The Reasons of Yahoos Success

Industry and macroeconomic factors Inflation and economic recession are some of the economical factors affecting the search engine industry (Jones 2). Since the search industry depends of revenue from companies, any slight performance of these companies affects the performance of the entire industry (Jones 1).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Reasons of Yahoo’s Success specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Competitiveness and emergence of other customized portals, such as eBay, get into the search market making traditional players unable to break even (Jones 7). The shifting consumer demand also affects the search engine industry. This is in the sense that players have to adopt capabilities that can deliver on the end user demand (Jones 10). The future prospect of Yahoo Yahoo generates substantively its revenue from the sale of advertisements on short-term contracts. By January 2010, Yahoo had the world†™s largest market share in online display advertising. Yahoo’s United States market share for display advertising was at 17 percent followed by Microsoft at 11 percent and AOL came in third at 7 percent. The other competitive advantage is its customized web pages and services that meet the needs of customers (Jones 5). Yahoo’s high standard places the company at sustainable competitive advantage. The new innovative and novel products helped Yahoo set the benchmarks from the onset. Yahoo also has a stake of 40 percent in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, which is valued at $120 billion (Jones 12). The success of Yahoo 2011 Table: Yahoo Revenue in millions Years 2011 2012 2013 Total Revenue $4,984 $4,986 $4,680 Net Income $1,048 $3,944 $1,360 Source: (Frier, Sarah and Aaron Ricadela par. 4). In the year 2011, social network Facebook overtook Yahoo in becoming the top search engine. The online entry of Facebook greatly reduced the market share. The loss of the top sp ot is attributed to the leadership strategies. The strategic recommendations by the top managers did not work effectively with the external and internal environments (Frier, Sarah and Aaron Ricadela 4).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The future revenue earning is estimated at over $80 billion from commercial advertisement through its radical business model by 2010-2015 (Frier, Sarah and Aaron Ricadela 5). However, this estimation has been scaled down due to the entry of Facebook, economic recession and other competitors. In September 2011, Carol Bartz is removed as CEO of the company. This was followed by successive removal and replacement of CEOs within short periods (Jones 11-12). The implementation of strategies by the top management was ineffective and this created wariness amongst the shareholders. Hence, the company had a challenge of finding a proficient CEO, who wou ld provide effective leadership with innovative, proper vision, mission and policy. Nevertheless, since the hiring of Marissa Mayer as a CEO on July 2012, the company performed successfully. Marissa Mayer was a former executive of the Google Company. Investment decision If I had money, I would have invested in the company, because Yahoo has promising future prospects. On July 2013, Yahoo outshined Google due to the number of visits to its websites. During this period, the number of United States visitors clicked at 196 million an increase of 21 percent per year (Womack 7). In 2012, Yahoo’s shares gained 58 percent. This year, the company plans to acquire San Francisco based Yelp company. Yelp’s shares have gone up by 30 percent (Womack 4). After a prudent analysis of Yahoo profitability and its management, investing in the company is highly recommended. Since the management is targeting and working effectively towards growing revenue, putting funds into the company is a good idea. Works Cited Frier, Sarah and Aaron Ricadela. â€Å"Yahoo Boosts Share Buyback by $5 Billion.† Bloomberg Technology. Web. Jones, Gareth R. â€Å"Is Yahoos Business model Working in 2011.† A case study (2011): pp. 1-13. Web.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Reasons of Yahoo’s Success specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Womack, Brian. â€Å"Yahoo’s Profit Tops Estimates as Mayer’s Turnaround Gains Steam.† Web. This essay on The Reasons of Yahoo’s Success was written and submitted by user Zeke Rowe 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.

