The American Dream - 1677 Words

The Disillusion of the American Dream â€Å"American Dream† has a long history, originally refers to the Puritan immigrants belief in freedom to create, dreams and desires. However, as in the new continent and the west in the process of development, the â€Å"American Dream† gradually evolved the yearning and pursuit of success, including the pursuit of wealth, class and love. In American, people always think, through your diligently work that you will be able to change their social status, live a life of rich people in the United States. But by the 1920s, the â€Å"American Dream† began to slowly become decadent, all the positive meanings are later replaced by hedonism, extravagance and waste. All the dream about the treasure, equal status and†¦show more content†¦Cody has taught Gatsby how to dress, act and speak like a gentleman. After Cody died, Gatsby decide to build up something start from scratch for himself. In order to obtain treasure, Gatsby played hard and deal with the ille gal smugglers, even more seriously he collusion with the underworld, which was led by Meyer Wolfshiem, which according to Gatsby’s describe â€Å"He’s the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919† (Fitzgerald 77) and also â€Å"He’s a smart man† (Fitzgerald 78). Gatsby considered success means everything, whether legally or illegally, moral or immoral. The â€Å"Great† Gatsby contacts with various people in society, and fraternizing with the people who illegally manipulate the Baseball World Cup. He engaged in various illegal activities to get wealthy. All these actions has completely violated the original intention of the American dream. But anyhow, in the end, he gets everything he wants, all the wealth and fame, the big parties has been held every weekend in his castle like, fancy house, and â€Å"In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars† (Fitz gerald 41). But all of these can not fill the demand of Gatsby’s deep heart, what he really wants is Daisy, the girl that he can not forget for five years, the girl that makes him to gain all these wealth, the girl that already married, theShow MoreRelatedImmigrants And The American Dream1362 Words   |  6 PagesImmigrants and the American Dream In the article â€Å"The American Dream†, by James Truslow Adams in The Sundance Reader book, he stated that the American dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and highRead MoreThe American Dream By Kimberly Amadeo1637 Words   |  7 PagesNowadays, a large number of people migrate to the United States to work and achieve the American Dream. According to the Article â€Å"What is the American Dream?† by Kimberly Amadeo, â€Å"The American Dream was first publicly defined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in Epic of America. Adam’s often-repeated quote is, ‘The American Dream is that dream of land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyon e, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.’† There are many peopleRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie The American Dream 754 Words   |  4 Pages Nyreel Powell Ms. Jones American Literature 1 June 2015 The American dream in A Raisin in the Sun Have you ever had a dream and it didn’t come how you wanted it to be? Have you ever had accomplishments that you wanted to achieve but people were getting in the way of them? The four main characters in this book all have good dreams but there are people in the way of getting to those dreams or their dream is too high to accomplish. A Raisin in the Sun a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, andRead MoreSister Carrie and the American Dream1618 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Dream is surely based on the concept of â€Å"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness† but it is above all, a matter of ambition. James Truslow Adams, an American writer and historian, in 1931 states: life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement†, which not only points towards a better standard of living for Americans but also denounces a degree of greed in the US society. Ambition not only â€Å"killed the catâ₠¬  butRead MoreGrapes Of Wrath And The American Dream1644 Words   |  7 PagesThe idea of the American Dream is ever changing depending on the person and the time of life that person is in. Although the main ideas of the American Dream remain the same to be educated, economically sound, healthy, to have a family, and equal rights. Many great films and works of literature were created to show case all the different ideas people have for their American Dream. The film â€Å"Grapes of Wrath† directed by John Ford and the poem â€Å"I Will Fight No More Forever† by Chief Joseph, both depictRead More Destruction of the American Dream Essay2145 Words   |  9 PagesDestruction of the American Dream I’ve talked about it in the past, the destruction of the American Dream. Always, there have been papers, writings, and thoughts that quantify a particular section of its ultimate demise, be it due to money, education, or sexuality. Maybe the destruction cannot be viewed as a singular event or cause. Perhaps instead it must be examined as a whole process, the decay and ultimate elimination of a dream. Self destruction, if you will†¦ Mr. Self Destruct Read MoreSuccess As One Of The American Dream1137 Words   |  5 PagesApril 2015 Success as One of The American Dream When we hear the word â€Å"success†, we often think of wealth and money. To some people, the embodiment of being success is earning a lot of money. In fact, the concept of success is primarily based on how much money a person earns. However, each person views the definition of success differently. One way to define success is something that has more to do with flash than it does with substance. John Wooden, an American basketball player and coach viewRead MoreJim Cullen And The American Dream2081 Words   |  9 Pages The American Dream, as defined by Cullen, is starting your goal off with a little and ending with more; it s like a business, you invest in it in order to gain more money. Usually, people will define the American Dream as being able to achieve your goal because everyone is offered opportunities. Cullen does acknowledge that people are born with different opportunities, so he talks about the good life. The good life describes different factors that determine your opportunities. Throughout the otherRead MoreFactors Influencing The American Dream1834 Words   |  8 Pagesindividual to succumb or to not succumb to the seductions of crime. These three factors are brilliantly portrayed in the television show, Breaking Bad and the novel, The Stick Up Kids. The American Dream is what many American citizens strive for. However, not all of those citizens are able to achieve the American Dream through a legal pathway. The reason an indivudal may not being able to do so is because of his or her background factors. It is important to note that background factors are a fractionRead MoreShark Tank And The American Dream1755 Words   |  8 PagesShark Tank and The American Dream The TV show Shark tank embodies everything the American dream represents. The show obtains successful Entrepreneurs ready to invest their own money into other Americans wanting to be just like them, reaching the American dream and become a successful entrepreneur. The show presents entrepreneurs working towards the goal of creating a business to not only gain wealth but also change the way we live today. The show is to keep the American dream alive and well while

Overpopulation Is A Global Catastrophe - 1096 Words

Naturally, as our population grows in size our growth rate increases exponentially. As a result, we face the issue of overpopulation, one of the many dangerous trends discussed in Anthony Barnosky and Elizabeth Hadly’s Tipping Point for Planet Earth. Currently, if we do not make any changes, it is expected that we will reach a population size over twenty-seven billion people by the year 2100. Along with this massive increase in population size, we will also face a rise in food and water shortages, an increase in population density, and an overall loss of quality of life. In order to prevent these potential effects, Barnosky and Hadly suggested three possible solutions to combating overpopulation—a global catastrophe, a one-child policy, or an increase in education, job, and contraception availability among girls. Any one of these solutions will potentially help us prevent overpopulation; however, exactly which solution it ends up being all depends on our preparation and the actions we take now. Ideally, we would like to avoid a global catastrophe that would decimate the population. But, if we are unable to lower our growth rate another world war, or something like a pandemic could occur. While no correlation between population density and nation level conflict has been made, the connection between overcrowding and increased internal conflict has been (Tir 1998). Thus, it would be preferable to take advantage of the other solutions like the one-child policy that ChinaShow MoreRelatedContent Analysis Essay1326 Words   |  6 Pageswith another. The sections include world population, economy, disaster costs, global health, climate change and global warming, environmental issues, water crises, education and employment, migration, science and technology, and outlook. Each section builds from the previous section. The sections part priority into messages of the magnitude, importance and direction of natural disasters, global warming, overpopulation, a nd industrialization. Recurrent words are population and over populationRead MoreOverpopulation Is A Catastrophe?841 Words   |  4 Pagesexperienced enormous changes in the people number. These changes have boomed considerably and have converted to overpopulation. Currently, the global population is 7 billion, and the increase rate is 1.3% annually that means by the end of the twenty-first century the population will reach twelve billion (Keenan, 2013). Therefore, there is a huge debate going on right now regarding overpopulation. For some people, explosion in population has no detrimental impacts in the future, and it will be bearableRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of The Birth Control Solution By Nicholas Kristof759 Words   |  4 PagesPopulation Prospects n.p) In New York Times author Nicholas Kristof’s article, The Birth Control Solution, Kristof attempts to promote family planning as a solution to many of the world’s problems. He will do this by giving examples that an out of control g lobal population causes poverty, conflict, and environmental damage; and that family planning would be a cost effective solution. Kristof first lets us know how dire the situation is with worldwide population only growing upward at an unstoppable pace.Read MoreThe Scientific Prediction Of Overpopulation1307 Words   |  6 PagesThe Scientific Prediction of Overpopulation in China In today’s society, there are many environmental issues , such as pollution, global warming, and overpopulation. These issues have taken a damage on our environment and its resources. Overpopulation is a serious issue that will eventually have a greater negative impact on many countries, and this must be identified, analyzed, and controlled immediately. This issue caused a large crowd of people and the limited resources around the world.Read MoreOverpopulation can be described as the failure of the world’s resources to sustain the population.1600 Words   |  7 PagesOverpopulation can be described as the failure of the world’s resources to sustain the population. The limited natural resources have increased challenges for countries facing this. This paper covers the effects of overpopulation in the world today. The current worlds population is approximately six billion people, and the amount of time that it takes for the population to increase by another billion is decreasing with each billion. It is estimated that they will be about eight billion people byRead MoreEffects of Climate Change Essay1095 Words   |  5 Pagescities will be wiped off the map. While Wisconsin will not become flooded as a direct result of this catastrophe, one should not be naive to think that Wisconsinites, along with everyone else in the world, will not be directly affected by this global melting. In fact, Wisconsin’s outlook may be just as grim when looking at the dynamic changes in population, one of the prime repercussions of global climate change. 11.7 million immigrants are currently living in the United States illegally. WisconsinRead MoreOverpopulation and Environmental Problems1008 Words   |  5 PagesOverpopulation is becoming a leading environmental problem in which resources are becoming depleted faster than are being created. Hoevel explains, â€Å"Overpopulation occurs when a population’s density exceeds the capacity of the environment to supply the health requirements of an individual† (Hoevel 1). This means that after a population has overused the resources in an area, the environment will no longer be able to support them, and there lies the problem with overpopulation. Wenner explains, â€Å"SustainabilityRead MoreThe Effects Of Global Warming On The Earth901 Words   |  4 Pages What is Global Warming? Countless feel as if it is a natural phenomenon that the Earth cycles through. They are terribly mistaken. It is the effect of greenhouse gasses that are emitted by the machines we use today. Th ese gasses are becoming trapped in the earth’s atmosphere, causing the temperature to rise. The effects of global warming are all around us and are becoming more prominent. There are already efforts in place to stop it and programs to â€Å"go green†. This climate change is a serious threatRead MoreOverpopulation Is Not The Real Issue1757 Words   |  8 PagesOverpopulation is an issue that was theorized during the late 1800s by Thomas Malthus. He believed that there would eventually be more people on this Earth than it would be physically possible to feed. Eventually, food would run out and result in a catastrophic mass starvation of the worlds population. The idea makes sense. People seemed grow on an exponential scale, eventually there will be too many people if we continued at that rate. This idea has evolved over the years, but the general ideaRead MoreGlobal Warming : A Natural Phenomenon959 Words   |  4 PagesGlobal Warming What is Global warming? Countless feel as if it is a natural phenomenon the Earth cycles through. Those individuals are terribly mistaken. It is the effect of greenhouse gasses emitted by the machines we use today. These gasses are becoming trapped in the earth’s atmosphere, causing the temperature to rise. The effects of global warming are all around us and are becoming more prominent. There are already efforts in place to stop it and programs to â€Å"go green.† This climate change

