Dr. Gawande’s Respect for Patient Autonomy in Whose Body...

In his article â€Å"Whose Body Is It, Anyway?†Ã¢â‚¬â€appearing in the New Yorker in October 1994—Dr. Atul Gawande highlights the complexities of the doctor-patient relationship vis-à  -vis patient autonomy and decision-making. Dr. Gawande explains that a respect for patient autonomy (i.e., allowing patients to choose between courses of treatment, therefore directly influencing their health outcome) is the â€Å"new normal† for medical practitioners. However, Gawande also contends that there are times when patients are better served by a voluntary relinquishment of that autonomy. Dr. Gawande shares a personal story with the reader to make his case. He tells us about his daughter Hunter, who suddenly stopped breathing at 11-days-old. Dr. Gawande’s wife quickly noticed the respiratory stoppage, shook Hunter, and her breathing started anew. The Gawande family immediately took Hunter to the hospital where, in an environment guided by the â€Å"orthodoxy of patient autonomy†, a team of physicians presented them with different treatment options and asked them to choose their preferred course of action. Dr. Gawande was a trained, licensed, practicing physician – surely he would be better equipped than most to make such a decision. Yet, here are his thoughts at that critical moment: â€Å"Even if I made what I was sure was the right choice for her, I could not live with the guilt if something went wrong†¦ I needed Hunter’s physicians to bear the responsibility; they could live with the consequences, good or

Essay on The Effects of Advertising - 2032 Words

The Effects of Advertising Marketers used many different themes and techniques to make sure that children remember and ask for their products. During two hours of Saturday morning programming for children over forty ads are shown for different commodity type products. Various techniques are used to advertise these products and each ad have an underlying message. Different commodity type products are advertised to children. The ads that we observed fall into the categories of food, health and beauty products, movies and public service announcements. In the category of food items such as, cereal, candies, fruit punch, potato chips, frozen threats, hamburgers, French fries and chicken nuggets are marketed in intriguing and†¦show more content†¦Oreo cereal used a news setting to show the importance of their cereal by showing an anchor woman asking a kid, who is so much engage in eating his cereal, his opinion regarding the taste of the cereal and then turning to the cow to ask her opinion. Humor was the intent in this commercial because a cow cannot talk. Most ads over state the size of their products. For example, an ad for Popsicle shows the Popsicle being so big that it goes through the roof of the house. The techniques used were geared towards making a lasting impression on the kids so that they will in turn influence their par ents into buying these products for them. All of the products have an underlying message or theme. Through these ad kids are encouraged to pursue an education, clean their rooms, and expect rewards for good actions. Most of the advertisements also promote socialization and glamour. Chucky Cheese ads start off with a jingle to do your math and clean your room, advocating cleanliness, education, and reward for doing those things because if you do those things then you will get to go to Chucky Cheese where you can have a real good time. The shampoo ad shows children having fun at a park. Some of them were on swings with their beautiful hair (which supposedly resulted from using the shampoo) swaying in the breeze while others were washing their hair with the shampoo and others were roller skating in the air. The underlying message seems to indicate that this is aShow MoreRelatedAdvertising And Its Effect On Advertising939 Words   |  4 Pages Advertising Advertising has become an important thing in our everyday life. Almost all the companies make advertisements these days. Usually companies when launching a new product gives advertisement about their products may be in on television or newspaper. This kind of advertising attracts audiences who are likely to buy the product. 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Although advertising appears beneficial in many features, it too has its drawbacks and can be similarly unfavorable. Advertising will perhaps become increasingly ubiquitous, increasingly influential, and increasingly controversial (Advertising, 2011, p.152). Advertising is highly criticized, not so much for its very natureRead MoreThe Negative Effects Of Advertising1545 Words   |  7 Pagesfor Americans. Advertising convinces people to buy their products by using a multitude of manipulative ideas: targeting inferiorities, tearing apart confidence and self-image, misrepresenting the benefits of a product, and most importantly, creating materialistic ideals. As Stephen Leacock said â€Å"Advertising: the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.† The materialistic, self-demeaning, and misleading ways of today’s society is why advertising has a profoundly

My First Year free essay sample

Change is a word that has several different meanings to several different individuals. Change is good, change is scary, and most of all change is a step into the unknown. For every new freshman college is a drastic change; a change for the best or a change for the worst. There are so many unknowns and so many doubts a first year student experiences as they step into this new place called home. My first year thus far has encompassed all of these feelings; the excitement, the fear, and the unknown. This is my transition from high school to college; my experiences, my fears, and the beginning of adulthood. High school sucked, I felt like I was in a prison of repetition and predictability for four years. I wore the same uniforms and saw the same people for the last four years in my cliquey private school. By the end of senior year I was so ready to leave my hometown and start somewhere fresh where no one knew me. We will write a custom essay sample on My First Year or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I was so excited for college and could not wait for August to come around. I packed all of my belongings and said good-bye to all of my high school friends and my cat. On the drive down I could not stop thinking about how different college was going to be, what my roommates would be like, where my classes were, and how much fun I was about to have. After my parent and my brother moved me into my dorm and said their last good-byes I felt an instant feeling of freedom. Freedom to do what I wanted and a freedom to make my own choices, good or bad. The first weekend went by so quick with meeting so many new people and really living on my own. One of the first things I did was buy a pack of cigarettes and smoked one in my friend’s car, freedom at last. The weekend was so much fun I was dreading classes to start; I was not even sure where my classes were! My first class was at eleven; nothing compared to the 7:45 a.m. in high school, and was nothing short of shocking to be in a class with two hundred students. After the first week of college, I realized how different it was from high school. In College no one cared whether or not you showed up, flunked, or studied at all. Nobody cared if I went out on the weekdays before my 8 a.m. or even showed up to class at all. I was on my own, and was only motivated to receive a higher education so one, my parents were not disappointed in me and two, so I can work somewhere other than McDonalds. I remember when I went back home for the first time. It was Thanksgiving break and my house looked completely different. When I first walked in I felt like I had not been there for years. After a couple days of being home I almost felt as though I had never left though, and was so bored I could not believe that I had spent eighteen years of my life living there. I felt bad for my friends who went to Kennesaw and went home every weekend, I felt as though they had been missing out on the full â€Å"college experience.† I had so much more experience with the crazy partying at my school and going out on weekdays I felt as though I needed to share it with them. I felt like a different person when I came back home, like I was now one of those college girls that I always saw in my older friends who came back from college during breaks. I had experienced everything I was hoping to experience in college and so much more.

Kinship of Family

Kinship refers to the link that exists among people who are related to each other either by marriage or blood. This link is important because it defines somebody’s history. Kinship is used in most communities to dictate how properties are distributed among one’s descendants. The volume of properties received is dependent on the beneficiary’s number in the family order.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Kinship of Family specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Among communities that speak the same vernacular language, the language is used as the unifying factor because it is used to distinguish that community from other communities. Residing in a common geographical location was responsible for fostering strong bonds due to frequent interaction. There are two ways through which kinship can be acquired and they include marriage and through blood. The strength of these links does not rely on their source . A link based on marriage can disintegrate after the marriage has collapsed. In contrary affiliation by blood is thought to have the strongest foundation and is said to end when death walks in. In my typical family setup the affiliation that exists among family members is used to hold it together. For instance, if my father was to divorce my mother, my link with the two of them would remain intact unless I take sides. This is because the link between me and both of them is based on blood while theirs is based on love. In the above mentioned scenario it is certain that links that are based on blood are stronger and cannot be compared to links based on the marriage because the partners in marriage are united by their strong feelings towards each other and when these feelings fade away the link between them is then broken. In our culture, the first born male is accorded the same respect as his father and is responsible for the continuation of family name. Female children are not able to participate in family name continuation because traditions dictate that when a woman is married she becomes more attached to her new family. The male first born is usually consulted before a decision is made because if the father of the family does not exist the first born male assumes his role. Mothers tend to favor the child who is more financially stable than the rest. Studies in the recent past have proved that this favor is natural among females.Advertising Looking for essay on anthropology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In ancient days our community supported marriage strongly because they knew the family was the basic unit that determined the survival of a community. In today’s world these cultures have been eliminated by modernization. Descendants of a given family name were avoided by many because it was perceived that by marrying such people will bring bad blood into a family name. Children who are not fi nancially stable enjoy limited authority in decision making process in their families because they are only allowed to implement decisions that have been made by those considered to be more intelligent. Money commands power in our family regardless of whether the wealthy child is the last born in the family. Experience cannot be bought over the counter and thus one would expect the first born of the family whether male or female to be given the first priority in giving counsel to his siblings. Favoring one child over the other fosters jealousy in the family against the child who is seen as the apple of parent’s eye. Property inheritance should be done with evenness because all the children enjoy the same rights in their family. In most families within our community, property inheritance has led to many wrangles that are extended to their offsprings. Children who are more successful than their siblings tend to take advantage of their siblings. Parents also are also known to di slike children who are named after the parents of their partner. This is most likely to happen if the bond between the in-laws and their brother’s wife is soar. It is worth noting that the character traits exhibited by one’s children reflect those of his/her parents. Favoritism makes those who are more preferred than others feel like they are superior to their siblings, and hence decisions in that family must safe guard their interests. Sometimes parent ignite family wrangles by allocating more property to one child. Parents should distribute their property equally among their children unless their children recommend so. This evenness will promote unity in a family. Thus children in our society are encouraged to exercise respect to each other. This essay on Kinship of Family was written and submitted by user Haven Salas to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Essay for CAE Essays

