Direct Democracy vs Representative Democracy Essay

Democracy began in Ancient Greece in fifth century B.C., meaning rule by the people it allows certain citizens to gather and make binding decisions together about the rule of the people Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people (Pericles speech from Thucydides 1972, cited in The Open University, 2020a). There is no consensus on what makes democracy, but there are universal values which are commonly agreed upon, including equality of citizens, political freedom, free and fair elections, civil and human rights, and access to justice.

Representative democracy is an electoral system where citizens who are eligible to vote, vote for a representative to make decisions on their behalf in parliament The House of Commons – (REF). Arguments in favor of having representatives include that it is more practical in larger populations and that decisions orand issues that need addressing urgently can be dealt with quicker by a smaller number of representatives. The representatives should be as well informed (if not better) than the public and have a good understanding and education on political matters. In addition, having representatives reduces the chance of minorities having their rights infringed on by majorities (Example, ref).

However, there may be flaws in a Representative Democracy relating to electing representatives. Once elected the representative may not vote in the way that his electorate were expecting. There is also a risk of corruption and decision making for one’s own advantage (Example REF) and there is a risk of having a large population who pay little attention to what is happening because they leave the responsibility to their representative.

Direct democracy is where the citizens vote for intended policies directly. There are currently no countries which have pure direct democracy governing (although some sates in the USA and cantons in Switzerland have direct democracy for local issues). However, Switzerland has a semi-direct democracy, whereby the country has elected representatives but also have direct participation in the form of regular referendums. There are many advantages to direct democracy. Every vote is equal, and victory is won on a majority vote, meaning that every individual has a personal stake in participating. Information from the government is readily available meaning more transparency and accountability and less opportunity for corruption. In addition, citizens should have a better understanding of policies and legislation at local and national levels.

Direct democracy does have negatives as well, such as not only the high cost and time involved in organizing and actioning referendums, but also the costs incurred from citizens having to partake (missing work etc…). Ss well as the time needed by citizens to keep up to date with all relevant information, the citizens also want to HAVE to participate and to be interested in what is happening. Time sensitive decisions would also have to be voted upon, meaning that by the time the vote has been organized and actioned that the matter may have passed (such as war or threat decisions). Majority vote results also do not take into consideration the rights of the minorities, meaning that civil and human rights of minority groups could be infringed upon.

A referendum is a direct vote for an issue or policy, there are two common types of referendum, Mandatory and optional. Mandatory referendums also called binding referendum, are referendums that are held due to being included legislation or constitution and the outcome of the vote is normally binding so the government must implement the result. (Example?). An optional referendum, also called advisory is a referendum in which the result is not binding, and the government can overturn or not implement it Some local referendums in Britain are required by law as they have been put into legislation (example ref).

The United Kingdom is a representative democracy and has used referendums three times for national decisions, Constitutional lawyer Albert Venn Dicey proposed for the use of referendums from 1890 (Atkinson et al, 2020), following on from Diceys proposal, various attempts were made to suggest holding referendums, including opponents of William Gladstone in 1983 suggesting that home rule of Ireland be put to the popular vote, 1903 when Joseph chamberlain proposed a referendum for his tariff reform and….(descr what happened from to 1975 100wds)

the first was in 1975 and people were voting on Do you think the United Kingdom should stay in the European Market?. The next in 2011 At present, the UK uses the first past the post system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the alternative voteâ system be used instead? And in 2016 the Brexit referendum.

As described, referendums in the United Kingdom have been few and held irregularly, as such they can be considered not familiar practice for the electorate who are expected to decide and vote in them.

A referendum voted on by an electorate with little understanding and education of the political structure and implications will surely be a referendum based on emotions instead of knowledge. Dicey in 1890 had concerns about if the public would make the right decisions [a]n appeal in matters of legislation from Parliament to the people is appeal from knowledge to ignorance. (Cited in Atkinson et al, 2020, p38).

However, by having regular referendums and a direct effect on parliamentary matters actually mean that an individual becomes more attuned and educated on political matters, Alex Thomson of the Clarion newspaper certainly thought so, he argued in a Clarion Pamphlet in 1900 that representative government was not true democracy and that the way to true Democracy will never be found through Delegacy. The only safe way is through direct legislation through the Referendum and Initiative. and that those referendums would serve to educate the people in self-government and ripen them for progress.

It is also worth considering the views of Higley and Mcallisters in their journal article Elite division and voter confusion’ they posited that asking voters to make decisions that require just a yes or no to sophisticated government legislation of policy, allows those in power to make claims that could be considered overly simplified and deliberately misleading (Higley and Mcallister, 2002). ( Brexit examples 100wds)

There have been many proponents for the regular use of referendums including Tony Benn, in 1968 Benn spoke at the Welsh Council of labour Annual conference, he advocated for a series of changes to take place, including a more open government, more awareness from government about society and more participation from the public ‘the five-yearly cross on the ballot paper is just not going to be enough. Inevitably we shall have to take a look at the objections to holding a referenda and see if they are still valid. (Benn, cited in Atkinson et al, 2020)

One person one vote, and the result of a referendum is the will of the people however participation in referendums is far from having all of the eligible citizens voting, The 1975 EU referendum had a 64% turnout and the 2011 Alternative vote referendum had a 42% turnout, these were low even compared to the general elections which in 2010 had a 65% turnout (Bowler, Donovan, 2013).

The 2016 EU referendum in the Uk had an extremely high 72.2% turnout, however the result was 51.9% in favour of leaving, had the vote been compulsory and the remaining electorate been compelled to vote, the result may look quite different. (The Electoral commission, 2019)

It is considered a right of citizenship to vote, in Ancient Athens those who did not vote were considered bad citizens (Blakely, 2019, p87).

Compulsory voting has been in place in Belgium since 1882, and Australia since 1924 (alongside 10 other countries that have enforced compulsory citizen voting) recent elections have shown high voter turnout belgiums had a 90.01% turnout in their 2011 election, and Australia having 91.9% voter turnout for its 2019 election (International IDEA, n.d).

Supporters of compulsory voting regard it as a more legitimate means of democracy when more citizens, as if democracy is government by the people, then it is every citizen duty to vote, however opposers of compulsory voting use the opposite point of view; that compulsory voting is not a marker of democracy as it relieves citizens of their freedom to choose whether to participate or not. (International IDEA, n.d)

Political scholar James Bryce (cited in Atkinson et al, 2020, p42) noted that referendums could be used to pass legislation a particular way and that the outcome if unexpected or challenged, being a decision of the people, this is certainly appearing to be true for the 2016 Brexit referendum, with cries of the will of the people used to halt any talk of upset over the result (ref)

The emphasis was slightly different to that of Chamberlain’s earlier in the century. He had stressed the idea of the device as a means of taking decisions (p.51) on important matters in a way that was insulated from party politics and could secure consensus; and maintained that without this approach certain bold outcomes might not be attained. For The Times, the starting point was the significance of the proposed policy as a break from the past, necessitating a special form of popular engagement.

