During the nineteenth century, Europe witnessed a lot of activities that influenced the manner in which various countries related to each other. Imperialism was one of the major events that occurred in Europe during this time. It was majorly triggered by industrialization and other political reasons.
In this process, most of the European powers aimed at extending their hegemony to other territories especially to the small nations that had weak economies and poor military installations. For example, Britain and France were among the strongest countries in Europe in the nineteenth century and they always conquered small territories in order to fulfill their political and economic interests.
Imperialism was characterized by wars of conquests which had far reaching effects. “For a very long time, France dominated the land power while Britain was leading in the sea power” (Lieven 234).
The war events had devastating effects on people. Hence, many individuals got interested in analyzing the nature of war and how it impacted on the society. The manner in which people perceived war also varied. For example, some people glorified it while others detested it.
Artists were among the people who tried to analyze the wars. Adolf Northern was a prominent German painter in the nineteenth. “He was born in Münden, Hannover and was a pupil of Düsseldorf Painting Academy” (Royal Academy of Fine Art of San Fernando 12).
Most of his paintings focused on battle scenes, especially the events that occurred during Napoleonic Wars. “Some of his great works included the Prussian Attack and Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow which depicts the failure of the 1812 invasion of Russia by Napoleon” (Royal Academy of Fine Art of San Fernando 17).
“By 1812 Napoleon had conquered the whole of continental Europe – from southern Italy to the Baltic and from Portugal to Poland” (Connelly 345). The French attack on Russia in1812 is also popularly referred to as the 1812 Patriotic War. This war had a lot of implications on the Napoleonic conflicts.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More The war affected the European politics and it also seriously weakened the Hegemony of France in Europe. Napoleon who for a very long time had remained a military genius was seriously shaken by the war. Prussia and Austria which had been France allies also switched camps and this led to the Sixth Coalition War.
The war started in 1812 when River Neman was crossed by Napoleon’s forces. Napoleon’s main motive was to avert the possible invasion of Poland by Russia. “Napoleon named the campaign, a Second Polish War; the Russian government proclaimed a Patriotic War” (Taylor 57).
Approximately five hundred thousand French soldiers invaded Western Russia and managed to win some minor engagements. In addition to this, they won a key battle in August at Smolensk. However, their success was short-lived and the Russian soldiers soon managed to contain some of the French soldiers. This prevented them from invading Saint Petersburg that served as the Russian capital.
The Russians mainly employed the scotch earth policy as one of the major tactics for attacking their opponents. They also attacked the French soldiers using light Cossack cavalry. However, their army kept on retreating for about three months. Of all the Napoleonic wars, this battle became the most dangerous and it was fought by approximately two hundred and fifty thousand troops. The war culminated to seventy thousand casualties.
“The French captured the battlefield, but failed to destroy the Russian army” (Zamoyski 453). Moreover, the Russians could regain their losses while the French did not mange to regain their stability. “The Russian retreat was significant for two reasons; firstly, the move was to the south and not to the east; secondly, the Russians immediately began operations that would continue to deplete the French forces” (Lieven 567).
Finally, Napoleon reached Moscow in the middle of September after another retreat by the Russian soldiers. However, by this time the city had been deserted by the Russians and even the prisoners had been freed in order to cause more trouble to the French army. “Alexander 1 refused to capitulate and the peace talks that Napoleon initiated failed” (Connelly 124). In October, Napoleon started retreating from Moscow after realizing that he could not win the war.
The French soldiers begun to suffer when they were blocked by the Russian troops from reaching Kaluga, where they could probably get food and forage supplies. “The replenished Russian soldiers barricaded the road networks and this forced Napoleon to retreat the same way he had come to Moscow, through the heavily ravaged areas a long the Smolensk road” (Zamoyski 78).
We will write a custom Essay on Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow specifically for you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More “Inadequate food supply and continuous use of guerrilla tactics by the Russian military caused a great catastrophe to the French soldiers” (Connelly 69).
The war had many far reaching effects both on the Russian and French soldiers. The invasion of Moscow by the French soldiers seriously impacted on its development activities. As the conflict ensued, many people fled their homes and businesses. This led to the disruption of economic activities that were conducted in Moscow.
Consequently, there was a serious economic decline. A lot of property was also destroyed during the battle. This led to a lot of suffering among the Russians whose properties and homes were destroyed. The French soldiers also damaged the roads and bridges as they retreated from Moscow. The destruction of infrastructure led to serious communication problems.
The French soldiers who had been using horses as their major mode of transportation were seriously affected by the massive death of their horses. Most of the horses died of starvation due to lack of grass, while others were killed during the war. Because of starvation, the French soldiers also fed on some of their horses.
The massive death of horses had serious implications on the French army because of the following reasons. First, they were forced to abandon most of their canons and wagons in Russia. The abandonment of their equipment led to serious logistical hitches since they could not get food and other important supplies. The stability of their military was also affected by the death of their horses which they used to transport soldiers and other military equipment.
There was an increase in the number of deserters and most of them were either imprisoned or killed by the Russian peasants. As a result of these challenges, the French army collapsed. “The crossing of river Berezina was the final French catastrophe of the war as two Russian armies inflicted horrendous casualties on the remnants of the Grande Armée as it struggled to escape across pontoon bridges” (Connelly 345). Many people died during the war and this led to a sharp decline in the population of French and Russian troops.
It is estimated that Napoleon had lost over half of his military by the time he was retreating back to his country. The winter weather also partly contributed to the high death toll of soldiers during the war. During winter, the cold weather affected the health of most of the soldiers and they contacted diseases because they could not cope with the extreme weather conditions.
The winter weather came at a time when the French soldiers were retreating and they were really exhausted after several months of fighting. Therefore, they could not survive in such conditions. During the retreat, the soldiers experienced serious starvation because they could not access food and clean water.
