The Different Forms and Theories of Governments

The Different Forms and Theories of Governments Government is a group of people either elected or imposed who exercise rule on behalf of citizens. The government should maintain law and order, ensure equality and provide public goods (Goldman et al, 2008). In the social contract theory, before government existed, life was short, brutal and nasty. Insecurity was very rampant due to the fact that there was no system that enabled there to be order in the society so it was survival for the fittest mode of life. Hence man sought for a way to improve the situation which was by giving up some of his powers to a higher authority called the leviathan, to control his selfish nature. They drew up a contract and that was the beginning of government. Ever since, there have been many forms of governments but for the interest of this paper, only three will be discussed presidential, totalitarianism and democracy. Totalitarianism is a form of government where there is no control of state power in the country and hence the ruling class seeks to consolidate its power via whatever means possible. The state is usually under control by one person, a faction or a ruling party with an ideology that controls all the public and private aspects of the people. This is the case in China where the ruling party dictates the affairs of the country and has for years consolidated its power (Li,2008).The state also controls the flow of information in and out of the country. That means that there is state controlled media and the government filters internet content. There is also control of the market economy whereby the state owns the wealth of the nation while the people are left to have a few. There is also the presidential form of government where the executive and the legislature exist two separate entities. In the USA, the Congress and the presidency are separate even though they both check each others powers (Goldman et al, 2008). The cabinet is made up of members who are not in the congress but their appointment must be approved by the congress. They exist for a set time in office after which elections are held. Likewise in Indonesia, the system is the same in that the president can be impeached by the congress if he does not perform according to the required standards and has the power to veto bills passed by the parliament (Ramage, 1995). This system of government has advantages in that decision making is faster and that there are checks and balances which prevents abuse of power. But in cases where there is change of power there is a stop of polices as different presidents come up with different ways of solving problems for example: In the US, the Bush- Obama trans ition that led to economic policies being changed. Democracy is the other form of government which comes from Greek a word demos which means people and kratos which means rule. It is a form of government that is meant to ensure equal representation of people of all kinds and also that they are free to express their views without fear to create a fair and just society (Goldman et al, 2008). Democracy has a number of problems. In the USA, apathy is a factor that has caused democracy to fail in that since it is a capitalist system only the people with money rule the day. The various interest groups who lobby at congress corridors to stop policies bribing legislators at the expense of the people who elected them in power. Also having money means that one can be elected in parliament as elections are costly and also that the electorate can be bribed to vote in a particular way or for a particular person. Although there is free press, this is an impediment to democracy as the media can favor a particular idea more than the others as long a s the people have money. There is also the problem of immigrants who the US government finds them hard to integrate especially radical Muslims. Democracy entails that there be freedom and equal rights but the Muslim beliefs makes it impossible for them not to be held without suspicion in the country. The terrorism threats, suicide bombings have caused the US who is the mother of democracy to be at war all over the world with terrorists (Goldman et al, 2008). In China, democracy has failed due to a closed system of government that has restricted the flow of information in and out of the country and also the control of media content in that whatever the state does cannot be criticized. China views democracy as a Western ideology hence seeks to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“protectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  its citizens from that influence. Even though there are elections, only the candidates that the ruling party approves will be elected and this means that the people do not have a say on who will represent them (Li, 2008). In Indonesia democracy has failed because of threats from militias who bring terror and intimidation to the people causing them not to vote. This happened in East Timor, where the militia supporting the ruling party intimidated people to vote in a certain way (Ramage, 1995). There is also foreign interference in elections whereby different world powers want a government that will support their interests. The US will tend to back a moderate pers on who will not tolerate the radical Islamists. In conclusion, I still believe even with all these problems caused by the government that it is necessary for us to have one. Countries in a state of anarchy are chaotic women are raped, children are violated, there are massive killings as people are struggling to be in power because there is no one to maintain order. History has taught us that the people have their destinies in their hands and that they can overthrow a government that does not advocate for their interest and put in place people who can bring the change that they want.

