Color Revolutions and Democracy promotion Research Paper

Color Revolutions and Democracy promotion - Research Paper Example The term â€Å"color revolutions† is largely used in describing as a single phenomenon various non-violent protests that have succeeded in ousting or overthrowing totalitarian regimes during the twenty-first century’s first decade (Finkel and Brudny, 2013). This phenomenon has involved thousands of people who wear colored symbols, take to the streets, as well as show their discontent with the incumbent regime. At the same time, the opposition is legitimized by the same crowds and therefore being able to negotiate political or regime change with the authorities. The term, geographically, has tended to encompass only post-communist states in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. However, there is evidence that such movements have also been started in the Middle East (Beachain and Polese, 2010). This paper will discuss the color revolutions in Georgia, Serbia, and Ukraine and the process of democracy promotion afterwards by focusing on the influence of outside forces . The Republic of Georgia was one of the fifteen former Soviet Union republics to start a transition towards a state based on democracy and market economy, in 1991, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union coupled with the abolition of both the Comecon and the Warsaw Pact (Stewart, 2012). The color revolution in Georgia was symbolized by the Georgian Revolution of Roses often translated as â€Å"Rose Revolution†. This revolution is seen through five factors: external forces, the people, the civil society, the opposition, and the character of the regime. Ever since Georgia declared itself independent in 1991 under the leadership of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, it was a country in transition from totalitarianism towards free market economy and democracy (MacKinnon, 2008). Political theorists argue that enhancement of democracy is done by individuals embedded in certain

Social Work Practice Essay Example for Free

Social Work Practice Essay THE SUMMARY: The article of Erlinda A. Cordero, Direct Practice in Social Work: An Overview, discuss the social work being a dynamic profession and how its practice should be ready in facing the paradigm shift. The author gave historical background on social work practice before 1970 and how these practices evolve due to varied problems and situations that arise from time to time. Also, she talks on how a state of the art practice should be administered in practicing social work where she emphasizes that for an advance direct practice, such as clinical practice, one is expected to be a holder of Master of Science in Social Work degree. The author gave a quick discussion on the philosophy of direct practice and how the instrumental values evolved and eventually became the principles or guidelines to the practice of social work. The length of the author’s discussion involves the role of social workers in direct practice and the helping process. Towards the end of her article, she discourse the implication of the roles and the helping process of social work both in education and practice. At the end part, she tackles the issues and the emerging trends in social work. Look more:  social process theories essay THE REACTION: Reading the article makes me realize the rapid evolution of social work practice due to the changing events and situations and how the author wanted the social work practitioners to adapt in this change by narrowing the gap between academe and practice. Although I am not a Bachelor of Social Work degree holder I came to appreciate the importance of both social work as a profession and the social workers as the implementing person. My current work challenges me to understand the underlying principles, processes and policies in the field of social work. I think it is my responsibility to deliver quality services to my clients, and to do that, I should equipped myself with the knowledge pertaining to the practice of social work profession. I have a full understanding of the author’s points on her article, and somewhat I agree that this paradigm shift is really a big thing to the profession for it calls for acting various roles at the same time, in facing clients with multi-problems. The demand for having a generalist  perspective is deemed necessary to address this change. I would like deal on the last part of the article that talks on the issues and emerging trends. First point is on her statement â€Å"direct practice in social work demands much from both the practitioners in the field and the social work educators preparing the future professional social workers,† which I understand is very important since a cycle of exchanging ideas and experiences foster additional knowledge to the educators to give to their students who will eventually be a social worker in the field. Direct practice however involves the provision of services to clients (individuals, couples, families and groups) through casework and group work where I think and is not very sure if academe social workers had really a chance of doing this. By this, I think it is important that a registered social worker be allowed to do clinical social work practice. Second point is on her statement â€Å"the diversity of problems and situations require not only the knowledge, skills and attitude to acquire competencies for practice for practice but equally the genuine motivation and commitment to the profession,† which is very true, for motivation and commitment speaks on the passion and the reason on the question, â€Å"why are you doing t his?† For my case, I think the commitment and motivation is there but the knowledge, skills and attitude in social work is something I need to work on. Only now that I realize that the reasons why I took public administration and nursing are basically a combination of the reason why I am engaging myself in the social work profession. That is to be in a helping profession. Lastly, I want to react on her statement â€Å"like most professions in the human service arena, social work is undergoing a shift from the â€Å"disease paradigm† to the strength perspective.† Due to the demand on levelling with the current change and development, social workers should not be tied on the reason they chose the profession because of its need but basically because of the reason that they have this â€Å"spark†, a spark that fuels them to be a committed and competent social worker. For me, I acknowledge the need for social workers today, the workers that will help the sectors of children, women, PWDs, poor, older persons, etc. to be socially capable of restoring, maintaining, improving and developing their lives but I also acknowledge that to be the best social worker, one should evaluate and understand the reason why they are in the profession and how ready they are to be of service to these clients. I am so honoured to be exposed in this profession and I really admire social workers who can help change clients’ lives. I know for myself that eventually I will be one of the best social worker, committed and competent to deliver social services. This is my goal, and somehow having the decision of taking this course is a step closer to achieving this goal. APRIL KATE K. AMADA

