Can Participatory Democracy Replace Representative Democracy Politics Essay

Can Participatory Democracy Replace Representative Democracy Politics Essay Over the past years, it has been observed that liberal democracy and it is choices of representations that is founded on appropriation of power through provoked consent has not been able to deliver freedoms and development and therefore, is considered a non functional choice. This essay is arguing that participatory democracy is not only a viable alternative to representative democracy. But it is the only viable option for the troubled societies of the modern era; it descends from democracy in its true form â€Å"direct democracy† and hence leads to progress and development. Which constitute it attraction as a renewed theory seeks response to representative democracy crisis. This essay used the model of Kerala in India to provide a case example of that participatory democracy with all its positive achievement is yet, to be empowered through proper participation and enriched experiences. Using critical analysis the essay will provide discussions on the notions of democracy in general, representative democracy and its critiques and overview of participatory democracy origins and features shortly try to draw the distinction between participatory democracy and deliberative democracy consecutively then overview of discussions around the Model of Kerala participatory democracy, finally discussions between PD/RD in the context of the developing world. Democracy: the contested notion According to William Connolly, democracy is a fundamentally contested notion on which it is impossible to reach an agreement (Barber, 1984). Although the differences in opinions might be frustrating it still does not destroy the worth of the contested concept. Before we indulge in the discussion whether participatory democracy is a viable alternative to representative democracy or not, we must understand what those terms stand for and how contested visions interpreted them, but first understanding the term democracy in its essence. Although a recent article by Nobel laureate Amarty a Sen (2005) highlights revealed evidences that democracy has been theorised in many civilisations including Asian, African as well as in European and American. But, as part of our â€Å"Eurocentric† knowledge (said 2003); the word democracy commonly makes its origins from ancient Greece. With the supremacy of the Roman Empire, the theory of democracy declined. However, it found its way back into the European thought with the fall of the Roman Empire, primarily because of the translation of Aristotle’s â€Å"politics† into Latin in the early 1260s. (Beetham 2005) Since then debates on democracy have become a vital part of the Western culture and have continued to grow and merge into mainstream thought process. It is interesting to note that when Aristotle spoke about democracy in his work, he meant direct democracy; a form in which people rule and are ruled in turn. The underlying issue is that self-government is deemed as a critical element of democracy or in f act the essence of democracy. In present times where most discourses on democracy are occupied by discussions on election; elections are held for relatively longer times, indulge in exhaustive policy-drafting roles, the conditions of democracy are not met and hence the government no longer remains a democracy but turns into an oligarchy, despite the participation of all citizens in the election process. However, with due course of time, with redefinition, the notion of democracy has gained a new history to a certain extent, one which has almost nothing to do with its roots in ancient Greece (Bruce 2004). The previous concept of democracy had evolved because of historical incidents where lower classes, mostly the peasants, acquired a more active and unique civic status. Hence this form democracy origin begins with European feudalism rather than Athenian democracy.

Raw Food Diet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Raw Food Diet - Essay Example The 20th century brought huge industrial and economic development to the world, and since its second half, a system of industrial nutrition has been cultivated widely in economically developed countries. As growing urban population needs large food supplies, the crops are often canned, refined and frozen. Such processing methods lead to elimination of useful vitamins and trace nutrients, let alone the fact that many companies add â€Å"undesirable† and not quite useful ingredients for better preservation of the product. Furthermore, lack of balance in diet led to development of obesity and numerous diseases caused by it. Thus, in 1960’s – 1970’s numerous healthy eating movements emerged, including raw foodism. Yet, it should be mentioned that the key principles of raw food eating were developed in the 19th century by the Presbyterian Sylvester Graham who described advantages of eating fresh food and drinking fresh water in prevention of cholera (Graham, 18 49). First raw food restaurant in America opened in 1917 in California was named Euthropheon and didn’t only serve clients, but also carried out informative activity. A very remarkable contribution to raw foodism development was made by Ann Wigmore who studied effects of eating raw food on ill people. Wigmore and Viktor Kulvinskas began treating â€Å"incurable† diseases and thus proved usefulness of raw products for health. Still, raw food like sprouts, salads and wheatgrass juice is very health-friendly, but it isn’t the most delicious option.

