Discuss the details of a particular Superfund site near your home Essay

Discuss the details of a particular Superfund site near your home - Essay Example The site profile according to epa.gov lists it as having been cleaned up completely, though it continues to operate as an industrial electroplating facility. Airco Plating Company has operated at this location since the 1950’s. According to epa.gov, â€Å"The site occupies approximately two acres in a predominately industrial/commercial area. A trailer park is also located about 300 feet south of the site. The Miami Canal, the only surface water body in the site’s vicinity, is located approximately 2/3 of a mile southwest of the site. Several other Superfund sites are located within a few miles of the APC site† (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2011). This site was slated for cleanup in 1990 and was listed as complete in 1999; the company still operates on the premises at this time. There are reviews being completed again this year as well as in 2006 to determine if the cleanup was fully successful. Given the close proximity of the industrial park to Miami Canal a major local waterway and residential homes as well as other active commercial areas the need for cleanup was seen as extremely important. According to epa.gov, â€Å"The soil and ground water are contaminated with metals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The specific contaminants include cadmium, chromium, perchloroethene, cis-1,2 dichloroethene, and vinyl chloride† (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2011). These VOCs posed a long term hazard to the location, they are all chemical byproducts and used in the electroplating process. The cleanup approach included both soil and groundwater decontamination process’s. The creation of this particular superfund site was not intentional and has been rectified as the last check in 2006 has confirmed. Some of the methods being used according to epa.gov are, â€Å"Extraction of VOCs detected above the water table at certain levels using a soil vapor extrac tion (SVE) treatment system† (U.S.

To Kill a Mockingbird Songs Essay Example for Free

To Kill a Mockingbird Songs Essay Dont Matter: Akon The society didnt want to see the African Americans and White folks living together. However, some wanted to be equal. Talk about the prejudice and how separated they two were and how some tried to stay equal. (Atticus and Calpurnia, and Scout and Jem sitting with the African Americans during the trial are two examples.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIktHTbtn2o Tiptoe: Imagine Dragons- In Maycomb County, everyone always kind of sneaks around, never letting anyone really know what theyre up to, so in a way theyre always tiptoeing and never letting anyone know that theyre there. Little Bird: Ed Sheeran- A way this can Relate to to kill a mockingbird i by saying that if you do reckless things without thinking, youll often regret the. Like when he says And its not complete yet, mustnt get our feet wet,†¨Cause that leads to regret, diving in too soon hes saying that you need to really plan out and think before diving head over heels in something, and thats exactly what Atticus did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkscjEBaEPc Atticus: The Noisettes- In the beginning it says to kill a mockingbird is to silence the song that seduces you why? Which is saying that when you kill the free flying, joy-bringing mockingbird, youre silencing it forever and selfishly ridding the world of a happiness that it could have potentially brought to others. Waiting on the world to change: John Mayer- At one point he says So we keep waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change We keep on waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change Its hard to beat the system When were standing at a distance So we keep waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change and by saying this he is relating it to how Scout and Jem are just kids and although they can grasp the concept somewhat of what is going on, they are too young to actually be able to do something about it Fix You: Coldplay- This song just kind of totally describes To kill a mockingbird because eventually time will help fix the situation while people just keep trying and failing, which is extremely discouraging inside the book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY9b6jgbNyc For the love of a daughter: Demi Lovato-

Wildlife of India: An Introduction

Wildlife of India: An Introduction India is a very rich country in terms of bio- diversity. Almost all big mighty creatures roam its jungles. The sight and sounds of a majestic elephant, a peacock ¿Ã‚ ½s dance, the roar of a tiger are unparalleled experiences in themselves.The country offers immense opportunities for wildlife tourism. The immense heritage of wildlife in India comprises of more than 70 national parks and about 440 wildlife sanctuaries including the bird sanctuaries.India has always been a fete for wildlife enthusiasts from around the world with its fascinating myriad of flora and fauna that has remained both unique and mysterious for nature lovers. A paradise for the nature lovers, these forest areas are also crucial for the conservation of the endangered species like the Snow Leopard, Asiatic Lion, Asiatic Elephant, the bengal tiger and One-horned Rhinoceros. Spread across the length and breadth of India, these reserves and forest areas, right from the Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan to the Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary in Bihar, from the foothills of Himalayas, the Jim Corbett National Park to six national parks in Andaman; the Indian Wildlife circuit is an Incredible treat, unmatched by any other experience.The Indian subcontinent is rich in both floral and fauna species. According to estimates, India has about 18% of the plant and 8% of the total animal species found in the world, which makes the country a paradise for wildlife enthusiasts and nature gazers. India harbours eighty percent of the entire population of the one horned rhinoceros in the world. The parks like Bandhavgarh N.P, Kanha NP support a sizeable population of the mighty tigers. The Kaziranga Game Sanctuary is an ideal habitat for the rhino and a popular destination with the naturalists and environmentalists as well as the wildlife travellers.The Corbett National Park one of the most popular National Parks in the northern region for the wildlife enthusiast as well as the holiday makers These National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries are promoters of wildlife tourism in India.A wildlife escapade in India is not complete until one decides to spend a few days amongst the wilderness.Wildlife resorts located in different national parks and wildlife sanctuaries lets you experience just that. Imagine living in a tree house, eighty feet above the ground or an antique wildlife resort where your dinner partner may be a wild beast feasting on its prey. Wake up to the twittering of b irds or the roar of a lion, definitely a spine chilling experience. Interestingly India is immensely rich in avian life the sub-continent witnessed huge migration of birds in the winters.Bharatpur birds paradise Nalsarover in Rajasthan, Sultanpur in Haryana close to Delhi, famous parks like Corbett, Manas, Kaziranga are a treat to the bird lovers. Come, feel, explore this wildlife lovers paradise. Feel free for any kind of information on these national parks.

Vicarious Trauma. Essay -- Health, Diseases

The purpose of this paper is to examine the federal, state, and/or local legislation or policies that have been enacted or created to address/ change vicarious trauma. Although posttraumatic stress theory has been extensively developed in the psychological and medical literature in the last decade, development of vicarious trauma theory or what the literature refers to as secondary traumatization is in its infancy. To date, there is minimal information on policies or legislation that helps address this issue. The occupational health, safety and welfare Policy and the Critical incident Debriefing Policy are two federal policies that address the prevention of vicarious trauma. Research suggests that vicarious trauma is an â€Å"occupational hazard, which is an unavoidable result of undertaking working with survivors of trauma† (Perlman and Saakvitne, 1995). The Occupational health and safety act (OSHA) was introduced by congress in the early 1960’s to protect workers from being exposed to chemicals and life threatening working conditions. With the passing of the act in 1971 congress declared its intent "to ensure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation a safe and healthy working conditions and to preserve our human resources†( Muss,1993 p. 39). With the growing number of work place stressors and the decline in work place performance, this has a great impact on the organizations revenue. Congress demanded change, therefore in 1986 , the Occupatio nal Health and Safety Act was revised to include section nineteen. Section nineteen of ( OHSA) requires â€Å" that all employers provide a safe working environment and this applies to all areas including the employee’s mental health and well being†(Occupational Health, S... ...porate debriefing and self-care techniques to address and alleviate the impact of vicarious trauma. After researching policies and the law as it relates to vicarious trauma. I have concluded that there is a substantial need for further research .There is also a growing consensus that there is a need to address the immediate needs of those exposed to trauma –the need for safety, restoration and connection to social support before addressing the trauma itself. There also is large amounts of research the identifies and defines the cause of vicarious trauma. However, concerning treatment there is little not any research. The consistent them for the prevention of vicarious trauma is self-care and the devolvement of positive coping skills. However, there needs to be a structured set of universal guidelines that can be referenced across the board to address this issue.

