...Situation In the border between Guatemala-Mexico what started as a small conflict over in the month of February, has become a massacre. Over 10,000 innocent people have been killed in the bloodiest conflict between drug cartels that the region has ever seen. The conflict started in the middle of February, when a group of about 25 individuals attempted to cross illegally from Guatemala into Mexican territory through the Chilpepeño border crossing. These kinds of acts are widely known and beyond that, they are carried away by professionals in the matter with years of experience and institutions that back them up. The group had paid its dues to an organization that would be in charge of guiding them as well as the bribing of Mexican authorities. What was unknown to the organization was that among the individuals, there were some very dangerous thieves. Julio Carranza Sandoval and another 10 members of the Corajudos Mexican drug cartel had stolen 35 million dollars and 300 kilos of cocaine from the Almitran Guatemalan drug cartel a few days before. The crossing was planned to take place on February 16th. The group was being guided through the darkness of a moonless night when they were ambushed by members of the Almitran cartel. A few died on the spot, the rest were taken as hostages. Before the sun started to rise over the horizon, the Corajudos cartel had mobilized its people to the southern Mexican border and were heavy armed. The conflict has been prolonged for over a month...
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...Review of Manuel Castells (2009), Communication Power. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. (571 p.) ISBN 978-0-19-956-701-1 To appear in Communications, The European Journal of Communication (2010) The book Communication Power can be seen as a successor of Volume II of Castells’ major triology about the Information Age, called The Power of Identity (1997). In his new book Castells focuses on the role of communication networks in power-making in society, with an emphasis on political power making. He defines power as ‘the relational capacity that enables a social actor to influence asymmetrically the decisions of other social actor(s) in ways that favour the empowered actor’s will, interest and values’ (p. 10). Power is not an attribute of individuals and groups but a relationship. This definition clearly is appropriate for networks and the network society, the main topics of this book. Castells’ main claims are that 1) communication networks are central to the implementation of power-making of any network, such as corporate, financial, cultural-industrial, technology or political networks and 2) that the programming of single networks and switching of different networks are the fundamental sources of power. He even states that network programmers (media companies, public institutions, publishers, editors, technicians) and switchers –such as Rupert Murdoch who links media, cultural, political and financial networks- are the holders of power in the network society (p. 429)...
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...Five Ideology's assignment Mohammad Kareem Conservatism: In Theory Communism would work and is the best way to form a government, but as this ideology was implemented in different countries and nations the reality has shown it might be very far from being perfect. This system of government as well as economy is also based on trying to create equality. Communism can be related to Socialism which creates equality by essentially sharing all profits and land with the community. Unlike socialism however,Communism believes that there is no need for a profit to be given to the worker or for land to be owned by any workers because it creates inequality and this must be done to ensure social order. A Lot of the communist ideology is totally opposite and against capitalist views. There is no competition in communism and wages and salaries are equal across all carers and work. In Communist theory, government leaders should only be temporary and used only to gear the population towards true order and then step down and let the work cycle continued. Many of the communist ideology is predominantly theory and is highly criticized by many nations. In today's day and age many countries have decided to opt out of the communist social structure because it is unpractical and does not provide true equality as theorized. Communism was a fairly modern ideology founded only about 120 years ago but has lingered throughout history. The majour man honoured with the creation of communism is Karl Marx...
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...the election of a Republic Congress in 1994, Congress was determined to change the existing welfare system and in that same year President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) as welfare reached an all-time peak of 14.2 million recipients, 5 million families and 9.6 million children (Almanac of Policy Issue, 2001). The new act ended welfare entitlement and replaced it with a new block grant providing $16.5 billion per year to states to assist the needy (Almanac of Policy Issue, 2001). This new program was called the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and would remain in effect until 2012 when the face of welfare would change again under the leadership of President Obama. This paper will provide an analysis of the social welfare policy, conflicting public and political opinions and the impact of current policy solutions and the future impact of...
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...The Development Intelligence Gazette The Development Intelligence Gazette is a news journal that summarizes the most significant political and economic stories related to sustainable economic and democratic development in the world. Comments and questions can be addressed to Joseph Merton at merton.stratintsol@gmail.com. Inside This Week’s Issue United States and the European Union Mild eurozone recession likely in 2012: economists………......................................................................................4 Euro declines in its longest losing streak since 2010..............................................................................................5 Head of Russian Church Urges Action on Vote Fraud Allegation….…………….……………………………..……………….…..…6 Tribute to Václav Havel attracts thousands…………………………………………………………….……………………………….……….7 Middle East Islamists' chance to lead change ............................................................................................................................ 8 Why Islamism Is Winning ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Kenyan troops join AU Somalia mission .............................................................................................................. 10 Asia WH calls for stable transition in North Korea . ..............................................................................................
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...Policy for example has been intertwined with the changes of the socio-economic-political and technological landscapes. But for the first time in U.S. History, Terrorism has become the major cause of the abrupt changed in its Foreign Policy which has some serious implications on its national security, political and economic interests in different regions of the globe including West African region which composed of countries like Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Congo. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct discussion and analysis on the United States Security and Economic Cooperation (policy) for West Africa Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. As one must take note that such region is entwined with serious economic and political factors that would help the United States...
