The U.S. Presidents and Their Era

The U.S. Presidents and Their Era Learning the list of U.S. presidents in order   is an elementary school activity. Most everyone remembers the most important and best presidents, as well as those that served in wartime. But many of the rest are forgotten in the fog of memory or vaguely remembered but cant be placed in the right time frame. So, quick, when was Martin Van Buren president? What happened during his tenure? Gotcha, right? Heres  a refresher course on this fifth grade subject that includes the 45 U.S. presidents as of January 2017, along with the defining issues of their eras.   U.S. Presidents 1789-1829 The earliest presidents, most of whom are considered to be Founding Fathers of the United States, are usually the easiest to remember. Streets, counties, and cities are named after all of them across the country. Washington is called the father of his country for good reason: His ragtag Revolutionary army beat the British, and that made the United States of America a country. He served as the countrys first president, guiding it through its infancy, and set the tone. Jefferson, the writer of the Declaration of Independence, expanded the country tremendously with the Louisiana Purchase. Madison, the father of the Constitution, was in the White House during the War of 1812 with the British (again), and he and wife Dolley had to famously escape the White House as it was burned by the British.  These early years saw the country carefully begin to find its way as a new nation. George Washington (1789-1797)John Adams (1797-1801)Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)James Madison (1809-1817)James Monroe (1817-1825)John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) U.S. Presidents 1829-1869 This period of U.S. history is marked by the searing controversy of slavery in the Southern states and compromises that tried and ultimately failed to solve the problem. The Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 all sought to deal with this issue, which inflamed passions both North and South. These passions ultimately erupted in secession and then Civil War, which lasted from April 1861 to April 1865, a war that took the lives of 620,000 Americans, almost as many as in all other wars fought by Americans combined. Lincoln is, of course, remembered by all as the Civil War president trying to keep the Union intact, then guiding the North throughout the war and then attempting to bind up the nations wounds, as stated in his Second Inaugural Address. Also, as all Americans know, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth just after the war ended in 1865. Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)William H. Harrison (1841)John Tyler (1841-1845)James K. Polk (1841-1849)Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)James Buchanan (1857-1861)Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) U.S. Presidents 1869-1909 This period, which stretches from just after the Civil War until the early part of the 20th century, was marked by Reconstruction, including the three Reconstruction Amendments (13, 14 and 15), the rise of the railroads, westward expansion, and wars with Native Americans in the areas where American pioneers were settling. Events like the Chicago Fire (1871), the first run of the Kentucky Derby (1875) the Battle of Little Big Horn (1876), the Nez Perce War (1877), the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge (1883), the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) and the Panic of 1893 define this era. Toward the end, the Gilded Age made its mark, and that was followed by the populist reforms of Theodore Roosevelt, which brought the country into the 20th century. Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)James A. Garfield (1881)Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885)Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)William McKinley (1897-1901)Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) U.S. Presidents 1909-1945 Three momentous events dominated this time period: World War I, the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II. Between World War I and the Great Depression came the Roaring 20s, a time of immense social change and huge prosperity, which all came to a screeching halt in October 1929, with the crash of the stock market. The country then plunged into a somber decade of extremely high unemployment, the Dust Bowl on the Great Plains and many home and business foreclosures. Virtually all Americans were affected. Then in December 1941, the Japanese bombed the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. was drawn into World War II, which had been wreaking havoc in Europe since the fall of 1939. The war caused the economy to finally turn up. But the cost was high: World War II took the lives of more than 405,000 Americans in Europe and the Pacific. Franklin D. Roosevelt was president from 1932 to April 1945, when he died in office. He steered the ship of state through two of these traumatic times and left an enduring mark domestically with New Deal legislation. William H. Taft (1909-1913)Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) U.S. Presidents 