Human Resources Code of Ethics Essay

Message I am thrilled to join Company X’s management team. My colleagues have been stellar in providing me support and helping me accilmate to the organizational culture, which is different from what I am accustomed to. I have encountered my first challenge, a challenge that is incumbent that I bring to your attention along with three detailed solutions, inclusive of attractive and detractive aspects of each. It is also important that I share with you the methodology I employed to arrive at these conclusions, since it is reasonable for you to have access to and test the methodology employed to engender these solutions. I will also recommend to you an appropriate course of action. Separately, I will present a report, which will report the findings of an analysis that I conducted on our company’s ethical decision-making process. This report will include strategies to mitigate against concerns I will have raised in the memorandum. I will also discuss the process of creating a code of ethics that will provide for employee growth through ethical decision making and continued company revenue growth. Production Concern Company X is the leader in the production of toy whistles for children the world over. Our principal production plant is located within the United States and, naturally, is under the purview of production guidelines set forth by the U.S. government. The quality-assurance department recently informed me of a production issue that has arisen. Toy whistles that have been manufactured and are on schedule for shipment undergo an arduous testing process to ensure that the  constitution of each toy meets federal regulations. Toy whistles that will be shipped to South American countries have, unfortunately, failed lead-level requirements; they are slightly higher in lead than what is legally tolerable. Our company has decisions to make about how we address this considerable concern. After analysis, collaboration with team members, and sufficient reflection, I have developed three solutions to address this concern. Each solution has attractive and detractive aspects, both of which I will discuss. Ethical, legal, and financial considerations must be made with all solutions. Solution 1: Cease shipment; Re-produce Toy Whistles At current lead levels, the toy whistle would not be shipped to customers. The entire production process would re-apply, which includes re-securing the raw materials necessary to make replacement whistles, re-producing those whistles through the production process, and commissioning the quality-assurance department to verify that the whistles meet all federal guidelines for selling and consumption. It will also be important that the quality-assurance department provide a quality verification of its own processes. Such a verification will be necessary, since antecedent quality processes failed to identify the higher-than-normal lead levels of our toy whistles. Solution 1: Explanation of Method Used to Select Solution A combination of brainstorming and SWOT analysis were employed to determine three solutions for our company’s quandary. The brainstorming process involved three team members who reviewed the situation and offered ideas—any ideas—as solutions. Each team member produced two ideas, totaling six possible solutions. The following is a breakdown of submissions by team members: Bob Jones| Celine Jiles| Patti Durant| Stop Production; Adjust Lead Levels| Continue Production; Bribe Foreign and  Domestic Government| Stop Production; Offer Different Product| Stop Production; Make Plastic Whistles| Continue Production; Ignore Lead Levels| Stop Production; Close Business| A SWOT analysis was performed on each decision alternative to test its integrity. SWOT is an acronym for â€Å"Strengths,† â€Å"Weaknesses,† â€Å"Opportunities,† and â€Å"Threats† (Bradford, Duncan, & Tarcy, 2000). The goal is to reduce the possible responses to those that require attention. Bob Jones Solution A Strengths: Legal and ethical approach to doing business. Promotes high levels of customer service. Holds all parties accountable for their actions due to process review and refinement. Weaknesses: Delayed production. Poor customer-satisfaction surveys in the short term. Costly to hold up production. Opportunities: Favorable contract renegotiation if determined process failure with supplier. Possible acquisition of new customers if mitigative steps made known. Threats: Possible government intervention if lead levels are exposed. Possible customer revolt if mitigative steps to lead levels not perceived correctly. Customer churn—possibly to competitor—due to production delay. Board of directors overhaul of C-level management Based on these considerations, Solution A is a viable candidate for resolution. Bob Jones Solution B Strengths: No delay in production. Customer satisfaction not harmed. Foreign government receptive to bribes. No disruption to revenue. Weaknesses: Domestic government not receptive to bribing. Massive costs due to bribing. No consideration for customer health. Short-term solution. Socially irresponsible course of action. Opportunities: Short-term customer growth. Relationship-building with foreign government. Threats: Considerable legal actions from both domestic and foreign government if not receptive bribes. Possible legal threats from customers. The costs associated with Solution A indicate that it is not a viable solution. Celine Jiles Solution A Strengths: Legal and ethical approach to doing business. Promotes high levels of customer service due to considering customers’ health. Holds all parties accountable for their actions due to process review and refinement. Weaknesses: Massive delays in production. Abrogation of contract with current supplier. Extensive training costs for new products. Extensive project-management costs to deploy new product. Substantial increase in customer churn due to offering different product. Possible negative press in foreign market. Possible domestic layoffs due to change in product. Opportunities: New streams of revenue due to new product. New streams of customers due to new-product demand. New, lower cost contracts with new suppliers. Possible employment of foreign workers to replace costly domestic workers. Threats: Legal threats from current employees subject layoff. Possible customer revolt if competitor unable to make up for our departure from whistle market. Increased regulatory scrutiny possible based on new product. Intractable board of directors. Based on these considerations, Solution A is a viable candidate for resolution. Celine Jiles Solution B Strengths: Minimal delay in production. Avoid lead-level requirements. Safter products for customers, thereby increasing customer satisfaction. Avoid legal issues from foreign and domestic governments. Contract abrogation with supplier if process failure due to supplier. Socially responsible course of action. Weaknesses: Contract abrogation with existing supplier if Company X process failure. Short-term customer dissatisfaction due to minimal production delay. Training for production of new whistles. Costly process refinements. Opportunities: Possible acquisition of new customers. Long-term customer growth. Possibly reduced prices with contract negotiations for new suppliers. If process adjustments made public, possible acquisition of customers in other countries. Threats: Minimal threat of legal action from domestic or foreign governments due to initlal lead-level failures. Minimal threat of substantial customer churn. The strengths of Solution B indicate that is viable enough to be considered. Patti Durant Solution A Strengths: Reduced production costs. Short-term customer satisfaction due to on-time delivery. Possible increased customer acquisition. Weaknesses: Very short-term solution. Disregard for long-term customer health. Disregard for domestic legal mandates. Socially irreponsible course of action. Long-term profit loss. High customer churn in long term. Opportunities: Short-term increase in streams of revenue. Threats: Extensive legal threats from public and private sector. Abrogation of current contracts iminent. Long-term erosion of shareholder confidence. Solution A should not be further considered due to the blantant disregard for customer safety. Patti Durant Solution B Strengths: Regard for customer health. Weaknesses: Total loss of all revenue and profit. Opportunities: No known opportunities. Threats: Possible legal action from suppliers, employees, customers, and governments due to abrogation of contracts, inability to pay out on employee pensions, or willfully missed customer demand. Solution B is unquestionably not worthy of further consideration. Solution 1: Advantages and Disadvantages The important advantage this solution offers is that our toy whistles’ lead levels will not detrimentally influence the health of our customers. Our identification of this issue will allow our company to take mitigative actions before the whistles are in the hands of our consumers. Another advantage of this solution is that our customers will be unaware that there could have been an issue with the whistles. Our consumers’ ignorance allows our company to avoid a public-relations concern or public excoriation of our product and company brand. There are no government mandates that our company must disclose these sorts of issues if they are discovered before being delivered to our customers. An important disadvantage to this solution is that the investigative process and resultant process refinements will prove costly and timely. It is evident that a production and service failure has occurred, since our whistles’ lead levels currently contravene United States legislative mandates; however, we are not certain where in the supply chain this failure has occurred. Unnecessary people-power must be devoted to resolving this issue sufficiently to prevent issues in the similitude of this one. Another disadvantage to this solution is the effect it will have on employee morale. To be specific, the judgment of the managers of these processes is dubious and will have to be investigated. It is unquestionable that coaching and development, inclusive of corrective action, will have to be meted to all parties involved in this situation. And because of the cost of resolving this matter, some managers and their employees may have to have their employment terminated. No matter how delicately the corrective action will be handled, other employees will inevitable respond negatively. This situation may encourage discussions of unionization. It may engender unnecessary employee churn. Or for those who have their employment terminated as a result of our investigation, it may very well involve contending against ex-employee litigation for perceived wrongful termination, which will involve government agencies and their investigations. Solution 1: Ethical Considerations This solution is an ethically viable option. The reason is that the lead levels prescribed by the federal government are ostensibly predicated on customer saftey and, if more stringent, supersede lead-level requirements of the target country. Providing customers, especially young children, with high-lead toys is immediately unethical and demonstrates a disconnection from social responsibility. Solution 1: Financial Considerations This solution, however, is the most costly and will make profit from these sales impossible unless we increase the price of the toy whistles. The  following are cost considerations of this solution: 1. Vetting Raw-Material Supplier: It is possible that the raw materials that we obtain from our supplier do not possess the integrity that we expect, which would cause products to fail quality verfifcations. An audit would be required of the supplier. This audit would entail the following costs: a. On-site inspections: $10,000, inclusive of labor costs and travel expenditures b. Report of findings: $5,000, inclusive of labor costs of presenting the findings c. Negative findings: $10,000, inclusive of replacing and contracting with a different raw-materials supplier. d. Positive findings: $15,000, inclusive of sunk costs of on-site inspections and reporting of findings (since no issue would have been with the supplier) 2. Vetting Production Processes: There may be deficiencies in the production process that cause higher levels of lead to result in our products. Here are the costs associated with this vetting: e. Departmental inspections: $7,000, inclusive of labor costs f. Report of findings: $5,000, inclusive of labor costs of presenting the findings g. Negative findings: $50,000, inclusive of making process adjustments, training on new processes, and follow-up labor costs h. Positive findings: $12,000, inclusive of sunk costs of inspections and reporting of findings. As easily noted, the costs of making process changes are considerable. However, the costs of these changes should not, by themselves, be an impetus to continue to produce high-lead toy whistles.

