European Politics Essay Example for Free

European Politics Essay European Union has a evolutional history. Many Countries struggle to attain Independence’s this the only aim of the European Nations’struggle? This paper has discussed the reasons there struggle some being to attain Independence, others needed to be autonomous and others wanting to unite with Russia. They faced many challenges, and were organized in parties. European politics is involved with the continuous political evolution. Due to the high political unity amongst European states as well as the state’s long history, European politics is more detailed compared to other continents. The European political make-up has been contributed to by its historical events, culture, economy and its geographical location. European Union is dominant in the modern European politics. This occurred since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc of communists’ states and the fall of iron curtains. After World War II the EU expand towards the East and included 27 states as members. These states are represented in the European parliament. European has been undergoing political transformation even since 1763 to 1787. After the seven years’ war (1756-63) there was a stability period of peace. In 1702-1714, there was the war of the Spanish succession, and this was after many years of the great World War. This war took fifty years. Some British and French statesmen had tried to create a long lasting peace by use of collective security, but the old contests had not stopped after the Utrecht-Rastatt’s peace and some more including Northern Europe, Germany, Near East and Italy developed in the succeeding decades. It was in the seven years’ war of 1756-63 when a climax of forty years of imbalance of struggle for power was reached. This war was bigger than the war of Spanish succession and more blood was shed, and ended up with its fighters tired of fighting and exhausted. The results were decisive in continental theatres as well as in maritime, but in varying at up. Spain was defeated by Britain in the fight for colonies and seas control defeated France on sea, and by Prussia on land. This made France to collapse financially. The aggressive spirit of King Frederick the Great of Prussia was decreased at the end of war. European states are part of the international organizations which are political and economically. Almost all European states are members of European council which is the only Pan-European organization. The activities of the European council are programs that harmonize regulations and law amongst the member state in citizenship, bioethics. Heritage protection the linguistic and cultural minority right among others. In other terms the council can be related to regional version state jointly related to government and national union. It plays role as a market, with customs union, common policy in Agriculture and Fisheries as well as acting as a single currency with thirteen of its twenty seven members adopting. This union constitutes the largest economy worldwide consisting 2007 nominal GDP of 15. 849 million USD. The union primarily started as an economic union before evolving into a political policy, and this has been contributed by the many political areas within EU competence. There has been a debate between and within some member states concerning more development in political competence of EU. There was a military alliance of European states together with United States of America and Canada, commonly known as North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was founded as a collective security as a result of World War II. This alliance targeted to provide defense incase the Soviet Union attacked the European allies of United States. The attack was to be treated as if it had attacked the United States bearing in mind it was composed of the largest military. They expected to get the best defense, but the Soviet never invaded Europe, instead the alliance was involved in September 12th 2001, responding to the previous day’s attack on the United States. GUAM organization for Democracy and Economic Development was formed to counter the Russia’s influence in that area. This group constituted four common wealth independent states (CIS) that is Georgia, Ukraine, Azerba-Ijan and Moldova, though it was encouraged and backed up by the United States. It reached a time when it appeared to have ceased its operation but there is a possibility to revive its operation through developments. The common wealth of the independent states (CIS) has few supranational powers, but it’s a symbolic organization that has power to coordinate trade, security, law making and finance. It came up with a full-fledged free trade zone between its members, who are 12 states of 15 states of former Soviet Union, excluding Baltic States, in 2005. This confederation has enhances cooperation on democratization and has prevented cross border crime. In devolutionary pressures, movements requiring independence or autonomy varied in politically and popularity support depending on campaign, and the kind of movements Georgia has two region and wanted to join with Russia, in Italy, there was a small independent movement, and the Lega Nord, the Italian political party, supports, blamed southern Italy for blocking progress and getting tax funds away and condemned them as racial nationalist group. On the other hand it supported the Northern Italy. Italy is to be divided into two countries, the North and the South. In Netherlands, Frisian National party sought autonomy for Friesland without caring about Fresian culture and without striving for total independent. Transylvania belonged to Austria-Hungary