Stroke, Communication and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Stroke, Communication and Management - Essay Example Unfortunately, this makes stroke the number six principal cause of disability in the entire world. It is indeed the case that the incidence of stroke worldwide is very alarming. Nonetheless, despite its common occurrence worldwide, it is not often obvious to people why this particular illness takes place. Not all are aware of how this disease attacks and causes permanent disability or even death to its sufferers. According to Sims and Muyderman (2009: 80 – 91), stroke happens when the blood supply to the brain is disturbed because of blockage of the blood flow or loss or leakage of blood. Given this, the oxygen supply to the brain cells is interrupted causing damage and death to the cells. Given this case, a permanent neurological impairment is more probably the outcome in which according to Donnan, Macleod and Davis (2008: 1612 – 1620) is due to the improper functioning of the affected area of the brain. True enough, the common disability outcomes of stroke are as foll ows: impairing the vision, paralysis or the lack of ability to move one or more limbs on a side of the body, loss of sensation on a side of the body, difficulties in swallowing, loss of thinking or intellectual capacity, loss of memory, transformation of the emotional aspect and/ or damaging the capacity to communicate competently due to problems in speech, difficulties in expressing words and trouble of understanding (Irish Heart Foundation, no date: 13 – 16). In addition to that, stroke affects its survivors in making them feel frail and weak on one side of their body (US Agency for HealthCare Research and Quality, 1995: 3). It likewise impacts the individual to have problems with balance and coordination since their muscles are not that strong enough as compared to those muscles prior to the attack (US Agency for HealthCare Research and Quality, 1995: 3). Oftentimes, as a result of the attack, they happen to be numb, have problems with controlling their bladder and bowel, and make them feel depressed (US Agency for HealthCare Research and Quality (1995: 3). Given the permanent damage to the ability of the stroke sufferer to express himself or herself and at some points, to be understood, communication with the sufferer of the particular illness has a certain difficulty indeed. This is because after the attack of stroke, the life of the sufferer has most likely changed. As such, this requires an enormous amount of patience for everyone, in particular to the caregivers and to the family members, who has the most interaction with the stroke survivor. However, this raises a question of what kind of treatment and management should be done by the individuals around the patient who has suffered from stroke when interacting with them, in particular, in terms of communication. To make an effective communication with a person who has suffered from stroke, it is important to note that there are a number of general considerations. First and foremost, it is deeme d important to take into consideration that due to a stroke, the individual sufferer may undergo some impaired movement or skills that can be temporary or permanent. Given such difficulties, it must be understood that this is not easy physically, psychologically and emotionally for the patient. We all know and experience how frustrating it is to feel not understood. This is one of the difficulties that the stroke patient is going

Gun control in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gun control in America - Essay Example The rate of homicide has been directly related to gun ownership according to research and case studies (Hepburn et al., 419). Over 60% of murders involve guns in the United States and are more common in urban areas (Hepburn et al., 419). Individually or as a part of juvenile-crime bill (ESPO), gun control laws have set a precedent for strict legislation against guns by the gun control advocates after each incident of public shooting. The 1999 Colorado school shooting resulted in strict gun control laws to be passed which were never considered likely to be passed before (Gimpel, 92). The laws mainly restricted gun availability to the children and put the responsibility of gun’s use in crime on the owner to curtail usage by minors. The stigma created by the gun control often results in counter arguments and conspiracy theories. The gun control critics rebut claims of the relationship between guns and homicide with the fact that there is lesser gun violence in England and Wales w here firearm availability is less as compared to the United States. The legislation to curb gun control is criticized as unconstitutional with the emphasis on controlling crime and not the guns (Bogart, 339). 1986 Gun Owners Protection Act was one of the successful movements to counter objectionable legislation against gun ownership (Tatalovich et al., 177). The for and against sides of gun control reflected in the government as well as the lawmakers, which makes it equally possible for both sides to get their way; the debate being carried on to lawmaking platforms. Furthermore, illegal arms markets and dealings have only endangered the point of view of the pro-gun activists. The illegal gun trade is generally to facilitate crime and stricter background checks and registration laws have been requested time and again to control such activity. As such, where firearm registration would be a reasonable way to go, absolute abandonment of guns as proposed by the gun control activists is v ehemently opposed by the pro-gun side. Destitute individuals being more likely to misuse guns have been pointed out in different researches; poverty and gun ownership is said to be a bad combination and a motivation for crime (Deborah et al., 92). Gun owners advocate that the law is for the law abiding; criminals will acquire guns illegally for illegal use and only the law abiding citizens would be affected by the gun control laws. A series of ad hominems being thrown on have made the issue delicate and often a point in election campaigns. Firearm storage being a major problem when guns are not properly locked away and are kept loaded cause unfortunate incidents. Unintentional firearm injuries and deaths caused by this have called for further gun control laws (Miller et al., 37). This on the other hand is seen by the gun owners as a need to create awareness about gun safety. Societies like National Rifle Association have long worked on this to promote guns, yet create awareness abou t the right usage and storage. NRA has been staunchly assisting gun owners and it holds annual gatherings to facilitate the gun rights and advocate the second amendment. According to another set of findings, only 25% of murders are committed using a gun (Street Crime in America, 1323). This means that the derivation of guns as a concept for crime and enforcing laws will have an effect on gun ownership, but not the crime which is the target

Analysis of Ghanas Economic Growth

