INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICS - Essay Example The term of imperialism is usually applied when speaking about such countries as the United Kingdom, the USA, Japan, Italy, Spain and France of the 19th century. In that time these countries were trying to found empires by owning areas in Africa. This process is known as â€Å"the Scramble for Africa†. In his work dated 1916 â€Å"Imperialism, the Highest stage of Capitalism† Lenin wrote about the importance of building the strong capitalist empire that will treat other nations and will have enough power to take decisions on the world arena. According to him, imperialism implies the domination of the developed countries over the underdeveloped ones (such as African counties). Though it must be mentioned that empire-building and the desire to capture other lands has always been in the history, the Lenin’s imperialism was a specific one because of the capitalist basis. Capitalism is founded on the idea that all the power is possessed by private owners and capital s tands for the key element in the economic system. Within the turn of the 19th century the capitalism in such countries as France, Japan, the USA and the UK was characterized by a great number of monopolies. Lenin wrote in his manifest that the small privately owned companies that were the key factor of the nation prosperity according to Karl Marx were to be replaced by the big monopolies that would have fewer owners, and in other words, fewer people controlling it. Such giants of production or other business controlled the whole nation with the help of the power that capital gave to them. The thing is that the dominant elements of the economy â€Å"capital, land and wealth were concentrated in the hands of the few† (Greene, 1970). Lenin wrote: "if it was necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism, we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism" (Greene, 1970). So, when the economy of one country strives for monopoly, it leads to the decrease of competition. In a while such situation in one state can project to the international arena. In order to secure the power, capital and their ownership those few people needed the support of the state. Any security implies heavy spending on military forces. According to Lenin’s theory, the monopolization of the capital leads to the army strengthening. The rate of a country’s security depended on its army and navy forces, and it in its turn depended on the industrial production that provided these departments. As a result the interests of monopolies and state linked together and there appeared tough interdependence. According to Bukharin, the counterpart of Lenin, the monopolization of economy leads to its internationalization, though this internationalization was to be slowed by the armed nations that protected their ownership and capital violently. Therefore, there was the necessity for a state to cooperate with other countries, but it was to be done carefully in order not to risk the state security. As Lenin explained, "Capitalism's transition to the stage of monopoly capitalism, to finance capital, is connected with the intensification of the struggle for the partitioning of the world" (Warren, 1980). As mentioned above the new wave of imperialism based on capitalism was founded on the scramble for weak counties in order to provide

Effect of Child Rearing Styles on Pro-Social Development

Effect of Child Rearing Styles on Pro-Social Development PROSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 1 COMPARISON OF CHILD-REARING STYLES AND THE EFFECTS THEREOF ON PROSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT There are many factors that play a role in the development of prosocial behaviour in children. The two participants that I used are both mothers of 3 year old children. One of them is a stay at home mom with one child (a girl), and the other is a single mom, working full time, with two children (both boys), one of whom is autistic (the oldest child). An Authoritative parenting style is generally considered the most successful parenting style, and is associated with the development of prosocial behaviours. Research participant 1 scored higher than Research participant 2 on the Authoritative and Authoritarian scale, however, the child of Research Participant 2 scored higher on the prosocial scale. This difference could be due to several other factors, besides the parenting styles, including family situation and context. The child of Research participant 2 is the youngest of two boys, the older of which has severe autism. Due to the fact that his brother is ill, this little boy has learnt from an early age to care for others. He is very caring of his older brother, and helps his mother with him a lot. This has taught him to be caring towards others, and to consider their needs, as well as his own. This has flowed over into his interactions with other children and people he meets / socialises with. Parenting styles play in important role in the development of prosocial behaviour in children, and even though the child of Research participant 1 scored lower than the child of Research participant 2 on the prosocial scale, she is still a caring and loving little girl, who displays prosocial behaviour. There are however, many other factors that influence these behaviours in children. PART B INTRODUCTION Because of the importance of the consequences of aggression, criminality and immorality for society, not much importance was placed on prosocial development prior to 1970. Eisenberg and Fabes (1998) define prosocial behaviour as â€Å"voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another†. Prosocial acts include sharing, helping others and comforting others. There are many reasons why people act prosocially, but the subgroup of prosocial behaviours labelled as altruism is considered to be very important. Eisenberg Mussen (1989) define altruism as being â€Å"intrinsically motivated, voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another; acts motivated by internal motives such as concern for others, or by internalised values, goals and self-reward or the avoidance of punishment†. However, because it is difficult to determine whether altruism or a less noble motivation drives the behaviour, a broader focus needs to be taken. CULTURAL FACTORS It is evident from various research that environment plays a big role in the development of prosocial behaviour, and research on the cultural bases of prosocial responding provides insight into the role of the environment in the development of prosocial behaviour (Eisenberg Fabes, 1998). Anthropological literature and Psychological studies in non-Western cultures clearly indicate that societies vary greatly in the degree to which prosocial and cooperative behaviours are normative (Mead, 1935). These studies show that some cultures value prosocial behaviours while there are some cultures in which prosocial behaviour is rare and hostility and cruelty is the norm. It is difficult to make cross-cultural comparisons as there seems to be differences across cultures with respect to the degree to which children display prosocial behaviour. THE FAMILY Another influence in the development of prosocial behaviour in children is their parents. Children model their parents behaviour, so if the parents tend to display prosocial behaviour, the children will develop prosocial behaviour. Parental practices, beliefs, characteristics and emotional atmosphere at home plays a role in the development of prosocial behaviour. Staub (1992) found that prosocial behavioural development is enhanced by a connection to others, exposure to parental warmth, adult guidance and children’s participation in prosocial activites. In their study on the relationship between parenting styles, parental practices, sympathy on prosocial behaviours in adolescents, Gustavo et al. (2007) found strong evidence that parenting practices were closely related to prosocial behaviour. They did find however, that the associations occurred mostly through the indirect relations with sympathy. Dunsmore et al. (2009) conducted a study to determine whether a mothers expressive style and specific emotional responses to their children’s behaviour is linked to their children’s prosocial ratings. The results of their study show that the mothers positive and negative expressiveness is related to the child’s lower prosocial self-rating, and the mothers happiness about the child’s prosocial behaviour is associated with the child’s higher self-ratings for prosocial self-rating. CHILD’S INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS Eisenberg and Fabes (1998) believe that social cognition and prosocial behaviour should at least be modestly correlated, and this has been shown to be true in studies, as prosocial children are more sociable, well regulated, low impulsivity and are not shy or anxious. â€Å"Prosocial children are also able to communicate and resolve their own needs, feel guilt and remorse about wrongdoing, exercise self-control when tempted to do wrong, and feel compassion for others (Hoffman, 1970; Mischel, Shoda, and Rodriguez, 1989). Eisenberg and Fabes (1998) also believe that emotion plays a vital role in the development of prosocial values, motives and behaviours, with empathy-related emotions playing a larger role. There are various definitions of empathy, but Eisenberg and Fabes (1998) define empathy as an â€Å"affective response that stems from the apprehension / comprehension of another’s emotional state / condition, and that it is identical / very similar to what the other person is feeling / would be expected to feel†. Many theorists argue that some or all humans are born with an innate ability to feel / exhibit altruistic behaviour, thereby being biologically predisposed to experience empathy and develop prosocial behaviour, including smaller children. Many twin studies