Essay for CAE Essays Essay for CAE Essay Essay for CAE Essay Admittedly, it cannot be denied that a parent feeling responsibility for his childs deeds is likely to pass the notion of such words as duty, honor, good, evil and explain that every action will result in specific consequences. The other side of a coin is, however, that nobody knows for sure if the perspective of being punished will cause the increase in parents awareness of their great role in bringing up a law-abiding person or will simply provoke the fear of being punished. And it is well-known that actions did by a person whose main motivation is fear will inconceivably do a lot of harm. For instance, the parents who are fearful of punishment could try to get rid of this feeling through violence towards their children, which will cause good neither for their descendants nor for society. Another aspect we must bear in our mind is the age of children and the appropriateness of the punishment. It is obvious that there is no use in penalizing parents of the criminals who are over twenty-five. Moreover, the great majority of parents will certainly give themselves a severe punishment for fostering a person who can break a law. It is my firm belief hat feeling of guilty and taking sore responsibility for their childrens illegal actions might be far stricter than any fine or restriction of freedom. To draw the conclusion, I must say that this statement is open to debate due to having lots of contradictory aspects within. Nevertheless, while making any Judgments concerning this issue one has to bear in mind all psychological and social consequences of each alternative. Work cannot be satisfying unless it is well-paid. Taking in account all economic and social changes in modern world that have taken place over the last decades, this statement gains great importance. A number of key issues arise from it and for this reason it seems to be a hot topic of debate nowadays. The first aspect which must be considered while thinking this statement over is a material one. Few people would dispute that being a healthy and wealthy person, who has confidence in the future, requires earning enough money. Undoubtedly, every person has ones own conception of what high salary is, but still every country has its cost of living and being paid wage lower than minimum subsistence level turns persons life into the process of survival. In terms of these considerations, not achieving good payment for peoples work put the quality of their life in danger. The second point we must bear in mind is psychological importance of being well-paid. It is obviously true for the majority of people that being initiative, industrious and approachable at work is connected to earning enough money. Moral satisfaction with job and its financial aspect are two sides of the same coin. The notion of rewarding job means a Job that provides a person with possibility to make plans for the forthcoming future, feel importance in society and have a life of dignity. All things considered, I tend to believe that badly-paid work brings no happiness in any persons life and causes lots of psychological and financial problems. In connection with this, being satisfied with your Job is definitely related to getting high material appreciation of your work. Making money has become too important for people in our modern society. Peoples attitude towards money has always been a topic of discussion since ancient times, although economic and social changes, which have taken place over last decades, made this statement sound even more significant. The question about the importance of earning money for people of present times is very controversial and therefore needs precise/thorough consideration. One argument often given in support of the idea that making money is essential is that without having enough money a person stands no chance to buy things of immediate need, maintain healthy lifestyle and achieve set goals. It is undeniable that possessing money provides people with confidence in the foreseeable future not only for themselves but also for their children. On the contrast, the process of making money requires a lot of persons time, which results in problems with compromising it teen work and family. The loss of significant relationship with close people and beloved ones is likely to worsen the quality of anybody life and psychological statement regardless of bank account. Furthermore, we must not forget that pursuing the aim of making more and more money might lead a person to committing a crime. Nowadays it is common to see a man with few moral principles but lots of money on his bank account. What makes this situation even worse is that modern teenagers tend to resemble those well-to-do criminals, perceiving their lifestyle as a model to follow. To draw the conclusion, I can assume that devoting our lives to the endless process of making money brings nothing but loneliness and limitedness into our lives. The main thing we must bear in our minds is that money is a good slave but a bad master. Family affair Have you ever thought how many different family structures and traditions can be found throughout the world? Moreover, every century or even more often new model of family relationship appears. Yet every country has its own peculiarities of family functioning, which originate and follow from the history of the nation examined. My family represents a typical Slavic family, specifically the Eastern part of it. The brightest aspect of this family type is not tight bonds between both distant relatives and close ones. It is not a common to see families whose members get on like a house on fire in our area. By contrast, almost every family is an embodiment of some kind of a battle, where you can find two or even more fighting sides, their opponents, supporters and uninvolved, strategies of embattling and disastrous effects. Unfortunately, my family relationships are not exclusion but rather a confirmation of he rule. Although I cant say that we are constantly at war, but high tension is always there in the air. Having relatives of distinguished nationalities doesnt help at all, because they live far away and play role of uninvolved sides of the battle. Nevertheless, the most unpleasant thing is the understanding that our ancestors used to have extremely close relationship within their families. Being on good terms with relatives was seen as an essential aspect of happiness and goodness. And still in the Western and Centrals parts of my country closeness between family members s quite a common phenomenon. Being acquainted with such families and knowing of their existence make me Jealous of their ability to compromise and respect each others choice and individuality. And I sincerely hope that in the course of time my family relationship will also be filled with Joy, support and understanding. But what I can do and whether I am ready to do anything is open to question. Must-read detectives Detectives present one of the richest parts of literary heritage collected by now. Nevertheless, hardly a month passes by without new detective story appearing on offer. In this review two books written by our contemporaries Bernhard Schlock and Bernard Werner will be compared. It is not only their thematic content that makes Bernhard Clinks Zeals Justice and Bernard Wearers The last secret resemble one another, but also thorough investigation of humans psychology. Both of them provide a revealing and valuable insight into moral principles and prevailing aims of modern people. A remarkable similarity between these two books also lies in terms of memorable and extraordinary protagonists characters, compelling course of events ND thought-provoking plot. On the other hand, there is a world of difference between Zeals Justice and The last secret. The former one is based on events that took place not long ago and can be regarded as more serious due to combination of psychological factors with economic and political aspects of modern society. The later one, on the contrary, is more action-packed and exhilarating owing to fabulous plot that reveals latent and usually unused potential of humans brain. Moreover, Zeals Justice unfavorable differs from The last secret in terms of fascination, but Bernard Wearers book is definitely less plausible that Bernhard Slinks one. It is obvious, that two books examined below are worth being in the must-read list of every detectives-lover. But I would recommend not being put off by the genre and missing opportunity to immerse oneself in the gripping and unpredictable plot created by the outstanding authors. Fulfilling your ambitions At any time setting goals and struggling for their achievement has been an essential part of every persons life. This existential need lies behind peoples desire for understanding all the negative and positive aspects of the searching for better life. Consequently, annually numerous films devoted to this topic appear on the screen. In this review two of them, namely The pursuit of happiness and Slumlord Millionaire, will be compared. There is little to choose between them in terms of actor performance due to credible portrayal of a person encountering difficulties and posing challenges on the way to success, which was created by Will Smith in The pursuit of happiness and Deep Patella in Slumlord Millionaire. These are not only the performers of the main roles who make these films worthwhile watching, but all the sat, whose stunning acting can be undoubtedly called second to none.

Using the Spanish Adjective Grande

Using the Spanish Adjective Grande Grande is among the most common adjectives of Spanish and one of the first to be learned by students. Grande Meaning Large or Big The most common meaning of grande is simply big or large: Viven en una casa grande. (They live in a large house.)Mi nieta tiene las manos grandes como su padre. (My granddaughter has big hands like her father.) ¿Sabes cul es la ciudad ms grande del paà ­s? (Do you know which city is the countrys largest?)Madrid es una ciudad grande. (Madrid is a large city.)El caà ±Ãƒ ³n ms grande del Sistema Solar est en Marte. (The biggest  canyon in the solar system is on Mars.)El estadio ms grande de tenis del mundo ya tiene techo retrctil. (The worlds largest tennis stadium now has a retractable roof.) In context, grande can also refer specifically to height, rather than size per se: Era un hombre grande y flaco. (He was a tall and lean man.)En baloncesto un jugador grande y bueno siempre ser mejor para el equipo que uno bajo y bueno. (In basketball, a tall, good player will always be better for the team than a short, good player.) Like the English word big, grande can refer to being an adult as contrasted with being child, or to being older: Cuando sea grande voy a ser dentista. (When Im bigger/older, Im going to be a dentist.)Cautivà ³ el corazà ³n de grandes y chicos. (She captivated the hearts of the old and the young.)Es mi hermana grande. (Shes my big/older sister.)Estoy muy grande para jugar este juego. (Im too old for playing this game.) Grande Referring to Greatness Especially when it comes before the noun, grande can refer to someone or something being notable. It is often then the equivalent of great. Note than when grande comes before a singular noun, it is shortened to gran: Mi madre dijo que Gerald Ford fue un gran presidente. (My mother said Gerald Ford was a great president.)Fue una gran pelà ­cula ignorada por la prensa. (It was a great film ignored by the press.)Unos dicen que el calamiento global es la gran mentira de nuestro dà ­a. (Some say global warming is the great lie of our day.)I (The players try to leave the casino with the greatest reward possible.)No hay grandes diferencias entre realidad y ficcià ³n, ni entre lo verdadero y lo falso. (That are no huge differences between reality and fiction, nor between truth and falsehood.) Other Meanings of Grande Grande can refer to the larger metropolitan area of a city: La pesca comercial proporciona alrededor de 10.000 empleos en el gran Seattle. (Commercial fishing employs about 10,000 workers in the Seattle area.)La gran Roma est llena de arcos de triunfo. (Greater Rome is full of triumphal arches.) When it doesnt refer to size, grande usually refers to intensity: Es con gran tristeza que anunciamos el fallecimiento de nuestro querido amigo. (It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of our dear friend.)Es una felicidad grande que Angelina piense en mà ­. (Its a great delight that Angelina is thinking about me.)Puedes ajustar las ventanas pero con gran dificultad. (You can adjust the windows, but with much  difficulty.)Era la primera nevada grande en diez aà ±os. (It was the first heavy snowfall in 10 years.) Grande in Phrases Grande is also used in various phrases: a lo grande - on a big scale: Si piensas a lo grande, puedes hacerlo a lo grande. (If you think big, you can do big.)en grande - on a big scale: Alajuela celebra en grande la gesta heroica de Juan Santamarà ­a. (Alajuela celebrates on a grande scale the heroic achievement of Juan Santamarà ­a.grandes mentes, grandes pensadores - great minds, great thinkers: Las grandes mentes piensan igual. (Great minds think alike.)el hueso grande - the capitate bone (of the hand): El hueso grande es el à ºnico entre todos los del carpo que puede dislocarse. (The capitate bone is the only one among all those of the carpus that can be dislocated.)la semana grande - the final week of Lent: El periodo de los siete dà ­as antes de la Pascua denominamos la semana grande.) (The seven-day period before Easter makes up the final week of Lent. Semana Grande can also refer to a week in August, known as Aste Nagusia, that is celebrated in northern Spain.)

