...himAnarchism Core themes: against the state Prefer a stateless society in which individuals manage their affairs by voluntary agreement. However it is based upon the assumption that human beings are moral creatures, instinctively drawn to freedom and autonomy. Therefore its efforts have been directed more towards awakening moral instincts rather than analysing the system of state oppression. Anarchism has a dual character as it overlaps with both socialism and liberalism because of their end goals of a stateless society. It can therefore be interpreted as ultra-liberalism or ultra-socialism. Anarchist supporters are united by a belief in anti-statism, utopianism, anti-clericalism and economic freedom. Anti-statism; * Authority is an offence against the principles of freedom and equality whilst oppressing and limiting human life. * Endorses absolute freedom and unrestrained political equality * Authority damages and corrupts those who are subject to it and those who hold it. * Since humans are free and autonomous creatures, to be subject to authority is to be diminished * To be in authority is to acquire an appetite for control and domination * The state is a sovereign body that exercises supreme power over individuals. It is unlimited and restricts behaviour, thinking, activity and economic life. * The state is compulsory and individuals are subject to it because of where they are born. * The state is a coercive body whose laws are backed...
Words: 2485 - Pages: 10
...The Gilded Age The purpose of this essay is to show how the Industrial Revolution of the Gilded Age contributed to increased problems in gender, race and class in the latter half of 19th century America. Mark Twain coined the term "The Gilded Age" between the years 1870 and 1900 America in reference to the gold gilding that became popular in the era, but also masked very serious social conflicts that arose across the country (Twain, 1996). Ultimately, with economic growth came wider income gaps and brutal social issues with gender, race and class that divided the country. Throughout the Gilded Age, swift financial growth simultaneously increased the size of the labor force, which in turn increased wages (Roediger, 1991). Given that these wages were higher than in Europe, people immigrated to America en masse, which then increased the overall poverty rates (Roediger, 1991). The Gilded Age also transferred industry from independent craftsman toward railroads, factory manufacturing and mining, which created less skilled and more regimented labor forces. This meant that people were forced to work under poor conditions, which stripped workers of their independence, which was the American way prior to the Industrial Revolution (Twain, 1996). These mass-production methods were created as offshoots of the steam engine with technical advancements expanding the size of workforces, making them larger and set up to accommodate more production, which created new jobs with a higher...
Words: 1480 - Pages: 6
...universal conception of human rights? AIR234: Order and Justice in World Politics Brian Introduction Human rights…are those rights and privileges held to belong to any person, regardless of any provision that may or may not exist for them in their legal system, simply because, as a human being, there are things which they may not be forbidden by any government. Exactly what the list of these rights is, or why we are entitled to them, varies from thinker to thinker.[1] Human rights are rights to which every person is entitled simply by virtue of being a human living in a society of other humans. Among these are the right to life, liberty, and the security of the person.[2] Challenges for a Universal Conception of Human Rights: The most intense debate among human rights in the past two decades has been dichotomy between Universalists and cultural relativists. Just as development or modernizations theories presumed a “transition” from traditional to industrial society; it was frequently assumed by universities that non-western cultures will gradually evolve so that the Universalist doctrine of human rights will prevail. Challenges for a Universal conception of Human rights presuppose the value of autonomy, which would lead to some variation in human-rights practice in different cultural and socio-economic conditions. The most difficult case is that in which those who are victims of human-rights violations support the culture that legitimates those violations. Even strong Universalists...
Words: 1721 - Pages: 7
...Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production, with the goal of making a profit.[1][2][3] Central elements of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, and a price system.[4] There are, however, multiple variants of capitalism, including laissez-faire, welfare capitalism, and state capitalism. Capitalism is considered to have been applied in a variety of historical cases, varying in time, geography, politics, and culture. Discussing the impact of capitalism on culture can be difficult. In what way is “capitalism” responsible for a given aspect of culture, indeed can any aspect of culture be said to be a product of “capitalism”? Yes, certain aspects of culture and society can be said to be a product of “capitalism”, but defining how and why something is said to be a product of capitalism is very important. Some of the key concepts relating to an analysis of the effects of capitalism on culture are profit motive, commodity, human desire, and the market economy. The capitalist system is based on private ownership and consolidation of the means of production, where the production of commodities is guided by profit motive to satisfy human desires Definition: Materialism is the importance placed on material possessions. Someone with a high level of materialism, described as "materialistic," considers material possessions to be central to their life and their identity, and focuses a good deal of their energy on acquiring...