12 Fantastic Volunteer Opportunities for Teens

12 Fantastic Volunteer Opportunities for Teens SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Interested in volunteering? Volunteering is a great extracurricular activity that looks good on college applications. Volunteering shows colleges that you dedicated your time and effort to helping others! Not sure what volunteer opportunities are available to you? There are a lot to choose from! In this article, I’ll tell you what volunteering entails, list the types of volunteer opportunities for teens, and give a brief description of each. What Does Volunteering Entail? The exact tasks you’ll be doing while volunteering will vary by volunteer activity. However, all volunteering is essentially like having an unpaid job.You’ll be given a specific set of duties (which will vary based on where you choose to volunteer - if you're working at an animal shelter you’ll have different tasks than if you're working as a tutor for homeless youth). As a volunteer, you’ll be trained for your specific job, and you’ll be required to make a time commitment.Most (if not all) volunteer programs spend time and money training you to be a volunteer. They want to make sure that if they’re going to spend resourceson you that you’re committed to them.They expect you to commit to volunteering for at least one shift per week for a few months if not a full year.Again, the exact commitment will vary by volunteer program. Below, I’ll explain how to find out exactly what your volunteer work will involveand how to sign up to be a volunteer. 6Types of Teen Volunteer Opportunities I’ve organized this list of volunteer opportunities for teens into six subcategories: Hospitals Animals People in Need Literacy and Education Museums Community and Environment NOTE: Exact opportunities will vary by location.If you live in or close to a metropolitan area (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc.), you’ll likely have access to all of these volunteer opportunities. If you live in a more rural area, you may have access to feweropportunities. HospitalVolunteer Opportunities Thinking abouta career in medicine? Being a hospital volunteer is a great way to test out that interest and see if you enjoy working in a hospital setting.Typically, you have to be 16 or older to volunteer, and the hospital volunteer jobs you’ll be allowed to do as a teen will be more limited than hospital volunteer jobs for adults ( i.e. you won’t be allowed to do any jobs that require driving). For more information on hospital volunteer opportunities along with information on how to sign up, read our complete guide to being a hospital volunteer. Animal-Related Volunteer Opportunities Love animals? Interested in being a veterinarian or zoologist? Just hoping to play with animals in your spare time?There are several different animal-related volunteer opportunities for teens. One option is beingan animal shelter volunteer (usually you have to be 16 or older).As an animal shelter volunteer, it’ll be work first and then play. You’ll spend a lot of time cleaning up after the animals, feeding the animals, and helping potential adopters through the adoption process. After finishing these tasks, you will get to play with the animals.For more information on what being an animal shelter volunteer entails, along with information on how to sign up, read our guide to volunteering at an animal shelter. If you’re too young to be an animal shelter volunteer or if you don’t have the time to dedicate to working shifts every week at the animal shelter, consider signing up to be a foster volunteer.This opportunity means taking care of an animal at your house until it is adopted. You’ll need your parent's support and permission to foster animals. If you’re interested in being a foster volunteer, make sure that you and your family have the time to dedicate to caring for the animals you foster. If you’re interested in working with wild animals (rather than dogs and cats) or if you’re too young to volunteer at an animal shelter, you might want to see if you can be an animal sanctuary volunteer or zoo volunteer. Typically, you only need to be 14 or older to volunteer at an animal sanctuary or zoo.You will only be able to take advantage of this opportunity if you have an animal sanctuary or zoo in your area. If you don’t, the next best opportunity will be being an animal shelter volunteer. Before starting your volunteer work, most zoos/sanctuaries require you undergo a training program (the length of time will vary). During the training program, you’ll learn about conservation and ecology issues, biomes, and the species of the plants and animals at the zoo/sanctuary. Why do zoos and sanctuaries make you undergo an intensive training program?As a volunteer, you’ll be assisting with the educational programs offered there. You may even be running some of the lectures by yourself. The zoo/sanctuary wants you to be extremely informed so that you’ll be able to answer the questions you’re asked by visitors. Note: As a zoo/sanctuary volunteer, you most likely will not be allowed to interact with the animals. The people who work at these placeshave years of training and experience. These animals can be dangerous and need to be handled with care.You will not be getting the same training and will therefore not be allowed to have the same interactions with animals.Instead, you'll be doing the activities mentioned above (helping with educational programs and lectures). If you’re interested in signing up to be a zoo/sanctuary volunteer, conduct a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Zoo Volunteer† or â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Animal Sanctuary Volunteer† to find opportunities in your area. People in Need Volunteer Opportunities Interested in helping the homeless? Consider volunteering at your local soup kitchen.As a soup kitchen volunteer, you might cook food, help distribute food to the homeless, and clean up the food and plates/utensils. Note:Soup kitchen volunteering is oftennot as regimented as other volunteer opportunities. Many soup kitchens allow you to just show up for a shift without signing up in advance. Also, many soup kitchens are only open a few days per week. However, this will vary by soup kitchen. To find a local soup kitchen andtheir volunteer policies, Google Search â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Soup Kitchen Volunteer.† If you’d like a slightly more regular volunteer activity that helps the homeless, consider signing up to be a food bank volunteer. Food banks typically allow volunteers 14 and older.As a food bank volunteer, you’ll help sort, inspect, and repackage donated food items from local food drives and donations.It can be a tediousjob, but it’s very important to make sure families in need are getting good, non-perishable food. To find a local food bank, Google Search â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Food Bank Volunteer.† Interested in helping the elderly?You should consider volunteering at your local nursing home.As a nursing home volunteer, you might help with meal delivery, cleaning up meals, helping the elderly with daily tasks, or entertaining an elderly person (by reading to them, talking to them, watching movies with them, etc.). To find a local nursing home, Google Search â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Nursing Home Volunteer.† Interested in construction? Want to help people in your community find homes? Likeworking with your hands? Consider becoming a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.As a volunteer, you’ll be assisting in the construction of homes for people who couldn’t otherwise afford a house. You’ll be putting nails in the walls, painting, and more.Habitat for Humanity operates in most of the US. To find an opportunity near you, check out the Habitat for Humanity website. Literacy and Education Volunteer Opportunities Love being around books? You should consider being a library volunteer.As a library volunteer, you may organize books, help repair books, help visitors locate books, help visitors use the computer, or help younger students with their homework. Find out how to sign up to volunteer at your local library by doing a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] library volunteer.† Interested in becoming a teacher or helping other students with their homework? You should consider becoming a volunteertutor.As a tutor, you’ll help elementary or middle school students with their homework. There are various volunteer tutoring organizations throughout the country. Consider checking outSchool on Wheels, which offers free tutoring to homeless youth. It's a great option because you can participate no matter where you live.If you live in an area where School on Wheels operates, you will meet up with the program participants in person and tutor them one-on-one.If you live outside the area in which School on Wheels operates, you can still volunteer by becoming an online tutor, and you’ll tutor via Skype (or a similar program). To become a tutor, you must have a 3.0 GPA or better and must submit a letter of recommendation from a current teacher.To learn more about volunteering through School on Wheels, visit their website. Do you love writing? Consider checking out 826, which needs volunteers for their free after-school tutoring as well as other programs (field trips/writing workshops). 826 offers free tutoring and other programs to encourage students to get excited about their writing. There are 826 branches in Los Angeles, Valencia, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. To explore other volunteer tutor opportunities in your area,Google Search â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] VolunteerTutor.† Museum Volunteer Opportunities Interested in someday working at a museum? Have a fascination with art, science or history?You may want to be a museum volunteer. Most museums offer volunteer programs for teens ages 16 or older.If you live in a rural area, you may not have access to this opportunity, or you might be more limited in your museum volunteer opportunities ( i.e. you might only have an art museum to volunteer at but no natural history museum).Find out what museums are in your area by doing a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] museum.† As a museum volunteer, you’ll educate guests about museum exhibits, conduct workshops and demonstrations for visitors, and/or provide administrative support (help with ticketing and directing visitors).Find a museum volunteer opportunity in your area by doing a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] [Museum Name] volunteer.† Community and Environmental Volunteer Opportunities Interested in helping the environment? Consider signing up to be a beach cleanup volunteer or forest/park/nature cleanup volunteer.Similar to being a soup kitchen volunteer, volunteering to do a cleanup is not as regimented as other volunteer opportunities. You usually just sign up to do one day and then can sign up for future cleanups if you want. You do not need to make a long-term volunteeringcommitment. As a cleanup volunteer, you’ll be helping pick up garbage on the beach or in the forest or park.This is an extremely important for reducing pollution and helping little creatures (many ingest or get tangled in our trash). To find a cleanup opportunity near you, search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] [beach, forest, or park] cleanup volunteer.† Do you enjoy gardening? Look into becoming a volunteer in a local community garden.This is a non-traditional volunteer opportunity in that you most likely will not be interacting with people. You’ll likely be given a portion of a community garden thatyou’re responsible for maintaining. Don’t worry! You don’t need to be a gardening whiz. You’ll receive training and support from the coordinators. Find a garden volunteer opportunity in your area by doing a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] community garden volunteer.† How Should You ChooseYour Volunteer Opportunity? With so many volunteer opportunities available to you, how should you decide what to do? To pick the perfect volunteer opportunity, you need to ask yourself a few questions. First, what are your interests? Do you love reading? Consider volunteering at a library. Do you love science? Mayvolunteering at a science museum is the best option for you. Is there a future career you'd like to explore?Are you interested in potentially being a doctor or nurse? Consider volunteering at a hospital to test out that career path. Are you thinking aboutbeing a veterinarian? Consider volunteering at an animal shelter. What are your favorite causes? Do you aspire to stop climate change? Consider volunteering for a beach/park/forest cleanup. Do you want to help the homeless? You may want to volunteerat a food bank or soup kitchen. How much time do you have to commit to your volunteer opportunity? Can you commit to volunteering for 4 hours every other week? If you can, great! You can do any of the opportunities listed above. However, if you're not able to commit to volunteering that often, consider trying to volunteer at a cleanup or at a soup kitchen, both of which require no long-term commitment. What is the age requirement?Most of the volunteer opportunities require you to be 16 or older, so if you're younger, your options may be somewhat limited. If you're under 16,you can volunteer at a soup kitchen, food bank, or zoo. You might be able to do one of the other volunteer opportunities, but you'll have to contact the specific volunteer programs to ask. Would you rather work with people, animals, or by yourself?Most volunteer opportunities listed above involve interactions with people and helping people. However, you don't have to work with people. If you volunteer at an animal shelter, you'll be working mostly with animals, and as a garden volunteer, you'll work primarily alone. Take all of these considerations into account when picking your volunteer opportunity, and hopefully, the answers to these questions will guide you to the perfectvolunteer match! Why Should You Volunteer? Volunteering has many benefits.Through volunteering, you'll get to explore a passion you have (such as literature or medicine).Also, by volunteering, you can support a cause you love such as helping the homeless.You can also meet like-minded students, who share your passion or want to support that cause. Volunteering is a great opportunity to test out whether you’d like to pursue a specific career (such as medicine, education, etc.).It's great to try and find your passion in high school, so you don't waste time and money during college trying to figure out what you want to major in.If you don’t enjoy volunteering at a hospital, maybe pre-med isn’t for you.If you love volunteering at an animal shelter, maybe you should pursue a career as a veterinarian. Volunteering is also a great extracurricular for your college application.It shows you selflessly dedicated your time and effort to helping others!Additionally, volunteering is a free experience that won’t cost you anything other than time. However, there are a few negative aspects of volunteer work.Volunteering can be extremely time-consuming.If you’re passionate about your volunteer work, hopefully, you'll be willing to dedicate 4 or more hours per week (or every other week) to volunteering.If you don’t like your volunteer work, you may find the time commitment to be a burden. If you don’t have the time to commit to regular volunteer work, consider trying one of the volunteer opportunities with no lengthy time commitment (such as being a soup kitchen volunteer or beach cleanup volunteer). Some students may find their volunteer work boring.As I said above, at a lot of these jobs, you’ll be doing menial work (cleaning up, answering phones).I still think it's valuable to try volunteering. If you don’t enjoy your initial volunteer work, consider looking into a different volunteer opportunity or looking into an entirely different extracurricular activity. What’s Next? Interested in learning about other extracurricular activities? Learn more about joining student council or joining a sports team. Do you want to volunteerover the summer? Learn more about the best volunteer abroad programs. Interested in doing a pre-college program over the summer? Learn more about Emory Pre-College Program and Boston University Summer Challenge. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Honor vs. Honour

