Waste Management individual coursework

Brief overview The modern day industrial societies are concerned with environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources. A lot of waste is generated by businesses, households and the construction industry globally on daily basis. Engineering has a role in designing ways of effectively managing waste through various means like green technology and exploiting waste to produce alternative sources of energy (Worrell & Vesilind, 2012, p. 71). The management of waste through proper disposal or recycling is important in protecting the environment. Engineering has a great role in ensuring sustainable use of natural resources and environmental protection. Mechanical engineers are actively engaged with how the society uses natural resources. It discovers, designs, maintains, improves and repairs machineries like cars, airplanes and industrial equipment which human beings depend on for their daily lives (Wang & Koh 2010, p. 49). In the future, mechanical engineering will deliver solutions that will sustain and protect the existence of man on the planet. There are two major ways in which engineering can help in mitigating the problem of waste management which are preventing waste in engineering and management of waste. The next section will look at the two methods, their advantages, disadvantages and cases where they have been used successfully. Waste prevention (Designing out waste in mechanical engineering) Green manufacturing is an emerging concept in engineering that aims to achieve sustainable development in the manufacturing industry. Dornfeld (2010, p. 56) defines green manufacturing as the creation of manufactured products that use processes that conserve energy and natural resources, are non-polluting and are economically safe and sound for users. There is an increasing need for mechanical engineers and engineering in general to innovate new ways of creating products that minimise waste of resources. Rynn (2010, p. 87) asserts that for mechanical engineering to b e able to design products that are friendly to the environment, issues of sustainability should be part of all the decision making processes in engineering. This covers all the steps from product design to its end life and after that the needed efforts in regaining its value rather than disposal. The main objective for green manufacturing is to produce products that can be remanufactured, recycled or reused. As such green manufacturing process reduces the environmental impact of a manufacturing process than it was in the past. Green manufacturing systems include measures to reduce the volume of hazardous waste produced, change the energy mix to include the use of more renewable resources and cut down the volume of coolant consumed in the manufacturing process. The other measure that reduces waste of resources is lean manufacturing which has been successfully used by Toyota in its manufacturing plants. The lean manufacturing system as used by Toyota managed to reduce seven types of w astes in the company’s manufacturing process. Toyota reduced overproduction, inventory, transportation, motion, over processing, defects and waiting times (International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Green Manufacturing & Li 2010, p. 77). Most of these wastes are related to the desire to minimise the environmental impacts of the manufacturing process. For instance, a reduction in the waiting times saved company resources like lighting and air conditioning. Many machines used in the production process consume a lot of energy even when not processing any products. As such the idle time used for allowing the smooth flow of products wastes a lot of energy. The lean manufacturing processes, initiatives, strategies and techniques are advantageous in terms of reducing operational costs and also aim at boosting, restoring and significantly improving organisational competitiveness. Lean manufacturing reduces the manufacturing time by eliminating the wastes in the manufactur ing process. A reduction in manufacturing time leads to a subsequent reduction in operational costs in the form of labour, energy and other utilities. In so doing, it helps organisations in retaining, maintaining and significantly increasing their revenues, widening their margins and generation of savings from lowering costs. Lean manufacturing helps companies in saving space which raises the levels of efficiency and savings. According to Davim (2013, p.64), lean manufacturing has a potential of increasing the productivity of a company by approximately 75% to 125%. This is because the elimination of wastes and any other unnecessary practices at the workplace assists the employees to work without distractions and in so doing maximise output. The elimination and reduction of waste in the production process helps the companies in increasing earnings and profits by reducing wasteful use of resources. In addition to this, the elimination of unnecessary tasks and job positions helps compa nies in reducing labour expenses and in return increase their earnings (Skrabec 2013, p. 33). Despite the aforementioned benefits that come with lean manufacturing, there are various barriers that prevent organisations from fully implementing it in their manufacturing processes. The capital cost requirements of emission control and waste management are extremely high with long payback period (Worrell & Vesilind, 2012, p. 88). This makes it very difficult for most companies as this translates into higher product prices which would drive away potential customers. In other instances the capital input exceeds the direct economic gains thus frustrating the successful implementation of green manufacturing. The other barrier is that the manufacturing industry relies on certain technologies and processes that may cause undesirable effects but cannot be ignored like the volatile organic compound used in automotive manufacturing. Waste management (use of recycling and reuse) Waste management entails reducing the amount of waste that the manufacturing industry disposes on the environment (Ku?hnle 2010, p. 96). In reusing and recycling of waste products, the manufacturing industry reuses old or waste products to produce new products. Waste management reduces environmental pollution, energy usage, air pollution, water pollution and consumption of fresh raw materials by reducing the reliance on conventional waste disposal (Hesselbach & Herrmann 2011, p. 54). The manufacturing firms should therefore aim at reducing waste at each and every phase of the production process. The first step is to identify the areas where waste is high in the manufacturing process and then find out what needs to be recycled using cost benefit analysis. Nikon has successfully managed to do this and is recycling its wastes to produce new products. Recycling of old products is important because it helps in environmental conservation. Reusing of resources relaxes the strain placed on n atural resources which are increasingly getting depleted. The other advantage of recycling old products is that it reduces energy consumption (Shina 2008, p. 65). The manufacturing process uses large amounts of energy in processing the raw materials into finished products. Recycling helps the manufacturing companies in minimising energy consumption which is important for massive production like refining and mining. In addition to this, it also makes the production process effective in terms of cost which raises the margins for the manufacturers (Association for Manufacturing Excellence 2008, p. 162). Although product recycling is very beneficial to the manufacturers, there are some barriers that hamper the successful implementation of recycling old products in the manufacturing process. The first barrier is that the recycling process is not always cost effective because at times companies are forced to open up new factories thus raising their operational costs (Wang et al 2011, p. 2 2). A new factory by itself may even cause more pollution in terms of transportation, cleaning and storage. Other than operational challenges, the other major limitation of recycling is that the recycled products are not always as durable as the original products. Products made from trashed waste are cheap and less durable and may not generate sustainable revenue for organisations like other products. Key lessons learnt and how these can be used to improve the future Both lean manufacturing and waste reuse are important in reducing wastes that emanate from the manufacturing processes. Lean manufacturing should be used in eliminating wastages in the production process in order to ensure that organisations minimise operational costs. However, the findings reveal that both methods should be implemented in the manufacturing process in order to improve the waste management in mechanical engineering. Key conclusions and recommendations Waste management should be included in all the stages of the manufacturing process in order to ensure sustainability in engineering. Owing to the fact that the quality of recycled products is often lower than the other original products, it is recommendable to embrace lean manufacturing in order to ensure that wastages are eliminated in the production process. References Association for Manufacturing Excellence (U.S.) (2008). Green manufacturing: Case studies in lean and sustainability. New York: Productivity Press. Davim, J. P. (2013). Green manufacturing processes and systems. Heidelberg: Springer. Dornfeld, D. (2010). Green Manufacturing: Fundamentals and Applications. Berlin: Springer US. Hesselbach, J., & Herrmann, C. (2011). Glocalized Solutions for Sustainability in Manufacturing: Proceedings of the 18th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering, Technische Universita?t Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany, May 2nd – 4th, 2011. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Green Manufacturing, & Li, S. (2010). Mechanical engineering and green manufacturing: Selected, peer reviewed papers from the International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Green Manufacturing (MEGM) 2010, November 19-22, 2010, in Xiangtan, China. Stafa-Zurich: TTP, Trans Tech Publications. Ku?hnle, H. (2010). Distributed manufacturing: Paradigm, concepts, solutions and examples. London: Springer. Rynn, J. (2010). Manufacturing green prosperity: The power to rebuild the American middle class. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger. Shina, S. G. (2008). Green electronics design and manufacturing: Implementing lead-free and RoHS-compliant global products. New York: McGraw-Hill. Skrabec, Q. R. (2013). The green vision of Henry Ford and George Washington Carver: Two collaborators in the cause of clean industry. New York: Productivity Press. Wang, L., & Koh, S. C. L. (2010). Enterprise networks and logistics for agile manufacturing. London: Springer. Wang, L., Ng, A. H. C., Deb, K., & SpringerLink (2011). Multi-objective evolutionary optimisation for product design and manufacturing. London: Springer. Worrell, W. A., & Vesilind, P. A. (2012). Solid waste engineering. Australia: Cengage Learning.

Effects of Media Mass Worksheet Essay

What were the major developments in the evolution of mass media during the 20th century?Communication to the public in the past has evolved through the 20th century through several stages as stated on the table chart shown on page 27 of Chapter 1 – Mass Media. It shows the evolution of mass media through different communication stages. Starting with oral/manuscript, to print and electronic and currently electronically to digitally. These different variances also determined which general public was being reached, the information that was being sent out and the amount of time to receive the information. Today in the 20th century, media can be reached be the masses, people can access the news and media through their televisions, internet, cell phones, social media networks and still newspapers. With the recent turn to the digital age of media coverage you are able to reach wide range of viewers and they are able to access up to date news and important information in a second. This tool can be helpful in emergency situations but can also cause may conflicts in opinions and misleading information. With the digital age and social networks, it allows everyone access to speak their mind, not being just a news-anchor or report from the past and present. There are many social and blogging sites that allow you to voice anything you wish. Allowing someone to rant or rave, demonstrate fact or fiction all at their finger- tips. Although this can be accessed immediately, some information may be basis or misleading, so the general public still will need to take caution when reading news and updates. How did each development influence American culture?During each stage change through the 20th century, it had also changed the taste and preferences of  the general public. Now with access to a wide range of media outlets and networks, common everyday people were turning into overnight celebrities and reality stars. The general public was able to access other prospects, parodies, and creative media outlets rather than just the few the public was limited to in the past. With the media at your fingertips it is hard to not communicate every chance you get. Checking email, having a cell phone that you can make telephone calls while traveling to help keep in touch with family also helps. This feature helped keep families closer and as a nation a tighter community to all events, rather than having to wait days or even months to receive important information. As through each development the cultures changed as described and pictured on Figure 1.2 – Culture as a Skyscraper. Going from the elite and selected few now there are many new forms of expression that can be found online through the internet. I do agree with the diagram and do see how the general public tastes have changed and even lowered, but living in the United States of America, has given each individual the right to freedom of speech and lucky for them others like what they have to say or do, which through blogging, tweeting or Facebook posts can help with popularity and a growing sensation.

