Business Basics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Basics - Essay Example Secondly, Martha knows that she will be the sole owner of the business when she starts-up as a sole proprietor. She is going to posses all authority and makes decision on behalf of the Apex Company. She will as well have the mandate to sell or transfer the company to another individual business and make important business decisions at her discretion. Probably, the accountants concerns about running a sole proprietorship business are the risks that are involved mainly to the owner of the business. Legally, these risks are not treated separately from the business. They seem to be aware of some of the disadvantages of sole proprietorship business. They know that a sole proprietorship business has a liability disadvantage or risk. When Martha starts-up Apex as a sole proprietor business, she will be held directly responsible for any debts, losses, or violations that come from the business. For example, if the company incurs debts that must be paid back, Martha as the sole owner will repay the debts from her own personal funds. Again, she can be sued for any unlawful acts done by the employees, which is unlike other business structures. Additionally, if she becomes deceased or incapacitated the business will not continue since the owner and the business are treated as one (Madura, 2007). A partnership business is formed by two or more people who wish to come together to start a business. For a new business structure, partnership is a good choice of legal structure (Madura, 2007). This type of business has several advantages and disadvantages as discussed below. Capital- because of the business nature, the partners are the ones to fund the business with the start-up capital. The more partners they are, the more money they contribute for the business, which allows potential growth and flexibility. This also means more profit, which will

Explain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Explain - Essay Example The definition of the self using Sartre’s existentialist views is that the self is a manifestation of the person’s consciousness, which connects the past, present, and the future of a human being (Sartre 31). However, the self of today is not the self of the past, nor the self of the future, but rather as an existing self that is only alive now, and would grow to be a different one after the present has passed. Existence is necessarily viewed from a first person’s viewpoint, based on the person’s grasp of reality, and what kind of existing being a person is would be based on how he or she sees the self and connects it with the concept of reality (Gardner 3). The essence is what makes a person a human being, and because of this human essence always precedes human existence due to the freedom that man inherently has, and this kind of freedom gives humanity its essence, regardless of how time flows through their lives (Sartre 25). Not only did Sartre define the human being as both essence and existence, but also the bad faith that could possibly ruin a person’s human essence. Bad faith, negative attitudes, or self-deception is what corrupts the perception of humans in the significance of their existence, which could lead to self-doubt, anguish, pity, guilt among other negative emotions, which in turn would not affirm the person’s existence and essence, but the nothingness (Sartre 44). The prohibition or the prevention of realizing a dream, as well as the creation of limits in an infinite universe are examples of forgetting transcendence, which counters the limitless potential that Sartre defines in his existentialist views (Sartre 47). On the other hand, the rejection of a person’s existence in the present time, failing to grasp the reality, as well as realizing the negativities of a person’s transcendence are defined as forgetting facticity, which undermines the

Organised Crime and the Criminal Justice Process

Organised Crime and the Criminal Justice Process This essay will begin with a brief outline of the historical work of organised crime. Then the definition of organised crime will be given with examples of areas associated with organised crime. The Criminal Justice Process will then be explained and the role of the Serious Organised Crime Agency including the Assets Recovery Agency with statistics showing the economic and social impact of organised crime. Finally a brief outline of Cohen’s view of organised crime will be given and the role of the victims of crime as key players in the Criminal Justice Process and ending with Box’s clues to understand most serious crimes. According to King et al; (2000) â€Å"the battle over the origins of organized crime is one being constantly fought, and historians have utilized archive data, such as police and judicial reports, economic evidence, pamphlets, diaries and biographies, to disinter the professional and organized criminal†. Furthermore, King et al; (2000) states that â€Å"organised crime seems to have been a feature of British society from Elizabethan times onwards and British studies of professional criminals, some of them displaying elements of organization, indicate a wide range of activities†. However, by the eighteenth century professional and organized criminal gangs, armed with a variety of criminal strategies from petty theft and violence to fraud, were firmly established in Britain (King et al; 2000). Criminals not only established their activities in London where the market place was most affluent and the control of the emerging working class was at its most ineffective, but also in coastal, rural and provincial areas (King et al; 2000). The definition of Organised crime is broadly seen as economically motivated offending which involves more than two people (Hale et al; 2005). Furthermore, Hale et al; (2005) suggests that â€Å"unlike legally defined crimes or predicate offences such as murder, drug trafficking and money laundering, organised crime tends to be confined to its structures and relationships and the general nature of crimes committed by such associations†. According to Hale et al; (2005) Article 2 of the ‘United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime’ states that an â€Å"organised criminal group must have at least three members operating in concert to commit a serious crime as part of an internally structured organization which has been in existence over a period of time preceding and subsequent to the commission of the criminal act†. Whilst such a definition provides a general framework of understanding, it can in practice undermine effective law enforcement responses (Hale et al; 2005). An organised crime group can include anything from a four person, low level racketeering group to a highly complex, international networks involved in human trafficking or money laundering (Hale et al; 2005). Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers Furthermore according to Marshall, (1998) â€Å"organised crime is a term used for situations where a large number of people in a hierarchical structure are engaged in an on-going pattern of criminal activities†. The most common areas associated with organised crime are extortion and the provision of illegal goods and services, such as drink, drugs, gambling, money laundering and prostitution (Marshall, 1998). According to Marshall, (1998) â€Å"these activities involve continuous relations with the victims or clients, who have contact with the lower echelons of the organization†. In order to succeed organised or syndicate crime involves some element of corruption or intimidation of the police or other law enforcement agents (Marshall, 1998). Marshall, (1998) suggests that â€Å"organised crime is often thought to be synonymous with a secret society, such as the Tongs of the Chinese diaspora, the Camorra of the nineteenth century Naples and the Mafia of Sicily and Costa Nostra in the United States†. Although, according to Marshall, (1998) â€Å"it seems more likely that if such societies exist at all, they do not actually run criminal activities, but rather act as a fraternal organisations for some of the racketeers†. On the other hand, according to Marshall, (1998) â€Å"organised crime is associated with violence and threats in the course of extortion, but also in the maintenance of control over subordinates, and struggles for power within groups and the struggles for monopoly control between groups†. Furthermore, Hale et al; (2005) points out that â€Å"organised crime can be argued as primarily a reactive phenomenon, exploiting gaps in a diverse and lucrative market†. Also according to Hale et al; (2005) â€Å"Its clientele are, for the most part, ‘ordinary’ folk who seek, alternative routes to satisfying needs unmet or proscribed by the legislatures of the countries they inhabit or pass through†. However, according to Hale et al; (2005) â€Å"In many cases clients are also victims, obliged or enticed into cooperation, as in the trafficking of women and children and in areas of economic decline and acute social inequality organised crime can provide alternative employment and a reinstatement of status, a situation currently common in former communist states†. According to Kelbie, (2007) â€Å"Human trafficking is a growing trade and it is estimated that around 700,000 people are trafficked in Europe every year, and most of them are women and girls who are forced into prostitution, while others are brought in to work illegally†. Furthermore, Kelbie, (2007) estimates â€Å"that 4,000 women are trafficked into Britain each year and are forced to work in the multi-million pound sex industry†. As more numbers of Eastern European and African Girls are trafficked into Britain, some as young as 12 years old, the traffickers are shifting their trade outside major cities (Kelbie, 2007). Consequently, as a result of this growing trade in Human Trafficking, Glasgow is the only city outside London to provide help and support to victims of sexual exploitation (Kelbie, 2007). Furthermore, according to Kelbie, (2007) â€Å"the city’s organised sex industry is worth approximately 7 million pounds a year, earned from the exploitation of women who are forced to work in saunas, private flats and as escorts†. The women forced to work in these places are regularly sold and re-sold between organised criminals operating in all of Britain’s major cities (Kelbie, 2007). Meanwhile, there are millions of incidences of online crime in Britain each year (Sharp, 2007). Furthermore, according to Sharp, (2007) â€Å"around 3 million internet crimes were committed in the UK last year and one of the most common is identity theft†. In 2004, two people were arrested in connection with an internet crime ring, the Shadow Crew, who planned to defraud consumers and banks out of hundreds of millions dollars (Sharp, 2007). British organised crime has it’s ‘families’ modelled along the lines of Mafia families in the United States. One of the most powerful recent criminal families has been the Arifs from Stockwell, in South London. They were involved in armed robberies and drug smuggling in the 1980s, and also owned a string of pubs, restaurant and clubs, and it is certain that these establishments were bought from the proceeds of their criminal activities (Giddens, 1977). According to Giddens, (1977) â€Å"Bekir Arif was jailed for five years at the end of the 1980s after being convicted of robbery with violence, and the reign of the Arifs ended in the early 1990s, following a series of police operations†. The head of the family, Dogan Arif is currently serving a fourteen year prison sentence for his part in a  £8.5 million drug smuggling deal (Giddens, 1977). In order to regulate and manage the risks that organised crime presents, investigation and law enforcement play important roles in bringing offenders to justice. According to Davies et al; (1998) â€Å"in exploring what a criminal justice aims to do, we need to distinguish between the goals of the system as a whole, and