Leadership of Howard Schultz Essay

† Howard Schultz for President? â€Å". Howard Schultz, who is a founder & CEO of Starbucks has showing concern about the future of Americans. His recent activities including boycott the political donations, until Washington, D. C coming up with some â€Å"real effort† to reduce the debt ceiling. Disappointing with the U. S political leaders as they failing to act appropriately while America’s confidence is faltered. By looking at the past, the Starbucks CEO has indeed achieved a remarkable milestone, from a sales person in Xerox Corporation in 1979 and to today, a massive green giant astonishing leader. All this footprint certainly is not coincidence or miracles. In the past, economy volatility, US recession, consumer demand instability struck his business beyond all recognition. Despite all this pitfalls, this premium coffee maker able to embrace the resistance and continue serving quality coffee every corner till today. Looking at his context ,all these demonstrates that his business understands the concept of â€Å"ostrich syndrome†, meaning by burying their head in the sand when facing criticism. And such, Howard now challenge the leadership style adopted by the U.  S government by not hearing the heart of the Americans. The question here is, â€Å"Can his leadership style fit perfectly in the political field†? Many critics claimed this is total different ball game, not just about coffee bean. As Howard apparently lack of political experience, this has put his entrepreneur leadership into challenge. Howard’s leadership however substantiated by evidences, well, at least from business perspectives. In his business history , this captain well aware that customer response and satisfaction is the best business performance thermostat. But to achieve this corporate desire , will require tremendous effort, starting from top management down to every barista in Starbucks. In such circumstances, to him, everything matters, and this is not something hard to observe. This modern leadership are well played by Howard and his team throughout Starbucks business. Sourcing from Joseph Michelli- Starbucks experience, â€Å"this coffee business having the capability of motivating people through powerful, emotionally engaging visions and reconciling the people needs around their organization†. Starbucks management has even establish a Mission Review Committee that govern leadership behaviors and ensure commitment by their partners by listening their concern. They makes a point of listening and responding to the ideas and suggestions of partners. Clearly, Howard adopt â€Å"Situational Leadership† here, whereby attend the perception of the followers and to indicate how efforts directed towards wider organizational goals could align with calculations of follower self-interest. His leadership style, changes our perspectives towards leadership. Is the U. S President not doing sufficiently to address the needs of his people? Don’t get me wrong. Both also are transformational leaders, is just that Howard Schultz is practicing authentic leadership, this largely due to his father losing jobs because of medical problems, since then he became passionate about a company’s need to care for its employees. On the flip side, President Obama has proved to be a very good Senate majority leader by convening committees to do the work and intervening at the end. One of this strength is tends to see issues from several vantage points at once, so maybe it is natural that he favors a process that involves negotiating and fudging between different points of view. But particular in this debt ceiling settlement, he seems to be passive. Further from the above, so what setback is facing by the President? According to the award winning author, John Kotter, in his book â€Å"Our Iceberg is melting†, somewhat is similar to President Obama of failure in producing short-term wins. Failure in creating some visible, unambiguous successes to his fellow Americans all these while. This eventually causing Americans losing faith and trust in his leadership. This weakness of President Barrack Obama allowing Howard Schultz leadership ability become more prominence. Howard now ultimate intention is to create more job opportunities inside U. S, which he believe will turn things around. This similar challenge faced by all the leaders around the world, no exception of the increasing unemployment rate in my country. In my opinion, to resuscitate the economy, unparallel creative leadership style is needed. Perfect example from Sternberg’s propulsion model of creative leadership, â€Å"Re-initiation† leadership style, â€Å"whereby a leap in the dark from the familiar to meet perceived opportunity, and findings ways of removing constraints to uplift current country economic condition†. This is certainly not easy. Especially the effort of satisfying the needs of millions citizen in Malaysia. Perhaps, respective leaders need to learn from the green giant leader on how to â€Å"surprise and delight† like what he did to his Starbucks customer. This is what we hope from our leaders, an effort to put a smile on everyone’s face.

Nature Strongly Influences Early Human Development Essay

Since biology was determined as a science there have always been argues about the question of whether nature or nurture influence is more important to early human development. Early human development includes the period between conceiving the fetus and till the first steps of infancy. Each arguing side has many supporting arguments and evidences, which bring a new â€Å"fuel† to this ever-burning flame. Although nurture’s influence on the newborns could not be underestimated, nature’s influence is stronger and more important to the early human development because of genes and some inevitable processes in development. As it is known, at the moment of conception a remarkable amount of personal characteristics are already determined by the genes. They decide sex, the color of eyes and human characteristics. These genetic determinants are expressed in development through the process of maturation. This evidence shows the role of nature is much higher than the role of nurture. Despite this view, many still consider nurture to be more influential to early human development due to conditions in uterine environment. However, such an argument could not deny the fact that early human development innately determined sequences of growth and change that a relatively independent on environmental events. The process of human’s fetus development within the mother’s body is strictly fixed by genetically programmed time schedule, and fetal behavior, such as kicking, also follows an orderly sequences that depends on the stage of growth. The process of maturation is also fixed by this schedule. One of the best examples of inevitability of these processes in development is disappearance of the reflexive head-turning response to the direction of the source of sound. The temporary disappearance of this reflex probably represents a maturational transition from a reflexive response controlled by sub cortical areas of the brain to a voluntary attempt to locate the sound source. (Hiller, Hewitt & Morrongiello, 1992; Ashmead et al. , 1991; Field, 1987). By four months, infants will reach the correct direction toward the source of sound in the dark; by six months, they show a marked increase in their responsiveness to sounds that accompanied by interesting sights and are able to pinpoint the location of sound more precisely, an ability that continues to improve into their second year (Hiller, Hewitt & Morrongiello, 1992; Ashmead et al., 1991; Field, 1987). Opponents argue that this genetically programmed schedule is depends on environmental influence and nurture. Study carried out by McGraw indicates that practice or extra stimulation can accelerate the appearance of motor behaviors to some extent, especially in a stepping reflex. However, this five-seven weeks difference on start of walking between stimulated and does not stimulated newborns just highlights the inevitability of development processes. In conclusion, it should be evident that the arguments which was given to support that nurture is more strongly influences early human development is not valid. On the contrary, many people involved to studying this issue say that genes contribute to strengthen of nature’s influence on early human development by inevitability of natural processes. Furthermore, extra stimulation is not so significantly important for development because the children may develop without it. Therefore, Nature strongly influences early human development than nurture.

North Korea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

North Korea - Essay Example After the collapse of the Goryeo rule in Korea, this led to the rise of the Josen kingdom in honour of the Gojosen one. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, Japanese pirates attempted to attack Korea, however the invasions were repulsed between 1592 and 1598, in the early seventeenth century, Korea became involved in wars with the Manchus kingdom. The rule by Josen closed Korea to trade in the 17th to 19th century with it only being open to China, however at one time an American merchant ship, which was armed, tried to open Korea to external trade in the 19th century was stranded in a river near Pyongyang (Miller, 2004 p102). After the crewmembers were ordered to leave, they killed several Korean nationals that led to the ship being torched by fire ships from Korea but by mid 19th century, Pyongyang had a cautious and a slow approach towards opening its boarders towards the west. Due to the Sino japans war that happened from 1894 to 1895, the treaty of Shimonoseki was signed whi ch led to the end of Josean Empire relying on China. The name Josean Empire was changed to Korean empire, which was highly influenced by Russia, this however ended after the Russo Japan war between 1904 and 1905 when the Korean empire became a protectorate of Japan. When Japan annexed Korea, they imposed a military rule and attempted to stem Korean way of life and traditions, the wealth of the Korean empire was used to profit the people of Japan. This led to formation of pro- rebellion movements from Koreans towards the Japanese rule, in 1919 pro liberations, rallies took place countrywide and about 7000 people were killed. This fuelled more protests against the Japanese that led to the Japanese strengthening their military rule and banning anything related to Korea including forcing the Koreans to change their names to Japanese names, changing the curriculum in schools to reflect that of Japan and the Japanese culture, the Korean language was also banned. With the surrender of the Japanese after the world war ii, the Korean empire was divided into two along the 38th parallel where the soviet union occupied the north and America the south in an agreement that had been signed before, Russia chose Kim II Yung to lead the provisional peoples’ committee for North Korea in 1946. Kim II Yung introduced radical reforms in North Korea that ranged from land reforms to nationalising all key industries in the country. Talks on unifying north and South Korea were held in Moscow and Seoul; however, they did not bear any fruits due to the politics of the cold war that was happening at the same time. Soviet Union military withdrew from North Korea, the American counterparts withdrew from South Korea a year later, this made South Korea weaker and the government of Kim II Yung began exploring the possibilities of invading South Korea. Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin rejected the war proposals that North Korea presented to him, however, with the win of Mao Zedong in China and the indication that he was willing to support the invasion, the Soviet Union approved the invasion in 1950. With Joseph Stalin having approved the war, the north that had a stronger army than the south decide to invade the south, there were battles at the 38th parallel that turned bloody in the Ongjin region, however none of the armies closed the line to the rival’

