Is America a True Democracy

Introduction Democracy is where the government allows all its bona fide citizens an equal opportunity in decision making. It is also about giving citizens an equal participation through representation by leaders. It is a fact that the United States was the first country in the world to have a democratic constitution.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Is America a True Democracy? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This qualifies the American constitution to be the oldest in the world. The United States may appear to be democratic in all the aspects of governance. The government has even tried to extend the ‘democracy’ to other countries. Looking critically at the operations of the United States, one is left with many unanswered questions. To a greater extent, it could be concluded that the United States is not a democracy. Gerrymandering Democracy lacks when gerrymandering is allowed to take place. This h as to do with manipulation of district boundaries for elections’ purposes. It is either done to assist or hinder the residents of a district with regard to the elections (Buckler 1). In the final analysis, the equality that the constitution stands for is lost. Electoral College The Electoral College is another process that puts democracy of the United States to the test. Although it appears to be a well set process, the Electoral College denies the citizens the right to elect their leaders directly. When the citizens cast their votes in a presidential election, they give the electors in the college the voting power depending on which party has taken the lead in a particular state. This system was put in place by the founding fathers but it works against the tenets of democracy. It is not practiced anywhere else in the world since it is a dilution of democracy. Republic vs Democracy In the pledge of allegiance, the word ‘republic’ is used instead of ‘democra cy’. According to experts, the sovereignty is vested on people in a republic government. The word ‘people’ may be in singular or plural form in its use here. The same sovereignty is vested on a group of people when we talk of democracy. Here, the minority gets their will and the majority their way. This means that it’s the majority who dictate what the minority are to follow. Based on the foregoing, the pledge of allegiance negates democracy. Racism and Discrimination The United States has one of the ugliest faces of racism and discrimination in the world. For so long, the Black Americans and other minority groups have been segregated. In an apparent attempt to create self defense, these groups discriminate against the whites. The current leadership indicates aspects of discrimination. If democracy really exists, the people would look at one another as fellow countrymen without putting color first.Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Foreign policy The foreign policy adopted by the United States causes a lot of confusion among its citizens and other people from outside. The government has been fighting countries whose leaders do not seem to agree with its policies. In most instances, the United States interests in such countries seem to be the driving force. The trend is an attempt to dictate to other countries the kind of leaders that should be elected. Democracy should never be about one country interfering with the internal affairs of another. Another issue that puts the democracy of the United States to question is the International Criminal Court at The Hague. United States is not a signatory to the Rome Statute and hence its citizens cannot be tried at the court for crimes against humanity. This does not mean that the countrymen are not involved in atrocities. The government has been at the front line in forcing other countries to a dhere to the court’s requirements through all means. Works Cited Buckler, Justin. â€Å"Population Equality and the Imposition of Risk on Partisan Gerrymandering.† Case Western Reserve Law Review 62.4 (2012): 1037-1055. Academic Search Premier. Web. This essay on Is America a True Democracy? was written and submitted by user Cailyn Lee to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Multiple Intelligences Essays