Internation Finance Essay

What was Nick Leeson’s strategy to earn trading profits on derivatives? Leeson was trading derivatives contracts on the two exchanges that were, in some cases, of different types and, in some cases, in mismatched amounts. He was hoping making profits by selling put and call options on the same underlying financial instrument, the Nikkei 225 Index. 2) What went wrong that caused his strategy to fail? He thought as the Nikkei was already low that it could not plummeted lower but due to among other reason, an earthquake and the volatility of the market it went even lower, at that time nick was already â€Å"all in â€Å" and could not correct his position. Also at a certain point he had contracted a lot of futures without enough options to hedge his position which put him or in this case the bank money at high risks. 3) Why did Nick Leeson establish a bogus error account (88888) when a legitimate account already existed? He created this account to be able to perform is unauthorized trading and hide his lost from Barings as this account was not shown on the statements transmitted to London. 4) Why did Barings and its auditors not discover that the error account was used by Leeson for unauthorised trading? The error account had been presenting by Leeson as a customer account, that’s why his activities were unknown for quite a long time. 5) Why did none of the regulatory authorities in Singapore, Japan, and the United kingdom discover the true use of the error account? Fist of all because Nick Leeson was in charge of the back office, letting him he possible to hide easily what he wanted. Also as we said above this account was represented as a customer account and differently to each group. 6) Why was Barings Bank willing to transfer large cash sums to Barings Futures Singapore? As Leeson lost money, he had to pay those losses to SIMEX in the form of margin. By falsifying accounts and making various misrepresentations, he was able to secure funding from various companies within the Barings organization and from client accounts. For example, he claimed that he needed funds to make margin payments on behalf of BSS clients. Therefore Barings believed that they were not exposed to any looses as Leeson claimed that he was executing purchase orders on behalf of clients 7) Why did the attempt by the bank of England to organize a bailout for Barings fail? No one wanted to assume to take the additional risk concerning the additional looses that were not yet determined. 8) Suggest regulatory and management reforms that might prevent a future debacle of the type that bankrupted Barings. -Separate trading, accounting and settlement activities. -More employees supervision -Clear reporting line -Consolidation of the activities of every branch.

Summarize employment, labor, and anti-discrimination law Essay

Summarize employment, labor, and anti-discrimination law - Essay Example It’s a less favorable treatment, direct or indirect, on grounds of color, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin† (Whincup, 1998). Sam in the above case appears to be a casualty of such discrimination. In this discussion it will be important to recognize the elements of the alleged offence as well as the liability of the parties with special regard on the applicable regimes of law. i â€Å"The complainant must fall within the class protected by law† (Emerson, 2009). For instance, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, language, political or other opinion, origin, color, property, birth or other status. In this regard, Sam falls within groups of persons discriminated on the basis of race and/or color. ii The party must have suffered as a result of such discrimination. In this case Sam could not secure a promotion despite the fact that he possessed the requisite qualification. The complainant must suffer a disparate impact. â€Å"A disparate impact results from certain employer practices or procedures that though not discriminatory on their face, have a discriminatory effect† (Miller, 2011). iii A party must also establish that there is a connection between the protected status and the suffering occasioned. This can be ascertained from the words used by the interviewer that Sam did not receive the promotion because the interviewer thought whites are lazy. This is a generalized discriminatory opinion. iv The party who has suffered must also prove that another party with either similar or lower qualifications was favored at his expense. It’s most likely that the interviewer gave the promotion opportunity to another person who according to him was not lazy. From this discussion, it is noteworthy that the employer is liable since in any company, an interviewer to any job

Business organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business organisation - Essay Example As such a firm’s response to market changes is structured by its form of capitalism, which has its own features like particular management structure, systems, culture, and legal governing bodies. Thus, success and failure of an enterprise depends on its investment strategy in different system structures and personnel. Accordingly, the British SMEs follow the personal form of capitalism. It is significant to verify how this personal form of capitalism has helped the British SMEs to flourish. Let’s consider some stats on British SMEs in this regard (Chandler [1990]. According to BT Business special report by Bourne (July 2007), importance of small businesses in British economy can be judged from the number of enterprises in the UK, which is 4.3 million, 99.3% of which have less than 50 employees on their roll. Small businesses generate about 10.3 million jobs in the UK, which is 46.8% of all jobs. Turnover of 36.4% UK businesses is above  £800 billion annually. Technology is a big reason according to BT Business report in the expansion in SME’s and it is an add-on to the smaller businesses tradition of collectively working by building further on personal relationships. By getting their business online, SMEs are trying to scale the ladder of progress. Some stats to consider: 60% businesses have online presence, 2% use the online medium for advertisement, 9% are listed on other websites, 8% have a totally dedicated online strategy and 21% have no web presence. About three-quarters of small businesses (74%) view the internet as an important tool in achieving their business targets in the approaching 5 years and 63% businesses assume that they can better compete with bigger players and varied markets through internet. Personal capital being the plus factor of British businesses, they work in the direction of personal relationship and winning the faith of their customers,

Rabies (lyssavirus ) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Rabies (lyssavirus ) - Research Paper Example Conclusive steps have been presented within the research on how to avert the effects of the disease, and possibly reduce its impact in the human and animal kingdom. Several diseases have come to the world today. Diseases vary from those that attack human beings, those that attack animals, and those that attack both humans or mammals and non-mammal animals. Rabies (lyssavirus) is one of the most feared diseases in the world considering the nature in which it has killed many people in the world today. Any person who has encountered the effects of Rabies (lyssavirus) can explain better on how the disease is a danger to the existence of all mammals in the world. Rabies (lyssavirus) causes an inflammation of the brain among all the mammals or warm-blooded animals. The diseases have a longer period between contraction and occurrence of the first signs and symptoms. The experimental time between infection and demonstration of the symptoms is between one week and to more than one year. This time is dependent on how long the virus will have to travel before it reaches the central nervous system. Early symptoms of the disease include tingling and fever. One of the common characteristics of Rabies (lyssavirus) in warm-blooded animals is violent movement and behavior. There is also a common uncontrolled behavior and excitement. Fear of water is common among those infected. Some parts of the body become hard to move among people, with confusion and loss of consciousness. Death is normally very near the moment such symptoms have started appearing (Kienzle et, al 78). There are common methods through which this disease is spread among humans, and from one animal to another. The common ones, that transcend both types of living things is a scratch or bite. The virus is transmitted by saliva. In most cases, that is common in the world, dog bite with an

A Critique on the Kyoto Protocols Research Paper

A Critique on the Kyoto Protocols - Research Paper Example In the discourse, global warming was specifically defined as â€Å"climate change that causes an increase in the average temperature of the lower atmosphere.   Global warming can have many different causes, but it is most commonly associated with human interference, specifically the release of excessive amounts of greenhouse gases† (ibid.). With the alarming levels of greenhouse gases continuing to increase at an unprecedented pace, scientists all over the world drastically made efforts to inform the international organizations in charge of environmental protection. An international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) deemed it of primary importance to address global warming issues through its governance and with the assistance of another international agreement, the Kyoto Protocol. According to the official website of UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol â€Å"sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These amount to an average of five percent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012† (UNFCCC, 2010, par. 1). In this regard, the essay aims to proffer one’s personal opinion as to  what world leaders and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) should agree on. Likewise, the essay seeks to address the following concerns, to wit: (1) is there a solution that they should commit to? If so, what is it? If not, then what should they do? (2) Why haven't the Kyoto Protocols worked? What has not worked and why? What has worked and why? (3) What should be the role of the US? And (4) what should be the role of China?   Diverse articles and publications on UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol reveal that their primary thrust is â€Å"to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will  prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.  

Pepsi Corporation and Its Subsidiaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Pepsi Corporation and Its Subsidiaries - Essay Example This made a great impact on the sales as it greatly increased more than its competitors such as Coca-Cola. In the year1940, sugar prices hiked and lead to Pepsi-Cola to drop from 23% to 16% market share. Alfred N. Steele, a former marketing executive with Coca-Cola Company, became President in 1949 and he tagged along 15 other former Coke managers. They came up with a campaign aimed at rejuvenating the company. He expanded the Vice President’s power and set aside $38 million for the purchase of new facilities and plants. He re-standardized the Pepsi-Cola’s taste, revitalized franchising agreements and launched an advertising campaign. All these changes made the image of Pepsi to be a fun, glamorous product from its low-cost portrait. In 1963, Donald M. Kendall took the oath of office after Steele’s death and under him, five policies were created; adverts to be carried out in a big and unpredictable way, expand the soft drink to new territories, come up with innovative packaging, to take Pepsi-Cola to the overseas and diversity through acquisition. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 when Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay Inc. merged. This was the company’s first move in diversification. (Fortune p. 148) From the Frico-Lay Inc.’s merge, PepsiCo continued with its acquisition policy. In 1968, North America Van Lines was acquitted. Later on in1970, Wilson Sporting Goods was added to the acquitted list. Lee waay Motor Freight was acquired in 1976 and the following year Pizza hut was acquired. In 1978, Taco Bell was acquired than in 1982 and 1986, La Petite Boulangerie and Kentucky Fried Chicken were acquired. However, PepsiCo had no managerial expertise in running a business that was not associated with beverages or food. This later led to Kendall selling van line, motor freight and sporting business. In 1986, D. Wayne Calloway succeeded Kendall. Calloway had previously held 9 positions with PepsiCo and played a major role in the success of Frito-Lay.  

Strategic Leadership Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Strategic Leadership - Coursework Example e the resources of the company are correctly and effectively being used and activities are being correctly and accurately being reported (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2012). Some of the examples of these controls include budgets, bank reconciliations, cross segregation of duties e.g. for book-keeper posting cash and the receiver of mails, etc. Therefore, from the definitions and examples above, it is evident one major difference between the two is that, strategic controls affect the whole company activities (internal and external) while financial control focus on the internal environment more specifically, the financial resources of the company (Bert, n.d.). It is important to note that a leader’s influence can only be felt within the organization if such a leader behaves ethically. Therefore, given that the human capital play a significant role in determining the company’s success, then there is need for me as a manager responsible for developing and training employees to behave ethically in order to cultivate a better culture in the subordinates. Moreover, I believe that my position is in tandem with many strategic leaders because of the changing workplace environment due diversity in culture, attitude and work ethics. Therefore, to be able to retain better and efficient talent within the organization, many strategic leaders have started investing huge resources in developing and nurturing the talent of subordinates by ensuring that they behave ethically to be able to exercise maximum influence on the

