Abstract This paper examines a character in "ER" known as Kerry Weaver, a physician at the hospital, and the difficulties she faces as part of a same-sex partnership and as a non-traditional parent from the perspective of two sociological traditions. The first part of the paper uses the structural-functionalist approach, emphasizing the writings of sociologist Emile Durkheim. This part argues that Weaver's actions as both a lesbian life partner and a lesbian single parent are both dysfunctions that have a destabilizing effect on society. The next part then criticizes this position by using the conflict approach, applying Karl Marx's writings regarding the ideas and values of the ruling class to the case of gay and lesbian people.
From the Paper "The television show ER is one of the most popular and longest-running programs still on television. The episode aired April 8, 2004 focused on the personal life of attending physician Kerry Weaver, portrayed by actor Laura Innes. In this episode, Weaver's lesbian life partner Sandy Lopez partner dies in a fire. Lopez's family then takes the opportunity to file for custody of their infant son, who is Lopez's natural child. Weaver tries in vain to retain custody of her son. In the end, however, her efforts are fruitless. Since the law does not recognize same-sex partnerships, Weaver did not have any legal standing as a parent or spouse, she eventually lost custody of her son to Lopez's vindictive relatives."
Abstract This paper looks, first, at how an understanding of political socialization is an inherently important aspect of comprehending political life and then attempts to illustrate how a deeper understanding of political socialization can enhance our understanding of the role of socialization in political change, as opposed to political stability. The paper then uses the example of Egypt before the revolution of 1952, and then following it, to demonstrate how this process works.
Introduction
The Process and Theory of Political Socialization
Preparation for the Revolution: Socialization Towards System
Destabilization
From the Paper "Socialization is a complex phenomena, analyzing and theoritizing about the ways and means by which children become social beings and acquire the tools that help them function in society, on cultural, economic and political levels. As the term itself, "socialization" implies, this phenomena is really a cultural one but, nonetheless, has very important political implications. As a matter of fact, socialization impacts many aspects of human development and, as such, constitutes an important area of study within the humanities and social sciences. The study of this phenomenon may be defined as an attempt to dissect the core of socialization and explain how the process unfolds, the manner in which it differs from one culture to another or from one age to another, and identify its determining factors. To date and in spite of a great deal of research conducted into this area and numerous attempts to attain comprehensive understanding of socialization, Stanley Allen Renshon, a Political Sociology professor and scholar, argues that socialization and, more specifically, political socialization, demands further research. This research is important if political scientist, not to mention sociologists and psychologists, are ever going to understand "the process by which the child develops into the citizen." Even though the basic process of political socialization, or socialization, as such is understood as the teaching of behaviour and the acquisition of behaviour there are many questions regarding the extent to which these learned behaviours influence politics and political systems. Jack Dennis, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin and, author of Socialization to Politics: A Reader, emphasizes the importance of this set of question. He argues that they are important as a means of framing an understanding of "the system relevance of political socialization." In this regard, Dennis writes that answering the "question about what effects political socialization has upon political life," is crucial for understanding politics. In other words, once the elements of political socialization and the process by which it occurs, in addition to the identification of the factors which influence it, are fully understood, political life will become all that more clearer to read. Besides the necessity of understanding political socialization as inherently important to comprehension of political life, deeper understanding of political socialization will settle a major debate concerning the role of socialization in political change, as opposed to political stability. Dennis states that the exact role of political socialization in the stabilization, or destabilization of a political system is a topic of debate: "The assumption that every system engages in some program of political socialization needs to be tested; and it needs examination within the context of alternative means for building - or perhaps undermining - the support of the system's membership." The above does not simply communicate the existence of a debate regarding the role of political socialization in political systems but, expands our understanding of political socialization in a very important way. In the first place, it communicates that different systems have their unique political socialization goals and processes, directed towards the teaching of specific political beliefs and behaviors. In the second place, it informs readers that while political socialization usually functions towards the stabilization of the present political system, if new elements, communicating contrary messages enter into the process, political socialization may act towards the destabilization of a system and the creation of an alternative one. This is an interesting hypothesis which requires testing. As a way of testing that hypothesis, this research will argue that while political socialization does communicate established and accepted political behaviours and beliefs, from one generation to the next, certain economic, social and political conditions might lead to the rise of alternate beliefs and behaviours, determining political socialization towards revolutionary goals which, once successful and expressed in the collapse of a system and its replacement with another, will, once more, function towards stabilization of the system through the communication of the newly defined political behaviors and attitudes. In other words, political socialization is a cycle, beginning with stabilization, leading to destabilization, and ending with stabilization once again. By focusing on the political socialization processes operating in Egypt before the revolution of 1952, just prior to the revolution and then following it, the manner in which political socialization communicates behaviour intended to stabilize, destabilize then re-stabilize the political system shall be explained."