Strategic plan for one of the companies listed on Forbes International Essay

Strategic plan for one of the companies listed on Forbes International Top Ten list - Essay Example In today’s modern era, every company strives to dominate its market. In order to gain any market segment, a company must have a business strategic plan implemented to achieve its goals. Each year Forbes.com comes with a list of top corporations that are excelling in their market. One of the firms that have made a dramatic impact in its industry is Toyota. Toyota is one of the few companies that has the honor to claim itself as â€Å"not only the best automaker in the world, but also maybe the best corporation†. This paper will discuss the strategic management of Toyota and its quest to become the market leader in its industry. One of the most unique strategic planning that Toyota has implemented is to employee top management positions from Japan. Although this move might not work for every corporation, Toyota has the reputation to preserve its brand reputation. From design to corporate decisions, all operations take place in Tokyo[2]. The reason for this is clearly expl ained by John Paul MacDuffee, a professor at local university as he states, â€Å"This is about a greater maturity about globalizing and transferring knowledge that Toyota certainly has at this point.†[2]. In addition, these executives decided to ask their suppliers to reduce their cost by 30%. Management understood that every little step taken by them will influence the company in the long-run. By building a solid environment of knowledge and design, Toyota is able to utilize mass production methods[1]. How is this achieved? Well, the company is a firm believer in the Just-in-time â€Å"lean production.† Toyota’s lean manufacturing system is a critical for its strategic planning by enhancing the flow of work [1]. In addition, it focuses to reduce the organization’s waste, which dramatically increases customer value. Moreover, it levels of production level which eliminates unevenness in its manufacturing system. Just-in-time improves organization's return on investment, quality, and efficiency[1]. Undoubtedly, much of the success that Toyota has enjoyed is due to this model that is collaborated and implemented through planning and executive models. The current strategic planning for Toyota is to introduce a new line of hybrid cars. As humanity progresses to the 21st century, society has becoming more environmental friendly. Hence, Toyota saw this as an opportunity to expand its line of cars. Hence, it decided to invest heavily in research and development in order to build hybrid-electric vehicles [3]. Toyota’s ability to fund in development was critical as it poured millions of dollars without hurting its capital budget. After years of researching, Toyota decided to aggressively showcase its new hybrid Camry and Highlander, two cars that are known for quality and durability [3]. However, it was met by a tough rival as Ford introduced its newest S.U.V at the same time where Toyota showcased its news Prius. While other companyà ¢â‚¬â„¢s struggled to design hybrid cars that produced revenue, Toyota was already enjoying decent profits. Interestingly enough, the company never attempts to make any bold of false promises as other companies. Toyota executives acknowledged the fact that gas prices will continue to rise as oil becomes scarce. Furthermore, it was clear that creating an automobile that was â€Å"environmental friendly† is clearly going to be the future of the industry[3]. Hence, by carefully forecasting the

Statistics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Statistics - Research Paper Example However, in 2008-2009 during the global economic contagion, the housing sector reported a significant decline in demand and sales, a crisis that was described by economic expert as â€Å"housing bubble† (Baker, 2007). The demand for housing and residential property significantly declined and this was followed a drastic fall in the real estate investments during the same period. After the global economic recovery in late 2009 and early 2010, housing sector posted a boost in returns. This raises the question on the effects of the GDP on the real estate investments and the sales of the houses in the United States. Although empirical studies early conducted by professional indicate that these two variables are related, such findings are insufficient in addressing the effects of predictable change in the GDP on sales and demand of house, particularly in the U.S. This research paper therefore aims at establishing the relationships between the changes in the GDP and house sales. In d etermining such relationships, this research paper will focus on literature material and the statistical inferences. The link between GDP and the change in the sales of the housing and real estate units is evidenced by the data on the performance if these two variable over time. The data from the department of labor and economics show that these two variables have a strong positive relationship. This is evidenced by the great global economic and financial crisis of 2009 that negatively affected the housing and real estate sector through the housing bubbles. These changes in the GDP and the general economic performance had an adverse effect on the volume of sales in the housing sector. A research study by Baker (2007) established that a predicted decline in GDP is reflected in the housing sector by a fall in the volume of house sales. This explained by the fact a fall the GDP is characterized a significant fall the marginal propensity to invests or save out of any

Subsidizing Distribution of Free

Subsidizing Distribution of Free Anti-Virus Software Essay In today’s technologically dependent society, organizations can run a high risk of infection from computer viruses. Due to this, it is necessary, as the CIO of the organization, to explore the need for distribution of free anti-virus software to home users on the network. As such, many organizations are faced with technical problems resulting from network security. An analysis of these security problems, to include an exploration of the role of the various IT users within the corporation, will reveal the need for distribution of free anti-virus software. According to Vamosi (2004), â€Å"millions of PCs worldwide still do not have basic antivirus protection, and thus are susceptible to infection†. For Vamosi, the problem for many corporations lies within the fact that the computers within the corporation lack protection from virus attack and, as a result, would benefit from the instillation of free antivirus software. There are many potential issues that can affect the network security of an organization. Specifically, there is a dire need for organizations to implement security plans and to install antivirus software on their network computers. As Vamosi describes, the problems associated with computer viruses could simply be solved if security organizations offered the programs free of charge. â€Å"Let the antivirus companies corporate clients pay for the software and the annual signature-file subscriptions, and let the home users download both for free† (Vamosi, 2004). As such, it is essential to give further discussion into the role of the various users in the IT process, to include the roles of top management/non-IT management, IT professionals, and end-users in maintaining network security in order to determine the overall effectiveness of providing the home users with free anti-virus software. The core to the IT team includes the IT Management staff. The IT management staff, traditionally, will pair with non-IT management to make executive decisions. More specifically, the Chief Information Officer is the IT manager responsible for â€Å"the day to day operations of an IT Department and the work of any contracted IT employees† (Watkins, 2008). It is important to mention that it will be this group of corporate employees that looks closely at the corporate budget in order to determine if the distribution of free anti-virus software to home users is a fiscally sound decision. Supporting the IT management team are the IT professionals. These individuals â€Å"are trained to handle a wide variety of development, support, and administrative tasks related to keeping information systems operating efficiently and being used effectively† (Watkins, 2008). The IT staff members will handle the day to day issues associated with installing the antivirus software as well as troubleshooting issues that arise with the network itself. Providing the free anti-virus software will certainly provide assurance for this employee group that the network is safe and secure for home use. The end-users in the corporation must also be considered in determining whether or not it is effective to install and distribute free anti-virus software on home use computers. In general, the end-users are those individuals who will work on computers within their home. As Watkins (2008) describes, â€Å"End-users typically have four types of issues, hardware-specific problems, operating-system specific problems, application-specific problems, and network/Internet specific problems. † In discussing the role of end users in this scenario, it is important to mention that end users also have different levels of skills. End-users â€Å"often lack is training in specific applications and in advanced Internet searching. They may also may be unaware of good security practices and often need help solving unexpected hardware and software problems† (Watkins, 2008). The core problem with security, as has been observed by many professionals in the IT field, was, at one time, that of viruses. That is, the viruses would load computers with adware and bring the PC to a halt. And, as InfoWorld describes, many of the problems and issues resulting from viruses and other technical problems are the result of issues arising from within the organization itself. â€Å"The threat posed by their own employees isn’t lost on security pros, 56 percent of whom rated workers who fail to follow security policy as a significant security challenge† (2006). Based on the above, it is then necessary to take into consideration the variety in perspective in regards to computer virus attack held by users in the IT system. According to Gaudin, â€Å"slightly more than 50 percent of end users surveyed say spam is not a problem in their workplace. However, 79. 1 percent of IT managers say it is a problem in the workplace. † At the same time, â€Å"when end users were asked if they think spam is under control at their company, 8. 4 percent say its out of control; 23. 3 percent say its barely under control, and 68 percent say it is under control. â€Å" This statistic can be compared to the results of IT administrators asked the same question. According to the survey results, â€Å"10 percent say its out of control; 33 percent say its barely out of control, and 56 percent say they have it under control† (2004). It is necessary to determine, then, the specific role that corporate home users play in the receipt of free antivirus software. In order to best secure the organization and protect the home users from potential attacks, it is necessary to develop a strategic plan of action that will protect home users accessing the corporate network. A plan of action, to include the distribution of free anti-virus software is essential, â€Å"as predatory as today’s criminally minded hackers are, IT professionals face plenty of threats from within their own enterprises — none more glaring than their own lack of a comprehensive plan for security† (InfoWorld, 2006). As the literature reveals, it is highly recommended that the corporation provide home users with free antivirus software. Doing this will enable the organization to more effectively secure the network while protecting corporate security from virus and other outside attack. References Gaudin, S. (2004). IT and End Users Differ on Spam Severity, Retrieved May 7, 2009 from: http://www. enterpriseitplanet. com/security/news/article. php/3370591 InfoWorld (2006). IT’s Confidence Crisis. Retrieved August 18, 2007 from http://www. infoworld. com/article/06/10/30/44FEsecsurvey_1. html Vamosi, R. (2004). Antivirus software must be free. Heres why, Retrieved August 18, 2007 from: http://reviews-zdnet. com. com/4520-7297-5123825. html Watkins, P. (2008). Module 03 Background Information. Retrieved May 15, 2009 from E:\modules\module03\background. htm.

