A Puzzle of Sovereignity :: Government Politics Essays

A Puzzle of Sovereignity ABSTRACT: National sovereignty presents a puzzle. On the one hand, this notion continues to figure importantly in our descriptions of global political change. On the other hand, factors such as the accelerating pace of international economic integration seem to have made the notion anachronistic. This paper is an attempt to resolve this puzzle. Distinguishing between internal sovereignty or supremacy and external sovereignty or independence, I investigate whether some insights from the discussion of the former can be applied to our puzzle concerning the latter. One response to the objection that the notion of internal sovereignty is inapplicable because no group in society holds unlimited political power is to distinguish between different types of internal sovereignty, such as legal and electoral sovereignty. The resolution of the puzzle lies in applying this response strategy to the objection that the notion of external sovereignty is inapplicable because no state is completely ind ependent. The subject of national sovereignty presents a puzzle. On the one hand, the notion of the sovereignty of the state figures importantly in our descriptions of, and our prescriptions for, global political change. (1) For example, a natural characterization of the political changes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia preceding and following the demise of the Soviet Union is that a number of national political communities have vigorously asserted, sometimes by force of arms, claims to national sovereignty. Against this is the claim that, as a result of the contemporary realities of global affairs, national sovereignty has become irrelevant, an anachronistic notion. According to this view, there is a variety of factors which, especially in the past several decades, have drained states of their sovereignty by depriving them of the ability to protect themselves and their citizens from the negative effects of the actions of other states or outside groups. The most important of these factors a re the accelerating pace of global economic integration and the increasingly wide-spread and detrimental human impact on the environment. While states have attempted to respond to this threat to their sovereignty by entering into mutual agreements in an attempt to mitigate or control the negative pressures from outside of their borders, the agreements themselves seem to represent a loss of sovereignty. Because they involve the states' binding themselves in various ways, and hence partially losing control of their own future actions, international agreements appear to exchange one form of constraint for another.

Management comprises

Management comprises of direction and control of a group of one or more people or entities for the purpose of coordinating and harmonizing that group towards accomplishing a goal. In business, management often encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resourced, technological resources and natural resources. Since the management department is the core of effective operations, strategies and proper procedure must run it. If employers are genuine about participation, the prime area of attention needs to be the daily behavior of managers. This necessitates reviewing the performance, selection and training of managers. The worst thing to do is to promote people into managerial jobs while letting them think that they need not take their managerial responsibilities seriously (p. 10). Participation also needs to be examined in the context of organizational and national culture and the pressures on an organization at particular points in time. Too often the topic is addressed as though the objectives can be achieved simply through mechanistic imposition. To understand what makes of an effective manager, I have studied Rees and Porter’s Skills of Management and interviewed two managers. The first interviewee is Lisa McCormack, a 35 years old Services Manager in a Health Service provider in Ireland. She has a degree in Social Science and a post graduate diploma in management studies. She has also completed computer courses, health and safety courses, and time management and conflict resolution. She has been with her current employer for ten years. Lisa is a full-time Services Manager, whose main responsibilities are matched with that of a manager. Her main responsibilities in her current position include strategic planning for services, report preparation, budget allocation, staff management and working as part of a multi disciplinary team to enhance service provision for their client group. Lisa was employed in 1998 as a Project Coordinator, which included some management duties but a project Manager was responsible for the department. She worked as a project coordinator until 2002 when she was appointed Services Coordinator, which again included some management duties but supervised by a Service Manager. In 2005 she was promoted to become a Service Manager where she takes over full management duties. Management does not take place in a vacuum but in a particular set of circumstances – usually requiring specialist knowledge. It would be unusual for a manager in a specialist environment to have had years of specialist training but only days of management training (p.2). Management escalator is progression of responsibilities, from specialists to managerial, through time to help employees acquire managerial skills overtime while developing operational skills at the same time. This transition, as managerial responsibilities increase and specialist activities decrease, gives the employee a more impeccable expertise in the department. Specialists often acquire