Aristotle vs Plato Essay

Aristotle and Socrates and Plato’s beliefs have similarities mainly evident in their denouncement of democracy for the state. The views of Socrates expressed and written by his pupil Plato are vastly philosophical in nature and he promotes the idea of questioning life to achieve insight. The philosophers who possess the absolute truth are the best equipped to rule society according to Plato and his Allegory of the Cave. Conversely, Aristotle takes a more political science approach of discussing and analyzing various constitutions to determine the best form of government, where the rational beings in a society are the natural rulers. Aristotle promotes the idea of rule based on law rather than simple superiority. The differences in these beliefs are important because of the implications of Aristotle’s writings, which provide a way for citizens and statesmen to utilize philosophy in politics and the state. Consequently, information in Politics is seen again throughout modern politics. The similarities of Aristotle’s beliefs expressed through his writings in Politics to the beliefs of Plato and Socrates expressed in the recorded dialogues of The Republic are centered mainly on a fear of democracy. Aristotle asserts that only those who are concerned with virtue and good government should be the leaders in a society or community (CP 325). In Book III of Politics Aristotle describes what the role of the majority should be in politics, By means of these considerations, too, one might solve the problem mentioned earlier and also the related one of what the free should have authority over, that is to say, the multitude of the citizens who are not rich and have no claim whatsoever arising from virtue. For it would not be sage to have them participate in the most important offices, since, because of their lack of justice and practical wisdom, they would inevitably act unjustly in some instances and make mistakes in others. (CP 325) Through this view, Aristotle expresses his distrust of a total democracy that is parallel to the ideas of his mentors. Plato attacks democracy and describes the disbursement of political freedom to the masses as an intoxication of wine, claiming that a democratic city â€Å"gets drunk on too much unmixed freedom† (Plato). Plato details the filtration of this â€Å"drunkenness† from society disobeying rulers trickling down to the son disrespecting the father and eventually â€Å"equal rights in relations between the sexes† (Plato). Plato and Aristotle share this skepticism of democracy. The limitation of freedom, liberty, and equality not only with regards to mistrust of democracy but also in terms of denial of citizenship and justification of slavery are commonalities in the teachings of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Plato accepts slavery throughout The Republic, because he often deems whole groups of people unworthy of freedom. Aristotle’s justifies slavery through the characteristic of rationality; he claims that there is a condition of â€Å"natural slavery† where when one being is rational and the other is not, there is a natural master-slave relationship (CP 309). â€Å"For if something is capable of rational foresight, it is a natural ruler and master, whereas whatever can use its body to labor is ruled and is a natural slave† (CP 309). These justifications of slavery make neither Plato nor Aristotle egalitarians. Aristotle and Plato both express the importance of excellence, each in different ways. Plato believes that humans are working towards excellence when they are pursuing that which they are best suited for based on the division of men into three classes: lovers of wisdom, victory, and profit (Plato). Aristotle claims that the excellence of human beings is achieved through their participation in the state, and performing their functions in society, he relies less on the caste system of Plato and more on the capability of the individual. Socrates and Plato illustrate the idea of the unawareness of humanity and its lack of enlightenment through the Allegory of the Cave. In this analogy, Plato presents a society of prisoners living in a â€Å"cavelike underground dwelling† where they have been chained foot and neck since childhood (â€Å"PLATO,? ALLEGORY? OF? THE? FORMS? FROM? THE? REPUBLIC†)). The prisoners can only see a wall directly in front of them and behind them is a fire; between the prisoners and the fire is a road that people walk along carrying things on their heads, including figures of men and animals made of wood, stone, and other materials which cast shadows on the wall in front of the prisoners (â€Å"PLATO,? ALLEGORY? OF? THE? FORMS? FROM? THE? REPUBLIC†)). Some of the people on the road talk, creating echoes in the cave. The prisoners regard these shadows and sounds as reality, as it is all they have ever known of the world. Plato and Socrates then present the situation of a prisoner who escapes from the cave, and after adjusting to the light, realizes the true nature of reality and â€Å"after that he’d contemplate the heavenly bodies and heaven itself by night, finding starlight and moonlight easier to look at than sunlight and the sun† (â€Å"PLATO,?ALLEGORY? OF? THE? FORMS? FROM? THE? REPUBLIC†). Eventually the prisoner would contemplate the sun and â€Å"conclude that this is the giver of seasons and years, curator of all in the visible sphere, the cause somehow of all that he used to see† (â€Å"PLATO,? ALLEGORY? OF? THE? FORMS? FROM? THE? REPUBLIC†). The prisoner returns to the cave, only to be doubted and misunderstood by the other prisoners. In this parable, the philosopher is like the prisoner who escapes, and is the person has seen the true reality and has been enlightened to the truth. Through this analogy, Plato describes who he believes should govern society. Since it is the philosophers who have seen true reality and understood absolute truth, they are the best suited to rule in society. Thus, the consequences of the ideas presented in the Allegory of the Cave are a ruling class of enlightened philosophers who will direct the city towards absolute truth and harmony. The differences between the philosophies of Aristotle and Plato are manifest in Aristotle’s dismissal of the Allegory of the Cave. Aristotle rejects the idea of an absolute truth, and stresses rationality rather than enlightenment as determining characteristics of a ruling class. Aristotle focuses on the importance of citizenship in Politics and the participation in the state. Aristotle claims that if indeed there are several kinds of constitution, there cannot be a single virtue that is the virtue -the complete virtude -of a good citizen, but that the good man, does express a single, complete virtue, and thus, it is possible for someone to be a good citizen without having the virtue expressed by a good man (CP 322). Aristotle challenges the idea of absolute governing power of a select class of philosopher kings that is presented by Plato and Socrates and identifies the problems that are raised by such a ruling class. The way Socrates selects his rulers is also risky. He makes the same people rule all the time, which becomes a cause of conflict even among people with no merit, and all the more so among spirited and warlike men. Aristotle assembles and exams constitutions and is in that way more of a political scientist than a philosopher, while Plato and Socrates focused on theoretical and metaphysical questions about the universe and the soul. Aristotle extends his analysis of constitutions and in doing so reveals serious political problems that would arise from Socrates and Plato’s view of governance. These problems would inhibit the individuals’ ability to participate in the state, something that Aristotle believes is essential to the good of individuals and the good of the community. Aristotle presents the problem of arising factions in Book V of Politics and states that if people have no share in office or are treated unjustly or arrogantly, the start factions and change constitutions (Moschella). Plato and Socrates believed that the philosophers knew what was best for all, and thus there would be no discontent or revolution. Aristotle’s explanation of factions caused by inequality challenges that notion and even advises increasing the middle class to help dissolve factions (Moschella). Aristotle also disagrees with the idea of the unified state presented by Socrates wherein the nuclear family is rejected and children are transferred throughout the community. Aristotle claims that the more unified a city-state becomes, the less of a city-state is becomes as city-states by definition require diversity (CP 310). This unity creates problems according to Aristotle who states, â€Å"For a household and a city-state must indeed be a unity up to a point, but not totally so. For there is a point at which it will, as it goes on, not be a city-state, and another at which, by being nearly not a city-state, it will be a worse one† (CP 310). The political consequences of the disagreements between Aristotle and Socrates/Plato are a liberalization of the class system, as well as new definition of virtue and purpose in the state. Aristotle’s description and advice about politics in his work allow for the appearance of a discussion about factions, the consequences of which are manifested many centuries later in the Federalist Papers. Aristotle describes ways to balance the interests of the few with the interests of the many, the interests of minority and the majority, and of the wealthy and the poor through his combination of oligarchy and democracy into polity. Through this idea of addressing factions and political interdependence Aristotle outlines the way to a lasting state. Aristotle’s claims of law, constitution, polity, factions, and citizenship all have comparability to many U. S. notions of political life; even his justification of slavery is reminiscent of the views of some founding fathers. Aristotle discovered and outlined many elements of early American political thought long before the existence of the United States. Aristotle himself said, â€Å"For practically speaking, all things have been discovered, although some have not been collected, and others are known about but not used† (CP 315). Work cited Moschella, Melissa. â€Å"Aristotle’s Politics Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of Book V†. GradeSaver, 01 May 2000 Web. 25 April 2013. Plato, . â€Å"The Republic. † . http://classics. mit. edu/Plato/republic. 10. ix. html, n. d. Web. 22 Apr 2013. . â€Å"PLATO,? ALLEGORY? OF? THE? FORMS? FROM? THE? REPUBLIC. † . N. p.. Web. 22 Apr 2013. .

The Impeachment Process

The Senate and the House share equal authority over many congressional matters, which include declaring wars and maintaining the armed forces of collecting taxes. Congress’s joint powers that seem to be more judicial and less concerned with the maintenance of the government as a whole. The power is the impeachment that is not a criminal trial. The Senate is required to decide whether changes are brought by the House of Representatives to merit removing from office and to disqualifying him or her from holding other offices and titles. The impeachment process is one of the most serious and solemn of government proceedings. It can result in the trial and conviction of a President of the United States and immediate removal from office. Sometimes, impeachment is not taking very serious, but other then that it still has to go into affect whether or not. As far as it goes, the person may later be indicated, tired, and perhaps convicted and sentenced by judicial authorities, but none of these actions are imposed at the congressional level. The congress is simply to empower to decide whether the person should be removed from office. The House of Representatives has the right to formally impeach public officials for wrongdoings. It is the Senate that hears the case against the official and votes for conviction. If the president of the United States is being tried, then the Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court must preside over the trial. The Senate’s first impeachment trial came in 1798, and the proceeding one of its own members, Senator William Blount of Tennessee. H was involved in a plot to incite Indians to assist the British in trying to conquer territory in Florida and Louisiana that was the underneath Spain’s control. The impeachment proceedings against Blount, however, were dismissed since he no longer held office. For examples, the first impeachment and found guilty was Judge John Pickering of New Hampshire. In March, of 1804, the judge was found guilty of drunkenness and unlawful rulings. Many believed that his mind had become unbalanced, when he was removed from office after the guilty verdict and then died one year later. Since then, Congress has generally used the impeachment process cautiously. An important precedent was established early when Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, a strong Federalist, was impeached for judicial bias against Anti-Federalists. Chase although, was acquitted on March 1, 1805, in a decision that established political differences were not grounds for impeachment. The impeachment is a powerful tool that allows the legislative branch to remove high-ranking officials from office for cause.