Health promotion strategy for asthmatic children Essay

Health promotion strategy for asthmatic children - Essay Example 3). The scope of this paper is to discuss the pathophysiology of asthma in children regardless of their location, the psychosocial and cultural impact upon both the children themselves as well as caregivers, analyze the nurse's role in promoting self management, discuss the health promotion strategies of both Taiwan and the UK while applying them to patient needs and, finally, to provide an overview of the pharmacological agents available for treatment. Although they have different approaches, both Taiwan and the UK have workable health promotion strategies to assist asthmatic children. Breathing is a process that most people take for granted; airway passages automatically carry air into our lungs where blood is oxygenated and, in a normal person, this process is only challenged under acute circumstances like smoke inhalation (Clark, 2003, p. 44). Asthma, however, "is a condition involving the branches (bronchioles) of the bronchial tree...in asthma, these bronchioles become narrowed for many reasons" (Lieberman, 1999, p. 10), making breathing something that cannot be taken for granted. Asthmatics have airways that are hyperreactive, and become inflamed in response to: ..seemingly modest irritants. ... The linings of the airways swell, excessive amounts of mucus are produced, and the smooth muscle tissue of the airways tightens or constricts (Clark, 2003, p. 44). Whether they reside in Asia or Europe, these characteristics in asthmatic children are the same. Accordingly, when assessing, planning and evaluating the care of the asthmatic child, the nurse must be especially aware of these conditions because the constriction of the circular muscles surrounding the bronchial tube can happen very quickly and, in severe cases, cause asphyxiation. Assessment should be based upon symptomatic presentation and observable behaviors of the child, paying particular attention to excess mucus production which con-tributes to wheezing and difficulty in breathing. Planning and evaluation of the care for the child should include not only an awareness of the generalities, but also any specific allergens or other causative agents that aggravate an asthmatic response. Since asthma is chronic condition, the bronchial tube wall can thicken over time, and aggravated edema of the lining can ultimately lead to fibrosis and tissue destruction (Lieberman, 1999, p. 12). A ccordingly, the nurse must be "alert to the early signs of asthma and have a definite medical regimen to follow when an attack begins" (Zamula, 1990, p. 15). The key to addressing the physical condition of the child is having a plan in place; thus the need for a health promotion strategy. Psychosocial and Cultural Impact There is a significant impact on asthmatic children, as well as those who care for them, from psychological, social, and cultural points of view. Understanding

Exploring the Past Essay Example for Free

Exploring the Past Essay All of us have little secrets which we don’t want to share with others – things which we are ashamed of, things which are too intimate to tell or just things which happened in the past and we don’t want to tell them because they may hurt someone or they may cause troubles to us. I have the perfect example that exploring the past sometimes may be painful. I have a friend – Lora- which is very amorous and gives all of herself for her boyfriend. But her ex one didn’t understand that. Tom – her ex-boyfriend was very weird and he wanted to know all about Lora’s previous relationships. One day he asked her why she has broken up with her last boyfriend. At first she didn’t want to talk about that but he was urging her. So she told Tom that she has betrayed her last boyfriend and that was the reason of their parting. When she has been at a party at a friend of her she has got very drunk and a boy from the party has embraced the opportunity and got alone with her. In the morning she couldn’t remember anything but it has been too late. The lover had gone off. Her only fault was that she had drunk so much but she wasn’t guilty for the rest of the occurrence. But her then boyfriend didn’t understand that and he left her although she loved him very much. As for Tom he thought Lora could do that again. They have been together for two years and he chucked her up because she might repeat the same mistake again. It was such a stupid reason. She could correct her mistake but she loved Tom very much. He loved her too but feelings were obviously insufficient to keep them together. They both pined after each other for a long but they didn’t get together again. We can’t return the time and fix our mistakes, nobody can change the past. So it is extremely purposeless to explore the old times. It’s just a waste of time which we can spend in creating the future.

Preparing for the BMAT (biomedical admissions test) Essay Example for Free

Preparing for the BMAT (biomedical admissions test) Essay The biomedical admissions test was created to assist medical and veterinary schools in the admissions process. Some of the universities have much more applications than places and the majority of these applications are strong. The BMAT allows the universities to filter out the strongest candidates based on exam performance. The BMAT exam lasts for 2 hours and is split into 3 sections. The examination test date is 31st October 2008. This article will aim to provide you with some advice and give an overview to students who are planning on taking the BMAT exam. †¢ aptitude and skills (1 hour) †¢ scientific knowledge and application (30 minutes) †¢ writing task (30 minutes) The universities which currently require you to take the BMAT are: †¢ The university of Cambridge †¢ The university of Oxford †¢ Imperial college London †¢ The royal veterinary college †¢ University of central London Aptitude and Skills This section aims to explore your problem solving skills, your ability to understand and interpret data and your analytical skills. It is multiple choice for the most. This is the main reason as to why you should guess intelligently, take a look at the given data and take a guess. Practice is key in this section. For the problem solving element of this section look at all the given data carefully. Here are some techniques to help you. †¢ Divide and conquer technique: Break down any large chunks of data into smaller chunks, making the smaller problems which are easier to solve and then once you have solved them put the data back together and form an answer. †¢ Trial and error: Use different approaches to come to a final conclusion and answer. †¢ Working backwards: start with one of the possible answers and work backwards from it. †¢ Incubation: This is a last resort method which seldom works. Put all of the starting details relating to a problem in your mind picture them and then stop focusing on them and carry on with the examination (take an intelligent guess). Your subconscious mind may come up with an answer during the rest of the examination The understanding and interpreting subset involves using the information in front of you, do not make assumptions unless it is appropriate to the question. Analyse all data given carefully not leaving anything out. The data analysis subset involves extracting certain points out of the data and using these to make suitable conclusions, to give the answer. Depending on the starting data you are provided with this could include using statistical methods, interpreting graphs, curve fitting or even eradicating unwanted information and prioritising said data. Scientific knowledge and application This section attempts to make students utilise their scientific knowledge to help them answer questions. Again this section is multiple choice, so make informed guesses when there is a need using the data given. This section also requires practice and revision of scientific principles in order to score high marks, so we advise you do some revision covering the basics of biology, chemistry and physics. Writing task The writing task is asking you to create an essay from a given question. Here are some general pointers to help you achieve a great score. †¢ Read: Read articles, newspapers, journals and book. This will help you to gain an understanding of how to put forward logical thought and will also help improve your English writing skills †¢ Partake in group discussions/debate forums: By doing this you will develop the skills that allow you to analyse certain situations and statements, in addition to developing the ability to generate a fair argument looking at both sides of the situation and can help you produce good conclusion. †¢ Good structure: Ensure you have an introduction, Main body and conclusion. By having an assigned essay structure your ideas will flow more freely and will follow a logical order that makes it easier for the reader to understand. †¢ Snappy conclusion and introduction: the introduction and conclusion can be the sections of your essay that sell it to the reader. Because these are the first and last things they read and so will remain in their mind the longest. An extremely good conclusion will stick in the readers head and maybe it might help you to boost your mark. Conclusion One key aspect for revision regarding the UKCAT is to sit some mock BMAT examinations; this will allow you to get a feel for the allocated time slot for the exam and thus ensure that you can finish all the questions. Some final general pointers I would like to add are 1. Don’t waste too much time on one question. 2. Generate a short plan for your writing task, just pointing out what you are going to cover and in what order. 3. Make sure you get plenty of rest before the exam. 4. If you have time available at the end of the exam use it to check over your answers.

Micro-Strip Patch Antenna for Wideband Application

Micro-Strip Patch Antenna for Wideband Application Career Episode 1 CE 1.1 Introduction This career episode describes about the project which I have done during my vocational industrial training that was undertaken at Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited, India in 2009. The title of the project was Design and Fabrication of Micro-Strip Patch Antenna for Wideband Application. It was completed on time and I was awarded for it. This was my individual project. I was a Diploma student in Electronics Communication at Sarvoday Polytechnic Institute. CE 1.2 Background The project focuses on micro-strip antenna which are small in volumes, have great integration and are cost effective along with providing good performance. I tried to solve its disadvantage of having narrow impedance bandwidth, poor radiation efficiency and low gain. Recently the wideband technology is gaining consideration due to its communication systems that offer reduction in fading, high bandwidth, and low power needs. Wideband receivers make use of narrow band interference suppressions methods that will advance its performance range of communications and capacity. There is problem of jamming of receiver by these narrowband signals on the wideband systems. The reason for doing this project was its challenge to achieve multi frequency operations and enhancement of the bandwidth of wideband applications. And to solve the issue relating patch antenna having low gain and narrow bandwidth. And majorly to improve its capacity and range of communications. CE 1.3 Objective of project There are few methods that have been developed for enhancing bandwidth. They are: 1. by increasing thickness of substrate 2. by stacking different radiating elements of antenna vertically or laterally. 3. low dielectric permittivity 4. utilization of magnetic dielectric substrates. To form a thick substrate of low dielectric permittivity so that the bandwidth of printed patch increases. There was struggle with this approach for implementation of integrating antenna to other microwave circuits due to its large inductive image of input impedance of antenna and surface wave propagation. Bandwidth greater than 25% is achieved by loading of surface with the help of slots of appropriate shape. CE 1.4 My obligations As a team leader, I have many responsibilities and duties which I need to perform with honesty. Few of my duties were: To assign tasks to fellow team mates Perform research on related topics Design the hardware structure and finalize components for use. Motivate team members Study various reference materials to understand concepts and imply them Regularly report project guide about the status of my project Troubleshoot the project after its completion CE 1.5 Personal Engineering Activity A micro-strip antenna or also known as patch antenna comprises of a dielectric substrate that has a metallic ground plane on one side and a radiating metallic part on the other. They are mostly found in circular, elliptical or rectangle shapes for easy analysis and fabrication purpose. There are few micro-strip antenna that use metal patch mounted above ground plane using dielectric spacers instead of dielectric substrate. Modern printed circuit type technology is used to manufacture micro strip antenna which are relatively cheap. The size of antenna is directly related to wavelength at resonant frequency and employs at ultra-high frequency and high frequency. Below figures show the structures and inner view of micro-strip antennas. CE 1.6 Design Procedure I then started with designing of patch antenna. Various steps were involved which are described below. The design of a low-profile patch antenna is very complex. The fact is that the low profile, the wide impedance bandwidth and the omni directional radiation pattern cannot be accomplished simultaneously. Step 1: Calculate of the patch width Step 2: Calculate of the effective dielectric constant Step 3: Calculate of the effective length Step 4: Calculate of the length extension Step 5: Calculate of the actual length of the patch Step 6: Calculate of the ground plane dimensions The transmission line model is suitable for only infinite ground planes. However, for practical requirements, it is essential to have a finite ground plane. It observed from many literatures that similar results from finite and infinite ground planes can be obtained if the size of the ground plane is greater than the patch dimensions by approximately six times the substrate thickness around the periphery. CE 1.7 I started with constructing my wideband antenna with double band rejection feature as per my design steps. I did some calculations and then made a study on individual notches and their band notch properties. Proper care was taken to minimize the cross coupling among them and so that the operation is not hampered when integrating the notch elements. Thereafter, two L-shaped slits and an E-shaped slot of varying dimensions are etched on the radiating patch to produce notch characteristics. Then I also implemented a V-shaped strip on ground plane to achieve additional resonances at 15GHz and wide impedance bandwidth at this higher band. The major parameters affecting the performance properties of micro-strip patch antenna are patch length, width and inset of feed location along with the length and location of slots. By changing the value of à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ º, one can determine the required sensitivity for impedance to match and then adjust the electromagnetic coupling between the patch and ground plan along without any extra cost. From my investigation on various design techniques I found the parameter variation of dimension to be the most reliable method. CE 1.8 I performed come calculation and effective length and dielectric constant can be calculated as Leff = L + 2ΆL. Also, the performance of an antenna can be measured considering number of parameters including critical ones like radiation pattern, gain, directivity, bandwidth, return loss and voltage standing wave ratio. Keeping the resonant frequency (fr or fo) as 7GHz and dielectric constant (ÃŽÂ µr) of 4.4. the height of dielectric substrate (h) is selected as 1.6mm. I made use of MATLAB application that provide GUI interaction. GUIDE provides tools that are useful in designing user interface for custom applications. It also auto-generates the MATLAB code for construction of GUI and can be modified by user. It can store in two file formats i.e. . fig file which as complete code description and .m file that has the actual code. CE 1.9 The major problems I faced while working on this project was in its design. As achieving enhanced bandwidth with multifrequency operations in many of the wideband patch antennas. Also, there was an issue concerning with the low gain and narrow bandwidth due to specifications that are used. And biggest challenge was to achieve good and better-quality performance with increased capacity and having wide range of communication using suppression techniques applied to patch antennas. CE 1.10 Working within a group during a project is a learning experience. I learnt how to get adjusted with the views and thoughts of other and how to stay connected and focused with each other to fulfill the project commitments and to compete with hassle-free. It taught me new ways to tackle things and situation. Programming and coding were not my forte so I got a chance to understand and gain knowledge about it from my team mates who knew it. At every stage I motivated, interacted and took suggestions from my team mates and gave a fair and unbiased solution and decision, as a team leader to any problem that we faced. CE 1.11 Summary I have proposed a small monopole antenna that has the characteristics of single and dual band notches and capability of being used in wideband applications. The antenna in my project works on 2.83GHz to 18.93GHz band and has two rejections between 3.47GHz to 4.33GHz and 5.10GHz to 5.80GHz band range. After performing various measurements and simulation on this project of antenna, it resulted in good relation with voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) and loss returned. Thus, this thesis had met the objective of designing and simulating the wideband micro-strip patch antenna. It had also provided a sense of attainment as a substantial quantity of work had been accomplished. Nevertheless, there are still significant and vital areas that require further work. The project held lot of importance in my career as it was my first hands-on experience and that was a part of my curriculum and vocational training. My seniors, guides and professors were appreciating my work and stood by me when needed. This project built my confidence, leadership quality and strengthened my educational skills of electronics.