1945-1989 Truman took over when FDR died in office and presided over the end of World War II in Europe and the Pacific, and he made the decision to use atomic weapons on Japan to end the war. And that ushered in whats called the Atomic Age and the Cold War, which continued until 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union. This period is defined by peace and prosperity in the 1950s, the assassination of Kennedy in 1963, civil rights protests and civil rights legislative changes, and the Vietnam War. The late 1960s were particularly contentious, with Johnson taking much of the heat over Vietnam. The 1970s brought a watershed constitutional crisis in the form of Watergate. Nixon resigned in 1974 after the House of Representatives passed three articles of impeachment against him. The Reagan years brought peace and prosperity as in the 50s, with a popular president presiding. Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974)Gerald R. Ford (1974-1977)Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) U.S. Presidents 1989-2017 This most recent era of American history is marked by prosperity but also by tragedy: The attacks of Sept.11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and including the lost plane in Pennsylvania took 2,996 lives and was the deadliest terrorist attack in history and the most horrific attack on the U.S. since Pearl Harbor. Terrorism and Mideast strife have dominated the period, with wars being fought in Afghanistan and Iraq soon after 9/11 and ongoing terrorism fears throughout these years. The 2008 financial crisis was the worst in the U.S. since the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929. George H. W. Bush (1989-1993)Bill Clinton (1993-2001)George W. Bush (2001-2009)Barack Obama (2009-2017)Donald Trump (2017- )

Legal Aspects Of Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Legal Aspects Of Nursing - Essay Example The bed restraints were meant for not only securing the patient from much movement but also for ensuring his safety against falling from the height of the bed, which would be fatal. In this regard therefore, the nurses would be said to have responded appropriately to ensure the safety of the patient through the application of the principles. However, as the excerpt reveals, despite the great effort taken by the nurses to ensure the safety of Mr. Abraham, he eventually manages to untie himself from the restraints and in efforts to climb down the bed, he falls and sustains serious head injuries from which he later succumbs. From a legal point of view, the nurses would have applied other principles to ensure more safety to the patient besides what had been done. For instance, when they noted the patient’s unrest, they would have probably administered sleep-inducing medicine to the patient in order to have him asleep as they carried out their tests. Besides, one-hour intervals of monitoring such a patient who showed higher chances of untying himself was long durations and the nurses ought to have adopted lesser periods in order to be effective. Through the relatively shorter periods, the nurses would have probably chanced on the patient before the fall. Moreover, we would reason that the nurses failed to prioritize on the patient as is seen from the statement that they visited him on hourly intervals from the room he was restrained from as he awaited tests and treatment. From a legal point, this would be interpreted as negligence on the part of nurses because they would have prioritized on attending to the patient as a safety measure. Failure to have employed these measures by nurses in effect is blamed to have resulted to the injury, which... There is no greater ethical duty to such a patient than as accorded in the case scenario. Ethics explain an acceptable code of conduct by individuals within a given context. In this case, therefore, the patient portrayed no ethical behavior as described by his intention to leave the hospital and go for revenge in the bar besides being assisted by the nurses and the fire rescue to safety. It would be interpreted morally wrong and ethically accepted behavior where the patient shows no sense of cooperation when being assisted by the nurses. In fact, it is more wrong to have the patient struggle to untie the wrist and chest restraints as applied by the medical staff for having him cooperate as tests and treatment were done on him. Such efforts by the practicing nurses and the fire rescue indicate very high ethical concerns towards the patient and under such, no higher duty would be accorded to him than this. Life is interpreted to be very precious and as such, despite his condition of being drunk and unruly, the nurses and other persons in contact with such a patient has the ethical responsibility of saving his life. It is also ethical to handle the patient with care as the family members would reiterate and accord him the respect due to human beings. Finally, it would be ethical to have such a patient attended to quickly, which would reduce the level of suffering that the patient would be undergoing from the injuries sustained before. It is ethically correct for the nurses to minimize the level of pain suffered by a patient.