Assess the Importance of Developments in Military Technology as a Factor in the Changing Nature of Military Strategy in the Period C1850 â€C1985.

Assess the importance of developments in military technology as a factor in the changing nature of military strategy in the period c1850 –c1985. The development of military technology can undoubtedly alter the way in which a war or battle is fought. Major military innovations have allowed for strategies to be adapted and refined. For example the invention of tanks allowed for strategic usage of movement to end the stalemate of World War One. The advances in technology have reformed the way in which a war is fought in the air as well as on the ground and sea. If one side was in control of more advanced technology, it could be said they had a greater advantage over the enemy, with increased military capability. However the relationship between the technology and the strategy behind its deployment is essential. For the technology to achieve its goal, the planning, conduct and organisation must be beneficial. Technology however is not entirely responsible for the changes in military strategy, Leadership and tactics also play a part, but which is ultimately the most accountable? The key technology that fundamentally affected the battles of the Crimean war was the invention of an effective rifle. Neil Stewart states that â€Å"The greatest change in land warfare was the substantial increase in the range, accuracy and firepower of the percussion cap rifles and the rifled artillery. † This resulted in the attacking force standing little chance of succeeding and enabled the British to fight from greater distances with a higher chance of hitting the enemy. The infantrymen no longer had to load one bullet at a time, as a magazine could now take up to nine bullets in their magazine. This meant loading time was reduced and the British were more likely to cause greater damage to the enemy over a shorter period. Furthermore Massie announces â€Å"The introduction of the Minie rifle and then the Enfield, revolutionised the battlefield. The ordinary infantry soldier now possessed a weapon long-ranged and accurate enough to enable him to operate it independently. † This shows that now lines of infantry were now not needed and concentrated fire was not used. From the Crimean war, it is clear one strategy should never have been used. The charge of the light brigade saw a cavalry charge against infantry and artillery. A report by Lieutenant-General Liprandi states â€Å"The English cavalry appeared, more than 2,000 strong†¦The enemy made a most obstinate charge†¦notwithstanding the well-directed fire from six guns of the light battery No. 7, and that of the men armed with carbines†¦In this attack the enemy had more than 400 men killed and sixty wounded, who were picked up on the field of battle, and we made twenty-two prisoners. † Thus by the First World War, the cavalry were no longer used to attack against enemies laden with artillery. The dominance of the machine gun in the First World War led to great strategic changes. Whereas a rifle could fire around fifteen rounds a minute, a machine gun could fire six hundred. The stalemate of the War meant that the guns could be set up in permanent positions resulting in the war becoming a defensive one. Stewart states â€Å"Unprotected troops could not expose themselves to this deadly onslaught of fire for long†¦and this meant digging into the ground. † This explains how trenches became a popular method of escaping machine gun fire. Trenches were not only a defensive method, but were ideal for launching an attack from within. The machine gun meant that military strategy was now in fact to keep killing until there was nothing left of the enemy, otherwise known as a war of attrition. The Battle of the Somme was designed to simply mow down as many of the German enemy as possible and try to break their morale. However this tactic proved to unsuccessful by Corporal W. Shaw. Shaw states â€Å"Our artillery had been bombing their line for six days and nights†¦the result was we never got anywhere near the Germans†¦they were just simply slaughtered. The stalemate of trench warfare leant itself for the reintroduction of mobile tactics. Stewart explains â€Å"By 1918 the British troops had moved away from the long linear advance; their attacking force was now built around a heavily armed, mobile, semi-independent platoon of 40 men. † It could be said that long range tactics were now used, making the attac ks depersonalised. The introduction of tanks meant that a preliminary barrage was no longer needed and attacks often now had the element of surprise. Their main tactic was to clear the trenches of the enemy and make a clear pathway for the infantry to follow behind. A report by the war office in 1918 states, â€Å"At the end of the campaigning season of 1917 we tried the experiment at Cambrai of using tanks in large number to take the place of artillery bombardment. † The use of tanks meant that there was a saving to be made in infantry, compared to that required to follow up an artillery bombardment. To finally break the Hindenburg line, the coordination of sophisticated artillery cover along with tanks, aeroplanes and armoured cars was used as the military strategy and according to Stewart â€Å"The battle tactics of the Second World War had emerged at the very end of the First World War. The tactics and strategies used in the Second World War were often based upon those used in the First World War. Many of the weapons used were simply the same but improved versions of those used before, thus you would think the same military strategy would be used. However the main military strategy of World War Two was to use the coordination of all available weapons and forces to strike the enemy at its weakest point instead of over a long front. The British and French went into the war believing it was going to be a defensive one; however the Germans were planning on it being an offensive one and to win it quickly. According to Foley â€Å"The Allied armies, completely unprepared for the rapid, mobile operations of the Germans, had simply been out-fought at every turn. † Stewart backs this up with his quote â€Å"A large part of the effectiveness of blitzkrieg was the panic and confusion produced by this unimagined mobility and advance. Opponents became quickly demoralized and surrendered rapidly. † It can be said that this strategy was only effective with the use of advanced technology. Stewart states â€Å"A number of strategists†¦had advanced the theories of rapid mobile attack based upon concentrations of tanks. Putting this military strategy into practice resulted in the success of blitzkrieg. For example the French and British may have a higher number of tanks than Germany; however they chose not to concentrate them into large masses. Therefore it was not am advance in technology that forced the military plan to change, it was in fact then way in which the leaders chos e to deploy it. Stewart also states â€Å"The intensification of the bombing offensive in 1943, however, had only limited results and incurred disastrous losses. This produced a change of strategy by the allies. This explains that perhaps Germany had superior technology in the air and therefore the Allies formed a military strategy which consisted of the total destruction of the German air force to achieve air supremacy. The commander in chief of the American air forces issued the instruction to â€Å"Destroy the enemy air force wherever you find them in the air, on the ground and in the factories. † This shows how the Allies military plan was adapted to fully concentrate on the effectiveness of how to attack Germany’s air force. Leadership could also be considered a factor as to why military strategy changes. For example Haig has often been criticised for the tactics he used in the First World War. Laffin says â€Å"A great commander knows exactly what he’s sending his men into but Haig didn’t. The principle which guided him was that if he could kill more Germans than the Germans could kill his men, then he would inevitably win. Now that is an appalling kind of strategy. It’s not a strategy at all, it’s just slaughter. † Therefore it could be said that others would have chose a different strategy to Haig and not risked thousands of lives, meaning different leaders would address situations differently. However on the other side many have argued that in fact Haig’s tactics did finally work in 1918 when he had more tanks and artillery to support him, perhaps making technology responsible. Furthermore Clarke tells of a conversation apparently held between Hoffman and Ludendorff. â€Å"Ludendorff: ‘The English soldiers fight like lions’ Hoffman: ‘True. But don’t we know that they are lions led by donkeys. ’ This shows perhaps if the leaders had provided a better military strategy, the brave soldiers could have been ‘lions’ which accomplished greater achievements. Moreover Spilsbury states â€Å"Raglan†¦arrived at the top of this elevation Raglan was now in one of the most extraordinary positions ever taken up by a commander on the battlefield†¦Calthorpe reported ‘Lord Raglan at once saw the immense importance of getting guns up here, where they could enfilade all the Russian guns†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This shows Raglan to be an intelligent leader who could formulate and execute military strategy well and therefore having considerable influence in the way in which the battle was fought. Logistics should also be considered. Johnson states â€Å"The logistical difficulties of the war prompted army reform in Great Britain. † Speaking of the Crimean War, this quote shows that military strategy had to be adapted to fit around these problems. He then goes on to say â€Å"The first, and most important was the rationalisation of the chain of command for organisation in the field. † This shows how rationalising as a strategy was bought in due to complications with logistics. Moreover Overy states â€Å"Yet an operation designed to move 4000 ships, 2 million men and 12000 aircraft to France, from a base only a few minutes flying time from German airfields, appeared an impossible secret to keep for six long months. † This is regarding the d-day landing of World War Two. A large amount of men and supplies had to be landed without being seen by the Germans, which would mean an excellent military strategy would be needed. The moving of these men and supplies resulted in a strategy being produced like no other. Overall the tactics in Second World War had changed dramatically from the First World War. The technology was present in the First World War however its full potential had not been realised until later. From that it could be concluded that it was in fact factors other than technology that changed the nature of military strategy, such as leadership for example. If the leaders in the Second World War had not realised the mistakes made in tactics of the First World War, then perhaps they would not have been successful with their military planning. However as technology progressed, its users were capable of achieving success in many different ways. In the Crimean War, due to the innovation of a successful rifle, strategy changed from fighting together to being able to fight independently. Tanks and armoured cars brought back mobility and therefore strategies changed to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare in World War One. A good leader could be assessed by the way in which he managed to supply his troops, in other words logistics. So therefore logistics itself may have limited effect on military strategy as it is in fact the way in which a leader uses logistics to their advantage which is responsible for the change. To conclude, technology is forever changing and will carry on doing so long into the future. As it does so, the strategy behind the way it is deployed will have to change with it if it is to be a success. However whether or not a leader produces a high-quality military plan that supports the deployment of this new technology will also play a role in the development of military strategy.

