Indian Festivals Essay Example for Free

Indian Festivals Essay India is a country of colours and festivals. It is said that there are seven days in a week but nine festivals. They mark the grand, gay and happy occasions in the life of Indian people. These are celebrated with gay abandon. Great preparations are made well in advance to observe festivals. These are the occasions of family gatherings, exchange of greetings and sweets, joy, praying, fasting and feasting. People visit temples, holy places, worship gods and invoke their favors. Festivals come round the year and add colour, joy, happiness, variety and spice to life. Man is a celebrating being. He celebrates birth, marriage and even death. In India there are a number of festivals, fairs, and days of celebration. Celebration and festivity is in Indian blood and psyche. These have close links with our religion, myths, changes of season, harvesting and anal events. Most of the Indian festivals follow lunar religious calendar. Festivals in India are of great social, cultural and national value. They help people to forge greater and stronger national and cultural ties with one another. Festivals are a great factor to unite such a large population into one country and nation. Their mass recreational appeal is irresistible. The people are in their best clothes on this occasion. Even the poor get new clothes sewn for festivals. Their enthusiasm and preparations are seen to be believed on festive occasions. There are various communities in India. They have their respective festivals but they all participate in one another’s festivities with much delight and jest. Holy, Deepavali, Janmashtami, Dessert, Christmas, Id, Muharram, Mew Year are the main festivals celebrated on a vast scale. Besides, there are scores of other local and regional festivals. 15th August and 26th January are the national days of celebration and festivity. Holy, the most colorful festival marks the advent of spring and ripening of crops. It is also the most boisterous occasion. During the night bonfires are there, and then the next day there are a lot of singing, dancing and throwing of colours on one another. Sometimes the reveling is too much which turns into hooliganism, mud throwing and singing of obscene songs. However, it is an occasion when people of all classes mix-up with one another freely and enjoy singing and exchange of greetings and sweets. It is a special occasion in Gould, Matura and Barman, the places closely associated with the life of Lord Krishna and his consort Radar. Dessert is another great festival of India. It is celebrated to mark the victory of good over evil. It was on the Vijayadashmi that Rama defeated the ten-headed demon King Ravenna. During these days of festivity, the epic Ramayana is presented in dance-drama form on the stages all over the country. It is popularly called Camilla. On the final day of the festivities, the huge effigies of Ravenna, and his brother Kumbhkarna and son Meghan are burnt and there are fire-works. It is followed by Bharat Mila, an occasion of family reunion. In Mysore, a great royal and colorful procession is taken out on this occasion. In Kula also a special festival is celebrated on this day. In West Bengal it is observed as Durga Puja festival. Next comes the Deepavali, the festival of lights and fireworks. At night, earthen lamps and candles are lit to illumine the dark night of Amanas, the night before the new moon. Greetings and sweets are exchanged and Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth is worshipped. The businessmen close their old accounts and open the new ones. It is believed that Rama was crowned on this day after his triumphant return to Aloha from Lanka, foemen people also indulge in gambling on this occasion. Houses are cleaned, repaired and white-washed, and people wear new and colorful clothes on this day. 26th January is a major national Day when spectacular parade is held in Delhi along the Rajah. In state capitals also the day is celebrated with much enthusiasm and joy. Folk-dances are performed, processions taken out, parades held, and the National Flag is hoisted on this day. Then in the night there are fire-works and illumination of government buildings. It was on this day that our constitution came into being and India became a Republic. It is the most celebrated occasion for the Muslims in India. It comes after the month long fasting and praying of Raman. The Muslims visit mosques and Ideas to offer their prayers in their new and {east clothes. They embrace one another, exchange greetings and sweets, give alms to the poor and enjoy feasts. On Christmas, the Christians celebrate the event with much joy, jest and festivity, and exchange greetings and sweets. Special prayers and Teases are held in the churches on the occasion. New Year is celebrated with much jest, joy and enthusiasm by the people of all communities. Batsakis, Rachis, Roth Yare, Panama, Oman, Ganesha festival are some of the other important festivals of India.

