...To what extent is the Westminster Electoral system in need of reform? In this essay I will discuss whether or not, Westminster should look to adopt a different type of voting system rather than continuing the use of the current voting system, First Past the Post (FPTP). I believe that first past the post is the best voting system for the UK as it prevents extremists getting into power and also creates a strong government; however I will assess this and take arguments which contradict my opinion into consideration. First past the post is a way of voting in the general election, the UK is split into 650 constituencies and each constituent is asked to vote for a constituency representative. For example Tottenham last voted for Labour MP, David Lammy as the representative. In theory the party with the most winning representatives win. Voters select a single candidate and they do it by checking their name with an ‘X’ on the ballot. First past the post is also a plurality system, the candidate who is deemed as the winner only needs a plurality of votes. This is one of the fundamental rules of first past the post, for example if candidate A got 30,000 votes, candidate B got 22,000 and candidate C got 26,000 votes candidate A would still win although they didn’t get the 50% majority. An advantage of first past the post is the fact that it is raises the likelihood of single member governments. Therefore cabinets do not have to deal and bargain with a minority coalition partner...
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...Edexcel AS Politics Edexcel AS Politics ExamBuster 2009 Introduction to Unit 1- People and Politics Understanding the Examination and Exam Technique Choosing your questions In this unit you are presented with four questions. They are of equal value and each question covers one of the four sections of the specification. These are: Democracy and political participation Party policies and ideas Elections Pressure groups There is no significance to the order in which questions appear. Each question is divided into three sections (a), (b) and (c). When choosing which questions to do, the following principles are recommended: It is almost certain that you will be better off choosing your strongest question to do first. You should choose questions on the basis of how well you can answer the section (c) part. The (c) part carries 25 of the 40 marks available for the whole answer. Do not choose a question simply because you can do part (a) especially well. The (a) question is only worth 5 marks. It would be illogical to choose your strongest (a) part if you cannot do well on section (c). If you cannot decide between several (c) parts, i.e. you can do more than one equally well, make your choice on the basis of part (b) which carries 10 marks. But remember, it is the (c) parts that will determine most what your overall mark will be. So, when you first look at the exam paper, look at the (c) sections first. Assessment Objectives Each question is divided into three sections,...
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...Q) Discuss the role of political parties in contemporary democracies. Assess whether parties have retained their position or are in a decline or ascent? Consider arguments both in favour and against your judgment. A) In the twenty-first century, the term democracy doesn't just bring to mind the idea of people power; instead it prompts the idea of the existence of several political parties. The changing face of democracy has much to owe to the evolution of the political party system in the world today. Political parties seem to have become an engraved concept of democracy nowadays because of the significant role they play in the prevalent democratic systems. On face value a political party is a group of individuals representing certain views and attempting to gain power through the process of elections and translating these views into policies. However, they have several purposes, that upon being fulfilled act like building blocks to form the wall of democracy as we know it today. These include, but are not limited to, the formation of a government, representation of populist ideas, provision of a political platform for individuals, and the setting of goals for society which of course are coherent with what the masses desire. Moreover parties may also represent a certain faction of society which could be ethnic, religious or a certain class, much like interest groups do. These purposes of political parties are parallel to the essential principles of democracy, hence playing...
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...answers may well be acceptable, but they are intended as a guide to give teachers and students feedback. The responses for the longer essay-style questions are intended to give some idea about how the exam questions might be answered. Again, these are not the only ways to answer such questions but they can be treated as one way of approaching questions of these types. Topic 1 Functionalist and New Right views of the family How have functionalist and New Right thinkers explained family life and the relationship between families and social change? 1 The organic analogy refers to the extended comparison made by functionalists between the human or other living body and society, with the organs of the body equivalent to institutions and structures in society. 2 Primary socialisation refers to the first and most important stage of the socialisation process by which young children absorb the norms and values of their culture, mainly from their parents. Note: make sure your answer explains both ‘primary’ and ‘socialisation’. 3 One way in which the nuclear family is more suited than other types of family to modern industrial society is that it allows for geographical mobility; it is easier to move a nuclear family to a new area for, say, a new job than to move an extended family. A second way is that the division of roles by gender means that the male breadwinner can work long hours in a workplace while his wife cares for the children and home. Note: the...
