Is direct military action the best way to deal whith problems of Essay

Is direct military action the best way to deal whith problems of terrorism - Essay Example The reality is experience informs that any conceptualization or definition of terrorism reveals that it is vastly similar to peacetime war crimes.7 Today there is a growing perception that terrorism is growing more and more dangerous particularly with the aid of new technologies. Terrorists today are said to be more disorganized than in previous years and more inclined to use weapons of mass destruction and to bring about more catastrophic consequences. Moreover, it is largely believed that terrorists are comprised of â€Å"amateurs†, ad hoc and â€Å"transitory groups† with the result that â€Å"state sponsorship† is no longer necessary.8 In other words, the new structures of terrorism today make it more difficult to use traditional counterterrorism strategies to combat terrorism today. Counterterrorism Strategies Conventional Counterterrorism Strategies Before and After September 11, 2001. The complex and dangerous nature of terrorism today was demonstrated by the terror attacks in the US on September 11, 2001. Internationally, countries have come to the realization that traditional counterterrorism mechanisms are insufficient for preventing and deterring terrorism. As a result, there has been a proliferation of counterterrorism reforms, particularly in Western jurisdictions.9 Many of these reforms however, merely involved the expansion of laws that were directed at defining and prosecuting terrorism.10 Since September 11, 2001, and particularly since the terrorist bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, counterterrorism has been among the European Union’s (EU) top policy concern. For the EU this involves balancing security against human rights. 11 The EU’s legislative measures taken in the aftermath of the... From the research it can be comprehended that the 21st century has ushered in a new dangerous strand of terrorism. The death toll in the US on September 11, 2001 demonstrated that conventional methods of treating terrorism as a crime and dealing with it within the criminal justice system were futile. Obviously, terrorist were not deterred, but rather reenergized and committed to their political causes. Internationally, governments reformed counterterrorism approaches, but largely left terrorism within the criminal justice system. While the US and its coalition waged war against state sponsors of terrorism (Afghanistan and Iraq), terrorists and insurgents have continued to relocate and complicate the efforts of the US. The Israel experience with direct military action has also proved to be just as counterproductive as the US’s indirect military action. It would therefore appear that counterterrorism cannot be satisfactorily deterred by military action. It might be wise to focus attention on programmes that redirect the youth who are susceptible to recruitment. Providing young people with viable and legitimate alternatives appears to be the best approach to counterterrorism at far less expense to innocent civilians. Military action has proven to be just as costly to civilians and perhaps more so than terrorism. It would therefore appear that military action as an alternative counterterrorism strategy is counterproductive.

Critically analyse the MTV event in the Reid Essay Example for Free

Critically analyse the MTV event in the Reid Essay This essay will analyse the MTV event in the Reid (2003) case study. And suggest how improvements to the organisation and management of this event could have been made. We will look at how the event was organized and with whom in mind. We will also look into how the management of the event was carried out and try to come up with improvements which both the MTV and Scotland might benefit from in future. All event have a direct social and cultural impact on their participants, and sometimes on their wider host communities, as outlined by Hall (1997) and Getz (2005). According to Sharron and Perry (2004) there are various attribute to special events, these characteristics are that they are unique, intangible, have a fixed time scale, and labour intensive among others. This characteristic is what makes an event into a special event. A special event recognises a unique moment in time with ceremony and ritual to satisfy specific needs, Goldblatt (2001). And in the case of MTV it was there 10th European Music award and they wanted to create an event which would mark a milestone and show its critics and competition that they are still the big boys and market leader when it comes to the music industry. MTV Networks operates a leading portfolio of cable TV channels; they also have music video networks MTV, VH1, and CMT. MTV Networks International oversees more than 120 channels worldwide and distributes content online, and produces video games through MTV Games. MTV decided to have their 10th European music award ceremony in Edinburgh. Allen, (2000) suggests that there are various type of event, for MTV this is/was a special event, as it’s for the music industry only and it recognises the music industries contribution, with access to public and media. MTV’s biggest stakeholders are its shareholders and its customers, of course there are others, and MTV need keeps an up to date with what its customers wants. MTV wanted a start stuck event where they will celebrate the 10th ceremony, create a lot of buzz and excitement and hope to gain new customers in the process. While Edinburgh and the Scottish government wanted to use MTV to reimage Scotland. And show the world what it has to offer, creating a feeling amongst viewers that it is a dynamic, vibrant, historical city. With the councils wish to make Edinburgh the most prosperous northern city by 2015. According to an article published in Event Magazine (2007), public events are increasingly being used around the world as promotional tools by cities, to increase the city’s image. Hughes (1999) suggests that public officials must market the city as a dynamic environment, as this will attract not only tourist but also new jobs and settlers to the region. According to a report by Ofcom (2006), the telecom regulator, 16 to 24-year-olds, a key demographic group for advertisers and MTV’s core audience. And this is one of the segment that Scottish official where hopping to target though their reimage campaign to show them, why they should come to Scotland/ Edinburgh. As well as lure other older age group at the same time, educate them about Scotland and its history. For a private sector company, such as MTV, the client defines the events budget, leaving the events planner/ organiser able to spend it how they choose and therefore do not have to justify what they do with the money. In the case of public sector, local government and tourist boards, it is not just the immediate benefits that are measured post event. It is also the long-term or â€Å"flow on effects† (Bowdin et al. 2006) that benefit the community as a whole. From an every early stage there were problems between, the two parties’ objectives, desire and goals which were very different. The goals of a public and private event differ in that private companies are more often than not in pursuit of profit (Andersson and Getz, 2008). In this case one wanted to put a spectacular show to celebrate and the other wanted to use the show to reimage its self. This is because; MTV is more likely to adopt a ‘consumer orientation’ whereas ELTB might have a ‘product orientation’ approach (Andersson and Getz, 2008: 849). The event was criticized from early on by critics and local newspaper, when it was found that MTV was given a ? 750 thousand public subsidiary to part fund for shows temporary structure and also for the simultaneous live concert. This caused some tension, and the local newspaper was very critical about this, specially when the money could have been spend on other things e. g. Scotsman journalist felt that the event did very little for the Leith’s poverty, prostitution etc. These doses not help when MTV’s parent company is Viacom and according to website www. answere. com Viacom made a profit of $369 million in 2003. So giving a ? 750 thousand pound to MTV is seen as a waste of money by some; however it might have been necessary to attract MTV to Scotland and also to persuade MTV to have a simultaneous concert at a different venue. What MTV could have done is either not taken any of the money or taken a proportionally small amount just for the concert at the Princes Street Garden. This would have prevented them from receiving the backlash from the press. Or found/ made the venue bigger and incorporate a larger audience to make it a huge spectacular. Further anger was expressed by resident and newspaper when it emerged that, the event was not a live concert with thousand of ticket available and rather was a television show, rising the expecting of the local wishing to be at the show. Moreover only 50 of 6000 ticket were being sold in Edinburgh and locals had to compete with other European to pick up one of the 2000 ticket which sold out within 20 minutes. Rest were allocated to event sponsors like Vodafone Live and American Express. This obviously was a weak point for both MTV and the local government who did not communicate well with each other and in turn was late to tell the residents. Creating a buzz and anticipation during the weeks ahead of the event which lead to disappointment, Sharron and Perry (2004) suggest that there are various possible motives for attending an event, in this case it would social motives its why resident of Edinburgh would want to go to the concert and was angry when they didn’t get the ticket. This social motive involves social interaction with others, creation of community spirit, status or recognition of achievement. They were surrounded by all the hype and excitement of this event and as a community wanted to embrace this event as it was first of its kind in Edinburgh, and specially for youth generation it would have been something exciting as they would have been able to see there stars who they normally see on television. In order to avoid this kind of isappointment, both ELTB and MTV need to communicate more effectively in future, and think about this issues when they are conducting there feasibility study before making the decision to carry out such event. This will not only save time and negative press but will let the anticipated residents/ consumes know what to except. The organizer solved the problem by having the concert which have good line-ups and also a 30 sec live feed at the actually award show. They also gave 750 tickets to local charity and used 1000 local youngsters for various tasks, (Mooney Halstead, 2003). As mentioned above that MTV was given a  £750 thousand pound subsidiary, but the local council spent a further ? 75 thousand in â€Å"hidden cost† which the newspaper and opposition council were angered about as it came from the council budget. Money which was spent to window shop the town before the event so that it looks presentable to the world and dose not effect the reimaging process. This cost include extra cleansing, policing, traffic management, staffing. Further  £30 thousand used to part finance banners in the city. Moreover,  £5 thousand was spend to clean up the city centre hotel fronts in preparation of the event which according of a conservative group should have been the responsible of the Hotel. According to Watt (1999) debate that place marketing requires a â€Å"pristine environment†. So as it was the objective of the local government at that time, they would have seen it as a useful and essential cost which needs to be carried out in order to give audience the message they wanted to project to its consumes, tourists. However, MTV could have also share the cost when it came to the policing, traffic management and staffing. As this would have shown locals and press that they care about customer’s safety and also its dose not want to burden the local government with the extra costs, and it already planned for such cost in their $4. 5 million budget which gave MTV the editorial control. Local government needed to communicate with the cities Hotels, restaurant and clubs to negotiate deals, where they all put some money in to a pot which would be use for the cleaning of the city and business fronts. Public sector bodies, (ELTB) tend to look at long-term objectives when it comes to planning their events, or as Mules (1998) states â€Å"the ‘spillover effects of events’. Mules goes on to say that even if the actual event makes a loss, it still may produce benefits for local industry’s such as transportation, restaurants, hotels and local caterers or suppliers. As by doing so not only the city was benefiting from the extra trade but also the business as people are more likely to go somewhere clean then dirty. Roche (2000) remarks that mega events often physically transform an area; here we had an attempt to symbolically reconnect Edinburgh with its waterfront to aid future business prospects. The problems which occurred during this event, was mainly due to the reluctances of councils project officers not standing their ground, and communicate and consult with MTV successfully. They were happy for MTV to decide what sort of content the show should be and comply with every request, as one put it, MTV knows what they are doing. This attitude cost them both money and marketing opportunities. ELTB had to pay for slots during the show for their advertisement and spent further  £5000 writing the publication editorial bearing their logos. Local councils wish to promote a new charity promoting Arts in the city was also scrapped during the event. Even when at one point MTV said they would help to promote the charity but later changed their mind. Nonetheless if ELTB was not, bit scared, at times they would probably use MTV more and without paying them. ELTB should have bargain more with MTV when it came to this issues, specially allowing them to use the screen at the award and the concert venues to promote their reimaging project and cheaper slots during the actual award show. Though MTV did not support the charity openly and needed discussion, they did however auction pop star memorabilia at the charity launch and provided donation from MTV UK, Reid (2003). Edinburgh Leith Tourist Board, received a ward from MTV for hosting the best show in the events 10 year’s. The city was also praised by A-list celebrity who attended the award and several international news agencies for hosting excellent award ceremony. This obviously shows that government project of reimaging the city worked and they are getting noticed, while MTV produced spectacular shows which help them achieve their objective. Therefore, creating an excellent and effective event which helped all those who took part in making it reach their objective, at the same time both parties learnt for future how to deal with different clients specially that they need to communicate more effectively and learn to negotiate and convey the message if possible to their customers from an early stage. This will ensure that future event will run smoothly and successfully.