before the Treaty of Triarion. There is small minority Hungarian ethic who felt like reuniting with Hungary. These are habitants of Romania. The North Caucasus border of Russia, supports has movements in search for independence. The English Democrats in United Kingdom saw the need for England to devolve. In United Kingdom is composed for a mixture of many parties with different wills. In this state, there are movements and parties that needed independence and at the same time some parties wanted to be incorporated in the Republic of Ireland thus saw not need of the province being in the union. After the election of Victor Yuschenko as a president some areas in Ukraine wanted to join Russia. Ukraine did not only have movements that wanted complete independence, but also the urge to get higher autonomy, after uniting with Russia. Though some autonomous regions of Spain are peaceful, they violently acquired the peace. In 2006, there were international negotiations to define final status of Kosovo a Serbia’s province, which all through had territorial and political dispute between its ethnic population and the Serbian government organization. In 1532, some movements in Northern France lost independence, and they wanted to regain it. These countries in the State had different needs as pertains the movement’s nature or rather composition to the kind of campaign. These needs or rather goals varied from attaining autonomy, attaining independence or the need to reunite with Russia. The Unions’ membership enlargement poses a political issue trying to know from the diving the extent at which the block should move. The block location in terms of size and the fear of the block moving very far and including other regions created a challenge to the European Union. European nation is divided into council, parliament council of European Union and commission. The commission has the mandate to Rome up with registration and the use of law each member state is represented by a member. President comes from the commission. The union’s prime minister has different powers with the president Directorate-General (DG) and commissioner, but they have similar roles. The councils have no delegated power to the union’s supranational institutions, and have no treaties official power. The head of state has similar roles to council. Legislative branch of the union incorporate parliament and council, whose formation differs as in the parliament is elected directly while the council is formed and mainly of national ministers. Insensitive areas have lower control of national minister. The powers in the union are given according to pillars. These pillars are usually three; the first one being that of community, the second is Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) while the third is ‘Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal matters (PJCC). Just to mention, the 1st First pillar entails common Fisheries poly, Agricultural policy, Environmental law, Immigration Poly, Education and culture among others. The second pillar has security policy and foreign policy and the third pillar deals with human beings trafficking Fraud and bribery, terrorism, weapon smuggling among others. Each pillar’s principles differ on intergovernmental and supranational basis, supranationalism being higher in 1st pillar. After every five years by adult suffrage, votes are casted. Despite having no voting system, there should be a ratio in representing either singly or under a party the area at which the votes casting is done can be in whole or subdivided, and election threshold should be below five percent. The European law requires to be bound to. The union makes legislative acts and all its members are expected to bind to a direct applied law (regulation, a framework of objectives in which a national law in order to achieve its goals, and a decision based on particular issue are the key forms by which a union can present its legislative acts. (HayMenon,2007). European bases their constitution texts on their treaties. The role of the European treaties is to form institution which are given aims of the union, which are set also by the treaties and the institution should always aim at attain the set aims. Currently the European integration is under four treaties, namely; the Treaty of European nation which was put to work in November 1993 after it was signed on 7th February 1992 in Maastricht. This treaty was involved with security policy and Home Affairs. The Treaty showing European Economic Community (ECC) which was put into action on 1st January 1958 and was signed at the same time with Euratom treaty, in Rome on March the 25th of 1957, and due to the place at which it was signed, its usually also referred to as the Treaty of Rome. The treaty of Paris was put to work on 23rd day of July 1952 but expired on 23rd day of July 2002. It was signed on the 18th day of April, 1951, and was involved with putting into place the European steel and coal community. The forth treaty was involved with the development of European atomic Energy community which is commonly referred to as Euratom Treaty and was signed at Rome on the 25th day of March, 1957. There were times when these treaties expired or required additional or subtraction of some of its terms and roles thus the need for changes and reforms. European political party is obliged to operate transitionally in the state, and is usually funded and recognized by the European Union. Their formation is usually bases on partly parties in the whole Europe. As per the European parliament and commission as there were ten (10) recognized parties by 2006, namely European People Party which was the first to be formed, then