Finance questions Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Finance questions - Speech or Presentation Example Other considerations include the frequency of single drills, as well as the number of drill session per week. The session should begin by crosschecking the safety consideration. Players should be free and well rested. They should be free of injuries in the limbs and arms that require exercising (Mcardle, 2000). After successful safety considerations, the session should proceed with a warm up. Begin by combining dynamic and static warm to achieve all desirable results (Mcardle, 2000). Players should do begin by slight running, going around the court two times, making a few stretching and jogging and Plyometric jumps. Warm up serves two functions. First, it prepares muscles for the explosive plyometrics. Secondly, it is one of the first stages of acquainting with plyometrics, especially for the novice (Taylor & Beashel, 1996). This training entails dropping on grounds from an upper surface, followed by a jump-up. A drop-down during the eccentric phase offers the muscles the pre-stretch, as well as a vigorous upward drive during the contraction phase. The effectiveness of the exercise is only effective if the time that the feet touch the ground is short. The exercise loading is determined by the dropping height, which should be about 0.7 to 1.1 meters (Taylor & Beashel, 1997). Three sets of jumps should be performed, each with 10 repetitions. In bounding, oversized strides are employed for the running action while time is spent in the air. Bound that involve two legs minimize the endured impact. The intensity may be increased by hopping or even single-leg bounding. Upstairs’ bounding improves the horizontal of movement. Three sets bounding and hurdling should be performed, each with 10 repetitions. Hand claps and press ups, done in alterations, is one way in which the chest and the arms can be conditioned. Pre-stretch occurs as the hands swing back to the ground and as the chest sinks. This

Psychoanalytic Film Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Psychoanalytic Film Theory - Essay Example Mulvey's essay can be asserted as a historical document, due to her examinations of the pleasurable and controlling dimensions of â€Å"vision† that several disciplines studied before her and extended after her work. She argued that the â€Å"unconscious† of the patriarchal system has projected itself unto the film narrative. The male gaze had perilously affected the discourse between the dominant and dominated sectors of society, where political binaries of man/woman and active/passive are present. This paper will discuss the reasons why feminist film scholars adopted psychoanalytic film theory. It will also use feminist psychoanalytic spectatorship theory in studying Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1959). Feminist scholars adopted the psychoanalytic film theory, because the latter aims to examine and depict gender identity using cultural, instead of biological, concepts that are present in films, so that the exclusion of women in dominant film discourses can be identified and dismantled for purposes of political empowerment by breaking the domination of the male gaze and reversing spectatorship from male to female gazing. Rear Window (1959) depicts scopophilia through sexual stimulations of visual pleasures and narcissism, and its pervasive use of the sexual objectification of women, where the film sees them as sources of both pleasure and pleasure. Feminist film scholars, during the 1970s, were interested in analyzing the diverse forms of gender oppression that relegated them to a â€Å"secondary† social and political status (Kaplan 1238). Their takeoff was the â€Å"cultural,† and not the biological, aspect of negative female experiences, where cultural semiotic systems present relationships in how women are seen and consumed in films and in societies where they live in. These scholars noted that the â€Å"objectification† of women, which limited their desires and objectives, could be the root cause of their oppressed conditions in real and reel life.

Religion in Contamination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Religion in Contamination - Essay Example Cosmopolitanism is still a brewing concept, although the idea has been traced to the cynic Diogenes of Ancient Greece (410 B.C.) who claimed world citizenship and to the 2nd century stoic Hierocles who drew the Concentric Circle Model of the â€Å"self† opening out for concern to family, local group, citizens, countrymen and humanity. Whether it is simply an idea, an ethical way-of-life or a movement, Cosmopolitanism is still to gain wider acceptance by present-day thinkers, moralists, and ideologists. In his book Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers,† Appiah clarifies that Cosmopolitanism is basically an ethical principle. Still, he forewarns, not every ethical principle, inclusive of religion, which claims universality, is Cosmopolitanism. To understand this mind-set, Appiah’s aforesaid article deserves examination. Unlike his book Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Stranger, the article under consideration focuses less on Cosmopolitanism and more on the phenomenon of cultural change. Through personally drawn examples, expressed in a descriptive narrative way, Appiah shows that cultural assimilation takes various forms. And in his own home place in Asante, Ghana, Appiah finds exotic traditional customs being observed by fellow-Ghanaians, even as they show signs of modern 21st century living, wearing Western suits and using technology gadgets like cellphones.... Each and everyone is a citizen of the world, but the world is not closer to Cosmopolitanism, he adds, when homogeneity means only superficiality or artificiality in cultural changes. He describes how common it is for people to change in ways they like â€Å"inventing new forms of differences: new hairstyles, new slang, even new religions† (Appiah article, 2006). Also, some changes may be liked, while others disliked. For example, the influence of global economy may be a problem to those who have to adjust crops and livelihood, although acceptable even exciting for the well-placed who find opportunities in global change. In the case of religion, Christianization may have succeeded by way of mass conversions, but some elements of folk religious practices continue to prevail showing the fact that Christianity has been accepted in external form, but not in essence. In this article, Appiah treats religion in two distinct ways: First as a cultural artifice, subject to change as any other, and secondly as a dangerous new form of anti-cosmopolitanism. In the first form, religion plays the role of a cultural artifact, which undergoes change, and evokes different responses, good or bad. In this way, religious cultural change is like other cultural changes that are brought about by increased globalization of ideas. It plays a common role as other aspects of culture, such as dress, language or custom. It simply affects change, and some people like that, some do not. Appiah thinks that diversity in culture, including religious traditions, is an acceptable situation. However, the process of cultural change which creates only one cultural mode is unacceptable. This is so, since

Socialization and Other Skills for the Students Essay

Socialization and Other Skills for the Students - Essay Example The student is in the classroom and often daydreams. In order to help this student, I would work with the student in a quiet area within the classroom. I would break the assignments down into smaller chunks. I would use a timer for this and set the timer to correspond with the student’s attention span. As an example, if I saw that the student began to daydream after ten minutes, I would set the timer for ten minutes and then allow the class to have a short break at the end of each 10 minutes. I would also use small group activities so that the student could interact with other students during the learning process. The third intervention would be to watch the student and as I saw them going into a daydreaming phase I would let them know I was going to call on them next to answer a question. I would remind the class to focus on what we were doing at that time so I could bring the student’s attention back to the classroom. This intervention would specifically address the d aydreaming in that it would give the student something to do for a shorter amount of time. The outcome for the intervention would be that the student was able to sit in the classroom for the entire classroom time, without daydreaming. Progress for this intervention could be monitored by keeping track of the amount of time that the student is able to tolerate. As an example, the starting point would be 10 minutes, the time would be extended to 15 minutes and then finally to the full class time. Once the student could stay in the class without daydreaming and without using the timer, I would know that the intervention was effective.

Innovation & Creativty & Enterprise Research Proposal

Innovation & Creativty & Enterprise - Research Proposal Example The company culture is a major aspect that has shaped the success of the firm to its current 5-star ranking. The management has set out to employ personnel that are dependable and work with minimal supervision. Once personnel are hired they are taken through a training program to mentor them. The article will also look at the steps taken by the entity in its globalization process, this includes the purchase of modern planes for their fleet with examples like the Airbus 330 cargo planes and Boeing 777 (June 2013, Qatar Airways). Globalization is the outsourcing of services of a firm to a multinational level. This is crucial for a company like Qatar Airways that is in the transport sector an example of this is in its venture into the Chinese market (Business Age, 2015). The article will compare the steps taken in development to innovation management theories like that of the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter and their impacts on global economic trends (Purcher, S. 2014, vol. 67) The article will outline the risks involved in the flight business and the challenges involved in the daily running of the organization. The airline has a current growth rate of 35% per annum with an impressive fleet of 100 planes. The airline intends to take the top spot in its field, this is outlined in its future plans which the article will detail. The customer base is the most important part of this trade and their satisfaction shapes the success of the business. With the stiff competition among airlines to attract and retain the same clients, the firms are in competition to outdo each other. This is where innovation comes in; this phenomenon involves the trait of new and brilliant ideologies on how to venture into the various markets. All these comes down to the customer feedback which will show how the company has been evaluated by the people it