the functions of the different agencies who make up the system†. The cross-system goals of the criminal justice system according to Davies et al; (1998) are â€Å"protecting the public by preventing and deterring crime, by rehabilitating offenders and incapacitating others who constitute a persistent threat to the community, upholding and promoting the rule of law and respect for the law, by ensuring due process and proper treatment of suspects, arrestees, defendants and those held in custody, successfully prosecuting criminals and acquitting innocent people accused of crime†. Furthermore, â€Å"maintaining law and order, punishing criminals with regard to the principles of just deserts, and registering social disapproval of censured behaviour by punishing criminals, and finally aiding and advising the victims of crime†(Davies et al; 1998). The ‘National Crime Squad’ was put into effect by the Police Act 1997 and came into operation on the 1st April 1998 (Newburn, 2003). Furthermore, it merged with all regional crime squads. They targeted serious and organised crime, such as immigration crime, illegal arms and drug trafficking crimes and money laundering and counterfeiting (Davies et al; 2005). Following the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, the Serious Organised Crime Agency was created and the agency officially came into being in April 2006, and its function was to tackle the growing problem of international criminal gangs. (Home Office, 2008). The agency was formed from the amalgamation of the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, the investigative and intelligence sections of HM Revenue and Customs on serious drugs trafficking and the UK Immigration Service responsible for organised immigration crime (Home Office, 2008). The Serious Fraud Office continues to be a separate agency. According to the (Home Office, 2008) â€Å"the economic and social impact of organised crime in the UK is staggering and statistics show that global profits from people smuggling is estimated to be $10 billion annually, 280,000 problem drug users cause half of all crime, every  £1 spent on heroin is estimated to generate about  £4 of damage to the national economy and there are around 400 organised crime bosses in the UK with an amassed criminal wealth of approximately  £440 million†. The economic and social cost of organised crime is estimated to be in the region of  £20 to  £40 billion per year (Home Office, 2008). Furthermore, the Home Office, (2004) strategic plan for Criminal Justice 2004-2008 was â€Å"the criminal justice process will relentlessly target the top 15-20 prolific offenders in each Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area, and more in bigger areas, and give the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the |Serious Organised Crime Agency the powers they need to take on the most serious and organised criminals†. Also, the police, Crown Prosecution Service, courts and other agencies like the Serious Organised Crime Agency would be able to keep at least 50% of the value of all the criminal assets they help to seize (Home Office, 2004). The recovery of criminal assets would be the role of the Assets Recovery Agency which was set up under the Proceeds of Crime act 2002 and plays an important part in the government’s plans to seize the profit out of crime, and separate and prevent the criminal organizations from continuing with their activities by removing the money which motivates their activities and their major source of income (Assets Recovery Agency, 2008). Meanwhile, the (Assets Recovery Agency, 2008) has three strategic aims â€Å"to disrupt organised criminal enterprises through the recovery of criminal assets, thereby alleviating the effect of crime on communities, to promote the use of financial investigation as an integral part of criminal investigation, within and outside the Agency, domestically and internationally, through training and continuing professional development and to operate the agency in accordance with its vision and values†. As, the Assets Recovery Agency was formed to stop organised criminal activities through the recovery of assets, on the 16th January 2007, the government introduced the Serious Crime Bill to Parliament setting out their suggestion to amalgamate the operational elements of the Assets Recovery Agency with the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and the Agency’s training and accreditation function with the National Policing Improvement Agency (Assets Recovery Agency, 2008). On the 1st April 2008 the operational section of the Assets Recovery Agency merged with the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Commenting on the merger Hughes, of SOCA, (2008) said â€Å"we are gaining important skills and expertise with the arrival of Assets Recovery Agency staff and we welcome them into SOCA. Now that the merger has taken place we will get on with the job that parliament want us to do, namely depriving crooks of their ill-gotten gains†. However, the Home Office minister Coaker, of SOCA, (2008) said that â€Å"assets recovery is critical in the fight against all levels of crime and we are determined to stop criminals profiting from crimes which affect the lives of law abiding majority†. Meanwhile, Goggins, SOCA, (2008) said â€Å"this merger will strengthen the fight against crime in Northern Ireland as it combines the intelligence expertise of SOCA with the hands on practical experience of ARA. This combination will make the recovery of assets even more effective and strengthen our fight against those who profit from organised crime†. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 on 17th January 2008 the Asset Recovery Agency recovered assets worth at least  £4 million from the High Court in Belfast. Also, on 5th February 2008 the agency obtained a Civil Recovery Order in the High Court in London worth an estimated  £750,000 from a couple who had obtained the assets through the human trafficking of people, mainly from Eastern Europe into Britain to work in brothels (Assets Recovery Agency, 2008). According to the Home Office, (2008) â€Å"the Serious Organised Crime Agency Second Annual Report showed another record year in the war against drugs with almost 90 tonnes of class A drugs seized with partners at home and abroad, a 20 per cent increase on the previous year. The cocaine alone, cut to usual UK street quality, could have realised  £6bn†. Furthermore, according to the Home Office, (2008) â€Å"53 disclosure notices, requiring individuals to co-operate with investigations by producing documents or answering questions, and 46 warnings on crime threats issued to over 2,500 private sector organisations throughout the UK. Meanwhile, the Home office, (2008) quotes â€Å"over  £46m criminal assets restrained by the domestic courts†. All SOCA operations now include financial investigations with an additional 35 financial investigators appointed during 2007/2008. According to Wright, (2006) â€Å"For Cohen, it is necessary to map the interactions, processes and patterned relationships both within and outside organisations in a more holistic way. It is necessary to establish the social context of the criminal activities of ‘organised criminals’, as well as the structure of their associations†. Furthermore, for Wright, (2006) â€Å"Cohen points out that criminology has done little work on the nature of organisational processes in crime groups. It has overlooked such things as recruitment, socialisation of members within organisations, and the way in which subcultures are developed and maintained. It has also to a large extent ignored such things as the protection and insulation of participants from the impact of conventional moral definitions†. For Cohen, according to Wright, (2006) â€Å"criminal groups should be subject to assessment of their internal structures and to analysis of all societal activity as it bears upon the production of their criminal behaviour. It is necessary to show that the functional problems of human systems take a distinctive form in criminal enterprise and that this distinctiveness provides a justification for the specialised study of criminal organisation†. Victims of crime are now recognised as key players in the Criminal Justice Process. According to Zedner, (2002) â€Å"without the cooperation of the victim in reporting crime, furnishing evidence, identifying the offender, and acting as a witness in court, most crimes would remain unknown and unpunished. The reliance of the Criminal Justice System on the victim has proved to be a powerful bargaining tool in the recognition of the victims’ interests†. The Victims Charter was first published by the Home Office in 1990 and at the time signified an important way forward in the recognition of victims’ interests, though it had been criticized for offering little by way of enforceable standards (Zedner, 2002). The clues to understanding most serious crimes according to Box, (1983) â€Å"can be located in power, not weakness, in privilege, not disadvantage, in wealth, not poverty†. In conclusion, since the launch of the Serious Organised Crime Agency in April 2006 and the merging of the Assets Recovery Agency in April 2008, the Criminal Justice process in dealing with serious organised crime has had a huge impact on criminal gangs operating within the UK, with the recovery of their assets from their criminal activities and to make it harder for them to continue in their criminal ways. BIBLIOGRAPHY Assets Recovery Agency, (2008), â€Å"Making Sure Crime Doesn’t Pay†. Available at: http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk/AboutARA/AimsandObjectives/ http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk/AboutARA/History/ Box, S. (1983), Power, Crime and Mystification, Tavistock Publications, London. Davies, M; Croall, H. and Tyrer, J. (1998), Criminal Justice: An Introduction to the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales, (2nd Edition), Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow, Essex. Davies, M; Croall, H. and Tyrer, J. (2005), Criminal Justice: An Introduction to the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales, (3rd Edition), Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow, Essex. Giddens, A. (1997), Sociology, Polity Press, Cambridge. Hale, C; Hayward, K; Wahidin, A. and Wincup, E. (2005), Criminology, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Home Office, (2004), Cutting Crime, Delivering Justice: A Strategic Plan for Criminal Justice 2004-08. Home Office, London. Home Office, (2008), â€Å"Organised and International Crime†. Available at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/organised-crime/ Kelbie, P. (2007) â€Å"Kirk acts on human trafficking in Scotland†. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/may/20/humanrights.internationalcrime/print King, D.R; and Wincup, E. (2000), Doing Research on Crime and Justice, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Marshall, G. (1998), Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Newburn, T. (2003), Crime and Criminal Justice Policy, Harlow, Pearson. News Distribution Service, (2008), Home Office (National), â€Å"Tackling serious organised crime in new and different ways†. Available at: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.asp?ReleaseID=367603NewsAreaID=2Navig.. Proceeds of Crime Update, (2008). Available at: http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk/MediaCentre/ProceedsOfCrimeUpdate/2008/ Serious Organised Crime Agency, (2008), â€Å"Merger of SOCA and ARA strengthens Government drive to deprive criminals of their assets†. Available at: http://www.soca.gov.uk Sharp, R. (2007), â€Å"Cybercrime†: Uncovered. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/cybercrime-uncove Wright, A. (2006), Organised Crime, William Publishing, Devon. Zedner, L. (2002), ‘Victims’, in M. Maguire; R. Morgan and R. Reiner (eds), The |Oxford Handbook of Criminology (3rd edition), Oxford University Press.