The Spanish Language

The Spanish Language Spanish is part of the Indo-European family of Romance languages and is closely related to Italian and Portuguese. It is a major language with approximately 400 million native speakers worldwide. Spanish is spoken in Spain; South America (except Brazil and Guianas); Central America; Mexico; Cuba; Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic; Western Sahara; north Morocco; Equatorial Guinea; and some parts of America. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) In 2004, 71.3% of English Language Learners in Florida spoke Spanish. (MacDonald, V., 2004) II. Phonology (pronunciation) A. Native speakers of Spanish sometimes have a hard time producing initial consonant clusters without using an extra vowel at the beginning because there are no initial clusters in the Spanish language. For example, because there is no initial cluster of /sp/ in the Spanish language, native speakers would probably say, I espeak eSpanish. (Nasr, R.T., 1997) For the most part, all vowels have a shorter pronunciation in Spanish than in English. Spanish only has five pure vowels and their length, unlike English vowels, is not a distinctive feature. Typically, at least two English vowels share the phonetic space occupied by one Spanish vowel. This is seen in the difference between /i:/ and /I/ in English which correspond to the Spanish /i/, so meet and mitt, sheep and ship, etc. are easily confused. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) The letter /z/ does not exist in Spanish. English language learners use /s/ for /z/ therefore, lacy is said for both lacy and lazy, sip for both sip and zip, etc.. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) The Spanish language has a /b/ and /v/ allophone (two different versions of the same sound) and to an English speaking ear it sounds the same. The Spanish language adds friction to the /b/ sound which makes it sound similar to the /v/ sound. Therefore, the pronunciation of Por favor may sound like Por fabor. (B/V Confusion in Spanish, 2011) Spanish speakers also often pronounce a final d similar to an unvoiced th. Additional pronunciation problems at the end of words are d and t as well as thing/think and sometimes thing/thin or even ring and rim. This is because Spanish consonant sounds usually differ more by their position in a word than English consonants do. (Case, A., 2012) B. The sample recording I used was from a 34 year-old male from Veracruz, Mexico. He began learning English at the age of 29. In the sample recording, the use of an intrusive vowel at the beginning of initial consonant clusters was repeated. Words that were changed include: Stella eStella; spoons espoon; snow esnow; snack esnack; small esmall; snake esnake; station estation. C. For Spanish speaking students having the e before s-consonant cluster difficulty described above, create a passage for students to read aloud, in which each sentence starts with a word beginning in an s-consonant cluster. Prior to the students taking turns reading the passage aloud, help them practice for a minute by saying short words that start with an s-consonant cluster like spit, stick, and spell. Pronounce the words along with the student, exaggerating the beginning s sound. This will help to create a new muscle memory that doesnt leave room for students to include the beginning e sound. (How do you teach adult EL students English pronunciation?, n.d.) III. Morphology (word structure) A. Spanish EL students tend to make morphological errors in their speech when they over generalize a morpheme such as plural s. The Spanish speaker would say: The deers are brown, instead of, The deer are brown. Spanish EL students also often have confusion with pluralizing adjectives. This is because in Spanish adjectives and the nouns they modify must agree in number, while in English, plural nouns are not modified by adjectives in plural. For example, a statement in Spanish would be Carlos tiene los ojos azules., which translates to Carlos has got blues eyes. (Mingorance, Y, 2010) The Spanish language does not have contracted verb forms and this can be a problem for EL students. They have problems in understanding will or would in: Ill go to the store; theyd come with us and construe them to mean I go; they come, etc.. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) Spanish has high sound-to-spelling correspondence, so spelling in English is difficult for EL students. Spanish speakers often reduce double letters to single ones: aple, diferent, necesary, etc.. and since they do not distinguish English phoneme contrasts, words can be confused, like: hoping / hopping, this / these, etc.. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) In writing, Spanish EL students are likely to not use capital first letters for days of the week, months, or national adjectives since they are not used in the Spanish language. Examples of this would be and EL student writing: tuesday, february, or english. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) B. Instructional activities for Spanish EL students to teach them the proper use of contractions in the English language are very important and can be a challenge. Teachers should review the use of contractions and make sure that students understand the difference between general contractions, such as shes for she is as well as informal contractions like gonna for going to. Then explain the main exceptions to the rule like, you are unable to contract will not as willnt. It would be wont. Have students listen to audio recordings or a movie in English and have them write down all of the contractions they hear. Help students identify the words that are contracted and state the type of contractions used. (Latham, n.d.) IV. Syntax / Grammar (word order and sentence structure) In the Spanish language, subject-verb agreements do not always correspond to the statement. Due to this freer word order, EL students often put the emphasized word last in a sentence. For example: Yesterday played very well the children. 1. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) In Spanish, adjectives and nouns usually come after the head noun. An EL student may write I drive the car blue, instead of I drive the blue car. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) EL students often mix up the word order of questions such as Marta has cooked the food could be written as Cooked the food has Marta? This is because there is no set word order for questions in the Spanish language. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) EL students also commonly put a rising no at the end of questions or statements. This is done in the Spanish language to urge agreement to any positive statement. It is common for them to say or write sentences like: She has a job, no? or You are going home tomorrow, no? (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) Double and even sometimes triple negatives are standard in the Spanish language as they are viewed as reinforcing, rather than contradicting each other. This leads to EL students making the common errors of sentences like: I dont have none or My son doesnt eat nothing. (Swan, M. and Smith, B., 2001) B. As they say, practice makes perfect. For Spanish EL students, I would recommend repeated practice of word order. This can be done through worksheets, interactive programs on SmartBoards where they can manually manipulate the word order by touch, or even with the words in a sentence written on separate cards where the student can line them up in the correct order. The more they practice the precise placement of words in the English language, the easier it will come to them. V. Conclusion A. As previously mentioned, Spanish EL students face many challenges in learning the English language. The biggest challenge facing them is not only learning basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS), but also cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) so that they can proceed with content area learning. The longer it takes an EL student to master CALP, the further behind they will get in learning the required subjects in school, or if they are moved along in the school system, the less they will be able to retain and learn. B. The pedagogical value of understanding Spanish EL students predictable errors is that it provides educators with essential tools to help students learn. The more knowledgeable an educator is about the most common types of mistakes that EL students make, the more aware they are of the students actual comprehension levels, and the better able they are to provide differentiated instruction to ensure success of the EL students. (Rico, 2012)

