Survival Models And Mortality Data Health And Social Care Essay

In the old chapter 2, we discussed approximately aggregative claims and how it can be modelled and simulated utilizing R scheduling. In this chapter we shall discourse on one of the of import factors which has direct impact on arise of a claim, the human mortality. Life insurance companies use this factor to pattern hazard originating out of claims. We shall analyze and look into the petroleum informations presented in human mortality database for specific states like Scotland and Sweden and utilize statistical techniques. Mortality smooth bundle is used in smoothing the informations based on Bayesian information standard BIC, a technique used to find smoothing parameter ; we shall besides plot the information. Finally we shall reason by executing comparing of mortality of two states based on clip.3.1 IntroductionMortality informations in simple footings is entering of deceases of species defined in a specific set. This aggregation of informations could change based on different vari ables or sets such as sex, age, old ages, geographical location and existences. In this subdivision we shall utilize human informations grouped based on population of states, sex, ages and old ages. Human mortality in urban states has improved significantly over the past few centuries. This has attributed mostly due to improved criterion of life and national wellness services to the populace, but in latter decennaries there has been enormous betterment in wellness attention in recent steps which has made strong demographic and actuarial deductions. Here we use human mortality informations and analyse mortality tendency compute life tabular arraies and monetary value different rente merchandises.3.2 Beginnings of DatasHuman mortality database ( HMD ) is used to pull out informations related to deceases and exposure. These informations are collected from national statistical offices. In this thesis we shall look into two states Sweden and Scotland informations for specific ages and ol d ages. The information for specific states Sweden and Scotland are downloaded. The deceases and exposure informations is downloaded from HMD under Sverige Scotland They are downloaded and saved as â€Å" .txt † informations files in the several difficult disc under â€Å" /Data/Conutryname_deaths.txt † and â€Å" /Data/Conutryname_exposures.txt † severally. In general the information handiness and formats vary over states and clip. The female and male decease and exposure informations are shared from natural informations. The â€Å" entire † column in the information beginning is calculated utilizing leaden norm based on the comparative size of the two groups male and female at a given clip.3.3 Gompertz jurisprudence graduationA well-known statistician, Benjamin Gompertz observed that over a long period of human life clip, the force of mortality additions geometrically with age. This was modelled for individual twelvemonth of life. The Gompertz theoretical account is additive on the log graduated table. The Gompertz jurisprudence states that â€Å" the mortality rate additions in a geometric patterned advance † . Therefore when decease rates are A & gt ; 0 B & gt ; 1 And the line drive theoretical account is fitted by taking log both sides. = a + bx Where a = and B = The corresponding quadratic theoretical account is given as follows3.3.1 Generalized Linear theoretical accounts are P-Splines in smoothing informationsGeneralized Linear Models ( GLM ) are an extension of the additive theoretical accounts that allows theoretical accounts to be fit to data that follow chance distributions like Poisson, Binomial, and etc. If is the figure of deceases at age ten and is cardinal exposed to put on the line so By maximal likelihood estimation we have and by GLM, follows Poisson distribution denoted by with a + bx We shall utilize P-splines techniques in smoothing the information. As mentioned above the GLM with figure of deceases follows Poisson distribution, we fit a quadratic arrested development utilizing exposure as the beginning parametric quantity. The splines are piecewise multinomials normally cubic and they are joined utilizing the belongings of 2nd derived functions being equal at those points, these articulations are defined as knots to suit informations. It uses B-splines arrested development matrix. A punishment map of order linear or quadratic or three-dimensional is used to punish the irregular behavior of informations by puting a punishment difference. This map is so used in the log likeliness along with smoothing parametric quantity.The equations are maximised to obtain smoothing informations. Larger the value of implies smoother is the map but more aberrance. Therefore, optimum value of is chosen to equilibrate aberrance and theoretical account complexness. is evaluated utilizing assorted techniques such as BIC – Bayesian information standard and AIC – Akaike ‘s information standard techniques. Mortalitysmooth bundle in R implements the techniques mentioned above in