the European Socialist Party was formed, followed by European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, the Free Alliance European Party, the European Areas Party, Alliance for Europe of the Nations, European theft party, European Democratic party, Alliance of Independent Democrats in Europe and EU Democratic, which were formed respectively. These parties mostly consider co-operating and working as a coalition as this makes them stronger and gives the party a chance to get higher financial fund rate from the parliament at the same time ensuring they have access to committee’s seat which an independent party can afford to access due to the cost. To enhance the uniting of parties, however requires that the member states votes for the Groups MEPs should not be less than one-fifth, that its MEPs can create a group of their wish, that all MEPs in a group should be registered in only one group and that, a groups MEPs should be of the same political goal. It’s only after fulfilling these requirements that two groups can join and unite to for a coalition thus enjoying the privileges. The Groups can either be organized from many European parties, national parties or be made of MEPs of a single European political party. An Account of the changes that the European Socialist Parties have undergone since the Second World War. European Socialist Part (PES) in a party in the European political party composed of equal number of labor, social democratic, and socialist parties from members’ states of European Union and also from Norway. The socialist party constitutes socialist group in parliament which is composed of more than 200 MEPs thus making the group to be second largest, in the European parliament. This socialist group was there since 1953 and the socialist party was formed back in 1992. Ever since it’s the party held the largest single group position in the parliament. After the party’s formation in 1953, socialist party Henri Spaak was elected first president, with Guy Mollet elected the first bureau and secretariat apart from being the chair. The socialists attempt to produce a common European socialist’s program in 1961 being outlaid by an enlargement application. Despite their congress trying to enhance more democratization, and parliament powers in 1962, it took them longer than they expected since this was considered in 1969, after Kate Strobel MEP winning the 1st woman chair. They continued to achieve and rule and in 1971’s elections saw their member, Walter Behrendt as the second parliament president. It took few years since then when other states joined the community and brought with them some more parties, which enlarged the community as well as the congress. These states included Ireland, United Kingdom and Denmark and after meeting they made social policy in which they were entitled to democracy, equality and give them the right to work in the European economy. Elections were carried out again in 1975, and socialist Georges Spe’nale was as the parliament’s president. After the union with Ireland, Denmark and United Kingdom, a confederation of the European communities’ socialist party was formed. Their was an election manifesto, which the confederation signed after the parliaments first direct elections in 1979, and the manifesto objective was aimed at ending discrimination, promoting peace, fighting pollution and ensuring the ability to decent work among others. They were the largest group in the parliament. Two years after the direct election, its first status was signed and they united with other states like Greece, Portugal and Spain made this party to increase. It did not take the Group long before they saw the need and the privileged of cooperation; in 1987 they cooperated with people’s party group thus increasing their number. (Grolier, Inc, 2002). In 1992, the already existing confederation was changed to party of European socialist, whose manifesto had more issues to deal with compare to the election manifesto and the added areas included gender equality, fighting organized crimes and democracy among others. The party had its second leader in the 1994’s election after the party won two hundred and fifteen (215) out of the available six hundred and twenty six (626). After a five year period of ruling, the parliament refused to sign for approval of the commission’s EU budget handling, and this lead to crisis. This was because of the allegation of corruption made to two of the socialists’ members. The socialists tried to bloc the order made by the commission that the member’s concerned had to resign, by their president trying to vote confidence vote in the commission, since the PES took the issue as a false allegation made to stop them from participating in the year’s election. Since socialist were the majority they were on the government side, they decided to stop helping or rather supporting the other party thus facilitating santer commission’s to resign. After the five years of ruling, elections was carried out, the socialists lost the votes to people’s party with the winning party attaining two hundred and thirty three the socialists had only one hundred and eighty. In the 2004 elections the socialist party lost once more by getting only two hundred seats in seven hundred and thirty two seats. The European Political history has been an evolutional process. The struggle was aimed at either attaining independence, or becoming autonomous. The European politics is composed of the parliament headed by a President from a party with the majority seats, the commission, and a council. Each of its constituent has its mandate and powers. The Socialist’ Party headed in the parliament longer till 1999.

