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INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSIGNMENT II 016201300090 IR-1 / 2013 2013 I. System Theory – David Easton System theory was first announced by David Easton, a Canadian political scientist in 1965. He is most well-known for his proposal of applying the theory in the world of political science. System theory basically explains about how the environment and social life as well give contribution and affect the political system around them, and the process goes on cyclically. Firstly, there are demands or supports from the surrounding environment of the present time (demands of changes from people/citizens, for example: rise of salary, changes of policy, better welfare and public facilities). These demands are to be said by Easton as inputs, which then will be taken into account to the political system. Secondly, after going through considerations in political system, the received inputs leads the political system into making decisions and or actions, called as outputs given to the social environment (for example: new policy, new rules, new facilities). Thirdly, the ‘outputs’ are given to the environment and the political system lets them interact. If the outputs given resulting in some changes or improvement, it means there are outcomes. Lastly, after some time the environment interacts with the new outputs, there might be some more changes demanded to the outcomes (for example, the new policies/rules are too strict, the facilities needs be tter management). These new demands towards the outcomes are called feedbacks. Feedbacks will once again be taken into account by the political system, which we can consider as the new inputs - in other words it’s back to the first time, hence called a cyclical process. For example... ... utilitarianism could be done in a wrong way. For example, an act of stealing from the rich to give the benefits to the poor, will still be considered a good action. Even though the process could be considered as a crime, the purpose or result however, is to promote the happiness of the poor people; for what matters to utilitarianism is the results only, not the motives nor the methods – hence the questions arise about utilitarianism being unjust. However, according to Mill arguments regarding the protests, justice actually preserves peace among people, and that is the implementation of the definition of utilitarianism itself. Utilitarianism theory can also be implemented in government nowadays in case of creating rules and policies and especially in making decisions, in means that the decisions made can bring out the best results which will actually benefit people.

austrailia foreign policy :: essays research papers

Australian Foreign Policy What is Foreign Policy? Foreign Policy is a nations’ attitude, actions (ie economic sanctions, peacekeeping, military activity) as well as our dealings with other countries (ie trade, immigration, aid, defence) and anything that is directed towards preserving and furthering certain national interests. Foreign Policy seeks to maintain national security, promote economic and trade interests, expand regional and global links, and promote the nation as a good global citizen. Why is FP unique in terms of FP making? Indeed, FP is unique in terms of policy making, largely because it requires little legislation. In essence, governments do not have to face a review of their policy enshrined in legislation in the Senate. Arguably FP may be made with little reference to Parliament as it usually obtains bi-partisan support as recently exemplified by the outstanding Labor Party support for an additional Medicare levy to cover the costs of Australian peacekeeping forces in East Timor. Consequentially, FP is seldom a topic for elections as it does not directly affect the electorate, nor does it gather the same level of community participation or interest as many other policies. Key features†¦ A 1997 White Paper on Foreign and Trade Policy called ‘In the National Interest’ is the most important single statement on FP in recent years. It set the guideline for FP according to the National Interest. Implicit in the National Interest is to maintain national security through international diplomacy and readiness to defend the continent and territories against possible armed attack or other aggression, to protect and promote the nation’s economic welfare and living standards, which increasingly depend on global economic growth, free international trade and the confidence of global international markets, and to keep our democratic way of life, and our civil and political liberties. A more recent foreign policy priority is the promotion of the nation as an active and responsible global citizen. Success in this area is measured by our response to human rights, terrorism, third world debt, and drug issues. Australia already has a well deserved international reputation because of the work of previous foreign ministers, e.g Bill Hayden and Gareth Evans on human rights. Key players and their roles†¦ Decisions about FP are made by the executive and the bureaucracy making it incompatible with the democracy that Australia is. The government can dominate foreign policy in a way that it cannot dominate domestic policy.