The United States Industrial Boom Essay examples -- American History,

After the Civil War had ended the United States had many challenges to face. There are a variety of factors that aided the country through the tough years that followed the war. The rapid growth of the United States helped to accommodate a large flow of immigration, and build an extremely powerful industrial infrastructure, as well as temper the hostility still present throughout the country. Trains, and eventually automobiles, opened the West to the rest of the country. People now had an escape from there lives in the East, and eagerly began to populate the farthest corners of the country. America was on its way to making an enormous impact on the world’s industrial market. Raw materials, new techniques in the workplace, a massive increase in the labor force, and numerous technological inventions all played integral parts in the United State’s economic and industrial boom. Large quantities of coal, iron ore, silver, and gold were discovered in various regions in the West. Lead, quartz, zinc, copper, and other precious metals were also found as new areas were uncovered. Around the mines and quarries gathered the workers of the sites along with their families. These people created towns known as â€Å"boomtowns†, which required transportation in the form of trains for their supplies. The same process happened with numerous other raw materials found in the country as well (Brinkley, 449). The agriculture, cattle, and sheep markets made many people large profits and, as with the stones and metals, relied on the railroad to bring the goods to the consumers. With the aid of the railroads there was an abundance of agricultural goods in the United States, â€Å"American commercial farmers, constantly opening new lands, produced much mor... ...in the United State’s economic growth. America used its massive reserves of raw materials to produce its way into the world industrial market. Railroads brought American settlers and adventurers across the United States to discover more raw materials as well as spread out the country's population from the crowded East. New technologies and innovations allowed for the manipulating of resources until they produced as much profit as possible. The concentration of power and monopolies required, and received, massive numbers of cheap labor. It was that very wealth the monopolies created that attracted millions of immigrants to this country to find work. A cycle of factors where every one played a part, some more crucial than others, yet equally dependent upon one another. This cycle fueled America’s industrial boom, and propelled it into the world’s industrial market.

Terrorism, Patriotism and the Farce of the Pledge of Allegiance Essay

Terrorism, Patriotism and the Farce of the Pledge of Allegiance It is unfortunate that the terrorists did not attack and destroy the Pledge of Allegiance instead of the World Trade Center. But politicians and zealots have perverted "patriotism" to include a blind veneration of the United States based on an oversimplified conception that disregards current laws and social customs, a perversion evident in the idolatry performed regularly by most American citizens during the Pledge of Allegiance. When he authored the pledge in 1892, Christian Socialist and Baptist minister Francis Bellamy wanted to capture the spirit of indivisible union that the Civil War had validated a generation earlier. Bellamy was a radical of his time, however, and intended to emphasize the socialist principle of equality and a utopian, nationalist sensibility. This point has accumulated fine layers of irony with time, and I intend to show the extent to which the pledge is among the most ironic and troubling of texts. There are some intrinsic problems with Bellamy's original draft, which reads: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." But to do Bellamy justice, it should be noted that in 1923 and 1924, the National Flag Conference changed his "my Flag" to "the Flag of the United States of America," and Congress, influenced by the Knights of Columbus, more curiously added "under God." I will analyze the Pledge as it currently exists with the spirit of a vivisection. I want to show the dynamic affect of the Pledge on American consciousness and vice versa, and as usual I offer no anesthetic. "I pledge allegiance to the Fl... ... form a disgraceful lie, you need only eyes and the capacity for thought. Did Amadou Diallo receive justice? How do Native Americans feel about the pledge's insistence of universal liberty? What have homosexual faculty members and their partners, who have been told by the University that their unions, however legal, only constitute three-fifths of a marriage, to say about the pledge's notion of equality? We would love to believe that "liberty and justice for all" is a reality, but it unfortunately fails to constitute even a priority; our reciting makes it real only in the imagination, a daily narcotic liturgy that blunts our reaction to injustice and the violation of liberty. The greatest service that we can provide for our country and our people is to utilize our critical faculties and to resist appropriately, regardless of how "un-American" this use of reason seems.

Essay --

Rerum Novarum refers to new beginnings. New beginnings refers to an open letter given to all Catholic bishops that addressed the circumstances of the working class. Written on May 15th 1891 by Tommaso Maria Zigliara, the Rerum Novarum examined the interrelation and duties between labor and capital. This document also covers the relationship between the government and citizens. The document begins with an introduction, as all documents do. The introduction opens with remarks on social issues of that time. The speaker continues to speak out against the Socialist motives, and those who allowed them to come about and prosper. The first issues to be discussed are rights and duties. Pope Leo introduces an idea that entails the rights every worker is to be afforded and the duties he then owes his employer. Pope Leo also states that this rule should go both ways and extend to the employer as well. The Pope states that workers are, â€Å"fully and faithfully to perform the work which has been freely and equitably agreed upon; never to injure the property, nor to outrage the person, of an employer; never to resort to violence in defending their own cause, nor to engage in riot or disorder; and to have nothing to do with men of evil principles, who work upon the people with artful promises of great results, and excite foolish hopes which usually end in useless regrets and grievous loss. (p20)† The duties a worker owes his employer are quite clearcut. As such, so are the duties of an employer to his workman. A decent employer is not to use their workers as bondsmen, they are to regard every man with self-respect. They are to treat each worker as a person aggrandized by a good Christian character. Employers are reminded that there is no shame... ... value them for their bodily functions, and not as people. However, if all employers were privy to the contents of Rerum Novarum that talk about how employers are supposed to treat their workers how they deserved to be treated, America’s poverty level would go down. Others who are not well read on the struggles of others should especially look into Rerum Novarum so that they may understand what it is like for others who are on the opposite side of the spectrum. It was paragraph twenty that spoke to me the most. As mentioned previously I really appreciate the fact that it is written somewhere that there should be a set of rights and duties between workers and their employers. All of the rights and duties are fair, and I believe that they should be followed by everyone. I also appreciate these rights because they should be followed whether or not someone is Christian.