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...GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS AS LEVEL UNIT TWO GOVERNING THE UK “Never, never, never give up” Winston S Churchill 1874-1965 1 GOVERNING THE UK 50% of AS [25% of A2] UNIT TWO SAMPLE QUESTION Answer one question from Section A and one question from Section B in 80 minutes. Spend 40 minutes on Section A and 40 minutes on Section B SECTION A QUESTION ONE PRIME MINISTERIAL POWER “For too long the big political decisions in this country have been made in the wrong place. They are not made around the Cabinet table where they should be, but they are taken on the sofa in Tony Blair’s office. No notes are kept and no one takes the blame when things go wrong. That arrogant style of government must come to an end. I will restore the proper process of government. I want to be Prime Minister of this country not a President (Source: David Cameron, The Times, 5th October 2006) “The Cabinet is the committee at the centre of the British political system. Every Thursday during Parliament, Secretaries of State from all departments as well as other ministers meet in the Cabinet Room in Downing Street to discuss the big issues of the day. The Prime Minister chairs the meeting, selects its members and also recommends their appointment as ministers to the monarch. The present Cabinet has 23 members (21 MPs and two peers). The secretary of the Cabinet is responsible for preparing records of its discussions and decisions”. (Source: From a modern textbook) (a) What...
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...------------------------------------------------- BMAN31090 Comparative Industrial Relations To what extent does the current EU framework provide the basis for the reconciliation of social and economic rights in the areas of EU freedoms, posting of workers and industrial action? Discuss with reference to the situation in at least three of the core countries. Introduction: Since the formation of the European Union in the 1950s, there has been a constant tension between the market aim of the union and social policy. The enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007 deepened even further these misalignments and in some respects it can be argued that a tension between new and old Member States started to emerge. Arnholtz and Mailand (2013) argues that the social dimension of the EU is as old as itself. Nonetheless it was not until the early 1980s that the European Union started to gradually develop a genuine social dimension to complement economic integration. This social dimension includes directives that are considered to be 'hard-law' as well as 'soft-law' which deal with aspects such as 'Open Methods of coordination' and the voluntary agreements of social partners. The aim of this paper is to discuss the implications of economic and social policies in the European labour market. In order to get the argument across, the emphasis will be put on four major legal cases that were interpreted by the European Court of Justice and the implications of the rulings on several member...
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...Assess the advantages and problems facing an employer seeking to manage employee relations in a non-union environment. Rose (2008) identifies that the extent of union derecognition and the general decline in collectivized employment relations in recent years. That is to say, both of them have drawn attention to the growing phenomenon of non-unionism. ‘Non-unionism’ is a common term which is often discussed in the academic literature on human resource management and industrial relations. And it is concerned with a situation where management does not deal with a trade union that collectively represents the interests of workers (Dundon&Rollinson 2004). It is widely known that managing employee relations in a non-union environment is increasingly popular in most of the countries; the non-unionized firm in the UK can be seen as a typical exemplar in the employment relations. To be more specific, the employment relations characteristics of firms without a formal union presence barely featured in studies of employment relations for many years except for some foreign-owned companies operating in the UK (Williams&Smith 2010). Before the 1980s, large companies without union recognition were treated as idiosyncratic and given some brief consideration, and those small companies without union recognition were largely ignored (Williams&Smith 2010). However, the issue of the ‘non-union’ firm has become a dominant role gradually in the UK, it is embodied in a sharp decline...
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...they constitute the major route for citizens to organize the demand for such alternatives.2 Parties also play a crucial role in the nature of democratic governance because they help legitimize the state. After all, free and fair elections in which parties compete for oce are a prime criterion for whether a system should be considered a democracy in the ®rst place. Outside of elections, political parties also have long been the most important mediating institutions between citizens and the state, in particular as parties have taken on the roles as simultaneous agents both of the state and its citizens.3 While virtually all democracies have political parties that compete for oce, political systems dier in a number of important ways with regard to how they go about channeling inputs or providing policy alternatives, and with regard to the roles they assign parties in this process. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, the ways in which political institutions condition the formation, functioning, and development of political parties and party systems varies as well. While there is an extensive literature linking electoral systems and the development of party systems, few researchers have investigated their link with how citizens ± the ultimate arbiters of democratic governance ± feel about the way the political process performs. This essay focuses on two types of political performance that are expected to aect citizen attitudes about the...