Honor vs. Honour Honor vs. Honour Honor vs. Honour By Maeve Maddox One of the most noticeable differences between U.S. and British spelling is that of pairs like honor, honour and glamor, glamour. The dropping of the u in such words is often attributed to the progressive thinking of American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758-1843), but Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) thought of it first. As a printer, Franklin had a professional interest in spelling. In 1768, he published his ideas and ordered a custom type font that included eight extra symbols. Years later, he approached Noah Webster with his innovations. Webster was not interested: There seems to be an inclination in some writers to alter the spelling of words, by expunging the superfluous letters. This appears to arise from the same pedantic fondness for singularity that prompts new fashions of pronunciation. Thus they write the words favour, honour, etc. without u† In 1768, Webster’s view was that it was better â€Å"to speak our language with propriety and elegance as we have it,† but by 1789, he’d changed his mind: I once believed that a reformation of our orthography would be unnecessary and impracticable. This opinion was hastyI now believe with Dr. Franklin that such a reformation is practicable and highly necessary.† By the time Webster published his first small dictionary in 1806, he was ready to drop the u from the â€Å"honour family† of nouns. Modern British spelling retains the u in armour, behaviour, clamour, colour, endeavour, favour, fervour, flavour, glamour, harbour, humour, labour, neighbour, odour, rancour, rigour, rumour, saviour, splendour, and similar words. Even in British spelling, however, when certain endings are added to these nouns, our becomes or. The endings that alter the our spelling are -ous, -ary, -ation, -ial, and ific. The following are both British and U.S. spellings: glamorous, humorous, laborious, rancorous, rigorous, coloration, honorary, honorific, armorial. Note: the word behaviour seems to be putting up a fight. The OED gives both spellings, behavioural and behavioral. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial ExpressionsCapitalization Rules for Names of Historical Periods and MovementsList of 50 Compliments and Nice Things to Say!

Media and Privacy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Media and Privacy - Assignment Example It is not ethical to invade people’s privacy and it should always be paramount to protect their image (Karen 21). When dealing with cases where the person is in the public place, they expect to have their privacy protected from the public. However, they have to respect privacy but at the same time be robust about their investigation. Journalist should not disclose publicly any private, irrelevant and embarrassing facts about people. Misappropriating a person’s name and image for personal gain is also unethical. Intruding into a person’s solitude and exposing them to the public is against journalistic principles (Stephen 34). However, if an individual is considered to have been involved in any crime, they could have their rights to privacy waived as it mostly seen to be in the public’s interest to depict their behavior. The audience responds differently when it comes to nudity, coarse language, and violence. This should only be published when it is only nec essary for the public to be made aware. When shocking materials are considered important in a story, they usually arouse negative public reaction. The public should be warned of disturbing and explicit materials that they may be exposed to (Stephen 15). They should never be caught off guard and censor forms should be used so as to prevent children from watching such features which may leave them disturbed. Images of graphic scenes that show violence, shocking, bloody and tragic features are at times seen in the news. Reporters are accused of being indecent in the way they collect the news and showcase it to the public (Karen 43). However, as much as the journalists observe the code f ethics, there are some concerns that the content of journalism is being ignored. Modern reporting is seen as biased, especially on issues of politics. Sensationalism is also a major complaint as many people relate to this. The concerns are bigger as the media continues to change by the day to suite dive rsity. Selective reporting is seen to be practiced by many media houses and newspapers. These goes against the codes of ethics (Stephen 54). Question 2 Journalists are guided by a code of ethics and some of the elements included in the code include the principle that the materials they submit should be accurate, fair, truthful, and have an objective. Any material released to the public should be clearly scrutinized before its release and all the details written should be accurate and should have more things to support it. Fairness should be exercised and all journalists should be able to get both sides of the story (Stephen 58). They should get accurate information from their sources so as to steer clear of inadvertent error. The public has the right to know of the sources’ reliability and the sources should be questioned so as to clarify that there are no motives behind their information. Journalists should give the accused persons the opportunity to respond to the accusatio ns of wrongdoing (Karen 67). Distorting information that they have been given is against the rules of conducts. They should not mislead the public with the information that they publish. Gathering information via surreptitious methods should always be avoided. They should tell stories of diversity and magnitude regardless of its popularity. They should not stereotype by religion, race, age, sexual preference, disability, social status, and physical appearances.

I stand here ironing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

I stand here ironing - Essay Example This process begins when she receives a note from the school counselor saying: "She's a youngster who needs help and whom I'm deeply interested in helping." Emily was a bright child as the mother recalls: "She was a beautiful baby. She blew shining bubbles of sound. She loved motion, loved light, loved color, and music and textures. She would lie on the floor in her blue overalls patting the surface so hard in ecstasy her hands and feet would blur. She was a miracle to me, but when she was eight months old I had to leave her daytimes with the woman downstairs to whom she was no miracle at all, for I worked or looked for work and for Emily's father who "could no longer endure" (he wrote in his good-bye note) "sharing want with us." (p. 9) From this it becomes clear that the mother recognizes that she was unable to give Emily the attention she needed. When she says that Emily was a miracle to her but not to the woman downstairs, she reflects her guilt for having left her daughter in the care of someone who didn't or could not love her as much as she deserved. Emily has now turned into a woman who keeps much to herself. She doesn't like sharing her life with her mother because she has somehow come to accept that this is the kind of relationship she has with her mother. The mother on the other hand would want deeper connection with her daughter but understands that since Emily had always been treated with anxious and not generous love, her growth was instilled with insecurity. She loves her daughter, wants to be a part of her life but knows it is no longer possible. Looking at Emily now as she enters the house, the mother observes: "She is coming. She runs up the stairs two at a time with her light graceful step, and I know she is happy tonight. Whatever it was that occasioned your call did not happen today" (p. 19) Through stream of consciousness, we gather several important things about their relationship and what caused a deep strain on it. For one, we learn that mother is guilty for not providing her first child with generous attention but she also understands why she was unable to do so. Emily's father had left when she was only one, her mother had to learn to adjust herself into a new household with a new husband and as other children came, Emily went deeper into the back. And the mother also blames her lack of knowledge for the child's strained growth. At one point she says: "I did not know then what I know now" (p. 11) and "What in me demanded that goodness in her" (p. 12) - meaning she is using her present knowledge to assess and understand her past behavior and that of her daughter's as well. Mother is the central character in the story and Emily is what she constructs for us. It is through her consciousness that we construct Emily or have an image of her. She is a nineteen year old who is not close to her mother at all. The mother was approached by school counselor as they felt that Emily was disturbed and needed help but while the mother would love to help, she is basically clueless. Clueless not because she doesn't know what is causing her present behavior but because she has no idea as to how it can be effectively influenced. "You think because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you could use me as a key She has lived for nineteen years. There is all that life that has happened outside of me, beyond me" (p. 9). Outside of me and beyond me are key terms

