Why It Is Important to Develop Sustainable Cities?

Why it is important to develop sustainable cities? With the rapid development of urbanization, there are an increasing number of serious problems emerging all over the world, especially in some developing countries. Therefore, if we want to live a sustainable life without destroying the natural resources and wildlife, some effective and feasible sustainable development policies must be taken step by step from now on. Firstly, too many people move from rural areas to urban areas, along with the high growth rate and the low death rate in the cities, which has led to space and housing shortages.There is no enough room for such a large amount people living in the cities, so poor housing conditions, such as squatter settlements and shanty towns are unavoidable. Such poorly constructive and unplanned shacks are usually lack of running water, electricity and sewage systems. Additional, people who live in the slums cannot afford to good quality education, healthcare and social services. To s olve the housing problems, one way is to improve the infrastructure and boost the employment opportunities in rural areas to inspire people to move back to countryside.Another solution is to build â€Å"satellite New Towns† and â€Å"New Territories† near the cities to disperse overcrowded people, like Hong Kong where it has made process on building the high-rise blocks of flats in new settlements. Secondly, the severe pollution problems are more obvious in the cities than those in the countryside. Because of the emission of cars and chemical factories, air pollution has become the biggest challenge for most city governors.It is essential to follow sustainable development policies, such as encouraging mass transit and building fast and efficient transport systems to find alternatives to cars. At the same time, regulations and laws are critical methods to fine or even close badly polluting factories and workshops but encourage environmental-friendly production activitie s. Lastly, there is continuous big concern on exhausting of non-renewable energy resources, i. e. oil, wood, gasoline and minerals. If we overuse and overexploit such energy resources blindly, how can our next generation live?So it is an urgent issue for human beings to discover and make good use of locally available renewable energy (solar, wind and biogas etc. ), which are clean and unlimited, but it will have so many limiting factors to make use of them, like technical financial restrictions. Overall, apparently, practical and feasible sustainable development policies are able to address most problems which come across in the process of human society developing. Therefore, it is vital and necessary to make more and more sustainable policies to keep the pace of urbanization. Word count: 418 words

Mgmt 1

Project Charter Template GenRays HRIS System Project Charter GenRays 3/1/2012 Table of Contents Project Title Purpose Description Objective Success Criteria or Expected Benefits Funding Major Deliverables Acceptance Criteria Milestone Schedule Approval Requirements Project Manager Authorized by Project Title GenRays HRIS System Purpose Based upon stakeholder interviews the purpose for the HRIS system is to improve productivity, improve communication with potential employees, improve recruitment of qualified candidates, improve payroll efficiency processes, and improve overall Human Resource processes.Description The HRIS project will provide a significant boost to the overall human resources and payroll processes. By providing an automated online system for applications, potential candidates for positions may easily monitor the application process. In addition to this benefit, the updated employee database could be used to automatically fill out electronic forms and allow integration of multiple enhancements such as a leave system, employee training management, data reporting capabilities and employee monitored career paths. ObjectiveWe will work with the Information Technology, Human Resources, and Payroll departments to determine the best product that meets the needs of all units involved. By reviewing the available solutions and determining the overall expectations of the company as a whole, we may select a solution that provides for the expectations of those units. After the selection process we will work with the same units to configure the HRIS solution specifically for GenRays and the track the outcomes of the implementation. Success Criteria or Expected BenefitsImplementation of the HRIS System will address the following expectations:  ·Provide a career track for existing employees  ·Increase payroll process efficiency and productivity  ·Provide an online application solution with tracking capability  ·Provide more transparency in hiring  ·Pro vide enhanced review of job applicant credentials  ·Process payroll automatically  ·Process expense reports automatically  ·Enhance recruiting capabilities  ·Improve productivity in relation to electronic forms  ·Reduction of data entry error for payroll Provide a standard performance review system while reducing paperwork  ·Integrate performance reviews with a standard compensation schedule  ·Provide a standard position control system  ·Integrate performance reviews with training to evaluate training outcomes  ·Provide a leave management system  ·Provide an enhanced employee communication system  ·Reduce overall number of database systems managed Funding The funding for the HRIS project should be address by the VP of Finance. Generally, because the project supports that area most directly, the project ost should be assumed by that unit. It is possible that the CEO may be willing to fully fund the project due to his interest level. It is also possible that the project may be jointly funded with several units providing funding for their area of interest. For example, the HR unit may elect to absorb the cost of the HRIS system software license and associated internal personnel required for the project. Moreover, the IT unit may absorb the cost of the database migration and any human capital associated with the migration. Major Deliverables  ·Selection of HRIS Software Development of forecasted and estimated budget  ·Implementation of HRIS Software into test environment  ·Implementation of career tracking configuration  ·Implementation of payroll automation  ·Implementation of online applications  ·Implementation of performance review system  ·Implementation of employee communication system  ·Implementation of data analysis and reporting capabilities  ·Implementation of HRIS Software in production environment  ·Migration of existing data into database Acceptance Criteria  ·Selection of HRIS Software oReview of proposals and features of software.Selection by project stakeholders including CEO, VP Finance, VP Marketing, IT Director, HR Director, VP Manufacturing and Plant Managers.  ·Development of forecasted and estimated budget oReview of proposals, human capital and budget allotments for procurement. Involving project stakeholders including CEO, VP Finance, VP Marketing, IT Director, HR Director, VP Manufacturing and Plant Managers.  ·Implementation of HRIS Software into test environment oImplementation of Software by solution provider and IT unit.  ·Implementation of career tracking configuration Configuration, training and testing by HR and IT.  ·Implementation of payroll automation oConfiguration, training and testing by Accounting (payroll) and IT.  ·Implementation of online applications oConfiguration, training and testing by HR, Marketing and IT.  ·Implementation of performance review system oConfiguration, training and testing by HR and IT.  ·Implementation of employee commun ication system oConfiguration, training and testing by HR and IT.  ·Implementation of data analysis and reporting capabilities oConfiguration, training and testing by HR and IT. Implementation of HRIS Software in production environment o Implementation of Software by solution provider and IT unit.  ·Migration of existing data into database oImplementation of Software by solution provider and IT unit. Milestone Schedule  ·Selection of HRIS Software oReview of proposals and features of software. Selection by project stakeholders including CEO, VP Finance, VP Marketing, IT Director, HR Director, VP Manufacturing and Plant Managers.  ·Development of forecasted and estimated budget oReview of proposals, human capital and budget allotments for procurement.Involving project stakeholders including CEO, VP Finance, VP Marketing, IT Director, HR Director, VP Manufacturing and Plant Managers. Milestone 1 (Selection and Budgeting – February 1, 2013) – Approvals by CEO, VP Finance, VP Marketing, IT Director, HR Director, VP Manufacturing and Plant Managers for HRIS selection and budget. From this point procurement of the HRIS solution and management of procurement begins.  ·Implementation of HRIS Software into test environment oImplementation of Software by solution provider and IT unit.  ·Implementation of career tracking configuration Configuration, training and testing by HR and IT.  ·Implementation of payroll automation oConfiguration, training and testing by Accounting (payroll) and IT.  ·Implementation of online applications oConfiguration, training and testing by HR, Marketing and IT.  ·Implementation of performance review system oConfiguration, training and testing by HR and IT.  ·Implementation of employee communication system oConfiguration, training and testing by HR and IT.  ·Implementation of data analysis and reporting capabilities oConfiguration, training and testing by HR and IT.Milestone 2 – (Configuration and Tes ting – August 15, 2013) – Approval to move into the production environment after confirming configuration and expectations to be completed by CEO, VP Finance, VP Marketing, IT Director, HR Director, VP Manufacturing and Plant Managers.  ·Implementation of HRIS Software in production environment o Implementation of Software by solution provider and IT unit.  ·Migration of existing data into database oImplementation of Software by solution provider and IT unit.Milestone 3 (Training – October 1, 2013) – Delivery of training to all employees utilizing the system. Milestone 34(Go Live – October 15, 2013) – Approval by IT unit that all features function correctly and are certified for quality. Approval Requirements Overall the assigned portions of the project need to be approved by the individual units as identified in the acceptance criteria section. Because individuals from the stakeholder areas are responsible for assisting in the configura tion and training portions of the project these areas will require approvals as they are completed.In addition, the overall project will require sign-off from all stakeholders in order to verify that expectations are met and we may implement into a production environment. In relation to change, a change management process will be put in place with direct approval coming from the Project Manager. The project manager will work to ensure that the expectations are reasonable, adhere to the scope, and are a technical feature of the selected HRIS solution. Once the project reaches the closing phase a final approval is required from the President and CEO indicating project completion. Project Manager Dara S. Fann Authorized by Date:

Bioethics Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Bioethics - Dissertation Example The main debate centres on whether and how bioethics should influence public policies to influence the some of the recent researches taking place in the arena of biotechnological sciences. Various groups see risks in these new scientific processes, their perceptions varying depending on their cultural, religious, and scientific background, governmental policies, and various other factors. The human genome project is one such area of study that has caused great concerns amongst the various social, religious, and scientific circles. The various social, legal, and ethical, implications of the new researches on the subject of human genetics have raised questions on the appropriateness of continuing in the future with such researches. This paper will explore the links between bioethics and the human genome project, and will study to find the appropriateness of this project in terms of ethical, moral, and religious values. Bioethics and the appropriateness of the human genome project 1 Met hodology All forms of undertaken research work consist of a fixed procedure, made up of a series of varying queries on the selected theme, that are systematic in nature. These systematic enquires enable the research scholar, to imbibe new knowledge on that particular theme. This thesis paper will comprise of both primary and secondary work, though the primary nature of the research work carried out in this paper is secondary research. Secondary research work generally tends to create a broader perspective for the concerned researcher to study and collect a large number of required data from various resources. The research process methodology as followed for this paper is based on the outline given by Graziano & Raulin, in their paper. Personal experience other’s research Initial idea procedures design study analysis Communication Interpretation Stimulating Others Research Fig: 3- Research process methodology by Graziano & Raulin, 2009, 40. The research paper is qualitative in nature and also uses an inductive and analytical method, which would make it easier for the researcher to come to a conclusion from various collected pieces of facts and evidences Summarily, this research process will consist of first locating all the relevant data and then studying and analyzing all the available data on this topic; then critical assumptions will be made from the gathered data; while, further supporting material will be collected to provide supporting evidence for all the opinions expressed and conclusions derived. 2 Discussion/analysis â€Å"It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material† ~ Watson & Crick (1953) The advancement in medical sciences, biology, and technology, has brought about new procedures and developments that potentially have the capability of being both beneficial and harmful, to the living world. Bioethics as a subject is primarily con cerned with the various debates and controversies

Understanding Mystery from the Perspectives of the Bermuda Triangle Research Paper

Understanding Mystery from the Perspectives of the Bermuda Triangle - Research Paper Example The mystery surrounding this busy sea-route derives from the fact that many ships, as well as airplanes, passing through this, have been reported to have disappeared without a trace. Thus, it becomes an intriguing proposition to evaluate the mystery that surrounds the Bermuda Triangle to understand the term mystery. The subject of the mystery is not the Triangle as such, which is naturally formed and is a physical place, not a figment of the imagination. Due to the mysterious incidents of disappearances that occurred in the area, some people also call it the Devil’s Triangle. No US government file has identified the location of Bermuda Triangle or for that matter, the Board of Geographic Names. However, the name continues to serve as a synonym for mystery, due to various instances of reported missing of ships entering the area of airplanes flying over the triangle. It adds to the element of mystery that no probable logical cause can be assigned to such disappearances. Thus, from the episodes of disappearances attributed to the Bermuda Triangle, which are beyond any reasonable explanation, it can be construed that a mystery is something that is beyond the scope of logical explanations. The geographical positioning of the Bermuda Triangle, as per existing interpretations, is off the Southeastern coast of the United States in the Atlantic Ocean, with its vertices touching Bermuda, Miami, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, roughly grounded in 500,000 square miles (Obringer, 2012). The name â€Å"Devil’s Triangle† is associated with Bermuda because once it has been known as â€Å"the Isle of Devils.† The reefs surrounding the area are quite tricky to the sailing ships, resulting in the wreckage of many and, thus, the place acquired the notoriety associated with its name.  