Multiple Intelligences Essays Multiple Intelligences Essay Multiple Intelligences Essay Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Multiple Intelligences Intelligence is an inborn ability that can be tested by specific assessment methods. One has to be intelligent to pass the tests given to them. Intelligence is a natural attribute that cannot be acquired from other human beings. An intelligent person is an all-rounded individual skilled in diverse subjects. It constitutes the ability to address specific problems that plague their community. An intelligent person finds methods and ways through which certain problems in society can be solved. The relationship between culture and intelligence is based on the notion that intelligence is aimed at solving specific cultural problems. Intelligence is used to identify the problem and then create solutions to that problem. Intelligence also creates culturally compatible ways to transmit ideas and problem solving knowledge to the community. There are certain cultural roles that require the problem solving ability of intelligent individuals. These cultural roles can however only be solved by a combination of intelligences. Society values logical or mathematical intelligence highly because it is considered more complex than other intelligences. Even though logical intelligence is complex and reserved to the knowledge of a few it should not be highly considered. Logical intelligence cannot exist alone. It is complemented by the other intelligences. Intelligence functions as a combined force and hence every single intelligence ought to be rated as high as the other. It should therefore be rated at the same level as the other intelligences. Intelligence enables an individual to solve complex cultural and societal problems. An intelligent individual identifies problems in society and creates solutions for these problems. Intelligence also enables people to find out ways through which they can convey the problem solving knowledge they possess to other members of society. It entails sharing vital information with those who are directly affected by the problem in order to prevent further problems from arising. Education on the other hand only measures one’s ability to solve logical and linguistic problems. The educated individual is devoid of problem solving qualities. They are only equipped with class-based knowledge in specific fields compared to the all-rounded intelligent individual. Education considers only particular skills while problem solving requires a combination of multiple skills. Education can enhance the seven forms of intelligence. The intelligence level of students can be enhanced through education when the appropriate teaching methods are used. Education should entail methods that incorporate all the seven intelligences. It should strive to develop students’ particular intelligences rather than concentrate only on logical and linguistic intelligences. Intelligence is not fixed. It can be developed to greater and more productive levels. An example is the students who gradually develop their performances in school and end up being better professionals after school. A student can work hard to develop their particular intelligences and in turn gain more knowledge from the experience they get. It is important to identify the skill combination that an individual to be able to suggest appropriate methods through which such skills can be further developed. Knowledge of all the skills and intelligences will allow one to create the best way to assess such an individual. The problem solving process is not a function of a single intelligence. It is rather the function of a collection of multiple intelligences. Assessing a person’s ability based on single intelligences is not an appropriate method of testing one’s ability. Thus, individuals should be assessed based on their multiple skills to prepare them for suitable careers in the future.

American Civil War in World History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American Civil War in World History - Essay Example Brauer, Kinley. Civil War Diplomacy (Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, 1990) http://www.americanforeignrelations.com/A-D/Civil-War-Diplomacy.html (Accessed: May3, 2015). According to this source, diplomacy was an important part of the American Civil War. Both the Federal North and the confederacy South were involved in high level diplomacy with the international community, most especially with Europe. There was no doubt in the minds of both the North and the South that without the European support, secession of the South was just an illusion. According to this article by Kinley Brauer, while the armies were involved in confrontations on different battlefronts, the diplomatic wars were also accelerating. The North’s major interest was to first prevent the diplomatic recognition of the Confederacy, which would have automatically seen the secession of the South become unstoppable. The North also fought the diplomatic war to ensure that the South did not receive military su pplies, or any other form of encouragement to secede from Europe. This source is very important in reacting the diplomatic-perspective understanding of the American Civil War, while also citing who were the international supporters of secession or union.Breckinridge, Robert Jefferson. The Civil War: Its Nature and End. No. 4.This source presents both the view of the federal north on the rebellion in the South, as well as the possibility of the international community intervening in the American Civil War.