Another use sometimes proposed for the referendum was as a means of deciding whether women should be able to vote in general elections. As early as February 1894, the Economist made a suggestion in this area. It held that the referendum wasnot likely to become part of our regular machinery, but that potentially it could be deployed to resolve matters such as the House of Lords veto or of Women’s Suffrage. 122 A problem with this idea was remarked upon by Asquith (who was unsympathetic to this cause) and others in the years leading up to the First World War. It involved whether or not women should be allowed to take part in such a referendum. The potential effectiveness of the mechanism as a means of resolving a particular dispute was undermined by the very controversy the resolution of which it was directed towards. To prohibit the participation of women would be to deny legitimacy to the process among supporters of the extension of the franchise; to allow it would be to pre-empt the referendum as a means of determining whether they were worthy of taking part in such an exercise.123 ) (Atkinson et al, 2020, p.51)

The 1945 Churchill call for a referendum differed from earlier occasions in that it came from a sitting Prime Minister, not a Leader of the Opposition. However, it is still depicted as opportunistic in character.152 The individual involved, moreover, had adopted different stances on this subject over his career. As in other areas, it is possible to find Churchill, effective with his chosen brief whatever it might be, on both sides of the argument. Even in his days as a member of the Liberal Asquith Government, though he broadly opposed Conservative proposals for referendums, he allowed for their possibility, including over female suffrage.153 He wrote to senior fellow members of the Liberal Government in December 1911, proposing the holding of two referendums posing questions on the vote first to the women, to know whether they want it: and then to the men to know whether they will give it.’ He said he would conform to whatever the outcome from such a process was.

eferendums are often portrayed as instruments that are dangerous to rights and freedoms, particularly in the case of minorities (Bell, 1978; Gunn, 1981; Gamble, 1997; Haider-Markel et al., 2007). This danger would come from a natural tendency of the majority to be tyrannical and discriminatory towards minorities. This fear was in fact an argument put forward by the Founding Fathers of the United States to outlaw referendums at the federal level (Magleby, 1995: 1920), and that country is the source of the greatest number of studies on the impact of referendums on minorities. Those studies show that, statistically, the risks of infringement of the rights of minorities are greater in states where direct democracy procedures are employed (Lewis, 2011).

but whom people are talking about because, in a given context, they give rise to fears often unjustified on the part of the majority. This is the case of Latin-American immigrants in the southern United States and foreigners in particular those of the Muslim religion in Switzerland, who are perceived as dangerous to the economy, culture and very identity of the host state.

Popular reaction to some minorities and some categories of people is also often related to a very specific context: a shocking current event (serial killing in the case of initiatives in favour of the death sentence or life imprisonment; massive immigration sometimes escalated by war – in a state in loss of identity or suffering an economic crisis (Alvarez and Butterfield, 2000,:2); growth in power of a minority claiming rights and protection (homosexuals, Muslims in secular or Christian-majority states). Such initiatives may also be in reaction against political choices made by representatives or against court decisions perceived as activist, in that they allegedly protect a minority against the majority will. Thus, Donovan says that direct-democracy campaigns over questions of minority rights are not simply about a particular right and a particular minority group but may also reflect reaction to counter-majoritarian aspects of democracy that are facilitated by courts and representative government (2013: 1743). He calls this reaction populist backlash (2013: 1740). Thus, anti-fair-housing and anti-busing initiatives in the United States occurred in reaction to the desegregation policy; proposition 17 concerning the death penalty in California was approved in 1972 to counter the Supreme Court decision of the same year declaring capital punishment to be unconstitutional; 12 in Ireland, one of the referendums proposed by the government in 1992 was on abortion and was directly intended to counter the Supreme Court decision of the same year that led abortion to be permitted in case of risk of suicide;

or unpopular minorities, direct democracy procedures seem to increase discrimination in two ways. On one hand, a number of studies show that representatives, not only because they discuss decisions to be taken among themselves within assemblies, but also because they have to justify their choices (Hainmueller and Hangartner, 2015: 34), are likely to make decisions that are more favourable to minorities. Representatives take into account a complex set of data, to justify a decision that will, in principle, be reasonable. In contrast, a referendum vote is considered more emotional than reasonable, especially since the various arguments and elements of the debate are often extremely simplified in referendum campaigns. Voters do not have to answer for the positions they take; the vote is anonymous (Christmann and Danaci, 2012: 136). Moreover, some authors have shown that the negative effects of referendums on minorities are not always immediately visible at the time of the vote (Lewis, 2011). The very existence of direct democracy mechanisms can have indirect effects, beyond the vote itself, on representatives. For example, Lewis (2011: 367 and 376), and Christmann and Danaci (2012: 147 and 153) show, regarding same-sex marriage in the United States and the policy applying to Muslims in Switzerland, that the parliaments of the states where there are direct democracy mechanisms are influenced by the very existence of those mechanisms and can, owing to this, be tempted to adopt stricter legislation targeting minorities out of fear of political reprisals (in the form of popular initiatives, recall or failure to be re-elected) by the majority of citizens. 21 Minorities are thus in a lose situation in that they are affected both by the decisions of the majority of citizens, but also by those of the majority of representatives.

The Main Policy Options For Reducing Global Inequalities

Global inequality describes the economic and social disparities between countries or individuals in the world. This includes income and wealth differences as well as access to education, sanitation and the freedom to make economic and social choices. Although it can be conceived that progress has been made towards closing the observable inequalities between nations and individuals, there have been notable divergences in the developing world between the extent to which inequalities have fallen (or risen) over the past decades due to the strength (or weakness) of the social and institutional infrastructure base adopted within these countries (Eunyoung, 2002). In what follows it will be argued that the main policy options, notably foreign aid, financial restructuring and the encouragement of equitable international trading practices, still have significant potential to mitigate the astonishing expanse of worldwide poverty and further improve the monetary and non-monetary factors for low-income citizens of developing nations. Finally, it will be made evident that, in order for said policies to fulfil their intended goal, an assessment will be made of the current mismanagement of the International Monetary Fund, whose main purpose is focused towards global monetary cooperation and global financial stability, as well as the World Trade Organisation, and how they are clear victims of corporate lobbying efforts, who ensure that the advanced western economies benefit unduly from globalisation and trade (Stiglitz, 2002).

Foreign Aid is a form of international monetary assistance carried out between official institutions which intends to improve the living conditions and reduce national inequalities of outcomes for impoverished citizens in developing nations. Capital inflows have the capacity to smoothen the transition of an economy through three key phases of economic growth characterized by the Chenery-Strout model (J. C. H. Fei and G. Ranis, 1968). This line of thought, known as the Modernist Theory approach, proposes that at each phase of growth, a country is constrained by an economic variable; whether this be related to the levels of skills and education accessible to the majority population, domestic savings rates or levels of foreign currency reserves. The role of foreign aid at each of these stages focusses on eliminating the constraint through providing an economy’s public and private institutions access to the funds necessary for investment purposes. The accumulation of physical capital resulting from investment expenditure in fixed assets like transport networks allows for the creation of internal markets through facilitating the interaction of consumers and producers, enabling producers of locally sourced goods to expand their operations and achieve economies of scale and thus improve their own incomes, whilst providing consumers access to goods and services that previously may have been scarce, thus improving not only their expected living conditions but also expand their access to the labour market (Mikic, et al. ASEAN Economic Community: A Model for Asia-Wide Regional Integration? Palgrave Macmillan US, 2016).

Nonetheless, this policy is fraught with downfalls that have earned it its poor reputation amongst policymakers. Firstly, we have assumed that foreign aid is fast acting and reaches those who are most in need of it, however as seen in countries such as Nigeria and Venezuela, the absence of a reliable political and regulatory framework has had the unintended consequence of impeding structural improvements from financial assistance through generating corruption endemics and monopoly exploitation that actually creates new barriers to economic development. Figure 1 supports this claim by representing the negative correlation between Aid as a percentage of GDP and Growth per Capita (Oxford University Press 25.02.2010, Mavrotas) (Review of ADB’s Policy-Based Lending). In order to mitigate the possibilities of this, development and macro-economists broadly hold the consensus that development assistance should be given conditional on the implementation of internally generated reforms that foster inclusive economic growth to reduce the disparities of income and opportunity.

Additionally, contesting the degree of global inequality will greatly depend on the International Monetary Fund’s responsiveness and adaptation to the requirements of developing nations. In its recent history, the IMF has championed the Washington Consensus that advocates a form of free-market capitalism. In this respect, many emerging markets of developing countries have been forced to comply with the Structural Adjustment Programmes so as to gain access to IMF loans (Emeagwali G. (2011) The Neo-Liberal Agenda and the Imf/World Bank Structural Adjustment Programs With Reference To Africa. In: Kapoor D. (eds) Critical Perspectives on Neoliberal Globalization, Development and Education in Africa and Asia. SensePublishers). In most cases, this involves the irresponsible liberalisation and deregulation of domestic financial and export-oriented markets, at a time where these countries lack the institutional infrastructure to protect domestic industries from the threats of global market forces. The East Asian financial crisis of 1997 was triggered in part due to the over indebtedness of domestic firms, overexposed to risky loans issued by western banks, which was in some measure due to the IMF’s commitment to ensure the accelerated opening of Asian capital markets to overseas institutions. The resulting economic instability led to the IMF insisting upon widespread tightening of monetary and fiscal policy across East Asia with the sole purpose of preventing rising inflationary pressures, before these countries were able to access its emergency bailout facility (Stiglitz, 2002). As demonstrated in Figure 2, the resulting demand derived unemployment shock experienced across East Asia and the corresponding real wage declines were to some extent consequences of many governments not being able to adequately respond through introducing sufficient employment protection measures, given the crippling fiscal constraints imposed on them (Social Consequences of the East Asian Financial Crisis, Tamar Manuelyan Atinc and Michael Walton, 1998.).