How the Internet Makes You Boring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How the Internet Makes You Boring - Essay Example According to Teitel, the interest of the internet users end up pursuing them as opposed to the natural means in which one should adequately pursue his or her interest. It is common to notice that internet users spend their time through information that has no relevance to their interest, most of which is filtered by the search engine provider based on the button clicked. Through these controlled results, the information we get from such results are narrowed and reduced, not because we were interested in less information but because the internet gives us such. Through this, our knowledge, opinions and views of different events that interest us are narrowed while those that are of little importance to our lives are provided in abundance. As a tool that has all the potential to increase our knowledge and views on different world news and events, Teitel believes that narrowing this information increases boredom (Teitel, 2013). Search engines have the ability to guess what an individual wants to search for from the internet and this according to the developers makes life easier when using this tool. When you begin searching for any item from the Google search engine, several suggestions crops up which are meant to guide your search and premeditate which sites you are supposed to visit. This makes life boring because the information we end up reading and gaining interest in is not exactly our initial interest. Teitel argues that no one has an idea why the internet and its search engine narrows our information and guides our lives through sites that have spam like information. Communicating through using the emails has not been spared either as internet developers use this too to shape our opinion and control the range of information that reaches us. Teitel argues that if for instance you mail your friend concerning one dream you have had for long concerning one Christian Grey, pop message on sadomasochistic romance will be sent to you in streams (Teitel, 2013). The original mail had no expression of interest on the information that are now sent neither did it mention anything concerning romance. The internet fills the blanks on your behalf and sends you direction and assistance despite the fact that you never indicated that you needed any. In life, we eliminate what we do not need whenever we feel like we should and this includes friends, events and information. This has however stopped because the internet can be able to gauge what we need and what we don’t thus purging all that it deems unnecessary in our lives and sending all it deem needed in our lives in abundance. The lack of personal control created by the internet and its discriminating way of informing us makes it quite boring and irrelevant in some levels of our lives (Teitel, 2013). The internet has a filter bubble tendencies of purging all the information it deems unnecessary in our lives and presenting the filtered information to us without our due consent. If you are a conservative and some of your social media friends are liberal, the internet will able to determine your inclination and thus reduce your access and interaction with your liberal friends without your consent. Pariser, a co-author with Teitel argues that once she stopped clicking on her conservative friends on Facebook, the profiles and newsfeeds of most of these friends began to disappear, meaning that Facebook preprogrammed algorithm

Does a mentoring program offered in hospitals for newly hired nurses Essay

Does a mentoring program offered in hospitals for newly hired nurses help retention - Essay Example As a mentor he or she demonstrates and promotes lifelong learning and is able to reveal tremendous communication and critical thinking skills. Further a mentor is trusted and appreciated as a leader in his or her organization for honesty and integrity. The mentor looks after and is compassionate to the needs of others and support freedom, maturity, and professional growth (Barton et al., 2005). At all stages of human life, nurses provide the care that attaches medical treatment with patients daily lives. Frequently working at top speed for 10- or 12-hour shifts, they make vital decisions and handle emotional situations. Various Nursing Institutions brings nurses up to that high performance level through a mentoring program that teaches them how to apply their skills on the nursing profession. The mentoring program helps new nurses make the changeover from classroom to the patient’s bedside. This teaches them to take responsibilities with confidence in a protected environment of working along with their mentor (University of Virginia, 2003). The Center for Health Workforce Planning of Iowa conducted an aggressive application method for three groups of projects targeting recruitment and retention of nurses and nursing assistive personnel. The groups were: demonstration projects to identify best practice strategies for successful recruitment and retention; mentor programs to ease employee retention; and personnel motivation incentive packages. The demonstration plans and mentoring programs submitted the final reports that acknowledged best practices. The Center’s Advisory Committee recommended the continuation of the demonstration plans for complete evaluation, replications and communication of the best practices (Towers, 2004). Workplace mentoring, and on-line resources will help nurses in improving their skills. Working with Nursing organizations, nursing

Benefits of Integrated Transportation Research Paper

Benefits of Integrated Transportation - Research Paper Example Transportation is fundamental in the context of any economy or society in the nation, as mobility from one place to another is integral for maintaining quality of life which allows maintaining all round development of an economy. Besides, the concept of transportation is a global approach and thus the international cooperation is integral for maintaining integration in transportation within the world economy. In this regard, the program i.e. Transport Challenge relating to ‘smart, green as well as integrated transport’ is an approach of Europe to build the transportation system of Europe in terms of resource efficient, climate concern, environmental friendly, and safety for the overall beneficial of citizens, societies and economy at large. Furthermore, Transport Challenge induces investment of â‚ ¬6,339 million for the time of 2014-2020 by keeping focus on the program, over four different key objects (European Commission, â€Å"Smart, Green and Integrated Transportà ¢â‚¬ ). †¢Ã‚  To minimize the impact of transportation system over the environment as the European nations try to improve the efficiency over the use of natural resources and reduce the dependence level over fossil fuels†¢Ã‚  To reconcile the growing need of mobility, the transportation program of Europe emphasizes the transport flexibility in a way for providing innovative solutions in terms of seamless, inclusive, safe and secure, affordable and robust transport†¢Ã‚  To promote innovation and meet various challenges that arise within the transportation system.

Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing - Assignment Example The SWOT analysis represent the analysis of factors of strength, weakness, opportunities and threats that are existing in the marketplace with regards to the characteristics of the organization. It is highly relevant to say that the strength and weakness can be categorized as internal factors of evaluation for an organization. On the other hand, the issues of opportunities and threats are categorized as external factors and are always analyzed with regards to the happenings and influence coming from the external environment (Pride and Ferell 33). In very layman terms, marketing can be explained as an activity which comprises of the process of value generation, value communication, value distribution and value delivery to the consumers. Marketing is often represented as the activity which comprises of smooth application and integration of the 4Ps of marketing like product, place, promotion and prices (Pride and Ferell 4). Matching the 4Ps of marketing with the equation of value, it can be said that product represent value generation, place represents value distribution, promotion represents value communication and price represents value delivery and capture. It is very important for a business to implement the various variables of marketing in the right time but in a new and innovative manner so as to leverage the maximum amount of competitive advantage that can be extracted for the business. ... crucial activity in any business, since it plays the lead role in communicating the values of the company or organization’s products or services to the desired set of clients and customers. For the purpose of sustaining in the market, it is very important for a company to focus on its revenue earning strategy and thereby develop a significant competitive edge. It can be said in direct link up that for the purpose of generating a steady cash flow process, it is imperative that the organization’s products and services attain high sales volume in the market place. It can be said that for the purpose of selling a product or service, having a proper and effective STP strategy is highly important. STP which denotes segmentation, targeting and positioning helps the organizations in a market place to focus on the process of aiming the right set of customers. Talking in a more simplistic manner, it can be said that the segmentation of a particular set of population helps the com panies to identify the right group of customers who have the needs to buy the particular line of products and services. The method of targeting represents the process of aiming the right set of identified customers by the firms to attain a significant growth in sales of the firm’s products and services. The picture provided below represent various kinds of segmentation strategy employed by the firms. Source: Pride and Ferrell 160 It is highly imperative to mention that in this stage, the strategic decision makers of the company tries to identify the potential buyers for the firm’s products and services, while analyzing their individual consumer behaviour as well as demographic profile and purchasing power capacity. Finally, while discussing on the factor of positioning, it can be highlighted that

Democracy in the Third World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Democracy in the Third World - Essay Example (Tilly, 2007) There are various questions that need to be raised in this context which are as follows: Nationalism is that phenomenon which stems from complete loyalty and love for one's nation. Under the influence of nationalism, a citizen forms his personal sense of identity in context of the broad characterization of the nation. This consequently leads to mass identity along the same lines when like minded persons get together - a phenomenon better described as national identity. Reversibly, the identity of a nation is formed by the sentiments, attitudes and broad cultural assimilation under which its people function. The theories of nationalism and national identity are complementary to each other, and these inspire entire generations. (Tilly, 2007) Two strong factor that influences nationalism is a legacy of colonisation along with the ethnic groups. These factors, when combined provide a series of influences on the culture, historical experience and other such aspects of a nation or a state. This is due to the fact that the effect of colonisation is most seen on the evolution of ethnic groups. This is of special importance when studying a state in a third world country, where ethnic groups and tribes are of paramount importance in the basic structure of the demographics. Third world countries have seen the ravages of colonisation and are still attached to strong ethnic sentiments, in most cases. This makes for a strong context for nationalism. Yet, the character of nationalism and national identity is not enough for the survival of democracy. Democracy requires the strong footing of policy in order to support development so as to maintain a focus on nationalism and not just fighting poverty and hunger. Participants in Public Policy Public policy may be defined as that state of things or action where the public authorities exercise their freedom of choice in order to deal with certain issues. The tools or mechanisms used to deal with these issues are known as public policy. Public policy may also be defined as a set of decisions that are interrelated to one another. These decisions in turn, are taken by political parties, or other individuals involved in social service, with the broad aim of selection of certain goals that will fit into the situation at hand. Public policy may be implements to various aspects of one's public and domestic life, including welfare, health, justice, feminist policies, and interest group conflict, among various others. (Dye, 2001, p. 4 to 7)2 In this context, the participants in the public policy process may be segregated into two categories. The first are the official participants comprising of

Nonverbal Coommunication ( Anthony F. Grasha ) Essay

Nonverbal Coommunication ( Anthony F. Grasha ) - Essay Example The paper tells that people in the USA and China have different attitudes to their private space. People from the USA require others to respect their private space. They do not tend to be too touchy during conversations. Their private space is open to the closest people in their lives; they are represented by parents, relatives, best friends and beloved. If Americans want to show their friendliness, they tend to talk about it. Chinese people are very different from Americans in this way. First of all, people in China have a different definition of private space. Chinese families are very close to each other and they do not have the same need in private space. If they want to show their friendliness, they would rather resort to touching. It is especially common among young Chinese who belong to the same sex. Public and social distances in China are almost absent. Overcrowded public places only support this idea; strange people can accidentally touch each other or even push each other, violating their private, public and social spaces at once. People in China are collectivists; they pay almost no attention to private space because they almost never have it. In the western cultures, where people are individualists, private space is very important. If strangers stand too close to each other during their conversation in the USA, the conversation might fail. Chinese people have a different understanding of private space, and they can stand closer to their American friends than it is allowed. If a man from China is too touchy with his American male friend, American will never understand such a behavior.

Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 31

Analysis - Essay Example Next, virtue is stated to be â€Å"consisting essentially in the observance of the mean† (Aristotle, 1107a). Consequently, ethical virtue unfolds itself in finding the golden mean between vices, which are either excess or scarcity, and balancing between them. Therefore, a virtuous person possesses persisting inner disposition to balance between excess and scarcity of certain qualities and actions. The mean is also called â€Å"relative to us†, meaning that the point of balance between excess and scarcity of qualities and is attributed to ourselves, to our personalities rather than treated as an abstract notion. The adherence to this mean should be inside of a person and applied regarding other people. This mean is â€Å"defined by reference to reason† (Aristotle, 1107a), thus, this means that the standards of â€Å"reason† are settled by some outer objective reasoning force rather than by each person separately. Otherwise, virtues accepted by different people would be conflicting. However, the last fragment of the definition eventually turns out to address â€Å"a prudent person† settling the principles of the golden mean, and this gives grounds to consider virtue the notion created by man rather than existing autonomously, because Aristotle sees it relying on man-made principles. Each of the definition’s fragments helps create a complete vision of virtue, unfolding its essence. Moreover, the former would be inadequate without some of the aspects, for instance, if there were no mention of a â€Å"prudent person†, the nature of principles guiding mean concept would be rather

Behaviour and Individual Differences Case Study Essay

Behaviour and Individual Differences Case Study - Essay Example 139). The commission on Warnock report highlighted the necessity to introduce support facilities that would enhance education for special needs students (Cox 1985, p.31). Among the recommendations of the report was the requirement to identify students with special needs, at an early age. The commission emphasized on the use of applicable and relevant strategies to address the concerns of SEN students (Dash 2006, p.21). The report also proposed the necessity to attend to every SEN student on an individual basis. This would replace the traditional trend that featured practitioners attending SEN students based on categories and groups with nearly similar needs and complications. The existence of individual and behavioral differences among learners in their early years, in any learning environment, is an indisputable reality that practitioners experience. This necessitates an extensive and inclusive mechanism for analyzing the activity and performance level of SEN students. Practitioners should adopt methods to enhance initial identification and assessment of the existence of any individual needs that students may have. Practitioners apply diverse methods of early identification and assessment of the presence of students’ individual needs in most learning environments. ... Through the assistance of coordinators, SEN students receive special support. SENCO coordinators can recommend the assistance of other professionals as educational psychologists. SEN assessment programs constitute part of the responsibility of SENCO coordinators to identify early learners with individual needs. The program is in stages and involves the role of the teachers in addressing the needs of the early learners. The EYFS profile is a contemporary method that practitioners use in to identify and assess the existence of individual needs among learners in their early years. EYFS profile is a statutory outline that defines various standards as the benchmark requirements for all learners in their early years should acquire (Beckley, Elvidge & Hendry 2009, p.3). Early education providers should meet the benchmark standards as a means of ensuring comprehensive education of children and their proper development. Fulfillment of all the standards set in the EYFS profile is helpful in pr oviding children with a proper foundation for commendable progress through their educational life in whole system (Palaiologou 2013, p.21). Practitioners may apply the EYFS profile as a method to identify and assess the existence of individual needs in students. EYFS aims to reduce the goals of early learning for students and simplify the system (Wheeler & Connor 2009, p.5). If a practitioner ascertains that a child has difficulties in attaining the requirements set in the EYFS profile, the child most probably has individual needs. The profile also ensures healthy development among young children in three main pillars. It emphasizes on communication and language development among children in

Malaysia Race Relation Essay Example for Free

Malaysia Race Relation Essay In my opinion, the state of race relations in Malaysia has been good despite the many political agenda that has been thrown onto us. Yes, there are many instances that we feel like our rights have been denied because of our racial background and certain races are given more preference. I have heard of the 1Malaysia concept, but I think we dont need to be told to be united. We have come such a long way that it should already be embedded in our hearts and minds that we are united. Unfortunately, you can still see racial discrimination and polarisation. There is still this ethno-centric view that the Malays are the dominant group and their rights must be protected, and non Malays are forever the outsiders. For the concept to succeed, I think the government should stop with the race politics. Its tiring, really. We grew up with application forms asking us to tick our race. We should stop painting a negative image of the other races, stop thinking about us and them and focus on we, our and Malaysians. No one should be made uncomfortable in their own home. A dear Chinese friend of mine said to me once, I dont feel patriotic because I am not made to feel like Malaysia is my home, and I dont feel an affinity to China because I have never lived there. † But even with all this said, I think we have such a high tolerance for our fellow friends of different races. Even though there is ongoing racial tension, we do not take it out on the other races. We do rally for the well being of our own race without offending the others. A great example of our unity would be definitely seen during the festive seasons. Every single open house you go to regardless the festival, Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali or Christmas, it would be mix of every other race coming together. The food prepared are taken into consideration of the other races taboo. In conclusion, I think Malaysians are truly tolerant towards each other. In my generation, I personally think race is no longer a social issue and everyone gets along with every other person regardless the race.