have been done to determine whether prosocial tendencies are inherited. Matthews et al. (1986) and Rushton et al. (1986) believed that if the correlation is higher for identical twins than for fraternal twins, then the difference can be attributed to heritability / genetics. Their study involved self-reported data from adults, and they found that 50% of the variance in the twin’s empathy, altruism and nurturance was accounted for by genetic factors. The other 50% difference was accounted for by differences in the twin’s environment. There are also studies that have been done on the neurophysiological underpinnings of prosocial behaviour. Panskepp (1986) believes that the nurturant dictates of brain systems that mediate social bonding and maternal care is what leads to mammalian helping behaviour. Maclean (1985) believes that the limbic system is responsible for maternal behaviour, affiliation and play, which in turn forms the basis for altruism. During the second year the prefrontal functions increase, which enables the child to identify which feelings are his / hers or which feelings belong to someone else. Researchers propose that (based on Keller’s 2007 model of culturally informed development pathways), depending on the socio-cultural context, toddlers may follow different pathways to the same development outcome, for example, prosocial development. In their study using longitudinal genetic analysis, Knafo Plomin (2006) found that genetics account for change and continuity in prosocial behaviour. Clark Ladd (2000) found that prosocial children are relatively well-adjusted and have better peer relationships than children low in prosocial behaviour. CONCLUSION Prosocial development in children is a complex multidimensional issue. Many factors play a role in the development of prosocial behaviours, and emphasis should not be placed on a single factor to the exclusion of others. Culture, family and genetics are but some of the factors or environments that influence the development of empathy, which in turn aids in the development of prosocial behaviour. All these factors should be considered together when determining what plays a role in prosocial development.

Possible Solutions to Remedy the Detrimental Effects of Soil Acidity on

Possible Solutions to Remedy the Detrimental Effects of Soil Acidity on Tropical Agriculture Arable tropical soils, which mainly consist of Oxisols and Ultisols but also include regions of Inceptisols and Alfisols, cover approximately one billion hectares; this area represents 33 percent of the total potentially arable land of this world which does not require irrigation. Most of these soils have optimum conditions for crop production, including low population density, excellent physical conditions, and a favorable climate (Van Wambeke, 1976). The main limitation of agricultural productivity and the reason that these tropical soils are underutilized for farming is soil acidity and its related factors. Improving the quality and yield of crops in these regions would do much to relieve the food pressures imposed upon us by the world's growing population. As stated by I.M. Rao, et al.: It is particularly critical to realize the agricultural potential of Ultisols and Oxisols which remain idle in huge areas of the tropics...(but) we cannot repeat previous attempts to settle farmers in these areas before we have collected sufficient data and facts upon which we can honestly base our recommendations which guarantee a decent living from agricultural enterprise (Rao et al., 1993). Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for us to find a feasible and cost-effective way to alleviate the problems of soil acidity on tropical agriculture. Before the effects of soil acidity on tropical agriculture is examined, it is necessary to have a good background on what soil acidity is and how it occurs. Soils become acid because of vigorous leaching, coupled with the inputs of acids (substances capable of releasing positive hydrogen atom... ...fisol from Zambia": Tropical Agriculture, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 309-313. Rao, I.M. et al., 1993, "Selection and Breeding for Acid-Soil Tolerance in Crops": Bioscience, vol. 43, pp. 454-465. Ritchey, K.D. et al., 1991, "Rapid evaluation of Juvenile Sorghum for Tolerance to Soil Acidity": Journal of Plant Nutrition, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 315-329. Singer, Michael and Munns, Donald, 1996, Soils: An Introduction (3rd ed.): New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 480 p. Van Wambeke, A., 1976, "Formation, Distribution, and Consequences of Acid Soils in Agricultural Development": Proceedings of Workshop on Plant Adaptation to Mineral Stress in Problem Soils, Nov. 22-23, 1976, pp. 15-24. Yamoah, Charles, et al., 1992, "Correction of Acid Infertility in Rwandan Oxisols with Lime from an Indigenous Source for Sustainable Cropping": Exploratory Agriculture, vol. 28, pp. 417-424.