Lucky Jim Analysis Free Essays

The conversation between Dixon and Bertrand is direct and to the point with the use of emotive and, at times, offensive language. For instance, Bertrand uses phrases like your so called mind’ and you dirty little bar- fly, you nasty little Jumped up turf’. In between the speech Amiss is a great observer of human movement and highlights the tension between the two men with the language he uses and the use of short sentences, for example ‘Axon moved a pace nearer’ and ‘he clenched his fists’ and the Impact had hurt them rather’. We will write a custom essay sample on Lucky Jim Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Malls describes Bertrand breath as Whistling through his nose’ which accurately depicts he image of someone beginning to get irate. Throughout the passage, out of the two men, Dixon is depicted as more in control and powerful than Bertrand even though being the lesser build of the two men. Bertrand says to Dixon you’re simply not up to my weight. If you want a fight pick someone your own size, then you might stand a chance. ‘ Dixon, by his response, is clearly not threatened by this at all. It could be seen as an empty threat because Bertrand does not expect Dixon to retaliate, but rather simply Just to back down considering their positions. Undeterred by the physical threats, Dixon moves ‘a pace rarer’ and unleashes an articulate and fast moving annihilation of Bertrand character; you’re a twister and a snob and a bully and a fool’. Bertrand Is shown to be clearly stunned by this as he makes ‘no attempt to interrupt’. Dioxins confidence is clearly rallied by the fact that he is armed with the information that Bertrand has been having an affair with Carol Goldsmith. Bertrand physical strength over Dixon is again highlighted by when it says that ‘he came and stood over Dixon’. Amiss adds slight humor to the passage as Dixon attempts to further wind up Bertrand and SSH him over the edge by saying What are we going to do, dance? , still staying fairly calm himself. Bertrand however triggers the fight that he so desires by calling Dixon ‘Sam’. Even then, Dixon Is shown to be more in control as ‘he took off his glasses and put them In his top Jacket pocket’. Malls again uses humor In his depletion of this rather ungainly scene as the two men ‘faced each other on the floral rug’. Malls’ description of the rug as floral creates a contrast with the aggression of the scene and introduces the idea to the reader described as ‘elbows crooked in uncertain attitudes, as if about to begin some ritual f which neither had learnt the cues’. The way the passage is written emphasizes that both men are out of place as one would expect a vocal argument between an artist and a history teacher as opposed to a physical fight. The explosion of the china figurine as it hits the hearth ’emphasizing the silence which fell’ highlights the awkwardness of the scene. In contrast to Dixon controlled manner Bertram is made to look clumsy and a character of ridicule in the way he is shown to ‘Jab’ at Dixon face, loses his balance and is hit hard by Dixon on the larger and more convoluted of his ears’. The reader is to encouraged by the use of this description to feel any sympathy for Bertrand. His language is not eloquent in the same way that Dixon is, but relies more on taunts and school boy retorts like you’ve got it coming’ and ‘I’ll show you’. This threatening and childlike language is very different from Dixon more controlled responses like ‘I’m not the sort to do that’ when Bertrand threatens him if he tells Christine about his indiscretions with Carol. Amiss uses repetition at the end of the passage when Dixon thinks about Bertrand as a ‘bloody old dowser-faced boot-faced totem poll’ and then repeats this insult out odd. The use of repetition is not only humorous but it emphasizes the point and leaves the reader in no doubt with regard to who the winner of this fight is, both on a physical and intellectual level. It is also quite a breakthrough for Dixon, almost more so than when he actually punches Bertrand, as it is the first point in the play when he actually says what he is thinking. The knocking on the door is even described as ‘discreetly applauding this terminology. Dixon is again shown to be a character of strength and control by the way he says ‘Come in’ with ‘reflex promptness’ and appears to be unpleased by the fight. How to cite Lucky Jim Analysis, Papers

