Why are political parties so strong in the United Kingdom yet so weak in the United States

Why are political parties so strong in the United Kingdom yet so weak in the United States Introduction The United States and United Kingdom are the largest democracies in the world hence they have variant political parties. A political party in any governing system is defined as an organization of people with similar political aims and opinions who seek to attain political influence in public policies through their representative being elected to the governing body (Medvic, 2009, p.120).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Why are political parties so strong in the United Kingdom yet so weak in the United States? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Political parties are either funded by the government or individual party members depending on a country’s regulations. Irrespective of the fact that both United States and Great Britain have two dominant political parties, two legislative houses and a single executive, the political parties in both nations differ in their strength. The strength of political pa rties is determined by the amount of influence a party has on its members and the cohesion in the party. The political parties in the United States are much weaker than in the United Kingdom. In the US, politics are dominated by two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Additionally, there are other smaller and weaker parties in the political scene. In the democracy of United Kingdom, there are three dominat political parties namely the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Democrat Party currently led by Nick Clegg. However, there are other smaller political parties namely Independence Party and the Green Party. The roles of political parties include voicing the needs and concerns of their members and supporters, recruiting and training candidates for public office and socializing the citizens. This paper defines the significant difference in the strength of political parties in the United States and the United Kingdom. Moreover, it explores the factors that make political parties to be strong or weak in these countries. Political parties in the United States Political parties in the United States were not endorsed in the founding constitutions, since the intention of the Constitution and its founders was to have a triple balanced system of executive, judicial, and congressional powers. Factors that contributed to the establishment of the two-party system in the United States as the key type of system include historical foundations of the system, political socialization and practical considerations, the electoral system and the federal laws.Advertising Looking for essay on political sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, there are no major requirements obligatory from the public in order to become a member of any political party (Schmidt, Shelley, Bardes, 2010, p.154). Scholars have noted that there is a decline in the strength of politic al parties compared with the past. Two party system in the United States The two-party system has dominated the United States political scene for a very long time. This could be one of the contributors to the weakening of smaller political parties in the country. People who wish to serve as president, congressional representative, state governor or state legislators have to use the two main parties, Democratic Party and the Republican Party, to increase their chances of wining. Electoral system The method of electing national and legislative representative promotes the dominance of two-party system. The structure of political parties in the United Kingdom is defined by the individual ideologies supported by each party, which their members endeavor to legislate; however, their counterparts in American lack ideologically cohesive and programmatic. The available resources for these dominant parties allow them to retain their dominance. Similarly, single member system operating in a sma ll constituency can weaken the general party by creating smaller local independent entities (Duverger, 1963, p.45). The involvement of political parties’ leaders in the selection of candidates of their political parties is very low in the United States. On the other hand the leaders of political parties in the UK have the role of choosing which candidates should represent their parties. Moreover, the United States political parties are not involved in campaigning for their chosen candidates therefore resulting to less influence on the candidates. The United Kingdom utilizes a system of proportional representation, where officials are elected, on the bases of the number of votes their parties receive in an election, which promotes strength of parties. In the United States, the election system is focused on the candidates compared to the United Kingdom model where election is party focused (Safran, 2003, p.34). Therefore, parties in the US are not perceived to be as important a s individual candidates. In party centered system, political parties are in charge of all resources while in candidate-centered system, the parties provide just a few resources to the candidates. Moreover, in the US, parties do not have the mandate of choosing the candidates to run under the party, rather, it is done by voters in preliminary voting.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Why are political parties so strong in the United Kingdom yet so weak in the United States? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As a result, the influence of parties is limited hence leading to their weakening. In contrast, the United Kingdom political parties determine the candidates to run under their parties based on their set regulation. Since the political parties in the US contribute minimal resources to the campaigning of their candidates, the party has less or minimal influence and cannot sanction the candidate if he wins (Safran, 200 3, p.34). However, the political parties in the United Kingdom have much influence on their candidates and they can sanction them since they contribute most of the resources that the candidates require. The electoral system, through preliminary election of party leaders, favors the linking candidates with their local supporters rather than creating a bond between the candidates and the party (Safran, 2003, p.34). Fundamentally, the electoral system is also weakening the ideologies of the political parties. Generally, direct primaries of selecting candidates have weakened political leaders as it takes away the rights and influence of the party. In the United Kingdom the parties have the obligation of selecting candidates that they wish to field for an election without external influence. Moreover, the party oversees the campaign of its candidates and in return, the party has ultimate control and influence. Campaigning The candidate-centered approach in the US reinforces campaign-fina ncing laws. The inclination of candidates funding most of the campaign is done at the expense of the party’s influence, as is the case in America. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, parties retain their influence since they fund the campaigns of their candidates. The use of political consultants by political candidates has contribution to the decline of roles of political parties in America where the candidates are more inclined to listening to their consultants than the position of their party. However, consultants weaken the political parties through creating campaign atmosphere where they project individual candidates to the public at the expense of the party. Nevertheless, the public are more informed on candidates’ traits rather than the policies of the candidates’ parties (Best Radcliff, 2005, p.63). Moreover, political parties have failed to innovate, hence the need for outsourcing their duties to consultants. Some modern campaign tactics are weak ening the political parties. In the United Kingdom’s party-centered system, the campaign is geared to selling the party policies to the electorate whereas in America campaigns are focused on the candidates (Swanson Mancini, 1996, p.272).Advertising Looking for essay on political sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Legal factors Legal factors in the United States have contributed to the weakening of political parties (Wilson, 2008, p.124). The policy of cross filling has also undermined the strength of political parties in America. This practice, cross filling, allows individuals to be listed on more than one political party and can participate in primary ballots of all parties where they are registered (Sabato Ernst, 2006, p.88). The candidates who use this strategy aim at reducing competition, thus weakening political parties. This policy is still in effect in some states, which weakness the ideology. Moreover, the use of cross filling in the primaries resulted in reduction of political parties responsibilities. Moreover, voters in primary elections can influence nomination of their opposing party through crossover voting. These kinds of policies limit the influence of political parties on their candidates since they do not have the right to chose or vet candidates in their parties. Moreove r, the external interference in political parties through crossover voting weakens political parties in the US. Contrary to this, political parties in the United Kingdom do not have any interference from supporters of other parties; hence, they retain their objectivity in their core issues. The United States, through federal and state governments, closely regulates and it has decentralized the political parties. These actions of the government have contributed to weakening of political parties in America (Wilson, 2008, p.124). Political Action Committee (PACs) and special interest groups The decline of political parties can also be attributed to the rise of political action committees (PACs) in the elections in particular in fund raising. Candidates in the American political scene have their own PACs, which help them to collect funds for their political activities. Therefore, the candidates are more inclined to their committees than to the party, thus weakening party cohesion (Barde s, Shelley, Schmidt, 2008, p.248). However, political parties in the UK get finance from their membership contribution, donations i.e. from trade unions and the opposition parties also financed from the government kitty. Therefore, parties in UK are generally stronger than parties in US due to better finance availability. Moreover, funding of political parties from public kitty promotes internal unity among party members with in turn promote party cohesion. Subsequently, monies issued to support elections in the United States are given directly to the candidates. However, any money given to candidates tends to weaken the political parties, since the candidate becomes more independent and less reliant of the party. Conversely, public funding of political parties in the UK is channeled through the parties and not the candidates. Therefore, funding promotes part strength since the party leaders have leverage to induce their ideologies. Moreover, parties limit the amount of resources t hat an individual candidate can contribute to their campaign in order to protect the party’s influence. Additionally, political parties in American are influenced by their private donors, hence leading to partisan politics that decrease the strength of the party; however parties in the UK are less likely to be influenced since they do not over-rely on private donors for funding. Since action groups can access public support and resources, they have been undermining political parties that do not support their ideologies hence weakening of parties. Voters The social and political environment, in which the party operates, has a great impact on party cohesion. In addition, the development of an increase of number of independent voters has given rise to weakening of the political parties. Generally, a considerable number of voters in America are not registered in the two main political parties, thus the two key political parties have been declining in recent years. Further, the pa rticipation of voters in direct primaries to determine the candidate to run under a certain party weakens political parties (Sabato Ernst, 2006, p.110). Nevertheless, the political parties have not been able to attract public loyalty due to social changes. Furthermore, there is a trend of voters disengaging from party politics due to disappointments from political parties in the past. This is as a result of the fact that most American political parties are not engaged actively in their citizens’ lives, leading to high number of non-partisans. Conversely, the public in Europe and particularly in the United Kingdom are still inclined to party politics as they join and register in political parties, pay contributions to their parties and participate in party activities i.e. attending meetings (Wilson, 2008, p.125). Moreover, interest groups and citizen groups are competing with political parties for influence and loyalty among the citizens. However, party loyalty has declined s ince the inception of interest groups among the people in the United States. In deed, citizen action groups are actively replacing the role of political parties as a result of their weakening. Conclusion The United States and the UK have some dominant political parties and other smaller parties. Generally, the role of political parties in democracies is to educate the public on their civic rights and duties, to participate in influencing of public policies and recruiting and training candidates for public office. The strength of political parties is determined by the amount of influence a party has on its members and the cohesion in the party. However, there factors that undermine the strength of political parties namely rules and regulations, electoral systems, change of attitude among voters and modern campaigning techniques. Additionally, the rise of Political Action Committees and citizen interest groups has also undermined the strength of political parties especially in America . The United Kingdom has been able to retain the strength in its political parties due to the fact that they are able to control the selection and funding of their candidates. Moreover, the parties have restricted candidates from being independent from the party, hence creating reliance and influence. Through primary election in single-member district system, political parties in America have lost their influence in selection of candidates. Besides, a policy like cross filling of candidates during the direct primaries also contributes to the decline of parties (Shepherd, 2005, p.337). Further, the political parties in America are not funded by the government; rather, the candidates are funded directly. Consequently, this direct funding from the government makes the candidates independent from their parties. However, in the United Kingdom system, the government funds political parties directly, which in turn dispatch funds to their candidates. This mode of funding ensures that politi cal parties maintain their influence over their candidates, hence creating cohesion and party strength. References List Bardes, B., Shelley, M. Schmidt, S., 2008. American Government and Politics Today. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Best, S. Radcliff, B., 2005. Polling America: A-O. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. Duverger, M., 1963. Political Parties: Their Organization and Activities in the modern State. London: Taylor Francis. Medvic, S., 2009. Campaigns and elections: players and processes. Boston: Cengage Learning. Sabato, L. Ernst, H., 2006. Encyclopedia of American Political parties and elections. NY: Infobase Publishing. Safran, W., 2003. The Secular and the Sacred Nation: Nation, Religion and Politics. London: Taylor Francis. Schmidt, S., Shelley, M. and Bardes, B., 2010. American Government and Politics Today, 2010-2011. Boston: Cengage Learning. Shepherd, M. 2005. Mastering the National Admissions Test for Law. London: Routledge. Swanson, D. Mancini, P., 1996. Po litics, media, and modern democracy: an international study of innovations in electoral campaigning and their consequences. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. Wilson, J. Q., 2008. American Government. OH: Cengage Learning.

