Comparing Plan Columbia and the Merida Initiative

The purpose of this paper will be to make a comparison between the Colombian drug cartels at the turn of the century with the mexican cartels today. The object of this comparison will be to determine the effectiveness of large scale millitary intervention against drug cartels. I will assess weather this comparison is not only justified but in any way usefull in understanding how fight a well funded well armed non-state enemy. This is a response to public comments by high ranking United States officials making this comparison (most notably secretary of state Hillary Clinton) while pledging a significant amount of American resources to such an effort. I will also attempt to answer all of the various questions that are begged by this nature of action. Most people do not realize the sheer lucrativeness of the drug trafficking business especially on an industrial scale. â€Å"The (Mexican) cartels have built a network of dealers in 231 U. S. cities from coast to coast, taking in about $39 billion in sales annually, according to the U.  S. Justice Department. † (*1) To put that into perspective, In 2009 Canada's total annual military expenditure was just over half (21 billion USD) of the total annual profit of the Mexican drug cartels in the United States. (*2) Comparing Columbia and Mexico The 1st thing that is obvious when making this comparison is the fact that Mexico is over twice the size of Columbia both in land mass and in population. In terms of governance Columbia was in a state of profound political instability from as early as the 1940's while Mexico enjoyed a relatively stable PRI government following he Mexican civil war. Geographically the two countries have nothing in common but their proximity to each other. Mexico is a largely flat terrain that poses no real problems to transportation and offers little in the way of cover. By Contrast Columbia has a large mountainous area covered in tropical forests, the majority of the drug production takes place is these remote areas. From a governmental standpoint, the Colombian government is largely decentralized compared to the federal structure in Mexico. Due to the federal government and the larger tax base the Mexican government has some extra capacity when it comes to overall resources available before assistance. As far as the method in which the governments of these two countries approach dealing with traffickers is quite diffrent, Mexico has up until very recently preferred to use it's police forces to deal with drug traffickers while Colombian governments have preferred to use their military as a police force, which is more common in most Latin American countries. The Mexican Cartels There are essentially two major Cartel groups within Mexico that fight each other for a large piece of the drug trade. The first is made up of the Tijuana cartel and the Gulf cartel make up the first major group and operates primarily out of North of East Mexico. A group known as â€Å"The Federation† is made up of of many smaller cartels and â€Å"is led by representatives of the Sinaloa, Juarez and Valencia cartels†. (*3 p. 4) members of this group as scattered all throughout the rest of Mexico. Even though these groups are concentrated in certain areas there isn't a place in Mexico that is off limits to any of these groups. All of these groups operate independently and it is not uncommon for alliances to be fickle between drug traffickers. None of the Mexican drug trafficking organizations are known to have any political allegiances or stated long term goal other then to make money and control as much turf as possible in order to achieve that end while minimizing the damage to the people of their own groups. The Mexican cartels were not always as violent as they are today, the fall of the PRI along with a strengthening of the Mexican police force is said to have resulted in the upswing in violence. Another contributing factor the recent escalation in violence is that since the fall of Major Columbian cartels (replaced mostly by smaller scale operations) Mexico and it's drug trade began to have to fill the void that was left in the US market for a period of time, greatly strengthening their financial base and ability to purchase weapons and to employ a larger number of foot soldiers from poor communities (usually with family ties to promote increased loyalty to said group and a deeper anchor within the local community). Florida was actually the main entry point for drugs during the early 80's but the strengthening of the American navy and coastguard geared towards stopping smuggling led to Mexico becoming the transit point it is today. It is most important that though Mexican troops have been used largely due to the ineffective and corruption of the police department I would not classify it as a war. The army is simply there to do carry out the actions of a police force because he regular police for cannot be trusted. There is no way for either side to declare a complete victory. It is my opinion that even if every drug trafficker in Mexico dropped dead this morning there would be a new group forming to take it's place by nightfall and it wouldn't take them long to gain momentum capital and weapons. Likewise a drug gang can never truly triumph against the state without any political agenda. The majority of the murders are between rival gangs, though there have been many police officers and politicians killed the battle is essentially between the cartel groups and each other not with the state. The increased military strength is simply a self defence response. I would argue that if the Mexican cartels were 1 hegemonic group you would probably see at least a 10 fold drop in violent crime. Columbia at the hight of the culumbian drug trade You cant tell the story of the Columbia drug trade without talking about Pablo Escobar. In 1989 Forbes magazine estimated that was the 7th richest man the world with personal assets estimated at over 25 Billion dollars. This however is not what made him a unique, he was known as an extremely charitable man by many of the poor people in Columbia giving them land, housing, employment and even building football fields, building a lot of good will among the people something that you find little evidence of on the side of the Mexican cartels. The Medellin cartel he was a part of is thought to have controlled about 80% of the cocaine market in the early 1990's and was the most prominent of the Colombian cartels at the turn of the century. This cartel was rivalled by the Cali cartel who emerged largely due to weakening of their rivals the Medellin cartel. The biggest difference between Columbia at the turn of the century and the situation in Mexico today is the existence of the various guerrilla groups that existed in Columbia, many of which are still in existence. The lines are often blurred between these guerrilla groups and the drug traffickers themselves. The standard arrangement between these guerrillas and drug traffickers was essentially protection of traffickers' production and processing areas in exchange for a handsome percentage of the profits. The profitability on investment on cocaine grown in Columbia being about 200$ for every 1$ invested, there was more then enough capital to go around. The wars between these various guerrilla groups enveloped Columbia in a civil war since eginning in the 1960's, this was far before Columbia drug trafficking organizations began to collaborate with the leftist guerrillas. By comparison Mexican cartels have no real political allegiances, their allegiance is to the dollar and the dollar alone. The fact that the terrain in Columbia is so difficult and access to remote areas is much more easy to control, these various groups are able to hold territory much more effectively then the Drug Cartels in Me xico. The aspect of some of these guerrilla groups that really begins to attract the United State's attention for obvious reasons is their leftist/socialist ideology. The oldest and most notable of these groups is FARC or â€Å"The revolutionary armed forces of Columbia†. This group has been fighting the Colombian national army as well as â€Å"right wing paramilitaries†. At first glance the conflict between these two groups seems to be one for control over the Colombian drug trade and various areas of Columbia where drugs are produced. A closer look reveals a much more sinister reality. There are a number of noticeable irregularities in the accounts of the violence. Over the course of my reasearch I kept hearing certain terms to describe the columbian drug war that you dont hear when you read on the mexican drug war. Many mentions of human rights abuses as well as massacres with large numbers of innocent people being killed, you hear of much violence in mexico but are always termed â€Å"drug related murders† implying that those killed were afiliated in organized crime. When you take a closer look at the ‘right wing guerrillas', first of all it's just about imposible to find a video of any of their leaders with any kind of mission statement or anything of the sort, second you cannot find any documentation anywhere of any known ally. Now, you tell me how does a heavily armed paramilitary group, even with drug money, take part in over 30 years of civil war including alleged armed conflict against the US millitary, without any support from any government or even any other criminal organization? If everything where as it appears at 1st glance it results in a paradox, how does major international drug trafficking organization not even have ONE known ally/accomplice? It just doesn't make any sense purely on a business level. If you look up any of the Mexican cartels as well as FARC you can find known allies. Additionally, why is there a right wing guerrilla group for decades with a right wing government in power? Finally, Why is one side of the guerrillas (FARC) involved in negotiations with the Colombian government and not the other? Even if they were to sign a peace treaty they would still be at war. The conclusion that asking these questions leads you to is that the Paramilitary groups were actually an unofficial extension of the Colombian armed forces that traces it's roots back it's formation during the cold war where they were trained by US army officers in ‘tactics of counterinsurgency' at the School of the Americas, these tactics are said to specifically target the civilian population without the support of which the guerrillas cannot continue to function. This groups true purpose is to combat communist guerrillas by what ever means necessary. Statistics show that these right wing paramilitaries are responsible for 80's of the ‘political killings' in Colombia, which upon closer examination seem more like like acts of widespread political repression of the Colombian people spanning almost a half a century and crossing the line of human rights abuse with regularity virtually without any opposition from anyone internationally, opposed only domestically by FARC. Accounts from former Colombian army officers allege that the national Colombian armed forces maintained contact regularly with right wing paramilitary groups and directed them to many of the areas where they are accused of committing human rights atrocities. (*9) It has been alleged that the right wing paramilitaries acting in concert with the Colombian national army tried to remove the rural population from certain areas altogether forcing them to become urban refuges and further isolating the FARC forces. In 2005 Columbia had the 3rd largest internal refuge population in the world. Not only that but the paramilitaries are responsible for just as much if not more of the Colombian drug trade then FARC making ‘Plan Columbia' truely appear to be a futile action according to it's officially stated goals. Assessment of â€Å"Plan Columbia† 1998-2010 (lessons learned) Assessing the success of plan Columbia really depends on what you consider to be a success. If you consider the primary objective of the operation to be to simply return control of certain areas of Columbia back to the Colombian government then it would be considered a success. However, if the primary objective was to irradiate the drug trade recent statistics show that though production of cocaine in Columbia did take a severe hit in the early 2000's it has been on the Rise again since 2006. What this confirms is that the drug trade there has not ceased but in fact evolved to meet the challenges of a changed environment. Drug trafficking organizations today are still operating but simply doing it in a more discrete manner their predecessors. Another example of the evolution that ‘Plan Columbia' sparked is the guerrillas branching out to other sympathetic paramilitaries and paramilitary terrorist groups. Members of FARC have reportedly instituted the help of various allies IRA including the since the increased military pressure. An article in British newspaper The Telegraph (*8) highlights how the increased military presence in the countryside as well as an increase in the Colombian urban population has forced FARC forces to urbanize the way in which they conduct warfare. The article highlights significant advancements made by FARC in both explosives as well as counter intelligence and urban warfare. FARC is currently considered the most well armed well trained and well funded guerrilla group in the world. The destruction of crops which was on paper, the primary objective of ‘Plan Columbia' is something that is very temporary, unless you were to actually salt the earth there is nothing to prevent anybody from planting a new crop in the same place. The united states has increased the amount of toxic defoliant that is spays on Colombia and it's citizens every year of ‘Plan Columbia'. Many have made the comparison to agent orange in Vietnam. Many health problems have already been reported with relationship to the defoliant chemical and there are concerns that this chemical is starting to poison some the amazon basin and subsequently effecting other Latin American countries to the south. This defoliant kills all crops including the ones, many of the poorest peasants who grow bananas simply for subsistence have their whole crops destroyed on a regular basis. Some have raised the issue that perhaps this alone constitutes a grave human rights violation. A foreign power spraying toxic chemicals on the population of another is something that is unheard of in the past. The most inditing fact to the type of military action undertaken is most obviously that it has been a commitment that the United States has not been able pull back on after over 6 years no decrease in spending in this area is expected. Not only that but now that the Colombian drug traffickers have evolved we're seeing a resurgence in drug activity in the country. No matter how you look at it ‘Plan Colombia' was almost a complete failure, Colombian left wing guerrillas persist, drug use in the US has never been higher, cocaine production in Columbia is increasing. The only ay in which this operation is a success is that the overall violence seems to have died down and that in the paramilitary groups, which the US created in the 1st place have been disbanded and are no longer committing horrendous atrocities against innocent people for the sole purpose of turning public opinion against FARC. It might be viewed in that instance as a success, I was about half way into my research before I heard/read anything to do with FARC's side of the story. Venezuela, Ecuador and Cuba are the only counties to formally voice support for FARC. (*10) Evaluating the Merida Innitiative One the important things to know about the Merida initiative is that the entirety of the money (400 million to start) approved by the US congress all went to American companies, to train police, to build helicopters, not one dollar of the funding of this operation ends up in non-American hands. It is expected, as was the care with ‘Plan Columbia' that the United states will exclusively employ private American defence contractors to do all the work on the ground. The reason for this is not strong enough to justify the use and possible loss of American soldiers. Also use of American soldiers to fight an urban drug war such as the one in Mexico and might cause a PR nightmare if US Soldiers are viewed as firing on Mexican population, which the drug members of the cartels can hide in plain sight, unlike the Colombian guerrillas they are not in uniform. My investigation into ‘Plan Colombia' led me to the conclusion that the comparison made by the US secretary of defence between Colombia at the turn of the century and the Mexican drug war today to be a very poor and unjustified one. As previously stated I contend that the situation in Colombia was actually a war where as the Mexican situation is simply a police ineffectiveness issue. While the comparison between the who conflicts themselves is unjustified both ‘Plan Columbia' and ‘The Merida initiative' officially have a primary goal to reduce the outflow of drugs into the united states and can still be compared in that instance. The comparison is one that mostly highlights the extreme ineffectiveness not only in terms of result but in terms of cost of this kind of policy. It essentially doesn't solve any of the problems of drug trafficking. The demand in the US for drugs is the real source of this problem. Persistent Problems (police, penal system,banking) A continuing problem that has been acknowledged but not dealt with in any meaningful way in the fact that poor farmers who have been driven into poverty by the international agricultural business (and it's dominance by the west) have no better feasible options then to grow the plants that are converted into drugs. In ‘Plan Columbia' the Colombian government instituted a program to offer coca growers money to grow alternative crops, offering them a sum in the range of 2 million pesos a year (about 950$). *7) Many coca farmers argue is not enough to live. When growing coca (rather then crops such as plantains and Pineapples) not only is the crop worth more but the drug traffickers come right to their doors to pick up the ‘coca paste' they convert the plants to. When growing the crops they are being encouraged to grow they have to transport these tons of produce on â€Å"vehicles they don't have, on roads that don't exist to sell to markets both internal and external† that they don't have access to and to compete with an international aggro business . † (*7- 5:51) It' simply not a sound development plan. less then 20% of the Plan Columbia budget is allocated towards this end) instead the budget is spent on air fumigation spaying defoliant on coca cultures. Secondly the way that the penal system is set up just about everywhere in the world makes the incarceration of major drug lords almost completely futile, they still maintain control over their organization and administer it from prison. The leaders of the Tijuana and Gulf cartels made the agreement to unite while they were both in prison (*3 p. 4), consolidating their power against the rest of the cartels in the â€Å"The Federation†. There is also a persistent (though easilly remedied) problem that the Mexican prisons themselves are not able keep powerful people in there. In the last year alone over 250 prison inmates have been broken out of prison by cartels, most recently 191 were released from from a prison in Tamaulipas by the Los Zetas cartel. This creates even more problems on other fronts, it makes it alot harder to extract information from prisoners then it is in the united states. If an inmate believes it's only a matter of time before he gets out he has no reasons to co-operate in any way, no real threat to guard against. Finally, probably the most important continuing problem is money laundering, this allows for drug operations to run smoothly by giving it a seemingly legitimate flow of cash to use for Bribes, buying up legitimate real estate and other things. Without being able to access the real money of drug kingpins makes it hard to do them any real damage that wont easily be recovered from in a very short time. Many large US banks are complicit in this activity and it is a massive source of capital for them. An article from the Bloomberg press highlights the involvment of American banks such as Wachovia Corp. Bank of America and Wells Fargo's direct complicity in money laundering operations for the mexican cartels. â€Å"Wachovia admitted it didn’t do enough to spot illicit funds in handling 378. 4 billion for Mexican-currency-exchange houses from 2004 to 2007. † (*1) To say they didn't â€Å"do enough to spot† 378 billion dollars entering their bank is laughable. There have reportedly been some efforts to pass more stringent anti-money laundering laws which have met some oppostion from the banking lobby for obvious reasons. The police force continues to be a significant problem, all the training in the world still isn't going to stop corruption, even if a relative victory is acheived and the army pulls out it would seem to me only to be a matter of time before things return to their previous state. Possible solutions In order to fix the problems associated with prisons I think a simple solution would be to transfer people associated to drug cartels to offshore or even just send them to the other side of the world somewhere a pay country X to keep them in isolation. Reducing their ability to communicate is key. Something that I think the world may sooner or later move towards provided the proper technology be available is to curb the drug trade is simply an irradiation of hand held currency. Cash is what funds all of these organizations. This is why they have to launder drug money, it's dirty, you cant buy jet planes and like with cash. If you eliminate cash, how can anyone buy drugs illegally? You cant have a large elligal operation which risks lives dailey if people can only barter for your drugs and every legitimate product is purchased through some form of debit entirely controlled by the government. In conclusion I beleive that the Merida innitiative will probably succeed to a small degree in curbing violence but not the drug trade itself. I think it will be a costly (perhaps everlasting) failure as long as people are beating a dead horse with tactics that are proven not work. The more troubling aspect of this whole research paper for me is the notion that gets brought up by several in various documentaries I watched in doing research of the American government attempted to make security policy which violates many individual freedoms with respect to terrorism all encompassing. If you can keep enforcing the notion that the drug is on the same wavelength as terrorism it gives you the right to treat all people involved in drugs (about 80% of Americans at least once in a lifetime) as people involved in terrorism and produce a progressive erosion of civil liberties which some already believe has gone to far with legislation such as The Patriot Act. Operations in mexico and Colombia set a precedent for the United States intervening (without request in the case of mexico) in domestic affairs of it's neighbours using military force. I would also argue that much of this action could be perceived as just another extension of the US military industrial complex in action. References http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/reports/docs/Canadian%20Military%20Spending%202009.pdf http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34215.pdf http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/mexico/2010/12/jail-breaks-and-cartel-manpower-woes.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1559348/IRA-training-haunts-Colombias-guerrilla-war.html http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB166/index.htm