This one-size-fits-all approach taken by the IMF to ensure macroeconomic stability fails to assess the resulting burden faced by low-income individuals of these detrimental policy decisions. In another instance, the IMF required the government of Pakistan to scale back health and education subsidies in order to become viable for financial assistance, putting significant strain on the state of welfare of its low-income population, many of whom were no longer able to access its healthcare system without government assistance or receive a quality education, given cutbacks in per student spending (Isran, Manzoor Ali. “Economics of Austerity and Its Social Cost: A Critical Assessment of IMF Policies in Pakistan from 1988-2002.” Journal of Independent Studies &Amp; Research: Management &Amp; Social Sciences &Amp; Economics, vol. 12, no. 1, 2014, pp. 90–112). This has had the effect of reducing both the short-term inequality of outcomes and opportunity of those in the lower quartiles of the income distribution, given their greater dependency on state-funded services, as well as driving down the levels of human capital within the population resulting from poorer health and education services. This may not only narrow access to the labour market for these individuals in the long-term but also put downward pressure on wages given that a greater proportion of workers have to compete for low-skilled, low paid employment, thus worsening international inequality as average incomes in developing nations fall.

Alternatively, the IMF must now begin to take a country-specific approach to determine what policy choices are correct for supporting the financial and economic stability of low-income developing countries (Mavrotas, 2010). This should include debt cancellation programmes designed to bring countries into a state of recovery who have previously been burdened by economic austerity to guarantee that they meet their external debt payments. Restructuring of national debt is imperative now, due to current emerging market debt payment levels being at their highest since 2004 (Jubilee Debt Campaign, 18 March 2018). This is driven primarily due to interest rates beginning to rise in the United States, which has led to the increased cost of servicing US denominated sovereign debt. This trend may be set to continue if countries continue to roll over on their debts, creating a vicious cycle whereby new debt issuance is required to meet outstanding payments (Wernau, Julie. Wall street. Journal, 17 July 2018: B:11). Debt cancellation has the potential reduce the extent of international inequality through freeing up a nations fiscal and monetary position to allow the state to carry out a more active role in economic and social progress.

Evidence proves that countries that have been able to shift towards a Neo-Keynesian style policy combination aimed at supporting aggregate demand during recessionary periods as well as provide the means for supply-side improvements have also experienced rising average incomes. In the case of Ethiopia, where growth rates have averaged 10% since 2000 whilst income inequality remained relatively low, as noted by a Gini coefficient of 0.39 and a Palma ratio of 1.9 (United Nations Human Development reports, taken from World Bank Data). During this period Ethiopia has greatly reduced the overdependence it once had on commodity exports and transitioned to have a majority service and manufacturing base. This is the result of a prudently governed fiscal deficit averaging 2% of GDP per year over the past decade that has allowed the Ethiopian government to begin to invest in infrastructure reforms which is now starting to generate positive externalities for the Ethiopian population in the form of job creation as well as access to health and education services. This crucial development towards a more equal and equitable society perhaps would not have been possible under the guidance of IMF policymakers who throughout this period insisted that Ethiopia’s fiscal position would lead them towards political and social crises (Stiglitz, 2002).

Equally, from an international trade perspective, underdeveloped countries are often the victims of one-sided beggar-thy-neighbour-style trade agreements that are designed so that advanced economies absorb the majority of the returns from trade with developing countries (Mavrotas, 2010). As opposed to the expected pareto improving outcomes of international trade that involves all members deriving positive net gains, there is an apparent zero-sum game arising from the current international trade agenda. This can be assigned to the ineptness of the World Trade Organisation in regulating trade negotiations, in particular between developed and developing nations to ensure the conclusion of mutually beneficial agreements (Brown, C.P. (2004)“On the Economic Success of GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement.” Review of Economics and Statistics 86(3) pp. 811-823). Stiglitz (Stiglitz, Joseph E. Making Globalization Work. Penguin, 2007) highlights that such trade negotiations are asymmetric in nature, describing how developed countries maintain their own protectionist trade policies whilst they press developing countries to abolish their own trade barriers. Stiglitz uses the example of the trade distorting subsidies – which can be classified as a form of hidden protectionism, provided to large farming corporations in the United States to show the deadweight loss created through trade. He explores how small-scale local farmers of the developing world are usually the first to suffer from expanding global supply levels and falling prices resulting from such subsidies. It is often the case that domestic farmers are forced to accept lower incomes or face unemployment as a result given the absence of reliable social protection programmes in many of these countries. This of course carries negative externalities to the rest of society in terms of income diminution because primary sector employment in many low-income developing countries still comprises a large proportion of aggregate employment.

With this in mind, one could argue that in order to eliminate the apparent inequities of the current system, a multi-tiered system is necessary to end the underrepresentation of developing countries on the international stage. This approach includes the World Trade Organisation taking a greater responsibility in restricting the lobbying efforts of the elite powers of the western world by encouraging the formation of new value enhancing multilateral free trade deals rather than deadweight loss-inducing bilateral deals. Such arrangements encourage developing countries to harmonise their external trading practices so as to protect their common interests. It is a recurring issue that bilateral free trade deals often end up disproportionately favouring advanced economies (Bernard Hoekman, David Vines; Multilateral trade cooperation: what next? Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Volume 23, Issue 3, 1 October 2007, Pages 311–334) given the negligible negotiation power many emerging economies have in determining their own terms of trade during the deal making process (See Figure 4). Unfavourable Terms of Trade for these economies refers to the deficiency of export income that is generated relative to the value of import expenditure based on the fact that import prices are relatively more expensive than export prices.

What Is Patriotism? Essay

Are you proud of what race you came from? Do you love your own country? Are you willing to protect your mother country no matter what happens? Now in our essay, our focus is to talk about patriotism and why a person wants to be a patriot.

What’s patriotism going to be? It is an act of expressing affection for their own homeland or country. Meaning, if an individual, by heart or by nature, has patriotism and will certainly work hard with honesty and loyalty and do everything for his own country. His resolve to fight for his own country’s sake all his life is the first thing that comes to his mind. This person has a deep connection and compassion for his motherland. Having true compassion and the power to fight for his country.

A patriot aim is to showcase his concerns and do something about the progress and development of his country. He also behaves and makes choices that reflect on how his own nation profits positively from what he does. A patriot is selfless and loves to do something for the sake of his country. Honesty and integrity are also an important thing for him that he can do at the cost of his country. It is sufficient for them to demonstrate loyalty and integrity to gain respect.

These patriots are people who deserve respect and trust from their homeland, and because of the selfless act they are doing for their country, they are very important in every country. A true patriot plays an important role in their country’s growth. They’re the people facing trials and battling for their countries’ interests, and they’re the people who always stand for the facts about their homeland. The reason why the patriots have the courage and motivation to do whatever is necessary for their country is because of their unmovable love and kindness for their homeland.

Real patriots are always eager to serve his country. Some of the samples of people who can be considered as a patriot are the country leaders, military or armies, and some heroes, they are all put their life at risk just to show their love and serve their valued country. Having consideration and affection for their countrymen is also part of getting a level of patriotism. In other words, if they love their own country, they love their countrymen as well.

Patriotism is one of the essential attributes that should always be had by all individuals or people. It should always display a good motive to have this standard. In loving our country, there is nothing wrong, but we need to be sure that we will not look down on our neighboring countries. It is nice to know if a patriot is willing to fight for their nation’s independence and rights, but it is bad if he has violent patriotism that can ruin his country ‘s vision. We should all look at this as the good side of being a patriot, that it can be strengthened and taken care of to have this consistency.