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...Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchanges Working Paper Series Dr. Shahira Abdel Shahid September 2001 Corporate Governance is becoming a global pursuit: what could be done in Egypt? 1 Corporate Governance is becoming a global pursuit: what could be done in Egypt? Abstract: The paper defines corporate governance and explains the reasons for its becoming an important issue pursued by many countries in the last decade. Following, the various codes of corporate governance, used as a guidance for countries, which are set by international organizations such as World Bank, IMF and OECD are summarized. Next, the paper reviews corporate governance experiences in nine diverse, countries including both developed and emerging markets. Finally, the paper assesses corporate governance practices in Egypt, identifying existing problems and proposing recommendations in order to enhance corporate governance practices in Egypt. Acknowledgements: The Research & Markets Development Department at CASE is very pleased to present its first series of research papers that addresses an issue of both local and international importance, which is broadly examined by experts and researchers in both practice and academia. The author would like first to thank Dr. Sameh El Torgoman, Chairman of CASE, for his great support and encouragement. Dr. El Torgoman insisted that corporate governance becomes the first research working series paper to be written by Research & Markets Development, given the worldwide...
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...Creativity In Schools: A Maltese Perspective Paper presented during the First International Conference on Strategic Innovation and Future Creation, Malta, March 2009 Shirley Pulis Xerxen 1 The knowledge and skills needed in the future may not even be known at the time a person attends school or university. As a result, these institutions cannot limit themselves to the transmission of set contents, techniques and values, since these will soon be useless or even detrimental to living a full life. (Cropley, 2006, p. 136)1 Introduction In this paper I attempt to provide some insight about the teaching of thinking and creativity in schools by drawing parallels between what is found on this subject in the literature, my experience as a teacher of thinking skills in Primary schools in Maltai and from findings that emerge from a questionnaire that I conducted with Maltese Primary and Secondary school teachers to analyse their perceptions on the teaching and learning of creativity, compatible with the educational values of current pedagogical practices. Facing today’s challenges Educators are being increasingly faced with the ever-growing call for entrepreneurial citizens who value openness, diversity and creativity, who are able to design the future in all areas of their life. This demands that a school’s curriculum must be open and flexible enough to accommodate these new perspectives. This paper focuses on the need for a holistic approach to creativity in education, an...
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...You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Many high-level positions in companies are filled by men even though the workforce in many developed countries is more than 50 per cent female. Companies should be required to allocate a certain percentage of these positions to women. To what extent do you agree? Write at least 250 words. Model answer In many countries these days, females make up over 50 per cent of the workforce, and increasingly highly skilled women are taking managerial positions. However, it is still a fact that high positions such as CEO posts are still dominated by men. Although this is not desirable, I do not personally believe that imposed quotas are the solution. Firstly, I believe companies have a right to choose the best person for the job, whatever their gender, in order to contribute to the success of the business. Forcing companies to hire, promote and appoint women could negatively affect business in the short term and even the long term. Secondly, to my mind the solution to this problem should be solved outside the workplace. Girls need to be encouraged to take more male-dominated subjects at school and later at university, and to aspire to do well in their careers. Girls and boys also need to be taught equality from an early age. This education can take place in schools and career programmes and in the home. To those who argue that quotas are a good way to initiate this change, I would like to point out that artificially imposing rules has not always...