Positivist Theory †Crime Essay

Positivism is a theory of knowledge which states that science is based upon theories that have been derived solely upon empirical evidence. The positivist theory approach to crime consists of three major features which include biological, psychological and social positivism. Biological: The biological component of positivism seeks to examine data from sources such as twin studies, family studies, genetic patterns and biochemical aspects in an attempt to conjure an explanation for a particular behaviour. Biological positivists generally look for biological causes generally in genetic inheritance. Psychological: The psychological component of positivism also seeks to observe biological factors but also adds behavioural factors such as child rearing practices and brain abnormalities that cause identifiable behaviour outcomes. Those who are extroverts are easy to condition and easy to de-condition those who are introverts are difficult to condition and also difficult to de-condition. Psychological positivism emphasized counselling and improving the lot of potential criminals. Social: Sociological positivism claims that societal factors such as poverty, membership of subcultures, or low levels of education can influence people to conduct criminal behaviour. Adolphe Quetelet made use of empirical evidence such as data and statistical analysis to investigate the relationship between crime and sociological factors. It was found that age, gender, poverty, education, and alcohol consumption were important factors related to crime. This is the theoretical aspect of this unit. Criminal theory is the study of criminal behaviour and is often known as the study of criminality or of law breaking behaviour. Some criminal theories take a psychological approach, some a biological approach other emphasise the sociological aspects of criminality and of course many emphasise all – taking a multi-disciplinary approach an approach that is often clumsily referred to as a psycho/bio/social approach. All of these orientations aim fundamentally to understand criminal behaviour – its nature, its causes, and ways of dealing with it. This will include the incidence of crime, crime in adults, youth and children, gender differences, differences in types of crime e.g. crimes relating to property and violent crime. A relatively new area of study is  referred to as ‘Victimology’ the study of the effect of crime upon those who are the victims or criminal behaviour. In the notes to follow we will discuss a nu mber of criminal theories. Basically we will try to cover the basic approaches and illustrate the differences. This will not be an exhaustive description of all criminal theory and students may wish to study other approaches not covered here. We will look at Classical Criminal Theory and is updated version known as Neoclassical Theory. We will also look at what are referred to as the more scientific approaches known collectively (and probably in the strict meaning of that term erroneously) as Positivism many of which have biological or genetic components. Other approaches have a more sociological character while others examine the phenomenon of rational choice that is a modern offshoot of the classical/neoclassical tradition. Some of the readings will give you some historical introduction to criminal theory – the introductory reading by Henry and Einstadter is useful as is the reading by Beirne. The biological perspectives is overviewed in the reading by Fishbein. Other readings examine mental illness a nd crime and female criminality. Module 2 Penal Theory and Practice This is the practical side of this unit. Here we examine strategies for dealing with criminal behaviour – this covers strategies for punishment, correction, rehabilitation and preventative strategies. All of these are controversial and are the subject of much debate. All relates to issues about what we should do about crime as a society – what to do to those who commit crime, how to prevent it. Historically and amongst different societies there have been different answers. Some form of punishment or retribution is nearly always the case but the form it takes and on what crimes it is visited varies. Punishment may take the form of social and personal deprivation (locked away from the community in an institution (a gaol are correctional institution) the infliction of pain (corporal punishment) or the death sentence (capital punishment). The choice of these options depends on what a society views as the seriousness of the crime, the level of responsibility of the person committing the crime and sometimes the gender and age of the offender – and at times the damage to the community and the victim/s. In the second module we wil also discuss the implications of imprisonment (incarceration) for certain disadvantaged groups. This will  obviously include indigenous groups (now known as Aboriginals and Torres Straight Islanders) who are very much over-represented in the criminal justice system and in jails. The special issues relating to women and children in jails will also be discussed. Also we need to look at issues of those who are incarcerated who have a mental illness, an intellectual disability and those with drug and alcohol overuse problems. The Jail environment is a microcosm of the everyday problems in the community and all the probems we see in the community are there in the jails many times exagerrated . Finally the way a society deals with crime also depends on what it considers to be the nature of the criminal personality or the nature of criminality as such. Criminals are variously seen as mentally ill (mad), evil (bad) or more recently nowadays in the popular media inexplicably intelligent and fundamentally evil (terrorism and serial killing).