A patriot should always be open-minded, think broadly, and have a viewpoint that all people have equal self-respect, self-worth, and dignity in life. Even he loves his homeland, he should not think to have a goal of diving countries, he should aim a goal and have perspective and vision that in the future the whole world will not live in the division but will function as one and good relationship with each other. These things are not impossible for those patriots who are fighting for peace and his patriotism in his heart can make it happen.

It should always be in our hearts to love our own people, and wherever we go, we should always stand and be proud of what race we have come from. If you are staying in another world, do not be ashamed to demonstrate your true race. Remember, our race and our homeland are still helping us realize who we really are. No matter what, we should always love our homeland.

What Is Patriotism Essay

All of us are proud of what race we came from and all of us love our own country no matter what happens. Now in our essay, we will talk about patriotism and how we can say that one person s a patriot.

First, we are defining patriotism as love for own country or homeland. It means one person who’s having patriotism by heart is working hard and honestly doing something for his own country, like sacrificing himself or his whole life for the sake of his own country. Part of this patriotism is his strong connection and compassion for his motherland. He as a patriot is always concerned for the improvement and growth of his country. His actions and all his decisions are always focused on how his country can benefit from his deeds and how he can give pride to his own country. A patriot will not do anything just for his interest, he will always be honest and loyal for the cost of his country. If one person is a real patriot, he will be one of the pride and asset of his homeland.

One of the characteristics of being a real patriot is having real compassion and having the courage to fight for his country. He will always be willing to sacrifice something and not be scared to offer his life for the sake of his country. One of the best examples of people who have patriotism are the soldiers, they are a group of people who always sacrifice their life for them to get the freedom that their country needed. They are not afraid to lose their life in a time of war, they aim to fight not for themself but for the cost of their loved country and they have unmeasurable sympathy, consideration, and kindness for their countrymen. They are respected and admired by their fellow citizens who cried when those soldiers passed away because their life was sacrificed. Like the soldiers, one who is a real patriot is always ready to sacrifice his all. He even put his own life at risk for his country. Real patriots always have the eagerness to serve their homeland. Not only do soldiers have this attitude of patriotism, but even some of the leaders in every country can also be considered as those patriots who put their life at risk just to serve their loved country. Some of them have real concern and love for their countrymen and they are real patriots, but some of them are serving as a leader, not for the sake of their country but only care about their interests, so they are considered traitors or fake patriots.

Those patriots are very important in every country, they deserve the respect and trust of their homeland due to the sacrifices that they are doing for their country. He is a loyal citizen. But what is the role of the patriot in his own country? A real patriot plays an important role in the progression of his own country. They are the one who stands strong, face trials, and fight for the rights of their countries. Their unchanged real love and compassion for their homeland give them the courage and motivation to do whatever their country needed.

We can proudly say that patriotism is one of the important virtue that all people and countries should have. But patriotism should not be aggressive if it will be aggressive his motive to give peace and prosperity to his country will lead to danger. Yes, it’s good to have a love for his homeland but it’s not good if his patriotism will look down on other countries. Having aggressive patriotism will destruct one’s vision for his country. We should always look at this patriotism as a good quality that can develop and preserve. A real patriot should open his mind broadly and have a perspective that all people have equal dignity in life, that even if he loves his homeland he should not keep in his mind that his country and another country should have division, he should include in his perspective and vision that someday the whole world will be one and will have a mutual and good relationship with each other, having his patriotism in heart can make it happen. Always remember that all patriots are one of the pride of every country.

Some Countries Have Become Too Powerful and Exploit Weaker Countries: An Essay

The phenomenon of trading with and aiding foreign countries has been around for centuries. Trade is defined as the buying and selling of goods and services, and aid as a source of help or assistance. As of 2019, it can be seen that the countries that trade and provide the most aid are amongst some of the countries with high Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers, and Human Development Indexes (HDI). These include the US (with a trade value of $2.5 trillion), China (trade value of $1.65 trillion), and Germany (HDI of more than 0.9). The US and China also have the two highest GDP’s in the world. This ultimately shows that it is desirable to engage a great deal in trade and aid. However, with such great benefits that come with trade and aid, could there be more sinister incentives, disguised as helping the less fortunate? I thought this topic was suitable to cover since I, as an Economics student, think that past events shown throughout history have shown that powerful countries often use weaker ones to their benefit. In this report, I will investigate if and why corruption, manipulation, and the act of gaslighting occurs to the less fortunate to submit to the demands of powerful countries. To begin with, research has been conducted to show that assets and money given to poorer countries pale in comparison to what richer countries have gained. This again shows the relevancy of the question as evidence shows that richer countries do use poorer countries. My research will be focused globally, and more contemporarily, on the relationship between China and Sri Lanka, the US and Ukraine and nationally, I look into Malaysia’s relationship with China. To dive into history, I investigate the First Opium War between Britain and China.

Hambantota Port

China has a reputation for setting up debt traps to encase poorer countries such as Nigeria and Sri Lanka. This occurs when China loans money to them. When they fail to repay the debt, China imposes authority and forces them to submit to their wants, also known as the debt-trap diplomacy. In 2008, Sri Lanka’s ex-president, Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered a new port to be built despite the port being impractical strategically, logically and financially (due to their pending debt to other countries). As Sri Lanka lacked the funds to finance the port, they sought financial assistance from China. China financed 85% of the total $436.5 million needed to build the port. The port was opened in November and turned out to be a flop as it only made a profit of $1.81 million in 2016. This resulted in Sri Lanka facing difficulties in repaying the loans China lent them, and as compensation, Sri Lanka lent the port to China for 99 years, in return receiving $1.1 billion to repay their pending debts to China only. However, The Diplomat published articles claiming that the money received was used to strengthen Sri Lanka’s foreign currency with the foreign reserves the received, not to repay the debts, therefore there was no cancellation of debt. Initially, there were concerns raised on the security of the port, as China could have possibly used it for military purposes as they did with the military base in Djibouti, but Sri Lanka has dismissed these by revising of the deal by putting Sri Lanka in charge of security such as deciding which ships can dock at the port (be it a Chinese ship or not) and limiting China’s role to the ownership of the port. reference

I think that this is an example where both countries stood to gain under the guise of trade and aid. Whilst China now owns a port for nearly a century that can be beneficial to their Belt-and-Road Initiative, Sri Lanka also could strengthen their foreign reserves, therefore making exports cheaper.

The US and Ukraine

Since 2014, the US has given more than $1.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine. The aid given is extremely vital to Ukraine as it helped decrease their casualty rates from the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine by 60%. Ukraine also holds significance to the US, as it is now the fifth most country to outsource IT. furthermore, defending Ukraine against Russia maintains international law. However, in early July of 2019, Trump withheld the aid summing up to $391 million, from reaching Ukraine. He wanted Ukraine to launch investigations on Joe Biden and his son as Joe Biden is Trump’s number one rival in the 2020 presidential election. Finding out information that could damage Biden’s reputation is extremely beneficial to Trump, although using foreign help to affect the elections is illegal. When this was exposed, many thought that withholding the aid was a way of forcing Ukraine to submit to his bidding. Although Trump confirmed these rumors to his Senator, he denied them publicly. In the 2016 US elections where Trump and Hilary Clinton went head-to-head, Clinton had some help from Ukraine by supposedly “disseminating documenting a top Trump aide in corruption” and researching “damaging information on Trump and his advisors”, as U.S Attorney General William Barr claimed. this could show that since Ukraine was in favor of Trump’s opponent, he could have even more initiative to spite them. Furthermore, he has a history of withdrawing aid when he’s concerned, like when he withdrew aid from three South American countries after they didn’t do enough to reduce illegal migration.

This to me is an obvious abuse of power. Ukraine heavily depends on the US for most of its military training and services, and President Trump used that to his advantage. Although his staff and he claim he has done nothing wrong, evidence from both witnesses and published information show that Trump used his leverage for his gain. Thankfully, after legal concerns arose, he continued the aid to Ukraine.