EGovernment: History, Causes and Trends

EGovernment: History, Causes and Trends BENCHMARKING EGOVERNMENT SERVICES Abstract: Governments around the world have embraced the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This represents a relatively new branch of study within the IT field. EGovernment Services are provided through many different means of access and to a variance of audiences, citizens, businesses or even other governmental entities. After clarifying the definitions and differences among similar terms (i.e. eGovernance and Digital Government, eDemocracy) this paper examines how eGovernment is measured by analyzing the dominating methodologies that are used. Furthermore, following specifically the eGovernment benchmarking methodology that is used by the European Commission, a greater focus in the evolution of eGovernment in Greece has been made. The finding through this assessment was far from satisfactory. Particularly, comparing the 20 Basic eGovernment Services offered in Greece, from 2007 to 2009, no development in terms of improvement, has taken place. Finally, the measures tha t governments need to undertake are discussed. Introduction In the past years, assisted by the invasion of Information Technology in everyday lives, governments all over the world have begun widely using information technologies for increasing the effectiveness and quality of the services they provide. These initiatives have become known as â€Å"electronic government† or eGovernment services. In most cases, when words gain that attractive â€Å"e-â€Å" in front of them, the popular belief is that they have become â€Å"electronic†, whatever that means, even though in some cases it does not make much sense. This confusion is much more obvious when the original word itself has conceptual and abstract meanings. Words like Government and Governance. Section I presents the most popular definitions, choosing the one that describe each term the best, and clarifies boundaries between the most common terms. Furthermore, the different ways that eGovernment can be classified, depending on the delivery model or the audience, is outlined. Although the definitions of eGovernment may vary widely, there an obvious shared theme emerges; eGovernment involves using information technology, and especially the Internet, to improve the delivery of government services to citizens, businesses, and other government agencies. It acts as enabler for citizens to interact and receive services from governments twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Monitoring eGovernment development and evaluating its effectiveness is a complex and challenging task, as the phenomenon is new and dynamic. In Section II, the basics of Benchmarking are presented and its structural elements are analyzed. Focusing on specific examples of methodology used, a set of four dominant practices that represent the longest running efforts for measuring eGovernment is chosen to be explored further. Using the reports publish by each one of them, on a periodical basis, their inner workings are analyzed and the various developments, changes and evolutions in the methods employed by each one are mentioned. Section III focuses at benchmarking of eGovernment Services in Europe. In order to recognize how eGovernment has evolved and matured within the European Union, the relevant European directives, initiatives and frameworks for the development of eGovernment Services in the region since 1999 are examined. Following that, the methodology used for benchmarking eGovernment the European Union is examined in detail. All measuring elements, including some that were used for the first time in the most recently published report are evaluated. Having established what eGovernment is, what Benchmarking is and how its methodologies function, Section IV uses the data from the latest European eGovernment Benchmarking Report, which was published in November 2009, to assess how the Greek eGovernment landscape evolved since the previous report in 2007. The results are disappointing. When comparing the 20 Basic eGovernment Services offered in Greece, there was no improvement, what so ever, from 2007 to 2009. Following that, Greek performance in the two new indices introduced in the latest report (EProcurement and User Experience) is reported and compared to the respective EU27+ average. Finally, in Section V, a general overview is provided along with the conclusions about the (lack of) progress in eGovernment in Greece. Scope and aims The scope of this project is to analyze how the meaning of eGovernment has evolved in the past few years and then review the current trends in benchmarking the penetration sophistication of eGovernment services in Europe and the rest of the world. Furthermore, this project reports and analyses the level of eGovernment services offered in Greece. The basic aims of this project are: Define the eGovernment ecosystem, typology and taxonomy. Analyse the dominant methodologies of benchmarking eGovernment services Gather and process existing results about eGovernment in Greece, regarding service penetration and sophistication, along with other relevant metrics. Resources This project relies heavily on research. In particular, a lot of research on what the different and sometimes contradicting terms that define eGovernment as well as the rest of the relevant terms in academic papers throughout the previous decade was made. Following that, further research about the current and past trends in benchmarking in general and eGovernment benchmarking in particular are is conducted. From there on, having established what eGovernment is and what the provided services should be, along with how they are measured, more research was conducted in order to reveal what the actual current level of provided eGovernment services is. To accomplish this, reports from many different parties are used. These include reports published both by well knows analyst firms or government bodies in various levels as well as reports issued at a global level such as the United Nations to local reports issued by the authorities of each country such as the IT Observatory in Greece. Typology Convention Throughout the bibliography, or any other sort of resource for that matter, â€Å"electronic† terms do not have a consistent representation. So, just like electronic mail can be found abbreviated in quite a few forms, â€Å"electronic† Government is abbreviated to eGovernment, e-Government, E-Government etc. To avoid this inconsistency, through this project the term eGovernment will be used (changed to EGovernment only in the beginning of sentences). This convention will apply to â€Å"electronic† terms that will be used such as eGovernance. I. EGovernment, eGovernance and Digital Governance EGovernment is one more of the recent years â€Å"buzzwords†. It is usually either paired with the word â€Å"services† at the end or other words like eGovernance and Digital Government. Like every other (relatively) new and cool â€Å"buzzword† they are used widely by a broad spectrum of individuals who represent mostly two different backgrounds. Information technology and politics. The first because it is a technological issue, the later because they have come to realize, even though a little late, that they represent an excellent vehicle for them to provide a better experience to anyone who interacts with the Government. But, what do these terms mean? Do they collide or conflict each other? How about covering or including one another? A. EGovernment Definitions There is not one, unique and commonly accepted definition for eGovernment. It is quite difficult to decide over a specific one but after the research made, the following definition from the World Bank (ÃŽ  ÃŽâ€˜ÃŽ ¡ÃŽâ€˜ÃŽ  ÃŽÅ¸ÃŽÅ"ÃŽ  ÃŽâ€") describes it best: â€Å"Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions ((AOEMA), 2004). Although other definitions have been provided, this definition is preferred. The reason is that it is the most concise and the easiest to be understood since apart describing in simple words how eGovernment is utilized, it goes on to offer a very brief, yet to the point, reference to its main advantages. EGovernment definitions various other sources as follows:  · United Nations definition ((AOEMA), 2004): â€Å"E-government is defined as utilizing the Internet and the world-wide-web for delivering government information and services to citizens.† * Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce GBDe definition ((AOEMA), 2004): â€Å"Electronic government (hereafter e-Government) refers to a situation in which administrative, legislative and judicial agencies (including both central and local governments) digitize their internal and external operations and utilize networked systems efficiently to realize better quality in the provision of public services.† * Gartner Groups definition: â€Å"the continuous optimization of service delivery, constituency participation, and governance by transforming internal and external relationships through technology, the Internet and new media.† * Definition of the Working Group on eGovernment in the Developing World: E-government is the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote more efficient and effective government, facilitate more accessible government services, allow greater public access to information, and make government more accountable to citizens. E-government might involve delivering services via the Internet, telephone, community centers (self-service or facilitated by others), wireless devices or other communications systems.† EGovernment is in the first stages of development. Most governments have already taken or are taking initiatives offering government services online. However, for the true potential of eGovernment to be realized, government needs to restructure and transform its long entrenched business processes. EGovernment is not simply the process of moving existing government functions to an electronic platform. Rather, it calls for rethinking the way government functions are carried out today to improve some processes, to introduce new ones and to replace those that require it. The range of services that may be provided by e-government spans from simple information sites to fully interactive experiences where users and government engage in a dialog mediated by information technology. Internal information systems of Government agencies, information kiosks, automated telephone information services, SMS services and other systems all comprise e-Government services. All these are applications of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to improve the services of the Government towards its primary clients: the citizens. In the last few years, there has been much talk of mobile government or m-government. MGovernment refers to the use of wireless technologies like cellular/mobile phones, laptops and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) for offering and delivering government services. MGovernment is not a substitute for e-government, rather it complements it. 1. Benefits of eGovernment E-Government initiatives contribute to citizen empowerment by making information about government processes and decisions easily available, and allowing information-sharing among people