smoothing informations, There are different options or picks to smoothen utilizing p-splines, The figure of knots ndx, the grade of p-spine whether additive, quadratic or three-dimensional bdeg and the smoothning parametric quantity lamda. The mortality smooth methods fits a P-spline theoretical account with equally-spaced B-splines along ten There are four possible methods in this bundle to smooth informations, the default value being set is BIC. AIC minimisation is besides available but BIC provides better result for big values. In this thesis, we shall smoothen the informations utilizing default option BIC and utilizing lamda value.3.4 MortalitySmooth Package in R plan executionIn this subdivision we describe the generic execution of utilizing R programming to read deceases and exposure informations from human mortality database and usage MortalitySmooth bundle to smoothen the informations based on p-splines. The undermentioned codification presented below tonss the & gt ; require ( â€Å" MortalitySmooth † ) & gt ; beginning ( â€Å" Programs/Graduation_Methods.r † ) & gt ; Age & lt ; -30:80 ; Year & lt ; – 1959:1999 & gt ; state & lt ; – † Scotland † ; Sex & lt ; – â€Å" Males † & gt ; decease =LoadHMDData ( state, Age, Year, † Deaths † , Sex ) & gt ; exposure =LoadHMDData ( state, Age, Year, † Exposures † , Sex ) & gt ; FilParam.Val & lt ; -40 & gt ; Hmd.SmoothData =SmoothenHMDDataset ( Age, Year, decease, exposure ) & gt ; XAxis & lt ; – Year & gt ; YAxis & lt ; -log ( fitted ( Hmd.SmoothData $ Smoothfit.BIC ) [ Age==FilParam.Val, ] /exposure [ Age==FilParam.Val, ] ) & gt ; plotHMDDataset ( XAxis, log ( decease [ Age==FilParam.Val, ] /exposure [ Age==FilParam.Val, ] ) , MainDesc, Xlab, Ylab, legend.loc ) & gt ; DrawlineHMDDataset ( XAxis, YAxis ) The MortalitySmooth bundle is loaded and the generic execution of methods to put to death graduation smoothening is available in Programs/Graduation_Methods.r. The measure by measure description of the codification is explained below.Step:1 Load Human Mortality informationMethod NameLoadHMDDataDescriptionReturn an object of Matrix type which is a mxn dimension with m stand foring figure of Ages and n stand foring figure of old ages. This object is specifically formatted to be used in Mortality2Dsmooth map.ExecutionLoadHMDData ( Country, Age, Year, Type, Sex )ArgumentsCountry Name of the state for which information to be loaded. If state is â€Å" Denmark † , † Sweden † , † Switzerland † or â€Å" Japan † the SelectHMDData map of MortalitySmooth bundle is called internally. Age Vector for the figure of rows defined in the matrix object. There must be atleast one value. Year Vector for the figure of columns defined in the matrix object. There must be atleast one value. Type A value which specifies the type of informations to be loaded from Human mortality database. It can take values as â€Å" Deaths † or â€Å" Exposures † Sexual activity An optional filter value based on which information is loaded into the matrix object. It can take values â€Å" Males † , â€Å" Females † and â€Å" Entire † . Default value being â€Å" Entire †DetailssThe method LoadHMDData in â€Å" Programs/Graduation_Methods.r † reads the informations availale in the directory Data to lade deceases or exposure for the given parametric quantities. The informations can be filtered based on Country, Age, Year, Type based on Deaths or Exposures and in conclusion by Sexual activity.Figure: 3.1 Format of matrix objects Death and Exposure.The Figure 3.1 shows the format used in objects Death and Exposure to hive away informations. A matrix object stand foring Age in rows and Old ages in column. The MortalitySmooth bundle contains certain characteristics for specific states listed in the bundle. They are Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan. These informations for these states can be straight accessed by a predefined map SelectHMDData. LoadHMDData map checks the value of the variable state and if Country is equal to any of the 4 states mentioned in the mortalitysmooth bundle so SelectHMDData method is internally called or else customized generic map is called to return the objects. The return objects format in both maps remains precisely the same.Measure 2: Smoothen HMD DatasetMethod NameSmoothenHMDDatasetDescriptionReturn a list of smoothened object based BIC and Lamda of matrix object type which is a mxn dimension with m stand foring figure of Ages and n stand foring figure of old ages. This object is specifically formatted to be used in Mortality2Dsmooth map. Tax returns a list of objects of type Mort2Dsmooth which is a planar P-splines smooth of the input informations and order fixed to be default. These objects are customized for mortality informations merely. Smoothfit.BIC and Smoothfit.fitLAM objects are returned along with fitBIC.Data fitted values. SmoothenHMDDataset ( Xaxis, YAxis, ZAxis, Offset.Param )ArgumentsXaxis Vector for the abscissa of informations used in the map Mortality2Dsmooth in MortalitySmooth bundle in R. Here Age vector is value of XAxis. Yaxis Vector