The First Opium War

This example is a war between Britain and China. It was the consequence of the British illegally exporting drugs from India to China, which lead to an increased number of opioid addictions in China. As any country would, China put a stop to the illegal trade, but Britain retaliated by destroying Chinese infrastructure, taking control of the city of Nanjing and refusing to send two British people who murdered while under the influence of alcohol for trial. To put a stop to these acts, the Nanjing treaty was signed in 1842. As a result of the treaty, Hong Kong was given to Britain for 156 years. China had to set limited taxes on British goods and allow the British to trade with five more ports whenever they wanted to. China also had to pay for the damages the war had caused.

This treaty is known as the first unequal treaty between both countries. Though the treaty stopped the violence, it completely took advantage of China, who at the time, was less powerful and equipped than the British. It is an example of abusing one’s power to acquire their wants. This could have been avoided had Britain acted fairly, and accepted that their citizens were in the wrong. Due to the unequal balance of power, Britain managed to make themselves the victims, and not only committed crimes in a foreign land, but they also made China pay for the mess they made, and more.

Malaysian 1MDb Scandal

Malaysia too has not been exempted from abusing power to fit personal needs. I’m referring to none other than the 1MDb scandal that brought a negative image to the country. The 1 Malaysia Development Berhad was a fund opened in 2009 to encourage Malaysian development through foreign partnerships and investments. It gained attention after the Wall Street Journal published an article in 2015 stating that $700 million of the fund was channeled into the then Prime Minister, Najib Razak’s bank account, presumably to fund him and his wife’s expensive lifestyles. It was revealed by Najib’s, ex-special officer, that Najib sent him on a ‘secret mission’ to China in June 2016 to reconfirm economic investments and bonds between China and Malaysia. He was accompanied by the infamous Jho Low, who not only went as a translator but also as a middle man to discuss the usage of Chinese investments to pay off the accumulated debt from the 1MDb (and less popularly, SRC) fund, with China. As a result of the discussions, mutual agreements were made to give China the East Coast Rail Link, Trans- Sabah, and Kuala Lumpur – Bangkok high-speed rails, to in turn receive a paid debt.

This example shows how having a relationship that originated from trading can subsequently lead to an abuse of power, from both sides. Had the ex-prime minister not lost power, there is a strong possibility that China would have ended up owning many Malaysian railways.

Courses of Action

I think to combat this growing trend of corruption, change needs to happen from within. Firstly, corrupted should be voted out, and that isn’t easy as oftentimes, they have the power to bribe and unfairly attract voters. Therefore, voters should be educated on the impacts of unfair governments so they can objectively judge who they vote for without biases or vested interests. Corruption is a sure indicator of a less developed country, and so exterminating it should be a main goal of leaders.

Powerful countries should also refrain from taking the resources of poorer countries, and work to better living standards, as eventually, it will benefit them too. This can be done by trading fairly and keeping trade surpluses and deficits at low values. Much like the U.S Marshall plan, aid can be given, however, it is unadvised to do so as it can lead to unfair and biased treatment. This also helps developed countries, as firstly, they gain a humanitarian image, encouraging more foreign investments and bonds. Richer countries are also less likely to go to war, and with better living standards, people from less developed countries can begin to afford more expensive imports, which also benefits the already developed countries.

Conclusion

In my opinion, I do think that trade and aid can lead to an abuse of power. Shown throughout past and current events, there is a prominent trend in stronger countries using weaker countries to their benefit, while disguising their intents as gracious acts of help. The Hambantota port and first opium war show that trade can lead to corruption, while the Marshall Plan shows that foreign aid can work to help countries while also doing so for personal gain. Trading and aiding out of pure generosity is very rare, as many countries want what benefits and will bring them the most revenue. Therefore, I do think that trade and aid lead to an abuse of power.

The Approaches To Overcome Inequality

Inequality can be described as the uneven distribution of opportunities, prizes, and power between individuals, households, and groups (Turner, 2006). This division, based on differences between people, is the fundament of every modern and class-divided society.

Inequality has risen across the world for several decades; some countries have decreased the numbers of extremely poor people, but economic differences have increased as the most wealthy accumulate exceptional levels of riches. Among industrial nations, the United States is by far the top-heavy, with much greater contributions of national wealth and income going to the richest 1% than any other country.

We cannot think that the only element that defines inequality is economy; there are various types of it, such as social inequality, which is the difference about privileges, sources and rewards that a group of people consider uneven and damaging for the potentialities of individuals, it is an objectively measurable and subjectively perceived difference. One of the main indicators of social inequality is the distribution of income and wealth. From the late 1970s, the distribution of income and wealth has become more unequal than the previous decades in most avant-garde economies of the planet and the total income of the poorest 10% of the population actually fell between 1979 and 1992 (Abercrombie, Hill and Turner, 2006). The Guardian reported that the UK ranks among the most uneven nations in Europe, but is more equal than the US, the most separated wealthy country world widely (Partington, 2019).

Other than income and wealth, we need to consider different elements – for instance race, gender, education, class and much more – that is part of the uneven administration of opportunities and the division in classes.

First, class can appear as a subjective location, a social category used by people in an economically stratified system; or it can be defined objectively regarding material standards of living. It can be said that class inequality is linked to wealth and economy, whereas status inequality is linked to prestige and opportunities. Either way class is still the fundament of every modern stratified society.

There are theories of stratification, such as the functional theory of stratification, which argue that stratification is universal, because societies need the best-qualified people to undertake essential tasks, and they required to be rewarded appropriately. The main belief of the functionalist school is that we need stratification in order for a society to work. On the other hand the Conflict school argues that inequality is the result of a competition for scarce resources and that public institutions maintain social hierarchies through ideology.

Moreover, inequality concerns deprivation: the uneven access to social goods. This can be influenced by stratification, since people have different opportunities depending on their social class and their prestige, but also gender and race are causes of deprivation still in the twenty-first century.

Janet Chafetz, professor of sociology at the University of Huston in Texas, focused her studies on gender and sociology roles, trying to develop a scientific theory on gender dynamics. Chafetz assets that there are two kinds of forces sustaining gender inequality: coercive and voluntary. Coercive forces concern males having resource advantages above women at the macro-level of social structure and using this advantage to control micro-encounters among men and women. Voluntary forces chase from these previous forces because once a system favouring males exists, it restrains the options given to women (Turner, 2005).

Whether if it is based on economy, society or culture, inequality has consequences; while some stage of inequality cannot be avoid in a market- based organisation, drastic divisions might have widespread consequences. Brexit in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump in the US, likewise increasing support for new political movements in Europe from both edges of the political spectrum, have been associated with rising inequality. Ted Howard, co-creator of the Democracy Collaborative, a left wing research institute, claims that three people – Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett – are more whealty than bottom 160 million people in the US. “It’s not just as an economic fairness issue but also a democratic issue” he says. Ahead political divisions the growth of inequality might appear in negative economic results. Right wing economists have explained that redistributing earnings is counter-productive, but the IMF (International Monetary Found) believes societal divisions can destabilise growth and build the circumstances for an immediate decreas. Economies can be suffocated when thousands of people are kept back from supporting to their full potentiality (Partington, 2019).

Furthermore, it is necessary to understand what people think about inequality. Marmot said that a common answer was to look at as discriminatory the fact that some parts of society have worse health. Some comparative searching projects (Aalberg, 2003) have tried to determine public point of view on inequality. UK public opinion appears more bothered about high incomes at the top than low incomes at the bottom. As with health inequality, studies have concentrated less on population endorsement of economic difference than on public views of the sources of inequality or poverty. Some studies are one country studies, especially of the USA (Alves and Rossi, 1978), where sustain for complete equality is absolutely little (around 5%) even though support for diminish inequality is higher (Miller, 1992). Support for who has a fair share of income and advantages (strongly agreeing plus agreeing) raged from 37% in Japan to 11% in Estonia. Sustenance for statements that income diversities are too great or much too great changed from 91% in Slovenia to 59% in East Germany. The datas for Britain were that 29% agreed or strongly agreed that everybody should have an even contribution and 75% said that income diversities were too great or much too great (cited in Howarth et al., 2019).

