Wednesday, December 18, 2019

The Balance Of Power And The Cold War - 1619 Words

Critically analyse the balance of power with two examples. The Balance of Power is a fiercely debated topic within the realm of international relations. Its true definition has been impossible to pin down and how it manifests itself has been argued over by many academics, in addition to this the idea is divided between the schools of thought that it is a force for preserving peace or a force for tension and war. This essay will look to examine the balance of power using retrospective analysis of historical events, focusing on the lead up to and the outbreak of WWI and its conclusion and the Cold war. Through this it can be hoped to find a clearer definition of the balance of power, whether it is really a balance analogous to a set of scales and whether the balance of power is a way of preserving peace and stability or whether it is on the whole, better termed as the balance of war, creating only tension and instability. Morganthau (Cited in Haas,1953, pp.445) argues that the Balance of power can be viewed as either a description of any state of international politics in relation to power distribution or a policy or action intending to distribute power. From this framework we can use the balance of power to both understand static moments in history to observe where power lies at that moment in time and to look at how states themselves actively implement foreign policy for their own power related interests whether that be looking to balance the set of scales or to tip themShow MoreRelatedThe Cold War System Theory: Demise of the USSR and Changes in the Balance of Power2098 Words   |  8 Pagesinteresting and at the same time controversial areas of study since the Cold War. The world silent conflagration determined a reconsideration of the way in which politics was conducted and the relations between states at the level of the balance of power and the importance of international actors. One of the most important aspects defined by the theory of international relations takes into account the fact that the balance of power represents a volatile reality that is always determined by the externalRead MoreWorld Wars and The Cold War Essay examples1312 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction The twentieth century saw two lengthy and costly wars, which were then followed by a Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. World War I was deemed the â€Å"Great War† but many did not anticipate another war after it just a mere twenty years later†¦a war that was even more intense than the previous one. The Cold War that began in 1947 and lasted until 1991 but had the term â€Å"zero-sum game† tethered to it. Two differing political systems, communist and capitalist, were atRead MoreThe Cold War And A Bipolar System1601 Words   |  7 Pagesbelieves that the rise of new nuclear powers is not a matter to be regretted. In Waltz s view, a major war would be essentially inconceivable. Thus, he thinks that more may be better, that what has come to be called nuclear proliferation may really be something to be thankful for (Waltz, 1981, p. 30). However, is that fundamental claim actually valid? Would it be as stable as Waltz suggests? Considering Waltz s analysis and the case study of the Cold War, can nuclear proliferation lead to aRead MoreStructural Realism After The Cold War853 Words   |  4 PagesIn examining Kenneth Waltz s â€Å"Structural Realism after the Cold War,†1 and Andrew Moravcsik s â€Å"Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics,†2 it is clear that theories presented in each (Realism and Liberalism) are at odds with one another in many ways. But why did the authors reach the conclusions they did about the way that states behave in the international system? This paper seeks to answer that question. In â€Å"Structural Realism...† Waltz defends his theory of StructuralRead MoreThe Cold War And The Pre Wwi Conditions1591 Words   |  7 PagesTo comprehend the significance of Balance of Power, we ought to make the inquiry of what we see by `power’. Although it’s hard to characterize or quota it, power is the capacity to â€Å"do something or act in a particular way† or even Nye (2009:65) contends â€Å"the ability to achieve one’s purposes or goals.† At the end of the day, the possibility to impact other individuals to do what you need them to do. As several academics would approve that balance of power can scarcely have an accurate meaning. InRead MoreWar Is An Inevitable Feature Of International Politics1560 Words   |  7 PagesWar is an inevitable feature of international politics. Assess with reference to liberalism or realism The approximate number of war casualties in the past 100 years is estimated to be 180 million. The Second World War (1939-1945) alone accounts for 60 million fatalities, which commenced with a fascist aggression to the European peace. War has been inevitable over centuries, which has been fought for several reasons; competing ideologies, wealth, religious reasons, chase for power through its militaryRead MoreSoviet Expansion Into Eastern Europe1280 Words   |  6 Pages Security has been disputed to be another driving factor, and possibly the main factor to the cause of the cold war as it is interlinked both with ideology and the nuclear race. For instance, ideology and security both influenced the same event, which in this case was the creation of the Eastern bloc. (Heywood, 2014) stated that Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe was seen as â€Å"defensive rather than aggressive†, motivated essentially by a buffer zone desire. Security was an important factor becauseRead MoreOrigins of the Cold War Essay1295 Words   |  6 PagesOrigins of the Cold War The purpose of this paper is to explore the origins of the Cold War. To accomplish this exploration, the works of W.A. Williams, Robert Jervis, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. serves as the foundation. Before a closer examination of these works, a short explanation of the three common viewpoints regarding the study of the Cold War is warranted. These viewpoints are Attribution, Structural, and Misperception. With these viewpoints to guide the way, the above authorsRead MoreThe Cold War as the Result of Fear of Soviet Expansion Essay example1472 Words   |  6 PagesThe Cold War as the Result of Fear of Soviet Expansion At the end of the Second World War only two out of the all the great powers were left standing. Germany and Japan had been crushed in the war and Britain and France were weakened economically and politically. The United States, who had not seen much fighting on her shores, emerged from the war economically and politically intact as a great nuclear power and Russia, although weakened economically, had the largestRead MoreU.s. Foreign Policy Approaches1424 Words   |  6 PagesStates will try to establish a balance of power that restrains aggressive states from dominating weaker ones. The second approach is idealism. This view stresses that states should transform the system into a new international order where peace can prevail. This approach emphases the spread of democracy across the world and the creation of international institutions. Realism and idealism provides an explanation to how U.S. foreign policy has developed since World War Two (WWII), identifies which influential