Not sure if you can write a paper on Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow by yourself? We can help you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The outcome of this war had serious implications on Napoleon’s government which had remained dominant in Europe for along time. “This war was the reason the other coalition allies triumphed once and for all over Napoleon” (Royal Academy of Fine Art of San Fernando 128). His army was seriously destroyed and this lowered his self esteem.
Even his soldiers who were still remaining in Russia were also psychologically affected by the defeat and they could no longer cope with the battle in Russia. This war also brought to an end to the Napoleonic wars and he went for exile in Elba Island. The Patriotic Movement also gave the Russians a strong desire to fight for democracy in their country.
Consequently, there were many revolutions which ensued after the war. For example, there was the Decembrist revolt and it was later followed by the February Revolution that occurred in 1917. The defeat of Napoleon did not end his desire to remain dominant in Europe.
After one year, he managed to rebuild another big army which had approximately five hundred thousand troops. His new army was also barked by allied troops. He used his army to challenge Germany in another fierce battle. During the battle of Dresden, he was out numbered but he still managed to claim victory over Germany.
Napoleon managed to maintain his stability until he was finally defeated at the battle of Nations when he could not get enough soldiers to defend France against coalition forces. “Napoleon did still manage to inflict heavy losses and a series of minor military victories on the far larger Allied armies as they drove towards Paris, though they captured the city and forced him to abdicate in 1814” (Lieven 421).
The Russian campaign exposed Napoleon’s leadership weaknesses that led to the fall of his victory. It was noted that he made so many mistakes during the war and these mistakes largely contributed to his massive losses. For example, he refused to withdraw his military from France at the time he was attacking Russia. This meant that he had to fight at two fronts and this was not easy for him to manage because he wanted success on both sides.
The series of battles that France engaged in finally weakened its stability and hegemony in Europe. “Even though Napoleon was finally defeated, his invasion of Russia is listed among the most lethal military operations in world history” (Connelly 169). The works of Adolf Northern are still widely recognized in academic circles and they have always been used to analyze the war events of eighteenth and nineteenth century.
Works Cited Connelly, Owen. Blundering to Glory: Napoleon’s Military Campaigns. New York: Rowman
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The White Dilemma in South Africa Analytical Essay essay help: essay help
South Africa is one of the African countries that was for a long time under colonization by the white man. Besides, being colonized, the situation in South Africa was quite bad as there was rampant discrimination of the blacks by the white people which came to be known as apartheid.
There are restaurants, schools, hospitals, shopping malls and recreational centers in South Africa that were a preserve of the whites only. This meant that black people could not get admission under any circumstances. However, in the year 1994, South Africa got independence and this meant that the black people had freedom to do as they willed in their land. Slowly, most of the white people had to live the country but there are those who opted to remain.
This is what presented the dilemma in that how were the white people who remained in South Africa after the apartheid supposed to be treated by the black people who had been ill treated previously by the whites? Were black people going to punish the white people who remained in this country for the heinous acts of discrimination that were committed by their colleagues? This pertinent question is the focus of this discussion and it is based on The Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee.
Looking at the storyline, it is clear that the new South Africa which is free from apartheid is bound to undergo some changes. The black community which was previously oppressed by the white community seems keen to sort of revenge for the actions of discriminations by the white.
It may not be fair because the white people in the new South Africa are not necessarily the ones who were responsible for the apartheid era but nevertheless one would understand the bitterness of a people who were deprived for many years their rights in their own country.
The story begins when David Lurie who is a professor in a university in Cape Town is engaged in an affair with a student and is later accused of sexual harassment. Instead of taking an opportunity to defend himself against allegations leveled against him, Lurie decides to resign and even move from the city to reside with his daughter in the outskirts of the city.
“It’s always complicated, this harassment business, David, complicated as well as unfortunate, but we believe our procedures are good and fair, so we’ll just take it step by step, play it by the book” ( Coetzee, 2000,p. 45) The area where his daughter resides is one that was considered as belonging to the black community during the apartheid era.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More “There is tension from both sides as Lurie begins to stay in black community area. He fears that he may be treated unfairly by the black community who are still angered by the kind of treatment they faced during the apartheid era” (Coetzee 2000). The black community on the other hand is suspicious of this white man who now wants to reside among the blacks a phenomenon that would have been considered impossible during the era of apartheid.
While Lurie is living with his daughter in the province, their neighbor is a black man who has helped Lurie’s daughter on a number of issues. However, Lurie is convinced that the black man has something to do with the rape ordeal which his daughter went through some time back. However, neither Lurie nor his daughter is willing to take any action against the black man.
“As gently as he can, he offers his question again.”Lucy, my dearest, why don’t you want to tell? It was a crime. There is no shame in being the object of a crime. You did not choose to be the object. You are an innocent party.” (Coetzee, 2000, p. 13)
It becomes apparent that there is fear among the whites living in the new South Africa of being persecuted by the black people who obviously want to revenge for the many years of discriminations that they endured during the regime of apartheid. There also seems to be fear in that the whites do not have faith and trust in the institutions that have been set up in the new republic.
Since most of the occupants of the newly formed institutions are blacks, there seems to be a perception by the whites that they are not likely to face justice. This also explains Lurie’s action in the University when accused of sexual harassment.
Instead of taking the earliest opportunity to make a defense against the allegations that have been made against him, Lurie opts to resign. This shows that he may have weighed his options and saw that that since most of the people who will sit in the panel hearing his case are black, he felt that there might be a form of prejudice against him and thus opted out instead.
There also seems to be an ironic twist of events in that the whites seem to be slowly fitting into the shoes of the blacks literary. Due to the intensive level of discrimination that was rife during the era of apartheid in South Africa most people in the black community had sort of resigned to fate and were living in deplorable conditions in the countryside or country districts as they were commonly referred to.
We will write a custom Essay on The White Dilemma in South Africa specifically for you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More “Now that the era of apartheid is gone and the new South Africa is here, most of the white people had to live the country and for those who opted to remain, they now have to go and live in places that were previously considered for the blacks whose conditions are deplorable to say the least” (Coetzee 2000).
