Breast Cancer Essay -- Health Breast Cancer Tumor Essays Papers

Breast genus CancerThere is a large amount of women who argon diagnosed with knocker cancer e very day but they usu in ally do non know a lot about it in terms of how it forms and the many ways it can be treated. Breast cancer is a very serious disease that shouldnt be taken lightly if it is left untreated it can spread to otherwise organs and eventually killing you. redden if you do not shed meet cancer, chances are that you know or will know some genius who will get it, so it is self-assertive that slew understand how rapper cancer forms, know the stages of breast cancer, be familiar with who gets breast cancer and how you can possibly avert it, and understand all of the antithetical ways to treat the cancer and prevent it from coming back.Breast cancer always begins with a tumour much like most other forms of cancer. As normal body cells, or DNA, grow and single out, abnormalities occur sometimes but in normal incidences those cells are spy by the body or ribosom e so the cell then repairs itself or it will disable the DNA and die. Body cells develop and divide often during the early stages of life, after that cells only divide when on that point are cells to replace from dying or worn out cells from injuries or viruses. Cancer cells develop from damage in DNA. Cancer cells are not detected as abnormal, therefore, they continue to grow and divide without being destroyed by the body. Cancer cells have a damaged ability to bond to one other which means that the cells cant tell each other to stop dividing when there are too many of them they just keep assay to pack the space which results in a mass of cells forming a tumor. A tumor can either be cancerous or benign. A malignant tumor continues to grow and divide rapidly and it may become life... ...the lymph nodes under the armpit and into the breast to determine if the cancer has metastasized. Many things can contribute to the administration of breast cancer, but the actual cause is sti ll unknown although we have plunge out some things that can possibly reduce the risk of acquiring breast cancer such as living a healthy life, exercise, and staying away from carcinogens. Doctors have now figured out what cancer does to the body and they have found may treatments that can cure the cancer, if not at least slow it down. It is very important that people are informed on what the variant treatments are so that if you or someone close to you gets cancer, you have a general idea of what treatments are available. More and more people are diagnosed with breast cancer every day, but the good news is that the death rate has decreased due to advancements in technology. Breast Cancer Essay -- Health Breast Cancer Tumor Essays PapersBreast CancerThere is a large amount of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer every day but they usually do not know a lot about it in terms of how it forms and the many ways it can be treated. Breast cancer is a very seri ous disease that shouldnt be taken lightly if it is left untreated it can spread to other organs and eventually kill you. Even if you do not have breast cancer, chances are that you know or will know someone who will get it, so it is imperative that people understand how breast cancer forms, know the stages of breast cancer, be familiar with who gets breast cancer and how you can possibly avert it, and understand all of the different ways to treat the cancer and prevent it from coming back.Breast cancer always begins with a tumor much like most other forms of cancer. As normal body cells, or DNA, grow and divide, abnormalities occur sometimes but in normal incidences those cells are detected by the body or ribosome so the cell then repairs itself or it will disable the DNA and die. Body cells develop and divide often during the early stages of life, after that cells only divide when there are cells to replace from dying or worn out cells from injuries or viruses. Cancer cells develo p from damage in DNA. Cancer cells are not detected as abnormal, therefore, they continue to grow and divide without being destroyed by the body. Cancer cells have a damaged ability to bond to one another which means that the cells cant tell each other to stop dividing when there are too many of them they just keep trying to fill the space which results in a mass of cells forming a tumor. A tumor can either be malignant or benign. A malignant tumor continues to grow and divide rapidly and it may become life... ...the lymph nodes under the armpit and into the breast to determine if the cancer has metastasized. Many things can contribute to the formation of breast cancer, but the actual cause is still unknown although we have found out some things that can possibly reduce the risk of getting breast cancer such as living a healthy life, exercise, and staying away from carcinogens. Doctors have now figured out what cancer does to the body and they have found may treatments that can cu re the cancer, if not at least slow it down. It is very important that people are informed on what the different treatments are so that if you or someone close to you gets cancer, you have a general idea of what treatments are available. More and more people are diagnosed with breast cancer every day, but the good news is that the death rate has decreased due to advancements in technology.

Rayona’s Growth in A Yellow Raft In Blue Water Essay -- Yellow Raft Bl

Rayonas Growth in A Yellow Raft In Blue Water As the subject of the beginning(a) sectionalisation of Doris novel, A Yellow Raft In Blue Water, Rayona faces many problems that are unique to someone her age. Rays mixed race heritage makes her a target of variation on the reservation. Problems in her family life (or lack thereof), give Rayona a reversed role in which she is the arrest taking care of Christine. In dealing with these issues, Rayona learns a lot about herself and others. Because of the life that Christine leads, the role of mother and daughter are switched and Rayona often finds herself watching out for her mom. When Ray comes home from school, she would often learn that her mother had gone out to party. Times like this meant that Rayona had to care for herself. It is not uncommon for one to stay out late but when it is the parent who is doing so, one mustiness question the responsibility of the person. When Christine leaves the hospital, Rayona shows up and helps prevent a potential disaster. She realizes what her mother plans to do, and that her mom will not crash the car with her on board. While Christine is not very reliable, she has no wish to hurt Rayona either Rays prediction was correct. As a child, Rayona must fulfill more obligations than a normal teen. Over the period that leads to her abandonment, Rayona begins to feel displaced from her mother. Christines increasing self concern causes Rayona to feel her mom is ignoring her, when that is not true at all. In any given culture, people are idealistic of their heritage. However, when an individual of one group meets with people of another, and the element of ignorance is added, the individual will be socially ostracized. Of mixed descent, Rayon... ...lways easy to accomplish. After getting bucked off for the first time then the second, Ray feels that she has a connection to a power that she never knew existed (120). This event enormously boosts Rayonas self-perception and leads her forward in life. As a teen, Rayona is in a confusing period of life. The gradual breakdown of her family life places an addition burden on her conscience. Without others for support, Rayona must find a way to handle her hardships. At first, she attempts to avoid these obstacles in her life, by lying, and by not voicing her opinions. Though when confronting them, she learns to feel better about herself and to understand others. Works Cited Gleick, Elizabeth. An Imperfect Union. Newsweek. 28 April 1997 68-69. Covert, Collin. The suffer Life of Michael Dorris. Star Tribune. 3 Aug. 1997 A1, A10-A13.

Inflammation :: science

excitementInflammation is the bodies normal response to injured winds, although it can sometimes lead to further tissue defame. It was first described well-nigh 30 BC by Celsius, as tumour (swelling), rubor (redness), calor (heat) and dolour (pain) although excess secretion and loss of function are now commonly added. Inflammation is a response which has evolved to try and put things right in a modify tissue, for example the pain and loss of function allow the tissue to ameliorate easier whilst the heat and redness are caused by an change magnitude transmission line flow to the tissue. (1) Inflammation occurs to control infection or injury, to eliminate pathogens, and to initiate healing and tissue repair. (2) An inflammatory pathology is usually indicated by the suffix -itis, such as in bronchitis, dermatitis, orchitis and enteritis, and can be either acute or chronic. (1) It is a non-specific defence and so the response of the body to a cut, burn, radiation, bacteria or viru s are all very similar. There are three basic stages to inflammation 1) Vasodilation and increased permeability of blood vessels, 2) Phagocyte emigration, and 3) Tissue repair (3) Unfortunately, sometimes inflammation can be the cause of, or increase the symptom severity of a disease, such as in Tuberculosis, leprosy and syphilis, which are persistent infections with low virulence micro-organisms Silicosis, atherosclerosis and radiation, prolonged exposure to potentially toxic agents. Rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimotos thyroiditis, autoimmune diseases (4) dust Acute inflammation occurs rapidly, within a few hours after the injury or infection occurs to which the inflammation is acting. Initially venules and arterioles dilate, causing hyperaemia. This then decreases and the vessels increase their permeability, allowing blood plasma and platelets into the tissue as serous exudate. this causes an oedema (excess fluid in the tissue). Fibrinogen in the exudate is converted to fibrin, w hich deposits itself to help to localise tissue damage and control bleeding. (2) Within an hour of the inflammation starting neutrophils, and then hours later monocytes, arrive on the scene. They leave the bloodstream by emigration (also known as diapedesis), dependent on chemotaxis they are attracted by microbes, kinins, complement and other neutrophils. These neutrophils attempt to destroy the foreign bodies by phagocytosis. Any remaining dead phagocytes or damaged tissue after a few days becomes purulent exudate, or pus. This may be broken down in the body or may reach the surface of the body, but if it cannot be an abscess may be formed.

Joyces Araby versus Updikes A & P Essay -- James Joyce John Updike

Joyces Araby and Updikes A & P A Culture Hostile to RomanceAraby by pile Joyce and A & P by John Updike are two stories which, in spite of their many differences, have much in common. In both of these creative activity stories, the protagonists move from one stage of vivification to another and encounter disillusionment along the way. Looking back upon his boyhood in Irish Catholic Dublin in the early 1900s, the narrator of Arabygives an account of his first failed love. Captivated by Mangans older sister, the boy promises to bring her a gift from a bazaar that wears the mystical public figure of Araby. Sammy, a nineteen-year-old cashier at the local A & P in an unnamed coastal town north of Boston, narrates A & P. Like Joyces boy, Sammy also attempts to get along the attention of a beautiful girl by making a chivalric gesture. In both cases, romance gives way to reality, and conflict occurs when the protagonist finds himself in discord with the values of the society in which he actives. Joyces Araby and Updikes A & P are initiation stories in which the adolescent protagonist comes into conflict with his culture.Both protagonists live in restrictive cultures. The narrator of Araby portrays the Dublin that he grew up in as grim and oppressed by Catholicism. He begins his story with a verbal description of North Richmond Street, where the somber houses wear brown imperturbable faces and seem conscious of the decent lives within them (Joyce 728). In this description, Joyce links decency and a stifled life together. Filled with cold empty gloomy rooms, the house where the boy resides reminds the reader of a tomb (729). A priest died in the back drawing room, and air, mouldy from having been long enclosed, is associated with books... ...his infatuation and illusions? Chivalry has failed, both for Joyces boy and for Sammy. Their efforts seem wasted, for their gallant gestures go unseen. However, Sammys story leaves the reader hopeful. His fate has not yet bee n decided. Sammy loses his job only if gains the title of unsuspected hero (737). He claims his right to be an individual in a puritanical, conservative, and uncompromising culture. In Joyces Araby and Updikes A & P, two boys replace their ideas of heroism with modern-life realism and inch their way closer to manhood.Works CitedJoyce, James. Araby. Making Literature consider An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Eds. John Clifford and John Schilb. Boston Bedford, 1999. 728-32.Updike, John. A & P. Making Literature Matter An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Eds. John Clifford and John Schilb. Boston Bedford, 1999. 733-37.

