2006 Fifa World Cup Germany History Essay

2006 Fifa World Cup Germany History Essay In these few years, because the economy recession, many industries have been affected, such as tourism industry, airline industry, auto industry and so on, the event industry is not the exception. There are two definitions of event from Business Dictionary (n.d.), occurrence happening at a determinable time and place, with or without the participation of human agents. It may be a part of a chain of occurrences as an effect of a preceding occurrence and as the cause of a succeeding occurrence, and arrival of a significant point in time. In project management, an event marks the point in time when a task is completed. There is many type of event in the industry, such as promotion event, marketing event and so on. This report will focus on one sport event, Fifa World Cup 2006 in Germany. At the beginning of the report, it will give the history of football, the World Cup and the background of the World Cup 2006. Economy, another beneficiary, security, infectious disease issue, sponsor, s ocial impact and environment are the main parts. At the last is the conclusion. 2. History of football: Football is a worldwide game, and it can be said that (FIFA, n.d.) it is the most popular game in the world, and its history is more than a hundred years. It was begun in 1863 in England, originally rugby football and association football was the same thing, when they were branched off, the Football Association in England was formed becoming the sports first governing body. It can be said actually this was a type of exercise date back to the second and third centuries BC in China. In that time, it was called Tsu Chu, the material and the size of the ball was different, of cause, the rule was different. 3. History of the World Cup: The first World Cup tournament was taken place on Uruguay in 1930 (BBC, 2001), at that time just had thirteen nations competed, and just only four European countries. The final winner was the host Uruguay, and the second was Argentina. In 1934, the game was moved to Europe, and Italy both hosted and won the game. In 1938, the game played in France. As we know, because of the World War II, the tournament had to be stopped and then the tournament returned to South America on 1950 and Brazil hosted it. It was the most chaotic in World Cup history, and many teams had a long way to travel between matches. Because of the aftermath of World War II had passed, so the event was moved on to Switzerland on 1954. In 1958, perhaps the worlds greatest player (Pele) was appeared, and the country that was to dominate world football for the next 12 years. In 1962 the tournament was returned to South America. The games location was changing between Europe and South America, in 1966, it came back to th e home England, and it had an exciting final in Wembley. In 1970, football got into another special time because of the satellite technology, and pitch red and yellow cards were used for the first time in Mexico. In 1974, the World Cup became the new FIFA World Cup and it was hosted by West Germany. In 1978, the final was between the Dutch and the host Argentina. Spain hosted the tournament in 1982, the involved teams were expanded from 16 to 24. In 1986, the World Cup was back to Mexico, another greatest player was appeared at that time, Diego Maradona of Argentina. The 1990 tournament was returned to Italy, finally West Germany took the crown from Argentinas hand. 4. 2006 game background: The last FIFA World Cup was opened on Germany on 2006, it could be said that it was the biggest event on 2006 (FIFA, 2006a). At the semi-final, Italian put down the host team Germany, it was a hard road, they had to spot-kick to terminate the game. At the end of the game, Italian team handed the World Cups crown. There was a historical time on the final game at Berlins Olympic Stadium, a French player got a red card, he was Zinedine Zidane, one of the greatest players in the world. The World Cup was not the stage for the Italian, the host team finished as top scorers with 14 goals, thereinto five goals were from the Golden Shoe winner Miroslav Klose. The football month was not only attracted 3,359,439 spectators (FIFA, 2006) to attend matches in the 12 great stadiums, but also there was over 30 billion people watched those match through TV, internet etc globally. 5. The economy The economy was one of the benefits the host country could get. Fortunately, this event gave very positive effect to the country, its economy and improved countrys imagination; actually, some events can lead the local economy down (DW, 2006). It was generated over 300 million Euros from tourism industry, 2 more billion Euros from retail and 50,000 jobs were created during the World Cup weeks (4 weeks). 40 million was made from ticket sales, the World Cup Organising Committee said that the net profit was 56.5 million Euros and they would put the money into German Soccer Federation (DFB) and German Soccer League (DFL). It was announced that, the DFB earned around 140 million Euros from the event (DW, 2006). Other numbers, Germany used nearly 4 billion Euros to hold the mega event, and 15 million more visitors had been welcomed by Germany. 6. Another beneficiary: The benefit was not just the Italian had, there was another major winner children (FIFA, 2006b). A joint fundraising campaign which was called six villages for 2006, and it was between SOS Childrens Villages and FIFA. The campaign was collected over 21 million Euros, this money would give to over eight hundred orphaned and abandoned children globally. Furthermore, over five thousand children and one thousand would be benefited from a new ancillary social and educational projects. 