Prevalence of One Party Rule in African States Essay Example for Free

Prevalence of One Party Rule in African States Essay Africa, often known as the ‘Dark Continent’ rightfully occupies its place as the ‘Cradle of Civilization’ as the first humans have been known to originate from this continent of diverse ethnicities, tribes and clans. Since ancient times, the very nature of African society predicated formation of kingdoms and states centered on ethnicities and clans. Later, the advent of colonialism brought to Africa new forms of governance, which included democratization, socialism, communism and dictatorships. One enduring feature of African style of governance has been the prevalence of one party rule in most African countries. This paper examines why there is such a preference for such single party model of governance in Africa. To fully examine the subject, this paper shall first provide a historical overview of the progression of styles of governance in Africa and then examine the trends in major countries that make up the African continent. The paper will argue that the intrinsic nature of the African society and the effects of colonialism predispose them to following a one party rule. Historical Overview Africa is the world’s second largest continent both in terms of size and population and has 54 countries many of which are struggling democracies, a few communist regimes, and a number of authoritarian regimes bordering on dictatorship. Since ancient times, Africa had its indigenous systems of governance based on tribes and ethnic affinities. Africa also had great civilizations like the Egyptian civilization in 3300 B. C (Martin OMeara, 1995, p. 79). The earliest foreign influence came in 814 B. C. with the founding of Carthage in present day Tunisia under the Roman Empire which was followed by Persian domination of Egypt. In 332 B. C. , Alexander the Great replaced the Persian domination of Egypt and Roman rule continued in much of North Africa till the advent of Islam in the early 7th century (Martin OMeara, p. 99). In all these cases, the style of governance was centralized, as exercised by the emperor based in Rome or Persia through an appointed sovereign. The influence was limited mostly to North Africa, while the rest of Africa was considered too difficult to traverse due to thick jungles. Thus even in North Africa, from ancient times, the focus was on one –man rule and that more or less ‘conditioned’ the North African people to accept models of ‘uni-power’ in those times. Since the jungles were impassable and large number of tribes and ethnicities abounded, it was natural that rest of Africa had thousands of small kingdoms, states and at times independent nomadic tribes who dominated a particular territory. Each tribe had its own set of rules, customs, traditions and styles of governance, which again was predicated on the rule of one man or a tribal elder. The concept of Greek ‘city-state’ like democracy complete with a senate and an executive was non-existence. Over time, some of the tribes became more powerful and evolved into larger settled kingdoms that coalesced around similar ethnicities and language such as the Ghanaian empire that existed in 790-1076 A. D. followed by the Mali Empire from 1230 to 1600 A. D. (Martin OMeara, p. 70) The significant changes in style of governance came with the advent of colonialism. From the 18th century and by the late 19th century, most of Africa was divided up between the colonial powers; France, Britain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Netherlands. Under colonial rule, the African people had to undergo centralized rule of the colonial powers and the brutal suppression of any African revolt reinforced this submissiveness to a one-man rule. During the colonial period, the colonial powers brought with them their systems of governance, jurisprudence and legislation (Martin OMeara, p. 8). Colonialism lost its vigor in the early 20th century and by 1980, most ex-colonies in Africa gained independence. The former colonial powers before exiting from the continent tried to put into place systems of governance in ‘their own image’. Thus across Africa, a variety of ‘democratic’ systems took hold. Most of these ‘democratic systems were basically presidential forms of government, being the closest approximation to what they were used to both as per their pre-colonial experience and their colonial experience. The end of the Second World War gave rise to the Cold War and the Soviet Union tried to expand its influence in Africa also. This gave rise to numerous socialist-communist regimes in Africa that were opposed by the U. S. leading to proxy wars. Having examined the broad trends of the historical period of Africa till the advent of independence, the paper will now examine specific examples of how prevalence of one party rule exists in Africa. It is not intended to cover all 54 countries, but few sample countries that typify the various regions of Africa. For the ease of comprehension and brevity, Africa will be discussed under the heads North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa. North Africa North Africa because of its proximity to Asia had significant influence of Asian and Islamic traditions superimposed on ethnic African traditions and cultures. It is because of the spread of Islam in the 7th century, most of North Africa is Islamic. Islam, an egalitarian religion is considered as a complete body of work wherein all aspects of human life including politics and governance can be practiced through the Quran, the Holy book and the Hadith, the Islamic interpretation of Jurisprudence. Under Islamic law and Islamic political systems, an Islamic state is governed by a Caliph and where a Caliph no longer exists, then by a monarch or a ruler. Ideas such as secularism and democracy have very little congruence with the practice of political Islam. When such a system is overlaid over ancient tribal culture of a village head, it becomes natural that a state be ruled by a monarch or an authoritarian head and if not, the nearest approximation, a single grouping or party. Take for example, Egypt. Egypt, since ancient times was a land ruled by the Pharaohs, then the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Ottomans and the Arabs. In the colonial era, Egypt was ruled by Britain but the largely Islamic populace got independence from Britain in 1922 (Pateman El-Hamamsy, 2003, p. 28). Egypt was initially a constitutional monarchy and had adopted the British parliamentary system of government but constant political interference from Britain led to internal turmoil that finally resulted in a military coup in 1952 (Pateman El-Hamamsy, p. 28) in which the monarchy was overthrown and Egypt declared itself to be a Republic under General Muhammed Naquib. Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew Naguib in 1954 to become the Egyptian President. Nasser, on assuming power banned all political parties and created a one party named the Liberation Rally to run the government. This move helped him consolidate his power and rule Egypt till his death in 1970 after which he was succeeded by Anwar El-Sadat, the vice President (Pateman El-Hamamsy, p. 29). Sadat carried out political reforms and reverted to a multi-party system (Pateman El-Hamamsy, p. 31); creating one of the parties called the National Democratic Party and remained the President till he was assassinated in 1981 by a group of Egyptian army officers during an army parade (Pateman El-Hamamsy, p. 29). Sadat’s successor, Hosni Mubarak is still in office since 1981 and is the present leader of the National Democratic Party. Though by the Egyptian constitution, multi-party system is allowed, due to sustained state patronage, the National Democratic Party is the only party which has the necessary financial and political clout to win elections. There are other smaller parties that have virtually no chance of winning a single election and till to date Egypt is essentially ruled by a single party. Libya, a British colony was declared as a monarchy under King Idris in 1951 but was overthrown by a revolution led by Colonel Muammer al-Gaddafi in 1969 (Wright, 1981, p. 130) who has ruled the country ever since. Political parties were banned by Gaddafi in 1972 and the country is ruled by the ‘revolutionary leader’, Gaddafi aided by a Revolutionary Committee also called as the People’s Congress. Tunisia was a French protectorate that became independent in 1956 and adopted a Presidential form of government, copying the French model, except that it rapidly turned into an authoritarian police state where most ‘Presidents’ have been military personnel. The present incumbent, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is a former military officer (Perkins, 2004, p. 7). On paper, political parties are allowed but in reality, it is only the President’s party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally that gets almost all the seats. The rest of the political parties are usually browbeaten into submission by the state’s security system and there is virtually no free press. The farcical nature of Tunisian ‘democracy’ can be gauged by the fact that in the 2009 presidential election, Ben Ali received 89. 