Gerard Manley Hopkins Essay -- essays research papers fc

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins is a reflection of his time period because his work represents realism, his work was different from what was expected, and his work had to do with religion. Although Hopkins is considered as one of the great poets of the past, he was not that appreciated during his time period. The only reason that we have his work today is because his friends held on to his work after his death and decided to publish it for him in 1918.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hopkins age was defined by the change from romanticism to realism. This was a slow change but it was one that was greatly needed by Hopkins. His work was not very well liked by people because it was about things that were against the church (Bloom p.90). During his time this was a big mistake, but in the same sense this portrayed realism to its fullest. Although some of Hopkins’ poems seem disturbing, they are actually excellent pieces of work. He portrayed realism by only writing about things that were realistic to him and his society. People did not accept Hopkins’ poetry because they did not like him; they did not accept it because it went against everything they believed in. The church was the most important thing in peoples’ lives during this era and most of Hopkins’ work were about things that went against the church and its beliefs. Even though people did not accept his poems during his time, they are very well accepted now and a re considered masterpieces of his era.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hopkins’ work was ve...

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea: A better version of The Little Mermaid Essay

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, written, directed and animated by Hayao Miyazaki, in the year 2009 was an animated movie aimed at young audiences and their parents. He took Hans Christian Andersen’s short story The Little Mermaid as a blueprint for portraying this poetic, fantastic work using adorable pictures with interesting and impressive storyline to attract audiences. I would personally consider the movie Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea as an improved version of Andersen’s The Little Mermaid because Miyazaki had introduced a lot of new elements to make the story look more realistic and interesting by considering the current preferences of children’s. In this movie, Miyazaki has not only described the love between people and people, but he has also highlighted the relationship between creatures and people using a simple story line. Generally, I would perceive Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea as a great animated movie because it contains various outstanding features such as simple but attractive story, visually appealing animated pictures which are far better compared to other animated movies released recently and the music in the movie is quite pleasant touching people’s soul. In the following part of the essay, I am going to describe how Miyazaki successfully captivated the audiences’ likenesses through his new movie: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. There is a huge difference between the Hans Christian Andersen’s story The Little Mermaid and the Miyazaki’s movie Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. In the Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, there were so many children who got upset on her demise and her infatuation towards the prince. While suffering with great pain, she drank the potion and the Little Mermaid lost her tongue in exchange for her tongue, which was considered as the most beautiful part of the story, but still her sacrifice could not get the prince’s love. At last, her body turned into foam and it never existed again. According to Robinson, â€Å"the story’s agony and tragedy [actually loses] the people’s heart† (Robinson). Such a pathetic story used to break the children’s dreams. However, I would consider Hayao Miyazaki’s movie Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea as an ameliorated story of The Little Mermaid because he slightly modified the ending of the story and introduced a lot of exciting elements to make the story more closely related with children’s preferences. Miyazaki has drawn several cute scenes about the main character girl Ponyo, such as eating noodles with her lover Sosuke and playing around with her pinky sisters. These scenes attracted the current generation of young audiences and made them fall in love into this adorable character and hence got them emotionally attached towards the movie. In addition to that, the climax of the movie was slightly changed that the Ponyo gets transformed into a little girl from a fish, so that she can be with Sosuke forever and it can be considered as one of the major difference when compared to the climax of The Little Mermaid’s. Therefore, I would personally consider the happy ending, the way of presentation and depicting characters as major elements making Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea better than The Little Mermaid. People regard Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, not only as a better version of The Little Mermaid, but also consider it as a great animation movie due to its simple and attractive storyline. Although there are people who criticize that the story sounds weird, and like many of Miyazaki’s previous films, Ponyo is also written from a child’s perspective and with a child’s sense of logic (Rodriguez). Miyazaki has raised the complexity of the movie’s theme to a higher level, enabling both children and adults to think and enjoy. The audiences are provided with three ways to observe the main theme of the story, which is the love between people, families, and creatures. First the audiences could feel the love and the relationship between Ponyo and her father Fujimoto. In the