Learning Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Learning Journal - Essay Example † Also, the paper will reflect on the project, world of different project, and how it relate to the topics learnt in the course of non profit organization and non government organization. This paper will also give insight on how the world of difference project supported by Vodafone foundation has benefited the local communities. As reported by the Ghana News Agency on 10 November, 2011, the world of difference project spearheaded by the Vodafone Foundation is yet again seeing the light of the day. The project was designed in the year 2010 with an aim of â€Å"positively impacting the lives of less privileged communities and individuals by leveraging on individual and corporate philanthropy.† Non government organization and professionals have been in the forefront of realizing the dreams and spirit of the project. This year, the project received 500 applications of which 50 applicants were successful and have been inducted. The project involves professionals, intellectuals and expert who normally are attached to work in non government organization for a period of two months and given a monthly allowance of between â€Å"GH ¢ 1,000 to GH ¢ 2,000.† According to the Ghana News Agency, the project has greatly benefitted the community. Looking at the driving forces for the development of the world of difference project and the design of the world of difference project implemented by Vodafone Foundation, it resonates and relates well with the aspects learnt in the course, non government organization and non profit organization. In the above article by the Ghana News Agency, it is implied that most non profit organization and non government organization are dependent on donor funding which include: grants, government contribution, corporate institution support and individual donation. Getting funding is always a great challenge. In case an organization secures funding, many conditions are always attached to it with fund utilization limited to budget lines. Also the

Concept of multiple intelligences Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Concept of multiple intelligences - Assignment Example Gardener however emphasizes that there might be more forms of intelligence apart from these eight. There have been speculations of the possibility of existence of an experiential intelligence or spiritual intelligence or the ability to reflect on the big questions about life’s meaning. This idea of separate abilities by Gardener is based on evidence that in the instance of brain damage, the functioning of just one area, for instance language, is affected or interfered with and not the functioning of other areas. Another point of proof is the fact that a person may perform extremely well in any one of these eight areas but have no noteworthy abilities in the other seven. Gardener argues that intelligence refers to the ability to resolve problems and also make outcomes and products that are of value to a culture. There have been various values placed on these eight intelligences in different periods of history and cultures. In cultures with more emphasis on technology, mathemati cal and verbal intelligences are crucial while in cultures that are farming-oriented, a naturalist intelligence is important. Additionally, Gardener is of the opinion that the foundation of intelligence is biological in nature (Gardener, 1998). However, he does not refute that a general ability exists, but poses the question of how useful it is in accounting for various human achievements. Though the multiple intelligence theory by Gardener has been adopted by many educators, it has not been widely accepted in the scientific community. Some critics argue that a number of the intelligences are not at all new. Separate spatial and verbal abilities have been discovered by many researchers. Additionally, correlations among the abilities and the eight intelligences are not autonomous in nature. Spatial and logical-mathematical intelligences have a high correlation (Hoy & Hoy, 2009). Effective Uses of Multiple Intelligences The multiple intelligence view is advantageous since it amplifies individuals’ mode of thinking about different abilities and teaching avenues. There are various ways of using multiple intelligences to ensure good results in the classroom setting. Firstly, using this technique, schools can go about a discipline, general idea or subject matter in diverse manners. This caters for diverse needs of students. Many schools have previously been culprits of trying to cover too much too quickly. It is however more sensible to spend a substantial amount of time on the main crucial questions, productive ideas and concepts and let students familiarize themselves with such ideas and what they imply. There should therefore be effective utilization of changing instructions and a variety of methods of teaching used in the course of the day. So as to keep the students concentrated on the specific instructions, they should be made aware of differing strategies within a certain time period. The presentation of a single lesson can be done in a number of diffe rent ways. For example, when a lesson is introduced by oral, physical and visual means, the needs of every individual student are catered for by the teacher hence ensuring all students are fully engaged in class. This in turn increases the probabilities of students’

Week 5 d1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Week 5 d1 - Essay Example Because of this, organizations can develop efficient and productive business process, which meets the expectations of the market. Management integration brings all operations under one roof or umbrella, which is the core in developing parameters for improvements as well as checking the progress (TechNet, 2014). Additionally, management integration helps in network management by event monitoring, security and reviewing performance (TechNet, 2014). It becomes easier to monitor the performances of an integrated management because all the departments are together. Similarly, it allows for automatic reporting that is vital to making the organization to progress (TechNet, 2014). Lastly, management integration assists in network management by offering support response as well as alert services that an organization may require at any given time (TechNet, 2014). It allows for timely delivery of information or critical data as may be needed at any given time to assist the organization is meeting the goals. For instance, Integration with IBM NetView network management system is essential in automatic reporting (TechNet, 2014). There are also other network management services, which offer different services required by the

Cross Culture Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Cross Culture Management - Essay Example Hofstede’s culture model entails four dimensions that are critical in differentiating the national and organization culture. The dimensions include the masculinity versus femininity index (MAS), the individualism versus collectivism index (IDV), power distance index (PDI) and uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) (Cullen and Parboteeah 51).The masculinity refers to the degree to which the society maintains the distinction of traditional male and female roles. The individualism versus collectivism dimension refers to how the cultural values promote ties between the people and processes of decision-making (Cullen and Parboteeah 51). The power distance index (PDI) refers to the degree inequality is evident in the society especially in the distribution of power while the uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) refers to ability of the members of the society to anticipate uncertainty such as taking risk, engaging in conflicts and stability of laws and governance (Cullen and Parboteeah 51). The power distance index refers to the power distribution in the society and degree of inequality that exists (Cullen and Parboteeah 52). Chinese culture has a high power distance index unlike American culture that has low power distance index. This means that inequalities are high in Chinese culture as there are well-defined social classes and status in the society (Cullen and Parboteeah 52). On the other hand, the low power distance in American culture means that power is dispersed and shared. In China, the organizations have a centralized control, high hierarchies, and long chain of command. The members of Chinese companies acknowledge and show high respect to the leaders’ power and decision-making takes place at close-door meetings at the top management level. In American culture, the organizations advocate for decentralization of power and authority

ETHICAL DILEMAS INTERNATONALIZING FIRMS HAVE FACED Research Proposal

ETHICAL DILEMAS INTERNATONALIZING FIRMS HAVE FACED - Research Proposal Example Each party comes with marketing transactions according to their cultural backgrounds of how the businesses should exist as well as how business should be implemented (Mozur 2015). Each aspect of marketing has ethical implications. Ethical implications in marketing study include incursion of privacy along with stereotyping (Brislin & Yoshida, 1994). Stereotyping happens because of analysis of real population in order to make applications as well as placing individuals into groups (Merriam, 2001). However, if it is conducted irresponsibly it might lead to ethical objectionable results. In this perspective, selective market is mostly used to depress demand from unwanted market sectors. A number of unethical market barring includes past business stances to the gay, cultural minority as well as plus size markets (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2012). Insufficient skills in marketing ploys is another ethical issue that is connected to vulnerable audiences in developing

Analysis of conversation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis of conversation - Assignment Example Analysis of a conversation is the study of trying to describe the structure and order that a conversation takes place in. every dialogue or interaction that takes place between people has a particular way of functioning attached to it. Presented forth are two conversation analyses that have taken place in two different instances and situations. Both conversations are fairly informal in nature, with the second conversation having a hint of formality between the speakers. Conversation Analysis 1 Speech Acts and Moves: In the first conversation, speaker A is very hesitant and is holding himself from completely speaking what he wants to, perhaps due to certain inconsistencies in his character. The use of a directive speech act has been made by A in lines 1 and 3 in the form of a request. He asks questions in lines 6, 10 and 13 whereas B asks a question in line 4. Future actions or Commissives have also been used in lines 15A and 14B. He does not wish to come across as someone who is not able to afford the paint, and thus messes up his sentences in trying to clarify their costs with the shop keeper. He takes a number of pauses in his speech and conveys a lot of uncertainty in his dialogue whereas B is very sure of himself and promptly replies to everything he is asked. Illocutionary acts involve making conversation very concisely, in a manner that helps to put forth clearly the message that one wishes to speak. However, as compared to Conversation 1, conversation 2 is much clearer in conveying what the speakers want to ask each other. Moves are also present in the discourse at lines 3 and 4 as the conversation moves gradually from one speaker to another. Turn taking and Pauses: Taking turns to speak is a very fundamental aspect of any conversation. Turns are taken between speakers participating in a conversation when one wants to compare the conversation to a certain norm or make a comparison between two dialogues. B helps A speak by giving him chances to voice his opinions and takes his own turns with great patience to speak except for when B interrupted A at 4 with his line 5. Also, in line 10, B began his dialogue beforehand, as an appended term tag, already predicting the answer to A’s dialogue in line 11. There are many pauses in the conversation, for example in lines 5, 15 and 16, all by A as he was very unsure of his speech. Adjacency Pairs: This is an aspect of conversation analysis where the conversation tends to take place in responsive pairs. In the first conversation, an adjacency pair is noticeable as the conversation is taking place between A and B side by side with both parties trying their best to carry on the conversation and help the other speak the next sentence. The answer to A’s question in line 6 has been answered by B in line 9. Much the same way, 9 has been replied to in line 10 and finally 16 and 17 are another adjacency pair as B apologizes in the final line. Cooperative Principle: Cooperative principles help to define how people react and speak with one another. A person who makes use of this principle always helps to add more to the conversation and take it further to another level. This involves cooperating with the sentences and dialogues spoken by the other parties engaging in the same conversation in a manner that helps to take the conversation ahead. All these actions indicate uneasiness and hesitance which further tell us that he is not interested in carrying on the conversati

Charles Darwin Essay Example for Free

Charles Darwin Essay Charles Darwin was a British scientist who came up with the idea of the theory of Evolution. He was also a botanist which would be one of the reasons what lead him towards inventing his Theory of Evolution. Why and How? Charles Darwin travelled to the Galapagos Island as a biologist. He travelled on a ship which was undertaking surveys of the Pacific Ocean. His voyage was to examine plants and animals on the islands through which he came up with Theory of Evolution. Charles Darwin came up with his Theory of Evolution after surveying birds on each island he went to. He saw finches but they all had different beaks, one finch had a long beak the other had a short beak and another had a dipping beak. After seeing all this Charles Darwin started thinking and so he thought why does one bird have a long beak and the other have a small beak. During his voyage on the beagle he carried on observing and found fossils and also saw consistent results for which he came up with the theory of evolution. His theory explained that all living things have a common ancestor. The finches he discovered had different beaks and so he came up with the conclusion that all of these finches had a common ancestor and then they a ll evolved from that common ancestor. Hypothesis Charles Darwin’s hypothesis was that every living thing has a common ancestor and that we all evolve from that common ancestor. His reason for us all evolving was that so we can adapt with the nature around us and survive. For example giraffes have long necks, according to Charles Darwin these giraffes had a common ancestor who had short necks from time to time a mutation resulted in a giraffe having a long neck. The reason being is so that, the giraffe could reach the trees better and get extra food and be more prone to stay alive and reproduce than all of the other giraffes. Eventually, the attribute would be passed down until generally most giraffes had long necks. Evidence and proof Jean Baptise Lamarck, who was a French naturalist, discovered his own theory before Charles Darwin discovered his Theory of Evolution. Lamarck’s theory was that organisms would pass their attribute down to their generations for example if someone was to loos their arm then their coming baby would be born without a arm and then it would get passed down the generation and then eventually you would find most people without an arm. Charles Darwin’s theory contradicted to Lamarck’s theory and so people didn’t believe in his Theory of Evolution. Also Charles Darwin lacked in evidence because he had no evidence that all the finches have a common ancestor or that all organisms have an common ancestor and so because of him not having enough evidence he lacked proof and so his theory wasn’t reliable.