equss vs amadeus by peter shaffer Essay -- essays research papers

In both Equus and Amadeus Shaffer shows insanity in his characters. He does this not only to stress the characters feelings and state of mind of which they are in. Also, he attempts to cast a blanket over the reader; it gives the reader the feeling that Shaffer designed the characters to express and reflect the beauty in insanity and to convey the ugliness on normality. â€Å"Madness, if not out rightly divine, is at best preferable to the 20th century’s ruthless and uninspired sanity, is in this play, as it is so much fashionable philosophizing, totally dependent on a pleasant, aesthetically rational form of derangement for the credibility of its argument† (Richardson 389). Shaffer brings us into these feelings with the story of Alan Strang, a seventeen-year-old British boy. He has been sent to Rokeby Psychiatric Hospital in southern England to get â€Å"help† for the crime of blinding six horses that he worked with. â€Å"Equus†¦. surgically probes man’s continuing fascination with violent forms of belief† (Gill 387). Shaffer makes this all so obvious to us. Alan is an insane young man with no justification and quandary that must be dealt with. His therapist Dysart sees that this boy is troubled and can be helped, but fears that there might be something deeper. â€Å"Dysart recognizes also that the boy he is treating has experienced ‘a passion more ferocious that I have felt in any second of my life† (Real389). Clearly he envies this. In turn Dysart fears that the passion of the boy, not because he can’t understand it, but because he does. â€Å"The inference is that, once cured, that is, rid or his ‘divine’ suffering, Alan will become a dullard like most normal people† (Clurman 388). Shaffer is trying to illustrate that â€Å"normality† is not good, but bad and that the only way to be divine is this state of mind is to go by Shaffer’s idea of â€Å"insane.† Shaffer wants us to think in the mindset of the boy and see what he sees. He wants us to feel the insane thoughts of Equus and experience the urge to follow to voice, but we must ask our selves; what divine spirit is this we see? There is nothing to it but the pure crazed madness of a boy. After reading the play you are left feeling sorry for the poor soul because he was never able to fit into society and the normality, but hear he is being forced into it. Shaffer uses the word insane is strong context because as the author he has cont... ...ely worthless,’ Salieri survives only to see himself become extinct as Mozart’s posthumous reputation increases. For thirty-two years Salieri nurses his hate, refusing to be God’s joke and demanding to be remembered, ‘if not in fame, then infamy.’ Thus, he composes ‘a false confession’ in which he explains ‘how I really murdered Mozart—with arsenic—out of envy!’ Then, as the sun rises and the play draws to its conclusion, he cuts his throat with a razor. Again, however, Salieri fails. He does not die; his confession is found but not believed. It is dismissed as the raving of a madman† (Morace 39). Shaffer ends off leaving us with our mouths wide open, craving more of the story like bees after honey, more of the tale told by the insane old man. This story of the insane from the eyes of the insane also makes it seem as if the norm is insanity and we are all but puppets with our strings being dangled for us by normality. â€Å"But positioning such an alternative is false. One need not be ‘crazed’ to live untrammeled by conventional proscriptions. Most of the insane are in every way for more wretched and pitiful than the average man in his quiet despair of humdrum gloom† (Clurman 388).

Historical Perspective in the Essays of Susan Griffin, Richard Rodrigue

Historical Perspective in the Essays of Susan Griffin, Richard Rodriguez, and Ralph Ellison (Our Secret, Extravagance of Laughter, The Achievement of Desire) Susan Griffin’s â€Å"Our Secret† is an essay in which she carefully constructs and describes history, particularly World War II, through the lives of several different people. Taken from her book A Chorus of Stones, her concepts may at first be difficult to grasp; however David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky say that, â€Å"Griffin writes about the past - how we can know it, what its relation to the present, why we should care. In the way she writes, she is also making an argument about how we can know and understand the past†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Griffin strikes all of these aspects in her essay. What is most compelling about the essay, however, is the way Griffin incorporated personal, family, and world history into a chilling story of narrative and autobiography, without ever losing the factual evidence the story provided. The chapter reads like an entire novel, which helps the audience to understand the concepts with a clear and complete view of her history, not needing to read any other part of the book. Two other authors, Richard Rodriguez, and Ralph Ellison, who write about their experiences in life can possibly be better understood as historical texts when viewed through the eyes of Griffin. Rodriguez explores his own educational history in his essay â€Å"The Achievement of Desire† and Ralph Ellison depicts his own journeys and personal growth in his essay, â€Å"An Extravagance of Laughter†. Both essays, which when seen through Susan Griffin’s perspective, can be reopened and examined from a different historical view, perhaps allowing them to be understood with a more lucid view of history and what it is really about. What is history? Many believe that history is what is read in textbooks, or what is seen on the news. If Susan Griffin were asked that question, she would probably argue that history is much more than that. It is about the minds and souls of the people who went through the historical event, not simply what happened. In her essay, Griffin incorporates stories of people from totally different backgrounds, and upbringings, including herself, all to describe their account of one time period. Each person’s history is somehow connected with the next person’s, and each story contr... ...a play and Griffin after learning about her family.. All three authors of these essays are in a sense, historians. They wrote about events that are in history, which makes the essays about history. However, these are all great works, and are being used to help explore the ways of writing history. Thus, in the context of which they are being used, they are all history. Themes about finding the truth within the self are current throughout works, and different types of histories are explored; making these text much more than just about history; they have become history. Ralph Ellison once said, â€Å"The way [one] expresses both the agony of life and the possibility of conquering it through is the sheer toughness of the spirit. They fall short of tragedy only in that they provide no solution, offer no scapegoat but the self†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Each author demonstrates the toughness of the spirit, and provide no solution, as history never does. It is up to the individual to decide whether history will repeat itself, or whether or not a scapegoat will be found. However, Griffin, Rodriguez, and Ellison all did their part in providing possible solutions.†¦for history.