Quarry Sites - The Archaeological Study of Ancient Mining

Quarry Sites - The Archaeological Study of Ancient Mining To an archaeologist, a quarry or mine site is where a particular raw material- stone, metal ore, or clay- was mined in the past to be used to make stone tools, to carve blocks for building or statuary, or to make ceramic pots. Significance Some quarries used by ancient people were located near their point of use, regularly visited and fiercely protected from other groups as part of claimed territory. Other quarries, especially those for portable goods such as stone tools, were hundreds of miles away from the point of use, where the stone tools were found. In those cases, the people might have found the quarry on a hunting trip, made tools there and then carried the tools with them for a few months or years. Some high quality materials might also have been traded as part of a long distance exchange network. Artifacts made from far away resources are called exotic compared to local artifacts. Quarry sites are significant because they provide a wealth of information concerning the day-to-day living of people in the past. How well did a particular group understand and use the resources in their neighborhoods? How important was it for them to use high quality materials, and for what? How do we determine what a high quality resource means for an object or building? Questions Posed at Quarries At the quarry site itself, there might be evidence of the technical knowledge a society had about mining, such as the types of tools they used to excavate and shape materials. Quarry sites can also have workshops- some quarries were also production sites, where objects might be partly or completely finished. There might be tool marks on the outcrop showing how the workers pried the material out. There might be spoil heaps and discarded materials, which can illustrate what attributes that made a resource unusable. There might be encampments, where the miners lived while they were working. There might be inscriptions on the outcrops, such as notes about the quality of the material, or prayers to gods for good luck, or graffiti from bored miners. There could also be cart ruts from wheeled vehicles or other evidence of infrastructure suggesting how the material was transported to the point of use. The Challenge of Quarries Quarries are difficult to discover, because sometimes they are hard to see and scattered across the region. Outcrops of a particular source can cover many acres across a wide landscape. An archaeologist could find a stone tool or a pot or a stone structure at an archaeological site, but finding where the raw material to make that object or building came from is difficult, unless there are already quarries for that type of material that have been identified. Potential quarry sources can be found by using bedrock maps of the area, which are produced for the U.S. by the United States Geological Survey, and for the United Kingdom by the British Geological Survey: similar government-backed bureaus can be found for almost any country. Finding an outcrop open to the surface near an archaeological site, and then looking for evidence there that it was mined, can be an effective technique. Evidence could be tool marks, or excavation pits or campsites; but those might be difficult to identify if hundreds or thousands of years have passed since the quarry was used. Once a potential quarry has been identified, the archaeologist submits samples to a laboratory for sourcing, a process that breaks down the chemical or mineral content of a material, using Neutron Activation Analysis, or X-ray Fluorescence or another analytical tool. That provides a greater assurance that the proposed connection between tool and quarry is likely correct. However, quarries can vary in quality and content within a single deposit, and it may be that the chemical make up of the object and the quarry may never be perfectly matched. Some Recent Studies The following are some recent quarry studies, only a fraction of the available research which has been conducted. Wadi Dara (Egypt). This gold and copper mine was used during the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods (3200–2160 BCE). Evidence includes pit trenches, tools (grooved stone axes and pounding slabs), smelting sites and slags from furnaces; as well as several huts where the miners lived. Described in Klemm and Klemm 2013. Carn Menyn (Preseli Hills, Wales, UK). The unique blend of rhyolites and dolerites at Carn Menyn mine were quarried for the 80 bluestones at Stonehenge, 136 miles (220 km) away. Evidence includes a scattering of broken or abandoned pillars of the same size and proportion as those at Stonehenge, and some hammer stones. The quarry was used before and after Stonehenge was built, between 5000–1000 BCE. See Darvill and Wainright 2014. Rano Raraku and Maunga Puna Pau Quarries (Rapa Nui aka Easter Island). Rano Raraku was the source of the volcanic tuff which was used to sculpt all 1,000 of the Easter Island statues (moai). The quarry faces are visible and several uncompleted statues are still connected to the bedrock. Described in Richards and others . Maunga Puna Pau was the source for the red scoria hats the moai wear, as well as other buildings used by the people of Rapa Nui between 1200–1650 CE. Described in Seager 2014. Rumiqolqa (Peru). Rumiqolqa was a quarry where Inca Enpire (1438–1532 CE) stonemasons excavated andesite for temples and other structures in the capital city of Cusco. Mning operations here entailed the creation of pits and cuts on the quarry landscape. Huge stone blocks were cut by using wedges placed in natural fractures, or by creating a line of holes then using wooden or bronze poles as pry bars, rock hammers and stone and bronze chisels. Some stones were further reduced in size before being dragged along the Inca road to their final destination. Inca temples were made of a variety of materials: granite, diorite, rhyolite, and andesite, and many of those quarries have been found and reported by Dennis Ogburn (2013). Pipestone National Monument (USA). This national monument in southwestern Minnesota was used as a source for catlinite, one of several mines scattered through the midwest that produce a sedimentary and metamorphic rock that was used by Native American communities to manufacture ornaments and pipes. Pipestone NM is known to have been an important religious and quarry site for historic period Native American groups during the 18th and 19th centuries CE. See Wisserman and colleagues (2012) and Emerson and colleagues (2013). Sources Bloxam, Elizabeth. Ancient Quarries in Mind: Pathways to a More Accessible Significance. World Archaeology 43.2 (2011): 149–66. Print.Darvill, Timothy, and Geoffrey Wainwright. Beyond Stonehenge: Carn Menyn Quarry and the Origin and Date of Bluestone Extraction in the Preseli Hills of South-West Wales. Antiquity 88.342:1099–14 (2014). Print.Emerson, Thomas, et al. The Allure of the Exotic: Reexamining the Use of Local and Distant Pipestone Quarries in Ohio Hopewell Pipe Caches. American Antiquity 78.1 (2013): 48–67. Print.Klemm, Rosemarie, and Dietrich Klemm. Gold Production Sites and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt. Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia. Natural Science in Archaeology: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013. 51–339. Print.Kloppmann, W., et al. Tracing Medieval and Renaissance Alabaster Works of Art Back to Quarries: A Multi-Isotope (Sr, S, O) Approach. Archaeometry 56.2 (2014): 203–19. Print.Ogburn, Dennis E. Variation in Inca Bui lding Stone Quarry Operations in Peru and Ecuador. Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes. Eds. Tripcevich, Nicholas and Kevin J. Vaughn. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology: Springer New York, 2013. 45–64. Print. Richards, Colin, et al. Road My Body Goes: Re-Creating Ancestors from Stone at the Great Moai Quarry of Rano Raraku, Rapa Nui (Easter Island). World Archaeology 43.2 (2011): 191–210. Print.Seager Thomas, Mike. Stone Use and Avoidance on Easter Island: Red Scoria from the Topknot Quarry at Puna Pau and Other Sources. Archaeology in Oceania 49.2 (2014): 95–109. Print.Summers, Geoffrey D., and Erol Ãâ€"zen. The Hittite Stone and Sculpture Quarry at Karakiz Kasabasi and Hapis Bogazi in the District of Sorgun, Yozgat, Central Anatolia. American Journal of Archaeology 116.3 (2012): 507–19. Print.Tripcevich, Nicholas, Jelmer W. Eerkens, and Tim R. Carpenter. Obsidian Hydration at High Elevation: Archaic Quarrying at the Chivay Source, Southern Peru. Journal of Archaeological Science 39.5 (2012): 1360–67. Print.Uchida, Etsuo, and Ichita Shimoda. Quarries and Transportation Routes of Angkor Monument Sandstone Blocks. Journal of Archaeological Science 40.2 (2013): 1158–64. Print.Wisseman, Sarah U., et al. Refining the Identification of Native American Pipestone Quarries in the Midcontinental United States. Journal of Archaeological Science 39.7 (2012): 2496–505. Print.