and organizations, and between citizens and the civil service (Accenture and the Markle Foundation, 2001). Well-informed citizens are better able to hold their governments accountable. Governments are then compelled to improve the quality of services, expand accessibility of these services, and increase responsiveness to their constituents. Many Government services rely on information passed among different offices within a department or across departments. The large amount of information and paperwork required results in an environment where for red tape rips, the workforce is inefficient and bureaucratic, and the delivery of services is ineffective. With the usage of ICT, the government bureaucracy and citizens are both winners in the battle against the paper trail. eGovernment allows government kno wledge and data exchange to be accessed more easily (whether public or secure) by the appropriate offices or individuals. By this, it reduces redundancies of information flows, and resulting in overall increased productivity. Another result of the integration of operations of government agencies is the improvement of transparency in government. EGovernment minimizes redundant information flows, helps to eliminate duplications of functions, and improves the adherence of public servants to proper government procedures, thereby reducing opportunities for corruption. This, provided it is accompanied by well-informed and active citizens, will assist in limiting the relationship between bureaucracy and corruption and will help lead to a higher sense of accountability among officials. B. EGovernment Taxonomy EGovernment can be classified according to different criteria. It can be classified according to its level, its audience and last but certainly not least, according to the delivery mechanism used. 1. Reach EGovernment can be categorized in the following five distinct levels depending on how broad it is. The levels are: * International * National * Regional * State/Provisional * Local These levels are illustrated below (see 1 adapted from Heeks, 2006) 2. Audience The question of where eGovernment originates is pretty much self-explanatory. Nevertheless, the same does not apply when wondering about who is in the receiving end. The answer that first comes to mind is, the citizens. But isnt so. Apart from citizens, there are other entities that are benefited by eGovernment services. According to Backus, â€Å"the three main target groups that can be distinguished in eGovernment concepts are government, citizens and businesses/interest groups. The external strategic objectives focus on citizens and businesses and interest groups, the internal objectives focus on government itself† (Backus, 2001). a) Government to Citizens (G2C) Government to Citizen activities are those in which the government provides, on-line, one-stop access to information and services to citizens. G2C applications allow citizens to ask questions of government agencies and receive answers, such us: * File income taxes * Pay taxes * Arrange driving tests or renew drivers licenses * Pay traffic tickets * Make appointments for vehicle emission inspections and * Change their address In addition, a government could: * Distribute information on the web * Provide downloadable forms online * Conduct training (e.g., in some US States, the classes for the drivers tests are offered online) * Assist citizens in finding employment * Provide touristic and recreational information * Provide health advice about safety issues (e.g. warnings for epidemics like the recent H1N1 virus) * Allow transfer of benefits like food coupons * File natural disaster relief compensation electronically through the use of smart cards; and the list goes on. b) Government to Business (G2B) Government to Business activities refers to those where the government deals with businesses such as suppliers using the Internet and other ICTs. It is a bidirectional interaction and transaction: Government to Business (G2B) and Business to Government (B2G). B2G is about businesses selling products and services to government. The most important G2B areas are eProcurement (which essentially is actually a reverse auction) and the auction of government surpluses. c) Government to Government (G2G) Lastly, Government to Government refers to those activities that take place between different government organizations/agencies/entities. Many of these activities aim to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of overall government operations. One such example is the Intelink, an intranet that carries classified information shared by different U.S. intelligence agencies. 3. Delivery Mechanism EGovernment services are provided not only via the Internet. Instead, many other means are often used. In fact, studies and reports indicate that these â€Å"other† means of eGovernment services provision show in some cases extremely high utilization. For example: * Telephony dominates channel usage in some situations: Accenture (2005) reports 63% of industrialized country respondents contacting government by telephone; compared to 31% using the Internet over a 12-month period. * In-person visits dominate in other situations: an Australian survey reports half of government contacts to be face-to-face compared to one-fifth undertaken via the Internet (AGIMO 2005). * Survey data also reflects an ongoing preference for telephone or in-person channels especially for transactional, problem-solving, urgent and complex interactions (AGIMO 2005, Horrigan 2005). a) Multichannel Examples Some Governments have embraced this reality and adopted a multichannel approach to the services they offer. In its Progress Reports, the European Comission includes some specific examples: * In Malta, citizens can access their personal social security records and payments via the internet, and may also opt to be notified about their social security payments via SMS rather than receiving printed payment advice by post. However, the most innovative initiative is the introduction of eGovernment Agents that act as intermediaries to those without access. (ePractice eGovernment Factsheets Malta, 2009) * In Austria, all websites that belong to the .gv.at domain are available free of charge or connection fees via wireless hotspots (WLAN), and via public kiosks, thanks to an excellent cooperation between the Austrian Government and two major telecommunication providers. Similar to Malta, Austria also has legislation in place allowing officials to act as intermediaries for citizens who do not have online access or a citizen (ePractice eGovernment Factsheets Austria, 2009) * In Spain, 060 is the magic code providing a single access point. Many services provided by different administrations can be accessed via the 060 network, whether they are office-, internet-, or phone-based. Citizens can access the networks 2800 points of presence in the street or their office on the web, by the phone (060) or SMS. The 060 phone number is intended to replace over 1000 phone numbers available for citizens to access information of the General Administration of the State. The network is available 24/7 and currently offers 1225 national, regional and local public services. It is worth noting that In August 2007, only 15 months after its creation, the citizen information phoneline 060 had already dealt with 700000 enquiries. (ePractice eGovernment Factsheets Spain, 2009) C. EGovernance Definitions Just like eGovernment, there is not a single common definition to describe eGovernance. However, the UNESCO defines it best: â€Å"E-governance is the public sectors use of information and communication technologies with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective. E-governance involves new styles of leadership, new ways of debating and deciding policy and investment, new ways of accessing education, new ways of listening to citizens and new ways of organizing and delivering information and services. E-governance is generally considered as a wider concept than e-government, since it can bring about a change in the way citizens relate to governments and to each other. E-governance can bring forth new concepts of citizenship, both in terms of citizen needs and responsibilities. Its objective is to engage, enable and empower the citizen.† Other definitions include * â€Å"EGovernance, meaning ‘electronic governance is using information and communication technologies (ICTs) at various levels of the government and the public sector and beyond, for the purpose of enhancing governance.† (Bedi et all, 2001, Holmes , 2001 and Okot-Uma, 2000). * Whereas according to Backus (2001), eGovernance is defined as the, â€Å"application of electronic means in (1) the interaction between government and citizens and government and businesses, as well as (2) in internal government operations to simplify and improve democratic, government and business aspects of Governance.† D. Digital Government The term Digital Governance was introduced more than 7 years ago (McIver Elmargarmid, 2002). Notions such as eGovernment, eGovernance and any future technology of ICT (e.g. Web 2.0 applications), should fall under the Digital Governance umbrella (Schellong, 2009). This term has been preferred by other researchers as well, due to the excessive usage of adding letters like â€Å"e† (electronic), â€Å"m† (mobile), â€Å"u† (ubiquitous) or â€Å"2.0† to government-related terms. Schellong goes further to suggest a specific typology (2008) as illustrated below in 2: EGovernment contains the terms: * EAdministration Internal use of ICT * EServices. External use of ICT * EDemocracy. Use of ICT for direct public participation in government (decision making or voting) EGovernance is a completely different branch and deals with government, society and economy. E. Open Government In the last decade, there have been many efforts to promote eGovernment. A new initiative has emerged though, Open Government, or OpenGov as it is usually abbreviated. OpenGovernment efforts have begun not only in the US but also in other countries, like Greece. Although OpenGovernment and eGovernment have similar characteristics and share common goals, the greatest one being the promotion of transparency, they are not the same. Open Government can be argued to be an evolution of eGovernment (GUSTETIC, 2009), since the only reason that it exists as an initiative today is because of advances made by eGovernment along with various technological improvements and innovations. II. Benchmarking A. Definition Benchmarking is defined as the process of measuring the performance of an organization along with the practices it applies in key areas and subsequently comparing them to other organizations. It is widely accepted in the private sector and is being used as a practical tool in order to achieve positive results with unlimited potential. EGovernment benchmarking means undertaking a review of comparative performance of eGovernment between nations or agencies. These studies have two purposes: * Internal: Benefit the individual and/or organization undertaking the benchmarking study * External: Benefit achieved for users of the study. This project falls into the first category, as described in the Scope and Aims paragraph earlier in the document. B. Goals With new expectations about their performance, government entities are being encouraged to look at ways of implementing changes in their practices. Benchmarking provides them with one of their most useful options. In every industry, there are ways of doing things that are broadly recognized as standard practices for that industry. However, every industry has its leaders. These leaders are organizations that over perform when measured against those standards. They have achieved â€Å"best practices† as demonstrated by their results in quality, cost, customer satisfaction and responsiveness. Benchmarking aims to discover what the â€Å"best practices† are that lead to superior performance. In greater detail, the process of benchmarking e-Government : * Fosters accountability for eGovernment projects. * Helps meeting rising public expectations * Enables government officials to take more informed decisions and corrective actions * Validates the generated public value * Fosters projects interchange Moreover, benchmarking can be distinguished from other traditional forms of evaluation by its attempt to visualize â€Å"best practices† through normalizing comparison and by urging public entities to ask themselves what they can do to promote them. Benchmarking enables and motivates them to determine how well current practices compare to others practices, locate performance gaps, experience best practices in action, and prioritize areas for improvement or other opportunities. It is quite important to note that â€Å"Benchmarking is not the same as benchmarks. Benchmarks are performance measures and benchmarking is the action of conducting the evaluation.