Utilitarianism Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Utilitarianism - Coursework Example ood would mean the opposite of minimizing suffering as that would be disregarding intensive research conducted by Stuart Mill and myriad philosophers. â€Å"Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness (pleasure)† (Mill, 2005, P. 5). Promoting happiness; thus, pleasure, entails maximizing good deeds to a greater population while minimizing suffering in the same population. In the least terms, both the primary and secondary objectives are directly proportional to each other. It is impossible to do good without minimizing suffering. In fact, minimizing suffering among the greater population can be termed as maximizing good to the same population; hence, increased happiness and reduced pain. Utilitarianism lies in the complete spirit of the ethics of utility. â€Å"Do as you would be done by, and to love your neighbor as yourself† (Mill, 2005, P. 12). In the generic perspective, individual actions towards others ought to depict how others should act if they were to reciprocate on similar lines. Generating happiness entails both maximizing good to the greatest population and minimizing suffering in the same population. Humanity ought to be governed by love. If love for others measured similar to love towards self, everyone would generate happiness and reduce suffering. The two objectives of the doctrine cannot be analyzed separately rather co-jointly through a complex interplay of beliefs and ethical considerations. The interplay is evident from the activities conducted by members of the Unites States Congress. Both members of the Senate and the House of Representatives are elected to end suffering in the community in both the political, economic, and social spheres in addition to establishing bills and implementing laws to generate the greatest good for the greatest number. Such members are governed by ethics, with the doctrine of utilitarianism forming a significant proportion of their obligations. As stated earlier, minimizing suffering is

Pull our troops from Afghanistan Research Paper

Pull our troops from Afghanistan - Research Paper Example The American people are very much concerned about the war in Afghanistan because of the large cost of war and economic destabilization, the deaths of a considerably large number of American soldiers in Afghanistan, and the exact number was never told to us and also the deteriorating image of the US as a country and Americans as a nation in the global scenario because of the killings of innocent civilians during various operations and strikes against the terrorists. But the most important of all the questions is ‘what exactly is our target and mission over there?’, ‘is there actually any way of winning the war?’ and ‘how exactly do we define a win in Afghanistan, in those conditions?’ So the government, the security agencies and the think tanks should first define the goals in Afghanistan and whether it is feasible to achieve those goals under present circumstances without any further damage to the economy and the country’s image. The defi nition of win should incorporate a number of factors in itself and a win should be a condition in which: a. The top leadership of Al Qaeda including Osama bin Laden and Aimen al-Zawahiri is either killed or captured ensuring that Al Qaeda is no longer stable enough to conduct such deadly attacks and terrorist activities again b. The threat of Taliban and other tribal terrorist organizations in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan is eradicated to an extent that it will not rise again and become a threat to the global peace and security c. The institutional setup, the government, the infrastructure, the police and other security agencies in Afghanistan are strong enough to ensure sustainable stability in the country which can ensure provision of basic services to the people of the country and can defend the country against all kinds of internal and external threats without any foreign involvement or assistance. Whenever we talk about pulling our troops from Afghanistan we start analyzing the situation by considering goals and targets of the war but then we realize the fact that the governmental institutions and the authorities have not clearly defined the goals of the war and we have noticed them to shift a little from time to time with regards to our mission in Afghanistan. Recently President Obama issued a statement in which he clearly established that our goal in Afghanistan ‘is to reverse the momentum of Taliban’ and he did not mention anything about Al Qaeda or its leaders. Considering President Obama’s statement as the goal of Afghanistan war and considering it a win, an analysis should be done whether we have achieved that win or not or whether it is possible to effectively achieve that win in the first place (Tystad). Considering the fact that some of the regions in Afghanistan including a large portion of Qandahar are being controlled by Taliban, we cannot consider our mission in Afghanistan a win and in fact completely eliminating the t hreat of Taliban in that region is also not possible because of a number of factors which are related to the government in Afghanistan and the security agencies in Pakistan. Some of the members in the current Afghani cabinet and some tribal chiefs have shown distrust towards the American forces and are not cooperating with them and have