The Great Gatsby :: Essays Papers

The Great Gatsby "There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired." This quote by author F. Scott Fitzgerald describes his life perfectly. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. In June 1918 Fitzgerald was assigned to Camp Sheridan, near Montgomery, Alabama. There he fell in love with a southern belle, 18 year-old Zelda Sayre, the youngest daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge. The Fitzgeralds went to France in the spring of 1924 seeking quietness for his work. He wrote The Great Gatsby during the summer and fall in Valescure near St. Raphael, but the marriage was damaged by Zelda's involvement with a French naval aviator. The story begins when Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn about the bond business. He rents a house in the West Egg district of Long Island, a wealthy but unfashionable area home to the new rich, a group who have made their fo rtunes too early to establish social connections, and who only care about displaying their wealth. Nick's next-door neighbor on West Egg is a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby, who lives in a giant Gothic mansion and throws extravagant parties every Saturday night. As the summer progresses, Nick eventually receives an invitation to one of Gatsby's legendary parties. He encounters Jordan Baker at the party, and they meet Gatsby himself, a surprisingly young man with an English accent, has a remarkable smile, and calls everyone "old sport." Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone, and, through Jordan, Nick later learns more about his mysterious neighbor. Gatsby tells Jordan that he knew Daisy in Louisville in 1917 and is deeply in love with her. Various literary techniques are evident in this novel. First of all, symbols are an example of a literary technique. There are many symbols located through-out The Great Gatsby. For example, situated at the end of Daisy's East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby's West Egg lawn, the green light represents Gatsby's hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in Chapter One reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. Because Gatsby's quest for Daisy is largely associated with the American dream, the green light stands also as a symbol of the American dream.

Creating a story Essay

This is a story about William, a seventeen year old son of sir James – once a powerful feudal aristocrat in England. Sir James used to own a large portion of land in the Wales, but times have changed. As money started to be used, sir James lost parts of his land because he could not afford to keep it. On top of that, some of his peasants have left and became mercenaries who were hired by sir James’s neighbor. These days, around year 1200, sir James is still among the few noble English families left, noble but yet not belonging to magnates. It is William that sir James counts on to move up the social ladder. William is not a true son of sir James, the boy was born to sir James’s brother, sir Henry. 10 years ago sir Henry died and his brother, sir James, exercised the right of wardship – he started taking care of William and of those lands that used to belong to his father. William started living with his uncle when he was seven years old. As soon as he moved in to sir James’s castle, William became a student of many studies – he was being prepared for a court life. William is trained to become a good hunter, but also to be able to charm a court lady – he has teachers who teach him to sing songs, tell stories, flirt, dance, he has a special teacher who teaches him the rules of different ceremonies in court, the terminology to use, how to behave, how to dress. All of these activities are taking place in the castle of sir James, which is neither small nor large. A stone castle is surrounded by several wooden homes of sir James’s peasants who are busy with manufacturing of flax, wool, growing of geese and pigs for the inhabitants of the castle. The whole territory is surrounded by a stone wall. William’s day begins early in the morning. A servant brings him a basin with water to wash. When he is ready, William goes on to morning hunting exercise, which takes place until breakfast. At breakfast William usually meets sir James, they discuss William’s morning practice and talk about the upcoming tournament. After that, William has music and dancing lessons followed by yet another practice. During his free hours William either sleeps or goes for a walk into the country where he spends hours dreaming about his romantic love for lady Mary, whom he met at the last tournament. After dinner, William spends hours with his teacher of court manners and another one with whom William reads and writes poems. In other words, William spends his days doing and learning everything that chivalry behavior requires. Once done will all classes, William puts on his armor and goes horse riding into the woods. Supper is usually late in the evening with lots of meat and wine. These days William is busy more than usual with horse-riding and weapon usage practices due to the coming tournament. Being of a noble family William is allowed to participate in knight tournaments where he hopes to attract attention of lovely lady Mary, on whose patronage is also counting sir James. Lady Mary is a heiress of a wealthy magnate and her hand would provide William and sir James a higher status and allow them to enter a narrow circle of English aristocracy. The previous tournament was a good one for William – he conquered his opponent winning his horse and armor, and on the other hand, at the banquet following the tournament, he was able to speak with lady Mary and got an impression that he has actually charmed her and now she is favoring him. Patronage of lady Mary, who’s father is not only very wealthy but also in a good relationship with the monarch himself, would definitely secure William a place among nobility. The only person who disapproves of William’s lifestyle is his step-father – a priest in the local church, father John. Father John finds that William’s attraction to lady Mary and court life in general diverts him away from God. However, William is convinced that his chivalry lifestyle is the highest expression of worldly conduct, and is the best path to choose if one has already made a choice in favor of secular and spiritual life path. Thus, William spends his life in accordance with the requirements of his time when feudal aristocracy was in the past giving a place to nobility class which claimed to have a special, highest social ranking and privileges given to them by their right of birth.