for the ordinate of informations used in the map Mortality2Dsmooth in MortalitySmooth bundle in R. Here Year vector is value of YAxis. .ZAxis Matrix Count response used in the map Mortality2Dsmooth in MortalitySmooth bundle in R. Here Death is the matrix object value for ZAxis and dimensions of ZAxis must match to the length of XAxis and YAxis. Offset.Param A Matrix with anterior known values to be included in the additive forecaster during suiting the 2d informations. Here exposure is the matrix object value and is the additive forecaster.Detailss.The method SmoothenHMDDataset in â€Å" Programs/Graduation_Methods.r † smoothens the informations based on the decease and exposure objects loaded as defined above in measure 1. The Age, twelvemonth and decease are loaded as x-axis, y-axis and z-axis severally with exposure as the beginning parametric quantity. These parametric quantities are internally fitted in Mortality2Dsmooth map available in MortalitySmooth bundle in smoothing the information.Step3: secret plan the smoothened informations based on user inputMethod NamePlotHMDDatasetDescriptionPlot the smoothed object with the several axis, fable, axis graduated table inside informations are machine rifles customized based on user inputs.ExecutionPlotHMDDataset ( Xaxis, YAxis, MainDesc, Xlab, Ylab, legend.loc, legend.Val, Plot.Type, Ylim )ArgumentsXaxis Vector for plotting X axis value. Here the value would be Age or Year based on user petition. Yaxis Vector for plotting X axis value. Here the value would be Smoothened log mortality valleies filtered for a peculiar Age or Year. MainDesc Main inside informations depicting about the secret plan. Xlab X axis label. Ylab Y axis label. legend.loc A customized location of fable. It can take values â€Å" topright † , † topleft † legend.Val A customized fable description inside informations – it can take vector values of type twine. Val, Plot.Type An optional value to alter secret plan type. Here default value is equal to default value set in the secret plan. If value =1, so figure with line is plotted Ylim An optional value to put the tallness of the Y axis, by default takes max value of vector Y values.DetailssThe generic method PlotHMDDataset in â€Å" Programs/Graduation_Methods.r † plots the smoothed fitted mortality values with an option to custom-make based on user inputs. The generic method DrawlineHMDDataset in â€Å" Programs/Graduation_Methods.r † plots the line. Normally called after PlotHMDDataset method.3.5 Graphic representation of smoothened mortality informations.In this subdivision we shall look into graphical representation of mortality informations for selected states Scotland and Sweden. The generic plan discussed in old subdivision 3.4 is used to implement the secret plan based on customized user inputs. Log mortality of smoothed informations v.s existent tantrum for Sweden. Figure 3.3 Left panel: – Plot of Year v.s log ( Mortality ) for Sweden based on age 40 and twelvemonth from 1945 to 2005. The points represent existent informations and ruddy and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC and Lamda =10000 severally. Right panel: – Plot of Age v.s log ( Mortality ) for Sweden based on twelvemonth 1995 and age from 30 to 90. The points represent existent informations red and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC and Lamda =10000 severally. Log mortality of smoothed informations v.s existent tantrum for Scotland Figure 3.4 Left panel: – Plot of Year v.s log ( Mortality ) for Scotland based on age 40 and twelvemonth from 1945 to 2005. The points represent existent informations and ruddy and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC and Lamda =10000 severally. Right panel: – Plot of Age v.s log ( Mortality ) for Scotland based on twelvemonth 1995 and age from 30 to 90. The points represent existent informations red and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC and Lamda =10000 severally. Log mortality of Females Vs Males for Sweden The Figure 3.5 given below represents the mortality rate for males and females in Sweden for age wise and twelvemonth wise. 3.5 Left panel reveals that the mortality of male is more than the female over the old ages and has been a sudden addition of male mortality from mid 1960 ‘s boulder clay late 1970 ‘s for male – The life anticipation for Sweden male in 1960 is 71.24 V 74.92 for adult females and it had been increasing for adult females to 77.06 and merely 72.2 for male in the following decennary which explains the tendency. Figure 3.5 Left panel: – Plot of Year v.s log ( Mortality ) for Sweden based on age 40 and twelvemonth from 1945 to 2005. The ruddy and bluish points represent existent informations for males and females severally and ruddy and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC males and females severally. Right panel: – Plot of Age v.s log ( Mortality ) for Sweden based on twelvemonth 2000 and age from 25 to 90. The ruddy and bluish points represent existent informations for males and females severally and ruddy