Planetary Comparison Essay

Man first came to live by finding ways to sustain his life. He could think, decide, create an opinion and work with his bare hands. After many years of survival, he became more curious at the things around him. He saw the moon, the sun and the stars. It was when the man was curious that human life was considered intelligent life. Without man’s curiosity, he wouldn’t care about the planet that he is hosting his life. Without his brain, he wouldn’t know that other planets and other heavenly bodies exist aside from the planet Earth. The properties of planet Earth include its shape, density, reflection of light and age. The shape of the Earth resembles that of a sphere. It is a spherical planet because of gravity. What makes the Earth spherical is the bulging characteristic it has on the equator. The bulges exist on this part of the planet because of rotation. Properties of the Earth Density – As of the Earth’s density, it refers to the â€Å"mass per unit volume† of the planet. The density of the Earth can be better imagined if compared to the density of iron, rock or water. The density of is 8 grams per cubic centimeter, 2. 5 grams per cubic centimeter for a rock. With water, it is just a gram per cubic centimeter. Deep down the planet is surely a dense section of the Earth (Newman, 2000, p. 267). † Reflection of Light – Another property is reflection of light. The Earth has 37% albedo, which means that it has 37% of light that it is capable of reflecting. Again, to get the clearer picture, the reflection of light of the Earth can be compared to that of dirt, clouds and ice. Dirt can only reflect around 10%, while water and clouds have just enough albedo. When albedo is moderate, it means that the reflection of light ranges from 40 to 60 percent. Meanwhile, ice has a high albedo because its reflection of light is almost a solid one hundred percent (Hamilton, 2001). Age of the Earth – The age of the Earth is also another property of the planet. Planet Earth is as old as billions of years. With the help of radioactive dating of stones, scientists and geologists discovered that the Earth existed 3. to 4. 5 billion years ago (Hamilton, 2001). The Earth’s Interior The Earth’s interior is characterized by explosions, earthquakes and seismic waves. There are waves that travel in both solid and liquid parts of the Earth. There are also waves that run only on solid ground (Hamilton, 2001). Inside the Earth’s interior, one can find nickel, iron and solid in the inner core. In the Earth’s outer core are nickel, iron and liquid. It s mantle are oxygen and silicon, which, when combined, form silicate rocks. The temperature inside the Earth’s core is hotter than the surface of the sun because of radioactivity and collisions. During the early years of history, the Earth is molded by numerous collisions and the heat from this activity contributed to the 6500K temperature of the planet’s core (Hamilton, 2001). Surface Changes It is a fact that the surface of the Earth changes constantly. One activity that contributes in the surface change of the planet is continental drift. Continental drift, as its name implies, refers to the drifting apart of the Earth’s continents. The continents move over time, and such movements were better understood and explained as the Plate Tectonics Theory came out, describing the lithosphere of the planet (Hamilton, 2001). If the lithosphere breaks, tectonic plates are built. In this planet, there are plenty of minor tectonic plates. With major tectonic plates, there are only seven. There is movement among these plates at different kinds of boundaries which include transform boundaries, spreading or divergent boundaries and collision or convergent boundaries. These boundaries pave way to the formation of oceanic trenches, mountains, volcanic activities and even earthquakes. Imagine two pieces of large lands collide (Hamilton, 2001). The tension caused by the collision alters the shape of the pieces of land. This is what happens to planet Earth. Whatever type of activity there is, the surface of the Earth will always be affected (Hamilton, 2001). Even erosion affects the surface of the Earth. Erosion happens when particles like rock, soil and sediments are displaced or moved to other places. What cause the displacement are agents like water, living organisms and wind. Ice is also another cause of displacement because of the downward slope (Hamilton, 2001). The Earth and the Other Nine It cannot be denied that the Earth is special because compared to other planets in the solar system; it is only the Earth that is capable of sustaining life. It has an atmosphere. It has displacement of lands. It has plate tectonics. It has water. It has humans. The one thing that separates the Earth from the other planets is the human being and human life. There may be signs of the existence of life in Mars, and that there are other forms of life in the moon of Saturn, but only Earth is capable of supporting and maintaining life (Moskowitz, 2008). Intelligent Life – Even if it may be proven in the future that there are indeed organisms living in Mars, it is still safe to say that the Earth is home to intelligent life. Other planets may be able to host life, but only the planet Earth is capable of hosting the intelligent kind (Moskowitz, 2008). Life on other planets would not even be possible without the planet Earth, according to Gregory Laughlin. Laughlin is a planet hunter and an astrophysicist at the prestigious University of California, Santa Cruz. Gregory was able to say this because the Earth delicately transferred some of its materials to the other planets. These tiny materials can be found in the planet’s crust (Moskowitz, 2008). Water – Another feature of the Earth which cannot be found in other planets is water. The planet is indeed a place conducive for evolution because it has water in it, in that amount. The amount of water on Earth is almost magical. The amount of water present in this planet is just enough to keep a desert alive. There is not too much water to drown the Earth’s mountains (Moskowitz, 2008). Water on Earth is different from the water in the other planets because the water in the other planets either fry or freeze. This can be explained through the distance between the planet earth and the sun (Moskowitz, 2008). Distance – Distance, of course, is a unique feature of the planet. The Earth indeed has the best location in the solar system because if we depend on too much sun, then the distance between the planet and then sun is just right enough to match the Earth’s geological timescales (Moskowitz, 2008). It is the temperature we get from the sun that regulates the Earth’s atmosphere. It is the distance between the Earth and the sun that keeps the temperature of the Earth’s surface around the temperature of the waters (Moskowitz, 2008). Size – The size of the Earth is also another unique feature of the planet. A smaller Earth will not leave space for the planet to hold on to the atmosphere. A bigger Earth may be a hotter Earth for humans. Hotter in this sense means the kind of warmness which humans will not be able to tolerate (Moskowitz, 2008). Getting More Detailed Mercury is the nearest planet to the Sun. Among all the other planets, it is the eighth largest. It has two moons namely Titan and Ganymede. While these moons are smaller than Mercury, they are more massive than the planet. Mercury, compared to the Earth, is closer to the sun (Arnett, 2008). Venus, on the other hand, is the sixth largest planet in the solar system. It is also nearer to the sun compared to the Earth. It is an inferior planet with phases easily seen through a telescope from the Earth (Arnett, 2008). Aside from the Earth, Mars stands out to be a popular planet since the early times. Today, there are observatories that are ground-based just to study Mars. The size of Mars is a barrier in studying it, but the planet still shows features that can host life (Arnett, 2008). The biggest planet in the solar system is Jupiter. When it comes to mass, this planet is doubly massive compared to the Earth and to the other planets as well. In fact, when compared to the Earth’s mass, Jupiter has 318 times more (Arnett, 2008). Saturn is a popular planet since the prehistoric years because there was Galileo in 1610, holding a telescope, observing this planet with rings. Galileo knew that Saturn looked different and he thought that the Earth passes through the rings after some years on a regular basis (Arnett, 2008). If the Earth is spherical, then the planet Uranus is ecliptic. Unlike the Earth, Uranus’ poles are hotter than its equator. The poles of this planet are more receptive to the sun’s energy than the equator (Arnett, 2008). Neptune is far from the sun, but its core measures the same as that of the mass of the Earth. Its core is made of rocks. It does not have a unique internal layering like that of Saturn and Jupiter, but the composition is nonetheless distinct. Whatever heat it receives from the sun is nothing compared to the heat it can generate itself through its core (Arnett, 2008). Pluto is the smallest planet in the solar system. It has an eccentric orbit, which makes it closer to the sun at times than Neptune. Unlike the Earth and all the other planets, this heavenly body rotates in the opposite direction (Arnett, 2008). Above all these, it is still the Earth that stands out. All these pieces of information would not be known without the human mind, made possible with life, sustained by the Earth.

Networking essays

Networking essays THE PEARL by John Steinbeck. Written in 1940 and published in 1947, The Pearl is another of Steinbecks novels, which tells the great American dream. The English he uses, as in most of his books, is fairly simple. The message that he attempts to put through to the reader, which makes this short and effortlessly understandable. Steinbecks protagonists comprise of Kino, a young Mexican fisherman, and his poverty-stricken family, consisting of Juana (his wife) and Coyotito (his baby boy). The story begins set in the bare darkness of the interior of Kinos mud hut, where the family awakens before the dawning of each day to perform their retual of preparing and eating corn cakes-the familys staple. Their living quarters is situated next to the Gulf of Mexico, where Kino would go out to dive for oysters and catch his familys next meal. Every single day he dreams of finding the great pearl, whom everybody believes, will make him rich. It is the incident of his sons illness that puts the fire and sense of urgency in his heart to search for the prized object. The author drawn comparison to the American dream: To gain material wealth, obtain success. Ironically, when Kino does find the Pearl, it is to his great disappointment, too large and virtually worthless. Kino, as a character, is represented by Steinbeck, as the general American public of his day, where innocent victims compromise their moral values. His dream blinds him to greed and suspicions of his neighbors. Even Juana, is unable to temper his obsession and the events leading to tragedy. Kino eventually comes to realize that material wealth is nothing when you vision of good and evil. John Steinbeck was able to write The Pearl in the style of a folktale by keeping it short. By doing that, he made it is easier to keep in the memory, to pass it down to the next generation. Storys characters are common everyday people. ...

Free Essays on OxyContin

OxyContin: Savior or Killer? THESIS STATEMENT: The recent death’s from the misuse of OxyContin have caused government officials as well as the manufacturers of OxyContin to begin taking steps in trying to curb it’s abuse. I. OxyContin A. What it is B. Abuse of OxyContin C. Deaths from OxyContin abuse II. Taking steps to stop abuse of OxyContin III. Steps DEA is taking to stop abuse IV. Steps OxyContin manufacturer is taking to stop abuse OxyContin: Savior or Killer? The synthetic opioid OxyContin has become a drug of abuse, following in the steps of other prescription level drugs that contain Oxycodone. The recent death’s from the misuse of the drug has caused government officials as well as the manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma; to take action in attempting to curb it’s abuse. OxyContin is an opioid analgesic in a time release form that when used properly releases a small amount of the active ingredient Oxycodone into a patients bloodstream. OxyContin is supplied in 10 mg, 20 mg, 40 mg, 80 mg, and 160 mg tablets. The tablet strengths describe the amount of Oxycodone that is released with each pill. The intended use of the drug OxyContin is to treat moderate to severe pain in cancer patients and other sufferers of pain. OxyContin is abused when the time-release mechanism in the drug is broken. This is usually done by crushing up the pills and then snorting or preparing them for intravenous injection. With it’s rampant abuse in rural areas of the country it has become known as â€Å"the poor man’s heroin† or â€Å"hillbilly heroin†. Now it has moved on to bigger cities as well as the rural areas and has began to cause big problems. â€Å"It is a problem that is growing and can spread extensively,† says Charles Miller of the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pa. In most cases, abusers are first exposed to it through a parent or grandparent who has a prescription for legitimate medical r... Free Essays on OxyContin Free Essays on OxyContin OxyContin: Savior or Killer? THESIS STATEMENT: The recent death’s from the misuse of OxyContin have caused government officials as well as the manufacturers of OxyContin to begin taking steps in trying to curb it’s abuse. I. OxyContin A. What it is B. Abuse of OxyContin C. Deaths from OxyContin abuse II. Taking steps to stop abuse of OxyContin III. Steps DEA is taking to stop abuse IV. Steps OxyContin manufacturer is taking to stop abuse OxyContin: Savior or Killer? The synthetic opioid OxyContin has become a drug of abuse, following in the steps of other prescription level drugs that contain Oxycodone. The recent death’s from the misuse of the drug has caused government officials as well as the manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma; to take action in attempting to curb it’s abuse. OxyContin is an opioid analgesic in a time release form that when used properly releases a small amount of the active ingredient Oxycodone into a patients bloodstream. OxyContin is supplied in 10 mg, 20 mg, 40 mg, 80 mg, and 160 mg tablets. The tablet strengths describe the amount of Oxycodone that is released with each pill. The intended use of the drug OxyContin is to treat moderate to severe pain in cancer patients and other sufferers of pain. OxyContin is abused when the time-release mechanism in the drug is broken. This is usually done by crushing up the pills and then snorting or preparing them for intravenous injection. With it’s rampant abuse in rural areas of the country it has become known as â€Å"the poor man’s heroin† or â€Å"hillbilly heroin†. Now it has moved on to bigger cities as well as the rural areas and has began to cause big problems. â€Å"It is a problem that is growing and can spread extensively,† says Charles Miller of the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pa. In most cases, abusers are first exposed to it through a parent or grandparent who has a prescription for legitimate medical r...