Symbols and Symbolism in Strange News From Another Star :: Strange News From Another Star

Symbolism in Strange News From Another Star    Strange News from another Star is found to be a story which contains numerous symbols which in many cases contain some important, abstract information. Symbolism is something which is very difficult to explain due to the fact that not everyone sees the so mentioned symbol. They don’t quite see it as you, because no two minds are the same, which implies the fact that they don’t react equally to something which must be internally interpreted as it is not present as mere information. On this essay I will try to back up with concise words, why I believe that something is representing something abstract, as well as with information from the author. One of the first symbols that we may find, is actually the star. A star is known as a gaseous sphere, which with nuclear fusion and fission may actually give out huge amounts of energy. Obviously a star is a inhospitable place, so I believe that the star actually represents a planet or a country. The flowers, which have a very imp ortant part in the plot of the book are a symbol as well. They, have always, as least as far as I know, had a special message. A message of love, tranquillity, joy and they represent the harmony of nature itself. In the first stage of the book, we may see how a problem, the earthquake, has made the people in the star loose a vast amount of flowers. They lost some of the tranquillity and joy that had invaded their lives. And when they look for a messenger to go find flowers, they’re talking about re-finding the tranquillity and lack of fear that they wanted. I believe that the burials, actually represent life. It may sound a bit peculiar, but in real life once you get accustomed to living a happy, joyful life, you then will not be able to live without it and so, you will need to do practically anything, as the people in the star did, to find the â€Å"flowers†. The symbol of the deity that the youth saw in the temple, I understand that by the way in which the story prog resses the symbol is actually representing the fact that war, or trouble (the bird of prey) destroys all happiness or good hearted feelings. I think that the representation is what I mentioned above, because when the messenger â€Å"goes† to the foreign star he sees destruction and a total lack of joy.

Assess The Relationship Between Crime, Poverty And Social Protest In The Eighteenth And Early Nineteenth Centuries

America had rebelled and after a successful war become independent; and war with France, which had experienced internal revolution that caused serious concern to the British ruling classes, lasted until 1815. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801 (Evans 2002, 3). In 1700, with a population of approximately 5 million in England, perhaps 80% of the population lived in the countryside, with some 90% in agriculture or related employment whereas by 1801 the population had risen to 8. million and by 1851 to nearly 18 million with only 22% employed in agriculture (Porter 1990, 11, 207; Gardiner & Wenborne 1995, 610; Timmins 2005). The transformation of society through changes in agriculture and industrialisation led inevitably to the creation of new economic relationships and identities within society and to the destruction of old ones. Crime, poverty and social protest were significant factors in these centuries although their relationship is much debated by h istorians. It is certain that their relationship, as well as changing over time, differed by locality, for example heavily urbanised London, whose population had increased to perhaps 700,000 by 1770, will have undergone different experiences to, say, a rural county such as Herefordshire (Shakesheff 2003). Any discussion of the relationship of crime, poverty and social protest must rest on an initial discussion of these terms, in particular the first. Crime is generally understood to indicate acts that contravene the law but this masks the many kinds of accidental and unpremeditated acts, emotional or mental states, deliberate actions and motivations that may come into play (Sharpe 1999, 5). Even within a society there may be disagreements on what constitutes a crime, and the difference between a criminal and non-criminal act may rest on the context of the act. Legislators too may create new crimes while decriminalising other acts. Poverty is perhaps less problematic to define, since it is usually considered with respect to ideas of subsistence and meeting the requirements of physical well-being (Gardiner & Wenborne 1995, 613). Even so, it should be considered as relative to changing expectations and living standards. Social protest may take many forms, such as riots, and can be defined as a social crime (Sharpe 1999, 179). The notion of social crime, developed by Hobsbawm, rests on the differing understandings of crime that may exist between groups and the official position (Sharpe 1999, 176). Social crimes are defined as those that can be said to represent ‘a conscious, almost a political, challenge to the prevailing social and political order and its values' (Sharpe 1999, 176). Thompson has argued for a moral economy which legitimates social crime by placing it in the context of defending traditional customs or rights, where they may differ from the values of those who make the law (Thompson 1991). According to statistical evidence, crime seems to have been at a low at the beginning of the eighteenth century, increasing, at least around London and Surrey, with the increasing