The Insurance Companies and the Crisis

In developed countries the size of the insurance market is about eight to twelve percent of the GDP. In the United States the assets managed by the insurance sector are higher than the assets of the banking sector. This is one of the most important pillar of the economy and financial system. At the macroeconomic point of view, level of insurance increases the financial stability of the economy, reduce uncertainty by enabling effective risk management, and support economic activity and stimulate savings and investment.Insurance sector will also increase the efficiency of the entire financial sector by reducing transaction costs, creating liquidity and economies of scale. A modern, well-functioning insurance sector is essential for achieving sustainable economic growth. With the advent of the global financial crisis, the economy is experiencing a very hard time. The insurance industry as well did not avoid the problems. Lack of access to deposited funds in the banks, insurance premium reduction or increase in number of claims, forced the insurance companies to a very difficult challenge – how to carry out current activities and pay due compensation?Many insurers began to lose its liquidity. Insurance industry as one of the few propped the financial crisis at the beginning. Insurers constantly were expanding their offer – not only just for individuals but also for business companies, and were continuing decreasing the prices for life insurance. However, it does not apply to all types of the services provided by insurance companies to entrepreneurs. Finally end of 2007 and 2008 have been rich in events associated with insurance sector.Fall in the stock market, the limitations and difficulties in accessing foreign funding, weakening the financial situation of enterprises caused rapid deterioration of the global economy and have had an impact on the financial performance of the insurance sector. Any disturbances in the banking sector directly affected t he financial results of the insurers. Insurance companies seek to ensure that activities are safe, profitable, and enable timely payment of obligations.Insurers do not give up the cash investments into shares quoted on a regulated market, which can provide significantly higher returns than investments into safe securities. On the background of European insurers’ investment exposure in 2007 and 2008 can be generalized that the most important source of losses for the insurers have proved their investments in debt securities CDOs SPV securitization companies, which face insolvency. These companies has completely lost its value and the guarantee of the solvency. After the collapse of SPV companies, liabilities took over the insurance sector.The situation of the insurance sector in 2008 were gradually deteriorating as well as the solvency ratios of individual insurance company. As an example of big problems on insurance market during crisis I would like to use IG case. The rapid f all in the share price and unsatisfactory liquidity led to lower ratings of AIG by the four major rating agencies including Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service. Standard & Poor's lowered scores for two levels because of less flexibility in raising funds for additional collateral for the loans, and concerns about the growing losses.Similarly, preserved Moody agency, which downgraded AIG for 2 degrees as well. It is clear that the company has liquidity problems. In the first three quarters of 2008, AIG Group lost 18. 5 billion of dollars. Poor results and poor ratings of AIG could cause problems to raise the capital needed to rescue the company. The company asked Central Bank for help. Finally, the government and the Fed did not committed to the downfall of a company in which millions of Americans are insured and agreed to give to AIG financial assistance.The transaction for a two-year revolving credit for 85 billion dollars to ensure the liquidity of the AIG compa ny in exchange for a nearly 80 percent. shares has been approved in September 2008. In case of problems with the implementation of the obligations of the insurer, a domino effect could embrace the whole world, AIG bankruptcy would affect banks and investment funds, which are the main holders of debt securities. In addition, AIG was a major seller of credit default swaps. Bankruptcy of the AIG could force financial institutions in the USA, Europe and Asia (that bought these swaps) to accounting losses.Fed’s decision made was based on the law given to it by the passed bill about the Federal Reserve. It allows the central bank to lend money to companies outside the banking sector under unusual and urgent circumstances. In the agreement, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson forced resignation of current AIG President Robert Willumstada, which was replaced by Edward Libby. In case of Poland, Insurance market were rapidly growing for few years before the crisis. The history of life ins urance in Poland cover a period of about 130 years.The development of life insurance in the first place was associated with an increase in wealth of the society. With the increase in GDP, which is a key determinant of economic status of the country, increased the expenditure on life insurance. In Polish conditions the development of insurance occurred in the nineteenth century. The first Polish insurance company was established in the Austrian partition and it was a Krakow Mutual Insurance Society founded in 1868 in Krakow ( as the name suggests), which a year later began conducting life insurance business.It functioned on principles similar to today's mutual insurance companies. In Poland we could observe the dynamic growth on the insurance market during last years, both in terms of the companies range of products offered and collected contributions. Privatization, further market openings, the adjustment process of the integration with the European Union, and above all the impact o f the launched in 1999 pension reform, the insurance sector are making one of the most promising sectors of the Polish economy.During recent crisis in Poland for example, were noted some main decision-making direction changes in investment policy insurance: * Repeat â€Å"opening up† of Life Insurance Companies to invest funds in real estate. * Abandonment invest their assets in investment certificates other than in the open and closed funds * Disposal of all bonds of the institutions belonging to countries outside the European Union (For Life Insurance Companies). In the current crisis in financial markets, insurance sales, as well as other products and services, has become much more difficult than before.Customers are afraid to invest in financial products and very carefully take the decision of purchasing. There is growing consensus that this crisis will survive only the best sellers. The best sellers are those who see long-term benefits of building and maintaining lasting relationships between insurer and customer. Such a relationship should be based primarily on mutual trust and benefit for both parties. It is crucial to continuously monitor changes in customer needs and proposing solutions to it, which will bring real benefits to it.The today’s internal problem of insurance companies is that insurance companies reward their brokers primarily for acquiring new customers. In life insurance commissions for the following years of the contract are much lower than thus for the first year. This is obviously the most reasonable in today's market situation, but the other side is that such system makes that the agent is much more absorbed in gaining new customers and does not think about them in the category of long-term relationships. This carries a risk of decline in the quality of sales and customer satisfaction.Another issue is the differences in the rates of commission between the products. If the agent is concentrated primarily in the fact to s ell a particular product, which has a better profit, it is likely that the actual identification of customer needs in this area is not a priority for him. Usually it will try to persuade the customer to buy through the pressure and the use of different types of manipulation. But do not forget that the customer who bought life insurance, trust bestowed on both the agent and the company and the contracts are renewable every year. The customer is also a source of new contacts.The customer is more satisfied with the purchase and maintenance, including a greater number of friends to recommend an agent and company. An interesting issue in my opinion is that in Poland close to thirteen thousand of entrepreneurs in the 2008 has opted to temporarily withdraw from the movement of the vehicle. * ‘For many of us is the only chance of surviving the crisis’ – explains Jan Kazulski, Wroclaw Transport Association The government not only allowed to the use of temporary de-registr ation of the car on a larger scale, but released from the obligation to pay by this time a full OC.This is the way how they are trying to deal with the crisis. At the adopted amendments will lose more probably insurance companies. Government explains that option of a refund of contributions for the period in which the vehicle is temporarily withdrawn from service, is already operating in several countries in Europe. The insurance sector in the economy plays a very important role, apart from this obvious, that is protective, contributes to the accumulation of capital in the economy. Accumulation of capital in most concerns life insurance.In case of Poland, despite the current financial crisis, the insurance market in Poland will grow. The pace of growth will be slower than in the past years, and customer requirements in terms of quality sales and after-sales services will increase considerably. Summing up, the financial crisis had a significant impact on insurers. For example the ins urance on Polish market has declined for about 22. 33 percent. Its value has declined by almost 9 billion zlotys – from 39 billion zlotys in 2008 to slightly over 30 billion zlotys at the end of 2009.The record level of disbursements included both property insurance and life insurance policies.Bibliography: * Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa (Articles from Jan and Feb 2009) * Gazeta Wyborcza ‘Rekordowa strata AIG’, ToP, AFP, 2009-03-02 * http://www. quotes-r-us. org/home-insurance/current-financial-crisis-and-insurance-companies * http://articles. latimes. com/2009/mar/30/nation/na-aig30 * Yahoo! Finance, as of October 23, 2008. * Robert P. Hartwig, Ph. D. , Insurance Information Institute, â€Å"2008—First Half Results,† September 30, 2008.