The Crucible Tone Paper

The Crucible Tone Paper In Arthur Miller’s book/play The Crucible, the tone he adopts towards the subject of witch trials and witch hunts, and towards the characters that maintain them, is carefully written. His ironic and cynical tones throughout the play poke fun at the religious officials doing what they thought was right, executing people they thought were witches. They also further the outlook on the lack of justice in a harsh, Puritan society. Miller continually uses irony in situations that led up to final accusations of witchcraft.In the events leading up to Elizabeth’s conviction, she receives a poppet from Mary Warren with a needle in its stomach. When he found this, Cheever exclaims â€Å"I never warranted to see such proof of Hell†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This is ironic in the way that he was involved in the trials of convicting witches, and witches are proof of the Devil, and therefore, proof of Hell. Another example of irony is in Act II when John Proctor hands Danf orth a testament that people had signed declaring Rebecca Nurse, Martha Corey, and Elizabeth, good women.Proctor said â€Å"†¦sir—they’ve known the women many years and never saw no sign they had dealings with the devil. † This testament was supposed to help the women get out of jail. It ultimately failed. A great example of irony is when Elizabeth Proctor lies about the affair that she knows that Abigail and John Proctor have. Judge Danforth asks her â€Å"Is your husband a lecher? † Elizabeth answers â€Å"No, sir. † This shows that Elizabeth did not want to confess about the affair. She was confused of what to say at times because she kept turning to John for what to say.I believe that this example is ironic mainly because it was said earlier in the book that Elizabeth had never told a lie, until now when she does lie about her John’s affair with Abigail. What is also ironic is the reason that this event happened. The judges needed s omebody to tell them something about Proctor that they did not know while Proctor was on trial. When Danforth tells Parris to go get Elizabeth, he asks John if she is of trust. John tells Danforth that Elizabeth had never told a lie, that she couldn’t tell a lie.I think that this is ironic because he said that Elizabeth could not tell a lie, and to his surprise, she did tell a lie, for him. The portrayals of Puritanism in The Crucible suggest attributes of stubbornness and their beliefs. An example of this is that the society of Salem likes to choose false religious values over logical assumptions. This is ironic because rather than listen to logic in their minds, they listen to the religious propaganda being shoved down their throats by Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris.These men are considered to be holy, and because they were holy, they were basically immune from being accused of witchcraft, as opposed to everyone else in Salem. For example, Reverend Hale states that †Å"The man’s ordained; therefore the light of God is in him. † Hale is referring to Reverend Parris, who in his eyes, was allowed to be overlooked as a victim of witchcraft because of his position in the religious society. He is said to be holy, but he is really lacking in his religious responsibilities by refusing to comfort the town when there was a commotion about the witchcraft.This is ironic because if everyone else can be accused of witchcraft, then they should be too. Everyone means everyone. Everyone doesn’t mean everyone minus a few select people. If we wanted to discuss Miller’s attitude towards the Salem Witch Trials, we could look to his words and see where his words express the ironic tone. His ironic tone throughout the book is constant. This irony proves to be what made it such a great book. Without the ironic under- and over-tones, you could hardly infer what he was really trying to say.

ABC Inc. Case Study Analysis Essay

Executive Summary ABC Inc. hired 15 new employees with the intention of starting the orientation on June 15. Carl has only six months experience and has made several critical errors. This may have been created due to lack of qualifications, training, or overstating of qualification on Carl’s resume. Due to this, certain tasks were not addressed in a timely manner. Four problems are readily apparent; employee applications are incomplete or missing documentation, lack of training manuals, no drug screenings have been administered, and the training room intended for the orientation is book for the entire month of June. See more: Homeless satire essay Introduction Carl Robins, a newly hired campus recruiter for ABC, Inc, hired 15 new employees within his first six months on the job. These newly hired employees will be working for Monica Carrolls, the Operations Supervisor. The new employees require an orientation on company policy, manuals to learn such policies, physicals, and drug screening. Carl is behind on preparation for the orientation and has not completed the required processing for the new employees. Some of the new hires do not have completed applications or their transcripts on file, and none of them had the required drug screening. The orientation manuals were also missing pages and Carl could only locate a total of three. Carl also discovered the training room he was going to use for the orientation is booked for the entire month of June for software training. Now he needs to find somewhere else to hold the training sessions. Once all these tasks are completed, Carl needs to reassure his colleagues that future orientation for new hires will run smoother. He can do this by being more proactive, planning, analyzing his errors, and improving on the  identified weak areas. (University of Phoenix, 2006) Background Carl had sufficient time to complete all tasks required to prepare for the orientation, but exhibited poor planning, execution, and follow-through of his duties, which would appear he is either not qualified or trained properly to do his job effectively. The goal is to have new hires trained in time to start work in July. Carl is new at the job himself, and this is his first recruitment effort. This, however, is no excuse for not being prepared for the task at hand, especially knowing the importance for the company and making a good impression on the new hires. The main concern is that there are many problems and not much time to complete them. Carl will need to evaluate, prioritize, and find solutions to each issue quickly. Carl has many obstacles to overcome, but the July deadline is still a reachable goal. Key Problems Carl’s performance, leading to his failure, began when he did not think ahead in his process for new hires and the requirements of himself and the new employees for the company. Before Carl started recruiting these individuals he did not have a plan in place for after he met his goal of recruiting 15 new people for the company. His only focus and concern was getting the new hires in the door, and the rest was an afterthought. Some of the things he should have thought about were â€Å"What happens next after the recruits are hired?† Problem 1 – He did not take in consideration all of the elements involved with the hiring and training of the new hires; like making sure all documents were up-to-date prior to hiring. A company should not hire new employees without all required documents. If a company requires a complete application and transcripts upon the interview process, and this is not provided, the applicant should not be considered for hire or given the chance to complete prior to entering the hiring process. Proposed Solution – Ensure all documentation is complete prior to hiring. This will ensure all records are up-to-date before entering the training process. Therefore, leaving time to focus on scheduling the drug screening and reserving the training room. Problem 2 – Incomplete and not enough manuals required for training the new hires. Carl did not check the inventory of manuals needed for training prior to the hiring process. Proposed Solution – Once a hiring  goal is set Carl should have checked all manuals. If there were not enough needed and incomplete manuals, more should have been ordered/made prior to or once the interviews commenced. It is better to be prepared for the unexpected than not prepared for the expected. Problem 3 – Scheduling the required physical and drug screening. If any of the 15 new hires fail their screening then the company will not have the amount needed for July, thus requiring Carl to continue his hiring efforts putting him behind schedule even more. Proposed Solution – Each new hire should have been scheduled for their individual physical and drug screening immediately. Notify the new hire of their appointment time. Once the results come back, review, and if approved, notify the individual and add to their record. If not approved, notify the individual and continue the interview efforts to find qualified individuals. If this is done properly the chances of not meeting the July deadline would be minimal. Problem 4 – Not reserving training room for new hires orientation. He was not proactive in ensuring the training room was reserved. As it turned out, the room he intended on using was already booked for the rest of the month. Proposed Solution – Knowing the deadline for new hires to enter orientation, Carl should have immediately scheduled the training room. If the training room was already booked a possible alternative would be another conference room at the facility or renting a nearby hotel conference room. To avoid this issue in the future Carl should schedule the training room once the commence date is communicated to him or he needs to request this info from his supervisor immediately. Alternatives Numerous solutions exist in correcting the challenges in the time available. The case study states the Carl is required to have all new hires working by July with a hire date of June 15. Carl must contact Monica Carrols, the operations supervisor, to get a solid deadline for the new hires. Seeing that Carl completed the hiring of 15 new employees in early April, he had ample amount of time. He had anytime in July, up to and including the last day, to have the new hires ready for work. Carl will also need to contact all new hires, inform them of their incomplete application, missing transcripts, and drug screening appointments. Alternatively, Carl could contact the HR department for application review and follow-up actions. Ensuring each applicant understands the deadlines with a built in backup due  date for unexpected problems. Carl should also make HR aware of the deadlines prior to them contacting the new hires. The three training manuals on hand were incomplete and he was also short by 12. Carl needs to make arrangements with either an in-house reproduction center or outsource this task with an extra manual for Carl as an instructors copy. Carl appears to be deficient in his working knowledge pertaining to the company policies, procedures, and formal norms, which means he must become intimately familiar with the material in the orientation manual prior to training. Further, Carl needs to coordinate for training space. This challenge is effortlessly completed by checking for available conference rooms within his company or renting convention or conference room space close to the corporate location. Additionally, corporate management need to design a system for checking and reserving training/conference rooms, web based, or paper based with a point of contact to coordinate scheduling. An additional option could be to create a permanent schedule for new employee orientation training, thus ensuring proper resources are allocated appropriately. Moreover, root cause analysis from company standpoint will need investigation and corrective measures enacted; whether the problems stem from management, employee screening of qualif ications, training, and revision of policies as well as any combination of the previous mentioned problems. Recommendations Execute proposed solution with an additional task for corporate managers and supervisors to meet and determine root-cause analysis using the company Process Improvement Program and implement proposed improvements. References University of Phoenix. (2012) Week Two supplement, Case Study for Student Analysis. Retrieved July 15, 2012, from University of Phoenix, Week Two, COMM215 Essential of College Writing. University of Phoenix. (2012) Week Two supplement, Sample Short Report Case Study Format. Retrieved July 15, 2012, from University of Phoenix, Week Two, COMM215 Essential of College Writing.