Principle Of Operation Of Switched Reluctance Motor Engineering Essay

Principle Of Operation Of Switched Reluctance Motor Engineering Essay 1. INTRODUCTION: From those days the variable reluctance motors had played a vital role in electrical field. These motors are very attractive because they have replaced conventional ac and dc drives in many industrial applications all over the world. Apart from the working they have many advantages such as simple and low cost construction. Since the variable reluctance motor has a high torque with the inertia ratio normal when compared with other motors. Eventually the single head salient synchronous reluctance motors have some advantages which are similar to variable reluctance motor. The cost and performance of the machine is highly dependent on the converter topology. The converter for the machine drive should be very fast accurate current control for better drive performance. In addition to these requirements the machine should produce low volt ampere rating for low cost, should be more reliable and robust with small number of switches producing high efficiency at last. In addition to this all of these converters have greater switching loss and stress because the converters are all operated with hard switching. Now a days soft switching is also implemented for these types of machines. The above mentioned goals can be achieved either by improving the machine design or innovation in the inverter configuration. I hope that my designing deals with the application of a particular type of inverter for the variable reluctance motor drive. 2. VARIABLE RELUCTANCE MOTOR DRIVES: 2.1 CONSTRUCTION: The basic construction of switched reluctance motor is shown in the figure. The construction includes both stator and rotor. It has six pole rotor and eight pole stator in it. The conventional variable reluctance motor that is nothing but the switched reluctance machine has a doubly salient laminated structure which is very simple and robust. The rotor does not contained any windings or conductors within it. 2.2 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR: To start with the switched reluctance motor, the torque production in the machine is explained with the help of principle of electromechanical energy produced in the coil of the machine. As the rotor rotates, the inductance of the phase windings of a machine varies between the inductance values with respect to the rotor angle. Due to the highly nonlinear magnetic behaviour of the variable reluctance motor, the phase inductance is dependent on the current level as well as with the rotor position. There is also a speed dependent back emf that becomes very large below and above the base speed and dominates the behaviour of the drive. Although the machine has a simple structure, the behaviour of its electromagnetic is obviously convivial. The electrical input energy is given by expression which is displayed as follows; However, the linear inductance of switched reluctance motor model along with back emf. And also the back emf is proportional to the machine speed which is very helpful in exploring the behaviour of this type of drive .The diagram of solenoid coil and the characteristics of the machine is shown as below; For low-speed operating mode, the back emf can be ignored in such a way that these can be compared with the dc bus voltage, and the machine can be assumed as current fed driving machine. Current fed operation is obtained by means of a current regulated pulse width modulation technique. With a proper controller and converter, the phase current should be designed to be close to a square waveform in order to minimize torque pulsations. The back emf increases for the medium speed range machine . To compensate the loss, phase is excited already in designing of the waveform .The machine runs at speed below and above the base speed. Here the back emf is compared and also the emf is even larger than the supply voltage than that of the phase current. Thus the phase current becomes impossible without very large advanced techniques. The phase winding should now be excited before , whereas its inductance value is small in order to develop the sufficient current for a challenging torque. During this mode of operation the phase winding is fed with the voltage and hence the technique is called pulse dropping mode. Even at any suitable power electronic converter or the controller, this type of drive system must maintain the capability of the design for the current pulses to maintain the values of variable reluctance motor accurately. The above mentioned waveforms are executed by simulation method with the help of the mat lab software. The mat lab code for the above mentioned waveform is as follows; 3.MATLAB SIMULATION: 3.1 CODING 1: w=1; k=zeros; d=0; z=zeros; i=0; t=0; e=0.000001; % is the increment of time while (t if t while i z(w)=t; % to store the time values k(w)=i; % to store the current values d=(1/0.1)*(100-(10*i))*e; % is the increment of current i=i+d; % to increase the current t=t+e; % to increase the time w=w+1; % to increase the index of the current and time arrays end while i>=6.5 while i>=6 % to limit the current to a minimum of 6 z(w)=t; k(w)=i; d=(1/0.1)*(-(10*i))*e; i=i+d; t=t+e; w=w+1 ; end end end if t>0.03 z(w)=t; k(w)=i; d=(1/0.1)*(-100-(10*i))*e; i=i+d; t=t+e; w=w+1 ; end if t>=0.0353 break end end plot(z,k,r-,LineWidth,2,Color,black) OBTAINED WAVEFORM: 3.2 CODING 2: v=[]; % an array to store the value of voltages p=[]; % an array to store the value of time c=[]; % an array to store the value of the currents R=1; % resistance value L=0.001; % inductane value fs=1000000; % sampling frequency f1=1000; % switching frequency of the 1st switch f2=142.857; % switching frequency of the 2nd switch d=0.5; % duty cycle t_on=d*(1/f1); % t ON for the 1st switch di=0; n=0; x=0; i=0; t=0; t2=(1/f2); while t while (t n=n+1; v(n)=50; di=(1/L)*(v(n)-(R*i))*(1/fs); i=i+di; c(n)=i; p(n)=t; t=t+(1/fs); end x=x+(1/f1); if (t while t n=n+1; v(n)=0; di=(1/L)*(v(n)-(R*i))*(1/fs); i=i+di; c(n)=i; p(n)=t; t=t+(1/fs); end end end while t>=(0.5*t2) % the second half cycle of the second switch n=n+1; v(n)=-50; di=(1/L)*(v(n)-(R*i))*(1/fs); i=i+di; c(n)=i; p(n)=t; t=t+(1/fs); if c(n) break end end plot(p,v), axis ([0 0.005 -50 55]) hold on; plot(p,c) hold off; Xlabel (Time) Ylabel (Current / Voltage) OBTAINED WAVEFORM: 4.CLASSIFICATION OF SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR: 5.MODELING AND CONTROL STRATEGIES OF A VARIABLE RELUCTANCE MOTOR: The above block diagram represents the modelling of the variable reluctance motor with their control strategy. The above circuit contains the following blocks such as feed forward compensator, flux or current controller and the driver block. The block also contains the observer. The feedback from the motor or drive is connected to the observer as well as to the feedback compensator. The machine is designed in such a way that it is based on both synchronous and asynchronous type and in this machine the torque control problem can be solved by transforming it into an equivalent current control one. The simple solution is probable because the torque is proportional to the current or to a specific component of the current vector in a proper orientation system. Moreover by considering the wide availability of high-quality and low-cost current transducers the solution obtained is also more convenient from an economical point of view. For the variable reluctance motors the torque versus current function is nonlinear and therefore preventing the simple solution which adopt these drives for standard motors. To prevail over the problem a cascade controller structure which is same as the one proposed earlier has been selected. It consists of an external static feed forward nonlinear compensator which is followed by a nonlinear flux or the current which is selected depending on design choices with the closed-loop controller. In the case of feed forward compensator transforms the torque set point which is corresponding to the flux or current is normal in these cases. The internal closed-loop controller is based on exact or directly measured feedback, depending on the controlled variable selected. Hence the optimization techniques are used for the design of a feed forward pre compensator. The closed-loop controller operates in a stator reference frame thus by avoiding the use of match up transformations. This designing presents the inverter for the motor modelling and control optimization activities. Importance is placed on the optimization techniques used in the design of the feed forward compensator. Finally the work related to the design of the closed loop flux or the current controller is currently in growth. The main report here is that the order to validate the design of the feed forward compensator. Previous to entering into details about the feed forward compensator design, some general considerations are value making in this kind of this design. Direct calculation of a current set point is not suitable because the torque reliance on current must also think about magnetic nonlinearities. Even though the simpler relationship exists between torque and flux the feed forward compensator is designed under the assumption of an internal flux closed-loop controller. But the current is certain in such a way that the flux set point can be directly transformed into a current by means of the model output obtained. It must be pointed out how the planned replica structure would be greatly simplify the design of the torque controller. A critical point is the alteration of the scalar torque demand into a corresponding three-phase flux vector. It can be noted that fluxes qualified to different phases can be bewildered independently by means of the associated control inputs. The control problem thus has as many degrees of freedom as the figure of phases. These degrees of freedom can be used for different purposes such as the four phase motor and the two adjacent phases. These are selected according to the real rotor position and torque signal that are used to impose torque dynamics and ripple-free operation. The remaining two phases are controlled in order to keep their current at zero. For a certain phase motor, the required dynamics is obligatory on motor acceleration by controlling a single phase and thus by selecting as a function of position and torque sign. The left over controls must keep the remaining phase currents at zero or collect them to zero as fast as possible. Both approaches have the similar kind of problems mainly related to the need for a fast switch-on and switch-off of phase currents that impose a voltage waveform that is strongly impulsive. While the voltage is limited in a real power inverter there is an increase in the enduring torque ripple occurs in the machine. Furthermore the solution proposed in during the good dynamic specification of the error between the actual and the desired acceleration does not control the torque ripple explicitly. The approach which is going to be considered in this attempt many degrees of freedom as possible in order to get the best performance from the motor. Thus the modelling would be done in such a way that it gives high efficiency with the low cost production. 6.OVERVIEW OF A VARIABLE RELUCTANCE MOTOR TOPOLOGY: The performance and cost of the variable reluctance motor drive is highly dependent on the topology used to drive the machine. Since the features of Variable reluctance motor drive have been realized the developments in the topologies have proceeded in parallel with the machine design. From those days there have been many topologies invented and while the conventional inverter driven induction machine drive the variable reluctance motor drives havent been made standard . In addition to this the induction motor drives which almost always carry an pulse width modulation voltage link inverter .This method for variable reluctance motor drives seems to be much more application dependent. Ideally the variable reluctance motor drive should meet the following requirements: capability to program a commanded current pulse very quickly and accurately for good drive performance. Low noise and torque pulsation. as low a converter power VA rating as possible for a given drive rating for low cost. low switch/phase ratio. reliability and robustness. high efficiency. Only if all the above requirements are met then only variable reluctance motor drives can be comparable with the conventional inverter driven induction machine drive and other variable speed drives that are present in the market. These topologies discovered up to date and these materials have become popular and it is used in a many of the applications now a days. These configuration design include the asymmetric bridge converter with bifilar winding configuration which will split supply configuration from H-bridge configuration and also from the common switch configuration. The asymmetric bridge converter has an entire current pulse programming power in such a way that the converter is able of apply the full supply voltage across the winding in either directions for the purpose turning the current in each phase that is in on state as well as in off state. Even though the converter faces some difficult from high switch or phase ratio it is normally expensive because the two switches per phase and the associated drive circuit. The winding present in the machine that is the bifilar winding should meet the minimum switch requirement with one switch or the phase ratio. Thus the voltage waveforms resulting from non matching magnetic coupling will increase the switch voltage rating values to twice the value of the voltage and even higher. In addition to the losses such as copper loss which is associated with the auxiliary windings are generally high for many applications. Thus the supply converter topology also meets the minimum switch requirement. And also in this case the phase number must be even and the converter does not ready to tolerate the phase unbalance or the fault in any phase. This is because these fault results in the voltage increase in the capacitor banks. And also the dc bus voltage utilization is poor because only 1/2K is utilized. Thus the H-bridge topology meets the minimum switch requirement. Therefore this reason is suitable for four or multiples of four-phase machines, and it also utilizes only half of the dc supply voltage. In this topology two phases are always on at one time and only one of the two phases are contributing to motoring torque production at any instant time. Therefore, the degradation of the output torque is achieved easily. The common switch design in the machine only requires one more switch in addition to the minimum switch requirement. However this does not tolerate phase overlapping and therefore this leads to its capability and also this is very limited because for the particular reason for the single-pulse mode. Here in this method they have already used C-dump configuration design and this configuration design also requires only one additional switch to the one switch or the phase requirement. The converter utilizes a capacitor to dump the energy of a switch off going phase and a chopper operating with buck principle to discharge the capacitance value. The capacitor voltage is generally maintained at twice the supply voltage value in order to supply negative supply voltage to the off going phase. The converter also has full capability to develop the current pulse during both turn on and turn off condition and also produces high efficiency operation results at the end. The main disadvantages of this converter are the high switching device voltage ratings. The cost of the additional switch of the dump capacitor and inductor also matters finally with the losses associated of the reactive elements. To open new application fields to the variable reluctance motor drives it is clearly necessary to both improve the drive performance at the lower cost. These goals can be achieved either by improving the machine design or creating some innovations techniques in the Inverter which we are going to design. The general circuits for the converter topology are shown as follows; The force production for motoring and regeneration waveforms is shown in the upcoming figure. The forward direction of the motion of the translator is considered as the positive sign. The direction of the motion is considered as positive by assuming the certain phase sequence. While considering the forward direction of the motion they represent the forward motoring operations for their corresponding quadrants. Similarly when we are considering the reverse direction these regions represents the reverse regenerative operation for their quadrants. The duty cycle of each phase is only about 0.34 and their induced emf are constant between x1 and x2.The air gap power and the generating electromagnetic force can be made constant by exciting the stator phases with the wide range of pulse of currents. The one half of the air gap power is saved in the phase windings in the form of magnetic field energy. Then the mechanical power output is formed from the other half of the air gap power. There is the similarities between the reluctance motor and brushless DC motor in terms of current, a ir gap waveforms. Thus the dc machine controller can be used to control the switched reluctance motor for low cost and as well as for high volume applications. 7.ADVANTAGES OF A VARIABLE RELUCTANCE MOTOR: Simple and robust in construction. Low cost due to the absence of rotor windings and magnets due to the use of a small number of concentrated stator coils which is same as the field coils of a dc machine. Low rotor inertia and high torque. Motor phases operate almost independently to each other. The machine has greater economy and reliability. Machine does not need bi directional currents. Suitable for high speed operations. 8.CONCLUSION: Thus I hope that the back ground reading for my project has been done fully with the materials provided by our supervisor as well as with the materials we have collected. Future work is to design an inverter for a variable reluctance motor and build up the hardware kit for the operation. For the above mentioned reason I have gone through back ground reading completed related to the switched and variable reluctance motors. Thus my reason for taking over my project is for both modelling and building the hardware is to simplify the design of the high performance inverter for the machine with high efficiency. Even though different approaches had been overcome to design an inverter the process is carried out to design the material for both rotating and linear machines. Up to date the designing of the material in the laboratory had been performed by simulating using the Mat lab software and coding and waveforms obtained are displayed above in our report.