International Political Economy

Part Perspectives on International Political Economy The first chapter of the text deals with the fundamental nature of International political economy (PIP) and some analytical Issues related to Its multidimensional character. Chapters 2 through 4 are the core chapters of the text that explore the history and policies associated with the three dominant PIP perspectives, namely economic liberalism, mercantilism, and structuralism. These theoretical tools are useful In understanding many political, economic, and social Issues In the global economy of the past as well as the present.Chapter 5 develops two alternative PIP respective?constructivism and feminism?that derive, In part, from the three mall outlooks under study. Chapter What Is International Political Economy? We Are the 99%: A Haitian hillside. Georgian Allen When a philosopher has once laid hold of a favorite principle, which perhaps accounts for many natural effects, he extends the same principle over the whole creation, a nd reduces to it every phenomenon, though by the most violent and absurd reasoning. Our own mind being narrow and contracted, we cannot extend our conception to the variety and extent of nature †¦David Hump, â€Å"The Septic† 2 The Darkness on the Edge of Town he Darkness on the edge of town What are the chances you will find a good paying Job?or any Job for that matter? when you graduate from college In the next few years? Have your parent's or people you know lost their Jobs, the family home, or a big chunk of their retirement savings? How are you adjusting to the financial crisis? Maybe things haven't been that bad for you, yet! Reading the headlines of any major newspaper, you might sometimes worry that the world is on the brink of a global economic catastrophe, if not a second Great Depression.The effects of the global economic crisis have made many people feel ensue, tearful, and depressed. The collapse to the US housing market in 2 morphed into a credit crisis tha t threatened some of the biggest banks and financial institutions in the United States and Europe. Government leaders responded with a variety of bank rescue measures and so-called stimulus packages to restart their economies. These interventions angered many ordinary folks who felt that the bailouts rewarded bankers and Coos who had caused the crisis in the first place.Meanwhile, many people around the world were forced out of their homes and became unemployed. They suffered cuts in social services, health care benefits, and education spending when governments were forced to trim budgets. As we write in late 2012, the hoped-for recovery has proved elusive. Unemployment in the United States is stuck at 7. 9 percent; in the European Union (ELI), it has risen to 1 1. 6 percent (23. 4 percent for young people). Home foreclosures and stagnant incomes continue to place enormous strain on many families' finances.The EX. has fallen into another recession, with countries like Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal so deep in debt that they might slide into national bankruptcy, causing the Else's monetary system to collapse. People seem to have lost confidence in national and international political institutions that underpin capitalism and democracy. Is this what the Great Transformation from industrial to post-industrial society was supposed to look like? Are globalization and the so-called â€Å"creative destruction† of new technologies shrinking the middle classes in Western countries and permanently shifting economic dynamism to Asia and Latin America?Adding to the sense of gloom are events around the world in the last few years. High oil prices have benefited giant oil companies while hurting consumers. The giant British Petroleum (BP) oil spill reciprocated an environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Japan's Fuchsia earthquake and tsunami damaged several nuclear power plants, causing release of dangerous radioactive material across a large swath of te rritory. High agriculture commodity prices have raised the cost of food and increased levels of world hunger.Because there has been little progress in reducing reliance on fossil fuels, capping carbon emissions, or investing in alternative energy resources, the threat of catastrophic climate change looms larger. And wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Congo are destroying the livelihoods of millions of people. Hope on the Horizon? Is there only gloom and doom around the globe? Surely, no! As we discuss in Chapter 13, emerging powers such as China, India, Brazil, and Russia have dramatically reduced poverty in the last fifteen years and made it possible for hundreds 4 Chapter 1 of millions of people to Join the middle class.Fortunately, they continued to grow at a fairly robust pace after 2007; more Jobs, investment, and consumption in these countries helped keep the rest to the world trot tailing into a deeper recession. Of most of the last decade, sub-Sahara Africa has als o grown surprisingly fast, thanks n part to high prices for oil and commodities exports. And the European Union won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize, a reminder that?despite its serious economic and social problems today?the community has advanced the causes of â€Å"peace and reconciliation, democracy, and human rights† for more than sixty years.Along with these rays of hope are three interrelated global developments that merit discussion at the beginning of this textbook because they are profoundly shaping the international political economy: the Arab Spring, the European sovereign debt crisis, and the Occupy Wall Street (SOWS) movement. Taking place on three different continents since 2011, they have shaken political institutions and spurred waves of political protests in response to a variety of social and economic ills. None of us knows how these momentous developments will play out, but we can be sure that they will affect our daily lives and pocketbooks for many years.Each i s a double- edged sword: a potential harbinger of positive change and a potential foreshadowing of worse yet to come. In other words, each development can either help lead to a more stable, prosperous world in which human security is better guaranteed or ender divisions within and between societies wider than before so that cooperative relations and a fairer distribution of resources remain ever more elusive goals. The Arab Spring took the world by surprise?a reminder that social scientists still do not have good tools to predict when and why large-scale changes will occur in complex socio-political systems.On December 17, 2010, a Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouzouki set himself on fire in reaction to harassment by police officers. His death sparked street demonstrations that brought down the Tunisian government one month later. Protests spread like wildfires to other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. After eighteen days of mass demonstrations, Egypt authoritar ian president Hosting Embark resigned on February 11, 2011, replaced by a military council. On February 15, residents of Bengali, Libya, rose up against the regime of Miramar Qaeda.Following