Configuration Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Configuration Management - Essay Example This paper would particularly discuss the research paper of I. Hsin Chou1 and his proposed methods to implement change in a nuclear power plant without compromising on the security of the system. In a nuclear power plant security is given utmost priority. Any lapse in security could have serious consequences. To ensure that there is no lapse in security during the implementation of any change regarding the software of the system some steps, related to security, needs to be included in the system development life cycle. 1. Introduction Software configuration management is the study of managing and tracking changes during the development of software. The main purpose of software configuration management is to provide coordination among individuals working on a change regarding particular software through a series of managerial and technical decisions2. 1.1 Importance of change management Proper change management could help increase the coordination between different departments and emp loyees. Change management also reduces the chances of errors and bugs in a program. The project manager is provided with complete knowledge, from the resources needed to the time of completion that the team needs to complete the change3. 1.2 Importance of tracking change As mentioned before software configuration helps with the management and tracking of the changes in software. It is understandable why there is a need to manage change but why track it. Tracking of change helps keep the project manager informed about the status of the change or what phase is the change going through, providing a general idea about the completion of the software4. 2. Use Of Software Configuration Management to Develop Nuclear Safety Software The difference between the development of commercial software and nuclear safety software is the increase in the risk factors. A fault in the safety system of a nuclear power plant could have dire economic and physical consequences. With so much at risk there is practically no room for error and the authorities responsible must be vigilante and make sure that no errors are left unchecked when it comes to nuclear safety. However safety during the development of nuclear based software has been ignored. 2.1 Problem As mentioned above software configuration helps manage change. The first step to configuration management is identifying the configuration items. Configuration items are the basic structural units of a configuration management system. These configuration items can range from the tools being used to the models being followed. After identifying the configuration items the next step is to bring about the required changes to these configuration items. In most of the cases these configuration items are controlled by the operations department. The software related incidents in nuclear power plants caused the loss of more than 1.6 million MW-hours5. However the use of software and hardware products available in the market can lead to a lap se in the security and would make nuclear power plants an easy target for hackers. A recent attack on Iran’s Nuclear power plant is an example of such attacks. The power plant was attacked by the Stuxnet worm, a bug that hinders the working of the Uranium enriching machine6. From software configuration point of view there are three main threats to the system7. The first threat is from unauthorized users working from outside the system. These personnel are neither employees of the power plant nor are they working with the development team. The

Government & The Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Government & The Economy - Essay Example d inequality within the United States are cheap labor from Asia, unreasonable exchange rates, outsourcing, corporate greed, illegal immigration, discrimination, and involvement in global wars, but policy changes like increase in minimum wages, innovative tax systems, earned income tax credit (EITC), Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), etc can reduce this inequality to an extent. First of all, the challenge of cheap labor from Asia is an important reason behind the inequality in the United States. For instance, globalization transformed the US role within the global trade relations. The Asian nations began to exploit the scope of globalization because human resource is comparatively cheap in Asian context. So, the American companies began to recruit Asians due to less economic burden. This eventually led the educated US citizens towards economic problems related to joblessness. From a different angle of view, cheap labor from Asia benefited the American companies, but affected the educated US citizens. But the policy makers within the US political context were not able to foresee this problem. Besides, the Asian nations accelerate the challenge of cheap labor because the same is helpful for those nations to gain more revenue. To be specific, the difference in exchange rate helps the Asian nations to benefit from working for American companies. Similarly, unreasonable exchange rates result in inequality within the American context. For instance, the initiatives undertaken by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy resulted in the decrease in interest rates. To be specific, the Federal Reserve aimed to help the housing market by decreasing the interest rates. But this initiative did not help the Americans to own homes because decreased rate was not enough attract them towards the housing market. This proves the drastic effect of the ineffective economic policies within the US context. One can see that good jobs help citizens to own homes. On the other

Threats to the Modern State