What is coming out very clearly from this discussion is that the white people feel threatened in the new South Africa. The black people might not discriminate the whites as was the case in the apartheid era, but it is without a doubt that the blacks are bound to revenge or at least reclaim what was originally theirs which was taken away from them unjustly. And when that happens, the whites are going to be displaced from their comfort zones which they were used to.
J.M. Coetzee has tried his level best to put the scenario in perspective and has tried to show just how much the white dilemma is still so alive in the new South Africa. A serious look at the issues in South Africa actually reveals a situation much worse that what Coetzee has captured in his book.
Another hard reality that the white people in the new South Africa have had to contend with is that most of the concepts which they had brought with them from the west may become irrelevant as the black people increasingly keep looking for local solutions. (Coetzee 2000).
After very many years under the white man rule where not much development took place for the black people, there is an urge to want to catch up and account for the lost time (Sacks, 1997, p. 56). Government and newly set up institutions seem to be going for local concepts as opposed to the concepts of the white man.
A keen scrutiny of the situation in this country so many years after she got her independence reveals that the wounds of the past appear so fresh and the apparent gap between the whites and black is one that can easily be seen. White dilemma in this African country seems to be deeply rooted among the citizens of this country.
References Coetzee, J. (2000). Disgrace. London: Penguin Books.
Sacks, B. (1997). South Africa: an imperial dilemma: non-Europeans and the British Nation. Mexico: University of New Mexico Press
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Crusaders Liberate Nicaea from the Evil Seljuk Turks Descriptive Essay online essay help
Nicaea was a heavily fortified city located fifty miles from Constantinople, one of the cities targeted by Crusaders after Pope Urban II (1088-1099) gave one of the most influential speeches in the Middle Ages of what has befallen fellow Christians in the Holy Land under the aggression of Moslems (The Christian Crusades para. 1).
Even though Moslems had taken command of Constantinople and Jerusalem since 638, the Seljuk Turks took control over the two cities and prevented Christian pilgrims from visiting Jerusalem at a time when the number and frequency of pilgrimages to the city was rising (The Christian Crusades para. 1).
To gain access to the mainland route through Asia Minor to Syria from where Christians could be liberated the from the massacres perpetrated by the Turks in Constantinople and Jerusalem, the Crusaders had to first capture Nicaea, previously a city under Byzantine but which had fallen into the hands of the Seljuk Turks under the leadership of Kilij Arslan 1, the ruler of Seljuk (Halsall para. 1).
Nicaea was sturdily defended by four miles of walls, and its location on a lake side complicated matters further for the Crusaders. As luck would have it, the Crusaders, led by Bohemund, Alemanni and the Bishop of Puy reached Nicaea at a time when Arslan had left behind his wealth and family to join in the war against the Danishmends in central Anatolia.
On May 21 1097, Bohemund commenced the siege of Nicaea from the north, Alemanni from the east, and the Bishop of Puy from the middle, attacking the city so bravely and so ferociously that they even undermined and destroyed one of its walls (Halsall para. 8).
However, the Turks hastily built it the same night to curtail entry. Although attempts to seize the city had occasioned heavy losses from both sides, it was the walls and the lake that presented challenges to the Crusaders as they could neither launch direct attacks into the city due to the walls nor cut off the Turks from getting the much needed supplies and assistance using the lake (Halsall para. 5).
It was at this juncture when the leaders of the Crusaders counseled and undertook to send people to the Emperor of Constantinople to have ships and oxen brought to the fort of Covitote, from where the oxen were to be used to drag the ships over the mountainous ridges until they were in close proximity to the lake (Halsall para. 5).
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More The ships together with Turcopoles and arms dispatched by the Emperor were launched on the lake under the guise of darkness in readiness to attack the city at daybreak. At first, the Turks marveled upon seeing the ships since they could not tell whether they were manned by the own men or the Emperor’s, but they soon chickened out after realizing the ships were ferrying enemy forces (Halsall para. 5).
Surrounded from all fronts and unable to receive any more suppliers and assistance using the lake, the Turks sent a message to the Emperor that they would willingly surrender if permitted to go away with their families and belongings (Halsall para. 6). The Emperor instead ordered them to be brought to Constantinople and on June 19 1097, the Turks in the city surrendered to an army of Alexius.
Works Cited Halsall, P. Medieval Sourcebook: The Siege and Capture of Nicaea: Collected Accounts. 1997. Web.
The Christian Crusades 1095-1291. (n.d.). Web.
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Literary analysis on the Canterbury Tales Analytical Essay a level english language essay help: a level english language essay help
Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of “the Canterbury Tales”, exploits the degeneration, immorality, and subversion of the church. The Roman Catholic Church ruled or dictated the entire Europe by the end of nineteenth century. Besides being popular, the church build its cathedrals (buildings) using expensive metals like gold while the clergy lived a flamboyant lifestyle.
Although catastrophes like diseases, lack of employment, and food shortage marked the nineteenth century eon, the church possessed immense wealth while the clergies and the nuns lived a sedentary life at the expense of the catholic faithful.
Geoffrey Chaucer figures out the immorality and corruption of the church by using the clergy and the Pardoner who seem to be on commercial tour and not a pilgrimage. For instance, the Pardoner works in church and receives donations on behalf of the church but sadly, he does not give the donations to charitable organizations as expected but rather keeps the money for his personal use.
Ironically, he has the audacity to preach against greed yet he not only steals the papal signature to access the church funds, but also sells leaflets, which contain religious quotes like forgiveness and carries the bones of pigs, which he sells claiming they will shield the faithful against the devil.
The narrator taints the ‘reputation’ of the Catholic Church when he describes the immoral behavior of the monk and the priest as greedy persons with little or no intentions to serve the church or God for that matter.
The Friar, an employee of the church as a priest, receives criticism from other people in the town due to his inability to obey celibacy; he has intimate relationships with attractive women or attracts rich men from the town and promotes corruption through acceptance of bribery.