Although the United Nations Has Led the Way in Developing Essay

Although the United Nations Has Led the Way in Developing International Human Rights l - Essay Example In general, the two Covenants on Human Rights of 1966 for the United Nations human rights system really emphasise the assessment of the periodical reports that are filed by respective state parties at periodical time phases to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.(hitherto will be known as committee). In addition to this, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) introduce oversight through controversial procedure in the guise of an inter-state complaint2.Further, the First Optional Protocol to this Covenant permits an individual to request for an assessment of a said infringement of the covenant3. However , the UN committee referred above is not toothed with adequate authority and hence , being criticised as â€Å" in no sense a court of law † which can be regarded as less competent as compared to the Inter-American or European Court4. One of the efficient ways of guaranteeing honour for human rights is to submit the said infringements or queries t o an international judicial setup. However, under international community, it is very arduous to implement such submission as international community is very vigilant about any sort of judicial review or statement5. It is to be noted that the mechanism for human rights protection not only existing on the international level but also on the regional level like the â€Å"American Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.† The Inter-American Court and Commission and the European Court of Human Rights, have poignant authority to ensure the effective safeguard of the rights that are highlighted in the relevant conventions. Further, the verdicts made by these institutions are as effective as national court’s verdicts. As already seen, the UNHRC (the United Nations Human Rights Committee) created under the International Covenant on Civil and Po litical Rights (ICCPR) has the authority to look into complaints made by the individual on said human rights infringement. However, the UNHRC is in short of poignant authority to be as effective as the regional human rights courts in America and in Europe. This research paper evaluates the efficacy of the UNHRC through a comparative evaluation. The comparison between the regional and international human rights committee is being carried over on the following grounds; The visibleness of such courts ,particularly in the public domain To pursue interim steps to bar the frustration of such infringement The ability and fact finding calibre of the Court The implementation of final verdicts and the follow-ups thereto. Analysis It is to be noted that in spite of existence of statutory shortcomings of both the Covenant and the Optional Protocol, the UNCHR can function in an efficient way as that of regional human rights courts without amending these instruments. This can be reality if the co mmittee’s interim measure is given a binding status; further, through the reversal of burden of proof, the committee can surmount the lack of its autonomous fact-finding capacity. Further, the UNCHR should enhance its visibility and should give wide publicity of its verdicts, and the committee should see that compliances by states with its final, up-to-point binding verdicts.

Professional and academic background Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Professional and academic background - Essay Example I was enrolled for leadership in teaching advanced writing class to enhance workshop learning for students. I am working as a personal tutor and as a tutor for the university-tutoring program at the University of Rochester; my courses as a tutor include Introduction to Economics, Economic Statistics, Econometrics, Calculus I & II, Theoretical Linear Algebra, Probability. This experience has improved my knowledge requirements in the interdisciplinary subjects of the course. I have thus the strong knowledge and skills for mathematics, economics and interdisciplinary subjects like econometrics, economic statistics that I deserve admission for the course. I published one article per day in a local business page in Chinese Taipei in the summer of 2005; I also attended press conferences and wrote some reports in special columns. I participated in some copy desk editing work, and helped with translating between Mandarin and English. I also made money by doing online business especially in a dvertising field for different Internet sites. In this course once in a week seminars are conducted with the people from the financial world like Wall Street etc, to know about the happenings in the financial world. My skills will be highly helpful to understand the situations. I worked for a library as a Circulation Desk Student Supervisor, Project Supervisor, Stack organizer, this is helpful to complete the assignments related to the library work fastly. Academic background I have a bachelor of science degree in mathematics, Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and minor in philosophy with the GPA of 3.93, 3.91,3.9 respectively. These are the basic requirements of the course. I have a good GPA for the subjects. I have a GRE score of 630 out of 800, which is relatively a good score to get admission. In addition to this I have done some research papers in mathematics of political modeling, on measurements of power, and fairness of voting at the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. I have done honors senior thesis in Macroeconomic Forecasting, subtopics were Research into the mechanisms and programming techniques of modern forecasting, development and construction of a unique macroeconomic forecasting model. I have received the awards as the Deans list recipient. I am currently member of University of Rochester's Economic council and International Ambassadors Organization. My professional and academic background is such that I can surely get admission into the Advanced degree in Financial Engineering at Columbia

Ethical Issues Of The Three Gorges Dam

Ethical Issues Of The Three Gorges Dam The role of an engineer in modern day society to respond to the needs of the general public by applying science and modern day engineering methods to follow a certain set of guidelines or specifications to deliver the customer needs. Most importantly, that the device, plan or creation should work up to guidelines and function without fail, and reach its level of performance. Hence, the engineer must work hard to design in such a way to avoid failure which could result in damage to people and to the environment, loss of property, injury or even death, thats sometimes how dangerous engineering can be if safety precautions are taken and abided by to maintain the wellbeing of you and your fellow species. With every project taken upon by an engineer, they will learn more and more from past mistakes, every day so that they will come up with better designs which are more economical and beneficial in the long run. All engineers must accept their jobs involve a wider responsibility than simpl y application of their skills. Engineers must act in an ethical and morally responsible way if they are to be treated as professionals. All engineers should uphold normal standards of honesty and integrity. They should not use their skills and abilities to act in a dishonest or selfish way or in a way that will harm others. Confidentiality should also be respected by the engineer irrespective whether to a formal confidentiality agreement has been signed or not with the client. The code relates to the behaviour of the decisions made by professional engineers, it is their responsibility to point out flaws or errors to their fellow work mates and bosses to ensure projects are finished to the top possible standard. There will be situations when people have different views and objectives, so you are likely to be faced with an ethical