Nursing concept of burn out Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nursing concept of burn out - Research Paper Example In addition, such an individual will experience depersonalization (Cordes & Dourherty, 1993). In all occupations, including nursing, individuals experience stress mainly because of the work they do. When individuals experience stress at work, they become tired and their productivity level at work drops significantly. Therefore, burnout generally results in absenteeism, high employee turnover, decreased productivity of employees, as well as increase in physical conditions in employees, including headaches, insomnia, among others (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993). If employees experience stress in their work, the management, together with the employees themselves should look for appropriate ways of getting rid of any work-related stress they are experiencing. If this is not addressed and is left to continue for a long time, it results in burnout, which is more lethal. Burnout extends its effects from the individual to their families and jobs. Different studies show that burnouts are prevalent in helping professions such as social work and healthcare professions, including nursing (Elder, Evans, & Lizette, 2012). This paper will review considerable literature on the concept of burnout, and compare and contrast studies conducted on this concept in different years. This will culminate in a reflection on the concept of burning as presented in the studies, in order to provide a framework for enhanced understanding of burnout in nursing. According to Poncet et al. (2006), the concept of burnout has existed since the 1970s. Different studies have been conducted on this concept over the years, to understand it well for increased chances of dealing with the situation in affected organizations. In 1999, Jansenn, Jonge, and Bakker, conducted a study among different nurses in order to establish the various determinants of work motivation, burnout, and turnover among nurses. Poncet et al. conducted another study in 2006, and this sought to establish the degree of burnout in the nurs ing staff that was concerned with critical care. Finally, most recently in 2012, Spooner-Lane and Patton conducted a study in which they aimed at debunking the determinants of burnout among the nurses that worked in public hospitals. In their definition of the concept of burnout, Spooner-Lane and Patton (2012) argued that burnout is not a symptom of work stress, but is what unmanaged work stress culminates into. They have used various definitions from different scholars to clarify more on the nature of burnout. Overall, from their definition, it remains that burnout is a result of extreme work-related stress. On the other hand, Poncet et al. (2006) have begun by highlighting a short history about the concept of burnout. They argue have defined the burnout syndrome a condition that results when employees fail to put up with the emotional stress they experience at their work place. They have alternatively defined burnout syndrome as the state in which an employee feels they have faile d, and are exhausted after they have used most of their energy in their job. Poncet et al (2006) have emphasized the detrimental effects of burnout syndrome on both the employee and the organization. Both Poncet et al. (2006) and Spooner-Lane and Patton (2012) have identified the epidemiological issues of burnout syndrome. Spooner-Lane and Patton (2012) have analyzed emotional exhaustion, while Poncet et al. (2006) have investigated headaches, exhaustion, insomnia, eating

Educational technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Educational technology - Essay Example indirect interaction makes the core interaction easier. He also distinguished interactivity from interaction as a form of interaction among many participants while interaction is limited to a set of individuals which typically comprises of two. As a participant of online course, I believe I can thrive with the interactivity online whereby I can interact with a community of online learners. In this platform (online), I believe that interaction will be maximized as noise (distraction) in physical interaction will be tremendously diminished. The usual distraction in physical interaction such as surfing during discussion or group work now become a part of learning process as an ancillary interaction as identified by Sutton. Students are now required to scour through various sources particularly internet to supplement the direct interaction provided by teachers. In a way, learning became efficient and to some extent even effective than face to face learning process. As a learner who is accustomed to the platform of internet, I believe I will thrive learning in an online

The Handmaids Tale Essay Example for Free

The Handmaids Tale Essay Gilead’s totalitarianism regime uses religion to meet the ends of the regime, rather than the regime being a means to serve God. ‘Soul Scrolls’ is a place where Handmaid’s purchase one of five prayers to be read to them, before being recycled. Offred’s prayer is a distortion of the Lord’s Prayer which is ostensibly much more personal to her. Offred describes ‘Soul Scrolls’ as ‘a franchise’. This suggests the presence of business and technology in Gilead, reinforced by the idea that the Handmaid’s accounts are debited and that the regime is everywhere. This concept of business is continuous throughout the novel, for example the ‘ceremony’ previously discussed is portrayed to be a business transaction. ‘Franchise’ has connotations of something which is unavoidable. Everybody knows it and everybody has access to it, and it’s the same everywhere you go – it’s incredibly impersonal. Gilead uses ‘Soul Scrolls’ as a means of controlling the Handmaids. There is no flexibility because there is no choice in prayer – there are only five prayers to choose from, which seems quite artificial. In only offering five exact choices – ‘health, wealth, a death, a birth, a sin’, it prevents people praying for anything else. Despite the fact that the Handmaid’s can mentally think of other prayers, they can never articulate this because their freedom of speech is subverted to the state of Gilead. ‘Birth’ and ‘death’ are rites of passage and for the Handmaid’s; it’s the only two things they can be certain of. They exist simply for the purpose to bear children, and constant reminders of the consequences if they fail to conceive are that they will eventually die. With only 5 prayers available, this creates uniformity which shows how Gilead manipulates religion, because in reality, prayer should be different for everyone. The concept of Christianity is based on the relationship between God and the person. Prayer is theoretically supposed to be a means of personal communication, a way to thank God, and to wish for things to happen. ‘Soul Scrolls’ is not personal. ‘The machines talk’ and by speaking in a ‘toneless metallic voice’, Gilead is taking all freedom from the Handmaid’s minds, and this autonomy removes any need for a thought process, which means the Handmaid’s cannot threaten the Gilead regime by thinking for themselves. ‘Soul Scrolls’ allegedly teach the Handmaids’ what they should think. However, their soul is a part of them and they should already know what they want to think, but the absence of this suggests the influence and power of Gilead. The idea that the Handmaids’ minds are also controlled is emphasised by this because Gilead doesn’t let them develop, it uses machines and the role of people such as aunt’s and commanders to brainwash them. Regardless of the Handmaids’ being unable to express their thoughts, since God is omniscient he should know what they’re thinking. However, in articulating their thoughts they could confirm their own beliefs to themselves in a pragmatic way. It forms a part of positive thinking in the concept that the more you repeat it the better a chance they have of getting what they want. There is also a value in articulating feelings to people you love because it’s comforting. God is a conscious living entity aware of people’s love. Nevertheless, Gilead completely restricts this because the Handmaids’ have been brainwashed for so long that it’s wrong to think and to have these feelings, and so this restricts the power that the Handmaids’ could have. ‘Soul scrolls’ is only one way communication from the machine to the Handmaid, and this stops them developing thoughts, making the ‘Soul Scrolls’ simply another way of controlling the Handmaids. ‘Soul Scrolls’ are described by the Wives to ‘help their husband’s career’, which shows the machines to be pragmatic and simply a way to get ahead and follow the regime. ‘Soul Scrolls’ also suggests that the regime is manipulative because it shows a yearning for money and power in charging for the prayers to be read, and in controlling the Handmaids’. In buying prayers, it’s a sign of faithfulness to the regime, which implies that the regime has completely replaced religion and which emphasises that the Commander is thought to be like a God. Gilead completely distorts the meaning of prayer because with ‘Soul Scrolls’ it’s not about connecting with God, and in prayer you should want to pray which is not what this is about. Atwood’s repetition of ‘punching in the numbers’ reinforces this sense of autonomy and contempt for the regime, because it appears repetitive and tedious. Offred describes it as having ‘roll upon roll’ of prayers, which shows Gilead believes in quantity not quality, further emphasising the concept of business and money. Gilead’s regime is described as indestructible. ‘The window of ‘Soul scrolls’ is shatterproof’, which suggests that for the regime to have protected the franchise, they must have feared there would be dissenters. It suggests that not everybody in Gilead accepts it but they don’t dare to express this because of the consequences. There is reference to the spies in ‘Soul Scrolls’, ‘each machine has an eye painted in gold on the side’, which shows their superiority and that the Handmaids’ are always being watched – there is no escape and this is yet another means of controlling them. Offred tries ‘to remember’ what the place sold before and realises it was a lingerie shop. This takes away the feminist aspect of women because Gilead attempts to strip women of any wants and thoughts, to make them only want to bear children. If a lingerie shop existed in Gilead’s society as it were then, it would be considered corrupt, which is ironic because Gilead itself is a mire of corruption. The concept of a patriarchal society is reinforced in that ‘most of the stores carrying things for men are still open’. Offred’s parody of the Lord’s Prayer, which takes place by an empty garden (similar to how Jesus prayed alone in the Garden of Gethsemane), articulates Offred’s feelings of abandonment and despair. Line by line, such as ‘Who Art in the kingdom of heaven’, she regurgitates the sentiments of the Lord’s Prayer, typically used at ceremonies (the irony being in comparison to her experience of ceremonies), and in private commitment to express needs and hopes. Offred dwells on metaphors of ‘heaven’, ‘hell’, ‘daily bread’, and ‘forgiveness’, from which arises a vision of the absent chandelier where her predecessor attached a noose. This shows Offred’s despair because throughout a hopeful prayer she arrives at the conclusion that dying is the only option. Offred tediously recites the recurrent line from a tombstone in Gilead’s cemetery, and despite her attempts to remain ‘In hope’; Offred suffers so much isolation that her prayer becomes a desperate cry for spiritual nourishment. Offred concludes with a plaintive rhetorical question, ‘How can I keep on living? ’ which emphasises her unhappiness within Gilead and her want to end it all. Offred continually refers to God as ‘You’, which shows her yearning to be personal with God and to have a personal relationship. Atwood refers God as ‘you’ because it personifies God showing Offred as trying to talk to him personally. She wishes she knew ‘Your name’, which implies she needs God to answer her. She describes her thoughts as ‘hell we can make for ourselves’, which suggests that the hell is Gilead itself. Offred is uncertain about her capacity to find out about what’s happening in Gilead. ‘The Fall was a fall from innocence to knowledge’ is a reference to Adam and Eve’s loss of innocence after they disobeyed God and tasted the Tree of Knowledge. Offred applies this to herself because Gilead teaches that knowledge is dire and that they will no longer be innocent if they think such knowledge (the irony being that they were never innocent in Gilead’s corrupt regime). This suggests that if Offred was to find out about what was happening, this would be a sin, and this also reinforces Gilead’s influence in terms of how they brainwash the Handmaids’ with bible stories. Offred avoids the ‘traditional’ posture of praying ‘I don’t even close my eyes’. This is because it would draw attention to her and also shows that she is afraid of the consequences if she was found to be personally praying, and so this informal prayer becomes her only way of communicating with God. The ‘equal darkness’ even when her eyes are closed implies that nothing goes away because it’s too hard. However, there is potential optimism within Offred. ‘Or light’ suggests that there could be hope for Offred, except that Gilead takes this hope. This informal way of praying seems like she’s not fully committed but she still wants to pray because she’s desperate. ‘Soul scrolls’ is very impersonal in comparison to Offred’s own prayer. All thought process is removed, unlike how Offred can reflect in her mind during her own prayer. In her own prayer, despite Offred not being completely committed, she does get the opportunity to think about what’s happening in Gilead. In ‘Soul Scrolls’, Offred cannot do this because she may be caught and also because the autonomous voices prevent her from thinking. Offred’s own prayer becomes much like a desperate cry for help and the purpose of her prayer is to portray to the reader just how distressed she is. On the other hand, Offred commits to ‘Soul Scrolls’ because she has too since it’s a sign of faithfulness to Gilead’s regime, and if she didn’t, it would seem suspicious, even if she doesn’t believe in doing it. However, both do criticise Gilead, with ‘Soul Scrolls’ expressing the pointlessness of it, and her own personal prayer expressing how Gilead is a hell. In her own personal prayer, Offred has hope for two way communications, and although his name is not known, God does offer some kind of contemplation for Offred, as she works her way through her feelings. ‘Soul scrolls’ is simply a one way communication because prayers are printed and read to the Handmaids’ before being recycled, which shows the uniformity of this prayer. Offred’s own prayer is also in a sense a rebellion from the constraints of Gilead, because although this isn’t her aim, it does go against what Gilead teaches – that she should not be thinking for herself. When Offred visits ‘Soul Scrolls’, she is complying with the ways of Gilead simply to stay out of trouble. In conclusion, Offred’s personal prayer is much more personal than ‘Soul Scrolls’, and despite it being a distorted version of the Lord’s prayer, it does signify her desperation for salvation from the regime. ‘Soul Scrolls’ is something Offred simply goes along with because she has no choice but too, and this offers her no answers to her thoughts because of how autonomous and controlled it is.