666666666

According to Hector Avalos, religions might preach peace, love, and harmony, but establishing a textual canon or sacred site which only some have privileged access to also establishes an illusory â€Å"scarcity† which causes people to fight. This is the intent of religious leaders, but it's an inevitable outgrowth of their actions — and we can see this occurring in the context of Islam with its holy sites and cities: Mecca, Medina, the Dome of the Rock, Hebron, and so on. Each city is holy to Muslims, but while Muslims focus on what they regard as the positive aspects, they cannot pretend that the negative aspects don't exist.Moreover, even the positive aspects can be criticized as often inaccurate. The holiness of each site is associated with violence against other religions or against other Muslims and their importance has been as dependent on politics as religion, a sign of the degree to which political ideologies and parties make use of the religious concept of â₠¬Å"holiness† to further their own agendas. Mecca Islam's holiest site, Mecca, is where Muhammad was born. During his exile in Medina, Muhammad had his followers pray in the direction of Mecca instead of Jerusalem which was the original orientation site.Going on a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a person's life is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Mecca is closed to non-Muslims because of a revelation Muhammad allegedly received from God, but some outsiders have entered while disguised as Muslims. Even before Muhammad, Mecca was a pilgrimage site for pagan polytheists and some argue that the Muslim practice of pilgrimage was borrowed from those ancient rituals. Some scholars argue that because Jews and Christians rejected Muhammad's message, ancient pagan practices had to be incorporated into Islam in order to more easily capture the allegiance of local polytheists.Christianity did much the same throughout Europe in order to convert pagans there. Located in the courtyard o f the Great Mosque in Mecca is a windowless cube known as the Kaaba, believed by Muslims to have been built by the prophet Abraham In the southeastern corner of the Kaaba is the â€Å"Black Stone,† an object which Muslims believe was given to Abraham by the angel Gabriel. Reports of local pagans worshipping gods in the form of stones go back centuries and Muhammad probably incorporated this practice through the Kabaa itself.Pagan rituals were thus re-told through the lives of biblical characters and so that local practices could continue under the guise of Muslim tradition. Medina Medina is where Muhammad was exiled after he found little support for his ideas in his home city of Mecca, making it the second holiest site in Islam. There was a large Jewish community in Medina which Muhammad had hoped to convert, but his failure eventually led him to banish, enslave, or kill every Jew in the area. The presence of non-believers was at first an affront to Muhammad's claims that his religion superseded theirs; later, it was an affront to the holiness of the place.Medina was also the capital of the Muslim empire until 661 when it was moved to Damascus. Despite its religious status, this loss of political power caused the city to decline precipitously and it had little influence during the Middle Ages. Medina's modern rise to prominence was again due to politics, not religion: after Britain occupied Egypt, the Ottoman occupiers of the region funneled communications through Medina, transforming it into a major transportation and communication center. Thus the importance, decline, and growth of Medina was always dependent upon the political situation, not on religion or religious beliefs.Dome of the Rock The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is a Muslim shrine which stands where the first Jewish temple is believed to have stood, where Abraham tried to sacrifice his son to God, and where Muhammad ascended into heaven in order to receive God's commandments. For Muslims this is the third holiest site for pilgrimage, after Mecca and Medina. It may be the oldest surviving example of early Islamic architecture and is modeled after the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre, located nearby. Control of the site is a hotly contested issue for Muslims and Jews.Many devout Jews would like to see the mosques torn down and the Temple reconstructed in their place, but this would destroy one of the holiest sites of Islam and lead to a religious war of unprecedented proportions. True Believers have gathered together in a variety of Third Temple societies in active preparation, even going so far as to prepare the precise clothing, coinage, and sacrificial implements needed for use in a rebuilt Temple. Stories have spread among Muslims that the creation of Israel was the first step in an apocalyptic process which will culminate in the total triumph of Islam over all the world.The Dome of the Rock is thus one of the best examples of Avalos' argument about how reli gions create false scarcities which encourage violence. There are no natural