Essays --

Nazia RiazMr. Ian WendtMuslim WorldDecember 13, 2013Final PaperBeginning more than 1400 years ago, Islam has circularize from the small art town of Makkah on the Arabian Peninsula and became a world religion practiced on every continent. Like other world religions. Islam has been spreading ever since its origin. both(prenominal) through migration of Muslims to new places and by individuals who have accepted Islam as their religion having chosen to convert from other religions.During the first century after Muhammad began preaching, there was rapid expansion of the territory under Muslim rule. The Muslims took over as a result of military campaigns. This territory did not instantly become Moslem, meaning that nigh people rapidly became Muslims. Rather the spread of Islam among the population took centuries even in the regions conquered in the seventh century. In this era Islamic faith and civilization encompassed abundant new areas of Eurasia and Africa. The continuing spread o f Islam was closely connected to the migrations of conquerors and herding folk and to the growth of Muslim commercial enterprise all across the hemisphere. By about 1400 CE Muslim societies spanned the central two thirds of Afro-Eurasia. New Muslim states and towns were appearing in West Africa, the East African coast, Central Asia, India, and Southeast Asia. Consequently Muslim merchants, scholars, and a host of long-distance travelers were the principal mediators in the interregional exchange of goods, ideas, and technical innovations.Makkah was a huge trading center which really contributed to the spread of Islam. Merchants liked trading with Muslims. sacredly Muslims couldnt add interest on anything which buyers really liked. Merchants dealing with Musl... ... to new areas. On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire in southeastern Europe or the Sultanate of Delhi and the later Mogul empire of India had success in spreading Islam. They did gain territory. Non Muslim populations see m to have viewed these powerful tax-gathering Muslim rulers negatively, and so they resisted conversion to Islam. Whoever did get the picture Islam in such circumstances if not for material gain, they usually did so because of the efforts of merchants, teachers, and traveling Sufi preachers who were not part of the government.Through 600 to 1000 CE the Islamic world had expanded beyond its original territories through war, trade and cultural diffusion. As it interacted and expanded across Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Byzantine Empire the Islamic world spread the influence of its culture and religion, turning Islam into a great world religion.

Essays --

Nazia RiazMr. Ian Wendt Islamic WorldDecember 13, 2013Final PaperBeginning more than 1400 geezerhood ago, Islam has shell out from the small trading town of Makkah on the Arabian Peninsula and became a world religion practiced on every continent. Like other world religions. Islam has been spreading ever since its origin. Both through migration of Muslims to new places and by individuals who have accepted Islam as their religion having chosen to convert from other religions.During the first atomic number 6 after Muhammad began preaching, there was rapid expansion of the territory under Muslim rule. The Muslims took over as a result of military campaigns. This territory did not immediately become Muslim, meaning that most people rapidly became Muslims. Rather the spread of Islam among the population took centuries even in the regions conquered in the seventh century. In this era Islamic faith and civilization encompassed extensive new areas of Eurasia and Africa. The continuing sp read of Islam was closely connected to the migrations of conquerors and herding folk and to the growth of Muslim commercial enterprise all across the hemisphere. By about 1400 CE Muslim societies spanned the central two thirds of Afro-Eurasia. New Muslim states and towns were appearing in West Africa, the East African coast, Central Asia, India, and selenium Asia. Consequently Muslim merchants, scholars, and a host of long-distance travelers were the principal mediators in the interregional exchange of goods, ideas, and technical innovations.Makkah was a huge trading center which really contributed to the spread of Islam. Merchants liked trading with Muslims. Religiously Muslims couldnt add interest on anything which buyers really liked. Merchants dealing with Musl... ... to new areas. On the other hand, the Ottoman empire in southeastern Europe or the Sultanate of Delhi and the later Mogul empire of India had success in spreading Islam. They did gain territory. Non Muslim popula tions seem to have viewed these powerful tax-gathering Muslim rulers negatively, and so they resisted conversion to Islam. Whoever did embrace Islam in such circumstances if not for material gain, they usually did so because of the efforts of merchants, teachers, and traveling Sufi preachers who were not part of the government. by dint of 600 to 1000 CE the Islamic world had expanded beyond its original territories through war, trade and cultural diffusion. As it interacted and expanded across Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Byzantine Empire the Islamic world spread the influence of its culture and religion, turning Islam into a great world religion.

Islamophobia Description Essay

Racism occurs all everyplace the world. To believe that there would be a point where racism wouldnt exist is too idealistic. Racism has occurred in the past and racism continues to occur today. When people say that racism doesnt exist as much as it used to or when they used the words improved or better to describe it, they are either language from their opinion or they are to an extent true. Yes, it is true that there is no more slavery it is true that people arent as discriminatory to Afri raise Americans as they used to be, but as a matter of fact, something doesnt break when it shifts. Racism and discrimination birth shifted towards a Muslims. Racism towards Islam increased subsequently 9/11. Society understands that being prejudice is wrong, however, they still live negative opinions about Muslims. For example, we are all humankinds, and just because some of us are criminals, that doesnt make all of us criminals. Because some are insane doesnt mean all are. Because some ar e extremists doesnt mean all of us are. If a person agrees, that one mans actions shouldnt define the personality of anformer(a) man, then why do people tend to severalize? Racisms effects are really harmful they keep the society from progressing and cause corruption within.Security has increased at the airport a person has to go through multiple bag checks and metal detectors, in order exit or enter this country. What ceases to amaze me is that the Declaration of Independence, states that all men are created equal but people can still have intolerance towards others. What really aggravated me was when I had to travel this summer to the Middle eastside with my family, my brothers, who are only 9 and 13 years old, were thoroughly checked they stood in a glass cubicle, they had to take off their shoes, and they had to go through shape up metal detection all because of their names. My question is what did these children discern? How to play football or video games? They didnt even watch the news, they rather yelled at my Dad to change the channel, every once in a while he decided to watch TV because they wanted to watch cartoons. I mat like yelling at the security guard, but I chose not to, because that wouldve been either used against me, or because of the glare that my mother was giving me. Also, there have been many terms that I foundderogatory.Terms like Islamophobia or xenophobia are used to describe an irrational fear or dislike of outsiders and Muslims or rather Terrorists. What people fail to realize is that there will always be extremes. Another thing that aggravates me, are false and misleading websites that teach other people to hate Muslims. These websites say quotes like, Are you burning with the peace of Islam in a sarcastic way, while showing pictures of violence. The sad thing is that people have come to trust these websites, with false and misleading statistics and information. I dont see extremists and murderers as people of faith, I see t hese people for who they are murderers, murderers of human life, of equality, of freedom and of faith. In my opinion, Extremists use faith as a way to rationalize their actions and thats exactly what these websites deny. The websites falsely accuse all Muslims to be furious and barbaric. This causes people to become hostile towards all of my kind.Once, I went to a program at a Precinct in Manhattan. The program was trying to promote peace and aid Muslims feel comfortable with crochets or other authoritative officials. A woman Muslim/ Cop made a speech at the podium about, how she was treat as an equal among her fellow workers. She was from Yemen, but even if she was Muslim, she didnt wear the head scarf which separated her from her audiences. A woman that I can never forget stood up during her speech, she was wearing a head scarf, she had most of her face covered and she said loudly, You dont wear the head scarf, How would you feel, If a Cop came to your doorstep, and started ye lling at you to remove your scarf when you did nothing? I am a Black Muslim woman and I am proud of it, and No one has the right to tell me to take off my scarf The speaker didnt have a proper response towards the woman. It is indecent, inappropriate, immoral, and unjust to use pledge in a wrong way that would violate another human beings boundaries. What happened to her freedom and equality when she was forced to do so? How can we trust our officials? How can we trust society if we know that nothing has changed?In conclusion, the effects of racism diminish the chances of an equal, free and prosperous life. Things have only escalated over the course of these years, I dont know when things will change, I dont know how theywill change. But what I do know is that I hope and I try to make a difference to change things and so do other people, maybe change is right virtually the corner or maybe we have to fall before we can stand back up again. Change will come, Discrimination will end and when it does it will hopefully be everlasting.

Responding to the Ethical Challenges faced by Nike Essay

1.The companion (Nike) lacked the ability to manage the working conditions of their suppliers factories. Due to the fact that competitor companies were buying in on their suppliers they didnt take a shit an advantage or edge to monitor the poor working conditions in these factories. They were disparaged upon by the UN and NGOs for having their products manufactured in countries where working conditions were poor and at that place was no monitoring of proper treatment of employees and enforcement of gentle Rights. The Korean suppliers, who represented Nike, were accused by excavate activist and NGOs ofbeing inglorious to workers. This by itself was against The Nike Code of Conduct.2.The Nike Corporation also faced issued with NGOs and dig out activists about feeing workers low wages in Indonesia. Their Korean suppliers didnt non pay workers the minimum wage and tried to cheat the Indonesian authorities by pleading economic hardship, so that they wouldnt have to pay the wor kers a mere $ 1.00 US equivalent pay. When accused of what was occurring, a general manager didnt withdraw that it was the companys function to monitor labor violations. However in a major turnaround and I am sure after that manager being reprimanded for that statement and disregard for the companys ethics, they instructed the Indonesian suppliers to increase the workers pay.3.They faced problems with Child Labor in Pakistan. In June of 1996, Life Magazine put Nike in the midst of misery, which caused an array of accusations about nipper labor. They published a photo of a 12 year old boy, stitching a association football ball. Sialkot a city in Pakistan produces soccer balls for Nike and their competitors. However, out-of-pocket to the uproar by NGOs, trade unions and consumer groups they prompted to impose sanctions against the purchasing of this product by the company. The company in turn, took a big hit and learned a lesson in globalization, human rights, international labor laws and their corporate right.4.Their operations in Vietnam posed some environmental, health and safety issues. One of their Korean contractors (again) operating in Vietnam was faced in a dilemma where and NGO help spur an audit by Ernst and Young which found high levels of Toulene, which is very hazardous chemic that causes damage to the CNS, liver, kidney and causes eye and skin irritations. The chemical was released in the plant which posed a threat to the health of workers. Employees were not given proper PPE. This was in straight violation of OSHA standards and also again, The Nike Code of Conduct.5.Nikes negative outlook to their stakeholders about their suppliers posed a serious threat to the nerve. Even though their suppliers were theones that were involved in these ethical issues, it still reflected on the company. Consumers are concerned plainly with a brand and not a supplier behind the brand. Also, Nike was responsible for their suppliers actions due to them not mo nitoring their working standards, payroll, human rights etc. Due to all the negative media, NGO and consumer attention, it caused Nike to flush toiletdid some contracts with various universities generate them with uniforms, equipment and footwear etc.In response to my friends points about the validity of the claims that are against Nike, I would first have to tell him that I value the integrity of my employer. But since this question asks me what I would say privately, and we are close friends, I would be clean try honest to him, and tell him how I felt, only because the information that was stated in these claims were made public due to avid media coverage and the audit conducted by Ernst and Young.Being that the claims are valid I would tell him about my feelings found only on the information available to the public. I would initially ask him to tell me how much he knows and then based on that guess an analysis of the situation, and think about ethically what I am privy to say or talk about, being that I am still employed with the organization and the wrong of which we uphold or code of conduct.I would address each argument specifically based on the allegations that we are faced with to the best of my knowledge and sustain a clear and concise goal of keeping in mind my reliability to my employer. Being that we are being blamed for infractions carried out by a supplier I would let my friend know that, we were not aware of the situation at hand at the moment but we are look into it because we support pitying Rights, Child Labor laws, Unionization and fair wage system. Our corporate code of conduct, The Nike Code of Conduct is available to anyone who wishes to know about it, so I would tell my friend that this is what our company stands by and since my employment with the company I have known that they are in effect and enforced. Being that we were not able to physically be present in Indonesia, Pakistan and the other countries of which this accused supplier hascommitted these Human Rights violations on employees, and stress again that we were unaware of the situation, how spate we be blamed. I will also be sure to reinforce to him the fact that he should know that when the media gets a hint of information that could lead to the allegations of a multi-billion dollar organization how they could shed light on an ant look like an elephant.Also, upon learning of such violations and treatment of these workers, my organization stepped in and not only reprimanded this supplier for essay to cheat the government of Indonesia out of paying minimum wage, but also to the workers. Based on our coalition with NGOs and our commitment to corporate responsibility I would be sure to inform him that we have created teams such as an action team to monitor environmental, health and safety issues. We also developed teams to monitor the labor rules and working conditions of the workers of our suppliers in these third world countries. Hence, if we fell short on our monitoring tactics, our involvement with labor activists, NGOs and the UN will make sure that we manage our mistakes that were made due to these allegations.Being that this is my close friend, I have to keep in mind that I am an employee first to this company and while I am employed there. If I say the wrong thing, or he perceives it in the wrong way I could stand to loose my job or possibly be deemed a whistleblower to the organization. Regardless of the fact, Nike was blamed indirectly for these violations but they still took the responsibility to try and correct their mistakes that the organization should have been aware of. I am sure that if my friend is a good friend they would or should understand that I cannot violate my principles. Other than that based on the support of the allegations made to the company I am sure he would be more educated now that I gave him my insight on the claims.The triple bottom strategy that I would suggest that Nike employ would b e being more conscientious to environmental, health and safety issues, ethical issues with regards to their stakeholders and share holders (internal and external) and Human Rights. Although their corporate code of conduct addresses this, they need to reinforce their standards to avoid the type of situations that was discussed in this case study.In reference to IKEA approach to their ethical practice, had Nike been more observing about the issues with the supplier after the first incident occurred the others could have probably been avoided. When IKEA learned of what was occurring with the supplier towards the working conditions, environmental issues and the Human Rights Violations regarding Child labor, they stepped in to straighten out the situation immediately. Nike only did so after labor activists, NGOs and trade unions etc got involved. From my analysis of things, they should have been more proactive rather than reactive.Starbucks approach to things was somewhat similar to IKE A, but Starbucks stressed their commitment to social responsibility by way of thinking about their stakeholders. Nike on the other hand, seemed to be more utilise to their shareholders the production of merchandise. They did accomplish being a multi-billion dollar company in a short space of time, but at what expense? It came with huge repercussions of Human Rights violations in the form of child labor and underpaid workers. They didnt address these issues in the right manner, something that Starbucks did and overcame the allegations against them.Nike needs to delegate these issues in their organization accordingly to enforce labor laws and environmental laws to their suppliers. In this case study, the supplier was based in Korea, but had operations in Indonesia, Pakistan and other third world countries. They went into these countries, tried to manipulate the government by way of cheating them into allowing workers to get below minimum wage. Also, standards in the workplace were no t enforced in the proper manner. The organization needs to supply workers with the proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which is mandated by Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).The company also needs to maintain a proper kinship with the different NGOs, labor commissions, trade unions and consumer activists in these countries. This can aid them in the monitoring processes of these suppliers to ensure that issues are being handled in the right way. It can also help save costs that the company pays to monitors, for example contractors. Nike can implement the money they save into a program that handles the ethical issues of workers, because I am sure they dont have a human resourcesdepartment and an ethics commission to contact with their matters of concern. I am sure that this could increase their productiveness employee.Hopefully the company learns from their past mistakes that they should not only be concerned with their shareholders but about the stakeholde rs as well. I believe that external and internal customers make up a business or organization and each has a vital role to play in it success or downfall. In this case, lack of attention to the working conditions and wages of the workers (shareholders could probably led to the ultimate downfall of the company. Nike has many competitors that can slowly overtake them in the consumer market. Human rights play a major role in consumer decisions in the 21st century. Evidence of this was found in the study whereby when the consumer activists learned about what was going on they boycotted purchasing the soccer balls due to child labor.ReferencesLocke M. Richard et al. (2002). The Promise and Perils of Globalization The Case of Nike. Retrieved from http//www.caseplace.org/cases/cases_show.htm?doc_id=274259 Bartlett A. Christopher et al. (2006). IKEAs Global Sourcing Challenge Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A). Retrieved from MGT 213 Ethics and the Market shopping centre Northeastern Univers ity (Course Material) Argenti A. Paul. (2004). Collaborating with Activists HOW STARBUCKS WORKS WITH NGOs. Retrieved from MGT 213 Ethics and the Market Place Northeastern University (Course Material)

