The Fragmented Authoritarianism of the Chinese State Essay Example for Free

The Fragmented Authoritarianism of the Chinese State Essay Asoke Kumar Mehera ([emailprotected] com) (Ex-Teacher of La Mart College of Technology, Sydney) In post-reform period, Chinese state is creating and sponsoring NGOs in order to transfer to them certain functions that it used to perform itself under the command system of the socialist era. NGOs in reform-era China represent both challenge and continuity in state-society relations. It is easy to observe the semi-official nature of some NGOs and the state’s tight formal control of the sector demonstrates the evidence of continuity. The officially organized NGOs are comprehensively dependent on the state agencies that created them and behave more like subordinate units of the agencies than independent entities. Actually, Private entrepreneurs are depended on official patronage for access to bureaucratically allocated resources, political protection and socio-political legitimacy. On the other hand, It is also easy to notice a change in the predominantly popular culture of the other NGOs and a certain degree of autonomy (regarding marginalised interests like HIV, same-sex relationships etc. ). There are genuinely bottom up NGOs that set their own agenda and seek to influence government policies and try to bring important issues to public attention. The arbitrary use of administrative power by the state agents, bureaucratic control over the resources, constant fluctuation in government policies and an ineffective legal system, have all contributed to an uncertain environment for NGOs in China. Many popular NGOs have engaged in entrepreneurial activities with their contacts in the government. The state’s failure to discipline the agents and bureaucrats; whose protection and complicity enable NGOs to evade supervision and engage in inappropriate activities to generate finance. Actually, a vast majority of NGOs are interested mainly in finding ways to exploit state-controlled resources for their own benefit, rather than playing the political role conventionally ascribed to civil society. There are various ways for NGOs to advance their interests, such as forging patron-client ties with officials, operating through networks of personal relations that cut cross the state-society divide or providing political support to the state in exchange for its sponsorship. The self-serving entrepreneurialism of the NGOs (sometimes as part of sponsoring agencies) has apparently been a fairly common problem. Although scholars are still debating about the nature of the Chinese state entrepreneurialism and corporatist state control over NGOs in post-reform era; but the nature of state- civil society interaction can be summarized as â€Å"dependent autonomy†. As per â€Å"fragmented authoritarianism†, the state has retained its dominant role in socio-economic sphere and the authority below the very peak of the system has become more fragmented and disjointed as a result of economic reform. A research on the NGOs carried out in 2000 shows that popular NGOs active in the field of women’s rights, tries to hide the cases from mass media because it would directly criticize the local authorities and police, whose goodwill is important for their existence. Many NGOs consider their relationship with government agencies and officials as the most important of all their relationships. Many officially organized NGOs at local levels are simply tools for local government agencies to create agency slush funds. Various qualitative and quantitative studies of China’s political culture have identified a number of features that are not conducive to collective action and civil society activism. These include elitism, fatalism, and lack of cooperative spirit and group solidarity. Individual NGOs need to pool their resources and join hands with other likeminded people and organizations to challenge government policies which prioritize economic growth over environmental protection. It is not unjust to apply â€Å"macro† political theories such as civil society and corporatism for explaining the actual behaviour of NGOs. Actually, we need to relate NGO studies to such issues as state capacity, political culture, and the evolving state-society relations in China. The growth of autonomous NGOs in China will not necessarily result in the development of a thriving civil society, which needs a competent state structure and impartial legal system. The unethical alliance between local officials and entrepreneurs is basically for the mutual benefit and above all, at the expense of the policies of the central state and the interests of other social groups. Public interest has not been served properly as the state lacks the capacity to enforce rules within the welfare sector largely comprised by NGOs. Actually, the state apathy to civil welfare is depicted by the fact when the central government orders all state agencies to de-link themselves from the economic entities. It is not a good foundation for a healthy civil society. Dependent autonomy is not a type of state- society relations that favours the interest of the state (Yiyi Lu, 2012).