Monday, December 9, 2019

Case Study Leadership free essay sample

Its general format is made up of six major components. These include customer requirements, technical requirements, a planning matrix, an interrelationship matrix, a technical correlation matrix, and a technical priorities/ benchmarks and targets section. The Voice of the Customers The initial steps In forming the House of Quality include determining, clarifying, and specifying the customers needs. These steps lay the foundation for a clearly defined venture and will ensure a project or process Is well thought out prior to any further placement.Clarifying Customer Needs Customers buy benefits and producers offer features. This seems like a relatively simple notion, however, unless customers and producers are perfectly in tune with one another, it may be very difficult to anticipate these features, or each underlying benefit from each producer. It is of utter importance to translate the wishes of each and every customer into some tangible values that can be turned into engineering specifications. We will write a custom essay sample on Case Study Leadership or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Some of these features include but are not limited to: ; Parts ; Costs ;Functions ; Quality Character; Reliability ; Processes ; Tasks Specifying the Customer Needs After determining what Items are most Important to the customer, organizations must translate them Into particulate specifications. Nothing can be produced, serviced or maintained without detailed specifications or some set of given standards. Each aspect of the desired item must be clearly defined: Measurements must be defined, heights specified, torques stated, and weights targeted.These aloes can be derived from several locations. Organizations can use known data from market research, or conduct new studies to gather necessary information. In any event, the needs, which were clarified and then explicitly stated, should be satisfied to the best of that organizations ability. Examples: Quality Function Deployment (SF) Definition: Quality Function Deployment (SF) Is a structured approach to defining customer needs or requirements and translating them Into specific plans to produce products to meet those needs.The voice of the customer Is the term to describe these stated and unstated customer needs or requirements. The voice of the customer is captured in a variety of ways: direct discussion or interviews, surveys, This understanding of the customer needs is then summarized in a product planning matrix or house of quality. These matrices are used to translate higher level whats or needs into lower level hows product requirements or technical characteristics to satisfy these needs. Purposes.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Short Story and Dance Pianist Essay Example

