Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organisations - Essay Example This paper primarily deals with the responsibility of the multi national giant Unilever's responsibility to its stakeholders. It also identifies who the stake holders are and the ethical issues involved in relation to the benchmarks and models set up by the CSR. The Stakeholder: The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines a stake holder as "a person entrusted with the stakes of bettors" and "one that has a stake in an enterprise ". This definition takes the traditional view of the term stake holder. Another definition form the site Encarta defines stakeholder as "a person or group with a direct interest, involvement, or investment in something, e.g. the employees, stockholders, and customers of a business concern". From a legal standpoint too, stakeholder is considered to be a person holding shares or stocks in a company. All these definitions agree on one point, but disagree on others, making the issue confusing. Since this paper deals with Unilever, an analysis as to what the company thinks of the definition will be worth looking into. Unilever categorises stake holders into two groups, the first one to include all those who have direct contact with the company. They include investors, employees, customers and suppliers. The other group comprise of those who have an indirect relationship with Unilever and include the government and its various regulatory departments, non profit organisations, academics and citizens. "Our success as a company depends on good relationships with a broad range of people and organisations who have a stake in our business. With some, such as our customers, employees, suppliers and investors, the relationship is based on direct contact or financial involvement with the business. Others, such as governments and regulators, local communities, civil society organisations, academics and individual concerned citizens, have a wider interest in what we do and in our impacts on society as a whole." (Our approach, 2008). The Stakeholders of Unilever: Customers: Unilever considers its customers to be stakeholders of the company. How customers can be considered a stakeholder can be illustrated by the following point. Unilever uses chemicals in the manufacture of its detergent brands like surf and sunlight. The company cannot use cheaper, but harmful chemicals with the aim of increasing its bottom-line. The company has a social responsibility to see that none of its customers who use the detergent have problems for their skins or clothes. Employees: The livelihood of its employees depends on the ability of the company to pay them their salaries. The company has to remain profitable to sustain this practice. So Unilever has a responsibility to see that its operations remain profitable. Suppliers: For a company like Unilever, there would be a large number of suppliers responsible for the supply of the variety of raw materials, services and other products required for manufacturing and administration. They have to be paid according to the conditions stipulated and it's the company's responsibility to see that it is done. Investors: this category, as a stakeholder does not need clarification since it falls into the traditional and legal view of the term stakeholder. Any company has to ensure that their stakeholders, which include individuals and institutions, are kept happy by ensuring a favorable return on their

Discussion 1 Week 9 Impact of Government Regulation Assignment

Discussion 1 Week 9 Impact of Government Regulation - Assignment Example For Katrina’s Candies, facts revealed that the decision makers are reflecting on the possibility of expansion, either through capital investment or through merger. As such, it was commendable that different sites and links were provided to assist in the review and evaluation of various options open for Katrina’s Candies in their decision for potential merger in another country. At the onset, the site on export.gov provided crucial information for U.S. companies which are reflecting on exporting in other countries (Country Commercial Guide, n.d.). Since Katrina’s Candies signified intentions to expand in the international market, the site could provide them with needed assistance in determining the most appropriate country in the European Union area that would give the most viable opportunity to contribute to the shareholders’ wealth and profitability in the long run. The assistance could be provided in terms of research assistance on the markets to enter, as well as in determining regulatory requirements for the venture option that has been decided on. The site on â€Å"Doing Business in the European Union: 2011 Country Commercial Guide for U.S. Companies† is replete with information which includes trade regulations and standards in chapter 5 that would help organizations, like Katrina’s Candies, to determine and comply with the needed regulations that would facilitate establishment of a business venture in the European market (Doing Business in the European Union: 2011 Country Commercial Guide for U.S. Companies , n.d.). Another relevant site that was mentioned about government regulations is the official website of the Federal Trade Commission (Federal Trade Commission, n.d.). The information on the site focuses on the premerger notification and reviewing the merger process. As such, for Katrina’s Candies growth prospects of venturing into a

The Doctrinal Basis Of Liability Essay Example for Free