† (Yasin, 2002). C. Data Sources After establishing what benchmarking is, the most common data sources are evaluated.. 1. Calculated Indicators Quite a few benchmarking reports use composite indicators, for example, for the purposes of national rankings. Because it is not always clear how they are calculated or researched, composites have been criticized (UIS 2003) for their lack of transparency along for their subjectivity. Fortunately, a guide for good practice in use of composites has been developed (eGEP 2006a:45) and includes: * Developing a theoretical framework for the composite. * Identifying and developing relevant variables. * Standardizing variables to allow comparisons. * Weighting variables and groups of variables. * Conducting sensitivity tests on the robustness of aggregated variables. Other than the composite calculation of national rankings, there seems to be little use of calculated indicators in the benchmarking of e-government. The most commonly used indicators include: * Benefit/Cost Ratio. * Demand/Supply Match. * Comparative Service Development. * National Ranking Some examples along with the methods used for each indicator are illustrated in Table 1below (adapted from Heeks, 2006). Calculated Indicator Example Method Benefit/Cost Ratio Expected financial benefit (impact) / Financial cost (input) (NOIE 2003) Interview (internal self-assessment / internal administrative records) Demand/Supply Match Preference for online channel in particular services versus Online sophistication of that service (Graafland Essers Ettendgui 2003) Mass citizen survey Comparative Service Development Stage model level of citizen services versus business services (Capgemini 2005) Stage model level of different service cluster areas (Capgemini 2005) Third party Web assessment National Ranking Composite of features and stage model level for national websites (West 2005) Composite of ICT and human infrastructure with stage model level for national/other websites (UN 2005) Composite of stage model level, integration and personalization of national websites (Accenture 2005) Third party Web assessment Table 1 Calculated Indicators Used in eGovernment Benchmarking (Heeks, 2006). 2. Standard Public Sector Indicators Apart from calculated indicators, others (Flynn 2002) suggest using a standard indicator set for public sector performance. This set is displayed in Table 2 below (adapted from Flynn 2002). Indicator Explanation eGovernment Example Benchmark Economy The amount of inputs used Expenditure per capita on IT None Internal efficiency The ration of input intermediates Cost per website produced per year Minimization External efficiency The ratio of inputs: outputs (use) Cost per citizen user of government websites per year Minimization Internal effectiveness The fit between actual outputs (use) and organizational objectives or other set targets The extent to which underserved communities are users of e-government services Maximization External effectiveness The fit between actual impacts and organizational objectives or other set targets The extent to which citizens are gaining employment due to use of an eGovernment job search service Maximization Quality The quality of intermediates or, more typically outputs (use) The quality of eGovernent services as perceived by citizen users Maximization Equity The equitability of distribution of outputs and impacts The quality of time/money saved by eGovernment service use between rich and poor Maximization Table 2 Standard Indicators for eGovernment Performance (Flynn 2002) D. Methodologies Having described the methodologies used more commonly when benchmarking eGovernment services, the next step is to illustrate how the necessary data is gathered. There are a number of official methods (eGEP 2006b): * Focus groups * Internal administrative records * Internal self-assessment * Mass user surveys * Official statistics * Pop-up surveys * Third part web assessment * Web metrics and crawlers Each of these methods can be compared in four different and distinct factors (Heeks, 2006). Those are: * Cost: The time and financial cost of the method. * Value: The value of the method in producing data capable of assessing the downstream value of e-government. * Comparability: The ease with which data produced can be compared across nations or agencies. * Data Quality: The level of quality of the methods data. In particular, Heeks suggests using the CARTA (Complete, Accurate, Relevant, Timely, Appropriate) check list when assessing data quality (2006). There is also a set of methodologies that are not used as frequently as the ones mentioned earlier. These are: * Intermediary Surveys. * Intranet Assessment. * Public Domain Statistics. * Public Servant and Politician Surveys. 1. Automation With new eGovernment services being introduced by Governments every day, benchmarking is gradually becoming a more and more important mechanism for identifying best practices and keeping track of developments, but as the number of the offered services increase, data collection becomes more and more difficult. Apart from that, since eGovernment is being expanded to other eGovernment levels, as illustrated earlier in 1, it is only natural that the number of benchmarking studies is increasing fast. Thus, the traditional approach of fata collection has not only become a very challenging but also a very resource intensive task. In order to address this matter, there are projects (eGovMon) which attempt to automate the data collection (Research Council of Norway, 2009). In particular, the eGovMon project is co-funded by the Research Council of Norway and â€Å"is developing methodology and software for quality evaluation of web services, in particular eGovernment services, concerning four areas:†  · Accessibility  · Transparency  · Efficiency  · Impact Additionally eGovMon will provide a policy design tool Case study: SIGMUND FREUD Case study: SIGMUND FREUD Sigmund Freud  (1856-1939),  Austrian physician, neurologist, and founder of psychoanalysis, who created an entirely new approach to the understanding of human personality. Through his skill as a scientist, physician, and writer, Freud combined ideas prevalent at the time with his own observation and study to produce a major theory of psychology. Most importantly, he applied these ideas to medical practice in the treatment of mental illness. His newly created psychotherapy treatments and procedures, many of which in modified form are applied today, were based on his understanding of unconscious thought processes and their relationship to neurotic symptoms (see Neurosis). Regarded with skepticism at the time, Freuds ideas have waxed and waned in acceptance ever since. Nevertheless, he is regarded as one of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century. I. Freuds life Freud  was  born  into  a middle-class Jewish family in Freiberg, Moravia (now PÃ…â„ ¢Ãƒ ­bor, Czech Republic), on May 6, 1856. When he was three years old his family, fleeing from the anti-Semitic riots then raging in Freiberg, moved to the German city of Leipzig. Shortly thereafter, the family settled in Vienna, where Freud remained for most of his life. Although  Freuds  ambition from childhood had been a career in law, he became intrigued by the rapidly developing sciences of the day after reading the work of British scientist Charles Darwin. Freud decided to become a medical student shortly before he entered Vienna University in 1873. Inspired by the scientific investigations of the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Freud was driven by an intense desire to study natural science and to solve some of the challenging problems confronting contemporary scientists. In  his  third  year  at  the university Freud began research work on the central nervous system in the physiological laboratory under the direction of German physician Ernst Wilhelm von Brà ¼cke. Neurological research was so engrossing that Freud neglected the prescribed courses and as a result remained in medical school three years longer than was normally required to qualify as a physician. In 1881, after completing a year of compulsory military service, he received his medical degree. Unwilling to give up his experimental work, however, he remained at the university, working in the physiological laboratory. At Brà ¼ckes urging, he reluctantly abandoned theoretical research to gain practical experience. Freud  then  spent  three years at the General Hospital of Vienna, devoting himself successively to psychiatry, dermatology, and nervous diseases. In 1885, following his appointment as a lecturer in neuropathology at Vienna University, he left his post at the hospital. Later that year he worked in Paris with French neurologist Jean Charcot. On  his  return  to  Vienna in 1886 Freud began private practice in neurology. Also that year Freud married Martha Bernays, to whom he had become engaged four years earlier. The first of their children was born the following year. Their family would become complete with the birth of Anna in 1895, who herself would become an important psychoanalyst (see Anna Freud). In  1902  Freud  was  appointed professor of neuropathology at the University of Vienna, a post he held until 1938. In 1923 he developed cancer of the jaw. Although repeated operations and prosthetic appliances in his mouth made his life most uncomfortable, he continued working incessantly until his death. When the Germans occupied Austria in 1938, Freud was persuaded by friends to escape with his family to England. He died in London on September 23, 1939. II. Freuds work Freud  was  by  training a research scientist and a