On the other hand, the monk defies the rule of staying in the monastery by wandering aimlessly around and about, which shows his love for food; therefore, the two men reveal the degeneration of morals in the church especially in the priesthood.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More Through the description of the contrasting characters of the Summoner and the Parson, the narrator is able to draw the picture of the Catholic Church during the nineteenth century. The Summoner is an illiterate, drunkard, and irritating man infected with leprosy, but the church has bestowed him the role to monitor the people who break the catholic rules.
On the other hand, the Parson is a poor man who preaches the word of God and ensures he lives according to the word, therefore, in him the reader sees the character expected from the priests, monks, friars, and other church leaders. Thus, due to extreme corruption in the church, the faithful believers like the Parson live in abject poverty but commit themselves to God, which is contrary to the other clericals or church employees like the Summoner.
In summary, the Catholic faith is one of the ancient believes in the world but due to corruption, unfaithfulness, and moral degradation amongst Catholic leaders, the faith is increasingly becoming unpopular.
The employees like the Summoner and the Pardoner live against the Catholic teachings while the priests, monks, and nuns live a rich lifestyle. Finally, the Catholic leaders live a sedentary, immoral, and rich lifestyle at the expense of their faithful like the Parson who live in extreme poverty.
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Analyzing an Editorial: Where the Truth Is Concealed Opinion Essay essay help free
If there is anything that can drive the reader’s attention better than any sensational news, this would be definitely a skillfully written editorial in a newspaper. Because of the complicacy and the controversy of a number of issues raised by the authors of the newspaper editorials, it must be admitted that this piece of the newspaper is bound to offer a plenty of food for the readers’ thoughts.
However, it must be kept in mind that, when missing certain elements that make the stem of a successful argument and presentation of the facts, the author of an editorial, no matter how intriguing the topic is, is likely to fail.
Demonstrating in practice what makes a well-written editorial, one can consider such article as “How to Plan fro the Future”, offered by the New York Times (2011) for the citizen of the United States to have a better understanding of why the process of railroad construction has been slacked so much.
Therefore, the article in question provides sufficient food for thoughts and at the same time is a perfect chance to evaluate its communicative effect on the reader. Rather convincing, the article suggests a number of reasons for the sad prognosis to consider. Indeed, taking into account the number of budget money that have been wasted on less essential issues and the scanty amounts that have been offered to continue the development of the railroad system, the conclusion becomes obvious.
“He [President Obama] wants 80 percent of the nation to have access to high-speed rail in 25 years. That’s not likely to happen with this Congress,” New York Times (2011) says, which is quite logical, taking into account the evidence of the U. S. lack of interest in the railroad development – this is a sad but true fact.
It must be added though that the message underlying the text shows there is still something that can be done to improve the situation. The author of the editorial subtly draws the reader to the fact that the political forces are to unite to encourage the development of the railroad construction.
It must be kept in mind that, building the railroad requires sufficient funds that can be provided only when the rail project is considered essential by each party in the Congress. However, it still could be a better idea to involve the opinion of the “accused”, i.e. the parliament and the President, for the article to sound even more impressive.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More Avoiding the probable controversial expressions and making the reader perceive the information as it is, without distorting it, the author of the article contributes to a better insight on the problem of the railroad building in the USA. However, there is certain passage that might cause certain confusion among the readers:
There are many requests, even one from Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a Republican who earlier rejected $810 million of these funds. Now he wants $150 million for a modest rail project between Milwaukee and Chicago (New York Times 2011).
On the one hand, this is obviously a reproach to the member of the Congress; yet on the other hand, this could seem an attempt of a Republican to try to solve the problem and give went to the growing concern for the railroad construction. Therefore, t must be admitted that New York Times (2011) is making its point not as clear as it should be.
But for this small detail that is, not doubt, merely a misconception, the editorial seems to provide an all-embracing consideration of the given problem. Still it is obvious that the key idea of the article is to convince the reader that with the political instability in the country, the future railroad construction and the economical and financial benefits that the latter triggers are impossible. Thus, it is clear that the weakness of the editorial lies in its one-sidedness and the unwillingness to consider the opinion of the opponent.
What is also worth mentioning is that the author of the editorial omits certain information that is crucial for the understanding of the topic. For a good overview of the issue, a historical insight is demanded. Thus, it could be a good idea to mention that the problems concerning the transportation system have always been the sore spot of the USA. In fact, very little proof is demanded to verify this. For instance, according to O’Toole (2009),
Historically, the freight railroads have received very little federal aid: only 18,700 of 260,000 miles of rail lines built in the United States received federal subsidies. At least some congressional Democrats see federal aid to railroads as a means of reregulating the industry, which was deregulated in 1979 (86).
With such information to back the key argument of the article, it becomes evident that the problem is essential indeed, and that the attempts to resolve it have been taken since the distant 1970.
We will write a custom Essay on Analyzing an Editorial: Where the Truth Is Concealed specifically for you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Therefore, it can be considered that the article lacks certain information, yet no one can accuse the author of distorting the facts. With help of the verified facts placed in the necessary order, New York Times (2011) managed to draw the public’s attention to another important issue on the agenda of the USA political and social life.
Reference List “How to Plan fro the Future.” New York Times, April 20, 2011. Retrieved from: www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/opinion/21thu1.html?_r=2
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EKEN Power Bands Report essay help site:edu
Executive Summary Considering the international relations from the trading position, we have chosen the idea of confronting of the Australian market and the American market with the purpose to help Australian EKEN Power Bands brand expend at the international arena.
We are going to consider the product and its significance at the Australian and US markets, identify competitors, check the options for entering international markets and expand there, underline the country of product origin and the consumers behaviour there, consider American consumer ethnocentrism and animosity, point to the market segmentation, target audience and positioning and on the basis of this information highlight international marketing mix and other related factors with the recommendations EKEN Power Bands should follow if it wants to enter international market and expand there.