The Underwriting Challenges Facing P.S.V. Insurers in Kenya

reasonable plectrum possibility An Over sensible horizon by Steven L. Green Professor of Economics and Statistics Chair, Department of Economics Baylor University Prep bed for the Baylor University Faculty Development Seminar on wise Choice Theory May 2002 2002, Steven L. Green It has been say that democracy is the worst form of government except all the early(a)s that acquit been tried. -Winston ChurchillIt seems easy to let in that demythologisedity involves somewhat features that whoremonger non be summarized in terms of roughly straight onward formula, such as binary consistency. But this recognition does non immediately lease to service(a) characterizations that mogul be regarded as satisfactory, even though the inadequacies of the traditional assumptions of sensible behaviour tiredly utilize in scotch possibility affirm convey hard to deny. It exit non be an easy task to determine replacements for the standard assumptions of co here(predicate)nt beha viour hat rather a little be found in the traditional scotch literature, 2 because the identified deficiencies oblige been seen as calling for rather divergent remedies, and likewise because on that point is little hope of finding an alternative assumption structure that will be as undecomposable and usable as the traditional assumptions of self-interest maximization, or of consistency of cream. Amartya Sen (1990, p. 206) 1. Introduction Rational Choice Theory is an turn up used by social scientists to understand human behavior.The get along has long been the dominant paradigm in economics, but in modern decades it has extend oft widely used in some different disciplines such as Sociology, Political Science, and Anthropology. This spread of the perspicacious quality approach beyond formulaic economic issues is discussed by Becker (1976), Radnitzky and Bernholz (1987), Hogarth and Reder (1987), Swedberg (1990), and Green and Shapiro (1996). The main purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of rational survival of the fit study hypothesis for the non-specialist.I first outline the rudimentary assumptions of the rational excerpt approach, then I provide several vitrines of its use. I have chosen my examples to illustrate how widely the rational cream method has been applied. In the paper I also discuss some ideas as to why the rational preference approach has become to a greater extent(prenominal) prevalent in m both disciplines in new course of studys. One idea is that the rational choice approach t nullifys to provide opportunities for the newfangled balk of theories. I argue that these opportunities be the result primarily of the mathematical constitution of the approach.I then turn over several issues raised by rational choice theory. First, I comp ar the limited meaning of rationality in rational choice theory with the much general definitions of the term use by philosophers. Second, I describe some of the mai n criticisms that have been levied a march onst the rational choice approach. Third, I consider the limitations of rational choice manakins as guides to public policy. Fourth, I review some Christian perspectives on the rational choice appraoch.I end the paper by outlining triple sets of questions I would like us to discuss in the faculty development seminar. Before I proceed, an apology and a caveat are in order. I apologize for the length of this paper. The British publisher Lord Beaverbrook once apologized to a friend for sending a five- page letter, saying he did not have metre to write a one-page letter. I have the same sentiment here. The caveat is that my discussion of the rational choice theory in this paper is inevitably simplistic, so the reader should not take it as definitive.If some instalment of the theory seems suspect in some way, in that respect will nearly always be an advanced version of the theory published somewhere that is more subtle and nuanced. Most statements in this paper are subject to qualification along m some(prenominal) lines, so the reader should view what I give birth here keeping in mind the goal of the paper, which is single to give the reader some sense of the overall flavor of the rational choice approach. 2. Basic Assumptions about Choice DeterminationRational Choice Theory principally begins with consideration of the choice behavior of one or more idiosyncratic decision-making units which in basic economics are well-nigh much consumers and/or firms. The rational choice theorist often presumes that the individual decision-making unit in question is usual or representative of some larger group such as vendees or sellers in a grouchy market. Once individual behavior is established, the synopsis slackly moves on to examine how individual choices interact to produce terminations.A rational choice compend of the market for alert tomatoes, for example, would principally involve a description of (i) the d esired purchases of tomatoes by buyers, (ii) the desired production and sales of tomatoes by sellers, and (iii) how these desired purchases and desired sales interact to go under the price and quantity sold of tomatoes in the market. The typical tomato buyer is faced with the problem of how much of his income (or more narrowly, his food budget) to fleet on tomatoes as opposed to some opposite darling or service.The typical tomato seller is faced with the problem of how many tomatoes to produce and what price to charge for them. barely how does the buyer choose how much of his income to spend on tomatoes? Exactly how does the seller choose how many tomatoes to produce and what price to charge? One could imagine a be of answers to these questions. They might choose based on custom or habit, with current decisions simply a continuation of what has been done (for whatever reason) in the past. The decisions might be made randomly.In contrast, the rational choice approach to this p roblem is based on the fundamental premise that the choices made by buyers and sellers are the choices that best(p) care them achieve their objectives, given all pertinent factors that are beyond their control. The basic idea behind rational choice theory is that commonwealth do their best under prevailing circumstances. What is meant, exactly, by best achieve their objectives and do their best? The discussion in this section will emphasize the choices of consumers. 1 The rational choice theory of consumer behavior is based on the following axioms regarding consumer alternatives2 1) The consumer faces a known set of alternative choices. 2) For any pair of alternatives (A and B, say), the consumer from each one prefers A to B, prefers B to A, or is oblivious between A and B. This is the axiom of masterfulness. 3) These preferences are transitive. That is, if a consumer prefers A to B and B to C, then she necessarily prefers A to C. If she is apathetic between A and B, and indifferent between B and C, then she is necessarily indifferent between A and C. ) The consumer will choose the most preferred alternative. 3 If the consumer is indifferent between two or more alternatives that are preferred to all separates, he or she will choose one of those alternatives with the specific choice from among them remaining indeterminate. When economists speak of rational behavior, they comm exactly mean only behavior that is in accord with the above axioms. I consider the definition of rationality in more detail near the end of the paper below. Rational choice theories usually represent preferences with a avail(prenominal) guide.This is a mathematical function that assigns a numerical value to for each one feasible alternative facing the decision maker. As a simple example, suppose a consumer purchases two veraciouss. Let x denote the issuance of units of good 1 consumed and y denote the number of units of good 2 consumed. The consumers inferior function is given by U = U(x,y), where the function U(,) assigns a number (utility) to any given set of value for x and y. 4 The properties of a large number of specific function forms for U(,) have been considered. 5 The analysis is by no agent restricted to two goods, though in many cases the analyst finds it convenient to bring that x is the good of interest is and y is a composite good representing use of everything but good x. The function U(,) is normally presume to have certain properties. First, it is generally fancied that more is preferred to less so that U rescinds with enlarges in x and with increases in y. Another way of saying this is to say that marginal utility is incontrovertible where the term marginal utility is the miscellanea in utility associated with a small increase in the quantity of a good consumed.The cooperate property of U(,) is that of diminishing marginal utility, which agency that the (positive) marginal utility of each good gets smaller and smal ler the more of the good that is being consumed in the first place. Ones first Dr. Pepper after a workout yields quite a lot of atonement. By the fifth or sixth, the additional satisfaction, while still positive, is much smaller. An important result in consumer theory is that a preference relationship can be represented by a utility function only if the relationship satisfies completeness and transitivity.The converse (that any complete and transitive preference relation may be represented by a utility function) is also true provided that the number of alternative choices is finite. Mas-Collel, Whinston, and Green (1995, p. 9) If the number of attainable alternative choices is infinite, it may not be assertable to represent the preference relation with a utility function. Rational choice analysis generally begins with the premise that some agent, or group of agents, is are maximizing utility that is, choosing the preferred alternative. This is only part of the story, however.A nother important element of the choice process is the nominal head of constraints. The mien of constraints makes choice necessary, and one virtue of rational choice theory is that it makes the trade-offs between alternative choices very expressed. A typical constraint in a simple one-period consumer choice problem is the budget constraint, which says that the consumer cannot spend more than her income. Multi-period mock ups allow for imbibeing, but in that case the constraint is that the consumer mustiness be able to repay the impart in the coming(prenominal).The use of utility functions means the idea of agents making the preferred choices from among available alternatives is translated into a mathematical exercise in cumber optimization. That is, an agent is assumed to make the feasible choice (feasible in a sense that it is not prohibited by constraints) that results in the highest possible value of his or her utility function. limit optimization methods (based on eithe r calculus or set theory) are well developed in mathematics. The solution to the constrained optimization problem generally leads to a decision rule.The decision rule shows how utility-maximizing choices vary with changes in circumstances such as changes in income or in the prices of goods. A third element of rational choice analysis involves assumptions about the environment in which choices are made. Simple economic simulations are often restricted to choices made in markets, with stress on how much of each good or service consumers essential to purchase (or firms want to produce and sell) under any given set of circumstances. A fourth element of rational choice analysis is a discussion of how the choices of different agents are made consistent with one another.A situation with consistent choices in which each agent is optimizing subject to constraints is called equilibrium. In the fresh tomato market, for example, the choices of buyers and sellers are consistent if the quantit y of tomatoes consumers want to purchase at the prevailing price is be to the quantity that firms want to produce and sell at that price. In this as in other simple market models, price plays a chance upon social occasion in the establishment of equilibrium. If consumers want to purchase more than firms are producing, the price will be bid upward, which will induce more production by firms and stamp down desired purchases by consumers.If consumers want to purchase less than firms are producing, the resulting glut will force prices down, which will reduce production by firms and increase purchases by consumers. Fifth and last, in the absence of salubrious reasons to do otherwise such as the imposition of price controls by the government, the analyst employing rational choice theory will generally assume that equilibrium effects in the model are adequate representations of what actually happens in the real world.This means, in the above example, that a rational choice theorist would inform changes in the actual price of tomatoes observed in the real world by looking for possible causes of changes in the equilibrium price of tomatoes in her model. Extensions The basic rational choice theory described above has been extended in a number of ways. I will consider four important ones in this section, though there are of course many others. First, the basic theory accounts only for choice at a given time that is, the model is static.In contrast, a dynamic (or intertemporal) model allows the agent to curriculum for the future as well as make choices in the present. In a dynamic model, the agent is still assumed to maximize utility, but the concept of utility is generalized to accept not only present satisfaction but also future satisfaction. The agent does not just make choices today he makes a plan for current and future choices. In this case, it may well be rational to sacrifice (e. g. , consume less or work more) today in order to obligate some better o utcome tomorrow. The dynamic formulation is an essential element of theories of saving and investment.One issue that arises in dynamic models is that of discounting. In most dynamic models, the agents under consideration are assumed to prefer (other things equal) a given level of white plague in the present to a given level of consumption in the future. Consider a model with two periods, 1 and 2. Let U1 denote the agents utility in period 1 and U2 denote utility in period 2. (U1 and U2 can depend on a number of factors, some of which can be controlled by the agent. ) The agent would then be assumed to formulate a plan for periods 1 and 2 to maximize the sum V = U1 + ? U2, where 0 ? 1 is the discount factor. 6 A specification of ? 