months of NATO bombing and rebel fighting, Qaeda was killed on October 20, 2011, and a National Transitional Council took power. The dramatic political protests?which captivated television viewers and Twitter-feed followers around the world?created an opportunity for a number of Arab countries o Join the community of democratic nations. Yet the crackdown in Syria showed the world how determined some authoritarian leaders in the Middle East are to remain in power?even at the expense of killing tens of thousands of their own citizens.With the genie of Arab political opposition out of the bottle, countries in the Middle East and North Africa are rapidly changing. Fortunately, high oil prices and a return to relative stability in many places could improve conditions in 2013. Along with the Arab Spri ng came President Barack Beam's withdrawal of all U. S. Troops from Iraq at the end of 2011. An ignominious end to an imperial endeavor, the withdrawal seemed to signal that the U. S. Public was no longer willing to pay for wars that drain the public treasury.President Obama refocused U. S. Policy on fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan and ratcheting up pressure on Iran to abandon its effort to develop nuclear weapons. Many analysts believe that Beam's decisions reveal a significant weakening of U. S. Influence in the Middle East. Perhaps to counteract this decline, Obama decided to bolster the American military presence in the Pacific by cultivating ties with countries afraid of China's rise and attaching 2,500 troops permanently in northern Australia beginning in November 2011.A second development?the European sovereign debt crisis?relentlessly gathered steam after 2010 in the face of a prolonged recession that made it hard for some countries to pay back huge loans to dome stic and foreign banks. European Union leaders had hoped to contain the debt problems in Greece and Ireland, but governments in Spain and Portugal also began to have trouble raising new money by issuing new government bonds. All four countries in 2012 had to get financial bailouts in exchange for adopting painful government spending cuts that contributed o high unemployment.Even with help from the European Central Bank, these countries have dire conditions that threaten the stability of the European financial system. Rupee's responses to its debt crisis have stimulated widespread social unrest. Severe austerity measures have spawned street protests throughout the continent and brought changes of government in Greece, Italy, and Spain. Some EX. leaders and analysts believe that the crisis will spur European countries to form closer ties, while others foresee the death of the Euro and the prospect of national bankruptcies as some countries refuse to pay back onerous loans.If problems worsen in France and Italy, the EX. could unravel economically, causing another deep global recession. The crisis is forcing Germany to decide if it is willing to share the costs of making the EX. stronger, or if it will pursue its purely national interests. The outcomes will likely cause changes in Rupee's traditionally generous social programs and in Rupee's influence in the world. A third development started as an anti-wall Street protest in New York City's Cutting Park on September 17, 2011. Two weeks later, the Occupy Wall Street movement had quickly spread to many major U. S. Ties, tit encampments and â€Å"general assemblies† in public spaces. Similar â€Å"occupations† occurred in Europe, Israel, Chile, and Australia. Although the majority of participants in the SOWS social movement have been students, union workers, progressive activists, and the unemployed, their ideas seemed to resonate with a significant number of the middle class. Calling themselves the â €Å"99%† (in contrast to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans), SOWS protestors criticized financial institutions, condemned Wall Street greed, and called for a reduction of corporate control over the democratic process.Although SOWS encampments disappeared, the movement kook up new campaigns in 2012, including efforts to stop home foreclosures and reduce student debt. What do these three developments have in common? While each has its own causes, the protestors collectively represent a reaction to corrupt government and growing inequality. In three large regions?the Middle East, Europe, and North America?movements sought protection from financial and cultural globalization that left people feeling at the mercy of market forces.In many cases, protestors felt that they were unfairly forced to bail out the wealthy but denied a chance to snare many o governments 6 s to previous growth. Austerity policies that many had adopted since 2008?and even earlier in the Arab countries?cu t into a host of public social programs such as education and relief for the poor. Many disgruntled citizens disagreed with their leaders, who argued that such reductions were necessary to reduce the size of government, balance national budgets, and stimulate economic recovery.While Arabs claimed a political voice that had been squashed by decades of dictatorial rule, Americans and Europeans seemed to demand a new kind of politics freed from the grip of special interests and big money. In all three cases, elites who were supposed to be the experts on political and financial affairs suddenly were at a loss to explain why things had gotten so bad under their watch. With a loss of faith in Arab regimes, EX. leaders, and U. S. Bankers came a certain â€Å"denationalization† of ruling ideologies such as economic liberalism.A new emphasis was placed on democratic participation and economic fairness. Despite a new zeitgeist in the air in three continents, old political and economic institutions were still resilient. Many regimes held firm in the Middle East. American banks grew even egger after government bailouts, and more money than ever poured into the campaign war chests of Democratic and Republican political candidates. EX. political elites continued to make deals that seemed designed to save big investors and banks rather than ordinary citizens.The alternatives to the old did not always promise a better future, either. In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Psalmists like Egypt new president Mohamed Moors' made their own undemocratic power grabs, seeking to impose religiously conservative policies and weaken women's rights. Reactions against austerity in Europe strengthened extreme right-wing parties in Greece and France while fueling anti-E or secessionist sentiments in the United Kingdom and Catalonia.And by refusing to organize and engage in â€Å"normal† politics, the SOWS forces dissipated?leaving normal two-party gridlock in Washington after t he November 2012 elections. The Road Ahead By discussing above the three big developments, as well as the problems and promises in the global economy, we have hopefully given you a sense of some of the important phenomena we seek to understand in international political economy. Not unsurprisingly, there are fierce debates about the causes of current crises and the best solutions to them.One of the arguments we make in this text is that to adequately describe and explain