Violence in Cincinnati :: Essays Papers

Violence in Cincinnati In the article, â€Å"‘Violence’ in Cincinnati,† Thomas A. Dutton brings up a conversation about the urban area of Over-The-Rhine. He speaks out about how this downtown area has extremely too much violence and there needs to be something done about it. He speaks to the age group of twenty-five and up and to all citizens of Cincinnati. This article was published in 2001 in â€Å"Nation† magazine. At this time in Cincinnati, there were many disputes about race. A white officer shot an unarmed black man in April in 2001 that had many offenses against him at the time and was killed shortly after. Riots broke out and curfews were set in to place. This is a major event that happened in Cincinnati’s history and still today has hurt the citizens and the Over-The-Rhine district. Violence has been fought against people of color for a very long time and it affects the people and various cities around us. Thomas A. Dutton’s use of logic is seen through out this entire article by presenting various examples that gives supporting evidence as to why Cincinnati is a violent city in the course of the Over-The- Rhine district. One example that supports this claim and relates to persuasiveness is that on April 7, a young man named Timothy Thomas was shot and killed by a white Cincinnati police officer. This was the start of all the controversy in the urban city. Since this has happened â€Å"recent census data shows that Cincinnati is the ninth most segregated city in the United States† (2). Dutton uses several statistics through out many years dating back as far as the 1940’s and shows that things persist to happen to get bad in this area. While many things are happening downtown with new buildings and stadiums, the fact that there is still this segregation between the black, the poor, and the upper class downtown, hurts the entire community. All of this evidence that is presented is very persuasive. They are convincing which shows that many people will also agree with what he has to say about this city. When a city like Cincinnati is being run down, a lot of crime happens and things need to be done about it.

Iron Crowned Chapter 22

No one had to tell me the ways in which that exponentially complicated things. Jasmine's gasp confirmed my many realizations. â€Å"Two placentas,† said Veronica, pausing and typing something one-handed while still keeping hold of the paddle. â€Å"What †¦ what's that mean?† I asked. â€Å"It means they could be identical or fraternal,† said Dr. Sartori. â€Å"One placenta would be identical for sure.† I swallowed. The noise, that wavelike sound †¦ It was drowning me. My heartbeat, another heartbeat, and another still †¦ How was it possible? How could there be so much life in one body? â€Å"Can you still do the test?† I stammered out. Dr. Sartori was holding the needle but made no moves as his eyes flicked back to the monitor. â€Å"I can †¦ but it's not recommended in this situation. With twins, the risks are increased.† â€Å"I don't care,† I said firmly. â€Å"I still want it. I have to know. With my family history †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I prayed he wouldn't demand too many details beyond what Dr. Moore had sent over. He and Veronica discussed a few things, using medical language I couldn't follow. She used the paddle to check every angle, taking measurements on her computer as he occasionally pointed details out. Finally, after another warning against the procedure, he agreed to do it. It hurt as much as you'd expect from a giant needle being stuck into you. His hands were superhumanly steady, as his eyes held firm to the monitor so he could watch the needle's progress. I still couldn't make out much in the images but knew the challenge was to get to the placenta without touching a fetus. Placentas, in this case. They had to get another test kit, using another needle in order to sample from both babies. Babies. I still couldn't believe it. They helped me when they finished the test, loading Jasmine and me up with post-care instructions to reduce both self-injury and the risk of miscarriage. Does it matter? I thought bleakly. A miscarriage would take the decision away from me. It'd be out of my hands. For now, one tiny problem did present itself: getting home. I was sore and didn't feel like driving. In fact, I'd been advised not to. Jasmine helpfully offered to. â€Å"I know for a fact you don't have a license,† I told her. I was leaning against my car, baking in welcome sunshine. â€Å"No, but I can drive. Come on, it's not that far. And you certainly can't. What do you want to do? Call Tim and let him know what's going on?† she challenged. I wanted my mom, I realized. I wanted my mom to come and drive me home – to her home. I wanted her to take care of me and talk to me like she used to. I wanted her to fix all this. I blinked rapidly and turned my head, not wanting Jasmine to see me tear up. â€Å"Fine.† I held out the keys. â€Å"If we get pulled over, the ticket's coming out of your allowance.† To her credit, she drove responsibly, and she was right – it wasn't far. I tilted my seat back slightly, wanting to sleep for the next few days or however long it would take to get back my results. I didn't want to endure the waiting. I couldn't endure the waiting. The car's silence and rhythm nearly took me under until Jasmine spoke. â€Å"So,† she said matter-of-factly. â€Å"If they're boys, you get an abortion. If they're girls †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Then I don't.† I hadn't realized I'd made my decision until that moment. When I'd heard those heartbeats †¦ well, it didn't matter if motherhood and drastic body changes scared the hell out of me. If I had two daughters, daughters unconnected to any prophecy, I would have them. I'd figure parenting out. â€Å"If they're girls, I'll keep them.† She nodded and said nothing more until we were turning down my street. Honestly, I was surprised she waited that long because I'd already known what else she was dying to ask. â€Å"Eugenie?† â€Å"Yes, Jasmine?† â€Å"What are you going to do if one's a boy and one's a girl?† I stared ahead at my house. I suddenly didn't want to sleep just for the next few days. I wanted to sleep for the next nine months. Or seven months. Or whatever. I didn't answer her question. â€Å"I can't have a son,† I said at last. â€Å"You know that. That's all there is to it.†