Commands and Mandates

Commands and Mandates Commands and Mandates Commands and Mandates By Mark Nichol Several words pertaining to authority or obligation display their kinship with the word element mand. This post lists and defines those terms. The Latin verb mandare, meaning â€Å"order,† is perhaps most commonly represented in command, which primarily means â€Å"exercise or have authority.† Other meanings include â€Å"have dominance or influence over,† â€Å"have at one’s disposal,† or â€Å"overlook† (as in reference to a mountain or hill that commands a location of lower elevation). As a noun, command pertains to an order or signal given, to authority, control, dominance, facility, or mastery, to the act of commanding or the position of a military authority, or to the scope of such an authority, including a specific US Air Force unit. A commander (also often referred to as a commanding officer) is an officer of any rank in a military, law enforcement, or other organizational structure who has authority over a particular unit; in some countries, as in the United States, the head of state is also the commander in chief of its armed forces. Commander is also a specific military or law enforcement rank independent of its generic use, as is the rank of lieutenant commander. To commend (literally, â€Å"entrust with,† from the â€Å"entrust† sense of mandare) is to endorse, entrust, or praise, though recommend is often used for the first sense. Behavior that is praiseworthy is commendable, and statement of praise is a commendation. The idioms â€Å"commends itself to† and â€Å"have much to commend it† are formal language for â€Å"is liked and approved† and â€Å"is good in many ways,† respectively. To countermand is to reverse an order, and as a noun the word refers to such a reversal. To demand is to claim, require, or summon, or to express an expectation (as in â€Å"Courtesy demands an acknowledgment of the gesture†). The noun demand refers to something claimed or required, to the notion of a desire or want for something or the quantity of something desired or wanted (as in the expression â€Å"supply and demand†), to a need or to being needed or wanted (as in â€Å"As a speaker, she is in great demand†), or to expectations (as in â€Å"the demands of the job†). The phrase â€Å"on demand† means â€Å"when asked for† or â€Å"when needed.† To remand is to give over (as in returning a case to trial or a criminal suspect to custody) or send back; a remand is such an action. A mandate is an authorization or command, though it is often used in a political sense to suggest that an election victory or passage of a legislative act validates a certain ideology or policy. It also refers to a conquered territory granted to a particular country, or to an authorization for such a grant. To mandate is to require or to administer a mandate, and something mandatory is required (or might pertain to the granting of territory). The adjective is not to be confused with the legal term mandatary, which refers to a person given authority to transact business for another person. Another obscure legal term derived from mandare is mandamus, which refers to a document issued by a court of law that commands that an act or duty be undertaken or performed. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Does [sic] Mean?Confused Words #3: Lose, Loose, LossWhat is an Anagram?

Nutrition questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nutrition questions - Essay Example l as maintain his health because imbalances in the diet with inappropriate amount of nutrients might result in health problems(Insel et al 2007 and Caldwell et al 1981). 2. Suggest the dietary amounts (in grams) of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats a person will need on a balanced diet if he/she requires 2500 kcalories per day . Explain the reasons for the values that you have chosen to use in solving this problem and show your work. Explain why this is considered a balanced diet for a normal individual. Answer: The acceptable range of carbohydrates, proteins and fats that are allowed in the diet is 50 %, 30% and 20 % percent respectively. These values fall in the normal recommended range according to the Acceptable Macro Nutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDRs). This is considered to be a part of a normal diet because these constituents are all present in the right amounts which are necessary to be consumed by an individual (Insel et al 2007 and Caldwell et al

Business Analysis of W San Francisco Hotel Essay

Business Analysis of W San Francisco Hotel - Essay Example As a well-established facility, W Hotel San Francisco has a total of 404 rooms. These are used to provide a variety of services including Wonderful Rooms, Spectacular Rooms, Cool Corner Rooms and Fantastic Rooms. Each of these is very important since they offer a distinct category of services to a diverse group of clients who frequent the facility for accommodation. Summarily, these rooms are made to cater for each of the clients in line with their income and preferences. They have bed and table spaces to suite both individuals and groups as well. Indeed, W Hotel San Francisco should be considered as the best facility in the region. A part from offering a wide range of services, it has a team of professionals to manage it and offer day to day services required by its customers. Besides, it offers high quality services such as 100% organic coffee, wines and meals. At the same time, it has a well-equipped gym which remains accessible to all the clients at any time of the day (Gross 180). Finally, unlike its competitors, it provides on-site parking spaces to its clients at merely $54 per day. These make it to enjoy a competitive advantage over its rivals. In conclusion, W Hotel San Francisco is the place to be. It offers a high level of services which cannot be found anywhere. â€Å"Trace† Restaurant is one of the most spectacular places within the precincts of W Hotel SF. As a restaurant, it is equipped with modern facilities necessary for the provision of high quality services to our clients.

Federal law enforcement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Federal law enforcement - Essay Example he study is to be able to present the actions and improvements in security measures that are done by the different bureaus that are in charge of the law enforcement in the United States concentrating mainly in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service and the Central Intelligence Agency. In the United States, it can be observed that the law enforcement is dependent on the jurisdictions of the different groups that are responsible for implementing the laws that can be classified on the basis of the locality, the state and national concerns. In the study undertaken which is directed to the attack in the World Trade Center, being a national and international concern, the major law enforcers of the US are put into focus and scrutiny. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service and the Central Intelligence Agency are the main groups that are responsible for keeping the American land and the population residing in its territory safe and free from harm specifically terrorism. In the event of such tragedy, the sufficiency of the actions and measures that are undertaken to fight crimes such law enforcement groups is in question. For that matter, a study on the actions undertaken to improve the security implemented is in need not only to determine the efficiency of the said groups but to improve the confidence of the population. The specific functions and actions on the improvement of the said bureaus are then the main issue explored in the study. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is one of the most important divisions in the US Federal Government with the main mission to uphold the law and protect the people from different types of threats. For that matter, it is considered as one of the main responsible authorities in the September 11 World Trade Center attack due to the expressed priority of the said group to protect the United States from attacks of the terrorists (â€Å"Quick Fact† FBI). Based on the study

Compare and contrast the theme of the vampire family in a couple Essay

Compare and contrast the theme of the vampire family in a couple different stories - Essay Example Both Louis and Claudia become desperate to know where they belong and meet with others who would understand their entire situation. Finally, they travel to Europe destining in Paris where they find the theatre of vampires. Here, the author of the novel through establishing the book as a short story brings out the disastrous and successful life experiences of a spirit, as well as the endeavors of characters thus capturing the socio-political changes of different continents. By the novel introducing Lestat, the most lasting character who is a thrilling combination of attraction and revolt with many lush illustrations, it focuses on immortality, loss, sexuality, change, and power as its main themes. The request by characters Daniel and Madelein for Louis to give them the power he had or make them vampires clearly indicates they were living in an era and region that had a lot of restrain in terms of sex, non-tolerance to criminal activities and may be stern code of social conduct. That is why they were eager to experience new taste of life. The author through building such a scenario where characters with non-human attributes could go to new places and the people they meet becoming excited about their attributes and wanting to be like them, captures the theme of change. This theme has a close relationship with the Victorian orals emphasized through religion, elitism, and improvements as regarding industrialism. The main characters’ description of vampires does not, in any way, portray a picture of ugly look of vampires, and, in fact, he states that all vampires move about with preternatural grace and beauty. Again, the author acknowledges the similarity of her themes with that of Mary Shelley’s alternative title for her book Frankenstein of the modern Prometheus, a title founded on the romantic’s point of view that Prometheus personified the demon. This is undoubtedly true especially when taking into consideration that Rice, in her novel,