The Doctrinal Basis Of Liability Essay There are three areas of doctrine of importance to banks. The first concerns the general standard of care the law expects, once a duty of care has been established, whether that be in contract, tort, or fiduciary law. Then the potential liability of a bank is explored as a fiduciary, constructive trustee, or an accessory. Finally, there is brief mention of some emerging standards of liability which have primarily a statutory base. 1. 1. Reasonable Care and Skill A duty of reasonable care and skill for anyone providing a service (including giving advice) runs through contract, tort, and fiduciary law. After a mass of conflicting case law, notably the challenge to concurrent liability in contract and tort posed by the banking case, Tai Hing Cotton Mill Ltd v Liu Chong Hing Bank (1986), it is now settled that a claimant may seek compensation for economic loss caused through the failure to exercise reasonable care and skill in both contract and tort. As for fiduciary law, it has long been the position that a fiduciary (including a trustee) must act or advise with reasonable care and skill. There is long-established authority, in the context of bills of exchange that a bank can be in breach of its duty of reasonable care and skill in failing to make inquiries. Factors such as the standing of the customer, the bank’s knowledge of the signatory, the amount involved, the need for prompt transfer, the presence of unusual features, and the scope and means for making reasonable inquiries may be relevant. . 2. Fiduciary Law (i) Fiduciary Duties and Their Negation Apart from the duty of care key prescriptions are that fiduciaries (1)Should not permit their private interests to conflict with their duty to a beneficiary of the duty; (2)Should not permit their duties to one beneficiary to conflict with their duties to another; (3)Should not make a secret profit, i. e. a profit from their position which is undisclosed to their beneficiaries; and (4)Have a duty of confidentiality. While contracts may modify the scope of fiduciary duties, however, it cannot be that contract can be invoked to negate them regardless of the circumstance. Thus, since many private customers will not necessarily expect their bank to be conducting conflicting corporate-finance business, it will be difficult to imply a contract term negating the undivided loyalty the bank may owe if it is a fiduciary. (ii) Trustees and Agents Fiduciary duties are clearly imposed on trustees and agents. The position with trustees is relatively straightforward. In acting as a trustee of an estate or investment fund a bank must not invest with itself. But a bank will not be in breach of its fiduciary duties if the trust instrument empowers it to open accounts or make deposits or investment with itself, despite its being the trustee. The fiduciary duties attaching to an agent vary, with the nature of the agency. Thus, the bank instructed simply a buy or sell securities has fewer fiduciary duties than if it is the manager of a discretionary fund. (iii) Banks as Financial Advisers and Facilitators need: To furnish all relevant information, relevant in making investment decisions. To give best advice it can. †¢To obtain the best terms for the customers. Woods v. Martins Bank Ltd is an old authority, where the bank advised A to invest in B, which was heavily indebted to it. It is still good law although, since it predated Hedley Byrne, it was necessary to find a fiduciary relationship if liability was to be imposed for negligent advice. 1. 3. Knowing Receipt, Inconsistent Dealing and Assistance (i) Knowing Receipt For this form of liability it must be shown, first that the funds have been disposed of in breach of trust, fiduciary duty, or as a result of some other unconscionable dealing. Moneys held on trust and misapplied are obviously caught. So, too, are misapplied corporate moneys since historically directors have been treated as if they were trustees of the property of the company under their control, so that any wrongful disposition is a breach of trust. The second prerequisite to an action in knowing receipt is that the bank must have received the claimant’s funds for its own benefit. Tracing has a role here: the bank must have beneficially received funds which are traceable as representing those of the claimant. Thirdly, liability for knowing receipt demands knowledge on the part of the bank that there has been a payment in breach of trust, fiduciary duty etc. (ii) Inconsistent Dealing A bank receiving funds in circumstances which do not constitute knowing receipt can still be liable if those funds are subsequently applied for its own benefit (‘inconsistent dealing’). At that point the bank must know that the funds involved are subject to a trust or fiduciary duty and that what it is doing with them is in breach of that. (iii) Assistance Even if a bank is not liable for knowing receipt, it may be liable as an accessory for dishonest assistance. Assistance is a form of accessory liability, which sits alongside other forms of accessory liability in equity, such as the receipt of information in breach of confidence, and including breach of trust or fiduciary duty. What are the prerequisites for accessory liability? First, there has to be a breach of trust or fiduciary duty. Second element in assistance is fault. One gloss in this context is the suggestion in the oft-cited case of Barnes v. Addy (1874) that for assistance there has to be ‘a dishonest and fraudulent design on the part of the trustee’. This may be defended as a way of narrowing the potential liability of accessories such as banks. However, it is now clear that there is no need to establish fraud on the part of the trustee or fiduciary, and an innocent breach of duty is sufficient. Emerging Standard: Due Diligence, Suitability, Good Faith Due diligence as a standard emerged from securities law: in the United States a bank involved in a public offer of securities must make its own investigations (in relation to statements for which it takes responsibility), in other words it is obliged to undertake ‘due diligence’ in relation to the issuer and the issue. This seems to be part of a growing trend to make banks statutorily liable for unlawful activities which they facilitate by their operations, unless they an demonstrate due diligence. Suitability too is a concept most developed in the area of securities regulation. It imposes a liability on those marketing securities which are incompatible with the needs of customer. Closely associate good faith with notions such as fairness, honestly, and reasonableness. In other words, it means simply that in the performance of a contract both parties are assumed to agree not to do anything to impede its performanc e, or to injure the right of the other to receive its benefits. The good-faith doctrine has been invoked in the context of banking, requiring a bank to disclose material information to a commercial counterparty. 