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - Does Gregor Ever recieve justice? :: English Literature

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - Does Gregor Ever recieve justice? In the short story â€Å"Metamorphosis† by Franz Kafka, the protagonist of the story, Gregor Samsa, goes through a strange transition where he is transformed from a human being into an insect. Throughout the story Gregor’s physical appearance changes but it is apparent that his life as an insect is not that different from his life as a human being. To the reader it seems as though justice is served when Gregor, who has been transformed into an insect by some unexplainable force, can no longer work. Therefore his family, who have been living off him are forced to go get jobs. This would be considered justice if it weren’t for the fact that Gregor is living his life as an insect therefore the idea of justice seems to be undefinable. â€Å"Metamorphosis† is the story of a man named Gregor Samsa who awakes one morning from â€Å"unsettling dreams† and realizes that he has been transformed into a â€Å"monstrous vermin.† Gregor is a traveling salesman who works ridiculous hours every day while his family sits at home enjoying the luxuries which come from the money that he earns. Gregor spends his time â€Å"traveling day in, day out.† He awakes every morning at four o’clock and has â€Å"not once been ill during his five-year employment,† therefore it is quite rare that when the story begins he is late for work. It is so rare that the head clerk of the company where he works appears at his house wondering why he is not out of bed yet and why he is late for work. Finally with the â€Å"aid of his chair† Gregor is able to open the door. It is a complete shock to everyone to see Gregor in the state that he is in. The head clerk is ready to leave and it appears that Gregor has lost his job for good. Gregor’s job loss is not only detrimental to him but also to his family because he is their only source of income. Seeing as how Gregor is unable to get another job, his family is forced to get jobs of their own. Roles are now reversed because now Gregor’s family is forced to take care of him. Gregor’s life as a human was unjust because he was forced to financially support his family and wake up at four o’clock every morning to go to work as a traveling business man.

Business Structure, Recommendations by Accountants

?Accountants are in a position to provide advice to business owners to determine which organization structure is best for their particular business venture. Imagine that you were approached by a friend or relative interested in starting a specialty business to design men and women clothing. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of at least two (2) forms of business structures. Make a recommendation regarding the structure your friend or relative should use based on this particular venture. Explain your rationale.Based on your recommendation regarding the appropriate business structure, explain the major advantages and disadvantages of the business owner with minimal accounting experience maintaining the company's books instead of hiring an accountant. Discuss the major impact to the users of accounting statements if the statements are prepared in error. Provide support for your position. The first business structure that I would recommend, would be a partnership I would inform the m that general partnerships consist of two or more partners who are both responsible for the business.They share the assets and profits, as well as the liabilities and management responsibilities for running the business. Some benefits of general partnerships is their simplicity and flexibility. General partnerships are usually less expensive to form and require less paperwork and formalities than corporations, limited partnerships or limited liability partnerships. General partnerships can choose a centralized management structure, like a corporation, or a completely decentralized structure, where every partner is actively involved in the management of the business.Other advantages of a general partnership are that the partners can combine resources and share the financial commitment. Some disadvantages to general partnerships, principally liability. General partners are personally liable for the business debts and liabilities. Each partner is also liable for the debts incurred by the actions of other partners. Because of this potential personal liability, general partnerships are limited in their ability to raise money and attract investors.The second business structure that I would recommend and I think would be most beneficial to both parties would be an LLC (Limited Liability Company). A limited liability company, is a new form of business organization that is certainly worth consideration. It has several features that create favorable tax treatments, as well as protection from personal liability. Since the status of the LLC form of organization varies somewhat from state to state, be certain to find out how your state's law applies.Some of the advantages of an LLC are, LLC allows for an unlimited number of members however, if the LLC has just one owner, it will be taxed as a sole proprietorship. The LLC allows for the special allocation of profits the disproportionate splitting of member profits and losses in different percentages than their respective p ercentages of ownership. This means that members can enjoy the benefits of receiving profits and writing off losses in excess of their individual ownership percentage.The members enjoy limited liability, which means they are personally protected from any liability of the LLC and successful judgments, as well as from the LLC itself. And just with all advantages there are always disadvantages. Each member's pro-rata share of profits represents taxable income–whether or not a member's share of profits is distributed to him or her. The managing member's share of the bottom-line profit of the LLC is considered earned income, and therefore is subject to self-employment tax.The member’s share of bottom-line profit is not considered earned income because the members are considered to be inactive owners therefore, the members do not qualify for special tax-favored â€Å"fringe benefit† treatment. As a member of an LLC, you are not allowed to pay yourself wages. I would s trongly recommend going with an LLC simple because there is a lot less risk involved. There is a large percentage that businesses fail in the first year, and with that being said you don’t want to lose your business and you personal property too.