Leadership and managment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadership and managment - Assignment Example Longmore (2005) states that ‘Conflict is an inevitable aspect of life’. Coming to the organization, the name of the organization is Greenland and it deals with developing and maintaining the structures of houses and other buildings. The working structure of the organization is that there are sub contractors who take orders from the management to get them completed in the time given by the management of that specific organization. There are three departments of the organization. First department is the information department which gathers information regarding presence of any contract opportunity in any specific area. The head of this department is information manager whose role is to supervise all work related to his department and submit the weekly report to the management department. The second department is the management department whose role is to analyze the weekly report given to them by the information department and assign different contracts to different sub co ntractors depending upon their experience and capabilities. The head of this department is executive manager who is responsible for all the acts not only related to the management department but also related to the whole organization as he is the head of the organization too. The third and the last department is of the selected sub contractors who take contracts from the management department and get them completed in the given time frame by the management. The head of this specific department is the chief contractor whose role is to manage all other sub contractors and submit their weekly efficiency report to the management department. Now, let’s come to the conflict which has occurred among some of the employees of the management and the sub contractors’ department. Bhushan (n.d.) said that ‘Conflicts are inevitable in ones organizational life and personal life’. Here, the conflict is that one of the sub contractors has

Research In Motion Analysis Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

In Motion Analysis - Research Paper Example Security officials say the inability to monitor BlackBerry traffic undermines efforts to protect national security. RIM has so far said it cannot unscramble data of its enterprise customers because it does not possess the keys needed to do so. After several meetings, RIM proposed it could share the IP address of BlackBerry Enterprise Servers, and the PIN and IMEI numbers of BlackBerry mobiles. India says that is not enough because it doesn't provide access to mails (FACTBOX - Problems BlackBerry services face in India, 2010) The proposed solutions by RIM for solving the security related problems while using blackberry phones in India has not been solved fully yet. RIM is trying to convince the Indian authorities with the help of some simple modifications in its existing technologies rather than going for a complete change. Indian authorities on the other hand are not ready to accept RIM’s offers. It should be noted that other mobile phone companies are ready to obey whatever t he security measures suggested by the Indian authorities and therefore India do not want to accept the offers of RIM. RIM should realize that the necessity to market blackberry pones in India is theirs rather than India’s. No country will sacrifice their security measures for introducing a foreign mobile phone in its territory. â€Å"Research In Motion (RIM) founder Mike Lazaridis ordered a BBC reporter to end an interview after he was asked about his problems with India and Middle Eastern countries over security issues† (BlackBerry chief ends BBC interview after India query, 2011). It is evident from the above example that RIM is not ready to accept its mistakes and dealing the issues emotionally rather than... Even though the growth opportunities for Rim are not so good at present, it can still regain its supremacy if concentrate more on changing some of its traditional business concepts. As mentioned earlier, RIM should be ready to modify its technologies to suit the needs of Asian markets, instead of keeping an adamant attitude with respect to technology changes. It should be noted that mobile phone market is facing stiff challenges at present because of the ongoing recession. Asia is the only region which escaped with fewer injuries in this recession period. So, RIM should shift attention more towards Asian market. Google and Apple are some of the companies which are raising stiff challenges to RIM. Apple is currently the second biggest and most valuable technology company in the world and therefore their products are always accepted with both hands by the customers. The case of Google is also not an exception. â€Å"Cheaper Google phones are making inroads in Latin America, Asia and E urope, threatening the popularity of Black-Berry models such as the Curve†. In short, RIM needs a revolutionary product now to compete effectively with the products of competitors. It should be noted that Apple grabbed the smartphone market because of their innovative iPhone series products. iPhone 5 is about to enter the global markets. Same way, Samsung is going to introduce the 3d version of its revolutionary Galaxy S2 product series.

Compare and contrast the theme of the vampire family in a couple Essay

Compare and contrast the theme of the vampire family in a couple different stories - Essay Example Both Louis and Claudia become desperate to know where they belong and meet with others who would understand their entire situation. Finally, they travel to Europe destining in Paris where they find the theatre of vampires. Here, the author of the novel through establishing the book as a short story brings out the disastrous and successful life experiences of a spirit, as well as the endeavors of characters thus capturing the socio-political changes of different continents. By the novel introducing Lestat, the most lasting character who is a thrilling combination of attraction and revolt with many lush illustrations, it focuses on immortality, loss, sexuality, change, and power as its main themes. The request by characters Daniel and Madelein for Louis to give them the power he had or make them vampires clearly indicates they were living in an era and region that had a lot of restrain in terms of sex, non-tolerance to criminal activities and may be stern code of social conduct. That is why they were eager to experience new taste of life. The author through building such a scenario where characters with non-human attributes could go to new places and the people they meet becoming excited about their attributes and wanting to be like them, captures the theme of change. This theme has a close relationship with the Victorian orals emphasized through religion, elitism, and improvements as regarding industrialism. The main characters’ description of vampires does not, in any way, portray a picture of ugly look of vampires, and, in fact, he states that all vampires move about with preternatural grace and beauty. Again, the author acknowledges the similarity of her themes with that of Mary Shelley’s alternative title for her book Frankenstein of the modern Prometheus, a title founded on the romantic’s point of view that Prometheus personified the demon. This is undoubtedly true especially when taking into consideration that Rice, in her novel,

Research In Motion Analysis Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

In Motion Analysis - Research Paper Example Security officials say the inability to monitor BlackBerry traffic undermines efforts to protect national security. RIM has so far said it cannot unscramble data of its enterprise customers because it does not possess the keys needed to do so. After several meetings, RIM proposed it could share the IP address of BlackBerry Enterprise Servers, and the PIN and IMEI numbers of BlackBerry mobiles. India says that is not enough because it doesn't provide access to mails (FACTBOX - Problems BlackBerry services face in India, 2010) The proposed solutions by RIM for solving the security related problems while using blackberry phones in India has not been solved fully yet. RIM is trying to convince the Indian authorities with the help of some simple modifications in its existing technologies rather than going for a complete change. Indian authorities on the other hand are not ready to accept RIM’s offers. It should be noted that other mobile phone companies are ready to obey whatever t he security measures suggested by the Indian authorities and therefore India do not want to accept the offers of RIM. RIM should realize that the necessity to market blackberry pones in India is theirs rather than India’s. No country will sacrifice their security measures for introducing a foreign mobile phone in its territory. â€Å"Research In Motion (RIM) founder Mike Lazaridis ordered a BBC reporter to end an interview after he was asked about his problems with India and Middle Eastern countries over security issues† (BlackBerry chief ends BBC interview after India query, 2011). It is evident from the above example that RIM is not ready to accept its mistakes and dealing the issues emotionally rather than... Even though the growth opportunities for Rim are not so good at present, it can still regain its supremacy if concentrate more on changing some of its traditional business concepts. As mentioned earlier, RIM should be ready to modify its technologies to suit the needs of Asian markets, instead of keeping an adamant attitude with respect to technology changes. It should be noted that mobile phone market is facing stiff challenges at present because of the ongoing recession. Asia is the only region which escaped with fewer injuries in this recession period. So, RIM should shift attention more towards Asian market. Google and Apple are some of the companies which are raising stiff challenges to RIM. Apple is currently the second biggest and most valuable technology company in the world and therefore their products are always accepted with both hands by the customers. The case of Google is also not an exception. â€Å"Cheaper Google phones are making inroads in Latin America, Asia and E urope, threatening the popularity of Black-Berry models such as the Curve†. In short, RIM needs a revolutionary product now to compete effectively with the products of competitors. It should be noted that Apple grabbed the smartphone market because of their innovative iPhone series products. iPhone 5 is about to enter the global markets. Same way, Samsung is going to introduce the 3d version of its revolutionary Galaxy S2 product series.