Briar Rose :: essays research papers

Jane Yolsen produces a powerful and moving novel that deftly blends the legend of Sleeping Beauty with the historical tragedy of the Holocaust. To Rebecca, Sylvia and Shana, "Briar Rose" was simply a bed time story but in all reality the story they grew up with was an actual event in Gemma's life. Although Gemma always identified strongly with Briar Rose, the sleeping princess, no one had thought it anything but a bedtime story. But when a mysterious box of clippings and photos turns up after Gemma's death, hinting that the accepted version of Gemma's origins is untrue, Becca begins tracing the real story, which bears striking resemblance's to Gemma's fairy tale. Becca then sets off on a journey to Europe to discover her grandmother's true identity. I felt this book was more for adults than for young adults. It was complicated and probably difficult for a young teen to follow. It had language that may not suitable for a young adult. Such as a line like, "Stan expertly braked and simultaneously turned the wheel slightly to the right. "Asshole!" he muttered." (Jane Yolen, 67). It was a remarkable book. I usually don't enjoy reading what I "have" to, but I truly adored this book. When I first started the book I wasn't very enthused but once I read the first four chapters (for the second time) I started falling into the novel. I became so emotionally involved with the characters and the story that I had to finish it. It made me recall everything I had learned in history class about the Holocaust. At that time it did not seem to "click". Now that I read this story and all of its frightful horrors it all comes rushing back. Now that I think about it, this is actually a great book for young adults to read. It teaches them a little about the holocaust and the terrible tragedies that had occurred. It even teaches them a bit about homosexuality. Though the gays were not treated very well in Yolen's novel. I loved the detail that Yolen put into "Briar Rose". It felt like I was actually there, staring down at the mountain of bodies below. Smelling the putrid smell of week old rotting corpses. Sleeping in a trench covered with branches and leaves, with nine to thirteen other escapees, aching for a shower and food in my stomach.