Threats to the Modern State Do you agree that in modern liberal democratic societies the state is now reduced to being ‘one actor amongst many? Whether or not the role of the modern state has changed in modern times is a contentious issue. Some argue that the state remains to be the most powerful actor in the system, holding ultimate authority on decisions. Others however, argue that the state is now just one actor amongst many. With this we can assert that there are other institutions that hold more influence over the state. It is important the role of the state is assessed under different power theories. These include Pluralism, Marxism and Elitism, whilst also looking at the theories of Zero and Positive sum politics. In this essay the internal and external threats to the states power will be assessed. These include, New Public Management, The New Right and also the impact of both globalisation and Europeanisation. Ultimately, it seems that the state has been reduced to being one amongst many actors; however, it can still remain a dominant figure within that system. Firstly, it is apt to discuss what we mean by â€Å"The Modern State.† Max Weber was an early writer about the modern state, he concluded that, ‘a state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory’[1] He also linked this in with two other vital traits that are taxation and legitimacy. It is important that the modern state is built upon and within a democratic system that includes the people within its boundaries. The Modern State can also be linked with various theories of power. The first theory that the state can be assessed under is Pluralism. Schwarzmantel outlines Pluralism in his text. ‘A system where there are competing parties, a network of pressure groups and associations, a â€Å"separation of powers† in some form.’[2] This may be linked heavily with how the state has become on amongst many actors. Also important to analysis is Elitism. This theory argues that power is more concentrated and not dispersed as Pluralism assumes. ‘Elite theorists argued that whatever the ostensible form of government, an elite minority always rule.’[3] Again, this may be linked with the state; however, this theory argues that the state is still dominant. This leads onto the theories of Zero and Positive sum, these may be more accurate in describing the gaining or loss of power for the state. Zero sum argues that power is a finite resource and when it is given away, the s tate loses it to the other actor. Linking with the argument of the state power being reduced. On the other hand, Positive sum argues that power is infinite and when shared, it comes to the benefit of all parties involved, including the state. This theory may be linked with both the Pluralist interpretation of power and also the argument that the state can remain a dominant actor within a system of many actors. Internal challenges to the state have been highly important and allow us to assess the role of the modern state. The internal challenges include The New Right and the growth of New Public Management in both the UK and the USA from the 1970’s onwards. Figure-Headed by the then leaders, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, the New Right grew in conjunction with the apparent failure of the Keynesian welfare state.[4] With this, the emphasis was switched from major involvement in welfare and economics, to the rolling back of the state into a more limited form. The New Right looked to do this in various ways. The economy provided an important area where the New Right could stamp their new methods of governance onto society. To move away from Keynesianism, it was seen that government needed to cut all involvement in the economy, leaving market forces to dictate the variables such as inflation and unemployment. Richards and Smith highlight this. ‘The state had to be cut, in order to create conditions where business could prosper.’[5] This is important when we consider the UK. There were over 50 companies and industries that were privatised, both under and after Margaret Thatcher’s premiership.[6] This had a significant impact on the state. Having given away some power from denationalising major industries, it may be argued that under the Zero Sum assumption, the state had lost power to the other actors that had been brought into the frame, as they were able to exert more influence over society and over the UK government. The New Right also has links with the new phenomenon that grew during the 1980’s and 1990’s, New Public Management. These developments go hand in hand with the privatisation policies previously mentioned. Klijn comments on the growth of New Public Management. ‘NPM leads to a proliferation of separate bodies, comprised of actors focussing on their specific task.’[7] Again, this supports the notion that the state has now become one actor amongst many. Ultimately, big-business and other organisations have become much more powerful and have more influence now, than they did before the 1980’s. NPM also has links with the rolling back of state bureaucracy. Interestingly, this can be seen with the reduction in the amount of civil servants working in the UK. In 1979, there were 732,000; this figure was reduced to 472,412 in 1997, at the conclusion of Conservative rule in Britain.[8] The influence of both privatisation and the New Public Management can be see n heavily through-out UK society today, with the current government carrying on these policies. Along with the rise of New Public Management came the rise of regulation under The New Right. At first glance, we may see the states role as minimal after privatisation, linking with the Zero Sum model of power, where the state has lost significant power to other institutions. However, dig deeper into the political system and assess regulation and you find that the state actually keeps quite a lot of power, by monitoring those institutions to which it has given its power previously. Hague and Harrop note that within nearly all Liberal Democracies, regulatory agencies are on the rise.