Analysis of Ghanas Economic Growth An analytical review of the effect of conflict, politics and resources on the economic growth of the country. 1.0. Introduction 1.1. Ghana in 1957 Some fifty years ago, Dr Kwame Nkrumah stood before a throng of cheering fellow Ghanaians, proclaiming independence from the British Empire. â€Å"At long last, the battle is ended†, he bellowed triumphantly, â€Å"Ghana, your beloved country is free forever† (Nkrumah, 2007). Such were the words that signalled the end of British rule and the start of a new era for the former Gold Coast, which had succeeded in becoming the first independent nation in Africa. By doing so, she set a hopeful precedent to other former colonies which would shortly and eagerly follow in Ghana’s footsteps. For the â€Å"model colony† the future, at this point, looked bright. As a nation with â€Å"advantages of wealth and attainment unrivalled in topical Africa† (Meredith, 2005, 22), Ghana was expected to take the world by storm, swiftly join the ranks of the industrial nations, and proudly serve as a shining example to the post-colonial world (Dzorgbo, 2002, 2-3). There was nothing far-fetched about this optimism. She was, in 1957, one of the most economically advanced countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Income per head was double that of the Tanganikans, substantially more than the Zambians, and almost on a par with the Rhodesians (Alpine and Pickett, 1993, 64). Contributing to this private wealth was the lucrative trade in the export of cocoa whose production Ghana dominated by this time. Such a presence within the international commodity market helped shore up the already substantial amounts of foreign reserve her government held. Yet all of this failed to happen. Several years after independence, Ghana’s economy began to totter, her foreign reserves evaporated, and reckless public spending placed the country on a financial precipice – all this by the end of the 1960s (Konadu-Agyeman, 2000, 473). There was to be no let-up. The economic downturn continued into the 1970s where Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell more than three percent each year. Price inflation averaged at around 50 to 100 percent. Worse was to follow. By the beginning of the 1980s, inflation reached more than 100 percent, GDP levels fell further into the abyss, and one of the worst famines hit the country (Sandbrook, 1982, 2). Nothing, it now seemed, could go right. She had little choice but to solicit help from abroad. 1.2. International intervention and neo-liberalism Following the implementation of economic restructuring programmes, created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, Ghana finally emerged out of her desperate trough in 1983. Inevitably questions were asked. Why had Ghana struggled for so long? How could she so comprehensively dash the hope and goodwill in the immediate years after independence? Many factors, in the view of the IMF, had contributed to her demise: mismanagement, over-regulation, failure to tackle inflation, and currency over-evaluations headed the depressingly long list (Konadu-Agyeman, 2000, 473). Correspondingly, strings were attached to how IMF funds were to be used: the devaluing of the currency, the Cedi; the withdrawal of subsidies; the retrenchment of labour; the reduction in public expenditure; and the liberalisation of trade and exchange controls. Such measures, which took their cue from a resurgent neo-liberalism, have proved to be a mixed blessing. Even though, on the one hand, the adoption of these policies helped rein in inflation, created steady currency fluctuations and boosted the production of cocoa, they also led, on the other hand, to increased unemployment, ushered in stiff and unfettered competition from abroad, and generated substantial social discontent. So much of the welfare state had been taken away, in fact, that the weak and the poor were falling through the net. But a final verdict on the effectiveness of these policies is still too early to call. Even so, it would be true to say that many of these neoliberal suggestions, which underpin the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP), have not come from an appreciation of the peculiarities of the African predicament in general or the Ghanaian one in particular. Rather they draw from the successes of the East Asian Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) which, it is argued, managed to free themselves from the shackles of perennial underdevelopment by creating growth through the export of value-added products. Such a way of proceeding, it has been reasoned, could be replicated within the African context. Much of the reason why Ghana failed in the years after independence from developing economically, this model suggests, was because she promoted a policy of protectionism. Rather than achieve industrial growth and economic development Nkrumah said it would, his policy of Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI), which erected tariffs so as to nurture domestic industry, did the opposite and halted diversification and competitiveness. All of which had now come home to roost, in the opinion of neo-liberalists, who now called on government to shrink. The new policy of SAP, based on exports, has at first glance much to recommend it, especially with regard to Ghana. Even a cursory look at Ghana’s colonial past yields firm illustration of why an export-based economy could make sense. During the days of the British Empire, Ghana had been forced to open up to the international market not least because she offered precious resources and material such as gold, sugar and cotton. Such a colonial emphasis on international trade, to be sure, substantially benefited the colonisers and not the colonised. Even though the British emphasis on exports had the effect of neglecting domestic industry, the legacy the Empire left behind was nonetheless one in which the economy thrived on her exports (Frimpong-Ansah, 1991, 67). Counterfactually-speaking, therefore, had Nkrumah implemented economic policies which aimed to promote exports rather than seek to curtail them, then Ghana may have been spared from the title question: what are you doing here? 1.3. Problems and solutions for the Ghanaian economy If only things were that simple. Even though one might forcibly argue that Ghana’s economy is orientated towards the international market, the kind of exports she has traditionally exported – and is currently exporting – would not have contributed much towards sustained growth. Nor do present circumstances hold hope that things would be any different either. Primarily, as the World Trade Organization has outlined, Ghana is still â€Å"heavily dependent on agriculture, especially cocoa, and on natural resources, notably minerals. Primary production accounts for almost half of GDP; agriculture at 40%, is the most important sector. Manufacturing contributes some 10% of GDP. Services are the second largest component† (WTO, 2001). Much of this primitiveness must be sought, once more, in British colonial policy, which saw little need to invest any substantial sums into creating a more sturdy and versatile infrastructure. Raw materials, such as Ghanaian cocoa, were kept just that – raw – to keep prices down, prevent competition to British firms by not having processing facilities, and turn Ghanaian subjects into obedient consumers of the finished product that would be shipped in from abroad. As Immanual Wallerstein put it with reference to Africa generally: â€Å"Whatever the motive for entering the world agricultural market and whatever the social organization of export production, each colonial administration, as the political arm of the metropole, sought to tie a segment of the African population into the larger imperial economy either as independent producers or as wage-workers, and in all cases as consumers† (Wallerstein, 1986, 18). He could have just as well been talking about Ghana. Such colonial legacies mean that even today Ghana’s raw materials continue to be dictated by external conditions. Since primary products are easily affected by the vagaries of the weather as well as by the fluctuating international market, export-led economic development would almost certainly prove to be a bumpy ride. More specifically, it means that: â€Å"When stocks are low and pries high farmers can increase their planting, but they cannot compress the time it takes crops