Global expansion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Global expansion - Essay Example Political and social climate of foreign countries. Local taxes and regulatory systems. Currency risk and Foreign exchange management. Transfer pricing and supply chain management. Local workforce. Diversified cultures of international markets Cultural differences substantially impact the way companies do businesses. It is important to be aware of the disparities that will be at your disposal in the target market. When expanding into international market, the accustomed norms, values and behavior of the local citizens mustn’t be ignored. A bottle of American whisky can be an offense in middle-east countries. Political and social climate of foreign countries A stable political and social system can be beneficial for the company which intends to expand whereas; unrest and destabilized political system can create new issues for it. Local taxes and regulatory systems It is crucial to determine whether the tax regime for international businesses is friendly or competitive. Corporate tax rate with low headline is always appealing for the companies. Currency risk and foreign exchange management Companies must determine whether the local currency is stable or volatile. It should also stumble if currency hedging can be obtained at a reasonable cost. Transfer pricing and supply chain management Development of effective supply chain helps to generate the company’s cash flow more quickly. Brief information should also be gathered regarding the transfer pricing policies of the foreign countries. Local workforce Effective communication of the local workforce has the ability to make or break the progress of business. It is the foundation of success for every business. Right people at the right location that is, financers, staff, suppliers, regulators, quality of customers can provide a competitive edge to the business. 2. Explain what cultural barriers and diversity issues are commonly encountered by international/multinational (MNC) and global organizations.   Cultural Barriers and Diversity Issues MNCs usually promote consumerist culture by producing standard commodities for diversified cultures. Yet, culture often become barrier and creates distances. The following are the primary reason of diversified cultures all over the world. Communication and Language Barrier- Different languages are spoken in different countries which become a hindrance for MNCs. It is an essential means of communicating with customers, retailers, suppliers etc. therefore, language often becomes a barrier in diversified cultures. Religion- Religious backgrounds usually have substantial impact on the individuals. People do not psychologically and emotionally accept something which is not aligned with their religious values. This often becomes hindrance for MNCs while tapping into diversified nations and cultures. Accustomed/diversified Culture- Socio-cultural differences, norms, beliefs, values, attitudes, perceptions congregate to form a certain cultural backgro und of a country. These aspects vary from country to country and therefore construct a diversified nature of the world. 3. Why has diversity become such an important topic in the international arena? Importance of Cultural Diversity Cultural diversity plays a vital role for a company. The criteria diversifies customer groups on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, age, educational background, beliefs, lifestyles, language,

Is the Death penalty effective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Is the Death penalty effective - Essay Example An example from the history tells us that in 1975, two African American men in Florida named Freddie Pitts and Wilber Lee were granted commutation after twelve long years awaiting death-penalty for the murder of two white men. Their conviction was as a result of constrained confessions, spurious testament and an adduced bystander. After a long time of nine-years of battle in the courts, a white confessed his guilt and Pitts and Wilber were granted absolution by the governor. Had their death-penalty not been delayed due to the court-battles, they would have naively executed. The history of death penalty can be traced back to the eighteenth century (B.C) when the laws for it were established. As years passed these penalties were used all over the world to kill the guilty people. After the World War II the United States protected pregnant women, elders and children from these death penalties but did not abolish it completely. Over these years many countries have abolished it but the Uni ted States still follows it to a certain extent (Death Penalty Information Center). The proponents of the death-penalty justify it by biblical quotations to use death penalty as the ultimate punishment for murders and equivalent crimes. The bible says that the murders must be vindicated: life for life is what the bible says about murders. But the justifications presented cannot be applied in the modern world because of the ethics that apply these days. The bible’s quotation about life for life was for that time when the unjust and violent people were killing innocent and exemplary people. According to most of the people, the death-penalty should be abolished from the U.S and that the criminals must be given a chance to change themselves. Death row inmates can spend their time in the law library and interact with each other and somehow get the wind of the crime of what they have done and accept to change from the bottom of their hearts. The process of death qualification was c onstitutionally challenged in Lockhart v. McCrea on the basis that it produces unrepresentative and doctrine procumbent juries. The United States Supreme Court rejected such challenges by questioning the truthiness of the relevant social science research. But according to me, the challenges made were completely just and the government should have had taken suitable steps in order to eradicate this barbaric act from the society (Guernsey 39-42) The moral disengagement is also an aspect worth discussing in this regard. According to a study by Osofsky, Bandura and Zimbardo in 2005, they took direct words from the executioner. The executioner said that the ECG monitors are in front of him when he carries out the process. His duty is to push the syringe in the veins of the guilty and lower the heart beat of the guilty until it becomes flattened. The harder he pushes, the more flattened is the graph and once he empties the last injection, the pulse rate reaches zero indicating that the gu ilty is now dead. He adds further that it is distraught to see someone die in front of him and leaves a great impact on him even after some days. This research helps to conclude that the executioner has vivid thoughts about the incident too as it is a harsh process to be carried out (Osofsky et al 373-380). The opponents believe that death-penalty should be abolished because it is a barbaric act of murder which involves the death of an individual in a similar