16.2 million Euros was the total number on collection, which was from three thousand people, and they pledged their support to SOS Childrens Villages as sponsors (FIFA, 2006b). Originally, the organization thought that those sponsors might make a long term commitment to SOS Childrens Villages and they were expected to support an additional one million Euros per year on next over five years, but the total income was expected to over 21 million Euros (FIFA, 2006b). In addition, FIFA donated the income, which was from fines in yellow and red cards at the Germany World Cup, the number was over three hundred thousand Euros. There were many other companies donate money to this campaign, such as the Infront Sports and Media, they donated all proceeds generated from the commercial public viewing licences in Germany, it surpassed seven hundred thousand Euros. Another big income, which was from the FIFA World Cup TV Ticket Show, it generated more than six hundred thousand Euros into the campai gn. Moreover, many famous footballer, such as Pele, Shevchenko, Rooney, Cannavaro etc, they took time from their busy plan to support this fundraising campaign. Through this fundraising campaign, we can see that, during the mega event, it can generate a big number of money and they will use this event to do some other activities such as the fundraising campaign, but we have to consider, it has a good side but it may has a bad side too (FIFA, 2006b). 7. The impact on security: Because of the World Cup event is globally, there was some problem on security area. For example, around two hundred football team fans were arrested by police during the match between German and Polish, and it made a big chaos for the event and the city (Kelso, 2006). Actually this happen had been predicted before because of the two sides of fans would bring their enmity to Dortmund stadium. Although this trouble was happened in the city centre during the game, the people who were inside the stadium were still focus on the match. One of the reasons why the Polish did it was because they had resentment at their opponents behavior at the past. Another reason was because some hooliganism involved. On 2005, there was another demonstration clash between Polish and German, and the result was quite badly. Before the match day, fifty five people had been arrested by German police and four of them carried knife, but it was not enough to stop the problem, at the end of it, around two hundred fans had been arrested by the police in the city centre (Kelso, 2006). A French policeman, he dead because of the two sides fans crashed at the 1998 World Cup. There was an example of the impact on security, because this was the mega event, everything become happened wa s possible and those consequence should be considered (Kelso, 2006). 8. Infectious disease issue: There were some health issues during the global mega event. Actually, the 2006 World Cup was related to some infectious disease, and here was an example in Munich in International Broadcast Centre (IBC) (Eurosurveillance, 2006). A group of people with gastrointestinal symptoms was informed on the local health department on 15 of June. The local health department began to do something for it at that evening, if they did not do that, the consequence would be hard to measure. Those patients came from different countries, such as Mexico, the United States and so on. They had a same point, it was they were all employed by IBC temporarily. At that time, the hygiene precautions were immediately begun, such as disinfecting surfaces and providing hand disinfection liquids in sanitary areas, and multi-language information leaflets was given to people, the local health department also checked the other people through peoples stool sample, unfortunately there were five were proven to be positive for norovirus. Afterward, genotype GGII.4-2006a had been found and totally there were 61 cases of gastroenteritis were linked to the norovirus outbreak in Munich. When you look this example, will you consider to go to this mega event? In this kind of mega events specially on global events have some health issues are quite normal, it just depends it will be serious or not and how to solve the problem by the organization (Eurosurveillance, 2006). There were some other infectious disease events during the World Cup event. For example (Eurosurveillance, 2006), it was reported the biggest measles outbreak was related the event in Germany. The situation was concerned by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and it had been rising, visitors were also given warning by various European national public health institutes during the event. Totally, 1406 measles cases were found in North Rhine-Westphalia between 1 Jan and 7Jun 2006, when the World Cup began, the number of cases still increased. Another infectious disease event was an outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hambury and Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, and 15 cases were found totally (Eurosurveillance, 2006). 9. The World Cup and its sponsors: Totally, there were 15 sponsors such as Yahoo, Budweiser, McDonalds, Gillette, Toshiba Philips and so on, they had to pay a heavy of cost to be called as an Official Partner of the mega event (Times, 2006). Furthermore, there were six national suppliers such as Postbank, ODDSET, Deutsche Bahn and so on, it was said that they had to paid around thirteen million Euro to use the rights of Fifa logos and trademarks on their advertising, it was a quite big amount of money. After the event, it was reported that although the demand was over supply, Fifa would make most of the money through the sponsorship deal, in fact, the agreement of the deal was worth over seven hundred million Euro. The problem was appeared, if Fifas exclusivity was not guaranteed no one would agree to pay the money to Fifa, and the contract was all according safeguard Fifas position for every eventuality. It was an example; there was an agreement with Hamburger Sportverein (HSV) for the use of its stadium in Hamburg. Obviously HSV has its own sponsor, AOL, and the stadium is always called AOL Arena Stadium. During the World Cup, the name was changed to Fifa World Cup Stadium Hamburg, Yahoo took the opportunity to become the title sponsor in this period of time and a legal agreement had been enshrined (Times, 2006). It had to be mindful the feeling on non-alcoholic drinks sponsors by Fifa, the Coca Cola. Totally (Times, 2006), there were 12 official fan festivals in those host cities, the contract with Coca Cola was that to supply of virtually every other drink. Because of Coca Cola, many milk suppliers became angry, because they had to wait Coca Cola agreed to supply non-flavoured milk product. It was said that (Times, 