Finally, it is important to understand that inequality does not concern just one society or one country, but it is a global issue that must not be ignored. It could be possible, not to eliminate inequality, but to reduce the disparity among societies.

My Critical View of America and Its Perfection: Critical Essay

America is under the false impression that it is the best nation on Earth, which is funny because America is the only one that thinks so. Around the globe, countries strive to gain the respect and admiration of other populations, and in doing so, America is losing some of its might in the international community. From my point of view, the U.S. is not the best country in the world because it repeatedly fails to care for the health, education, and safety of its citizens.

For a country to be considered the best country on Earth, it surely must consider the well-being and happiness of its citizens. Unfortunately for America, the results are not stellar. The United States has the second highest rate of lifelong depression, with 19.2% of the population suffering from this mental illness at least once in their life (McMillen). It has the fifth-highest rate of cancer, with 352.2 cases for every 100,000 people (Sheth). It is the twelfth most obese country, with a startling 36.2% of the population being overweight (Dillinger). With all these health issues, one would hope that America would have a healthcare system properly equipped to deal with these challenges, however, that is not the case. According to an article by ABC News, a shocking study revealed that nearly 20% of Americans do not have health care. That means that one in every five Americans cannot afford or receive the care they need.

Additionally, America has gradually gotten worse and worse rankings for education. Over the past 30 years, the United States has dropped from 6th to being 27th, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. In a study comparing 71 countries, the United States ranked 38th in math testing, and 24th in science. Without a solid education system, America’s children grow up less prepared than kids in other countries, giving them a significant disadvantage, especially in STEM-related fields. If our kids aren’t as smart as kids in other countries, how are they supposed to grow up and be the best? Countries like China, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Finland, and Liechtenstein are nailing the PISA test, an international system meant for evaluating education, while the U.S. continues to fall behind. That’s not ideal!

Lastly, the number of mass shootings that occur in America towers over that of any other country. In 2019 alone, there have been 283 shootings as of the first of September. This means that there have been more shootings than days so far this year. Not to be a downer, but that isn’t a statistic that a country should be proud of, particularly not if they are striving to be the ‘best’. Furthermore, the United States has a higher incarceration rate than any country of similar size and stature to our own. The U.S. sends more people to prison than even totalitarian regimes like Russia. A country where people commit so many crimes is probably not the number one best country in the world.

Some, however, would argue that America is the best country because of our many individual freedoms and liberties. Certainly, there are a lot of rights available to us as American citizens, but those rights are not exclusive to America. We get excited over our freedom of speech, but 19 other countries, including Brazil, Germany, Kenya, and Australia, have the exact same right. We have the right to an education, well so do 135 others like Norway, Japan, India, and Canada, some of which even provide education for free. Americans love the idea of life, liberty, and property, but those things can be acquired in almost every first-world country. Nearly anything America has to offer can be found in another country. So why should America be considered the best?

Any good thing that America has can also be found in several other countries, and therefore America is not particularly outstanding on a global level. It may have been at one point, but with the world making incredible advancements in healthcare, education, and human rights, the United States is falling behind. If the U.S. wishes to be a contender for the best country on Earth, it needs to work hard.

Essay About My Experience of Moving to Another Country

Imagine moving to Japan when you are seven years old. Growing up in the military I have seen a good portion of the world. Japan though is to date the most memorable. See when you are a kid everything is new and exciting to you, more so when you think you are going to go see things that you only see on television. I am talking ninjas, samurai, and shogun. I was going to see it all. I would find out there was more to the Japanese culture than I knew at the time.

It was 1989 I had just turned seven when I found out I would be living in Japan for a few years. I had loved watching samurai movies and movies with ninjas in it, I knew I would love Japan. On the plane ride over there I was asking my dad every question in the book about the people and if I will see ninjas. His reply was something to the point of if you see them then they are not good ninjas are they. Upon landing on Yokota Air Force Base I realized my thoughts about Japan where completely wrong. There were no samurai to greet us no ancient castles in the background I had been ripped off.

After a few weeks of nothing dad came up and said we were going to some local festival to check it out. Japanese festivals are a sensory overload of culture at times. They have something happening all over the place, food everywhere, and all sorts of things for kids. A few of the things they had to eat were grilled squid on a stick, grilled corn on the cobb, tempura cotton candy, and various other traditional things. Then they had one of the coolest things any kid would want to see, a reenactment of a samurai battle. Complete with horses and the whole nine yards. Being seven years old I was in complete awe of what I was watching. Shortly there-after we started going to all kinds of local event.

We were only supposed to be in Japan for three years but my dad met my stepmother. We stayed on mainland for another two years, then three more on Okinawa. The whole time I was getting immersed in Japanese culture. I was picking up the language and meeting friends. I would be given some Yen to go visit friends for the weekend and travel by train to their town; at times an hour or so away. I would also go visit my grandfather and grandmother by train or bus up north in the Aomori prefecture. A lot of my fellow Americans would think it is strange to let a 10- or 12-year-old to ride a train that far by themselves; but to them that is their culture. They trust people and their children. A person of legal age can buy beer from a vending machine on the streets. Or most the time parents will send their kids to the store to buy groceries and a beer; because they know that the owner will make sure the beer made it to them.

The Japanese are a very prideful people and will do anything for anyone, if you show them the proper amount of respect that they deserve. Growing up there over I learned a great deal about what Japan was as a culture. They take great pride in everything they do. Be it a home garden or to the making bullet train or Shinkansen. The Japanese students start learning English at the age of about 10. The students overall go to school all year round with little more than a couple weeks in between, depending on what course you are taking. I guess this is why they have one of the highest education rates in the world.

I had gotten to see a lot of the history in Japan. From caves that the Japanese soldiers hid out in on Okinawa, and where many eventually committed seppuku. Seppuku is the way to save face they when defeated they would disembowel themselves with a short blade, while someone stood behind them and removed their head. I had gotten to see and tour castles where shogun lived that were appointed by the emperor. Dad and I climbed Mount Fuji not once but twice. We did many other things together.

The Japanese are a great and diverse people that I for one am glad I got to spend so much time around. I had gotten to see a great many things, and learned a great deal. They have inspired much of our own culture at times, even though most people do not know it. They also continue to try and better themselves along with trying to better the world. Though they are not perfect and have made their own mistakes they have learned from them. They also have good ninjas because I have yet to see a real one.

Love Your Country Like a Hero: Essay

This subject taught me many things one is how to think deeper based on his works among all the works that we tackled only few and certain things remembered and gave me an idea of things, how can bravery take place as a woman, Filipino, youth and as a student. One certain thing struck me most and that is his work entitled ‘kundiman’ wherein he showed how love can conquer everything. He used the ‘kundiman’ type of love basically for woman but for him it is for his country. First when we think about love for a woman in the older times the first thing that comes into our mind is all the efforts, we can often see is in the man side. Long process and phases include during the old practice of courtship here in the Philippines. Courtship in the Philippines contains standards and not just only a hear say but it’s a serious matter when you court the person you like. The man will do anything just to pursue the girl he likes. Serenade also takes place during the old times wherein the guy will sing in front of the house of the woman she likes the common scenario is the woman will always stand in front of their house’s balcony and the guy is usually at downstairs this means that the guy is really looking up for that girl he likes. The guy also shows his love not to the woman she likes but also to the whole family of that certain girl to show some respect and sincerity usually the suitor brings with him a small appreciation gift for the family members such as food or during those time jewelries are very common. While in Rizal’s poem he showed the love for his country and expressed it by a poem as if the girl he is pertaining to the poem is the motherland itself. At first, he taught that the country will be hopeless at all since after all the colonialism that happened in the Philippines left the country hopeless to the point that they get everything they want from our country and turned their back away bringing with them all the necessary things with them. He is being positive that our country will get its independence from its colonizers. He is still hoping that any time soon there’s always a hope for his motherland, He will do everything with his co-Filipino to bring back what is supposed for our country. He is also willing to offer his life for the sake of his country so that it will totally get its freedom. That’s the time where Filipino-ness comes because our trade mark as a Filipino is being brave specially on the different things that might happen we are always ready to face anything even if sometimes we frightened, optimistic in a way that any disaster comes along you can never see Filipino who loses hope they are always positive in any perspective, caring (includes being hospitable) you can see Filipinos in every occasion who prepares a lot of food because we Filipino knows how to share and care for other people. Sometimes we let people join us during gatherings even if we don’t know them very well and even on the streets you smile to people you randomly bumped into but during the previous year bayanihan is one of the most famous taglines for the Filipino in a picture it usually shows man power with different people who is carrying a bahay kubo or nipa hut that is mostly the visual representative of bayanihan. The people who work hard not for their own sake but for everyone’s sake and many more characteristics can a Filipino can show. That’s only few of the characteristics that a one Filipino should have and should possess.