Compare and Contrast Sudanic and Mongolian Empires

While the West African Sudanic Empire and Mongols were similar because they both had great centers of trade, such as Timbuktu and the Silk Road, and had a flourishing economy, the Sudanic Empire was greatly influenced by Islam whereas the Mongols accepted many different faiths and the Mongol Empire rose though war and conquest through violence, while the Sudanic Empire rose through more peaceful strategies. The Mongols and the Sudanic empires both had successful economies. The Mongols conquered China in 1220 and established control there.This control enabled them to have ownership of the Silk Road, which brought in plenty of cash due to the demand for Chinese products such as porcelain, silk, etc. The Mongols also took taxes and tributes from their subjects, which provided them with money for their military campaigns. The Sudanic Empire had control of the trans-Saharan trade, which included centers of trade such as Timbuktu. Under Sunni Ali, the empire reached high levels in trade an d economic success. While the Sudanic Empire was greatly influenced by Islam, the Mongols did not follow any one religion.Through trade and interaction, the religion of Islam was spread to the Sudanic Empire. Because it was accepted by many rulers, much of the population converted to Islam. The religion became so popular that, in the 1500s, the trading city of Timbuktu had a prominent Islamic university &180 schools that taught the Quran. The Mongol Empire had a polytheistic religion in the beginning, but had no governing organized religion system. Through interaction, many Mongols converted to faiths such as Islam and Christianity because they were stationed in areas where those religions were popular, such as Persia and Baghdad.There was never any extremely popular faith that the Mongos followed. Although the Sudanic and Mongol empires had different faiths, they were both tolerant to other religions. The Sudanic Empire continued to let the African polytheistic religions practice t heir faith and the Mongols did not disturb the religions of the places they conquered but rather assimilated to them. The Mongol Empire rose though war and conquest through violence, while the Sudanic Empire rose through more peaceful strategies.The Mongols were known for their great skill on the battlefield. It was through this skill that they conquered their subjects. Killing and looting was the Mongolian past time and was a fun experience for them. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongols massacred and devastated civilizations. The Sudanic Empire was much less destructive, compared to the Mongols. There was some violence for example when the Mali Empire replaced the Ghanaians, but it was not as large scale as the Mongols massacring Baghdad.

A Great Leader: Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was the 1963 March on Washington, attended by 250,000 people, 75 percent of them black, where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech (Ruffin, 2001). The speech was aired on national television, reaching millions of Americans, including the President.The speech effectively raised civil consciousness by providing a clear path and goals for the Civil Rights Movement. Three decades after he was gunned down on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King, Jr. remains to be the human rights icon of today whose influence has become a fixed part in the lives of those people he helped and touched (Pastan, 2004).Born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia he was the second of three children of Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King (Oates, 1994). Belonging to a middle-class family, King, Jr. and his siblings enjoyed relatively better lives than average black children.At the very young age, he was exposed to ideas and issue s of racial equality as his father was actively involved in the local chapter of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who led a successful campaign to equalize the salaries of white and black teachers in Atlanta. Although he and his siblings had white playmates, they were not allowed to go to the same school with them.He attended Atlanta Public Schools, David T. Howard Elementary and then Booker T. Washington High School. When he was in high school, he joined an oratory contest and won second place. His happiness was short lived for he had a long bus ride to get home where passengers were segregated according to the color of their skin.The blacks had to stand and make room for the white people. At fifteen, he entered Atlanta's Morehouse College, then Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania and Boston University, where he earned his Ph.D in systematic theology. While in college at Cozer, King, Jr. became exposed to Mahatma Gandhi and was inspired by his advocacy of non-violent activism. He even visited the Gandhi family in India in 1959 to deepen his understanding of non-violent resistance and his commitment to the advocacy of the Civil Rights Movement in America (Sunnemark, 2004).After completing his education, he rejected most offers instead chose to become pastor of Montgomery, AL's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. He was named president of the new Montgomery Improvement Association, which set his public career into motion. When he lead the local African-American community’s bus boycott, King, Jr. became a household name and threats started coming to him and his family. He and his groups demanded three things: (1) seating arrangements according to first come-first serve basis; (2) drivers equal treatments of white and black passengers; and (3) hire black drivers to predominantly black routes.Bus companies suffered losses as their customers are mainly black (Haskins, 1992). His house was bombed and he faced charges of co nspiracy against the bus company. The bus boycott lasted a year, characterized by violence and different forms of intimidation but King, Jr. did not fail to emphasize the Christian way to handle the attacks. He advised his group to â€Å"turn the other cheek†. In December 21, 1956, King, Jr. together with other boycott leaders, rode the first desegregated bus.The next few years were relatively quiet for King, Jr. but he remained to be active, getting involved with other civil rights movements. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to coordinate the protests which followed the success of the bus boycott (Garrow, 1968).The SCLC became involved with African-American students who voiced out their denunciation of segregated public facilities such as whites-only lunch counters. However, some students did not approve of King, Jr.’s participation in their cause (Kirk, 2007). They claimed that he was just all talk without taking real actions. He receive d all the credits from the hard work of the group. He kept the money, enjoyed the fame that truly belonged to others who sacrificed. This impression was furthered when he was able to spent lesser jail time compared to others who participated in sit-ins in an Atlanta department store and was arrested.They argued that King, Jr. used his mainstream appeal to leave the jail early through presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy needed King, Jr. to reach to the black people while the black people were in doubt whether King, Jr. was still the right leader to represent them. Versions of these criticisms surrounded him all through his life.Hallmark of his success was in 1964 when he received the Nobel Peace Prize (Bull, 2000). He accepted the award in behalf of the Civil Rights Movements. Early the next year, the Nobel Peace Prize winner was back in a jail cell. Such is the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Though intrigues, threats and violence hunted him all his life, his con tributions to free America, blacks and whites, were incomparable.ReferencesBull, Angela (2000). DK Readers: Free At Last, The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. NY: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.Garrow, David (1968). Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.Haskins, James (1992). The Life and Death of Martin Luther King, Jr. NY: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company.Kirk, John (2007). Martin Luther King, Jr. and The Civil Rights Movement: Controversies and Debates. NY: Palgrave Macmillan.Oates, Stephen (1994). Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.Pastan, Amy (2004). Martin Luther King, Jr: Biography. NY: DK Publishing, Inc.Ruffin, Frances (2001). Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington. NY: Grosset & Dunlap.Sunnemark, Fredrik (2004). Ring Out Freedom! The Voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement. IN: I ndiana University Press.  