2006), brand protection is very important to the organization of the World Cup 2006 by Max Duthie, a sport lawyer with Hammonds. He also said (Times, 2006), Lawyers have been intimately involved in devising strategies and drafting legal agreements to prevent ambush marketing. He continued to add, Fifa will have been liaising, too, with local authorities and the police in order to prevent, as a hypothetical example, Pepsi turning up before a game and handing out thousands of Pepsi T shirts to fans, to that, once inside, sections of the ground could appear devoted to Pepsi. It was said that, in the UK trading standards officers always get involve with event organizes to flight with counterfeit merchandising and intellectual property infringement at sports event (Times, 2006). Actually, the local authorities were persuaded to help Fifa to clamp down on trade mark infringement, and it had been criticised in Germany. At that time, the trademark protection was not the responsibility of public authorities. The official list of licensed manufacturers and samples of their products were sent to customs, because Fifa wanted to protect their own rights. Anyway, it was just the tip of the iceberg although Fifa was fighting for themselves hardly. Ticketing conditions was another problem Fifa had to consider, they planned it carefully to prevent touting. This problem was not only on this event, it is an increasing global problem in modern football. There were some potential intellectual property infringement, such as player disciplinary issues and anti doping regulations, and those mean that when the event was begun, lawyers could not stop their work. We receive numerous queries from businesses who want to check that their campaigns do not infringe Fifas intellectual property. Like many rights holders in modern sport, Fifa protect their rights aggressively, so anyone thinking of exploiting the buzz around the World Cup for advertising purposes has to be very careful, Nick White, a sports lawyer with Couchman Harrington said that (Times, 2006). The inter relationship has never been complex that between sponsors, rights holders, teams, players and spectators, and it has never more intertwined with the law. Just before the World Cup kicked off, the chairman of Crystal Palace Simon Jordan caged his former employee Iain Dowie with his legal action. It is hard to be thought that this chairman was so rely upon to this post employment few years ago. The World Cup 2006 was not just between players, spectator, organization, local people, the government and so on, stakeholders had a quite big range such as lawyer. Something looks like very simple, but actually it is not (Times, 2006). 10. The social impacts from the World Cup 2006: It is known that all sport events have different range of impacts to the community, especially on host communities, sometimes they have focused on economic rather than the social effects. Social impacts have been identified as (Jones, 2007); changes in the structure and functioning of patterned social ordering that occur in conjunction with an environmental, technological or social innovation or alteration. Munich is an example. According a study (310 people was surveyed), 88% of people supported the strengthening of the sense of communities and the relationship improvement between people of different ethnic origin, over 50% of them agreed it strongly and only 8% of them disagreed (Jones, 2007). In terms of the quality of life becomes important. In Munich (Jones, 2007), the co-hosting of the World Cup 2006 led to an increase in shopping facilities was disagreed by 70% people. Therefore, the government used another way to solve it, it was to extend the opening time for shops in the city centre, and also it was allowed them to open on Sunday. Two-thirds respondents thought that, it was a positive impact, actually they prefer to go shopping on Sunday rather than on Saturday. Another impact was because the World Cup, related events have been increased. The World Cup gave a lot of benefit to the host city such as on economy, social well-being and so on. Because of the event, the city has been renewal, many respondents said that, the improvement of the local infrastructure, although the citys situation was not bad at before. It is a quotation from the local people (Jones, 2007), thanks to the good planning by the local council there was no chaos on the road as I am commuting between Munich to Nuremberg every day. Through the quotation it can be seen, the traffic was quite good during the mega event and the local council had done their work. Although there were a lot of benefits, there also had some disadvantages. For example, noise level was increased during the event (Jones, 2007). 11. The environment: Through the event, the organization and the government had done a lot, included on environment. It was a project called Green Goal (UNEP, 2006), its aim was to protect the environment, cut greenhouse gas emissions from transportation area and electricity generation during the event, defeating the waste mountain was another aim. The project was supported by the United Nations Environment Programme mainly. Because of the project, the greenhouse gas emissions had been reduced drastically, 50% from 3.2 million fans to take public transport (UNEP, 2006). Totally, 70% of journey had been made on public transport, foot or bicycle and it was just 30% made by private car (UNEP, 2006). 12. Conclusion: In conclusion, the World Cup 2006 tournament was a quite successful mega event in general, only the Olympic game can compare it. Actually, a mega event has to spend a lot of work on it, and the infrastructure could be complicated. This event led a lot of benefit to the country and those host cities such as on economy, generated a lot of jobs and revenue although the country had to spend a big budget to hold the game. However, there were some disadvantages, such as on security, health issue and so forth. Anyway, according to the study, the general situation was accepted by many residents. The next World Cup will be happened on this year, also it will have many impact for the host country on many area. Event is not always been succeeded, it could also be unsuccessful, so just wait and see for the next game.