Business Process Inside Companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Process Inside Companies - Essay Example The department conducts regular updating of the website with the resent information for the business to cope with the changing environment. The department also has the responsibility of managing the suppliers and vendors in the organization. This is through ensuring that the materials received are in a cost effective manner for the business to make the target profit. There are numerous activities, which are involved in order to ensure that the suppliers and vendors are managed effectively. One of these activities includes the sending and receiving of invoices to customers and from the suppliers respectively. When the materials are received from the vendors, and the suppliers, the department communicates to the department of finance and accounting in order to make payment. The department has also the responsibility of sending the invoices to those customers who have been billed for getting the services from the organization. All these transactions in the organizations have a lot of do cumentation, and the organization has the responsibility of keeping records of transactions in the business. Human resource department In this department, there is the management of the employee in the organization. ... The department also concentrates on the employee benefit systems while keeping the relevant documents of the payment details. The department files the tax on the salaries of employees for the federals purposes of tax payment. There is also the employee evaluation of their performance. The department also keeps records of their performance. The department actively engages in the reviews the performance of employees, for the identification of the best performing employee in the organization, in order for their efforts to be recognized, and awarded through the department there is an arrangement of training and development programs for employees. Accounting and Finance This department deals with the cash flows of the organization. This is in terms of the dealing with the cash payment and receiving of cash, for the monitoring of the cash flow of the organization. There is the coordination with the administration for the receiving of the invoices from suppliers in order to make payments to suppliers and vendors. This department processes the checks for making the payment of invoices. The checks are given to the administration for the payment. In the department, there is also coordination with the HR department for the updating of information about the employee payroll. This updates are made with the motive of making the alteration that are required for the compensation of employees for the services provided to the organization. The department processes the checks meant to make the payment of the employees’ salaries. Mail center The department receives the messages in the organization from the other departments. After receiving the messages, the department in turn does the processing on the message ,in order to identify the

Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Personal Statement Example One of the opportunities is the use of technology to make business processes run smoothly and in real time. Such information and inspiration can only be gotten from supportive lecturers and professors. On matters of relevant experience, I was a treasurer of the Hong Kong Student Association (HKSA). The position of the treasurer entailed getting all the financial and accounting information into book. Apart from keeping financial and accounting information up to date, I also represented the same information to the entire student association. The position has helped me to practice some of the financial principles taught in the class. It has given relevant experience in matters related to business. Apart from giving an exposure to business matters, the position has assisted me to become responsible. Responsibility is a key virtue in any business. Koestenbaum (7) states that for one to run a business today, exceptional levels of personal accountability and responsibility are required. The position as a treasurer of HKSA has made to become a â€Å"responsible business professional.† Being an official member (treasurer) of HKSA has molded my personality. Before joining HKSA, I had issues with my personality. First, I could not approach let alone speak to a crowd of people. I was very shy and talking to anyone made my palms wet. The courage to talk or even express myself was a major problem. Second and lastly, I did not know how to communicate with other people. This coupled by the fact that I could not express myself. However, all these negative personalities were turned into positive personalities through experience and the exposure I got in the association. I got enormous support from my fellow students and the association’s patron. After joining HKSA and through the experience and support I got. I am able to organize activities regardless of whether they are of business nature or not. I can approach anyone without hesitation. My communication skills h ave also improved. I have become more active in matters related to business and those not related to business. I have gained vast knowledge in business matters when I was at HKSA. Thus, my experiences at HKSA have made me a rounded person. Apart from the association, I have also participated in other extra-curricular activities. I believe they have prepared me well to venture into the business world. In other words, they have made me a reliable and responsible person. Transfer Applicant Prompt Brian Schweitzer once stated, â€Å"I challenge you to be dreamers; I challenge you to be doers and let us make the greatest place in the world even better.† My dream has been to excel in the field of business especially in accounting and economics. In the past few years, I have developed a big interest in finance management. The corporate world is growing at a dynamic rate and more opportunities have been created. I have found the right environment when I can thrive in an attempt to fu lfill my dreams. I have had vast knowledge and experience in matters of finance. I am interested in increasing my knowledge in the field of accounting and economics. Thus, I request to be considered as one of the prospective students in MSc in Economics, Accounting, and Finance. My dreams of excelling in business have been greatly influenced by Donald Trump, who I consider as a role model. Donald Trump is a famous American

Current Event paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Current Event paper - Essay Example There has been an emergence of longitudinal evidence showing that legal unions of same-sex marriages are likely to remain in a committed relationship. It is suggested that legalized relationship status often impact positively on the longevity of the relationship over time. Scientific research has not found any evidence that would justify the likelihood of discrimination against same-sex couples. In comparison to the heterosexual couples, it has been proven through scientific research studies that same-sex marriage is less stable. However, the ABA policy has remained consistent in its assurance that same-sex couples are healthy, functioning societal contributors who should not be discouraged or discriminated upon. There has been a consistent urge to the society to eliminate the stigma and discrimination against same-sex marriage. There has been a lot of grappling for over twenty years on the question of extension of legal rights and protections for same-sex couples. State courts and legislatures have been considering the issue of equality that is pertinent in the constitution as they are aligning the laws pertaining to same-sex marriages (Hull, 2006). The topic of same-sex marriage has been a thorny issue for over a long period in the American society. There has been concern over the issue for a long period on the issue since it seems to go against the human and religious morals of all the religions all over the world. On religious principles across different religions, marriage is viewed as a platform of childbearing and upbringing. As such it is only prudent for people of opposite sex to marry and bear children. Same-sex couples do not have the will power to raise children live alone to bear. As a child grows, he/she will be contented with the fact that he/she was born by a mother and a father. From the names alone the child would naturally believe that the mother is female, and the father is male. How would a child, who is barely getting to

Feasibility Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Feasibility Report - Research Paper Example Several important factors that need to be put into consideration have been analyzed keenly. This includes projecting the restaurants potential income, the location of the restaurant, menu pricing and most importantly the competition. In addition, an estimate of the cost of running the restaurant has been has been considered in this feasibility report. This feasibility report will be of great importance to potential investors who may wish to invest in the food service industry by opening a sit-down restaurant in Ventura County. An analysis of the demographics of the people of Ventura County will be helpful to entrepreneurs who wish to open up small business because the study will information on how many people go to downtown Ventura regularly. This information will be vital in providing an estimate of the potential customers such businesses may have. The city of Ventura was founded by Father Juipero Serra in 1782, when Buenaventura was built. Today, the city is continually growing both in population and in social economic development. Moreover, the city is rising in popularity and marketing towards becoming a tourist destination. Sit-down restaurants may appeal to many people because they offer full menus, which include desserts, appetizers, entrees and other types of popular beverages including alcohol. In atypical sit-down restaurant setup, there are is a host or hostess who usually welcomes customers and shows them to their table. Also, most sit-down restaurants have trained chefs who cook and prepare meals while the servers takes care of the customer’s request (Peter and Bangs 2001). In order for the restaurant to thrive and gain loyal customers, it must be able to serve customers with high quality food and services. This will ensure the customers visit the restaurant time after time. Furthermore, the restaurant has to