Ethical Issues in the Banking Sector-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Ethical Issues in the Banking Sector. Answer: Introduction The report analysis is based on the issues faced by the banking and financial services sector. The different issues that is faced by the banking sector are mainly the ethical issues related to the functions of the bank. The other issues are related to the focus of the sector on sustainability and the analysis of the stakeholders of the financial organizations. The factors of the banking sector that help the banks and other financial organizations to manage the ethics related to the business operations are discussed in detail. The ways by which the business ethics are managed in the banks and other financial institutions is discussed in the report (Cohn, Fehr and Marchal 2014). The ethical issues in the banking and financial industry affect both the banks and the consumers of the financial institutions as well. The perception of the public regarding the unethical ways of business operations performed in a bank is an important factor that affects the banking industry. The main objectiv es of the report are to analyse the ethical issues related to the banks and the financial institutions and thereby the ways by which these issues are handled are also discussed (Hartman et al. 2014). Discussion about the major challenges in the Banking Sector Ethical issues faced by the banking sector The banking and financial sector faces a lot of issues which are discussed further. The self-interest of the bankers is fulfilled at someone elses expense. The focus of the maximization of profits someone shifts from long-term to the short-term basis. The swaps in the banks falls into the category of short-term goals. The income that is generated for the organization in one quarter is given more importance as compared to the long term profits. The other major ethical issues in the banking industry is the way by which the banks charge high interest rates from their customers for the money lent by them (Itani and Inyang 2015). This type of practice becomes a burden on the customers of the bank and hence the main principle of the bank that is to protect the money of the customers is not followed. Another ethical issue that is related to the banks is the handling of the assets of the customers that are possessed by the banks. The irresponsible way of lending credits to the customers is a way of business that is not acceptable in moral ways. Some of the banks also invest their money on arms and ammunitions, which include the investments that are done on military industry (Klikauer 2015). However, some of this money is also used for destructive purposes and this is an ethical issue related to the financial industry. The banks or financial institutions which invest in the businesses which do not have any type of planning regarding social responsibilities is another ethical issue in this sector. The companies which cause damage to the society and the environment at large can create an ethical issue regarding the operations of the bank. These are the major ethical issues that are faced by the banking industry and should be taken care by the financial institutions (Kolk 2016). Sustainability issues of the sector The sustainability issues related to the various banking and financial operations are discussed further. The liability of the lenders is related to the risks of the finances of the bank that they have to face while lending money to the customers. The loans granted by the bank and the credit given to the customers is the liability and the risk that they are facing. The ability of the borrowers to make an impact on the environment and cleaning up his or her surroundings also has an effect on the financial position of the person. The concerns regarding the external environment has increased in the last few years and this has led to many changes in the policies and the procedures of the financial institutions. The banks are now investing time and money on their environmental performance (Michaelson et al. 2014). The roles of the financial institutions regarding the environmental sustainability has become much more prominent in the recent times. Major stakeholders of the banking sector The stakeholders of the banks or the financial institutions are mainly those who make the decisions regarding the financial operations so that banks can make profits from these operations. The stakeholders can also be defined as someone who has a stake in the decisions and the operations of the banks. There are many types of stakeholders of the banks and other financial corporations which are discussed further. The owners of the organizations or the shareholders are the major stakeholders as they invest their own money in the business venture (Ogbari et al. 2016). The return they will get on their investment and the dividend received by the shareholders is important for the institution as well. The employees of the organization are also one of the major stakeholders. The performance of the employees in the banks and the financial institutions is directly related to the profits of the bank. The better performance of the employees ensures more profits for the business. This is main rea son for considering the employees as the major stakeholders in todays business environment. The unions of the employees of the banks are also one of the major stakeholders. The increase of salary of the employees and the ways to protect their jobs is dependent on the unions of the employees. The other stakeholders of the banks include the customers. The customers are the ones who have their money in the banks (Prez and Bosque 2015). They help in increasing the revenues and the profitability of the banks and this makes them the major stakeholders. The suppliers of the banks or the financial institutions can also be termed as the major stakeholders. The prices of the goods and services are dependent on the suppliers as well. The creditors of the banks from where they borrow money are one of the most important stakeholders of the organizations. The government of any particular country or state is also considered to be the stakeholders of the banks. The rates of lending money to the bor rowers and the interest rates are determined by the policies made by the government. This can therefore impact the profitability of the organizations as well (Prez and Rodrguez del Bosque 2014). Factors driving the business ethics of the banking sector The business ethics in the banking sector and the ethical behaviour of the banking professionals are affected by some factors as discussed further. The personal moral or ethical behaviour of the professionals affects the business ethics of the organization. The laws and regulations that are formulated by the government is another factor that impacts the business ethics in the financial sector. The ethical behaviour of the business organizations in the financial sector can be regulated by the policies made by the government. The policies and procedures and the other laws other than those made by the government also impact the ethical behaviour of the organization (Prasad, Kumar and Kapoor 2017). The ethical codes laid by the financial institutions itself is another factor that impacts their business ethics. The business ethics of the company impacts its reputation and goodwill in the market. The social pressure exerted from the external environment of the organization impacts the busi ness ethics of those institutions. The services provided by the financial corporations and their impact on the society at large has an impact on their business ethics. The ethics related to the industry in which the industry is operating is another factor that affect the business ethics of the banks and the financial institutions as well (Trevino and Nelson 2016). Ways by which managing ethics has helped the financial sector The management of business ethics in the banking sector helped the sector in many ways as discussed further. The basic rights of the employees need to be protected and the rules related to the safety and health of the employees should be followed. This helps in employee satisfaction in the sector. Products, services and the operations of the banking sector needs to be improvised in a continuous basis so that it helps the banks and other financial sectors to attract consumers. The information produced by the financial institutions should be accurate and the business records also need to be true so that the consumers are not mislead and this helps the banks to increase their credibility (Ward et al. 2015). The institution should be open to any type of competition and should not undertake wrong ways to counter the competition, this will help the banks to increase the trust vested on them by the customers. The procedures and policies of the organization needs to be updated on a regular b asis to align them with the government rules, so that the financial institutions can gain profits from the government policies. The personal data and records of the customers of the banks and the other financial institutions should be maintained properly and should not be used in wrong ways, this will help the banks to protect the privacy of their consumers. Conclusion The report can be concluded by saying that the ethical issues related to a business are important for the proper functioning of the organization and its profitability as well. The ethical principles laid by the organizations help in creating their image in the market and the ways by which they conduct business operations helps in attracting customers. The banking and the financial corporations also need to take care of the environmental sustainability issues of the industry so that they can conduct their operations in a profitable manner. It can therefore be said that the ethical behaviour of the financial institutions have an impact on their reputation and sustainability. References Cohn, A., Fehr, E. and Marchal, M.A., 2014. Business culture and dishonesty in the banking industry.Nature,516(7529), pp.86-89. Hartman, L. P., DesJardins, J. R., MacDonald, C. (2014).Business ethics: Decision making for personal integrity and social responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill. Itani, O.S. and Inyang, A.E., 2015. The effects of empathy and listening of salespeople on relationship quality in the retail banking industry: The moderating role of felt stress.International Journal of Bank Marketing,33(6), pp.692-716. Klikauer, T., 2015. Public finance, the financial industry, ethics and efficiency.Journal of Economics and Public Finance,1(1), p.10. Kolk, A., 2016. The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development.Journal of World Business,51(1), pp.23-34. Michaelson, C., Pratt, M.G., Grant, A.M. and Dunn, C.P., 2014. Meaningful work: Connecting business ethics and organization studies.Journal of Business Ethics,121(1), pp.77-90. Ogbari, M.E., Oke, A.O., Ibukunoluwa, A.A., Ajagbe, M.A. and Ologbo, A.C., 2016. Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics: Implications on Corporate Performance.International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues,6(3S). Prez, A. and Bosque, I.R., 2015. How customer support for corporate social responsibility influences the image of companies: Evidence from the banking industry.Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management,22(3), pp.155-168. Prez, A. and Rodrguez del Bosque, I., 2014. Customer CSR expectations in the banking industry.International Journal of Bank Marketing,32(3), pp.223-244. Prasad, N., Kumar, V. and Kapoor, S., 2017. Business Ethics: A Decision Between Right or Wrong.Journal of Public Policy Environmental Management,1(1), pp.20-30. Trevino, L.K. and Nelson, K.A., 2016.Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. John Wiley Sons. Ward, S., Killingsworth, S., Leigh, A., Meyer, A.S., Van der Heyden, L. and Weights, P., 2015. Ethics in Business.Business Compliance,4(3-4), pp.75-91.

How to Break Bad Habits Essay Example

How to Break Bad Habits Essay How To Break Bad Habits Everyone has bad habits that they need to break. Some people may realize it and others may not. Breaking a bad habit is something that can be hard to do but you have to put yourself to the test. Like me for example Im always on the phone or texting my boyfriend throughout the whole day. Its cool and all but I need to cut that down a bit. Nobody needs to be talking or texting their girlfriend or boyfriend for a whole day unless its really important. I have four tips that can help you break your bad habits. You just have to put your mind to it and try not to over think yourself or get stressed out. The first tip is to have a friend join you in this challenge. Doing this challenge alone can be stressful and sometimes you would give it up before you even started. Having someone experiencing the same thing as you can be helpful. You both can help each other set goals that the both of you would want to reach. Having a friend do this challenge with you is good start and can make things very interesting. It can be like a little competition between the both of you. When having another person to do the challenge with you will be more motivated and willing to go all way to the end. We will write a custom essay sample on How to Break Bad Habits specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on How to Break Bad Habits specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on How to Break Bad Habits specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Motivation is always needed if you want to accomplish this challenge. The second tip is to set a goal for yourself. Having a goal is what let you know what you have your mind set on. Without a goal you wouldnt really be knowing what you want to accomplish from this challenge. Self improvement tips is always needed. Sometimes when you have self improvement tips that goal that you set for yourself seems to really come into place. Its like once you have set your mind to that goal you are determined to accomplish it. Focusing on your goal will help keep your mind set on one thing. That one thing would be to succeed and not be a failure. The third tip is to figure out how you started this bad habit. A bad habit always start from somewhere and there is always a reason. People tend to over look their bad habit and forget how it even started. Figuring out how your bad habit can be hard to do sometimes and can take time to think about. After you figured it out the cause it can help you overcome that habit or addiction. You always have to start from the beginning in order to get your answer. Sometimes people dont know how their habit started. I guess this is why its so hard for people to to try and break their bad habits. The last tip to breaking a bad habit would be replacing your bad habits with good habits. For all the bad habits you are trying to get over replace them with good habits. Substituting bad habits with good ones is a good start. Eventually you would find yourself doing more good then bad. After while your it would seem like you didnt even have any bad habits from the start. When having good habits replace the bad ones, its like a way of deleting the bad things out your life. You can say bye bye to the bad habits and hello to the good habits. These four tips are very good to use and is easy to follow. Breaking out of a bad habit can be hard to do at times. Its just you just have to put your mind to and be willing to go through a little change in your life. Remember to always try and break your bad habits when you have the chance. Dont always overlook them cause that can cause trouble. You know that saying once you turn black you dont go back. Well I guess you can say the same for breaking bad habits. Once you break your bad habits and replaced them with new ones, theres no way to want to turn back.