Fate is responsible for the tragedy that occurs in Oedipus the king Essay

Fate is responsible for the tragedy that occurs in Oedipus the king - Essay Example The play â€Å"Oedipus the king† rotates around the life of Oedipus Rex, who in essence, according to fate was destined to kill his father Laios and sleep with his mother Jocasta. In this case, fate is responsible for generating the play’s theme, as the life and journey of Oedipus starts the instant that fate is stated. This fate comes from the oracle, Delphi, and it is made known through a blind prophet named Tiresias. The ultimate realization of this fate is at the time Oedipus is the ruler of Thebes. When Thebes is faced with calamities, and the gods are consulted, they state that Thebes’ calamites can only be solved if the murderer of king Laios is exiled from Thebes. In essence, exiling the murderer will surely reveal that the fate has occurred (Sophocles & Grene 34). As the play continues, Oedipus mother, Jocasta comes to learn of his son’s fate, and she does not want it to happen. Further, the tragedy is developed by Jocasta’s intention of reversing fate by getting rid of young Oedipus. She goes ahead and gives out Oedipus to a herdsman in Mount Kithairon. In the opinion of Jocasta, Oedipus’ fate is too hurtful, as she endeavors to evade the actual situation by giving away Oedipus with the hope that he will not kill his father and sleep with her. Jocasta is not aware that her actions are only buying time, and the eventful situation is bound to happen. Jocasta only creates a detour, which aids the stated fate to happen in a subliminal way (Sophocles & Grene 26). Another way in which fate is responsible for the tragedy in the play is the time that Oedipus comes to learn of his fate. Oedipus knowledge of the fate makes him to exile from Corinth, where he had adopted and lived. Because of his fate, Oedipus thinks that he will kill and sleep with Polybus and Merope respectively whom he thought was his real father and real mother.

Strategy-choices and change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategy-choices and change - Essay Example The company began to face very tragic problem in 2012 since it started engaging in colossal projects that were unmanageable by its systems and processes leading to higher risks of closure (Cameron, 2015). Immediate change that occurred in late 2012 rescued the company and this included terminating the contract of the then chief executive officer among other minor amendments that took place. In the analysis of the strategic change process, Balogun and Hope Hailey’s Change Kaleidoscope model and Lewin’s Forcefield Analysis was taken into consideration as a change impact (Krogerus, 2013). Johnson’s Cultural Web model and Kotter’s 8 Change Steps model were the other two analytical tools used to analyse the internal features and measure the change in Ascension plc (TED). The model was developed to pull together and systematically arrange a wide range of related features and implementation options that require consideration during the transition. The tool is used in gestating the character of change. The model uses a comprehensive framework that captures all the significant factors as deemed by the instigator. The model discovers the features entailed in a change model; these features are categorized in rings that can spur change, inhibit change or implement change (Norland, 2006). The implementer should therefore comprehend the appropriate features of change to enable them make sound judgment in a particular context. The change kaleidoscope contains eight features: TED strategic change timeline was chosen as three years. The main change agent was Jack Warner who had a limited autonomy leadership style. Jack Warner can be identified as the enabler of change because his introduction spurred a turnover of  £160 million. One of the strategies used in implementing the much-needed change was reducing the size of staff by half. This was a strategy that was devised to maximize productivity using limited resources

Women and The Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Women and The Law - Essay Example Women and The Law One actually had mixed opinions in the article given that through the experiences of three women who opted out (Chimerine Irvin, Kuae Kelch Mattox, and Sheilah O’Donnel), some of these women turned out more advantageous for being accorded with the opportunities of finding more rewarding employment when they opted to return on the work force; despite obviously lower compensation. However, others who are not so fortunate could face greater anxieties for having to look for more productive endeavor at an age where they could in fact be discriminated on for entering the labor force at a much older age where younger, healthier and equally qualified contenders could be more than willing to accept positions at considerably lower pay. However, through the experiences that were relayed, it was commendable that those who were able to establish a network of professional colleagues while at their prime of the career, could still tap these network and resources to find rewarding opportuniti es to enter the labor force. The difference of having taken the class is that one is more cognizant of theories and their applications to contemporary settings. As such, much appreciation is taken in crucial concerns, especially those affecting women in the workforce and their abilities to sustain supporting their respective families despite the challenges of balancing work and family life.... d even facing serious consequences, especially when divorce had left women without support, without money, and without resources to support the growing needs of the children. Description of Personal Reaction to/Opinion of the Article One actually had mixed opinions in the article given that through the experiences of three women who opted out (Chimerine Irvin, Kuae Kelch Mattox, and Sheilah O’Donnel), some of these women turned out more advantageous for being accorded with the opportunities of finding more rewarding employment when they opted to return on the work force; despite obviously lower compensation. However, others who are not so fortunate could face greater anxieties for having to look for more productive endeavor at an age where they could in fact be discriminated on for entering the labor force at a much older age where younger, healthier and equally qualified contenders could be more than willing to accept positions at considerably lower pay. However, through the experiences that were relayed, it was commendable that those who were able to establish a network of professional colleagues while at their prime of the career, could still tap these network and resources to find rewarding opportunities to enter the labor force. Statement of What Difference, if any, Taking the Class Had on Reaction to the Article The difference of having taken the class is that one is more cognizant of theories and their applications to contemporary settings. As such, much appreciation is taken in crucial concerns, especially those affecting women in the workforce and their abilities to sustain supporting their respective families despite the challenges of balancing work and family life. The lessons provided ample opportunities to be apprised of how theories are applied and how,

Transforming Into a Transformational Leader Dissertation

Transforming Into a Transformational Leader - Dissertation Example One charismatic man, who worked as a mechanic during that time recently traced my brother-in-law as he now owns a multi million dollar company in Africa that is involved in large scale car repair. My brother-in-law inspired a worker but built a leader at the end of it all. I instantly wanted and still want to be just like him, a transformational leader. Transformational leadership is a leadership style that focuses on ensuring change that is revolutionary to an organisation by being committed to the vision of the organisation. Transformational leaders ensure this by redefining employees’ objectives, goals, visions and missions. These leaders renew their subordinates’ commitments and restructure their strategies towards attaining goals by stimulating each other and inspiring their followers to become leaders as leaders grow into moral aides (Sullivan and Decker, 2005). Over the years, I have learnt that emotional intelligence is a prerequisite to any transformational lea der. All the transformational leaders have a high level of emotional intelligence as it is what gives them the ability to accurately perceive and express emotion. Emotional intelligence is what gives transformational leaders the ability to access and generate thought feelings, to understand emotional knowledge and their ability to regulate emotions and ensure intellectual growth. Emotional intelligence incorporates the moral capacity of a leader (Bass, 1990) I would like to mature into the president of my current organisation, Blue Cross Blue Shield. To attain this position I have been cultivating my emotional intelligence where by my self awareness, motivation, self regulation, empathy and social skills. This means that for me to become an excellent transformational leader, I have to develop a high degree of understanding in what I am feeling, what it means and their potential positive or negative repercussions. Emotional intelligence will also support me in attaining measurable re sults when I become the president of Blue Cross Blue Shield. Since I got my job at Blue Cross Blue Shield, my major job description has been to train new and permanent employees to bring out the best in them and upgrading them to my organisation’s assets. I would like to grow further into a leader that put extra influence on employees by expanding the horizons in terms of goals. This would be done by elevating their confidence to perform and deliver more than what their expectations dictate (Conger and Kanungo, 1994). Naturally I am a charismatic fellow who arouses admiration. This is a strong quality that will provide intellectual stimulation, inspire and motivate my employees through the treating them with consideration individually. With expression of this behaviour the, by the time I graduate into the President of Blue Cross Blue Shield I would easily inspire my employees to attain their full maximum potential and display high levels of performance. I also have strong tec hnical skills and intellectual capabilities which would help me guiding employees in technical work. My remarkable high degree of self awareness and emotional intelligence helps me in detecting my strongest and weakest points. This can help in regulation my leadership abilities (Lussier and Achua, 2004). Like my brother-in-law, I have high determination and vision however my weakness lies here because I have not learnt how to use it evaluate my employees

Pentateuch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Pentateuch - Essay Example This text is predominantly for a first-time-reader. The narrative has many surprises, authentic innovations and ironies. Take for example Turner’s comments about the first verse of Genesis. To quote the first verse, â€Å"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.†(Genesis 1:1, 2, NIV) Turner responds to this revelation thus: â€Å"The first verse of Genesis not only reveals a lot about God, but also attacks the common ancient view about religion. In doing this, it sets the trend of the creation account as a whole, which takes every opportunity available to confound the conventional wisdom of its time.†(p.19) The thinking of the people impacted by the materialistic civilization, scientific advancement, industrial and internet revolution have put many of the original contents of the Genesis in dock. Voluminous literatures, a number of books have been published on Genesis, and many attempts have been made to probe its depths. The intellectuals, the mind-level scholars interact with biblical texts in novel ways, and this stand was unthinkable a generation ago. Many have the audacity to comment that Genesis reflects the viewpoints of the time to which it belonged. Turner is quick to counter such mind-level architects of the scriptures vehemently. He writes, â€Å"This is not the case. Genesis has always been out of step, not only with the prevailing views of its own time, but also with ours today. It was radical then. It is radical now.†(p.19) To put God in the weighing scale of intellectualism and treat His revelations like the oscillating pendulum, is the worst mistake committed by the present day scholars who make attempts to interpret Genesis. But it is possible for a discerning reader or critic,