2. Duty to advise and the liability for the advice given Some situations clearly involve a bank in giving advice. Advice on reorganization, mergers and acquisitions financing, and so on is the staple diet of investment (merchant) banking. In other situations a bank may assume the role of financial adviser. However, many banking services are not associated with giving advice. The legal issue is whether there is any obligation on a bank to proffer advice in this situation. The second matter addressed is a bank’s liability if it actually does give advice, the advice is faulty, and the customer incurs a loss. 2. 1. Duty to advise (i) The General Rule Generally speaking, one party will be under no obligation to advise another about the nature of the transaction, its prudence, or other features. So, too, in banking, English courts have held that the bank providing an account for a customer need not advise on the risks, or on the tax implications, of certain payments in relation to it. Nor need it advise customers of a more advantageous type of account it is now providing. However, there is a rather clear difference between these and some of the other services and transactions of the modern multifunctional bank. Take the bank selling its own products-be they derivatives to commercial customers, or insurance policies, or interests in a collective investment scheme to private customers. (ii) Situations imposing a duty to advise The first situation where the law imposes a duty to advise is a misrepresentation –a failure to speak or act can constitute conduct which misleads. Thus a half-truth may constitute a misrepresentation, as where a bank canvasses the advantages, but not the risks, of a transaction with a customer. The bank must tell the whole story. A bank’s advertising may be relevant in this respect. Secondly, there can be liability for a failure to disclose in precontractual negotiations if there has been a voluntary assumption of responsibility to do so and reliance by the customer because the court held that the bank was liable when its manage failed to explain clearly to the wife, the effect of a charge over a joint property to secure the husband’s borrowing from the bank. Thirdly, in Cornish v. Midland Bank, Glidewell LJ said that once a bank enters upon the task of advising a customer, it is obliged to explain fully and properly about the nature of the borrowing. Fourthly, if a relationship is fiduciary in character, then disclosure is necessary if a person is to avoid liability for putting interest above duty, or duty to one above duty to another. Fifthly, at common law a bank which takes a guarantee is bound to disclose unusual features in the transaction which has been guarantee. Finally, the duty to advise can be imposed as a result of regulation. (iii) The Advice Required (If Any) Advice may translate into the legal concept of notice, as where the bank must give notice in relation to a conflict of interest. Complete disclosure of all relevant facts known to the fiduciary is required. Advice must, of course, be honestly given-otherwise it is fraudulent. Generally speaking it must also be accurate. Some advice involves highlighting the terms of the contract being entered (or at least some of them). Another approach is to require advice about the alternative on offer-in terms, say, of repayment methods, interest rates, charges, and commissions. Perhaps the most effective advice in relation to some banking transactions is advise, about the attendant risk. The standard demanded here may be objective, although it could also be associated with an obligation on the bank to take steps to ensure that this particular customer understands the risks. 2. 2. Liability for advice given Bank’s promotional material, may lead to the conclusion that it has taken on the responsibility of the borrower’s financial adviser. There is greater chance of liability when the bank advises unsophisticated customers; in several cases the English courts have held that a bank was liable when its bank manager failed to explain clearly to a wife the effect of a charge taken over joint property to secure a husband’s borrowings. Negligent advice can obviously occur in the range of matters in which banks become involved. Examples includes credit references; failure to pass on information on when a bank enters upon the task of advising a potential borrower about the attendant risks of a particular facility; statements by bank that it will make available to a customer adequate funds to enter a contract with a third party; advice about investments; and assurances that workout plans are heading in the right direction, and that the bank is optimistic about an agreement being reached. In Hedley Byrne the bank avoided liability because of a disclaimer in the reference. In would seem right as a matter of policy for a bank to be able to avoid the consequences of giving negligent advice by suitable notice to those receiving it. As a matter of policy, whether this is regarded conceptually as aborting liability or a exempting from liability already begotten is beside the point. The central issue in practice should be whether the disclaimer of , or exemption from, liability has been made clear to those being advised so they are in no doubt that the bank is washing its hands of the consequences if the advice proves inappropriate or wrong. A small print clause in a document given to those being advised is unlikely to satisfy this test. In English law the matter is handled by applying the unfair contract terms legislation. The seminal case recognizing the tort of negligent advice, Hedley Byrne Co. Ltd. V. Heller Partners Ltd, involved advice given about a customer’s creditworthiness in a bank reference. As subsequently interpreted, Hedley Byrne liability depends importantly on an assumption of responsibility by a bank, a sufficiently proximate relationship between the bank and the customer or third party, and on there being reliance on the statement. Assumption of responsibility an proximity are, in large part, legal fictions, and in practice a court will have regard to factors such as the purpose for which the statement was made and communicated, the bank’s