62% votes to continue as the President (Lowe Amara, 2009, p. 1). The ancient kingdom of Morocco, a French and Spanish Protectorate gained independence in 1956 as a constitutional monarchy, a system that continues till to date. Though the King of Morocco has a prime minister, a parliament and a multi-party system, the style of governance continues to be rule by one man, the King (Forum, 2008, p. 49). West Africa In West Africa, the situation is slightly different. Here more than Islamic influence, it was the effect of local dynamics, ethnic rivalries, Christian missionaries and communist influence that has determined the preference for single party rule. Take for example Liberia, the only other country other than Ethiopia which has an American connection rather than a European past. Liberia was created through a private American enterprise to house freed African American slaves and became independent in 1847. Since, the project was American led; Liberia adopted a presidential form of system. However, the American backed Liberian elite who ruled the country came in conflict with 16 other indigenous ethnicities living in Liberia. Since the regime was thrust ‘top down’ from the Americans, tensions quickly developed and a coup by a group of ethnic military soldiers led by Samuel Doe took place in 1980. Doe replaced the presidential republic with his authoritarian regime. Political parties were allowed to exist but their freedom remained curtailed by the regime which furthered the hold of its own party, the National Democratic Party of Liberia. The 1985 election results in which the opposition Liberal Action Party won were declared invalid by Doe, which led to the Liberian Civil War in 1989. Doe was killed and the power passed into the hands of Charles Taylor (Moran, 2008, p. 106), who continued his dictatorial regime which again led to another civil war in 1999 that continued up to 2003 and only came to halt with Charles Taylor being forced into exile in Nigeria. From 1847 till 2003, Liberia was ruled by the Americo-Liberian elite and their single party. Since 2003, a transitional government was put into place with international intervention, which because of corruption was dissolved and fresh presidential elections were again held in 2005 and was won by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the head of Unity Party who became the first woman President of an African country (Polgreen, 2005, p. 1). Nigeria got its independence from Britain in 1960 and had numerous political parties. These political parties were sharply defined along ethnic lines comprising of three main ethnicities; the Hausa, the Igbo and the Yoruba (Rotberg, 2007, p. 19). The Yoruba dominated Nigerian National Democratic Party won the elections in 1965, which led to political dissensions and instability resulting in two military coups in 1966. This did not resolve the problem as the Igbo, dominating the Eastern region of the country declared independence from Nigeria leading to the Nigerian civil war 1967-1970 that led to over a million deaths. The civil war ended but not the ethnic strife and the military continued to rule Nigeria with coups and assassination of the presidents being a regular feature. For thirty years, Nigeria continued under military rule till 1999 when it finally elected Lusegun Obasanjo, a former military dictator as its President. Obasanjo was re-elected in 2003 (Rotberg, p. 13) as the President amidst allegations of rigging. Obasanjo was replaced by Umaru YarAdua of the People’s Democratic Party in 2007 and on his demise now been replaced by Goodluck Jonathan (Nossiter, 2010, p. 1). So while the American model was adopted, the actual functioning of a presidential type of government has been a recent development in Nigeria’s history. At present there are two main parties in Nigeria, the ruling People’s Democratic Party and the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party with numerous smaller parties. What must be noted is that a democratic political system in Nigeria is still nascent and fragile and should ethnic differences arise again it will not be long that another military coup will take place in the interests of ‘national security’. Angola became independent in 1975 after having been a Portuguese colony from the 16th century. Angolan independence came right in middle of the Cold War where Soviet influence in Africa was rising. The independent country was immediately plunged into a civil war between the Soviet backed Communist MPLA faction and the American backed anti-communist UNITA rebels (Sheehan, Yong, Lin, 2010, p. 38). The Angolan civil war continued for 27 years (Sheehan, Yong, Lin, p. 43) till declaration of ceasefire in 2002 by which time over 500,000 people were killed. The ideological factions had an ethnic base too wherein the MPLA comprised basically Angolans of the Kimbundu clan and the UNITA, the Ovimbundu tribe. Presently, the Communist MPLA holds power in Angola. As can be deduced, this being a communist regime with no legitimacy, the concept of political parties in a democratic system does not apply. East Africa East Africa including the Horn of Africa portrays a region of extreme instability with a few deceptively stable nations. Sudan, the first country being analyzed, after gaining independence from Egypt and Britain in 1956, was gripped by a civil war till 1973 (Barker, 2008, p. 16). This civil war was basically because of ethnic differences between the people of Northern Sudan (Islamic of Arabic lineage) and Southern Sudan (non-Islamic of non-Arab lineage). While the civil war raged, Khartoum was ruled by the Sudanese military. A ceasefire in 1973 negotiated through granting autonomy to Southern Sudan kept the peace till 1983 when the military general, and the de-facto President, Nimeiry unilaterally decided to incorporate Southern Sudan into a federation. The civil war continued (Barker, p. 18), Nimeiry was ousted in 1983 and replaced by a democratic government under Prime Minister Al Sadig Al Mahdi which was not recognized by the Sudan’s People Liberation Army (SPLA) of Southern Sudan. Civil war continued anew. In 1989, Colonel Omar al-Bashir over threw Prime Minister Al Mahdi, abolished political parties and established an Islamic code on entire Sudan. Al-Bashir formed the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation and allied his group with National Islamic Front to consolidate Islamization of firstly, Northern Sudan and then the rest of the country. In the subsequent military action by the Sudanese army, the SPLA were defeated in Southern Sudan by 1994. Having achieved consolidation, Bashir dissolved the revolutionary council in 1993. In the 1996 election Bashir declared himself to be the only candidate eligible to run for President. All other political parties were disbanded and Bashir converted Sudan into an Islamic state with single party at its helm – the newly created National Congress Party (NCP). Meanwhile, Bashir unleashed a brutal war of suppression on the non-Arab ethnic minorities in the Darfur region using proxy militia known as the Janjaweed that has resulted in deaths of over 400,000 Darfuris (Kessler, 2005, p. 1) leading to an indictment of Al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide. At the tip of the Horn of Africa lies the failed state of Somalia where no functional government exists. Somalia was never formally colonized by any power and had come under a variety of influences ranging from Islamic influence during the Ottoman Empire, Fascist influence under Mussolini’s Italy and then British military administration from 1941 that was replaced by the formation of a republic of Somalia in 1961 with a parliamentary form of government (Lewis, 2008, p. 33). This brief democratic interlude was shattered in 1969 when President Shermake was assassinated and replaced by a military government. The military created the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party in 1976 and ruled the nation till 1990. Meanwhile, various Islamic factions and clans grew in size and potency that overthrew the military government leading to a series of skirmishes through the period, 1990-1991. The long standing military dictator, Siad Barre was ousted in 1991 and President Ali Muhammed was installed, yet the civil war continued. The UN Security Council approved the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) in 1992 that has since been replaced by UNOSOM II with no success. Presently, a Transitional Federal Government (Lewis, p. x)is the internationally recognized government of Somalia whose writ does not even run through the entire city of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. In the dismal narrative so far, Kenya appears to be a bright democratic spark in the African continent. After achieving independence from Britain in 1963, Kenya adopted a semi-presidential form of government albeit, with the peculiar African preference for single party rule. The Kenyan constitution mandated formation of only a single party in Kenya. Governments continued to be formed under the single party system until 1992 when electoral reforms were introduced to allow a multiparty system. The elections since then have been held in generally free and fair manner. The 2007 elections were marred by allegations of rigging in which the main opposition party, the Orange Democratic Freedom accused the ruling Party of National Unity for stealing the election. In the ensuing rioting, over 1000 Kenyans lost their lives (Raghavan, 2010, p. 1) and hundreds of thousands were displaced. Peace was restored through international mediation in 2008 and the country is presently being run by a grand coalition of members of both the parties under a new constitution (Raghavan, p. 1). Kenya’s relative stability is attributed to the British colonial era, where unlike the rest of Africa, the colonists set up educational institutions and government infrastructure. Also, unlike the other African countries, 78% of Kenyans are Christians while 10% are Muslims, 10% indigenous and the rest 2% are Asian immigrants (CIA World Factbook, 2010, p. 1). Central Africa In Central Africa, the Republic of Congo has been in the news for decades for all the wrong reasons. Congo received independence from France in 1960 and adopted the French presidential model of governance. However, the first President, Fulbert Youlou was ousted in 1963 by a military coup, which then installed a puppet civilian government (Rorison, 2008, p. 225) and also adopted communist ideology. In 1965, the Congo republic formally