to ripen to harvest When farmers eventually increase production, prices fall as supplies quickly outgrow demand in importing countries, given that demand does not grow significantly in response to lower prices. The result is a pattern of short-lived booms followed by lingering slumps† (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2004). Such descriptions invoke a viscous circle from which Ghana would find hard to escape. From this lesson follows the glaring need to diversify the country’s economic base, if it is to avoid the ‘booms’ and ‘slumps’ of an economy ensconced within agriculture. â€Å"While traditional exports, such as cocoa and gold, may remain an important source of growth and foreign exchange in the future,† the World Bank contends, â€Å"export diversification will be necessary to accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction and to decrease Ghana’s vulnerability to external price shocks† (World Bank, 2001,1). To be fair, it has not been from a lack of effort that Ghana has failed to diversity sufficiently, for political circumstances have repeatedly conspired to hold up any sustained drive. Liberal approaches to economic development, which Nkrumah’s successors aimed at, fell fowl of a coup, while two later regimes which tried to develop indigenous strategies of development were ousted in similar circumstances. Clearly political conflict and change have impacted hard on Ghana’s economic growth – arguably negatively on the whole – and, if the IMF anoraks are in any way right, stability in the present governmental set-up would finally lead the country to the elusive goal that had seemed possible during the few years after independence. 1.4. Objectives and organization Enmeshed within all these complicated factors, which this introduction has served to outline, the economic growth of Ghana must, at least for the moment, take place within the neo-liberal strictures imposed by the IMF, which has set great store by small government and export-led growth. Conflict, politics and resources will, in this investigation, be reviewed therefore need to take account of the domestic as well as international setting, so as arrive at a more rounded appreciation of how all these factors have affected economic growth in Ghana. Looking at past attempts to create economic growth as well as current trade policies designed to do the same, this study will offer both a historical as well as a contemporary analysis of the Ghanaian economy. Perhaps reaching beyond the remit of the brief, the study will also powerfully suggest that, as things stand as they do, Ghana’s economic future is set to remain a bleak one. More favourable rules of trade must be implemented, the thesis recommends, without which she will not be able to continue to diversify her economic base. To illustrate these points, the investigation is divided into the following chapters. Chapter two, below, will review some of the basic economic models which have found application in Ghana since her days as a colony of the British Empire. Chapter three will then focus on the implementation of these development theories from a historical perspective, analysing the various regimes as well as their ideological leanings which contributed to the kind of policies they came up with. Chapter four will then assume a more specific and contemporary focus, reviewing the extent to which international agreement on trade has impacted on economic growth in Africa in general and in Ghana in particular. Finally, chapter five will consider how tariff and non-tariff barriers, with reference to the EU, have influenced the shape of the Ghanaian economy. 2.0. Theories of Economic Development Before this investigation can examine in detail how various factors have influenced Ghana’s economic growth, one should stop to consider the kind of economic thinking that has undergirded the disparate policies she has resorted to in order to achieve prosperity down the years. Such a detour is necessary if we are to fully appreciate the broader economic and political climates in which policies have been conceived. 2.1. Free trade and nationalism During her time as a colony of the British Empire, Ghana had been forced to adopt a mercantilist system of trade which functioned as the principle form of economic thinking that dictated the way nations engaged with each other, economically-speaking, until the late eighteenth century. Much of modern economic thinking grew out of a backlash against this closed system, which put the nation before the individual and which saw wealth as finite. Inspired by the work of Adam Smith, who wrote his seminal The Wealth of Nations in 1776, liberals criticized how mercantilism elevated the position of the state out of all proportion to the role it should play in the functioning of the economy. By contrast, Smith felt that the state should limit itself to providing three basic duties to society: First, the duty of protecting the society from violence and invasion of other independent societies; secondly, the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing inexact administration of justice; and thirdly, the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals to erect and maintain; because the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, thought it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great society.(Smith, 1863, 286) From this basic framework, in which the individual would have access to basic rights and protection from violence, Smith recommended that the government retreat and allow the individual to develop on their own, especially with regard to economics. â€Å"Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice†, he proclaimed, â€Å"is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men.† Not only did he feel his thinking needed to apply to the domestic sphere but also the international one too, for â€Å"commerce, which ought naturally to be, among nations, as among individuals, a bond of union and friendship† had broken down into a series of international conflicts because homos economicus operated from the assumption that they had to steal from one another rather than share the wealth available. More specifically liberal thinking envisaged a world based on three pillars: first was the belief that free trade promoted economic growth and consumption; second, that it improves societal values and ideals; and third, that free trade would promote a more peaceful international environment because greater interdependence would lead to a convergence of interests among societies (Harlen, 1999, 735). Most pioneering in the implementation of these ideals was Britain which threw down the gauntlet to her rivals by tearing down protectionist barriers, such as the Corn Laws, in the middle of the nineteenth century at a time when mercantilism dictated the opposite and discouraged trade between European powers. Soon European countries followed suite in gradually adopting policies that were more liberal in outlook. Nations such as France, Sweden, Belgium, Portugal and Spain all moved towards the liberalization of their tariff system. But such an open period proved to be short-lived as nationalistic concerns rowed the liberal boat back to shore. By the 1870s, for example, Austria-Hungary increased duties and Germany followed at the end of the decade; France also upped her tariffs in 1881, modestly initially, then sharply in 1892, while other countries returned the favour in kind (Krasner, 1975, 325). Much of the problem had been that, in following Britain, which had embarked upon industrialization much earlier than the European continent, the benefits which European countries could reap from liberalizing their markets would be far from worthwhile, not least because their