Gun Control Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Gun Control - Research Paper Example te this realization, the liberals have continued to push for the gun control as it increases the voter’s dependency on the government to offer them protection. The political effect has impacted the gun control in that it has shifted the voters leftward leaving the main supporters of the gun control to be the leftists politicians and liberal media (Kleinig & Lafolletee, 17). The Gun control is now believed to be a limitation or a denial by the government through the congress of the right of the citizens to armed self defense as stated by the Second Amendment of the United States of America Constitution (Kleinig & Lafolletee, 18). The congress have come out strongly using the discredited yet superficially appealing that the less the lawful-owned guns in the hands of the citizens, the fewer the crime cases even though guns have been considered as the main weapons of defense in America. The justification of their argument is that gun control laws result in enormous hardships. A good example is that of May 2012 when a gun control law led to an African American woman to be sentenced to prison for 20 years for just firing warning shots to her husband (Kleinig 280). This case resulted to an outburst of outrage around Florida as most people were against this sentence terming it as being unconscionable. The state has considered coming up with laws that ensure li ability in gun manufacturing and cover issues on shooting sports and personal protection. The laws also ensured that the licensed guns remained within the boundaries of the state exempt from the regulations of the federal that include licensing, background checks and registration. Most of the congresses believe that the gun control has potentially resulted to an increase in crime cases related to the use of guns through restricting its primary deterrent which is self defense. Statistics have it that law-abiding citizens in United States who use their guns outnumber the criminals who use guns and the ratio has

Scarcity and how it Applies to Micro-Economic Decision Making Essay

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Responses to Genocide: Political and Humanitarian Strategies

