). Note also Security Council resolution 418 (1977) imposing a mandatory arms embargo on South Africa but couldnt deter the continuation of the Rhodesia killings, and even after the aggression by south Africa, there was insufficient response by the international law structure. [5] A. Nussbaum, A Concise History of the Law of Nations, revised edition, New York, 1954 [6] Rhine Commission, in order to deal with issues of navigation, or issues of pollution, on a regular basis. Following the establishment of the Rhine Commission in 1915, a number of other river commissions were established -managing the Elbe (1821), the Douro (1835) the Po (1849) and, after the end of the Crimean War, the European Commission for the Danube in 1856 [7] C. Cheshire and P. North, Private International Law, 13th edn, London, 1999. [8] L. Henkin, International Law: Politics and Values, Dordrecht, 1995 [9] Fr. Robert J. Araujo, S.J., Implementation of the ICJ Advisory Opinion Legal Consequences of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Fences [Do Not]Make Good Neighbors?, 22 B.U. Intl L.J. 349 (2004 [10] Newman and Weisbrodt ,International Human Rights(1st ed. 1994), pp.182-213, 13-19, 91-97, 130-141 [11] United Nations. (1969, May). Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna. Retrieved from: http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/1_1_1969.pdf [12] Dinstein, Y. (2004). The conduct of hostilities under law of international armed conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [13] United Nations. (2010, May 21). UN identifies most persistent users of child soldiers in armed conflicts. Retrieved from: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34778Cr=coomaraswamyCr1 [14] Greenhill, S. (2011, October 29). Gaddafis killers will be puton trial over mob execution, vow Libyas new rulers. Daily MailRetrieved from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054344/Gaddafi-dead-Mob-killers-trial-vow-Libyas-new-rulers.html [15] Bekker, The Legal Position of Intergovernmental Organizations. A functional necessity analysis of their Legal Status and Immunities (Kulwer, The Hague, 1994) pp.39- 42 [16] Reinisch International Organizations before National Courts(CUP, Cambridge,2000) at pp.5-10; [17] Nicholas Rostow, Before and After: The Changed UN Response to Terrorism Since September 11th.35 Cornell Intl L.J. 475 [18] ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Interpretation of the Agreement of 25 March1951 between the WHO and Egypt -1980 ICJ Rep. 73 esp. pp.94-96