physician. His decision to devote himself to the neglected and poorly understood area of emotional disorders has to do with currents of the time as well as his own interests. Chief among these was the prevailing attitude toward scientific endeavor at the time. Scientists were looking for causes and for connections between previously unrelated phenomena. Although Jewish by birth and cultural tradition, Freud saw all religion as illusory and was non-practicing. Instead, he can be seen as a determinist, viewing the world and human experience as understandable in terms of cause and effect. A. Hypnosis and the influence of Charcot In  1885  Freud  was  awarded a government grant enabling him to spend 19 weeks in Paris as a student of French neurologist Jean Charcot. Charcot, who was the director of the clinic at the mental hospital, the Salpà ªtrià ¨re, was then treating nervous disorders by the use of hypnotic suggestion. Fascinated by the apparent success of these treatments, Freud met and studied with several of the leading figures in the field. Charcots  group  had  been tackling the problem of hysteria, a term derived from the Greek word for womb. Hysteria traditionally was seen as a condition of women and was characterized by unexplained fainting, paralysis, loss of sensation, tics, and tremors. In time, Charcot came to see that men could also be so troubled. Although the mechanism of hysteria was not understood, Charcot and his contemporaries showed that its symptoms could be cured by hypnosis. Freuds studies under Charcot influenced him greatly in channeling his interests to psychopathology (the study and treatment of disorders of the mind). In  his  practice  in  Vienna, Freud met many patients with nervous disorders for which there was no apparent physical cause. Their symptoms included paralyzed limbs, tics, tremors, loss of consciousness, memory impairment, and numbness that could not be explained. These unexplained cases were labeled as neurotic, meaning that they were similar to neurological conditions. In time they became known collectively as neuroses. Freuds  observation  of Charcots use of hypnosis in the treatment of similar disorders led him to conclude that there could be powerful mental processes operating that remain hidden from conscious understanding. He began to employ hypnosis in his own practice, publishing articles on the subject in 1892. Freud came to understand hysterical neurotic symptoms as the product of a conflict between opposing mental forces. Conscious forces representing will were balanced by unconscious opposing forces representing counterwill. He understood hypnosis to act on the side of will to subjugate the counterwill, thus obliterating the symptom. The idea of conflict proposed in the 1892 paper A Case of Successful Treatment by Hypnotism: With Some Remarks on the Origin of Hysterical Symptoms Through Counterwill' was to become a fundamental principle of psychoanalysis. B. The beginnings of psychoanalysts The  next  important  development in Freuds theory of psychology came out of work he conducted with his friend and colleague Josef Breuer, a Viennese physician who was involved in the treatment of a young woman who was distressed while caring for her dying father. The patient had developed a number of hysterical symptoms, which Breuer initially treated by hypnotic suggestion. Initial success gave way to disappointment when on her fathers death her symptoms returned with increased severity. Somewhat at a loss as to how to proceed, Breuer had continued to talk to his patient on a daily basis and in time she began to talk about various reminiscences from the past and about her daydreams. Remarkably, as her narrative revisited memories from the past, which were associated with the onset of a particular symptom, each symptom disappeared when accompanied by an emotional outburst. Breuer made use of this discovery to eliminate her symptoms one at a time. He called the treatment the ca thartic technique (from the Greek katharsis meaning purgation). The treatment was time consuming and required considerable effort to reach dimly recalled and otherwise inaccessible memories. Freud  and  Breuer  published the case and several others in 1895 under the title Studies on Hysteria. Their view was summed up in the statement Hysterics suffer mainly from reminiscences. They proposed that when faced with emotionally traumatic memories, hysterics subjugate them from conscious appreciation to prevent the unbearable emotional pain and suffering that they cause. Rather than being driven out of the mind, however, these memories are driven into an area of the mind that is unconscious and inaccessible. Here the memories may be redirected from the emotional system into the somatic (bodily) system and appear as apparently unexplained physical symptoms. The cases that constitute Studies on Hysteria outline the transition from treatment by hypnotic suggestion to the earliest descriptions of what is now known as psychoanalysis. Working  on  his  own  Freud hypothesized that hysterical symptoms were most likely to arise when repressed traumatic memories related to adverse childhood sexual experiences. This view generated tremendous controversy at the time because the existence of childhood sexuality was not widely accepted. In time Freud was forced to reconsider this aspect of his theory, instead relating the repressed memories to childhood fantasies of sexuality and their relationship to parental figures. 1. Dreams The  next  development  in Freuds theory stemmed from his observations on dreaming. He came to see that many of the characteristics of dreams were shared with the symptomatic memories recalled by his patients in the narrative of free association. In his therapeutic relationship with his patients, Freud had abandoned hypnotic suggestion in favor of encouraging the person to speak freely about whatever came into his or her mind. Unintentionally, the patient would bring order to these free associations, whose structure and content Freud used to try to understand underlying unconscious processes. In  dreams  Freud  noted  the same apparently unstructured experiences of thoughts and images coming into the mind that seemed to be representative of some underlying unconscious process. To explain these phenomena, he suggested the existence of an inner censor that effected a compromise between conflicting mental forces and in the process disguised their meaning from conscious appreciation. He defined resistance as the unconscious defense against awareness of repressed experiences in order to avoid the resulting anxiety. He traced the operation of unconscious processes, using the free associations of the patient to guide him in the interpretation of dreams and slips of speech. Slips of speech or parapraxes, now known as Freudian slips, Freud claimed, were revelations of unconscious wishes. His 1904 publication, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, discusses these ideas. Freud  came  to  understand the mind as a series of layers, with the most superficial layers in conscious appreciation and the deeper layers containing repressed memories and remaining unavailable to conscious thought. He termed this the topographical model and likened it to an iceberg, a small part of which is visible above the surface while the greater submerged part remains obscured from view. These ideas were published in 1900 in The Interpretation of Dreams. During  the  first  two  decades of the 1900s Freud concentrated on modifying and improving his theory of psychoanalysis. He defined a number of principles and described a model of personality development. 2. The unconscious Perhaps  Freuds  greatest contribution was to describe the unconscious and to postulate that it obeys the principle of psychic determinism, which holds that human thoughts, feelings, and impulses, rather than being random, are linked in a system of causally related phenomena, behind which lies some reason or meaning. Freud concluded that on this basis unconscious processes could be investigated and understood. Some experiences that are not immediately accessible to conscious appreciation can be brought into the conscious mind by the process of remembering. Freud referred to these experiences as the preconscious. Still-deeper thoughts cannot be remembered and are actively repressed in the unconscious. Unconscious  experiences, according to Freud, are not subject to the same logic characteristic of conscious experience. Unconscious ideas, images, thoughts, and feelings can be condensed or dramatized in the form of abstract concepts and imagery. Often the relationship between the original experience and the unconscious symbolic representation can seem obscure. 3. Role of conflict The  central  theme  of  conflict had arisen early in Freuds work. Conflict arises in a persons conscious mind when one set of beliefs impacts adversely on another area of belief, causing emotional suffering felt as disappointment, anger, or frustration. Freud was interested in the unconscious aspect of mental conflict. He described the pleasure principle as another fundamental of psychoanalytic theory. This holds that human beings have a tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain. The principle is said to dominate in early life, bringing the developing individual into conflict with the external world. These conflicts are retained in the unconscious. Freuds  original  concept held that the conflicts of early life arose as a result of innate human drives or instincts. He conceptualized how development might occur in terms of the drives and their satisfaction according to the pleasure principle. Among the chief drives was the libidinal, or sexual, drive, which serves the human species by directing individuals to reproduce. Awareness of a need to keep rein on the free expression of drives gradually develops, and failure to rein in these drives (and fantasies about their expression) is felt as guilt. Life becomes an equilibrium between drives, conflicts, and reality.  Freud  believed  that  by understanding the crucial events and fantasy wishes of childhood, psychoanalysis could shed understanding on later adult character development with its attendant conflicts and neurotic symptoms. Later, he extended his model to include psychoses (serious mental disorders in which people have a distorted view of reality). Conflicts  repressed  into the unconscious are retained, according to Freud. From time to time they may overcome repression and reemerge into conscious appreciation, precipitating anxiety or panic. To counteract this, the individual unconsciously produces various defense mechanisms, which become part of that persons character. Examples of defense mechanisms include projection, where the individual ascribes to others his or her own unconscious desires (I hate you, for example, becomes You hate me), and reaction formation, where the individual adopts a pattern of behavior directly opposed to a strong unconscious drive.  