Loving Myself and My Country

I can relate to Rizal by how I love my life and my country. Of course, for me I can show love within me by taking care of myself. I should understand first any situation before I entering so that I know what might happen if anything gone wrong. I am independent enough to handle things and I need to get tough especially on times that I’ve encounter struggles in life. In loving my country, the usual Filipino will say you should fight for your country, you must need to know the history of the Philippines and learn to fight for it but as I go thru reflecting, I think deeper is that the real meaning of loving your own country? Yes, part of me says yes, but I know those situations mentioned above are only part of showing love for country because for me loving country starts within small things like obeying rules and regulation since most of us are claiming we are a Filipino but are you a real Filipino if you are having a hard time to obey rules and regulation to your own motherland. Next is buying Philippine products instead of international products some of us Filipino has this kind of thinking that if we buy things from other country, we think we are already ‘in’ but you are wrong because for me buying different products means they are ashamed of what they have, they tend to buy other products because they are not proud of what they have and that’s more embarrassing for him/her. Third is you don’t lose hope when it comes to your own country you always think positive whatever might happen because you know that your country’s pride won’t die as long as someone or the people within that country support and will serves as the pillars of one another. Fourth is you know how to look back to your country wherever you are because looking back is incomparable the feelings and the memories will remain the same that’s why you should not change the country where you are born. Lastly is you have the respect not just to yourself but also to the people around you because loving your country doesn’t mean you love the country itself but also the people who makes the Philippines as a nation with a heart.

As a Filipino to My Country

I can show love for my country as a Filipino by continuing being a Filipino and being proud because I know I have the characteristics that only a real Filipino have. I can show love by protecting the things we have here in the Philippines and never try to interchange it with any other things that might cause of a negative effect about certain things in our country. Also I can show love for my country just for instance we wanted to go to other place instead of going out of the country why not try to visit first all the beautiful tourist spots here in the Philippines because I believe each country has its own uniqueness and all the sites that can be seen on the other country has a Philippine version of it and it is more advantage because you will able to see first the beauty of your own place and it will made you feel the love at first sight where you really belongs to.

As a Woman Citizen to My Country

We all know that women have the skills to do anything and even a man’s job, they can turn feminine into masculine very quickly because they are willing to offer something even if it is out of their comfort zone. Woman is good in adapting things as the love for our country I can say that me being a woman I am good at expressing love for my country not just in words but also in action. I can determine what kind of love that our country needs just like a mother she knows what is the best for her children and what do they need in just one snap. Being a woman has an important role in our country because aside from giving a never-ending love for our country a woman doesn’t just send love for a country, but they also can complete the real feeling of what is the real love means.

As a Youth to My Country

According to Dr. Jose Rizal the youth is the hope of the country and I think I agree with that because we know that the youth today have different skills compared to the first generation. The generation today is very much aggressive when it comes to different things especially to the things they want, they will not stop unless they get it. In that case me as a youth of this generation I won’t stop searching for the answers that will help me to improve my country. I will continue to aspire things that might help me on how to express things in this country. I also think that the love of this youth generation has a lot more powerful than others because they know how to express things in different ways without changing the feelings and the levels of love without exaggeration.

As a Student to My Country

I think my love for this country as a student is when I usually apply anything that I have learned in my whole life in this country. In school by studying Filipino History, Wika and Kultura is a sign of love in our country. On how do we use it in our everyday life and the way we imply things in appropriate ways is a sign of love as long as it shows respect and giving importance for our country. Even applying the learnings, we have learned since we grow up in this country saying ‘po’ and ‘opo’ and the ‘pagmamano’ for the elders is a real one. During Mondays singing out loud the Philippine National Anthem with our heart has a huge thing being a Filipino.

Conclusion

After all Rizal subject made me realize that anything is possible as long as you are willing to do anything. I aspire him for being Rizal as himself because he knows what he is doing, he knows what he likes, he knows what is his purpose in this country and he also doesn’t forget that he is not just a hero but also a normal person who has a family that always supports him no matter what. I can say I can be Rizal in such ways. Dr. Jose Rizal is incomparable but I can also be a Filipino who loves his country very much even though I cannot do exactly what Rizal did for this country I can do things in different ways, the way I know how to love and fight for country even small things has also an importance in this country because all those small things that I can do can be combined to others capabilities and it can pile up to make huge movement. The love for a country with a different perspective of me because I believe that all of us has the capability to become a Rizal in our own country but we should know first what things we need to develop and the things we need to learn in order to boost and brings the Rizal out within our self. Being a leader is not just having the skills of what a leader should have, but we also need to determine how could we possess and show what do we really want in one thing. What do we need to show in order to express the things we wanted them to feel because not everyone has the same way of thinking same as ours that is why loving a country is not as easy the way how we usually think but it is about the feelings that we usually feel and spread it the way on how it is supposed to be. Love, spread and share things not just within you but also for the people in our society.

Essay about the Country of Mongolia

According to history, Mongolia is situated in the North-Central Asia. It can be roughly identified as being oval in its shape with the following measurements 1,486 miles (2392km) from the western to the eastern part at approximately a maximum of 782 miles, which is equal to 1259km when measured north to south. The land of Mongolia is approximately equivalent to that of the different countries that are located in the Central and Western part of Europe. It lies on the same latitude range. The capital city of the country is Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator). It is located in the north-central part of Mongolia country. In this paper I are going to look into Mongolia country in depth, look into the different features that are present in the country, and also get a look at the culture of the people who live in the country.

General Information

Mongolia is a landlocked country that is located on the northern part of Russia and the southern part of China. It is deep within the eastern part of Asia that is far from any known ocean. The country’s climatic condition is the continental climate which is marked short cool-to-hot summers and long cold winters. Mongolia has different sceneries, which include different semi-deserts, the deserts and the upland steppes, however in the northern and western forested high mountain ranges there are lake-dotted basins. The largest part of Mongolia is a plateau, that has an average elevation of about 1,580 meters (5,180 feet) above the sea level. Some of the highest peaks in Mongolia are located in the Mongol Altain Nuruu (Mongolian Altai Mountains), that are situated in the southwestern part. They are a division of the Altai Mountain system.

Three quarters of the area in Mongolia is made up of lands with pasture, which support herds of livestock that are present in the country. Different animals such as cows, goats and horses are able to get their food and thus survive. The area that remains of Mongolia is almost equally divided into barren deserts and forests. There is a small fraction of land that is used for planting different crops and food in the country. Mongolia is one of the countries that is lowly populated with an average of population of individuals fewer than three million. There is no other country in the whole world that has the lowest population as Mongolia (Chen, 1630).

History of Mongolia

The individuals who live in Mongolia (Mongols) have a very long, and captivating history. Although, the Huns, who resided in the central part of Asia within the 3rd and the 1st century BCE are among their fore fathers. On the 13th century CE, there was the formation of the united Mongolian state of the pastoralist communities. They were made by the Genghis Khan. The successor of Genghis Khan controlled a very large empire which was made up of Russia, China, the Middle East and Central Asia. At a later time, the Mongol empire broke down and divided into separate places. From the year 1961, the Chinese Qing colonized the northern part of Mongolia.