own infant industries could not compete with those of Britain, which had far more established businesses that had the muscle to blow those of the continent out of the water. Bitter about the lessons that had been learnt at the hands of the British, nationalist economists, while seeing the benefits of free trade, came to point out that liberals â€Å"did not adequately address the problems of how economically and politically weak countries might ensure their national security in a world where free trade did not exist† (Harlen, 1999, 739). Such a dilemma was not only shared by European countries but also by the United States whose economic power was no match to Britain’s at this time. If the United States were to compete on Britain’ terms, economist Alexander Hamilton noted, â€Å"the want of reciprocity would render them [United States] the victim of a system which should induce them to confine their views of Agriculture, and refrain from Manufactures† (Hamilton, 1964, 138). Such a view implied that open competition would only result in the stronger country dictating terms and keeping the weaker one in almost perpetual underdevelopment. Consequently, in order to compete, diversification of the country’s manufacturing base had to be effected, an objective that could only be realized if government helped out and, to cite Hamilton once more, â€Å"encouraged the introduction of foreign technology, capital, and skilled labor †¦ and adopt protectionist trade policies, including tariffs, quotas and bounties, to bolster its fledgling industries†. Similar conclusions were reached by the German political economist Friedrich List, who laid down in his National System of Political Economy the need to dispense with the ideology of free trade in the short term in favour of empowering the state to protect and boost its infant industries and build up a skilled workforce. Only when this was done, List also argued, could countries move towards a policy of liberalization. 2.2. Theories of development Following the end of the Second World War, which signalled the end of colonialism, a similar yet different schools of thought emerged, which centred on the issue of how newly-independent former colonies could ‘catch up’ and attain economic prosperity. Such thinking took shape during the Cold War so that development theory, as it was called, took influences from both the right and the left – from capitalism to Marxism – to produce the following ways of thinking about development: modernization, structuralism, dependency theory and neo-liberalism. Typically, modernists believe development have to be achieved through linear progression, from a ‘traditional’ to a ‘modern’ society’ (Rostow, 1968). During the ‘traditional’ stage the country would be limited by weak government, poor technology and communications and overreliance on subsistence agriculture. Eventually however these societies would accumulate ‘preconditions of take-off’ in which foundations are laid, such as the creation of private business, banks, schools and hospitals; but such a society still lacks the productivity necessary to make the big jump. To achieve ‘take-off’ the economy would need to show signs of rising investment and savings as well as the rapid expansion of industry and agriculture. Even though the economy would have to experience some turbulence along the way towards maturity, it would do so by stripping itself of the very industries that had helped in the take-off. Finally, countries would, under this theory, enter the age of mass consumption when an affluent society would be born. Most importantly, in order to achieve the various stages of development and pass through them, the state had to be interventionist. Even though these thinkers insisted on the virtues of private enterprise, they also insisted that the Third World needed a plan or blueprint which governments could follow. A different take on modernization, which rejected the linear path of development, was Latin American structuralism. Ultimately, it sought the reason for underdevelopment in the unbalance of trade between raw commodity producers and manufacturers. More capital and technology would, it was argued, lead to a turnaround in fortunes. Crucially, developing countries had been apportioned the almost exclusive role of primary product producers within the international division of labour. As Raul Prebisch, a prominent proponent of this analysis, saw it, there were two problems associated with being predominately a primary goods exporter. First, he saw that technological advancement in the industrial core would lead to the creation of synthetics for natural products. Such a shift away from a dependence on raw materials, such as rubber, would have a detrimental impact on the economies of those who sought to profit. Second, he discerned the tendency that as per capita incomes increase, demand for primary products, such as food, would remain stable, while by contrast demand for manufactured goods would rise (Prebisch, 1964, 7). All of this meant that, without the prospect of the developed world consuming more primary products, developing countries had to face the prospect of â€Å"price volatility in the short term and declining terms of trade over the long run†. Such defects in the international system would be overturned through industrialization, which would decrease dependence on primary products and increase ability to export processed products. Importantly, however, structuralism shared with modernization theory the need for government to play a major role in supporting and protecting infant industries through tariffs and non-tariff barriers. Only by doing so, it insisted, could developing counties compete at all. Such was part of the reason why the policy of import-substitution industrialization (ISI) was created and propounded in the hope that an emphasis on industrialization would promote growth. Yet the problem with structuralism was that it took as a given the outer context of the capitalist international economy. Accept this, dependency theorists countered, then there was only the prospect for further dilemmas for developing countries. As a chief proponent of this idea, Andre Gunder Frank showed, in his book Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America: Historical Studies of Chile and Brazil, that underdevelopment was caused by the very nature of global capitalism. Two divisional structures had emerged in which one camp would function as the metropolis centre and the other would serve as the peripheral and perennial satellites. Such a structure was largely exploitative in that â€Å"the metropolis expropriates economic surplus from its satellites and appropriates it for its own economic development. The satellites remain underdeveloped for lack of access to their own surplus and as a consequence of the sae polarization and exploitative contradictions which the metropolis introduces and maintains in the satellite’s domestic economic structure†. So he concludes pessimistically that â€Å"economic development and underdevelopment are opposite faces of the same coin† (Frank, 1969, 8). Such thinking formed the basis for the rejection of schemes such as ISI, since they only helped entrench even further a form of â€Å"dependent development† in which developing countries would become wholly reliant on the developed world for capital and investment. As long as this state of affairs continued, dependency theorists warned, developing nations could not share in the wealth of a capitalist world economy. Rather, it was argued, nations should move towards a socialist path of development, with the Soviet Union as a model of a country that had managed to industrialize without recourse to capitalism. Such an interpretation of development, it hardly needs to be mentioned, left room for any viability in the policies of ISI that had emerged under the structuralist banner. As it turned out, ISI failed to deliver on its promises of creating industrial competitiveness. In fact greater inequalities arose due to the way in which certain industries were protected so that they ended up with excess capacity, inefficiency and low quality. More worryingly, the fact that the state controlled licensing and foreign exchange meant that it encouraged â€Å"rent-seeking, corruption, smuggling, and black market as well as inefficiency in the allocation of resources† (Cohn, 2005, 378). Problems identified by dependency theorists proved to be prophetic. 