Judging Means Forming An Opinion Philosophy Essay

Judging Means Forming An Opinion Philosophy Essay Judging means forming an opinion or conclusion about the subject it self, in this case it s a person that were judging. This action requiers a lot of responsibility, it takes a short time to judges a person, but it needs quite long time to make it right. When it comes to the first judgment of a persons character, many people the appearance as their criterian. However, in my point of view, this is not a wise to make the real judgment of a person. Ussualy people conclude poeple so fast becuase they are looking from the outside. You know what the said dont judge the books by its cover. Meaning that by looking at a book you think it is bad when you didnt even read the prologue yet or even the back of the book. This quote tell you to judge people from their personality, just like judging a book people wont read if the cover page is ugly and that is the mistakes that they are making. The point is judging people from their first imperssion is not wrong, but it ussually does, why dont you g ive him or her a chance. Taking a conclusion of someone may set your mind forever about that person and you wont know tha truth about that person unless you giver him or her a chance and you will change your mind either making it better or worse. This are some reasons why you shouldnt judge people on their first impression;Your opinion might be wrong. As i said before you may miss judge them. judging people before you know them starts nothing but drama. The bible it self said that Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment from John 7:24. Assuming is technically different from knowing. You never know one day that person may be the one you have to rely on! They might change over time. People in this life always changes either better or worse. eople act different from others and some people have their own kind of way of gestures. Things are not always how they seem, or how we think we see them. It is always a good policy to not only give the benefit of the doubt, but to get all the facts before we rush to judgment about people and situations. Another good policy is to remember that everything is not about us. Another persons attitude, body language, comments, beliefs, etc may not have anything at all to do with us personally; and may have absolutely everything to do with them and what is going on in their own life. Time is needed to came up with a precise conclusion , People act different from others and some people have their own kind of way of gestures. Not everyone is born the same, that is why it makes every one unique in their own way. First impressions arent a good thing and it shouldnt be done. You have to get to know the person first before you judge them! Once you get to know the person, then you can judge them by who they are. It takes more time and effort to really get to know a person before judging them.   Im not sure if we can totally override our preconceptions, but I think we must try to quiet them while we delve deeper.   The color of a persons skin shouldnt matter nor should their age, sex, weight, or what clothes they wear.   There are many interesting, smart, and valuable people that dont fit the mold that our society has created.   It is up to us to decide how we will judge people. Dont be Mr. I know every things and asume that you are always right. There is only on e lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:12. You may judges others un-fairly just to justify you own ego. Your ego may affects how you judges others. Considering that everyone can have a bad day, people ussualy leting themself judge beyond that. You may miss the bigest part if you take point to early. You couldnt realy know what is insideem. Above all do we realy need to judge people ? many people waste their time in jugding people. we spend a lot of time judging people then we are wasting the time we have that we could be enjoying them, or loving them. They dont even think about them self. I am not saying that is wrong to judge others but at least you should concertrate on your self rather than keep comment on someone else. It is human nature to judge others based upon initial impressions. We may pretend that it is otherwise, however, we all form first impressions which are difficult to undo in our minds. We may train ourselves to open our minds and not allow our first impressions to close doors; however it remains in our nature to judge. If we use our intellect rather than our emotional response we will remain open too learning about people despite our first impressions, even find that we were mistaken in our initial judgments. There are many things about a person that we judge based upon our life experiences that have no relevance to theirs, this often leads to mistakes. There is also the issue of what is within the control of the person that we are meeting for the first time and what is outside of their control. Leaping to judgment based upon our own experiences and expectations can only lead too lost opportunities that enrich our lives. In short its better if we don not judge people, but if it is necessary dont judge them in their first impression.