Abstract This paper explains that, currently, the most pressing threat to international security lies not in the Middle-East but in the Korean Peninsula because, in April 2003, North Korea withdraw from the 32-year-old nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty thus beginning a nuclear stand-off. The author points out that, although some analysts believe that North Korea's is pursuing nuclear weapons to reunify the Korean peninsula or to save the threatened regime of Kim Jong-Il, North Korea claims to be acquiring nuclear weapons for one reason: Without nuclear weapons, it would feel vulnerable to a U.S. attack meant to overthrow its current government. The paper states that a nuclear North Korea would further destabilize the Northeast Asian region, would threaten U.S. security interests and would encourage neighboring nations such as Japan and South Korea to obtain nuclear weapons of their own, prompting a Northeast Asian nuclear arms race. Illustration.
Table of Contents
Introduction
History of the Korean Peninsula
North Korea under Kim Il-sung
North Korea under Kim Yong-Il
Timeline North Korean Nuclear Crisis
North Korean Threat and its Implications
Positions of the Powerful and Involved Nations
South Korea
China
Russia
Japan
U.S.
Conclusion
From the Paper "North Korea is a country that is engulfed in secrecy. Its history is extensive and encompasses many centuries. Who are the Koreans and where did they come from? In his essay "The Origin of the Korean People: Who are the Koreans?", Lee Wha Rang states that no one knows exactly where the Koreans came from and who they are. He states that "DNA tests show that Koreans are about 15% of South Pacific origin (the Jomon people) and the rest attributes of the Mongolian stock from the Baikal region." It is believed that the Jomon people left Africa 35,000 - 89.000 years ago, in two general directions, south and north, respectively, and they merged again in Korea, Japan and China some 10,000 years ago. The first Korean nation was established in 7,197 BC and lasted for 3,301 years. It was known as the Han-gook."
This paper discusses the reign of Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge terror, from 1975 to 1979, in Cambodia, which resulted in one of the saddest effects of the Vietnam War, the Cambodian holocaust.
Abstract This paper explains that Pol Pot's campaign against his own people resulted in the deaths of between 700,000 and 1 million people, either as a result of execution or illness, from hunger and overwork. The author points out four main reasons why Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came into power: (1) As a response to French colonialism at the end of World War II, (2) rivalry between Vietnamese and Chinese Communists within the party, (3) Prince Norodom Sihanouk's brutal repression and (4) U.S. economic and military destabilization of Cambodia. The paper stresses the U.S. involvement in each of these reasons.
From the Paper "As the bombings only increased after the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, over 150,000 Cambodian civilians perished. Ultimately, the Cambodian civilians feared U.S. air attacks more than they feared Pol Pot and his severe tactics. Not surprisingly then, Pol Pot came into power. By April 1975, the CPK had taken over the two largest cities in Cambodia, Phnom Penh and Battambang, and defeated Lon Nol. The terror Cambodians received from the U.S. was now over, but they were entering into the holocaust that Pol Pot would bring about."
Abstract The paper discusses how the decline of the Ottoman and Qing Empires destabilized international order in the West and East respectively. The paper continues by explaining the lack of equilibrium and the political and military vacuums caused by the breakups.
From the Paper "This research paper analyzes and compares the extent to which the international order in the West was destabilized by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and in the East by that of the Qing Dynasty. The slow decay and fitful decline of the Ottoman Empire culminating in its destruction at the end of World War I certainly influenced the balance of power in Eastern and Central Europe."
Abstract This paper examines President Ronald Reagan's foreign policy and how he began a program of destabilization in Nicaragua, serving the 'Contra' guerrilla forces in Honduras and Costa Rica and mounting an economic boycott. The history of Nicaragua is presented and how this ongoing foreign policy of destabilization is taking its toll on the country economically, socially and politically.
From the Paper "From the 16th century, Nicaragua was ruled by Spain. On 15 September 1821, the country became independent from Spain. US troops were call into the country in 1912, but remove in 1933, following a six-year guerrilla struggle to evict them, led by Augusto C"sar Sandino. The role of the US forces was taken up by the National Guard, led by General Anastasio Somoza Garcia, who detained power in 1935 and whose family ruled Nicaragua in an increasingly brutal, despotic and corrupt manner until 1979. After a 17-year guerrilla war, the last Somoza was defeat by the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci"n Nacional (FSLN). The 'Sandinistas' established a Junta of National Reconstruction, and began a program of agrarian reform, nationalization of industry, and massive health and literacy schemes."
