Negative Impacts of Undemocratic Development Essay

Negative Impacts of Undemocratic Development - Essay Example These financial institutions include the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. The World Bank’s mandate originally incorporated provision of long term loans for reconstruction which has been enhanced since the 1970’s to financing and supporting multimillion dollar infrastructure projects in developing countries. Being exclusively largest source of development finance in the world, the World Bank intends to provide loans for wide changes in infrastructure and economy, long-term development and poverty reduction and many other projects such as constructing dams, roads, extracting natural resources etc. The World Bank has a leading impact on the livelihoods of millions of people living in most part of the world in a way that the bank finances commercial projects of really low income countries which are unable to acquire commercial loans from any other source. It is even criticized for imposing neoliberal policies that are highly undemocratic on developing countries. This paper analyses the negative impacts of undemocratic policies of the World Bank on sustainable development of developing countries and argues the development strategy of the World Bank should be democratic enough to meet their developmental objectives effectively and efficiently. The World Bank has been playing dual but contradictory roles; one is of a political organization and second is that of a practical organization. On one hand, the World Bank must satisfy the demands of lending and borrowing governments, other international organizations, and private capital markets as a political organization. On the other hand as an action-oriented organization, it must be neutral and specialized in loans, development aid, and technical assistance. The World Bank's responsibilities to donor countries and private capital markets have induced it to acquire policies which prescribe that poverty is best relieved by the implementation of free-market policies (Weaver 2008). Developing nations attempt to increase their economic output (GDP) by involving themselves in and simultaneously competing with the worldwide economy. Such countries are financially insecure and undeveloped industries are disabled to participate in global competition as the so-called competitive free-market is inherently unfair and biased. Since developing nations determine their inability to make investment in growth-promoting policies by having lack of sufficient foreign currency reserves due to their expenditure of the reserves on imports and debt repayments. In order to facilitate economic growth and development, the developing nations may chose to borrow money from the World Bank to finance large development projects as such projects may help gain their development goals. The World Bank has important associations with corporations especially in United States, to contract them for these remunerative projects. By undertaking the projects, these corporations gain immense profits, but the poor countries have t o bear an additional debt burden. The borrowing countries even lose control over their primal natural resources and a huge part of revenue from these resources because of repatriation of profits abroad. Before granting loans and debt relief, the World Bank imposes several conditions on the recipient governments for the reform of various aspects such as their lack of transparency, far-flung corruption and undemocratic authorities. Nevertheless the World Bank is confronted

