Thursday, January 30, 2020
Academic debate Essay Example for Free
Academic debate Essay There has been considerable academic debate concerning the emergence and meaning of globalization with differing views ranging from those who believe that there has been no change to what already existed with previous trade and movement across nation states to those who believe that the consequences of globalization can be felt everywhere and that the sovereignty of nation states has been greatly diminished. It is argued by those such as Modelski that the world society today is global in direct contrast to all other historical societies and for David Held (1) globalization is about a significant transformation resulting in local communities linked to global actions (1). This paper does not delve into the debate about the theory of globalization, rather it focuses upon the infrastructure of the UN in terms of governance of world affairs. During his leadership as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sought to define a new role for the United Nations at the centre of ‘global governance’ (Held and McGrew 1). In response to the onset of globalization there are those, including Rosenau (8) who believe that a new complex multilateralism is evolving as a system of global governance. In the absence of a world government Rosenau (8) believes that the concept of global governance is the most apt description of the system that decides who rules and governs across the international community. This evolution has been made possible following a number of significant events over the past two decades. Firstly the end of the cold war opened up opportunities for new ways of governing at the global level. Secondly there was a massive increase in global issues such as the environment (for example climate change), health (for example the HIV / Aids epidemic) and consumerism that was affecting the way that world affairs were being run. These changes to global affairs has convinced the advocates of global governance that the traditional geopolitical management of global affairs with its hierarchical forms of management is unsuited to the challenges and tasks that are now emergent and that new forms of global governance need to be introduced. The common arguments against global governance include the inequalities of power between states, the structural privileging of the interests and agenda of global capital and the technocratic nature of the global policy process (Held and McGrew 13). In general there are three principle explanatory accounts of global governance: liberal institutionalist, realist and neo-Gramsic. Each attempt to explain how governance works beyond the national state but there are considerable differences in their epistemological frameworks which are a reflection of their interpretations of the social world as well as difference assumptions about world politics. Liberal institutionalism argues that governance beyond the state is endemic (Held and McGrew 12) because of the important benefits that global institutions can bring to individual nations, for example the functional benefits of a global health organization. Liberal institutionalists believe that international institutions ‘empower governments rather than shackle them’ (Keohane 13) . Realism finds that governance beyond the nation state depends upon the policy interests of the most powerful states, which means that the global institutions can have little autonomy or power as their function is primarily to advance the interests of those more powerful states (Held and McGrew 12) and thus the inequalities of power between the states is highlighted. Neo-gramsican theories share the bases of the realism theory however they consider the structural imperatives of globalizing capitalism as the key component. This theory states that the conduct of global governance is underpinned by the expansion of globalizing capital through the dominant forces, i. e. the US and therefore the global institutions are merely instruments to obtain this objective at the expense of the welfare and environment of the global communities. There is concern that the there is an insurmountable deficit within the current capacity of global governance to address the pressing global issues of poverty, health, environment, security and welfare. In practice this can imply a criticism of how the United Nations is structured and functionally operates, and essentially makes the presumption that the UN is ineffective (Luard 1). The United Nations Organization (UN) is an international organization that brings together 191 states in a voluntary forum to consider all affairs – such as security, living conditions, affecting the global population. The structure consists of the General Assembly, the Security Council, The Economic and Security Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, the Secretariat and the UN System (www. un. org) . This paper focuses on the operations of the UN System. The United Nations has a number of organizations formally within its system as ‘specialized agencies’ – although in reality they are largely autonomous from the central UN, for example the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNESCO. These specialized agencies are linked to the UN through cooperative agreements have wide-ranging international responsibilities in the economic, social, cultural, educational, health and related fields. Some of them, like the International Labour Organization and the Universal Postal Union, are older than the UN itself (www. un. org) . All these organizations have their own governing bodies, budgets and secretariats. Together with the United Nations, they are known as the UN family, or the UN system. Together, they provide technical assistance and other forms of practical help in virtually all economic and social areas. The reform of the UN is an issue of constant debate, although only the member states have the power to implement any changes so it must be driven through them. It can be argued then that the UN is not a global organization, rather it remains an inter-governmental organization as it can only develop so far as the member states will allow and they will always weigh development against their own self interest. However this reality is in comparison with the global expectation placed upon the UN and Bernhard (213) believes it is this contradiction in reality and expectation that causes the UN to over stretch itself. Bernhard (213) presents three scenarios for the future of the UN. Firstly that the UN system will weaken, and ultimately fail in the members states withdrew participation