dilemma. It is up to you as an engineer and a person to solve the problem and try to understand the other peoples views and come out with the correct solution. Most cases will be minor ethical dilemmas and can be solved without too much difficulty. Three Gorges Dam The three gorges dam and all the surrounding infrastructure is the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken in history, but because of the ethics of the build , the project was under continuous scrutiny and controversy, due to the monumental economic, social and environmental impacts. In 2007 there was report released into the growing threats from landslides and flooding, on top of that the social and political unrest and discontent from having to move millions of people from where they were born and grew up. The project is so controversial that even some Chinese officials are beginning to be very frank on their opinions of the project. To be able to judge the significant cost and benefits on the projects cannot just get a price tag but if something went wrong it would cause never before unheard of chaos in that region and in china in general. The Project The project itself stretches across the 3rd largest river in the world by 2km the Yangtze river. The name of the dam three gorges comes from the massive canyons that are formed by the towering limestone cliffs. The idea of a dam in the Chinese province of hubei in a small town called Sandouping, was first proposed 80yrs ago by Sun Yat-sen, but because of the technology wasnt there 80yrs ago nothing went forward, but then again in the 1950s by chairman Mao Tse Yung proposed that the construction of the project would be speeded up but nothing significant happened till 36yrs later in 1986 when the Chinese government asked a syndicate of Canadian business to finance a feasibility study. In 1992 The Chinese government approved the construction of the dam two years later the build began and after 9 years hard work the first electricity was produced. The dam itself is 200m high with a volume of between 39-40 million cubic metres and the reservoir is 600km long with a capacity of 40 billion cubic metres, the dam is set to produce 10% of the electricity usage in china. In early 2008 the installation of the last generators was completed bringing the total capacity to 14,800 MWe in 2010 when the project is set to be completed it will have the capability of producing more than 22,000 MWe eight times more than Hoover dam in Colorado. Hydro Power Hydro power is a water powered phenomena which uses the force or energy of high speed or high energy water to harness its power to generate electricity. Gravity plays a big part in hydro power, as the water falls from a height it turns blades which are specially designed in the dam to catch the flow of the oncoming water which then turn a turbine to generate the power. wuhytypicalplant.gif In the image above, we are shown a typical hydro electricity dam. The dam holds back a large scale amount of water behind its walls, there is usually a reservoir behind the walls so that the water can be few through the gate in whatever quantity they desire. The water is then fed from the height it is at down through the intake pipe trough to the generator to turn the turbine which turns the generators and creates the electricity and then the electricity is directly fed to peoples homes and factories for use. The water then continues on down the river as it was before after generating green energy. It is a big advantage to use hydropower rather than coal. The three gorges dam is replacing a coal fired station which would consume 50 million tonnes of coal a year which is equivalent to what is now being produced by the dam. This reduces annual carbon dioxide emissions by 150 million tonnes a year. This is a great environmental achievement. Environmental effects The constructions of large scale hydroelectric dams often have a detrimental effect on the environment. The Three Gorges Dam is no exception. The three Gorges Dam areas is a very diverse region with many different animal and plant species some of whom are only found in this part of the world. The dam and the large reservoir it created behind it have had a damaging impact on the local environment. With the creation of the dam the probability of earthquakes in the area has increased due to the extra stress the weight of water puts on the two major fault lines in the region the Jiuwanxi and the Zigui-Badong. In the seven months after September 2006, there were 822 tremors recorded after the water level was raised. So far none have been strong enough to cause any significant damage. The local wildlife has suffered greatly due to the dam including many endangered species such as the Giant Panda, Baili Dolphin (Chinese River Dolphin) and the Chinese Tiger. In total there are 47 endangered species in the Three Gorges Dam area. With the flooding of the land behind the dam the wildlife is being forced to higher ground. This higher ground are being turned into small islands forcing the animals to compete for whatever little food there is on these small islands. Freshwater fish are affected most by the dam due to the fact that they cannot cross the dam therefore reducing their habitat and stop them from getting to their spawning grounds upstream. The change of the temperature of the water and the change of the flow regime have had a damaging effect on the fish population. Also with the reduced water flow downstream seawater has started to flow up the river resulting in jellyfish coming into the river and competing for food with the indigenous fish population. The Three Gorges Dam area is home to 20% of Chinas plants, about 6,400 different species of plants. 57% of these plants are endangering. Many of these are used in Chinese medicine. The reservoir created behind the dam is having an effect on the local climate. The reservoir is having a lake effect i.e. when already moist air picks up moisture as it crosses a warm body of water and rains it out when it gets to land. It is also reducing the temperature of the area with the increase in the cloud cover. three_gorges.jpg Social and Economic Impact The three Gorges Dam project has had a severe social effect of the people of the Hubei Provence of China. The dam has flooded 13 cities, 110 towns, 1350 villages and 100,000 acres of the most fertile land in all of China in total an area of 632 km2 was flooded. The farmland lost to the reservoir produced 40% of Chinas grain and 70% of their rice. All this flooding has resulted in more than 1.2 million people having to be relocated. Many priceless archeology and cultural symbols of China have been lost including the Ba civilisation that settled in the Three Gorges Area over 4,000 years ago. Relocation The number of people relocated by the dam varies from 1.2 million to 5 million. Many of them were forcibly evicted from their homes They come, like devils, to knock down our homes, said villager Fu. Why are they so hard on us Most of the people displaced were moved to urban centres around Chongqing with insufficient compensation to buy or build a new home, or were moved into new cities built for the displaced locals in the mountains on steep sloops. The farmers that were relocated and remained farmers were not able to produce enough crops on their new land because it is not fertile enough to survive, those who moved to the cities received no training for industrial job and found it hard to get work. Many of the resettled people feel that their basic human rights have been ignored and have started to speak out against the governments handling of the relocation. Corruption and embezzling accusations are rife, with 46% of the total budget for the project being spent of re-housing and compensating the local authorities have been accused of embezzling fund and not spending enough money on housing resulting in poor workmanship and unsafe construction of the new houses. Economic Benefits The economic benefits