Four Seasons Hotels Essay

The Four Seasons Company, as per current financial, seems very profitable and the earnings per share are increasing each year. From 1997 to 1998 EPS increased by 66% and from 1998 to 1999 it increased by 22%, actually from 1997 to 1999, the value has more than doubled. The main reason for the increase seems to be a total net earnings increase of 112% in two years. (See Exhibit # 1 for figures). This is a result of increase in revenues and also because costs increased less than revenues. This indicates that in addition to higher sales, efficiency improvements have been effective as yearly costs for operating items dropped 68% and the interest costs also have decreased by 105%, making it interest income. Based on this information, the company is recommended to continue their emphasis on high personal service and quality for their hotels as the customer base are not price sensitive but concerned about service and luxury. It is important to have non-complaining, satisfied customers as this  group is more satisfied than those where service recovery is needed, even when service recovery is performed at a high level. Also, satisfied customers are more loyal and a key to continue having a financially strong company. A key to this development is to continue to focus on employee satisfaction and employment procedures as this is resulting in low turnover (compared to the industry average), highly experienced and motivated staff and consequently excellent service. Also, the strong financials support FSH’s (costly) growth strategy, and would further indicate that the company has the ‘back-bone’ to support such a strategy. 3.0 Leverage the website for marketing purposes The Four Season Hotel (â€Å"FSH†) should further leverage their impressive website. First, they should maximize the site for mass – marketing purposes. For example, the site would allow customers to appreciate all FSH properties, and a customer who has never seen a FSH can view rooms, conference halls, restaurants etc. The website can further provide up-to-date information on vacancies, promotions, city tours etc. This same information could be updated at any time to reflect specials across respective FSH. For instance, the Milan hotel might anticipate low vacancy one week, and could attempt to fill some vacancies by listing a Milan resident special on the site e.g. with a two night stay and get a free dinner in the restaurant. Internal marketing is another great possibility for the FSH, as long as the â€Å"high – tech† is followed by â€Å"high – touch†, and the system is not used to replace the human element. The intranet site should focus on cost-saving promotions, healthy competition between across respective FSH’s, employee feedback pages etc. Management should use the intranet as an additional medium to disseminate information to employees and as a means to obtain information from employees. An easy to use e-commerce site for the hotel would be interesting for select  Four Season’s customers. Again, this should not replace the â€Å"high – touch† that the FSH brand is identified with, but rather add another convenience for its customers. For example, some customers like making their reservation via the Internet and having an additional option with regards to making a hotel booking could turn out positively. 4.0 Establish and manage a common customer awareness database The hotel should change the existing database containing guest preferences into a centralized database available to all FHS properties. This should be deemed a high priority. It would be a typical one-time fix to enhance customer satisfaction and for implementation it could leverage FSH’s existing intranet platform. The main driver for a change of this sort would be its potential to further improve the FSH’s customer service. For example, as existing FSH customers are highly concerned about time there should be no need for them to fill in forms with preferences for each new hotel they arrive at. Also, it would be perceived as impressive for the customer arriving at a new hotel where the personnel would already know their preferences. This would increase the feeling of intimacy and personal touch during the hotel stay and consequently enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction. Additionally, the fact that only 9% of Four Season’s hotel guests are using multiple properties should not lower the importance of making such a change. In fact, 9% of their customer base means that approximately 400.000 customers each year use multiple Four Seasons Hotels. (See Exhibit #1) Also, the positive word-of-mouth this change would bring will most likely increase the number of guests staying at multiple properties. Furthermore, as the hotel has a growth strategy, the number of hotels and rooms will continue to increase and as such enhance the need for the common database. Also, in addition to customer satisfaction, having one database for all hotels would decrease costs for the chain in the long run as it will not have to maintain 50+ different databases. 5.0 Four Season’s management should solicit select feedback from customers. The idea here is quite simple and essentially comes down to ensuring that the hotel maintains its brand. The FSH has done very well by establishing a strong brand and enjoys a high % of repeat customers. Management and employees alike know what the Four Seasons stands for and the experience they aim to offer the customer. That said, and as technology races forward it is important for businesses to leverage it where possible and ‘profitable’. The key for the Four Seasons is to leverage it in a way that does not negatively impact their brand i.e. detract from the overall customer experience offered by Four Season’s employees, which is highly personal, intimate and customer oriented. For example, management could solicit feedback from customers as to whether they would use an automated (electronic) checkout service and whether customers view this as something consistent with the Four Season’s brand. This selective feedback could be centralized at first in that it is sponsored by the corporate office (so as to solicit feedback that could be leveraged across all properties) and then ‘tweaked’ per location to take into consideration cultural specifics etc. Findings could be leveraged across properties and stored in the central database to eventually maintain, reinforce and ultimately improve the Four Season’s brand, customer experience and ultimate profitability. 6.0 Implement a â€Å"Seasons Pass Loyalty Program† Enhancing Customer Loyalty. Implementing a Loyalty program contributes to making guests feeling special, which undoubtedly makes a difference in his or her experience. A loyalty program could even extend to other value chain partners, thereby, allowing for further tracking of guest preferences. Without a loyalty program, FSH loses out on building strong relationships with its guests. As switching costs are minimal, loyalty is low unless a competitor differentiates and thereby increases its odds of attracting return guests. In order to compete successfully within this tier, a reputable brand name is imperative, which also represents a significant barrier to entry for potential new entrants. The common database will undoubtedly enhance the relationships because clients enjoy the sense of community that is established when being part of a loyalty club. Therefore it is important to have mechanisms in place to ensure guests to remain loyal to FSH and choose the company as his or her accommodation provider. To facilitate this, the hotel should introduce a frequent guest card, the ‘Seasons Pass’, which will serve two functions: 1. Track guest activities within FSH so that their preferences can be recorded. 2. Allow guests to collect points every time they stay at a Four Seasons property and use them towards service companies affiliated with Four Seasons, creating loyalty as a result. It will also aid individual FSH locations to better understand which facilities within the hotel or resort are the most sought after and will be able to segment the information based on the region of the world or type of consumer (leisure or business). Through partnering with external companies such as high-end car rental companies, airlines, and travel agencies, FSH will be able to offer guests a solution to every decision they may encounter during their stay. Thus the Seasons Pass and the networked database will ultimately be the bridge to building and maintaining positive guest relationships. Exhibit 1: Financial data for the Four Seasons Hotels – EOY 1997 to EOY 1999: Exhibit # 2: Number of customers using multiple Four Season Hotels each year * Assumed average coverage rate through the year is based on information in case, â€Å"The Roccoco New York Hotel† by Anna S. Mattila. Using the rate accomplished by the Roccoco New York boutique hotel. ** As no information of number of customers per room is provided, one per room is assumed.