Responses to Genocide: Political and Humanitarian Strategies Political expediency and humanitarian imperatives in response to genocide   This dissertation examines the humanitarian crisis in the Sudanese region of Darfur during 2003-2004, a situation that has continued through to 2005. Recent reports from the World Food Programme estimate that the violence carried out by the tacitly government-supported militias against the non-Arab civilian population in the region has left 3.5 million people hungry, 2.5 million displaced by the violence and 400, 000 dead.   The Darfur crisis has been a humanitarian disaster unseen since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It has been a situation that ultimately foreign governments and international organisations have been unable to ignore. Chapter two examines firstly the theoretical questions behind humanitarian intervention. The realist theory of international affairsis at the heart of the debate – realism suggests that states should puttheir own security and self interest before any moral obligation to intervene. Set in the context of Darfur, there was nothing within the individual national interest of other individual states to intervene, yet at some point in the crisis the common assumption moved towards afeeling that intervention on the basis of humanity was required.   The Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the international response at the time isused as an example of realism dictating the initial response of theinternational community, only to be overtaken by a more moral based response once the sheer scale of the crisis and human rights abuses became apparent. Chapter three looks at events in Darfur in detail, from the beginnings of the crisis to the current situation. Using media sourcesas well as reports from organisation such as the UN and Human Rights Watch, this chapter summarises the main events of the crisis, with examples of the indiscriminate violence used by the government-backed Janjaweed militias against the civilian population in Darfur. The response of the Sudanese government along with the steps it took to prevent humanitarian intervention are describes, as are the actions, or in many cases, the inaction of sections of the international community.  Ã‚   The actions of the Sudanese Government would appear to be driven by the state centric realism that Webber and Smith term â€Å"acentral driving force for human motivation, namely a quest for power† Chapter Four attempts to analyse events in Darfur against the theoretical frameworks detailed in chapter two. Realist assumptions continue to carry a certain weight in international politics, but there are examples of some more ethical policy making within the international community. The roles of the Sudanese Government, the UN, the US and other Western nations are looked at against theoretical positions. Chapter Five offers some conclusions on the internationalresponse to Darfur. At the heart of any analysis of the international response to thecrisis in Darfur lies the question why should anyone care about Darfur.Whilst theories supporting just wars and humanitarian intervention fromthe likes of Kaldor and Walzer argue that there is a basic humanmorality that requires states that are able to intervene to stop thesuffering of oppressed people, a realist perspective, one thatrepresented the initial international response to Darfur, is that thekey value of national interest is independence and security.   It is aquestion that has been at the crux of international relations forcenturies – intervention in the affairs of another sovereign state isan issue that has generated much debate. State sovereignty has long been a fundamental pillar of internationalsociety and non-intervention has ensured that individual states canmaintain their political independence and territorial integrity.International organisations have generally supported this principlewith, for example, Resolution 2131 of the UN General Assembly in 1965stating: â€Å"No state has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly in theinternal or external affairs of any other state. Consequently, armedintervention and all other forms of interference or attempted threatsagainst the personality of the State or against its political,economic, or cultural elements are condemned†. Regional organisationshave taken a similar stance – the Organisation of American Statestotally prohibits direct or indirect intervention in the affairs ofanother state. A wide range of political theory also supports the viewthat sovereignty is all-important and one state should not interfere inthe affairs of another. Nonetheless, international affairs since the establishment of thenation-state have seen intervention by states in the affairs of otherfor a number of reasons. The earliest interventions were for economicand strategic reasons and to secure territorial security – nineteenthcentury European interventions in Africa and Asia to establish coloniesserve as an example of this. In the early twentieth century the USbegan to utilise a different type of intervention, intervening in theaffairs of Central American states such as Nicaragua to encouragedomestic political order, reduce economic corruption and reinforce itsown influence in the region. Such action drew the attention of realistcritics who have influence US foreign policy thinking more recently.Realists have alleged that the adherence to moral principles and thefailure in the past to understand the â€Å"power essence† of interstaterelations has led to unwise and unsuccessful policies , for example tofailed humanitarian int ervention in Somalia. Certainly, the memories ofSomalia will have effected thinking on a political and humanitarianresponse to Darfur. The Cold War saw intervention across the globe by the two superpowerseither to enhance their own strategic security or to advanceideological goals, for example the USSR moving to strengthen communismin Czechoslovakia in 1968 or the US challenging anti-democratic forcesin Grenada in 1983. It is however, humanitarian intervention that is most relevant to thesituation in Darfur, an type of intervention that according to JackDonnelly is foreign intervention that seeks â€Å"to remedy mass andflagrant violations of the basic rights of foreign nationals by theirgovernment†Ã‚  Ã‚   The failure of states and subsequent abuses of humanrights in the latter stages of the twentieth century have presentedother governments with numerous scenarios where they have to makedecisions as to whether military intervention for humanitarian reasonsis justified. It is a complex issue that poses a number of legal andmoral issues. Amstutz argues that humanitarian intervention presents a legalchallenge to the accepted systems of state sovereignty along with amoral challenge to the right of self-determination. Whilst the demandfor order, justice, stability and human rights may override theseconcerns, politicians are also faced with the decision as to whether,how and when their country should instigate humanitarian intervention.Such interventions can generally be justified if two criteria are met:firstly that humanitarian intervention be in the interests of theintervening state, i.e. that it perceives the human rights abuses inthe foreign state as a general threat to the order, legitimacy andmorality of global society, or as a particular threat to its owneconomic prosperity; secondly that the intervention must be in theinterests of the civilian population of the intervened state and thatthe legal and moral issues around military intervention can bejustified by the overall good that is accomplished. NATO intervent ionin Bosnia can be seen as an example of a situation that met the formercriteria, the situationsin both Rwanda and Darfur would appear to meetthe latter. Michael Walzer who has written extensively on just war theory andintervention argues that humanitarian intervention should be seen asdifferent from instigating a military conflict. As well as the legalistargument against intervention in the affairs of another state, there isalso the difficulty of intervention in a country that has not committedaggression against another state – there is a danger that interveningstates can be seen as portraying the message treat your people the waywe believe you should or be subject to the threat of armed punishment.Walzer nonetheless believes that even if intervention threatens theterritory and political independence of another state, there are timeswhen it can be justified. The onus of proof of justification howeverlies with the leader of the state that intervenes and this can be aheavy burden, â€Å"not only because of the coercions and ravages thatmilitary intervention brings, but also because it is thought that thecitizens of a sovereign state have a right, insofar as they are to becoerced and ravaged at all, to suffer only at one another’s hands†. Arguments that states should, regardless of how they are governed,should be left to deal with own affairs and influenced by the thoughtsof John Stuart Mill who argued from a utilitarian viewpoint stronglyfor the right of a single political community to determine its ownaffairs – whether or not its political arrangements are free is not anissue for other states – members of any political society mustcultivate their own freedom in the way that individuals must cultivatetheir own virtue, self-help rather than intervention from an externalforce must be the way towards a just society. Such arguments do notstand up when applied to some of the systematic and well-documentedhuman rights abuses of the twentieth century – foreign governments makedecisions based on a realist perspective not to intervene, butnon-intervention based on the idea of self-determination is to avoidthe issue and hide behind outdated ideas. There is a point at whichrealism has to be put aside and so me form of moral stance must betaken. For Walzer, there are three situations in which theinternational resistance to boundary crossings can be ignored: 1.  when a particular set of boundaries clearly contains two or morepolitical communities, one of which is already engaged in a large-scalemilitary struggle for independence; that is, when what is at issue issecession or ‘national liberation’ 2.  when the boundaries have already been crossed by the armies of aforeign power, even if the crossing has been called for by one of theparties in a civil war, that is, when what is at issue iscounter-intervention; and 3.  when the violation of human rights within a set of boundaries is soterrible that it makes talk of community or self-determination or‘arduous struggle’ seem cynical or irrelevant, that is, in cases onenslavement or massacre His criteria present a realistic scope for intervention. For all theideas of ethical foreign policies there has to be some realism ininternational relations in that states cannot simply intervene in everydispute between neighbours or outbreaks of political unrest in otherstates. Walzer’s criteria, particular his third, limit interventionwhen serious abuses of human rights appear to be taking place. At thispoint, political expediency and national self-interest should be putaside. Ultimately, Walzer’s thinking lead him towards an ethical theory ofpeace on the basis of sovereignty and other widely accepted states’rights. His values form the basis of a legalist paradigm, which providethe moral and legal structure for maintaining international peace. Hislegal paradigm also outlines the criteria for use of force tointervene. Its six key principles are: 1.  An international society of independent states exists; 2.  The states comprising the international society have rights,including the rights of territorial integrity and political sovereignty; 3.  The use of force or threat of force by one state against another constitutes aggression and is a criminal act; 4.  Aggression justifies two types of action: a war of self-defence bythe victim and a war of law enforcement by the victim and any othermembers of the international society; 5.  Nothing but aggression justifies war 6.  After the aggressor state has been militarily repulsed, it can be punished. Irrespective of the situation in a particular state and the legal ormoral issues around any form of intervention, the realist view ofinternational affairs can lead statesmen to decide againstintervention. Realists from Thucydides, Hobbes and Machiavelli throughto the likes of Kissinger and Waltz remain strictly sceptical aboutmoral concepts within international relations and assume that statesgoing to war or engaging in any form of intervention are more motivatedby power and their own national security than any moral issues. Thephrase â€Å"all’s fair in love and war† is often applied to the realistperspective with Walzer writing â€Å"referring specifically to war,realists believe that it is an intractable part of an anarchical worldsystem, that it ought to be resorted to only if it makes sense in termsof national self-interest†Ã‚   – in effect there are no moralconsideration in regard to military intervention, the human rightsabuses occurring in another state are of little importance to realists,intervention will only be considered if it is considered to beeconomically or strategically of value to the intervening state or itsleaders. This value can be political on occasions. There is littledoubt of the power of modern media to put pressure on politicians. TheUS intervention in Somalia and NATO action in Bosnia were to someextent related to public pressure on politicians to do something aboutscenes being broadcast into the homes of the electorate. Thinking on humanitarian intervention has had to adapt more recently tothe new type of wars that have proliferated across the globe since theend of the Cold War, for example the conflicts in the former Yugoslaviadriven by ancient ethnic hatreds. Certainly with the demise of thestand off between two military superpowers there has been greater scopefor the UN and individual states to become involved in conflictresolution and throughout the 1990s the UN has found itself constantlyinvolved in providing humanitarian aid, establishing safe havens,disarmament and demobilisation operations, monitoring and maintainingceasefires. New wars have involved a blurring of the distinction between war(usually defined as violence between states or organised politicalgroups), organised crime (violence undertaken by privately organisedgroups for private purposes, usually financial gain) and large-scaleviolations of human rights (violence undertaken by states orpolitically organised groups against individual).   Some of the ethnichatred that has fuelled new wars has in particular led to terriblehuman rights abuses; events that put moral pressure on others states toconsider intervention. Mary Kaldor suggests that there are two types ofresponse to new wars – one is to draw on the old war idea of the nationstate and look for solutions along the lines of intervention and peacekeeping whilst the other response is a more negative and fatalisticoutlook: â€Å"because the wars cannot be understood in traditional terms,they are thought to represent a reversion to primitivism or anarchy andthe most that can be done there fore is to ameliorate the symptoms. Inother words, wars are treated as natural disasters.† Kaldor’s view rightly challenge the realist assumption that statesshould not involve themselves in humanitarian intervention unless thereis some advantage to be gained in a self-interested pursuit of power.What is required is a more political response to new wars and theattacks on human rights that accompany them. The internationalcommunity should be looking towards politics of inclusion that capturethe hearts and minds of protagonists and any such politicalmobilisation should override traditional geopolitics or short termdomestic concerns. This type of thinking moves closer to a type ofneo-realism which places more of an emphasis on the structural featuresof the international system and avoids the stress on the often anarchicstriving for power that reflects traditional realism.   