and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC males and females severally. The Figure 3.5 represents the mortality rate for males and females in Sweden for age wise and twelvemonth wise. 3.5 Left panel reveals that the mortality of male is more than the female over the old ages and has been a sudden addition of male mortality from mid 1960 ‘s boulder clay late 1970 ‘s for male – The life anticipation for Sweden male in 1960 is 71.24 V 74.92 for adult females and it had been increasing for adult females to 77.06 and merely 72.2 for male in the following decennary which explains the tendency. The 3.5 Right panel shows the male mortality is more than the female mortality for the twelvemonth 1995, The sex ratio for male to female is 1.06 at birth and has been systematically diminishing to 1.03 during 15-64 and.79 over 65 and above clearly explicating the tendency for Sweden mortality rate addition in males is more than in females. Log mortality of Females Vs Males for Scotland Figure 3.6 Left panel: – Plot of Year v.s log ( Mortality ) for Scotland based on age 40 and twelvemonth from 1945 to 2005. The ruddy and bluish points represent existent informations for males and females severally and ruddy and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC males and females severally. Right panel: – Plot of Age v.s log ( Mortality ) for Scotland based on twelvemonth 2000 and age from 25 to 90. The ruddy and bluish points represent existent informations for males and females severally and ruddy and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC males and females severally. The figure 3.6 Left panel describes consistent dip in mortality rates but there has been a steady addition in mortality rates of male over female for a long period get downing mid 1950 ‘s and has been steadily increasing for people of age 40 years.The 3.6 Right panel shows the male mortality is more than the female mortality for the twelvemonth 1995, The sex ratio for male to female is 1.04 at birth and has been systematically diminishing to.94 during 15-64 and.88 over 65 and above clearly explicating the tendency for Scotland mortality rate addition in males is more than in females. hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_Scotland.Log mortality of Scotland Vs Sweden Figure 3.7 Left panel: – Plot of Year v.s log ( Mortality ) for states Sweden and Scotland based on age 40 and twelvemonth from 1945 to 2005. The ruddy and bluish points represent existent informations for Sweden and Scotland severally and ruddy and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC Sweden and Scotland severally. Right panel: – Plot of Year v.s log ( Mortality ) for states Sweden and Scotland based on twelvemonth 2000 and age from 25 to 90. The ruddy and bluish points represent existent informations for Sweden and Scotland severally and ruddy and bluish curves represent smoothed fitted curves for BIC Sweden and Scotland severally. The figure 3.7 Left Panel shows that the mortality rates for Scotland are more than Sweden and there has been consistent lessening in mortality rates for Sweden get downing mid 1970 ‘s where as Scotland mortality rates though decreased for a period started to demo upward tendency, this could be attributed due to alter in life conditions.

Lmt 100

AIFAA HUSNA BINTI ASHA’RI 112542 LMT 100 / 44 LECTURER : PUAN ZURAIDAH ABU BAKAR Question 1 (a) If I was Sivasothie, I will object the arranged marriage made by my family because I know that arranged marriage will not last longer even though it was parent choice. There were lack of love and respect between husband and wife when we married with someone which we do not know well. Furthermore, there was also the danger of arranged marriage which the husband will act violent towards his wife and to be worse the wife was too afraid to speak out. In Sivasothie’s situation, her future husband was materialistic. As he works as a doctor, the value of dowry that he wanted was too high that cannot be afford by Sivasothie, plus he did not wanted to be considerate with her family at all. In this case, it shows that a woman pride was very low because she cannot afford to pay the dowry for the man, just because of the arranged marriage made by their family. Question 1 (b) If I was the American girl, I will have a slow talk with my husband to improve our relationship. Maybe it was hard to have a slow talk as my husband was too cold, but I will try to change and improve the situation to save my marriage or else my relationship with him will become worse. The love between us is fading and it will die if I do not take any action on it. A marriage with no love was meaningless because we were living with our partner everyday and there will be lack of intimacy. It was okay if our husband was not care about us too much. We do not have to be emotional towards our husband because it will destroy the marriage that we build. Hence, we need to make things better and save the marriage from divorced. Tolerate between each other is important so that our relationship will last longer.