In 1923 Freud reformulated his ideas in a structural model of the mind that postulated the existence of the id, the ego, and the superego. Freud  gave  the  name  id to unconscious drives. The id knows nothing of morality or reality. It seeks only to gratify the instinctual drives, and it operates solely according to the pleasure principle. Freud held that the biological drives of a young person are often frustrated by delays and restricted by the demands of parents and other older members of the family. As time passes, the demands of the community or society also become important obstacles to id gratification. In adapting to the environment, the child begins to acquire an ego, or set of conscious perceptions, memories, and thoughts that enable the person to deal effectively with reality. Thus, according to Freud, the ego obeys the reality principle. As the individual absorbs the teachings of family and society, he develops a superego, or conscience, that frequently conflicts with the drives of the id. In many cases the ego reduces the conflict by at least partially fulfilling the id impulses through socially ac ceptable behavior. Often, however, the conflict disappears on the conscious level as unfulfilled impulses are repressed into the unconscious mind. Freuds  therapy  consisted of listening to the patient relate a narrative of free associations over many sessions. By listening to the patients associations, Freudian slips, contents of dreams, and thoughts, he linked and interpreted these experiences to the patients conscious world. He came to understand the nature of transference, in which the patient develops feelings for the therapist that are in fact representative of previous feelings toward other important figures in the patients life. These thoughts and feelings Freud interpreted and linked to the patients current emotional state.   C. Major influences Freuds  early  psychological work shows the influence of the sciences of the day on his thinking. Ideas from physics, chemistry, and evolutionary theory occur regularly in his writing. At the time,  Charles Darwins writings, especially the theory of evolution, were challenging contemporary Judeo-Christian belief. Indeed it was Darwin who emphasized instincts for survival and reproduction, formulated in Freuds theory as basic drives.   Freuds  ideas  can  be  seen in the same context as Darwins. Freud, too, challenged philosophical and religious thinking by suggesting that human beings were rather less in control of their own thoughts and actions than previously believed. His contention that unconscious thoughts and actions had to arise from within the self rather than from God conflicted with the contemporary notion of soul. From Freuds time on, the disciplines of philosophy and psychology developed separately. Freud  was  particularly interested in the association school of psychology, which included Johann Friedrich Herbart and Wilhelm Max Wundt, the former of whom may have contributed to free association as a therapeutic technique. Psychodynamic theory-the model of conflicting forces influencing the subconscious-also has its origins in the physical concepts of opposing forces and vector analysis. Freuds theory that unresolved conflicts can be converted into physical symptoms reflects the principle of conservation of energy held by the first law of thermodynamics. Yet  Freuds  ideas  were new and radical, and it is easy to see why Freud came into conflict so readily with the society and establishment of his time. He relied on the support of friends such as Breuer. By 1906, however, a small number of pupils and followers had gathered around Freud, including Austrians William Stekel, Alfred Adler, and Otto Rank; American Abraham Brill; and Eugen Bleuler and Carl Jung from Switzerland. Other notable associates, who joined the circle in 1908, were Hungarian Sà ¡ndor Ferenczi and Briton Ernest Jones. Pakistan: Deep inside the World’s Most Frightening State Pakistan: Deep inside the World’s Most Frightening State BOOK REVIEW â€Å"PAKISTAN DEEP INSIDE THE WORLD’S MOST FRIGHTENING STATE† Author: Mary Anne Weaver Mary Anne Weaver, the writer of â€Å"Pakistan Deep inside the World’s Most Frightening State† has been a long time foreign correspondent for the New Yorker magazine. She is an expert in South Asian and Middle Eastern affairs and political and militant Islam. She has also written on the rise of militant Islam. She has reported from over thirty countries of the world, and currently resides in New York. She has won many writing awards including Citation, the Cornelious Ryan Award for the best non-fiction book on international affairs. Moreover, she has worked for The Sunday Times of London, London Times, Washington Post, and some other groups. She is Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Journalism from Pennsylvania State University and Master of Arts in Arab Affairs from the American University in Cairo. The other important book that she has written is A Portrait of Egypt: A Journey Through the world of Militant Islam. She has written article on the consequences of S audi and American funding and Egyptian support of Islamic militants fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. She has also written â€Å"India’s Bandit Queen†. The author’s political and philosophical viewpoint is based on years of experience as a journalist and personal vignettes overseas. She is quite critical on the rise of Militant Islam and the dire need of Pakistan to the United States. General Summary: The book is basically about a country which is surrounded by such challenging and complex circumstances that we can find no parallel of. The country is one and only Pakistan. The author has given a classical account of the situation the country has passed through. A nuclear armed state sandwiched between Afghanistan and India, having militant influence inside has been elaborated by her as the most dangerous place on Earth. The country’s integration is an utmost requirement for the world peace. The book gives an account of the most important factors, i.e. Militancy, Nuclear Arsenal, Neighbors, Role in the War on Terror and the shifting policies in different Dictatorial tenures. Moreover, the role of United States and Saudi Arabia has been discussed and the Baloch Tribal Culture and Kashmir, that has been the main bone of contention between Pakistan and India has been utmost importance in the book. Author’s Thesis or Conclusion: The author during the journey of writing this book met many important figures of the time, such as General Pervez Musharraf, the then President and Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army, Benazir Bhutto, G.M.Syed, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, and some more. The author has given an account of the circumstances in which General Musharraf took over. There was an overall policy shift after he came into the chair, as his takeover was followed by the 9/11. According to her, there was a huge difference in Zia and Musharraf policies. She elaborates the role of Saudi Arabia and Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan in Afghanistan and explains how both contradict their interference. The event of 9/11 led Pakistan into circumstances that it had to become an ally of the United States in the War on Terror. The point of concern for her was that if they counter the Taliban, how they will manage the Jihadis then. Initially, Pakistan benefitted from the United States, as sanctions were removed and aid pac kages were received. She also highlights the role of nationalists like G.M.Syed. She tells that Osama bin Laden had popular support in Pakistan. People were ready to come out on streets for him. He received help from many tribal elders of Balochistan. The tribal elders of Balochistan were against the education and development in their province, as they see reduction in their influence. Further, she talks about the role of Mullahs in the society and most importantly the politics of Pakistan. Arabs are very close to Pakistan. They mostly come there for hunting purposes with the approval of the authorities. Then she talks about Benazir. She tells that at that time Benazir Bhutto seemed a serious threat to Musharraf, as intelligence agencies at that time had the view that she was the most popular leader of the country. She gives an account of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s death and Benazir and family’s condition at that time. She gives a comparison of Musharraf’s liberal an d Zia-ul-Haq’s conservative tenures. She also talks about the role of military in politics. The tussle between India and Pakistan has also been discussed. India blames Pakistan for any incident happening inside its territory and so does Pakistan. India claims that organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, etc. are being operated from Pakistan. The objective of United States was to carry out attacks and limit the members of Al-Qaeda, whereas she gives some indication of Pakistani reluctance also. Regarding Kashmir, the major bone of contention between Pakistan and India, she tells the views of both sides. Pakistan forces for a plebiscite as decided by the United Nations, whereas India has a stance that it is a bilateral issue after the Simla Agreement. There is a major deadlock between both the nations, and none of them can afford to lose Kashmir. For this reason, both sides remain on maximum military alert. She highlights a very important aspect that the organizations which were once formed and trained by the intelligence agencies of Pakistan, like Jaish-e-Muhammad, twice tried to assassinate General Musharraf. This is a point of high concern. Pakistan is hence elaborated as one of the most difficult and tough countries of the world. My Reaction to Author’s Views: I agree with the author’s views in most of the aspects she has given. She is absolutely correct about the difference in the approaches, i.e. liberal and fundamentalist of Musharraf and Zia ul Haq. She correctly tells about the support and sympathies Osama bin Laden had in the country. The Baloch tribal elders themselves do not want economic and educational empowerment in their province, in order to keep in order their influence. The aspect of Arabs which she has discussed is in my point of view correct and having a line in order with Arabs is a basic compulsion on Pakistan, for financial, economic and political reasons. The role of military in politics is a truth, and still politics is not free of their influence. Moreover, the most important aspect in my point of view is that of the organizations that were formed under the influence of our security agencies and now they are our own enemies. This has been clearly witnessed by the whole world. So, her view of Pakistan, one of t he most difficult states in the world is correct, as the complexity of problems that can be witnessed here, are not that common in the world. Summary and General Recommendations: The book is well written, and covers many of the problems and, complexities of the problems, that Pakistan is facing today. The author has herself met many bigwigs and then mentioned the experiences on the basis of those meetings and travels that she had in the country. The book includes index, map, but lacks pictures. As far as referring the book is concerned, yes, I will refer the book to others, for the reason that it contains a whole analysis along with the background of the problems that the country is surrounded by today. This book is a good read for the general reader.