population and urbanisation, by 1780 (Sharpe 1995, 6). Short-term bursts of crime seem to have been affected by crop failures and by the demobilisation of the larger armed forces utilised by imperial Britain, especially after 1815. The steepest increase in crime appears to have been in the 1840s (Emsley 1996, 295). The most common kinds of crime in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries appear to have been small opportunistic thefts (Emsley 1996, 293). Crime statistics, however, may give an imprecise impression of crime since many crimes may, for various reasons, never be officially reported. One category where crime, poverty and social protest definitively meet is in the Swing Riots of 1830. England at the beginning of the eighteenth century was a largely agricultural nation with the majority of the population living in rural areas. During the course of that century there were profound changes. The rising population, especially from the mid-eighteenth century, created a surplus of agricultural labourers for whom there was no corresponding rise in rural employment, while migration from rural areas, in terms of the natural increase in population, declined from 100% in 1751 to only 29% in 1831 (Hobsbawm and Rude 1969, 43). Agriculture had, by this time, come to be dominated by a division into landlords, tenant-farmers and hired labourers (Hobsbawm and Rude 1969, 27). Increasing economic rationalisation of agriculture by landlords and tenant-farmers saw further consequent declines in the conditions of the agricultural labourers who, divorced from the land, became reliant on less regular and less well paid employment with worsening conditions. Their situation was exacerbated by the Poor Law which supplemented and thus kept down wages (Hobsbawm and Rude 1969, 45-53). It is argued that this degradation of the agricultural labouring class led to the Swing Riots, which began in 1830, as a reaction to bad harvests in 1829 (Gardiner and Wenborne 1995, 729-30). This social protest was directed mainly at threshing machines, but also included burnings devices designed to further decrease the need of labour on farms. Swing letters included demands for increased wages and Hobsbawm and Rude (1969, 220) concluded that the movement was essentially one of labourers ‘with essentially economic ends'. Machine breaking had taken place in other contexts, notably in the burgeoning industrial sector. Perhaps the most famous of these was the Luddite movement that preceded the Swing Riots. Luddism, like Swing, seems to have been a reaction to poor harvests, increasing food prices, unemployment and wage cuts as well as changing industrial relations (Archer 2000, 49). Opinion on Luddism in its three main areas of northern England differs in terms of the extent to which scholars have identified political motivations as opposed to industrial protest. Like Swing, Luddism focused on anti-machine action in the context of the removal from traditional artisans of their means of livelihood and style of living. Thompson (1991, 352-403) has stressed the effects of changing working patterns with regard to timekeeping and the changes in the synchronisation of labour in an industrial society from the more irregular rhythms that went before. Machine breaking may have been criminal as defined by the law and may have been further encouraged by economic difficulties, nevertheless, it seems indisputable that instances of machine breaking and the wider movements that can be identified fall within the category of social protest and were to some extent linked with poverty or the threat of poverty. Horn (2005) mentions the riots of the Spitalfields silk weavers in 1675, 1719, 1736 and the 1760s, as well as many other instances of machine breaking amongst sawyers and most particularly weavers. This emphasises the tradition of machine breaking, which could be seen as a ‘customary' for of industrial relations stretching back a century (Horn 2005). Certainly in the case of the agricultural labourer in the Swing Riots, wages were a motivating factor (Hobsbawn and Rude 1969 195-96). Between 1780 and the 1830s, wages in East Anglia had gone from being some of the highest to the lowest, since there was a lack of alternatives to agriculture unlike in the northern and industrial regions (Archer 2000, 9). This coupled with rising prices caused massive pauperisation while the Poor Law and local systems of relief could be and were manipulated by farmers to further push down wages in the knowledge that other rate-payers would have to subsidise the poor of the parish (Archer 2000, 10). The shock to the wealthier classes caused by the riots that inevitably broke out was evidently exacerbated by the deferential behaviour traditionally shown to them by the poor, who presumably realised its importance in gaining relief. A lack of humane response on their part, in Archer's words ‘misread deferential behaviour for deferential attitudes' (Archer 2000, 10). The government reaction to riots may reveal something of the elite perception of how valid they were. In their combined actions, the Luddites and Swing had caused only two deaths while at the same time the damage to property was considerable (Horn 2005). Initial waves of Luddism in 1811-12 caused perhaps i100,000 worth of damage to looms and factories. It is this perhaps that explains to some extent the decision of the government to field more troops to crack down on Luddism, some 12,000, in 1812, than were fielded in the Peninsular Campaign against Napoleon in 1808. Frame-breaking became a capital crime and between 1812-17, 36 