Sales Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sales Management - Assignment Example However this is not the case because they are being constantly let down by the sales managers and indeed the policy adopted by Mike Dalton. As Dalton believes in offering the sales representatives with the remuneration package alone and no salary, this stands as a very negative connotation of the entire payment structure. If for instance a sales representative is unable to find a single sales lead in a particular period of time, he would not receive any payments at all. It would mean that all his hard work and devotion for the sake of IFP would essentially go to waste. What is important is to understand how IFP can give its best to its own employees who are indeed receiving nothing at all, more so when they are being committed to the company and its stance in essence. There is a dire need to understand how IFP’s viewpoint would be taken over by the employees. I do not agree that the employees would be on their toes if they receive just the compensation for the sales leads that they bring in instead of the salaries that they should be getting (Weitzul 1993). This is a direct case of meting out differential treatment for the employees because they are being hard done by. Justice needs to be done so that they remain motivated and glued to their respective jobs. The remuneration package used by Mike Dalton might not serve the purpose of the sales representatives and indeed the employees at large because it does not warrant a just policy to meet their most basic needs at work. This should be done away with at the earliest so that the employees might heave a sigh of relief and work to their best effect in the future (Gunsch 1991). The sales team will always be at the mercy of their sales leads and they thus know that if they fall short on this count, they would be removed from their jobs and hence their termination would mean a lot of economic problems for not only their own selves