the current global financial crisis?or any of the other issues covered in the different chapters?we must use an analytical approach that synthesizes methods and insights derived from economics, political science, and sociology as conditioned by an understanding to history and philosophy. As you delve deeper into the material, you will learn a variety of theories and analytical tools that help us interpret the interrelationships of the state, market, and society in different nations.The PIP method bridges different a cademic disciplines to better explain employ, real-world problems that span physical and intellectual boundaries. While this statement might sound a bit formal and confusing at this point, keep in mind that we do not think you need to be an economics major, a specialist in finance, The What, Why, and How of International Political Economy or a Middle East expert to understand the basic parameters of the global financial crisis or the Arab Spring.This book is written for students who have limited background in political science, economics, or sociology, as well as for those who want to review an assortment of topics in preparation for graduate school. In the next section, we look at how to study PIP?its three distinct analytical perspectives and a number of methodological issues with which PIP students should become acquainted. All the chapters in the book cover important theoretical and Policy issues that have connections to the three developments we have mentioned?and to many more. In this way, we hope students might better understand different dimensions of the problems and then make some reasoned Judgments about how to solve them. Later in this chapter, we discuss the popular phenomenon of globalization as a way o introduce students to many of the political-economic conditions that led up to the global financial crisis. Many PIP experts have asserted that the economic liberal ideas behind globalization may have contributed to the crisis. Opinions differ, however, on whether or not the crisis signals the end of laissez-fairer economic policies, or even the end of capitalism itself. He what, why, and how of International Political economy Our discussion of the financial crisis and its consequences makes clear that today's complex issues can no longer be easily analyzed and understood by using any single et of disciplinary methods and concepts. Those who study PIP are, in essence, breaking down the analytical and conceptual boundaries between politics, economic s, and sociology to produce a unique explanatory framework. Following are several examples of questions that traditional academic disciplines might ask as they seek to explain the global financial crisis.Each discipline focuses on different actors and interests: International Relations: How much has the financial crisis detracted from the ability of states to pay for military defense? How has the crisis affected the conditions of war or terrorism in poor states? As Europe, Japan, and the United States struggle, will emerging countries like China, India, and Brazil gain more political influence in international institutions? International Economics: How has the crisis impacted foreign investment, international trade, and the values of different currencies?Comparative Politics: What is the capability of political institutions within different nations to respond to the needs of the unemployed? What new political forces are emerging and with what effects on political coalitions? Sociolo gy: How has the crisis affected consumption trends for different groups such as the upper, middle, and rower classes? How do the effects of inequality vary on the basis of ethnicity and gender? Anthropology: How have different societies in history dealt with crises related to how they allocate scarce resources?And how have these crises impacted their cultures, values, and societal norms? 8 Focusing on a narrow range of methods and issues enhances intellectual specialization and analytical efficiency. But any single discipline offers an incomplete explanation of global events. Specialization promotes a sort of scholarly blindness or distorted view that comes from using only one set of analytical methods and incepts to explain what most decidedly is a complex problem that could benefit from a multidisciplinary perspective.When defining PIP, we make a distinction between the term â€Å"international political economy' and the acronym PIP. The former refers to what we study?commonly re ferred to as a subject area or field of inquiry that involves tensions among states, markets, and societal actors. In this text, we tend to focus on a variety of actors and issues that are either â€Å"international† (between nation-states) or â€Å"transnational† (across the national borders of two or more states).Increasingly today, any analysts use the term â€Å"global political economy' instead of â€Å"international political economy' to explain problems such as climate change, hunger, and illicit markets that have spread over the entire world, and not Just a few nations. In this book, we often use these two terms interchangeably. The acronym PIP also connotes a method of inquiry that is multidisciplinary. PIP fashions the tools of analysis of its antecedent disciplines so as to more accurately describe and explain the ever- changing relationships between governments, businesses, and social forces across history and in different geographical areas.What are some of the central elements of the antecedent melds to study that contribute to IP 7 First, PIP includes a political dimension that accounts for the use of power by a variety of actors, including individuals, domestic groups, states (acting as single units), international organizations, nongovernmental organizations (Nags), and transnational corporations (Tens). All these actors make decisions about the distribution of tangible things such as money and products or intangible things such as security and innovation.In almost all cases, politics involves the making of rules pertaining to owe states and societies achieve their goals. Another aspect of politics is the kind of public and private institutions that have the authority to pursue different goals. Second, PIP involves an economic dimension that deals with how scarce resources are distributed among individuals, groups, and nation-states. A variety of public and private institutions allocate resources on a day-to-day basis in local markets where we shop. Today, a market is not Just a place where people go to buy or exchange something face to face with the product's maker.The market can also be thought of as a driving force that shapes human behavior. When consumers buy things, when investors purchase stocks, and when banks lend money, their dependability transactions constitute a vast, sophisticated web of relationships that coordinate economic activities all over the world. Political scientist Charles Limbo makes an interesting case that the economy is actually nothing more than a system for coordinating social behavior! What people eat, their occupation, and even what they do when not working are all organized around different agricultural, labor, and relaxation markets.In effect, markets often perform a social function of â€Å"coordination without a coordinator. L Third, the works of such notables as Charles Limbo and economists Robert Hellbender and Lester Throw help us realize that PIP does not reflect enough the societal dimension of different international problems. 