Luddites were hanged followed later by 19 Swing Rioters. Protest crime formed only a small percentage of prosecution, peaking at 8. % in 1831 and of the number that took part in the riots only a small part ended up in court (Archer 2000, 87). Furthermore, many death sentences were commuted to transportation and many rioters were released without charge. It has also been noted that in comparison to food rioters, protesting the price of grain caused by bad harvests and war, suffered hanging less often (Archer 2000, 28-30, 87). Many have noted the increase in legal concern for property in the eighteenth century e mbodied by the ‘Bloody code' (Sharpe 1995, 8). Between 1660 and 1819, there were 187 capital statutes enacted into the law, mostly concerning property (Hughes 1988, 29). Many of the new Acts explicitly embodied a repressive state and criminalized the poorest labouring classes and were passed in reaction to riots or social unrest (Linebaugh 1991, 16). Notable in this context is the notorious Waltham Black Act, passed in reaction to agrarian riots and unrest in Hampshire, which created over 200 capital offences. Rioters had poached game and fish as well as burning hayricks and threatening landlords (Hughes 1988, 29). The Riot Act of 1715 was designed to combat and disperse meetings and assemblies of 12 or more persons, a seeming precursor of the late twentieth century laws ostensibly to disperse illegal raves. It was a popular tool against collective action by the labouring classes (Linebaugh 1991, 17). Those classes, in particular some 15,000 journeymen tailors, were struck at again by the Combination Act of 1721. This law made it illegal for them to take collective action in order to press for better wages or shorter working hours. This they had done through strike and had suffered imprisonment in return. In principle the Combination Act criminalized the notion of improving working and living conditions and class action and can be noted as the first anti-trade union law (Linebaugh 1991, 17). Despite the rise in capital offences in law, the actual number of hangings declined throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Hughes 1988, 35). There are various reasons for this, such as squeamishness on the part of the judges and the exercise of mercy, especially the Royal Prerogative, although most appeals seem to have been rejected (Gatrell 1994, 200-208). Transportation and imprisonment were increasingly used, the former system supplying labour and, following the American revolution and the use of hulks as prisons, transportation to Australia became a viable option for permanently ridding Britain of its criminals (Hughes 1988, 41-42). This last point is highly relevant in the context of Linebaugh's argument that the poor and the criminal were difficult to distinguish (1991, xxi). Changes in the law undoubtedly led to rising crime, since as has been noted, more offences were created. Some historians, such as Thompson and Linebaugh have seen this as a conflict between custom and law. For example, many workers believed themselves to be customarily entitled to perquisites or allowances related to their employment. In the agricultural sector, the best known of these was gleaning – following the gathering of the harvest, women and children would collect the leftover scattered grain that had been missed (Emsley 1996, 122). This practice supplemented and could even form a major proportion of an agricultural labouring families' diet. Although gleaning was seen as a custom and denial of the right to glean could meet with criticism, it was observed by Arthur Young in 1771 that it was not ‘an imprescribable right' (Emsley 1996, 123). Abuses of gleaning that went to court met with the response that gleaning was not recognised as a legal right, however the farmer's conscience may allow him to permit gleaning. On the other hand, some farmers sought to have gleaning stopped but the case was refused by magistrates (Emsley 1996, 124). Thus gleaning occupied an ambiguous status, the law refused to outlaw it, despite the wishes of certain farmers while refusing to recognise it as a legal right of the labourers. Thompson notes that these customs were quite normally disputed (Thompson 1991, 104). Customs such as gleaning are mirrored in industrial and other work settings. Silk workers and weavers were particularly low earners and owing to the techniques of production, wasteful in resources, which could be appropriated for further use (Linebaugh 1991, 258, 264). A market grew up for cloth waste, which had many uses in producing other items and by the mid-1770s Spitalfields was a major centre of this trade. The law attempted to suppress the trade, but unsuccessfully. However, silk workers, and of them weavers in particular, formed a group whom the law was prone to threatening with hanging (Linebaugh 1991, 258). The production of a ‘Book of Prices' by the Spitalfields weavers and the corporate action by 2000 of them to enforce it in 1763 was a precursor to a 1764 protest march by the weavers petitioning for higher wages and against cheap imports, which saw the state drawing on the military. Poor harvests in the following year upped grain prices and filled workhouses while the silk workforce decreased by 1768 to half its level of six years earlier (Linebaugh 1991, 271). Corporate and direct actions such as those of the silk workers, who were joined by other groups, the Luddites and the Swing Rioters helped to formulate a culture of fear in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As mentioned above, the American war of independence