Sophiatown in the 1950s

Sophiatown in the 1950s Sophiatown is a suburb in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located on a Johannesburg ridge called Melville Koppies. Sophiatown is an example of how apartheid was bad for the native inhabitants and that it had to go. Before apartheid Sophiatown was established for Europeans, but as the city Johannesburg developed and a sewage dump nearby, the Europeans left and the land was then rented by the native people. The natives were allowed to settle in Sophiatown because it was near the sewage dump and the Europeans in the city didnt want the miners to settle within the city limits. Sophiatown shows how South Africa developed under apartheid. The apartheid caused multiracial communities in Sophiatown that developed to become multicultural. Sophiatown was the only place the people could rent themselves in Johannesburg that was not owned by the government. Apartheid was the ruling of Europeans in South Africa over the natives during 1948-1994. The Europeans found that South Africa had rich res ources, especially gold, for mining and that they could use the labor of the natives to get it. They developed a government system, Nationalist Party, which kept the natives down to maintain the European authority which was known as Afrikaners. The population of South Africa migrated to the sites the Europeans were building to mine the resources but they were required to abide by discriminatory laws made by the Europeans. Sophiatown developed as Johannesburg did and helped to end apartheid. Sophiatown was originally a farm outside of Johannesburg bought by Hermann Tobiansky. Tobiansky named the suburb after his wife Sophia, and the suburb was only for Europeans. However, when a sewage dump was built nearby the Europeans didnt want to settle there and the owner allowed natives and other nationalities to settle there. During the beginning of the first world war natives moved to cities for the jobs in mining and factory work. During and after the first world war the Johannesburg City Council (JCC) passed slum clearance programs, which removed natives from the inner parts of Johannesburg. These people had nowhere to go so they moved to Sophiatown (SA History). Because of the multiracial communities, the music culture of Sophiatown continued to develop in spite of the apartheid rule. During the 1920s the slums of Johannesburg were packed with hundreds of people that set up clubs like the Marabi where most of the indigenous jazz of South Africa developed. The specific styles in Johannesburg were known as Tsaba-Tsaba which was a working class form of dance music. However, during the 1930s when the JCC was clearing out the slums, people had to move to Sophiatown where shebeens and dance-parties were still held, but the South African Jazz was influenced by the American Jazz on the radio stations in the shanty town. Because of the American influence groups in Sophiatown would play American swing instead of the old Jazz from Johannesburg. The old Jazz came back and was combined with the new American swing to create Kwela which was basically penny whistling. The kwela culture in Sophiatown also developed different dance forms, one of which was pha ta-phata or touch touch. The kwela culture was part of the shady part of Sophiatown, people would gamble. Since the people were raided by the police, people would set up look outs and when the police were nearby the people would put up all evidence and they would play kwela as an excuse for a gathering. During the 1950s kwela culture had piano and saxophone added to the instrumentation and it became Majuba. The name was eventually changed to Mbaqanga (SA History). The culture of Sophiatown was greatly influenced by the theatres Odin and Balanskys. The Balanskys theatre played many movies from the United States. The gangs of Sophiatown patterned their behavior after the gangsters in the movies they saw. The Tsotsis gang based their dress patterns and language after Street with No Name, they dressed in trench coats like in the movies and they used slang like Remember guys, Im de brains of dis outfit!(SA history). Other gangs in Sophiatown were named after famous foreign parties like the Nazis and foreign gangsters like the American Vultures (Sophiatown) The day to day living of Sophiatown was difficult and was based on any way that they could survive. Because the people were forced out of the city to Sophiatown, the people lived in close quarters and poor living conditions. In Sophiatown the natives were not required by the government to acquire a permit. The black land owners had to pay huge mortgage so they allowed others to settle in their backyards. The population grew exponentially because of this and people had to become tenants and subtenants on other peoples backyards. Since they were usually poor, the people who migrated to Sophiatown had to build houses out of metal sheets and excess materials. Since all the adult males were working in the mines, the adolescents were unsupervised and could do whatever they wanted to do and joined gangs as well as common theft and murder. The women in Sophiatown had to find work as prostitutes or they worked as alcohol queens in shebeens. Shebeens were similar to speak-easies in the United States, they were places that people could drink alcohol and talk about local problems. Shebeens were usually held in the queens homes with bands playing for entertainment. Shebeens were risky business since police could raid and arrest anyone within the Shebeens and the methods for brewing alcohol were dangerous at the time. However, Shebeens werent all bad they were places were politicians met and discussed ideas to people, and they werent all dirty dark rooms but were sometimes clean respectable places with imported furniture (Hannerz). The most important event in Sophiatown was the removal and destruction of Sophiatown. The head of the South African government was the Nationalist Party which controlled the JCC. Because the Nationalist Party was part of the apartheid, it passed laws to suppress the natives in Sophiatown and they rationalized this because Johannesburg was growing and the black neighborhoods were getting too close to the white suburbs. The removal of the residents of Sophiatown was organized by the Native Resettlement Board, which was a more localized part of the NP. The people were moved to Soweto where the NP established a housing system from a census about the population within the shanty town, but they didnt know about the housing that was being provided which was generally better than the current living quarters of the average person in Sophiatown. The people refused to leave and the slogan of the people was ons dak nieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.ons phola hierso which meant we are not moving We are staying (SA history). The people rebelled and used guns and explosives to keep the government officials from forcing them out, but the government eventually won and forced thousands to move to the meadowlands of Soweto. The destruction of Sophiatown continued from 1955-1960 during which the people were forced to move and their homes were bulldozed. The removals in Sophiatown brought peoples attention to the apartheids unjust rule, because it was the only place the government didnt strictly regulate. After the removals political leaders made speeches specifically naming the incident to inspire people to rise against the apartheid rule. One of the people who made such speeches about Sophiatown was Nelson Mandela. As well as the revolts in Sophiatown, people in Soweto were revolting because they lost everything they owned when they moved and the land owners lost all sources of income (SA History). Sophiatown was a suburb in Johannesburg during the rule of apartheid in South Africa. Sophiatown was the only place in Johannesburg that the government didnt own and exert its discriminatory rules over during the apartheid. However, after Johannesburg grew closer to Sophiatown the government decided to destroy it and relocate the entire population to Soweto. The results of the destruction of Sophiatown were revolts that occurred both in Johannesburg and is Soweto where the people were relocated to. The destruction of Sophiatown helped cause the end of apartheid and developed a specific culture of its own.