joined hands with the Soviet Union, firmly coming into the soviet bloc (Rorison, p. 226). This alignment did not bring about political stability as the original French democratic influence clashed with the ‘uni-power’ Soviet ideology leading to a series of coups and dictatorship under Denis Sassou. During his first spell of rule from 1979 to 1992, Sassou ruled Congo under a single party rule of the Congolese Labor Party (PCT) (Rorison, p. 227). When external pressures grew strong, he introduced multiparty system in 1990 and was defeated in the 1992 Presidential election. Sassou’s ouster led to a civil war between the supporters of Sassou and his competitor Pascal Lissouba. Sassou, a former colonel won the civil war and proclaimed himself as the President in 1997. In 2009, Sassou was sworn in for another seven-year period (Amnesty International, 2010, p. 1). In Congo’s case too, for most of its independent history, the country has been ruled by a single party and now despite a multi-party ‘democracy’ in place, the original political party, the PCT continues to rule the country. Southern Africa In Southern Africa, any discussion regarding Africa would remain incomplete without illustrating the case of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, originally Rhodesia became independent after a violent struggle with the British in 1980. Throughout the period, 1965-1979, the country was engulfed in a civil war between British government forces and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) led by Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) led by Joshua Nkomo as also a number of smaller splinter groups (Raftopoulos Mlambo, 2009, pp. 141-165). In the 1980 elections, Robert Mugabe won by a wide margin but fighting with opposing parties and groups continued. The two main parties the ZANU and ZAPU fought bitterly until 1988 when ceasefire was declared and the two parties merged into ZANU-PF thus starting Zimbabwe’s slide into single party dominated system (Raftopoulos Mlambo, p. 179). Till to date the ZANU-PF has won every single election by force. Mugabe’s policies of throwing out the white farmers and forcibly occupying lands and giving it to the poor black resulted in economic sanctions by the West and a meltdown of the economy. Owing to his bad economic policies, hyperinflation struck the country and created political space for Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change to challenge him in the 2008 elections. The results were rigged but could not conclusively establish Tsvangirai’s claim of having won the elections. In September 2008, Mugabe maintained his power as the President by agreeing to share power with Tsvangirai who became the Prime Minister (Raftopoulos Mlambo, p. xxxii). Yet again, the single party rule dominates Zimbabwe. Finally, a discussion of Africa would be incomplete without examining its most prosperous and advanced state – South Africa. In South Africa, the colonial power, the Dutch did not relinquish their hold over the country and continued in the form of Apartheid, which was once again predicated on the dominance of a single party – the White minority party thereby conditioning the people of South Africa to rule by a single party. However, the violent suppression of the minorities could not continue indefinitely and ever since 1961, when South Africa left the British Commonwealth (Berger, 2009, p. 166) the white minority National Party faced constant protest from the black majority for equality. Till 1993, the National Party had banned other political parties (Berger, p. 166) and it was only in the face of sustained international pressure and internal struggle by the black and colored populations that the ban was lifted in 1993 and the African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela was allowed to participate in elections. In Mandela, the South Africans found a charismatic leader who exuded the moral authority and statesmanship, which promised to build a future for the suppressed races. Mandela delivered on his promises but also led to consolidation of the ANC as the only party of choice for the people of Africa. The National Party chose to merge with the ANC and this yet again showed the propensity of Africans to prefer single party rule. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be reiterated that analysis of all the regions of Africa shows a remarkable similarity of circumstances that seemed to have shaped their preference for single party rule. The ethnic make up into tribes and clans were at the most basic level, the building blocks for adhering to the instructions of the clan leader or village headman. This obedience in turn was further conditioned by brutal colonial rule, where the colonial masters used every suppressive means to keep the Africans submissive. Suppression and exploitation itself became the rallying point for the African clans to unite and fight for their independence. Since most of the colonial powers only exploited Africa and did not build institutions, the succeeding indigenous governments had no infrastructural back up to employ their people or give immediate succor; naturally, the people fell back to tribal and clan loyalties as rallying forces. Since these points of opposition had to be formed clandestinely, they became sort of secret societies that formed oligarchic groups to fight for independence. On attaining independence the basic dynamics of the groups did not change and they continued as a closed ‘in-group’, which only heightened social inequalities and strife broke out in most cases. As democratic institutions had not been allowed to mature under the colonial period, people tended to cluster around the ‘village headman’, in other words, any leader with some charisma and since one institution that always has a clearly defined leader is the army, most governments became victims of military takeovers. The populace conditioned by colonial repression now became victims of military repression. Military forces needed a ‘democratic fig leaf’ to govern nations and so they set up political parties which were then headed by serving or former military officers to perpetrate the rule of a single party in the states. Parts of Africa that had predominantly Islamic influence adopted Islamic laws, which ideologically are not compatible with democratic secularism. Therefore, these countries by default became ruled by a king or a dictator or by a single party. Where the Cold War intruded the African political space, communist regimes under laid by African tribalism became the dominant feature. In these cases, the political ideology required the rule of the state by a single party. Later, when communist regimes fell, the old habit of single party rule lingered on. Thus the assertion that there is prevalence of one party rule in African states is emphatically proved. However, as can be seen from the examples of African states discussed, the hold of one party system is slowly changing. Multiple parties are emerging as the African people are becoming more aware of the wider world through the process of globalization. They are also realizing the need for multiple choices for governance as a panacea against corruption and despotism. So while the one-party prevalence in Africa may seem predominant at the present, political evolution of the African polity is taking place that will, in time transform into a more inclusive political process across the continent. References Amnesty International. (2010). Congo (Republic of). Retrieved August 11, 2010, from http://www. unhcr. org/refworld/country,,,,COG,,4c03a835c,0. html Barker, G. (2008). Sudan. NY: Marshall Cavendish. Berger, I. (2009). South Africa in World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CIA World Factbook. (2010, August 3). Kenya. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke. html Forum, A. P. (2008). An Audit of Police Oversight in Africa. Cape Town: African Minds. Kessler, G. (2005, April 27). State Dept. Defends Estimate Of Deaths in Darfur Conflict. Retrieved August 10, 2010, from Washington Post: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601397. html Lewis, I. (2008). Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. NY: Columbia University Press. Lowe, C. , Amara, T. (2009, October 26). Tunisian President Wins Fifth Term in Office. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from Reuters: http://www. reuters. com/article/idUSTRE59P03M20091026 Martin, P. M. , OMeara, P. (1995). Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Moran, M. H. (2008). Liberia: The Violence of Democracy . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. Nossiter, A. (2010, February 9). Nigerian Parliament Names Acting President. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from New York Times: http://www. nytimes. com/2010/02/10/world/africa/10nigeria. html Pateman, R. , El-Hamamsy, S. (2003). Egypt. NY: Marshall Cavendish. Perkins, K. J. (2004). A History of Modern Tunisia . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Polgreen, L. (2005, November 12). In First for Africa, Woman Wins Election as President of Liberia. Retrieved August 10, 2010, from New York Times: http://www. nytimes. com/2005/11/12/international/africa/12liberia. html Raftopoulos, B. , Mlambo, A. (2009). Becoming Zimbabwe: A History from the Pre-Colonial Period to 2008. Harare: Weaver Press. Raghavan, S. (2010, August 6). Kenyans Celebrate Approval of New Constitution. Retrieved August 10, 2010, from The Washington Post: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/05/AR2010080500525. html Rorison, S. (2008). Congo. Guilford: The Globe Pequot Press Inc. Rotberg, R. I. (2007). Nigeria: Elections and Continuing Challenges. NY: Council for Foreign Relations. Sheehan, S. , Yong, J. L. , Lin, Y. J. (2010). Angola. NY: Marshall Cavendish. Wright, J. (1981). Libya: A Modern History. Beckenham: Croom Helm Ltd.