Abstract In looking at the risks of a U.S. war with Iraq, this paper discusses the increase in the threat to national security, the destabilizatiuon of world peace and the violation of democratic principles. The author draws the conclusion that America would be violating each and every principle that it claims to uphold if it chooses to go to war with Iraq.
Outline
1. An increase in the threat to national security.
a. Mercenary and fundamentalist factions in Afghanistan that once followed U.S. wishes turned against the U.S. post the Gulf War against Iraq, ultimately leading to September 11, 2001.
b. Rise in anti-American sentiment
i. Questions over U.S. rhetoric and double standards such as categorizing Iraq and Iran as belonging to the ?axis of evil,? but continuing to turn a blind eye to terrorist activity in Pakistan within its own borders and in Kashmir.
2. Destabilization of world peace
a. U.S. action against Iraq could lead to further destabilization of the entire Middle East region, as opined by many leading experts.
b. Breakdown of international arms non-proliferation and disarmament efforts since U.S. preemptive action will lend further justification to countries of different ideological leanings to arm themselves in the interests of national self-defense.
3. Violation of democratic principles
a. The right of the people of each country to choose their preferred course of action and if so desired overthrow their own government, which has been exercised time and again in world history
i. Our own struggle to break away from British Imperialism
ii. India's freedom of struggle against the British using non-violent principles and forms of rebellion.
iii. The increasing fall in U.S. public opinion
b. A war against an already deprived and suffering nation raises questions about humanitarian principles.
4. In conclusion, we will be violating each and every principle that we claim to uphold if we choose to go to war with Iraq.
From the Paper "I don?t think anyone in the free world doubts that Saddam Hussein is a "threat" to international peace. However, any military action is likely to be risky and self-defeating at this point in time. To start with, any U.S. action against Iraq and that too, without support from the UN and the international community is likely to endanger and not protect national security. For after all, let's not forget and let's face upto the fact that Osama was, in many ways, a creation of the U.S., who brought together a combination of communal factions and mercenaries in Afghanistan during the years of the Cold War, on the platform of anti-communism and ?jehad.? Post the end of the Cold War, however, various interested factions in the Islamic world continued to use Afghanistan and the very same U.S. creations of jehadis to spread Islamic fundamentalism."
This paper analyzes the concept of "change", theories behind it, why it is necessary and how organizations need to cope with change in order to survive.
1,750 words (approx. 7 pages), 13 sources, 2001, $ 56.95
Abstract This paper analyses the concept of "change", theories behind it, why it is necessary and how organizations need to cope with change in order to survive.
From the paper:
"Change requires change. Organizations today are making abundant changes internally to cope with a highly turbulent external environment. With frequent reorganizing, downsizing, rightsizing, delayering, flattening the pyramid, teaming and outsourcing taking place, careers and career opportunities are in pandemonium resulting from the progressive destabilization of relationships between people and organizations."
Abstract This paper looks at the style of writing and the tale of infanticide in this work of Boyle's. The paper discusses the innocuous sounding title followed by an extremely gruesome tale regaled in the first person. It analyzes the boy's actions and his self-belief that he is committing this act out of love rather than fear or resentment.
From the paper:
"The story of "The Love of My Life" by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author sets up a series of expectations by the reader that he subsequently and systematically subverts over the course of the narrative. Both the subject and plot of what transpires in flashback and the piecemeal, postmodern first-person narrative style enable the author to achieve this desired effect. This effect is also achieved as well by the grotesque and destabilizing language unconsciously used by the narrative 'I.' (117-133)
"When a reader learns that the title of a short story is ?The Love of My Life,? certain associations are immediately created in his or her mind. Such a title is not ambiguous, like a story with a one-word name."
Abstract The author uses Holocaust survivor, Primo Levi's autobiography about his experiences in Auschwitz to debate the issue of "what is normal?" when discussing the Holocaust. The author gives a brief overview of the Holocaust, Auschwitz and some of the terminology used when referring to this death camp. Then, using Levi's experiences, as an Italian Jew, the author begins to examine what normal behavior is when confronted with the conditions that the survivors faced in Auschwitz.
From the Paper "From the beginning, Primo Levi was faced with a situation in which he had to transgress morality in order to live. He experienced Auschwitz as another planet, from the perspective of a prisoner. The rules of his previous existence were both turned up side down or erased. He was forced steal in order to eat. He stole to obtain more soup or the rare, coveted carbohydrate in the form of a half a loaf of bread. The notion of stealing for survival became so ingrained in him that his first thoughts when he entered the camp's infirmary was what wonderful thing could he steal from the premises. He immediately considered creating a secret pocket inside his coat just for the purpose of stealing. (140)"
Abstract This paper studies the concept of suturing which is defined in many different ways such as sewing something back together, gesture or pseudo-identification, the individual watching a film as a stand-in for the camera and more. It looks at the filmmaker Ranier Werner Fassbinder's work 'Despair' as an example of a film that attempts to undercut notions of the gazer of the film becoming sutured into the web of the film and of becoming socially subjected to the predetermined constructions of reality within the film's text. Finally, it concludes that the destabilizing of a master narrative with the particularity of autobiography is better than the complicated suturing.