The Importance Of Agriculture To Nigeria Environmental Sciences Essay

The Importance Of Agriculture To Nigeria Environmental Sciences Essay Agriculture is the engine that stimulates economic change in a nation development; Agriculture occurs when people begin planting and cultivating crops. It is said to be natures food web and the rechaneling of energy for human planting and animal consumption. To simplify, agriculture involves redirecting natures natural flow of the food web. Nigeria is very blessed with agriculture resources, and if you recall, this is what the green colour symbolizes in our nations flag. Most parts of the country experience rich soil, and good rainfall, not to mention the warm year, round temperature. About 80% of the land is cultivable, and about 13% of the land is forested, and livestock are also maintained by farmers. In the 1960s agriculture was the foundation for the nations economy and Nigeria was self sufficient in terms of food. Before the discovery of oil, our economy was sustained by agriculture. The sector remains the largest contributor to the Nigerian economy, accounting for over 38% of the non-oil foreign exchange earning and employing about 70% of the active labour force of the population. Although, the sector has suffered much neglect since the discovery of petroleum in commercial quantity in 1958 but its importance cannot be over emphasized in the nations economy. Data shows that at independence in 1960 the contribution of agriculture to the GDP was about 60%, which is typical for developing agrarian nations. In 1998, Agriculture was said to have contributed an estimated 32% of Gross Domestic Product (DGP) to Nigerian economy and an estimated 32 percent of labour force was employed. In 2006 contributed 43% to GDP of US $142 billion and employed 70% of the population. The importance of Agriculture is so numerous but to mention a few. People depend on a wide range of Agricultural products in almost all aspects of life. It is a key economic driver. It is central to individual livelihoods and alleviates poverty. Provider of energy fuel-wood and medical plants, it helps in Nations economic growth, e.g. Agriculture contributes between 40 and 60% of the GDP of many African Countries. Agriculture is a key to healthy biosphere, it provide food, which is a key determinant of human health. In general the contribution of Agriculture sector provide food incremental markets for new products manufactured in the industrial sector, it has contributed immensely on the supply of new materials to other sectors, tax revenue to the Government to provide Foreign exchange. Having seen some of the importance of Agriculture, how then do we attain 70% growth in Agriculture sector each year? To achieve growth, bold steps must be taken towards changing our orientation on Agriculture and reversing the trend. For long we have merely been paying lip service to the revival of Agriculture as the main stay of our economy. It is on the drive to bring back the past glories of Agriculture and use it to complement our oil earning: that we came up with the initiative tagged Quest to achieved food sufficiency. CHPTER 2 QUEST TO ACHIEVED FOOD SFFICIENCY Quest to achieved food sufficiency is a way of making sure our food, Fibers, energy and recreational opportunities cheap, sufficient high quality and safe. Quest to achieve food sufficiency is the availability of food or food in excess. This can be accomplished by involving Nigerian youths in farming. That is inculcating the sense of participation in Agricultural sector. Gone are the days where farming is left for retired workers and those in the rural areas. Food is the most essential thing in mans live. According to Abraham Maslow an industrial psychologist, came up with the theory of physiological needs of man and top on the list was the desire for food as the basic need. According to him, after a man has satisfied his need for food, he beings to crave for clothing and then for shelter. Today food which is the basic need of man is readily unavailable all over talk less of man being satisfied with it. This as whole led to world food crisis and no country is unaffected. Particularly years, 2007-2008 saw dramatic rises in world food price, creating a global crisis and causing political and economical instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations. Although it is almost impossible to pinpoint the exact cause of soaring food price, experts have placed the blame on rising fuel costs, lower agricultural production, weather shocks, more meat consumption, shifts to bio-fuel crops and bad policies. The hike in food price, threaten to increase malnutrition. Malnutrition impairs the ability to lean or to work and reduces resistance to disease. Hunger is a cause of poverty. Last week UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that 963 million people are now hungry, which means another 40 million people have been pushed into hunger. In addition, child mortality (about 3.5 children die yearly) is attributed to malnutrition since childrens health and cognitive development is sensitive to the overall development. Yet, in the face of this poverty and hunger, our work force is not left untouched or unaffected as this poverty and hunger reduces productivity. EFFECT OF THE WORLD FOOD CRISIS ON NIGERIA Nigeria has never had food security. It has as usual been importing rice, beans and other food items. Since the sources of supplied of these importation are in food crisis it has a spill over effect on Nigeria. The most silent area is that food price will be on the high side, and result to low quantity of food to be import thereby, causing instability in the country economic, social and political sector. Many will starve to death, crime rate will be on the high side, and the rate of poverty will be extremely high. To avert possible food crisis in Nigeria serious, practical and effective implementation needs to be taking in agriculture sector. Poverty in Nigeria is predominantly rural. Of all Nigerians who are poor, nearly two-third lives in rural areas. For the near future therefore, reducing poverty in Nigeria will depend largely on stimulating rural growth. The most powerful engine of rural growth is agricultural growth, because agriculture has important forward and backward linkages to the local economy on both the production and the consumption side. This will in turn make Nigeria to be sufficient in food and agricultural production, and join the league of industrialized nations by the year 2020 because, agriculture is and has always been a major player in the game of industrial revolution. MECHANISED FARMING AND MAXIMISING AGRICULTURE OUT PUT IN NIGERIA Mechanization of the agricultural industry is the way out of solving Nigerias problem instead of the tractorization belief by some. Moreover, this can be achieve by matching up human input with mechanization, bringing in machinery and increase the scale of production, so that whatever you produce will match the population growth rate. No doubt, Nigeria soil is rich and the climate good enough to grow nearly all kinds of food crop anybody can think of. What is required is to get an expert that will manage the soil. Some areas might not belief in tractorization but the use of animal plough, the best is to improve on the technique so you can accelerate their production rate. Some areas have zero tillage, you plant and it will germinate, that kind of place does not need tractors but planters. In addition, part of mechanization plan that is proper is to plan for irrigation itself to water the plant where there is no rain. There is need for improvement on subsistent farmers as record has it that 95% of agriculture product is from then. Subsistent farmers cultivate not more than four hectares. To move from the level of subsistent farming to scale farming, mechanization input must be there. The average yield of maize crop in Nigeria is 3.5 tones per hectare, compared to 8.6 tones per hectare in developed countries. This is very low and cannot be equal with the work force. With this low yield, commercial agriculture is hard to come by. From the global experience its suggests that the path ways along which commercial agriculture can develop, is by successful model ranging from highly diversified systems made up of small holders who deeply involved in commercial production to more specialized systems made up of large-scale mechanized farmers who produce exclusively for the market. Mechanized farming is an easy or stress free farming and the yield is far higher than hoe/merchant farming. It goes along way attracting the youths INVOLVING NIGERIAN YOUTH IN MORDEN DAY AGRICULTURE One of the factors that threatened the sustainability of agriculture is the lack of involvement of our youth in it. It is becoming increasingly difficult to attract our youth in agricultural pursuits. The average age of persons involved in domestic agriculture is 50-65 years old and without increased participation from our youth, by the year 2014, the average age range of agriculture producers will be approximately 65-70 years. The contribution of the youth is essentially important in the development of rural areas. The youth are essential human beings in the development of rural areas. Studies have shown that rural areas, especially in developing countries like Nigeria, have high population ratio when compared to the urban centre. Youths in this context has been defined as individuals male or female above ten but below forty-five years. Indeed, the vital source of work force for development is seen within this range. The employment rate in this country is very low. According to United Nations, population found, approximately three million people in Nigeria, mainly youths, move into the labour market annually with just few getting jobs. These young Nigerians can be re-trained in agriculture sector. When we groom our young people in the process of domestic agriculture, it will in turn develop the rural areas, which is the root of economic upliftment for the nation. The YPAD initiated QUEST TO ACHIEVED FOOD SUFFICIENCY in order to involve young people in agriculture sector. This is a yearly program. The program provides the opportunity for development of practical skills in the areas of farm management, production and marketing of crops, livestock, as well as the business administration of a successful farm enterprise. ACTUALIZING MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND 7-POINT AGENDA The MDGs are simply targets and indicators to measure the progress in achieving the eradication of poverty, achieving universal access to primary education, promoting gender parity and women empowerment, reducing child mortality, improve maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, developing a global partnership for development. This project was signed in 2000 about nine years ago, with just six years reach 2015. The impact in agric sector is not visible like in the aspect of HIV/AIDS. The YPAD initiative is concentrating on youths and youths are in the vanguard of change. This program will contribute to the achievement of some of the MDGs goals such as, eradication of poverty by being self-employed, promoting gender parity and empowerment of women by giving equal opportunity to the female youth. Areas such as reducing of child mortality improve maternal health; ensure environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development will feel the impact. This project will be cited in the rural areas, since it has been revealed that the youth constitute the highest percentage of the rural population. The development of rural areas in developing countries is the root of economic upliftment for the nation. 7-POINT AGENDA The Yaradua 7-point agenda is the vehicle designed by the administration to take Nigeria to a state where the necessary infrastructure will be in place for our collective benefit. Its expected, that, the Nigerian economy would become one of the top 20 in the world by 2020 through the agenda. That means we are aiming at a growth rate of 13 percent per year in the next twelve years and must be sustained to remain in the big league. The seven elements of the agenda are Energy/Power, Security/Niger Delta, Wealth Creation, Food Security, Education/Human Capital Development, Transportation/Mass Transit and Land Reforms. This project is designed to improve the general well being of the citizens and taking Nigeria to the biggest 20 economies in the world by the year 2020. To attain growth rate of 13% annually, some sectors that leads to export of its products has to be consider. And one of this sector include agriculture which could earn the country over 60% GPD annually which is one of the objective of YPAD. This program will touch the lives of many Nigerians and see to the contribution towards the success of 7-point agenda. CHAPTER 3 PLAN OF ACTION We have mapped out strategic plans of inculcating unemployed youths into farming sectors. This plan has worked in the entertainment industry and today the entertainment industry is known all over the country. Massive awareness would be created through media, posters, handbill, signpost, billboard, Local government offices etc. whereby some unemployed youths who are willing to go into farming business or who want to be self-employed will be encouraged to come out in mass and register. The registration will take place in any of the banks within the country for the period of two months only. Immediately after registration audition commences, only twenty five persons will be short listed to participate in the program. Land will be allocating to the twenty-five candidates. Since this is our first time, we intend to start with only twenty-five persons, five per group that is forming only five groups. The program is expected to last for only three months. During this period participants will be accommodated and well catered for. At the end of the third month, harvesting will take place. They will be judge base on the quantities of their farm product. The participants are to undergo series of lecture such as farm management, keeping of farm record, pest control, storage and preservation of farm products and entrepreneurship. In order to make the program more attractive, participants will pay visit to farms, organization and some personnel. Area/Location Without land for cultivation, this project cannot be achieved. Acquiring land for cultivation is one of the major challenges most youth encounter. There is no doubt Nigeria is blessed with verse land. From research, it was estimated that 79 