The Qing collapsed between the year 1911 and 1912 and Bogd Gegeen, who was a religious leader from Mongolia, took over. He was proclaimed as Bogd Khan of that time, that is, the head of the state. He was able to make a great achievement by declaring independence in Mongolia. The only thing that was achieved was autonomy under China’s suzerainty. From the year 1919, different nationalist revolutionaries, with the assistance of the Soviet, made sure that they drove out different Chinese groups that tried to reoccupy Mongolia. In the year 1921, the White Russian cavalry was expelled. On date July 11, 1921, Mongolia was able to celebrate the anniversary of the revolution. The People’s Republic of Mongolia was successfully announced in the year 1924, and the capital city of Mongolia was situated on the major monastery of the Bogd Gegeen. This was later given the name Ulaanbaatar which means the ‘Red Hero’.

Starting the year 1921 to the end of the 1980s, Mongolia was a country that comprised of one party that was bound to the Soviet Union. Mongolia was able to fully receive economic, technical and military help from the Soviet Union and was able to closely and keenly follow Soviet guidance when it came to the different economic and political matters and thus successful building of the strongest socialist society. At the beginning of 1990, the different forces that demanded for change came to an end (Zhenkai, 29). The oneness of the political power by the communist that promoted and made sure changes were made gave rise to free multiparty elections, a new constitution, a coalition government, very great religious and cultural freedom that encouraged and laid more insistence on the different Mongol traditions. A new middle position was identified when it came to international relations and a drastic change to a market economy was identified and actively used.

Ethnicity and Languages in Mongolia

According to the history of the Mongols, Mongolia is a homogenous country when it comes to its ethnicity. Within Mongolia, the Khalkha is made up of only a fifth of the whole population of Mongols. The other groups of Mongols include Dorbed, Bayad, Dariganga and Buryat. These groups account up to half of the population present in Mongolia. The remaining fraction is made up of Turkic speaking individuals. Others who live in the western part of the country include Kazakhs, Tuvans and the Tsaatans. There are very small numbers of Chinese and Russians who live in the towns of Mongolia. The government has paid much attention in making sure that the different languages and cultures in Mongolia are protected and respected (Chaliand, 312).

Religion in Mongolia

Originally, the Mongols engaged in different shamanic practices, but after sometimes they came to positively adapt to Tibetan Buddhism, which was made up of a mixture of the shamanic elements. This happened during the Qing period. In the 20th century, the control of Mongolia changed from the hands of Qing to the incarnation of Tibetan Javzandmba who was a spiritual leader and belonged to the highest clergy. The new regime that came into existence in the year 1921 decided to divide the different religious and feudal structures with the different secular and socialist forms (Abrahms-Kavunenko, 356).

The ruling party, that was in existence in the 1930, was able to espouse atheism, it closed and destroyed most of the monasteries, took the different landholdings and livestock of the people. It killed the different monks and individuals who refused by all means to renounce their different religious practices. Despite all the killing and persecution, in the 19th and 20th century people started identifying themselves with different religions such as Muslim, Buddhism, Shamanism, Christianity and others were atheists.

Settlement Patterns in Mongolia

The settlement pattern in Mongolia can be categorized as having sharp pattern contrasts. For instance, most of the areas that are better watered are densely populated, such as ten people per square mile. On the other hand, most of the areas that are deserted are scarcely populated or totally uninhabited by people. The northern-central part of the country is densely populated because it contains a lot of Greenland in form of pasture, different crops that are planed can thrive easily, there are more industries that have been established and there is the best form of transport that is used by individuals living in the area (Kotkin, 213).

During the period of Socialists, most people who were nomads were encouraged to adapt to a permanent way of life and settlement. In the 19th century, there was an increased number of rural unemployment and this made most of the people to move from the rural areas and settle in the urban centers. Most of the houses built in urban areas are permanent. The number of these houses is larger when compared to the permanent houses that are in the rural areas. When it came to the 20th century, many towns grew at a high rate because most of the people were moving from the rural areas into the urban areas to seek for employment and other basic needs for their families. The two important towns in Mongolia are Darkhan, which is between the northern border of Mongolia, and Ulaanbaatar. The other town is Erdenest, which is on the western side of Darkhan. The first stones to the development of Darkhan were laid down in the 1961, and within a period of 20 years the population of the town had increased to 50,000.

Demographic Trends

After a period of stagnation among the people of Mongolia, in the 20th century the population of individuals living in the country increased. This was as a result of high birth rates when compared to death rates in the country. Different improvements that were done in the different department such as sanitation, healthcare and different medical facilities had a great impact to the mortality rate of the infants. The most important thing was that the government was constantly encouraging different families to increase their number of children (Wang, 78). Near the end of the 20th century, the demographic changed and there were high numbers of young people in the country. This continued into the 21st century.

Economy of Mongolia

At the start of the 20th century, most of the people who were living in Mongolia engaged in subsistence farming of livestock. Most of the herders who belonged to poor family took most of their time taking care of livestock that belong to richer families. Individual who belonged to the richer category include most of the government officials and those who lived in the Buddhist monastery estates. Individuals who belonged to this group, their wealth was measured based on the number of livestock that one had (Wallace, 55).

Most of the people living in Mongolia depend on agriculture and livestock rearing as their way of living and acquiring different economic status. There are different mining activities such as the mining of copper that take place in the major towns. Originally the main budget of Mongolia was supported by the Soviet Union. However, the economy of the country dropped drastically when the Soviet Union came to an end. Due to this different international organization decided to chip in and provide some assistance to the country. The different foreign companies were allowed to develop different mining sites that could positively contribute to the economy of the country, for example, through the paying of tax, and offering employment opportunities to the native youths who were unemployed.

Cultural Institutions

Most of the cultural institutions are in or near the capital Ulaanbaatar. The Green Palace was once located in Bogd Khan. It was made in such a way that it resembled the Chinese style of making their temples. At the moment there is a museum situated in the country that is made up of a collection of different diverse sculptures that represent the goddess Tara that was made in the 17th century. In the museum, there are different sculptures of animals and other main curiosities, including the pornography of Bogd Khan. Different materials that represent the Buddhist religion are also sculptured in the museum. The exhibition of different sculptures present in the museum is usually carried out on different occasions.

Sports and Recreation Activities

The most popular and most conducted sport activity in the traditional ways was wrestling. Most of the people showed up in the arena and engaged in the fighting activities. They used to wear red and blue jackets that distinguished them from the cheering audience. The different contests were usually conducted under the tight supervision of seconds. Some of the titles that were awarded to the winners included: lion, elephant, or Falcon (Sultana, 100).

Another sporting activity that was conducted included archery. It was comprised of bowmen who were vying for the title of marksman. The main target in this sporting activity was a line of cups covered with leather that were laid on the ground. The bows that were used in the activity comprised of the old compound type.

The third sporting activity that was valued was horse racing. This is due to the fact that most of the people in Mongolia reared them. This sport involved most of the young boys and girls who went for cross-country covering a distance of around 32 kilometers. The distance covered during horse racing depended on the age of the participants who were actively involved in the sporting activity (Pederson, 4380).

Wrestling, archery and horse racing were usually considered as men games. Currently some of the modern sporting activities include motorcycling, freestyle wrestling, playing table tennis, boxing, engaging in pistol shooting, and gymnastics. There is also the participation of individuals in golf. Mongolia citizens and the country at large have been participating in the Olympic Games, but they have never managed to win any gold medal.

Conclusion

Mongolia is a very interesting country that any individual would want to have close look at the different activities that they participate in, including the different cultural practices that they engage in. The number of individuals based in this country is few and manageable to any individual who is willing to conduct any scholarly work in the country. Studying a small population is easier when compared to a larger one. The different practices carried out by the Mongolians are not difficult to understand or comprehend. For instance, their main economic activity is farming and animal rearing and this has not changed over a long period of time. The country of Mongolia is very unique in the way it is divided and the different features that are present in it. Part of the country is Greenland and has a lot of pasture, and the climate there is favorable for growing different crops and other agricultural activities. However, the other side of the country is deserted and uninhabited. There are also other natural features that draw people to the beauty that the country has such as mountains, plateaus and other wetlands. Mongolia is a small, but very attractive country. Mongolia was my main topic of study because of its unique population.