Impact of Campaign Appearances on Key Constituencies

Impact of Campaign Appearances on Key Constituencies Abstract Why do people vote the way they do and what can candidates do to sway the votes of those that go to the polls? Do people cast their votes based on the policies advanced by a candidate, rational self-interest, or political campaigns and the get-the-vote-out efforts (e.g. campaign appearances, advertising, door-to-door canvassing, leaflets, phone banks, electronic mail)? Which one of these influences most the number of votes a candidate gets in elections? Recent studies in voting behaviour point out to an increased importance of get-the-vote-out strategies. The purpose of the present paper is to explore the effects of one type of get-the-vote-out efforts more precisely, local visits by the candidate or incumbent in a certain constituency and the strategies politicians employ in order to increase the number of votes they get. I take as a case study the Romanian 2009 presidential election. I look at whether the abovementioned type of get-the-vote-out efforts made a difference in the number of votes the candidates got. Social scientists have recently started to pay increasing attention to matching in an attempt to infer causation based on experiments that rely on observational studies. In order to test my hypotheses I use matching as a main method. In addition to it, I conducted content analysis on printed and audio-visual media and run several OLS regressions. The results show that only one candidates campaign appearances were marginally significant in statistical terms and did have an effect on the number of votes that candidate got. INTRODUCTION Voting means freedom of expression in terms of political views; in any democracy, it is the ultimate method through which a mature, informed, law-abiding individual expresses his/her decision about how he/she wants to be ruled. It is about representation and participation; it is the assumption that those casting the vote are politically knowledgeable and want to express that knowledge (Popkin vs. Converse, Popkin, 2006). Thus, one of the key elements that candidates to public offices need to bear in mind is the fact that they must persuade the average individual not only to participate in the electoral process (and exercise their Constitutional right to freedom of expression) but also to cast a vote in their favour. The standard literature on voting behaviour lists as factors that influence the voters preferences for one candidate or another, elements such as: the position of the candidate on certain issues and their respective policy priorities, ideological attachments, rational self-interest (which candidates policies best fit the voters private interests) Kim 2009 and Sears et al. 1979, discussants (the political preferences of people one esteems, trust etc.), and charisma (Popkin 2004, Lau and Redlawsk, 2006). However, these elements fail to explain much of the realities in newer democracies, for instance post-communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe such as Romania. Even in old democracies, researchers have started to focus more on political campaigning and advertising as factors that make individuals cast a vote for a particular candidate. The broad category of political campaigning includes: campaign appearances, advertising (TV spots and billboard ads), door-to-door canvassing, leaflets, phone banks, direct and electronic mail. This approach has proven to be a promising stream in voting behaviour research, as many studies conducted in the U.S. show. A somewhat similar study was conducted after the 2000 election in the U.S., by King and Morehouse (2005), their aim being to demonstrate that the Gore Mississippi River trip of August 2000 was paramount in moving voter preferences for this candidate in the states included in the itinerary of the trip this being a more productive campaign scheme than television ads and media consulting services. The natural question that emerges thus is to what extent political campaigning has an effect on voters preference for one candidate or another. The present paper aims at exploring this question by focusing on the case of the Romanian presidential election of 2009. Of all the abovementioned types of political campaigning I decided to take into account the candidates electoral visits in different towns, the main reason being the fact that this the most commonly used in Romania. Therefore, the main research question that this paper raises is: Do campaign appearances have an effect on the number of votes a particular candidate gets in elections? To answer this question I test one main hypothesis: H1: In towns where a particular candidate already enjoyed a high number of supporters, that candidates electoral visit led to an increase in the number of votes he got. Several additional hypotheses are tested, although they do not refer strictly to the core research problem the effect of making appearances on the number of votes a candidate gets in election. H2: Candidates organizing electoral visits in constituencies leads to an increase in the turnout of a particular election. H3: Candidates organizing electoral visits in constituencies lead to an increase in the added number of votes of those respective candidates. In order to test these hypotheses I use matching, a statistical method that compares groups (in this particular case, the number of votes each candidate got in the towns where they made an electoral appearance against the number of votes they got in the towns where they did not make an electoral appearance) on measurable parameters. The mentioned parameter should be as closely resembling (if not equal) as possible. Thus, the paired towns have similar (sometimes even identical) values for the confounding variables, the difference in the number of votes each candidate got being therefore attributed to the electoral visits of that said candidate. While this method has been extensively used in medical or economics researches, recently political scientists started using it on a more extensive basis, especially when it comes to observational or experimental studies. In addition to this, I conducted content analysis in order to identify the towns where the presidential candidates made appearances. I analyzed two national newspapers (chosen based on the total circulation number) and one national TV station. I crosschecked the information derived from the media against the information provided on the personal web pages of the candidates. Furthermore, I ran several OLS regressions in order to test whether the hypotheses hold. In what regards the structure, the paper is divided into four main sections as follows: the first offers an overview of the existing literature in the field of voting behaviour; the second deals with the theoretical background and the methodology employed; the third introduces the data used and presents the analysis, whereas the fourth section discusses the main findings and proposes directions for further research. The novelty that this paper brings consists in applying a relatively new approach in voting behaviour research the effects of political campaigning on voters choice for a particular candidate to a country that previous studies have tackled very little. In addition to this, matching represents an innovative method able to provide a more in-depth and meaningful insight in this particular field, still underused by social sciences researchers. LITERATURE REVIEW, METHOD AND THEORY This chapter will focus on a brief overview of the current literature in the field of voting behaviour with an emphasis on campaign events used by candidates to persuade voters to cast a vote for them, while highlighting at the same time the aspects of the theory that are of crucial importance for the present study, and propose a way to analyze them further. Literature Review Together with voting, electoral campaigns represent the main tool through which citizens in representative democracies assess the suitability of a candidate running for office. This allows that candidates, in their turn, can use the same tool in order to attract a larger and broader audience whose political views they can thus hope to shape into favouring them above all other candidates (Arceneaux, 2010). For the purpose of the present study, it is important to point out from the very beginning, that the scholarly literature on electoral campaigning and voter behaviour focuses on two main aspects of campaigning. The first deals with campaign appearances and local visits in key constituencies (Holbrook 2002, 1996, Campbell 2000, Shaw 1999, Jones 1998 cited in King and Morehouse 2005), while the second with television advertisements (Shaw 1999, Freedman and Goldstein 1999, Ansolabehere and Iyengar 1995, Finkel 1993 cited in King and Morehouse 2005). The two aspects mentioned above have been deemed as the two most important in impacting voters behaviour in terms of choosing a candidate and/or voting on Election Day. Yet it has been argued by scholars (Fowler et al. 2002 and Joslyn and Ceccoli 1996) that in order for a candidates visit or ad to have a lasting impact on the voter, the specific voter needed to have a previous lingering inclination towards that specific candidate (cited in K ing and Morehouse, 2005). As I have previously mentioned, the literature on elections and voting behaviour, focuses primarily on types of voting or factors that influence voting, i.e. economic voting, instrumental or expressive voting, self-interest voting, issue voting and so on. The focus is thus on who votes (Wolfinger and Rosenstone 1980, Sigleman, Roeder, Jewell and Baer 1985, Verba, Nie and Kim 1978) or on what makes individuals vote. More precisely, the focus is on what are the influences of how individuals vote and how a candidate can persuade voters to cast a vote in his/her favour. Relatively recent studies on campaigning and campaign management (Feddersen and Pesendorfer 1997, Dutta, Jackson, Le Breton, 2001, Thurber Nelson, 2004, King and Morehouse, 2005, Gerber and Green, 2008) illustrate that campaigns usually aim at influencing the reasons individuals have for voting in a particular way, with a strong emphasis on manipulation and appeal to emotions. Still a clear-cut connection between differe nt types of campaigning, the symbolic factor and the rationality of the voter is yet to be found especially in what concerns new democracies, such as Romania. In order to explore the issue of how Romanian leaders carried out campaigns in the last 20 years since the revolution it needs to be pointed out that their main focus was, as mentioned above, to appeal to the emotions of the individual. They achieve this through the symbolic over-flooding of messages (Sears, Hensler and Speer, 1979, Pippidi, 2004) in the printed press and the audiovisual, in the speeches they hold during TV debates and/or rallies, or in their campaign appearances in different constituencies. In the U.S. case (the 2000 U.S. elections); King and Morehouse point out that the Democrats presidential campaign made use of campaign appearances as a tactic to generate positive media coverage. Through these campaign appearances the Democrat candidate managed to energize the base, while it also generated free advertising and appealed more to the local community since is their media reporting the news. King and Morehouse go on to underline that: local newspapers and television s tations are eager to cover campaign events and they tend to approach politics with less cynicism than one finds among the national press corps[1] (King and Morehouse, 2005). Thus they emphasize that candidates should in fact choose key swing states for campaign appearances and attract the local media to generate free coverage both locally and at national level. Although both in 2004 and 2009 Romanian presidential candidates made use of electoral visits in order to gain media coverage, the Romanian media landscape is quite different from the American one. In contrast to the U.S. where local media is powerful and autonomous, the Romanian local media is mainly an extension of the national media. Most national TV stations and newspapers or radios have local versions for most of the towns or counties. Consequently, the news coverage these local media do is still in accordance to the articles printed at the national level at least in the case of high level importance elections. Referring to the pieces of news that voters use to inform themselves about candidates and campaigns, recent research showed that (Baum, 2006) soft news impact to an important degree inattentive individuals by making them change their preferences depending on the cues they get from that type of news. Following the idea presented by King and Morehouse (2005) that local media is and should be used by politicians to get their message across for free during elections to as many individuals as possible, it also follows that candidates should and must tailor their message and their campaign strategies depending on the different societal groups they aim at reaching (Baum, 2005). Since most supporters of parties build their political knowledge and political preferences based on the cues they get from different tabloids or entertainment shows yet still do this on a rational manner (Jerit, Barabas, and Bolsen, 2006) it is all the more clear why Romanian politicians use the sensational factor in their speeches and why they centre their campaign discourse more on rhetoric than ideology and concrete policies. The average voter tends to watch more soft news than hard news, as the former promote a humanized version of politics and politicians, emphasizing the personality and character of a candidate (as well as his/her shortcomings and mistakes). Thus, instead of the policies, the voter ends up identifying with the candidate and vote more based on feelings and emotions rather than ideological attachment or policy preferences. Jerit mentions that even if learning from this medium is largely passive and unintentional, individuals may obtain enough information to function as monitorial citizens (Schudson, 1998) (Jerit et al., 2006). Another relevant aspect involving the literature on campaigning and campaign appearances promoted through national and local media is presented by Zaller. His main argument, that mass communication is a powerful instrument for shaping attitudes and [that] it exercises this power on an essentially continuous basis (Zaller, 1996, p. 18) strengthens the argument made by King and Morehouse (2005) and mentioned above. By meeting with the local press and presenting their platform they insure that even those not present at the rallies or not watching the debates might still find out about what their campaign platform is. Lastly, still on the issue of media and campaign appearances, Natalie Strouds article points out that there is in fact a relationship between selective exposure and political attitudes (the example she gives is that those who watched Fahrenheit 9/11 were significantly more negative towards the Bush administration; not only that, but they also were more prone to start political discussions on the topic, as opposed to those who did not see the film). Thus, those exposed to such means of communication, tend to be more politically active and to engage in political discussions due to the attitude polarization of the extreme media messages. For the present paper, this argument can be interpreted in the light of the local visits made by candidates. Given the trail of articles following the candidates visits, the previous argument supports the statement that visits generated local and national coverage in the press for the candidates. This in turn generated debates between the supporters and even the detractors of those said candidates, ultimately leading to their being moved towards the polls on Election Day. Directly related to turnout though, Powell (1980, 1986) was the first to look at vote turnout in an analysis that span over twenty-nine democratic countries, between 1958 to 1976, in an attempt to answer why is turnout high in some countries and low in others. He found that there are certain mobilizing voting laws: compulsory voting and the fact that the governments assume responsibility for registering individuals on lists for elections, as well as strong-line party alignments (Crewe, 1981, also lists strong-line alignments) that increase turnout. Consequently, for the present study, one can take from Powells study the fact that having a party with strong-line alignments (Romania already has a system where the government assumes responsibility for registering the eligible voters on lists), that has kept a constant line in politics over time, and that enlists as a candidate a charismatic individual has more chances to move voters and persuade them to cast a favourable vote for that c andidate, given that the party has a campaign that ensures its candidate makes appearances in key constituencies. Other similar studies include those made by Jackman (1987), Blais and Carty (1990), Black (1991) or Franklin (1996), but all dealing with turnout and what influences higher or lower turnout either the electoral system, compulsory voting, degree of disproportionality of electoral outcomes, unciameralism vs. bicameralism, postal voting, Sunday voting, number of polling days. While focusing on all the abovementioned factors that influence turnout the referred studies either eliminate or loose sight of the campaign effect on the number of votes a candidate gets. This is why the present paper, following these studies, in an attempt to complete the picture presented by them, focuses on the effect of campaign visits on the number of votes candidates got in the visited constituencies. Another aspect to bear in mind is that the previously mentioned studies were focusing on old democracies, while this paper analyses the election in an East-European new democracy. Method and theory As this paper is using matching as a main methodological tool constituencies where the candidates made appearances are matched with similar constituencies where those candidates did organize electoral visits a closer look it is needed in order for the analysis to be better understood. Method Matching has been proposed as a non-parametric solution to problems of bias that emerge in observational studies (Rosenbaum and Rubin, 1983, 1985 cited in Arceneaux et al. 2006). However, scholars are split between the issue of matching having a bias or not, especially given the fact that it is nonetheless a method that allows for unobserved differences between groups to remain unnoticed. The literature on the topic, to date, focuses on the performance of matching estimators but uses experimental benchmarks, and not observational data (Dehejia and Wahba 1999; Heckman, Ichimura, and Todd 1997, 1998; Heckman, Ichimura, Smith, and Todd 1998; Smith and Todd 2003 cited in Arceneaux et al. 2006). The matching process identifies treated individuals [in this case, towns] who share the same background characteristics as untreated individuals [towns]. It is hoped that after matching on covariates, any remaining difference between groups can be attributed to the effect of the treatment (Arcenea ux et al. 2006). This is one of the reasons why this paper will look at the performance of matching estimators in explaining if campaign appearances generate increases in a candidates obtained number of votes in those constituencies visited but will use observational data instead of experiments. Another aspect to bear in mind when conducting an electoral campaign focused research is the strategic nature of campaigns, for as Arceneaux highlights, selection biases may appear in voter exposure to campaign stimuli therefore creating biased estimates of campaign effects (Arceneaux, 2010). This is why it would prove interesting to look at the campaign trail for each candidate and highlight the strategy used for getting-out-the-vote in the constituencies visited. Yet the present study will not deal with this aspect extensively since the main issue that it addresses remains the ability of campaign appearances to persuade voters to cast a favourable vote for the candidate making the appearance. In terms of time and geographical parameters, the focus here is on the Romanian presidential elections of 2009. In order to counteract the possible matching bias that the literature on the topic mentions (Arceneaux et al. 2006), a comparison between the number of votes the candidates considere d for this study got in 2009 and the number of votes their parties got in the 2008 parliamentary election is introduced as an independent variable (the comparison is made for each of the towns included in the study and their matches). For the purpose of this study it is also of great importance to shortly note the manner in which the candidates lead their campaign. Pippa Norris mentions that most candidates are vote-maximizers, following set patterns when setting their electoral agendas, and that they usually involve putting issues before voters (Pippa Norris, 2004). Therefore, a candidates electoral agenda should focus on issues that are crucial points for the constituency he is running for. For the presidency this means centring their agenda on issues that interest most of the country. Consequently, the agendas should follow the lines of thought of the majority of voters without transforming the speech into pure rhetoric, demagogy or empty promises. As the following sub-chapter will highlight this is usually not the case for Romania and for the Romanian electoral campaigns. Social networks researchers (Valdis Krebs, 2004) suggested that there are certain key facts to take into account when addressing the issue of building the electoral campaign in such a way that will mobilize voters and persuade them to vote for a particular candidate. One is getting a charismatic figure as candidate, someone that could be perceived as a role model. A second one would be using candidate appearances (or party supporters) to get the votes of the undecided this has been a technique also used by the Gore campaign of 2000 (King and Morehouse, 2005), whereas the third would be using campaign appearances to consolidate the faith and votes of a constituency that already supports that particular candidate. For the Romanian 2009 electoral campaign the latter two mentioned strategies were used using campaign appearances to either convince the undecided or consolidate the faith and votes of a constituency though with a higher emphasis on the latter. As far as the present paper is concerned, it is also important to look at the campaign agendas and stump speeches the candidates tailored for each visited constituency. It is noteworthy to point out that, contrary to what Rose and Haerpfer (1994) highlighted for Eastern European voters, voting in Romania is based on socio-tropic evaluations. In Romania, as in most Eastern European new democracies, the main problems governments are faced with are political and economical. Due to the negative views regarding the state of economy, individuals tend to vote economically. In other words, this means that they hold the president responsible for the state of the economy even if to a lesser extent than they view it as the parliaments responsibility. Having in mind the aspects mentioned above, one of the independent variables chosen for this study is the unemployment rate, at county level, this helping pinpoint the level of development of the region. The assumption for that choice was that the better developed the region was, the more people it has employed in different industry branches, the higher the income of the inhabitants is (this may also mean better education for the voters), and the better the ability to assign responsibility correctly and therefore, make more informed decisions when casting their vote.[2] Further on, I looked at previous voting patterns for those constituencies where the candidates made campaign appearances, in order to establish whether there is a recurring pattern in the voting habits of the inhabitants of the area, and if the appearances influenced it one way or another. This is needed to show whether political candidates chose some constituencies with the intention to get those voters to go to the polls and vote for them, the choice being done strategically or not. As mentioned before, this paper will not attempt to deal with the large issue of political campaigning as a whole. It will examine a particular aspect of it candidate appearances, whether it is rallies (events where candidates meet with their constituents), or meetings with the media in a certain constituency. The latter aspect of campaigning is a practice commonly used in Romanian elections, where candidates meet with the local media and thus get free advertising in the local media as well as coverage at the national level. Yet it is unclear if this aspect is at the back of the minds of the candidates when doing it. Theoretical Background for Romania In post-Revolution Romania, too often party members change their affiliation; floating from one party to another, only to adapt to the fact that their former party lost elections or simply because the party no longer meets their needs and political aspirations. Each election, the electorate is faced with incumbents or new candidates who have both tailored their political rhetoric to the current political persuasion of those who have nominated them so that they can secure elections without having a clear and strong ideology. Consequently, politicians are transformed into clients of the parties or party officials and vertical accountability in office is void of its initial meaning (Pippidi, 2004)[3]. This system has been maintained in place by a dual executive that doesnt share power but functions on a servitude basis and on the basis of repetition a bicameral legislative framework, where the two chambers are equal, elected in the same way, with almost identical functions and where both deputies and senators cannot be bound by instructions of their constituencies (Ludwikowski, 1996, pp. 129). All these have been a staple of the post-communist elections in Romania and have eroded the quality of the democratic process. As a consequence, both presidential and parliamentary elections are heavily dominated by populist discourses. In 2009, the main parties having candidates running for the presidential office were the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Democratic-Liberal Party (PD-L), and the National Liberal Party (PNL). The first one, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), is considered to be the heir of the former Communist Party following the revolution of 1989, and as such maintained itself as the largest and best institutionalized one (Curt, 2007). However, the alleged failures of the 1992-6 and 2000-4 governments placed it on the second position in the preferences of the people. For the purpose of this study, I have chosen to exclude from the analysis candidates of other parties or independent candidates that also ran for the presidential office. That is based on the assumption that their importance in the preferences of the majority of the electorate was secondary compared to the candidates of the three parties mentioned above. DATA DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS This section of the paper focuses on the collected data, more precisely the sources of the data, the method of collection, as well as how it was used further in the analysis. Data Given that before I have mentioned the tendency of the Romanian voter to base political decisions on the state of the economy and on feelings (the persuasiveness of the candidate playing a key role here), it will facilitate the understanding of the analysis to point out that voters also tend to be influenced by other factors (since they dont appear to vote by making evaluations, appraisals or weighting their decision). This is why the speeches of the candidates during their campaign appearances in the thirty towns used in the analysis were centred on aspects such as the economy and the recent economic crisis, family values, wages and the incompetence of the other candidate versus their own competence superiority. By choosing these facts to centre the speeches on, they tackled some of the key aspects that influence the Romanian electorate: the socio-economic background, their social environment, self-interest, the charisma of the candidate, and the fear of change that the elections wi ll bring changes in government that will prove to the detriment of the country. The socio-economic background is important for both the Romanian voter and the candidates since it is a well known fact that most of the Romanian middle class families tend to vote for coalitions or for democrat-liberals, as these give them the confidence that their income will stay at the same level; while the working class families, for example tend to vote for socialists or social-democrats. The social environment also is a crucial factor, since family values are still of paramount importance in Romania. Individuals therefore, tend to vote in high percentages, the same way their parents vote (Hatemi et al., have already shown that parents have a major role in determining the initial political direction of their children especially if the children still live at home which is the case for most Romanians, thus the previous inference gets higher support.) Individuals also tend to focus on only one or two key policy areas (issue publics as they tend to acquire information about candidates and elections based on their interest in particular issues) and inquire only about issues they are primarily affected by or interested in (Young Mie Kim, 2009). Therefore, candidates tailor their speeches based on the issue that is more pressing for the electorate they visit. Seeing things in this light, Feddersen and Pesendorfer (1997) argue that though individuals focus on one or two policy areas makes the electorate as a whole better informed collectively about what the alternatives and best outcomes are, for this particular case, at an individual level, the choice might still not be the best one. On the other hand, yet still highly related to the previous statement, it is not clear if self-interest is necessarily what guides the Romanian voter. On these lines, Sears et al. (1979) highlight that self-interest guides the vote choice together with rational choice and that it is defined as minimizing losses for private well-being. But for Romania in 2009, the former correlation, that self-interest in terms of voting goes hand in hand with rational choice, is not necessarily always the case. What is more important is the security of the job, maintaining lower taxes, the ability to pay-off debts or receiving credits to pay-off debts, free medical care, a welfare state on the lines of the socialist credence. Subsequently, as long as a candidate promises the electorate the fulfilment of these, and appears credible (and here the charisma of the key party leader plays a very important role) in his promises, rational choice reasoning for casting a vote is rarely used. Lastly, I would al so argue that, at least for Romania, candidates, but especially incumbents, use fear of change to influence voters and to move them to polls. Here fear of change is understood in the sense of apprehension towards everything and anything that is new, that might change the previous order, the previous system and its institutions, that might demand for different behaviour. Having all of the above in mind, and going back to the purpose of the paper, to conclude, the main issue this paper looked at was if by making campaign appearances in different constituencies, and using the abovementioned influencing factors, the candidates for presidency persuaded voters and managed to get them to cast a favourable vote; that is to say, if the campaign appearance of a candidate in a particular co