million hectares out of Nigerias total land area of about 91million hectares were arable. However, only about 32 million hectares (or 46% of the cultivable area) were being cultivated out of which 90% of agricultural output is accounted for household with less than two hectares under cropping. The remaining land are left uncultivated these lands can be cultivated by Nigerias youth if given the chance and means. Three states are chosen namely FCT, Niger and Nasarawa States. But only one out of the three states wills this event take place and this depends on the availability of land. Consolation Prices: To make the program more interesting and Competitive, there is going to be prize for the best group, as well as other groups. After harvesting the group with the highest yield have be sponsored for next farming season. The idea of introducing prize is to enhance their performance, help to bring out the best in each participant. Harvesting: The farm products belong to the participants. The instructors will teach the participants how to preserve their farm products and expose them to the buyers. CHAPTER 4 CROP Since this is going to be the first event we intended to start with maize and cowpea. Maize is grown virtually in all parts of the country; it is grown more in the middle belt and in the north central. Maize: Maize (zea mays) is an annual plant which belongs to family Gramineae and Genus zea. Zea mays L. have a normal Chromosome complement of ten pairs. It is divided into seven groups. The classification is based largely on the character of the kernels. Maize is a warm weather plant. It grows from sea level to 300 metre altitudes. The most suitable temperature for germination is 21oc and for growth 32oc. Fifty to Sixty centimeters of well distributed rain is conducive to proper growth. Maize is a cereal plant that produces grains that can be cooked, roasted, fried, ground, pounded or crushed to prepare various food items. Apart from direct human consumption maize is also useful as medicines and as raw materials for industries such as breweries, pharmaceutical companies, baby cereals, livestock feeds and other industries. The global production of maize is estimated to about 300 Million tones per year. In Nigeria, its production is quite common in all parts of the country, form the north to the south, with an annual production of about 5.6 Million tones. Until recent years, the bulk of maize grain produced in Nigeria was from the south-west zone. It was reported that western Nigeria generally produced about 50% of Nigeria grain maize, the remaining 50% being split between the north and east. Although large proportion of the grain maize is still produce form the south-western part, there has been a dramatic shift of dry grain production to the savanna, especially the Northern Guinea savanna i.e. the Middle and Northern belt of Nigeria where sunshine is adequate and rainfall is moderate. Under these conditions, storage of grains can be accomplished without much damage from insect pests. In these zones farmers tends to prefer maize cultivation to sorghum. This trend may have been brought about for several reasons including availability of streak resistant varieties for all ecological zones in Nigeria, availability of high yielding hybrid varieties, increase in maize demand coupled with the federal Government imposed ban on importation of rice, maize and wheat. Local production had to be geared up to meet the demand for direct human consumption and industries. The name maize is derived from the South American Indian Arawat Carib word Mahiz. It is also known as Indian corn or corn in America. It was introduced into Nigeria probably in the 6th century by the Portuguese. Today maize crop covers about 1Milion hectare out of a Million hectares it occupied in Africa and it is the second most important cereal crop in Nigeria. The two varieties of maize are Hybrid and composite but for now we are making do with composite maize. LAND CLEARING Land clearing must be carried out with minimal displacement of the topsoil. It requires judicious use of heavy machinery coupled with sound soil conservation measures that will preserve the soil fertility status, which varies under long term fallow vegetation. Minimum tillage is a feasible way of sustaining high soil fertility under intensive maize farming. PLANTING TIME Sowing date is an essential component of crop management. Yields decline with lateness of planting after an optimum time, usually the start of the rains. Response of varieties to other inputs is dependent upon planting time. Optimum planting in each of the major agro ecological zones of Nigeria falls with these following ranges. Forest Zone Mid April 2nd Week in May Forest Savanna Transition 3rd Week in April 3rd Week in May. Northern Guinea Savanna Last Week in May 1st Week in June Sudan Savanna First 2 Weeks in June SOIL Maize is best adapted to well drain Sandy loam to silty loam soils. Water stagnation is extremely harmful to the crop; therefore, proper drainage is a must for the success of the crop especially during Kharif season. Maize will not thrive on heavy clays, especially lowlands. It can be grown successfully in soil whose PH ranges from 5.5 to 6.5 PLANT NUTRIENTS AND FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS For good growth and high yield, the maize plant must be supplied with adequate nutrients particularly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. DISEASE CONTROL Although several diseases have been identified on maize in Nigeria, only few of them significantly reduce maize yields. They are maize streak, downy mildew, maize mottle/chlorotic stunk, curvularia leaf spot, stalk and ear rots. In order to make farming economically feasible, resistant line were bred and made available to farmers. With these efforts, maize streak, smut and rust have been kept under control. Genes for downy mildew resistance has been incorporated into streak resistant varieties. Scientists in Nigeria have developed high yielding disease resistant /tolerant maize varieties. The newly developed varieties of maize have between 90 and 95% resistance to the pathogen without extra fungicide protection. Striga hermonthica is a threat to increased maize production in Nigeria particularly in the high yield potential savanna zone. Scientists have identified some inbreed and hybrids that have consistently demonstrated tolerance to S. hermonthica under heavy infestation also reported that the use of NPK and urea fertilizers as effective means of controlling S. hermonthica in maize field. WEED CONTROL Weeds cause severe yield reduction in maize in Nigeria because they complete with the crop for nutrients. Water and light weed controls is the most expensive operation in traditional maize farming since it is procured manually. Often, the labour is too expensive causing many farmers to abandon weed control thereby resulting in very low yields. INSECT PEST CONTROL There has been a renewed interest in the use of natural plant products in the protection of stored agricultural product against insect pest in storage. The use of plant products in form of powders in the management of stored products coleopteran is the most convenient, the powders are easy to apply, and the commodities remain clean after treatments. Moreover, the moisture contents of plants have been used successfully for the control of different species of stored product pests. POTENTIAL IMPACTS/POTENTIAL BENEFICIARIES Maize grain production in Nigeria would have at least double from 7m metric tones in 2004 to 14.0M metric tones by 2007 or 21.0M metric tones by 2010. Public/Private synergy for enhanced production established. Role of Nigeria as a lead player in disaster mitigation strengthened. Income generation, wealth creation, poverty reduction and improved food security through maize farming and related agribusiness improved. COWPEA Cowpea is one of the most ancient crops known to man. Its origin and subsequent domestication is associated with pearl millet and sorghum in Africa. It is now a broadly adapted and highly variable crop, cultivated around the world primarily for seed, but also as a vegetable, a cover crop and for fodder. Cowpea has a number of common names, including crowder pea, black-eyed pea and southern pea. It is known internationally as lubia, niebe, coupe or feijole. However, they are all the species Vigna unguiculata (L) walp, in older references may be identified as vigna sinensis (L). The largest production is in Africa, with Nigeria and Niger predominating. World wide production of cowpeas is approximately 20Million acres. Cowpea is considered more tolerant to drought than Soya beans and better adapted to sandy soils. Many cultivars have a vining growth habit or bush type cultivars. But bush type is better suited for direct combining. PLANT DESCRIPTION All cultivated cowpea varieties are considered warm season and adapted to heat and drought conditions. Cowpeas typically reach a canopy height of 30 to 36 inches, although the more determinate bush types may reach only 24 inches. The seed pods are borne above the leaf axil, making the pods very visible. The seeds pod is typically 3 to 6 inches long and has 6 to 13 seeds per pod. The seed weight per bush is 60 pounds with about 3,000 to 4,000 seeds per pound. UTILIZATION The fresh type referred to as southern peas are shelled green and the peas can be cooked fresh and canned or frozen for later use, but there is also consumption of the whole pea pod as a fresh vegetable. While the dried beans is frequently sold directly to the consumer after cleaning or freezing. Cowpea is consider nutritious with a protein content of about 23%, fat content of 1.3%, fiber content of 1.8%, carbohydrate content of 67% and water content of 8 9%. As in most legumes, the amino acid profile complements cereal grains. PLANTING/GROWING For optimum yield, cowpeas should be planted in early June, although planting dates from late may through mid June are appropriate. The bush types yield better on closer row spacing. The seed should be planted similar to soybeans at 1 to 11/2 inches deep. FERTILITY MANAGEMENT As a legume, cowpea fixes its own nitrogen and does not need nitrogen fertilizer. Infact, some of the vigorous, vining, varieties of cowpeas are excellent nitrogen producers as a cover crop. The soil PH should be 6.0 or higher. DISEASES AND INSECTS The major insect pest is cowpea curculio, and the major disease is root knot, a severe root disease induced by root knot nematodes (melo dogyne spp) but active breeding has taken place for resistant varieties. GROWING Growing cowpea is fairly straight forward, with management practices being similar to soybeans. Proper site selection is important. Cowpea is well adapted to sandy soils, and will perform well on rich, well drained soils, but should not be grown on wet or poorly drained soils. INTERCROPPING AND CROP ROTATION Cowpea has out standing potential for intercropping and crop rotation. In Africa, cowpea has been intercropped for a longtime with various other crops such as maize, groundnuts, millet and other grins. Report shows that 98% of cowpea grown in Africa is intercropped. Cowpea can be intercropped with taller plants, such as maize, particularly in high rainfalls areas, due to their exceptional shade tolerance. They are also outstanding as straight rotational crop because of their susceptibility to root knot nematodes and their beneficial effect on subsequent maize crops, which lasts even for the second succeeding crop. ADVATAGES FOR INTERCROPPING WITH MAIZE Higher total yields then sole crop yields, probably due to less intraspecific competition. Greater yield stability More efficient utilization of environmental resources Better weed control Provision of insurance against crop failure. Improved quality provided by variety Maize as a sole crop requires a larger area to produce the same yield as the maize component in an intercropping system. CHAPTER 5 PROPOSED ESTIMATES FOR QUEST TO ACHIEVEFOOD SUFFICIENCY 2008 LAND About 10,000 hectares located at Yangoji, Dafa, Tungan Galadima, Kwali Area Council all in FCT. The land is lease at N510, 000/hectare for 50years. For 25hectare it will cost N12, 750,000. But there is provision for mortgage finance option whereby the same land is used as collateral. With mortgage finance we are allowed to pay 50% (N6, 625,000.00) and spread the remaining payment within a particular period. The land can be renewed after 50years. No doubt, the mortgage finance scheme is preferred. FURNISHED THREE BEDROOM APARTMENT APPLICANCES QTY UNITY PRICE(N) AMOUNT(N) Accommodation: Three bedroom flat for 25 persons 2 250,000 500,000.00 Carpet for the three rooms 6 room 2,500/room 15,000.00 Rug in the seating room 2room 45,000 90,000.00 Six spring student mattresses 25 4000 100,000.00 Pillows 25 500 12,500.00 21 Flat screen Television 2 50,000 100,000.00 Refrigerator 2 85,000 170,000.00 Stabilizer 2 15000 30,000.00 Ceiling fans 8 3000 24,000.00 Generator of 1.5kv Yamaha 2 50,000 100,000.00 Total 1,141500.00 PUBLICITY Announcement/airing on Electronic Media 4,500,000.00 Newspaper: Full page three times for three weeks 1,134,000.00 Posters 500,000.00 Banners 500,000.00 Hand bill 200,000.00 Bill board 3,000,000.00 TOTAL N9, 334,000.00 FEEDING MEAL FOR TWENTY FIVE PERSONS Three hundred naira per meal, for three square meal per person in a day it is N900 (nine hundred naira) N300/meal/N900/person/day. Three square meal for twenty five persons in a day cost N22, 500 (twenty two thousand five hundred) N22, 500/twenty five persons/three square meal/day. Twenty five persons in ninety days N2, 025,000.00 (two million twenty five thousand naira) N2, 025,000/twenty five persons/ninety days Bottle water N500, 000.00 TOTAL N2, 525,000.00 THE QUANTITY OF SEED NEEDED SEED QTY/Ha QTY/20Ha UNIT PRICE AMOUNT Maize seed (ACR 97) 20kg 500kg 150/kg 75,000.00 Cowpea 20kg 500kg 200/kg 100,000.00 Apron star 55,000.00 Pest Control/weeding 985,000.00 TOTAL 1,215,000.00 Apron star (seed greasing): for slurry seed, treatment, fungicide, insecticide and seed treatment. PLANT NUTRIENTS Plant nutrients involve organic and inorganic nutrients. Nutrients Bags/ha. Bags/20ha. Unit Price/Bag(N) Amount (N) Fertilizer (15:15:15) NPK 6 bags 150 bags 3,000/bag 450,000.00 Urea (20:10:10) 2 bags 50 bags 2,500/bag 125,000.00 Organic nutrients/manure 100,000.00 TOTAL 675,000.00 FARM MACHINERY FARM TOOLS QTY UNIT PRICE(N) AMOUNT(N) Hoes (Galma) 5 1,500 7,500.00 Machetes 5 1,000 5,000.00 Tractor (Hiring for 3days) 2 15,000/day 90,000.00 Planter (plating for 3day) 2 5,000/day 30,000.00 Tot