Words: 3594 - Pages: 15
...in the Peace Corps, for example, have to ending unnecessary war and American apathy? Further, should Congressman Rangel's Bills become law, as endless and futile wars for profit, greed and power continue and escalate, is it realistic to assume that draftees will choose military service in adequate numbers to restore the ranks of injured and killed combatants? Or, as is more likely, wouldn't "national security" considerations require an abrogation of choice and individuals to be conscripted into the military regardless of their preference? In reality, then, these bills are not about creating jobs and rebuilding this nation's infrastructure. Nor is their purpose to provide American youth with much needed discipline, structure, responsibility and an opportunity to recommit to their country. Nor will they accomplish these goals should they be enacted. Though misleadingly titled a National Service Bill, what is being proposed here is clear and simply nothing other than the reinstatement of a military draft. The Moral and Legal Argument against Conscription While I share Congressman Rangel's and Thom Hartmann's goal of ending illegal and immoral war and their disappointment with the American public's apathy about these wars and fairness in distribution of sacrifice, I remain opposed to the draft for a number of reasons. First, it is clear that any form of involuntary conscription by the state is a violation of human rights, forced servitude, and as such, immoral and illegal. Though...
Words: 1014 - Pages: 5
...The Vietnam War was one of the most divisive events in American History. While half the country believed that the United States had a right to defend capitalism and contain communism by fighting in Vietnam, the other half felt that since the concern was far away and the United States had not been directly attacked, there was no reason for 500,000 Americans to be over there fighting and dying. The divisions deepened in November 1969 when news broke that American soldiers had massacred an entire village of South Vietnamese civilians near the border of North Vietnam. On 16 March 1968, Charlie Company of the United States Army invaded the Son My region of South Vietnam because, according to the commanding officer Lieutenant William Calley, and...
Words: 1760 - Pages: 8
...individual citizens. While Socialism promises prosperity, equality, and security, it delivers poverty because it promotes victimhood and big government solutions; and it offers a false hope of a utopian society which results in the loss of freedom and the rise of governmental tyranny. Socialism is defined as a centrally planned economy in which the government controls all means of production. Many have come to realize that it was nothing but a catastrophic failure . Socialism was created to remedy the economic and moral defects of capitalism. However, it has far surpassed capitalism in both economic malfunction and moral cruelty. Yet the idea and the ideal of socialism remain as a solution today. 2. History Socialism aims at a social system based on public ownership of the means of production (Von Mises, 1969). Arising in the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century, socialism developed as a reaction to the hardships caused by capitalism and industrial revolution. The premise of socialism is that the government owns and operates all material resources in a social system. Socialism first originated in France and England at about the same time, but as it grew socialism took individual paths throughout each country (Wells, 1912). Karl Marx, who wrote The Communist Manifesto, was considered the creator of socialism and one of the most popular socialists. It is often thought that the idea of socialism derives from the work of Karl Marx. In fact, Marx wrote only a few pages...
Words: 2707 - Pages: 11
...shaped by distant events and vice versa. Globalisation has many causes including spread if information communication technology, the global mass media, cheap flights, deregulation of markets and easy movements of businesses. Held et al argues there’s been globalisation of crime; an increasing interconnectedness of crime across national borders. The same process that brought globalisation of legitimate activities has also brought the spread of transnational organised crime. Globalisation creates new opportunities for crime and new means of committing crime, for example cyber crime. Manuel Castells (1998) argues because of globalisation there is a globalised criminal economy worth £1 trillion. This takes a number of forms such as arms dealing, human trafficking, green crime and many others. The global criminal economy has both a demand and supply side. A reason for scale of transnational organised crime is demand from the rich west. However the global criminal economy couldn’t survive without a supply side that provides the source for demands of the west, such as drugs and prostitutes. This supply is linked to the globalisation process. For example third world drug producing countries such as Columbia have large populations of impoverished peasants. For them drug investment is attractive; it’s simple to produce and commands high prices. In Columbia, 20% of peasants rely on cocaine production for their livelihood; cocaine out sells all other exports. Thus to understand drug crime we cannot...
Words: 3642 - Pages: 15
...The Good, the Bad and the Worst An Assessment of the U.S relations and policies in the Middle East Gold and silver where the elements of wealth during the peak of mercantilism as the sole policy back then was the 3G’s policy (God, Gold and Glory) in the reign of the British and French Empires. Oil, however, climbed to the top of the chart of the most strategic commodities starting the early years of industrialization passing by the Second World War, when the U.S. became by far the largest oil consuming nation; consuming oil at abundant rates to support their troops overseas and to maintain the high rate of consumerism of the American lifestyle in the homeland. Soon oil grabbed the attention of the top industrialist nations as the most critical element of their survival as super industrial economies to ensure their growing manufacturing base is supported by adequate oil supplies. Having almost two thirds of the oil reserve in the world, the Middle East became the center of attention for all industrial nations, some of which had more strategic plans than others. Both, Britain and the United States realized that their wealth and survival as super powers is so much correlated with their level of control and development of the Middle East oil-rich countries. However, the feasibility of running the Arabian states both politically and economically faded in the 20th century, since maintaining their administration was too expensive for the United Kingdom, and gradually started...