Essential Foundations of the Public Relations

Essential Foundations of the Public Relations Introduction Over the last three decades, a lot of scholarly research has been accomplished in the field of public relations. The framework under which the early researches were based on has, however, in the modern day, faced a lot of criticism with the majority of the critics claiming that the PR model of communication presents a two way communication, which stands out as utterly symmetrical (Karla 177).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Essential Foundations of the Public Relations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Early scholars set subtle grounds for the subsequent researches. In their natures, these foundations have taken rigid dominance in the theorization of the public relations’ scholarly researches. This dominance has served to give rise to pros and cons of the initial and hence the traditional theories of public relations. One specified pro of the theories stems from the fact that, over the years such t heories have undergone numerous tests, with most of the scholars confirming their claims. Consequently, the theories have remained in force and viable within a wider public spectra. In line with this argument, Karla claims that, â€Å"dominant research theories are furthered and new theories emerge† (178). If, an organization has to excel in its public relations endeavours, a prerequisite is placed on it to change its behaviours and approaches to the discipline so as to become part and parcel of the organization’s â€Å"dominant coalition or decision making body† (Karla 179). In this context, therefore, a magnificent endeavour of the early, PR theorist was to enhance professionalization of the PR (Grunig 29). Conflicting roles of the PR professional have also been registered with some scholars claiming that, PR managers have, at times, concentrated in execution of duties, which could have otherwise been delegated to the technical PR staff. As a repercussion, the PR concerns may be argued as a represented differently in theory and actual practice. More recently a lot of enthusiasm has emerged especially in attempts to scrutinize the position of PR in an organization as part of the management function. According to Curtin and Gaither, there exists four main criticisms of the paradigm of the public relations: â€Å"the definition of public relations as a management function; the reliance on functional, transmission models of communication; the emphasis on organizational-level theory; and the failure to recognize the primacy of power in relationships† (110).Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The emerging perspectives about the new media have given rise to lots of enthusiasm in some quarters. This paper seeks to scrutinize whether the existing enthusiasm to the new media is justifiable, explore the various implications, on the one hand, public relations practice relating to traditional media and on the other for, long term future of those media. However, to explore this topic, endeavours are made to unveil whether, if anything is distinctive about new media technologies from a PR practitioner’s perspective and what benefits to PR practice they bring. The critics of the PR are also essential to be given a glance especially those which attribute it to profit making endeavours. New media technologies from a PR practitioner’s perspective and the benefits they bring to PR practice From a wider perspective, there exist no broad distinctions between traditional media and the new media (social media) in terms of relations. In case of traditional media, â€Å"practitioners identify reporters and editors and build relationships with them in order to get client news disseminated† (Horton 5). On the other hand, in the social media, the main objective of the practitioner is to identify lik ely influential participants and the rest of the approach is just like in the traditional media: build relationships for the purposes enhancing communication. Opposed to the old media technologies such as the newspaper, radio or television, the emerging technologies such as face book or twitter are more essentially social based. Horton posits that, â€Å"newspapers are withering; net work television has watched audiences decline, radio is splintered and magazines are shrinking† (1). On the other hand, more human traffic in social networks is on the rise. Consequently, with this form of trends in communication, PR practitioners have no choice other than shifting to new media means of communication, particularly with the number of the reporters of the traditional medial escaping from their traditional occupations. Despite incredible call for change with time, the new media pose lots of challenges especially in terms of effectiveness and efficacy in communication. One evident ch allenge is that, the initial attempts to departmentalize communication have altogether been eroded. In fact, â€Å" the public and the universal nature of social media means that all the audiences can read communication intended for any one communication† (Horton 1). As a way of compounding this problem, practitioners are always unsure that the communication reaches all the intended audiences.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Essential Foundations of the Public Relations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This is perhaps due to existences of communication fragmentations in case the practitioner opts for the new media to deliver messages. As Horton observes, â€Å"social media are so fragmented that an individual may not see the information in a blog or a face book page or tweet† (1). In actual sense the new media, serves to disperse information just like some traditional media for instance newspapers and magazines would do. The fact that some information was posted in a newspaper does not guarantee that the target audience would read it. This is what new media serves to propagate on a large scale globally. However, through perhaps deployment of mathematical concepts of probability, it standouts more likely to read some article in a newspaper than it would to read it in a social media carrying millions of blogs. Consequently, it may be argued that, the new media worsen the problem of information dispersion. Furthermore, new media ensures information accessibility, but does not provide a warrant that the information will be viewed. In actual sense, an immense effort by a practitioner to reach a wide range of audiences turns out as of little results due to the evident communication fragmentation in the new media. Despite the existence of technologies that permit an individual to determine the influence of a certain blog posted on a social media site, such techniques are been argued as not straight forward. Such technologies enable one to determine the nature of friends who are subscribed to a new media site such as face book or twitter. Unfortunately, none of such technologies provide a warrant that one would reach the audience that he or she is targeting. Worse still, there exists no bureau that can carry out auditing of the information under circulation through the social networks. Additionally, social media present a challenge in terms of information distribution time. According to Horton, â€Å" to use social media effectively requires learning ones way into each medium and building trust with participants, do campaigns and clients allow one to spend that form of time† (2). Social media demands the practitioner to have established a relationship with the audience. Unless the practitioner had had communicated with such audience for some time before, to orient the audience so as to embrace his or her attention, it would clearly call for commitment of a l ot of time: something that may not be so desirable from the practitioner’s perspective point of view.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As Horton comments, â€Å"agency practitioners especially face the challenge of communication timing because they often work on multiple accounts in different industries† (4). However, such challenges need not make a practitioner rule out the possibilities of using social media in communication since rewards exists in employment of the new media in communication. As Spicer notes, â€Å"Facebook users build audiences of like minds and interests and thus one can reach these self-identified audiences with a laser-like focus to communicate client messages effectively and efficiently† (115). New media circulates information without an individual’s knowledge, something that serves as an additional advantage especially bearing in mind that the message sent will not require the practitioner to pay for such circulations. Critique of public relations Over the years, several critiques have been advanced in relation to public relations. Many of these critiques see public re lations as a profit making administrative endeavour opposed to the perceived intents of improvement of the service delivery. Miller and Dinan see public relations as, â€Å"a means of taking risks out of democracy† (11). To them the perceived risks entail seeking a mechanism of taking full control of a pool of workers. The modern public relations consequently, seems to stem from the need to extend such functions of the public relations in an attempt to constitute â€Å" a cutting edge of campaigns to ensure liberal democratic societies do not respond to the will of people and the vested interests prevail† (Miller and Dinan 12). In this context, PR is depicted as propaganda oriented form of democracy. New media technologies may not thus escape criticism especially when PR concerns are incorporated into it. Somewhat some of the criticism that is crucial to consider includes the ones raised by Carl Byoirs. Carl Byoirs was particularly interested in adoption of third parti es techniques deemed subtle for the manipulation of the public debates. â€Å"Front groups could be created by influencing the leaders of the co-placement group and by forming new fronts† (Grunig White 57). In this context, media is viewed as a tool of manipulation and subversion of the reality. Unfortunately, Byoirs practices were nothing to be acceptable before the eyes of the law, and when the whistle was blown on his activities between n 1930 and 1940s, his firm was convicted and charged $5,000. Since the times of Byoirs, according to Miller and Dinan, â€Å"manipulation and deceit have been the defining characteristics of the public relation s industry† (12). Conventionally, many critics of the PR are inclined to the opinion that PR is executed for some vested interests mainly by large corporations of which media may not be segregated from them. Scrutinizing the clientele of any successful PR firm reveals that the majority of its clients are the large corporation s. This has consequences of creation of imbalances between the citizens and the tools of the propulsion of the economies through production: corporations. Its practice â€Å"is not open and transparent about its means or even about its clients and interests it is working for† (Miller and Dinan 13). However, it needs not be taken that all PR practitioners consciously lie despite the fact that PR calls for some means of the management of cognitive dissonance (Miller and Dinan 13). More importantly, in as much as the association of PR with desires to lie, it is evident that public interests and the private interests hardly get directly congruent. As Maloney observes, â€Å" corporate spin doctors and agencies consequently have no choices rather than lying unconsciously since their job entangles at the most basic level, an attempt to align the sectional interests of their principles (employers or clients) with general interests† (30). The idea here is not to arrive at the conclusion that PR endeavours are geared toward conspiracy. The argument is all about the ideas of the PR firms to equate the private and public interests, which result to negative repercussions to the public interests aspects, since by the fact that this two interests are not similar, more often than not, public interests get undermined. PR also is considered by its critiques as aimed at subversion of the clients interests opposed to its disguised intents of promotion of democratic debates. On the other hand, Bernays feels that, PR faces a given draw back since, â€Å"corporate social responsibility and other ethical activities are all subordinates to the corporate strategy, and that it has played a crucial role at the cutting edge of corporate power in the neoliberal revolution† (67). In this context, it may be argued that in as much as corporations may be doing marvellous from one front, in some other front, it may stand out evident that they are attempting to safeguard th eir vested interests which do not necessarily conform to the interests of the public. As a way of example, during the case of involvement of the shell corporation in the international chamber of commerce, â€Å"mantra heard from devotees about building the business case for CSR is about more than making money out of ethical and green activities as a tool to ensure binding regulation is resisted and indeed rolled back† (Miller Dinan 10). Corporations, on the other hand, have proactively involved themselves in campaigning for the media and political partisans giving rise to neoliberal concerns. New media, despite its illustrious championed efforts to make sure that it provides a better representation of the public concerns through refraining from political partisans and campaigning for political elites, suffers from the need to protect and quest for some of its own vested interests. Such vested interests with political attachments ensure the continued presence of a firm in the communications market, since political institutions contribute, by far, in promotions of those firms that are inclined to their affiliations. It is particularly intriguing for media to take opposing stands to the political regimes which by far will affect their future performance. This reason may perhaps prompt the PR approached in the management of the new media to borrow widely from the traditional media practices and carry on the attempts to maintain public in some form of disguised lies: all with the intent to protect the firm’s own vested interests. New media concerns are more driven by the spirit of change. Given that PR plays pivotal roles in the management of the human resource, the inclusion of PR â€Å" as a communicative consequence of business, interests and case group activity â€Å" (Miller Dinan 25) may not be isolated from such endeavours. However, communication acts a vital tool available to the PR to enhance inculcation of spirit of fame in an attempt to get things done. Look, for instance, the main responsibilities of PR in any organization. It is charged with conflicts resolution, motivation and handling of disputes emanating from the firm and the worker’s unions of the organization in question. Through its well organized structures of communication, the PR has to ensure that its strategies gets a competitive advantage amongst the parties involved in conflict if at all it has to provide foundations, which are vital to ensure the problem being handled will not repeat itself in future. This approach is widely criticized as geared towards prejudicing the spirit of democracy among the workers since, it seeks to convince perhaps without adequate grounds on why such solutions are necessary. According to Miller and Dinan, â€Å"†¦..International communication is another activity that fits only partially within the definition of PR as a measure to ensure competitive communication advantage† (25). Some of the inclusions comprise internal communications, workers motivations, and reward systems among others. Majority of these tasks are constructed by two main interests: employer and the employees. The question remains; what side is more favoured. Is firm in question; created to make profits for the benefit of the employer or to make a profit for the purposes of provision of employment opportunities to the employees? According to Bernays â€Å" public opinion, narrowly defined is the thought of a society at any given time toward a given object; broadly conceived, it is the power of a group to sway the larger public in its altitude† (p.1). Given the ability of the PR to accomplish swaying action to the general workforce, it is evident that claims that the PR is responsible for manipulation bear substance. Aims and objectives of PR and media industries in the wider media landscape Just like any other professional discipline, public relation has a specified scope of tasks. In a broader sense, pub lic relations practitioners fall into two categories. The first category is dominated by those practitioners who see themselves as communication managers, and the other sphere being constructed by PR practitioners who see themselves as technicians of the communication. As Berkowitz and Ilias lament, â€Å" within these two groups, the managers role has been broken down into two subgroups related to how a communication manager fits into organizational process† (102). Some studies such the one conducted in 1989 by Belz et al reveal that journalistic roles are evident in both the public relations practitioners and the journalists. However, the other hand both the journalists and the public relations practitioners held a different opinion on matters concerning roles, aims, and responsibilities of public relations (130). From a wider perspective, the differences are traceable from existing socialization and the education between the two practices. â€Å"Some studies have found th at media organizations and the journalistic practices taking place are linked to journalists perceived roles† (Berkowitz Ilias 104). Furthermore, Berkowitz and Ilias are to the opinion that, â€Å"the actual differences among journalists are likely much smaller than the differences among public relations practitioners subscribing to mangers or technician roles† (104). As priory mentioned, public relations practitioners essentially assume the roles of communication managers and communication technicians. However, Leichty and Springston perceive this as a traditional dichotomy of PR roles and alternatively proposes four roles accorded to the PR practitioners: â€Å" generalists, the internals, the outliers and traditional managers† (467). However, by careful scrutiny of these four roles, it is evident that the traditional managers roles assume remarkably little technical roles and hence it can remain as a significant sub division of the roles of the PR by its own. On the other hand, the other three roles are more of technical oriented. Consequently, their classification into one group: technical roles are perhaps still valid. As a result, the classification of roles of the PR following the Leichty and Springston criteria is barely a further division of the original traditional PR dichotomy into some further categories. Managerial roles are more of affiliated to making of decisions and policies within an organization that houses the practitioners. According to Berkowitz Ilias, â€Å" practitioners enacting the managers roles predominantly make policy decisions and are held accountable for the program success or failure† (111). Such practitioners are charged with the responsibilities of arriving at decisions that have long term repercussions to a firm as opposed to short term solution of problems, which are predominantly technical in nature. In addition, such roles entangle analysis, anticipations coupled with clarification and attachm ent of meanings to the public opinions, issues and altitudes which are subtle tools for cute departmental and overall performance of an organization. Managers are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that objectives and the goals of an organization are set appropriately in direct congruence with the organizations long term philosophies. Within, the peripheral departments of a firm, encounters are made of PR practitioners charged with the enactment of technical PR roles. According to Dozier, â€Å" technicians do not participate in management decision making but only make program decisions necessary to internal functioning of their departments† (76). In fact, the widest spectra of responsibilities entail conduction of low level organizational operational matters aimed at ensuring cute implementation of policies and decisions stemming from the management team. More often than not, technical practitioners are engaged in activities such as provision of services like media contracting, writing, publications productions and photocopying among other roles that do not involve long term decision making tasks. Perhaps a different aspect of the PR practitioner’s roles vital to consider, are those roles stemming from the practitioners education and organizational environment (Dozier 1992; Ehling 1992). On his part, Dozier strongly believes that PR practitioners may be in a large part lack and fail, to fulfil their professional roles as anticipated with consequences of some of the practitioners likely to be characterized by semi professionalism (45). Such professionals are more likely to be worse affected by bureaucratic norms. In most of the situation they evidently lack professional autonomy in the execution of their duties partly due to dwindled endowment with supervisory powers. To this end, Ryan and Martinson think that lack of clarity in terms of roles anticipations is fuelled by the practitioners lack of common agreement of what the PR professio n is all about and perhaps what it needs to embrace (91). Conclusion Over the years, especially in the last three decades, a lot research has been done in the subject of the public relations. The paper characteristically identifies these researches as essential foundations of the public relation concerns, which, in fact, have formed the basis of the existing modern criticisms of the profession. The criticisms in turn, have given rise to an immense enthusiasm to scrutinize the roles of the public relations especially when the other spectrum of the inputs of the new media is incorporated. In as much as the new media is beneficial in terms of promotion of ease of information accessibility, the paper claims that information accessibility does not necessarily translate to practical information viewing. The demerits of the new media have consequently been addressed by asserting that the new media has a specified challenge in terms of ensuring effective and efficient communication, has tim e limitations and departmentalization or rather information flow regulation. Amid these limitations, new media has been discussed as a vital tool for practitioners communication particularly where relationships with the target audience is priory established. The paper also has also made some attempts to introspect the various criticisms of the public relations. Finally, the roles and objectives of public relations have been given a through treat by dividing the entire sphere of public relation roles into two broad groups: managerial and technical roles. Through observation of differences in the scholar’s perceptions of the roles and practices of the public relations, which stem right from the traditional approaches to the modern hefty criticisms, evidently, subtle information is available to justify the existing enthusiasm for new media evident in some quarters. Belz, Arthur et al. â€Å"Using role theory to study cross perceptions of journalists and public relations practi tioners.† Public relations research annual 1.1 (1989): 125-139. Berkowitz, Dan Ilias, Hristodoulakis. â€Å"Practitioner Roles, Public Relations Education, and Professional Socialization: An Exploratory Study.† Journal of Public Relations Research 11:1 (1999): 91-103. Bernays, Edward. Manipulating public opinion: the way and the how. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000. Curtin, Arthur, Gaither, Kenneth. Privileging identity, difference, and power: The circuit of culture as a basis for public relations theory. Journal of Public Relations Research 17.3 (2005): 91–115. Dozier, Douglas. The organizational roles of communications and public relations practitioners. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 1992. Ehling, Walter. â€Å"Public relations education and professionalism.† In James. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and communication management (pp. 439-464). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992. Grunig, James. â€Å" Two-way symmetrical public relations: Past, present and future.† In Lawrence Heath (Ed.), Handbook of Public Relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001. Grunig, James White Jon. The Effect of World Views on Public Relations Theory and Practice: Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1992. Horton, James. â€Å"Public Relations and Social Communication.† Journal of Public Relations 31.7 (2009) 1-6. Karla, Gower. â€Å"Public Relations Research at the Crossroads.† Journal of Public Relations Research 18.2 (2006): 177-190. Leichty, Gabriel, Springston, Johnson. â€Å"Elaborating public relations roles.† Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 73.5(1996): 467-477. Maloney, Kelvin. Rethinking Public Relations: PR, Propaganda and Democracy. London: Routledge, 2006. Miller, David, Dinan, William. Thinker, faker, spinner, spy: corporate PR and the assault on democracy. London: Pluto press, 2007. Ryan, Mart ins, Martinson, Leonard. (1988). â€Å"Journalists and public relations practitioners: Why the antagonism?† Journalism Quarterly 64.13 (1988): 1-140. Spicer, Charles. â€Å"Public relations in a democratic society: Value and values.† Journal of Public Relations Research 12.4 (2000):115–130.