of the construction of the dam are huge. The dam will produce as much power as. The dam enables large cargo ships to travel further up the river. Hidden Truth Some recent reports concerning the dam that an increased amount of cracks was discovered in the concrete have been appearing which, is a worrying truth. The first crack was discovered in 1999 and even today there are cracks as large as from the top to the bottom which is 200m, when the waters start to rise to the max. In the largest dam in history, many towns and a lot more cultural treasures will be lost, but a much greater concerns that the dam might fail, unleashing a great mass of water for miles, possibly killing millions of people and causing billions of damage. The cracks in the dam are starting to become between 3 and 4 inches wide and 2m deep. Engineers also fear that the buildings built to relocate the millions of people affected by the project could also be at risk. The buildings where built on unstable ground where landslides are capable of occurring. There have also been fears of possible health hazards from the unrelated waste dumped into rivers every year. Discussion The three gorges dam is one of the worlds biggest gambles, the Chinese government have placed millions of lives on the line and millions of dollars. As well as putting endangered species at risk in their won environment, just because they thought it would save more lives from flood prevention and produce clean energy. Government official in charge, Wang Xiaofeng said during a meeting of Chinese scientists we simply cannot sacrifice the environment in exchange of temporary gain The long term implications of the three gorges dam will not be understood fully until over the next few decades when engineers and scientists recognise the implications, some of which are already appearing. The sheer size and importance of the dam in china is leaving it a prime target for a military strike, which was threatened by the U.S. pentagon in 2004. A blow to the three gorges dam would be catastrophic, it would kill millions of people, destroy homes and towns as a mass wall of water are unleashed out of the reservoir. The Chinese military guard the dam in case of such an attack. The issues faced today are far more than was previously predicted, despite efforts by the engineers and scientists it cannot be guaranteed that landslides can be controlled or when and where they might take place. In my opinion this project was put forward, not only for economic or environmental gain, but for china to be portrayed as a force to be reckoned with and for the three gorges dam to be recognised for its greatness in modern day engineering. The three gorges dam may well be the biggest and best engineering project ever undertaken in this lifetime but it may also get the title for the biggest engineering failure in history thanks to third world work. Conclusion The project deadline is 2010, starting in 1994, the project has spanned over 16 years and is nearly coming to completion. As one of the largest engineering projects in world the three gorges dam undoubtedly has its cost tag, among the most substantial costs were to re locate 1.2 million Chinese natives to the lands whose houses and land were flooded to build the dam. The most important factor of the hydro dam is the reduction of the greenhouse gases as hydroelectricity is a completely green energy, also it has potentially reduced risks of floods. Over the next few decades, the projects aim will become more obvious of the work it is doing for the environment but before these benefits are delivered, the environmental, social and economic costs are beginning to show. Some officials now in china are moving towards new massive projects in water energy, which could be costly and without having learned lessons from the three gorges, while other officials question the substantial human and environmental costs of the project. Chinese official said if a decision was undertaken on undemocratic and unscientific then the laws of nature will mercifully punish us and we will pay even more dearly

Can a Criminal Be Rehabilitated Back Into Society

The purpose of this paper is to research the whole subject of criminals and their rehabilitation. This is a discussion of what society’s responsibility in this matter is and how to approach whether it is reform or punishing those who commit the crime. Should a criminal who claims insanity be rehabilitated into society? This is a common argument that many people find themselves wondering if such thing is possible when a heinous crime has been committed. It is stated that juries find for only about 20 percent of the defendants who plead insanity. Sixty to 70 percent of insanity pleas are for crimes other than murder. They range from assault to shoplifting. There are some opponents that attack the insanity defense for confusing psychiatric and legal concepts, in the process undermining the moral integrity of the law. During the 150 years or so the insanity defense has been and still is an issue in the U. S. within our criminal law and the medical psychology that have gone through many tireless changes in the criminal responsibility and the mental illness relationship. Ignoring this issue we may have steered away from an important source in our struggle with this type of defense. The United States Federal law states that insanity is a fair defense if at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality of the wrongfulness of his or her acts. When invoking insanity as a defense, a defendant is required to notify the prosecution. In some states, sanity is determined by the judge or jury in a separate proceeding following the determination of guilt or innocence at trial. In other states, the defense is either accepted or rejected in the verdict of the judge or jury. Even if evidence of insanity does not win a verdict of not guilty, the sentencing court may consider it as a mitigating factor. The criminal justice system under which all men and women are tried holds a concept called mens rea, a Latin phrase that means â€Å"state of mind†. According to this concept, criminals committed who commit their crimes are oblivious of the wrongfulness of their actions. A mentally challenged person, including one with mental retardation, who cannot distinguish between right and wrong is protected and exempted by the court of law from being unfairly punished for his/her crime. Insanity, what does that word mean? I don’t have a clear cut definition for it but for most of us when we think of that word we think of someone mentally ill or just plain crazy. Does insanity makes us loose the thought of moral value and or our justification from right from wrong? It is stated that most socially recognized authorities such as psychiatrists, medical doctors, and lawyers agree that it is a brain disease. Let say it is a brain disease should we link insanity with other brain diseases like strokes and Parkinsonism? Unlike these two diseases, whose causes can be medically accounted for through a behavioral deficit such as paralysis, and weakness, how can one explain the behavior of crimes done by such criminals? Doctor’s and psychiatrists describe what they say insanity is a neurological illness explaining it to a jury a person's or in this case a criminal’s reason and behavior. It rarely excuses it. Insanity is now considered a legal concept not a medical diagnosis. The most widely known rule in the insanity defense refers to the M'Naghten rule which arose in 1983 during the trial of Daniel M'Naghten who pleaded that he was not responsible for his murders because he suffered from delusions at the time of that he committed the crime. The rule states that a criminal defendant may be excused from criminal responsibility if at the time of the crime, the person accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from a mental illness, as not to know the nature and the quality of the act he or she was doing. The biggest