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...Middle East. Throughout history the Middle East has been a very unstable area. In recent years there has been effort to overthrow the dictatorial governments in the area, which created political unrest. Iran’s push to obtain nuclear technology could possibly bring peace to that area. Iran’s nuclear program has been developing since the 1960’s and was recently revived in 2006. Iran plans to have the nuclear technology ready by 2015. Iran could become a global superpower in years to come. Venezuela, Russia, the AQ Kahn network, and several other countries contribute to the Iranian development of nuclear weapons. These countries have aligned, and exchange information about WMD’s. Although aligning with these countries is an act of liberalism, Iran is merely using those countries to obtain the data necessary to create nuclear weapons. The realist predicts that Iran, when ready, will turn on these countries and utilize self-help strategies to satisfy the nation’s needs. Iran has the right to develop nuclear weapons to provide security. With nuclear weapons Iran would be able to deter...
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...1 of 17 Xianghui(Ray) Chen 2153583 China and Global Financial Crisis US-Led TPP VS China-Backed RCEP —Applying Main IR Theories To US Policy-Making Process And Relevant Developments The backdrop of the TPP and RCEP WTO and TPP TPP and TTIP are drawn from the two precedent successful free-trade experiments, the EU and NAFTA(North American Free Trade Agreement). EU originated from the European Coal and Steel Community, before developing into the Common Market and further into European Community, and finally, into the EU. 1The ‘living’, ‘evolving’ treaties and agreements of the EU very much guide the living agreement of TPP/TTIP. NAFTA originated from CUSFTA (Canada-US FTA), which was implemented in 1989, and followed by NAFTA, ratified in 1994. Both EU and NAFTA existed before the WTO finally replaced GATT at the beginning of 1995. The replacement not only greatly expanded sectoral coverage but also replaced the GATT’s quite weak dispute-settlement mechanism.2 The liberalization and integration of trade had mainly proceeded under the auspice of WTO prior to the year 2000. With the evolvement characterized by the widening of the trade agenda to include the movement of people and not just that of goods, services, investments and capital,3 international society called for an update of the WTO. Although the Doha round did inspire some discussion in 2001, developing states fundamentally refused to open their market to the services and goods of the developed ones...
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...the government in America and I will endeavor to justify this assertion as I proceed with my analysis. Introduction State violence in violation of fundamental human rights, which are an integral element of democracy, has been at center stage of most if not all post-independence States. Establishing accountability for State or police brutality (which I will use interchangeably because the State uses the police to exercise its authority, power and control) remains an uphill task, whilst in most cases it is on the rise in the United States of America. Ever since the Occupy Wall Street protests which erupted in 2011 this signify the high level of inequality and the State has since assumed a much more authoritarian stance and there has been a surge in police brutality. To make matters worse, the shooting of Micheal Brown and a recurrence of African-American deaths at the disposal of White policemen has ignited emotional outbursts leading to the much published Ferguson protests that turned violent throughout America.Ironically,the State has made tremendous steps to conceal and obstruct evidence, attribute criminal violence to other players or in most cases failed to indict the perpetrators hence emotions have been flaring lately in a State which dubs itself the ‘free-world’ and the orbiter of democracy in the world. Against this background, this paper seeks to embark on an intensive analysis of police brutality in America since independence to date under the auspices of the above arguments...
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...International Security Lecture 1 March 30th, 2015 The politics of security knowledge What is international security? We could start thinking about the security council of the UN But also about the invasion of Afghanistan (chapter 7 UN in order to secure the international security) We can also think about security in terms of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This was a unilateral act of war, but sure it can also mean other things We can think of the national security agency, the agency in charge of spying all the signals and communications to a certain extent. What’s interesting about the NSA, it is seen as a threat to the security of the privacy. Lately, with the reports of the UN development programme, we start talking about HUMAN security (not military security, but rather the security of individuals, having a livelihood that’s acceptable). Whether security is international or not, it can be a rather confusing word The protection of values we hold dear. We search for it, we pursue it, we achieve it, we deny it to others. * what is to be secured? Is it the security of states? Or individuals? * What is the actual threat that we’re facing? Primarily to be dealing with military threats, or are there other types of threats we are facing. Essentially contested concept A concept that ‘inevitably’ involves endless disputes about their proper uses on the part of their users – Walter Gallie There can be ambiguity (one persons freedom-fighter is the other’s...