Florida Fast Track program Essay

Time is very valuable, and if there is a way of using it efficiently, and gaining the most in the shortest time possible, that is the way I would go. Florida Tech’s Fast Tack program gives me this opportunity, to be very efficient in my overall attaining of a masters degree. Being part of the program will help me achieve my goals, faster and earlier than I expect. Taking this program gives me an advantage of being able to qualify for the scholarship award during the fifth year as a full time student (Financial Aid, 2010). This also means that if I get a scholarship award during my undergraduate I can keep it if I undertake the fast track program. This will help me a lot in financing the masters program too. I will also have a head-start in my career, way before my colleagues who are taking the traditional program. This will go a long way in helping me serve my fellow citizens as soon as possible, for I have a great desire to work to benefit them through my career. The program will therefore enhance my fast growth to attaining qualification in this career. The program is also diverse and not specific to any course among those offered in the university. Through this, my choice is also catered for. By stating, â€Å"FastTrack is open to all undergraduates and is comprised of the following combined, accelerated degree programs†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Fast Track Masters’ Program, 2010), the admission department of Florida Tech makes it clear that the courses being offered at undergraduate level are available at masters’ level. I will therefore be happy to be part of the family of the Florida Technical College, and pursue my dream career. The other good thing about this program is that it is designed in a way to give full attention to the individual student. I will therefore be able to interact closely with my instructors to help me grasp the concepts very well. In addition to this, the program has nationally recognized certification, which gives me confidence in working through it to get the degree (Fast – Track a Career in Medical Assisting, 2010). I therefore know that I will have no problem getting a place in the corporate world in my career.