Having chosen a good advertising strategy, offering unique bands, an office in Los Angeles, creating positive public image in the country of origin and correspondence to the newest technological developments may result in high consumer activities and raise of selling rates in the USA.
Country-of-Origin, Consumer Ethnocentrism and Consumer Animosity Country-of-origin
Australia is the country which produces EKEN Power Bands and is considered to be its place or origin. The country is developed in the relation to sport, but it seems to be seasonal and the company wants to provide year cycle business.
Australian customers are rather prejudiced to the innovation. Much influence is provided by mass media, but the credibility of their impact is rather doubtful. The Australian market is full of sceptical views, the media is a powerful weapon in persuading the minds of people. The negative effect from such news is obvious.
Once the news reported that “A Wristband claiming to boost strength, balance and flexibility has been exposed as a fake” (Mawby, N 2010), people have taken the same side. However, mass media offers minimum reasons and it is impossible to draw conclusions about the reasonableness of such statement (Dowling
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Concept of the International Alliances in Modern World Essay essay help online free: essay help online free
Table of Contents Introduction
Discussion
Conclusion
Works Cited
Introduction International alliances involves close association of countries or states which is normally created with an aim to integrate and develop common goals such as trade, peace or even improve issues of national security (Worldbank.com).
State-building on the other hand is a concept that “describes the construction of a functioning state” (Worldbank.com). This approach of developing countries has been used historically in many countries in many States in Western Europe especially during the nineteenth century (Worldbank.com).
These two concepts are interconnected in that an association between a country and other countries what is commonly known as international alliance usually creates a dilemma in trying to solve the notion of state-building. The following discussion will analyze these two concepts in Afghanistan country which happens to be our case of focus in this paper.
Discussion Afghanistan as a country has been under a crisis of war for a period of about two decades which ended shortly after the fall of a rebel group popularly known as the Taliban. Notably, a big population of the Afghanistan citizen in fact over one million civilians died during the war in addition to other factors that have been affecting the countries since then (Worldbank.com).
Besides, Afghanistan has over the years been affected by disasters such as famine that affected the agriculture sector that caused severe personal loss and loss of life. In addition to this, there was the problem with mine explosions that were scattered everywhere which caused great damage to roads and irrigation canals consequently causing human displacement for million of the Afghanistan population and destroying the infrastructure (Worldbank.com).
As a result of this crisis, Afghanistan became temporary non-functional since the administrative system was paralyzed in terms of “policy making, service delivery and revenue collection” (Worldbank.com). Because of these challenges, the citizens and the government of Afghanistan together with other countries made a commitment to make the necessary changes in order to rebuild Afghanistan State with the help of US government which facilitated the reconstruction of the country by funding it (Worldbank.com).
Since then, there have been a lot of attempts to restore the Afghanistan State to its original form after the war crisis. With a lot of structures having been destroyed, the post-war reconstruction program was launched in 2001 funded by the US government that offered international assistance to the Afghanistan State because it was economically unable to rebuild itself especially due to international sanctions that it was also facing at the time (Worldbank.com).
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More To some extent there has been some progress of state-building in Afghanistan but as a result of numerous challenges, the program has deteriorated over years. The major challenges facing Afghanistan are issue to do with poor governance, corruption, lack of accountability and insecurity poor security (Hdr.undp.org).
Conclusion State building as a program should be addressed with a lot of concern putting into consideration all the challenges that might arise during its implementation. Mostly, there is conflict of ideas between the stakeholders and this poses many challenges to successes of such a project. Besides, any concerned government should intervene in order to address issues of accountability or transparency which usually hampers the success of the State building process; this is why a State cannot be build.
Works Cited Worldbank.com. “Afghanistan: Supporting State-building and Development, 2011.” Web..
Worldbank.com. “Dilemmas of state building in Afghanistan, 2011. Web.
Hdr.undp.org. “State building and human development, 2010.” Web.
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History and Social Context of the Author Essay best college essay help
John Maxwell Coetzee, a renowned writer and academic from South Africa, has recently moved to Australia where he has become a citizen. His background and experiences both in South Africa and outside have influenced greatly on the themes that he chooses to portray in all his literary works. For instance, in his narrative ‘Disgrace’, Coetzee seems inspired by the political situation in his home country South Africa with the happenings in the novel reflecting those of the post- apartheid South Africa.
The historical context of his motherland as well as his own experiences significantly influences the themes, characters and the writing style that he adopts in his works. The unfolds Coetzee’s background as reflected in the novel ‘Disgrace’ with the intention of determining its contribution to the account he presents in the novel.
Coetzee came into the international limelight through his constant criticism of the US policy in Vietnam thus explaining the candid manner in which the post apartheid South Africa stands out in the novel. In the account, Coetzee enters the mind of his main character, the twice-divorced scholar, David Lurie, telling the story of the experiences that the character goes through.
David Lurie, as portrayed by Coetzee struggles with the societal impediments at the expense of the fulfillment of his personal sexual desires. Upon his firing from his job as a professor in Cape Town, he instead decides to go and live with his daughter, a Romantic literature specialist, in Salem. A worse experience enters when violence attacks and Lucy Lurie, the daughter, is gang-raped by three black men.
The crime and poverty depicted in this novel reflect the real incidences of post apartheid South Africa with the rates doubling each passing day. Murders and carjacking rates increased especially during the years after Nelson Mandela became the president. This depicts the manner of reception of the novel by the South African government: It suffered a good deal of criticism based on its portrayal of the country as in a pessimistic condition.
The writing style that Coetzee uses in this novel is that of third person narration. He does this deliberately with the intention of portraying fine details as the style gives him the chance to present not only Lurie’s spoken words but also his thoughts.
With the style, Coetzee stands a good position to depict clearly the context of the story, which seems inspired by his history while in South Africa. Since Lurie’s experiences, passions, desires and discourse guide the audience into understanding the conditions as they stood then, Coetzee’s input appears clear in each one of them.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More The characters that Coetzee creates in this novel seem inspired by the conditions that he feels make sense to him. For instance, the main character David Lurie in this novel stands as a university Professor the same as Coetzee himself. This shows how Coetzee tells the story in the context that he understands best. This character’s discourse is scholarly and he is generally portrayed as a thinking character.