resources on this site which humans might be expected to fight over — no oil, water, gold, etc. Instead, people are willing to launch an apocalyptic war simply because they all believe that the site is â€Å"holy† to them and, therefore, that only they should be allowed to control and build upon it. Hebron The city of Hebron is holy for both Muslims and Jews because it contains the â€Å"Cave of the Patriarchs,† supposedly a tomb for Abraham and his family.During the Six Day War of June, 1967, Israel seized Hebron along with the rest of the West Bank. After this war, hundreds of Israelis settled in the area, creating conflict with thousands of Palestinian neighbors. Because of this, Hebron has become a symbol of Israeli-Palestinian hostilities — and thus of interreligious strife, suspicion, and violence. It's not possible for both Jews and Muslims to have exclusive control of Heb ron and neither group is willing to share control. It's only because of the insistence of both that the city is â€Å"holy† that they fight over it at all, though.Mashhad Mashhhad, Iran, is the site for the burial places and shrines for all twelve of the imams revered by the Twelver Shia Muslims. These holy men, believed to be a source of sanctity, are all martyrs because they were murdered, poisoned, or otherwise persecuted. It wasn't Christians or Jews who did this, though, but other Muslims. These shrines to the early imams are treated by Shia Muslims today as religious symbols, but if anything they are symbols for the ability of religion, including Islam, to encourage violence, brutality, and division among believers. QomQom, Iran, is an important pilgrimage site for the Shi'a because of the burial sites of numerous shahs. The Borujerdi mosque is opened and closed each day by government guards who praise Iran's Islamic government. It is also the site of Shia theology trai ning — and thus also of Shia political activism. When the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran from exile, his first stop was Qom. The city is thus as much a political shrine as it is a religious one, a monument to authoritarian politics and the authoritarian religion which provides politics with existential justification. –>

Activity 2

SOCY 101 Nicole Cousin- Gosset 18 September 2012Activity Two *What would he or she find? Based on your knowledge of your hometown, list out the positive and negative things you think the ethnographer might find. Positive: * Good amount of private owned businesses * High value for education (successful rates of graduates) Negative: * Low rate of diversity * Hard to find a job nowadays *What are some things that strike you about your hometown based on census data? What might the researcher learn if only reviewing the statistical data from census records?What are some things that might be misunderstood about your hometown from only reviewing census data? Positive: * 88. 8% High School Graduates, % of persons age 25+, 2006-2010 * Median Household income 2006-2010 is $63,959 * Living in the same house 1 year & over, 2006-2010 is 86. 6% Negative: * Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16+, 2006-2010 is 27. 9 * Persons below poverty level, percent, 2006-2010 is 8. 1% * Bachelor's degree or higher, pct of persons age 25+, 2006-2010 is %35. Some of the things that surprised me by looking at the census data were the poverty level, number of foreign born persons and homeownership rate. They were each lower than what I had anticipated when I think about Baltimore County. The poverty level and homeownership rate struck me the most because they go hand in hand with showing how tough this bad economy has been on the county. I think the researcher would have only learned about the Business quick facts such as retail and merchant wholesaler sales because that isn’t something the average person living in Baltimore County would know.Something that might be understood just by viewing the statistical data on Baltimore County is that seeing as how we have a pretty large part of the population and a relatively high percentage of people below the poverty line, that we are mainly a lower-middle class region. When the fact is, that just like every other county, there a re places where that data might be true and places where it would be the exact opposite. * Discuss the utility of qualitative and quantitative research. How does one complement the other? Quantitative research is important to understand the core qualities something.No matter what we may like to think about a certain topic, the truth is a fact is the difference between an opinion and a statement. It can clear up any confusion that may arise when dealing with people and emotions. But likewise, the approach to understanding emotion can have its benefits as well. Quantitative research can be useful for getting into a deeper level of understanding, getting past the basic facts and taking a look as to the why, how, when, and what of the facts. The complement each other well because by using both research methods, you can completely understand each side of the topic in question.