knowledge that the advice was needed for a particular purpose, the relationship between the bank and the person relying on the advice, and the size of any class to which the latter belongs. As regards disclosure (and this includes electronic disclosure), it is worth repeating here what was said in Woods v. Martins Bank Ltd [1959] 1 Q. B. 5 at 60, where Salmon J. said It cannot be too clearly understood that solicitors owe a duty to the court, as officers of the court to make sure, as far as possible, that no relevant documents have been omitted from their clients list. Barclays Bank v OBrien [1994] 1 AC 180. A husband and wife agreed to a second mortgage secured on their home to help out the husbands ailing company. The necessary documents were sent to a branch with instructions to ensure that the couple were aware of what they doing and to take legal advice on the matter. This did not occur. The wife signed the documents, relying on her husbands explanation of the situation (that it involved ? 60,000 for 3 weeks). When the debt reached ? 154,000, the bank ordered the house to be repossessed. At appeal, the court held that misrepresentation to the wife had occurred, the bank was fixed with constructive notice and the wifes equitable right was enforceable against the bank. The case of Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge was decided by the Lords in a Judgment handed down on 11th October 2001. The case set standards for lending institutions where guarantees are given by a third party. It also sets standards for Solicitors who take on the task of advising those third parties. The most important point for lending institutions, thinking of enforcing their security is that cases of this nature need to be tested on their facts. It will make the lower Courts think very carefully whether cases which are perceived as hopeless should be struck out at an early stage. The decision in this series of appeals mitigates against early strike out. It could mean that lending institutions no longer have a quick route by which to realize the security and in many cases they will be locked into trials which could prove lengthy and expensive.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Analysis Essay

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Analysis Essay With reference to one or two episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer studied in class, explain how the series encourages the viewer to question assumptions about high and low culture and/or television as a form of popular culture. You may wish to consider issues of genre, authorship and gender. Vampires are widely known for their slick back black hair, fanged teeth and black and red capes; however, in the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer these traditions have made different way for female fighters and ghoulish monsters. We each have our own different thoughts about what and who vampires are, but the media use their power on public to create a strong image of what are vampires should look like and have endorsed traditions believed for many years. In order to maximise viewing figure, the producers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have made a good mix of the horror genre and the typical, classical American high school show. This mixture of different genres is suitable for many different class or age groups and tastes. The first episode is titled Welcome to Hellmouth this name is an oxymoron as it uses words that express good and bad. The build up to the episode shows a young couple breaking into the school through a window in the science lab. This action not only ads tension but also shows a link between science and the supernatural, something that has been talked about for hundreds of years. The woman turns into a green hideous monster and kills that boy. This is very rare for a vampire tale as traditionally vampires did not look like monsters and also they only attacked defenseless females. The episode starts properly when Buffy Summers, a 16 years old girl moves to Sunnydale, from LA with her mother. This is not the setting that the audience would expect for a vampire story as the word Sunnydale hardly paints a picture of a dark, horror place full of vampires. Therefore, this name subverts the traditional signifiers. On the first day of school, the popular girl named Cordelia inducts Buffy into the cool crowd, Buffy attempts to be friends with three other students,Willow, Xander and Jesse. This gesture shows us that Buffy is a good judge of character, strong minded and that she is a leader not a follower. Buffy goes to the school library to get some text books. The library, although a more unusual setting was much more like something from a vampire story, it was dark and empty. To add tension the producers used scary disjointed music to try and set the scene and the camera moves in onto a newspaper article, to which you can read the headline which refers to a missing teenage boy. This article casts a question mark over the normal nice Sunnydale. Then a figure appears behind Buffy, it is Buffys new watcher and the new school librarian,Giles. He brings a book with Vampyr on the cover and scares Buffy off. This endorses the old traditions as the book was old, and full of cobwebs, possibly to add more mystery to this section. The spelling Vampyr again highlights the books age and tries to make it look even more strange, this also brings more history and tradition into the episode, two elements that are important to any gothic style story. The show seems to take a different twist when a dead body is found in the school changing rooms. It is unusual that the body was discovered in the school and another good point to note is that the victim was a man, which is unusual for a vampire story, as traditionally the victims were all defenseless females. Buffy to investigate and found the body was killed by vampires. At home, Buffy prepares for her night out to the Bronze, Sunnydales only night club. Her mum thinks that everything is going to work out in Sunnydale and that they will be able to have a happy life there. It is very ironic as Buffy knows that bad things are just around the corner and also this shows that her mother is unaware