Issues in development theory

Issues in development theory Issues In Development Theory The only kind of development that matters is economic growth everything else will follow. ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENT THEORY INTRODUCTION This paper reviews some ideas surrounding the complex but contested concept of development, including those relating to economic growth. A distinction between development and economic growth models was attempted to expose ideas from these models and my own perception about models. In analysing, contemporary issues on development and growth of any nation, it can be looked at from various perspectives ranging from policy failures and / or implementation failures or resources inadequacy and / or sub optimality in the allocation of resources.   In fact, problems emanating out of domestic market failure and / or government failure are always manifested in increased levels of unemployment inflection and poverty. The concepts of development in general and economic development have often been treated as synonymous concepts. However, the theory of economic development of a country may be associated with (amongst other things) rising incomes and related increases in consumption savings and investment. (Berkeley Hill, 2006) From my own point of view, there is far more to economic development than growth in incomes.   It is therefore suffice to say that if income distribution is highly skewed, growth may not be accompanied by much progress towards the goals that are usually associated with economic development.   Development is also traced to the economic causes of continued poverty and under-development of various nations which actually indicates level of employment and standard of living in a particular nation (IFPRI 2009).   In essence, increasing the output or the gross national income of any nation should automatically lead to increase in social welfare, happiness and longevity due to i ncrease in total production and consumption. The contemporary any issues are not recent issues but issues that have emanated since the inception of development economic while others crept in with temper of time. A lot of contemporary issues relating to development economics have been in existence for so long.   Some of the issues relating to development are indeed as old as human civilisation! HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES OF DEVELOPMENT This paper proposes that the meaning of development is contentious because of how it has been defined and viewed over time. Since the end of Second World War, when both existing and post war obstacles like underdevelopment, leadership problem, lack of cooperation or coordinating Bodies like UN in the world, underutilization of   available resources. According to Nayyar 2003, since the end of Second World War, more attentions had been paid to underdevelopment; mainstream development theory was largely the ambit of economists. Due to this, much of early development discourse, centered on economic theories and models, which emphasised and aimed to achieve production and resource allocation efficiency. The primary aim of the theories was to enhance productivity, effective resources allocation and improve standard of living. It is mostly believe rapid economic growth will improve the standard of living of people who participated in it through the trickle down effect. These theories were heavily criticised when there were no signs of economic growth and development which led to development of alternative approach. The alternative approaches supplemented the existing theories in promoting equitable and sustainable economic growth with enhance standard of living. However, as a result of previously developed theories, this paper will select, describe and further analyse a few of the theories to illustrate their different perspectives of economic development. Basis of controversy will be analysed and finally gradual steps of mainstream development thinking and practice will be shown with the enlargement of development agenda, making the meaning of development less contentious than its has been in the past. During the 1950s and 1960s, development theories like Rostows and Harrod Domars growth models, postulated development as series of stages that a country will naturally pass through (Todaro and Smith, 2006), (Gore, 1999). These stages are invariably noted in European countries and other developed countries but seemed not yet taken place in Africa countries because there were no notable signs of economic developments. According to Thirlwal 2003 they only required meeting the right conditions such as saving and investment levels to move from one stage to another. These theories believe for there to be economic development there must be massive capital investment and definitely economic growth would automatically follow failing to take cognizance of other factors like good planning, even distribution of income, corruption free environment, effective budget implementations and review. They only required meeting the right conditions such as saving and investment levels to move from one stage to another (Thirlwal, 2003). They argued that many developing countries were in same situation that developed countries had been in before they developed. It should be noted that most of these developed countries had no reference point or direct guidance like economic theories on how best to develop then while all these theories, models and planning tools are available at the disposal of developing countries to develop now they still find it difficult if not impossible to develop. This means there are other silent techniques, information or management theories that are directly involved in economic developments. Around the same period from 1960 to 1970 development meant modernisation through the structural transformation of an economy as in Lewis model (Thirlwal, 2003),(Stiglitz, 2001). This is true in actual fact because they i.e Thirlwal and Stiglitz based their studies and assumptions of developed countries having undergone series of economic growth stages supported by adequate government policies and strategies which increase the standard of living positively. Simultaneously, there were some structural transformations of economic in underdeveloping countries like Nigeria that did not bring on economic developments. For instance, Operation Feed The Nation introduced by General Obasanjo did not actually improved the standard of living and there were no signs of economic development because of other factors like lack of amenities, management and leadership problem, Inconsistency in government policies and strategies, Political Instability.    This model and others like it described development as the transformation of a typically rural subsistence economy to a more modern urbanised industrial one (Todaro and Smith, 2006). Advanced economies consistently ensure economic stability, economic growth and increase in per capital income to ensure there is economic development. This transformation was done by more efficient resource utilisation which led to improvements in productivity and economic growth. It was also implicitly assumed that economic growth due increased productivity would result in increased earnings for firms, and workers, which would eventually lead to improvement of human welfare (Elliott, 2002), (Todaro and Smith, 2006). Most of these theories assumed that there is direct relationship between economic growth, efficient resources allocation and production efficiency. They argued that before economic development could be achieved, there must be increased savings and investments, domestic and international factors like inflations, exchange rate, interest rate, unemployment level must be effectively considered and factors into policies and strategies. They believed that if these constraints were removed, developing countries could grow at an even faster rate than the industrialised nations (Todaro and Smith, 2006). From critical angles, it is believed that most of the developing countries problem are from developed countries through bad debt management system, lack of adequate knowledge in financial market and instruments, balance of trade, insincerity of the political leaders and some other indices. During the 1970s Dependency theories emerged which expressed discontent with previous development models (Desai and Potter, 2002). This theory i.e dependency theory studied relationship between industrial economies and developing economies. It showed the business and non business interaction between the developed and developing countries. Contributions and impacts of both economies were analyzed to identify loopholes and provide further studies for future reference of the economic developments. These models, it was argued, had a narrow meaning of development and only served to further uplift the already well off and suppress the poor (Leys, 1996), (Thirlwal, 2003).   This theory complements the existing theories that economic development is a function of economic growth and improved standard of living. While many of their principles were essentially structuralist in nature (Hettne, 2002) and acknowledged that economic growth was necessary for development, they had no faith in relyi ng solely on market forces and the trickle down effect as a mechanism for facilitating development. They argued that the trickle down effect often failed to materialise and the privates sector could not, due to its profit motive, promote equitable income distribution, provide essential goods and services to poorer sections of society and remote areas at affordable prices (Gore, 1999), (Todaro and Smith, 2006). They assumed the government role is prominent and can only supplement if needed. But their assumption was wrong because most of the countries that adopted the thoughts failed and there were no much development in the countries. This is because government policies and strategies were not properly supported to ensure even distribution of income due to profit maximization objective of private firms. Some of the developing countries especially Africans developmental plan failed due high level of corruption, lack of financial planning and review, lack of institutional capacity, pol itical and economic instability and uneven distribution of incomes. In addition because their views were drawn from Marxist ideology many of their views were attacked and discredited by influential western critics. Its influence was further eroded by the collapse of the Soviet Union (Leys, 1996),(Shuurman, 2002). This thought were criticised by many theorist and western critics, who believe both government and private firms should balance the economic development goals. In the 1980s the neoclassical counterrevolutionaries or neo liberals like earlier classical theorists advocated that development was caused by economic growth which could be achieved through applying supply side macroeconomic policies, rational expectations theories and privatisation of public corporations, freer trade, export expansion, removal of state planning and regulation of economic activities (Desai and Potter, 2002), (Todaro and Smith, 2006). They are of opinion that market is determined by the interaction of demand and supply of goods and services while at times government policies and strategies could negatively affect economic developments. In support of their arguments, countries like Mexico, Taiwan, Singapore South Korea and several other Asian countries were given as examples of free market success stories (Gore, 1999). Unfortunately, the East Asian crisis led to questions being asked about the soundness allowing free market polices drive the economy while the state i nterfered little (Chang, 2003), (Desai and Potter, 2002). However, surprisingly, the actual contributions of the free market and government to Asian Tigers success and crash   is also a controversial issue (Onis and Senses, 2005), (Adelman, 2001). The theories are of opinions that government influence on market should be little while the interaction of demand and supply of determine price and market with government monitoring through budgets and financial instruments like treasury bills, treasury certificate, bonds etc. Since the late 1980s neo -liberalism, just like earlier classical theories, has been criticised for its overemphasis on economic growth as the key to development (Onis and Senses, 2005). They argued that much emphasis was placed on economic growth as the key component of economic development. They believed there are other components that must be present before economic development could be proclaimed. Furthermore, despite the initial success of a few East Asian countries, many countries which had implemented recommendations advocated by the major proponents of neo liberalism , the IMF and the World Bank (Gore, 1999) , did not record much or robust improvement and in some cases became poorer (White, 2002), (Leys, 1996), (Thirlwal, 2003). They argued that if the necessary components of economics developments other than economic growth are available poverty would be reduced and standard of living will improve especially those in developing countries. DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH Some theories were developed in 1990s, proposed some approaches to development e.g Sens capability approach, UNDPs sustainable human development approach. These theories are of opinion that any economic development or whatsoever depends on human capital/resources of a nation. According to Allen 2000, It is believed that economic policies or strategies should be people centred as opposed to the growth centred Sen 1999 also argued development means an individual is able to obtain physical necessities, have a job, participate in government, belong to a nation that is truly independent, have adequate education, be treated as an equal, meet their needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations, and be free from social dislocation, violence and war, poverty, tyranny, poor economic opportunities, systematic social deprivation through neglect of public facilities and intolerance or over activity of a repressive state. This school of thought believe if human beings or citizens of a nation are well developed and catered for definitely the economy will be growing and automatically lead to economic development. It also means there cannot be anything refers to a country or nation without its citizens and all economic activities and operations of the country is carried out by nobody except those that have been adequately and properly developed. Despite these criticisms, UNDPs approach did not entirely discredit the Washington Consensus agreeing with and reinforcing its economic growth centred development and macro level policy reform recommendations (Gore, 1999). This therefore means that for an economy to develop, there must be economic growth, good human resources/capital and improved standard of living. The Washington consensus was challenged by Southern Consensus in 1990s. Gore explains that like earlier dependence school theorists they argued that previous theories based on market and production efficiency and effectiveness fundamentals could not be used as a standard model that every developing country must follow. This then followed argument that theories that market and production efficiency and effectiveness should not be used as standard yardstick for all developing countries. They didnt disregard all the recommendations of classical theorist that placed emphasis that economic growth is the core component of economic development but argued that intensive capital savings and accumulations supported by favourable balance of trade/payment, standard of living and efficient utilisation of resources were necessary to ensure rapid economic development. They also are of opinion that active utilisation of opportunities provided by international trade/relationship like foreign aids/grants, exports and importation, foreign investments, innovations  Ã‚   should be considered in both macro and micro economic policies and strategies. Another theory of economic development that share the same view with the Sens capability Approach and UNDPs Sustainable Human Development approach is the Alternative Development Approach. Alternative Approach supports people and participatory centred practices and redefining the objectives of development. It has some similarities with the classical approaches to development. It was developed after due consideration to the criticisms of previous development approaches. Alternative development can be considered as a combination of the criticisms of previous development approaches (Pieterse, 2001). Due to its inclusive nature, it was argued that it did not present any new perspective to meaning or definitions of economic development. Alternative Approach basically selected useful recommendations/thoughts from different approaches to develop its theory/thought. He and Kothari and Minogue (2002) further argued that the distinction between alternative development and mainstream development theories varies with time as mainstream development thinking integrates many of the principles of theories which have criticised it. This then supports the earlier argument of Pieterse 2001 that Alternative approach use combination of criticisms of previous development approaches. Neo liberation adopted many concepts and assumptions of Washington Consensus policy despite its earlier criticisms of the policy. The final product , as some had proposed and predicted, was a form of post Washington consensus with a broader development agenda (Stiglitz, 2001) (Gore, 1999), (Onis and Senses, 2005). The neo-liberation worked extensively on recommendations of Washington Consensus in developing its own theories. This new version is evident in current IMF and World Bank development assistance packages which emphasise integration of previous top down and bottom up approaches as is evident in the formulation processes of country poverty reduction strategy papers which are a prerequisite to obtain assistance from them (Wolfensohn and Fischer, 2000).   