Ethics Article Review Essay Example for Free

Ethics Article Review Essay This paper seeks to prepare a review of an article discussing ethics in accounting and financial decision making by making a brief summary, relating to assigned reading for the week, relating and applying the concepts to current or former employer’s organization, making improvement for the organization using the article as basis and explaining the importance of ethics in accounting and financial decision making. A description of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley act will also be discussed including its impact on accounting and financial decision making. 2. Discussions 2. a. Brief Summary The article is talking about the importance of ethics in accounting and business. To dramatize its significance in business, it has cited a story of a number of rich people who may have attained their financial rewards in business but ended dying in less meaningful ways impliedly because of missing the principles of ethics. While the article admits that earning money or attaining riches may be an acceptable goal in business, there is still the question of how success in measured in the final analysis and for which the authors were arguing for riches acquired with honor and if a choice would be made between the two, it would be more preferable to have honor rather riches (Smith and Smith, 2003) . 2. b. Relating to assigned readings As to how the article relate to assigned readings for this week, it may be argued that the article has touched on the importance of rules or guides to actions in business. Ethics in business may be asserted to be indispensable if business will have to attain its goals in harmony with other goals of society such as those in economics and politics. 2. c. Application of article to organization As to how the ethical concepts discussed on the article may apply to this researcher’s former or current organization, it may be argued that the universality of principles related to ethics would really make it difficult to exclude this researcher’s organization from any of its application.. Since my organization is part of the larger society where everybody else lives, it cannot isolate itself from the community by doing unethical things. It cannot even argue that any illegal or unethical thing that it may do will not matter in a world where there many players who may be affected by decisions made. In the same way that a member of society can make a difference for the good of the community so with the failure of one organization or even a person in the organization can do to the detriments of many if not all of the members of the community. 2. d. Recommendations for improvement of the organization To make recommendations for improvement on this researcher’s or organization using the article as basis, the organization should encourage simple living among its executives so that they could be more disciplined in the way the company’s resources are being managed not only for the stockholders but even to every stakeholders who stand to benefits from the observance of ethical conduct in the organization. The other stakeholders of course include the employees who aspire for long-term employment (Sears, 2003), the creditors and lenders who resources need to be protected as well, customers who need to have their needs and wants for company’s products and services continuously satisfied and the government who must continue ensuring payment of taxes and compliance with regulations. 2. e. The importance of ethics in accounting and financial decision making and how the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act affects the same The important of ethics in accounting and financial decision making cannot be underestimated. Without ethics there would be no responsibility for right or wrong act can be demanded from people making decisions. The managers who are considered agents of stockholders would instead enrich themselves at the expense of stockholders investments. On the other hand, these stockholders would just exploit whatever they can to the detriment of their principal, this time their debt capital providers. The organization can likewise treat its employees with disrespect and violate the latter’s if there in no ethics that would guide them. Laws will be insufficient to exact compliance if people in the organization were not instilled the proper values when they were still young in the same way that it is hard to teach tricks to an old dog. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is a classic example to legislate rules of conduct that would improve corporate governance (Ali, et. al, 2006) including a more strict compliance of requirements in regulating companies in terms of financial statements and ensuring of ethical conduct of external auditors (Bainbridge, 2007). Although the law is a positive act to ethical practice of doing business, the choice to do what is right is still with decision makers who must have the right sense of values for society. 3. Conclusion: Ethics has a purpose to attain. It is a part of an organization’s life since it is a guide to decision making not only in accounting and finance but even to all other aspect of business operations. A sense or rightness or wrongness offers a choice and that which is good is incidentally consistent with ethics. As the world seems to be painting what are the standards of its success when actually they are not the real and lasting ones, ethics its and principles have much to offer in making the correct decision that will lead real and lasting success for human existence. The article has argued that honor is preferable than riches but riches need not be inconsistent with riches as long as they are ethically acquired. References: Ali, et. al (2006) International Corporate Governance After Sarbanes-Oxley, John Wiley and Sons Bainbridge (2007), The Complete Guide to Sarbanes-Oxley: Understanding How Sarbanes-Oxley Affects Your Business; Adams Media Sears (2003) Successful Talent Strategies: Achieving Superior Business Results Through Market-focused Staffing, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Association. Smith and Smith (2003) Business and Accounting Ethics, {www document} URL, http://acct. tamu. edu/smith/ethics/ethics. htmAccessed September 29,2008

Quetzalcoatl: Man Or Myth? :: essays research papers

The Legend of Quetzalcoatl: Man or Myth? From the beginning of the Toltec reign in Central Mexico, the deity Quetzalcoatl has been a central figure in the religion and culture of Mexico. This is undisputed. What can be disputed, however, is Quetzalcoatl’s legitimacy as an historical figure. The deity Quetzalcoatl, or the â€Å"plumed serpent† is inseparable from the man Ce Acatl Topitlzin Quetzalcoatl, known to be a famous leader in pre-historical Mexican myth. The dissection becomes more difficult still as the Spanish friars introduced Christianity and in an attempt to assimilate the Indians, created a parallel between Indian deity Quetzalcoatl and the Catholic figure St. Thomas. In doing so, the priests hoped to incorporate Indian culture and religion into Christianity. In the process, however, they changed and damaged the pre-Christian notions of the god. What information we have now of Quetzalcoatl must be recognized as flawed over the centuries, and we must take this into account when trying to examine th e historical origins of one of the three figures. However, with cautious examination, we can separate these three figures and determine each one’s traits independent of the others’. To understand the mythical figure Quetzalcoatl, the first of the trinity to emerge, one must look further in to the religious belief of the pre-Columbian peoples. In the Classical period, Quetzalcoatl represented a sort of binary opposition between earth and heaven, visible in his name, quetzalli, or â€Å"precious green feather†, and coatl, the â€Å"serpent.† â€Å"Precious green feather,† according to Enrique Florescano, referred to a bird, which in the Classical period symbolized the heavens. Coatl, the serpent, symbolized earth, and so the mythical creature Quetzalcoatl was a link between the two, present before the Toltec civilization began, and gave birth to the image of twins, one of life, fertility and order (the bird) and the other representing the fatality of death (the serpent) . Yet the link between the immortal and the mortal was further construed by the Classical Period Indians than even the symbolism of the bird and serpent. The binary oppositions within day and night, also the Morning Star and the Evening Star became entangled within the earliest surviving myths of Quetzalcoatl. There is a fine line between the religious and the mythological in Pre-Columbian Mexico. While Quetzalcoatl began as a symbolic interpretation to link life and death, or the gods and humans, his purpose soon extended to an intercessor between the two, symbolic in the ball court game which he is attributed with founding .