and the French revolution were other causes of fear amongst the ruling classes of those beneath them. Hughes (1988, 25) states that ‘the belief in a swelling wave of crime was one of the great social facts of Georgian England'. It is not difficult to comprehend that for those observing from above, riots, protests and crime committed by the poor were part and parcel of the nature of that class of people and that the reaction would be to staunch such behaviour through the law and the militia. These fears were fed by other factors such as the rise of newspapers publishing reports of crime statistics and vivid stories that reinforced elite views of the poor in society and in turn led to the reification of entrenched moral views that were transposed into laws that tended to further criminalise the poor. Crime, poverty and social protest in the eighteenth and nineteenth century can be seen as linked in the context of the increasing proletarianisation of the workforce and conflict between the wage earning poor and the law making elite. Linebaugh (1991, xxi) observes this as the ‘expropriation of the poor from the means of producing†¦ and the appropriation by the poor of the means of living. Emsley (1996, 295) observes that it seems significant that property crime increased during economic slumps. However, he goes on to suggest that a monocausal link between poverty and crime is too simplistic. He cites other reasons for increasing crime, for example, the growth in wealth and material goods allowed more opportunities for crime and increased temptation and the extension of commerce and business also increased the opportunities for corruption (Emsley 1996, 295). Certainly, not all social unrest can be seen in terms of poverty or the defence of custom. It seems that the strong tradition of this kind of action speaks of attempts to control the means of livelihood as opposed to warding off poverty. However, the reality and threat of widespread poverty in particular areas and spheres of employment must be seen as a strong motivating force in any action. As for crime, it cannot be doubted that much crime was necessitated by poverty. Equally to account this as the only factor would be facile, since it ignores the personal and individual aspects of each crime. It is tempting though to see an increasing concern for goods and materials throughout this period of increasing production and the defence of property in law would seem to follow from that. Hughes comments that the rule of law became the supreme ideology in this period (1988, 29). Increasing economic rationalisation and market capitalism placed workers livelihoods and working traditions in jeopardy and this, coupled with price fluctuations and an increasing population undoubtedly increased crimes of necessity, although it should not be forgotten that while real crime may have increased, the means of measuring crime became more accurate and more actions became criminal. The concern with property perhaps inevitably led to doubts over the legality of customary appropriation, such as gleaning. But while such ‘rights' may have been disputed over centuries, the changing economic and social factors and the rise of the law and legalism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries inevitably led to them taking on a different significance that would have long lasting repercussions in the social relations and perceptions of people in Britain.

Common Complementary And Alternative Medical Treatment...

Introduction Persistent and costly to treat, chronic low back pain is an important public health issue, with the most common Complementary and Alternative Medical treatment being yoga (Khan et al., 2016). In the randomized control trial by Sherman et al. (2011), the researchers studied stretching and yoga as an affordable and universal treatment for chronic low back pain. The trial had three intervention groups, a stretching group, yoga group, and self-care group, that were followed over 6 months, with a 3 month intervention and a separate 3 month follow up period, and interviews at the baseline, 6 weeks in (midway through the intervention), 12 weeks in (the end of the intervention), and at 26 weeks (3 months post intervention). Because†¦show more content†¦However, in this study the follow up interview was completed 3 months after the intervention finished. In another study comparing yoga to usual care provided by the doctor, there was significant improvement in the back functionality and decrease in pain after a year compared to usual care (Tilbrook et al., 2011). Because the study did not follow up with the three groups past 6 months, this study was not able to say whether stretching or yoga was a better treatment for chronic low back pain over time. What the researchers could do to change the limitation into a positive and innovative addition to the study would be to go back and interview the study participants at 1 year from the start of the trial and another year after that. A common method for studies like this is to have the participants return at the halfway point, at the end of the intervention, and 6 months after the end of the intervention (Williams et al., 2009). If the study was to have a longer follow up than the customary amount, it would change the study from examining the short term effect of yoga is on an individual’s chronic low back pain, and extend it to the long term effect on an individual’s chronic low back pain. It would be a pioneering prospective study on how yoga affects chronic low back pain over the course of years rather than 6 months. For a study to be