Generational Poverty Essay

Special populations refers to â€Å"disadvantaged groups† in our society. It examines the effects society has on person or persons. This can consist of generation poverty, the aged or elderly, and women. These populations face complex challenges in their daily lives. Economic instability, lack of resources, lack of education and lack of unity from society keeps special population groups in hardships. Generational poverty involves special population of poor people. It is cycle of poverty wherein two to three generations were born and lived in poverty. Complex factors are involved that hinders them from striving to attain advantages that other groups may enjoy. People in generation poverty focus on survival and live in the now. They do not plan because they live in the present time and do not plan for the future. They live on day to day survival and live in the moment. Any situation that they are exposed to is met with a reactive mentality. This leads to lack of organization and planning their life and their family’s life for proactive living. Further, their money is for entertainment and to entertain others. They sometimes create and accomplish short term outcomes for immediate gratification. People become their possession, on the other hand, in middle and upper class, they focus on material security. The middle class plans for the future and the wealth plans for the future and involved themselves into politics. Due to lack of a good solid education, many people of generational poverty are unable to communicate effectively therefore they become anger. Parents of poverty do not want their children to receive an education, because they might leave home if they are educated. In addition they have a lack of value in education. Poverty learns from poverty whereas they all adopt the poverty norm. Most parents only have an elementary education and cannot read or do math. They raise their kids not empathizing the importance of an education. Many students do not assign value to school work or to their education. School tardiness and absences are excessive due to transportation issues or parents lack of involvement. Parents who did poorly in school do not put a great emphasis on their children to succeed in school. Students have access to poor quality school resources. They are less likely to find out about the world, obtain job skills, and relying heavily on peers and parents for social and emotional support. Investing in good schools, teachers, lunches, exposure to a structure lifestyle, and relationships could help poor students break the cycle of poverty. As for the lack of an education, families of generation poverty rely heavily on body language to communicate with others and the men constantly display a defensive stance when in public. They do not use specific jargon as like educated people who uses specific words and extensive vocabulary to display their intelligence. Emotions are usually openly displayed. Conflict resolution for the poor is usually physical fighting than verbal fighting or going to court. Likewise, parental poverty effects the motivation of the children. Tools are very limited or do not exist in the socio-environment, so the concept of repair and fix it does not carry any priority in the day to day life activities. Also, food becomes a necessity and valued for its quantity rather than is quality. Many people living in poverty consume a lot of cheap junk food which contributes to childhood obesity. The middle and uppers class eats for quality and presentation. Furthermore, there are a lack of low skill jobs for the poor. They work in manual labor jobs with low wages that do not require specific skills. Due to industrialization, mining and the auto line industry are closing down. Economy shifted from manufacturing to a service economy, those who could not shift to the shift were left behind. Due to lack of education they are unable to perform in the mainstream job market to conduct business transactions, count, and resolve complex problems. Also, culture and genes interact with one another to influence people’s learning and the ability to make a living. Many children are third or fourth generation of poverty. Many just settle for the status quo instead of not taking the education opportuni ty. Some become teenage mothers, drop out of school, and/or drink or take street drugs. On the other hand, many rely on welfare to live and take pride on needed assistance. Some want get a job or do not think they need a job. Also they feel that society owes them a living. Many do not have the access to resources to locate or search jobs as the middle class and the upper class. ————————————————- Must be given the opportunity and resources to break the cycle of poverty. One must be motivated, hopeful, and willing to learn for a better future. A good solid education provides the poor the steps necessary for to open doors they would never been able to open before for a successful life. ——————————– Another special population group is the aged or elderly. The aged or elderly population faces an array