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...Lincoln High School IB History Internal Assessment Student Handbook Table of Contents What is the History IA? Planning Your Historical Investigation Examples of Types of Investigations Examples of Research Questions Choice of Topic 20th Century History of the Americas Alternative The Written Account & Assessment Criteria A. Plan of the Investigation B. Summary of Evidence C. Evaluation of Sources D. Analysis E. Conclusion F. Sources and Word Limit Sample History IAs 1Trotsky and the Russian Civil War 2US in Chile 3Women in the French Revolution 4PreWWI Alliances 4 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 14 1 2 2 3 4 10 16 Information in this guide is gathered from a variety of sources, including, but not limited to: The IB History Course Guide, Oxford’s IB Skills and Practice, IBOCC, and anecdotal experience. What is the History IA? The History IA is your chance to explore a period, theme, or event in history that you are interested in. For full IB Candidates, it also serves as 20% of your final History Grade. The final paper will be assessed by your teacher, with a sampling sent off to IB for score moderation. The History IA asks you to use the full range of skills you have been taught in class. In particular: ● knowledge and understanding ● application and interpretation ● synthesis and evaluation...
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...Ola abiola 11634 Business strategy INTRODUCTION Marks and Special background M&S otherwise known as Marks and spencer was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks was born in 1859 in Slonim, Belarus. In 1882 ,he moved to England to escape anti-Semitic discriminate , but had few friends and little money. He came to Leeds, a growing industrial town with a population of over 160,000. He was attracted by its large Jewish community and job opportunities in the thriving clothing trade. At the time Marks couldn't speak English and had no money or particular skill but had a very sharp mind for business and understood what customers wanted and needed . Initially he travelled the towns and villages of West Yorkshire, selling wares from his bag. He later set up a permanent market stall in Leeds, the latter which developed into a successful retail business. Unusually, he always displayed all his goods with clearly priced labels. He started hiring sales assistants to run the stalls. , Selling simple stock such as haberdashery and hardware goods, he adopted the slogan 'Don't ask the price, it's a penny'. This fixed price system and the open display of goods made him very popular. In Leeds as Customers liked being able to inspect the goods and knowing exactly the cost, with no need for haggling. In 1890 Dewhirst a cloth manufacturer offered Marks a £5 loan with this Michael Marks was able to buy his first stock for...
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...welfare, corporations increase value over the long term for consumers, shareholders and others for both current and future generations. Business students need to be familiar with, and committed to, principles and practices of corporate sustainability. This short essay outlines several sources in the literature on corporate sustainability provided by the following organizations: International Organization for Standardization (ISO); Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC); Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; International Federation of Accountants (IFAC); Ernst & Young; and Association of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). An annotated bibliography follows the discussion, highlighting articles of interest in corporate sustainability literature. Finally, figures provided in an appendix illustrate key concepts from the discussion. ISO 26000:2010 International Organization for Standardization * Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. A global consortium of experts in multiple aspects of quality-related standardization representing industry, nonprofits, government, healthcare, and academia. * Formulated by technical committees, standards are released after extensive review and a minimum 75% favorable vote by ISO members drawn from 160-plus nations. Meeting since ISO's founding in 1947, members formulate and publish guidance on organizational standards. To date, nearly 20,000 publications have been released.1 ISO 26000: 2010 (International Standard: Guidance...
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...The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School The Mary Jane and Frank P. Smeal College of Business ESSAYS IN POLITICAL MARKETING A Dissertation in Business Administration by David LeBaron 2008 David N. LeBaron Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2008 The thesis of David N. LeBaron was reviewed and approved* by the following: William T. Ross, Jr. Professor of Marketing Dissertation Co-Advisor Co-Chair of Committee John C. Liechty Associate Professor of Marketing Dissertation Co-Advisor Co-Chair of Committee Peter Ebbes Assistant Professor of Marketing David J. Huff Clinical Assistant Professor of Supply Chain and Information Systems Johannes Baumgartner Professor of Marketing Head of the Department of Marketing *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Political marketing sits at the nexus of two disciplines, political science and marketing, but is not entirely accepted by either. The present research looks at the origin, development, and evolution of political marketing and examines how the adoption of a political marketing orientation is impacting the practice of political campaigns. The role of political marketing in actually changing voters’ preferences is also examined, showing that grassroots marketing efforts seem to have the greatest effect, especially with undecided voters. Finally, voter segments are derived...
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