Sojourner Truth :: Free Essay Writer

Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth was born a slave named Isabella Baumfree sometime in 1797 in Ulster county, New York. The exact date of her birth is to this day unknown, but it is believed to have been sometime during the fall. She developed her characteristics of courage and dependability from her mother, Mau Mau Bett, at an early age. Isabella was first owned by a Dutch named Charles, who was happened to be a decent slave owner. At his death, she was separated from her mother and auctioned to another set of plantation owners, the Neelys. Isabella was highly mistreated here as they took their dislike of the Dutch community out on Isabella, who spoke hardly a word of English. She was bought and sold three times within the next twenty-four months, the final purchaser being a man named John Dumont for the incredibly low bargaining price of three hundred dollars. Dumont needed more slaves for his New York plantation. He always bragged that Isabella was the hardest working slave on the plantation. Seeing this, he forced her to marry a fellow slave known as Tom. Isabella gave birth to five children within the next five years. Two years before the emancipation act of 1828, in which all slaves within New York were freed, Dumont promised Isabella that if she were to work extra hard the next year, he would set her free a year early. She did just that; she was the even harder working already hardest working slave on the plantation. In her speeches, she spoke of the living conditions many slaves were forced to endure, crowded together into cabins with no privacy, overworked, fed scraps in many cases, and clothed raggedy scraps. Her audiences must have felt the shame as Truth recalled the auction block, upon which men and women alike were frequently forced to strip and stand before potential buyers, who would search their bodies for marks of the whip or of wrist or leg irons, the presence of which would indicate the slave had been frequently punished. The slaves would be forced to endure impersonal and degrading inspections of their teeth, muscles, and other body parts, depending on what the buyer was looking for in the purchase. When the time came, though, Dumont broke his promise. Isabella, realizing she had been tricked, escaped with her infant child in her arms in October of 1827 to the refuge of a Quaker family.

Will The Global Economy Help Or Hurt The Next Generation Of Americans?

Will the Global Economy Help or Hurt The Next Generation of Americans? Will the global economy help or hurt the next generation of Americans? This is the question I am going to investigate in this paper. The global economy is the system pertaining to the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services around the globe. It is important that we understand the global economy because it is and will be affecting the way we learn, work and live. How all of these factors are affected will be discussed in the following paper. I take the position that the global economy will hurt the next generation of Americans. One argument for this position is that our schools are not adequately preparing out students for the types of new work that will be required in the next generation. American schools are using teaching techniques that taught existed in the 1950's. Textbooks date back to the early 1970's. Requirements may have changed but our reaching techniques have not. Every year, students take the same courses with the same prerequisite: A good memory. True, they are teaching classes that are essential to get into a good college but are they teaching the skills that our future generation will need? Are students going to be able to problem solve? Are today's students going to be able to access tomorrow's information? Our schools teach American students to be good at memorization. To be able to spit out recorded information. "You do have the knowledge but you are basically robots with skin; machines, tape recorders that teachers use to record their information. At the end of a chapter, they rewind you and press the 'play' button to see if you can repeat everything they said."1 Also, our schools are not stressing the importance of math and science. Because of this fact, foreign born workers such as engineers are taking over the jobs American workers could have. Our students need to be truly smart because memorized skills can only go so far. Grades cannot always determine the real skills of the students. Anybody can receive a diploma but what do these grades really mean? Not much unless a student can apply their memorized skills for the new way of work. "Just possibly we have a surplus of graduates and a scarcity of real skills."2 The improvement of o... ...t as earnings plunge. Mothers are going to have to work longer hours if the family is going to have it's old standard of living."25 This means that people are going to have to work twice as hard for the same quality of living. This also means a constant upgrading of skills necessary for peak job performance. "Important efforts should be better education and a committed and constant upgrading of skills. Our future is a more educated one rather than a cheaper one. Technological revolutions in the past have consistently led to gains in production, commerce, employment and living standards."26 Yet if workers don't improve their skills and constantly upgrade them, shrinking the gap between man and machine, this revolution will be detrimental to the welfare of our workers, their families and most importantly the global economy. Despite all the information on how the global economy will hurt the next generation of Americans, there are also ways in which it will help the next generation. My objection to my original position; that is the global economy will hurt the next generation of Americans is that it will instead help them due to the new ag