HIST - American History Since 1865 Research Paper

HIST - American History Since 1865 - Research Paper Example It is the legacy of that decision which since 1945 has come to have a variety of interpretations among both laymen and scholars alike. Despite the ensuing controversy, the bombing of Nagasaki was both necessary and militarily expedient. Shortly after the Hiroshima bombing President Truman addressed the American people regarding his decision and the implications it and nuclear weapons would have for the future of the country and the world. †¦It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.2 The President in no uncertain terms sought to justify his decision as one that would prevent the costly use of manpower needed to carry out an amphibious invasion of Japan. This comes as little surprise given that by 1945 some â€Å"7,000 American fami lies had already sacrificed two or more of their boys for freedom.†3 Many Americans had grown tired of the war, then in its fourth year. Truman made it clear that his decision stemmed from the sole desire to utterly destroy and annihilate Japan’s war-making capacity and shock that country into surrender. The decision to bomb Nagasaki therefore was a pragmatic one. Secretary of War at the time, Henry L. Stimson, played a major role in the decision to use the bomb on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A recent biography of Stimson by Prof. Sean L. Malloy has claimed that Stimson took part in the most significant foreign policy decision of the twentieth century: â€Å"to use nuclear weapons against Japan and as a diplomatic tool against the Soviet Union.†4 Revisionist historians have long sought to claim that the use of the bomb was to intimidate the USSR and not due to real military needs. Many historians today look to Truman and Stimson as being the two biggest factors in the decision to use the bomb. They assert the president’s role by virtue of his office and Stimson’s role by virtue of his political influence with the president. Stimson supported both Truman’s reasoning and his decision. The fact that he saw the practical effects of the bomb for diplomatic and political ends after the war is not surprising. Given that the post-war world was shaping up to be one dominated by the US, a weakened Britain, and a war-ready and war-ravaged Soviet Union, men like Stimson (who had far more foreign policy experience than Truman) were well aware of the implications of atomic weaponry. And yet the war in the Pacific Theatre had been an especially sanguine one. This is not to say that the European Theatre was nothing to fret about, after all death and mayhem are, in the end, death and mayhem. Many accounts of American soldiers who fought in both Europe and the Pacific often detail the outright perseverance, refusal to surrender, fight-t il-death mentality of the Japanese as being somehow more pronounced than in other armies’ soldiers. Japanese tenacity was well demonstrated and DOWNFALL (the code name for an invasion of the Japan) assumed a death toll of at least 500,000 and as much as 1 million.5 The unanimity of Japanese defense commanders is striking. Navy and air commanders presided over mere remnants of their forces, but the Japanese spirit, and their suicide devices, still gave them hope. The army, short as it was of fuel, was almost manic because of its powerful defense of