Class X – Democratic Politics Book

This book is about democracy. In this first chapter we see how democracy has expanded during the last hundred years to more and more countries in the world.More than half of the independent countries in the world today are democracies. The expansion of democracy has not been smooth and straight. It has seen several ups and downs in different countries. It still remains an unstable and uncertain achievement. This chapter begins with different stories on the making and unmaking of democracy from different parts of the world. These stories are meant to give a sense of what it means to experience democracy and its absence. We present the pattern of the spread of democracy first with a series of maps and then with a short history. The focus in this chapter is on democracy within a country.But towards the end of the chapter, we take a look at democracy or its absence in the relations among different countries. We examine the working of some international organisations. This allows us to as k a big question: are we moving towards democracy at the global level? 2 EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS President Salvador Allende (wearing a helmet) and his security guards in front of La Moneda, Chile’s Presidential Palace, on 11 September 1973, hours before his death. What do you read on everyone’s face in this photograph? EMOCRAC ACY 1. 1 TWO TALES OF DEMOCRACY â€Å"Workers of my homeland!I have faith in Chile and its future. Chileans will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason became dominant. You must never forget that, sooner rather than later, the grand avenues will be opened where free men will march on to build a better society. Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers! These are my last words and I have certainty that my sacrifice will not be in vain; I have certainty that, at the least, I will be a moral lesson to castigate felony, cowardice, and treason. † These are some extracts from the last speech of Salvado r Allende (pronounced Ayen-they).He was then the President of Chile, a country in South America. The speech was given on the morning of 11 September 1973, the day his government was overthrown by the military. Allende was the founder EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY leader of the Socialist Party of Chile and led the Popular Unity coalition to victory in the presidential election in 1970. After being elected the President, Allende had taken several policy decisions to help the poor and the workers. These included reform of the educational system, free milk for children and redistribution of land to the landless farmers.He was opposed to foreign companies taking away natural resources like copper from the country. The landlords, the rich and the Church opposed his policies. Some other political parties in Chile also opposed his government. Why did President Allende address himself mainly to ‘workers’? Why were the rich unhappy with him? M ilitary Coup of 1973 ilitary Coup On the mo rning of 11 September 1973, the military took over the seaport. The Defence Minister was arrested by the military when he arrived at his office. The military 3 IN THE NTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY WORLD  ©La Nacion commanders asked the President to resign.Allende refused to resign or leave the country. But realising the danger to the country and to his life, he addressed the people on the radio, part of which we read in the beginning. Then the military surrounded the President’s house and started bombing it. President Allende died in the military attack. This was the sacrifice he was talking about in his last speech. A government elected by people was overthrown by the military through conspiracy and violence. What took place in Chile on 11 September 1973 was a military coup. General Augusto Pinochet (pronounced Pinoshe), an Army general, led the coup.The government of the United States of America was unhappy with Allende’s rule and is known to have supported and funded ac tivities that led to the coup. Pinochet became the President of the country and ruled it for the next 17 years. From a government that was elected by the people, the power shifted to the military officers. They could do as they wished and no one could question them. Thus a military dictatorship was established in Chile. Pinochet’s government tortured and killed several of those who supported Allende and those who wanted democracy to be restored.These included General Alberto Bachelet of the Chilean Air Force and many other officers who refused to join the coup. General Bachelet’s wife and daughter were put in prison and tortured. More than 3,000 people were killed by the military. Many more were reported ‘missing’. No one knows what happened to them. Did the army have any legal right to arrest the defence minister of the country? Should the army have the power to arrest any citizen? A C T I V I T Y Locate and shade Chile on the map. Which state in our coun try has a shape similar to Chile?Follow the newspaper for one month and collect news items related to any country in Latin America. Did you find the news coverge adequate. President Michelle Bachelet addressing her supporters after her victory in the presidential election in January 2006. From this photograph do you notice any difference between an election rally in Chile and in India?  ©La Nacion, Chile 4 EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS Lech Walesa Poland is famous for its poster art. Most of the posters of Solidarity carried this special way of writing ‘Solidarnosc’. Can you find similar examples of poster art or wall writing in Indian politics? sto ra Democr cy emocra R esto ra tion of Democra cy Pinochet’s military dictatorship came to an end after he decided to hold a referendum in 1988. He felt confident that in this referendum, the people would say ‘yes’ to his continuing in power. But the people of Chile had not forgotten their democr atic traditions. Their vote was a decisive ‘no’ to Pinochet. This led to Pinochet losing first his political and then his military powers. The hope Allende expressed in his last address was realised: felony, cowardice and treason were finally punished. Political freedom was restored.Since then Chile has held four presidential elections in which different political parties have participated. Slowly, the army’s role in the country’s government has been eliminated. The elected governments that came to power ordered inquiries into Pinochet’s rule. These inquiries showed that his government was not only very brutal, but also very corrupt. Do you remember a little reference made earlier to General Bachelet’s daughter who was imprisoned and tortured along with her mother? That girl, Michelle Bachelet (pronounced Mishel Bashelet), was elected President of Chile in January 2006.A medical doctor and a moderate socialist, Michelle became the first woman to be a Defence Minister in Latin America. In the presidential elections she defeated one of Chile’s richest men. In this photograph of her victory speech, she is saying to her supporters: â€Å"Because I was the victim of hatred, I have dedicated my life to reverse that hatred and turn it into understanding, tolerance and — why not say it — into love. † emocra cy Poland D emocra cy in Poland Let us turn to another event, this time from Poland, in 1980. At that time Poland was ruled by the Polish United Workers’ Party.This was one of the many communist parties that ruled in several countries of East Europe at that time. In these countries no other political party was allowed to function. The people could not freely choose the leaders of the communist party or the government. Those who spoke against the leaders or the party or the government were put in prison. The government in Poland was supported and controlled by the government of the Soviet Un ion (USSR), a vast and powerful communist state. On 14 August 1980, the workers of Lenin Shipyard in the city of Gdansk went on a strike.The shipyard was owned by the government. In fact all the factories and big property in Poland were owned by the government. The strike began with a demand to take back a crane operator, a woman worker, who was unjustly dismissed 5 EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY IN THE NTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY WORLD from service. This strike was illegal, because trade unions independent of the ruling party were not allowed in Poland. As the strike continued, a former electrician of the shipyard, Lech Walesa (pronounced Lek Walesha), joined the strikers. He was dismissed from service in 1976 for demanding higher pay.Walesa soon emerged as the leader of the striking workers. The strike began to spread across the whole city. Now the workers started raising larger demands. They wanted the right to form independent trade unions. They also demanded the release of political prison ers and an end to censorship on press. The movement became so popular that the government had to give in. The workers led by Walesa signed a 21-point agreement with the government that ended their strike. The government agreed to recognise the workers’ right to form independent trade unions and their right to strike.After the Gdansk agreement was signed, a new trade union called Solidarity (Solidarnosc in Polish) was formed. It was the first time an independent trade union was formed in any of the communist states. Within a year, Solidarity swept across Poland and had about one crore members. Revelations of widespread corruption and mismanagement in the government made matters worse for the rulers. The government, led by General Jaruzelski, grew anxious and imposed martial law in December 1981. Thousands of Solidarity members were put in prison.Freedom to organise, protest and express opinions was once again taken away. Another wave of strikes, again organised by Solidarity, began in 1988. This time the Polish 6 government was weaker, the support from Soviet Union uncertain and the economy was in decline. Another round of negotiations with Walesa resulted in an agreement in April 1989 for free elections. Solidarity contested all the 100 seats of the Senate and won 99 of them. In October 1990, Poland had its first presidential elections in which more than one party could contest. Walesa was elected President of Poland. A C T I V I T YLocate Poland on the map. Write down the names of the countries that surround it. Which other East European countries were ruled by communist parties in the 1980s? Shade them on the map. Make a list of political activities that you could not have done in Poland in 1980s but you can do in our country. Fe atur tures Democr cy emocra Tw o Fe atures of Democra cy We have read two different kinds of real life stories. The story from Chile was of a democratic government led by Allende being replaced by a nondemocratic military gov ernment of Pinochet, followed by restoration of democracy.In Poland we tracked the transition from a non-democratic government to a democratic government. Let us compare the two nondemocratic governments in these stories. There were many differences between Pinochet’s rule in Chile and the communist rule in Poland. Chile was ruled by a military dictator, while Poland was ruled by a political party. The government of Poland claimed that it was ruling on behalf of the working classes. Pinochet made no such claim and openly favoured big capitalists. Yet both had some common features: EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICSWhy was an independent trade union so important in Poland? Why are trade unions necessary? The people could not choose or change their rulers. There was no real freedom to express one’s opinions, form political associations and organise protests and political action. The three democratic governments identified above — Allende’s Chile, Walesaà ¢â‚¬â„¢s Poland and Michelle’s Chile — are different in their approach towards social and economic matters. Allende preferred government control on all big industries and the economy. Walesa wanted the market to be free of government interference.Michelle stands somewhere in the middle on this issue. Yet these three governments shared some basic features. Power was exercised by governments elected by the people and not by the army, unelected leaders or any external power. The people enjoyed some basic political freedoms. From these two stories let us draw a rough way to identify a democracy. Democracy is a form of government that allows people to choose their rulers. In a democracy: only leaders elected by people should rule the country, and people have the freedom to express views, freedom to organise and freedom to protest.We shall come back to this question in Chapter Two and develop a definition of democracy. We shall also note some features of a democracy. CHECK Y OUR PROGRESS Anita made a list of the features of all the five governments that we have discussed so far. But somehow the list got mixed up. Now she has a list of many features but she does not remember which feature applies to which government. Can you help her by writing the correct feature under the name of the government in the table below? Remember, some of these features may apply to more than one government and would need to be written separately under each of these.Features: Military dictatorship Widespread t he The president sm of Critici ent not corruption was once a m er govern political prison d Government allowe Ruler elected owned all Ruler not by the people industries More than o ne elected by the parties e xist people Missing people People enjoyed Foreign basic political inter venti s freedom on domestic a in ffairs Chile Allende Chile Pinochet Chile Bachelet Poland Jaruzelski Poland Walesa EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY IN THE NTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY WORLD 7 1. 2 THE CHANGI NG MAPTwentieth century was full of the kind of stories we have read above: stories of transition to democracy, of challenges to democracy, of military coups, of struggles of the people to bring back democracy. Was there a pattern to these stories that record both the march towards democracy and the setbacks to democracy? Let us use the basic features we noted earlier and identify democracies among different countries of the world. This is what the three maps shown here do. Take a look at these three maps below and find out if there was a pattern in the way democracies have evolved in the twentieth century.The first map depicts the countries OF EMOCRAC ACY DEMOCRACY that were democratic in 1950, a few years after the end of the Second World War. This map also shows countries from this set that had already become democratic by 1900. The second map presents a picture of democratic regimes in 1975, after most of the colonies had gained independence. Finally, we take another leap and lo ok at democracies in the year 2000, at the beginning of the twenty-first century. As we look at these maps, let us ask ourselves some questions. How has democracy marched through the twentieth century? Is there a clear pattern of expansion?When did the expansion take place? In which regions? MAP 1. 1: DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS IN 1900-1950 DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN 1900 AND 1950 DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN 1950 BUT NOT IN 1900 8 EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS MAP 1. 