To some extent, the reader can argue that Coetzee gets the chance to tell his own story through the character of David Lurie. The claim stands out through certain events that shape the character’s life.
For instance, despite his specialty being in Romantic poetry in the university where he teaches, he receives a demotion into a Communications professor with only one elective course to teach per semester because of the demolition of his department of modern languages based on the policies issued by the government to rationalize educational resources.
This indicates the beginning of the professor’s displacement long before he chooses to go to exile in Salem. Associating the experiences of Lurie to his general life reveals his spending of most of his career years teaching in alien countries rather than his own and later his adoption of a new nationality. The professor David Lurie has experienced divorce two times, a case that also rhymes with the life of Coetzee.
The historical racial tensions that dominated the post apartheid South Africa form a very important discussion in this novel. However, despite his absence at that particular time of happening of these injustices, the experiences of the whites in the hands of black criminals was indescribable.
Considering that Coetzee had relatives back in South Africa, he constantly followed the social and political happenings in South Africa from abroad. In the novel, Lurie’s daughter has to give up her sexual freedom to pay the price of owning property in her own country. Lurie says that it was “…a risk to own anything: a car, a pair of shoes, and a packet of cigarettes. Not enough to go around, not enough cars, shoes, cigarettes” (Coetzee 245).
Her sexual orientation provides the evidence that Coetzee creates characters to represent highly sensitive matters such as human rights. He in fact stands out as a strong crusader of human rights and equality regardless of the person’s ethnicity, sexual orientation or political ideologies.
We will write a custom Essay on History and Social Context of the Author specifically for you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Having a clear knowledge of the background of Coetzee is inevitable when one wants to understand the book, which reflects his experiences and ideologies. This stands out through his style of writing, the characters that he creates in the book and through the themes that he tackles.
Works Cited Coetzee, John. Disgrace. London: Secker
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The Republic Concept Essay essay help: essay help
A republic is a nationhood that does not observe direct nevertheless it has a structure of administration in which some significant members of the group retain the supreme control over the government. They make decisions in reference to established law other than the head of states.
“The word republic is derived from a Latin phrase, ‘res publica,’ which means public affairs”[1]. Often a republic is seen as a sovereign state, though this should not be mistaken with other sub-national units that are described as to as a republic, or that have government that is described as “republican” in form[2].
For example, Article IV of the Constitution of the United States “guarantees to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government. The Soviet Union was a single state made up of discrete and ostensibly sovereign Soviet Socialist Republics”[3]. In many contexts, the term republic normally refers to a system of government that gets its powers from the governed rather than from default or excessive means, for instance inheritance or divine right.[4]
“Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu supported the idea of a republic, and recommended on the city-states of Greece as models”[5] Nonetheless, both also opined that a nation state like France, with a population of 20 million, was impractical to be administered as a republic. “Rousseau explained his ideal political structure of small autonomous communes, however Montesquieu noted that a city state was principally a republic, but held that a partial monarchy was more suited for to a large nation.”[6]
In 1995, a Princeton survey research association conducted an interview randomly to adults where people were asked how much they trusted their government to do the right thing, 21 percent said most of the time, 71 percent said only on sometimes. They were again asked the same question about their state government the result were slightly better since 30 percent said most of the time while 62 percent said only sometimes[7].
From these results we can conclude that the American people believe that their government is not doing the right thing in many of actions it takes. We know that nobody is perfect in this world but this numbers are so high resulting into some questions that needs answers such as, What caused this problem in the United States, what is the extend of this problem in our country, and is this distrust of our government even a serious problem at all?[8]
The answer to these questions cannot be easily found reason being there is no exact cause of the problem that can be pinpointed though people claim that it is as a result of poor leadership. Two of the biggest drops in the public’s confidence in the government occurred in 1964, during the bombing of Vietnam, and in 1972 during Watergate (Nye) during the time President Johnson and President Nixon were in power.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More Although these two events may have contributed to the distrust of the American government, it does not necessarily mean that they are fully responsible to what is happened[9]. This happened 20 years ago and cannot be the cause of distrust to date because for one reason, the act of mistrust of the government has been growing consistently and cannot be compared to before. Therefore the problem cannot be pegged to the two leaders but the entire American political leaders.[10]
Another survey was done in a 1995 where 35 percent of the respondents viewed the main reason why they did not trust the federal government is that politicians lack honesty and integrity another 45 percent said politicians are not concerned with the interests and well-being of the people. This results clearly show that there is no way people can trust there government as a whole if they do not trust those who make up the government.
To know how wide spread the problem of distrust is in the American government ABC News polling organization did seven different polls between 1985-1987 asking, “How much of the time do you trust the government in Washington to do what is right?” Between 56-62 percent said sometimes or never.[11] In 1994, polls results showed that 15 percent of the American public had confidence in the federal government and only 30 percent had confidence in their state and local government.
Distrust in United States government is not mainly from a small segment of people mainly the poor as many people think because from the research conducted we can see that Americans have very little trust in their political leaders.[12]
It is clear distrust of the government by the people and this poses serious problems when it comes to governance and cooperation. Many people state that the cynicism and distrust in America are not a problem at all.
People say that mistrust of government has been around since the country’s beginning and is nothing to worry about they farther believe that America was founded with a mistrust of government that is king George of England.
Another opinion is that people value the constitution so much even though they do not trust the every day activities of the government, 80% of Americans believe United States as the best place in the world to live and 19% say that they like the democratic system of government. Thy e fact that not all the Americans actions are mistrusted gives hope to the citizens to gain back trust in there government.[13]
We will write a custom Essay on The Republic Concept specifically for you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The majority of people do not trust their government and its causes are varied. This trend, though it can be related to the type of politicians that are being elected in the country and the people’s feelings towards those officials.