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Role of Human Resources in Managing Change Essay

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International Marketing - Essay Example The Italian retail trade experienced a growth rate of 1.2 percent in 2003, led largely by recent developments in distribution which sprang from changes to long-standing import barriers in the country (alibaba.com, 2008). Easing of legislative restrictions have made the Italian marketplace more favourable for retailers of all varieties in relation to ease of setting up new business ventures in this country. Lower costs plus the development of a new distribution infrastructure in this country make it appealing to international companies looking for new market opportunities. M&S products are considered fast-moving products and, in Italy, these types of goods are purchased by a younger market audience (Eghbal, 2007). Marks & Spencer has often been criticised for not appealing to younger demographics, instead relying on far-too-traditional marketing which has driven the business’ operating model for over 80 years. M&S must be aware that younger demographic purchases will make up the majority of fashion and houseware purchases in this marketplace. The Italian economy is currently experiencing the worst recession in the last sixty years, with household consumption rates falling by 1.1 percent in early 2009 (OADBS, 2009). However, despite this recessionary environment, consumer disposable income levels grew by 4.3 percent since 2008, indicating that there is strength in consumer incomes and availability of resources needed to purchase M&S products (OADBS). In comparison to other European countries, declines in spending in Italy are not as substantial while other countries experience more difficulty in a recessionary environment. â€Å"There is an imbalance between the north and the south of the country† in terms of retail infrastructure, with more competitors and the existence of distribution infrastructures in the north region of Italy (alibaba.com, p.1). Because of this infrastructure, the northern regions of Italy

Managing under uncertainty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing under uncertainty - Essay Example When she looks at the files concerning the case, she finds that all of them contain medical records giving details of individuals suffering from the same symptoms and conditions. This arouses her suspicions and upon further investigation, she finds that the local energy company has been contaminating the water supply of the client and this has been the cause of all the bad health conditions she has been experiencing (Scharfenaker 20). Erin decided to investigate further and this leads her to the discovery that the presence of chromium in the water supply is responsible for the bad health conditions of many residents living in the same area as her client. To counter this, she convinces these people to go up against the energy company, and in an unprecedented decision, these people are awarded millions of dollars in compensation. This movie is an extremely well made one because it enables those who watch it to explore diverse moral and ethical issues, which would never be normally disc ussed. When making a study of the above film, there are certain people who would look upon it from the position of ethical relativism. This is because of the fact that despite not being a lawyer, and her having no qualification that is related to that profession, Erin Brockovich took it upon herself to represent the people who had been affected by the actions of the energy company. Some would say that it was not her place to take matters into her own hands because despite the fact that she worked at a law firm, she had no qualifications to do so. While she may have won the case for her clients, those opposed to a non-legal person presenting a case in court would say that the best thing that she may have done would have been to hand the case over to one of the lawyers at her firm (Lopate). The fact that she won the case may be considered to have been a fluke, that it was luck, which got her through it, not her professionalism. Since ethical relativism is the viewpoint where morality is dependent on the norms of a culture, which practice it, one would say that Erin might have been right in taking the action that she took. She did what she thought was right and went ahead to defend the people whose health was being placed at risk by those who would otherwise not have thought to take any action by themselves. It is the society which determines whether the actions of individuals is ethically right or wrong, and while some may dispute Erin’s actions as being that of a wannabe lawyer, it