Funding and Lending Problems with China’s Three Gorges Dam Project :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Funding and Lending Problems with China’s Three Gorges Dam Project The Three Gorges Project continues to leave a wake of environmental and social transgressions. An assortment of activists and over 45 international groups, including the International Rivers Network and Sierra Club, have fought the project and all its detrimental attributes (Lammers 1). But because of the predetermination of its construction, certain consequences associated with the Three Gorges Dam are inevitable, especially those resulting from the inundation zones. Oppositely, there remain a variety of consequences, specifically concerning the impact of relocation and resettlement, which could be minimized and even avoided if the necessary steps were taken. Unfortunately, the current mixture of economics and politics between the State Development Bank of China and its lenders provides no safe guards against such transgression. Despite protests few if any changes have been made to rectify them. In the following passage, I will give a short background of the dam’s history and consequences, disclose China’s current resettlement efforts, and explain why little change has been made to correct these matters. In the end, I will provide an alternative solution and hopefully focus needed attention to the most influential aspect of the Three Gorges Project: funding and lending. The Three Gorges Dam and Reservoir is questionably the largest engineering feat and construction project ever undertaken. The project originated as a solution to Chi na’s long-standing problems with mainland flood control (Shen 1). Soon after, the plans were altered to incorporated a giant shipping lane to the reservoir and 26 hydroelectric generators to the dam (Sly 1). The project, which resides on China’s Yangtze river, has entered the second phase of completion. Following the diversion of normal river flow and traffic to a side channel, major construction of the coffer dam, which will reportedly span more than a mile in width, has ensued (Sklar 4). And major is no exaggeration considering the Chinese government is attempting to dam the world’s second largest river. The Three Gorges dam is estimated to be over 600 feet high and result in a reservoir of over 400 miles in length (Lammers 1). The resources and materials to be consumed, beyond the 29 billion dollar cost estimate, are to include: the "3.6 billion cubic feet of rock and soil... to be excavated, 1 billion cubic feet of embankment fill... moved, 900 million cubic feet of plain and reinforced concrete... to be poured, and nearly 300,000 tons of metal structures.

A Boy’s Own Story -Book Review

Running head: Book Review Thomas Meyer SOCWK 330 Book Review Brief Summary A Boy’s Own Story is the story of the author’s, Edmund White, own self discover of his homosexuality in the 1940’s and 1950’s in America. A Boy’s Own Story is the first autobiographies in a three book series spanning the author’s late childhood throughout his adulthood. Edmund experiences a brief sexual relationship with Kevin, a slightly younger friend. Kevin and Edmund’s intimacy is presented as natural and untroubled, untouched by the internalized homophobia that will later plague young Edmund’s life. I was aware of the treacherous air vents above us, conducting the sounds we were making upstairs. Maybe dad was listening. Or maybe, just like Kevin, he was unaware of anything but the pleasure spurting up out of his body and into mine. † (White, 1982, pg. 17) Edmund’s father does not serve as a good role model. Edmund’s father was an adulterer, who later abandons Edmund’s mother for another woman. Edmund’s father abandons his responsibilities leaving the family without his financial support. Edmund acts on his desires and has sex with Mr. Beattie, an older school teacher of Edmund.After society pushes the ideals of homophobia on Edmund he decides to turn in Mr. Beattie, thus turning his back on someone who has shown him affection just like his father did to him and his family. A Boy’s Own Story ends with Edmund still unable to achieve a positive gay identity. His struggle to come to terms with his homosexuality is not over. Character’s Behavior Edmund’s evolution from adolescence evolved his understanding and acceptance of his homosexuality. He starts his first noted homosexual experiences with a younger male whose family was living with them.He does not seem conflicted with the guilt and internalized & externalized homophobia that latter plagues him. Book Review â€Å"I suffe red now. I felt isolated to the point of craziness, but with a faint recourse to melodrama, to a potential audience and attendant end to loneliness, for if I imagined complete despair I pictured it as an emptying of the theater, a feeling that the stalls and boxes would never be peopled again†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (White, 1982, pg. 136) Edmund desire to fit into his perceived norms of societies forges into him a conflict of character.He begins to seek out others for sex and affection. He hides his desires from everyone that knows him including a good friend of his because he fears rejection. In the end of the book Edmund is questioning the morality and position of religion and society on the issue of homosexuality. Theoretical Analysis One of the best known and accepted theories of homosexual identity development is by Cass. Cass developed a six stage identity development model. Edmund progresses through the stages in this first volume of his autobiography to the third stage.At the end of t he book Edmund seems to be still struggling with his homosexuality but has come to the realization that he is not the only one that has homosexual tendencies. (Cass, 1984) A psychoanalytic view of Edmund’s homosexuality would focus on his relationship with his father and mother. This approach may question if Edmund suffered from gender identity issues. Edmund calls himself a sissy and girly. Edmund compares himself to his sister who he sees as the athlete in the family that wins his father’s approval. Furthermore, Edmund states that when he was younger he had romantic feelings and desires for his father.Edmund tries to gain the affection of his father and later approval of his father. In conjunction to having an emotionally distant father he also had a mother who seemed more interested in being a socialite over being a mother. These issues can be looked at using classical Freudian techniques. Book Review I personally do not like the Freudian psychoanalytical perspectiv e because I feel the theories are not properly tested. I am also interested to see how Edmund’s childhood being raised in an affluent family may have had an impact on how he developed as an individual. I will