William Morris Essay -- Visual Arts Paintings Art

William Morris William Morris (1834 – 1896) was perhaps the most important British decorative artist of the 19th century. A prolific designer, craftsman and decorator, his work and ideas have had a major influence on the development of modern interior design. William Morris was one of the most influential figures in the Victorian and Edwardian art world. As a young man at Oxford he became involved with the Pre-Raphaelite movements, mixing with such artists as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and Edward Coley Burne-Jones. Always a man of innovation, Morris soon tired of the subject matter and philosophy of the Pre-Raphaelites. His desire for social reform was also an important factor in his artistic growth and he moved on from painting to the creation of textiles, wallpapers, stained glass and highly decorative furniture. He also set up the Kelmscott Press as a medium for his writing and elegant book design. With Edward Burne-Jones, he set in motion the highly influential Arts and Crafts Movement – thereby implementing an incredible change in the vision of British art. William Morris Colours Duck Egg, China Blue, Morris Green, Weld Yellow, Chalk White, Red Ochre and Madder Red. Inspired by the large collection of Morris’ work in the Victoria and Albert Museum, these paint shades and their names are evolved from colours he used in many different media, involving interior decoration, furniture and textiles. Tulip and Willow Design This design was for Morris’ s...

The Cultural Roots of Technology Essay -- Environment Environmental Po

â€Å"A technology evolves within a culture and its particular demands and preoccupations, intertwined with that society’s particular environment (Teresi, 356)†. As the human race and daily life becomes more advanced, there are times when it becomes necessary to consider the variables that influence our society. These variables-religion, tradition, environment, etc. - make up the culture of a society. New technologies are created when the people living in a particular society feel that one of these variables needs to be expanded upon or changed (Discovery Channel, Feb. 11). A particularly relevant example is the United States Space program. The space program grew out of the Cold War in the 1960’s. The technological needs of this effort, specifically small computers, heat resistant ceramics, radio communication, and power cells lead to the products and devices that we enjoy today. Societies, with their specific cultural needs, influenced the development of their own technology. For example, the Chinese in ninth century A.D. were fascinated with perfumes, noxious bombs, explosions, gases, and smoke. They burned incense and fumigated their houses for health as well as spiritual reasons. In the Chinese culture, smoke and loud explosions were connected to the spiritual and supernatural world. Chinese priests invented gunpowder by combining charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur. Their military-centered society saw the advantages gunpowder gave them in battle situations as well. The Chinese were the first to invent land mines, fire lances, and grenades. When Europeans learned about gunpowder, they began experimenting (Teresi, 355-56). Before long, cannons and guns were invented and warfare would never be the same aga... ... purposes, would the history of war have changed? It is probable that gunpowder would have eventually been invented, but who would have discovered it and when? What was their culture like; would the smoke and fumes make them feel connected to supernatural beings or would gunpowder strictly be used for war? Just like the space program created cultural needs and wants over fifty years ago, culture continues to be the driving force for technological developments. Sources Chant, Colin, "Chapter 2: Greece" in Pre-industrial Cities and Technology, Routledge Press, 1999, pp. 48-80. Ehrlich, Paul R., "Ch.11: Gods, Dive-Bombers, and Bureaucracy" in Human Natures: Genes Cultures, and the Human Prospect, Island Press, 2000, pp. 253-279. Teresi, Dick, Lost Discoveries: The ancient roots of modern science, Simon and Schuster, 2002, ISBN 0-684-83718-8, pp. 325-367.

The Effects of the Holocaust on Individual and Society Essay -- Essays

The Effects of the Holocaust on Individual and Society "What the world learned from the Holocaust is that you can kill six million Jews and no one will care."1 The Holocaust occurred because society neglected the individual, allowing six million Jews to be killed before the rest of the world intervened. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, society had to come to terms with the changing needs of the individual, especially the Jewish individual. The effects of the Holocaust caused the Jews to re-identify themselves and develop their loyalty to the Jewish race. Society had to overcome the initial view of the Jews as "the other" and learn to accept them and other minorities. Society also had to implement methods by which to prevent possible future mass genocide. The Holocaust left lasting effects on the relationship between the individual and society, resulting in a greater responsibility of the society for the individual. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, it is the responsibility of society to understand the loss experienced by the Jews to help prevent mass genocide. While the idea of six million Jews killed in the Holocaust may seem like a lot, it is still just an abstract number to those not concerned with the Holocaust directly. What society needs to understand is that the six million is someone’s mother, son, grandparent, or friend. Those who survived the Holocaust must live with this trauma everyday; for them, it is not just a historic event.2 Innocent Jews were persecuted, tortured, and murdered for their faith and only for their faith. The unimaginable actually happened to them. Once society can understand the loss felt by the Jews, it can learn how to prevent the Holocaust from happening again. The Holoc... ... 8. Rappaport, 96 9. Hass, 91 10. Gur-Ze’ev, 161-177 11. Hass, 40. 12. Hass, 183 13. Andrew Nagorski, "A Strange Affair," Newsweek, 15 June 1998, 36-38. 14. Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, "Europe’s Success Story," Newsweek, 15 June 1998, 38. 15. Hass, 193. 16. Rappaport, 47. Bibliography - Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. "Europe’s Success Story." Newsweek, 15 June 1998, 38. - Gur-Ze’ev, Ilan. "The Morality of acknowledging/not acknowledging the other’s Holocaust/genocide." Journal of Moral Education, June 1998, 161-177. - Hass, Aaron. The Aftermath. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. - Nagorski, Andrew. "A Strange Affair." Newsweek, 15 June 1998, 36-38. - Rappaport, Lynn. Jews in Germany after the Holocaust: Memory, identity and Jewish- German relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Balancing School Essay

The biggest challenge for many of us is how to balance our studies, work and family demands. While we want happy fulfilling lives outside of family, work and school, we have to make personal sacrifices in order to be successful in life. Since time is precious, keeping a balance between three worlds can be a challenge. Fortunately, with proper planning, balance is possible. Every day, I have to make choices and manage my time incredibly well in order to be able to balance my online studies, my work and family demands. In my opinion family demands, work and studies balance are a process, not a static achievement. So, it is important to make the decisions selecting careers and jobs, timing children, allocating roles and responsibilities etc, that will provide the opportunity for balance. The real task of balance takes place on a weekly and daily basis, even from hour to hour . To help me balance and organize my studies, work and family demands, I bought a daily planner. The daily planner comes in very handy and I would recommend it for everyone to use it. It is very practical, its small so you carry it everywhere you go. It helps you organize your daily life, write down assignments and manage your time. Many people do not have the time to go to a classroom when you have a job and a family to spend time with. It can be very challenging when you have to work and take care of your family while you try to go to school. Penn Foster is a good decision that I have made when deciding which school to attend because it is online and the classes are self pace. The field that I have chosen is Paralegal because the job availability is high and the pay is good also. I feel that in this field I will be able to take care of my family a whole lot better and make everything easier for me and my family. I feel that the decision I have made is the right one. My family and friends help me maintain a positive attitude when I get discourage or overwhelmed. I have learned to prioritize things in my life and that helps me achieve my goals. Always plan ahead. First, the most important thing is to use your time wisely. Figure out how you typically spend your day. Make a list of time commitments that cannot be changed. Then, figure out how you spend your unscheduled time. It is important to include all the shifts and upcoming assignments and exams in the schedule. I use Microsoft Outlook calendar for time planning. It is user friendly and a convenient tool for time management. Accurate scheduling helps me to manage time efficiently whereby freeing up time to spend with my family. The first step to achieving balance in your time is to get your family to agree on what the priorities should be. Make them understand that studying often requires long hours. In these instances, support from your family has to be there. Additionally, when children are involved; you may have to re-balance your time so you have time to spend with children. Plan on having a little family time every day and schedule some special family event once a week. So you see balancing work, studies and family can be a challenging but if you put your mind to it you can to it.