The drawback tothe neo realist approach is that its reliance on the determining impactof the structure of the international system allow policy makersrelatively little discretion. This can be seen to some extent in Darfuras representative from various states struggled to find a solution tothe crisis that met with consensus. There have of course been embarrassments for individual states andinternational organisations with attempts at humanitarian interventionin the 1990s, setbacks that will give weight to realist theory thatsovereign states should on the whole be left well alone. Kaldorconcludes that humanitarian intervention has had mixed success: â€Å"at best, people have been fed and fragile ceasefires have beenagreed†¦.at worst the UN has been shamed and humiliated, as, forexample, when it failed to prevent genocide in Rwanda, when theso-called safe haven of Srebrenica was overrun by Bosnian Serbs, orwhen the hunt for the Somali warlord Aideed ended in a mixture of farceand tragedy†. Nonetheless, the arguments for humanitarian intervention remain strong.Darfur is as good an example as any for this. As Orend writes â€Å"whyshould foreign states, which themselves respect human rights, be barredin principle from intervening in such illegitimate regimes?†Ã‚   Rwanda in particular serves as an example of both foreign states andinternational organisations initially taking a realist stance only toeventually to be spurred into action by the sheer scale of the genocidetaking place. In France’s case, the links between the powerful elitesin the two countries had long been established – not only had Francelong supported the Hutu regime but Francois Mitterand and RwandanPresident Habyarimana were personal friends, whilst their sons, JeanChristopher and Jean-Pierre were also friends and business associates.The two countries had mutual economic interests and there is evidencethat Jean Christopher was one of France’s biggest arms dealers to Rwanda. The French response to the developing crisis, when it came, was farfrom glorious. Rather than intervene to provide further killings itdecided to pull out its troops. In the previous week, the first of thegenocide they had evacuated as many as 1361 people including 450 Frenchnationals and 178 Rwandan officials and their families. No otherRwandan nationals were evacuated, not even Tutsi personnel from theFrench embassy or well-known opponents of the regime who had alreadybeen targeted by the militia.   The role of the United Nations mission (UNAMIR) has receivedconsiderable criticism in analyses of the genocide. The UN had its owninternal politics to contend with and its policies on Rwanda were inturn determined to some extent by realist self-interest. As anorganisation it was largely reliant on the support of its most powerfulmembers on the Security Council. These nations, mindful of thedisastrous US intervention in Somalia were wary of investing troops andfinances into another African conflict. Realism came to the forefrontof the early decision making process. Human Rights Watch, in additionto criticism of the UN for not taking heed of Dallaire’s warnings, isalso critical of the scale of the mandate itself.   It describes thedetails of the mandate as follows: â€Å"Not only was the UN slow, it was also stingy. The United States, whichwas assessed 31 per cent of UN peacekeeping costs, had suffered fromthe enormous 370 per cent increase in peacekeeping expenses from 1992to 1993 and was in the process of reviewing its policy on such operations. Quite simply the UN was not equipped to keep the peace in Rwanda.Members on its influential Security Council did not have the politicalwill to get involved, nor were they willing to take on the financialburden. The US and the UK, although less involved in Rwanda thanFrance, were similarly guilty of happily ignoring warnings of possiblegenocide and working towards the maintenance of the status quo. Bothhad sold arms to the Hutu regime and had trading links with Rwanda.Both also had little desire to see their own troops caught up as partof an UN force in Rwanda. The theory of non-intervention, as opposed torealism is another view that opposes humanitarian intervention. The keyassumptions and values for this concept are †¢Ã‚  the existing anarchic international system is morally legitimate †¢Ã‚  peoples have a right to political self-determination †¢Ã‚  states have a juridical right to sovereignty and territorial integrity †¢Ã‚  states have an obligation to resolve conflicts peacefully †¢Ã‚  force is a illegitimate instrument for altering the existing territorial boundaries Non –intervention theory argues in favour of an internationallegitimacy of states in which existing states are entitled to autonomyand domestic legitimacy which assumes that states are entitled torespect and support when they fulfil their core obligations as states.In terms of domestic legitimacy, in the light of the fact that thereare wide disparities in conceptions of human rights, this canessentially be interpreted that whether a state is entitled tonon-intervention depends largely on its subject’s approval of theregime itself. The counter-arguments of realism and moral intervention continue toplay a major role in international politics and are likely to continueto do so. It is a sad fact that the list of oppressive governments andmassacred populations is lengthy. Walzer points out that for every Naziholocaust or Rwanda there will be a number of smaller examples ofinjustice and abuse – so many that the international community cannothope to deal with. On a small scale at least, Walzer’s suggestion thatâ€Å"states don’t send their soldiers into other states, it seems, only tosave lives. The lives of foreigners don’t weigh that heavily in thescales of domestic decision-making†Ã‚   rings true – humanitarianintervention in smaller-scale situations is simply not realistic. Agreater test for the moral resolve of NGOs and wealthier nations istheir response in the face of large-scale humanitarian disasters andhuman rights abuses, again using Walzer’s words, when deal ing with actsâ€Å"that shock the moral conscience of mankind†. Ethical questions around the issues of international moral obligationstowards nations suffering from oppressive regimes and human rightsabuses are not easily resolved. Whilst humanitarian aid or interventionis generally seen as a morally correct route of action, politicalexpediency quite often takes precedence. Whilst it is generallyaccepted that, as Grotius believed, war ought not to be undertakenexcept for the enforcement of right and   when once undertaken it shouldbe carried on   within the bounds of law and good faith,  Ã‚   national selfinterest does not always allow for a strategy led by such moralincentives. In Darfur, the action of the Khartoum Government couldcertainly not be described as driven by moral incentives whilstelsewhere early responses to the crisis were driven by politicalexpediency   Major states have to ask themselves which moral valuesshould influence their foreign policies and which international valueis more important – sovereignty or human r ights? The answer should behuman rights, yet there is a fine line between using these values froma moral perspective or manipulating them into a realist opportunity toindulge the national interest with intervention elsewhere. There areother difficult questions – do human rights violations justify foreignintervention and at what scale?   Does international political moralityrequire the removal of illegal military regimes and the restoration ofdemocracy?   There are countless regimes around the world to which theworld might turn its attention and ask itself these questions. For themost part, small conflicts and small-scale abuse of human rights are,rightly or wrongly, ignored. The situation in Darfur from 2003 onwardshowever gave the international community a scenario that it could notignore. The world had to make decisions upon hundreds of thousands oflives would rest. Chapter Three – The crisis in Darfur The current situation in Darfur can be traced back to February 2003when fighters from the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) and theJustice and Equality Movement (JEM) launched joints attacks againstgovernment garrisons in protest at what they saw as decades ofpolitical oppression and economic neglect by the Sudanese government.The attacks came at the same time that there had been high hopes of apeace settlement to the war in southern Sudan that had been ongoingbetween the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army(SPLM/A) since independence in 1965. The government’s response was unequivocal. Citing the rebels as anaggressive force against the state it set out to crush the rebellion byforce and utilised the powerful force of Arab Janjaweed militias toattack not particularly rebel soldiers but the civilian populationsfrom where the rebels would have originated.   The government expectedto crush the revolt, partly as it had done so in 1991 when a SPLA unitinfiltrated Darfur, and partly as it expected a lack on internationalinterest as Darfur was an internal Northern Sudanese issue with noChristian population and no oil interests involved. Khartoum –ledmilitary activity in late 2003 to early 2004 was brutal (â€Å"acounter-insurgency of extraordinary ferocity†)   and carried out whilstthe government prevented any humanitarian aid reaching the civilianpopulation. It was an action led by political expediency withabsolutely no regard for the human rights of an innocent civilianpopulation. Hugo Slim describes th e military action as completelydisproportionate to the targeted guerrilla warfare of the two Darfurinsurgent groups and states that â€Å"systematic and widespread governmentand Janjaweed assaults on civilians, their villages, theirinfrastructure and their livelihoods along with forced displacement andland-grabbing, intended to make it impossible for the terrorised andevicted populations to return. As this went on, the Government alsoenforced what was almost a complete ban on humanitarian aid accessingthe country between October 2003 and February 2004. Early talks on the crisis saw the Khartoum Government deliberatelystonewall on major issues. It objected to upgrading the small AUobserver force from 300 to 3500,with an increase in its mandate toinclude protecting civilians, and was then forced to accept thismeasure by the UN Security Council. It was a realist approach – lookingsolely after its own interests and using delay in an internationalresponse to move along with its aim to displace the population ofDrafur. Government and Janjaweed Cooperation There is little realdoubt that the government has worked closely with the Janjaweedmilitias. Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigations concluded thatgovernment forces and militia troops have taken part in massacres andsummary executions of civilians, burnings of towns and villages andforcible depopulation of areas across Darfur. †We are the government†has been a common response of Janjaweed at checkpoints and whenentering villages and HRW reports that â€Å"the government and itsJanjaweed allies have killed thousands of Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa –often in cold blood, raped women and destroyed villages, food stocksand other supplies essential to the civilian population.†. In the early stages of the conflict, the Sudanese government barelyattempted to conceal its close working with the Janjaweed. Mans writesthat â€Å"the Janjaweed militias are said to be of largely Chadian originand finance themselves through plunder and pillage, reportedly enjoyingimplicit support from the Government in Khartoum.† But this isunderstating the relationship between the two. In April 2004, theSudanese Foreign Minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, admitted a commoncause with the Janjaweed stating â€Å"the government may have turned ablind eye to the militias†¦This is true. Because these militia aretargeting the rebellion.†Ã‚   President Bashir also had spoken on 31December 2003 of the government’s determination to defeat the SLArebellions and warned darkly that â€Å"the horsemen† would be one of theweapons it would use. There is other clear evidence of well established links between thegovernment and Janjaweed leaders. Many of the militia leaders areestablished emirs or omdas from Arab tribes who have previously workedin government. For example, Abdullah abu Shineibat, an emir of the BeniHalba tribe is a Janjaweed leader in the Habila-Murnei area, whilstOmar Saef, an omda of the Awlad Zeid tribe is leader of the Janjaweedfrom Geineina to Misterei. Other evidence pointed to a similarconclusion of complicity between government and militia: Janjaweedbrigades were organised along army lines with forces wearing similaruniforms and officers using the same stripes; militia forces used thesame land cruisers and satellite phones as army personnel and there isevidence that Janjaweed members were given assurances that they wouldnot face local prosecution for crimes, with police forces beinginstructed to leave them alone.   Again, the prevailing issue here ispolitical expediency overcoming any possible humani tarian response.Both the Government and Janjaweed had interests in devastating Darfur –there was political gain for the Government and financial gain for theJanjaweed. Both took the realist option of looking after themselves. Government and Militia forces attack civilians One of the mostnotable traits of the crisis in Darfur has been the fact that bothgovernment and militia forces have largely ignored rebel forces,preferring to use their weapons against the civilian population inareas that rebels may have originated from. HRW investigationsuncovered 14 incidents in Dar Masalit alone between September 2003 andFebruary 2004 in which 770 civilians were killed. It also gatheredwitness testimony to mass executions in the Fur areas of Wadi Salihprovince over the same period.   Aerial bombardment of civilians has also been commonplace. The SudaneseGovernment has made extensive use of attack aircraft, dropping bombsloaded with metal shards to cause maximum injury and also utilisinghelicopter gun ships and MiG jet fighters. Bombing has also beendeliberately targeted at villages and towns where displaced citizenshave gathered – for example on August 27 2003, aircraft carried out anattack on the town of Habila which was packed with displaced civiliansfrom surrounding areas. 24 were killed. Government and Janjaweed forces have also systematically attacked anddestroyed villages, food stocks, water sources and other essentialitems essential for the survival of villages in West Darfur. Refugeesin Chad have confirmed a sweep south east of Geneeina in February 2004saw the destruction of a number of villages including Nouri, Chakoke,Urbe, Jabun and Jedida. The International Response The international response to the situation in Darfur has been mixed,characterised by a willingness to condemn the Sudanese Governmentalongside a dragging of heels in actually intervening to stop what theUS Government has labelled genocide. Alex De Waal suggests thatpolitical repercussions for the Sudanese Government were gravewriting:   â€Å"International attention and condemnation exceeded allexpectations, culminating in Darfur being brought before the UnitedNations Security Council in July 2004† This analysis however fails tomention the scale of the crisis in the preceding months and suggests amore positive and effective response by the international communitythan was actually the case.. The international community may eventuallyhave come around to taking Darfur seriously – but much later than wasrequired. As Hugo Slim concludes: â€Å"the international community has notdenied, but it has delayed and dithered. Once engaged it fumbled andtook far too long to achie ve a united and sufficiently assertiveresponse.†Ã‚   There was a notable reluctance from the UN in particular to use theword genocide in relation to Darfur, a similar pattern to that had beenfollowed in Rwanda a decade earlier. It was in fact US Secretary ofState Powell that announced on September 9th 2004 that the USgo