2.3 The return of liberalism Even so, the inadequacies of ISI did not prevent the liberals, emerging out of the shadow of criticisms, from drawing different conclusions. For they sought the root cause of developing countries’ inability to move away from their state not in the unfair international system, which was inherently set up to keep them underdeveloped, but in incompetent government. What needed to be done, in other words, was to keep out the hand of government and allow market forces to operate. Evidence that the neoliberals were correct was provided by the promising growth of East Asian countries which based their economic development on exports. Examples such as Taiwan and Korea, which both witnessed strong rates of growth, conferred confidence on neoliberal analysts who sought the success of these countries to an â€Å"evolutionary process of industrially induced modernization and structural transformation †¦ locating an appropriate development niche within the global economy which may be exploited by implementing sound development policies based on conventional neoclassical economic principles† (Bruton, 1998, 107). From all these examples neoliberals re-built the edifice to their economic thinking. Clear guidelines this time were issued governments to, for example, â€Å"eliminate exchange–rate controls, restrictions on international trade, deregulation of the financial sector, privatization of state enterprises, creation of an unregulated labor market, specialization according to ‘comparative advantage’ and market driven resource allocations, and generally defining a ‘minimalist’ role for the state in development† (Brohman, 1996, 108). Most developed countries, responding to the debt crisis of the 1980s, gradually appropriated these new policies. Within the developing world, however, the legacy of ISI left a chronic balance of payment problem so that many countries had substantial debts they owed to international financial institutions. Responding to the crisis, in which many developing countries were expressing inability to return the debts, the IMF and World Bank issued guidelines in which it was spelt out that these nations should adhere to structural (or neoliberal) reforms so as to achieve growth and stability. There was, in fact, little choice. As Walden Bello and Shea Cunningham have acutely noted, â€Å"Faced with the threat of a cut-off of external funds needed to service the mounting debts they had incurred from the western private banks that had gone on a lending binge in the 1970s, these countries had no choice but to implement the painful measures demanded by the Bank and Fund† (Bello and Cunnigham, 1994). Such a move proved to be a watershed: it marked a shift away from an era of protection to a time of the free market, and it is within this climate that developing countries presently operate. In what follows one will review how these shifts and turns in economic developmental thinking impacted one particular country, Ghana. 3.0. Politics, ideology and economic policy Ever since her independence in 1957, Ghana has chopped and changed economic policy to the extent that she has tried pretty much all the development theories on which policy was forged. During the colonial period, she had been subjected to mercantile policies, which rendered Ghana an exporter of raw materials and an importer of finished consumer products. Tragically, this meant that wider socio-economic developments failed to take place, so that a diversification of her economic and industrial base away from the almost total reliance on a few basic resources could not be effected before British rule ended. 3.1. Nkruman and structural economics When Nkrumah assumed the mantle of power, he intended to push Ghana out of the underdeveloped into the developed world. Conceiving a Ten Year Development Programme, he established an Industrial Development Board (IDB), which was handed the task to develop the country’s manufacturing capabilities with the intent to pass them on to private enterprises when sufficiently grown (Dzorgbo, 2001, 148). But more substantive initiatives were carried out following the visit of Professor Arthur Lewis, a development economist, who argued strongly against any shock industrialization strategy in a country whose domestic market was limited; pursuit of large-scale industrialization would counterproductively remove resources away from the rural areas to the modern sector; and where shortage of labour would be aggravated by demand from industry. Far from adopting ambitious schemes, he put forward a series of modest proposals that were designed to prop up basic infrastructures so that a basis could be laid â€Å"for private foreign investment without the government having to bother offering special investment favours† (Dzorgbo, 2001, 149). Such a policy of â€Å"industrialization-by-invitation†, which was based on modernization theory, took a dim view of the ability of the government to access funds and take industries under its wing in a way Nkumah had initially intended. Even so, many of these recommendations were both enthusiastically and modestly accepted. Between 1950 and 1962, the Ten Year Plan adjusted to sing the tunes of a need above all for strong infrastructure. More specifically, it successfully constructed roadways and bridges to connect the various parts of the country, while it built the hydroelectric Akosombo Dam to secure the energy base needed for industrialization. Efforts were also invested in the setting up of transportation systems, while in the realm of social development, the government increased access its population had to water and education. Free primary education became available for all by 1960 and secondary education was expanded rapidly too. Enrolment in schools almost doubled across the board in the 1960s, with some 36,414 students registering in secondary schools, technical colleges, polytechnics and pre-university schools (Dzorgbo, 2001, 153). Such impressive improvements were capped off by improvements in health care services which saw new hospitals and clinics open. Despite the fact that Nkrumah government had followed and even bettered the recommendations of Lewis to improve the socio-economic infrastructure of the country, it grew impatient of the gradualist approach to economic development. More specifically, it became disillusioned by the â€Å"industrialization-by-invitation† policy because it had not led to the diversification of the economic base necessary for stability in the long run. Even though substantial amounts of FDI had been expected, following adoption of Lewis’ ideas, little of it had materialised. Those which had were taking the country for a ride. For example, during the construction of the Akosombo Dam, Nkrumah sought financial assistance from the United States. Eventually the firm Kaiser Aluminium Company came forward to underwrite some of the costs of the project. But conditions were attached that it as well as it

Why I admire Benjamin Franklin Essay -- Leaders American History