Position of Women in Mordern India Essay

The position of women has changed a lot in modern times. Clearly women have made tremendous strides towards equality in recent decades however; we still live in a society in which the worth of women is measured in their physical appearance and not their intellectual contribution or talents. It is not an unknown secret that many women are paid considerably less than men for doing the same type of work. What effect does this obvious gap between men and women have on our nation’s female population? The effect of this is the unconscious perpetuation of the understanding that women are inferior to men in our society. This also stands in direct contradiction to the claim that we are all created equal. This gap between men and women can be seen in countless social arenas, such as, the workplace, the average household, educational institutions and even in our nation’s government. In the society, the role of women is getting bigger. Women are doing man’s work and sometimes women do it better. It may be because women are more patient and more intelligent. The concept of earlier days was that only man can work, because society thought that cleaning the house and taking care of the children were the only things women were able to do. This has changed a lot because now both, men and women, are working and taking care of home. Sometimes it is the woman who gets the money to survive and man is the one who takes cares of the children, and while it was embarrassing for men in the past, now it is normal. We have seen a woman P.M. in our country – one of the most powerful and undoubtedly the most efficient P.M.s we ever had – Mrs. Indira Gandhi. We also see a woman President – Mrs. Pratibha Patel. So a woman has the capability to hold the highest post of the country as well. Be it in politics (Jayalalitha, Mamta Banerjee, Mayawati – love them, hate them, but you cannot ignore them), sports, cinema or literary field, we see women dominating the scene side-by-side with men MAYANK SHARMA

Grenz Review

TY 170 February 23, 2009 Grenz Review As time passes, different themes are presented throughout society. These themes tend to make attempts at disproving its predecessor. In Stanley J. Grenz’ book, A Primer on Postmodernism, he discusses the two most recent ideas supported by the public; modernism and postmodernism. The opposition is apparent between the eras of modernity and postmodernity. As described by Grenz, modernity focuses on the individual, using reasoning as a source of the truth. This belief causes truth to be relative.Postmodernity’s focal point is the group, rather than the individual. Truth, in the postmodern view, is created by intuition and feeling, causing it to be constructed. Grenz also discusses both the problems postmodernity pose on Christianity and the similarities between postmodernism and Christianity. Grenz’ portrait of postmodernism is accurate for what society is facing today. In order to understand the differences between modernism an d postmodernism as Grenz has defined them, first understanding of how each was created is needed.Modernity is based around meta-narratives; stories that connect everyone together. The most profound meta-narrative of modernity is the universal truth of science. One of the most important constructs of modernity is individualism, upon which all modern thinkers based their work. â€Å"Most historians suggest that the modern era was born when the Enlightenment brought new hope to war-ravaged Europe† (57). The Enlightenment had four principles; â€Å"Reason, nature, autonomy, and harmony† (68). These principles created the foundation for modern thinkers.Many modern thinkers throughout the era, regardless of their discipline, â€Å"Turned to the reasoning subject rather than divine revelation as the starting point for knowledge and reflection† (65). Through these foundations set for modernity, the modern philosophers turned to science in support for their hypotheses. à ¢â‚¬Å"Thinkers such as Descartes, Newton, and Kant provided the intellectual foundation for the modern era† (80). Rene Descartes was one of the first modern thinkers of his time, â€Å"often being referred to as the father of modern philosophy† (63). When Descartes irst set out on his journey for knowledge, he set out with doubt, in search of absolute truth that doubt could not deny (64). Like many other thinkers of that period, he â€Å"Attempted to introduce the rigor of mathematical demonstration into all fields of knowledge,† because he believed that the truths of mathematics were more concrete than knowledge based on observation (64). Descartes eventually reached the destination of his searching; the one thing that could not be doubted was one’s own existence. His new way of thinking led to a different outlook of the human person.His work defined â€Å"The human being as thinking substance and the human person as an autonomous rational subject† (64). This new definition supported Augustine’s philosophy; â€Å"Cogito ergo sum – ‘I think, therefore I am,† (64). Although Descartes’ work did not discover subjectivity, â€Å"the chief importance of his contribution lies in his emphasis on personal experience and personal knowledge, on knowledge arising from the individual’s unique point of view† (64). His role in the Enlightenment paved the path for his modern-thinking successors.Following Descartes’ work, Newton began making his own imprint on the world, emphasizing the importance of science. His work focused on trying to explain the workings of his universe that he saw as a â€Å"Grand, orderly machine,† (67). Newton’s idea of the world as a machine provided the framework for modernity. Newton believed that by viewing the world as a machine, he would be able to know its movements because it would follow a set of distinct laws (67). His design led modern thi nkers to have a mechanistic understanding of the world, as opposed to a natural view (50).Although Newton looked at the scientific explanations of the world, his intent was to explain the existence of God. Similar to Descartes, Newton used the power of reason to enhance the meaning of theology. â€Å"The modern world turned out to be Newton’s mechanistic universe populated by Descartes’ autonomous, rational substance† (67). Through Newton’s work, other philosophers had the foundation needed to make their own impressions on the world of modernity. Eventually, philosophers began questioning the Enlightenment and modernity as a whole.Through Immanuel Kant’s work, he strengthened the ties between society and modernity, which associated himself with the beginning of the Enlightenment. Kant’s most important contribution to modernity was his publication of Critique of Pure Reason (57). His critique strengthened the support of modernity and terminat ed all questioning of it. Kant sought to create a more concrete platform for metaphysics through his writing (76). He hypothesized that the mind is systematical in organizing sensations from the external world. â€Å"According to Kant, the human person is not only a creature capable of sense experience bus also a moral being† (77).Kant believed that by living morally, one lives the way he wishes all people would live. He argued that the moral aspect of human existence is essentially rational (78). This view of existence created the realm of practical reason, which encouraged other modern philosophers to concentrate on the individual self. This attentiveness came from Kant introducing the idea that the self is â€Å"not just the focus of philosophical attention but the entire subject matter of philosophy† (79). Through this notion, Kant directed his attention to the individual imposing reality.Kant’s work provided future philosophers with the concepts needed to u nderstand and eventually deconstruct modernity. Johann Gottlieb Fichte operated off of Kant’s discoveries. He accepted Kant’s work but also â€Å"Was enabled to explode it from the inside† (87). Fichte did not want to eliminate Kant’s ideas, but instead wanted â€Å"To expose the Kantian ‘fiction’ of an objective world existing in its own right beyond the self,† (87). Through his work, Kant emphasized the idea â€Å"that the self creates and determines the objects that constitute its own external world† (87). Hence, the realm that Kant claims to know through ‘pure’ reason, Fichte claims to produce through the exercise of ‘practical’ reason† (87). His work has created a freedom that â€Å"is important because it holds the potential of liberating us from a single way of understanding the world,† (88). Fichte managed to dissolve Kant’s idea of an absolute reality through â€Å"eliminat ing the noumenal realm† (88). Although he worked against Kant in many ways, Fichte managed to uphold Kant’s concept of the absolute self (87).Fichte, along with other thinkers’, beliefs led to what is now considered to be the postmodernism era by questioning the context of modernity and its constructors. Postmodernism is the mere rejection of the ideas that modernism and the Enlightenment support. The main theory that postmodernism rejects is the construct of individualism. In its denunciation of modernism, it also rejects the modern theme of meta-narratives, except for its own. The postmodern world does not believe that all knowledge is good, nor that knowledge is objective. They view life on earth as fragile and believe that the continued existence of humankind is dependent on a new attitude of cooperation rather than conquest† (7). Postmodern beliefs have a more pessimistic view on the world, as opposed to the modern idea. Postmoderns believe that the wo rld is â€Å"historical, relational, and personal† (7). The main postmodern view is that everything is different from everything (7). â€Å"Many voices have joined the postmodern chorus. But of these, three loom as both central and paradigmatic – Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Richard Rorty.They constitute a trio of postmodern prophets† (123). Michel Foucault was persistent in the rejection of the modern worldview. He argued that â€Å"reason and rational discourse are problematic.. , because they require that we squeeze the variety of reality into the artificial homogeneity that accommodates our concepts† (127). His intentions were not to present the ideas of a better society, but to understand order. This new society that Foucault presented was called â€Å"’heterotopia,’† as opposed to the modern view of â€Å"utopia† (20).Foucault focused on the connection between knowledge and power in regards to social systems, sta ting that â€Å"every interpretation of reality is an assertion of power† (6). Foucault believed that this power was â€Å"the power of violence† (59). He used genealogy to gain a better understanding of how we arrived to the beliefs supported by society (135). â€Å"According to Foucault, the practice of genealogy informs us that history is not controlled by destiny or some regulative mechanism but is the product of haphazard conflicts† (136).He reveals himself to be the model postmodern by making the assertion that â€Å"no natural order lies behind what we invent through our use of language† (137). Foucault provided a new outlet for the newly formed notion to be interpreted by future philosophers. Subsequent to Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida reinterpreted some ideas of postmodernism. Unlike Foucault, Derrida had different views on what was in correct about modernism. He focused on defying logocentrism: â€Å"The philosophical method that looks to th e word as the carrier of meaning† (141).He began, in a sense, where Kant left of by questioning â€Å"what foundation can we offer for our use of reason† (140). Derrida was critical of Western philosophers in saying that they view writing as a demonstration of speech. He spent his lifetime of work trying to deconstruct the idea that written language represents reality. Unlike Foucault, Derrida did not try to create new ideas for postmodernism on the basis of old ideas; he rather deconstructed or disproved the foundations of modernism. Derrida wanted to demolish the modern construct that â€Å"views philosophy as pure, disinterested inquiry† (148).Along with that, he also wanted to renounce the popular idea that there is a clear link between language and the external world, (148). â€Å"Derrida’s primary goal is to divest us of logocentrism by showing the impossibility of drawing a clear line between reality and our linguistic representations† (148). Overall, Derrida’s target for deconstruction was Western philosophy as a whole. The ideas represented by the philosophy were viewed as hopeless by Derrida. The notions that Derrida brought to the table allowed thinkers to move past the modern ways and seek refuge in postmodernism.After Derrida, came a philosopher with a new way of thinking, Richard Rorty. Unlike his predecessors, Rorty expressed his belief in a clear style. Rorty is considered to be â€Å"the central figure behind the renewed interest in the American pragmatist tradition† (151). His pragmatist outlook abandoned an Enlightenment idea; â€Å"The mind is the ‘mirror of nature’† (151). In pragmatism, the view of truth is that it is a result of human convention, thus it is constructed. Similar to Derrida, Rorty believes that language does not have the capability to represent the world accurately.He views language as a device used to satisfy one’s wants and needs. Working against modernism, he also states that â€Å"we give up the idea that the goal of science is to produce models that correspond perfectly with reality† (154). Rorty believes that science is just one way to view the world, but there are many other ways to perceive it. Through the work of Foucault, Derrida, and Rorty, a new way of thinking was born which opened the world up for questioning. Postmodernism and Christianity have a working relationship. That is, Christians support and also disagree with some postmodern concepts.When postmodernism was first presented as an idea, Christians did not know how to approach it. A concern that Christians have with the postmodern view is the rejection of meta-narratives. The concept of stories uniting a group as one is the foundation for Christianity. As Grenz states, â€Å"We simply do not share the despair over the loss of universality that leads to the radical skepticism of the emerging era† (165). In addition to the rejection of meta-narr atives, postmodernism focuses on the inability to discover an all-encompassing truth. Here lies the major dilemma Christianity has with postmodernity.Christians believe that God includes the truth about everything, but postmodern thinkers do not believe that an â€Å"all-encompassing truth† is possible to reach (163). The postmodern rejection of individualism worries Christians because they â€Å"must always keep in view the biblical themes of God’s concern for each person, the responsibility of every human before God, and the individual orientation that lies within the salvation message† (168). On the other hand, Christians support the rejection of the Enlightenment idea that â€Å"the rational, scientific method is the sole measure of truth† (166).Also, the postmodern denial that all knowledge is good and objective strengthens the ties between Christianity and postmodernism (168). Christians also support the postmodern finding that no person can be sepa rate from creation. As years pass, Christians are more accepting of postmodern concepts and are more rejecting of the modern ideas they once supported. Grenz’ view of the postmodern world is acceptable for what society faces today. The postmodern views have been mirrored throughout the public. Even in school, teachers focus more on group projects and group activities rather than the individuals.Children judge each other on the amount of time they spend with others, as opposed to the ability to spend time alone. Now, it is a must for children to always be with their friends. It is also represented in the working world. Bosses would prefer group presentations rather than individual. Most people do not like to be alone or even to be singled-out. Also, as the economy is closer to being in a recession, the postmodern idea that the world is not getting better every day is strengthened. People no longer believe â€Å"that humanity will be able to solve the world’s greatest r oblems or even that their economic situation will surpass that of their parents,† (7). Every day it seems as though the world is not capable to overcome what it has started, such as wars. It seems as though the world is no longer a â€Å"happy† place at most times. The postmodern pessimistic view is presented daily. It is awkward for others when people are optimistic about their life. Overall, people seem accepting to the postmodern views. Over the years, the world has seen different phases sweep through, and each one is eventually accepted. The most current themes are modernity and postmodernity.The modern views were set forth by Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton, and Immanuel Kant. Modernism is the idea of focusing on the individual in means of scientific explanations. Also, modern thinkers believe that all knowledge is inherently good. Johann Gottlieb Fichte is partially responsible for the beginning of questioning modernity. Once Fichte opened the doors, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Richard Rorty put an end to the modern way of thinking. What their idea created was postmodernity. The postmodern thinker steps away from the individual, focusing more on group relations.Also, postmodernism denies that all knowledge is essentially good. This new way of thinking has made Christians question how to respond. Christians agree, but also disagree with some of the postmodern views. As a whole, the world has come to terms with postmodernism by accepting it. What is going to happen when philosophers begin to question postmodernity? How will the world be viewed once people stop accepting postmodernism? Works Cited Grenz, Stanley J. A Primer on Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996.