Critical Analysis Of Ted Hughes The Wind English Literature Essay

Critical Analysis Of Ted Hughes The Wind English Literature Essay Ted Hughes wrote his poem The Wind in 1966, like many of his works it is a poem largely focussed on nature. In particular, this poem represents the violence in the natural world and leaves the reader feeling somewhat disturbed by its imagery and the meaning that it may imply. In The Wind Ted Hughes is describing a storm, through the strength of the imagery that he creates, he gives a sense that the weather is alive and therefore the storm has a personality of its own. There is a large contrast between the weather and the people sheltering in the house in The Wind, this contrast passes the perhaps larger message that Hughes is trying to portray. The people seem defenceless and small in comparison to the force of The Wind and moreover the natural world. That being said, The Wind is centrally a poem about relationships; the relationship between people and the natural world. The poem begins with the disturbing metaphor This house has been far out at sea all night, giving the impression that the house is like a boat lost at sea. After the initial storm, the feeling of destruction continues Rang like some fine green goblet this immediately gives the impression that the storm is alive, and leaves the reader picturing it as monstrous. The people Now deep in chairs appear fragile in comparison to this force and grip their hearts conveying the image that they are frightened of the natural world. Moreover, the metaphors describing The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills gives the idea that even the house has been attacked all night, as if by powerful waves of this metaphorical sea on which it is forcefully being sailed through. The personification on The woods crashing and winds stampeding also continues the imagery that the woods and winds are alive and have a personality. The later, That any second would shatter it portrays the idea that the ho use is threatened by nature, and therefore the people cannot defend themselves from its powerful force. This idea is further enforced by the people seeing the window tremble to come in in the sense that the house wants to surrender to the storm, and therefore the nature is a force far more powerful than humans, this sets the image of the wind being like a giant in comparison to the people. Furthermore, the disturbing imagery becomes more apparent when even the dawn does not bring peace and the storm continues Till day rose. Personification on the word rose here also gives the feeling that nature is alive, as though it is getting out of bed. The further use of alliteration of wind wielded echoes the sound of the wind, and the simile of it Flexing like the lens of a mad eye carries on the continuing personification that wind has a personality; the wind is wild as though it is mad. The idea of the wind being angry is again highlighted Through the brunt wind that dented, giving the image that it is a threat to the narrator and could destroy them. Even the hills are no match for the wind as The tent of the hills drummed and strained its guyrope, this description of the hills being like a tent makes them appear weak, having the potential to be blown away by the strength of this storm. Hughes continues to personify the surroundings with The fields quivering, the skyline a gri mace, making a stronger sense of fear as if the wind is a monster in which the world cannot take on. The ongoing idea that the wind is alive is extended once again when The wind flung a magpie away making the imagery become more disturbing, in the sense that the wind intentionally threw the bird and therefore its personality becomes even more evil. The Wind is structured in six stanzas of four line couplets; each stanza continues the personification of the wind being alive. However, with every stanza we read this theme becomes more apparent through the use of strong imagery, and therefore more disturbing as the poem unfolds. Although this poem appears to be centrally about the relationship between people and the natural world being portrayed as negative, Hughes also uses a metaphor of the people watching the fire blazing, And feel the roots of the house move, in this instance the people are clinging to natural things, perhaps in an attempt to save themselves from the force. Furthermore, the fact that the people are using the house and fire as comfort from the wind could convey the idea that the world is being brought together under the power of the storm. Ted Hughes was married to the American poet Sylvia Plath, Sylvia gassed herself in her kitchen following his affair with another woman.. [1]. Hughes confessed that Plaths death was complicated and inevitable, she had been on that track most of her life.[2]. That being said, The Wind has been described as an extended metaphor about Hughes relationship with his wife [3] if she was on that track most of her life, then the weakness of the people and the house could in fact represent her lack of emotional stability. In this sense, the recurrence of the colour green could represent envy or jealousy that may have been existent in their relationship. Moreover the fragility of the hills, the house and the windows could be a metaphor for how fragile their relationship was. This idea continues with the theme of nature, however, in this case it would refer more to human nature. Ted Hughes The Wind uses a lot of strong imagery and through its continuous personification of the wind being alive we become more disturbed by the nature of the storm in the poem. This poem appears on surface to be a description of the violence of the natural world and its relationship with humans. However if we look into its meaning in more depth, although we will never fully know this without verification from the poet himself, The Wind could in fact be a metaphor for the relationship between Hughes and his late wife Plath. Like nature cannot be altered, human nature cannot be prevented.