Labelling Theory for Understanding Youth Crime

Labelling Theory for Understanding Youth Crime Outline labelling theory and consider its usefulness in understanding youth crime and anti-social behaviour in Britain today. Labelling theory claims that deviance and conformity results not so much from what people do but from how others respond to those actions, it highlights social responses to crime and deviance Macionis and Plummer, (2005).Deviant behaviour is therefore socially constructed. This essay will describe in full the labelling theory and comment on the importance of the theory to the deviant behaviour of the youth and the anti-social behaviour of the youth in Britain today. The labelling theory becomes dominant in the early 1960s and the late 1970s when it was used as a sociological theory of crime influential in challenging orthodox positivity criminology. The key people to this theory were Becker and Lement.The foundations of this view of deviance are said to have been first established by Lement, (1951) and were subsequently developed by Becker, (1963).As a matter of fact the labelling theory has subsequently become a dominant paradigm in the explanation of devience.The symbolic interaction perspective was extremely active in the early foundations of the labelling theory. The labelling theory is constituted by the assumption that deviant behaviour is to be seen not simply as the violation of a norm but as any behaviour which is successfully defined or labelled as deviant. Deviance is not the act itself but the response others give to that act which means deviance is in the eyes of the beholder. Actually the labelling theory was built on Becker, (1963 :9) statement that Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders-deviance is not a quality of the act of a person commits, but rather a consequences of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label. The way out is a refusal to dramatize the evil. The labelling theory connects to great sociological ideas of Dukheim the symbolic interactionism and the conflict theory. The theory also draws from the idea of Thomas (1928) that when people define situations as real they become real in their consequences. Lement ,(1951-1972) distinguishes deviance into primary and secondary deviance in which he described primary deviance as those little reactions from others which have little effect on a persons self concept and secondary deviance as when people push a deviant person out of their social circles which leads the person to be embittered and seek the company of the people who condone his behaviour.Lement further argued that rather than seeing a crime as leading to control it may be more fruitful to see the process as one in which control agencies structured and even generated crime. Secondary deviance leads to what Goffman (1963) deviant career. This will subsequently leads to stigma which is a powerful negative social label that radically changes a persons self concept and social identity. A criminal prosecution is one way that an individual is labelled in a negative rather than in a positive way. Stigmatising people often leads to retrospective labelling which is the interpretation of s omeones past consistent with the present deviance Seheff; (1984).Retrospective labelling distorts a persons biography in a prejudicial way guided by stigma than any attempt to be fair. No social class stands apart from others as being either criminal or free from criminality. However according to various sociologists people with less stake in society and their own future typically exhibit less resistance to some kinds of devience.Labelling theory asks what happens to criminals after they have been labelled and suggests that crime may be highlighted by criminal sanctions thus sending one to prison may help to criminalise an individual further. Stigmatising young offenders may actually lead them into a criminal career. Howard S.Becker , (1963) one of the earlier interaction theorists claimed that social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders. Furthermore the labelling theoretical approach to deviance concentrates on the social reaction to deviance committed by individuals as well as the interaction processes leading up to the labelling. The theory therefore suggests that criminology has been given too much attention to criminals as types of people and insufficient attention to the collection of social control responses. That therefore means the law, the police, the media and the public publications helps to give crime its shape. This is supported by the conflict theory which demonstrates how deviance reflects inequalities and power .This approach holds that the causes of crime may be linked to inequalities of class, race and gender and that who or what is labelled as deviant depends on the relative power of categories of people.Cicourels study on Juvenile justice in California, (1972) pointed out that police stereotypes result in black, white class youth being labelled criminal. The conflict theory links deviance to power in the form of the norms and the laws of most societies which bolster the interests of the rich and powerful. The labelling theory links deviance not to action but to the reaction of others .The concept of stigma, secondary deviance and deviant career demonstrates how people can incorporate the label of deviance into a lasting self-concept. Political leaders recognises that labelling was a political act for it made them aware on which rules to enforce, what behaviour is to regarded as deviant and which people labelled as outsiders may require political assistance