1 means that a given utility is worth less to the agent in the future than in the present, and is denoted a positive rate of time preference or simply time preference. A justification for time preference is given by Olson and Bailey (1981). Elster (198 4, pp. 66ff) summarizes the opposing view that for an individual the very fact of having time preferences, over and above what is justified by the fact that we are mortal, is irrational and perhaps immoral as well. In any case, dynamic models with positive time preference are pervasive in the rational choice literature.The basic rational choice model assumes all outcomes are known with certainty. A second extension of the basic model involves explicit treatment of uncertainty. This is important in rational choice models of crime, for example, where a rational agent is assumed to consider the chance he or she will be grok while committing a criminal act. The rational choice model is extended to allow for uncertainty by assuming the agent maximizes expected utility. incredulity is characterized by a prospect distribution that assigns a likelihood ( hazard) to each possible outcome.Suppose there are two possible outcomes (for example, the prospective criminal is apprehended while committing a crime, or not apprehended while committing the crime), which we can denote outcome A and outcome B. Let pA denote the probability that outcome A will occur pB denote the probability of outcome B. With these as the only possible outcomes, it is clear that pA + pB = 1 that is, there is a 100% chance that either A or B will occur. Let U(A) be the agents utility with outcome A and U(B) be the agents utility with outcome B.The agent is then assumed to maximize expected utility, which is the sum of utility in each outcome weighted by the probability that outcome will occur V = pAU(A) + pBU(B). In general, the choices of the agent can affect pA and pB as well as U(A) and U(B). A related (and third) area in which the rational choice model is extended involves incomplete information. In the basic model described above, the agent knows perfectly all the qualities of the goods under her consideration. More generally, an agent may have to make choices when she does not have full i nformation.A university generally does not have full information about the future research productivity of a new assistant professor, for example, and a used car buyer cannot be certain that he is not driving a lemon off the lot. The fourth area in which the basic rational choice model is extended involves strategic behavior. This generally occurs in situations in which there are only a few agents. The key issue is that each agent must take into account the likely effect of his actions on the decisions of other agents, all of whom are looking at the situation the same way.A classic ongoing example of this affable of interaction involves the crude-oil production decisions of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Acting collectively, OPEC pieces have an incentive to restrict production to keep the world price of crude-oil high. so each OPEC country is given a production quota a limit on the amount it can produce. Each country acting individually, however, has a n incentive to ruse on its quota and thereby be able to sell more crude-oil at the high price. This will only be successful if the other countries maintain their quotas, however, thereby keeping the price high.Thus when a country is contemplating the breach of a quota, it must consider how other member countries may react. The growth of economics that deals with strategic interactions is called gimpy theory. 7 3. A Brief Description of the Rational Choice Method Like most studentship, rational choice analysis usually begins with a question. What determines achieve attention? Are self-annihilation rates affected by the state of the economy? Do seat belt laws make ways safer? Under what circumstances are gelid turkey methods necessary to end habituations? wherefore are drivers of certain minority groups more likely to be pulled over by police? Which passs are most likely to suffer casualties in a war? Why cant Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon just get along? Why did large m ammals become dead in the Pelistocene era? When are workers most likely to shirk their job responsibilities? Does a reported decline in consumer confidence portend a lag in the economy? Varian (1997, p. 4) describes the model-building process as follows all economic models are pretty much the same. There are some economic agents. They make choices in order to advance their objectives.The choices have to satisfy various constraints so theres something that adjusts to make all these choices consistent. This basic structure suggests a plan of round out Who are the people making choices? What are the constraints they face? How do they interact? What adjusts if the choices arent mutually consistent? I will provide a close to more detailed description here. Rational choice analysis may be characterized as working through the following steps 1) Identify the relevant agents and make assumptions about their objectives. 2) Identify the constraints faced by each agent. ) Determine the de cision rules of each agent, which characterize how an agents choices respond to changes of one kind or another for example, how the quantity of tomatoes purchased might change with price or income. This task is usually accomplished mathematically by the solution of a constrained optimization problem. 4) Determine how the decision rules of various agents may be made consistent with one another and thereby characterize the equilibrium of the model. 8 Effective analysis of complex interactions between agents normally involves the use of mathematical methods, which can sometimes be quite sophisticated. ) Explore how the equilibrium of the model changes in response to various external events. That is, determine the predictions or implications of the model. Again, this step can involve substantial use of mathematics. 6) Examine whether the predictions resolved in step (5) are consistent with actual experience. This step often involves the statistical analysis of selective information an d can involve sophisticated techniques (to control sample selection bias, for example). 7) Draw conclusions and any implications (for government policy, for example) implied by (6).It is often the case that the question at hand may be addressed by reference to standard theoretical results (e. g. , people generally want to consume less of a product when its price increases). In these circumstances the analyst often will not specify and solve a rational choice model explicitly. Instead, she will assume the reader understands that the model could be specified and solved if necessary and would have conventional implications. A. Preference Specification In rational choice theory behavior follows from the pursuit of objectives, so preference specification is crucial.Frank (1997, p. 18) describes two general approaches. The self-interest standard of rationality says rational people consider only costs and benefits that accrue directly to themselves. The present-aim standard of rationality says rational people act efficiently in pursuit of whatever objectives they cave in at the moment of choice. Frank contends that neither approach is obviously satisfactory. Many people would seem to care about more than their own material well-being, so the selfish egoism implied by self-interest standard is probably too narrow.In contrast, the present-aim standard puts no restrictions at all on preference formation, which means that anything can be explained by an appeal to preferences. Again quoting Frank (1997, p. 18) Suppose, for example, that we see someone drink a gallon of used crankcase oil and keel over dead. The present-aim approach can explain this behavior by saying that the person must have really liked crankcase oil. The main strength of the self-interest standard is that the associated preference specifications are generally straightforward.This approach, which dominates basic economic theory, usually assumes that utility depends only on the consumption of materia l goods and work and that, for any given good or service, more is strictly preferred to less. Bergstrom (forthcoming) presents an analysis based on evolutionary considerations showing circumstances under which selfish behavior will become dominant. The present-aim standard has also been used in rational choice models, but its use is nowhere near as prevalent as use of the self-interest standard. The reasons are tripletfold.First, the self-interest standard has often been successful in the sense of yielding predictions that are consistent with experience. Second, there is no compelling way to specify preferences when the only criterion is more than self-interest matters. (People may care about others, but are teh jealous or altruistic? ) Third, self-interest standard models are more tractable analytically and are more prone than present-aim models to imply specific evident predictions. In particular, models in which agents care about each other in some way are prone to have multip le equilibria (sometimes an infinity of equilibria).Frank (1987) makes an evolutionary argument that preferences should include concerns for others. Bergstrom (1999) explores some possible solutions to the multiple equilibrium problem. B. Theory Revision It many instances step (6) will find that one or more of the predictions of a model are not borne out by the data. In these cases, the typical rational choice theorist will not even consider abandoning the assumption of utility maximization. Instead, she will conclude that she must have confused something about constraints or preferences and tone-beginning to revise her theory accordingly.This issue of theory revision is very tricky, and space limitations (not to mention by limited judgement) permit only a brief discussion here. Suppose a theory T has prediction P, when in fact available data indicate the opposite (not P, or P). The theory might then be revised in some way to become theory T, where T predicts P rather than P. My painting is that most economists would much rather change assumptions about constraints rather than change assumptions about preferences. 9 This viewpoint reflects a desire to avoid meaningless tautologies such as he consumed more tomatoes because his preferences changed in such a way that he w gamed to consume more tomatoes. One can explain any choice in this way. Hausman (1984) summarizes the thinking of Lakatos (1970) as follows A fitting of a theory is an improvement if it is not ad hoc. Modifications may be ad hoc in three ways. First of all, a modification of a theory may have no new testable implications at all. Lakatos regards such modifications as completely empty and unscientific.Modifications that are not ad hoc in this sense are theoretically progressive. It may be, however, that the testable implications of the theoretically progressive modifications are not confirmed by experiments or observations. In that case modifications are theoretically progressive but not d ata-basedly progressive. They are ad hoc in the second sense. An extended process of theory modification is progressive overall if the modifications are uniformly theoretically progressive and intermittently empirically progressive.As one is modifying ones theory in the hope of modify it, modifications must always have new testable implications, and those testable implications must sometimes be borne out by experience. But one crucial feature of learning has been left over(p) out. Throughout this history of repeated modifications, there must be some element of continuity. No theoretical progress in economics is made if I modify monetary by theory by adding to it the claim that copper conducts electricity. The expanded theory has testable (and confirmed) implications, but something arbitrary has simply been tacked on.Such a modification is ad hoc in the third sense. One needs to recognize the role of something like a Kuhnian paradigm. Modifications of theories must be made in the right way. (p. 23) I deal that most rational choice theorists would adhere to these criteria for effective theory modification. As Stigler and Becker (1977) note What we assert is not that we are clever enough to make informative applications of utility-maximizing theory to all important phenomena not even our entire generation of economists is clever enough to do that.Rather, we assert that this traditional approach of the economist offers focal point in tackling these problems and that no other approach of remotely comparable generality and power is available. (pp. 76-7) . We also claim that no significant behavior has been illuminated by assumptions of deviations in tastes. Instead, they, along with assumptions of unstable tastes, have been a convenient crutch to lean on when the analysis has bogged down. They give the appearance of considered judgement (sic), yet really have only been ad hoc arguments that disguise analytical failures. p. 89) In any case, one can change a ssumptions about preferences only if the new assumptions not only stupefy the failure of the previous model (that is, they imply P rather than P) but also have new predictions that are not rejected by the data. C. Why is the Rational Choice Approach so Popular? 10 Defenders of the rational choice approach e. g. , Becker (1976) argue that the approach is useful because it tends to generate non-tautological predictions. Suppose a scholar wants to account for some observed phenomenon P.For example, P might be the fact that wage rates paid to workers (after adjustment for inflation) tend to rise during good economic times expansions and fall during bad economic times recessions. It is generally quite easy to develop a theory T that predicts P, especially for someone who has analyse P carefully. In fact, many such theories can be constructed. Importantly, however, it is generally not good scientific practice to use the same data to some(prenominal) formulate and test a hypothesis or theory. If so, all theories would be confirmed.Instead, good methodology will develop a theory T that not only predicts P, but that also has other predictions Q1, Q2, Q3, Ideally, many of these predictions will be manifest that is, one should be able to determine if Q1, Q2, Q3 . do or do not in fact occur. If these predictions are not observed say not Q1 (Q1) is observed rather than Q1 the theory may be judged inadequate and either revised or discarded. If I may be allowed a lapse into imprecise language, a theory can never be right if there is not at least some possibility in the first place for it to be wrong. 11 This is not to say that rational choice theorists are original with respect to this requirement. The history of economic thought is no doubt full of bad theories (bad in the sense that one or more key predictions are not consistent with the data) that have been saved by ad hoc modifications. It is to say that proponents of the rational choice approach contend that ad hoc theorizing and the resulting empty tautologies may be less prevalent with their approach than with other approaches.I certainly agree that the rational choice method does in fact tend to generate many testable predictions, and in Sections 4 and 5 below I discuss several illustrative examples. Despite the fact that advocates of rational choice theory justify their approach in this way, I know of no study that explicitly compares methodologies along these lines. Is it really the case that rational choice models have more non-tautological implications than the models implied by other approaches? I am not sure anyone has examined this issue carefully.I believe the rational choice methodology is gaining in popularity not just because it tends to generate lots of observable predictions, but also because it tends to generate novel predictions. This is an extension of the idea of novel confirmation. Novel confirmation embodies the sentiment expressed by Descartes (1644) that we know hypotheses are lay out only when we see that we can explain in terms of them, not merely the effects we originally had in mind, but also all other phenomena which we did not previously think. Quoted by Musgrave (1974), p. 1) Campbell and Vinci (1983, p. 15) begin their discussion of novel confirmation as follows Philosophers of science generally agree that when observational equivalence concomitants a theory, the confirmation is much stronger when the shew is novel. The verification of an unusual prediction, for example, tends to provide much stronger confirmation than the explanation of something already known of something the theory was designed to account for. This view is so familiar that Michael Gardner has recently described it as a lengthy tradition not to say a consensus in the philosophy of science. As seems to often be the case in the philosophy of science, the usefulness of novel confirmation is not as well established as the above quote implies. Campbell and Vinci (1983) also note that the notion of novel confirmation is beset with a theoretical puzzle about how the degree of confirmation can change without any change in the show, hypothesis, or auxiliary assumptions. (p. 315) Kahn, Landsburg, and Stockman (1992) maintain that the question of novel confirmation can be addressed meaningfully only in the presence of an explicit model by which hypotheses are generated. (p. 04) They find that the idea of novel confirmation is valid if there are unobservable differences in the abilities of scientists or if there is some chance of error in observation. 