Museum of Art Essay

After visiting the Raleigh Museum of Art, I discovered two paintings that conjured up opposite feelings that I will compare and contrast. The painting I liked most was titled, Jungle Camp, 2000 an Acrylic on canvas 72 x 60 in. (182. 9 x 152. 4 cm), from one of North Carolina’s most respected artists, Maud Gatewood. Her paintings record the varied experiences of a wandering life. Writing on the back of the canvas, the artist notes the origins of this picture: â€Å"Trapped in the Amazon with a bad leg†. Confined to a hut, she made the most of the opportunity. The second painting titled, Venice without water, by North Carolina’s artist Donald Sultan was the painting I truly disliked because of the feelings it provoked. Sultan’s painting from 1990 was an acrylic painting and measured 96 x96 inches in dimension. Sultan used Butyl rubber, acrylic paint, and plaster on vinyl composite tiles, which were mounted on four Masonite panels. Both painting represent landscapes captured by the artists’ eyes or through a photograph. These paintings gave me two strong, but opposite, feelings: joy and sadness. I will describe the differences and contrast these two works of art. The two pieces of art works have several differences in style. First, the shape in the painting, jungle camp, is rectangular; while the second painting is square. The choice and use of color in the two paintings are completely opposite. Since color is most important to me, I chose the jungle camp painting due to the variety of bright colors that pop from canvas. The painting from Mrs. Gatewood is colorful, which gave me a feeling of joy and warmth. However, Sultan decided to use contrast instead of colors in his painting. Thus, Sultan’s painting is filled with different tones of grey, black, or white. Gatewood’s painting represents a jungle’s view from a patio or balcony. I can see tall palm trees all stuck to each other in her painting, which gives the impression of abundance and fertility. She chooses many different variations of green. For example, she utilizes certain hues of light green to create an effect of sun reflection. There are two types of curtains on the patio, hanging on a fine line. The first is really colorful, a mix of tropical color, and the second is like a white veil, which you can see trough it. The mix of materials and colors for the curtains, added to the jungle, procures me a sense of evasion, vacation, and relaxation. I was drawn to the atmosphere of serenity and tropic jumbled together, which is the reason that this painting evoked my interest. However, Sultan’s painting is the exact opposite of abundance and excursion. The whole artwork is quite dark and sad. It’s a representation of the well-known Rialto’s bridge, which is an infrastructure between to planes. The first plane is an illustration of wood’s pillars, which surround the Venetian canals; they are use by the gondoliers to park their â€Å"original dinghy†. The second plane is the bridge; it looks pretty scary and dark with no one crossing it. The final plane, which is the background, consists of some Venetian’s buildings. These buildings form a line that converges towards the bridge; which helps my eyes focus on the main subject the bridge. Sultan’s painting does not reflect the Venice that I saw five years ago. When I think about my trip to Venice, I have an enriched memory filled with bright colors from the Carnival. I remember vivid colors on all the masks, costumes, life, and crawl of people. Sultan’s artwork doesn’t have any of my souvenirs. Instead, the painting is more like a sinister version of the beautiful city, Venice. Although I do not like this particular outlook of Venice, I realized after studying his painting that the artist is expressing his environmental point of view of the city, which I completely agree with. As an admirer of this city, I feel concerned by the environmental issue depicted in the painting. The notion that the excess of tourism could be destructive to a fragile city like Venice is a valid concern. The artist conveys his dismay over â€Å"the deteriorating environment with the unused mooring posts, the dry canal bed of mud-like tar, and the melancholy mood of the painting†. I think that colors or tonalities are the essence of the painting, like the rhythm and tunes are for music. In my view colors are strongly subjective, they can have different psychologist effects and symbolist’s significations, they can differ from a culture to another; associating Black with mourning is normal, in our occidental countries, while in Asia it’s the actual opposite, White. In my case the colors are the main cause, on what I think is pretty or not.

Produce a critical analysis of the completed video that involves Essay

Produce a critical analysis of the completed video that involves theorising the possible practices, i.e., setting the practice i - Essay Example The film accomplishes its goal in creating an unexpected ending, but some of the work in the beginning could better frame the intentions for the reactions of the viewer. Blindside is a film that provides a classic point of view with a cleanly performed twist at the end. The film genre that Blindside is most similar to is that of the film noir, although just as film noir does, it slips effortlessly into the many aspects of the thriller. One of the aspects of film noir is in the crisis of masculinity that is defined through alienation and despair (Silver, 5). The two male characters in Blindside create two sides of the criminal aspects of masculine crisis and alienation and despair. As the viewer first watches the film, the alienation and despair of seeking a criminal that commits horrific and bloody crimes is clear in the way in which the first character, named Michael, is framed as he works with seriousness and intensity at his desk, while the frailty of life and the vulnerability of the human existence is exampled in the way in which Neeson, the second character, is at the side of the road, shivering in the wind as he waits for Michael to appear at the crime scene. One of the most obvious ways in which the filmmakers recreate an example of the genre of film noir is through filming most of the short in black and white. However, the film does diverge from this type of film when scenes from the murder are revealed in short bursts of cinematic cuts. However, a film needs to exhibit more qualities other than the simple quality of being black and white in order to be a type of film noir. The film must build suspense and must have an essential number of basic characteristics in the building of its storyline. Silver frames these themes which are embodied in characters as follows: Alienated characters Existentialism Obsessed characters Freudianism Proletarian characters Marxism Femme fatales Feminism All of the above Structuralism While this short film does not ha ve the space in which to reflect all of these concepts, the two main characters have a duality that both reflects alienated and obsessed characters, thus providing for existentialist aspects and Freudian aspects of characterization. In addition, they appear to have the working class aspect of their character, reflected through the subterfuge which fools the audience into believing they are police, as well as through the type of clothes they wear, the cars they drive, and their working class nature as they move through their scenes. The primary aspect of this structure that is missing is the femme fatale, the woman who represents betrayal and masculine femininity. In the case of Blindside, the female character is purely the victim. She represents the impending release of the masculine build up of crisis, the According to Gates, the next evolution from film noir was to create the serial killer which moved away from the femme fatale and the victim-hero towards the relationship of the m ale-male connectivity of the investigator and the killer. The noir film was replaced with films that denied the masculine crisis through a â€Å"masquerade of masculinity† (123). In Blindside, the two male leads reflect the potential variations of the investigator, whether the victim-hero or the overtly masculine through displays of machismo, until they reveal themselves for the