Although some do not believe it is really a problem, it would be nice to be able to place some faith and trust is the people who lead and direct this country. It appears that the only way to do that is to elect individual people that we can trust and the only way to accomplish that is to become educated on the issues and vote.[14][15]
Works Cited Adams, Paul. “Republicanism in Political Rhetoric Before 1776.” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 85, No. 3 (Sep., 1970): pp. 397–421. Print.
Anderson, Lisa. “Absolutism and the Resilience of Monarchy in the Middle East.” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 106, No. 1 (Spring, 1991): pp. 1–15. Print.
Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967.
Everdell, William. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Print.
Everdell, William. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Print.
Finer, Samuel. The History of Government from the Earliest Times. Oxford University Press, 1999. Print.
Not sure if you can write a paper on The Republic Concept by yourself? We can help you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Gelderen, Martin
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Environmental Science: “Designing Cities for People” by Lester Brown Reflective Essay college admissions essay help: college admissions essay help
The Plan B given by Lester Brown reaches its climax in chapter six of the text entitled “Designing Cities for People’. In this chapter, Brown talks about the different alternatives that cities have adopted to make the environment safe and conducive for human existence. Most city designs done earlier on had adopted plans, which aimed at ensuring mobility by designing them to accommodate as many cars as possible.
These designs however come to fail considering the doubling fact of the ownership of cars each passing day as the population increases and the designs remaining as they are. The presence of the cars therefore contributes towards immobility rather than enhancing the expected mobility.
The chapter “Designing Cities for People” explores the different alternatives employed by major city administrators to ensure that the decongestion of cities as well as the curbing of pollution and ultimately giving the health of the city residents a priority. The most innovative alternative as far as I am concerned is the use of bicycles as a means of enhancing mobility.
Bicycles have helped decongest several cities considering that a number of bicycles can use a path or the space that only one vehicle can use. Another outstanding benefit of considering the bicycle as the most viable option in the quest for decongesting cities and making them conducive for human existence is that bicycles do not emit gases that can cause respiratory problems to people.
To curb the obesity pandemic and the early onset of diabetes in countries such as the US, the people need to consider the biking option with seriousness since it provides a good way of exercising.
The problem of settlements is another challenge that cities are facing more so those in developing countries. Considering that most people are leaving the rural areas in search of opportunities of good life in urban centers, the problem of rural-urban migration has greatly caught most city designers off guard.
Most of the people who come to the cities do so based on economic constraints that force them to squat in risky areas such as riverbanks and steep slopes, a thing that makes it impossible for city planners to provide them with basic social amenities. The most viable solution to this problem that authorities in developing countries should adopt is a system whereby they encourage people to live in the rural areas by making their lives comfortable while there.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More Through making social amenities cheap and easy to access for the people as well as employment opportunities, the rates that people will move with to urban centers will definitely be low making it easy to deal with the problem of emerging shanties and slums.
By adopting control measures such as those adopted by Enrique Peñalosa, the mayor of the city of Bogota, many problems that threaten the lives of innocent people in cities through pollution as well as the inconveniences caused by traffic jams can be completely dealt with.
One important thing that this mayor stands out for is his insistence on the importance of parks in cities. As he says, these amenities “are important for the physical and emotional health of a city”.
Many city planners are however failing to understand the magnitude of this statement in that many of them are changing the city parks into parking lots, interpreted as killing the cities emotionally as these places are important for they make the people who come to them and enjoy the tranquility feel equal as put forth by Peñalosa.
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Visiting the National Gallery of Art Descriptive Essay essay help online free
Introduction Since the very humble beginnings of human civilization man has had ways of expressing his feelings and emotions about others, his society, environments, and significant historical events like battles with other communities or immigration episodes as well as his normal and bizarre imaginations.
These ways range from music, literary works to creative works of art like paintings. For instance, during Stone Age period man did Rock Art whereby he painted on the walls of his cave dwellings the animals he hunted and tools that he was making among other thrilling experiences in his life and lives of his ancestors as he understood it from those who narrated it to him.
Art has been a major component of all human civilizations world over and has evolved alongside other aspects of our cultures to an extent that today the most talented creative artists like painters and musicians are celebrated individuals who hold esteemed social status envied by many. The purpose of this task is to discuss three works of art identified during my visit to the National Gallery of Art.
Themes in Works of Art Every human action is underpinned by a certain motive. In other words, whatever man engages in is fundamentally a means of expressing his thoughts, interests and aspirations. Arguably then, man’s historical and present tangible achievements is a manifestation of his thoughts and aspirations. Works of art is a perfect means through which man expresses his feelings, ideas and perceptions about every aspect of his life.
This fact explains why documented and well preserved works of art are reliable sources of information for historians and other scholars like anthropologists and artists seeking to understand certain aspects of peoples’ culture in the past. In a nut shell, all works of art are thematic in the sense that they have meaning which a keen observer can decipher as illustrated in the following works of art discussed in this task.
The Battle of La Hogue (1778)
Benjamin West painting titled The Battle of La Hogue is a classic piece of creativity. It was painted in 1778. The Battle of La Hogue is a historical painting. This painting is a depiction of the feud that ensued when Louis XIV of France attempted d to restore his fellow Catholic James II to the throne of England.
After nine years Benjamin West used his artistic prowess to give a picture of the patriotic scene that has been dismissed by critics as a mere propaganda. Thematically, this painting represents turbulent political and power happenings in Western European countries as well as the role that religion was playing in politics.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More Mortlake Terrace (1827)
Mortlake Terrace painting is an 1827 art work by Joseph Mallord William Turner. Mortlake Terrace painting is an environmental portrait. This painting portrays Mortlake Terrace which was situated next to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.
It is a perfect representation of British topography of the early 1880s.Thematically, this piece is a show of the artist feeling and perception of the changing British landscapes.