Human Resource Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Human Resource Management - Case Study Example This paper has a recommendation on the best strategy that the business organization needs to employ in China, for purposes of achieving success. In trying to analyze the market performance of Dairy Queen, this paper looks at three management theories; namely contingency, systems and chaos theories. This paper analyzes the marketing department of Dairy Queen, for it is the one which is responsible for the sales that occur in China. Dairy Queen is a chain of fast food restaurants that are under the ownership of International Dairy Queen Inclusive (Douglas, 2012). The company began its operations in 1940 in the state of Illinois. By 1947, the company had over 100 stores, and as of 2010, Dairy Queen has more than 5700 stores all over the world. The largest store of the company is found in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, while the store that records the highest sales is found in Canada. The company is a pioneer of fast food franchising, and it believes in the exploitation of the emerging markets (B enner and Nelson, 2012). China is an example of such an emerging market. On this basis therefore, this paper tries to explore its marketing strategies in China, and examine the reasons as to why they failed. The Story: On 10th of February 2012, Dairy Queen opened its 500th store in Hu Dong, the financial capital of Shanghai. Dairy Queen first joined the Chinese market in 1991 by opening a branch in Beijing. Ever since entering the Chinese market, the company has experienced growth in terms of its profitability, and market share. China presents the largest market for its ice cream products. The company charged with the responsibility of operating Dairy Queen Franchise products is referred to as Shanghai Shida Catering and Management Company (Benner and Nelson, 2012). On this basis therefore, Dairy Queen operates in China as a franchise. In regard to this therefore, in order to penetrate the Chinese market, Dairy Queen resorted to building strategic alliances with local company. An ex ample is the Shanghai Catering Company. John Gainor, the President of Dairy Queen international agrees with this position, and denotes that it is the major contributor of its successes in the Chinese market (Douglas, 2012). However, it is important to denote that despite the successes of Dairy Queen in capturing a segment of the Chinese market, it is not the number one ice cream consumption company in China. Dairy Queen faces stiff competition from companies such as Nestle, Walls, Haagen Daz, and Baskin Robbins. It is important to denote that Haagen Daz is one of the biggest ice cream consuming companies in China (Lewis and Packard, 2012). Dairy Queen also fails to compete effectively with the Chinese domestic companies in the low end market areas. The Ice Cream consumption habits of the Chinese are dependent on their ability to afford consuming them at luxurious cafes (Aoki, 2012). Majority of the Chinese cannot afford to buy these products at such luxurious cafes, and hence their desire for ice cream products from their local companies. This is because they are affordable, and tailored to meet their needs. On this basis, if Dairy Queen needs to capture this market, which is the largest, then it has to revise its marketing strategies (Kotler and Keller, 2012). It has to develop products that satisfy the needs of both the high end, and the low end consumers. The Three Theories: There are three main theories that will

Take home exam. 3 cases not to be more then 6 total pages Essay

Take home exam. 3 cases not to be more then 6 total pages - Essay Example 10 (par. 1)2, of the Constitution.3 The Court’s majority opinion (delivered by Chief Justice Taney) found for the defendants (Warren Bridge proprietors). After first citing the relevant language in Court’s prior holding in Satterlee v. Matthewson (27 U.S. 380, 1829)—â€Å"If the State law is said to be retrospective, be it so. But retrospective laws which do not impair the obligation of contracts or partake of the character of ex post facto laws are not condemned or forbidden by any part of the instrument [Constitution of the United States] (Id., at 413)†Ã¢â‚¬â€and admitting quite candidly that the free passage character of the Warren Bridge had rendered the Charles River Bridge franchise of no value, stated that nonetheless the complainants’ saw â€Å"None of the faculties or franchises granted to that corporation †¦ revoked by the Legislature, and its right to take tolls granted by the charter remains unaltered [36 U.S. 430, at 549].† Of greater import than the specifics of the case in question was the thinking of the Court on the implications of a decision in favor of the complainants. Chief Justice Taney addressed these in a series of rhetorical questions and answers. â€Å"And what would be the fruits of this doctrine of implied contracts on the part of the states and of property in a line of travel by a corporation if it were now sanctioned by the Court? To what results would it lead us to? If it is to be found in the charter to this bridge, the same process of reasoning must discover it in the various acts which have been passed within the last forty years for turnpike companies. And what is to be the extent of the privileges of exclusion on the different sides of the road†¦ The millions of property which have been invested in railroads and canals upon lines of travel will be put in jeopardy [Id., at 552].† Justice Story argued in dissent. While he detailed a number of points at

Marketing Research Report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Research Report - Coursework Example The research findings indicated that about 55% of the respondents used the laptops for online streaming. There was a correlation between age and streaming, with close to 75% of the subjects being between 18-24. The higher the income, the less likely for the subjects to engage in streaming behavior, with majority being those who earned between $10,000-$35,000. This is a demonstration that there was also a relationship between the free time, and online streaming. Those earning less were more likely to have more free time, hence being able to engage in the behavior. The conclusion of the study was that the penetration of Smartphones and the internet had played a huge role in enhancing online streaming. In terms of recommendation, there is a need to replicate the study on a larger population, in order to establish whether the findings were credible. The marketers should take advantage of the e marketing owing to the fact that it has become common phenomenon going by the statistics obtain ed from the study. The study aims at establishing the correlation between age, free time, income, sex and online streaming. The paper will contain the executive summary, background information, research methodologies, data analysis and findings, interpretation of findings, conclusion and recommendation and limitation of study. The online streaming has become a common social phenomenon globally. In the United States close to 28 million people aged 18 and above had a Netflix app, which they used in streaming. The internet penetration and the access to Smartphones has been one of the major factors enhancing the online streaming. The plummeting cost of internet access explains why a majority of the young people choose online streaming. Factors such as convenience, reliability and quality also affect the attitude of the consumers towards online streaming. Close to 70% of the people, prefer streaming since they can