need time and further study to get a better gripe of this issue.It was suggested in a Sociology class that there is a socioeconomic factor difference between the new rich and old money when it comes to the issue of homosexuality. According to the professor new rich like Edmund’s family where less tolerate because they do not feel as secure in their economic status and feel a need to seek approval from society whereas old money may just see homosexuality as a form of eccentricness and they do not need the approval of society. I am still seeking a theory to support her statement. Summary Edmund story is an interesting look into his mind. The book has the flow of a common thought processes.The story changes focus and direction at times to explore the story deeper. It is difficult not to be drawn into the story as I am sure was the intent of the author. I am interested in how Edmund further developed his personal identity and came to terms with his homosexuality. I will be continuing to read the next book of the series as I am sure it will be just as fascinating. I have grown in my understanding of the psychosis of guilt and homophobia. I feel a bit more at ease with myself and feel for others who have suffered from society’s concept of normal behavior. In many ways I saw myself in Edmund’s story.Book Review Reference: Cass, V. (1984, May). Homosexual Identity Formation: Testing a Theoretical Model. The Journal of Sex Research, 20, 143-167. Elizur, Y. , & Ziv, M. (2001, Summer). Family Support and Acceptance, Gay Male Identity Formation, and Psychological Adjustment: A Path Model. Family Process, 40, 125-144. Linda, G. , & Kimmel, D. (1993). Psychological Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Male Experiences.. New York, NY: Columbia Uni versity Press. Troiden, R. (1979). Becoming Homosexual: A Model of Gay Identity. Psychiatry, 42, 362-373. White, E. (1982). A boy's own story. New York: Penguin Books.

European Economic and Monetary Union

Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is a single currency area within the European Union single market in which people, goods, services and capital move without restrictions. It creates the framework for economic growth and stability and is underpinned by an independent central bank and legal obligations on the participating Member States to pursue sound economic policies and to coordinate these policies very closely.As trade between the EU Member States reaches 60% of their total trade, EMU is the natural complement of the single market. This market will work more efficiently and deliver its benefits more fully with the removal of high transaction costs brought about by currency conversions and the uncertainties linked to exchange rate instability. EMU and the economic performance of the Euro area will have their largest external effects on neighboring economies in western Europe and on developing and transition countries with important trade and financial links to Europe, including countries that link their currencies to the Euro. Among emerging market economies, those likely to be most affected are the transition countries of the central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics.The global environment has been favorable in a number of respects for the transition to EMU and the achievements of its objectives. The strong demand for euro-area exports from industrial countries at more advanced stages of the business cycle and the depreciation of the currencies of euro area countries over the past four years fostered a strengthening of growth in the euro area and helped to offset the effects of the Asian crisis. There are also challenges for EMU in the global economic environment: The crisis in Asia and other emerging market economies could produce adverse spillover effects and make the monetary policy more difficult to carry out. The continuation of the crisis could result in weakening of the external demand, which, in turn, could dampen confidence and domestic demand. The financial market volatility could increase the uncertainty in assessing the economic indicators. The economic crisis in emerging markets could influence the commercial banks in the euro- area to make substantial provisions for non-performing loans. It is, of course, impossible to predict the properties of the behavior of the exchange value of the Euro. With regard to broad trend, it seems likely that the Euro will tend to appreciate against the U.S. dollar and pound sterling over the next few years, but depreciate against the Japanese yen when Japan†s economic recovery begins. The United Kingdom and the United States have reached relatively advanced stages of their cyclical upswings, with resources more fully utilized than in the euro area, the Euro†s initial value comparing to the pound and the U.S. dollar can reasonably be considered to be below its medium-term equilibrium. As the economic recovery in Europe proceeds and the growth in the U.K. and U.S. economies slows, the Euro will most likely appreciate against those currencies. On the other hand, Japan economy remains in the critical position. The resumption of moderate growth will lead to a recovery of the yen. Thus Euro is expected to depreciate against the yen over the next few years. According to some widely made predictions: Euroland's capital markets, from equities to corporate bonds to municipal finance, will grow exponentially in coming years as the removal of cross-border currency risk drives pan-European markets. The Euro will stand alongside the dollar as the second-most-important currency in the world, reflecting its coming role in global trade and finance as well as its common usage by 290 million Euroland citizens. The new central bank has been given the independence to pursue price stability as a primary objective. This feature will affect the credibility of the ECB positively and thus the investors would see the Euro as a stable store of value in the next decade. Once the single currency takes effect, the national central banks of the euro area will reduce their international reserve holdings. Trade within the euro area will be denominated in a single currency and will no longer need to be backed by international reserves. Estimates of the EMU countries† resulting surplus of international reserves range from $50 billion to $230 billion. The scenarios that are presented