Bollywood and Liberalization Essay

Bollywood as a term has been roughly in vogue for the last four decades and is synonymous to the Hindi film industry of Mumbai, formerly Bombay. But not until recently the term Bollywood has become a global phenomenon with the hay days of the economic liberalization or globalization in India since 1991. But before we delve deep into Bollywood, it is imperative that we should throw light on the economic phenomena of globalization and its socio-cultural impact on India. Towards a definition of globalization: According to the Oxford dictionary, globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. From the above definition of the term, it is difficult to draw its influence on a culture and its impact on a global scale. If we take the example of India, which in turn, is the world’s largest democracy and the largest potential market for its ever growing population, it should be borne in mind that Firstly, Globalization implies free trade and mobility of goods, which has flooded the Indian market with innumerable foreign products, Secondly, as the flood gates of foreign business opened to India, it exposed the indigenous business to the crude and highly demanding uneven market competition which resulted in the obliteration of a number of Indian companies. India was primarily a sellers’ market, but due to high population and a considerably huge market in comparison to the European ones with a few indigenous competitors, India turned int o a consumers’ market. According to Brian Longhearst, Globalization is a term that tries to capture the rapid social change that is occurring across a number of dimensions, including economy, politics, communications and culture†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. where socio economic life cannot be firmly located in a particular place with clear boundaries. Hindi films, by the turn of the last decade of the previous century, have been an embodiment of these socio economic shifts. These shifts are in accord with the cultural shift that has been inflicted by the globalized order of things. Spectrum of the Indian market had changed overnight due to the flooding of a host of foreign products in the indigenous markets. If we consider the classical Marxist approach of the relation between an economy and its culture, economy of a state is its base and the culture that thrives there is the superstructure built on that base. So an economic implication on a nation inevitably influences the cultural practice of the societies of that nation who are exposed to that economic base. In P. Joshi’s ‘Bollylite in America’, Bollywood has been meant for a ‘culture industry that remains constitutively international in production and global in consumption.’ Popular for its Hollywood remakes and reformulation of popular Hollywood films, other regional language films (Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Bhojpuri, and Malayalam language) and even old films, the term Bollywood has come to represent both an acknowledgment of the debt the directors and technicians of the Hindi film industry owe to Hollywood for their creative ideas as well as a description which challenges the monopolistic hegemony of Hollywood across the globe. In this regard, Asish Rajadhyaksha presents a very interesting definition of Bollywood which enhances us to understand the industry in a better way than the usual consensus about Bollywood. According to him, Bollywoodization can be best understood as a †¦..diffused cultural conglomeration involving range of distribution and consumption activities. But this definition is prevalent only after it has incorporated the ethics and contradictory forces of globalization like privatization, and liberalization which changed the production and consumption of Mumbai films. The near universal legitimization of the term Bollywood (instead of Hindi cinema, Bombay cinema, Indian popular cinema, etc) is an index of larger social transformations taking place in India. Changes in the Film Industry from 1991 It is imperative to throw light on the media sector of India and its subsequent effect of the liberalization policies. With the arrival of the satellite and international television channels in 1991 in India, the media scenario underwent a radical change in the entertainment arena as well as the financial policies of the same. Hong-Kong based Star TV, a subsidiary of News Corporation, and CNN started broadcasting into India using the ASIAST-1 satellite. This was followed by an unprecedented and dramatic expansion of cable television. The ‘open skies policy’ under the new liberal economy suddenly exposed the Indian audience to a whole new set of cable channels from all around the world as well as from different regions of the country with their own regional languages. Hollywood films, whose views were limited to the availability of VHS cassettes and film halls, were now easily available on Star Movies and others. Therefore, the changes in the media landscape along with po licy initiatives by the state precipitated a number of changes which in turn altered the Hindi film industry in the most dramatic fashion. However, 1998 saw a landmark decision which accredited Bollywood with the status of industry which facilitated the film industry to avail financial support from the government – film industry became eligible for infrastructural and credit supports which was previously available to other industries. In addition to this, the film industry enjoyed reduction in custom duties on cinematographic film, complete exemption on export profits, and tax incentives. Changes in the Exhibition and Promotional System With the policy shifts owing to the liberalization process, single screen theatre halls were started being replaced with the multiplexes, especially in the metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata. With the sophisticated financial policies for films starting from its investment to its exhibition, the film industry became corporatized with a. development of websites for promotional activities of Bollywood films as well as the studios and the big production houses, b. aggressive marketing and promotional activities for film music, which was having a stiff competition with the newly found indie pop songs, c. incessant and aggressive campaigns of the newly released films in radio, television and other forms of media like mobile phones, d. increase in the ticket prices of the films in the multiplexes, e. the stars of the Hindi films started appearing in interviews, television shows and press meetings more than ever before, f. advertisements started endorsing the stars who became regular faces in the satellite television channels. According to Ravi Sundaram, circulation of thousands of various media objects (both old and new) in the forms of print flyers, signage, mobile phones, music cassettes and CDs, created a ‘visual frenzy’ centered around Bollywood. New Challenges for Bollywood It is true that the film industry turned into a new global Bollywood with a lot of economic and financial facilities only after the economic liberalization, but for the same open market policies cinema in India and all across the world started facing stiff challenges from other forms of media, especially television. Bollywood faced enormous pressure in every sense to maintain and attract the audiences to the film theatre from the tele-visual extravaganza. Previously the narratives were surrounded with the poverty stricken community and how a working class hero struggles to defeat the corrupt rich villains. It also accommodated the familial and community ties which proved to be more essential and core to the existence of the individual. But now Bollywood films increasingly began to depict India’s shifting relationship with the world economy through images of a hybrid relation between the national and global – there was interestingly some conscious deletion on thematic gr ounds like ‘jhoparpatti’ (slums) and struggling protagonist in poverty and community feeling more than the feeling of a responsible citizen. The new filmmaker of Bollywood started adopting thematic structures and narrative devices which are in accord with a broader audience who are exposed to international cinema, international sitcoms and a feeling of becoming a new global Indian under the happy charm of globalization – both economically and culturally. These strategies adopted by Bollywood to incorporate expanding audience tastes and desires can be best described as taking global formats equipped with updated visual styles, while localizing, adapting, appropriating, and ‘Indianizing’ theme . In this case, a term becomes central to the point of discussion – Glocalization, which is an amalgamation of globalization and localization. Structures of the newly evolved Bollywood films can be labeled as glocalization. Bollywood and the Glocal The term glocalization was first coined by Robertson in his seminal essay, ‘Glocalization: time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity.’ In the essay, he rejects and nullifies the binaries between the global and the local, the centre and the periphery, universality and particularism as models to comprehend the phenomena of globalization. Considering these models to be inadequate, Robertson says that glocalization captures the dynamics of the local in the global and the global in the local. The theory of glocalization holds true for a phenomena like Bollywood in the era of globalization. Let us read these characteristics: a. As Robinson theorizes further, he proposes that the theory of glocalization as a way of accounting for both global and local, not as opposites but rather as ‘mutually formative, complementary competitors, feeding off each other as they struggle for influence’. Now, the polarization between the global and the local and the notion that the local undergoes a slow death under the immense pressure of the global orders does not hold true. In Bollywood films after globalization, we see a new sense of Indian nationalism has found its way – more than ground level patriotism of defeating the anti-nationalist villains, nationalism now is more of nostalgia for a motherland that the characters have left behind. Therefore, this patriotic feeling is invested in the Non Residential Indian characters in today’s films. Almost all the films produced today have their protagonists settled abroad, but are Indian to the core, or even if they are Westernized, it often becomes t he point of conflict in the film which finds its resolution in the national values and traditions of the native nation. An important term vehemently used in academics in this regard is ‘Diaspora’, which means the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established homeland. b. The very idea of glocalization has been attacked by many theorists for being apolitical in nature and being without any teeth or resistance to the sinister forces of globalization. The same dictum goes for Bollywood as it is an industry to cater to a wide audience ever more to generate profit. Going by this logic, there has been a deliberation by the Bollywood industry to shift its focus from one kind of target audience to the other kind – the target groups have shifted from the rural and urban lower, lower-middle and middle class to the necessarily urban upper and middleclass with special emphasis on the NRIs. But a simplistic critic of Bollywood will not be sufficient to understand the operatives and the cultural ramifications. Bollywood in the globalized context calls for an overall understanding of the global-local nexus and viewing glocalization as a mode of resistance as well as accommodation. According to many scholars, firstly, the new Bollywood has become a site of reconfiguration of locality and local subjects in the newly evolved cultural dimension under the economic liberalization. Secondly it served as an accounting for the new cultural trends and forms emerging at the intersections of the global and the local. Thirdly, it is also a mode of countering the frequently expressed fear of homogenization which becomes a part and parcel of the global flows of labor, culture or capitals. Lastly, Bollywood has become a recognition of the fact that when new ideas, objects, audio-visuals, spacial dimensions, social crisis, practices and performances are transplanted to another space, they bear the marks of history as well as undergo a process of cultural, political and ideological transcreations. In cinema, with the continuous production of global images of Indian residents, these different images, ideas and meanings attain faith and dependence on the highly varied local space s. Fashion, Location, Music, Choreography and Language – the Global Desi Bollywood Global Fashion, Local Sensibilities Not until the year of economic liberalization, India started being recognized as one of the most important fashion destinations of the world. Dresses were always being designed by the fashion designers for the Bollywood stars, but only recently have clothes become signed artifacts, and Bollywood styles and fashions become themselves separately marketable. Since liberalization, international fashion magazines like Verve, Vogue, and Elle publish Indian editions feature glossy photographs of Bollywood stars and models with various merchandising objects and designer dresses. The newly emerging fashion designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Manish Malhotra, Wendell Rodricks, Ritu Kumar, Ritu Beri and many others had started participating in the most important international fashion shows at Berlin, Venice, New York and Rome became huge names in Bollywood. 1990s, especially the later part of the decade saw a shift in the way film costumes and clothes were being designed and produced. Indian v iewers were no more secluded into Doordarshan anymore, and hence the satellite television network threw a plethora of glitz, glamour and notions of beauty was undergoing a rapid change among the masses. Therefore, filmmakers started believing that emphasis on fashion is imperative in a successful marketing of Bollywood film. According Wilkinson-Weber, who has done extensive investigation into Indian fashion, notes Indian styles in film have themselves been subject to a fashion reinterpretation, contemporary designers have incorporated both their own designs, and designer label clothes from international markets into the looks they create for their actors. It is interesting to note that earlier in Hindi films of the 70s till the late 80s, there used to be a vamp, the ‘fallen’ woman, who would lead an immoral life and was supposed to be a violation of the traditional beliefs of India. These vamps personified the urban and modern tastes of society and ‘the temptations and corruptions of anti-Indianess where being Indian meant identifying with, and committing to, constructions of tradition and virtue. This is the woman who would wear revealing dresses, and almost all the designer dresses with innovative fashion statements including fashion accessories and make ups were invested on this character. But with liberalization the tradition was ‘won’ by the fashion world, we see that there is no necessity of these vamps who would exhibit the fashionable dresses. Instead of the vamps, the new Bollywood heroines became the site of the sensual body to exhibit a host of fashion materials. These materials are not only limited to Western flamboyant designs, but also includes expensive traditional wears like lehngaas and sarees. India embraced the global trends and reinvented its traditional culture with the irresistible waves of globalization and soon Bollywood became more cosmopolitan than the other regional language films. Western clothing was no more a sign of anti-Indianness and was no longer marginalized by the audience. Bollywood Space and its Hybridity Globalization, in other words, is a world economic integration, hastened by global treaties and transnational organizations such as WTO. This economic network has facilitated the functioning of a market-driven and advertiser supported consumption in an unprecedented scale. Immigration facilities, cheap air tickets and facilitation of infrastructural support for Bollywood in foreign lands allowed easy mobility in travel and tourism among the bourgeoning Indian middleclass as well as the Indian film crews. Not only the shooting became easy in foreign locations, it served a two-fold function to satisfy the desires of the two broad ranges of Bollywood audience – the first and the most lucrative film business is done in foreign lands, therefore the NRIs became the prime target for the films so that they can relate themselves with the known landscapes with Indian oneness on the screen; the second, now less important, being the Indian audience whose desire and longing for a picture p erfect and almost an ‘ideal state’ could be fulfilled on the screen with the exotic spaces of desire they can seldom visit. Moreover, the Indian government does not put any major tax on profits generated in foreign currencies which an Indian can bring home. This was a huge advantage for Bollywood for overseas business. The popular location shootings at Kashmir, Ooty and Shimla soon changed to the Swiss Alps, London and New York. In Karan Johar’s multi star-cast film, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum, one might notice that in a single song sequence Shahrukh Khan and Kajol were in Delhi, Switzerland, Cairo, and London. But shifts in cinematic locations have the tendency to create a sense of