Because of its advance work and recommendations on Washington Consensus Policy, IMF and World Bank used its recommendations in formulating policies in granting assistances to countries that need financial aids. In the early 1990s another developmental theories came on board called Right Based Approach to Development. Musembi and Cornwall explained that its origins are that many struggle for the realisation of all sorts of rights that have been taking place ever since the advent of colonialism, such as countries likes Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. This occurred basically when these countries believed the welfare of the countries and their citizens could be better when given freedom. They believed that economic development would be faster than when managed by colonial masters.   This approach is basically to integrate human right with economic development. The United Nations has been advocating that human right and freedom is the key to economic development for the past four decades. Just recent it has emerged that sustainable human development and human right approach are core components of economic development for any nation. The Right Based Approach did not present totally new idea/thought just like Alternative Development Approach to economic development but mere advanced recommendations on previous theories with adequate considerations to current economic issues.   However, what is striking about it is that it attempts to introduce a sense of collective responsibility and precise obligations on the international community to create a conducive environment for the realisation of the rights to development (OHCHR, 1986).   The Right Based approach to Development only makes recommendations to ensure freedom to all countries and grants fundamental human right to everybody believing if this is done economic growths, enhanced standard of livings, even distribution of incomes that would speed up economic development would be easily realized. Of late Neo liberal ideals have culminated in the form of globalisation (integration into the world economy) (Hettne, 2002) advocating that it is not only a means of ensuring efficiency and equity but growth and development of the world economy (Chang, 2003).   It was argued that there are hidden benefits and advantages that would accrue if the concept of globalization was embraced particularly by underdeveloped countries.   Benefits like latest technology and innovations, information, financial exchanges, flows of goods and services, openness, direct investments, international trade, ideas and opinions will move from one country to another with different knowledge, experience, resources and technical know-how which will ultimately lead to development. The fundamental belief is that it will increase prosperity for those join the system and marginalise those who do not (Gore, 1999). This concept was developed in 1970s but recently been promoted more by the advanced countries afte r fall of communism.   However, despite the claims that it is a driver of development it has generated uneven results with some countries prospering and other becoming more impoverished (Watkins and others, 2005). This is because there are some silent variables that have direct influence on all economic development variables like available resources to back policies, corruptions with the system, economic and political stability, consistency in leadership and management programme. This is one of the reasons why one policies or approach will work like a magic in one country and will fail woefully in another country. For Instance, most of these approaches work in advanced economies but otherwise in developing countries like Nigeria, Ghana where economic and political are not stable, corruptions is on high side, planning and implementations are not in place talk less of constant review and adjustments. According to Kothan and Minogue, 2002 one reason why the development theories mentioned above and others like them disagreed on development is due to failure to agree on what the objectives of development are. This means there are lots of arguments of what could be regarded as economic developments. There are numerous types of objectives that may be set as the purpose of development explicitly or otherwise (Potter, 2002).   That is why what many people see as development many only be regarded as just growth by others. It is claimed that objective may be political, economic or social, the most important is what the country/nation set to achieve. For instance classical theories promoted the concept of development as economic growth by modernisation, changing from old to newer more efficient and effective ways of resources use and allocation, and production (Stiglitz, 2001). Meanwhile, more egalitarian objectives are set out to be achieved by others like people centred approaches, dep endence theorists. They argued that those who were unable to participate in the structural transformation processes were often marginalised, remained poor or became poorer because they did not have the required skills, knowledge or financial resources (Todaro and Smith, 2006). That is they encouraged citizens to be empowered and trained because they are whatever the country achieved. They argued that they are the real economic development driver. Steps in economic developments and associated changes are also causing disagreements. While linear stage theorists argued that Development is a process which countries, regions or societies go through either naturally or deliberately (Todaro and Smith, 2006) , others rejected the notion of having a blue print and time frame for development that is applicable to all countries (Gore 1999), (Adelman, 2001). They argued that different countries are in different stages and situation and therefore required different attentions. The factors like economic, political, cultural, social, technological of one country differs from other, have effects on its economic development policies and strategies and must be monitored accurately to achieve economic development.   This then embraces call for a bottom up rather than a top bottom theory. Development may be universally accepted as improvement in well being but the there can be no prescription of what this well being entails (Pieterse, 2001), ( Nayyar, 2003), (Sen, 1999), (Stiglitz, 2001), (Gore, 1999). And they also argued that economic growth resulted from natural resources is no substitutes for features like corrupt free environment, justice and equity treatment and stable economic environment. Classical and neoclassical theorists believed the core basis of economic development is gross domestic product per capital. The interpretation of economic growth as meaning development and the use of changes in gross domestic product per capita, by the classical and neoclassical theorists,   has also been criticised for its unsuitability   as a measure of development (Thirlwal, 2002).   They are criticised because they believe there are other parameters in measuring economic development. They further argued that increases in material wealth or total productions is only what economic growth deals with but failed to consider others like income distributions, composition of goods and services and general standard of livings. Furthermore, it has been noted that the rewards of improved productivity and economic efficiency accrue largely to owners of capital and the majority of the population are left only slightly better off (Pieterse, 2001).   They argued that components of econo mic development include economic growth, even distribution of income and standard of livings. Roles play by government of countries in economic developments is largely influenced by international factors. Conflict also may arise because governments have to contend with the decline in their sovereignty over their countrys development (Thomas and Allen, 2000). Government has to make efficient and effective utilization of resources available while also considering the influence of international communities and bodies. Development is now being influenced to a large extent by international finance, official development agencies, non governmental agencies, and community based organisations (Khor, 2003), (Kothari and Minogue, 2002).   The effect of international factors on economic developments of every nation is very important most especially developing countries that rely mostly on international loans and grants to supplement their revenues.   According to Desai and Potter, 2002 government now merely provide a conducive atmosphere in which these international agencies can prom ote development. This has been on increase in recent times whereby government make provisions for international agencies aids and grants in the annual budget basically for capital projects that stimulate economic developments. Conflict also may arise because governments have to contend with the decline in their sovereignty over their countrys development (Thomas and Allen, 2000). Development is now being influenced to a large extent by international finance, official development agencies, non governmental agencies, and community based organisations (Khor, 2003), (Kothari and Minogue, 2002).   Governments now merely provide a conducive atmosphere in which these agencies can promote development (Desai and Potter, 2002).   This has naturally given rise to sources of resentment, since governments are sometimes sidelined. Suspicions also arise concerning who is meant to benefit from aid and loan conditions, which recommend macro and micro level policy reforms. Misunderstandings often arise about whose development is being sought. For instance it has been argued that donors often provide assistance to further their own interests (Kothari and Minogue, 2002). They formulate loan conditions and support developm ent projects with the aim of improving their own industries profitability by providing business through establishing new markets, investment opportunities, and   tied aid (Desai and Potter, 2002), (Thomas and Allen, 2000) or access to cheap raw materials as during the colonial era (Leys, 1996), (Thirlwal, 2003), (Pieterse, 2001). Assistance provided in this manner may not benefit the recipient country in the long run since most of the aid will be repatriated in the case of tied aid. Some have even argued that despite the large amounts of aid provided to developing countries very few of them have actually developed much because much of it was not intended for development   (Thomas and Allen, 2000).   This means that for foreign loan or aids to achieve its developmental objectives, governments must channel them to appropriate sector of economy and ensure good and effective management of the resources. The promotion of economic growth and drive towards globalised world has also met with resistance due to the replacement of old way of life with new ones (OConnor, 2002). This issue is really retarding economic development because some people find it extremely very difficult to adapt to changes. Some in developing countries has expressed concern and their discontent with   foreign influences which have invaded their ways of life, stressing that development does not necessarily have be accompanied with disposal of even the good cultural values that previously existed (Athreya, 2002), (Varley, 2002), (OToole and Macgarvey, 2003). It is argued that that is direct relationship between economic development and ways of life. Some of the fundamental cultures of developed countries are introduced to developing countries because they assumed it is the part of development theories that succeed in the developed countries. Meanwhile, most of the developing countries have their ways doing things and find it difficult to change. In addition economic growth does not compensate for the depletion of damage caused to the environment from which peoples livelihoods, health and future development depend (Thirlwal, 2003). This therefore means that economic development include economic growths, even distribution of incomes, enhanced standard of livings and increased productivity. Another aspect of development worth noting is definition of scope of development by different entities over time. Some choose to define it narrowly as was the case in colonial days, while others such as dependence theorists and most of the people centred and sustainable development approaches have a broader conceptualisation of development (Leys, 1996), (Pieterse, 2001), (Nyamu-Musembi and Cornwall, 2004).   They all see development from different angle and perspective but they all pointing to one direction that economic development is something that must be pursue and achieved. This is more so of current rights based approaches and in particular the United Nations Millennium Development Goals which articulate development as a set of entitlements which people have the right to demand realisation of from their governments and the international community (Nyamu-Musembi and Cornwall, 2004), (OHCHR, 1986). It is the duty of every government to ensure economic development and ensure it is supported with productivity and adequate resources. Due to this broader meaning, development is no longer confined to prescriptions from donors, special interest groups, elected representatives or technocrats. It includes everything required for human well being (Nayyar, 2003), (Sen, 1999) . Development ensures freedom to all citizens and empowered them towards contributing meaningfully to the success of their state.