Becker,(1963-7).Political leaders went on to produce a series of empirical studies concerning the origins of deviancy definitions through political actions in areas such as drugs legislation, temperance legislation ,delinquency definitions,homosexuality,prostitution and pornography. Becker, (1963) examines the possible effects upon an individual after being publicly labelled as deviant. A label is not neutral; it contains an evaluation of the person to whom it is applied. It will become a master label in the sense that it colours all the other statuses possessed by an individual. If one is labelled as a paedophile, criminal or homosexual it is difficult to reject such labels for those labels largely overrides their original status as parents, worker, neighbour and friend. Others view that person and respond to him or her in terms of the label and tend to assume that individual has the negative characteristics normally associated with such labels. Since an individuals self concept is largely derived from the responses of others they will tend to see themselves in terms of that label. This may produce a self fulfilling prophecy whereby the deviant identification becomes the controlling one. This links to the interactionist approach which emphasizes the importance of the meanings the various actors bring to and develops within the interaction situation. However the labelling theory has its weaknesses which includes Liazos,(1972) who noted that although the labelling theorists aims to humanise the deviant individual and show that he or she is no different than other individuals except perhaps in terms of opportunity. It however by the very emphasis on the deviant and his identity problems and subculture the opposite effect may have been achieved. He further suggested that while considering the more usual everyday types of deviance such as homosexuality, prostitution and juvenile delinquency the labelling theorists have totally ignored a more dangerous and malevolent types of deviance which he termed covert institutional violence. He pointed out that this type of violence leads to such things as poverty and exploitation for example the war in Vietnam, unjust tax laws, racism and sexism. It is questionable whether labelling theorists should even attempt to discuss forms of deviance such as this in the same way as more commonplace indiv idual crimes or whether the two should be kept totally separate being so different in subject matter. Akers, (1994) also criticized the labelling theory by pointing out that it fails to explain why people break the law while the majority conform explaining that people go about minding their own business and then wham-bad society comes along and stops them with a stigmatised label. The theory fails to explain why the moral entrepreneurs react in the manner described but rather blames society and portrays criminals as innocent victims which is not always the case. To counter for the negative effects of punitive measures to youth crime and anti-social behaviour the British government introduced the ASBO and ABC which means anti social behaviour orders and acceptable behaviours respectively.ASBO and ABC are recent developments in Britain which were designed to put a stop to anti-social behaviour by the individual on whom they are imposed.ASBO is a statutory creation and it carries legal force where as an ABC is an informal procedure though not without legal significance. Both types of interventions are aimed at stopping the problem behaviour rather than punishing the offender which may lead an individual into a deviant career. The ABC proved most effective as a means of encouraging young adults, children and parents to take responsibility for unacceptable behaviour. These measures are being used to improve the quality of life for local people by tackling behaviour such as harassment, graffiti, criminal damage and verbal abuse without criminalisi ng the offender. The crime and disorder act (1998) contains the key elements of labours new youth justice system which saw the establishment of the youth justice and the restructuring of the non custodial penalties available to the youth court. The government believed that preventing offending promotes the welfare of the individual young offender and protects the public. The youth justice board oversees the youth offending teams which has a number of roles including assessing the risk and protective factors in a young persons life that relate to their offending behaviour to enable effective interventions to be implemented, providing support to young people who have been released from the custody into the community and early intervention and preventative work both in criminality and anti-social behaviour. To further reduce the effects of labelling the British government is tackling anti-social behaviour and its causes by tackling family problems, poor education attainment, unemployment, alcohol and drug misuse. The most successful interventions to be implemented where noted to be those that engage the individual in changing their own behaviour. This is being done ensuring that an individual understands the impact of their behaviour to the community whilst offering the necessary support to conform. Rather than labelling and criminalising an individual the British government came up with effective advice, councelling and support that enable people who behave anti-Socially to change their behaviour. Perpetrators young and adults have issues in their lives that require the help and support of professional, statutory or voluntary organisations. Issues like money management and debt, communication difficulties with the family, young people struggling within the educational or employment because of offending behaviour and victims of domestic violence can all benefit from available services in Britain today. This essay therefore concludes that labelling theory is enormously influential in directing attention towards the relative and somewhat arbitrary nature of dominant definitions of crime and criminality in Britain. It also critizes the criminal justice and the agencies of social control for it reflects on the consequences of our social reaction and advocates for changes in public policy on juvenile justice, restorative justice,de-institutionalisation and communitarian approaches. The powerful insights of the labelling