Gun control or government cont essays

Gun control or government cont essays When you hear the term gun control, many things may come to mind such as school shootings, like Columbine or Rocori, kids killing kids, the Brady Law and second amendment rights. As Americans face an ever-growing problem of violence, these issues have all prompted a controversy over how firearms in our society should be regulated. We cant afford to ignore the damage that criminals are doing to our society and we must find a way to stop the violence. However, the efforts of some misguided individuals to eliminate legal gun ownership, does not address the real problem at hand and simply disarms the law-abiding citizens who are most in need of defending themselves. We must preserve the right of Americans to own and carry firearms. To fully understand the different reasons behind gun control efforts, you must understand the major role of firearms in the history of our country. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States makes firearm ownership legal in this country and states that a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. This amendment clearly states that the citizens of America have the right to own firearms. When the colonists of early America felt that the burden of the British oppression was too much for them, they took up their personal firearms and went to war against the greatest military forces of the time. If these citizens had not been willing to form a militia to fight against the British Armies, we never would have won the independence that we have today. The founding fathers of this country knew that arming the general population was instrumental in fighting off oppression. This is why they made the right to keep and bear arms a constitutionally guaranteed right. As our country expanded westward into unsettled territo ...

Sexual Harassment at Hooters

Sexual Harassment at Hooters AbstractManagers and employees periodically face various forms of ethical dilemmas. The manner in which they decide to deal with these dilemmas can have a compelling impact on the goals of the corporation. This paper outlines a few of the more common ethical dilemmas that managers and employees can face at Hooters of America, Inc., sexual harassment and supervisor subordinate dating.Company HistoryThe first Hooters restaurant opened in 1983 and since then the Atlanta based franchise has over 445 locations worldwide. Over half of Hooters 25,000 employees are employed as Hooters girls. Throughout the years beautiful woman have quite literally become synonymous with the restaurant chain. Hooters of America (2008) pride itself on what they describe as, "a pro active lead in the industry addressing issues raised by individual acts of sexual harassment." (About us P10)The company has adopted and implemented a non harassment policy which disallows any form of verbal or physical behavior tha t is deemed inappropriate.Five ways to fight sexual harassment(public servic...IntroductionThe Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (2008) defines sexual harassment as "Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment." (Sexual Harassment P2) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects any employee against discrimination based on sex this includes any form of sexual harassment. According to EEOC web site (2008) the harasser or the victim can be either male or female. The harasser can be anyone employed by the organization including a non employee. The conduct performed by the harasser must be unwelcomed in order for the circumstance to merit sexual harassment. The EEOC (2 008) notes that during 2007 they received over...

ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 9

ART - Essay Example In this case, one can definitely say that the painting is not at all beautiful. On the other hand, if the painter uses same color shades all over the body parts, that painting can be considered as a beautiful one. In short, color combination plays an important role in deciding whether an artwork is good or bad. Different societies perceive beauty differently. For example, earrings, bracelets, chains, bangles etc are considered as beauty enhancing materials in some societies whereas in other societies, such things are not at all considered so. For example, David Beckham wears an earring in one ear. For many British and European people, that earring is definitely enhancing the beauty of David Beckham. â€Å"According to the BBC, "more lads than ever are buying jewellery - not for their girlfriends, but for themselves. Experts think it is because they are being influenced by famous kings of Bling, like David Beckham and rappers† (To pierce? Why pierce? He pierced). It is not necessary that an Indian or Chinese may consider the earring of Beckham as a beauty enhancing ornament. Many people do believe that earring enhance the beauty of females rather than that of the males. In short, beauty is highly individualistic and subjective and the perceptions of it vary from societies to

Hellenistic Art Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hellenistic Art - Personal Statement Example Each of these generals co-opted the art of the time to display the unique influences that their particular kingdoms engendered. However, the unifying mark that united these differing pieces is the gigantism and baroque nature that the art oftentimes entails. However, this was taken to such an unbelievable extreme that the art lost a great deal of its appeal and became overtly tacky. As a result, gone was the era of the muted and reserved art forms of the classical era. As previously stated, the art form of the Hellenistic period was anything but restrained. Rather than showing the ideals of human and godly actions/virtues, Hellenistic art focused on the very extreme. As such the art oftentimes showed individuals in the throes of mortal combat, characters prostrating themselves in various poses, defeated warriors downing poison, men overcome by fear, the loss of honor in death, and many other such expressive/explosive emotions. In this way details such as the forcefulness of the action or circumstances and the violence of the movements associated with these are amplified. Interestingly, although the same can be said for the mosaics other art forms, the pottery and other earthen rare remained largely unchanged and muted. One could reasonably expect that this was the result of the fact that the artists were attempting to extol the highest degrees of grandeur in the public displays of Hellenistic art; whereas the more muted domestic settings required art forms that did not necessarily need to be so bold and overbearing.