The Death of the Earl of Chatham (1779)
The Death of the Earl of Chatham was done by the Boston-based portraitist John Singleton Copley in 1779.This painting is a representation of the tragic death of William Pitt, the 1st Earl of Chatham on April 1778.In the middle of his speech during a discussion about colonial radicals, Pitt suffered from stroke and met his death one month later.
His death meant a lot because he was one of the leading British ambassadorial moderates during the important American War of independence. Thematically, it is a representation of politics of those time and those who were driving the political agendas of the day.
Conclusion Art is an important component of our culture which offers talented individuals a perfect means through which to manifest our feelings and emotions about all aspects of our life. It offers people an opportunity for people to portray their thoughts and aspirations as well as those of the early members of the society.
It captures perfectly our experiences and perceptions regarding everything that we encounter in our day to day activities Lazzari and Schlesier (2006).
Works Cited Lazzari, Margaret and Schlesier, Dona. Exploring art: a global, thematic approach. Belmont, CA: Thomson, 2006. Print.
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Cadbury and Kraft Merger Research Paper college admission essay help: college admission essay help
Table of Contents Introduction
Porters five force model
Communication
Balanced Score card approach (BSC)
Works Cited
Introduction Mergers and acquisitions are sometimes a worthy undertaking for businesses. When Kraft foods acquired Cadbury it became the worlds largest confectionary, food and beverage manufacture with operations in almost 160 countries of the world (Cadbury 33-41).
Mostly, business executives when formulating, implementing or monitoring strategies usually use the porter’s model to determine their business move so that they can move their business to industries that are highly attractive. It is with the same technique that Cadbury and Kraft use to make sure that every business move of theirs is justified and highly logical because it is dangerous to make business decisions that lack weight.
Once top managers land in the industries which seem most suitable it is up to use their management skills to ensure that they coordinate their business ambitions for other organizations with lower level managers through communication. Communication is therefore a very important part of business especially when companies are very large company’s operating in numerous countries.
When Kraft took over Cadburys for $ 19 billion it was clear that the top management of Kraft Foods had sufficient data indicating that the business move would be a lucrative venture that would take Kraft’s dominance in that industry to another new level (Lieberman
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The Process of “Thinking about Thinking” Expository Essay college admission essay help
Critical thinking is defined as the “intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action” (Criticalthinking.org, p. 1).
This definition comes from the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking and is the most comprehensive to date.
In simpler terms, critical thinking is usually defined as the process of “thinking about thinking”. This description means that critical thinking is the process of observing thinking, and trying to understand whether it is rational or fallacious.
Critical thinking has developed over the last three millennia through the endeavors of philosophers who, in an effort to determine whether claims to knowledge were credible, tried to investigate issues using logical consistency. This philosophical approach was especially common in ancient Greece where a philosophical school hitherto unsurpassed thrived for several centuries since ancient times.
The process of transferring rational thought from the hallowed halls of academia to the public realm and ordinary discussions was also greatly facilitated by the global explosion of universities over the last 100 years.
The greatest spur to critical thinking among the ordinary global populace was facilitated by American philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey, who introduced the branch of knowledge to American education in the early 1900s, “So faithfully did Dewey live up to his own philosophical creed that he became the guide, the mentor, and the conscience of the American people: it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that for a generation no major issue was clarified until Dewey had spoken” (Casil, 2006, p. 14).
Later, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) encouraged teaching of the subject in universities across the world, leading to increased adoption or rationalism among the global population.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More As a result, ordinary people being trained as professionals were inducted into the processes of rational reflection within their studies. This spread rationalism into the public domain in every nation that has a modicum of higher education.
Critical thinking involves a number of processes which can be briefly summarized as; accepting problems and seeking their solutions; seeking related information to possible solutions; appreciating existing assumptions and trying to expose all of them; identifying similarities or differences in arising propositions; drawing conclusions from the aforementioned related proposition; testing conclusions; and adapting thinking to the new knowledge.
A personal example of the application of critical thinking comes from my work in the media four years ago. A local Non-governmental organization (NGO) that was advocating for the legalization of abortion brought a statistical report to our newspaper in the hope that it would be serialized over a number of days. When the editors obtained the report they gave it to me since I am trained in statistical analysis.
Our stated problem was that illegal abortions were too many and thus justifying legalization of the process since “they are going to happen whether you like it or not”, they said. The assumption in this case was that the statistics were credible, and all we had to do was proceed with the serialization.
The comparable numbers that we could rely on were the birth and death rates of children in Kenya. If the statistics of the report were credible then what it meant was that Kenya had a negative population growth which the National Planning Ministry had discounted a few months earlier.
Our conclusion was that the report was either shoddily prepared or deliberately tampered with to misinform. As a result the newspaper became increasingly vigilant whenever such reports were passed on to us and to this day it rarely serializes such publications.
Critical thinking has been the most powerful force behind the adaptation of democracy in most countries across the world over the last 70 years. The recognition that dictatorship, the loss of freedom, poverty, ignorance, and disease go hand-in-hand with irrationalism has facilitated the birth of an age of freedoms and development unparalleled in the history of mankind.
We will write a custom Essay on The Process of “Thinking about Thinking” specifically for you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The trickle-down effect of dialogue, which is entirely based on rational thought, has precipitated an improvement in quality of life never seen before. Knowledge, science and technology have spread far and wide as humanity abandons superstition and unscientific thinking for reason
Critical thinking now faces a bright future with more and more swathes of humanity embracing its tenets. In the Middle-East, ordinary citizens in three different countries took to the streets in peaceful protests and ejected their long-serving dictator rulers, heralding a new era of freedom, democracy, dialogue, and hopefully, good governance.
Elsewhere, scientists are busy seeking solutions to numerous global problems such as disease, scarcity of energy, famine, drought and many other challenges. All these efforts are the result of a new rational thought that has been triggered by the adoption of critical thinking processes.
Reference List Casil, A. S. (2006). John Dewey: The Founder of American Liberalism. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.
Criticalthinking.org. (n.d.). Defining Critical Thinking. Retrieved from Critical Thinking Community: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766
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