[9] With this, the government is able to take a less active role, in the knowledge that they are able to step in and take charge when needed to. ‘Britain has embraced regulatory agencies with particular gusto; over 140 agencies, from the Food Standards Agency to Ofcom’[10] have been formed. With this, we may argue that the state may fit more into the Positive Sum model of power. Although they have given power away to other institutions, they keep their dominance through regulation and still remain to be the most powerful actor in a pool of many. Ultimately, in this light, the state remains to be very powerful. External Challenges can be equally important when assessing the changing role and position of the modern state. Under the external threats come Globalisation and Europeanisation. Importantly both seem to show the move away from the dominant state, into a new role where it is simply one amongst many actors in the political system. Globalisation is the first external challenge to be assessed. It is important to understand that globalisation is very contentious issue in itself, sparking much debate about the history and validity of globalisation theory. For the purposes of this essay, we will assume that globalisation has made a significant difference to world we live in. ‘Globalisation came to be seen as more than simply a way of doing business, or running financial markets it became a process.’[11] Importantly, the process became a change in the way governments had to run and forced states to adapt to the changing nature of governing. The establishment and growth of the United Nations is key to seeing the increase in globalisation. Established in 1945, just after World War II, the UN has grown since then and had 193 nations within it in 2011.[12] Along with this, economic globalisation has been key in showing us the decreasing role of the modern state. This has been seen as a result of the worldwide economic recession of 2007. Starting in the USA, the domino effect of economic downturn quickly spread to each corner of the developed world. Larry Elliot, writing in The Guardian, talked about the role of the state during the economic crisis. ‘One response to last weeks meltdown was the announcement of talks between the G7 – the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Canada and Japan – but while this would have been appropriate 20 years ago it is not going to calm markets today.’[13] Taking this into account, Elliot demonstrates the weakening power of the individual state. From this, we can infer that globalisation and increased interdependence between countries led to the lack of action states could take to prevent and ease the damage caused by the recession. Even the most powerful states, the UK; USA and Germany were limited in the actions they could take. With this, we could argue that the states dominance has been in decline and globalisation has played a major part in this change. The state is simply one amongst many in the world and is seemingly at mercy with the financial markets around the world. Banks and financial institutions hold a significant strong-hold on power, something the individual states have looked to regulate since the 2007 decline. The other external challenge is Europeanisation. This suggests that countries in Europe have become more integrated and heavily interdependent on each other. With this issue, we can see that the European Union, at least theoretically, has led to a decline in the dominance of the individual state. The European Union has become a major actor in the modern system and this can also be assessed in economic terms. ‘Economic factors were also fundamental. European economies needed to be re-built after 1945 and then, in order to achieve the benefits of scale, integrated into a large, single market.’[14] The financial crisis gives an indication of the states power. Bulmer and Paterson comment on this. ‘EU politicians are consequently more likely to be at the mercy of the financial markets.’[15] With this in mind, we can see that there are definitely other actors in the frame when it comes to the role of the state and in the case of European economics, we may say that the state isn’t able to dominate. In some ways however, the process of Europeanisation and the power of the European Union is limited. This may be seen as states, especially the more powerful ones, can ignore EU laws and policies without much or any sanction. This has particularly been seen in the case of Anti-Terror laws in the UK. ‘Most controversially, the Terrorism Act 2006†¦ provided for terrorism suspects to be held without charge for 28 days.’[16] These laws were passed in the UK, much to the contrary to what the European Union suggests. The EU claims that these laws are against the human rights of those suspected of crimes. In this sense, the EU and the process of Europeanisation is limited in that the state always seems to keep the majority of power and dominance within the modern system. Overall, the position of the state has without doubt changed in the last 30 years. All the factors discussed lead to the conclusion that the state is now reduced to being one actor amongst many in the system, however, we can conclude that the state is the most dominant of these actors. Although the state has taken a more limited role on, in all areas, it seems to always be there to step in when needed to. With this then, the state can be seen to fit perfectly with the Positive Sum power theory where there are many actors involved, but the state doesn’t lose any power. It may also be linked with Elitism in the system, as the state always remains the most powerful and dominant figure. [2199 Words] Bibliography Bulmer, Simon and Paterson, William (2013). ‘Germany as the EU’s Reluctant Hegemon? Of Economic Strengths and Political Constraints’, Journal of European Public Policy 20, pp.1387-1405. Cobain, Ian (2010). ‘London Bombings: The Day the Anti-Terrorism Rules Changed, 7 July 2010. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/07/london-bombings-anti-terrorism Dryzek, John and Dunleavy, Patrick (2009). Theories of the Democratic State (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan). Elliot, Larry (2011). ‘Global Financial Crisis: Five Key Stages’, 7 August 2011. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/aug/07/global-financial-crisis-key-stages accessed on 30.03.2014. Klijn, Erik-Hans (2012). ‘New Public Management and Governance: A Comparison’, in David Levi-Faur (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Hague, Rod and Harrop, Martin (2013). Comparative Government and Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan). Jeffery, Simon (2002). ‘What is Globalisation?’, 31 October 2002. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/31/globalisation.simonjeffery accessed on 28.03.2014. Osborne, Alistair (2013). ‘Margaret Thatcher: One Policy That Led To More Than 50 Companies Being Sold or Privatised’, The Telegraph, 8th April 2013. Richards, David and Smith, Martin J (2002). Governance and Public Policy in the United Kingdom (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Schwarzmantel, John (1987). Structures of Power: An Introduction to Politics (Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books). [1] Rod Hague and Martin Harrop (2013). Comparative Government and Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan). p.13. [2] John Schwarzmantel (1987). Structures of Power: An Introduction to Politics (Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books). p.17. [3] John Dryzek and Patrick Dunleavy (2009). Theories of the Democratic State (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan). p.57. [4] David Richards and Martin J Smith (2002). Governance and Public Policy in the United Kingdom (Oxford: Oxford University Press). p.93. [5] Richards and Smith, Governance and Public Policy, p.97. [6] Alistair Osborne (2013). ‘Margaret Thatcher: One Policy That Led To More Than 50 Companies Being Sold or Privatised’, The Telegraph, 8th April 2013. [7] Erik-Hans Klijn (2012). ‘New Public Management and Governance: A Comparison’, in David Levi-Faur (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press). p.202. [8] Richards and Smith, Governance and Public Policy, p.98. [9] Hague and Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics, p.332. [10] Hague and Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics, p.332. [11] Simon Jeffery (2002). ‘What is Globalisation?’, 31 October 2002. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/31/globalisation.simonjeffery accessed on 28.03.2014. [12] Hague and Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics, p.365. [13] Larry Elliot (2011). ‘Global Financial Crisis: Five Key Stages’, 7 August 2011. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/aug/07/global-financial-crisis-key-stages accessed on 30.03.2014. [14] Hague and Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics, p.160. [15] Simon Bulmer and William Paterson (2013). ‘Germany as the EU’s Reluctant Hegemon? Of Economic Strengths and Political Constraints’, Journal of European Public Policy 20. p.1401. [16] Ian Cobain (2010). ‘London Bombings: The Day the Anti-Terrorism Rules Changed, 7 July 2010. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/07/london-bombings-anti-terrorism

Rationale of the Study Essay

In our modern time’s computer’s become so usefull and it make our life even more easier than we have before. In fast moving life of the modern world of today computers hold temendous significance. We are prone to different aplications and different business and huge companies estblish in local areas and world wide. We know that managing a business is such a difficult task weather it is big or small. In accordance with this matter, adapting is the most common way to solve this issue.Internet and technology is widely use in making our lives in the simplest way as possible.It provide each individual uses their own intelligence or mind to investigate further. Internet cafà © one those business that are rapidly spreading throughout the Philippines archipelago, so long as they are in demand and up until now they are still in demand. Thus the research is to create and to show the comprehensive description of the Cyberbob Internet Cafà © Monitoring System. This implies what the software will and can do as well as how it will be anticipated to perform in most easiest way. Expanding the small business into a large store or having new branches will give another problem to the owner as well as to the costumers. Growing company means hiring new technical or employee in which they well help to meet the satisfactions of the costumers and their demands What we focused in our study in the Internet Cafà © Monitoring System which deals with the process involved within the system. With this, the user can easily access data or information in just a span of time, the system is manageable, accessible and it is very easy to use thus the user can see the effectiveness and advantages of the computer accessing information just like what this system can do. Like adding new databases and choices for the user like computing all the sales for the day, summary of all the time consumed in every computer and etc. This will enable the user to see the result being asked for. To achieve this, it is necessary to design goals at the  soonest time and fasted pace possible without compromising quality and development cost. And as for the result, your system will be improved into new well developed, easy to manage and organized software that will even more satisfy your needs.