Rationality, Educated Opinion and Peace Essay Example for Free

Rationality, Educated Opinion and Peace Essay Abstract: This paper addresses the relevance of interwar thought to the building of peace through examining the ideas of three important writers of the period: Edward Hallett Carr, Norman Angell and Alfred Zimmern. The role of public opinion was under much query in the politics of the period they wrote in, and crucial to this issue are the questions as to whether the public mind is rational and capable of reason. These writers are concerned with the influence of public opinion and believe that through educating the public mind, the possibility of peace can be increased. Drawing from their ideas, this paper thus postulates that peace is a product of rationality and there is possibility of progress through education. The birth of international relations as a separate discipline was founded against the context of the interwar years, which brought about important consequences for the subsequent development of the interwar years. The tensions prior to and the subsequent devastation of the Great War forced intellectuals of the early twentieth century to seek explanations for the causes of war and to postulate measures by which another catastrophe could be prevented. The general psyche of the people exerted an influence on the direction of international studies. As David Long points out, the academic study of international affairs during this period of time possessed a normative though not necessarily utopian interest in the avoidance of war1. Such a trend is manifested in the trust deed of the Wilson Chair of International Politics (one of the first few schools of the discipline), which states that international politics is the political science in its application to international relations with special reference to the best means of promoting peace between nations.2 Woodrow Wilson, being a leading statesman at the time, presents one of the possible avenues for peace. He consciously and deliberately tied issues of foreign policy to domestic politics, giving rise to what will come to be known as the democratic peace thesis. Wilson advocates the belief that popular participation, public life and opportunity for all [will be] the guarantee of peace. Wilson believed that diplomacy and foreign policy must be taken with regard to public opinion and the public being rational would prefer peace to war.3 The crucial premise here is that public opinion matters in a democratic political system. The assumption further made is that the political leaders are sensitive to public opinion and will be susceptible to their demands. The issue of public opinion gives rise to another set of issues, and one of the foremost in this period, is the skepticism that the basic assumption of a rational public rejecting war is true. Is the public rational? Is war a rational choice? The political definition of rationality is the ability of the public to discern the options open to them, and to adopt the best option to achieve their prioritized goals. The Great War cast doubts as to whether public is necessarily aware of what their options and goals are, much less their ability to choose the best option to fit their preferred purpose. As historian A. J. P. Taylor argues that the intellectual backlash against the dehumanizing war made the interwar years an age of intellectual and artistic activity, where intellectuals from various fields of study question the power of man to reason.4 The devastation of war brings queries, particularly from the idealists, as to whether war can be a rational choice. Even if the assumption holds true, there is still the question as to whether public opinion has any weight on policy formulation. Given this particular context, this paper questions the foundations of Wilsonian politics. This paper will thus postulate on the influence of public opinion and the impact of rationality on the maintenance of peace by drawing from the ideas of three important writers of this period: Edward Hallett Carr, Norman Angell and Alfred Zimmern. This paper will first introduce the positions of all three writers. It will then examine the fundamental assumption shared by all three writers with respect to public opinion, before expounding on their arguments on the rationality of the public and why the issue matters. The paper will then look into the possibilities of peace, and how the three concur on the issue of education. Due to source constraints, this paper will draw on secondary references to the works of the three writers, where the primary sources are not available. Carr, Angell and Zimmern Peter Wilson in Thinkers of the Twenty Years Crisis introduces Carrs book as a work which not only set the tone for subsequent discussion of inter-war thought, but also substantially shaped postwar attitudes towards it.5 The premise for The Twenty Years Crisis is the critique of inter-war idealism, which Carr terms utopian6. Carr dismisses the utopians as being unable to understand political reality and sets up a dichotomy that supposes utopia: reality= free will: determinism= theory: practice= morality: power =universal: relative= intellectual: bureaucrat= Left: Right 7 The dichotomy presented by Carr undermines interwar idealism, and leads, in part, to the rejection of the practical value of these theories. This dichotomy shapes subsequent debate and is consequentially identified as the polarity of realism and idealism, which will dominate international studies for the next few decades. In order to posit queries of the dichotomy, it is first necessary to expound on the assumptions that are conventionally made of either school. Brian C. Schmidt summarises the assumptions of idealism as follows : a pervasive faith in reason and rationalism, a belief in the infallibility of public opinion, the view that war was irrational, that the best way to end conflict was through education, international law, and world government, and, finally, a belief that the essential harmony of interests existed, which translated into the international doctrine of war-does-not-pay8. Superficially, both Norman Angell and Alfred Zimmern adopt such assumptions in their writings. Significantly, both Angell and Zimmern share the same devotion to one key tenet: the possibility of progress through educating public opinion and conditioning human behaviour. Their devotion to the tenet became stronger later into their careers, especially after the Second World War. The realist school of thought as represented by Carr, refutes the idealist assumptions. In particular, the realists argue that the concept of power is central to international affairs. Carr adopts Thomas Hobbes argument on human nature and advances the argument that the state as a rational actor will choose to maximize its capacity for power in order to secure its survival. He argues that public opinion, even when informed, is not necessarily pacifist and that thought can be mould by political purposes. Through defining his position by rejecting and critiquing the idealists assumptions, Carrs realist position is thus seen as the diametric opposite of the idealists. It is then necessary to redress both the ideas of Carr and the much-maligned interwar idealists, among whom are Zimmern and Angell. The choice of juxtaposing Angell and Zimmern with Carr in this paper is conscious. Both Zimmern and Angell are among the few utopians whom Carr explicitly criticizes in The Twenty Years Crisis. Andreas Osiander points out that Zimmern is still widely regarded as what Oslon and Groom have called the consummate idealist9, and is thus identifiable with the idealist school of thought. Yet Zimmern, as Paul Rich and Peter Wilson suggest, is considerably less adverse to Carrs ideas than his idealist colleagues.10 Angell, on the other hand, is one of the fiercest adversaries to The Twenty Years Crisis, but J. D. Miller raises the argument that Angell should be regarded less as an idealist than a far sighted realist because of his acute awareness of the issues of political reality11. The interplay of their ideas then calls to question the validity of a clear dich otomy. In essence then, this paper seek to question if the positions of these writers on the assumptions raised by Schmidt are as concrete as they appear to be. In other words, this paper examines the complexities of Carr, Angell and Zimmerns ideas on the applicability of public opinion, rationality and possibilities of peace. On closer examination, this paper argues that despite the differences, the three share a fundamental similarity: the belief in progress. The dichotomy between the realists and idealists is permeable, and in their postulation of the long term, the arguments of Carr, Angell and Zimmern coincide. Public Opinion First and foremost, the underlying assumption that Carr, Angell and Zimmern adopt is that public opinion matters, even though their understanding of public opinion differs. Zimmern argues that [p]ublic opinion is the lifeblood of a civilized community but unfortunately, the majority of the peoples is guided by caprice of ignorance, passion or greed, and the other devils if unreason.12 The title of Carrs inaugural speech at the University College of Wales, Public Opinion as a Safeguard of Peace says much. Carr argues that public opinion can exert tremendous influence over a foreign policy issue that it feels sufficiently strongly about, using the case of the public rejection of the Hoare-Laval plan to build his case. He states that, No nation, and least of all a democracy, can wage war unless it has the support of an overwhelming majority of its people13. The implication of such a statement in light of guarding the peace is that insofar as the public is not in favour of war, a state and particularly a democratic state will not and cannot adopt war as a policy instrument. Angells Nobel Lecture, Peace and the Public Mind, adopts the same position, except that he argues public opinion, being misinformed and disastrously erroneous can lead to war. 14 Interestingly both Angell and Carr argue that public opinion is easily manipulated. Carr devotes a section to Power over opinion in The Twenty Years Crisis, suggesting that the greater proportion of public becoming conscious or involved in politics relates to the importance that the ruling elite place on propaganda as an instrument of power. The influence of propaganda rests on the premise he sets earlier in the book that the crucial contribution of realism is the idea that thought is relative to purpose. 15 For instance, nationalism, as a form of ideology, could be seen as a means by which the public can be persuaded to go to war. Similarly, Angell contends that a small militant minority is capable of appealing to the majority towards a policy that may not be in the majoritys best interests.16 Rationality Having established that public opinion has a role to play, we then move on to the crucial questions: is the public rational, and is war a rational choice? On both issues, there are significant differences between Carr and the idealists, arising from the difference in the way they interpret and infer from past and current events. Reason and rationality give rise to different outcomes for Carr and the idealists. An important observation is that Carr places more faith in reason and rationality than do the others, contrary to our earlier presupposition that it is the idealists who have a pervasive faith in reason and rationalism. A proper definition of what is meant by rational behaviour has yet to be provided as a premise for argument. To proceed, we adopt James Mills argument for the rational public opinion quoted in Carr as a guide to what rational behaviour entails: Every man possessed of reason is accustomed to weigh evidence and to be guided and determined by its preponderance. When various conclusions are, with their evidence presented with equal care and with equal skill, there is a moral certainty, though some few maybe misguided, that greatest number will judge right, and the greatest force of evidence, whatever it is, will produce the greatest impression. 