placelessness, even homelessness and alienation. While audiences recognize the allure of foreign locations, they also feel some loss and dissolution of long-held identities associated with spaces. But although there are these shifts in location, it does not delude its audience as the meanings of narratives remain irreducibly fixed to local meanings with local stories constantly revisited and even reinvented. These foreign locations, whether it is Mahesh Manjrekar’s Kaante, Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna or Kal Ho Na Ho, Rakesh Roshan’s Kaho Na Pyar Hain or Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hain or Don, Bollywood films are always domesticated with Bollywood stars who speak in Hindi in foreign lands or for that matter we can hardly see any native of the foreign land making an entry in the actual story line. The international settings do not confer the fact that the local crisis or the local cultures will find its way in the Bollywood narratives unlike Hollywood. On the contrary, these foreign spaces will be necessarily Indianized and beautiful exotic locations become a part of the world the globalized Indians inhabit. No matter wherever the place might be, Bollywood will be always telling a story about an Indian girl and a boy and an Indian family with their entire traditional ramifications held intact. Bollywood responds to both global and local imperatives by exporting Indianness to exoticized backdrops. Music Hindi cinema is known for its music, not as an integral part of the narrative or the story line, but as a separate entity. According to noted filmmaker, Shyam Benegal: For Indian films, for their very sustenance, songs are very important. But that is because for any kind of Indian entertainment, particularly community entertainment, music and songs were essential features. But songs in an Indian film does not make it a musical. In India film, songs interrupt, sometimes they are part of a story†¦they are interludes. Hindi film songs were dominated by mushaira, ghazal, and qawali traditions with emphasis on Indian Classical Music. Songs were composed in the traditional Indian technique – based on ragas and tunes which were accorded to the Urdu lyric poems and traditional Hindi language. One thing should be noted here is that unlike the West, which thrives on a history of rich visual culture, Indian tradition thrives on an aural culture and therefore songs become an integral part of any representation. Globalized Bollywood adheres to the primacy of song and dance per se, and also to the function of the musical parts within the film as spaces of displaying sexual fantasies and a situation of eroticized communication. But the way in which the Hindi film music is composed now (based on chords rather than ragas as was the case previously) and packaged has undergone a huge change – instead of the classical base, most of the music has shifted to groovy hip-hops and incorporated various for ms of popular and rock arrangements. The reason seems to be very interesting, as Bollywood film music industry faced a big challenge in the 1990s with the advent of the newly found Indie popular music with the likes of bands like Silk Route and Euphoria, and individual stars like Lucky Ali, Kay Kay and a host of talented artists. As mentioned earlier, globalization has made Bollywood more corporatized and aggressive marketing strategies became its key areas to achieve financial success. These independent artists were appropriated by Bollywood – firstly to crush the competition and obliterate the threat of an unprecedented challenge put forward by the indie pop culture, but also to enrich film music with the inputs of these new trends and innovation of a music industry nurtured outside the film world. Language Globalized Bollywood has also witnessed a metamorphosis in the arena of spoken language. Usage of English has become more obvious than Hindi colloquial itself. Since independence the influence of Persian and Urdu was prominent in Hindi films. But globalization turned the spoken language into a hybrid one – a mix of Hindi and English. This trend was even reflected in the titles of the films which released after the 90s. This hybrid language has become the most common trend among the urban youth which has been infested to and by the plethora of glocal culture in satellite television channels which runs 24*7 in every household in India. Madhav Prasad in his essay ‘This thing called Bollywood’ finds out that the nationalist ideology of India was held together historically by a metalanguage which could properly articulate one nationalist sentiment. Prasad argues that in a globalized India, English provides the ideological coordinates of the new world of Bollywood films. According to him, English phrases and proverbs are liberally used to construct a web of discourse which the characters inhabit. Choreography An overlooked arena in Bollywood is the field of choreography. Through the ages, Bollywood choreography has gained considerable amount of sophistication and respect. This has also its influence drawn from the satellite television programs on dance competitions like Boogie Woogie and international and national music videos in channels belonging to a multinational corporation who gained their access in India only after globalization. Choreography in Hindi films, which was taken just as a time pass and was taken in the least serious way by the viewers, suddenly became a spectacle with huge investments and taking highly skilled artists and chorographers as item numbers. Another change that had taken place in globalized Bollywood films is a matter of a far more serious and economic concern – the accompanying dancers in Hindi films used to belong to the groups of junior artists, most of whom were from lower middle-class and slum areas. But suddenly this changed with Subhash Ghaiâ₠¬â„¢s Taal, which introduced the famous dancer Shyamak Davar and his group which replacing the former setting of junior artists as dancers. Accompanying dancers in contemporary Bollywood evolved from junior artists to highly skilled and upper class professional dancers, courtesy to a number of modern dancing schools. This has further evolved to foreign dance troops who come as packages with other facilities when a Bollywood film is shot abroad. Since the early 1990s, there has been an explosion in the number of foreign women dancers who are used as extras for the song and dance sequences in films (Mumbai film industry’s demand for foreign dancers has brought a large number of women from Eastern Europe and Russia). Since 1960, Hindi films’ nationalism through the role of women represented Western women as primarily ‘immoral and sexually accessible to the Indian male’ and as embodiment of unbridled sexuality. The trend is still continuing today and the value judgment of women based on their sexuality and chastity is immensely significant for the audience. Indian viewers recognize the influx of these foreign women into the song and dance sequences and equate their presence with overt sexualization of film choreography. As V.Lal puts it in his essay ‘The Impossibility of the Outsider in Modern Hindi film’, over sexualization of song and dance may create a cultural threat and anxiety, but such tensions are appeased with a logic that the ‘foreign’ backup dancers can be ‘sexy’ but the ‘Indian’ heroines and heroes have to maintain the decorum of modesty and tradition. Globalization has made song sequences a site of absolute and flawless pleasure, but seldom have we talked about the particular class of junior artists, who are perished under the new liberalization aesthetics. However, maintaining the tradition-modernity and sober-obscene construct of the Bollywood notions in accord with its audience has become a conventional practice with the Indian heroines gearing up in both Western and traditional attires and participating in the same choreography with the ‘other’ cultural representations through the white women (both blonde and brunette) who wear revealing dresses and symbolize sexual ecstasy. It is of course a niche created by the globalized Bollywood according to G. Gangoly in his essay ‘Sexuality, Sensuality, and Belonging: Representations of the Anglo-Indian and the Western Women in Hindi Cinema’. It is a curious fact that the integration of MTVization, especially the beach party reality shows like Grind and due to new trends in advertisements with star endorsements has further eased the tension of this stance of traditional sanctity in contemporary Bollywood films. Heroines are more global than ever, sexually more liberated than the previous years and the women characters are gaining more independence in terms of economic and social structure as the space of unfolding of the narrative is mostly New York, London or any other first world city. We see the evolution of super stars like Katrina Kaif, whose very presence reminds us that our women of desire in cinema is an Indian who exhibit and combine the beauties and characteristics of a white woman too. Globalization has embraced Bollywood cinema not to impose the global cultures in the Indian terrain neither to challenge the cultural archetypes, nor to question the nationalist feelings into jeopardy. On the contrary, the national image and the desire of the nation as an emerging global power under the umbrella of the United States is reconfigured and consolidated in a new way. Bollywood through its films have invested a vision of portraying itself to the world as a global superpower, not from the military point of view, but as a highly skilled and updated human resource tank whose representations are manifested through the protagonists and their friends inside, and mostly outside the country. But this is not the only agenda that Bollywood has – the cultural ramifications and re-endorsements of the familial emotions along with the Non-residential Indian community feelings are of prime importance. As Bourden points out, with the changes in media production, consumption, and ex hibition, ‘locality is produced as one’s sense of difference from the global, but the new locality is no longer a spontaneous expression of given, long-held local traditions. Glocalization has helped Bollywood not only to link the spaces far and broad stretching to different continents, but also to invent the localities which are hybrid in nature, but national in culture. An Indian audience in contemporary times aspires to be a global citizen, and Bollywood becomes a key cultural impetus through which global is constructed locally just as the local is constructed globally. 3. OBJECTIVE i. To understand the cultural ramifications of the terms ‘globalization’ and what we understand as ‘Bollywood’ in particular reference to Mumbai (previously Bombay) film industry. ii. To understand the various impacts of globalization on Hindi films not resulting in mutation of the Hindi film cultural but a new coexistence of hybridity. iii. To trace the impact of the new ‘glocal’ or hybrid culture on various aspects of Hindi popular cinema challenged by the ever changing Indian media under globalization. 4. SUMMARY With the new market liberalization policies, Indian media scenario underwent a rapid change in the way it reached to its audience. Waves of change in the Indian media industry penetrated into the Hindi film industry as well. This marked a departure of the Hindi popular cinema from the way it operated in the eighties and deliberately changed the way its ways both as an industry and as a commercial product as well. Hindi popular cinema, preferably termed as Bollywood, under the new global ethics became international in production and global in consumption, at the sometime maintaining and reiterating facets of what we may call Indian culture (mostly limited to the upper caste Hindu North Indian culture). This may be termed as ‘glocalization’ which means global ideas with local stories. The new Bollywood also came with the over-arching presence of the NRIs who gained importance in the new Bollywood of globalization. With the overseas business and opportunity of this certainl y influenced and changed the way in which Hindi popular incorporated locations, songs, choreography and a number merchandizing items starting from fashion, accessories to other commercial products. FAQs: 1. As a term, has Bollywood got anything to do with Hollywood? Bollywood as a term is a mixture of ‘Bombay’, the earlier name of Mumbai and Hollywood. Linking the mainstream Hindi film industry with the name of the world’s biggest film industry not only become a feeling of pride but also a tribute to the artists and technicians of Hollywood for the dexterity of work. 2. If globalization is an economic aspect, why does it influence the cultural aspect as is the case with Bollywood? As already mentioned, if we follow the classical Marxist approach, most of the times the shift in the economic base influences shifts in other aspects of life – i.e. a shift in the base inevitably influences a shift in the superstructure – the structure which is placed above the base. Hence, any cultural aspect is bound to be influenced if the economic base undergoes a shift. Therefore, with the change of the nature of the market, a commercial industry like Bollywood has to respond to the market ethics and hence has to change itself accordingly. 3. What is culture industry? Culture Industry as a term was coined by the Marxists Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer belonging to the Frankfurt School. The original essay is known as Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception†, of the book Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), where they proposed that the all the representations of popular culture including radio, print television and a part of cinema are produced and reproduced standardized cultural goods just like any other manufactured good coming out of the factory whose only objective is nothing philosophical and eclectic, but generating capital. 4. How is Bollywood considered to be a culture industry? A lot of scholars refer this term to Bollywood because Bollywood is a mainstream commercial industry whose objective is also profit generation, which is more than ever in the era of globalization. 5. Why does Bollywood invest so much on narratives related to NRIs? NRIs, or non-residential Indians have gained primacy in films as characters and as audience primarily to generate a market in the overseas. It has been a trend after globalization because the restrictions and taxes which were there previously in overseas business is eased to great extent and hence the profit generation of the new Bollywood films have been easier than before. 6. Why does Bollywood shifted from the pan-Indian audience to a more specific target group of the urban elites? As India is often been imagined as a developing country, there has been a trend of converting each and every class, whether rural or urban, into ideal consumers. Logic of consumption is best found in the urban areas where products, goods and services of all levels are readily available. Moreover, the logic of development in most of the cases have become the process of expansion of urban areas where the rural population is fast being converted into urban ones. Hence, Bollywood cinema is akin to this development and the new rural-converted-urban populace has started finding meaning in the new Bollywood. Therefore, with the influx of so many products and goods, targeting the urban elite will actually incorporate the fast transforming rural population into the same group. 7. In spite of having a lot of songs, why does a Hindi film never become a musical genre? If we pay attention to the cultural history of India, it will be clear that the India has rich heritage in aural culture, unlike the visual one of the West. hence the cultural rendering of a song or ,music piece in the West is entirely different from that of the Indian subjects. so, in spite of inclusion of a number of songs into films, the film is never been perceived as a musical genre. 8. If India has accepted globalization, why do the Hindi films stick to traditional elements? Globalization has hardly anything to do with modernity or tradition. Rather, if we consider glocalization as a valid point which has a deep effect on the film industry, globalization will inspire us into exploring the new markets and plethora of products has to offer and at the same time clinging on to the roots of tradition (to the extent of discovering and rediscovering them in a new way). So more the NRIs will feature with all the elements of Western culture, more facets of traditional inputs will visible in the image reproduction of Bollywood. 9. In spite of shooting at locations far off from the homeland, the characters of the Hindi films never feel alienated and homeless. Why? Because Hindi films never involve its characters, plots and other elements with the foreign ones. Although the locales are away from home, the ethics, morality and sentiments remain Indian to the core. 10. Why is it so that the Bollywood had been forced to change itself after globalization? With the advent of open market policies, Indian media saw the rise of various television channels including film channels where the audience for the first time could watch all the films just sitting back at home. Bollywood had to turn to newer ways to attract the Indian audience who are suddenly facing the pleasures of the satellite channels, not only in terms of its production quality, but also its marketing policies.