Benjamin Franklin completed many accomplishments from childhood to adulthood. When he was just 22 he established his first printing business with a partner, Hugh Meredith. Benjamin soon bought out Hugh Meredith's share. In 1732, when Franklin was only 26 he published the first edition of 'Poor Richards Almanack,' the book shows evidence that it was successful for 25 years. 'Poor Richards Almanack' allowed Franklin to retire from business a rich man in 1748. In 1741 Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin Stove. The stove was handy for both, heating a room or cooking. In 1752 Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous electricity experiment with a kite. In 1757 Franklin returned to England as a Colonial agent for Pennsylvania. Next, in the year of 171 Benjamin began to write his own autobiography. In 1775 as a member of the Continental Congress, Franklin advocated separation from England. In 1776 Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence, in the fall he goes to France to plead the American cause. In 1778, Benjamin arranged the American Alliance with France, which soon led... Why I admire Benjamin Franklin Essay -- Leaders American History Benjamin Franklin completed many accomplishments from childhood to adulthood. When he was just 22 he established his first printing business with a partner, Hugh Meredith. Benjamin soon bought out Hugh Meredith's share. In 1732, when Franklin was only 26 he published the first edition of 'Poor Richards Almanack,' the book shows evidence that it was successful for 25 years. 'Poor Richards Almanack' allowed Franklin to retire from business a rich man in 1748. In 1741 Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin Stove. The stove was handy for both, heating a room or cooking. In 1752 Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous electricity experiment with a kite. In 1757 Franklin returned to England as a Colonial agent for Pennsylvania. Next, in the year of 171 Benjamin began to write his own autobiography. In 1775 as a member of the Continental Congress, Franklin advocated separation from England. In 1776 Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence, in the fall he goes to France to plead the American cause. In 1778, Benjamin arranged the American Alliance with France, which soon led...

Causes and the Course of the US Civil War Essay

The American Civil War created the nation of the United States as we know it today. The bloodiest war in the history of the nation, the victory was a combination of many factors and many battles that finally resulted in a Union victory. But why would a nation engage in combat so fiercely that more Americans were lost in the one war than in the American Revolution, WW1, WW2 and the Vietnam War combined? The main cause of the American Civil War was slavery. According to historian David Goldfield, â€Å"Both Northerners and Southerners recognized slavery as the immediate cause of the Civil War† and even Abraham Lincoln acknowledged this fact in his second inaugural address by saying, â€Å"An eighth of the whole population were coloured slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest – all knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war.† The Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865 between two sides – the anti-slavery, northern Union and the pro-slavery, southern Confederate States of America. The southern states’ economies and social structures were built entirely on the concept of slavery – slavery was fundamental to the entire economic and social existence. The upper class’s riches were all earned from the cotton plantati ons that provided two-thirds of the world’s cotton crop, all worked by slave labour. When the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 eventually freed the slaves, the southern states’ economies and social structures were literally turned upside down – the South lost half its capital wealth in an instant. Aside from slavery, there were several minor causes of the Civil War, including the concept of agriculture versus industry and the states’ rights to freedom from the tyranny of an overarching federal government, but these cannot be argued as the main cause of the war. If so, the war would have erupted in the 1830s with the Nullification Crisis, when President Andrew Jackson stated that South Carolina could not declare a federal tax null in their state. In reality, the Confederate government was quite demanding of its citizens, through passing the first conscription Act in the Americas, implementing national taxes, creating a national currency and having a national bureaucracy of 70 000 or more. But governmental reasons for going  to war differed from those of the soldiers. Each soldier likely had a prosaic reason for enlisting, for example, one Alabamian only enlisted after his girlfriend sent him a dress and told him that he should start wearing it if he was not willing to fight for his country. Religion also paid a main role in the Civil War – the Protestant North was high motivated to support combat if it preserved their states, ended slavery and promoted their religious denomination. Throughout the Civil War, there were numerous battles fought all across the nation, bringing the death toll to a total of 680 000. Unknown to most modern-day Americans, for the first year of the war, it seemed that the Confederates had secured a definitive victory. South Carolina had begun the war by attacking Fort Sumter. Three months later, the South then shockingly arose triumphant at the First Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia. Robert E. Lee (the commander of the Southern military) had highly energized, disciplined and trained soldiers who were fighting on home turf in Virginia on the Eastern front. The North, on the other hand, still believed that the war would be over quickly, and therefore, their soldiers were not so motivated to fight. The next major event of the war was the huge Union victory at the Battle of Shiloh near Pittsburg Landing. This area was key as it was the crossroads of the Confederates’ two main railroads. 44 000 of General Ulysses S. Grant†™s command were amassed in camps around this area and were attacked at night by the Southern soldiers. Schermann, one of Grant’s underlings, heard a noise and went out to investigate, only to realise that the entire Union force in the area was under attack. Lasting all day, and beginning the next at daybreak, the leaders had only a small Methodist chapel in which to convene to discuss potential rapid strategizing. Due to the Southerners’ element of surprise and the Northerners’ superior force, it became the most costly battle of the war to date with 23 000 dead, injured or captured, and with around equal numbers on both sides. It was then the South were to suffer a great defeat at the Battle of Antietum – Lee marched a force of 40 000 strong to Maryland on 4th September, 1862, only to be met with huge numbers of General George McClellan’s troops. 