17 Whereas Carr believes that the public, being self-interested, is capable of defining their goals and seeking the best possible means to achieve toward that end, he rejects Mills definition of rational behaviour. Mills definition is in turn based on the ideas espoused by Jeremy Betham who assumes that the ideal option is the greatest good to the greatest number. Carr argues that public opinion comes from the masses, who are for large part, neither enlightened nor educated and thus the greatest number need not necessarily judge right. He argues that Betham and Mills assumption that self-interest can be sacrificed for the sake of the greatest good to the collective is based on some kind of intuition of what is right and cannot be demonstrated by rational argument.18 Carr suggests, instead, that rational necessarily demands a consciousness and the ability to adjust to the balance of power existing in international affairs, which serves as a constraint on the options available. The discerning public thus does not only take into account what is right, but also what is most practical in catering to self-interest. Carr then adopts an argument that is parallel to Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes, in Leviathan, states the fundamental law of nature as: it is a precept, or general rule of reason that every man, ought to endeavour peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek, and use all helps, and advantages of war Carr comments, to the same effect, that although war is undesirable, it is not possible to impose an absolute judgement that war is always and unconditionally wrong. The implication of Hobbes and Carrs argument is that the public being rational favours peace. However, when the public believes that they have more to gain from war, or more to lose from not going to war, war becomes a rational and logical solution. Historically, Carrs argument seems to find sufficient basis in the outbreak of World War I. One of the reasons contributing to the war was the increase in bellicosity, arising from rationalization of cost and benefit or cooperation and non-cooperation. Prior to the Great War, the perceived cost of non-cooperation19 had decreased. The perception was influenced by beliefs that any war would be short, a consequence of a highly exaggerated faith in the efficacy of offensive military strategies and tactics20 and by the system of alliances. The perception was further coloured by nationalism. Secondly the perceived gains of non-cooperation had increased. The general belief was that expansionism and offensive foreign policy was perceived to be too high, due to the general suspicion of the intentions of the other states. Given these perceptions then prevalent, European states saw it to their advantage to go to war, and in fact to initiate the war so as to reap the greatest advantage of the gr ound. This international game theory exemplifies in part the rational process that Carr espoused. The idealists depart greatly from Carr. Angell and Zimmern accept that Mills definition is greatly desired but finds it incongruent with political reality. Reus-Smit, in his essay The Strange Death of Liberal Theory, argues that the conflict between morality and political reality is seen by Angell as a divide between reason and unreason. He argues that, If the former prevailed, there was some hope of a reconciliation between morality, defined as the well-being of all and reality, which in [Angells] favoured area was the incompatibility of warfare and such well-being.21 However, within the historical context, Angell believes that unreason prevailed. Angell believes that the public mind is often irrational, because it is too easily persuaded; it does not possess sufficient information, nor the ability to process vast amounts of information when it is available and it lacks the skill to seek evidence for the various conclusions, as Mill points out, i.e., it cannot see the likely results of actions. 22 The public mind cannot compute cost-benefit-analysis, which is central to rationalization. Angell accounts for this irrationality of the public mind, stating that it arises from the failure to apply to our international relationships knowledge which is of practically universal possession23 In Angells opinion then, it is not for the lack of intellectual capacity on the part of the public that lead to the irrational behaviour, but the inability to apply knowledge. Resting on his idea of the irrational public, Angell expounds on the war and why the publics choice to go to war is actually irrational. In his aptly named book, The Great Illusion, he puts forth a convincing argument on the futility of war on grounds of rationality and economic considerations. Angell argues that the perceived benefits of war under modern circumstances, are reduced, as victors can no longer expect to benefit as much from the spoils of war. The change is largely because goods and spoils are no longer portable (such as gold, silver, slaves, precious stones) as they had before. Goods and services are non-physical such as currency, shares, and fixed assets, and are thus not transferable wealth. As such, if states act purely in their self-interest, given the expectation not to gain from war, states would be unlikely to pursue war.24 Angell considers this line of reasoning to be simplistic and easily applicable to the conduct of international relations. Yet as the advent of World War I proves, the public is incapable of applying such rationale to political practice. Angell argues that the pervading reasons behind war, then, are irrational. Not only does war not serve to the benefit of the state concerned, better alternatives of action could be sought such as building economic relations, social interaction. Such connections can be used in persuading, as opposed to coercing, other states into behaving in the manner that is beneficial to the state concerned. Thus the argument adopted is that war is irrational, i.e. not the best-laid option, and man being irrational and susceptible to external influences, chooses to use war as a policy instrument. Andreas Osiander points out that unlike what Carr implies, Zimmern, like Angell, was very far from seeing public opinion as necessarily a force for peace.25 Like Angell, he believes that the conflicts in the international arena, giving rise to war are resultant of intellectual, and not political failure.26 However, if Carr is to be believed, Zimmern can, in fact, be seen as being more extreme than Angell. Carr states in The Twenty Years Crisis that Zimmern is inclined towards the hypothesis that If mankind in its international relations has signally failed to achieve the rational good, it must have been too stupid to understand that good. Carrs statement is not altogether justified. Although Zimmern does point out that the impediment to overcoming the obstacle towards peace is that man are beings of conservative temper and limited intelligence27, what he implies is that man is reluctant to adjust to present realities brought by modernity. As a result of the inherent resistance towar ds change, mans mental capacity does not adapt to the fact that previous ways of managing international relations are no longer applicable. Consequentially, public opinion cannot be trusted to be rational. Zimmern subscribes to John Stuart Mills argument of the tyranny of the majority. He argues that the ruling elite, that is, the politicians in positions of power tend to be capable of rationalization. However this intellectual minority in government is consumed by the irrational public: for statesmen, however wise and far sighted, are limited in their policies by the public opinion and parliaments to which they are responsible.28 Angell concurs on this issue. J. D. Miller, drawing from Angells comments, argues that Angell too feared the impact upon politicians of an unreasoning crowd mind, and doubted the capacity of politicians to resist it. Both Angell and Zimmern, then, prefer that the intellectual minority be given the ability and power to lead the rest of the populace, so as to govern rational foreign policies. In this regard, Carr again differs. Whereas Carr does agree that the intellectual minority has a role to play in leading public opinion,29 he believes that the intellectual minority is however, sadly, out of touch with reality. He argues his case by drawing on the difference between intellectuals perceptions of the League of Nations with those of the man on the street. The intellectuals, who tend to be idealists by his definition, strive to secure and maintain peace via means of treaties, covenants and legal codifications. The general public, however, is more concerned with the practice of international affairs (as opposed to the theory.) Going by Carrs understanding of rational behaviour to be taking into account what is right and also what is most practical in application, the intellectual minority is in pra ctice less rational than the public. Change and the possibility of progress As it is, there seems to be a great divide between Carr and his two contemporaries with regards to whether man is rational. However, central to their arguments is the shared belief that history is a directional process, that is, there is the idea of constant change. Carr argues that war occurs because of the conservative reluctance to allow change to the status quo and the way to peace is to provide means of peaceful change.30 Angell and Zimmern suggest that war occurs because man has yet to come to terms with change, and that the mentality and psyche of the populace has not kept in line with international developments. As Zimmern states, the statesmen and the peoples have not adjusted their minds to the new realities31. The central concern with the issue of change harkens to a broader issue on which the three writers concur: the possibility of progress. The interwar context is one of pessimism. The first decade had been one of recovery and rehabilitation from the shock of the Great War and the second decade of mounting tensions and escalation to an even more disastrous war. The context in which these writers write in, therefore, begets the question of whether man can move away from destruction of war, and by what means. The three writers agree that the current situation calls for change, as present movements and measures to maintain peace are insufficient and inadequate, and are reasonably optimistic that such change can be effected. Carr notes even in 1936 that, the cause of peace has made tremendous stride during the past fifteen years and shows his preference towards progressive history, arguing that a sense of change as a progressive factor in history, and belief in reason as our guide for the understanding of its complexities are crucial to the current world. Angell is of the same mind when he questions the unchangeability of human nature and argues that just as cannibalism and slavery can be systematically reduced in our society, so too can the warlike nature of man and states32. Zimmern, even when decrying the decline of international standards (which he defined as rules of behaviour) at a meeting at Chatham House in 1937 argues that the process of change allowing for peaceful coexistence was already taking place.33 The ultimate aim of change is the maintenance of peace, which is assumed to be the preferred good, through the avoidance of war. The question that is then posited is, by what means? Carr, Angell and Zimmern propose different measures but the one pertinent to the prior argument on public opinion and rationality is their faith in education. Due to their fundamental belief that public opinion matters, it is logical to argue that if the public mind, as Angell would call it, could be trained and conditioned to favour peaceful change, then the chances of states going to war would be minimized. Angell quotes in his The Great Illusion that Not the facts, but mens opinions about the facts is what matters, and making a parallel with the abolishment of witch hunts, he comments that just as in the matter of burning witches a change of behaviour was the outcome of a change of opinion in a same way a change in the political conduct of can only come about as a result of a change of thought34. The w ay to peace then is to shape mans perceptions about war. Given this understanding, the most basic and possibly most efficient way of bringing about this conditioned public is through education. However in his address given to Chatham House in 1931, Angell claims that the current education system does not adequately prepare the individual to make intelligent and informed inferences from the facts presented to him. He believes that the reason behind this lack in the system is that education tends to follow a tradition whereby an older generation influences and instruct the younger through a process of socialization.35 Unfortunately this tradition means that values and ideas that are taught are often unable to catch up with present realities. The educational system had also focused on provision of information, without equipping the individual with means to discern the motivations, the causation analysis, the implications et cetera behind the piece of information. According to him, We have thought too much of the facts and too little of their meaning. 