and secondly that the UN could develop as a sort of world government with the institutions forming a central coordinating role of the global governance process and ultimately leading to the loss of nation state autonomy. The third scenario seems more plausible, that the UN will remain as an imperfect instrument in need of reform but also an important global organization. This itself requires examination of a number of issues, namely whether it takes on a role as actor in its own right or continues to be held to member state autonomy. The leadership of Koffi Annan as the Secretary General has had some impact on the pace of UN reforms. At the Millennium Summit in 2000 he called for members states to reorganize the UN so that it could be better equipped to meet the challenges that globalization brings . However in practice the extent of the UN reform appears modest and Bernhard (214) makes the distinction between internal reforms of the UN’s by-laws which are easier to achieve than constitutional changes, which would require changes to the Charter. The complexity of the UN system doesn’t allow for reforms to be made easily. Every amendment needs a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly and the ratification of two thirds of the member states, including the five permanent members. Therefore the permanent members have a high level of strength and can block any reforms, although to be fair they would need the agreement of more than 120 UN members for their own projects to succeed (Bernhard 242). Koffi Annan (Bernhard 243) drew attention to the institutions of the UN being unfit for the present day purpose as they had been created for an inter-national rather than global world. The UN system has resulted in a tradition of decentralization, along with a steady growth of new agencies. It is this situation that draws critics to argue that there are overlaps and duplication of effort and irrational allocation of resources (Ziring 464). There is no world budget to deal with economic and social affairs and each UN agency are responsible for their own budgets and programmes, subject to the limitations of the collective will of their members. Ziring (464) argues that the Economic and Social Council has not fulfilled its central coordinating function, being mainly consigned to discussion and liaison and he makes the important statement that the most formidable barriers to improved functional co-operation between the agencies are in fact political and budgetary, not organizational. This would then mean that the UN reforms should be focused on gaining the collective political and economic will of member states rather than introducing organizational changes alone.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
The 19th Century Prose of Nathaniel Hawthorne :: Biography Biographies Essays
Nathaniel Hawthorne's 19th Century Prose      Nathaniel Hawthorne, a master of American fiction, often utilizes dreams within the annals of his writings to penetrate, explore and express his perceptions of the complex moral and spiritual conflicts that plague mankind. His clever, yet crucial purpose for using dreams is to represent, through symbolism, the human divergence conflict manifested in the souls of man during the firm Christian precepts of the Era in which he lived. As a visionary in an extremely conservative Puritanical society, he carefully and successfully manages to depict humanity's propensity for sin and secrecy, and any resulting punishment or atonement by weaving dreams into his tales. The dreams he refers to in many of his writings are heavily symbolic due to his Christian foundation, and they imply that he views most dreams as a pigmentation of reality. Hawthorne's ability to express and subsequently bring to fruition the true state of man's sinful nature by parallelling dreams with reality represents not only his religious beliefs but also his true mastery of observation regarding the human soul.      An examination of Hawthorne's own narrative in his short story, The Birthmark, published in 1850 during the latter part of the period of Puritanism expands his observations of mankind with keen insight.                  Truth often finds its way to the mind close-muffled                in robes of sleep, and then speaks with uncompromising                directness of matters in regard to which we practice                an unconscious self-deception, during our waking                moments.  (par.15)  The prophetic statement was made by Hawthorne to open the reader's mind and perhaps inject an introspective glimpse of his perspective that dreams do indeed contain precursors or warnings of future conscious realities. He also contends that people often purposely disregard the contents of their dreams and do not face the realities that they are confronted with while in unconscious moments of slumber.  Hawthorne's writings are marked by intrinsic depth and a sincere desire to crawl inside of the characters he has created. He accomplishes this objective by allowing them to dream. He makes his presence known by frequently commenting openly throughout his prose and interject a narrative of his assertions.  Hawthorne historically has his characters confront reality following a dream, or he reveals that
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Summary of the Books of the Old Testament Books
Leviticus The book of Leviticus is largely a book of laws. Some key themes include God speaking to the people of Israel to define what it means to be the holy people of a holy God. This is accomplished by God speaking through Moses. The instruction given to Moses provides guidelines for the conduct of the individual as well as the nation as a whole. These instructions address the individual’s every day needs such as cleanliness, diet, sexual relations, and neighborly interactions. There are also laws given to address the relationship and worship between Israel’s people and God. There are descriptions of how to properly present God with a sacrifice. There are defined punishments for blasphemy and for child sacrifice. There are also descriptions of blessings for obedience. Though the Israelite people were the chosen people of God, God knew there would be times, as humans, they would be unfaithful. The book of Leviticus is setting the expectations and describing how to approach God for forgiveness if a person fails to observe the Law of God. (Word count 176) Ruth The book of Ruth is largely a narrative. Some of the key themes in this book are kindness and love. The book of Ruth shows how people of God can experience his wisdom, love, and