is a fact that she did what many lawyers would not have chosen to do, despite its being their duty. She chose to represent and place the case of people who lacked representation in court, hence helping them receive some compensation for the suffering that they had been undergoing. One would therefore say that while it was not her job to represent these people, Erin was ethically bound to do so because she had plenty of knowledge concerning the case, and not to take any action would have been immoral of her. It is the duty of and a requirement for all people working in law firms to maintain the highest standards of ethics when carrying out their duties towards those whom they are concerned with. While doing this, they should always keep in mind that the best interests of their clients are put above

Final Paper African Americans Essay Example for Free

Final Paper African Americans Essay Through out history there has been a struggle for African Americans to be accepted in our society. An African American endures many more disadvantages than most white people. The media and other sources have made blacks to look the same and has portrayed them in a certain light that may not be fitting to all blacks. There are many misconceptions that people have of blacks. Many people and organizations have had a part in bringing equality and fighting for equal rights for black people. African Americans have been at a huge disadvantage in America from the beginning. Unlike many other minority groups in America, African Americans in many cases were brought here by force and not by there own will. (000000) The first African Americans came to America in the seventeenth century and were immediately forced to work for Whites. After much turmoil and even a civil war Blacks were finally given there freedom with the Emancipation proclamation signed and ratified in 1863. Even after the proclamation some blacks were still enslaved and freed blacks had little to no opportunity. The struggle continued into the next century as blacks finally received the right to vote with the ratification in of the 15th amendment. The 20th century contained a world filled by a segregated America between whites and blacks through jim crow laws that existed that restricted blacks from interacting with whites. With a history like that it is no wonder that African Americans still have disadvantages in our modern day. America today is known as the country of opportunity. Although there are many opportunities out there it seems that there are more opportunities for some groups more than others. Many companies and corporations still use race as a indicator for hiring employees. In one study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research, people with common black names were less likely to be called back for an interview based on there application alone then black people with common white sounding names. Job applicants with white sounding names needed to send out ten applications to get one call back while applications with common black names needed to send out about fifteen to get one reply. (Francis, www. nber. org/digest.com). The research was done withe resumes of the same qualifications. It is easy to see that Black people are constantly bombarded by inequality in the work force. If there were inequalities just based on names of applicants just imagine the inequality when employers actually see the race of the applicants. Black Americans have been stereotyped for years and continue to be today. The media is one great source of portraying African Americans in certain roles. African Americans are portrayed as criminals, drug dealers and sex offenders in many instances. Many Africans are outraged at how they are portrayed in the media. Protest groups such as the Young African Americans Against Media Stereotypes have done what they can to show there stance on stereotypical media portrayal. Majority of the time you see a young African-American male in the media he is singing, rapping, scoring a touchdown, dunking a basketball or committing a crime( http://www. yaaams. com/) Many stereotypes about black people are incredibly false. Many people still think that black people are only good at certain things like music and sports. This is a very false belief and black people have contributed heavily to all different sorts of fields. Many vital inventions that we use on an everyday bases were invented by black people. The dust mop, pencil sharpener, typewriter, and elevator were all invented by black people. (http://www. black-network. com) Our society would not be what it is if it were not for Garret Morgan, the young Black man who invented the traffic light. http://www. infoplease. com/spot/bhmcensus1. html.