36 Thus the socialization/education of an individual does not adequately provide him with the skill to make rational choices. Given his premise that war is irrational under any circumstances lest in defence and a rational public will therefore reject war, the skill deficiency means that man may choose to go to war due to their lack of understanding, unless the educational system can be changed. Beyond the suggestion that education shifts its focus from its informational purpose towards equipping successive generations with the skill to possess information, Angell does not however provide for how education can be otherwise structured. Zimmern elaborates on his ideal educational system in his book Learning and Leadership, which is not only designed to impart the skill of discerning information but also specifically equipped to teach students about international life. Particularly, he believes that practical experience through interaction with people from other nations will allow students to imbibe the habit of cooperation and harmonious living37. Zimmern believes that once people are given more exposure to the international arena, they will be able to understand foreigners and foreign influences better and become more acutely aware of the idea of universal brotherhood. This basic premise being established, man will be more able to understand the actions of others, less inclined to take preemptive action and to go to war. The assumption of such an argument is that people are less inclined to advocate war against a party that they share an understanding with. Education is thus seen as an instrument which can build commonality among peoples, as well as a means by which the public can be trained to be rational. In The Twenty Years Crisis, Carr argues for the application of reason to understanding current situations and political reality; in his later work What is History he extends the role of reason to the capacity to reform: The primary function of reason, as applied to man in society, is no longer merely to investigate, but to transform; and this heightened consciousness of the power of men to improve the management of his social, economic and political affairs by the application of rational processes seems to me one of the major aspects of the twentieth century. 38 The core assumptions here are that reason leads to progress and progress is necessarily an improvement. Remembering the key concern of the study of international relations in the interwar period, a foremost improvement of the human condition is the eradication of war. As do Angell and Zimmern, Carr believes that education was to be the tool by which such improvement can come about. However, unlike Zimmern and Angell who believe that the public has to be thought how to make rational choices in the first place, Carr believes that education can be used to shape the way the public thinks about their choices. Carr notes then that education policy must be shaped: Educators at all levels are nowadays more and more consciously concerned to make their contribution to the shaping of society in a particular mould, and to inculcate in the rising generation the attitudes, loyalties and opinions appropriate to that type of society: educational policy is an integral part of any rationally planned social policy.39 It is then assumed, that rationally, a society will be prefer not to resort to war in a conflict of interest, and a means by which this can be ensured is to design an educational system which, in the context of the interwar years, should imbue in them the moral norm that peaceful change is the preferred means of achieving policy objectives. To put it more plainly, Carrs ideal is using education to persuade man against the doctrine of power, providing a basis whereby a compromise between morality and power can be reached and peaceful change achieved. In his contention that thought is relative to purpose, Carr postulates that mass opinion can directed and in fact mass-produced via universal popular education. It is imperative to note that by popular education, Carr has included the mass media.( Carr does not, however differentiate between education and propaganda in The Twenty Years Crisis though in What is History, he associates education with rationality and the growing consciousness from below as well as from above of the role which reason can play40). The application of reason and rationality therefore means that education can be used to persuade mankind against war. Instead of making an argument that war is irrational, educators can influence the public into making a conscious choice not to use war as a policy instrument. As Carr states, I regard as of immense importance and promise the gradual extension of the area of the worlds surface within which war has been effectively been placed under the ban, such that war is actually unthinkable41. What becomes interesting is how closely Carr mirrors the utopians he derides. Peter Wilson, in his attempt to understand what Carr means by utopian, lists the various characteristics that Carr associates with the term. According to his analysis, all of these characteristics are progressive ideas; and it might be therefore be concluded that the core characteristic of interwar idealism is belief in conscious, progressive change. On this basis, Carr does not seem to be any much different, which recalls Reus-Smits observation quoted earlier in this paper that Carr is himself not a consummate realist. It is also possible to put forth an argument that Carrs argument against utopianism was never meant to be an outright and unconditional rejection of the interwar theories. Conclusion Whether or not these three writers think the public mind is rational depends largely on whether they believe war can be a rational choice, and yet regardless of their perspectives on these two issues, they believe that progress towards avoidance of war can be ensured through changing human behaviour. Education policies thus become important, as they can shape the perceptions of the public and thus affect their choices, which is in turn reflected in the chosen foreign policy. However there is a point to note based on this argument set. All three writers are writing within a democratic framework and tradition, where by definition, requires that public opinion matters. Yet, public opinion is less likely to make an impact in an authoritarian state, and even in democratic states, there is the consideration of public apathy, the leaders gambling and taking risks by not going according to public opinion, et cetera. These complications bring us back to the consideration of Wilsonian politics. Woodrow Wilson professes that his aim is to make the world safe for democracy, and that democracy will bring peace. His tendency has been to look at the building and maintenance of peace from a top down approach, where the political structure and political ideological apparatus are enforced. In other words, he looks to providing a mechanism which will allow the rational public to prevent the tendencies of the militant minority from dragging the state to war. However, from the ideas of Carr, Angell and Zimmern, such a mechanism would not function effectively against war unless the public mind can be first conditioned through a fitting educational system emphasizing co-operation and peace. 1 David Long, Conclusion: Interwar idealism, liberal internationalism and contemporary international theory. Thinkers of the Twenty Years Crisis: Inter-war idealism reassessed. p. 303, pp. 306-307. 2 Quoted in E. H. Carrs inaugural speech in the University College of Wales. Public Opinion as a Safeguard of Peace International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1931-1939). Vol. 15. No. 6. (Nov- Dec 1936), p. 846. 3 Mortimer Chambers, et al. The Western Experience Vol C: The Modern Era. pp. 892-893 4 A. J. P. Taylor, From Sarajevo to Potsdam. London: Thames Hudson: 1966 pp. 103-106 5 Peter Wilson. Introduction: The Twenty Years Crisis and the Category of Idealism in International Relations. David Long Peter Wilson. (ed.) Thinkers of the Twenty Years Crisis: Inter-war idealism reassessed. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1995. p.1 6 Carrs term utopians is generally taken to refer to the idealists, though he does not clearly define who he considers to be utopians. 7 Wilson, Introduction, p. 12. Wilson adapted the equation from Hedley Bull, The Twenty Crisis Thirty Years On, International Journal, Issue 24, Vol. 4 (1969), p. 627-8. E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis: 1919-1939. New York: Harper: (1946) 1964. pp. 11-21. 8 Brian C. Schmidt. Lessons from the Past: reassessing the Interwar Disciplinary History of International Relations. International Studies Quarterly (1998) 42. p 452 9 Andreas Osiander, Rereading Early Twentieth Century IR theory: Idealism Revisited, International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Sep.,1998). p. 417 10 Paul Rich, Alfred Zimmerns Catious Idealism: the League of Nations, International Education, and the Commonwealth. Thinkers of the Twenty Years Crisis: Inter-war idealism reassessed. p.88; Peter Wilson, Carr and his Early Crtics: responses to the Twenty Years Crisis. Michael Cox (ed). E. H. Carr: A critical appraisal. New York: Palgrave: 2000. p. 167. 11 J. D. Miller. Norman Angell and Rationality in International Relations. Thinkers of the Twenty Years Crisis: Inter-war idealism reassessed. pp. 116, 119. 12 Alfred Zimmern, Learning and Leadership: a study of the needs and possibilities of international intellectual co-operation. London: Oxford University Press: 1928. p. 10; p. 82. 13 Carr, Public Opinion as a Safeguard of Peace pp. 857-858. 14 Norman Angell, Peace and the Public Mind. June 12, 1935. http://www.nobel.se/cgi-bin/print. March 24, 2004. 15 E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis. pp. 132-133; pp. 67-75 16 Norman Angell Peace and the Public Mind. para. 19 17 quoted in E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis. p 24. 18 Ibid. p. 26; p. 41 19 The line of reasoning here is tied to the idea of an international game theory, which due to practical constraints cannot be covered here. The argument is made in line with Robert Jervis theory on international behaviour in his Cooperation Under Security Dilemma World Politics. Vol. 30, No. 2 (Jan, 1978), pp.167-214. 20 Stephen van Evera, Why co-operation failed in 1914. World Politics, Vol. 38. No. 1 (Oct, 1985). p. 81 21 Christian Reus-Smit, The Strange Death of Liberal International Theory. European Journal of International Law. Vol. 12. No. 3. pp. 578-9. 22 J. D. Miller. Norman Angell and the Futility of War: Peace and the public mind. London: Macmillian: 1986. pp/ 124-125. 23 Norman Angell. Peace and the Public mind. para. 17 24 Norman Angell. Europes Optical Illusion. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent , 1909(?)24-40; The Great Illusion:A study of the relation of military power to national advantage. London: William Heinemann 1913. pp. 26-40. 25 Andreas Osiander, Rereading Early Twentieth Century IR theory p. 417 26 Alfred Zimmern, Learning and Leadership. p. 11. 27 Alfred Zimmern, The Problem with Collective Security (ed) Q. Wright. Neutrality and Collective Security. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 1936. p. 8. 28 Ibid. 29 E. H. Carr, Public Opinion as a Safeguard of Peace. p. 854. 30 E. H. Carr. The Twenty Years Crisis. pp. 208-223 31 Alfred Zimmern Learning and Leadership. p. 22 32 Norman Angell, The Great Illusion. 1913. pp. 200-221. 33 Alfred Zimmern, The Decline of International StandardsInternational Affiars (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1931-1939). Vol 17. No. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1938), p. 21. 34 Norman Angell, The Great Illusion. P. 327 35 Norman Angell, Popular Education and International Affairs International Affairs (Royal Institute of International affairs 1931-1939) Vol. 11, No. 3 (May 1932), p. 323 36 Ibid, p 335-338, 338 37 Alfred Zimmern Learning and Leadership. p. 26-60 38 E. H. Carr. What is History? New York , St. Martins Press , 1961 p 190 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid p. 195. Propaganda is associated with the emotive and not with reason. 41 E. H. Carr. Public Opinion as a Safeguard of Peace. p. 861.