12 Campbell and Vinci (1993) distinguish between epistemic novelty and heuristic novelty. Epistemic novelty occurs when a theory has an implication that would be considered highly improbable in the absence of the theory. There is of course a question over the proper definition of highly improbable. Heuristic novelty occurs when the evidence predicted by a theory plays no heuristic role in the fo rmation of the theory.Descartes would seem to be referring to heuristic novelty in the above quote. Rational choice theory is a useful methodology in part (perhaps in large part) because it tends to lead the researcher to novel implications, thereby making novel confirmation more likely than may be the case with other methodologies. Space and time considerations do not allow me to attempt a full-blown analysis of this conjecture, which in any case I am not really qualified to undertake because of my limited exposure to alternative social science methodologies not based on rational choice and my limited knowledge of the philosophy of science.In Sections 4 and 5 below I describe several examples of rational choice theory and some associated novel implications. I should note that the mathematical nature of rational choice theory would appear (to me) to be crucial here. maths allows the theorist to make some sense out of complicated interactions between decision-making units that woul d otherwise be difficult or impossible to untangle. It is precisely those kinds of situations in which rational choice theories are most likely to have novel implications, because the implications are not immediately apparent even to scholars with knowledge, experience, and intuition.We now proceed to Section 4, which provides a detailed discussion of a rational choice model of church attendance. Section 5 gives shorter summaries of several other rational choice models, including models of felo-de-se, auto pencil eraser regulation, addiction, racial profiling, Congressional influence on military assignments, political revolutions, megafauna extinction, and the predictability of consumption spending. 4. A Detailed Example Church AttendanceAzzi and Ehrenberg (1975) develop a rational choice model of church attendance. This is a classic paper, which Iannaccone (1998, p. 1480) calls the first formal model for ghostlike confederacy (within any discipline) and the foundation for nea rly all subsequent economic models of religious behavior. Italics in original. Their analysis begins with the assumption that the utility of a rest home consisting of two members, a husband and a married woman, is given by (1)U = U(C1, s1, C2, s2, , Ct, st, Cn, sn, q), where Ci is the bases consumption of market goods and services in period i (i = 1, n), and si denotes religious familiarity in period i. The model assumes for simplicity that both members of the household know how long they will live and that both will die at date n. This is a dynamic model, because the household cares about future as well as current consumption. The remaining variable in the household utility function, q, is the expected value of the households afterlife consumption. Azzi and Ehrenberg assume that church attendance follows from a salvation motive (the desire to increase afterlife consumption) and a social pressure motive (where church membership and participation increases the chances that an individual will be successful in business), rather than necessarily a pure consumption motive (people simply screw the time they spend at church). Consumption in period i (any year during which the husband and wife are alive) is given by (2)Ci = C(xt, h1t, h2t), here xt is denotes the consumption of goods and services purchases in markets, while h1t and h2t are the amounts of time devoted by the husband and wife, respectively, to market-based consumption. The idea here is that satisfaction involves not only the purchase of a good (such as a television) but also time spent using the good. The social value of church attendance in period i, denoted by si, is determined as follows (3)si = s(r1i, r2i) where r1i and r2i denote the time spent on church-related activities by the husband and wife, respectively, in year i.People get more current satisfaction from going to church the more time they devote to church-related activities. After-life consumption q is determined as follows (3)q = q(r11, r12, r21, r22, , r1n, r2n), That is, the more time spent on church-related activities during all periods of life means the more the household members will enjoy their afterlife. Azzi and Ehrenberg (p. 33, fn. 7) note that Our households view of the afterlife is not one of an all-or-nothing proposition (heaven or hell), it is rather that there is a continuum of possible outcomes. The choices of the household are constrained by time and money. The two household members can allocate time in labor which generates income that can be used to purchase the goods and services denoted by xt in equation (1) above, consumption-related activities reflected in h1t and h2t in equation (2) above, and church-related activities reflected in the r1i and r2i in equation (3) above. The constraint here is that each day has 24 hours. Hence the couple can spend more time on church-related activities only if they spend less time earning income and/or consuming.The second constraint in the model says basically that, over the course of their lives, the couple cannot spend more than their combined income. Over the course of their lives means that it is possible for them to borrow early in life as long as they repay the loan (with interest) later in life. It is also possible to lend early in life, which means that consumption can exceed income later. The amount of labor income the couple earns depends on the amount of time spent working by the husband and wife and the wage rate each is paid.The model also allows for non-labor income in each period, which might reflect investment returns. The distinction between labor and non-labor income turns out to be rather interesting and important with respect to church attendance. Azzi and Ehrenbergs analysis is complicated in some respects and simple in others. It is complicated because it considers consumption over several periods rather than just one, and it allows for consumption to depend on time (the h1t and h2t) as well as purchases o f goods and services in the market (xt).The model is simple in that it does not consider the supply side. That is, the model simply assumes that the household can buy any amount that it likes of consumption goods (xt) and that there are no effective limits on religious participation (st). The power of the rational choice approach is that rational choice models tend to have lots of observable implications, some of which are novel. The Azzi and Ehrenberg model implies that (i) The frequency of church attendance increases with age (ii) Females attend church more ofttimes than males (iii) Nonwhites attend church more frequently than whites (iv) People who believe in an afterlife attend church more frequently (v) Having a spouse of the same major religion increases participation (vi) As health deteriorates church attendance declines (vii) An increase in the number of pre-school age children present in the household reduces church attendance (viii) An increase in the number of sch ool-age children present in the household increases church attendance (ix) Females hours devoted to religious activities will rise more rapidly with age than will the hours devoted by males to religious activities (x) For males who show sharp pelf increases in their 20s, religious participation may first decline with age and then increase (xi) An increase in nonlabor income will increase religious participation and (xii) The effect of a proportionate shift in wages (say, a 10% increase in the present and all future periods) on church attendance is ambiguous. Many of these implications are not surprising, but (ix) would appear to be somewhat novel.Item (ii) means that 40 year old women will attend church more frequently than 40 year old men. Item (ix) means that the change (increase) in church participation associated with aging from 40 to 50 will be greater among women than among men. Item (ii) follows directly from the fact that females tend to have lower wages. Thus if one cou ld find couples in which the wife earns more than the man, the model predicts for those couples that the wife will probably not be inclined to attend church more frequently. Also, allowing for an uncertain time of death may overturn (i) nce an individual is faced with a relatively high probability of death in a period it may become optimal for him to concentrate his religious participation as early as possible, since he may not survive to invest in future periods. (p. 38) 5. some(prenominal) Brief Examples This section presents a brief overview of several applications of rational choice theory. Unlike the church attendance example above, in which the form of the utility function was written out explicitly, the discussions in this section for the most part present only brief descriptions of the relevant optimization problems and some of the resulting implications. A.Suicide Hamermesh and Soss (1974) develop a rational choice theory of suicide. They assume that the utility of an in dividual in any given period depends positively on consumption and negatively on a technological relation describing the cost each period of maintaining oneself at some minimum level of subsistence. (p. 85) Consumption is a function of age and of permanent income, which is a measure of current and expected future income. Individuals are assumed to vary exogenously (according to a probability distribution) in their distastes for suicide that is, some individuals are more loth(predicate) to suicide than others.This framework implies that an individual kills himself when the total discounted lifetime utility remaining to him reaches zero. (p. 85). Thus in this model we have a rational individual who is forward looking, considering not only his present utility but what his future utility is likely to be. If total utility over the rest of his life is higher with suicide and life ending in the present than it is with the continuation of life, suicide is the rational option. Here are some of the major implications of the model. (i) The suicide rate should rise with age. (ii) The suicide rate should fall with increases in permanent income13 and lights in the unemployment rate. (iii) The marginal absolute effect of permanent income on suicide declines as permanent income increases. The first two effects are by no means surprising, but the third effect is certainly by no means obvious ex ante (at least to me). (ii) means that suicide rates will fall as income rises. (iii) means that the effect of increases in income gets smaller the larger income is to begin with.A $10,000 raise is much more likely to prevent suicide if the person is earning $50,000 to begin with than if the person is earning $150,000. This is quite plausible, but the point is that it is not something most analysts would think about ex ante. B. Auto Safety Regulation. Peltzman (1975) considers the likely effects of legally mandated installation of various safety devices14 on automobiles. 15 The devices in question for the most part were designed to reduce the traumas caused by accidents rather than to reduce the likelihood that accidents occur. Peltzman notes that the auto safety literature estimates the impact of afety mandates by assuming that (i) the mandates have no effect on the probability that an accident will occur, and (ii) the mandates have no effect on the voluntary demand for safety devices. In effect, the regulations were implemented based on analysis that assumed the same number and nature of accidents would occur, but that automobiles would be better equipped to protect drivers and passengers from injury and death. He notes that technological studies imply that annual highway deaths would be 20 percent greater without legally mandated installation of various safety devices on automobiles. (p. 677) Peltzman considers the behavior of a typical driver and postulates quite reasonably that he or she is made worse off by traffic accidents or, equivalently, that he or she benefits from safety. Peltzman also assumes, however, that the driver benefits from what he calls driving intensity, by which he means more speed, thrills, etc. (p. 681). Other things equal, the driver can obtain more driving intensity only by driving less safely. Thus the driver faces a trade-off between two goods, intensity and safety, in which more of one can be obtained only by giving up some of the other.This kind of trade-off is in standard fare for rational choice theorists. In basic consumer choice theory the consumer with a given income can obtain more of one good only if he or she consumes less of some other good (or goods). The standard consumer choice problem also considers what happens when the consumers income rises. Rational choice theory predicts that, in the absence of very unusual circumstances, the consumer will buy more of most goods when income rises. Put another way, it is typically not the case that a consumer will allocate one hundred percent of a n increase in income to increased consumption of a single good.Income increases tend to be spread around over several goods. Peltzman argues that the imposition of mandated safety devices in automobiles is rather like an increase in income in the sense that the devices make it possible for drivers to obtain both more safety and more intensity. Technological studies in effect assume that drivers will respond by consuming only more safety, but rational choice theory indicates that drivers can also respond by consuming more intensity (that is, by driving less safely). The intent to which drivers choose between more safety and more intensity is ultimately an empirical question.Suppose drivers choose to increase consumption of both safety and intensity