The political philosophy of Hobbes and Locke Essay Example for Free

The political philosophy of Hobbes and Locke Essay In this paper, I will examine the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. I will investigate both mens ideas individually and offer my own views on their theories. I will conclude the paper by comparing and contrasting the notions introduced in their respective writings. Thomas Hobbes was born in Wiltshire, England in 1588. He lived in one of the most unsettled periods in English history. Following a rebellion against King Charles, there resulted a civil war, which began in 1642. As a consequence of this political instability, Hobbes was forced into exile in November of 1640. He remained abroad living on the continent for approximately eleven years. During this period he worked and conversed with many of the great philosophers of his time. It was while in Paris in 1640 that Hobbes finally matured the plan for his own philosophical work. It was to consist of three treatises, dealing respectively with matter or body, with human nature, and with society. It was his intention, he says, to have dealt with these issues in this order, but his country was in turmoil with concerns regarding the rights of dominion, and the obedience due from the sovereigns subjects. As a result of this, Hobbes began instead with his examination of society. When stable government seemed to have been re-established by the Commonwealth, he had his ideas published in London. The same year, 1651, saw the publication of his greatest work, Leviathan, and his own return to England, which now promised a safer shelter to the philosopher than France, where he feared the clergy and was no longer in favour with the remnant of the exiled English court. The last twenty-eight years of Hobbes long life were spent in England. Hobbes philosophy can be described as materialistic, and mechanicalistic. He believed everything is matter. One cannot differentiate between matter, life and mind. To describe social reality, Hobbes would argue, is like describing physics or biology. It is concerned with matter in motion. He argued that all human life and all human thought are to be understood quite simply as matter in motion. In this regard Galileo heavily influenced his thinking. Hobbes identified two distinguishable types of motion. These he defined as  vital motion and voluntary motion. I will not indulged heavily into these notions, except to say, that Hobbes believed that the ultimate goal in all human motion is toward self-preservation. Basically what he is saying is that all motion is a result of fear of death. Although reason plays a significant role according to Hobbes, it is largely a regulatory instrument to these basic motions (1). Hobbes philosophical ideas are largely portrayed in his text, Leviathan. In this piece, he discloses the fact that he feels the evils of absolute power is still better than living in a society without that ultimate overseer. Perhaps as a result of the turbulent time in which he lived, Hobbes had an almost chronic fear of living within a chaotic society. It was his belief that a society without an absolute leader would be, or eventually become a chaotic one. Hobbes gives us a psychological explanation for why he believes this to be so. In his opinion, all people are by nature selfish and egoistic. As all men are selfish, and wish only to satisfy their own needs, competition for resources inevitably occurs. Resources are not infinite in amount, but are limited in their availability. As a result, Hobbes argues that conflict between men over these resources is unavoidable. Hobbes refers to people living in this state of nature as natural man (Hobbes, Pt 1, Ch 11). In his brief introduction to the Leviathan, Hobbes describes the State as an organism analogous to a large person. He shows how each part of the state parallels the function of the parts of the human body. He notes that the first part of his project is to describe human nature, in so far as humans are the creators of the state. To this end, he advises that we look into ourselves to see the nature of humanity in general. Hobbes argues that, in the absence of social condition, every action we perform, no matter how charitable or benevolent, is done for reasons, which are ultimately self-serving. For example, when I donate to charity, I am actually taking delight in demonstrating my powers, in its most extreme form; this view of human nature has since been termed Psychological Egoism. Hobbes believes that any account of human action, including morality, must be consistent with the fact that we are all self-serving. Hobbes speculates how selfish people would behave in a state of nature, prior to the formation of any government. He begins noting that humans are essentially equal, both mentally and physically, in so far as even the weakest person has the strength to kill the strongest. Given our equal standing, Hobbes continues by noting how situations in nature make us naturally prone to quarrel. There are three natural causes of disagreement among people: competition for limited supplies of material possessions, distrust of one another, and glory in so far as people remain hostile to preserve their powerful reputation. Given the natural causes of conflict, Hobbes concludes that the natural condition of humans is a state of perpetual war of all against all, where no morality exists, and everyone lives in constant fear (Hobbes Pt 1, Ch 13). Under such conditions, there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Hobbes continues offering proofs that the state of nature would be as brutal as he describes. We see signs of this in the mistrust we show of others in our daily lives. In countries, which have yet to be civilized, people are barbaric to each other. Finally, in the absence of international law, strong countries prey on the vulnerability of weak countries. Humans have three motivations for ending this state of war: the fear of death, the desire to have an adequate living, and the hope to attain this through ones labour. Nevertheless, until the state of war ends, each person has a right to everything, including another persons life (Ibid). In articulating the peace-securing process, Hobbes draws on the language of the natural law tradition of morality, which was then championed by Dutch philosopher Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). According to Grotius, all particular moral principles derive from immutable principles of reason. Since these  moral mandates are fixed in nature, they are thus called laws of nature. By using the terminology of the natural law theory, Hobbes is suggesting that, from human self-interest and social agreement alone, one can derive the same kinds of laws, which Grotius believes are immutably fixed in nature (2). Throughout his discussion of morality, Hobbes continually re-defines traditional moral terms, such as right, liberty, contract and justice, in ways which reflects his account of self-interest and social agreement (Hobbes Pt 1, Ch 14). For Grotius and other natural law theorists, a law of nature is an unchangeable truth, which establishes proper conduct. Hobbes defines a law of nature as follows: A Law of Nature (lex naturalis) is a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life, or takes away the means of preserving the same; and to omit that by which he thinks it may be best preserved. Hobbes continues by listing specific laws of nature all of which aim at preserving a persons life. Hobbess first three Laws of Nature are the most important since they establish the overall framework for putting an end to the state of nature. Given our desire to get out of the state of nature, and thereby preserve our lives, Hobbes concludes that we should seek peace. This becomes his first law of nature (Ibid). That every man ought to endeavour peace as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek and use all helps and advantages of war; the first branch of which rule contains the first fundamental Law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it. The second law of nature advocates the position that man in this state is entitled to defend himself (Ibid). The mutual transferring of these rights is called a covenant and is the basis of the notion of moral obligation and duty. For example, I agree to give up my right to steal from you, if you give up your right to steal from me. We have then transferred these rights to each other and thereby become obligated to not steal from each other. From selfish reasons alone, we are both motivated to mutually transfer these and other rights, since this will end the dreaded state of war between us. Hobbes continues by discussing the  validity of certain contracts. For example, contracts made in the state of nature are not generally binding, for, if I fear that you will violate your part of the bargain, then no true agreement can be reached. No contracts can be made with animals since animals cannot understand an agreement. Most significantly, I cannot contract to give up my right to self-defence since self-defence is my sole motive for entering into any contract (Ibid). Hobbes derives his laws of nature deductively, modelled after the type of reasoning used in geometry. That is, from a set of general principles, more specific principles are logically derived. Hobbess general principles are: that people pursue only their own self-interest, the equality of people, the causes of quarrel, the natural condition of war, and the motivations for peace. From these he derives the above two laws, along with at least 13 others. Simply making contracts will not in and of itself secure peace. We also need to keep the contracts we make, and this is Hobbes third law of nature. Hobbes notes a fundamental problem underlying all covenants: as selfish people, each of us will have an incentive to violate a contract when it serves our best interests. For example, it is in the mutual best interest of Murphy and I to agree to not steal from each other. However, it is also in my best interests to break this contract and steal from Murphy if I can get away with it and what complicates matters more, Murphy is also aware of this fact. Thus, it seems that no covenant can ever get off the ground. This difficulty is overcome by giving unlimited power to a political sovereign who will punish us if we violate our covenants. Again, it is from purely selfish reasons that I agree to set up a policing power, which will potentially punish me if I deviate from the agreement (Hobbes, Pt 1, Ch 15). As noted, Hobbes first three Laws of Nature establish the overall framework for putting an end to the state of nature. The remaining laws give content to the earlier ones by describing more precisely the kinds of covenants, which will preserve peace. For example, the fourth law is to show gratitude toward those who comply with covenants. Otherwise people will regret that they complied when someone is ungrateful. Similarly, the fifth law is that we should be accommodating to the interests of society. For, if we quarrel over every minor issue, then this will interrupt the peace process. Briefly,  here are the remaining laws: cautious pardoning of those who commit past offences; the purpose of punishment is to correct the offender not an eye for an eye retribution; avoid direct or indirect signs of hatred or contempt of another; avoid pride; retain only those rights which you would acknowledge in others; be equitable; share in common that which cannot be divided, such as rivers; items which cannot be divided or enjoyed in common should be assigned by lot; mediators of peace should have safe conduct; resolve disputes through an arbitrator. Hobbes explains that there are other possible laws, which are less important such as those against drunkenness, which tends to the destruction of particular people. At the close of Chapter 15, Hobbes states that morality consists entirely of these Laws of Nature, which are arrived at through social contract. Contrary to Aristotles account of virtue ethics, Hobbes adds that moral virtues are relevant to ethical theory only in so far as they promote peace. Outside of this function, virtues have no moral significance. Hobbes continues in Chapter 17 by arguing that in order to ensure covenants and peace, power must be given to one person or one assembly. We do this by saying, implicitly, I authorise and give up my right of governing myself, to this person or to this assembly of people, on this condition, that thou give up thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner. His definition of a commonwealth, then, is this: One person, of whose acts a great multitude, by mutual covenants one with another, have made themselves every one the author, to the end he may use the strength and means of them all, as he shall think expedient, for their peace and common defence This person is called a sovereign. He continues that there are two ways of establishing a commonwealth: through acquisition, or through institution. In Chapter18 Hobbes lists the rights of rights of sovereigns. They are, subjects owe him sole loyalty, subjects cannot be freed from their obligation, dissenters must consent with the majority in declaring a sovereign, sovereign cannot be unjust or injure any subject, the sovereign cannot be put to death, the sovereign has the right to censor doctrines repugnant to peace, legislative power of prescribing rules, judicial power of deciding all controversies, make war and peace with other nations, choose  counsellors, power of reward and punishment, power of all civil appointments, including the militia. In Chapter 19 he discusses the kinds of governments that can be instituted. The three main forms are monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. He argues that monarchy is best for several reasons. Monarchs interests are the same as the peoples. He will receive better counsel since he can select experts and get advice in private. His policies will be more consistent. Finally, there is less chance of a civil war since the monarch cannot disagree with himself. His overriding belief here is that the sovereign, most likely a king, will only have the best interests of his subjects at heart, as he, Hobbes argues, is only as wealthy as his country. Rather inconsistently when you consider his theory overall, Hobbes also grants certain rights, or liberties to the subjects living within his monarchist society. These liberties, as you might expect, are established to ensure the right of the subject to self-preservation. Therefore, if the sovereign unnecessarily places the life of the subject in peril, either directly or indirectly, the covenant has in effect been broken, or the subject is free to disembark from the agreement. The subject is expected to defend his country from attack, should that occur, despite the danger it may entail for his life. However, he is not obliged, for instance to testify against himself in court, as that would quite obviously be counter to his desire for self-preservation. This concept was incorporated in the United States Constitution in the form of the Fifth Amendment, and many upstanding members of society have enjoyed its benefits since, including Al Capone, Jimmy Hoffa, and most recently Junior Soprano! Another idea introduced by Hobbes which was embraced by the United States legal system, as well as our own, was his belief that the subject had the right to sue the sovereign if his needs were not met. Hobbes theory has often been criticised quite severely and I believe rightly so. His individualistic perspective suggests that our self-preservation is the dominant motivation in our lives. Society exists, if we are to believe Hobbes theory, simply as a method of ensuring our self-interest, or at least maximising it. His theory is built on the premise of mutual trust, yet  the society would collapse without the threat of sanctions imposed by the sovereign. So, in fact it is not trust that is the raft that keeps society afloat, rather it is obviously fear. The most disturbing fact in regard to his theory, I believe, is Hobbes notion that society arises largely as a result of our selfish ways. He suggests that we are egoistic, as we as being are driven by our desires. It seems that he does not seriously consider the fact that our desires could incorporate any notions of legitimately, and unselfishly wanting to help others. This in my opinion is rather bizarre. There are other aspects to Hobbes theory that I find difficult to comprehend. His assertion that a monarchy offers us the best option for government is ludicrous to say the least, and his arguments to support this position are feeble at best. I will address just one of them here, to prove my point. In the course of his dialogue, Hobbes makes the claim that the best possible way to ensure that the constantly changing desires and needs of subjects are met, is to have a King or Queen as sovereign. When you consider some of the monarchies of our day, I will draw particular attention to the British monarchy, and how out of touch they are with their subjects, I think that it is fair to say that Hobbes opinions on this issue is almost laughable. Another aspect of Hobbes political philosophy that I find particularly disconcerting is his belief that conflict must never occur between subjects and their sovereign. Often, if not always, change only occurs as a result of conflict. Without conflict, we might never develop and advance significantly as societies. Revolutionary leader Thomas Jefferson said: The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is natural manure (3). I believe that the threat of revolt is always necessary in order to keep leaders firmly in tune with the needs of their citizens. The final comment I will make on Hobbes work on this matter relates to the fact that I believe his theory is extremely defeatist in essence. Basically, Hobbes theory is built on the foundation that we desire peace so much that we should be willing to accept the evils of absolute power, or even dictatorship in order to maintain it. John Locke was born in Somerset, England in 1632. Like Hobbes, he lived in a period of great political instability. He was forced to flee England twice as a result of this situation, however, unlike Hobbes; he was not soared against mankind as a consequence. In his major political works, his Two Treatise on Civil Government, he attempts to justify the revolution of King William of Orange against the legitimate monarch, King James II. In the first of these two treatise, Lockes purpose is to attack the ideas of pro-royalist; Sir Robert Filmer, and specifically his theory put forward in his work; The Patriarch. In the Second Treatise on Civil Government, Locke puts forth his own ideas on the establishment of a democratic government. The focus of this piece shall be in the analysis of this work, as it displays Lockes own thoughts and believes. Locke developed the theoretical argument that became the basis for democracy, as we know it today within the western world. His ideas were to become the building blocks for the development of the constitution in both the United States of America and France. In fact, sections of his writings appear almost word for word in the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The influence of his ideas on todays world cannot be understated. In examining Lockes ideas, I also hope to demonstrate how distinctly different his thoughts often are from Hobbes. There are a few similarities between the two mens work however. For one, Locke, like his predecessor Hobbes, begins his work by giving what he believes is the historical description of how governments came into existence. In the same way as Hobbes, Locke commences by examining the relevance of the social contract to the establishment of government. Also corresponding to Hobbes he discusses the state of nature. However, Locke believes that the fundamental mistake in Hobbes theory is in his ideas introduced on this issue. Lockes state of nature is a largely peaceful one. Men live side-by-side, own property, possessions, and are free to do with these as they please. He rejects Hobbes notion that men are as a rule selfish, but rather thinks of a situation were many times people cooperate with each other, but unfortunately sometimes they are egoistic, but not always. For Locke, the law of nature that governs behaviour within this  state, is quite simple. People should not harm others in his life, health, liberty or possessions (Locke, Ch 2). Life within the state of nature for Locke is a life of perfect freedom. Its moral order is overseen by the law of nature, which is God-given, and exists independent of any constitution or society. Essential to this moral well being, are the natural rights of the people living within this state. These entitlements include that of life, liberty, property and also the authority to reprimand those who violate the natural law. It is difficult for individuals to do this alone, and so it is as a result of this factor, according to Locke that we were forced to vacate the state of nature, and establish societies. When a person breaks the law of nature, it is essential, he believes, to have the institutions in place to be able to punish the person, or persons in a fair and just manner. It is due to this fact that man originally voluntarily agreed to create society in order to have these institutions established (Ibid). These institutions that had to be erected had a number of goals, or objectives, which it needed to fulfill. Firstly, laws had to be created that reflected the needs of the population. In addition, these laws must become relatively fixed within the framework of that society, to the extent that those who would come under their influence would know them. Locke also felt that it was imperative to have at the core of these legal institutions impartial judges, who would have both knowledge of the law and authority to adjudicate in legal disputes. Finally, Locke rightly believed that all of this would be pointless unless the society had in place the resources to enforce these laws. If it did not, then quite simply the laws would not be followed (Ibid). Locke also discusses what he calls his state of war, which is very similar to Hobbes state of nature. In this state, there are no common judges or established institutions of law. Locke describes an environment where the fittest survive. This state of war can exist both inside a society and outside the bounds of it. It occurs when somebody, or some group, attempts to acquire resources solely as a result of their power. Opposition to such  tyrants, according to Locke, is not only justified, but he would even argue that at times it is completely necessary for the maintenance of the society. If an issue such as this is not addressed, life will simply revert back to the conditions experienced within the state of nature (Locke, Ch 3). The accounts I have already given of the consensual agreement among citizens to establish legal institutions to oversee the upholding of the law are the basic rudiments of democracy. Laws within such a democracy are created only after long deliberation, and are not invented on the spur of the moment. This is often the case under the rule of monarchies, according to Locke, were laws are created and destroyed at will to simply fulfil the wishes of the sovereign. Furthermore, laws within a democracy will be created by representatives of the people and so, Locke argues, should clearly reflect the wishes of the society with whom they represent. An interesting fact built into Lockes theory, is his belief that certain aspects of human behaviour should not come under the influence of governmental control. He referred to these as rights. This particular notion of Lockes was another aspect of his theory incorporated in many national constitutions. The most notable of these, is The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. The bill of rights grants those living in the United States certain undeniable rights, such as the right to free speech, the right to choose where one worships, and also the right to bare arms to mention a few. Also included within The Bill of Rights is the right to own private property. Again, this is another aspect of Lockes theory that he gave particular emphasis to within his work (Locke, Ch 5). Locke considered property to be much more than just material substance. He believed property to actually be part of oneself, as it is clearly the fruit of your own labour. Throughout his writings, property is used in a much broader sense than the dictionary definition of the word. It is usually referred to as meaning such things as life and liberty. Therefore, Locke argues that to attempt to take an individuals property from them, it is much more than simply theft. Instead, he maintains that it is an assault on you as a person. This particular opinion on property is very different from the  beliefs expressed by Hobbes. For him, property is a creation of society. Furthermore, he insists that no person can claim anything as his own within the state of nature. What you own is only yours for as long as you are strong enough to hold onto it. Lockes ideas were obviously in marked contrast to those put forward by Hobbes regarding property. Locke believed that we were all created equal in nature; therefore, society had no right to take from us what nature had given to us initially. This conception was advanced further and indeed incorporated into law. It is of course the NOTION that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. I deliberately highlighted the word NOTION, because I believe that is all it is, and the truth in reality is actually far from this (Ibid). The most democratic aspect of Lockes theory is incorporated in his ideas that when we departed from the state of nature, we voluntarily gave up some of our personnel rights to the government. Specifically, the right to punish those who transgress the law. This right is given to the executive who is appointed by the people and is therefore responsible to them. Lockes government is almost like a secretary for the mass population. Acting like a secretary, the government should simply do the jobs required by, or requested by the people. If the government does not fulfil the wishes of the population, Locke maintained, they should be removed from office. For Locke, power lies with the people. Revolution by the people is not to be ruled out if the government has to be removed for not fulfilling the wishes of its citizens (Locke, Ch 8). In order to prevent abuse of power by the government, or indeed any one area of it, Locke introduced the idea of dividing the government into three branches. Each branch has the capability to influence, and if necessary, restrain the other branch or branches of government. The different strands of government he established were the executive, legislature and federative. Again, these branches of government are remarkably similar to those used in the United States. The executive and legislature proposed by Locke are very similar to those used in the U.S. government. Lockes federative branch was intended to deal with foreign negotiations, and does not in fact exists in the U. S. government framework. The third element of government there is  called the judicial and deals with the legal applications of government. The overall goal of using three branches of government is nonetheless very similar in purpose; in that its aims are restrict power from becoming to great within any one branch (Locke, Ch 12). Locke was particularly concerned with the executive gaining too much power. As a result, it is the legislature who is granted the greatest power and influence within government. The legislature makes the laws and the executive is only charged with enforcing these laws. Therefore, the ability of the executive is severely restricted by the limitations of the laws sent down from the legislature. Another interesting aspect of Lockes desire to restrict the executive is his belief that they could be removed from their office by the legislature should they defy the rules of that office. Again, an idea very similar to this is found within the scheme of the United States government. Impeachment proceeding can be taking against any member of the civil government, if they are believed to have broken any rules of their office. In the history of the country, impeachment proceeding has been introduced against three presidents. These affairs, overseen by the House of Representatives determine whether there is sufficient evidence against the accused to warrant a trial before the Senate. None of the three presidents were ever convicted of the charges against them. President Andrew Jackson was taken to trial before the Senate, but failed to be convicted by one vote. President Richard Nixon resigned from his office before proceeding could really get under way, following the fallout from the Watergate Scandal. Most recently, President Bill Clinton survived a vote in the House of Representatives and so was not forced to undergo a legal trial before the Senate. I believe Lockes theory is a substantial improvement on that proposed by Hobbes. Locke correctly identifies the two major weaknesses I see in Hobbes theory. They are centred on his believes that man is innately selfish, or egoistic, and so is motivated solely by self-interest, and also his believe that man can live stably and securely under the sovereign leadership of a monarch. He fails to convince me on either of these points. Despite the fact that I see much to be praised about Lockes theory, I feel that there are  certain frailties that should be addressed, and I will conclude this essay by those that I feel are most significant. Essential too much of Lockes theory is his belief that living within the state of nature, we have certain rights, which he insists should be transferred to the societal or governmental level. Locke provides little evidence to offer support for the significance he places on these rights, and the evidence he does provide is certainly not totally convincing. Concerning opinion on social contract, Locke fails to identify his position on the double contract, and seems to tactfully dodge this difficult issue. Although certainly not nearly as individualist as Hobbes, Lockes theory does seem to lean in favour of the individual, rather than towards the genuine concerns of the group as a whole. One notion within his theory in particular seems to suggest this standpoint most clearly. His belief that we consent to joining society, definitely suggest to me that one is doing so for ones own good, and any thoughts of common good, are secondary at best. Finally, Lockes belief that government and society should be built on the premise that the majority rule, at first glimpse appears fair. This idea certainly was an enormous step forward from the ideas of those who came before him, going all the back to the ancients. However, often within democracies this notion is taking too literally and the majority rule only while considering their own interests and not those of the society as a whole. Minorities are treated like second-class citizens. Evidence of such behaviour can easily be found even within our own borders in Northern Ireland. Endnotes: 1. Gauthier, D. Hobbes, A Companion to the Philosophers. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 305. 2. Blackburn, S. Dictionary of Philosophy. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 163. 3. Darwin, B. (Ed.) The Oxford Library of Words Phrases. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 130. Note: All other quotations cited throughout this essay are taken from: 4. Hobbes, T. Leviathan, Classics of Moral Political Theory. (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company Inc., 1996, 2nd Ed.). 5. Locke, J. Two Treatises of Civil Government, Classics of Moral Political Theory. (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company Inc., 1996, 2nd Ed.).