Capote/Krakauer Comparison :: essays papers

Capote/Krakauer Comparison Essay The most important thing any writer can do is to give their characters a feel of dimension to make them seem real. Although Capote and Krakauer do that in very different ways in In Cold Blood and Into Thin Air, they both reached the same end result: characters you believe. They give them thoughts, faces and personalities. They don’t portray everyone as flawless, they display the faults and the little quirks. They give them life through words, making these stories believable. Despite the fact both incidents happened years before each book was written, the use of detailed facts and personality profiles make each story seem incredibly realistic. But while Capote chooses to write an entirely objective piece, Krakauer relies heavily on personal opinion and experience, creating two very distinct frames of mind and causing the reader too see the characters in each book very differently. In 1959 the Clutter family was murdered in a tiny Kansas town called Holcomb. Six years later Truman Capote wrote a very detailed book about the whole case, from the day of the murder to the court case prosecuting the two murderers, Dick and Perry. Although he wasn’t there when the four murders happened, through word choice, description and characterization he creates an accurate portrait of the many intense events surrounding such a tragic story. In comparison, in 1996 esteemed climber Rob Hall led an expedition of moderately experienced climbers attempting to climb Mt. Everest, only to result in disaster and the loss of nine people’s lives. Jon Krakauer was a member of that expedition, and wrote a piece about the misadventure for Outside magazine. Feeling there was more to be said, soon after he wrote a book. Krakauer takes a similar approach as Capote, yet inserting more opinions and less of a feeling of objectiveness to his characters. This is most likely since Krakauer was living Everest first hand, as opposed to Capote who put himself into the environment years later, picking up details here and there instead of relying solely on memory and friends. One of Capote’s greatest strengths is to create thought for his characters, making it almost appear as if he knows what they are thinking. All summer Perry undulated between half-awake stupors and stickly, sweat-drenched sleep. Voices roared through his head; one voice persistently asked him, â€Å"Where is Jesus? Where?† And once he woke up shouting, â€Å"The bird is Jesus! The Bird is Jesus!† (381) This selection almost creates a feeling that Capote is talking about himself as opposed to a man he never met. Capote/Krakauer Comparison :: essays papers Capote/Krakauer Comparison Essay The most important thing any writer can do is to give their characters a feel of dimension to make them seem real. Although Capote and Krakauer do that in very different ways in In Cold Blood and Into Thin Air, they both reached the same end result: characters you believe. They give them thoughts, faces and personalities. They don’t portray everyone as flawless, they display the faults and the little quirks. They give them life through words, making these stories believable. Despite the fact both incidents happened years before each book was written, the use of detailed facts and personality profiles make each story seem incredibly realistic. But while Capote chooses to write an entirely objective piece, Krakauer relies heavily on personal opinion and experience, creating two very distinct frames of mind and causing the reader too see the characters in each book very differently. In 1959 the Clutter family was murdered in a tiny Kansas town called Holcomb. Six years later Truman Capote wrote a very detailed book about the whole case, from the day of the murder to the court case prosecuting the two murderers, Dick and Perry. Although he wasn’t there when the four murders happened, through word choice, description and characterization he creates an accurate portrait of the many intense events surrounding such a tragic story. In comparison, in 1996 esteemed climber Rob Hall led an expedition of moderately experienced climbers attempting to climb Mt. Everest, only to result in disaster and the loss of nine people’s lives. Jon Krakauer was a member of that expedition, and wrote a piece about the misadventure for Outside magazine. Feeling there was more to be said, soon after he wrote a book. Krakauer takes a similar approach as Capote, yet inserting more opinions and less of a feeling of objectiveness to his characters. This is most likely since Krakauer was living Everest first hand, as opposed to Capote who put himself into the environment years later, picking up details here and there instead of relying solely on memory and friends. One of Capote’s greatest strengths is to create thought for his characters, making it almost appear as if he knows what they are thinking. All summer Perry undulated between half-awake stupors and stickly, sweat-drenched sleep. Voices roared through his head; one voice persistently asked him, â€Å"Where is Jesus? Where?† And once he woke up shouting, â€Å"The bird is Jesus! The Bird is Jesus!† (381) This selection almost creates a feeling that Capote is talking about himself as opposed to a man he never met.

Eco- School Project Essay

This is what all parents worried about. Well, all parents want their child to be in a safe and comfortable environment. So, this is why Eco- School Project stand for. The aim of eco- school project is to raise awareness among the students on the environmental issue and world perspectively. Locally right now there are only 2 schools are involved in the eco- school project . Our school was one of it. Currently, our school have conducted some activities for the eco-school project. The energy group had the pre-earth hour launch of green Friday. Up to now, our school have the continuously green Friday launch which is, every Friday, classrooms upper and lower secondary have only one air-conditioner on or preferably both off, and one sets of lights off until 8.50am for lower sec and 9am for higher sec. Even the staffroom and admin office are all compliant. So that’s the on going efforts of eco group. As we all know, the world is very aware of environmental issue, so it’s important for kids especially school to know what can they do, not only in school, if you know what you can do in school you can imperative at home. For example: Taking part at home for the international earth hour by switching off your lights for an hour or even just consider when you are not in your room , don’t leave lights, air-conditioner on. On the rainy day, you can use your fan instead of your air-conditioner. Just to know basic that you can and that’s the impact of the environment. Moreover, there are a lot of advantages of being an eco-school, on top of being like the rest of the world, in a long run you will benefit your future. If you know how or what you are doing today is affecting environment and how it were create a change reaction effect your future , you can actually SAVE YOUR FUTURE! If you start later, means the whole process gonna start later and sometimes certain damage cannot be reverse . Since its very important for school kids to be involve. our school have a lot of future plans. According to Ms.Gayathri, the eco- school community member, the biodiversity group has a plan to create entire like agricultural section with plans and bird seeds feeding.. Its huge, the eco school project is very very HUGE.

All About the French Expression Avoir une faim de loup

All About the French Expression Avoir une faim de loup Expression: Avoir une faim de loup Pronunciation: [ ah vwah roon feh(n) deu loo] Meaning: to be ravenous, famished Literal translation: to have a wolfs hunger Register: informal Notes The French expression​ avoir une faim de loup indicates great hunger. Its a bit like the English expression to wolf something down, except the approach is different: avoir une faim de loup describes how you feel, while the English expression indicates what you might do when feeling that way. Avoir une faim de loup and its synonyms can be translated by any of these English equivalents: to be able to eat a horse (I could eat a horse!)to be (absolutely) famishedto be ravenousto be ravenously hungryto be starving, starved Example Je nai pas pris mon petit dà ©j ce matin, du coup jai une faim de loup  !Translation: I didnt have breakfast this morning, so Im starving! Synonyms avoir lestomac / le ventre creux- literally: to have an empty stomachavoir une de ces faims- literally: to have one of those hungersmourir de faim (je meurs de faim)- literally: to be dying of hunger (Im dying of hunger)​ More Expressions with avoirFood in French

What Benjamin Franklin Omitted From His Autobiography essays

What Benjamin Franklin Omitted From His Autobiography essays Benjamin Franklins autobiography gave the readers a small insight of society into the eighteenth century versus how society is viewed today as a whole. Throughout the entire autobiography he chronologically orders events from the time that he was a small boy growing into the age of a man. Thus giving the reader the option to compare his or her life with that of Mr. Franklins and connect to his reading based on experiences. It is noticed that in the eighteenth century they seemed to be more of a working society than of todays society. Although people in todays society still do work, it has become more of a managerial society instead of blue-collar jobs in which people work just to support the well being of them and their family. Making this judgment is a clear view that present day America is very spoiled in their actions and thinking. If you compare a twelve year old boy in the eighteen century he would already be starting to work as an apprentice or start to be bred into a job with great option to attend school or choose his field; in the present day a child would still be in school and if he were taken from school to be put to work many organizations of the community, government and society would be raising a fit that he is being taken from education. An education back centuries ago was seen as learning a job that was beneficial, usually one that has been in the family for many generations. In Fran klins case he had several brothers who were put into different fields of apprenticeships. The autobiography tells the story of his childhood in which he watched his brothers grow into these other fields while his father would not let him choose as first nor support his own decision on what he wanted to do in life. It gave examples of what they did and even told that he had a sister through the fact that he had a brother-in-law and I clearly confirm that because back then gay marriage was completely unaccept...

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton â€Å"I wished I looked like Paul Newman. He looks tough and I don’t. The other thing-it’s a long walk home with no company†¦And nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do. So I lone it† (Hinton, 1967, p.6). From this passage, it is evident that the main character, Ponyboy Curtis, who is fourteen years of age, will be telling the story from the first person perspective. This is important to the story because he describes the events in a slangy, youthful voice that makes his narration easily believable. Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More I liked this passage because it shows that though Ponyboy belongs to a gang, he is not stereotypical as he loves being alone in pursuit of his own interests. On the other hand, this passage does not interest me in the sense that Ponyboy wishes to be another person, instead of focu sing on his own strengths. The fact that Ponyboy regards himself as â€Å"superior,† despite his young age, to other gang members amazes me. so I can still help Darry with the bills and stuffTuff enough. Wait till I get outI told you he dont mean half of what he says (Hinton, 1967, page 26). This phrase illustrates the method of communication between the gang members. Since they speak in street slang, this illustrates that the two rival groups of the greasers and the Socs share some things in common. This potential for agreement is important for the story since the reader can feel the aversion between the two teenage groups when they are engaging in a conversation. I like this method of communication because it is able to harmonize the division between the groups. However, I hate it because it is full of grammatical errors. Though the interpretation of this street slang may be difficult, it is an interesting youthful way of talking. â€Å"I could fall in love with Dallas Wi nston. I hope I never see him again, or I will† (Hinton, 1967, p.46). This quote is what Cheery told Ponyboy when they were having a conversation in chapter three. I like this conversation since it shows that Dallas Winston, the meanest person, could make a lady, like Cherry-a Soc girl with good habits, like him. This also amuses me as well. I hate the words Cheery uses in this instance because she seems not to be considering the personality of Dallas. She is simply speaking because she has been driven by emotions. Cherry’s attraction to Dallas is of essence in the story since it illustrates that the conflict between the two teenage groups is reconcilable. â€Å"I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade†¦ they were gonna beat me up†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hinton, 1967, p.57). These words were spoken by Johnny to Pony. I liked this phrase because it shows the sincerity in Johnny. Although he had killed Bob, he only did so to d efend himself, otherwise he could have been killed instead. Advertising Looking for research paper on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One thing I hate about this incidence is that instead of finding an easier way of solving the problem, Johnny, a greaser, opted to commit murder. It is sad that Bob, who played a critical role in defending the Socs, lost his life in such an unfortunate way. The death of Bob increased the rivalry between the two contending gangs. Ponyboy thinks, â€Å"That was the first time I realized the extent of Johnnys hero-worship for Dallas Winston† (Hinton, 1967, p.76). This is another phrase that captures my attention in the novel. After reading Gone with the Wind, the boys come to terms with what they are going through. I like this phrase because the book managed to open Ponyboy’s eyes such that he was able to seen the extent to which Dallas has been idolize d. On the other hand, I doesn’t like the notion that the boys were unable to realize their own sense of worth by having a high esteem of the concerning the ideas of Dallas. The tension between the two rival groups continued to increased after Ponyboy and Johnny came to that abrupt realization. And, Dallas even started to walk around with an gun so as to threaten his enemies. â€Å"Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs. Sometimes I think it’s the ones in the middle that are really the lucky stiffs† (Hinton, 1967, p.117). These words were spoken by Randy. He was informing Ponyboy that he will cease to engage in fights in the rumble. I find these words interesting because they signify the futility of the conflicts between the two groups. Randy brings a good point by suggesting that the recurring Soc-greaser conflict will make them unable to rise above their social identities. This message is important in the story since it signifies the soci oeconomic differences that were the root cause of the bitter rivalry between the two gang groups. These disparities between the social classes were the source of the tension between the greasers and the Socs. Reference List Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. (1967). New York: Viking Press, Dell Publishing.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More