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...Stuart Hall’s seminal paper Encoding/Decoding (1980) arose primarily from Hall’s reservations regarding the theories of communication underpinning mass communications research. It worked on the assumption that the ‘media offered an unproblematic, benign reflection of society’ (Proctor, 58). Mass communications research became prevalent after the Second World War and was funded by commercial bodies with a desire to know how audiences could be influenced more effectively through advertising. According to the mass communications model, the sender (mass media) generates a message with fixed meaning, which is then communicated directly and transparently to the recipient (audience). Hall’s paper challenged all three components of the mass communications model ; arguing that – (i) the message is never transparent to the audience (ii) meaning is not simply fixed or determined by the sender; and (iii) the audience is not a passive recipient of the meaning. Hall’s encoding/decoding theory focuses on the different ways audiences generate (rather than discover) meaning. Hall’s theory re-addressed the themes of the Uses and Gratifications theory : examining audience power over the media, rather then the media’s effects on the audience (Katz: 1959). Such theoretical study later concluded that audiences use the media to fulfil their own needs and gratifications (Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M.: 1974). Hall's model focuses on groups rather then the individual, which is more...
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...relationship, various political approach, several global accord, security and world trade as well. In this paper, we will try to find out the intensity of the intimacy between international relations and global climate change through several different approaches. In the beginning of the paper we will survey on the theories of international relations through which both international relations and global climate change can be explained then the discussion will be shifted to the role of state and non state actors on climate change, which will be pursued to the effect of climate change on human activities and the history of global climate change co-operation. Then we will move to an analysis of the global climate change regime through the several grand theories of international relations. Having theoretical analysis the paper will look forward to the domestic-international relationship on the global climate change negotiation and the political approach to climate...
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...Securitization Theory Author Institution Course title Instructor Date Critically discuss the securitization theory – using the case study of War on terror in Afghanistan (2001-2012) Introduction Security study was in the past regarded as a sub-discipline of international relations underpinned in Anglo-American thinking. Until early 1990s, security studies were considered as a strategic studies focusing on a strong military focus. This traditional view of security involved the protection of the state and a scientific agenda to secure the state from definable threats and maintain the status quo. This is a positivist approach which was based on rationalism and realism. The Copenhagen School presented an alternative view of security studies by responding to the traditional approach of forming a clear sense of ‘what is security’. This approach is defined in three mechanisms: development of sectors approach to security, developing a regional focus on security and critically engendering a social constructivist theory of security through securitization studies. This theory will be the main focus of this discussion. To achieve a critical discussion of what securitization really entails, this paper will use the case study of USA’s war on terrorism in Afghanistan. The approach used by the US government to fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq can be considered as a securitization approach which has led to a resulted in security problems in the two countries rather...
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...GAME CHANGE OBAMA AND THE CLINTONS, MCCAIN AND PALIN, AND THE RACE OF A LIFETIME JOHN HEILEMANN AND MARK HALPERIN FOR DIANA AND KAREN Contents Cover Title Page Prologue Part I Chapter One – Her Time Chapter Two – The Alternative Chapter Three – The Ground Beneath Her Feet Chapter Four – Getting to Yes Chapter Five – The Inevitables Chapter Six – Barack in a Box Chapter Seven – “They Looooove Me!” Chapter Eight – The Turning Point Chapter Nine – The Fun Part Chapter Ten – Two For the Price of One Chapter Eleven – Fear and Loathing in the Lizard’s Thicket Chapter Twelve – Pulling Away and Falling Apart Chapter Thirteen – Obama Agonistes Chapter Fourteen – The Bitter End Game Part II Chapter Fifteen – The Maverick and His Meltdown Chapter Sixteen – Running Unopposed Chapter Seventeen – Slipping Nooses, Slaying Demons Part III Chapter Eighteen – Paris and Berlin Chapter Nineteen – The Mile-High Club Chapter Twenty – Sarahcuda Chapter Twenty-One – September Surprise Chapter Twenty-Two – Seconds in Command Chapter Twenty-Three – The Finish Line Epilogue – Together at Last Index Author’s Notes About the Authors Copyright About the Publisher Prologue BARACK OBAMA JERKED BOLT upright in bed at three o’clock in the morning. Darkness enveloped his low-rent room at the Des Moines Hampton Inn; the airport across the street was quiet in the hours before dawn. It was very late December 2007, a few days ahead of the Iowa caucuses. Obama had been sprinting flat out...
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...Essay Questions 1. How do the different actors in international system affect international relations? How do the different theories explain the role of these actors in the international system. The actors consist of state actors and non-state actors. Non-state actors and terrorism work outside the westphalian system and take power away from state sovereignty. They consist of terrorist groups, IGO’s like the European Union, NGO’s like multinational corporations. NGO’s increase interdependence and globalization. IGO’s bring about peace and spread democracy and war is not realistic. NGO’s even have the ability to remove state governments through public support and pressure placed on high ranking officials as shown in -----. They also have the power to hinder development of countries as shown in the Global South, but at the same time they provide many jobs for the economy. For state actors, the actions and decisions of states can effect profoundly the international because of polarity, hegemony, and economy. The Liberalist view would see non-state actors as a positive because they are bringing countries allowing them to work together through institutions increasing interdependence and globalization. Realists would say that these non-state actors are only out for self interest in profit and will use up resources taking advantage of wages whenever possible. Constructivist view would see terrorist groups specifically as falling under Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations...
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