Social and Economic Problems of the Arab World

Social and Economic Problems of the Arab World The Arab World refers to the 22 Arabic speaking countries located between the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and the Mediterranean Sea and Turkey in the north to the Indian Ocean and mid-Africa in the south. It consists of an area of around 14 million square kilometres, most of which is desert except for the coastal areas. There are approximately 250 million people living in the Arab World, with the majority being Muslims, although there are many from other religions too. Historically, the Arab World was not divided into states, but now it is, and its 22 countries form many popular regions such as the Gulf area, the Middle East, North Africa and the Sahara. History, language, religion are some of the many unifying factors that exist in the consciousness of every Arab man. After gaining independence, some Arab states and some memorable Arab leaders tried their best to reunify the Arab World, but their efforts were in vain, especially after many failed attem pts such as the rise of the United Arab Republic between Syria and Egypt in 1985. From then on, all Arab states set off on the journey of improving and developing themselves depending on their potential power. Although the Arab World is experiencing a state of stability, there are still many social and economical problems threatening the development of many of the Arab states. The first problem to discuss here is unemployment in Arab countries, which is the highest in the world and threatens to spread poverty in the Arab World; the increase in the number of workers was not matched by an equal increase in employment in the Arab World and with the collapse of the oil revenues and the implementation of stabilization and structural adjustment program, employment growth slowed or became negative; as a result unemployment increased (1). According to the annual report of the Arab Labor Organization, 14% of the population are unemployed, which means that there are more than 17 million Arab people without work. There are many reasons for this: first, the failure of development due to the political situation in the Arab World. Civil wars and conflicts are considered the main obstacles that hinder development. Second, the poor economic performance of the Arab governments due to poor administrative tools and corruption. Third, the failure of education to meet the requ irements of the job market and the neglect of technical and applied education, which is important to widen the labour market. Finally, the failure of the governments to create attractive investment opportunities that could increase the number of jobs that are available, and the weak laws that, if strengthened, could encourage investments. This dangerous problem has devastating effects, and so Arab states should do their best to encourage the private sector to increase the number of job opportunities for unemployed people. This can be achieved through issuing a number of laws to urge businessmen and companies to get involved in the national market. In addition to encouraging investment within the Arab World, investment in the Western countries should be encouraged, as well as opening the national market to foreign firms and companies to set up effective projects, which could help the national economy improve. Another social problem in the Arab World is that women do not have access to all of the rights stated in the Islam religion, despite the fact that the majority of Arabs are Muslims. In Islam, women have the right to learn, to live a good life, to agree or refuse marriage, to work, and many others, and it is totally forbidden to deny them of any of these. In the Arab World, many women are not given these rights, and in some Arab countries, girls under the age of 15 are forced to get married to older men without their consent. One example is a 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage and then died during painful childbirth, which also killed her baby. Moreover, according to UN data, the proportion of womens representation in Arab parliaments is only 3.4% (as opposed to 11.4% in the rest of the world). In addition, 55% of Arab women are illiterate (2), and in many parts of the Arab World they are not allowed to continue their learning, despite this being a fundamental right in Islam that considers the education of women in particular as essential for the construction of society. Furthermore, women do not enjoy the right to vote in many Arab countries. For example in Kuwait, they do not have the right to elect until two years. This bad situation for women in the Arab World should be considered and analysed as soon as possible, because womens role in society cannot be denied, otherwise the whole of society will be threatened. Therefore, the improvement of education for women and the elimination of high female illiteracy rates in the Arab World is an urgent necessity, and can be achieved by making primary school education both free and compulsory. The most dangerous problem in the Arab World is the widespread illiteracy, which is threatening future development. The UN report found that one third of Arabs are illiterate and only $10 per person is spent on scientific research (3). The report also found that almost nine million children of primary school age are not attending school in the Arab World. Based on the general census of the population for the year 2004, the illiteracy rate among those aged 10 years and over was 45.7%, with a significant disparity between male and female males had an illiteracy rate of 29.8% as opposed to females at 62.1% (4). No one can deny how serious this problem is, since it is the cause of many other problems such as poverty, disease and death. The highest rate of illiteracy recorded is among women, since the female education in the Arab World is seen as less important, especially in rural areas. The Arabic governments, organisations and international organisations must cooperate and work togeth er to reduce this high rate of illiteracy, and an enlightenment campaign must be held in the rural areas to let people know the importance of the education of women in society. Arab governments have to make education more accessible and increase the number of schools, especially in rural areas and deserts, where the rate of illiteracy among nomads is very high. They must also reward those who become literate. However, these plans are in vain if there is no money available, so a respectable amount of money should be specified for the purpose of fighting illiteracy among Arabic people. This money can support all efforts to improve education and be spent on helping poor people to continue learning, especially if we take into consideration that poverty is one of the main causes of illiteracy. In conclusion, unemployment, illiteracy and the neglect of women are just some of the social and economic problems of the Arab World. Unemployment is a serious challenge because it is the cause of many social and economic problems, and can lead to an increase in crime, poverty, illiteracy and humiliation, as people who do not work do not have enough money to live a respectable life. Women in the Arab World should enjoy their rights that are stated in Islam because if they are educated, they can play an essential role in life, which benefits the whole of society. In Islam it is said that if you teach a male, you teach an individual, but if you teach a female, you teach a whole nation. The last problem that we discussed was the problem of illiteracy in the Arab World and how this hinders progress and development, and causes many social and economic problems such as poverty and a high rate of fertility, which in turn is another serious problem. It is clear that all of these problems are related to each other in one way or another, so Arab governments must be aware of how to face these through working hard and planning to prevent them from worsening. Furthermore, rich Arab states such as Qatar and UAE can participate in the efforts to reduce the suffering in poor areas. For example, the campaign led by Dubai to help blind people get their sight back was a great success all over the world. REFERENCES Rivlin, P. Economic policy and performance in the Arab World. p.36. Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), December 4, 1999. http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/7272-un-arab-world-rife-illiteracy-lacks-innovation http://www.yementimes.com/DefaultDET.aspx?i=1226p=fronta=2