Neural structures: Subserving psychological function

Neural structures: Subserving psychological function This essay will evaluate what is known about the role of neural structures in subserving emotion. It was concluded that although emotion is a difficult behaviour to study scientifically, clear importance of the role of the amygdala has been found. Nonetheless, other structures and brain regions are involved in the responses to emotion, and how they interact together is an area in need of further investigation. Neural networks have been defined by Colman (2009) as a system of interconnected neurons. These systems can be either in the nervous system or in the brain. This essay will focus on the role of these neural structures in emotion. Colman (2009) defined emotion as a short-term evaluative, affective and intentional psychological state. The cognitive neuroscience of emotion has been slow to become widely recognised, as emotion is a behaviour that is difficult to study in a systematic manner. Recently however researchers have been challenging this gap in knowledge, and as a result, emotion is quickly emerging as a critical research topic (Gazzaniga, Ivry Mangun, 2009). BASIC HUMAN EMOTIONS Ekman and Friesen (1971) set out to find the basic human facial representations. From their cross-cultural work they suggested that anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness and surprise are the six basic human facial expressions that represent all emotional states. Despite there still being considerable debate about whether a single list is enough to incorporate all emotional experiences, it is generally agreed that these are the basic, universal human emotions (Gazzaniga et al., 2009); these emotions will therefore be the ones focused on later in the essay. HOW RESEARCH HAS DEVELOPED Early research into the cognitive neuroscience of emotion mainly focused on identifying the limbic system as the emotional brain (MacLean, 1949). Recently research has been focused on specific types of emotional tasks and identifying the neural systems underlying specific emotional behaviours. It is no longer thought that there is simply one neural circuit of emotion, rather that there are usually a number of different neural systems involved, dependant on the emotional situation (Gazzaniga et al., 2009). THE ROLE OF THE AMYGDALA The amygdala is a small structure in the medial temporal lobe. This structure has been a focus of research on emotional processing in the brain since Weiskrantz (1956, as cited in Gazzaniga et al., 2009) identified the amygdala as the primary medial temporal lobe structure underlying the fear related deficits in a medical condition known as KlÃÆ' ¼ver-Bucy syndrome. The amygdala receives inputs from every sensory system and is thought to be the structure where the emotional significance of sensory signals is learned and retained (Pinel, 2008). Sergerie, Chochol and Armony (2008) carried out a meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies looking at the role of the amygdala in emotional processing. Previously many functional neuroimaging studies have given solid support for an important role of the amygdala in negative emotional processing (Sergerie et al., 2008). The rationale behind this study was to address the issue of whether factors such as sex, valence and stimulus type have an effect on the magnitude and lateralization of amygdala reaction. The results confirmed that the amygdala reacts to both positive and negative emotional stimuli, particularly when participants were exposed to faces showing emotional expressions (Sergerie et al., 2008). Differences were not found in amygdala lateralization as a function of sex or valence. Strong support was also shown for a functional dissociation between the left and right amygdala in terms of temporal dynamics. The findings of this study indicate that the amygdala is involv ed in the processing of positive emotion as well as negative emotion. Following the large amount of empirical evidence showing the role of the amygdala in emotional processing, LeDoux (1996) warned that it may be tempting to conclude that the amygdala is at the centre of emotion reaction in the brain. This would be erroneous however, as there are clearly other structures involved in emotional processing. For the role of the neural system in emotion to be fully understood, further research is needed into the other structures involved. THE ROLE OF THE MEDIAL FRONTAL LOBES Recently, functional brain imaging studies have shown evidence of activity within the medial frontal lobes whilst emotions are being both cognitively suppressed or re-evaluated (Quirk Beer, 2006). The latest studies of medial prefrontal lobe activity have used suppression paradigms (where participants are told to suppress their emotional reactions to unpleasant images) or reappraisal paradigms (where participants are asked to try to reinterpret an image to adjust their emotional reaction to it) (Quirk Beer, 2006). The medial frontal lobes have been found to be active when both of these paradigms have been studied, and it seems that they interact with the amygdala to exert their cognitive control of emotion (Holland and Gallagher, 2004). These studies show that the medial frontal lobes have a role in the processing of emotion; further investigation is required in this area to reveal exactly what role this structure plays and how it interacts with other structures in the brain. THE REGULATION OF EMOTION Mak, Hu, Zhang, Xiao and Lee (2009) investigated the regulation of emotion through functional magnetic resonance imaging. The study identified neural correlates of the regulation of positive or negative emotion. The study of the regulation of emotion is important, as dysregulation of emotion is associated with the inability to modulate intense emotions that may worsen affective disorders (Mak et al., 2009). Whilst either viewing emotional pictures or regulating their emotions induced by these pictures, participants brain activities were monitored (Mak et al., 2009). The neuroimaging findings showed that the left superior and lateral frontal regions were common neural correlates of regulation for both emotions. The prefrontal regions and the left insula were found to be associated with regulation of positive emotion, while activity in the left orbitofrontal gyrus, the left superior frontal gyrus and the anterior cingulated gyrus appear to be associated with regulation of negative emot ion. In conclusion, Mak et al. (2009) suggested that there are both shared and specific neuro-cognitive mechanisms involved in the regulation of positive and negative emotions. If knowledge was to be enhanced into the neural mechanism behind emotion regulation, the understanding of the complex interaction between emotion and basic human behaviours could be improved. Through understanding the neural mechanisms behind emotion regulation, helpful insights could be provided into the biological basis of mental health (Mak et al., 2009). THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Several studies into the neural mechanisms of emotion have focused on individual differences. One of these studies, by Adolphs et al. (1999) tested how well nine neuropsychological patients with bilateral amygdala damage could identify emotion in facial expressions. As previously reported, the group as a whole was found to have problems identifying the emotion of fear (Adolphs et al., 1999). There were however, individual differences amongst the patients; some had difficulty identifying other negative emotions whereas two of the patients had no problem identifying emotions in facial expressions at all. Adolphà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s et al. (1999) said that remarkably these latter two patients had total bilateral amygdala lesions as revealed by structural MRIà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s. Canli, Sivers, Whitfield, Gotlib and Gabrieli (2002) used functional MRIs to look at the differences between the reactions of healthy participants who scored high in extraversion (who tend to have positive emotional reactions) and those who scored high on neuroticism (who have a tendency towards negative emotional reactions). It was found that all of the participants showed increased activity within the amygdala when viewing images of fearful faces, however only extraverts showed increased amygdala activity from viewing images of happy faces (Canli et al., 2002). These two studies indicate that individual differences affect the roles of neural structures in relation to emotion (Adolphs et al., 1999; Canli et al., 2002). This suggests that neural structures may play varying roles in experiencing emotion depending on the person, meaning that research into the roles of neural structures needs to consider differences between individuals for their findings to be relevant. A case study into one individual may show certain roles of a neural structure in emotional processing, however in another person this role may be slightly different. NEURAL NETWORK MODELLING OF SPECIFIC EMOTIONS Previously, the majority of the research into the neural network modelling of emotion has differentiated positive versus negative affect. Recently however, neural network modelling of specific emotions is beginning to emerge (Levine, 2006). The emotions mainly focused on in this research are the ones that were distinguished by Ekman and Friesen (1971), as mentioned earlier. THE NEURAL BASIS OF ANGER Blair, Morris, Frith, Perrett and Dolan (1999) carried out a study into the neural basis of anger. To do this they exposed subjects to either neutral or increasingly angry facial expressions while analyzing the areas of brain activation associated with the gradient of the intensity of anger. Blair et al. (1999) found the right orbitofrontal cortex became increasingly active when subjects were exposed to increasingly angry faces. These results suggest that the orbitofrontal cortex plays a role in explicit emotional labelling of angry faces. The role of the orbitofrontal cortex was further demonstrated by Sander et al. (2005). Participants were presented with meaningless phrases spoken with neutral prosody in one ear, and with angry prosody in the other. Participants were told to either attend to one ear or the other. It was found that activity in the right amygdala and superior temporal sulcus was changed independent of attention. Alternatively, the orbitofrontal cortex was only activated when the angry prosody had been attended to. This finding implies further that the orbitofrontal cortex is important for the explicit processing of anger. What now should be investigated is whether, and to what extent, individual differences have an effect; this could potentially help people who have problems with their