which is what economists have come to expect in these kinds of situations. In this case, the rational choice model implies that the number of total driving accidents16 should rise because of increased driving intensity, while the clean amount of disablement per accident as reflected, say in the number of fatalities among passengers should decrease because of the safety improvements. This means that it is actually possible for total traffic fatalities to rise as a result of the safety mandatesThis would happen if the increase in the number of accidents is sufficiently large relative to the decrease in average damage per accident. Once again we have an example of a rational choice model yielding implications that are not obvious ex ante. The novel predictions here are that the imposition of auto safety mandates (i) should increase the occurrence of traffic accidents, and (ii) should decrease the relative frequency of accidents involving passenger fatalities, and (iii) may increase or decrease the total number of traffic fatalities.After extensive empirical testing based on several data sets, Peltzman concludes that regulation appears not to have reduced highway deaths. (p. 714). There is indeed some evidence tha t the number of deaths increased, but in most cases that evidence is not strong. In any case, there is no evidence that the regulations decreased traffic fatalities. Peltzman also finds that the safety mandates were followed by an increase in the number of accidents involving pedestrians and by an increase in the number of accidents involving only property damage with no injury to vehicle occupants.A related paper by McCormick and Tollison (1984) considers the effect on arrest rates of an increase in the number of police officers. Rational choice theory indicates that the quality of law enforcement should not be judged by arrest rates alone. If the number of police officers increases and as a result the probability of arrest for any given crime increases, rational prospective criminals will see the expected cost of crime rise and therefore undertake fewer criminal acts.Total arrests reflect both the number of criminal acts (which should fall) and the percentage of criminal acts for which an arrest is made (which should rise). Total arrests rise only if the latter effect is stronger than the former. McCormick and Tollison test their theory using data from the Atlantic Coast Conference in mens college basketball. In 1978, the conference increased the number of officials from two to three. In this context, one may think of officials as police officers and fouls called as arrests.McCormick and Tollison find that this 50 percent increase in the number of officials caused a 34 percent reduction in the number of fouls called (p. 229). When my son Aaron (now almost 5 years old) was an infant, he attended the Baylor Child Development Center during the day. In the room where the instructor changed diapers, there was a pad on the counter but no restraint of any kind (such as a belt or book rail). When I asked the director about this, she said that there was no restraint because she (the director) did not want to give the teacher a false sense of security.With a belt or rail, the teacher might be tempted to walk away for just a minute to check on something in the room. Whether restraints increase or decrease changing table accidents is an empirical question, though Pelzmans analysis suggests the director made the right decision. C. Addiction Stigler and Becker (1977) propose a rational choice theory of addiction, a theory subsequently elaborated by Becker and Murphy (1988). In this theory, a person is potentially addicted to some good c if an increase in his current consumption of c increases his future consumption of c. (Becker and Murphy, 1988, p. 81) The key feature of these models is that a consumers utility in any given period depends not just on consumption in that period, but also on consumption capital. Consumption capital is essentially the consumers ability to enjoy a particular good, which depends on past consumption of the good and perhaps on other factors. If past consumption enhances current enjoyment ability, the addition is said to be dependable. This might be the case, for example, with listening to classical euphony. The more one listens to classical music, the greater ones might to appreciate it.Stigler and Becker note that beneficial consumption capital might also be positively influenced by education. Highly educated people might have a greater capacity to enjoy things like classical music, opera, and art. If past consumption reduces current enjoyment ability, the addition is said to be harmful. This is the case with substances such as heroin and other substances normally considered to be addictive. The more heroin a person consumes in the present, the less will be his or her future enjoyment (high) from any given amount of heroin consumption in the future. 17 The formal setup in Stigler and Becker (1977, p. 78) is relatively simple. First consider beneficial addiction to, say, classical music. Consumer utility (U) depends positively on two goods, M (music appreciation) and Z (other goods) U = U(M, Z ). Music appreciation depends positively on the time allocated to music listening and on music consumption capital (Sm) M = M(tm, Sm). Music consumption capital at date j, Smj, depends positively on the time allocated to music consumption in the past, Mj-1, Mj-2, . and positively (perhaps) on the persons level of education at time j (denoted Ej) Smj = S(Mj-1, Mj-2, , Ej). The addition is beneficial if Smj depends on positively on the past values of M. Alternatively, for harmful addition we may replace M with H, where H denotes the consumption of a good such as heroin. In this case, consumption capital S depends negatively on past values of H. The elaborated model of Becker and Murphy (1988) views addictive behavior as a situation in which the consumption of a particular good begins to increase rapidly. 18 Their model has a number of implications. Perhaps he most interesting is their finding that the demand for addictive goods should be quite sensitive to permanent changes in price (where the price of illegal goods includes the expected costs associated with apprehension by authorities, as well as any predate earnings that may result from becoming addicted and, say, unable to work), but not necessarily to temporary price changes. A second implication is that strong addictions, if they are to end, must end suddenly (cold turkey). Rational persons end stronger addictions more rapidly than weaker ones. (p. 692). Other implications are that addicts often go on binges (p. 75), present-oriented individuals are potentially more addicted to harmful goods than future-oriented individuals (p. 682), and temporary events can permanently hook rational persons to addictive goods (p. 691). Stigler and Becker (1977) and Becker and Murphy (1988) do not perform empirical tests of their models of rational addiction. Tests have been performed by other authors, however. Because good consumption data are not available for illegal substances, tests have focused on tobacco and caf feine. Tests based on tobacco consumption are reported by Becker, Grossman, and Murphy (1994), and Keeler, et. l. (1993). A test based on caffeine consumption is reported by Olekalns and Bardsley (1996). These tests are generally supportive of the rational addiction theory. Becker and Murphy (1988) note that with a simple extension their model can explain cycles of over take and dieting. Their basic analysis assumes there is only one kind of consumption capital. Suppose that with respect to food there are instead two types of consumption capital, one of which is simply the persons weight (which might be called health capital) and the other of which is eating capital. That is, eating can be both harmful and beneficial in the senses defined above. As eating increases, health capital falls (weight gain has detrimental effects on health) and eating capital rises (the capacity to enjoy food is greater the more one eats). Under appropriate conditions, utility maximization results in cycle s of dieting and binging. 19 Rational addiction theory has been applied to the analysis of religious behavior see Iannaccone (1984, 1990) and Durkin and Greeley (1991). Iannaccone (1998) summarizes this approach. Utility depends on religious commodities produced, the value of which depends on religious human capital. The stock of religious human capital depends on time and money devoted to religious activities in the past. These models have the following predictions, nearly all of which receive strong empirical support (Iannaccone, 1998, p. 1481) Individuals tend to move toward the denominations and beliefs of their parents as they mature and start to make their own decisions about religion People are more likely to bruise denominations early in life People tend to marry within religions if they do not, one spouse is likely to adopt the religion of the other.D. Racial indite Law enforcement authorities in many jurisdictions have been criticized in recent years for racial bias in their choice of cars to search for illegal drugs and other contraband. 20 The fact that police are more inclined to stop and search cars driven by members of certain minority groups is well established. Knowles, Persico, and Todd (2001) develop a rational choice model that suggests an empirical test for distinguishing whether this disparity is due to racial prejudice or to the polices objective to maximize arrests. In their model, the typical police officer maximizes the total number of convictions minus a cost of searching cars. (p. 209) Motorists consider the probability of being searched in deciding whether to carry contraband. (p. 209) At least some motorists perceive a benefit to carrying contraband. If they do carry, their expected benefit is positive if they are not searched and negative (that is, there is a positive expected cost) if they are searched. The model implies that if police officers are not racially biased, the frequency of guilt among motorists conditional o n being searched will be case-by-case of race. 21 In their empirical analysis based on 1,590 searches on a stretch of Interstate 95 in doc between January 1995 and January 1999, Knowles, Persico, and Todd find support for this proposition. They interpret this result as the absence of racial prejudice against African Americans (p. 212). The fact remains, however, that African Americans are searched more frequently than whites. If this does not arise from racial bias by police officers, then why does it occur?One possibility noted by the authors is that race may proxy for other variables that are unobservable by the policy officer and are correlated with both race and crime. Possible examples of such unobservables are the schooling level or the earnings potential of the motorist. (p. 212) While one may quibble with some elements of this study, for our present purposes the main point is that the rational choice theory, at least potentially, yielded implications that allowed the analy st to gain some insight (if not a final resolution) into the issue of racial profiling. E. Congressional Influence on Military AssignmentsPrior to the 1960s, economic theory tended to view politicians and other government officials (bureaucrats) as disinterested observers and regulators of economic activity. A group of economics led by Nobel Laureate James Buchanan then developed a branch of economics known as public choice theory, which views government officials as self-interested maximizers. Goff and Tollison (1987) take a public choice approach to gain some understanding of casualties in the Vietnam War. The typical soldier is assumed to prefer not to be placed in risky combat situations, and this preference is shared by the soldiers family.A solider (or more likely his family) might therefore try to gain a low-risk assignment by asking for intervention in military decisions by his Senator or Representative. Senators and Representatives are assumed to desire re-election, which i mplies a desire to please their constituencies. The ability of a Senator or Representative to have this kind of influence, however, varies according to delegacy assignments, ties to the military/industrial complex, etc. Goff and Tollison assume that political influence depends on seniority, with more seniority implying more influence.Taken together, all these assumptions have the straightforward implication that soldiers from states with more senior (and hence more influential) Senators and Representatives should, other things equal, have experienced fewer casualties in Vietnam than soldiers from states with less senior (and therefore less influential) Senators and Representatives. Their empirical analysis (using data from January 1961 to September 1972) supports the hypothesis In the House, the Mississippi delegation had an average seniority of 27. 7, while Hawaii had an average seniority of 61. . A seniority ranking of 1 indicates the member had the highest seniority in his or he r party. In terms of lives, this represents about 6 fewer war deaths for every 100,000 of population in Mississippi relative to Hawaii. Ceteris paribus, this difference in House seniority leads to a 55 percent higher casualty rate for Hawaii than Mississippi. In the Senate, Arkansas had an average seniority of 6. 2, and Maryland had an average seniority of 45. 4. Other things equal , this difference leads to an 86 percent higher casualty rate for Maryland than for Arkansas.In terms of lives, this translates into about 7 more war deaths for every 100,000 of population in Maryland than in Arkansas. (pp. 319-20) In this case, the value of the rational choice approach is not so much in the fact that it yields surprising answers to a well-established question, but that it suggests a unique question to ask in the first place. It is by no means obvious that someone not thinking about self-interested Senators and Representatives would even think to ask the question addressed by Goff and T ollison. F. Ideology and IntransigenceRoemer (1985) applies game theory to the analysis of political revolutions. Specifically, he presents a two-player game between Lenin and the Tsar. Lenins objective is to maximize the probability of revolution, while the Tsars objective is to minimize that probability. As in any game-theoretic setting, when making decisions each player keeps in mind how the other player might react. Lenin tries to create revolution by lining up coalitions, where people are induced to join a coalition with the promise of income redistribution.The Tsar tries to prevent revolution by promising to punish anyone who participates in revolutionary activities (assuming the revolution attempt is unsuccessful). Increased penalties reduce the number of individuals who are likely to join the coalition but increase the revolutionary fervor of those who do. An individual will join a coalition attempting to overthrow the Tsar if the expected benefit to him or her of doing so exceeds the expected cost. There is of course some uncertainty about the outcome. Roemers results include the following it is shown that various tyrannical aspects of the Tsars strategy, and progressive aspects of Lenins strategy need not flow from ideological precommitments, but are simply good optimizi