The Cause of Voter Apathy in Canada Essay -- Cause and Effect Essays

What causes voter apathy? Why, in the most recent federal and provincial elections, did roughly 40% of eligible voters stay home? Perhaps candidate A, running for party A led by leader A, is not perceived as being significantly different from, or better than, candidate B, running for party B led by leader B. This lack of perceived difference between candidate-party-leader A and candidate-party-leader B, is not the only problem in an election. It is also impossible to vote directly on an issue. Yes, you can let an issue influence how you vote, but on election day you are forced to endorse one candidate, party and leader and repudiate all other candidates, parties and leaders. Issues take a back seat to personalities. In theory, voters can have their specific concerns addressed during an election. But that's not reality. Elections simply do not provide voters with a direct say on any issue. Rather, elections are centered on personalities. The real question, the only real choice, is as to which party should run the province or the country. A vote for an Opposition Party candidate is a vote to replace the Government Party, and a vote for the Government Party candidate is a rejection of the Opposition Parties' bid for power. But Canadians cannot use their ballots to implement - or to reject - any specific policy concerning health, education, labour, social services, the criminal justice system, fiscal issues, the environment, energy, infrastructure, agriculture, etc. Total control remains with the politicians up to five years at a time. And when voting day finally arrives, issues are drowned out by one big question: which leader/party should be the Government/Premier, or the Government/Prime Minister? Even when issues are ... ...vote for MLAs and MPs, they are also smart enough to vote in a referendum on an issue of their choice. By increasing the individual voter's effectiveness, citizens' initiative decreases voter cynicism. Citizens' initiative enables the active participation of all voters in their democracy. It reduces the influence of those who lobby politicians behind closed doors. Citizens' initiative gives taxpayers the power to ensure that difficult and controversial issues cannot be avoided or ignored. Citizens' initiative makes politicians more accountable and more responsive to taxpayer concerns at all times. The fact that citizens could put a proposal on the ballot puts pressure on politicians to act on the concerns of Canadians. In short, citizen-initiated referendums will increase accountability and openness, empower taxpayers, and improve our representative democracy.

A Speech Given By Frederick Do -- essays research papers

FREDERICK DOUGLASS’S POWERS OF APPEAL After his escape from slavery, Frederick Douglass chose to promote the abolition of slavery by speaking about the actions and effects that result from that institution. In an excerpt from a July 5, 1852 speech at Rochester, New York, Douglass asks the question: What to the slave is the Fourth of July? This question is a bold one, and it demands attention. The effectiveness of his oration is derived from the personal appeals in which he engages the listener. At once in this speech, Douglass appeals to his listeners’ religious tendencies. He asks his audience, “am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar…'; (441). Religious appeal is so important because the majority of his audience is Christian, and he implies that Christianity, in its ostensible purity, allows the mishandling of human life to the degree of slavery. By relating Christianity directly to slavery, his listeners must question the validity of their Christian doctrines in relation to the institution of slavery. In doing so, they must eliminate their acceptance of one of these traditions; the odds are that Christianity holds a much more loyal following than slavery, in which case slavery will be given up as a practice. Douglass also quotes from Psalms 137:1-6, and the ludicrous concept that slaveholders expect their slaves to be joyous in their state of bondage is the essential meaning of the passage he chooses as it relates to the comparable situation of the Babylonians’ captives (442). His persuasive appeal in this case is the notion that any pious Christian would have sympathy for the lamenting captives and contempt for the captors in the Psalms passage. If this assumption is correct, then the same pious Christians surely should realize the situation of the slaves on this day and every other. Additionally, in asking this question, he asserts immediately that the meaning of the Fourth of July is entirely different from that of the free, white American. Douglass concedes that the whites of America had reason to rejoice: “the rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence'; (441). However, he also illustrates that there are just as many reasons for slaves to scorn the traditional meaning of the Fourth of July. Furthermore, these reasons are as ... ...w, with all of the activity and thinking life requires, the slave’s manhood can be questioned (443). For the white man listening to this argument, it is required that he empathizes with the situation of the slave, because in actuality there is much in common between the free and the enslaved. This is precisely Douglass’s point; bondage is the only hindrance of slaves’ abilities to lead a fulfilling life. Douglass’s appeals to his audience are specifically directed toward white, Christian males. He is fully aware at all times he must show that he can relate with them. As Christians, how should they have felt had they been denied their right to practice religion and believe in their god? What would they do if the country they so loved chained them to a life of servitude? Finally, what would all the work to support a family and desire for self-improvement have accomplished if it only benefited a master, but not a wife and children? Douglass deliberately addresses those aspects of life that mean the most to his audience because in doing so he is sure to gain the listeners’ full attention and consideration of the immorality of slavery.