The impact of globalisation on business.

The impact of globalisation on business. 1. INTRODUCTION.Advancement in transportation and information technologies has opened up the world to lucrative business opportunities. Many companies no longer confine their business domestically but reach out globally in search of better profits. When a company conducts business across national boundaries, it is participating in international business.International business paves the way for globalisation. Ball et al. (2004) found that globalisation can be defined in many ways but broadly globalisation occurs when an entity (government, company, NGOs, etc.) carries out an activity (economic, political, technological, etc.) in a host country.Globalisation has impacted the way many companies performed their business. New strategies are required to identify the opportunities presented by globalisation. Companies need to understand the forces that drive them towards globalisation. Most importantly, the companies must be prepared to meet the challenges of globalisation.This report prese nts globalisation in the context of a global strategy. It assesses the impact of the global strategy on the Texchem Group of Companies (Texchem), a company based in Penang.English: Map of prefectures of Jiangsu ProvinceTexchem is founded in 1973 by its current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dato' Seri Fumihiko Konishi. Today, Texchem is well diversified into the business of trading, manufacturing and services with divisions in the packaging, industrial, food, family care and venture industries ( 2003).Currently, Texchem's globalisation efforts are concentrated around the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) countries and China (Chiew 2004). The organizational structure of Texchem is shown below. The group's investment holding company is Texchem Resources Berhad.(source: Texchem Resources Bhd, www.trbgroup.com/business_act_corporate_structure.htm)FIGURE 1: Texchem organizational structure2. FORCES DRIVING TEXCHEM TO GLOBALISE.Normally, a company's decision to globali se is influenced by a combination of several factors. These factors are the forces that drive a company to expand abroad. Each company has its own unique reasons to carry...