Resplendent Rivendel :: Free Essay Writer

Resplendent Rivendel Imagine a world of such serenity where you have no enmity and worries, but how to enjoy your life to the endless boundary. A land of such astounding, imperial beauty that makes you wants to pinch yourself, yet you dare not to for the fear of losing a splendid moment. Unimaginable beauty of peacefulness, yet stunning of its solemnity, we are in Rivendel, the Elvin city, where everyone’s fantasies lie. Every step, beautiful colored leaves cushion your feet and create a delicate sound of a person gently biting in to golden brown, delicious potato chips. All around you, under the pleasant sunlight, the warmth surrounds your body, gently ameliorating your troubles and pain, and slowly pacifying your turbulent mind. The wind swiftly sprints toward you, splits upon the very tip of your nose and flutters your hair that ferociously fought for its independence. The chill of the autumn air swirling around your ear slowly promises your brain of the traitorous, humid summer day’s closure. No matter what atrocities exist in the world, the trees, neutralized in quiescence, continue on with their life. Slowly shedding their old, worn out coat, they watch as leaves glide down to the ground, slicing through the air. Sometimes they did flips or spins until they finally bowed for applause on the ground like a masterful ballet dancer. On the other side, as to ambitiously compete with its idealistic beauty, the forceful water, rushing through the river like a bright, white stallion drops as the rainbow colors reflect upon every droplet. The bubbles launch up to the surface of the well, exploding in rhythmic harmony. The soothing mist fills the atmosphere. Smoothly colliding on to your skin, they moisturize your body delicately, like a feast after a famine. Its marvelous clarity refreshes your mind, like a rain in a fiery summer day. Do you wander what it’s like to live here, as an elf? Elves are handsome, admirable creatures. Their silvery hair flawlessly comes down to their shoulders, lustrous as a gleaming, full moon, as to show the conscientiousness in resemblance. Yet, their eyes, pair of polished emeralds and sapphires show only a taste of their mysterious, impenetrable ingenuity. Anyone who stares into them falls into the immense depth of clarity, until they finally swim out from the exquisite, dream-like ocean. Behind the radiance of their aura, two pointy years, in full appearance shows their necessary belligerence, in their nature of survival.

Apply Legal and Ethical Parameters to Nursing Practice Essay

1. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (The National Law 2009) has great importance on the governance of the conduct of registered and enrolled nurses. The National Law allows national boards to manage the development of health profession standards. The National Law has requirement for national boards to enterprise wide range consultation on registration standards, codes and guidelines. The National Law organise a national scheme which include registration arrangement, accreditation arrangement, complaints, conducts, health and performance arrangements, privacy and information-sharing arrangement and transitional arrangements. 2. (a). Two legislations that mandate nurses to report to nominated government authorities where elderly people and/or children in their care are at risk of harm from others are Australian Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (2009) Children and Community services amendment act 2008 (b). These acts are state act, which can vary state or territory wide in Australia. (c). These legislations make ENs aware to provide safe environment and keep away elderly people and children from any harm by reporting to nominated government. This legislation helps to reduce some professionals to be involved in some cases. It is legal requirement for ENs to report all reasonable beliefs of any risk of harm for elderly people and/or children. 3. Four domains of the National Competency Standards for Enrolled Nurse are: – (a) Professional and Ethical practices: Enrolled Nurses work according to legislation, policies and procedures to demonstrate knowledge of legislation and common law, organizational policies and procedure, fulfill the duty of care, report practices that may breach legislations, polices and procedures. ENs performs in ethical way, respect the rights of individual and groups, and accept accountability and responsibility for own actions within enrolled nursing practices. (b) Critical thinking and analysis: Enrolled nurses establish critical thinking to perform enrolled  nursing practice by assessing own performance through nursing standards, by self professional development, by own care. (c) Management of care: Enrolled nurses participate to form care plans with RN through accurate data collection and report of health and functional status of individuals and groups, through identification of expected healthcare outcomes, through evaluation of progress of individuals and groups to achieve expected outcomes with RN. ENs manage nursing care of individuals and groups by implementing planned nursing care to get identified outcomes, by recognizing any change in health and functional status, report and document it accurately and on time. (d) Enabling: Enrolled nurses promote safety, security and personal integrity of individuals and groups, which include their actions of safety, create and maintain effective communication, applying strategies for promotion of self-esteem of individual and groups, actions to maintain dignity and integrity of individuals and groups. Enrolled nurses provide support and care to individuals and groups and participate with members of healthcare team to achieve effective healthcare outcomes. 4. The NMBA new Code of Ethics August 2008 define the nursing profession’s commitment to respect, promote, protect and support the fundamental rights od receiver and provider of nursing and healthcare. Its impact on practice of enrolled nurses is to: Provide quality nursing care, taking action on reasonable ground Respect the individual’s ethical values with gentleness Understand different culture and languages influence the nursing and healthcare Demonstrate the ability to reasonably and equitably provide services depends on needs, social standings, ethnicity, age, race, level of income, gender Support culture of safety because safety is everyone’s responsibility Document all information accurately, non-judgmentally and relevant to health, acre and treatment of a person and should be confidential Prevent, minimize and overcome the harmful effect of economic, social or ecological factors on health Promote and maintain the trust between nurse care receiver Perform ethically 5. The purpose of NMBA new code of Professional Conduct August 2008 for nurses is to: Specify a base to consumer, regulatory, employing and professional bodies for evaluating professional conduct of nurses Form a set of minimum national standards of conduct, nurses are supposed to support Inform the community of standards of professional conduct, it can sustain nurses in Australia References: 1. Nursing and midwifery board of Australia, 27 October 2009, consultation paper on registration standards and related matters, viewed 16 August 2014, www.ahpra.gov.au 2. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, 2010, Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Law 2009, viewed 16 August 2014, www.ahpra.gov.au 3. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, 2014, Mandatory notification, viewed 15 August 2014, www.ahpra.gov.au 4. Australian Institute of Family Studies, 8 August 2014, What is mandatory reporting?, viewed 15 August 2014, www.aifs.gov.au 5. Hughson, J, 2013, ‘Nursing: Historical, present and future perspectives’, The Tabbner’s Nursing Care (6th edition), Kesteven S., Libby Houston, Chatswood, NSW, pp. 11-12 6. Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council, 2008, Codes of professional conduct and ethics for nurses and midwives in Australia, viewed 17 August 2014, < http://dlb.sa.edu.au/tsftfmoodle/pluginfile.php/998/mod_resource/content/0/COMMUNIC ATE_AND_WORK_EFFECTIVELY_IN_HEALTH/element_1/ANMCwebsiteversion.pdf 7. Nursing and midwifery board of Australia, 2014, Codes of Professional conduct for nurses in Australia, viewed 17 August 2014, www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au 8. Nursing and midwifery board of Australia, 2014, Codes of Ethics for nurse august 2008, viewed 17 August 2014, www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au

Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign Speech in Berlin Essay

The current president of the United States, Barack Obama, once gave a speech during his electoral campaign to a massive crowd in Berlin. Of course, while such a campaign speech is evidently associated with political endeavors, it would still be appropriate to point out that the speech supposedly serves a purpose to unify nations and to rebuild past alliances for a single cause which is to prevent as well as resolve emerging worldwide concerns. Given such context though, it is still evident that a number of propaganda techniques have been employed so as to gain and strengthen public support. One of the most apparent propaganda techniques which Obama utilized was the plain folk appeal. To further explain, throughout his speech, Obama noted and highlighted that he presents himself not as an electoral candidate but rather as a concerned citizen of the world just like the individuals before him (The Huffington Post, 2008). Furthermore, the bandwagon approach has also been applied. While addressing the public he delineated goals which are supposedly the goals of the entire world, such as banishing terrorist threats and even providing justice in other nations (The Huffington Post, 2008). If other individuals or nations would detract from such aims it seems that they would be branded as adversary even though not necessarily so. It is irrefutable that Obama’s speech was indeed effective in persuading its audience judging from the ovation. The propaganda techniques are designed to appeal to the emotions of the public in Berlin. It provides a sense of oneness, taking advantage of the historic representation of the site. Questioning the relevance and validity of Obama’s points during the event must have been unlikely as the majority, which attended the event, have already assumed the same perspective. Possibly, others, being influenced, took a similar stance as it seems to be the nationalistic and responsible decision. Hence, Obama’s electoral success is testament to the use of propaganda techniques in politics, regardless of its biased and group-oriented nature. Reference The Huffington Post. (2008). Obama Berlin Speech. Retrieved http://www. huffingtonpost. com/2008/07/24/obama-in-berlin-video- of_n_114771. html.