that she is a vampire slayer. On her way to the Bronze, Buffy senses she is being followed and heads into an alleyway. A tall young man comes out of the shadows searching for her. She swings down from a bar above him and knocks him to the ground. He claims not to bite and that he just wants to help her. This section endorses up to the point where Buffy swings down and attacks the man. He warns her of the Harvest and tells her about the Hellmouth. This name paints a bad picture in the audiences minds and it is the total opposite to Sunnydale. Later at the Bronze, Buffy chats with Willow about boys. She tries to inspire Willow to stop waiting and to seize the day. Buffy spots Giles upstairs and goes up to talk to him. He continues to tell her she is the Slayer and has no choice in the matter. At first the setting for this scene may seem to be totally radical in a vampire style story, however after thought the venue is dark and full of young potential victims so is a modern adaptation of the settings for the older tales. For example, the more traditional tales were set in a graveyard or spooky house, which was dark and the time was always in the dead of night. These characteristics can also be linked to the nightclub used in Buffy, as it too is dark and people only go to th ese clubs during the hours of darkness.The show seems to take a different twist when a dead body is found in the school changing rooms. It is unusual that the body was discovered in the school and another good point to note is that the victim was a man, which is unusual for a vampire story, as traditionally the victims were all defenseless females. Buffy to investigate and found the body was killed by vampires. At home, Buffy prepares for the night out to the Bronze, the only night club in Sunnydale. Her mum thinks that everything is going to be fine in Sunnydale and they can have a happy life there. It is very ironic as Buffy knows that bad things are just around the corner and also this shows that her mother is unaware that she is a vampire slayer. On her way to the club, Buffy senses she is being followed and heads into an alleyway. A tall young man comes out of the shadows searching for her. She swings down from a bar above him and knocks him to the ground. He claims not to bite and that he just wants to help her. This section endorses up to the point where Buffy swings down and attacks the man. He warns her of the Harvest and tells her about the Hellmouth. This name paints a bad picture in the audiences minds and it is the total opposite to Sunnydale. Later at the Bronze, Buffy chats with Willow about boys. She tries to inspire Willow to stop waiting and to seize the day. Buffy spots Giles upstairs and goes up to talk to him. He continues to tell her she is the Slayer and has no choice in the matter. At first the setting for this scene may seem to be totally radical in a vampire style story, however after thought the venue is dark and full of young potential victims so is a modern adaptation of the settings for the older tales. For example, the more traditional tales were set in a graveyard or spooky house, which was dark and the time was always in the dead of night. These characteristics can also be linked to the nightclub used in Buffy, as it too is dar k and people only go to these clubs during the hours of darkness. Buffy spots a vampire in the crowd below them and then realizes hes talking to Willow. The guy leaves with Willow as Buffy goes searching for him. She mistakenly attacks Cordelia and then pretty much ruins her chances for popularity. As Buffy leaves, she runs into Xander and asks him where Willow may have gone or else there will be one more dead body tomorrow. The vampire manages to lead Willow into the cemetery where he throws her into a tomb stone. As he tries to escape, Darla arrives with Jesse. Buffy and Xander turn up and Buffy kills one of the vampires and then fights with Darla as Xander gets Willow and Jesse out to safety. A vampire shows up and fights with Buffy. While they are fighting, Darla escapes to get Jesse, Xander and Willow. The vampire throws Buffy into a coffin where he jumps in and leans in to bite. Apart from Buffy, a female fighter, who manages to attack all the vampires single handed. This endi ng endorses the signifiers we think off when we talk about vampires. As the setting, a graveyard is the usual place for an attack in a gothic or vampire story. It is also interesting to note that the episode concludes with a cliffhanger, an unusual ending for many gothic style stories and films. As traditionally, the story finished with either the death of a victim or of the attacker. In any television programme or feature film, camera angles and effects are important as they portray certain feelings that the producers want to show to the audience, these may be something like making the audience think a character is small and weak by using a high angle shot, which looks down on the character. Or you could use the opposite effect by making a character look strong and powerful from using a low angle shot (looking up). In Buffy The Vampire Slayer they producers use one effect which is featured on several occasions. This is where a quick series of flashing images is presented to the vie wers; this technique is called a montage of images. In episode 1 this feature is used twice, in the first case, the montage is used as a title sequence and shows images that both subvert and endorse the conventions, including images of signifiers including black cats, stakes and green monsters along with modern things like female fighters. This sequence promises viewers fast pace, all action entertainment and shows clips of future episodes in order to encourage continual viewing throughout the series. The second montage is shown where Buffy is in bed dreaming at the beginning of the actual programme, after the introduction and the title sequence. This series of images is showing the audience that she is restless as there is some kind of distortion in the images, and some are not fully visible. This makes the viewers to try and understand the sequence and the majority suggest that Buffy is involved in someway with vampires or as a protector of some description. The images shown