Gender, Genocide and Consequence: Srebrenica Examined

Introduction The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines genocide as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group. Genocide is just what happened in the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina during July 1995. Between 6 and 11 July 1995 more than 25,000 Bosnian Muslims, about of them wo manpower, children and elderly people living in and around town of Srebrenica, were hale to leave the town (Cemic 2007). In addition, 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were massacred by the Republika Srpska army in and around Srebrenica (Cemic 2007).The Srebrenica genocide was hotshot of the biggest massacres that europium has seen since World contendfare II (Simic 2008). The women and children who survived it became witnesses and survivors whose testimonies and courage to find give away, face and disseminate the truth gave them hero status in Bosnia and around the world (Simic 2008). Every year on July 11, politicians and differentiate players from the international as well local community come to Potocari to pay tribute to whole of the victims identify so far and those still missing (Simic 2008).Each anniversary of the genocide attr moments more and more people from around the world who want to come and share their compassion and maybe even guilt for non doing more to counter incite this horrible event (Simic 2008). Following Bosnias declaration of independence from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in March 1992, a civil war broke out in progressive stages surrounded by the three ethnic communities that had existed in Bosnia for some(prenominal) centuries (Turns 2007).Although initially internal in nature, this conflict was internationalised at non-homogeneous points by the intervention of armed forces from both(prenominal) Serbia and Croatia on the sides of their respective co-ethnic forces (Turns 2007). With the internationally recognised government of the new republic in Muslim hands, nationalistic element s in the Serbian component of the population started fighting against the Bosnian Governments forces (Turns 2007).Although initially the Croats and Muslims combined forces against the Serbs, subsequent fighting also broke out between Croatian and Government forces (largely over the division of the town of Mostar) the Serbs and Croats also fought against each other (Turns 2007). Both of the non-Muslim nationalist leadership groups had similar aims, namely either straight-out independence for those comparisonts of Bosnia where their ethnic populations primarily resided or, preferably, union with their o-ethnic neighbouring states the Republics of Serbia and Croatia (Turns 2007). As this would inevitably entail the dismemberment of the Bosnian State, the Muslim Government fought against both groups (Turns 2007). Srebrenica is a tiny town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina that lies about 10 miles from the border with Serbia. plot essentially ignoring three years of slaughterhouse, the United Nations Security Council did designate Srebrenica a rubber eraser area in which encircled Muslims ( this instant called Bosniaks) could find sanctuary (Lischer 2012).But a fewer hundred outgunned UN peacekeepers from the Netherlands provided altogether a veneer of fortress which cracked at a lower place printing press from the Bosnian Serbs. (Lischer 2012). The result was the largest mass killing in Europe since the Holocaust (Lischer 2012). In summary, this literature review will investigate what happened during the genocide, short term and eagle-eyed term impacts, the geopolitical transformation and the controversies surrounding the infamous July 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Discussion The fall of YugoslaviaYugoslavia (which consisted of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) was a peaceful nation when formed after the succor World War, and then suddenly everything began to change. In 1991, followin g the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the former Yugoslavia began to disintegrate (Totten 2006). The country degenerated into conflict between the three major groupsSerbs, Muslims, and Croatiansthat had lived in peace under Dictator Josip Broz Tito (Totten 2006).The Socialistic Republic of BiH was born after WW II with the creation of the Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (Simic 2009). The very(prenominal) year this newly independent state was plunged into almost four years of internal conflict (Simic 2009). Yugoslavia maintained peace during the 40 years Tito ruled, but when he died in 1980 following the Cold War, nationalist and separatist ideologies began to arise and disrupt tranquility within the country (Long 2012).Slobodan Milosevic, formerly Serbias Communist Party leader, strategically adhered to patriotism and became the ruler of Serbia and the most authoritative dignitary in Yugoslavia by 1989 (Long 2012). However, his forceful attempts to take over the federal government of Yugoslavia and unjust decisions he made out of self-interest drove Croatia and Slovenia to seek independence in 1991, and Bosnia-Herzegovina followed in 1992 (Long 2012). Even though European community and the United States recognized Bosnia as an independent country, the Muslim, Serb, and Croat groups within Bosnia all began to fight for land (Long 2012).Although many an(prenominal) of the Muslims in Bosnia originally thought the Yugoslav National Army (YNA) would protect them, the fourth largest army in Europe was under the command of Milosevic, whose ultimate at the cost of many non-Serbs lives, to create a Greater Serbia (Long 2012). The YNA launched many vicious pom-poms against non-Serb citizens in Bosnia with the help of the Republicka Srpskas (the leading Serb par in Bosnia) Drina army corps (Long 2012).An ugly war ensued, especially between the Serbs and the Bosnians (Long 2012). In 1993, Serb attacks on Bosnian Muslims increased in eastern Bosnia, and the latter fled their homes and villages to seek protection in the nearby town of Srebrenica (and a 30-square-mile area surrounding it), which had been designated a United Nations-sponsored safe area (Totten 2006). The safe area had been developed as a result of Security Council Resolution 819 on April 16, 1993 (Totten 2006).Subsequently, the UN forged an agreement in which the Muslim troops in the enclave of Srebrenica would disarm, the Serbs would halt their attacks on the enclave, and the UN would oversee and enforce the truce (Totten 2006). While both Serbs and Muslims periodically violated the agreement, the Serb forces were the ones who, over the years, applied ever-increasing pressure on the Muslims in Srebrenica (and on the Dutch Battalion, commonly referred to as Dutchbat, charged with protect the safe area) by periodically shelling them and preventing humanitarian assistance from entering the enclave (Totten 2006).By July of 1995 thousands of civili ans had taken refuge in the city of Srebrenica to escape from Serb attacks in northeastern Bosnia (Long 2012). On July 6, 1995, under the orders of Rodovan Karadzic, president of Republika Srpska the VRS began an offensive attack on Sebrenica by firing mortal shells into the city (Long 2012). As the attacks increased in number and ferocity, NATO authorities discussed the initiative of air strikes against Serb-held areas (Totten 2006).When planes were in the long run up to(p) to perform air strikes, after dropping only two bombs on VRS forces outside of Srebrenica the VRS threatened to kill their Dutch hostages and attack the refugees in an enclave in Srebrenica with mortar shells (Long 2012). NATO responded by immediately ordering a stop to the air strikes (Long 2012). A column of 15,000 weak and underfed Muslim men fled toward Tuzla, a Bosnian government held territory approximately 40 miles away, leaving behind their wives, daughters, young person sons, and elderly fathers. ( Long 2012).The Serbs were prepared for the Muslim men to flee to Tuzla, and were accustomed orders by Radislav Krstic, commander of the VRS, to kill every mavin person in the column You must kill everyone. We dont need anyone alive said Krstic (Long 2012). Even discriminating their escape was a futile attempt, the Muslim men felt they had no other choice but to flee (Long 2012). On 11 July 1995, after they busy Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb forces executed between 7,000 and 8,000 men (Simic 2009). By the evening of July 11, 1995, Srebrenica was void of a single living Muslim (Long 2012).The genocide in Srebrenica was the largest single act of genocide in Europe in 50 years, or since the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust (Totten 2006). Court and Controversy On 26 February 2007, one of the longest running and most tortuous pieces of litigation in the history of the external Court of Justice came to a close when a decision on the merits was handed down in the case brought by Bosnia and Herzego vina (Bosnia) against Serbia and Montenegro (Serbia) in March 1993 (Turns 2007).In 1993 the United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, had accomplished the International Criminal judicature for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in order to prosecute persons alleged to have committed serious violations of international humanitarian lawincluding genocide (15)anywhere in the territory of the former Yugoslavia this was largely a response to the atrocities that were being reported from Bosnia in particular (Turns 2007).In its application to the Court, Bosnia requested declarations that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) has breached, and is continuing to breach, its legal obligations towards Bosnia under a number of international treaties, including the Genocide rule, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Additional Protocol I thereto of 1977, the Hague Regulations of 1907, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (Turns 200 7). In April 2001, Serbia filed with the Court an employment forRevision of the 1996 Judgment on Preliminary Objections (Turns 2007). This was followed the next month by another document, in which Serbia argued that (i) it had not been a party to the Statute of the ICJ until its admission to the UN on 1 November 2000 (ii) that it never had been, and still was not, a party to the Genocide Convention and (iii) that when it had acceded to the Genocide Convention on 8 March 2001, it had entered a reservation to art IX thereof (Turns 2007).The ICJ affirmed it had jurisdiction and found, by thirteen votes to two, that Serbia had not conspired to commit genocide nor had it incited the commission of genocide in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention (Cernic 2007). The ICJ also found, by eleven votes to four, that Serbia had not been complicit in genocide (Cernic 2007).However, the ICJ did find that Serbia had violated its obligation under the Genocide Convention to prev ent genocide in Srebrenica, and that it had also violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention by having failed to co-operate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (Cernic 2007). The ICJ held that the genocide in Srebrenica was committed by the Republika Srpska army under the command of its VRS Main Staff, which did possess the specific genocidal intent (Cernic 2007). Can a state commit the abomination of genocide?The ICJ held that States can commit the crime of genocide (Cernic 2007). It held that the effect of article I of the Genocide Convention is to prohibit states themselves from committing genocide which follows from the categorisation of genocide as a crime against international law (Cernic 2007). The ICJ admit the crimes in Srebrenica were committed, at least in part, with the resources which the perpetrators of those acts possessed as a result of the general policy of aid and assistance pursued towards them by the FRY(Cer nic 2007).The Bosnian Serbs maintained that the graves were filled with Muslim soldiers killed during combat and denied the accusations that a massacre took place (Long 2012). However, on October 29, 1995, reporters from the Christian Science Monitor, during an unauthorized visit, discovered a locoweed of clothing, shoes, and eyeglasses next to what appeared to be a freshly dug grave in the city of Sahanici (Long 2012). However, there were no signs that a battle took place, and a few canes as well as a crutch were also discoveredevidence that countered