Accountability and Open Government Cheung, Chor-yung Essays

Accountability and Open Government Cheung, Chor-yung Essays Accountability and Open Government Cheung, Chor-yung Essay Accountability and Open Government Cheung, Chor-yung Essay In a civilized society, the use of political power is a profound responsibility. Holders of public offices can only exercise their authority legitimately if they do so in accordance with principles, rules, and procedures agreed by or acceptable to the society at large, and it is incumbent upon the public officials to justify their decisions with good reasons if challenged. Failure to do so will likely render their exercise of political power unacceptable. Legitimate power, in other words, must be subject to public scrutiny. Power holders who fail the test of public scrutiny will be held responsible, and they will have to step down from their offices if those failures are regarded as sufficiently serious. In the parlance of modern political studies, we call such a system an accountability system. Since accountability in this context comprises both the meaning of giving an account to explain and justify a government decision and of being responsible for its consequences, accountability also implies open government to facilitate public scrutiny of acts of government. Accountability and the Basic Law Accountability is a central but complicated concept in the Basic Law, the mini-constitution of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). A careful reading of the chapter on the political structure of the Basic Law shows that at least four different kinds of accountability can be identified in this constitutional document; they are legal, administrative, deliberative, and political accountability respectively. a) Legal Accountability Paragraph two of Article 43 of the Basic Law stipulates that the Chief Executive of the HKSAR is accountable to the Central Peoples Government (CPG) and the HKSAR in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law. More specifically, Article 64 provides that the HKSAR government (HKSARG) must abide by the law and be accountable to the HKSAR Legislative Council (Legco) and shall implement laws passed by the Legco and already in force. In other words, the Chief Executive must abide by the Basic Law to discharge his duties to implement the CPGs one country, two systems policy over the HKSAR and to act for the best interest of it. The Chief Executive (as the head of the HKSARG) and the executive authorities also have the legal obligation to observe the laws and to implement them as and when required in accordance with the due process. Failure to do so will make the Chief Executive and his officials legally accountable, and Article 73(9) also empowers the Legco to initiate impeachment pro ceedings against the Chief Executive if no less than one-fourth of all Legco members charge him with serious breach of law or dereliction of duties. b) Administrative Accountability As the Chief Executive is appointed by (Article 45) and accountable to the CPG, he is administratively a subordinate of the Premier of the State Council, who represents the CPG to make the appointment. The Chief Executive therefore should be held accountable to the Premier for the good administration of the HKSAR. Articles 57 and 58 of the Basic Law also prescribe that the Commission Against Corruption and the Commission of Audit, the heads of which are both principal officials nominated by the Chief Executive, shall work independently and be solely accountable to the Chief Executive in discharging their administrative duties to fight corruption and to audit public expenditure within the HKSAR respectively. Article 99 of the Basic Law provides that all civil servants shall be responsible to the government, which effectively means that they are all, via their respective line managers, accountable to the Chief Executive for the good administration and implementation of government policy. Since the introduction of the Principal Officials Accountability System (POAS) in July 2002, all principal officials with policy portfolios are all made directly accountable to the Chief Executive for the outcome of their respective policy portfolio (more on this in the next section). However, for principal officials from the disciplinary forces other than the Commissioner of the Commission Against Corruption (i.e. Commissioner of Police, Director of Immigration, and Commissioner of Customs and Excise) who are not responsible for policy making, administratively they are directly accountable to the Secretary for Security (herself also a principal official) as their departments fall within the ambit of the latters policy portfolio. c) Deliberative Accountability Article 64 of the Basic Law specifically prescribes that the HKSARs executive authorities shall be accountable to the Legco, in which two of the requirements (i.e., presenting regular policy addresses and answering Legco questions) are clearly related to providing information to and explaining and justifying government decisions in the legislature. I think it is reasonable to call this kind of requirements deliberative accountability, as they are meant to make the government accountable in providing regular information to the Legco to promote public debate and scrutiny of government action. d) Political Accountability It can be argued that the Basic Law also prescribes some form of political accountability between the executive and the legislature, in which the Chief Executive is required to resign in the event that his major policy fails to inspire confidence and support. However, the arrangements in the Basic Law in this respect are both unique and complicated. Similar to the parliamentary system in western democracies, Article 64 of the Basic Law stipulates that the HKSARG is accountable to the legislature for matters relating to taxation and public expenditure. It also requires that if the executive ultimately (cf Article 52) losses the confidence of the legislature in these matters or matters relating to major government legislation, the Chief Executive has to resign. However, Legcos initial refusal to approve a budget or a major government bill will not lead to the dismissal of the government of the day; instead, in Hong Kongs so-called executive-led system, the Chief Executive is given the advantage at this stage to dissolve the Legco (Article 50). Only when the new Legco again shows its lack of confidence in the government at a subsequent stage by refusing to pass the same bill that the Chief Executive is held politically accountable and is required to resign.1 It is also important to note that, unlike the common practice in a parliam entary democracy, the passage of a vote of no confidence against the executive in the Legco will not automatically lead to the fall of the government or any ministerial dismissal. While the arrangements in the Basic Law in this regard are rather uncommon, it is still reasonable to think that when it comes to political accountability, the executive is responsible for getting the support of the legislature in matters relating to taxation, public spending, and important government legislation, though it requires two consecutive legislatures no confidence in these matters to trigger the removal of a Chief Executive, which gives considerable leverage to the executive in manipulating the first legislature to succumb to its wishes. The Principal Officials Accountability System and Its Problems In July 2002, the second Tung Chee-hwa administration of the HKSAR introduced the POAS to the government, in which all policy making principal officials, comprising the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Financial Secretary, the Secretary for Justice, and 11 other policy secretaries, are no longer manned by civil servants. Instead, they have all become political appointees with direct policy responsibility to the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive admits that since 1997, government policy and operation have been subject to increasing critical scrutiny by the public, the media, and the Legco. The government acknowledges that in a sense, the introduction of the POAS was a response to calls for resignations of senior officials to take responsibility for serious policy failures since the changeover of sovereignty. For example, in March 1999, after having heavily lobbied the pro-government legislators, the government managed to just overcome a no confidence motion in the Legco against the Secretary for Justice for her alleged failure to defend the rule of law by disallowing the prosecution to proceed against a newspaper proprietor Sally Aw who was well connected to the Chief Executive on corruption charges. In June 2000, a motion of no confidence against the Chairperson of the Housing Authority and the Director of Housing was carried in Legco, for legislators had lost confidence in the two officials in their ability to reform the public housing sector and found them politically responsible for the short-piling scandal, in which corrupt officials allowed substandard piles to be built in government housing estates. Although the non-civil servant Chairperson, Ms Rosanna Wong, resigned voluntarily just before the passage of the vote, the Director of Housing, being a civil servant with security of t enure for his job, did not step down to take policy responsibility. In essence, properly understood, the POAS is a form of individual ministerial responsibility in which individual policy maker, unlike in the past, is required to shoulder the consequences of policy failures. There are, however, two fundamental problems with the POAS. First, as the Chief Executive is not popularly elected and the politically appointed principal officials are not responsible to the public or to the elected Legco, the POAS will only enhance the Chief Executives power to fire and hire principal officials if he finds their performance not to his liking instead of promoting democratic accountability. Second, since Hong Kong has yet to develop constitutional conventions governing the operation of individual ministerial responsibility, it is far from certain that the introduction of the POAS will enhance principal officials accountability. A case in hand to illustrate this is the penny stocks fiasco. The fiasco erupted less than one month after the introduction of the POAS, in which the local stock market lost HK$10 billion in stock value in one day caused by the ill-conceived proposal of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) to de-list stocks trading in the local market below 50 Hong Kong cents for 30 consecutive days without consolidating their shares. While both the Financial Secretary and the Secretary for the Financial Services and Treasury (SFST) are responsible for this policy area, they both refused to take responsibility, arguing that the HKEx was not a government department and the proposal was not initiated by the government, though the SFST subsequently admitted in Legco that he was sent a copy of the summary of the HKEx proposals in advance but failed to have read them before their public release. Although the Financial Secretary appointed an inquiry to look into the fiasco, there still have no signs of seeing the development and acceptance of constitutional conventions determining when and under what conditions a minister should be held responsible for indirect departmental faults (or the so-called vicarious responsibility of a minister). Likewise, before there are well established conventions governing the resignation and censure of responsible officials and regulating the relationship between politically appointed min isters and politically neutral civil servants, it remains to be seen if the POAS can really promote accountability and nurture a culture of responsible governance in the HKSAR. Accountability and Democracy Hong Kong is no democracy at the moment, with the Chief Executive being selected only by 800 privileged people and at least half of the seats in the legislature not returned by universal suffrage before 2007. Without democracy, no accountability system is secured, for not being responsible to the people, power holders will have no incentives to make the decision making process transparent, will explain and justify their decisions only at their discretions, and will not be held accountable even if their policies have already lost the confidence of the people. The POAS, as mentioned in the previous section, is flawed because principal officials are not even held responsible to the semi-democratic Legco, not to say to the people for policy failures. There is no institutional guarantee that the non-popularly elected Chief Executive will respect the judgment of the Legco and the people in issues related to the accountability of the principal officials. While it is true that the Basic Law has provisions providing for a system of accountability covering the legal, administrative, deliberative, and the political aspects, given the undemocratic nature of the present political system in the HKSAR, each and every one of this aspect needs to be reformed or strengthened if we take accountability seriously. In the case of legal accountability, while the Chief Executive is required to be accountable to the HKSAR, meaning that he shall discharge his constitutional and legal duties in the best public interest, it is far from secure that his perception of public interest will not be more in line with the 800 people whom have the power to select him than with the general public. We must also remember that Legcos power to impeach the Chief Executive in case of serious breach of law or dereliction of duties is not final, for even if the impeachment motion is carried with the support of two-third of the members, it is still up to the CPG to make the final decision to remove the Chief Executive. As regards administrative accountability, since the Commission Against Corruption and the Commission of Audit are there to check the executive authorities against corruption and inappropriate use of public expenditure, accountability will be enhanced if both Commissions are made accountable to the Legco instead of to the Chief Executive, as the latter, being the head of the HKSARG, is still part of the executive authorities whose performance and behaviour are required to be scrutinised by the Commissions concerned. Likewise, some other offices for the enhancement of administrative accountability not provided for in the Basic Law, such as the Office of the Ombudsman, should be made accountable to the Legco than to the Chief Executive. Deliberative accountability is one area in which the lack of democracy will make it highly ineffective. While the Basic Law requires the Chief Executive to present policy addresses to the Legco, the current Chief Executive Mr Tung Chee-hwa is, to say the least, most reluctant to appear before the Legco to answer questions, and his refusal to meet the public after the delivery of his Policy Address 2003 demonstrated that public deliberation of government policy will not be taken seriously without democratic accountability. Further, we must also remember that quality deliberation requires free access to relevant information. In this respect, the lack of legislation for free access to public information is a major handicap for the promotion of deliberative accountability, and a right balance must be struck in the protection of legitimate state secrets and the right of the media and the public to know about important and even sensitive official information. In addition, to further enhanc e the quality of deliberation in the Legco, Legco members and their political parties should be given more public funding to enhance their policy research capacity so that quality alternative policy proposals could be produced to compete with the governments proposals. Political accountability, in its full sense, cannot exit without full democracy, for policy makers can only legitimately exercise their political powers so long as they still have the confidence of the people. In this strict sense, the HKSAR will only have genuine political accountability the day when full democracy is introduced. This applies both to the election of the Chief Executive and of the Legco. If either one losses the mandate of the people, they have to step down from office. Under the present arrangements of a semi-democratic Legco and a Chief Executive returned by only 800 people, political accountability, at most, only applies to those Legco members who are elected by universal suffrage. This is a highly unsatisfactory situation and shows that the exercise of political power in the HKSAR falls far short of the civilised requirements of responsible government. The Basic Law nevertheless stipulates that the Executive Authorities and the Chief Executive are accountable to the Legco. They also need to get the support of the latter in matters relating to taxation and important government legislation. However, the Basic Law also gives the advantage to the Chief Executive to dissolve the Legco in case such a support is lacking in the first instance. Under the present circumstances, this executive-led feature of the political system will further undermine the ethos of accountability, for the hurdle for an elected Legco to climb in order to remove a non-popularly elected Chief Executive who has lost the confidence of the legislature is unreasonably high. Also, owing to the mixed composition of the Legco, with members returning both from indirect elections in small-sized functional/electoral constituencies and from direct elections under the proportional representative system, together with the requirement of split voting among Legco members in Leg co initiated proposals, the legislature is fragmented, making it almost impossible to form a coherent and effective alternative to the executive. The political accountability of the government to the legislature is therefore at best ineffective, at worst non-existent.