inclu de an old book which suggests the cultural history of vampires, a cross which represents Christianity and the way to kill vampires. Because of this legend, the cross points out that Buffy is a protector. Moreover, Buffy creator Joss Whedon described Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an all over the place transcending-genre kind of thing. (Stein, 2002) Well the text is mainly considered to be of the teen genre it does contain elements of the horror genre to. The fight against monsters and the idea of a patriarchal society is all central to the horror genre. The way that Buffys world is invaded by monsters, horror invades home is another shared convention between horror and BVS. However one aspect of the show that goes against the horror genre is the role of women. In previous horror texts women were weak and frightened; however BVS changes traditional genre and ideological views. Buffys embodied strength, power, and assertiveness destabilize the traditional masculinity power of the vampire character in the horror genre, in effect policing those who prey upon the feminized (Owen, 1999). Through the text femininity is conveyed as a forceful strong identity. Buffy is stronger then all the men she meets both physically and mentally. However Buffy is not empowered by past feminist movements in the text. She is empowered by herself. Indeed Karras writes that Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffys relationship with her mother can be understood as a metaphor for the tenuous relationship between second and third wave feminists(Karras, 2002) Buffys mother feels angry at the fact that Buffy doesnt take full use of the rights she now has to the feminist movement of the 60s. In conclusion,Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a popular culture because it provides a good blend of many aspects of both low and high cultures. It contains scenes that are scary, action packed and also offers addictive viewing like a soap opera. Buffy can be viewed by many different age groups as it seems that there is almost something for all, just the opening episode included many different styles of programming, from comedy to gothic style features. ‘Yet Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ also manages to defy convention by establishing its protagonist as an all strong, powerful willed women. Buffy as an open-image hero expose stereotypes and coded symbols that shore up a rigid war-influenced gender system in an attempt to chart new meanings for womanliness and manliness (Early, 2001) Reference list Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 Episode 1 â€Å"Welcome to the Hellmouth† Owen, A. Susan. 1999. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Vampires, postmodernity, and postfeminism. Journal Of Popular Film Television 27(2): 24-31 Irene Karras, 2002. â€Å"The Third Waves Final Girl:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer.† [http://journals.sfu.ca/thirdspace/index.php/journal/article/viewArticle/karras/50] Francis H. Early, 2001. â€Å"Staking Her Claim: Buffy the Vampire Slayeras Transgressive Woman Warrior† [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0022-3840.2001.3503_11.x/abstract] â€Å"Chose an episode of any teen TV programme of your choice and identify the generiv conventions of this TV text.† [http://www.markedbyteachers.com/as-and-a-level/media-studies/chose-an-episode-of-any-teen-tv-programme-of-your-choice-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-and-identify-the-generic-conventions-of-this-tv-text.html]

Hypothetical Consent and Political Legitimacy Essay -- What is Politics

ABSTRACT: A commonly accepted criticism of the social contract approach to justifying political authority targets the notion of hypothetical consent. Hypothetical contracts, it is argued, are not binding; therefore hypothetical consent cannot justify political authority. I argue that although hypothetical consent may not be capable of creating political obligation, it has the power to legitimate political arrangements. Hypothetical Consent and Justification A commonly accepted criticism of the social contract approach to justifying political authority targets the idea of hypothetical consent. Since only actual agreements are binding, the argument goes, citizens are not bound to obey their governments on the ground that, under circumstances different from the ones in which they now find themselves, they would have agreed to submit to its authority. (1) The purpose of this paper is to rescue hypothetical consent from this objection. I begin by distinguishing political legitimacy from political obligation. (2) I argue that while hypothetical consent may not serve as an adequate ground for political obligation, it is capable of grounding political legitimacy. I understand a theory of political legitimacy to give an account of the justice of political arrangements. (3) I understand a theory of political obligation to give an account of why and under what conditions, citizens are morally required to obey the rules constituting those arrangements. The social contract tradition offers us hypothetical consent theories of both political obligation and political legitimacy, frequently neglecting to distinguish the two ideas. Likewise, the common objection to hypothetical consent theories — that hypothetical contracts do not bind — ... ...vice of representation". (14) For an argument that no contractual agreement on the two principles of justice occurs in the original position and that therefore the two principles are not justified by a contract, see Jean Hampton, "Contracts and Choices: Does Rawls Have a Social Contract Theory?" The Journal of Philosophy 77, 6 (June 1980): 315-38. (15) As Jeremy Waldron maintains, "When we move from asking what people actually accept to asking what they would accept under certain conditions, we shift our emphasis away from the will and focus on the reasons that people might have for exercising their will in one way rather than another." Waldron, p. 55. (16) This objection is due to Bruce Landesman. (17) For a discussion of this distinction and the relation between the reasonable and the rational, see Rawls, PL, pp. 48-54. (18) See Freeman, pp. 123-31.