Words: 3243 - Pages: 13
...Despite the severe social, economic, and political casualties of World War II, Europe emerged from the ashes of the war as a robust economic powerhouse that could meet the needs of its deprived populace. Although in the process many states put off political reforms for decades, Europe as a whole developed political systems and organizations that value civic and human rights, and serve as a model for democracy around the world. Over the course of the last half of the 20th century, Europe combated Fascist dictators, economic recessions, and revolutions within African and Asian colonies. Together with American economic aid, Europe managed to overcome these obstacles and establish itself as an economic and political powerhouse. Several factors led Europe to rebuild from the rubble of the war, including the sheer extent of destruction caused, the ideological division of Europe during...
Words: 1764 - Pages: 8
...towards anomie. The rules for behaviour become weaker and less clear-cut. This is because modern societies have a complex division of labour meaning individuals become more different from each other. Crime is more likely. Positive functions of crime – it also performs two positive functions Boundary maintenance - produces a reaction from society, uniting members in disapproval of criminals and reinforcing their commitment to shared norms and values. Adaptation and change – all change starts with an act of deviance. There must be scope to challenge existing norms and values and this will seem deviant in the short run. Criticisms - Durkheim says society requires deviance to function properly but states no way of knowing how much is the right amount. - Functionalists see crime in terms of its function. Crime may not exist to fulfill these functions. - Functionalists look at how functions of crime serve society as a whole and ignore how it might affect different groups or individuals within...
Words: 7771 - Pages: 32
...Haney, Alex Vance, Jeffrey Watkins Globalization& Population April30, 2012 Boone,2012 Africa, known by many to be the “cradle of life,” has seen more violence, death, and destruction than any other continent in the history of the world. Today were seeing more and more human rights violations being committed by men with no ideology, no clear goal, nor a sovereign country backing their activities. What is it that makes the continent of Africa so volatile? The cause of these social and political issues can be seen everywhere in western civilizations. Westerners wear them around their arms and necks in the form of jewelry or use them as the driving material that allows the capabilities to run their cellphones, Mac books, and Mp3 players. The cause of the violence and destruction in Africa is one of both economic and political incentives: valuable raw resources and materials native to Africa. Valuable raw resources being the common denominator for violence and human rights violations in Africa is as true today as it has been since western nations sought to colonize African states back in the nineteenth century. The industrial revolution and capitalism took the world by storm; it promoted the expansion of developed nations to reach out in order to finance and maintain their newly found power. The imperatives of capitalist industrialization —including the demand for assured sources of raw materials, the search for guaranteed markets and profitable...
Words: 2077 - Pages: 9
...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 who lived between 1818-1883 and was born in Germany but then fled to the United Kingdom. Marx was a major activist during the time period he lived in witch was the boom of capitalism. Marx joined a communist political party and was a newspaper journalist. He also wrote many books on his views most of which were considered communist. Marx's detested the capitalist ideology and saw many flaws...
Words: 5182 - Pages: 21
...authoritarian, but not totalitarian because it did not control all social, cultural and religious institutions like the Nazis or Stalin did” (626). Franco ruled and “exercised power within formal defined limits” (Linz 159), rather than a full out totalitarian regime. As described Juan J. Linz “the most persuasive taxonomist of regimes” (626), he classifies the regime as a “rightist bureaucratic authoritarian regime” (Linz 125). The whole regime was held together by political support of the military. The Franco regime did not control every aspect of people’s lives. During the first years of the regime concentrated all power, the regime grew older the regime unity decreased. The regime was non-democratic, members of society did not “have an equal right to have a say and make their opinions count” (Beetham). The regime developed some representation through reform, but not democratic institutions of its own. The parliamentary system was state appointed. All political decisions were not “collective decisions” (Beetham). The decisions came directly came from Franco “a strong authoritarian government without political parties” (623). All forms of political opposition were...
Words: 1166 - Pages: 5
...PRIVATIZATION OF WAR SIKANDER ZAFAR SZABIST Abstract: It is believed that the fate of United States of America had been on the hands of mercenaries now what we call the modern-day private military companies. Since the start till the American Revolution in 1776, the American lands had been owned and controlled by mercenaries and private contractors. Christopher Columbus, the man who got backing from Spain's Queen Isabella and king Ferdinand to launch the voyage and discover the new world relater effectively became a private military contractor or a PMC. This shows that the history of contracting private military -previously by the royal offices and now by the democratically elected governments- have been practiced; Historians claims that mercenaries existed in ancient Egypt to safeguard the Egyptian sovereignty by the rebels of that time. Indeed, mercenaries have transformed into private military contractors after the downfall of Soviet Union in 1991 and the characteristics of a PMC and ancient mercenaries are rather similar. However, under The Hague Convention no. 5 mercenaries are illegal organizations but the role and responsibility of private military organizations is unknown in the international law which gives them free reins to operate in a way which fulfills their greed to make abnormal profits. The operations of private military companies is controversial, their contracts with the governments and other non-state actors is discreet in nature which confines the mass...
Words: 6059 - Pages: 25