2: DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS IN 1975 DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN 1975 MAP 1. 3: DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS IN 2000 DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN 2000 Source: Historical data for these maps is taken from Polity IV Project dataset of Universtiy of Maryland. This dataset defines democracy as existence of choices about policies and leaders, checks on executive power and guarantee of civil liberties.Here we have used positive ‘Polity’ scores as indicating the existence of democracy. In some cases the scores of dataset have been modified. For details see http://www. cidcm. umd. edu EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY IN THE NTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY WORLD 9 On the basis of these maps identify up to three countries (in some cases you won’t find three countries) that were democratic in these continents for the given years and make a table as given below. Year 1950 1975 2000 Africa Asia Europe Latin America CHECK YOUR PROGRESS Identify some countries from map 1. 1 that became democratic between 1900 and 1950. Identify some countries from map 1. and 1. 2 that were democratic in 1950 and 1975. Identify some European countries from map 1. 2 and 1. 3 that were democratic in 1975 and 2000. Identify some countries in Latin America that became democratic after 1975. Make a list of big countries that were not democratic in 2000. Let us summarise the main points that emerge from a reading of these maps. You need to go back to the maps to answer the question that comes after each point. Democracy has expanded throughout the tw entieth century. Is it correct to say that at each point in these maps, the number of democratic countries is larger than at the previous point in time?Democracy did not spread evenly in all parts of the world. It was established first in some regions and then spread to other regions. Which continents in the world had a large number of democracies in 1900 and 1950? And which continents did not have almost any? While a majority of countries are democratic today, there are still large parts of the world that are not democratic. Which regions in the world account for most of the countries that were not democracies in 2000? Looking at these maps, which period do you find most important in the expansion of democracy? Why? HASES XPANSI ANSIO 1. PHASES IN THE EXPANSION EMOCRAC ACY OF DEMOCRACY Beginning T he Beginning These maps do not tell us much about what happened before the twentieth century. The story of modern democracy began at least two centuries ago. You may have read the chapter on the French Revolution of 1789 in the history book of this course. This popular uprising did not establish a secure and stable democracy in France. Throughout the nineteenth century, democracy in France was overthrown and restored several times. Yet the French Revolution inspired many struggles for democracy all over Europe.In Britain, the progress towards democracy started much before the French Revolution. But the progress was very slow. Through the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, series of political events reduced the power of monarchy and feudal lords. The right to vote was granted to more and more people. Around the same time as the French Revolution, the British colonies in North America declared themselves independent in 1776. In the next few years these colonies came together to form the United States of America. They adopted a democratic EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS 10Why were women given voting rights much later than men in most countries? Why did this not happen in India? constitution in 1787. But here too the right to vote was limited to very few men. In the nineteenth century struggles for democracy often centred round political equality, freedom and justice. One major demand was the right for every adult citizen to vote. Many European countries that were becoming more democratic did not initially allow all people to vote. In some countries only people owning property had the right to vote. Often women did not have the right to vote.In the United States of America, the blacks all over the country could not exercise the right to vote until 1965. Those struggling for democracy wanted this right granted universally to all adults — men or women, rich or poor, white or black. This is called ‘universal adult franchise’ or ‘universal suffrage’. The box here tells us when universal suffrage was granted in many countries of the world. As you can see, by 1900 New Zealand was the only country where every adult had voting right. But if you go back to the map, you can see many other countries are marked as ‘democracies’ by the beginning of the twentieth century.These countries had by then governments elected by a significant number of people, mostly men, and had granted political freedom in some measure. Early democracies were established in Europe, North America and Latin America. Colonialism E nd of Colonialism When was universal adult franchise granted? 1893 1917 1918 1919 1928 1931 1934 1944 1945 1950 1951 1952 1955 1962 1965 1978 1994 New Zealand Russia Germany Netherlands Britain Sri Lanka Turkey France Japan India Argentina Greece Malaysia Australia US Spain South Africa Note: This is only an illustrative list from different parts of the world.The year indicates when the principle of one person one vote was fully realised in that country. The list does not include those cases where the right to vote was withdrawn later. For a very long time most countries in Asia a nd Africa were colonies under the control of European nations. People of the colonised countries had to wage struggles to achieve independence. They not only wanted to get rid of their colonial masters, but also wished to choose their future leaders. Our country was one of the few colonies where people carried a nationalist struggle to liberate the country from the colonial rule.Many of these countries became democracies immediately after the end of the Second World War in 1945. India achieved Independence in 1947 and embarked on its journey to transform itself from a subject country to a democracy. It continues to be a democracy. Most former colonies did not have such a good experience. The case of Ghana, a country in western Africa, illustrates the more common experience of former colonies. Ghana used to be a British colony named Gold Coast. It became independent in 1957. It was among the first countries in Africa to gain independence. It inspired other African countries to strugg le for freedom.Kwame Nkrumah (pronounced Enkruma), son of a 11 EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY IN THE NTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY WORLD goldsmith and himself a teacher, was active in the independence struggle of his country. After independence, Nkrumah became the first prime minister and then the president of Ghana. He was a friend of Jawaharlal Nehru and an inspiration for democrats in Africa. But unlike Nehru, he got himself elected president for life. Soon after, in 1966, he was overthrown by the military. Like Ghana, most countries that became democracies after gaining independence had a mixed record. They could not remain democracies for long.A C T I V I T Y Locate Ghana in an atlas and then spot it in the three maps in the previous section. Was Ghana a democracy in 2000? Do you think it is good to elect someone President for life? Or is it better to hold regular elections after every few years? nt R e c e nt phase The next big push towards democracy came after 1980, as democracy was revive d in several countries of Latin America. The disintegration of the Soviet Union accelerated this process. From the story of Poland we know that the then Soviet Union controlled many of its neighbouring communist countries in Eastern Europe.Poland and several other countries became free from the control of the Soviet Union during 1989-90. They chose to become democracies. Finally the Soviet Union itself broke down in 1991. The Soviet Union comprised 15 Republics. All the constituent Republics emerged as independent countries. Most of them became democracies. Thus the end of Soviet control on East Europe and the break up of the Soviet Union led to a big 12 change in the political map of the world. In this period major changes also took place in India’s neighbourhood. Pakistan and Bangladesh made a transition from army rule to democracy in 1990s.In Nepal, the king gave up many of his powers to become a constitutional monarch to be guided by elected leaders. However, these change s were not permanent. In 1999 General Musharraf brought back army rule in Pakistan. In 2005 the new king of Nepal dismissed the elected government and took back political freedoms that people had won in the previous decade. Yet the overall trend in this period points to more and more countries turning to democracy. This phase still continues. By 2005, about 140 countries were holding multi-party elections. This number was higher than ever before.More than 80 previously non-democratic countries have made significant advances towards democracy since 1980. But, even today, there are many countries where people cannot express their opinion freely. They Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra, the capital of Ghana. This park was commissioned in 1992, twenty years after Nkrumah passed away. What might have caused this delay? EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS Dev Ley, Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License read the cartoon  ©Stephane Peray, Thailand, Cagle Cartoons Inc. This cartoon appeared in 2005 when Aung San Suu Kyi’s turned 60. What is the cartoonist saying here?Will the army rulers feel happy with this cartoon? What should be the policy of the government of India towards the military rulers of Myanmar? still cannot elect their leaders. They cannot take big decisions about their present and future life. One such country is Myanmar, previously known as Burma. It gained freedom from colonial rule in 1948 and became a democracy. But the democratic rule ended in 1962 with a military coup. In 1990 elections were held for the first time after almost 30 years. The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Soo-chi), won the election.But the military leaders of Myanmar refused to step down and did not recognise the election results. Instead, the military put the elected pro-democracy leaders, including Suu Kyi, under house arrest. Political activists accused of even the most trivial offences have been jailed. Anyone caught publicly airing views or issuing statements critical of the regime can be sentenced up to twenty years in prison. Due to the coercive policies of the military-ruled EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY government in Myanmar, about 6 to 10 lakh people in that country have been uprooted from their homes and have taken shelter elsewhere.Despite being under house arrest, Suu Kyi continued to campaign for democracy. According to her: â€Å"The quest for democracy in Burma is the struggle of the people to live whole, meaningful lives as free and equal members of the world community. † Her struggle has won international recognition. She has also been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet the people in Myanmar are still struggling to establish a democratic government in their country. A C T I V I T Y Locate Myanmar on an atlas. Which Indian states border this country? Write a short essay on the life of Aung San Suu Kyi.Collect newspaper reports on the struggle for democracy in Myanmar. 13 IN THE NTEMPORARY CO NTEMPORARY WORLD EMOCRAC ACY 1. 4 DEMOCRACY AT THE GLOBAL LE VEL? After reading about the various phases of expansion of democracy, a teacher, Mr. Singh, asked the students to summarise what they had learnt. This is how the conversation took place: Farida: We have learnt that democracy has been expanding to more and more regions and countries all over the world. Rajesh: Yes, we live in a better world than before. It seems we are moving towards a world democracy. Sushmita: World democracy! How can you say that?I saw a television programme that showed how the Americans invaded Iraq without any justification. The people of Iraq were not consulted at any stage. How can you call that a world democracy? Farida: I am not talking about the relationship between different countries. I am only saying that more and more countries are becoming democratic. Rajesh: But what is the difference between the two? If more and more countries become democratic, isn’t it obvious that the world also becomes more democratic? After all the Iraq war was all about taking democracy to that country. Sushmita: No, it is not obvious to me.Singh sir: I think we are talking about two very different things here. Farida spoke about establishment of democratic governments within different countries in the world today. Sushmita and Rajesh have differences over something else. Their difference is over the relationship among different countries. It is quite possible, Rajesh, that the rulers of a country who are democratically elected by their people may want to dominate over other countries. Sushmita: Yes sir. That is exactly what happened in the case of the war on Iraq. Surinder: I am confused. How can we talk about democracy at the global level? Is there any world government?Who is the president of the world? If there is no government, how can it be democratic or non-democratic? nt rn ational Organisations I nt e rn ational Organisations Let us respond to the question that came up in this co nversation: Does an increase in the number of democratic countries all over the world automatically lead to democratic relations among countries? Before we do that, let us think about the point raised by Surinder. There is a government of India, a government of the United States of America, and so on. But there is no government of the world. No government can pass any law that will apply to all the people of the world.If there is no such government, if there are no rulers and ruled, how can we apply the two features of democracy here? These two features, you would recall, were that the rulers should be elected by the people and that people should have basic political freedoms. Should there be a world government? If yes, who should elect it? And, what powers should it have?  ©Angel Boligan, EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS Universal,Mexico, Cagle Cartoons Inc. This cartoon was published in Mexico in 2005 and was titled ‘International Games’. Which games is the car toonist talking about here? What does the ball symbolize?Who are the players? 