Travel Behavior And Travel Motivation

Travel Behavior And Travel Motivation Krobeber develops a related decision making model. Within this model, he claims that the tourist behaviour is determined by three elements: travel perception, travel attitude and travel motivation. He further suggests that there are two level influences. The first level influence of Krobeber (1996, cited from Zhong, Zhang, Yang and Guo 2007) can be affected from internal factors such as personal psychological factor and the second level influence comes from external social factors such as family background or group influence. Travel motivation The main contributions regarding motivation is the Maslows hierarchy of needs model (Maslow 1970), the escape or seek model (Iso-Ahola 1982; Ross and Iso-Ahola 1991) and the push and pull method (Crompton 1979). Mill and Morrison (1985) argues that travel motivations fit into Maslows hierarchical needs namely, physiological, safety, belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization. Also they identified two other needs: aesthetics and knowledge. The human needs physiological, safety/security and belonging/love were categorized as tension-reducing, while the self-esteem, self-actualization, acquiring knowledge and aesthetic as inductive arousal-seeking motives (Figure 2.1) Figure 2.1 Travel/tourism motivations Source: (Awaritefe 2004, p. 306) Motivation is one of variables that can explain tourist behavior; it is regarded as one of the most important variables (Baloglu and Uysal 1996). There are many of researches assure that travel decision making is best explained and predicted by the push and pull approach include Backman, Backman, Uysal and Sunshine 1995; Baloglu and Uysal 1996; Ercan, Uysal and Yoshioka 2003. Crompton (1979) explains that motivation is a necessary and important force behind all behavior. People travel because they are pushed and pulled to do so by motivational factors (Baloglu and Uysal 1996). Push motivation is related to the decision, whether to go, and pull motivation addresses the question of where to go (Klenosky 2002). Crompton (1979) used unstructured in-depth interviews and explored push motivation and pull motivation, he summarizes that push is socio-psychological motives that activate people to travel and pull is cultural motives that attract people to a particular destination. Traditionally, the push motivations have been thought useful for explaining the desire for travel while the pull motivations have been thought useful for explaining the actual destination choice (Crompton 1979). According to Ross and Iso-Ahola (1991), push motivation can be considered as psychological factor and pull motivation is physical factor. These two factors can influence travel decisions and leisure engagements. Jang and Cai (2002) point that push refers to the internal facto rs that drive individuals to travel and pull is concerned about the external factors that determine where, when, and how they travel. Kim (2008) addresses that the push factor can be considered as to travel by intangible factors such as escape, relax, exploration) and pull factor is to decide destinations by tangible factors such as attractions, facilities. Motivation as one of the most important theories, it is recognized the key of the success of travel market. Iso-Ahola (1982) observes that people take part in various leisure and travel activities due to their own need. Tourist motivation is associated with individuals desires for achieving various purposes through travel (Kim and Beck 2009). Furthermore, studies of tourist motivation can assist destination managers to understand how well the destination characteristics fit the needs of the travelers (Goeldner Ritchie, 2006) and design tourism products and services containing tourist needs. Destination choice and selection 2.3.1 Influential factors to make tourism decision Once the decision made to start tourism, the decision maker is in front of many questions, such like where to travel, whom to travel with and how to travel. In general, this is a process to collect, organize and assess the information (Liu, 2008). 2.3.1.1 Environmental perception Environment perception refers to the tourism information rooted in mind, the old information and collected information. In general, this is the whole impression for the travelling. The potential tourists would be influenced by the environment perception. Though there might be some very significant tourist destinations, the tourists will not go the famous places that have no impression in their mind and perception. That is what we called environmental perception. Environmental perception mainly include first, the popularity of tourist, which is the first impression of the tourism destination, the tourist will neglect other same destinations; second is tourism distance, the influential factor to the decision is the imaginary distance, not the real distance of the destination. The imaginary distance is made of unreal distance, and time cost, money cost, and energy. 2.3.1.2 Principle of maximum benefit Principle of maximum benefit refers to the tourists will get the best enjoyment within certain budget during the tourism. Tourists will think it over before making a decision to travel. The main principles of maximum benefit are: The minimum time on tourism, it means that the decision to travel will be made according to time spending on it, if the time spending is less than a level, then the decision will be made. Tourists are in favor of less time spending on the travelling. Second is the popularity of tourism destination. The tourism destinations with higher popularity are more attractive, and tourists have gained more information though tourism. Meanwhile, the tourism destination, which has different culture, will arouse the interest for tourism. Beside the two factors, there are other influential factors: best tourism destination, proper price and comfortable accommodation. 2.3.1.3 Tourism preference Tourism preference refers to the humans impression based on their characters over the reality. The tourism preference of tourists is influenced by humans personal impression. The tourism preference is decided by personal impression of tourists. Regarding tourism preference, there are three factors to research, including age, occupation and education. 2.3.2 Content of tourism decision Before starting the tourism, the tourists are supposed to make a lot of decisions; any of them will take personal factors and will into consideration besides external factors. For example, they will ask for some suggestions and think about the tourism route and travelling partner. These questions mainly include information channel, decision maker, travelling partners and tourism pattern. 2.3.2.1 Information channel Information channel is the way to obtain and collect the information. With various channel, it is able to obtain the product information, or other users experience of using the products. As the society turns into a information-based ear, the information channel is various, which including networking channel, newspaper, books and magazine, television, internet and tourism institutions and so on. 2.3.2.2 Decision consultant Decision consultant is someone who the tourist will ask for suggestions before starting tourism. Potential tourists will take suggestions into consideration, and then is more likely to ask for others consultation about where to go and how to go. 2.3.2.3 Tourism partners People would like to find partners when go shopping, the same like tourists, many people like to start tourism with partners. According to experts of consumer behavior, they have made further analysis on the relationship between person and his partners in shopping. According to analysis, the shopping partners are intended to provide the suggestions based on their experience on the products and marketing, while the relationship between them is not intimate, such like neighbor, colleague and schoolmates. However, the suggestions might be focusing on the persons characters and personal demand, while relationship between them is intimate, such like family members. Choices from tourism partners are not only a reliable resource, but also the suggestions and advices. 2.3.2.4 Ways of tourism Ways of tourism is focusing on how to reach the destination. In general, there are two ways to travel, first is joining the travelling agency, and another is individual tourism. In this context, it will specify ways of tourism into several aspects, including joining travelling agency, individual tourism depending on maps, companys tourism, communitys tourism, institutions tourism and others. 2.4 The senior travel market 2.4.1 The seniors travel market in oversea For overseas countries, as they started the tourism analysis in an early time, traced from 1980, the understanding towards tourism of the old people is very fruitful (Liu, 2008). It reflects in these aspects: Research on tourism motivation Regarding the research of tourism for the old people, it mainly focuses on tourism motivation and perception. The research has applied many methods, including questionnaire, on-spot survey. The method mainly focuses on the incentive and influential factors. Besides these methods, many other scientific measures have been applied. For example, a survey on the old people in Israel has been made by Aliza Fleischer in 2002. According to the survey, it found that the main influential factors are income and health, also the tourism time is also changing according to age. For the people aged from 55 to 65, they have rising free time and income, which is decisive to the increasing tourism times. For the people aged above 65, as their income and health going down, the tourism time is reducing (Aliza, 2002). Jaesoo et al. (2003) have applied neural network of describing method to estimate the weight of influential factors towards the old peoples tourism. Meanwhile, it applied the non-neural network model to describe the relationship between tourists and tourism products. Anderson and Langmeyer(1982) analyzed the relationship between the old people and tourism. According to survey, tourists aged above 50 prefer tourism or visiting relatives to enjoy themselves. However, tourist aged below 50 prefer out-door activities or other entertainment facility to enjoy themselves Goossens (2000) proposed the model called enjoyment incentive, which is also called model of intention, stimulation and reaction. The model includes the factor of pulling and pushing. Regarding the factor of pushing, it refers to environment, social status, relax and friendship; in respect of the factor of pulling, it refers to the situation of tourism. It emphasized the relationship between pulling and pushing, it considered that these two factors are two sides of a coin, which is closely tied in tourists mind. Crompton and Mckay (1997) pointed out that there are 6 incentives to attend the activities, including experiencing culture, curiosity, return, and balance, social activity with friends, official activity and family activity (Crompton and Mckay, 1997). Research on tourism behavior of the old people Regarding the old people, the research on detailed behavior of tourism is comparatively fewer, mainly focusing on the difference of behavior compared with others. Blazey (1992) has made a research on the relationship of tourism before and after retired, plus the usage of tourism information of the old people. Lewiser Aiken (2001) has pointed out that friendship is a networking, a mental support and a resource of information and entertainment for the old people. Meanwhile, he pointed out that the old people are more reliable to get information from prints, such like newspaper and other magazines. Romsa and Blenman (1989) compared the difference of tourists aged below 50 and above 60 in German; the result is that the tourism time is more flexible for the people aged above 60. Research on tourism market of the old people The research market of the old people played a part in the whole research, mainly focusing on how to attract the old people in tourism market. Charles D ¼Ã… ½Schewe (1985) indicated that the reason to target the old people in tourism market, as they have large potential and sustainable purchasing power. Francis et al. (1988) regarding the rising number of the old people in USA, it trying to find a way to attract them for the tourism industry, and an information channel to help them set up the vacation plan. In general, regarding the tourism behavior of the old people, the features are: the main influential factors are income and health; also time, income, health age will influence the length and time of tourism; the tourism time will be reduce in accordance with the rising age; friendship is an important information resource for tourism; tourism time is flexible; purpose of tourism is for self-enjoyment. 