The Power of Perspective Essay -- Sociology Personal Narrative Papers

The Power of Perspective All I needed was a bow tie. Everything else was packed, and I was ready for the weekend, except that I needed a new bow tie. I assumed that some store on Boston’s posh Newbury St. would have one, and sure enough I found a store that sold tuxedos and wedding dresses. Upon entering the store, I noticed soothing classical music playing in the background as the few patrons meandered through the thoughtfully arranged display room. The sole operator of the store was busy with a customer, so I waited for some assistance. Being a scruffy college student, I apparently didn’t invoke any sense of urgency in the store clerk. After a few minutes, he asked me if I needed any assistance in a tone that suggested that I had rushed him through his previous sale, and that he didn’t think I would buy anything of significant value. If that was his assumption, I confirmed it when I informed him that all I wanted to buy was a bow tie. He reacted by saying, â€Å"Yo u must be a waiter?† I felt like saying, â€Å"Actually, I own my own tux, and I need a new bow tie for a black tie wedding in Virginia that went $25,000 over its $50,000 flower budget.†, but that would have been obnoxious, so I held my tongue. I’ve waited tables for many summers, so I was doubly insulted that he referred to my being a waiter in a derogatory manner. Walking away from the store, I thought a lot about what had happened. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and I hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, so I looked like your generic college student (Boston is filled with about 100,000). I also only wanted to purchase a bow tie, which leads to two likely conclusions. I either owned my own tuxedo, or I needed it to complete a waite... ...e media’s ever-powerful influence. One of my aunts from Belgium was in recently in the U.S. for business and I was interested to speak with her about the current crisis. She was concerned because she viewed our news coverage as having an American filter, and thought that that might allow the American Government to take advantage of the country’s grief and fears. Now more than ever people have to be careful and try to understand that their perspective can be manipulated by outside forces. To stop the warping effects of groupthink, people have to take a step back from their position and really conduct introspective contemplation. It is very hard for people to try to change their perspectives, because it is part of who they are, but it’s not impossible. People need to be more conscious about how they interpret information, and avoid having a selective memory.

Comparing Love in To Dance with the White dog and Moulin Rouge :: comparison compare contrast essays

Comparing Love in To Dance with the White dog and Moulin Rouge   Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel, To Dance with the White dog, Terry Kay crafts a love story about Sam Peek and his wife Cora, that seems to extend beyond the grave in the form of a white dog.   At the same time, the film Moulin Rouge is a fast paced, tensely dramatic, love triangle between Christian, the poor writer, Satine, the courtesan that everyone fancies, and the Duke, who has the money to transform the Moulin Rouge into a theatre with real merit. Both movies center on the main theme of love but take two different stands on that love. While Satine is unable to concentrate solely on a single relationship, Sam Peek is able to focus solely on the love of his life, Cora.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In To Dance with the White Dog, there are several instances that show Sam's devotion and unchanging love for Cora.   When Sam writes in his journal, at the beginning of the novel, "Today my wife died.   We were married 57 good years" (Kay 9).   Sam was completely devoted to his wife for over half a century and even after her death with his devotion to White Dog, who he perceived to be his deceased wife watching over him.   Even though Satine was unable to pursue her love for Christian due to her death, her ambiguity towards her two suitors makes the viewer wonder if she could be as devoted to one love as Sam is devoted to his wife.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A prime example of Sam's enduring fidelity is when he goes to his wife's grave, "[...] He took the hoe and cut away at the weeds, balancing on his walker, until the plot was clean" (Kay 42).   No matter what his circumstance, Sam is going to do what he can for his wife, even if it is simply taking care of his wife's grave.   Christian does something similar to this by writing Satine's and his story, so that the world would know about their love.  Ã‚   The love is there, but the audience is unable to see if Satine and Christian's love would last as long as Sam and Cora's due to Satine's untimely death at the end of the film.