managerial responsibilities, and often quite early in their career. Those aspiring to management have found that their entry route is via a specialist department. Consequently, it is appropriate to see that managers have the right blend of specialist and managerial skills and that they are given help in adjusting to managerial roles. The implications of the specialist route into management need to be reflected in the structure of increasingly popular undergraduate programs in business studies. There is a case for such courses having both specialist options and a managerial component. Service management is integrated into Supply Chain Management as the joint between the actual sales and the customer. A service manager reduces high service costs by integrating the service and products supply chain. She also reduces inventory levels of service parts and therefore reduces total inventory costs. She optimizes customer service and service quality. She helps in the increase of service revenue by reducing obsolescence costs of service parts through improved forecasting. A service manager may also minimize technician visits as with her knowledge and expertise, she can fix related problems. There is no way she can miss these skills through her years of specialist activities. She believes that her education has served her very well in gaining promotions but she would consider her informal education within the organization as very relevant to her current managerial position as Increases in the quantity of management training are one thing, ensuring that training is effective is another, (p. 17). Professional experience in the organization teaches helpful application than theories. The second interviewee is a 52 year old Manager of a global clothing production company. He claims that he’s a full time Manager of the Sales Department but states that 50% of his time is spent on managerial responsibilities while 25% of it is spent on changes, which their clients might require in the future and the remaining 25% spent on trying to get new clients. According to Rees and Porter, management operates through various functions, such as: (a) the planning and deciding what needs to happen in the future. It also includes generating plans for action; (b) organizing, which is the making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans; (c) leading and motivating, which is the exhibiting of skills in specialty areas for getting others to play an effective part in achieving plans; and (d) controlling, monitoring, and checking of progress against plans, which may need modification based on feedback. From this it can be inferred that though he’s a full-time manager performing specialist responsibilities, he in fact comprises the key skills of an effective manager. He has worked five years as a specialist sales person before becoming a supervisor and four years later became a manager. Managerial responsibility usually flows from specialist expertise; if a person has to run a specialist unit they are unlikely to be able to do this unless they understand what their subordinates are doing and can give appropriate guidance about working methods and end results (p. 6). Another problem that can arise people with background in a particular management specialty. Like other specialists, they may pay too much attention to their area of historic specialization. They may give too much priority in terms of time and decision making to issues in their specialized area (p.11). He has been a very effective sales specialist, which caused his department to expand. Promotion to supervisory or management positions of specialists may reduce or remove the opportunity to do the work for which they were trained and with which they identify (p. 12) but apparently this does not prove as in his case. He has taken a two-year post graduate course in Business Administration and attended many seminars. He says his formal management training, his BA course, is very effective and that he could not have done what he has accomplished now without it. Though role definition must be crystal clear to put a precise boundary between managers and specialists whose responsibilities are both overlapping, the two interviewees show that their managerial position does not take their operational responsibilities away. Organizations must be straightforward when it comes to job descriptions to avoid confusion. The selectors of managers must also be competent since incompetent ones would only appoint those skillful specialists into managerial positions they are not good in or unprepared for. Organizations who assign managerial responsibilities to specialists without formality may also encounter problems such as a demand for high paying specialist jobs, ineffective and reduced incentives for quality work from specialists who perform managerial responsibilities, and specialists encountering difficulty in integrating with colleagues. However, such problems are not demonstrated by both interviewees. Managers should also identify what disciplinary handling skills need to be developed in organizations. Much attention is often paid to serious issues such as dismissal but most disciplinary action is, or needs to be, at the base where action such as counseling and informal warnings may be what is required. Training provided is often heavily oriented around the law and more appropriate for managers than specialists. Focuses on the need to clarify responsibilities, the nature of the skills managers need, the way these skills can be developed and the preventive aspects of discipline. Crucial managerial skills should be identified and categorized into process skills. Source: Rees & Porter, Skills of Management, Chapter 1 Thomson Learning, 2001