2.4.2 The seniors travel market in China Since 1999, our society became an aged society, the old people was the main part of society, which is also played an important part in the tourism industry. The research of tourism behavior for the old people started from 1990, in this case, the research has been only in the primary step so far. The core of research was the tourism industry of the old people with many results. However, the research of tourism behaviors feature of the old people is very few (Liu, 2008). Research on the old peoples tourism Though the experts have involved in this issue for not a long time, there has some results. Wei (2001) thinks that the tourism incentive of the old people include health, culture, history and recollecting memory. The old people prefer cultural and historical cities, and would like to go travelling with families, friends or fellows. Liu (2005) thinks that the influential factors on the old peoples shopping include friend, culture, economy, mind and heart and commercial environment. According to a research made by Yu (2003), regarding the old people in Jiangxi, they have large demand on health recovery tourism due to the problems in health condition. Their information channel is mainly the traditional advertisement. Their way to go travelling is mainly following the travel agency. They prefer cultural and historical cities and spend less than average level. Wang (1999) argues that the old people are in a pure shopping stage which is very rational and have high requirement on quality of the products than others. Casual consumption and service consumption takes big proportion. According to an analysis regarding the old peoples tourism industry in Taiyuan made by Zhang (2006), the travelling rate is higher for male than female, especially among the people aged from 60-65. The tourism purposes are mainly for sightseeing, self-enjoyment and recollecting memories; the shopping level are middle level, and the tourism time are seldom in peak season. A survey regarding the tourisms of the old people in Shanghai, the rate of tourism is high with moderate time. The purposes of tourism are mainly sightseeing and for health recovery which is very traditional. They spend money very carefully and will choose to follow the travel agency. They prefer transportation of bus and train. The distance of tourism mainly focuses on short or medium long. They prefer natural environment (Hou, Yin and Chen, 2005). Also a survey regarding the old people in Fuzhou, the rate of tourism is divided into two extreme levels, high and low; the spending time of tourism is estimated to reach one week. The purposes of tourism are for sightseeing, health recovery or visiting relatives. They paid much attention on comfort, security and seldom ask for luxury accommodations. The transportation is mainly bus or train. They prefer travelling with partners and fewer will follow the travel agency. Security concern is the main obstacle for tourism (Tang, 2001). According to an analysis regarding the old people of Chongqing in tourism industry, sports tourism has the same purposes with common tourism; the purposes are for health condition, entertainment and health recovery. The information channel is mainly from company and relatives. They prefer individual travelling. The old people held a prudential attitude towards shopping. Male is the majority to attend sports tourism. The rate of tourism is low for people aged above 65 (Yang, 2003). The main research methods are questionnaire and interview. The research of the old peoples tourism behavior focuses on the incentive and preference, travelling method, transportation, information channel and spending cost. The features of the old peoples behavior are based on demography and influential factors of tourism behavior. Research on tourism industry of the old people In the domestic research, the feature of the old peoples tourism market, feasibility and expansion strategy plays a big part. According to Li (2005), regarding the old people, there are 6 features in tourism industry, such like enjoyment and prefer travelling at off-season. Li (2001) has made an analysis on the old peoples feasibility in tourism industry, which including factors of purchasing power, incentive, purpose, time and health condition. Xu and Chen (2001) proposed that it needs to focus on these factors to explore the tourism market of the old people, including research, products strategy, channel strategy and other promotions. The research on the old people in tourism industry is mature, which has reached an agreement on features on the old people in tourism industry, feasibility, and development research and mature strategy. These results are significant to the following research. However, these researches are limited due to lack of on-spot examination (Liu, 2008). In summary, features of the old people in tourism industry are as follows: the purposes are for self-enjoyment, sightseeing and health recovery; natural scenery and historical sites are attractive; travel time is seldom in peak season; health condition is better than before, and is able to attend some not-so-tough tourism; relatives and friends are the main information channel; joining travelling agency is the main way to tourism; prefer the tourism with family, friends and fellows; holding a prudential attitude towards travelling; taking bus and train as the main transportation with high requirements on travelling safety. 2.4.3 Researched the Nanjing seniors travel market Consumers demand will trigger him to shopping and decide his shoppings way. After entering into the old age, a person has changed psychically with rich experiences in life and consumption. Their consumption behavior is different with other ages, which is very specific and characteristic. This special consumption characteristic could be found in tourism motivation, time, manner and destination preference and other relative aspects. Research on behavior of the aged in tourism will contribute to better understanding to their demand and will help the expansion of tourism industry for the aged (Wei, no date supplied). Wei (no date supplied) has researched the Nanjing seniors travel market and analysis several behaviors below: 2.4.3.1 Tourism motivation Nostalgia For the aged, they have a very memorable time in the past. Though after years, they are willing to go back to the place where they have lived, or talk with the old friends to remind the old time. Loneliness Generally the aged have more free time, and most of their sons and daughters live without them. Their sons and daughters are busy at work, has little time to take care parents. What they can do is to visit parents home on weekend and have some small talk. However, for those who work in other cities, they cannot be with their parents. In this case, many old people feel lost and lonely. Therefore, tourism is able to satisfy their life and attract their attention. Increasing knowledge For many old people, they only heard the names of some famous tourism destination, but due to various reasons, there is no chance to go there. Many old people want to go travelling while the health condition and economy allow, they want to feel and know the prospect of the outside world. Health and entertainment The life of old people is focusing on family and health from previous work. They choose to work out through tourism and entertainment, to go to the natures, for more fresh air, or to live in suburb place. Many obedient children will arrange family tourism; some will drive their car and bring parents together to go on a short tourism to peripheral area. In the tourism, the old people will have a lot of fun. Tourism time Due to health limitation, the old people are not willing to go travelling in winter or summer. They prefer spring or autumn, mainly in May, June, September, November (Wang, 2003). Because this period has proper temperature and humidity, it is good for travel, especially for the aged. Due to limited budget and other reasons, generally the old people are not willing to take a long trip, they prefer short or not-long trip. They want to spend a certain time, such like one week. Tourism manner In general, the old people need stability and security in the tourism, and ask for relax, freedom, comfort, and leisure. Most old people will choose to follow travelling agency. For the old people ¼Ã…’their energy is weaker than other young tourists. Also, they want to enjoy their no matter vacation or rest, they want to fully satisfy their demand for fun, and do not want to pay much attention for accommodations. They prefer joining travel agency for the convenience. Tourism destination According to survey, the purpose of tourism of the old people is mainly for the natural prospect. The tourism with purpose of health is more than pure tourism. It signified that due to the health condition, the old people have more demand in healthy tourism. The tourism destination is closely tied with the age of tourism. The elder tourists prefer cultural destination. For the old tourist, they prefer famous mountain scenery and places of interest, especially natural scenery and revolution scenic spot (Qiu, 2006). As people have different taste to their choice, the old people have their own choice in tourism. However, no matter where to go, they will take security and convenience into consideration. In general, they prefer some places with good environment, or famous cultural cities, religion places, and places with folk custom. Also they like the destinations with slow living rhythm, longstanding culture and high status in history. Tourism expense The old tourists are mainly frugal and holding an economical attitude, requiring comfort and security. They ask little about luxury life. Their consumption awareness mainly is practical and economical. Though the consumption price is rising, too higher price will stop their consumption. Meanwhile, the fee is mostly paid by the old peoples children; and they do not want their children to pay a big bill. They prefer economical tourism. According to survey, there are 17% old people are in well-off economy condition with rising demand for tourism, however, another 70% old people who has requirement for tourism but they need the economical one (Liu, 2007). As the old people get retired, they have plenty of time. Generally speaking, the old people are a group who spend longest time in tourism, with an average day of 10.3, which keeps rising (Hu, 2002). As the old people have more time to travel, they will spend more in entertainment and accommodation. Especially they have significant potential in shopping. 2.5 Hypotheses According to Valerie (1997), setting up and testing a hypothesis is an essential part of statistical inference. In order to create a test of a hypothesis, the starting point is to present a theory that is either believed to be true or is intended to be used as the basis for an argument. The aim of using a hypothesis here is to investigate the real perceived impact of the tourism industry in Huairou. Generally speaking, a hypothesis is a type of prediction which will not always turn out to be accurate, depending on the facts of the particular case. So, all of the predictions must be tested and proven (or disproved) using data analysis and/or further investigation. The hypotheses are based on a review of the prior literature, and the hypotheses have two parts.