Advertising for Advocates

â€Å"A bar on advertising for Advocates in India under Advocates Act,1961 and Bar Council of India Rules† ANALYSED BY: MOSES PINTO 5TH YEAR LL. B. (HONS. ) ROLL NO. 512 ACADEMIC YEAR: 2012-13 PREFACE After the Second World War the International Economic Order which emerged, encouraged Free Trade in goods & services. India was a founder signatory to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) since 1947, which led to the formation of WTO, on 1st  January 1995.This has led to a whole wide debate in India over the stringent laws governing code of ethics and morality of Legal Professionals on one hand and the WTO laws on the other hand. This debate revolves around major issues pertaining to the objectives of legal profession, consumerism, social justice, Indian commitment to WTO regime, competition law etc. Some professionals argue that the shift in trade nature of legal services shall hamper ‘professional ethics’ and concept of ‘justice to all’ .Some others say that the regulations imposed on the legal services sector are contrary to the goals and purpose of competition policy and Competition Act, 2002. At the heart of this controversy lies the issue of legal advertising. The lawyers in India are barred from advertising their profession considering the profession to be a noble one and such advertising to be derogatory to that profession. Advertisements are a forum for establishing the utility of goods and services. Further, it enhances and encourages competition in the relevant market by providing a forum for launching of new products.To cope up with the WTO laws and norms and looking at the current trend which has subjected legal profession to trade laws, it has become inevitable to allow the legal professionals to advertise and to rethink about the policy of law in India. People think whether this kind of ban based on age old norms is viable in this modern era. The debate of the hour in the Indian legal world is on why t he profession should have very strict curbs on promoting its services stemming from laws that originate from British thinking when the country from where it originates has itself done away with the curbs?In the view of the above background, I would like to discuss the laws banning the advertising for legal professionals in India and their implications, considering the position of such laws in other developed countries owing to the WTO norms. INDEX I. CHAPTER I: The Law on Legal Advertising in India * The law under Bar Council of India Rules; * The Judiciary on this rule II. CHAPTER II:  Law in other Countries * Position in U. K. * Position in U. S. * Position in other countries III. CHAPTER III: The Constitutional validity of Rule 36 IV.CHAPTER IV: Disadvantages of banning Legal Ads * Consumerism and Informed Choice * Advertisement on Internet * Other disadvantages * Need for regulating the advertising V. CONCLUSION. I. CHAPTER I: The Law on Legal Advertising in India After taking into account the recommendations of the Law Commission on the subject of Reform of Judicial Administration relating to the Bar and to legal education and to implement the recommendations of the All India Bar Committee made in 1953, the Indian Legislature came up with the Advocates Act, 1961.This act under the section 4 forms a Bar Council of India to regulate all the legal professionals and legal education in India. The Bar Council of India is the central institution for supervising and monitoring the growth and development of legal services and the functioning of advocates & related firms & corporations in India. Pursuant to the functions of Bar Council of India under section 7 and its power to make rules under section 49 of the said Act, it has enacted the Bar Council of India Rules which are binding on all the legal professionals in India. The law under Bar Council of India Rules There is a complete ban on advertising for lawyers in India. The Bar Council of India, pursuant to i ts functions mentioned under Section 7(1)(b)[9] of the Advocates Act read with its powers to make rules under Section 49(1)(c)[10] has framed Rule 36 of the Bar Council of India Rules under Section IV(Duty to Colleagues) of Chapter II(Standards of Professional Conduct and Etiquette) of Part IV(Rules Governing Advocates).Rule 36 reads as under: â€Å"An advocate shall not solicit work or advertise, either directly or indirectly, whether by circulars, advertisements, touts, personal communications, interviews not warranted by personal relations, furnishing or inspiring newspaper comments or producing his photographs to be published in connection with cases in which he has been engaged or concerned. His sign-board or name-plate should be of a reasonable size.The sign-board or name-plate or stationery should not indicate that he is or has been President or Member of a Bar Council or of any Association or that he has been associated with any person or organisation or with any particular cause or matter or that he specialises in any particular type of work or that he has been a Judge or an Advocate General. † Thus, it is against an advocate’s code of ethics to solicit or advertise work and amounts to a misconduct on the part of the advocate. Both direct and indirect advertising is prohibited.An advocate may not advertise his services through circulars, advertisements, touts, personal communication or interviews not warranted by personal relations. Similarly, the following forms of indirect advertising are prohibited: A. by issuing circulars or election manifestos by a lawyer with his name, profession and address printed on the manifestos, thereby appealing to the members of the profession practising in the lower courts who are in a position to recommend clients to counsel practising in the high court B. anvassing for votes by touring in the province or sending out his clerk or agents to the various districts, which must necessarily mean directly approa ching advocates practising in subordinate courts. Further, the signboard or nameplate displayed by an advocate should be of a reasonable size. It should not refer to details of an affiliated by the advocate i. e. that he is or has been president or member of a bar council or of any association, or he has been a Judge or an Advocate-General, or that he specialises in a particular kind of work, or hat he is or was associated with any person or organisation or with any particular cause or matter. Further advertising on internet is also prohibited. Bar Council of India, in a notice dated 21st October 1999, reaffirmed that such ‘advertisements’ on the Internet are considered an offence. It ordered all the legal Websites to be withdrawn immediately, under threat of legal action ranging from temporary suspension to permanent debarring of the lawyer from practice. The above rule has been vehemently enforced by the Bar Council of India, simply disregarding all the criticisms mad e against this archaic rule.Further, the words of Section IV of Chapter II of Part IV of Bar Council of India Rules are clear i. e. â€Å"Duty to colleagues†. This means that the another reason behind enactment of such a norm is to prevent the advocates, law firms, etc from enticing the clients of their adversary and to snatch away the business of their adversary. Such a law is also made in order to help the small and unknown advocates and firms to rise in the market and do business. The purpose behind it is to prevent a set of lawyers from taking unreasonable advantage.Also such a law prevents lawyers from falling below their dignity in order to fetch clients by doing anything and thus degrading the nature of the profession. * The Judiciary on this rule The courts have more or less agreed with the view of the Bar Council and have implemented the rule laid down by the Council pertaining to advertising. The Supreme Court of India observed in  Bar Council of India  v. M. V. Dhabolkar, that   â€Å"†¦.. the canons of ethics and propriety for the legal profession totally taboo conduct by way of soliciting, advertising, scrambling and other obnoxious practices†¦.   It further noted that  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Law is not a trade, not briefs, not merchandise, and so the heaven of commercial competition should not vulgarize the legal profession†. The Allahabad High Court  observed that self advertising tends to lower the dignity of this honourable profession and is undoubtedly akin to touting. The Bombay High Court in   Government Pleader  v. S, a Pleader considered sending a circular postcard merely giving the address and description as an improper conduct by the Advocate.The High Court of Madras went one step ahead in SK Naicker  v. Authorised Officer and held that even a sign board or a name-plate should be of a moderate size. It has been further observed that writing of articles for publication in newspapers under his signature, where th e writer describes himself as an Advocate practicing in the court as a flagrant breach of professional etiquette. Thus, legal advertising by far is a taboo in India and the courts have more or less approved and agreed with this rule framed by Bar Council of India.II. CHAPTER II:  Law in other Countries Legal advertising has been an important and widely used tool of communication in many common law countries and in most of the developed countries like US, UK, etc. It is used by the lawyers to promote their professional services. It is allowed in most of the countries with regulations regulating it as compared to India where it is completely banned. In these countries the regulation is done in order to avoid false, misleading & deceptive advertisements but advertisements displaying truth are allowed. The legal system is often a mystery, and we, its priests, preside over rituals baffling to everyday citizens. † – Henry Miller * Position in U. K. The provision banning adv ertisement adopted in India has its roots in Victorian notions of U. K. which considered each and every profession to be noble and stated that such a regulation is necessary in order to preserve the dignity and nobility of this profession. Earlier, in U. K. too advertising was banned for professionals like lawyers. But later this ban was lifted.The Monopolies and Mergers Commission in 1970 and the review given by the Office of Fair Trading in 1986 pointed out at the advantages of letting the professionals advertise and the benefits availed by from relaxing such norms. Ultimately the ban was lifted and the restrictions lowered and thus legal marketing and legal advertising became a reality in U. K. * Position in U. S. In U. S. the position was somewhat similar to that in India until 1977. There was a complete ban on advertising for legal professionals. This position took a complete U-turn after the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on 27thJune 1977 in the case of   Bates  v. Sta te Bar of Arizona. The Supreme Court validated legal advertising and invalidated the law of State Bar of Arizona banning legal advertising by a majority of 5:4 holding such a law violative of First Constitutional Amendment. Prior to this case, the U. S. Supreme Court validated commercial advertisement and gave its scope in the 1942 case of Valentine  v. Chrestensen. Later in   Bigelow   v. Virginia   (1975) and in  Virginia State Board of Pharmacy  v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council Inc. (1976) the U. S. S. C. nvalidated laws restraining ads marketing abortion services and ads showing prices of prescription drugs on the basis that they violated First Constitutional Amendment i. e. Freedom of Speech and Expression and held that  Ã¢â‚¬Å"the free flow of commercial information is indispensable. † All these decisions were adopted in the Bates’ judgment by the US SC and it was held that truthful legal advertising should not be prohibited as there is nothing wrong in it. The court invalidated in this appeal the law prohibiting legal advertising holding it to be violative of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the First Constitutional Amendment.Justice Blackmun argued that commercial speech does merit First Amendment protection given the important functions it serves in society, such as providing consumers with information about services and products, and helping to allocate resources in the American system of free-enterprise. The Court held that allowing attorneys to advertise would not harm the legal profession or the administration of justice, and, in fact, would supply consumers with valuable information about the availability and cost of legal services. But the states are allowed to regulate and monitor the advertising by advocates.This is evident from the later judgments of various state Supreme Courts which have upheld the laws regulating and restricting certain practices of legal advertising. * Position in other countr ies The position in other developed countries is also quite clear. Advertising is allowed in most of the countries. In France, though the law is not that liberal, it stands somewhere between Indian and U. K. position. There is not a complete ban on advertising. Also in Italy, the legal marketing has been legalized by the Bersani Decree of 2004 which was enforced in 2007.This has been true for most of the European countries like Germany, Spain, etc. Legal Advertising is a reality everywhere. Besides countries in the West, Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia have been progressively relaxing their regulations on legal advertising to adapt to global demands. For instance, Malaysia’s Legal Profession (Publicity) Rules, passed in 2001 is a simple yet comprehensive code that regulates advertisements in legal and non-legal directories, controls publication of journals, magazines, brochures and newsletters by lawyers and interviews in electronic and print edia, b ars publicity through clients and even includes a rule that regulates lawyers sending greeting cards on special occasions. In Hong Kong, lawyers are forbidden from advertising on television, radio and cinema. Though advertising in print is permissible, larger firms prefer alternative strategies such as engaging in aggressive client and public relations programmes and branding exercises. Even in Singapore the legal advertisements are allowed with certain restrictions.Thus, it is clear that most of the countries have adopted a liberal policy towards legal advertising and has allowed it to meet the global demands and compete with the other countries. This has resulted only in advantages and benefits for those countries and no harm is done on the contrary. III. CHAPTER III: The Constitutional validity of Rule 36 The Rule 36 of Bar Council of India Rules, prohibit advocates from advertising. This Rule cannot be challenged with regards to A. 19(1)(a) i. e. reedom of speech and expression as done in US in the case of  Bates  v. Arizona State Bar, because of the decision of Indian Supreme Court in the case of  Hamdard Dawakhana  v. Union Of India. The Supreme Court came on to decide validity of law banning advertisement for the sale of certain medicines in this case against A. 19(1)(a) of Constitution of India. The Court held that: â€Å"An advertisement is no doubt a form of speech but its true character is reflected by the object for the promotion of which it is employed. It assumes the attributes and elements of the activity under Art. 9 (1) which it seeks to aid by bringing it to the notice of the public. When it takes the form of a commercial advertisement which has an element of trade-or commerce it no longer falls within the concept of freedom of speech for the object is not propagation of ideas – social political or economic or furtherance of literature or human thought;  but as in the present case the commendation of the efficacy, value and importance in treatment of particular diseases by certain drugs and medicines. In such a case, advertisement is a part of business even though as described by Mr.Munshi its creative part, and it was being used for the purpose of furthering the business of the petitioners and had no relationship with what may be called the essential concept of the freedom of speech. It cannot be said that the right to publish and distribute commercial advertisements advertising an individual’s personal business is a part of freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution. † In the view of the above decision, the commercial advertisement is not a part of freedom of speech and expression and thus ban on advertisement for advocates is justified to be falling within reasonable restriction as stated under A. 9(2). The only remedy left is to challenge its constitutional validity against A. 19(1)(g) i. e. freedom to carry on Trade, Profession or Business. Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution of India confers every citizen with the right to choose his own employment or to take up any trade or calling. This right is impregnated with an implied right for availing all the mechanisms and resources – including advertising – for effective carrying of the trade or occupation provided it doesn’t go against public interest.Any blanket bar on this right would be unreasonable when there is an option of constituting a specialized government body that would examine the content of the advertisement. The question that remains is whether legal profession falls under the category of trade or business so as to avail the above right? Even though the judiciary in the words of Justice Krishna Iyer, has held that Legal Profession is such a noble Profession that it cannot form a part of trade or business,   the recent trend of the courts is to justify this profession as a rade. Over the years, the courts have recognized ‘Legal Service’ as a ‘serviceâ €™ rendered to the consumers and have held that lawyers are accountable to the clients in the cases of deficiency of services. In the case of  Srinath  v. Union of India, the Madras High Court held that, in view of Sec. 3 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 that Consumer redressal forums have jurisdiction to deal with claims against advocates. Sec. 2 (U) of the Competition Act, 2002 defines the term ‘Service’ along the lines of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.Also the decision of Supreme Court in  Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board  v. A. Rajappa,  holds that legal profession is covered under the definition of the term Industry under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. Further it should be noted that India is a part of WTO and is subjected to WTO laws and legal services are listed as a subsection of Business Services in WTO Services Sectoral Classification list. In the view of the above background, the fundamental right to advertise guaranteed under A . 19(1)(g) can be given to the legal professionals to promote their services.This right thus, can be taken away only by imposing a reasonable restriction under A. 19(6) of the Constitution The Supreme Court further observed that: â€Å"Unless it is shown that there is a reasonable relation of the provisions of the Act to the purpose in view, the right of freedom of occupation and business cannot be curtailed by it†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. the phrase ‘reasonable restriction’ connotes that the limitation imposed on a person in enjoyment of the right should not be arbitrary or of an excessive nature,  beyond what is required in the interests of the public. The word ‘reasonable’ implies intelligent are and deliberation, that is, the choice of a course which reason dictates. Legislation which arbitrarily or excessively invades the right cannot be said to contain the quality of reasonableness and unless it strikes a proper balance between the freedom guaranteed in Art. 19 (1) (g) and the social control permitted by cl. (6) of Art. 19, it must be held to be wanting in that quality. † Restrictions can be laid by regulating and monitoring the advertising but not completely banning it as it would be going beyond what is required as regulating the advertisement is sufficient in public interest.Presently a writ petition is pending before the Indian Supreme Court challenging this rule of Bar Council of India. The petition was filed by Mr. V. B. Joshi who is an advocate practicing in the Supreme Court. In the last hearing of this matter in September 2007, the Government agreed to relax this law a bit. The Government agreed to allow the lawyers advertise on their own website and to enter their name into online directories but all these to be done under a committee monitoring it. IV. CHAPTER IV: Disadvantages of banning Legal AdvertisementsGlobalization brought about a revolution in international trade with increasing participation and involve ment of countries The implication of the same on the legal service sector has been both quantitative and qualitative. The past decade has been mini-revolution in legal service sector with the greatest legal impact on corporate legal arena activities in project financing, intellectual property protection, environmental protection, competition law, corporate taxation, infrastructure contract, corporate governance and investment law were almost unknown before 90’s.Globalization has expanded the internal and external demand for legal services. Today trade in legal services is an inevitable fact and is at the same time significant for progressive development of legal profession in India in this era of Globalization. * Consumerism and Informed Choice In the age of consumerism and competition law, consumer’s right to free and fair competition is paramount and cannot be denied by any other consideration. Informed choice is one of the rights of a consumer. Ban on advertising le ads to depriving consumers of valuable information about the advocates.This has resulted in a situation where consumers cannot make an informed choice from the competitive market since information relating to the service is not available to them. Moreover restriction on professional firms on informing potential users on range of their services and potential causes further injury to the competition. The services available to consumers of India are only domestic legal service providers and consumers most often are left at the mercy of advocates and the system . Thus it is very detrimental as they cannot resort to any other service provider in absence of choice. Advertisement on Internet Looking at the recent trend of Globalization and India joining the WTO, it has become inevitable to let lawyers advertise to compete in the global market. Not allowing lawyers to advertise has resulted in Indian lawyers losing a lot of potential clients internationally. It is realized that in this era of cyber age instead of turning to the Yellow Pages, the public increasingly uses online search engines and other Internet tools to find needed goods and services and with the concepts of legal process outsourcing increasing, i. . to find cheap legal services, people from countries like UK and US and other developed countries search for such services online. But these searches results in not a single Indian attorney or advocate or a law firm as India bans advertising by them as compared to other neighboring Asian countries which allow it and hence a lot of potential clients are lost, in turn affecting the economy of India largely. Thus, India has lost lot of economic revenues and thus it would be beneficial for India’s economy to lift the ban on advertising for advocates.The Government has recently agreed on lifting it but only allowing the advocates to advertise on their own websites and in online legal directories. But no one knows when this will be implemented. * Other dis advantages The report of Monopolies and Mergers Commission in U. K. stated that restrictions on advertisement by professionals reduce the stimulus to efficiency, cost saving, innovation, new entry to professions and competition within the professions.Thus, new entrants who require to establish their name in the market in order to get clients, are deprived of doing so through advertising as this is the most simplest and easiest method to enter into a market. Also restrictions enhance the more undesirable effects of less open methods of self promotion. Also they could give a false image to a profession. Thus banning advertisement by lawyers is completely disadvantageous to the Indian society as a whole. * Need for regulating the advertising The need of the hour is to lift the total ban on advertising by advocates but not to completely let it free.It is required to be regulated. In case it is not monitored and regulated, then there would be lot of malpractices of misrepresentation, dec eptiveness and false advertisements which would affect the society and degrade the nobility of this profession. The U. K. ’s Monopolies and Merger Commission in its report stated that the restrictions on legal advertising should be lifted but the law must also provide that: 1. No advertisement, circular or other form of publicity used by the member should claim for his practice superiority in any respect over any or all of the practices of other members of the profession. . Such publicity should not contain any inaccuracies or misleading statements. 3. While advertisements, circulars and other publicity or methods of soliciting may†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. make clear the intention of the individual member to seek customers, they should not be of a character that could reasonably be regarded as likely to bring the profession into disrepute. Thus, it is required that the advertising by legal professionals be regulated in order to avoid instances of ambulance chasing, barra try, misrepresentation, etc. This kind of regulation is also permissible under A. 9(1)(6) of Constitution of India in the interests of public. V. CONCLUSION The ban on legal advertisements in India has not proved healthy so far for the Indian economy as well as Indian consumers. India has adopted WTO laws and a free market policy and thus accepting ‘trade’ facet of legal services would develop this profession qualitatively. The Raghvan Committee has summed up the effect of the existing regulatory system in professional services as â€Å".. the legislative restrictions in terms of law and self-regulation have the ombined effect of denying opportunities and growth of professional firms, restricting their desire and ability to compete globally, preventing the country from obtaining advantage of India’s considerable expertise and precluding consumers from opportunity of free and informed choice. † Time is ripe to break shackles of this overwhelming regulation subjecting legal profession away from modernity and banning it from advertising. India must remember its commitment to WTO for opening service sectors including, legal services, globally.Thus all the regulations have to be in conformity with competition policy and the Act. Hence, there is a craving need to lift this ban and to form rules and policy to monitor and regulate legal advertising. A committee could be formed to ensure compliance but laying blanket ban on legal advertising would hamper development and growth of India. BIBLIOGRAPHY Articles, Websites, Reports and others: 1)  Ã‚  Abhibav Kumar, â€Å"Lawyers must be allowed to advertise†, at http://news. indlaw. com/guest/columns/default. asp? abhinav (last visited on 25th November, 2007). 2)  Ã‚  Anubha Charan, â€Å"Is it unethical for lawyers to put up their own Website? , October 15, 2001, at http://www. rediff. com/search/2001/oct/15law. htm (last visited on 24th November, 2007). 3)  Ã‚  Bar Council Entry o f Foreign Lawyers in India, August 30, 2003 at http://www. news . indiainfo. com/ (last visited on 22nd November, 2007). 4)  Ã‚  Bhadra Sinha, â€Å"Lawyers may be allowed web ads†, September 19, 2007, at www. hindustantimes. com (last visited on 20th November 2007). Also see Supra note 6. 5)  Ã‚  Cyber Search – What Does Search Engine Marketing Mean For Solicitors? , at http://www. samsonconsulting. co. uk/legal-marketing-article-cyber-search. htm (last visited on November 25, 2007). )  Ã‚  David L. Hudson, â€Å"Bates participants reflect on landmark case†, at http://www. firstamendmentcenter. org/analysis. aspx? id=14394 (Last visited on 22nd November, 2007) 7)  Ã‚  http:// en. wikipedia. org/Legal_Advertising (last visited on 22nd November 2007). 8)  Ã‚  Lawyer can’t be blamed if his name appears in print, says Punjab A-G, May 25, 1999, at http://www. indianexpress. com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990525/ige25114. html (last visited on 18th Novem ber 2007). 9)  Ã‚  Legal Websites, A World Wide Web Of Opportunies, at http://www. samsonconsulting. co. uk/legal-marketing-article-solicitors-websites. tm (last visited on 22nd November, 2007). 10)  Ã‚  Malathi Nayak, India  debates letting lawyers advertise, at http://www. livemint. com/2007/10/21235346/India-debates-letting-lawyers. html (last visited on 25th November, 2007). 11)  Rajiv Dutta, â€Å"World Trade Organization and Legal Services: The Indian Scenario†, at www. insolindia. com/shimlaPDFs/worldTradeOrg. pdf (last visited on 23rd November, 2007). 12)  Report on Trade in Legal Services, â€Å"Trade in Services: Opportunities and Constraints†, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, Executed by Indian Council for Research in Economic Relations, Coordinator(s) N.L. Mitra and T. C. A Anand. 13)  Ã‚  Singh  Lalithakumar I. , â€Å"A View on Legal Profession†, AIR 2006 (Jour. ) 1. 14)  Ã‚  Statement of Objects and Reasons, The Advocates Act, 1961. 15)   Ã‚  Swapnil Joshi, â€Å"Changing Face Of The Legal Profession In India In The Era Of Globalization†, at http://www. legalserviceindia. com/articles/lprof. htm (last visited on 25th November, 2007). 16)  V K Aggarwal, â€Å"Professional Advertising: A comparative analysis in the changing milieu†, 7th National Conference of Practising Company Secretaries. 7)  World Bank Report on Emerging Service Sector, 1999 quoted in The Raghvan Committee Report on Competition Law, 2000. 18)  www. legalmarketing. it (official legal marketing Italia website, last visited on 24th November 2007). Dictionaries: 1)  H. Black, Black’s Law Dictionary (5th ed. , St Paul: West Publishing Co. , 1979) 1059. 2)  Ã‚  The Concise Oxford Thesaurus compiled by Kirkpatrick Betty; Oxford University Press. 3)  Webster’s New English Dictionary; Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers Inc, 2nd Edn 1995.