problem I feel is that with the insanity defense is either examined from a legal angle or a psychoanalytical one which involves talking to people and taking many tests. These tests so far show no proof of confirming the causal relationship between mental illness and the criminal behavior based on a deeper neurological working of the brain sciences. Many doctors and or professionals seemed to find themselves in a double bind where with no clear medical definition of mental illness, he/she must answer questions of legal insanity- beliefs of human rationality, and free will instead of basing it on more concrete scientific facts. For example, let us use a case study to elaborate the argument that law in this country continues to regard insanity as a moral and legal matter rather than ones based on scientific analysis. Remember the insanity case of Andrea Yates which occurred in Houston, Texas in 2002. In March 2002, a panel of Texas jurors debated her fate. A devoted mother with a history of postpartum psychosis, hallucinations, and two suicide attempts, Yates admitted to drowning her five children in a bathtub. Prosecutors conceded that Yates was mentally ill but knew right from wrong and so was not legally insane at the time of the murders. Under the law, jurors could not be told that Yates would be hospitalized if she were found NGRI. The jury rejected her claim of mental illness, found her guilty, spared her the death penalty but sentenced her to life in prison. At least there Yates would be kept in protective custody because of her ongoing mental problems and possible threats from other inmates and unless she needed intensive psychiatric care she would eventually mingle with the general population at the prison known for housing some of the toughest, meanest women in Texas. Yates's symptoms are controlled by medication. How about rehabilitating the insane, is it possible or how are we the society should deal with this issue? Rehabilitation is based on the idea that the criminal violation resulted from inadequate socialization of the offender; it represents an effort to provide some counseling and practical training that can aid an offender and therefore weaken or remove the stimuli that led him or her to committing the crime. Can we just say that the person with the mental illness is not capable of being normal or distinguishing right from wrong so we should just lock them up and throw the key away? One might wonder if criminals use the insanity defense to escape punishment. After all a crime had been committed and therefore they too should be punished maybe not as a normal criminal but with the proper medical assistance needed for their behavior can be controlled. Some of these individuals can in fact be rehabilitated back into society by properly giving them the right medication and not just sending them to jail where they get no help. If in fact the insanity defense is successful the offender then is placed in psychiatric hospital or the psychiatric ward of a state prison which are secured facilities. Many offenders who plead insanity are nonviolent offenders, and most if not all will stay at the hospital longer than they would if they were going to prison if had been convicted of the crime that they were accused of. Again the insanity does not always bring freedom but indeterminate detention. The defense by which defendant argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law due to being legally insane when at the time the crime occurred. The defendants who attempt such defense will undergo mental examinations beforehand. There are four various insanity defense standards. The first is the M’Nagthen rule which the standard is whether or not he or she did not know what he or she was doing or didn’t know it was wrong. The burden of proof varies, from proof by a balance of probabilities on the defense to proof a beyond a reasonable doubt on the prosecutor and or depending on the state jurisdiction. The second is the irresistible impulse test which legal standard is if he or she could not control his conduct. The third is the substantial capacity test. The legal standard is if he or she lacks the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to control it and the burden of proof is beyond reasonable doubt and rests on the prosecutor. The fourth test is the Present federal law which indicates if he or she lacks the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his or her conduct. The burden of proof is clear and convincing evidence and rests on the defense. The insanity defense shouldn’t be confused with incompetency. Individuals who are incompetent to stand trial are held in a mental institution until they are considered capable of participating in the proceedings. The insanity defense should also be kept separate from issues concerning the mental retardation. In the case in 2002 Atkins v. Virginia the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the execution of the mentally retarded criminals constituted the cruel and unusual punishment and it was prohibited by the 8th Amendment. If a criminal is acquitted by reason of insanity then execution was not an option. The insanity defense has contributed to making the law more humane. The criminal justice system seeks to protect the public, with the main goal of the mental health system in treating and rehabilitating individuals with some sort of mental illness. Another issue is what critics contend that the insanity defense undermines the functioning of the criminal justice system. Wealthy defendants are able to hire experts and have the advantage over the indigent. The defense may be exploited by perfectly sane defendants who have the resources to conclude a credible defense. The wealthy defendant who pleads insanity usually hires his or her own medical team to be evaluated. This often leads to corruption in a rich man's trial, because the wealthy can afford to buy their doctor's verdicts. This is very unfair in that, the wealthy can afford to hire expensive doctors and defenses and are more likely to get off with a non-guilty verdict whereas the poor man or middle class man has less of a chance even if they are actually insane. This presents a violation of the very basic concept that all people, regardless of their wealth or social status, should be given the equal treatment they deserve when in a court of law, but that is not always the case. Some studies have shown that as many as 70 percent of NGRI defendants withdrew their plea when a state-appointed expert found them to be legally sane. Individuals in this type social status are using the insanity plea as a way to get away with their crime and not have to be punished. If a person is truly insane and cannot be counted on to know the difference between right and wrong, this should be seen beforehand by medical doctors, declared insane and then taken out of society's reach for the safety of the innocent. Those who are harmful to the public should be kept away, not as a measure of cruelty but for the one with mental illness they should get the proper care in a secure facility and once they are sane than be transferred to a prison facility. The law states that we have the same rights no matter what our social status is so therefore should get the same treatment. That is not always the case though. It is difficult even for doctor’s to really determine if the defendant really was insane when the crime was being committed. To really understand the nature of the insanity defense one must go back and look at where and how it started. In today's insanity cases, mental health experts, doctors, and scientists have important roles to play. They can inform the jury of the nature of the defendant's mental illness, the likeliness that the crime might be repeated, and whether the defendant may bring harm upon himself/herself. However, like any court case, there will always be divided opinions amongst the mental experts regarding the outcome of the case depending on