in the European Commission Forward Studies Unit†s report regarding the economic situation in Europe towards the year 2010, reflect the possibilities rather fairly. I personally find the report an accurate study containing precise predictions. Out of the five futures for Europe, I think the Scenario No.3 seems the most logical and possible theory to occur. The reason I chose this particular scenario is because it focuses on the following issues: Transformation of the public sector Efforts to include Eastern Europe Agreements on unemployment issues Turning hierarchical pyramids on their heads Although in some countries public administrations such as central, regional and local government have started to make preparations for the introduction of the Euro, in general the evidence is that such organizations have taken few practical steps to prepare for the changeover. The grounds mainly are that they have plenty of time because they operate largely at the ‘retail end of the marketplace' and that they will need to await the circulation of the new notes and coins. The view of the Federation des Experts Comptables Europeens (FEE) is that this is a risky and potentially costly strategy and that early preparation is essential to reduce both risks and costs. Public administrations therefore ought to be preparing their own management and operations systems now for the changeover to the Euro according to advice issued by FEE. In the near future, member states would often present the Commission with their convergence programs, which would also assess long term prospects for the public sector. These programs would indicate the durability of deficit cuts in the countries whose public economies have been urgently trimmed to meet Euro conditions. Economic growth and structural reforms to reduce cost pressures on the budget are permanent methods but, for example, special taxes need to be supplemented by corrective measures to ensure permanent budget discipline. Indeed, the views of member states about the long term public economy could diverge when their euro-eligibility is assessed and the choice of euro members has to be explained to the public. The European Union is currently being enlarged to include the transition countries of the Baltics and Eastern Europe. The countries that intend to join the union will need to show progress toward meeting the Maastricht criteria. Potential EU members must overcome a number of challenges. They need to progress with privatization and to continue to reduce government involvement in their economy while disassembling monopolies, removing trade restrains and developing flexible labor markets. Six countries-Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia-have received favorable opinions from the Commission on their applications. These countries have already made good progress in meeting the guidelines of the treaty. In this particular scenario No.3, the accession negotiations of the Union with Turkey is mentioned. I personally think without the contributions of the Eastern Europe and the Baltics the future objectives of the Euro and the European Union can not be accomplished. Especially the future admission of Turkey to the Union is vital regarding the geographical position of this country, which not only connects Europe to Asia but also, forms a bridge of culture, a common ground between people from different horizons. However the Union still ignores the importance of Turkey†s role in various agreements and settlements made between Europe and Asia which are vital for the future of EU. But in the next decade as it starts to see the big picture, the efforts of the Union to include the Eastern Europe in the game would increase remarkably. Strong growth will allow further progress in reducing the euro zone's high jobless rate. Some of the member†s unemployment rate decreased drastically by keeping the game close to the euro zone standards. Job growth has been spurred by record low interest rates, a result of cuts from high levels to assure euro zone convergence. Low rates are fueling domestic demand, especially consumer spending and construction. Business investment is also gaining. Still, global weakness is depressing exports, and that's why job growth is expected to slow a bit in the second half. Even as construction, agriculture, and services, especially tourism, post solid growth, manufacturing jobs fell . The governments plan to cut prices in regulated utilities, likely to be followed by efforts to reform pricing in retail distribution and certain services. Some member countries have a lot of employees who want to work more hours. So automatically a connection is established between the government and the public. In 2010 the governments together with other businesses, local authorities and community associations would continuously try to move the obstacles in the way and make it easier for the unemployed citizens to find a job in a satisfying environment. â€Å"Turning hierarchical pyramids on the heads†. That phase itself made this scenario No.3 look more real than the others. Europe has a long history and the Europeans have lived through more dramatic events than any other culture of the world. It is now time to give the people of Europe something special. Only but only if † the hierarchical pyramids† are turned on their heads, will the Europeans thoroughly support the EMU and the Euro. Transformation of the public sector, efforts to include Eastern Europe and the efforts on the critical unemployment issue are all a part of the strategy in the new epoch † Shared Responsibilities†. It is now time that people take the real issue in their hands and get in charge. The times when everything is expected from the governments are over. For the professional organizations of Europe the launch of the Euro presents an important organizational and even philosophical challenge. By bringing down barriers to cross-border trade, the Euro makes a pan-European perspective crucial for efficient and effective operations. Many companies are, therefore, focusing on changing their culture, not their organizational structure. To be successful, Europeans will no longer be able to look at themselves as operating with complete autonomy; rather, they will have to see themselves as operating within a federation of businesses that, while independent, share common responsibilities.