theory made the British authorities to rethink again on the tough on crime stance hence the introduction of new restorative measures which does not label or criminalise young offenders. The labelling theory is therefore quite useful in understanding that the rise in the yob culture, gang culture and hoody culture in Britain was a result of criminalising young offenders rather than addressing issues leading the young into crime and anti-social behaviour. References Berker and Howard, S (1963) Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance, New York: free press Goffman, E (1963) Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity, Prentice-hall Hall, S (1978) Policing the crisis, The Macmillan press LTD Haralambos, M and Holborn (1991) Sociology themes and perspectives, Collins education. Macionis, J and Plummer, K (2005) Sociology a global introduction, Pearson education limited. Taylor et al, (1973) the new criminology for a social theory of devience, Routledge

An Investigation into the Housing Market Essay -- Housing Economics Es

An Investigation into the Housing Market Economics Describe and analyse the changes of housing in the local area over the last 5 years The housing market is one of the most talked about topics in the news. I assume this is due to the high influential potential it holds to the rest of the economy. In this essay I will focus on the causes in house prices. I will investigate how prices have changed nationally and locally. I interviewed an Inter counties estate agent to help my investigation and get his views on the situation. The price of housing fluctuates enormously. Not only does it vary from region to region, but also it is also very volatile within these regions. There are many causes for these unstable prices. According to a spokes person form the Inner county estate agents says there are many factors, which influence the housing market. He believes one of the main factors, which have been influencing the local housing market in the southeast, is the large amount of people coming to work in Cambridge recently. The supply curve appeared to be vertically vertical in the short run. However, the high demand resulted in predictable high prices. Many building companies have also respond to the increases in demand, however this response will not be immediate. Another reason why we saw the price of houses rise was due to the low interest rates. This means the borrowing of money to buy a house is significantly cheaper, which is therefore retaliated with via the increase in the actual cost of a house. London being so close is another major pull factor for people wanting to live as near as possible to where work is more likely to be found. Commuting times and facilities like trains and motorways play a major role in opening up areas as 'commuter land'. People often put up with long commuting distances in order to escape from city living as a family, or to find more affordable housing at greater distance from where they work. This is why Saffron Walden has become so posh, since people have realised the benefits of life in a town of this size in a manageable distance to London. Hypothesis: If interest rates are going down, will increase demand for housing which will then in turn increase house prices. When one buys a house, one is paying for the actual house price, a mortgage, and the interest rates on the ... ...eople willing to pay the higher amounts. Schooling facilities have also got an influence in the area, which is another pull factor for people moving within the southeast. There are also relatively low borrowing costs for mortgages, which will encourage people to buy and sell their houses. According to 'The Hometrack' Property Company, house prices in England and Wales fell in May for the second month in a row. The percentage change in prices over the last year in each region can be seen in the chart. In conclusion prices for housing are high in the southeast due to a number of factors: * The demand for housing in an area, * The supply of houses, * Reputation for the area, * General interest rates influence the house-shopping behaviour, * Low interest rates enables people to buy better or bigger houses, * Facilities in the area, * Local employment chances. Region Higher prices are less desirable, and this may mean many families do not have the economic ability to live in the area. The demand refers to the quantity of houses that purchasers are willing and able to buy at a certain price. Houses are scarce in relation to demand.

European society Essay

The eighteenth century saw a revolution sweeping Western philosophy and a simultaneous upheaval and transformation in Western social life. In this period, the west, particularly the European society and state seemed cold and heartless. The dislocations of industrialization and urbanization exposed the weaknesses of the old system and stimulated a need for more innovative political institutions adaptable to the new socio-economic conditions. This desire for change was accompanied by strong nationalist sentiments. Initial Western nationalism was lauded as a liberal form of mass political engagement and allegiance to the secular power of emerging states, consistent with popular rule. Accordingly, its birth was announced with the representation, rights, and toleration of England’s constitutional monarchy and its banner the â€Å"liberty, equality and fraternity† of the French Revolution against absolutism. Many scholars estimate the birth of the American nation from 1750-1775 (see for example, Weeks, 1994). In the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, social, political, and economic turmoil and instability transformed many Western countries into the world’s most chaotic amphitheater of disruption. People who thought that their cultural and political borders were violated waged a series of insurrections and rebellions. This strong feeling and desire to fight violations of inalienable natural rights came to be known as nationalism. Nationalist feelings became a decisive power in the Romantic Era. In nationalism, the individual is â€Å"the very center, the arbiter, the sovereign of the universe† (Kedourie, 1993, p.17). The political implication of this was that self-determination constituted the supreme good. Later political philosophers building upon Kantian ideas