story, their relationship is not so well due to the busy schedule of Fujimoto, which reduced the time spent by him to understand his daughters and vice-versa. As her mother was also busy and hardly available at home, Ponyo had very less time for interacting with her parents. Even though Fujimoto tried his best to take care of Ponyo, such as providing clean food and taking them out for sightseeing at the sea, she didn’t care much about her father’s feelings. The only thing that she wanted to do was to get away from her father. What Ponyo did was immature and completely understandable, because she was just a 5 year-old girl at that time. But I believe that Miyazaki wanted to stress the issue that there does exist children who are bound do the same thing with their parents as well, and he wanted the young audiences to understand that whatever their parents are doing is only for the love they have towards their children. Secondly, the audiences may notice how Sosuke loved his mother. Although his father used to leave him and his mother at home while going for fishing, he realized how to take good care of his mother and carry the responsibilities of the family as a whole. I do remember a scene, when Sosuke’s father called to apologize for not coming back for dinner which left Sosuke’s mother crying about that. At that time, Sosuke’s passes her a napkin, consoling her not to get sad about that. Sosuke doesn’t know the reason for her mother being upset, but his actions represent the second type of love, which indicates how the younger generation shows their love towards their parents. Finally Miyazaki wanted to express the pure love between the main characters, Ponyo and Sosuke to the audiences as the third kind of love. One of the scenes comprised of a test that Nereus had given to Sosuke. Without anybody’s help, any ship to drive, and any lights to walk in the tunnel, Sosuke builds his courage to take care of Ponyo, the one whom he loves a lot and he overcomes all the hurdles that come in his way. These scenes inspired me to think about the children of this era. It is common that children would cry and call for their parents when they encounter difficult situations; however, despite the worry about his mother’s disappearance at that moment, Sosuke tactfully handled all these challenges physically and mentally encouraging Ponyo too to be strong. Therefore, I personally think that the act of the 5 year-old boy, Sosuke should be highly appreciated because it is really not an easy task for a normal child to either handle or accomplish it. The only reason why Sosuke could do it is all because of the love he had towards Ponyo, which gave him the power to raise his courage to get through all the challenges. The factors that decide whether an animated movie was successful or not doesn’t purely depend on the storyline or content that the director wants to emphasize, but it also depends on the way the movie was filmed that embellishes the movie with eye-catchy and enthralling features. When compared with the Disney film The Little Mermaid, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea didn’t involve any Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) work, which meant that the whole film was drawn by animators, and this further heightens the film’s natural characteristics. â€Å"In Miyazaki’s fertile imagination, the ordinary and magical worlds blend into each other; both are full of marvels† (Young). Young adds that Miyazaki’s movie provided softer and more realistic pictures to the audiences as all the things were hand-made. For example, I would personally consider the sea to be the most imaginative part of the movie. Miyazaki used his abundant imaginations in transforming the sea into a living character that can represent the mind of Ponyo’s father Fujimoto. One of the scenes is that, Fujimoto uses his magic to transform the sea into a living creature to chase Ponyo, but the sea couldn’t catch her and it fiercely outbursted onto the land. In addition to the much hyped imaginative scenes, Miyazaki had asked Joe Hisaishi to compose the background music for the movie. The movie became additionally attractive, as Hisaishi had used children to sing all the songs. Hence, these specialties made Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea so special that it induced people to come and enjoy. In summary, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea possesses nice elements for being considered as a great animated movie. First of all, being structured similar to the traditional tale The Little Mermaid, Miyazaki’s movie is more appreciated by the audiences of this era as it had a better climax than the story and the more updated elements are provided to meet the expectations and interests of children. Secondly, the complexity of the movie initiates audiences to deeply think about how people should interpret love and relationship between people, families, or even lovers. Thirdly, with the inclusion of more animated pictures and intoxicated music, audiences felt emotionally attached to the movie, trying to feel the happiness and sadness of the characters in the movie. Even though there are people criticizing the movie, but I believe that it has already qualified as a good animation movie because Miyazaki has designed it to become approachable by both adults and children. I personally feel that people can get inspired by the love of the story, trying to practice it in the real world, and very soon the society will become more harmonious. People would become friendlier to each other, making the world a better place to live on. Works Cited Robinson, Tasha. â€Å"Ponyo. † 13 Aug. 2009. The Onion Inc. A. V. Club. 2 May 2010 . Rodriguez, Rene. â€Å"Review : Ponyo. † 14 Aug 2009. The Miami Herald. Miami Herald Media Co. 02 May 2010 . Young, Deborah. â€Å"Film Review: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. † 30 Aug. 2008. The Hollywood Reporter. 2 May 2010. .