It’s Time to Tell the True History of Texas :: Personal Narrative

It’s Time to Tell the True History of Texas When the Bob Bullock Texas State History museum opened in March 2001, it advertised itself as â€Å"The Story of Texas.† It still calls itself the story of Texas in letters chiseled into the top of the building, on its Web site, on signs directing visitors to the museum, and even on the refrigerator magnets you can buy in the gift shop. When I first saw the slogan, I wondered how there could be â€Å"the† story of Texas, since Texas has been culturally diverse throughout its history as a part of Mexico that became a separate nation and later a state. Shortly Texas will have no one group as a majority. I grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, where the great majority of the population, like me, is Mexican American. How was this new museum going to present my story? I had to go and find out.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I first walked into the lobby, I noticed the large mosaic on the floor but I couldn’t figure out what it depicted. I just saw a campfire and a bunch of wiggly figures. Someone next to me told their kids that they’d be able to see the entire mosaic from the third floor. I decided to wait and do the same.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first exhibit I saw was the â€Å"It Ain’t Braggin’ if it’s True† (one of my friends told me I had to see the shrine to Lance Armstrong and the rhinestone car). The name of the exhibit didn’t make much sense to me though; aren’t all museum exhibits, especially ones about history, supposed to be true? The big banner in the middle of the room didn’t help much either. It simply said â€Å"Vision† and had a quote about how only those with great vision can see opportunity where others see empty space. Maybe those who have this type of vision get the braggin’ rights?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Texas was never a big empty space. The Spaniards and later the French who came here discovered cultures that were centuries old. But history, and the museum itself, begins with European colonization. The history of Texas, one of the signs says, was shaped by the way the different groups of people who came to Texas responded to the land and to each other. So land, and interaction between different groups of people, would be used a lot in the telling of this story of Texas, I assumed.

Tobacco Stuff :: essays research papers fc

The Tobacco Issue: The Tobacco Issue: Where the Responsibility Lies Political-Legal Issues: The legal and political issues surrounding the tobacco industry include whether or not tobacco companies should be held liable for tobacco-related deaths of smokers and those related to second-hand smoke, as well as whether or not elected officials should be accepting money from the tobacco industry in order to win elections. When deciding where the responsibility lies in the case of tobacco, the facts can be turned to favor either side on the issue. However, the tobacco industry has followed the government’s guidelines, since guidelines have been established, while the government seems to want to place blame for peoples’ habits on the manufacturers of products that people choose to use. Tobacco Litigation: The first issue to examine is the issue surrounding the use of the judicial system in finding responsibility for the epidemic surrounding the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry is the defendant in the majority of cases brought before the judiciary and, historically, the majority of the cases have been decided in favor of the industry. In a landmark case in 1988, the tobacco industry won a huge victory against Rose Cipollone. Ms. Cipollone died a horribly painful death from cancer. The defendant in the case was Philip Morris. Philip Morris’ council argued that it was the woman’s choice to smoke. This woman had even testified that she had gone to church every Sunday to pray that she would not get lung cancer. She knew the risks involved with smoking and chose to continue smoking. Philip Morris won the case. (Byrne, 189-190). For years the tobacco industry won case after case involving cancer victims that had smoked. Even today, much of the litigati on by smokers has been decided in favor of the industry. In July of 1999 the Louisiana District Court, 19th District decided the case of Robert Gilboy et al. V. The American Tobacco Co., et al. in favor of the defense. The jury was not convinced that 45 years of smoking had caused Mr. Gilboy’s lung cancer. In the case of the Estate of Burl Butler, et al. V. Philip Morris, Inc., et al., the Jones County, Mississippi Circuit Court, 2nd District jury found the tobacco industry defendants not liable for the alleged second-hand smoke related wrongful death of Mr. Butler. This case was decided in June of 1999. An important win for the defense was gained in Kansas City, Missouri in May of 1999.