whether they testify for or against the defendant. Dangerous mentally ill offenders should be confined appropriately to proper treatment facilities while receiving care. Mentally ill offenders I believe would be less of a financial burden to society since they would be able to return to society as productive members following their required treatment. Many mentally ill offenders would no longer be sentenced as if they had the mens rea required for committing the crime. Instead, mentally ill offenders would receive a constitutionally valid sentence that is proportional to their degree of culpability, thus accurately reflecting the criminal justice system’s notion of criminal culpability. References: Anniken Davenport (2009), Basic Criminal Law: The Constitution, Procedure, and Crimes, 2nd Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Paul B. Weston & Kenneth M. Wells & Marlene Hertoghe (1995), Criminal Evidence for Police, 4th edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Larry J. Siegel (2004), Criminology: Theories, Patterns, & Typologies, 8th edition, Belmont, Ca. Wadsworth/Thompson Kenneth J Peak (2003), Policing in America: Methods, Issues, Challenges, 4th edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. References: Anniken Davenport (2009), Basic Criminal Law: The Constitution, Procedure, and Crimes, 2nd Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Paul B. Weston & Kenneth M. Wells & Marlene Hertoghe (1995), Criminal Evidence for Police, 4th edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Larry J. Siegel (2004), Criminology: Theories, Patterns, & Typologies, 8th edition, Belmont, Ca. :Wadsworth/Thompson Kenneth J Peak (2003), Policing in America: Methods, Issues, Challenges, 4th edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Todd R. Clear & George F. Cole (2003), American Corrections, 6th edition, Belmont, Ca. Wadsworth/Thompson Frank Schmalleger (2002), Criminal Justice: A brief imtroduction, 4th edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Todd R. Clear & George F. Cole (2003), American Corrections, 6th edition, Belmont, Ca. Wadsworth/Thompson Frank Schmalleger (2002), Criminal Justice: A brief imtroduction, 4th edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

900,000 Iraqis Killed in Repression and War

Casualty counts in Iraq have generated a war of their own. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published a study that estimated that in the 18 months following the American invasion in 2003, 100,000 more Iraqis died than would have been expected had the invasion not occurred. The study sparked controversy over methodology. It wasnt adding up body counts from bombs and bullets but surveying households about births and deaths that had occurred since 2002, verifying the cause of death through certificates only when possible... which wasnt often. When the same team updated its study in 2006, the death toll was up to 654,965, with 91.8 percent caused by violence. Conservative organs like The Wall Street Journal went nuts, charging that, because the study was funded by the liberal activist George Soros, it was not credible. (Where the Journals editorial page gets its logic is one of the great enigmas of the age). Saddam Hussein and the Death Toll in Iraq The well-documented Iraq Body Count site was putting the figure at one-sixth that of the Johns Hopkins study, though it was relying exclusively on verifiable press, government or non-governmental organizations reports. There comes a point though when casualty figures reach such a level that debating higher or lower numbers becomes an exercise in churlishness. Of course, theres a difference between 700,000 and 100,000 dead. But is that to say that a war thats caused 100,000 dead is somehow, in any possible way, less horrific or more justifiable? The Iraqi Ministry of Health produced its own casualty count of Iraqis killed as a direct result of violence -- not by survey  or estimates but by verifiable deaths and proven causes: At least 87,215 killed since 2005, and more than 110,000 since 2003, or 0.38% of the Iraqi population. One of the Journals strange and utterly meaningless comparisons in its 2006 editorial discrediting the Johns Hopkins count was that fewer Americans died in the Civil War, our bloodiest conflict. Iraq's Death Count Equivalent in the United States Heres a more telling comparison. The proportion of Iraqis directly killed in the war would amount to 1.14 million deaths in a country with a population the size of the United States-- a proportional figure that would exceed any conflict this country has ever known. In fact, it would be almost equivalent to the sum total of all American war casualties since the War of Independence. But even that approach understates the extent of suffering of the Iraqi population because it only looks at the last six years. What of the death toll under Saddam Hussein? 23 Years of Slaughter Under Saddam Hussein In the end, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning John Burns wrote in The Times a few weeks before the invasion, if an American-led invasion ousts Mr. Hussein, and especially if an attack is launched without convincing proof that Iraq is still harboring forbidden arms, history may judge that the stronger case was the one that needed no inspectors to confirm: that Saddam Hussein, in his 23 years in power, plunged this country into a bloodbath of medieval proportions, and exported some of that terror to his neighbors. Burns proceeded to estimate the arithmetic of Saddams brutality: The largest number of deaths during his reign is attributable to the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). Iraq claims to have lost 500,000 people during that war.The 1990 occupation of Kuwait and the ensuing Gulf War caused 100,000 deaths, by Iraqs reckoning--probably an exaggeration, but not by much: the 40-day bombardment of Iraq before the three-day ground war, and the massacre of escaping Iraqi troops on the highway of death make the estimate more credible than not.Casualties from Iraqs gulag are harder to estimate, Burns wrote. Accounts collected by Western human rights groups from Iraqis and defectors have suggested that the number of those who have disappeared into the hands of the secret police, never to be heard from again, could be 200,000. Add it up, and in three decades, about 900,000 Iraqis have died from violence, or well over 3% of the Iraqi population--the equivalent of more than 9 million people in a nation with a population as large as that of the United States. Thats what Iraq will have to recover from over the next decades--not just the death toll of the last six years, but that of the last 30. Staring at the Abyss As of this writing, the combined combat and non-combat deaths of American and Coalition soldiers in Iraq, since 2003, total 4,595--a devastating toll from the western perspective, but one that must be multiplied 200 times to begin to understand the extent of the devastation of Iraqs own death toll. Analyzed that way (since the cause of the violent deaths is not, to the dead and their survivors, nearly as relevant as the fact of the deaths themselves) even the Johns Hopkins figures become less relevant as a point of dispute, since, by focusing only on the last six years, they underestimate the breadth of the carnage. If the Johns Hopkins methodology were applied, the death toll would climb well above 1 million. One last question bears asking. Assuming that 800,000 Iraqis lost their lives during the Saddam Hussein years, does even that justify killing an additional 100,000, supposedly to be rid of Saddam? He who does battle with monsters needs to watch out lest he in the process becomes a monster himself, Nietzche wrote in Beyond Good and Evil. And if you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss will stare right back at you. Nowhere has that been more true, in this young and morally stunted century, than with Americas monstrous battle in Iraq.