Antibiotic Sensitivity Testing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Antibiotic Sensitivity Testing - Essay Example The principle of the disc diffusion method is that when a filter disc is impregnated with a chemical that is placed on the agar, the chemical in the agar diffuses around the disc. The solubility of the chemical and its molecular size determines the size of the area if chemical infiltration around the disc. When an organism is placed on the agar around the disc, if it is susceptible to the chemical then there would be no growth around the area where the chemical is diffused and this area is called as the "zone o the inhibition". This inhibition can be measured and compared with a standard control strain and normal tables, Stokes and Kirby-Bauer method respectively. The factors that affect in this method are the concentration of the bacterial inoculums, the depth and types of agar, the incubation conditions and the time of incubation. All this factors should be always taken into account while performing the test. An alternative test that can be performed is the determination of the amount of antibiotic required to either inhibit the growth of organism or to kill the organism which is done by incubating a fixed concentration of the organism in increasing concentrations of antibiotics and checking for growth after 24h of incubation. The as3. Methods. The assigned culture was swabbed onto the agar plate in three directions for maximal coverage. The plates were allowed to settle for 10 mins, followed by impregnating the antibiotic discs by pushing the dispenser over the agar. The antibiotic and the disc code were noted and the plates were kept in incubator at 37C. 4. Results. The results obtained from Test 1 and Test 2 are displayed in Table 1 and 2 respectively. RESULTS: TEST 1 RESULTS: TEST 2 5. Discussion: Antibiotic susceptibility of given strain was determined by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Disc diffusion method is widely used across the laboratory to determine the effect of any anti- microbial agents like antiseptics, antibiotics, bactericidal or bacteriostatic compound etc. To avoid any lab to lab variation standardized protocol was developed that was recommended by National Committee for Clinical laboratory standards like Meuller-Hilton Agar is used as growth medium; plates will be incubated at 37C for 18-24 hr, while turbidity of bacterial suspension will be set at 0.5 McFarland method or 1.0 OD by spectrophotometer. The biggest advantages of disc diffusion method over other methods are that it is rapid, efficient, cost effective and reliable. While there are certain limitation of this methods like any variation in cell number, incubation time, diffusibility of antibacterial compound, media etc, which leads to very high variation in final results. Similarly, it gives only quantitative idea and determination of bactericidal concentration or MIC need to be back calculated. For pathological determination serum to antibiotic ratio must be taken in to consideration to evaluate effective dose. In this practical, we evaluated three cultures for its Antibiotics susceptibility against various antibiotics. Among these Pseudomonas

Barrack Obama's Speech at Cairo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Barrack Obama's Speech at Cairo - Essay Example Egypt, according to the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, was the best choice since it is a nation, according to the United States, that represented the heart of the Muslim World. This remark was made despite Egypt not being at the â€Å"center† of the Islamic world. This was because Egypt besides being considered as playing an integral role in the process of peace making in the Middle East, it was also the best choice of delivering the speech, since it is the major recipient of the American military as well as the economic aid. However, if Obama were to make his speech today, Egypt would have been his last choice. This is because of the recent revolution that took place in overthrowing Mubarak from power. Many reporters such as Ross Colvin of Reuters asserted that the speech was an avenue of mending the relationship that existed between the United States and the Muslim world, which was considered to be severely damaged during the tenure of George W. Bush. In his speec h, Obama centered on six major issues. This paper is going to highlight personal opinion on which of the six was the most important and whether Obama made convincing remarks. Main Highlights of the Speech In his speech, Obama advocated for mutual relations and understanding between the Muslim world and the west, by suggesting that the two entities should be at the forefront in facing violent extremism. Obama acknowledged the fact that there existed tensions between the United States and the Islamic world, which were rooted in historical forces. According to him, the Muslim world and the United States had enjoyed centuries of co-existence as well as co-operation. However, they also faced a lot of conflict of interest and religious wars. In this opportunity, Obama yearned for peaceful co-existence between Israelites and Palestinians. In this regard, Obama vividly affirmed the alliance that the Americans had with the Israelites, which he referred to as an unbreakable bond. Additionally , he was uncomfortable with the aspect of statelessness that prevailed in Palestine by terming it as being intolerable. Consequently, Obama recognized the Palestinian aspirations for attaining a stable state that enjoy dignity and legitimacy, which he figuratively equated to the Israel’s desire for a Jewish homeland. As pinpointed earlier in this paper, Obama’s speech was subdivided into six main areas that included violent extremism, the dispute between the Palestine and Israel, nuclear weapon, religious freedom, rights of women as well as economic development. According to me, of the six main areas of his speech, the main aspect was that of violent extremism. This is because almost all other points of the speech can be channeled towards violent extremism. For instance, the dispute between the Palestine and Israel, nuclear weapons, religious freedom and rights of women can all be summed up to lead to violent extremism. Obama tackled this issue categorically in the spe ech by advocating for a level ground between the Muslims and the United States. He commenced by giving a quote from the Quran that calls for Muslims to be conscious of God and to always speak the truth. The issue of violent extremism, according to me, was an important aspect because it affects almost