Chicken Without a Fork :: Poems Essays

Chicken Without a Fork Tithing There is a faint illumination within the eye of a blighted soul.... Telling a story of many, many goodbyes, yet the riddles of a latent kin lurch violently from within. Nothing, nothing can fill the whole. Alone, I do ponder and stare across this stony barren of life. No worry, I understand the fare. Gently the waters of the Styx part. A hand extends, no blade or knife. ....A glancing gaze examines the heart. Rage Clenching my fists my knuckles are numb beating my pillow the hate I become. No lovely horizons my heart is numb beating my desire the hate I become. Her eyes, so beautiful my mind is numb beating my inhibition the hate I become. Gripping your throats my morals are numb beating my brothers it's you I've become. Liberty Nurture the aimless for aim is not to burden. Save for the nameless who, after all are pardoned. So the wicked stare across an ocean drying huddled within our care and yes, we are the ones dying. So venture not into the great unknown. Save yourself, blanketed by faith. As if our colors ever shown. Black, black as the lovely wraith. Liberty in her beauty does arbitrate a loving populace that can only fornicate. A Moment Burning and turning my stomach resists, anxious and determined my will persists. Fists are clenched, knuckles are white. Damning them all I long for the fight. My reason is gone so is the air, shifting my weight they sense the despair. I close my eyes longing for control while the demons abound; they've taken my soul. Mortality I watched as they gave their respects. I didn't know him. A friend of a friend. Light filtered through stained glass windows. Soft sobs and cries echoed off hallowed walls. I knew nothing of this man. I stood next to the coffin. His face, painted and plastic, longed to return. Then tears began to well within my eyes. How could this be? I didn't know him. Then I understood. With a light brush from my sleeve I wiped the tears from my face and Chicken Without a Fork :: Poems Essays Chicken Without a Fork Tithing There is a faint illumination within the eye of a blighted soul.... Telling a story of many, many goodbyes, yet the riddles of a latent kin lurch violently from within. Nothing, nothing can fill the whole. Alone, I do ponder and stare across this stony barren of life. No worry, I understand the fare. Gently the waters of the Styx part. A hand extends, no blade or knife. ....A glancing gaze examines the heart. Rage Clenching my fists my knuckles are numb beating my pillow the hate I become. No lovely horizons my heart is numb beating my desire the hate I become. Her eyes, so beautiful my mind is numb beating my inhibition the hate I become. Gripping your throats my morals are numb beating my brothers it's you I've become. Liberty Nurture the aimless for aim is not to burden. Save for the nameless who, after all are pardoned. So the wicked stare across an ocean drying huddled within our care and yes, we are the ones dying. So venture not into the great unknown. Save yourself, blanketed by faith. As if our colors ever shown. Black, black as the lovely wraith. Liberty in her beauty does arbitrate a loving populace that can only fornicate. A Moment Burning and turning my stomach resists, anxious and determined my will persists. Fists are clenched, knuckles are white. Damning them all I long for the fight. My reason is gone so is the air, shifting my weight they sense the despair. I close my eyes longing for control while the demons abound; they've taken my soul. Mortality I watched as they gave their respects. I didn't know him. A friend of a friend. Light filtered through stained glass windows. Soft sobs and cries echoed off hallowed walls. I knew nothing of this man. I stood next to the coffin. His face, painted and plastic, longed to return. Then tears began to well within my eyes. How could this be? I didn't know him. Then I understood. With a light brush from my sleeve I wiped the tears from my face and

Brihadeeswara Temple Essay

Location: The Brihadeeswara is located in Tanjavur district in Tamilnadu, India. The temple was built on the banks of River Cauvery with its water turned to the moat. The temple, constructed entirely of granite, stands amidst fortified walls. There was no rock formation around this area. It is believed that the rocks would have been brought from a place at least 50kms away. History: The temple had its foundations laid out by the Tamil emperor Arulmozhivarman, popularly called Rajaraja Chola I, in 1002 CE, as the first of the great Tamil Chola building projects. It was built to grace the throne of the Chola Empire in compliance of a command given to him in his dream. The scale and grandeur is in the Chola tradition. An axial and symmetrical geometry rules the temple layout. Temples from this period and the following two centuries are an expression of the Chola wealth, power and artistic expertise. The emergence of such features as the multifaceted columns with projecting square capitals signals the arrival of the new Chola style. The Brihadeeswara Temple was built to be the royal temple to display the emperor’s vision of his power and his relationship to the universal order. The temple was the site of the major royal ceremonies such as anointing the emperor and linking him with its deity, Shiva, and the daily rituals of the deities were mirrored by those of the king. It is an architectural exemplar showcasing the pure form of the Dravida type of temple architecture and representative of the Chola Empire ideology and the Tamil civilization in Southern India. The temple â€Å"testifies to the brilliant achievements of the Chola in architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting. † Construction: The wish to build a mammoth temple like this is said to have occurred to Rajaraja while he stayed at Sri Lanka as an emperor. This temple is the first building fully built by granite and finished within 5 years [1004AD – 1009AD]. The solid base of the temple raises about 5 metres (16 feet), above which stone deities and representatives of Shiva dance. The huge kalasam or Vimanam (top portion of the shrine) is believed to weigh 81. 28 tonnes and was raised to its present height by dragging on an inclined plane of 6. 44 km. The big Nandi (bull), weighing about 20 tonnes is made of a single stone and is about 2 m in height, 6 m in length and 2. m in width. The presiding deity of lingam is 3. 