of challenges when there is lack of access to employment. The aged are faced with ageism. Many employers are looking to hire younger employees to replace the aged or elder employees with cheaper salary. Younger employees are usually hired for their fresh perspective and eagerness to learn. Many aged workers are solicited by their employers for early retirement with sometimes a substantial payout. Many are retiring before the normal Social Security age of 65-67 years old. Once the aged is retired or laid off it is difficult to find work elsewhere due to active age discrimination. Many employers view the old employers especially the baby boomers as too rigid, failing health, lack of enthusiasm, afraid of new technologies, do not want to learn new training (stuck in old ways), and expensive to keep. Many aged people are viewing job advertisements with pictures of younger employees. In addition, the aged are facing high cost of medical insurance and healthcare. With the obstacles in the job market, the aged could possibly experience social isolationism, low self-esteem, and financial hardship. ————————————————- On the same token, women face unique challenges that throughout their different life stages that places them into the Special Population group when compared to men. Women still face challenges today in areas of social, economic, sports, political and cultural despite the fact that there has been success in empowering women and shattering the glass ceiling for employment promotions. They live 7 years longer than men, make up majority of the world’s population but yet they are greatly ignored. Some women are subjected to part time jobs and lower wage position than their male counterparts. Likewise, women face ageism and sexism in the media on the average profile of a woman. —————————————- Singled and divorced women are most likely to have low paying jobs than men. This causes a financial strain on the women to pay for households bills and to pay for childcare. Women still earn less than their male counterparts. A man would be hired most likely to be promoted and/or receive a managerial or executive position than a woman. ————————————————- In regards to young girls they face ageism whereas people may think they are untrustworthy, shifty and unreliable. Girls who want to play sports especially on a boys team may be assessed by the players and coach as incapable of keeping up too weak to play the sport. In school, boys are judged as good in math and girls are not. ————————————————- If a woman is in her child rearing age, she could face pregnancy discrimination. With 12 weeks paid leave, the woman could face repercussions from co-workers or administration. Some women feel that having a baby would be putting their career on hold. Most women have to take on the role of raising and caring for the children. Most single parent household are run by women. ————————————————- Also, women in their 20-30s are subjected to domestic violence. Domestic abuse is on a decline, however, women are still at a high risk for abuse. Women in this age group are usually majority of the time victims or assault and battery and rape. ————————————————- Women married for 30 plus years are unable to provide for themselves if they spouse leaves them. For years that have adopted their husband’s identity as their own. Therefore, these women have difficulty with self-independence. If a women because ill, it is more likely that her spouse will abandon her. Women mostly likely will stay and provide health care and nurturing to their ailing spouse. In addition women over 50 will most likely care for their ailing parent and handle the parent’s finances. Older women are seen as unhealthy and sexless. After age 50, women are seen as invisible. They start to believe that their voice or concern is no longer valuable. However, they are viewed as ineffective and dependent on others during their later years. Women have more chronic illnesses than men; men usually acute illnesses. Medical coverage usually covers health care treatment for acute illnesses that men usually acquire. Therefore if a women requires long term care in a nursing home, medical coverage may run out or does not cover the stay. All in all, Special Populations could be apply to any person; everyone has unique needs and advantages/disadvantages from another person or group. We all have challenges; some people are apparent, whereas others are not. Their challenges affect their life adversely. My perspective is that I am going to be cognizant of everyone’s physical challenges and establish cultural competence. My goal will get them to live a more vigorous, productive, and striving lifestyle. I have to effectively assess the needs of my clients and how they are underserved in their community to utilize the tools necessary to address their needs. I want to relate to my clients that having and education and a productive lifestyle is attainable. Everyone is accorded the same rights and opportunities regardless of your challenges. Some people may requires special services to help them attain those rights.