Why Radical Right Parties Struggle to Maintain Support

Why Radical Right Parties Struggle to Maintain Support Explaining the rapid decline in support for radical right parties in Western Europe Abstract The general trend amongst the radical right parties of Western Europe has been a steady increase of fortunes in elections to the national legislature. However, cases in France, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands have presented a phenomenon whereby the party haemorrhages their share of the vote soon after an electoral breakthrough. The aim of this work will be to highlight why (where it occurs) parties of the extreme right have struggled to maintain the consistent support of a large portion of the electorate and explain why this decline is more rapid than traditional mainstream parties. Introduction Background Amongst observers of Western European parties of the radical, or extreme, right there has been a general consensus that the last three decades have exhibited a trend of resurgent fortunes. Since the collapse in support and legitimacy for such parties in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War and the onset of the Cold War, they initially struggled to establish an electoral foothold in both the traditionally and newly democratic systems of Western Europe. Approaching the 21st Century, though, most countries in Western Europe witnessed an upturn in fortunes for the radical right, with many achieving the status of mass organised parties and becoming a persistent presence in national legislatures. Consequently, academic literature has tended to focus on the reasons behind this phenomenon, observers attempting to provide explanations behind the electoral performance of specific parties or an over-arching explanation of why radical right parties appear to be becoming increasingly p opular and successful in elections to national legislatures. This has provided several factors which are generally considered to be conducive towards the success of the radical right, such as: populist appeal; charismatic leadership; shifting debate in the political spectrum which creates a niche which the radical right alone can exploit; increasing salience of radical right issues; notably immigration and race relations; decline in voter confidence in the traditional democratic elites (including electoral effects of voter apathy); and increasing perception of mainstream party corruption; and inability to deliver on critical issues; and more. Taking the general theme of research in this area, then, one might assume that the fortunes of Western European radical right parties has on the whole been of increasing, or at least stable, electoral fortunes. Indeed, in researching for this paper, it has been noted that electoral results for radical right parties to national legislatures has in almost all Western European countries been improving over the last three decades. However, there are certain cases which present an interesting question regarding the futures of such parties and the continuance of this trend. This is the question of whether they are institutionally capable and stable enough to maintain support and legitimacy, as well as operate as a successful governing party once they have achieved significant success. Such success we might define as the institutionalisation of the party as a relatively permanent feature in national elections, with reasonable potential to participate in coalition negotiations or be a signif icant factor affecting the passing of bills and focus of debate in the national legislature and media. As mentioned, for many parties this is already a reality, or could realistically become one, but four cases suggest that once extreme right parties have reached a certain level of support, they encounter the same risks as many other institutionalised parties with regard to reversals in fortune. However, I will argue that many of the risks they face are unique to parties of the radical/extreme right, and hence why in the cases under study the decline in support has been so rapid. The cases under question regard when parties of the radical right experience a reversal of the general electoral trend, namely a decline in support. As mentioned, examples of this have been the exception rather than the rule, but are of significant interest because of the fact that radical right parties are still essentially niche parties. The cases investigated in this paper Austrias FPO, Frances Front National, Germanys Die Republikaner, and the Dutch parties of the radical right have all at some point experienced a significant downturn in electoral support in national elections. In 2002, the FPO slipped from 26.9% of the popular vote to just 10% after a tumultuous period in coalition with the OVP, and though experiencing a resurgence in fortunes, the party has suffered from Haiders split to form the BZO. In Germany, the Republikaner party went from being a party with European Parliament and Landtag seats and polling over half a million votes in federal elections by 1998, to a sp lintered and no longer apparently extremist party which has almost dropped off the electoral map in federal elections. The French Front National has been an ever-present and outspoken feature of French politics since Jean-Marie Le Pen burst onto the scene, but after the unexpected success in the 2002 presidential elections, they have been unable to maintain momentum, with numerous internal spats and a slide a results in 2007 Le Pens lowest result in presidential elections since 1981, and the National Assembly results more than halving. Finally, the Netherlands presents an interesting case, whereby several radical right parties have scored seats in general elections, yet so far all have swiftly collapsed, despite what might be argued is a fertile ground for the radical right as a force in Dutch politics. These cases stand out because of the unusually damaging decline in electoral fortunes, which buck the trend of established radical right party performance over the last three decades. Whilst there are examples of established radical right parties (i.e.: parties which have representation in the national legislature over several terms) which have suffered electoral setbacks (notably the Alleanza Nazionale in 2001, Norways Fremskrittspartiet in 1993), such declines in support have been relatively minor, and such parties have recovered from them swiftly. This paper seeks to provide some explanation as to why the reversal in electoral fortunes for the four parties under investigation here has been so rapid. Whilst there have been cases elsewhere in Western Europe of radical right parties suffering electoral setbacks, none have been so markedly significant as these, where the parties under examination have experienced declines in performance of at least 60% in elections to the national leg islature in the space of just two elections. In two cases the LPF and Republikaner this has been near a near terminal decline; in the case of the FPO, this was followed by a significant split from which they are only just recovering; and the FN are left at in a difficult position, particularly given the age of their ever-present leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. These results stand in stark contrast to the general story of radical right success in recent decades, where a decline in votes for an established party has been both relatively minor and recoverable from, the four parties under investigation have experienced what appear to be electoral nose-dives. Consequently an examination of the reasons why these four parties have suffered such unusually damaging results might help to produce interesting results concerning how the parties of the radical right operate as an electoral force and any unique challenges they face in consolidating themselves in the party systems of Western Europe. Previous research in this area As mentioned earlier, general research into the declining fortunes of the radical right has been relatively sparse and overwhelmed in comparison to the amount of research conducted into the reasons behind success for the radical right. Much of the general work into the radical right as a new phenomenon has provided useful grounds for research into decline, most notably Herbert Kitschelts The Radical Right in Western Europe (University of Michigan Press, 1995), which posited that the radical rights success in the late 20th century can to a large extent be explained by an electoral systems effect on voter choice. This seminal work has gone some way to explaining the differing levels of success exhibited by the radical right, offering a plausible reason why there appear to be significant limits to radical right success at a national level in mixed and majoritarian systems, such as the UK, Germany and Scandinavia, compared to systems which are more proportional or have lower thresholds for entry into legislatures. It is useful to take into account the effect of electoral systems, given that many individual and general studies suggest that successful radical right parties will often exhibit very similar traits with rega rd to leadership style, policy platforms and party organisation, and in particular the mobilisation of electoral coalitions on common policy issues; yet these similarities stand in contrast to electoral results which might vary greatly. Though Kitschelts theory as elucidated in The Radical Right is intended primarily to explain the conditions for radical right emergence and success, it has also been to some extent used to explain the converse why the radical right might experience a decline in success. However, the great weakness of Kitschelts study is that it is so concerned with explaining conditions for emergence. Numerous studies have gone to show that taking the converse of Kitschelts theory that electoral systems can explain reversals in success for radical right parties will not provide satisfactory explanations of the radical right phenomenon. Partly this is because the electoral systems model cannot account for reversals in success once a radical right party has become established. Indeed, if we take Kitschelts theory strictly, we might conclude that once a radical right party has established itself as a legitimate and vote-winning parliamentary party (i.e.: it has broken through the electoral thresholds and maintained representation for at least one subsequent election), then it is unlikely to fall back into a position whereby it retreats into permanent decline despite a permeable electoral system. Significant counter-examples to this notion exist, most notably the Dutch example, whereby the radical right has broken through electoral barriers to make relatively significant gains, only to suffer rapid and terminal decline, despite little change to the electoral system and the obvious salience of radical right politics amongst a stubborn group of extremist voters and significant group of protest voters. The issue is further complicated when we consider the effect of other actors in the electoral system. Two studies in 2005 (Veugelers and Magnan; Meguid) complimented an approach which showed how flawed an analysis of electoral systems can be when considering the reasons for a decline or restriction in the success for radical right parties. The Veugelers Magnan study sought to apply Kitschelts electoral systems theory, although the study was specifically aimed at analysing the conditions for far right strength. The significance here was that the study A.) suggested that the conditions for far right success were dependent to a significant extent upon the structure or restructuring of party competition; and B.) that an application of the electoral systems theory could not satisfactorily explain the (varying levels of) success for parties in France and Austria. Whilst Meguids studypaid little attention to electoral system features as a variable, it did present strong evidence that the a ttitudes of ‘mainstream parties towards niche (including radical right parties) is crucial to the electoral fortunes of a niche party at a general election a theory backed up by Art, who believed the differing levels of success experienced by the German and Austrian extreme right was primarily attributable to mainstream responses to their presence in the arty system. The structure of party competition is therefore of interest, as it provides the possibility of a significant external factor which might effect a decline in support for a radical right party. Individual studies have shown the significance of mainstream responses to radical right issues when it comes to electoral performance. Generally, there is a lot of divergence across countries with regard to cross-party adoption of and attitudes towards the policies and issues canvassed by the radical right. This is partly due to the nature of political discourse in each country, with what we might call ‘radical right grievances amongst voters and politicians alike rather diverse. Whilst the primary issues championed by the radical right tend to be common (foremost amongst which are immigration, race relations and anti-establishment platforms), the salience of these issues amongst voters varies significantly from country to country, and accommodation of such issues likewise. For instance, m ainstream responses to immigration and race issues in Germany are rather muted by mainstream fears of being accused of auslà ¤nderfeindlichkeit, despite it being a highly vocal issue at local level in contrast, there has been a marked shift in strategy amongst the French mainstream since the early 1990s to accommodate issues popularised by Le Pens outspoken rhetoric. Again, much of the general work on party system effects on the fortunes of the radical right has centred upon their emergence and the conditions for success, rather than failure. A general theme popularised by Ignazi (1992) was that the evolution of political discourse in post-industrial Western Europe to focus on neo-conservatism and neo-liberalism had opened up and legitimised dialogue concerning issues traditionally confined to the extreme right. Given that these same themes are to some extent still prevalent today, it might be suggested that any decline in fortunes for the radical right might be due to internal factors affecting radical right parties, rather than the result of further shifts in the political spectrum which havent been evidenced. However, Ignazis theory has become less popular recently, with studies such as Abedi (2002) suggesting that radical right parties are just as successful where ‘overcrowding of the centre is evident as when the centre parties open up (as Ignazi suggested) to allow possible entry. Further to this, no obvious correlation between a fall in support for the radical right and a change in the party system can be drawn. This is partly due to difficulties in producing a coherent model of the party system which analyses such a correlation, as well as because responses to the influence of a radical right party tend to be driven by particular or extraordinary events in the short term, rather than medium- and long-term shifts in discourse. Particularly evident are the cases of the LPF and FPO, whereby shifts to actually accommodate these parties in government by pragmatic coalition partners were immediately followed by a rapid decline in support, even though the overall terms of political debate did not significantly change over the period in question. This might lead us to agree with Abedi that any change in support for the radical right is largely unrelated to the degree of polarisation exhibited by the party system. We m ight subsequently take the view that a decline in support for a radical right party has an ambiguous relationship to restructuring of the party system. Given this we might look to the manner in which parties of the radical right garner support in the first place (excepting any influence from external actors such as those discussed above). Studies in this area have again tended to concern how the radical right achieves support in the first place. A recent