From the Paper "On a very literal level, to suture something is to sew something back together, usually imperfectly, usually with a substance that is alien to the body that is being altered?such as the doctor's suturing thread that stitches together an open wound. On a semiotic level, according to Jacques-Alain Miller, Miller's definition of suture (in a nutshell) is that the suturing process in culture is the process through which a subject is joined into the signifying chain of culture, allowing a signifier to stand-in for the subject's absence in discourse. (Suture as a Laconian Concept) "
Examines its historical, cultural and political origins, potential for Balkan destabilization and a wider war, the parties involved, nationalism, leaders, issues, the break-up of Yugoslavia and settlement.
8,550 words (approx. 34.2 pages), 34 sources, 1999, $ 135.95
From the Paper "KOSOVO CRISIS OF 1998-1999 AND ITS RAMIFICATIONS
This research paper traces the origins and course of the current dispute in Kosovo and discusses its potential for destabilizing further the Balkans, including the possibility of a wider war in the region, and ways in which tensions there might be heightened or reduced.
The roots of the conflict in Kosovo lie deeply embedded in the histories of the Albanian and Serbian peoples, especially during the occupation of the region by the Ottoman Empire, and tensions and conflicts between them, primarily of an ethno-religious nature, which intensified at periodic intervals during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Those tensions and conflicts have been greatly accentuated by the rise of Serbian ultranationalism after the collapse of communist Yugoslavia and ..."
Abstract The death and violent overthrow of Chilean President Dr. Salvador Allende, on September 11, 1973, represents the result of a three-year long testing whether political institutions can survive sharp transformation in their policies. The capitalist class, with help from exterior powers, replaced Allende's democratically elected government with a military regime that ruled for 17 years. The crucial figure in this military coup was Allende's successor Augusto Pinochet. This paper examines the events that led to the overthrow of Dr. Allende's government, as well as the significance of the overthrow. The opinions from scholars Peter A. Goldberg, author of the journal "The Politics of the Allende Overthrow in Chile" as well as Gil Merom, author of the journal "Democracy, Dependency, and Destabilization: The Shaking of Allende's Regime" are used as reference.
From the Paper "Forty years prior to Allende's rise to power, the Chilean political elite was dependent on bargaining and compromises between government and opposition parties. However, during his regime, Allende made an agreement between his Unidad Popular (UP) the coalition of parties of the left, and Christian Democratic Party (PDC). The agreement provided new constitutional backing for the pluralism of Chile's institutional system, in return for which the PDC agreed to vote for Allende. The agreement guaranteed the existence of the opposition political parties, while the President is in control of armed forces. Social groups like labor unions and institutions like the universities, the private schools and the communication media were guaranteed their autonomy and multiparty character. This marriage between UP and PDC worked almost perfectly during the first year of Allende's regime."
Abstract This paper discusses how in the book "The Specter of Communism", Melvyn P. Leffler's core focal point lies on the U.S.'s reply to the increase and spread of communism inside the Soviet Union, as well as its succeeding efforts to broaden the structure globally. It analyzes how Leffler's approach into U.S. efforts to separate and destabilize the communist gathering all through the 1920s and 30s, along with his examination of the point of potency as of which the U.S. was capable to carry out foreign relations in the late 1940s, go further than that of the characteristic cold war period efforts.
From the Paper "Last but not least, Leffler points out that economic trouble in the world assisted identifying the design that the communist phantom had descended over the entire world. "If political developments were not worrisome enough, the economic situation in Western Europe made tensions worse"Western European governments struggled to save their precious dollars, entered into barter agreements with one another, and tried desperately to sustain their recovery. But they implored the United States for more food, coal, and dollars. Unless help was received, middle-of-the-road politicians in France and Italy warned, the local communists, partners in the existing coalition governments, would exploit the situation, gain votes, and take power.? "
Abstract This paper will examine the process of globalization and the effect that it has had on the concept of Canadian nationalism and sovereignty. Efforts will be made to look at how this process has actually destabilized the nation state and led to a fragmentation of the Canadian national identity. The paper will also include a discussion of Canadian nationalism vis-a-vis American patriotism.