Politics In India Essay

Democracy is defined as ‘The Government of the people, for the people, and by the people’, but there are many challenges facing democracy in many countries  across the world. India is a perfect example of a nation that is ‘fully democratic’ even as it develops and faces several challenges. This paper is divided into two different parts showing the problems facing Indian Democracy. The first part briefly talks about the Inequality among peoples in India. Inequality is also divided into three main categories such as Geographic, Social and Demographic. The second part is an approach to identify the problem of corruption among political leaders and discussing the development of criminalization of politics. One of the major issues facing Indian democracy today is Inequality among the citizens of India, weather it is Geographic Inequality, Social Inequality, or Demographic Inequality. First of all, Geographic inequality occurs when a government and citizens of different regions have unequal parliament representation. Geographic inequality is a big issue India is facing today because of its uneven density of representatives per population (D.Joshi, 2012,402). Geographic inequality also occurs when the party they are  choosing does not represent voters in a district. In statistics it showed that, in 2009, India’s 543 LS constituencies averaged 14.9 candidates, but only one representative was elected by each district (D.Joshi, 2012, 402). The statistics showed that it was only half of the voters in every constituency with no representation at district level. Another big issue Indian democracy is facing is Demographic Inequality, this type of inequality occurs when the government of the nation fails to reflect the class, gender, age, ethnic, religious and ethnic makeup of its population. One of the things that D.Joshi points out (2012) is that elderly people in India are over – represented and young people are twice as under- represented in India. However, the greatest inequality a country could have is less female representatives. Increasing female representatives in India could help them reduce gender inequality. India is a nation where discrimination against women is widely spread across the country, whereas men are considered a source of income and prosperity. With lack of women education and power, the nation is facing a devastating challenge’s towards its democracy. In some areas of India, women are not allowed to participate in any voting elections. Moreover, the third type of Inequality that Indian democracy is facing is social inequality. Although, every person or citizen in a democratic society has the right to vote or fight elections, but in some nation’s like India, only rich upper class citizens have the chance to win the elections. Also, upper class people are usually elected as representatives who make the law and frame policies that only favor’s them. Furthermore, another challenge Indian Democracy facing today is the caste system among the people. In India, upper class Hindus make promises using voters as a tool to gain power in an election. However, low caste majority are usually forced to participate in an electoral process. Unfortunately, the ‘social class system in India is based on the notion of purity and pollution in which upper class does not interact with [equal rights] with the low castes’ (Anwar, 2012). It neglects the rights of citizens for having freedom of expression, right to elect their own representatives, freedom of religious practices and other rights in a democratic state. Moreover, because Indian population is so large and it is a diversely mixed society, people in India have wide identity available to them. Manor (1996) stated that, ‘there are [various] types of caste identities, religious identities and identification with clans and linages’ (463). As a result of having various types of identities, tensions among these groups become strikingly high and could tear a democratic institution apart. An example will illustrate how this could have an impact in Democracy. In an election in India in 1971, conflict and anger widely spread, after the state government made an unjust treatment. A party representing swept winning ten seats in the parliament but political leaders started to bargaining the movement and after few years, people shifted their concerns to other member’s identities such as caste and class. Keeping in mind their identities, the congress party won every seat in the parliament Despite the wide identity available to the citizens, there is also another issue that follows this problem’s; this includes the discrimination on minorities, undermining order and development. Discrimination against minority groups can trigger the demand for justice. However, evidence in recent studies has showed that there is a declining influence on caste system in Indian politics. Political corruption and inefficiency is another severe problem Indian democracy is facing today. In a study that showed, 20- 33 percent of middle class citizens had to pay ‘ a bribe for getting a service or getting out of problem with a government agency’ (Jefferlot, C., 2002, 77). Former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi has admitted that only 15 percent of isolated area reached their potential beneficiaries. India’s political leaders are responsible of the corruption that is on going for a long time in Indian Democracy. In fact, the congress party in India conducted corrupt practices when they formed ministries in 1937. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, was known as the ‘cleanest political leader of India’ but for instance, some political leaders today say that it was because of him that Indian political corruption has turned into an epidemic. One of the reasons why Nehru is known for spreading the corruption among political leaders is because he kept protecting his congress leaders who were indulged in corrupt practices. There have been events that took place during his ruling party. Krishna Menno, the Indian high commissioner in London, 1948 was asked to buy 4,000 jeeps for Indian army who were fighting the Pakistanis at that time, only 155 jeeps reached in India (Jefferlot, C., 2002, 79). Nehru’s government rejected the incident that took place and declared that case was closed. This is a good example of a politician in Indian democracy; who are dishonest and can get away with it because of their other political colleagues. Corruption among political leaders has affected Indian democracy in two different ways. One, for supplying and making black money from businessmen’s, especially after foreign companies started emerging into Indian market. Secondly, Politicians made money, which they were suppose to spend on their campaigns, which Indian businessmen’s and foreign investors have raised. As Jefferlot (2002) stated that ‘ Indian political leaders took bribe from arm dealers who were important foreign players in the political and economic game’ which then increasingly took advantage of multinationals entering India (89). Another example of corrupt politician is, Prabhakar Rao, who was involved in scandals of importing sugar and urea. He took bribe from foreigner manufacturer, to obtain import of newsprints and paper pulp. Democracy can become negated when it assumes such proportions of corruption. Another issue in Indian politics is development of criminalization of politics, which is severely alarming in recent years. The link between crime industry and politicians in Indian are long standing. Gangs need protection from politicians for their activities, these activities involve trafficking of drugs, arms and other illegal trade business. Politicians protect gang members in various situations such as from police investigation. An example of politician involved with gang member was The Chief Minister, who not only granted to builders land reserved for civic purposes but also protected gangsters in the building businesses (Jefferlot, C., 2002, 92). Politicians also seek for protection from gang members. For example, a losing candidate may for instance, ask the gangsters for the most common fraud known as  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœbooth capturing’. This activity involves gangs to seize the ballot boxes during an election. Many other election- related Incident’s have taken place in India. Most common type of Incidents involves clashes between political parties. Violence can also take place during elections, when a politician fears losing vote against his opponent candidates. Politicians also use gangs during riots. This often involves conflict between social groups such as Hindus and Muslims. While politicians protect crime industry, there has been growing numbers of criminals entering politics in India. Jefferlot (2002) stated that ‘ convicted criminals who are not systematically disqualified can stand for elections, even if they are accused for important crime’ (95). Corruption and criminalization of politics is a direct threat to Indian democratic society. Corruption in Indian democracy arose from socioeconomic and political conditions. India is facing corruption in its politics, the criminalization of state has become a serious chronic disease over the decades (Jefferlot, C., 2002, 113). Former Prime Ministers of India are considered to have prepared the foundation of corruption during their time period. As a result of this, citizens of India do no take interest in elections and have no faith in government officials. Media also has significant impact on exposing corruption in the Indian establishment. Another worrying factor here is the problem for bribing journalists for covering election campaigns. The change in Indian democracy may be possible but the pressure against corruption needs to come from collective groups rather than individual enterprises. To summarize, Indian democracy is facing severe problems to its democratic society over the years. Some of the problems include inequality among social groups. However, Indian government faces three major kinds of Inequality. First, it deals with unequal parliament representation, whereas, the demographic inequality deals with negligence of class, gender, age, ethnic and religious ethnicities that makeup the population. Finally, the third major Inequality is social inequality, even as today, minority groups or poor people in India do not get to vote in elections. Whereas, upper class  citizens make the laws and policies which only favor’s them. Lastly, corruption is significantly a major issue India is facing today in its democratic government. Corruption in a democratic government can scare divert resources from poor and disadvantage the citizens. However, corruption continues unchecked because people in India turn away from involvement on how the country is being governed and put little interest in elections, because of their trust in politicians is damaged. Along with corruption, criminalization of politics has major concerns over the years. Politics in India has become lucrative and beneficial business, criminals can invest money and power to win elections with the support of other politicians and can enjoy unfettered power and respect among the society. Thus, criminalization of politics cannot be prevented as long as criminals are present in politics in India and, it has become a direct threat to India democracy. Bibliography Manor, James. 1996. â€Å"`Ethnicity’ and politics in India.† _International Affairs_ 72, no. 3: 459. _Academic Search Complete_, EBSCO_host_ (Accessed March 1, 2014) Joshi, Devin. â€Å"Who gets unequal parliamentary representation? A comparison of India and Sri Lanka.† _Contemporary South Asia_ 20, no. 3 (September 2012): 401-406. _Academic Search Complete_, EBSCO_host_ (Accessed February 11, 2014). Jaffrelot, Christophe. 2002. â€Å"Indian Democracy: The Rule of Law on Trial.† _India Review_ 1, no. 1: 77. _Academic Search Complete_, EBSCO_host_ (Accessed February 16, 2014). 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