anger by identifying the differences so that a solution can be found. THE NEURAL BASIS OF SADNESS Using the same paradigm, Blair et al. (1999) also investigated the neural basis of sadness. They found both the left amygdala and the right temporal lobe demonstrated activity linked with the intensity of sad expressions. These findings have however been contradicted by other recent studies. Adolphs and Tranel (2004) used a more sensitive approach, which involved the participants rating the intensity of an emotion rather than labelling it. They found that damage in the right amygdala caused a greater deficit in identifying sad faces when compared to damage to the left amygdala. Adolphs and Tranel (2004) believed that this difference in conclusions may have been due to the more insightful approach. There has not been much agreement for the neural basis of sadness, therefore this is an area of emotion which requires further research so that the roles of neural structures can be clarified. THE NEURAL BASIS OF FEAR Fear conditioning has become the preferred method of investigating fear as the source of fear is unambiguous and the development of the fear response can be systematically investigated (Pinel, 2008). Romanski and LeDoux (1992) studied the neural mechanisms of auditory fear conditioning by creating lesions in the auditory pathways of rats. It was found that bilateral lesions of the medial geniculate nucleus blocked fear conditioning to a tone; bilateral lesions of the auditory cortex however did not. The findings suggest that signals created by the tone only have to be able to reach the medial geniculate nucleus, not the auditory cortex, for auditory fear conditioning to occur. This also indicates that a pathway plays a crucial role in fear conditioning, going from the medial geniculate cortex to a structure other than the auditory cortex; this structure was proved to be the amygdala (Romanski LeDoux, 1992). They then found that lesions in the amygdala also blocked fear conditioning. Romanski and LeDoux (1992) argued that just because auditory cortex lesions do not disrupt fear conditioning does not mean that this structure is not involved in auditory fear conditioning. This is because there are two pathways from the medial geniculate nucleus to the amygdala. These are the auditory thalamus, and the auditory cortex; the indirect one, capable of mediating fear conditioning to more complex sounds (Jarrell et al., 1987, as cited in Pinel, 2008). Similarly, Armony et al. (1997) proposed a brain-based neural network model of auditory fear conditioning. Included are parallel cortical and subcortical pathways, reaching the primary emotional processing areas of the amygdala, as also shown by LeDoux (1996). It has been found that the subcortical pathway is quicker than the cortical, however the cortex performs more precise discrimination than the thalamus pathway. This finding suggests that the two pathways are involved in performing complementary functions; the subcortical pathway is vital in the presence of potentially dangerous stimuli where a fast response is crucial, and the cortical pathway is more useful where more detailed evaluations of stimuli are needed (Armony et al., 1997). Studies into fear have continually identified the amygdala as the main brain structure involved in the acquisition, storage and expression of conditioned fear (Armony et al., 1995;1997, Romanski LeDoux, 1992), therefore the role of the amygdala in fear conditioning is a widely accepted and stable notion. THE NEURAL BASIS OF SURPRISE Not many studies have investigated the emotion of surprise, however it is believed that surprise has important survival value, and therefore must be accessed early in the course of sensory processing (Plutchik Kellerman, 1986). To enable this, direct inputs to the amygdala from primary pathways provide this access, modulated by the swift habituation of sensory evoked responses in the amygdala. Because of this rapid action, surprise tends to be a short lived emotion, which leads on to another emotional state (Plutchik Kellerman, 1986); potentially making surprise a difficult emotion to study. THE NEURAL BASIS OF DISGUST Generally throughout the study of the neural basis of disgust, there has been a broad consensus that at least one area, the anterior insula, is crucial for both the detection and feeling of disgust (Philips et al., 1998). Based on imaging studies, this conclusion is in line with a study on a patient with insula damage whom is incapable of detecting disgust within varying modalities (Calder, Keane, Manes, Antoun, Young, 2000). Wicker, Keysers, Plailly, Royet, Gallese and Rizzolatti (2003) supported these findings, and went even further by analysing neural responses while watching others experience disgust, and firsthand experience of disgust. It was observed that in both these conditions the same part of the anterior insula was activated. These findings suggest that maybe understanding the emotions of others could require stimulation, and mildly experiencing, the emotions ourselves. This also implies a potential role of emotion in empathy (Gazzaniga et al., 2009). These findings by Philips et al. (1998), Calder et al. (2000) and Wicker et al. (2003) provide evidence that the insula is a neural correlate of experiencing disgust directly. The study by Wicker et al. (2003) also shows that the insula is essential in identification of disgust in others. Therefore, this indicates that the insula plays a role in the emotion of disgust, however the importance of this role is unknown. NEURAL CORRELATES OF HAPPINESS, SADNESS AND DISGUST An investigation into the neuroanatomical correlates of happiness, sadness and disgust was carried out by Lane, Reiman, Ahern, Schwartz and Davidson (1997). They used positron emission tomography to measure regional brain activity during exposure to happiness, sadness and disgust induced by film and recall. They found that happiness, sadness and disgust were all linked with increased activity in the thalamus and the medial frontal cortex, and also activation of anterior and posterior temporal structures, mainly when the emotions were induced by film. When sadness was recalled this linked with increased activation in the anterior insula; happiness was distinguished from sadness through greater activity around the ventral mesial frontal cortex. Lane et al. (1997) concluded that there seem to be a number of regions in the brain that are involved in emotions, with different combinations of structures concerned in feeling and identifying different emotions. This finding backs up LeDouxà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s (1996) reluctance to conclude that the amygdala is the centre of emotional reaction. EVALUATION OF METHODS Positron emission tomography (PET) is a technique often used in studies investigating co-morbidity. It provides images of brain activity, however these images are not of the brain, they are merely coloured maps giving an indication of the amount of radioactivity in the brain (Pinel, 2008). This means that it can only be estimated how much activity there is in each particular part of the brain, and therefore it is not a particularly accurate method of measuring brain activity in specific regions (Pinel, 2008). Another commonly used method of investigating brain activity in cognitive neuroscience is functional MRI (fMRI). The main strength of fMRI is that it provides both structural and functional information about the brain in one image (Posner Raichel, 1997), therefore revealing the brain function. This gives it an advantage over PET as a more precise image is produced (Pinel, 2008). Other advantages of this method over PET are that it provides a better spatial resolution, and three-dimensional images can be produced showing activity in the entire brain (Pinel, 2008). This information suggests that studies into the role of neural structures in emotion may be more reliable if the evidence comes from fMRI measurements, as a more accurate indication of which brain regions are activated at a certain time is given. CONCLUSION Through examining the literature surrounding the role of neural structures in emotion, it can be concluded that neural structures do play an important role. However, the significance of the role of neural structures in comparison to other factors, such as individual differences is still not clear. It has been proposed that neural structures have differing functions in the experience of emotion depending on the individual (Adolphs et al., 1999; Canli et al., 2002). This suggests that further research is needed in the field of individual differences to find these underlying factors, so that the function of neural structures can be more fully understood. Many challenges are faced in the study of emotion, as it is a behaviour that is difficult to define, manipulate and study with a scientific approach (Gazzaniga et al., 2009). Even so, investigation into the cognitive neuroscience of emotion has generally emphasized the importance of the role of the amygdala. The function of this structure in the response of emotion has been greatly influenced by research into animals; in both humans and other species the fact that the amygdala plays a vital role in the fear response has been demonstrated (Gazzaniga et al., 2009). The role of the amygdala is not the only structure researched in trying to identify the neural correlates involved in emotion, as recently different emotions have successfully been associated with other neural structures, including the orbitofrontal cortex in anger (Blair et al., 1999), and the insula, involved in disgust (Wicker et al., 2003). Nevertheless, an emerging change in the way the cognitive neuroscience of emotion is moving the emphasis from the study of individual neural structures to the investigation of neural systems (Gazzaniga et al., 2009). It is clear that the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex and insula are vital in the processing of emotion. It is now important that in order to enable how the brain produces both normal and adaptive emotional responses to be understood, the way that these structures interact together (with each other and with other brain regions) and the effect of individual differences needs to be investigated. FURTHER READING Gazzaniga, M. S., Ivry, R. B., Mangun, G. R. (2009). (See References). Gives a general overview of the neural networks involved in emotion, particularly the amygdala. Plutchik, R. Kellerman, H. (1986). (See References). Gives more in depth detail of the networks involved in specific emotions. Sergerie, K., Chochol, C., Armony, J. L. (2008). (See References). Looks at previous research into the role of the amygdala in emotional processing which gives new information regarding previously proposed models.