example is Ivarsflatens (2008) study, which supports the theory that the only grievance mobilised by all radical right parties with any success is that of immigration. Importantly, this study suggests that radical right parties are just as effective when no particular grievance is mobilised (intentionally or not). This presents one of the more crucial issues that the radical right faces, namely how to deal with a voter base which tends to be split along three lines first, committed voters who are attracted to the partys general platform; second, voters who would normally vote otherwise, but are attracted because the issues touted by the party (in particular, immigration) suddenly b ecome more salient; and thirdly a protest vote from those voters who have become particularly disillusioned with mainstream parties(more on this later). The suggestion, consequently, is that it is not a change in policy or grievance issues which effects a drop in support for the radical right, but rather a partys response to changing perceptions of legitimacy and reliability as a legislative grouping. This is particularly important given that radical right parties so often emphasise themselves as anti-establishment, meaning they risk de-legitimisation if they acquire the labels of ‘corrupt and ‘ineffective which they hurl at mainstream parties. Having to contend with these issues, radical right parties have consequently developed rather unique party structures in order to respond effectively to voter issues. Of particular interest is common assertion that the radical right tend to be populist parties. For numerous reasons too extensive to list here, radical right parties have relied heavily on new media and the appeal of a charismatic and outspoken leadership. Due to their small size relative to mainstream parties, as well as the more transitory nature of their voter base, they have tended to rely heavily on alarmist campaigning, often gaining press coverage in excess of their size or real influence, in order to get heard and maximise their effect on party dialogue. This is a regularly observed strategy, even if it weakens or threatens solidarity and effectiveness in the party leadership. One key objective of such a technique is to widen and enhance their voter appeal, but in order to work successfully radical right parties have often had to ‘water downproposals, or at least simplify them in order to fulfil the need for soundbites and slick campaign material. Such campaigning, and a reliance on uniquely charismatic and authoritarian leadership (a common feature across the most successful radical right parties), is a factor common to most radical right parties, particularly those under study in this paper. Hypotheses Given the variety of factors affecting the establishment and growth of the radical right, it might be reasoned that there are numerous reasons behind the failings of radical right parties where they have occurred. Although external factors such as party system structure, electoral system and the nature of the electorate have been shown to have an effect on the performance of radical right parties, existing research suggests that this is most significant when a radical right party is emerging. However, I will seek to show that whilst these factors can be part of the reason for a decline in support for radical right parties, they are not necessarily primary causes. In particular, in the four cases under investigation, the hypothesis is that the external factors mentioned are not significant enough to explain why the decline in support for these parties was so rapid. The central question of this paper is why the radical right in the four countries under investigation have experienced such a substantial decline in voter share between elections, rather than a minimal drop or continuing to grow as has been the case with the radical right in other West European countries. A hypothesis based on external factors (party system and competition, media strategy, electoral system, voter issues, etc.) affecting the party is unlikely to be sufficient, as the variation in circumstances for the four parties under consideration means it would be difficult to derive a general cause for electoral demise, particularly given the highly unorthodox nature of the parties decline in comparison to the overall story of radical right success across Europe in the same period. A hypothesis based on internal factors (leadership, party strategy, etc.) alone is also insufficient, as it is difficult to envisage how the decline in votes scored on such a large scale can be the res ult of internal structural issues without a significant alteration in the external factors precipitating a decline. Comparing these cases to other Western European radical right parties which have not suffered a significant or permanent collapse in support, it is suggested that the successful parties have better managed a transition which allows them to present themselves as reliable governing parties which can (sustainably) fulfil the demands of voters in parliament or government, rather than just reliable vote-winning ­ parties which can win representation on limited issues at individual elections. The former is shown to be present in the case of parties such as Italys MSI/AN and Lega Nord, Switzerlands SVP, Norways Fremskrittspartiet, etc, all of which have avoided significant declines in vote-share despite changing conditions in the party system or electoral system. It is therefore expected that in the four cases under investigation the three most significant factors conducive to the plunge in electoral results are:- 1.) Leadership style. As mentioned, radical right parties tend to, without the ‘taming effect of coalition partners, be characterised by a populist style of campaigning, often focusing on specific political issues to fan voter sentiments and gain cross-cleavage support from the electorate. This often includes leaders who embody a highly pragmatic and charismatic leadership style. It is hypothesised that in our four cases this style of leadership makes it difficult for the party to the demands of government or maintain a stable coalition of support. 2.) Mainstream party responses to the radical right. Since the emergence of the ‘new radical right party family there has been a general move by radical right leaders towards legitimising their parties within political systems, and it is not controversial to suggest that this is a necessity for them to be perceived as legitimate by an electorate in order to break into a national legislature or into government, or by the parties they have to negotiate with in parliaments (for the passage of bills, formation of coalitions, etc.) in order to effectively influence policy. It is postulated that the reaction of mainstream parties to a breakthrough by the four parties under consideration inhibits the respective radical right partys ability to operate as a governing/policy influencing party, as well as inhibiting the ability of the initially large electoral coalition which gave them representation to support them in a consequent election. 3.) The social bases of electoral support. Given the heterogeneous nature of support for radical right parties at the polls, it is suggested that a significant portion of the vote for the parties under consideration at ‘breakthrough elections is mobilised on a temporary, rather than a permanent, basis. This could be for a variety of reasons issue salience, identification as a ‘radical right voter, legitimacy of the party. It is suggested, therefore, that the four parties under investigation have been unable to establish a stable and reliable basis of electoral support between parliaments, such that when factors (1) and or (2) come into play the party suffers from the departure of one or more groups of voters that are attracted to the party by temporary issues. Consequently the steep decline in vote share is a result of the inability of the party to consolidate their appeal to a broad enough group of voters to maintain their electoral momentum, resulting in only a small g roup of faithful voters turning out to prop up their poll numbers. Methods and Focus This paper will focus on the developments of four parties in the electoral periods relevant to the subject of enquiry. These are: the French Front National between the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections, and the 1997, 2002 and 2007 National Assembly elections; Austrias Freiheitliche Partei Osterreichs (FPO) between the 1999 and 2002 Parlament elections; Germanys Die Republikaner between the 1998 and 2002 Bundestag elections; and the cases of the Dutch radical right parties, concentrating on the electoral fortunes of the Lijst Pim Fortuyn between the 2002 and 2003 elections to the House of Representatives. In each of these cases the parties in question have gone from positions of relative strength to haemorrhaging votes, results which stand in contrast to results for radical right parties elsewhere across Western Europe. This paper will then focus on analysing whether the hypotheses listed above are true. This has been done by assessing academic papers which have analysed the conditions of the relevant parties in order to determine what, if any, consensus there is on the reasons behind these parties collapse in vote share, backing this up with media evidence where it is relevant. Additional to this, general research into the systematic effects determining what might cause a drop in votes for the radical right has been called upon in order to confirm the hypotheses, as well as potentially extrapolate the hypothesised causes for vote decline from external factors (such as changes in the party or electoral system, the strategies of rival parties, changes in issue salience, etc) in order to see if it can be confirmed. Throughout the investigation special attention will be given to several key themes which contribute the events surrounding the electoral defeats of the parties in question. These will include:- Party leadership All four parties under investigation have been generally considered by observers as exhibiting a populist style of political strategy. Three factors are worth considering here. First, how far this is important in allowing the party to generate votes at general elections; second, to what extent the party uses populist campaigning to gain influence on policy; and thirdly, how this affects the partys ability to respond to demands of government/the electorate (where relevant). Legitimacy of the party This does not concern whether or not the party is viewed as a legitimate, i.e.: not anti-system, party; rather, it concerns whether or not the party has a reputation for delivering on its promises, or can present candidates who are genuine and reliable enough for an electorate to support them. This is important in the sense that the partys chances of maintaining electoral momentum may be hampered by poor performance in government or in the legislative process in parliament. Competition in the party system How other (relevant) parties in the countrys party system respond to the challenges posed by the party of the radical right. Obviously there is a difficulty in assessing which responses by what parties actually have an affect on the performance of the radical right party. Consequently we will be looking for cases collaboration, cohabitation, or ostracisation by mainstream parties which have an observable effect on either the radical right partys electoral fortunes, or their ability to operate as a policy-influencing party (be it by governing or as a force in the legislature). Salient policy issues at elections Parties of the radical right have been noted to campaign on a breadth of issues, albeit often engaging more vocally with a specific issue in order to generate support, in contrast to mainstream parties (particularly those with ambitions of government) which are forced to campaign on a wide variety of issues affecting all voters. Consequently, it is of interest to observe whether the specific campaign and policy stances of the radical right parties at elections in any way effected (or possibly even mitigated) the decline in vote share. The social bases of support Radical right parties do not fit easily into a cleavage-based model of the party system, as they tend to draw their support from a wide variety of social backgrounds for numerous different reasons. It is of interest, therefore, from what groups did the party under investigation originally garner support in the election preceding the regression, and whether there was any observable change in the type or confidence of the groups who voted for the party by the time of their decline in the following election. Cases Studies Austria the Freiheitliche Partei Osterreichs (FPO) The FPO is possibly the most significant party to begin this investigation with, due to the fact that it is not only one of the longest established radical right parties, but also because it occupied government for far longer than any other under investigation here. Since Jà ¶rg Haider was elected leader of the party in 1986 it had experienced a remarkably sustainable rise in results, culminating in the earthquake success at the 1999 election where it became the second largest party with 26.9% of the vote. It is of note that the FPOs success has roughly correlated to the declining fortunes of the ‘Grand Coalition of SPO and OVP. Popular disenchantment with the Proporz system which had characterized Austrias two-party system came to a head in the 1999 elections when both parties opinion poll ratings slumped immediately prior to the election. The SPO/OVP coalition had not, by most standards, been particularly unsuccessful or hit by scandal, even benefitting from increasing opinion poll numbers thanks to Austrias presidency of the EU in the second half of 1998. Whilst the Social Democrats poll numbers remained remarkably stable (with only a minimal drop in 1999 compared to the OVP), the OVP had a much harder time, being unable to mitigate a general trend of decline that had continued since the 1991-95 Parlament. In particular, Mà ¼ller notes that the party had difficulty in producing a coordinated and effective campaign on election issues, compared to the aggressive campaigning of the SPO and FPO, the latter of whom was particularly successful at enlivening their campaign by recruiting celebrities such as Patrick Ortlieb and Theresia Kirler. The constitution of the vote for the FPO in the 1999 election is also interesting with regard to how it broke the OVP/SPO duopoly. The FPO had been remarkably successful at increasing turnout from voters of every background, suggesting the FPO was poaching voters from both the SPO and OVP. This is partly due to voter dissatisfaction with the continuation of the Grand Coalition still too tainted by Proporz, as well as the FPOs ability to play off Haiders recent election to the Governorship of Carinthia a success which greatly enhanced the FPOs credentials as a party of government. However, the core vote for the FPO remained blue collar (predominantly male) workers, largely (and perhaps disproportionately) drawn from former SPO-leaning voters, despite the SPO being generally seen to have been more successful than the OVP at limiting the drop in votes experienced as the 1995-9 coalition came to its end. (Though it should be noted that the FPO increasingly attracted a significant number of voters from right-leaning farmers and middle-class professionals unhappy with the OVPs commitment to the EU and perceived lack of leadership.) The FPO had also more than any other party managed to increase membership of the party, particularly amongst professionals and those exhibiting no ideological affinity for the party. Luther points out that as beneficial as this may have been for maximising turnout, the membership drive was set against a push by Haider to fill organisation posts within the party with individuals likely to be loyal to the party leadership (i.e.: Haider), including key figures such as Susanne Riess-Passer and Karl-Heinz Grasser. T