kindness. These may be experienced and more greatly appreciated while the person is enduring a hardship. This is where we find Ruth and Naomi after the deaths of their husbands. Naomi is returning to her homeland and Ruth is accompanying her mother in law. We can see God’s love and kindness shown through the actions of Boaz and his field workers in allowing Ruth to glean wheat from his fields and assuring her safety. We also see the love and kindness of God when Ruth approaches Boaz in asking for their marriage. The heart of Boaz is right with God and his actions assure the proper following of the customs so there would be no disrespect or dishonor brought to Ruth or their marriage. God is pleased with both of his followers and blessed them with a son, Obed, who would be the grandfather of King David. (Word count 179) Job The book of Job is a book of wisdom. The key elements are trust and faith. We see Job, a servant of God that has been richly blessed by God for his loyalty and faith. Satan questions if Job’s faith is related to the blessed life God has provided for him. God allows for all to be lost for Job to assure his faith is honest and true. The loss and suffering experienced by Job offers an opportunity for doubt or distrust in God. Though within this book Job does get angry and questions God . God does not become vengeful, rather agrees with Jobs words and understands his hurt and anger. Due to Job’s unyielding faith God restores his health and bestows double the blessings upon him after this test . The book of Job is simply about God and his relationship with man . It was written to show that in a world where injustices and suffering occur daily God is present. We are not alone. Our continued trust and faith in God will be rewarded by blessings. Word count 178) Daniel The book of Daniel is largely a narrative . The key themes in this book are faithfulness, trust, and not compromising your beliefs. We find that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are captured and placed in exile in a foreign land. The three serve the king loyally yet without compromising their own loyalty to God. When found not to be partici pating in pagan worship Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were sentenced to death. Even in this time of great turmoil they stood fast in their trust in God and they were delivered from death. God used these three to show his awesome power . God showed several times in this book that he is a living God of action. His servant needs only to believe with all of his heart and pray and they will be delivered. The heart of the oppressor was humbled at the sight of God’s miracles. The oppressor may not have been converted away from his pagan worship but he had to acknowledge the power of the living God. (Word count 172) Jonah The book of Jonah is a book of prophecy. The key themes in this book are compassion, repentance, and forgiveness. God spoke to Jonah and gave him the direction to go to Nineveh to deliver his message to the people. Jonah disobeyed and attempted to run from God. God found Jonah and had him swallowed by a fish. In the belly of the fish Jonah asked for forgiveness and God placed him back on land to go to Nineveh to deliver his message. Jonah stayed on task . The message of pending destruction was received and the people of Nineveh repented and asked the Lord to forgive them and not destroy their city. God heard their prayers and let the city stand. This book shows us of a God who can and will readily punish for not abiding by his law but will also show love and compassion on those same people if only they repent and ask for forgiveness. (Word count 160)
Monday, January 6, 2020
Comparison Between God And Augustine - 1797 Words
Samantha Pryor Dr. Donald Viney Medieval Philosophy February 28, 2017 God and Augustine Medieval philosophers developed very precise notions of God and the attributes that he has, many of which are even now well-known among believers. For example, God is all-powerful all-knowing and all-good Other commonly discussed attributes of God are that he is eternal, that he is present everywhere and that he has foreknowledge of future events. While these traditional attributes of God offer a clear picture of the kind of being that he is, many of them present special conceptual problems, particularly when we try to make them compatible them with potentially conflicting facts about the world. It’s clear that suffering is abundant†¦show more content†¦The cause of evil itself, according to Augustine, is the human will, and thus all blame for it rests on our shoulders, not on Gods. We willfully turn our souls away from God when we perform evil deeds. Even the punishment that God imposes on us for our evil is something that we brought on ourselves. Consequently, a fir st solution that Augustine offers to the problem of evil is that human will is the cause of evil and reason for divine punishment. A second and related solution is that the evil we willfully create within our souls is only a deprivation of goodness. Think of God’s goodness like a bright white light; the evil that we humans create is like an act of dimming that light, or shielding ourselves from it to create an area of darkness. It is not like we’ve created a competing light source of our own, such as a bright red light that we shine around to combat God’s bright white light. Accordingly, the evil that we create through our wills is the absence of good, and not a substantive evil in itself. Yet a third solution to the problem of evil is Augustine’s suggestion that the apparent imperfection of any part of creation disappears in light of the perfection of the whole. To explain, Augustine considers a common objection that God seems to be the source of sufferi ng when our young children die with no clear purpose. His response is this: In view of the encompassing network ofShow MoreRelatedComparison Between the Analects and Confessions Essay955 Words  | 4 PagesComparison between the Analects and Confessions Both St. Augustine’s Confessions and Confucius’s Analects are important teachings that have great influence on people around the world in the ancient time and nowadays. Both doctrines discuss ethical values of the society back in the time as we can find some similarities between the two. However, there are significant differences between Confucius and St. Augustine’s experiences and believes since they are living in different environment at time periodRead MoreComparing St. Augustines Confessions And Confucius1065 Words  | 5 Pagessome similarities between the two. 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