Short Story and Dance Pianist Paper Status in Two Chekhov Stories In the introduction to our edition of Chekhovs short stories, by George Pahomov, it is stated that Chekhovs fiction â€Å"captured the burgeoning Russian democracy† and that â€Å"in Chekhovs democratic world view, no one was excluded† (vii-viii). We see these ideals being put forward in the two stories by Chekhov that we will discuss in this paper. In these two stories, â€Å"The Resurrection† and â€Å"The Dance Pianist,† we can see how Chekhov depicts a world where the authors own democratic ideals may be in mind, but which is in reality still very much based on the old-fashioned concepts of status and rank. We will see that both of these stories center around the concept of social status, especially in the way that different types of people react to a sudden change in the social status of one particular character in each story. What these two stories have in common is that in both cases, the central character is the one suffering the sudden change in status, and having to tell the reader about it afterward. â€Å"The Confession† is an early story of Chekhovs which deals with an unnamed, first-person narrator who tells the reader the story of how, one day, he received a small promotion at his work along with a small raise. We will write a custom essay sample on Short Story and Dance Pianist specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Short Story and Dance Pianist specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Short Story and Dance Pianist specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer He goes on to describe how this seemingly minor change in his life caused him to experience a sudden and unexpectedly intense shift in the way he was treated by people around him, who already had known him for almost his whole life. Not only does this sudden promotion change the way others treat him, it also shifts the way he perceives himself, leading him to take dangerous risks that will result in a disaster for himself. At the beginning of â€Å"The Confession,† the narrator explains that â€Å"I was rejoicing over the promotion and the slight increase in salary, nothing more† (Chekhov 1). And yet, he also realizes immediately that â€Å"all at once people appeared to have changed† in his mind. Even one of his superiors, Kazusov, who he used to consider an arrogant ogre, starts acting friendly to him and invites him to his house (pp. 1-2). The narrators mother and father start spending extravagantly, buying better food and clothes even though he warns them that he is really not making much more money: â€Å"you know, my salary wasn’t doubled. The increase was trifling,† he tells them (p. 2). These early events give us the hint that others may be exploiting the man for their own ends, and this point will be important at the end. A hint of trouble comes fairly quickly in this very short story. Here, the narrator explains that the demands on him for money from his friends and family, and for his sudden wedding, have led him to take money from his workplace, even though he attempts to justify it in his mind: â€Å"Why not take it, when you know you are going to put it back as soon as you receive your salary? (Chekhov 3). Unfortunately, he never actually does return the money and is caught almost immediately, bringing disaster upon himself. Suddenly, no one wants anything to do with him anymore, and even his newfound friends abandon him: â€Å"Yesterday I was respected and honored on all sides; today I am a scoundrel and a thief† (p. 4). The point of this story is to realize that it is not about the making of a thief, or how a man turns dishonest due to outward demand s on him. Rather, the point is clearly about how others perceive ones sudden change of status almost immediately, and will try to use it for their own benefit. The mans friends and family have not turned away from him because they are so honest themselves, since they benefited from his generosity and even encouraged him to spend beyond his means. It is simply his sudden downturn in social status, the opposite of his sudden rise in status at the beginning of the story. The second story also deals directly with a sudden shift in a characters status is â€Å"The Dance Pianist. † Like to â€Å"The Confession,† this story also centers around a single character, who tells the story of an event that has just taken place in his life. Unlike the first story, however, the character in this story has a name, Pyotr Rublyov. Also in contrast to the first story, he is telling the story not to the readers directly, but to another character, his roommate who is the first person narrator of the story. A third contrast between â€Å"The Dance Pianist† and â€Å"The Confession† is that in the present story the status change is really a change in other characters perception of the main characters status, rather than an actual shift in his status. In â€Å"The Dance Pianist,† the point is centered on a man who is mistaken for someone of more importance than he really is, and how society tends to treat people very differently based on perception of status. At the beginning of â€Å"The Dance Pianist,† our main character, Pyotr, a â€Å"former student,† comes bursting into his room late one night and after some prodding by his roommate tells his story of that evening. He had been working as a paid pianist for society people at an aristocratic party, and says that he was kicked out for something that he will soon describe in detail (Chekhov 47). He complains about the poor way that he is treated by society people, which lays out the foundation for what is to follow: â€Å"And what am I, after all? A piano player, a domestic, a waiter that knows how to play the piano. In the homes of merchants I’m addressed as an inferior, given a tip, and – no offense intended† (p. 48). He explains that a young woman at the party began speaking to him casually, and he soon realizes (due to an overheard conversation) that she has mistaken him for an invited guest of the party, not just a hired piano player. Pyotr goes on playing the piano, trying to forget the incident, but it keeps bugging him throughout the night: â€Å"I commenced thinking what rubbish I had turned out to be; that after traveling two thousand versts to reach Moscow, in the hope of becoming a concert pianist or a composer, I now find myself a dance pianist† (Chekhov 50). Pyotr seems to feel bad for his roommate, a struggling writer, as well. Finally the point of the story occurs to him, and he explains it to his roommate, neatly summing up the lesson to be learned: What is it in the Russian character, I wondered, that makes it possible, as long as you are free, a student, or loafing around without a job, to drink with a man, slap him on the belly, flirt with his daughter; but as soon as you are in even a slightly subordinate relation to him, the shoemaker must stick to this last! Chekhov 51) As a result of this sudden realization, he finds that he cant hold his embarrassment and shame inside any more, and gets thrown out of the party for losing his composure. The clear message we can obtain from this long anecdote is that something as simple as a change in other peoples perception of ones status is enough to greatly influence the type of relationships that are possible or permissible for one. As we can again read from the introduction, we find an example of the sort of situation where â€Å"human relationships then become vertical, subject to object† (xi-xii). In both of these Chekhov stories, the author has clearly set forward the reality of social status in the Russia of his own time, but he has also stated something universal about human relationships. We can see in both stories the sometimes disastrous effects that can result from either a real change in social status (as in â€Å"The Confession†) or even a perceived or mistaken one (as in â€Å"The Dance Pianist†). Although Chekhov himself may have held democratic ideals (as mentioned at the beginning of this paper), in these stories he is able to describe the reality of a society in which status roles and social position are of high importance, and which imposes serious consequences for violations. Works Cited Chekhov, Anton. â€Å"The Confession. † In Anton Chekhov: Selected Stories, pp. 1-4. New York: Signet Classics 1960. . â€Å"The Dance Pianist. † In Anton Chekhov: Selected Stories, pp. 46-52. New York: Signet Classics 1960.