14 Should the permanent members of the UN be given the power to veto? While Surinder is right in a simple sense, we cannot say that the question of democracy does not arise here. There is no single World Government, but there are many institutions in the world that perform partially the functions of such a government. These organisations cannot command countries and citizens in a way a government can, but they do make rules that put limits on what governments can do. Consider these points: Who makes laws and rules to govern the seas that do not fall within the boundaries of any one country?Or who takes steps to control environmental degradation that threatens all the countries together. The United Nations (UN) has evolved many Conventions on these questions that are now binding on most countries of the world. The UN is a global association of nations of the world to help cooperation in international law, s ecurity, economic development and social equity. The UN Secretary General is its chief administrative officer. What happens when a country attacks another country in an unjust manner? The UN Security Council, an organ of the UN, is responsible for maintaining peace nd security among countries. It can put together an international army and take action against the wrongdoer. Who lends money to governments when they need it? The International Monetary Fund (IMF) does so. The World Bank also gives loans to the governments. Before lending they ask the concerned government to show all its accounts and direct it to make changes in its economic policy. EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY decisions A r e these decisions democra democra tic? So, there are many institutions at the world level that perform some of the functions that a world government would perform.But we need to know just how democratic these organisations are. The yardstick here is whether each of the countries has free and equal say in t he decisions that affect them. In this light let us examine the organisation of some of these world bodies. Everyone of the 192 member countries of the UN has one vote in the UN General Assembly. It meets in regular yearly sessions under a president elected from among the representatives of the member countries. General Assembly is like the parliament where all the discussion takes place. In that sense the UN would appear to be a very democratic organisation.But the General Assembly cannot take any decision about what action should be taken in a conflict between different countries. The fifteen-member Security Council of the UN takes such crucial decisions. The Council has five permanent members – US, Russia, UK, France and China. Ten other members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. The real power is with five permanent members. The permanent members, especially the US, contribute most of the money needed for the maintenance of the UN. Each permanent memb er has veto power. It means that the Council cannot take a decision if any permanent member says no to that decision.This system has led more and more people and countries to protect and demand that the UN becomes more democratic. 15 IN THE NTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY WORLD International Monetary Fund (IMF) is one of the biggest moneylenders for any country in the world. Its 173 member states do not have equal voting rights. The vote of each country is weighed by how much money it has contributed to the IMF. Nearly half of the voting power in the IMF is in the hands of only seven countries (US, Japan, France, UK, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia). The remaining 166 countries have very little say in how these international organisations take decisions.The World Bank has a similar system of voting. The President of the World Bank has always been a citizen of the US, conventionally nominated by the Treasury Secretary (Finance Minister) of the US government. A C T I V I T Y Find out more abou t the history and various organs of the United Nations. Collect any news about the decisions of the World Bank and the IMF. Compare these to the kind of democratic practices that we have been discussing in this chapter. What would you say about a country where some persons have a permanent position in the ministry and have the power to stop the decision of the entire parliament?Or a parliament where five per cent of the members hold a majority of votes? Would you call these democratic? Most of the global institutions fail to pass the simple test of democracy that we use for national governments. If global institutions are not democratic, are they at least becoming more democratic than before? Here too the evidence is not very encouraging. In fact, while 16 nations are becoming more democratic than they were earlier, international organisations are becoming less democratic. Twenty years ago there were two big powers in the world: the US and the Soviet Union.The competition and confli ct between these two big powers and their allies kept a certain balance in all the global organisations. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US appears to be the only superpower in the world. This American dominance affects the working of international organisations. This is not to say that there is no urge or move towards global democracy. The urge comes from people who get more opportunities to come in touch with one another. Over the last few years the people of different countries have come together without their governments’ support.They have formed global organisations against war and against domination of the world by a few countries and business companies. As in the case of democracy within the nations, the initiative for democracy among nations has come from the struggles of the people. Wolfowitz was a senior official in the Department of Defence in the US (commonly called Pentagon). He was an aggressive supporter of the invasion of Iraq. The cartoon comments on his appointment as the President of the World Bank. What does the cartoon tell us about the relationship between the World Bank and the US? ead the cartoon  ©Patrick Chappatte, International Herald Tribune, Cagle Cartoons Inc. EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS CHECK YOUR PROGRESS Here are some suggestions to strengthen world democracy. Do you support these changes? Are these changes likely to happen? Give your reasons for each of these. More nations should become permanent members of the Security Council. UN General Assembly should become like a world parliament with representatives from each country in proportion to the population of the country. These representatives should elect a world government.Individual countries should not have armies. The UN should maintain task forces to bring about peace in case of conflict between nations. A UN President should be elected directly by all the people of the world. D emocra cy promotion emocra cy The cartoon â€Å"Cactus of Demo cracy† was published in 2004. What does the cactus look like here? Who is gifting it, and to whom? What is the message? read the cartoon  ©Stephane Peray, Thailand, Cagle Cartoons Inc. Take a close look at the two cartoons on this and on the next page. These cartoons raise a fundamental question related to global democracy.Recently, many powerful countries in the world, particularly the United States of America, have taken on the task of democracy promotion in the rest of the world. They say that propagating the values of democracy is not enough. Existing democracies should directly intervene in countries that are non-democratic to establish democracy there. In some cases powerful countries have launched armed attack on nondemocratic countries. This is what Sushmita was talking about. Let us see what happened in Iraq. Iraq is a country in Western Asia. It became independent from British ule in 1932. Three decades later there were a series of coups by military officers. Since 1968, it was ruled by Arab Socialist Ba’th Party (the Arabic word Ba’th means renaissance). Saddam Hussein, a leading Ba’th party leader, played a key role in the 1968 coup that brought the party to power. This government abolished traditional Islamic law and gave women the right to vote and several freedoms not granted in other west Asian countries. After becoming the president of Iraq in 1979, Saddam ran a dictatorial government and suppressed any dissent or opposition to his rule.He was known to have got a number of political opponents killed and persons of ethnic minorities massacred. The US and its allies like Britain, alleged that Iraq possessed secret nuclear weapons and other ‘weapons of mass destruction’ which posed a big threat to the world. But when a UN team went to Iraq to search for such weapons, it did not find any. Still the US and its allies invaded Iraq, occupied it and removed Saddam Hussein from power in 2003. The US installed a n interim government of its preference. The war against Iraq was not authorised by the UN Security Council.Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, said that the US war on Iraq was illegal. EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY IN THE NTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY WORLD 17 A C T I V I T Y Collect information on the debate related to Iraq within the US and the UK. What were the reasons originally offered for the Iraq invasion by the President of US and the Prime Minister of UK? What were the reasons offered after the war? read the cartoon ‘Helping Democracy’ was a comment on the presence of US forces during the elections in Iraq. Do you think the cartoon can apply to many other situations? Identify some examples from this chapter which this cartoon can help understand. 8 EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS  ©Ares, Caglecartoons. com, Cagle Cartoons Inc. The example of Iraq raises some basic questions that we need to think about: Is this the right way to promote democracy? Should a democrati c country wage a war and invade other countries for establishing democracy there? Does external help work in every case? Or does it work only when the people of a nation are actively engaged in a struggle to make their societies democratic? Even if external intervention leads to the establishment of democracy in a country, would it last long? Would it enjoy the support of its citizens?Finally, is the use of external force to gift democracy to the people in keeping with the spirit of democracy? Think about these questions in the light of all that you have learnt in this chapter. GLOSSARY Censorship: A condition under which the freedom of expression is taken away. Citizens have to take prior permission from the censor authorities of the government for making a speech or publishing news and views. Anything that the government finds objectionable cannot be published. Coalition: An alliance of people, associations, parties or nations. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of conveni ence.Colony: Territory under the immediate political control of another state. Communist state: A state governed by a communist party without allowing other parties to compete for power. The state controls all the big property and industry. Coup: A coup d’etat (pronounced ku de’ta), or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government illegally. It may or may not be violent in nature. The term is French for ‘a sudden blow or strike to a state’. Martial law: A system of rules that takes effect when a military authority takes control of the normal administration of justice.Political prisoners: Persons held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, because a government considers their ideas, image or activities as a threat to the authority of the state. Often exaggerated or false cases are foisted on them and they are kept in detention without following normal law. Referendum: A direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to eit her accept or reject a particular proposal. This may be adoption of a new constitution, a law or a specific governmental policy. Strike: Mass refusal by workers or employees to perform work due to certain grievances or because of demands not met.In most democratic countries the right to strike is legal. Trade Union: An association of workers for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. Veto: The right of a person, party or nation to stop a certain decision or law. The word comes from Latin, which means ‘I forbid’. A veto gives unlimited power to stop a decision, but not to adopt one. exercises 1 Which of the following does not lead to the spread of democracy? a Struggle by the people b Invasion by foreign countries c End of colonialism d People’s desire for freedom Which of the following statement is true about today’s world? Monarchy as a form of government has vanished . b The relationship between different countries ha s become more democratic than ever before. c In more and more countries rulers are being elected by the people. d There are no more military dictators in the world. NTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY WORLD 2 EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY IN THE 19 3 Use one of the following statements to complete the sentence: Democracy in the international organisations requires that †¦ a The rich countries should have a greater say. b Countries should have a say according to their military power. c Countries should be treated with respect in proportion to their population. All countries in the world should be treated equally. Based on the information given in this chapter, match the following countries and the path democracy has taken in that country. COUNTRY PATH TO DEMOCRACY 4 a b c d 5 Chile Nepal Poland Ghana i ii iii iv Freedom from British colonial rule End of military dictatorship End of one party rule King agreed to give up his powers What are the difficulties people face in a non-democratic country? G ive answers drawing from the examples given in this chapter. Which freedoms are ususally taken away when a democracy is overthrown by the military? 6 7Which of the following positions can contribute to democracy at the global level? Give reasons for your answer in each case. a My country gives more money to international institutions. Therefore, I want to be treated with more respect and exercise more power. b My country may be small or poor. But my voice must be heard with equal respect, because these decisions will affect my country. c Wealthy nations will have a greater say in international affairs. They cannot let their interests suffer just because they are outnumbered by poor nations. d Big countries like India must have a greater say in international organisations.Here are three opinions heard in a television debate on the struggle for democracy in Nepal. Which of these do you agree with and why? Guest 1: India is a democracy. Therefore, the Indian government must support the people of Nepal who are struggling against monarchy and for democracy. Guest 2: That is a dangerous argument. We would be in the same position as the US was in Iraq. Remember, no outside force can promote democracy. Guest 3: But why should we bother about the internal affairs of another country? We should be worried about our business interests there, not about democracy. 