Essay about Religious Symbolism in A Good Man Is Hard to...

Religious Symbolism in the Grandmother and the Misfit Flannery O’Connor has long been criticized for her blatant incorporation of religious symbols into sinister, dark stories. In the short story â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard To Find,† the dark and apathetic Misfit is said to portray, in an allegorical sense, a Christ-like figure. However, through the interpretation of the inversions of divine characteristics, his repulsion of Christ’s very existence, and the denial of any powers beyond the observable realm, we find that the Misfit is actually representative of the Anti-Christ. Religion symbolism appears often in â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find†; the first appearances of religious symbolism are presented with the speech of the grandmother. In her†¦show more content†¦This, however, is inaccurate because the Misfit is not actually a portrayal of Christ, but of the very thing Christ came to defeat – Satan. The Misfit is a symbol of the anti-Christ and is portrayed as such through the inversion of divine characteristics. As pointed by Marion Montgomery, â€Å"the devil she presents in her fiction is the devil Christ came to oppose, made articulate in a world largely given to him.† In the Bible, Jesus is a surrounded by little children, whom he loves. The Misfit is bother by little children, even stating, Watch them children, Bobby Lee, he said. You know they make me nervous (O’Connor 642). Michael O. Bellamy emphasizes that this â€Å"set of inversion is consistent with the Misfit’s entire personality† (200). When the Misfit is called â€Å"a different breed of dog,† this shows the inversion of the word God itself, and â€Å"demonology is based on inverting the sacred† (O’Connor 643, Bellamy 200). Moreover, â€Å"the Misfit is a self-imposed title,† which is representative of â€Å"the figure of that ultimate misfit of Christian o rthodoxy, Satan† (Montgomery 186). The emphasis on the Misfit’s alienation from society is show by the symbolism of the true misfit in Christianity. The rejection of Satan by God can be reversed to say that Satan rejects God, and thus the Misfit reject religion. Throughout the story, the Misfit is constantly in denial about the existence of God, the resurrection of Jesus, and the necessity ofShow MoreRelatedAnalysis of Characters, Conflict, and Symbolism in ‚Äà ºa Good Man Is Hard to Find‚Äà ¹771 Words   |  4 PagesAnalysis of Characters, Conflict, and Symbolism in â€Å"A Good Man Is hard to Find† The story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is a fascinating story about a family traveling to Florida for a family vacation. The story’s main characters are the grandmother, the mother and a baby, the father Bailey, and the two children June Star and John Wesley. On this trip the family has a run in with the other characters The Misfit, Bobby Lee, and Hiram who are escaped convicts headed towards Florida. O’Connor usesRead MoreSymbolism in A Good Man is Hard to Find Essay1027 Words   |  5 Pagesstory â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† by Flannery O’Connor, is bombarded with symbolism. In short stories symbolism is the literary element that helps the reader depict the picture and actions in their own minds. Whether it be from characters’ names or the designs on the characters’ shirts, every detail in this story has a purpose. Flannery O’Connor was known for her strong religious background, Catholicism, and used her faith as the underlying message in her works. In the story, â€Å"A Good Man is HardRead MoreCompare/Contrast: A Good Man Is Hard to Find with Hills Like White Elephants917 Words   |  4 PagesCompare/Contrast: Good Man with Hills Currently, a plethora of outstanding stories have been written. What makes a story, though? The answer is the elements that the author includes into his or her writing, such as symbolism and imagery. Hills like White Elephants, written by Ernest Hemingway, and A Good Man is Hard to Find, written by Flannery OConnor, are just two examples of admirable work. Each writer incorporated plenty of elements to improve the story. Since the amountRead MoreGood vs. Evil in â€Å"a Good Man Is Hard to Find† Essay1052 Words   |  5 PagesGood vs. Evil in â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† Flannery O’Connor shows her readers a realistic look at their own mortality in â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find.† The story is about a family of five, a father, mother, grandmother, and two children, starting out on a vacation to Florida from Georgia. The family, on their way to a routine vacation, takes a detour that will change their lives forever. Through the use of literary elements like symbolism and characterization, O’Connor creates a theme ofRead MoreGrandmother vs. the Misfit in A Good Man Is Hard to Find987 Words   |  4 PagesGrandmother vs. The Misfit in A Good Man is Hard to Find In the story A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O Connor, the theme is strongly supported throughout the story and is stated in the title of the story itself. In A Good Man is Hard to Find, O Connor uses symbolism throughout the entire story to represent faith and death. O Connor foreshadows death when the family goes to the town Toomsboro. The graveyard in the plantation is a symbol of death, and O Connor also writesRead MoreEssay on Generation Gaps in Flannerys A Good Man is Hard to Find567 Words   |  3 PagesGeneration Gaps in Flannerys A Good Man is Hard to Find The use of symbolism that emphasizes a major gap between the two generations, as well as religion, theme, and imagery along with an intriguing story plot make Flannerys A Good Man is hard to Find one of Americas classic short stories. Imagery is widely used in OConnors story, which makes the characters and surroundings seem lifelike. In the depiction of the grandmother the reader can visual see the woman sitting in the car waitingRead More Symbolism in A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery OConnor1038 Words   |  5 PagesUse of Symbolism in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery OConnor A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery OConnor is a short story that depicts a familys vacation to Florida that turned into an abysmal tragedy when they met with the Misfit, a convict who escaped from prison. This story is meant to be interpreted as a parable, whereby OConnor made skilful use of symbolism to bring about messages such as the class-consciousness and the lack of spiritual faith that exist amongst human. Read MoreAn Analysis Of O Connor s A Good Man 941 Words   |  4 Pages6/03/2015: O’Connor’s short story â€Å" A Good Man Is Hard To Find† symbolizes a theme of religion which questions me to think how O’Connor was raised? In my intention of this story every character seems to play a key role of religion. As for the Misfit can be seen as Satan himself as he encounters the family and kills them all. Yet he does it so politely saying â€Å"he is not a good man†, and how he only shoots just 3 bullets into the Grandmother. This gives me a sense of how O’Connor is conveying a messageRead MoreComparison of Grandmother and the Misfit1089 Words   |  5 Pages5 Reference Billingsley, R. T. (2011). A good man is hard to find. New York: Gallery Books. Shmoop Editorial Team. (November 11, 2008).A Good Man is Hard to Find Symbolism, Imagery amp; Allegory. Retrieved March 16, 2012, from http://www.shmoop.com/good-man-hard-to-find/symbolism-imagery.html COMPARISON OF THE GRANDMOTHER AND THE MISFIT 2 The grandmother in â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is a manipulator. The first thing I learnedRead MoreSymbolism Is The Use Of Symbols To Signify Important Meaning1305 Words   |  6 PagesSymbolism is the use of symbols to signify important meaning to things. These symbols could be basically anything in which a meaning is more than just the literal context. Hawthorne has several uses of symbolisms in his stories. Symbolism was very popular literary device during the Romantic period, where the object embodied some sort of idea. â€Å"The symbolism of his works focused on isolation and guilt of the individual, the uncertainties of good and evil, and the continual hold of the past on the