Assimilation or Retaining Ethnic Identity

Assimilation or Retaining Ethnic Identity America was founded by a group of diverse immigrants. All immigrants are coming from different parts of the world such as Asia, Europe, Africa and Mexico and so on. Therefore, each person has his or her own culture, religion and beliefs. Most of the people who are immigrants are non-English speaking and face struggles and numerous challenges to assimilate into American society. Millions of people have been discriminated due to skin color, religions, and beliefs, so it means that people face struggles with assimilation and acculturation.One sure thing is people must understand others cultures when they fall in love with different races, or when they go to school at different countries. However, most of the people are not assimilating for their religion, and they are proud of being what they are. Love is blind. Love is the result of appreciating another’s goodness. So it is wonderful when people fall in love with each other. Love comes f rom emotion, so nobody can limit that one has to fall in love within the same race, especially in the United States where many different races are living together in the same land.That is why it is not an odd thing that white men fall in love with Asian girls or black men fall in love with white girls. But if one falls in love with someone from another race he or she will have to learn and understand his or her culture to build a long term relationship. On December 25th 2005, Junot Diaz published in the New Yorker about â€Å"How to Date a Brown girl, Black girl, White girl or Halfie†. Many people like to read this, and most of the readers commented that it provided really useful tips for the first date with different race girls.Before dating, the speaker Junot Diaz gives advice to the readers: â€Å"Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator†. Moreover, the speaker said â€Å"If she’s a white girl you know you’ll at least get a hand job. † If a man dated the white girl, he could involve sexual activities. He needs to find out what she wants to do after dinner and spends the rest of evening as she likes. According to the Junot Diaz â€Å"If she’s a halfie don’t be surprised that her mother is white. † The girl’s mother will be white or black or Asian, but he shouldn’t show the emotions of shocked and should say â€Å"Hi† to her mother friendly and smoothly.If he doesn’t prepare well to find what she likes or what her culture, he might get broken-heart. Moreover, he will not get a happy relationship. Some people may argue that a good relationship is only based on the personality instead of his or her culture and history, and they don’t need to assimilate others. For example, a white guy’s date with Asian girl may involve sexual activities for the first date. As a result, she may be think he is a ridiculous and rude person, and she won’t meet again bec ause Asian girl hardly ever involve sexual activities before she gets married.Assimilation and acculturation are needed in some situations. According to the Migration World Magazine â€Å"Non-English speaking immigrants grew quickly in numbers†. Most of the immigrants from Southern, and Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa don’t know the English language well. They are struggling with learning English because it takes them a little bit long to speak frequently. In Latino Issue conservative blog, Josue Sierra discussed about getting good English speaking skills is essential for immigrants in education, jobs opportunities, and preventing crime.The speaker says â€Å"If immigrants don’t speak English, chances are they won’t get very far from a low-level laborer positions†. Some immigrants are already graduated and have a higher education in their country, but they only get lower job positions in the United States because they can’t speak English wel l. The speaker also mentions â€Å"An immigrant who has learned English can also look forward to better paying work in their home country†. It means that the immigrants who want to go back home have a benefit by learning English. They can get a better salary than any other in their home country by knowing English well.Some students find difficulties in college because teaching styles are different from their home town and self-study is essential for all students in the United States. For example, Burma which is situated in South East Asia, students are not allowed to argue with the teachers’ ideas. Arguing with teachers is rude and asking questions means students don’t understand the lessons. Moreover, teachers assume asking questions to them means they are not good at teaching, and it insults them. So most of the children are afraid to ask question even they don’t understand. These habits are hard to vanish when