International Trade Theories Absolute Comparative and Competitive Advantage

International Trade Theories Absolute Comparative and Competitive Advantage Absolute advantage theory was first presented by Adam Smith in his book The Wealth of Nations in 1776. Smith provided the first concept of a nations wealth. Adam Smith is a grandfather of economics because he introduced two important concepts that many of the new trade theories are based on these two main concepts, which are specialization and free exchange (Cho et al., 2000). However, many arguments were made and many economists thought there was a problem with the theory of absolute advantage after David Ricardo published the theory of comparative cost (aka comparative advantage) in the early 19th century (Curry, 2000). Even though Smith and his followers introduced many important points for the thoughts of economic, it is too complicated with this simple version of trade theory in todays global economy. In 1990, Michael Porter introduced the diamond model of new competitiveness theory (Cho et al., 2000). These three trade theories are important in order to make a country or busine ss successfully. Therefore, the importance of absolute advantage, comparative advantage, and competitive advantage will be discussed thoroughly. Absolute advantage is the ability to produce a good with fewer resources than other producers (Ayers et al., 2005). According to Joseph A. Schumpeter (1954, 374), seems to have believed that under free trade all goods would be produced where their absolute costs in terms of labor are lowest (Van Marrewijk, 2009). Smith suggests that a country should export those goods and services for which it is more productive than other countries are, and import those goods and services for which other countries have more productive than it is. For instance, assume there are only two countries in the world- France and Japan; there are only two goods Wine and Clock radios; and there is only one factor of production- Labor. In France, one hour of labor can produce either two bottles of wine or three clock radios. In Japan, one hour of labor can produce either one bottle of wine or five clock radios. Therefore, the absolute advantage to produce wine is France because one hour of labor produces two b ottles in France, but Japan only produces one. The absolute advantage to produce clock radios is Japan because one hour of labor produces five clock radios in Japan while France only produces three. France is more efficient in the production of wine and Japan is more efficient in the production of clock radios. If these two countries are able to trade with one another, they both will be better off (Griffin et al., 2010). Comparative Advantage The theory of absolute advantage makes sense intuitively. Unfortunately, the theory had a problem. What if one country had an absolute advantage in both products? David Ricardo solved this problem by introducing the theory of comparative advantage, which states that a country should specialize and export those goods and services for which it is relatively more productive than other countries are and import those goods and services for which other countries are relatively more productive than it is (Griffin et al., 2010). Therefore, according to this theory, a country must specialize in order to gain from trade. A country has a comparative advantage if it can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than could other countries. For instance, Michael Jordan selected basketball as his career and economics as his major. He had to make a choice in order to excel at other majors or careers. He chose basketball where he could shine in with his area of relative strength. On the other hand, Doug might take longer to mow yards than other people would take. Even if he cannot do anything well, he can still do some things relatively better than other things. People would still hire him because he would charge them less than the opportunity cost of their own time. In this case, Michael Jordan might hire him because the opportunity cost of his time would be too high. It would be unrelated that whether Michael could do his own lawn faster (Ayers et al., 2005). Even though the comparative advantage is very useful for explaining the reasons of trade and the increases welfare of the trading partners by trade, this theory is still incomplete. There are two problems in this theory. First, the extreme degree of specialization can be predicted by this theory, but in some countries, they not only produce one good but many import-competing products. Second, the trade based on differences in country productivity levels between countries, but it did not explain the existence of these di fferences (Cho et al., 2000). Competitive Advantage The leading theorist of competitive advantage theory is Michael E. Porter. According to Porter, National prosperity is created, not inherited. It grows with natural endowments in a country, as well as its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currencys value. The competitive advantage of nations is the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade to form a nations competitiveness. Companies benefit from having home based suppliers aggressively, domestic rivals strongly, and demanding local customers. Geographic cluster or companies concentrations established competitive advantage in different parts of the same industry. According to Porter, nations are most likely to succeed in industries where the national diamond is the most favorable. He believes that success in international trade comes from the four interrelated components, which are factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy structure, and rivalry. Porter also concluded that their home environment is the most forward-looking, challenging, and dynamic so that nations succeed in particular industries (Cho et al., 2000). Companies achieve competitive advantage from acts of innovation. They approach innovation in both new technologies and new ways of doing things. Innovation can be represented in a new product design, new production process, or a new marketing strategy. Perceiving an entirely new market opportunity can contribute to create competitive advantage from some innovations. Innovation yields competitive advantage when competitors are slow to respond. For instance, in autos and home electronics industries, Japanese companies focused on smaller and lower capacity models that foreign competitors despised as low profit, low importance, and low attraction (Cho et al., 2000). Conclusion The three traditional trade theories were discussed. They are all useful theories that remain in understanding many of industrial and trade policies nowadays. For example, when a country considers industrial and trade policies, the comparative advantage theory can be a basic guideline. Because todays world is much more complicated than before, those theories are not satisfactory in explaining the international trade in nowadays situation. The main goal of model building is understand the world easily by recognize the most important variable or variables (Cho et al., 2000).

Biliography of Edgar Allan Poe :: essays research papers

Biography of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts on January 19,1809. He was the second child of Elizabeth and David Poe. Both of his parents were actors traveling to perform in theatres from Massachusetts to South Carolina. David Poe abandoned his family while Edgar was still an infant. His Mother died in December of 1811, at which time the orphaned Poe was taken in by a prosperous Virginian Merchant and his wife, John and Frances Allan. Edgar Allan Poe and his new family moved to England in 1815, where he attended boarding school until he was eleven. The Allan family returned to Richmond Virginia because his foster Father’s business failed. Poe attended the University of Virginia. He was very good in ancient and modern languages. His past time was gambling, which he did not do so well incurring a large debt. His father refused to help him pay off his gambling debt. This caused he and his father to fight. Poe left for Boston to avoid further conflict. In Boston, he published his first volume of poetry†Tamerlane and Other Poems†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ. He also joined the United States Army using the name Edgar A. Perry. Poes foster mother died in 1829, at which time he made up with his foster father. His foster father arranged for Poe to be nominated to West Point. Poe began his studies at West Point but was dismissed for disobeying orders in 1831. He Moved to New York where Poe tried to support himself by writing but had to rely on his grandmother, aunt and cousin for room and board. Early in 1835, he began to publish book reviews in a Richmond magazine called the Southern Literary Messenger. He was hired as a regular contri butor and as an editor of the journals review. He re established family ties in Richmond and married his cousin Virginia Clemson in 1836. Poe resigned from the Messenger in 1837 due to disagreements with the owner. Poe obtained another steady job in 1839 as editor of Barton’s Gentlemen’s Magazine, where he published â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† Poe was fired from Barton’s in 1840 and accepted a job as literary editor for Graham’s Magazine. Poe published â€Å"The Man of the Crowd† and his first detective stories in this magazine Virginia Poe became seriously ill in 1842 and almost died; Poe’s own health was also poor.

The News: International “Objective” Informant :: Essays Papers

The News: International â€Å"Objective† Informant War is rarely an event looked forward to by many people. It involves death, abandonment, guilt, money, deceit, and an ultimate loss of too many elements to list them all. However there is rarely a time when there is not a war going on in some part of the country. For wars to happen there has to be people willing to fight in them. With so much at stake and so mush to lose it is often a wonder how governments, which are seldom trusted anyway, convince their citizens to support their various war efforts. With closer speculation it becomes quite clear how this is accomplished: the media. Whether print, radio, or television the media gives the public a sense of getting the real story. With this in mind it is much easier to persuade citizens that wars are necessary. Medias role in the politics of war is an often debated topic by those who believe the role is minimal and those who believe that media plays the utmost importance. Although there is no universal opinion, looking at differen t theories proposed and the wars of the past it is difficult to question how influential media is when dealing with any type of governmental action especially war. Although under constant scrutiny, the media plays a very significant role in the politics of warfare. Many believe that â€Å"governments seek cooperation, if not outright support, from the media to legitimize military action† (Thussu and Freedman 128). Media of Conflict argues that the media serves several purposes in the continuance of conflict. First it claims, â€Å"national media coverage has had the effect of exacerbating conflict as a result of conscious political strategies by political activists†(Allen 3). This has often been the case when politicians have the support of journalists, and they work in conjunction to present a certain image full of sensationalism and less insight. The second claim is that â€Å"wars are what the media makes of them†(Allen 3). This does apply to the shaping of military strategies but more importantly deals with representation of violence. The media has the ability to make certain forms of killing acceptable while making ot hers appear inhumane and unnecessary. Media of Conflict’s most important point about the purpose of media is found in the declaration that â€Å"how wars are made, how participants strategize their interests, how and if

Nuclear Weapons: Good or Bad?

Reaction Paper: Nuclear Weapons – Danger or Necessity? The use of nuclear weapons has been under much debate from the moment the world witnessed their destructive power. As seen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the aftermath left by these weapons is utter chaos, having a profound effect on both victims and witnesses lives. However, author Kenneth N. Waltz advocates the necessity of nuclear weapons as a balance of power between countries. Another author, Robert S. McNamara stands in favor of eliminating nuclear weapons for good, bringing reassurance of peace for a fearful world. As debates over nuclear weapon use rage on, the threat is still present and must be handled carefully to avoid a man made apocalypse. McNamara and his stance on eliminating nuclear weapons is sensible, primarily due to the common man and woman agreeing with his logic. Nuclear weapons in today’s world have no purpose but to scare opposing countries from complete warfare, a purpose that hopefully stays that way. While they were an everyday occurrence during the cold war years, concerns with the growth of existing nuclear stockpiles are no longer front page news. In an era where the security agenda is topped by fighting terrorism, we are more worried that terrorist organizations or rogue regimes might acquire nuclear weapons and inflict unspeakable damage to the targeted countries. McNamara argues that â€Å"The countries of the world should try to eliminate their nuclear arsenal because of the utter devastation these weapons can inflict on humanity† (p 147). McNamara also states that â€Å"By intensifying its efforts in sustaining, modernizing, and improving its nuclear stockpile while refusing to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the United States sends a message that it is not serious about nuclear non-proliferation† (p 147). In order for complete nuclear disarmament, all cards must be playing the same game. Kenneth Waltz is one of few advocators in favor of nuclear weapons, but he does have a solid argument. Leading scholars of international relations and policymakers share in the belief that the sheer destructiveness of nuclear weapons prevents them from being used by friends and foes alike. The deterrent effect of nuclear weapons is rooted in their possession rather than in their use. Waltz argues that â€Å"Nuclear weapons make states cautious and less likely to engage in reckless behavior† (p 156). He also states that â€Å"While the enormous destructiveness of nuclear weapons makes them excellent weapons for defensive purposes-the weapons have no offensive rationale† (p 155). Though Waltz does not advocate widespread nuclear armament, he does submit that nuclear weapons are great contributors to stability in the international system. After reading and analyzing the arguments of both authors, I take my stance with McNamara and his view toward eliminating nuclear weapons. Recently in an article on NY Times, the US and Russia agreed on a nuclear disarmament treaty that shows progress in eliminating nuclear weapons by dismantling the two biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons in the modern world. This, I believe, is just the beginning of the end for nuclear weapons around the world which would keep humanity much safer and hopefully create long lasting peace.