8 20 EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS xercises exercises 9 In an imaginary country called Happyland, the people overthrew the foreign ruler and brought back the old royal family. They said: â€Å"After all their ancestors were our kings before foreigners started ruling us. It is good that we have one strong ruler, who can help us become rich and powerful†. When someone talked about democracy the wise men said it is a foreign idea. Their struggle was to throw the foreigners and their ideas out of the country. When someone demanded freedom for the media, the elders thought that too much criticism of the ruler would not help them improve their living standards. After all, the king is so kind and interested in the welfare of all the subjects. Why create problems for him. Don’t we all want to be happy? † After reading the above passage, Chaman, Champa and Chandru made the following observations: Chaman: Happyland is a democratic country because people were able to throw out the foreign rulers and bring back the king. Champa: Happyland is not a democratic country because people cannot criticise the ruler. The king may be nice and may provide economic prosperity, but a king cannot give a democratic rule. Chandru: What people need is happiness.So they are willing to allow their new ruler to take decisions for them. If people are happy it must be a democracy. What is your opinion about each of these statements? What do you think about the form of government in this country? Form different groups in your class and collect different types of information (news clippings, article s, photographs, cartoons, etc. ) about struggles for democracy in any country that is currently not democratic. Focus on the following questions: What makes the government non-democratic? What are the main complaints and demands of the people in that country?How do the existing rulers react to people’s demands? Who are the main leaders of the struggle for democracy? You could present the information thus collected in various forms: an exhibition, a collage, a report or a wallpaper. EMOCRAC ACY D EMOCRACY IN THE NTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY WORLD 21 CHAPTER 2 What is Democracy? Why Democracy? OVERVIEW VERVIE VIEW The stories and the analysis in the previous chapter gave us a sense of what democracy is like. There we described some governments as democratic and some as non-democratic. We saw how governments in some of those countries changed from one form to the other.Let us now draw general lessons from those stories and ask the more basic question: What is democracy? What are its features? This chapter builds on a simple definition of democracy. Step by step, we work out the meaning of the terms involved in this definition. The aim here is to understand clearly the bare minimum features of a democratic form of government. After going through this chapter we should be able to distinguish a democratic form of government from a non-democratic government. Towards the end of this chapter, we step beyond this minimal objective and introduce a broader idea of democracy.In the previous chapter, we have seen that democracy is the most prevalent form of government in the world today and it is expanding to more countries. But why is it so? What makes it better than other forms of government? That is the second big question that we take up in this chapter. 22 EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS HAT 2. 1 W HAT IS EMOCRAC ACY DEMOCRACY? distinguishes these governments from Pinochet’s rule in Chile, communist rule in Poland or the later period of Nkrumah’s rule in Ghana? What do these governments have in common with the military rule in Myanmar? Why do we say that these governments are not democratic?On the basis of this analysis, write down some common features of: Democratic governments Non-democratic governments In Chapter One we read many stories from different parts of the world. Through these stories we discussed various governments and organisations. We called some of these democracies. Others were described as non-democracies. Can you recall, for each of these countries, something about the governments that were described as democracies? Chile, before and after Pinochet’s rule Poland, after the fall of communist rule Ghana, in the early period of Nkrumah’s government What do you think is common to them?Why do we club them all under the label of democracy? What is it that define democra cy W h y define democra cy ? Before we proceed further, let us first take note of an objection by Merry. She does not like this w ay of defining democracy and wants to ask some basic questions. News items like this appear very often in newspapers. Do they all use the word democracy in the same sense? HAT W HAT IS EMOCRAC ACY EMOCRAC ACY DEMOCRACY? WHY DEMOCRACY? 23 Her teacher Matilda Lyngdoh responds to her questions, as other classmates join the discussion: Merry: Ma’am, I don’t like this idea.First we spend one whole chapter discussing democracies in different parts of the world and then we want to find out the meaning of democracy. I mean logically shouldn’t we have approached it the other way round? Shouldn’t the meaning have come first and then the example? Lyngdoh Madam: I can see your point. But that is not how we reason in everyday life. We use words like pen, rain or love. Do we wait to have a definition of these words before we use them? Come to think of it, do we have clear definition of these words? It is only by using a word that we understand its meaning.Merry: But th en why do we need definitions at all? Lyngdoh Madam: We need a definition only when we come across a difficulty in the use of a word. We need a definition of rain only when we wish to distinguish it from, say, drizzle or cloudburst. The same is true for democracy. We need a clear definition only because people use it for different purposes, because very different kinds of governments call themselves democracy. Ribiang: But why do we need to work on a definition? The other day you quoted Abraham Lincoln to us: â€Å"Democracy is a rule of the people, for the people and by the people†.We in Meghalaya always ruled ourselves. That is accepted by everyone. Why do we need to change that? Lyngdoh Madam: I am not saying we need to change it. I too find this definition very beautiful. But we don’t know if this is the best way of defining unless we think about it ourselves. We must not accept something just because it is famous, just because everyone accepts it. Yolanda: Ma†™am, can I suggest something? We don’t need to look for any definition. I read somewhere that the word democracy comes from a Greek word ‘Demokratia’. In Greek ‘demos’ means people and ‘kratia’ means rule. So democracy is rule by the people.This is the correct meaning. Where is the need to debate? Lyngdoh Madam: That is also a very helpful way of thinking about this matter. I would just say that this does not always work. A word does 24 not remain tied to its origin. Just think of computers. Originally they were used for computing, that is to say calculating, very difficult mathematical sums. These were very powerful calculators. But nowadays very few people use computers for computing sums. They use it for writing, for designing, for listening to music and for watching films. Words remain the same but their meaning can change with time.In that case it is not very useful to look at the origins of a word. Merry: Ma’am, so basical ly what you are saying is that there is no shortcut to our thinking about the matter ourselves. We have to think about its meaning and evolve a definition. Lyngdoh Madam: You got me right. Let us get on with it now. A C T I V I T Y Let us take Lyngdoh Madam seriously and try to write down the exact definition of some of the simple words that we use all the time: pen, rain and love. For example, is there a way of defining a pen that distinguishes it clearly from a pencil, a brush, a highlighter or a marker?What have you learnt from this attempt? What does it teach us about understanding the meaning of democracy? I have heard a different version. Democracy is off the people, far (from) the people and (where they) buy the people. Why don’t we accept that? definition A simple definition Let us get back to our discussion on similarities and differences among governments that are called democracies. In the last chapter we identified one simple factor common to all democracies: the government is chosen by the people. We could thus start with a simple definition: democracy is a form of government in which the rulers are elected by the people.This is a useful starting point. This definition allows us to separate democracy from forms of government that are clearly not democratic. The army rulers of Myanmar are not elected by the people. Those who happen to be in control of the army EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS become the rulers of the country. People have no say in this decision. Dictators like Pinochet are not elected by the people. This also applies to monarchies. The king of Nepal and Saudi Arabia rule not because the people have chosen them to do so but because they happen to be born into the royal family. This simple definition is not adequate.It reminds us that democracy is people’s rule. But if we use this definition in an unthinking manner, we would end up calling almost every government that holds an election a democracy. That would be ve ry misleading. As we noted in Chapter Four, every government in contemporary world wants to be called a democracy, even if it is not so. That is why we need to carefully distinguish between a government that is a democracy and one that pretends to be one. We can do so by understanding each word in this definition carefully and spelling out the features of a democratic government. CHECK YOUR PROGRESSRibiang went back home and collected some more famous quotations on democracy. This time she did not mention the names of the people who said or wrote these. She wants you to read these and comment on how good or useful these thoughts are: Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. Democracy consists of choosing your dictators after they’ve told you what you think it is you want to hear. Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary Democracy is a device that insures we shall be gove rned no better than we deserve.All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy. read the cartoon This cartoon was drawn when elections were held in Iraq with the presence of US and other foreign powers. What do you think this cartoon is saying? Why is ‘democracy’ written the way it is?  ©Stephane Peray, Thailand, Cagle Cartoons Inc. HAT W HAT IS EMOCRAC ACY EMOCRAC ACY DEMOCRACY? WHY DEMOCRACY? 25 EATURES 2. 2 FEATURES EMOCRAC ACY OF DEMOCRACY want in a democracy? Or must a democratic government function with some limits? Is it necessary for a democracy to respect some rights of the citizens? Let us consider each of these questions with the help of some examples.We have started with a simple definition that democracy is a form of government in which the rulers are elected by the people. This raises many questions: Who are the rulers in this definition? Which officials must be elected for any government to be called a democracy? Which decisions may be taken by nonelected officials in a democracy? What kind of election constitutes a democratic election? What conditions must be fulfilled for an election to be considered democratic? Who are the people who can elect the rulers or get elected as rulers? Should this include every citizen on an equal basis?Can a democracy deny some citizens this right? Finally, what kind of a form of government is democracy? Can elected rulers do whatever they M ajor decisions by elec t e d decisions by elec leaders In Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf led a miliary coup in October 1999. He overthrew a democratically elected government and declared himself the ‘Chief Executive’ of the country. Later he changed his designation to President and in 2002 held a referendum in the country that granted him a fiveyear extension. Pakistani media, human right organisations and democracy activists said that the referendum was based on ead the cartoon Syria is a small west Asian country. The ruling Baath Part y and some of its small allies are the only parties allowed in that country. Do you think this cartoon could apply to China or Mexico? What does the crown of leaves on democracy signify? 26 EMOCRATIC LITICS D EMOCRATIC POLITICS  ©Emad Hajjaj, Jordan, Cagle Cartoons Inc. read the cartoon  ©Ares, Caglecartoon. com, Cagle Cartoons Inc. This cartoon was drawn in the context of Latin America. Do you think it applies to the Pakistani situation as well? Think of other countries where this could apply?Does this happen sometimes in our country as well? rulers. They cannot take the final decisions. The power to take final decision rests with army officials and with General Musharraf, and none of them are elected by the people. This happens in many dictatorships and monarchies. They formally have an elected parliament and government but the real power is with those who are not elected. In the last chapter we read about the role of USSR in communist Poland and that of US in contemporary Ira q. Here the real power was with some external powers and not with locally elected representatives.This cannot be called people’s rule. This gives us the first feature. In a democracy the final decision making power must rest with those elected by the people. malpractices and fraud. In August 2002 he issued a ‘Legal Framework Order’ that amended the constitution of Pakistan. According to this Order, the President can dismiss the national or provincial assemblies. The work of the civilian cabinet is supervised by a National Security Council which is dominated by military officers. After passing this law, elections were held to the national and state assemblies.So Pakistan has had elections, elected representatives have some powers. But the final power rests with military officers and General Musharraf himself. Clearly, there are many reasons why Pakistan under General Musharraf should not be called a democracy. But let us focus on one of these. Can we say that the rulers are elected by the people in Pakistan? Not quite. People may have elected their representatives to the national and provincial assemblies but those elected representatives are not really the HAT W HAT EMOCRAC ACY EMOCRAC ACY DEMOCRACY? WHY DEMOCRACY? elec ra F ree and fair elec t o ra l c ompetitionIn China, elections are regularly held after every five years for electing the country’s parliament, called Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui (National People’s Congress). The National People’s Congress has the power to appoint the President of the country. It has nearly 3,000 members elected from all over China. Some members are elected by the army. Before contesting elections, a candidate needs the approval of the Chinese Communist Party. Only those who are members of the Chinese Communist Party or eight smaller parties allied to it were allowed to contest elections held in 2002-03. The government is always formed by the Communist Party.Since its independence in 1 930, Mexico holds elections after every six years to elect its President. The country has never been under a military or dictator’s rule. But until 2000 every election was won by a 27 All this is so remote for me. Is democracy all about rulers and governments? Can we talk about a democratic classroom? Or a democratic family? IS party called PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party). Opposition parties did contest elections, but never managed to win. The PRI was known to use many dirty tricks to win elections. All those who were employed in government offices had to attend its party meetings.Teachers of government schools used to force parents to vote for the PRI. Media largely ignored the activities of opposition political parties except to criticise them. Sometimes the polling booths were shifted from one place to another in the last minute, which made it difficult for people to cast their votes. The PRI spent a large sum of money in the campaign for its candidates. Should we consider the elections described above as examples of people electing their rulers? Reading these examples we get a sense that we cannot. There are many problems here. In China the elections do not offer the people any serious choice.They have to choose the ruling party and the candidates approved by it. Can we call this