The Economics of Sales Taxes

The Economics of Sales Taxes The Glossary of Economics Terms defines a sales tax as a tax levied on the sale of a good or service, which is usually proportional to the price of the good or service sold. The Two Types of Sales Taxes Sales taxes come in two varieties. The first is a consumption tax or retail sales tax which is a straight percentage tax placed on the sale of a good. These are the traditional type of sales tax.The second type of sales tax is a value added tax. On a value-added tax (VAT), the net tax amount is the difference between the input costs and the sales price. If a retailer pays $30 for a good from a wholesaler and charges the customer $40, then the net tax is only placed on the $10 difference. VATs are used in Canada (GST), Australia (GST) and all member countries of the European Union (EU VAT). Sales Tax - What Advantages Do Sales Taxes Have? The biggest advantage to sales taxes are how economically efficient they are in collecting a single dollar of revenue for the government - that is, they have the smallest negative impact on the economy per dollar collected. Sales Tax - Evidence of Advantages In an article about taxation in Canada a 2002 Fraser Institute study was cited on the marginal efficiency cost of various taxes in Canada. They found that per dollar collected, corporate income taxes did $1.55 in damage to the economy. Income taxes were somewhat more efficient in only doing $0.56 worth of damage per dollar collected. Sales taxes, however, came out on top with only $0.17 in economic damage per dollar collected. Sales Taxes - What Disadvantages Does a Sales Tax Have? The biggest drawback to sales taxes, in the eyes of many, are that they are a regressive tax - A tax on income in which the proportion of tax paid relative to income decreases as income increases. The regressivity  problem can be overcome, if desired, through the use of rebate cheques and tax exemptions on necessities. The Canadian GST uses both of these mechanisms to reduce the regressivity tax. The FairTax Sales Tax Proposal Due to the advantages inherent in using sales taxes, it is not surprising that some believe that the United States should base their entire tax system on sales taxes rather than income taxes. The FairTax, if implemented would replace most U.S. taxes with a national sales tax at a 23-percent tax inclusive (equivalent to a 30-percent tax exclusive) rate. Families would also be issued prebate cheques as to eliminate the inherent regressivity of a sales tax system.

Deal with Back-To-College Blues and Dominate New Term

Deal with Back-To-College Blues and Dominate New Term Stepping back into that chilly dorm room after a luxurious winter break can feel like a prison sentence. Your new courses yawn out in front of you forever, with spring break an eternity away. If you’re not careful, this can turn into a post-vacation funk. Even worse, it could lead to depression or dropping out. The U.S. News and World Report states that 1 in 3 college freshman won’t make it back for sophomore year, with a full 10% of students dropping out during winter break. What is the reason for this significant loss of motivation? Money, family issues, and plain old loneliness. In a recent book by Donald Foss, a professor of psychology at the University of Houston, he states that loneliness, isolation, and financial problems can combine into a perfect storm of college demotivation. Fortunately, there are a few simple ways to combat this post-break malaise. By actively engaging with your college experience, practicing positive behaviors and attitudes, and keeping yourself healthy, you’ll be much more likely to limit your stress and have a great second term. Get Organized One of the quickest ways to fall into a post-break funk is to feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s why it’s important to be proactive about how you feel about school. Start by making a schedule of all the major goals you want to get accomplished this semester – both academic and personal. Then, break each of those goals down so you know what you need to do each week to get that goal accomplished. You can even include specific assignments that will need to be finished so you’ll have lots of time to complete them. This will give you the focus you need to get engaged in your new term. Get Involved Since isolation is one of the main reasons that students feel depressed after their winter break, it makes a lot of sense to get involved in a new activity. Try to pick something that you think will be interesting, but not time-consuming. In addition, if you pick a physical activity (like a co-ed team sport), you’ll be exercising your body at the same time you’re exercising your social skills. Getting involved in an activity can go a long way to relieving the sense of isolation that many students feel during the post-winter term. In addition, it keeps you moving when your instinct is to stay cooped up in your room. Get Positive When life gets you down, the best antidote is positivity. This is an especially good idea for students who are feeling nervous about their new teachers or term. At the end of each day, take five minutes and write down at least three things that you felt good about for that day in a â€Å"positive journal.† You can fill your journal with things as simple as smiling at a stranger, or as complicated as getting a good grade on a huge project. Then, at the end of each week, read over your daily entries. Take a minute to congratulate yourself on doing (and seeing) so much good. You’ll feel better about yourself and begin to start seeing the positive everywhere you go! Get Ahead For a lot of students, the first few weeks of the semester are the ones when they feel most excited to learn. The brand new books, teachers, and curriculum can be exciting†¦until that mid-semester boredom kicks in. Super-smart students take advantage of this first-of-the-term motivational boost by getting ahead. Take a look at the syllabus on the first day and see what kind of assignments will need to be done over the next few weeks. If you can, start thinking about paper ideas, read ahead in the book, or complete easy homework assignments that you can turn in later. When your initial boost of energy wears off, you’ll still be ahead of the curve and more likely to establish a habit of turning in work early rather than late. Get Help If, for any reason, you’re stuck in a pattern of depression and lack of motivation, don’t wait to get help! There are many people who want to see you succeed, and who have the skills to help you organize your schooling so that you can finish like a champ. Talk to your friends or roommates, and see what kind of advice they have for getting out of your slump. You can also talk to an academic advisor or school counselor, even abiut the things that seem small. They are much happier hearing from you before your depression has become an emergency. And, of course, get help from your family or other close associates. Truly smart students know when they can’t do it alone. Have you managed to overcome post-holiday blues and lack of motivation? Share your story with us!

George Washington Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

George Washington - Essay Example Whether Gandhi was there or not, India would have won freedom in 1947 because Britain was setting all its colonies free following the Second World War. Even if Nelson Mandela was not there Apartheid would have been abolished in South Africa in the 1990s and indeed it is possible that if George Washington was not there, the United States would still have won independence in 1776. But therein lies the most important part. It is not that one event which defined those countries but numerous actions and inactions which happened since then. Indeed Gandhi may or may not have set the country free but his philosophy of non violence defines India. Nelson Mandela bought tolerance into a country where it did not seem possible that people of different colors could live together. George Washington was offered unlimited power to rule a country which had the potential to be the richest in the World and he turned it down. It is very important to understand what a monumental decision that was. Fidel C astro got power in a small island and hung to it till absolutely close to death. Stalin, Polpot, Idi Amin, This is a long list covered in blood. These people who at least for a time were heroes for their country and then the lust of power took them over. Indeed it is not our ability what defines us, it is our choices. George Washington w George Washington was a man, even in his lifetime, was considered a figure larger than life, and indeed he was credited with supernatural abilities like it was said of him that that bullets could not hit him. There was an aura of invincibility around him. Indeed lot of the legends were most likely made, like the Cherry tree episode which never happened. As a Soldier he was capable of rashness and poor judgment, he was addicted to gambling, indulged in a good deal of wrenching and was said to be a most horrid swearer2. Was this person who would be the commander in chief for the continental army Let us look at the events of the revolutionary war. When the war began, the British Colonists ("Americans") did not have a professional army or navy. Each colony provided for its own defenses through the use of local militia. Militiamen were lightly armed, slightly trained, and usually did not have uniforms. Their units served for only a few weeks or months at a time, were reluctant to go very far from home, and were thus generally unavailable for extended operations. Militia lacked the training and discipline of regular soldiers3. Each colony was its own little country and fiercely independent. To get them together to be one fighting force was a monumental task; But George Washington was able to do that. The Reason was very simple, everybody trusted him and everybody respected him and indeed he himself was very conscious of the responsibility which came with his character. The second reason why he was able to forge a successful army was his adaptability. While his background was of a professional soldier with single minded professional discipline, here he had to deal with a rag tag mixed outfit of varying loyalties and ambitions. George Washington combined all of that because he realized that all of it, the Militias, the army could be one fighting force without necessarily losing their individual identity. This was not easy, and indeed battles were lost because some comm anders would not take George Washington as their leader,