the Bosnian Serbs that the graves contained Muslim combat casualties (Long 2012).Four primary figures emerged as the main conspirators responsible for the Srebrenica massacre Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president Radovan Karadzic, the former political leader of the Bosnian Serbs Ratko Mladic, Karadzics former chief military commander and Radislav Krstic, former commander of the Drina Corps (Long 2012). The UN court ruled the Srebrenica massacre a genocide and eventually brought charges against these four individuals, but so far Krstic is the only one who has been convicted (Long 2012). Gender and Genocide While the international community and U. N. eacekeepers looked on, Serb forces separated civilian men from women and killed thousands of men en masse, or hunted them down in the forests (Jones 2002). Realizing the UN would not protect them, around 25,000 refugees, primarily consisting of women, children, and elderly men, attempted to escape to the town of Potocari in hopes of seeking protection in a UN compound within the city (Long 2012). A great many of the men who had sought to flee through the hills to Tuzla were doomed as well (Jones 2002). Around 23,000 women and children were deported over an estimated period of 30 hours to safe Muslim territories (Long 2012).The remaining males (around 1,700) were held in trucks and warehouses to be supposedly interrogated for war crimes (Long 2012). In wh at was a well-planned succession of events, the victims were transported from building to building and held for long periods of time without food or water forwards they were finally executed (Long 2012). Some men were killed individually or in small groups, but the majority of the murders took place in mass numbers (Long 2012). In one of the mass murders, between 1,000 and 1,500 men were crammed into a pitch-black warehouse (Long 2012).Soldiers began throwing grenades into the warehouse and shooting their machine guns into the building (Long 2012). Any men who tried to escape from the building were immediately gunned down by the soldiers (Long 2012). Many hundreds more were massacred at a football field near Nova Kasaba, the worst killing ground of the entire five-day slaughter (Jones 2002). While at some sites there was grave digging machinery, at the soccer field selected men were forced to dig graves and watch others be shot into those (Long 2012). Eventually, these men and wer e shot into their own graves (Long 2012).When a bulldozer finally did arrive, around 400 men were thrown into a grave and bury alive (Long 2012). After all was said and done, between the days of July 11-16, 1995, over 8,000 Muslim men were killed in Bosnia (Long 2012). Srebrenica is a textbook case of sexual practicecide (Simic 2009). While all males were executed, females were forcibly expelled leading to the creation of an ethnically cleansed area (Simic 2009). By killing all males who were capable of holding a gun, the Serbian forces eliminated the direct threat of young potential future fighters, thus reducing the strength of the rival community (Simic 2009).Prior to the war, Srebrenica was a traditional town where males were the prime breadwinners and the head of households (Simic 2009). The gendercide in Srebrenica disrupted the gender cast of BiH society by leaving almost 40% of the internally displaced population with female headed-households (Simic 2009). Left without the ir husbands, women suddenly needed skills and education to be able to take part in a job market in BiH where almost 40% of people are still considered as unemployed (Simic 2009).Thus, the riddance of the male population had tremendous social, economic and mental consequences on the women, leaving them to be sole breadwinners while coping with traumatic experiences they had endured and searching for the bones of their sons and husbands (Simic 2009). However, contempt the challenges they faced these women joined together and left their private sphere of mourning to go into the public domain demanding a series of actions to be taken by local and international governments (Simic 2009).In doing so, they transformed their experience as victims into an activism that has attracted international attention and respect (Simic 2009). Aftermath Following the massacre, a handful of survivors from various massacre sites came forrad and offered their testimonies, describing the brutal and horri fic murders they witnessed (Long 2012). Finally, almost a year after the massacre, in July of 1996, forensic experts performed exhumations of some of the mass grave sites without the permission of Serb authorities (Long 2012).As time displace on, more grave sites were discovered and examined, and more bodies were accounted for, Investigators found many bodies in smaller graves in areas farther from Srebrenica (Long 2012). The bodies were easily linked to Srebrenica, as several licenses and photographs of Muslims who had been in Srebrenica were found in the graves (Long 2012). Even in the large graves with fewer bodies, forensic investigations found significant evidence suggesting that most of the victims were not killed during combat (Long 2012).Also, prosthetic limbs, canes, and crutches found in the graves suggested that many of the victims were severely handicapped and would not have been able to fight in combat (Long 2012). abundant forensic investigations of the Srebrenica ma ssacre sites have so far turned up some 3,000 bodies but only a few have been successfully identified (Jones 2002). The forensics teams who worked on the Srebrenica site gathered vital experience in their exhumation of the graves, and were able to employ their skills anew in the Kosovo gendercide four years later (Jones 2002).The retention of Srebrenicas men has been kept alive by their womenfolk, even though the women survivors of the Srebrenica genocide still live scattered as displaced persons in BiH (Simic 2009). In Tuzla where the majority of them fled during the genocide, these women established the association of the Mothers of Srebrenica (Simic 2009). The association has an important voice in BiH, demands a complete investigation of the massacre, the opening of mass graves and the identification and burial of their sons, husbands and fathers who vanished in July 1995 (Simic 2009).Although the Mothers only registered as association of citizens in 1999, their protests and per suasive efforts to bring about justice started back in 1996, when they stormed the Red Cross offices to protest a stalled investigation on the fate of their missing men (Simic 2009). The groups list of primary demands reads as follows The full facts of Srebrenica should be revealed and publicised. All graves should be exhumed and bodies identified without delay. Any survivors of Srebrenica held prisoner in Republika Srpska Bosnian Serb territories or the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia should be released immediately. The people of Srebrenica should be enabled to return to their homes. There should be a full & open international investigation into the misadventure of the UN to protect the Safe Area of Srebrenica. All indicted and suspected war criminals, including Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic and Slobodan Milosevic, and all those complicit with genocide, should be arrested and brought to trial (Jones 2002). In spring 2000, General Radislav Krstic, the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb c ommander before the UN War Crimes tribunal in The Hague, stood trial for the genocidal atrocities at Srebrenica (Jones 2002).In August 2001, Krstic was convicted and sentenced to 46 years in prison (Jones 2002). Conclusions In conclusion, the war between the Bosnian Muslims and the Bosnian Serbs was a turning point for the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Not only did it impact the citizens of the country, but it also impacted the structure and the politics of it. This began with the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia which consisted of the countries instanter known as Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro. After Bosnias independence declaration the country was plunged into conflict between the three major groups Serbs, Muslims and Croatians.An ugly war ensued between the Muslims and Serbs that lasted nearly 4 years. By July of 1995, thousands of civilians had taken refuge in the town of Srebrenica which was deemed a safe zone. In my opinion, the UN troops that were supposed to be protecting the country did a very poor job. The Serbian army began a vicious attack on the city and began the execution of thousands of Muslim men. Over 8000 men had been killed from July 11-16, 1995. Mass killings were performed in warehouses, schools and even soccer fields. Men were shot, bombarded with grenades and buried alive in some cases.Years later in 2007, the International Court of Justice came to a decision on the merits handed down in the case brought by Bosnia against Serbia where Bosnia accused Serbia of violating international humanitarian law, including genocide. The question of whether or not a country could commit the act of genocide was brought up the ICJ decided that it was possible. I, however, do not agree with this statement. I believe that in order for a country to commit genocide, every single citizen would have to take part in it and that was not the case.Of course the four men accused should be found guilty of genocide, but as for the country, I do not believe so. Serbia argued against the claims, stating that the bodies that were buried were Muslim soldiers and combat casualties and not victims of genocide. However, evidence of clothing, shoes, eyeglasses, canes and prosthetic limbs were found. Men who needed canes or prosthetic limbs would not be allowed to fight in combat and therefore the graves could not have been filled with soldiers. The massacre was ruled a genocide and charges have been made against the Serbs in charge of the attacks.In the future, I will conduct more research on this case to find a more in depth examination of both parties and what they had argued. Following the massacre, survivors came forward and offered testimonies, describing the events that happened. An exhumation of the grave sites began which helped gives names to bodies found in the graves. The skills larn through this process were later used in other genocides. The holding of the victims of Srebrenica has been kept alive by its women. They have started organizations such as Mothers of Srebrenica and changed the gender cast of society.With the men gone, women were forced into the role of head of household leaving social, psychological and economic consequences on the women. As devastating as the massacre was, I believe that the consequences have had an overall positive impact on Bosnian society. Women were now seen as members of society who could work the same jobs as men, and the Mothers have accomplished a lot for the citizens, for example ensuring that the facts of Srebrenica were available to the public. Further research could be conducted on the association to see more of what they had accomplished and how they did it.In my opinion, the Mothers of Srebrenica are inspirational and prove that no matter how bad an event may be, something positive can invariably come out of it. What happened during the Bosnian war was heartbreaking and terrible however, focus should be put on the good that came ou t of it, and the lessons that can be learned from the events that happened. References Cemic, J. (2007). Case concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), judgment of 26 February 2007, General List No. 91. Australian International Law Journal.Retrieved from http//go. galegroup. com/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA191955759&v=2. 1&u=ko_k12hs_d68&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w Jones, A. (2002). Case Study The Srebrenica Massacre, July 1995. Gendercide Watch. Retrieved from http//www. gendercide. org/case_srebrenica. html Li, D. (2000). Anatomy of a Balkan Massacre. Harvard International Review. Retrieved fromhttp//go. galegroup. com/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA67318464&v=2. 1&u=ko_k12hs_d68&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w Lischer, S. (2012). The Scars of Genocide. American Scholar. Retrieved fromhttp//go. galegroup. com/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA302117166&v=2. 1&u=ko_k12hs_d68&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w Long, L. (2006). The Srebrenica