Anthem: The Process of Liberation :: Anthem Essays

Anthem: The Process of Liberation Many years ago, I read my first book by Ayn Rand, Anthem. I completed the book in about four hours. At the time, I was not mature enough to fully appreciate Anthem's powerful symbolism. My attitude as I read the beginning of the book was one of indifference and confusion, maturing only later into concern and vigorous interest. This experience began a new phase in my intellectual development that soon led me to read Atlas Shrugged. I then started on Ayn Rand's non-fictional works. My understanding of Rand's philosophical system, however, came piece by piece. There was no one instant of recognition, no single ``aha.'' Until recently, I was not fully aware that I had been affected so deeply. My progress was step-by-step and I had never looked all the way back. As I began to read Anthem for a second time, I found myself in acute pain, even at the first paragraph. I continued to read it feeling much as a person would when touring a concentration camp, for, in effect, that was exactly what I was doing. There was not one hint of levity in my mood; I do not even recall breathing. I was truly looking all the way back. At the end of chapter nine, when Equality 7-2521 is alone, in the most profound sense of the word, with his Golden One, she says slowly, ``We are one ... alone ... and only ... and we love you who are one ... alone ... and only,'' I feared I could tolerate the book no longer. I had finally understood that profound sense of loneliness and despair a person can feel when they want to say ``I love you,'' but cannot say ``I''. I could not understand how my previous reading could have seemed so easy. I proceeded, at a forced march, all the way to chapter eleven. I had never experienced the concept of labored reading before. When I read the words, ``I am,'' I realized that I had become Equality 7-2521 and that his