23 000 were killed in a single day, and General Lee was forced to retreat back to Virginia. After these major humiliations, it was  months before the first real turning point of the war when the tide began to turn towards a Union success. Although politically the Union made some impact with the release of the Emancipation Proclamation on 1st January, 1863, in reali ty, there was little change in the secessionist states and the war dragged onwards. An excellent execution of division tactics by Lee resulted in a Confederate victory over the new Union commander Hooker at the Battle of the Wilderness, but at a cost of 24 000 casualties. From May to July 1863, Grant laid siege to the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, starving the population and firing shots at any soldiers who appeared on the walls of the town. After a naval landing, commander Pemberton’s force of 23 000 met Grant’s force, encircling and overrunning the city, and surprising the Southerners. The ensuing siege resulted in the Union’s control of the lower Mississippi river, after the trapped Confederates surrendered unconditionally. This blocked any avenues for shipping supplies and soldiers for the South, which was extremely important. It also split the Confederacy down the centre, disrupting order and the transfer of information and supplies from east to west. During the same month, General Lee led a force into northern territory and met with Union forces at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After a three day battle, 50 000 men had died, a stunning blow to the South. The second important turning point of the war was over a year later in August 1864, when the Union general Sherman took Atlanta, a manufacturing and railroad centre. This capture was important politically, rather than militarily, as it was close to the elections of 1864. Lincoln had to re-run for presidency and at the time, was very unpopular with the Northern population because the war was dragging on, and families were losing their sons and fathers. A difficult win, in Atlanta, Sherman besieged the city and when the citizens did not surrender, his troops began the famous March to the Sea, a night time march of terror involving all of Sherman’s command in which the soldiers marched from inland to the city, tearing up railway tracks and destroying all things of value along the way. The March ended in Savannah, where the inhabitants surrendered. With the fall of Atlanta, the public’s view of Lincoln changed putting him in a position of superiority over his democratic opp onent, former top general George McClellan. Lincoln’s  election was an extremely important determinant of the course of the war as Lincoln was determined to have a Union victory, while McClellan did not seem to care which side was victorious, wanting only a settlement with the South. After Lincoln’s electoral victory, both the Union and the Confederates decided to wage total war, rather than the limited war that had been occurring for the last three years. In the mean time, the South was spiralling into despair, suffering under the Union naval blockade, Sherman’s campaign in Georgia, lack of international assistance, class conflicts, and a lack of money. The army began to disband, and as the Confederate leaders realized that all hope was lost, Jefferson Davis proposed peace negotiations. Delegations from the South and the North met at the Hampton Roads Conference in February 1865. Still there was no resolution to the conflict – Lincoln demanded that the South surrender unconditionally, while Davis wanted to be granted full independence. In April 1865, however, the conflict was resolved at the Battle of Appomattox when Grant’s forces broke through Confederate lines headed by Lee, forcing the Southerners into a shameful retreat. Days lat er, Lee surrendered to Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. With this, the Civil War had finally come to an end. The American Civil War involved four gruelling years of conflict in which approximately 680 000 lost their lives. With the northern and southern states completely divided on the issue of slavery and the existence of slavery so intrinsic to the South’s entire economic and social structures, there was much fuel for battle – a battle largely about the right to human freedom and which ultimately lead to the demise of slavery in the United States. The Civil War was a critical part of American history, a defining moment in the future of the nation, and a defining moment in the freedom of all American people henceforth.

Mapping Channel Flows in the Music CD industry

In the music CD industry, the choice of the efficient marketing policy is one of the crucial factors in the success of the particular brand. CD’s are one of low-involvement products which can be bought by the customers out of the large selection. In order to be successful, every particular producer in the music industry has to define the marketing mix of the product which includes product, price, promotion, and place. While the first 3 components of marketing mix are very important, the last one which is place seems to â€Å"catch all† of the 4 P’s.Place is a very complex component of marketing mix because it includes such important areas of marketing as decisions about channels, logistics, retailing, customer support and many other issues. The right choice of distribution policy and channels are very important for the success of the producer, and those aspects cannot be neglected.The easiest way for the producer to sell the products to the final customers is by direct selling. The dialog between the supplier and the buyer is the easiest way in which the product can be purchased. However, most industries do not have such a luxury. It becomes inefficient for the producer to sell items directly to the customer, and he gives those functions to all types of intermediaries. In most cases, complex industries have a whole chain of intermediaries which bring the product to the end-user. This system of distribution represents a kind of a channel through which from the producer to the first intermediary and from the first intermediary to all others one by one product, payments, and information flow are channeled.Whenever the chain is very long, it’s obvious that every member in the chain, as well as the end-user has his specific needs, which all have to be taken into account by the producer. It’s very important to make sure that the information flow through the channel does not break. The more intermediaries there are between the produc er and the end-user, the more complicated the relationships inside the channel become, and more attention has to be paid by the producer so that the quality of the product remains high as in the very beginning of the chain. CD’s industry deals with rights on a particular part of property, therefore it’s very important to maintain the chain of suitable distributors which provide the highest quality of the music record companies products.The most widely-used forms of â€Å"channels† of distributions used by the companies include the following:v Selling direct (with the help of salesforce);v Mail order (including telephone sales);v Retailer;v Wholesaler;v Agent (who acts on the behalf of the producer) (Mercer, 467)In order to maintain the quality of the production, it’s necessary for the producer to keep some control over the members of the distribution channel. Most music record companies pay close attention to that. Once the control is entirely lost, it mi ght be hard for the producer to monitor the sales and the quality. The most efficient structure is when the producer structures the distribution channel by himself. Depending on what market the producer is in, this issue touches him in a different way. For example, when the producer produces mass consumer goods and there are many competitors in the market offering the same type of product, it’s not that important for the producer to control all the distributors who offer his product.The producer’s goal is to increase the number of distributors offering his product because he wants to have a large share of the market. In the opposite case, when the goods produced by the company have some unique features and the company competes with competitors mostly in quality, it has to take responsibility over the quality of the products which it offers and may suffer losses if the quality of the products end-users receive is low. Therefore, the producer will very much care in such a case about the quality of the goods which are offered to