proposed that: humanity is naturally divided into nations; each nation has its peculiar character; the source of all political power is the nation; for freedom and self-realization, people must identify with a nation; loyalty to the nation-states overrides other loyalties; and the primary condition of global freedom and harmony is the strengthening of the nation-state (Smith, 1983). In the early years of the twentieth century, the striking similarity displayed by the nationalist movements throughout Southeast Asia derived from their common inspiration in Western ideology and their largely identical economic bases – the former guiding the intellectuals who lead the movements in their respective countries; the latter supplying the driving power from the masses. However, it must be pointed out that nationalist movements in this region did not have the support of more than a very small fraction of the native peoples, who for the most part are not aware that the question of autonomy even exists, and whose major concern is simply survival (Emmerson, Mills, and Thompson, 1942). In Southeast Asia, native nationalism has been the forced growth of a transplanted Western seed. In spite of the centrifugal forces of a plural society artificially bound together solely by the profit motive, nationalism has taken root among the indigenous peoples. It has penetrated most deeply among the native peoples who are united by a common language, pride of race and glorious historical traditions (Emmerson, Mills, and Thompson, 1942). Thus, â€Å"Within each group, nationalism has proved to be a cohesive force, welding people who were until its advent hardly conscious of the existence of compatriots beyond their own village, absorbing disparate religious and regional loyalties, and nationalizing such international influences as they experienced. However, from the perspectives of Southeast Asian countries as individual units, nationalism has proved a disruptive force. It has made each racial group more self-conscious, more prone to assert itself at the expense of other groups, and either tends toward a disastrous break-up of the present mosaic by some vigilant outsider playing upon this grave weakness in the body politic and social, or leads toward the forced assimilation of the weaker minorities by the most powerfully placed group. † (Emmerson, Mills, and Thompson, 1942, p. 144) The establishment of national unity through was essential ingredient in the emergence of democracy. According to Marx (2003), nationalism is an essential prerequisite to democracy, since â€Å"it establishes the boundaries of the community to which citizenship and rights are then accorded, without which democracy is impossible† (p. 31). And the birth of nationalism was related to the political baptism of the lower classes whose empowerment helped bring democracy, with both nationalism and democracy thereby relatively and impressively inclusive (Marx, 2003). While many have witnessed nationalism and democracy going together, for the past few years, nationalism has been largely considered a disruptive force on the prospects for democratization. For one, national unity gives rise to the question of the state and its boundaries, which is believed to be more fundamental than that of regime type and that can disrupt debate about appropriate political forms. Nationalism in this sense is a disruptive force because it gives rise to issues regarding religious beliefs, language, and customs. Moreover, nationalism is largely seen as being potentially disruptive to achieving democratic outcomes since it stimulates mass mobilization which frightens authoritarian rulers, causing them to suppress activities that may stop the progress of the whole process of political change. The argument that nationalism is a disruptive force is validated by the experiences of southern Europe and Latin America. The disintegration of all of the federal Communist states along republican lines adds force to this argument; however, it is not as clear-cut as this in the post-Soviet experience. According to McFaul (2002), ten years after the collapse of communism, only Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are democracies, while the other republics are under regimes that are either facade democracies or nondemocratic. Nationalism was also seen as a disruptive force on the eve of the First World War. It played an important role in the rivalries between superpowers: Germany vs. France (revenge for 1871), Russia, vs. Austria-Hungary (expansion into Balkans), and Germany vs. Great Britain (control of seas, arms race). Nationalism was also a disruptive force regarding the emergence of unsatisfied nationalities: Poles, Irish, Serbs, Czechs, and many others In Poland, following the 1830 uprising, conservatives began to drift away from nationalism. By the 1850s, only few on the right were interested in talking about nationalism, which came to be seen as a dangerous term signifying disruption, disorder, and even revolution (Porter, 2000). Within Poland itself many nobles may have shared the hopes of the Czartoryski circle, but since they could do little to further such a cause, they retreated to apolitical lives (Porter, 2000). Not only were the conservatives uncomfortable with the politics of the patriotic activists, but they found it difficult to speak the language of national romanticism. â€Å"They might appreciate some of the poetry of Mickiewicz or Slowacki, but they soon discovered the disruptive force of the progressive historiosophies to which the concept of the nation had been so firmly linked. † (Porter, 2000, p. 31) References Emerson, R. , Mills, L. A. , and Thompson, V. (1942). Government and Nationalism in Southeast Asia. New York: Institute of Pacific Relations. Kedourie, E. (1993). Nationalism, 4th expanded ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Marx, A. W. (2003). Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press. McFaul, M. (2002). The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World. World Politics 54(1), 212-44. Porter, B. (2000). When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth Century Poland. New York: Oxford University Press. Weeks, W. E. (1994). American Nationalism, American Imperialism: An Interpretation of United States Political Economy, 1789-1861. Journal of the Early Republic, 14, 485-495.