they are studying in the United States.Tha t’s why most Asian students are quiet in the class. Moreover, they have to study detail in text books and are not allowed to use their own idea. Next, â€Å"An immigrant that doesn’t speak English will be more hesitant to contact authorities when they are victimized, out of fear of not being understood†. Some of the international high school students have been bullied by English speakers. But they dare not to talk about it to their parents or teachers because they are afraid they can’t explain well. Sometimes, some non-English speaking girls get robbed, but they don’t dare talk to the police.Above these reasons, it is better for immigrants to forget their own origins and try to assimilate the new language. Most immigrants can assimilate living style, wearing style and some cultures in a short time, but they hard to try to assimilate another religion. In the United States, Christian is 78. 4% including Protestant and Catholic; other religions are 4. 7% such as Jewish (1. 7%), Buddhist (0. 7 %), Muslim (0. 6 %), Hindu (0. 4 %), Unaffiliated (16. 1%), Humanism (0. 8%) according to U. S Religious Landscape Survey. A Muslim guy could marry with the Christian girl, even though; the girl or the guy hard to change their religion status.Most of the children who were born to two different religions parents become Humanism. The United States is a democratic country and has freedom of religion and beliefs without government influence or interference. Even though, the country still has problems related to the religious beliefs. For example, in the abortion case, some Catholics don’t agree to destroy the pro-life as â€Å"Don’t kill Jesus’s children† because they assume that people is created by Jesus. For humanism and unaffiliated, they may think this abortion cases are the human right to destroy or not. People dare to die for their religions or their beliefs.So many religion wars have occurred in the world. An other example of religious attack happened on September 11 in New York. Many people’s life lost and the rest of the families felt pain and suffer about this attack. Actually â€Å"Religion is not a way to pigeonhole someone,† Professor of Religion Bruce Lawrence said. â€Å"You can be very Muslim, but also be very American because you appreciate the freedom and opportunity of the country. Loyalty to one's own background is an important part of being American. † Conflict over Muslim immigrants occurs not only in the United States but also in Europe.For example, in France, Muslims girls are banned by wearing chadors (head scarves) by French president. Moreover, in German schools, Muslims girls are asking to take the class of physical education class such as swimming or gym. According to Marion Berning, director of the Rixdorfer primary school in Berlin, Germany, â€Å"We have Muslim girls who say they don't want to swim with the boys. It's obvious the parents exe rt pressure on them, but [the parents] have to accept that coeducation is part of German schools. † These kind of small conflicts lead to ethnic disunity and hostile communities in Europe.In contrast to the European conception, assimilation in the United States â€Å"has always been much more flexible and accommodating and, consequently, much more effective in achieving its purpose,† according to Peter D. Salins, author of Assimilation, American Style. Different immigrants have different ideas of assimilation into American culture. People may get many new experiences and new ideas by assimilating, especially building good relationships and friendships. However, assimilating also has a drawback such as losing one’s own culture and traditions.So immigrants should decide themselves what American cultures support them to have a better life if they assimilate. If they can have a better life due to assimilating into other cultures, they should go for it. Simultaneously , they should keep some value about their own cultures to say what they are. Works Cited G. McDonald , Hellen and R. Balgopal, Pallassana. â€Å"Conflicts of American immigrants: Assimilate or Retain Ethnic Identiy. † Migration World Magazine. May-June 1998. Web. 9 November 2012. â€Å"Introduction to Immigration: Current Controversies. † Immigration. Ed.Louise I. Gerdes. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. Junot , Diaz. â€Å"How To Date A Brown Girl ( black girl, white girl, or halfie),† The New Yorker, 25 December 1995. Web. 10 November 2012. Sierra , Jouse. â€Å"The Important of English for Immigrants. † Latino Issues, A Conservative Blog. 8 April 2007. Web. 9 November. 2012. â€Å"U. S Religious Landscape Survey. † The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. 1615 L Street, NW Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036-50610, n. d . Web. 9 Novemeber. 2012.