the end-users, and do his best to determine only very reliable distributors of his production in order to have a strong emphasize on quality. The mentioned approaches which can be used by the producer in the distribution policy therefore include:1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Intensive distribution;2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Selective distribution;3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Exclusive distribution.In the case of the intensive distribution, the main emphasize is made on the number of distributors selling the company’s product. The price competition is evident in such a case and quality of all the similar goods offered in the market is pretty much the same.Selective distribution means that the producer selects suitable distributors to re-sell the product. Those distributors who have a good reputation get a chance to sell the company’s products. The selection can be quite wide, and the producer in such a case in not very concerned about the top quality of the products which he is offering. Exclusive distribution is common in such fields where companies offer products with unique characteristics and the main point of the marketing policy of the company is offering goods of the highest quality. Every little detail of the product is important in such a case.Therefore, companies choose a very limited selection of distributors who will be re-selling their product in order to maintain the highest quality. The main partners of the company in the distribution channels include such establishments as specialty outlets, supermarkets, department stores, and discount outlets. Specialty outlets have a narrow product line (Mercer, 473). For example, in fashion industry specialty outlets aim at women of a specific age group with a specific taste. Such distributors offer a greater degree of personal service and usually the selection of products for the targeted group of customers is very large.Supermarkets can be characteriz ed by the following principles: self-service and self-selection displays; centralization of customer services; large scale; a strong price emphasize; a broad assortment of merchandise. The most famous supermarkets include Sainsbury, Tesco, Wal-Mart, and others. Department stores cover a large variety of products in different departments of the stores and offers great competition for supermarkets. Examples of department stores include Boots, Marks & Spencer, British Home Stores. Discount outlets specialize in a â€Å"high turnover at low cost†. They usually specialize in products of one field and get a 30-day credit from their suppliers. For example, they include Dixons in consumer electronics/electrical; MFI in furniture.A major feature of the distribution channel is that there is a â€Å"value-add’ of every level of channel. Just as the product and information are channeled from one level of the channel to another, the value is also added at every level step by step. For example, in the music industry, the value is first added by the manufacturer who makes the music label, then the CD’s are passed to distributors, sometimes on a couple of levels until they reach the customer. At every level, the value is added because more companies participate in the process.The manufacturer is the one who owns the music label and therefore is the main player in the game. He adds the most value to the product, which consists of the cost of production and the profit. However, without the distributors the CD would not be able to get the end-users, so at every level of the channel new value is added to the primary product. The first level of distributors can be wholesalers, the second level can consist of retailers. Therefore, value is added at 3 levels until it reaches the end-user.In the music industry, the efficiency of channel members is very high. Companies producing CD’s pay close attention to the distributors who specialize in selling CD†™s and for the most part, those channels fall into the category of selective distribution. The channel distribution in the music industry is very complex due to the characteristic features of the industry. Nowadays, there are many companies which produce CD’s (give the music label) and there are many customers in the market who are willing to buy those CD’s.   For example, Sony Records, Inc. is one of the leaders in the music industry production.However, it faces some competition in the market. Customers can give preference to CD’s produced by other companies as well. Therefore, every music record company needs to make sure there are many distributors who are brining CD’s to the end-users and also maintain high quality of the product. The distributors in the music industry include music stores which deal with CD’s in particular, supermarkets where one can also find this product, and Internet distributors which specialize in music CD’s. T he chain of distributors is quite large in the music industry. It’s very important for music record companies to provide the highest quality of their musical CD’s.One of the reasons of the need in high quality is that nowadays music record companies face sharp competition from the Internet. It has become very simple for people who are fond of music to download music files from the Internet, and they no longer need to go into the music stores in order to get the CD’s. The files which people can download from different sites are free of charge, and no money goes to the singers from those operations. One of the ways to fight with that competition for music record companies is by offering the highest quality of their products. If a person can buy a CD of the highest quality in the music store, he might stick to it and not use Internet for getting his favorite music albums.Another way is to include Internet distributors of music products which can compete with free m usic upload by offering additional services. Such distributors as Amazon.com for example can guarantee high volumes of CD’s sales due to its closeness to the customer. It’s common truth that many people who use Internet are interested in music. As long as they can order their favorite CD’s on Amazon.com, they will keep their hands off the free file upload. However, in such a case the emphasize on the quality is important as never: the customers will order CD’s from Amazon.com as long as the quality of CD’s is beyond competition. In addition to that, it’s important to make sure Internet users get some additional benefits together with CD’s, for example, suggestions about their future possible purchases, discounts, or free information about their favorite singers.The efficiency of the CD’s and payment in the music industry through the distribution channel is very efficient but there can be some developments made in it. The most i mportant is to keep in mind the importance of Internet in the distribution of CD’s. It’s also possible to devote some attention to such types of direct marketing as teleselling, direct mail, and direct selling. By mailing catalogues to potential customers, large volumes of sales can be achieved. For maximum efficiency of distribution in music industry, it’s necessary for music record companies to devote lots of attention to maintaining a large chain of distributors but at the same time monitor the quality of the products which are being offered to end-users.Bibliography.David Mercer. Marketing. Blackwell Business. 1992. J. Barry Manson, Moris L. Mayer, Hazel F Ezell. Foundations of Retailing. Business Publications, Inc., 1984. Kevin J. Clancy, Robert S. Shulman. The Marketing Revolution. HarperBusiness, 1991. Kotler. Marketing Management. 1986. R.M. Johnson. Market segmentation: a strategic marketing tool. Journal of Marketing research, vol. 7, 1981.