Consultation Skills In Relation To Non Medical Prescribing Nursing Essay

Consultation Skills In Relation To Non Medical Prescribing Nursing Essay To illustrate this I will utilise the model of reflection adapted from (Boud, Keogh and Walker 1985) as to focus on influences on prescribing, psychology of prescribing working through the consultation, decision-making and therapy, and referral. Being present in the consultation as a non-medical prescriber challenged me to ask questions about my own practice and the consultant psychiatrist, focussing on how we arrived at our decisions and occasionally resulting in contrasting views. According to (Butler et al 1998) many authorities advise that the prime skills associated with the prescribing process are: Adequate exploration of the patients worries Adequate provision of information to the patient regarding the natural processes of the disease being treated The advisability of self-medication in trivial illness The issue pertaining to poor communication has a negative impact with patient-practitioner relationship and was acknowledged in an informative paper by (Britten et al 2000). Ultimately, all of the failures of communication were linked with an absence of the patients involvement during the consultation process. There is evidence that failure to actively engage in, or even consider, the patients perspective is a common failing amongst prescribers. (Britten et al 2000). Very often there is a focus on the term compliance and it is only recently that nurses are focussing on the more apt term of concordance. The term compliance was viewed as being authority laden (Marinker 1997) where it was expected that patients complied implicitly and without question when a prescription was given. There was little acceptance that patients would actively participate in the decision making process that surrounded the generation of the prescription. (Cox et al. 2002) Objective recognition of the patients perspectives, requirements and beliefs need to be acknowledged and then the recognition of any major differences between these and the prescribers needs could be perceived when providing nursing care. It is not just the act of writing out the prescription that is important, but it is the understanding of the processes and dynamics of the interactions that are taking place between prescriber and patient that are the fundamental key to good prescribing practice (Kuhse et al 2001). The consultation I chose to focus on was carried out by a consultant psychiatrist who for the purposes of this work shall be known as DR S, with myself as an observer of the consultation. The patient to be seen was a 45 year old gentleman who will be known for the purposes of this work as Mr A, who had been referred by dermatology to the mental health out-patients clinic as a new patient. Dermatology had referred this gentleman after a 12 month history of attending their department where Mr A had complained of persistent generalised skin irritation, and despite receiving treatment with them it appeared he may have an underlying mental health issue. Dr S began the interview by thoroughly reading the referral from dermatology and establishing what had been the concern from their point of view. The patient was then seen and before Dr S had chance to ask the patient anything Mr A expressed that he was confused as to why he had been referred to the mental health department, and not dermatology, which he perceived his medical complaint to be related to. The British Medical Journal (2000) has recognised a common theme amongst studies of patients in that they have a tendency to prefer prescribers (doctors or nurses) who listen and provide time for the individual to express their concerns without feeling hurried Dr S asked Mr A why he had been attending Dermatology to which Mr A detailed a 12 month history of describing an itchy scalp, generalised skin irritation and said no treatment had so far helped him. Mr A then went on to express that he felt all of these symptoms may be due to a parasite, or a bug which was doing something to him, and described a feeling of the bug weaving something on his face which enveloped his eyes. Other symptoms he described was that this bug or parasite was all the time making him feel thirsty and taking moisture from his body, and could somehow transpose itself to other people, including his own GP and friends describing like a magnetic type effect. From this initial information it was evident that Mr A was suffering from a delusional disorder which was quite systemised and concrete and Mr A appeared not to display any other symptoms of mental health. A diagnosis of parasitosis delusional disorder was made. It was clear Mr A needed treatment but the main factor to consider was that Mr A did not believe he any form of mental disorder and therefore there was a real issue surrounding concordance with proposed treatment. Usually, it is difficult to obtain informed consent to treat patients with delusional parasitosis with antipsychotics. Therefore experienced clinicians tell their patients that the antipsychotics are effective `against the itch or the `problems with the pests in order not to have to lie. (Musalek, 1991; Driscoll et al, 1993; Winsten, 1997; Freudenmann, 2002). This is due to the patients level of insight hindering their decision to accept treatment, because they hold a non-reality based idea that it is a somatic illness. It is therefore found that the patient will normally have sought help from their G.P., dermatologists and will often be adverse to the idea of seeing a mental health professional A full medical history was taken, looking at any familial medical problems, family composition and looking at the social aspects of MR A to include areas of employment, relationships, and any drug/alcohol usage. There have been some criticisms of the education of nurse prescribing in relation to the communication skills of nurses, where it is felt that historically there has been too much of a focus on taking a history and coming to a diagnosis. It was apparent to me that Dr S had to use his skill as an experienced mental health clinician to challenge Mr As concept of his illness not being related to a problem with his mental health Dr A approached the issue of explaining Mr A symptoms, not referring to mental health or delusions, but explaining Mr As perceived   symptoms by informing him that although he believed that these experiences were real to MR A , that his brain was interpreting false signals resulting in these unusual thoughts. Dr A went on to use the analogy of an amputee who perceives that he can still feel is amputated leg, through false interpretations of the brain. Drew et al. (2001). found that prescribers would emphasise the positive benefits of the medication far more frequently than they would discuss the risks and precautions, despite the fact that the patients perception was that such a discussion is seen as essential. Therefore looking at this, this could lead to patient confusion, with patient anxieties, and a degree of ambivalence to medication being offered to them. It is transparent that if there is a degree of empathic display between that of the patient and the prescriber, there is a greater chance of concordance. This will hopefully lead to an increased level of compliance/concordance and patient satisfaction resulting in desired clinical results Here we face the issue surrounding honesty, integrity, consent and acting in the best interest of the patients in focussing on treatment The issue of treatment was then discussed by Dr A, who said to Mr S that he believed he could help him by prescribing some medication for him that would help relive the distressing symptoms he was experiencing. Mr A initially expressed some confusion once more why he was not seeing dermatology as he perceived the problem needed treating by them This indicates that Mr S was still not displaying any insight and the questions of concordance issues were reconsidered. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE 2002) recommends that a risk assessment should be performed by the mental health clinician responsible for treatment and the multidisciplinary team regarding concordance with medication, and depot preparations should be prescribed when appropriate. Mr A questioned the proposed medication and it was explained to him that he would be given a course of Neuroleptic medication of a new medication called Aripiprazole. Dr A said that although the medication leaflet would mention the medication was used for Schizophrenia, that Mr A should not be too worried about that as that was not the reason why he would be taking it. Dr A then went on to say that the leaflet would also explain possible side-effects and that although it listed quite a few they were quite rare. The paper by (Cox et al.2000) found that it was common practice for prescribers to initiate the discussions about just what medication they were going to prescribe, rarely refer to the medicine by name and equally rarely refer to how a newly prescribed medication is perceived to differ in either action or purpose, to those previously prescribed. Patient understanding is rarely checked as it is usually assumed after the prescriber has given the prescription. Even when invited to do so, patients seldom take the opportunity to ask questions. (Cox et al 2000) I felt it was the right thing to initiate pharmacological treatment, although on reading further research surrounding the best treatment for Parisitosis I would question the choice of medication Mr A was commenced on However, after spending many clinical hours with this particular Consultant Psychiatrist, I am aware that he has high tendency of prescribing Aripiprazole for the majority of his clients. On questioning Dr A about his decision for choice of medication, Dr A commented that it is the newest and most effective of the atypical medications with lesser incidence of side effect relative to other medications in its group.   I had to question myself that there may be other factors influencing in the prescribing decision which were not based on any of the NICE guidance or that of the British Journal of Psychiatry. In fact, Dr A replied to me with medical jargon relating to molecular structures of both the brain and chemical make-up of Aripiprazole which was hard to follow due to its complexity. I was conscious that as a consultant psychiatrist of many years experience, I was not sure of the honesty or consequences if I had challenged Dr A about his continued choice of Aripiprazole against other choices of medication any further. After researching treatment for this disorder, I felt that the initiation of a typical antipsychotic should have seriously been considered due to its proven faster working efficacy. However, it is known that typical antipsychotics have an increased prevalence of side-effects. Therefore I had considered the preliminary use of typical antipsychotics to establish a degree of insight into the beneficence of taking medication, and if it was felt that further pharmacological treatment is required then switch to a typical antipsychotic as recommended by the NICE guidelines. An article in the British Journal of Psychiatry (2007) highlighted that delusional parasitosis has shown significant treatment results with the use of typical antipsychotics. (Traberts 1995) found that the introduction of typical antipsychotics has substantially improved remission rates (Frithz 1979) described another important treatment in delusional parasitosis is to consider typical anti-psychotic depot medication. This was suggested, as was earlier highlighted that one of the main stumbling blocks is a lack of insight that causes patients t be reluctant to accept oral medication. However, the administration of medication in injection form might be viewed by the patient as the answer to their somatic perception of their illness. It would be hoped that the injection would lead to a degree of insight where the patient may be more open to accept regular medication At the end of the consultation the patient Mr A agreed to take the medication as prescribed and was offered a further out-patients appointment in 2 weeks time. Ultimately, I accept a clear indication for medication, and in conjunction with this at a later stage this could be combined with some cognitive behavioural therapy should symptoms persist. Clinical Governance plays an important part in relation to prescribing., and in particular for non-medical prescribers role .(Bradley E and Nolan P 2005) state that training courses must remain up-to-date and flexible and must change in response to changes in government policy on non-medical prescribing, with nurse prescribing leads being involved in any discussion about course development.