7m tall. The prakaram (outer precincts of the temple) measures 240m by 125m. The outer wall of the upper storey is carved with 81 dance karanas – postures of Bharathanatyam, the classical dance of Tamils. The shrine of Goddess is added by Pandyas during the 13th century; Subramanya Shrine was renovated by Vijayanagara rulers and the Vinayaka shrine was renovated by Maratha rulers. Architecture: The gopuram of the main entrance is 30 m high, so smaller than the vimana. It is unusual in the Dravidian architecture where the gopurams are generally the main towers and taller than the vimana. A first rectangular surrounding wall, 270 m by 140 m, marks the outer boundary. The main temple is in the center of the spacious quadrangle composed of a sanctuary, a Nandi made of a single stone, a pillared hall and an assembly hall (mandapas), and many sub-shrines. The most important part of the temple is the inner mandapa which is surrounded by massive walls that are divided into levels by sharply cut sculptures and pilasters providing deep bays and recesses. Each side of the sanctuary has a bay emphasizing the principle cult icons. The karuvarai, a Tamil word meaning the interior of the sanctum sanctorum, is the inner most sanctum and focus of the temple where an image of the primary deity, Shiva, resides. Inside is a huge stone lingam. The word Karuvarai means â€Å"womb chamber† from Tamil word karu for foetus. Only priests are allowed to enter this inner-most chamber. In the Dravida style, the Karuvarai takes the form of a miniature vimana with other features exclusive to southern Indian temple architecture such as the inner wall together with the outer wall creating a pradakshina around the garbhagriha for circumambulation (pradakshina). The entrance is highly decorated. The inside chamber housing the image of the god is the sanctum sanctorum, the garbhagriha. The garbhagriha is square and sits on a plinth, its location calculated to be a point of total equilibrium and harmony as it is representative of a microcosm of the universe. In the center is placed the image of the deity. The royal bathing-hall where Rajaraja the great gave gifts is to the east of the hall of Irumudi-Soran. The circumambulation winds around the massive lingam in the garbhagriha and is repeated in an upper story, presenting the idea that Chola Empire freely offered access to the gods. The inner mandapa leads out to a rectangular mandapa and then to a twenty-columned porch with three staircases leading down. Sharing the same stone plinth is a small open mandapa dedicated to Nandi, Shiva’s sacred bull mount. Surrounding the main temple are two walled enclosures. The outer wall is high, defining the temple complex area. Here is the massive gopuram or gateway mentioned above. Within this a portico, a barrel vaulted gorpuram with over 400 pillars, is enclosed by a high wall interspersed with huge gopurams axially lined up to the main temple. Legends: After the death of the patron, Rajaraja Chola I, his son Rajendra I who was a great military leader succeeded him in 1014. During his reign, he extended the territory of already vast Chola Empire up to the banks of the river Ganges in the north and across the ocean. He shifted the capital of the Chola kingdom to Gangaikondacholapuram, about 60km away, and started building a new temple there, as he wanted to build a bigger version of â€Å"The Big Temple†. Rajaraja Chola I donated a big amount of money for the maintenance of the Brihadeeswara. But, Rajendra I had diverted all the money for the construction of his new temple. His decision deprived the Big Temple of royal patronage. However, Rajendra was able to build only a smaller version of the Big Temple, eventually. Furthermore, the Cholas built hundreds of temples along the banks of the River Cauvery, changing its landscape forever. None of the forts and palaces built by the Cholas survives today. But the temples remain and they stand testimony to their achievements. They are also a major tourist attraction for both local and foreign visitors. Myths: The 60-metre tall Vimana is the tallest in South India. A European-like figure which is carved on the Vimana is believed to be an ancient warning of the arrival of the Europeans. Later investigations by archaeologists proposed that this claim may be a hoax. Features: Another widely held belief is that the shadow of the gopuram (pyramidal tower usually over the gateway of a temple) never falls on the ground. . The temple is said to be made up of about 130,000 tons of granite. The Kumbam itself, a 60 ton granite stone carved in one piece, on top of the main gopuram is believed to have been taken to the top by creating an inclined slope to the height of 66m to the top of the gopuram. The prevailing belief is that a mud-slope, which starts at about three miles from the temple site, from Thirukoilore (birthplace of Raja raja’s mother) near Sri Virateshvara swamy temple. Elephants might have been used to drag the stone up the slope. This was claimed to be the only part of the gopuram, which does not cast a shadow that fall on the ground, at least not within the temple premises. Millennium celebrations: Built in the year 1010ce by Rajaraja Chola in Thanjavur, Brihadeeswara Temple popularly known as the ‘Big Temple’ turned 1000 years old in September 2010. To celebrate the 1000th year of the grand structure, the state government and the town held many cultural events. It was to recall the 275th day of his 25th regal year (1010 CE) when Rajaraja Chola (985–1014 CE) handed over a gold-plated kalasam (copper pot or finial) for the final consecration to crown the vimana, the 59. 82-metre tall tower above the sanctum. Latest News: During the consecration (Kumbhabhishekham) of 1997, 48 people were killed in a fire accident and 86 others injured. The incident occurred hours before the Mahakumbabishekam ceremony. It is believed a fire cracker lit near the temple fell on the yagasala; a temporary structure built to accommodate the ritual ceremonies, and sparked the fire that spread to the thatched roofs. A stampede resulted when the panic-stricken devotees rushed the only entrance to the temple on the eastern side. However, another version claimed the fire was caused by a spark from the electric generator. Most of the deaths were reported be caused by the inhalation of carbon monoxide and a few due to burn injuries. The Tamil Nadu Government announced a compensation of Rs 100,000 to the families of the deceased and the injured were paid from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 each. Government of India, Mumbai Mint issued Rs. 1000/- coin to commemorate the 1000th year of the temple. And at last the Brihadeeswara is an unbelievable, extraordinary master piece of architecture†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦actually designed not by Rajaraja, but by Somavarma the temple architect†¦