Complex Adaptive System

In-class Paper #3November 8, 2011 Topic: Define what a complex adaptive system is and identify the characteristics of complex adaptive systems Discuss how complex adaptive systems influence health care and subsequently nursing practice. Use examples form your practice to convey your understanding of complexity as it relates to your nursing practice. Outline: Introduction: Complex adaptive system is a collection of individual agents with freedom to act in ways that are not always totally predictable and whose actions are interconnected so that one agent’s actions changes the context for other agents. (GPlsek, P. E. & Greenhalgh, T. 2001) Characteristics of complex adaptive systems are: unpredictable interconnected, unclear boundaries, constant changing members, members also belong to other systems, each member uses internalized rules (these can, and likely are, different for each person and are not fixed). Complex system can influence health care because they can create positiv e or negative outcomes, they influence other systems and create tension and paradox that may be difficult to solve Body: Because the complex adaptive system is always changing, and interconnected with other systems so it will create many difficulty in solving the problems.In clinical settings, student nurses have to think critically and take multiple approach in order to intervene or solve the problems. Give examples from clinical settings Conclusion: Restate the significances of complex adaptive system and how it can influence clinical settings as well as health care Health care is a complex system. There’re varieties of different professions in healthcare from nurses to doctors, specialist, paramedics†¦ and even the concept of health itself is very complex as there’re many determinants that can influence one’s health.Moreover, health care matches the definition of a complex adaptive system, which is a collection of individual agents with freedom to act in ways that are not always totally predictable and whose actions are interconnected so that one agent’s actions changes the context for other agents. (GPlsek, P. E. & Greenhalgh, T. , 2001). The characteristics of the complex adaptive system are that it is unpredictable nterconnected, have unclear boundaries, constant changing members, members also belong to other systems, each member uses internalized rules (these can, and likely are, different for each person and are not fixed). Therefore, in order to work effectively in such complex system, nurses are required to have the competence to adapt to the system’s characteristics and utilize their best skills and knowledge to solve complex cases in complicated situations. The complex adaptive system is unpredictable, interconnected and usually have unclear boundaries.For example, at my clinical setting, which is a French immersion elementary school, is an example of a complex adaptive system. The school itself is a complex system because the students in the school is not only comprised of English speakers, but also the French speakers populations, and the teachers needs to know both language in order to communicate, to teach the students effectively. Students also come from different backgrounds, they have different ethnicities and different personalities.However, the school’s motto is â€Å"Better Together† which promotes the interconnectivity as they needs to work together to achieve the school goals. The interconnectivity characteristic is also demonstrated in an unwanted accident happened at the school. Grade 3 students there really like to play soccer, however, one day, there was a fist fight broke out between two students during a soccer game during recess, consequently, in order to ensure safety and that no conflicts would occur in the future because of soccer, soccer is banned at the school.The banning of soccer at recess elucidated to us as nursing students and the school staff that we need to address and improve the problem solving skills for the grade 3 students in order to prevent similar undesired occurrence to happen in the future. At this point, the boundaries in the school is not clearly drawn as teach the Health class is not nursing students’ responsibility, but the school expressed their need to us and wants us to do some interventions about it.Therefore, we devised to talk to the grade 3 teachers and ask for permission to teach the health class on days that we are at the sites to implement our intervention and address the problem solving issues among students. In Health class, we decided to act out skits of conflicting situations and have the students to come up with their ideas using appropriate problem solving skills to resolve the conflicts. By doing that, we – nursing students are not only take on the role of the student nurses, we are also the health class teacher on Tuesday to the grade 3 students.This example demonstrates tha t the context of the complex adaptive system (elementary school) really influences our nursing practice as we take on the role of Health class instructors to enhance grade 3 student conflict management skills. We exemplifie The above analysis shows that the complex adaptive system and its unique characteristics has strongly influence nursing practice in different context. As a competent nurse, we have to have the critical thinking skills, being creative and adapting to any situation in order to come up with the best possible interventions.

Ion Exchange Chromatography

g A. Ion exchange Chromatography Ion exchange chromatography is a process for separating proteins and other molecules in a solution based on differences in net charge. Ion Exchange Chromatography relies on charge-charge interactions between the proteins in your sample and the charges immobilized on the resin of your choice.Ion exchange chromatography can be subdivided into cation exchange chromatography, in which positively charged ions bind to a negatively charged resin; and anion exchange chromatography, in which the binding ions are negative, and the immobilized functional group is positive. Once the solutes are bound, the column is washed to equilibrate it in your starting buffer, which should be of low ionic strength, and then the bound molecules are eluted off using a gradient of a second buffer which steadily increases the ionic strength of the eluent solution.Alternatively, the pH of the eluent buffer can be modified as to give your protein or the matrix a charge at which the y will not interact and your molecule of interest elutes from the resin. In the study of LU Rong-Rong, et al. lactoferrin was extracted from bovine colostrums using ion exchange chromatography by SP Sepharose Fast Flow (SP Sepharose FF) of excellent absorption specialty for LF, was chosen as the ion exchange with elution rate of 2 L/h. 0. mol/L NaCl aqueous solution was used to elute the secretory immunoglobulin A and lactoperoxidase. Then, lactoferrin was eluted with 1. 0 mol/L NaCl aqueous buffer. Lactoferrin fraction is shown as a single band in SDS-PAGE with molecular weight of 80400 Da. The isoelectric point of lactoferrin is 8. 65 determined by isoelectric focusing. The purity of refined LF on pilot production is 94. 20% with a yield of 75. 45%. Reference: Retrieve from: http://124. 205. 222. 100/Jwk_spkx/EN/abstract/abstract14803. shtml