2 A growing number of PIP scholars argue that states and markets do not exist in a social vacuum. There are usually many different social groups within a state that share identities, norms, and associations based on tribal ties, ethnicity, religion, or gender.Likewise, a variety of transnational groups (referred to as global civil society) have interests that cut across national boundaries. A host of Nags have attempted to pressure national and international organizations on issues such as climate change, refugees, migrant workers, and gender-based exploitation. All of these groups are purveyors of ideas that potentially generate tensions between them and other groups but play a major role in shaping global behavior. How to Study PIP: Contrasting Perspectives and Methodologies The three dominant perspectives of PIP are economic liberalism, mercantilism, and structuralism.Each focuses on the relationships between a va riety of actors and institutions. A strict extinction between these perspectives is quite arbitrary and has been imposed by disciplinary tradition, at times making it difficult to appreciate their connections to one another. Each perspective emphasizes different values, actors, and solutions to Policy problems but also overlooks some important elements highlighted by the other two perspectives. Economic liberalism (particularly unilateralism?see Chapter 2) is most closely associated with the study of markets.Later we will explain why there is an increasing gap between orthodox economic liberals (Eels), who champion free arrests and free trade, and heterodox interventionist liberals (Hills), who support more state regulation and trade protection to sustain markets. Increasingly, Hills have stressed that markets work best when they are embedded in (connected to) society and when the state intervenes to resolve problems that markets alone cannot handle. In fact, many Hills acknowledge that markets are the source of many of these problems.Many liberal values and ideas are the ideological foundation of the globalization campaign. They are derived from notable thinkers such as Adam Smith, David Richard, John Maynard Keynes, Frederica Hayes, and Milton Friedman. The laissez-fairer principle, that the state should leave the economy alone, is attributed to Adam Smith. 3 More recently, economic liberal ideas have been associated with former president Ronald Reagan and his acolytes, who contended that economic growth is best achieved when the government severely limits its involvement (interference) in the economy.Under pure market conditions (I. E. , the absence of state intervention or social influences), people are assumed to behave â€Å"rationally' (see Chapter 2). 10 That is, they will naturally seek to maximize their gains and limit their losses when reducing and selling things. They have strong desires to exchange and to generate wealth by competing with others for sales in local and international markets. According to Eels, people should strongly value economic efficiency? the ability to use and distribute resources effectively and with little waste.Why is efficiency so important? When an economy is inefficient, scarce resources go unused or could be used in other ways that would be more beneficial to society. This idea has been applied to the new global economy and is one of the basic principles behind globalization. Mercantilism (also called economic nationalism) is most closely associated with the political philosophy of realism, which focuses on state efforts to accumulate wealth and power to protect society from physical harm or the influence of other states (see Chapters 3 and 9).In theory, the state is a legal entity and an autonomous system of institutions that governs a specific geographic territory and a â€Å"nation. † Since the mid-seventeenth century, the state has been the dominant actor in the international community based on the principle that it has the authority to exercise sovereignty (final authority) over its own affairs. States use two types of power to protect themselves. Hard power refers to tangible military and economic assets employed to compel, coerce, intelligence, tend tot, or death enemies and competitors.Soft power comprises selective tools that reflect and project a country cultural values, beliefs, and ideals. Through the use of movies, cultural exports and exchanges, information, and diplomacy, a state can convince others that the ideas it sponsors are legitimate and should be adopted. Soft power can in many ways be more effective than hard power because it rests on persuasion and mutual exchange. For example, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Barack Obama partly regained some of the world's support for the United States through a discourse emphasizing multilateral cooperation.Structuralism is rooted in Marxist analysis but not limited to it (see Chapter 4). It looks at PIP issues mainly in terms of how different social classes are shaped by the dominant economic structure. It is most closely associated with the methods of analysis many sociologists employ. Structuralisms emphasize that markets have never existed in a social vacuum. Some combination of social, economic, and political forces establishes, regulates, and preserves them.As we will see in the case of the financial crisis, even the standards used to Judge the effectiveness of market systems reflect the dominant values and beliefs of those forces. The Benefits of PIP Each perspective in PIP sheds light on some aspects of a problem particularly well, but casts a shadow on other important aspects. By using a combination of the three dominant PIP methods and concepts (outlined in Table 1-1), we can move to the big picture?the most comprehensive and compelling explanation of global processes.Not surprisingly, mixing together the disciplines of economics, political science, and sociology gives rise to a n analytical problem: It is difficult to establish a single explanation to any PIP issue because each discipline has its own set of analytical concepts, core beliefs, and methodologies. Does this weaken the utility of PIP? Not at all. We must recognize that PIP is not a â€Å"hard science†; it may never table 1-1 Conflicting Political economic Perspectives about state-market relations in Capitalist societies Monetarism (Orthodox Economic Liberals) Main Ideas aboutCapitalism â€Å"Laissez-fairer†; minimal state intervention and regulation of the economy Keynesian (Heterodox Interventionist Economic Liberals) The state primes (injects money? liquidity) into the economy to restore confidence in it and to stabilize it Efficiency mixed with a variety of state political and social objectives Developmental State Model (Mercantilism) Socialism (Structuralism) Social Democracy (Structuralism) The state plays a proactive role in the economy to guide and protect its major industr ies The state controls the economy. Prices set by state officials. Emphasis on state