Financial Ratio Analysis for BAE Systems Plc Case Study

Financial Ratio Analysis for BAE Systems Plc - Case Study Example After the September 11 tragedy which shocked the global business environment becomes a grim reminder for nations to improve their defense systems. BAE Systems Plc (BAE) traces its origin to the 7.7 billion merger of Marconi Electronic Systems which is the defense electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company Plc and British Aerospace which specializes in the manufacture of aircraft, ammunition, and naval systems. Out of these prestigious business organizations, its establishment in 1999 equipped with a unique competitive advantage which enables it to position itself as the third largest global defence company and sixth largest US defense company employing 97, 500 highly skilled people. Financial ratio analysis is a very essential tool in assessing the financial health of a business entity. It enables a financial analyst to spot trends in a business and to compare it with the performance of similar business enterprises within the same industry. This tool is currently utilized by business managers, investors, creditors, suppliers, and other decision makers in order to determine the financial performance and well being of a business organisation. ... These are profitability ratios, financial leverage ratios, liquidity/solvency ratios, and efficiency ratios. In order to get a deeper insight of BAE's financial performance, its computed financial ratios will be benchmarked with its competitor's Cobham Plc. The rationale of choosing these two business organizations is simple. It should be noted that both of them are regarded as important players in the global pharmaceutical industry. Being in the same line of business and the same industry, it is right to assume that BAE and Cobham Plc both face the same challenges and opportunities in the sector under consideration. This assumption justifies the comparability of their financial performance during the fiscal years. 2.1. Profitability Ratios Profitability ratios measure the ability of the company to generate income from its investments less the costs incurred (Fraser & Ormiston 2004). The ratios computed for this category are return on capital employed, sales profit margin, and return on equity. Return on capital employed is a variant of return on investment which measures how well the company is utilizing its capital. The computed sales profit margin, which is the ratio of operating income to sales measures as a percentage of sales, show the excess revenue from sales over cost of normal operation excluding financing. On the other hand, return on equity measures how much wealth is created for the company's stockholders for every shares that they have on hand (Fraser and Ormiston 2006). Logically, higher performance ratios indicate a healthier financial condition. Table 1. Profitability Ratios Comparison Table 1 shows the comparative profitability

Lloyds Bank Building and the Northern Rock Building Essay

Lloyds Bank Building and the Northern Rock Building - Essay Example The pillars have connotations of classical antiquity, while the carvings are reminiscent of an age when craftsmanship was valued and used as a demonstration of wealth and success. Ordinary buildings like homes and shops did not have these features, and they were reserved for the aristocracy and for civic buildings, imparting an air of authority and â€Å"establishment†. This is the origin of the rather conservative cultural meaning that the building conveys (Rotenberg, 1993).   Quite apart from these historic features of the Lloyds bank building, there are also distinctive visual elements which convey meanings to the observer. The building is taller than it is broad, which suggests a towering presence that dwarfs the viewer. The implication is that the bank is both strong and dominant, providing a stable, if somewhat stern, or even forbidding presence on the high street. The rather narrow door is brought slightly forward of the main building and set to the left, with a series of steps leading up to it. This suggests that entry to the bank is a privilege granted only to those who are worthy to climb the steps and enter its narrow frame. The entrance is dark and reveals nothing of the interior. This increases the mystery of the institution for the uninitiated, and the feeling of privilege for insiders, and this illustrates the contested nature of meaning when it comes to architectural spaces (Gieryn, 2000).   The bank’s name is positioned in modestly proportioned uppercase letters above the door as if to emphasize the act of entering this special portal. There is no distraction or adornment to the name, which is allowed to stand as the main advertising feature of the whole building.

Tale Of Genji Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Tale Of Genji - Essay Example Art and literature flourished in Japan even in ancient times. Japanese writings showed that ancient Japanese placed great premium on culture such as painting, poetry, prose, music, dramatic performances and all genres of literature. Ancient writers and artists i.e. poets, musicians, painters were then hailed as an elite group who were notches above the rest and special groups of people to be venerated and esteemed with high regard. And such writings showed that these predilections and love for art and literature even pre-dated that of European and American passion for art and literature. However, it had been claimed that most of these writings were mere oral literature because the Japanese failed to independently devise their own kind of syllabaric script and thus failed to find a means of recording their language. Thus, most of this oral literature perished (Keene 19). It was only when the Japanese (and the Koreans, too) discovered the Chinese Kanji script, the ancient Chinese metho d of writing that the Japanese were able to put into writing the works of their writers who then described the high level of culture in ancient Japan (Snowling & Hulme 23). Yet, many of this oral literature were luckily integrated into Japan’s first known surviving book, the Kojiki or â€Å"Record of Ancient Matters†. This book featured poetry, songs, myths, legends, customs and traditions, language and ancient Japanese history (Chamberlain i,ii).

Change is a feature of modern life; discuss and critically analyse how Essay

Change is a feature of modern life; discuss and critically analyse how a nurse can manage change in order to deliver effective patient care - Essay Example The presentation of current conditions regarding the above issue is also followed with views of literature on the specific subject with an effort to choose and evaluate the most appropriate model for the presentation of the nurse-patient relationship as been formulated under the influence of change in the internal and the external organizational environment. Change management is the process [1] of developing ‘a planned approach to change in an organization’. In this context it can be assumed that its main objective is ‘to maximize the collective benefits for all people involved in the change and minimize the risk of failure of implementing the change’. For the above reasons, it has been found that the discipline of change management ‘deals primarily with the human aspect of change, and is therefore related to pure and industrial psychology’. There are several theories referring to the role and the structure of change management, the most known of which is that of Lewin. Lewin’s theory of force field analysis (Lewin 1951) is widely used in change management and can be used to help understand most change processes in organisations. In force field analysis change, is characterised as ‘a state of imbalance between driving forces (e.g. new personnel, changing markets, new technology) and restraining forces (e.g. individuals fear of failure, organisational inertia)’. Moreover, in order to achieve change ‘towards a goal or vision three steps are required: Third, once the change is complete the forces are brought back into quasi-equilibrium and re-frozen’. The above theory although explains the role of secondary forces in an organizational environment does not offer an adequate explanation regarding the criteria on which the ‘frozen, de-frozen’ procedures are going to be based. Moreover, it has been

International peopel management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International peopel management - Essay Example However this is not a child’s play despite all the help and guidance provided by the books and articles on this respective subject. Managers who are putting an effort to find out face several problems and hurdles and this is what this article will deal with the problems of investigating employee commitment in an organization. Before we move on to the main topic of our discussion it is very important that we make clear that exactly employment commitment is, what are the different types, why is it so important and what are the symptoms of low employment commitment. This is what this section will deal in. Employment commitment in simple English can be defined as the emotional connection that a worker feels towards his or her organization. Along with this it is also the degree to which he associates himself with his respective firm and the feeling of belonging he has for the firm. In short it can be defined as the attachment of an emotional level to ones firm. It will be a surprise to know that not all types of commitment are desirable and they also have different factors that lead to different types of commitments (Kickul 2001). For the purpose of understanding we will take up two kinds of commitment here, the first one being effective commitment which is the true emotional connection of an individual havin g with the firm. This is also known as organizational loyalty. However this emotional connection can be towards peers, customers, profession or the job and not necessarily the whole of the organization. The second type of commitment is the continuance commitment. This is not completely an emotional connection but more of a mental act. This basically exists when employees feel that it is best for them to stay with the firm they are working for their personal benefit. For instance, if they find their firm progressing effectively and successfully they will find it