A Streetcar Named Desired

The Character of Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche, Stella's is by far the most complex character of the play. An intelligent and sensitive woman who values literature and the creativity of the human imagination, she is also emotionally traumatised and repressed. This gives license for her own imagination to become a haven for her pain. One senses that Blanches own view of her real self as opposed to her ideal self has been increasingly blurred over the years until it is sometimes difficult for her to tell the difference.It is a challenge to find the key to Blanche's melancholy but perhaps the roots of her trauma lie in her early marriage. She was haunted by her inability to help or understand her young, troubled husband and that she has tortured herself for it ever since. Her drive to lose herself in the â€Å"kindness of strangers† might also be understood from this period in that her sense of confidence in her own feminine attraction was shaken by the knowledge of her husband's homosexuality and she is driven to use her sexual charms to attract men over and over. Yet, beneath all this, there is a desire to find a companion, to find fulfilment in love.She is not successful because of her refusal or inability to face reality, in her circumstances and in herself. Blanche has a hard time confronting her mixed desires and therefore is never able to sort them out and deal with them. She wants a cultured man but is often subconsciously attracted to strong, basic male characters, perhaps a response to her marriage with a cultured, sensitive man which ended in disaster. So although Blanche dislikes Stanley as a person, she is drawn to him as a type of man who is resoundingly heterosexual and who is strong enough to protect her from an increasingly harsh world.This seems to be the reason for her brief relationship with Mitch, but it becomes clear to Blanche that Stanley is the dominant male here and she begins to acknowledge that fact. When Blanche te lls the operator in Scene Ten that she is caught in a trap, part of her realises she has set herself up via her desires. Stanley is the embodiment of what she needs, yet detests, and, because of her sister, can never have. After Stanley has stripped her of her self-respect in this scene, she becomes desperate, unable to retreat to her fantasies and so this deeper layer of her desires is revealed. You can read also  Similarities and Conflicts in † a Streetcar Named Desire†Yet, Blanche does not know how to face these feelings and she senses to give into them could be disastrous for her. As Stanley advances towards her, she tells him, â€Å"I warn you, don't, I'm in danger! † but Stanley has made sure that this time there is no where for her to hide. In her final act, she silently acknowledges that her own desires have also led to this date. It is interesting that neither Blanche nor Stanley seriously seem to consider Stella as Scene Ten reaches a climax. They both recognise that somehow they are drawn together and also repelled by forces that are directly between them and that have little to do with Stella.Things come to a head so quickly that it is as if tensions have been bubblingore emotionally and mentally crippled than before. Yet, Stanley and by extension Stella, are not clear victors. Like Blanche, Stanley is also revealed to be capable of deceit, he does not admit the truth of what happened between him and Blanche to his friends, to Stella, and maybe not even to himself. Stella makes a conscious decision to believe Stanley instead of her sister because to do otherwise would be both emotionally and economically difficult with a new baby so she, too, is engaging in a measure of self-deception.Stanley survives because of sheer physical presence, not because of any innate superiority. Blanche suffers overall on many fronts in her new environment, but in conclusion although one does feel pity for Blanche she has to a large extent with her own weaknesses brought her own downfall. Blanche can not compete in the new household she is placed in Stella has already claimed her territory and ultimately will choose her marriage over her sister.Blanches past erupts into the present and without at the forefront is the contradiction to the facade Blanche has put up over her sexual needs and desires. So confused is Blanche over sex the one weap on she has to gain a husband her sexuality she can no longer use. In the end Blanche is living in a era which was smashed a hundred years before this moment of time in the play. This era Blanche lameness in is the gentile society of Southern America with wealthy European colonials engaging politely in society. For Blanche this refusal to let go of the past and adjust to her new surroundings and the