The Purchasing Function Business Essay

The Purchasing Function Business Essay The purchasing function is described by Lysons and Gillingham (2003) as a function with resource to procure supplies. It is usually argued that the purchasing function is not strategically important to enable organisations to gain competitive advantage. Carr and Pearson (2002) described nonstrategic purchasing as a function that is clerical in nature, reactive to other functions and focusing on short-term issues. Ramsay and Croom (2008) on the other hand saw purchasing as a strategic function that contributes to the overall organisational competitive advantage. But Reck and Long in Carr and Pearson (2002) argues that purchasing function of a firm can operate between strategic and nonstrategic levels within an organisation. There is now a question as to whether purchasing should still be considering the nonstrategic role of the purchasing function. This paper will be looking the role of purchasing that make makes it strategic and how purchasing function is strategically important in g aining competitive advantage for the organisation with the aid of model and tools/techniques for purchasing. Purchasing is usually defined as obtaining the right quality material, at the right time, in the right quantity, from the right source, at the right place (Lysons and Gillingham 2003; Baily et al. 1998). Van Weele (2005) also defined purchasing as the management of the companys external supply of goods, services, capabilities necessary for running, maintaining and managing the companys primary and support activities is secured at the most favourable conditions. Although, there is no agreed definition of purchasing from literature, these definitions indicate that there is need for supply requiring to determination of specifications, supply continuity by choosing a suitable supplier, efficient buying (worth the value), and relationship to ensure supply at the right time to manage inventory and monitor efficiency of suppliers thereby defining the purchasing function. Many authors in the literature have identified the developments in purchasing. Reck and Long in Lysons and Gillingham 2003 identified that purchasing passes through stages from passive (no strategic direction and supplier selection based on price and availability), independent (purchasing having functional efficiency with no regards to firms competitive strategy), supportive (supports the corporate strategy with regards to the competitive objective) to integrative (full integration of purchasing strategy into the firms corporate strategy) stages to become a competitive weapon for an organisation. Van Weele (2005) also identified that need for reduced costs, product standardisation, innovation, stock reduction, increase flexibility, and purchasing synergies can improve an organisations competitive position. In addition, changes in trade pattern, customer demands, technology, competitor activity in the have wider business context has affected the development of purchasing. An indicatio n of this is that an increase the importance of purchasing gives the organisation the capability to satisfy its customers needs by focusing on activities that ensures quality products of good values are produced in line with the organisations competitive strategy. Carr and Smeltzer (1997) were able to make a distinction between purchasing strategy and strategic purchasing. Defining purchasing strategy as the specific actions the purchasing function may take to achieve its objectives. While strategic purchasing was defined as the process of planning, evaluating, implementing, and controlling strategies the purchasing follows. It is gathered from these definitions that the actions of the strategy of the purchasing function must be in line with the overall corporate strategy of the organisation be it cost or differentiation as identified by Porter (1985) and that the strategic purchasing must be able to direct the purchasing functions to ensure that the long-term goals are achieved and the organisation remains competitive. Although, there may be nonstrategic purchasing functions due to the low status and spend of the organisation (Carr and Pearson 2002), strategic purchasing functions must be given top management consideration as it is proactivel y involved achieving the firms goals and adding value to the organisation. However, this may only happen when the purchasing function is integrated into the firms strategic planning process and is thought of as important to achieve and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage as concluded by Goh, Lau and Neo (1999). Strategic purchasing has been seen by many authors as impacting firm performance, especially in relation to supplier involvement. It was argued by Chen, Paulraj and Lado (2004) that strategic purchasing gives a competitive advantage by fostering closer working relationships with a limited number of suppliers; promote open communication among supply-chain partners; develop long-term strategic relationship orientation to achieve mutual gains. Carr and Pearson (2002) also argued importance of purchasing to new product development as regards to selecting qualified suppliers as well as the involvement for product development while McGinnis and Vallopra (1999) argued that purchasing and supplier involvement contributes to higher product quality, achievement of cost objectives, and reduce new product time-to-market. Also Brookshaw and Terziovski (1997); Krause, Pagell and Curkovic (2001) were able to argue that strategic purchasing is capable of retaining a firm competitive priorities of qu ality, cost, delivery, reliability through the relationship with suppliers In other words, strategic purchasing with regards suppliers involvement can improve an organisations performance and customer responsiveness if involved in the planning process thereby increasing the firms profits while gaining competitive advantage. Increase in organisations costs spent on purchasing activities from external sources as identified by Ramsay and Croom (2008); Baily et al. (1998) indicates the need for reduction in direct materials cost and net capital employed by organisations. Purchasing is able to achieve these reductions with the use of purchasing policies like competitive bidding and collaboration with suppliers to make decisions that ensure quality and logistics arrangement thereby saving cost and adding to the organisations bottom line. Strategically placing purchasing in organisations decision making process gives it control on purchasing costs and ability to choose a supplier base that is competitive and better than competition. The need for strategic cost management and collaborative innovation and designs, which may require working with external supplier has made organisations rethink their position in the value system and has resulted in the business decision of automating or outsourcing non-critical functions leaving more strategic purchasing tasks. Outsourcing comes from a decision of an organisation to focus on its core activities (Van Weele 2005). This decision is reached when the organisation discovered that performing a function in-house can no longer be carried out competitively, so outsourcing the function to a more proactive organisation allows the advantage to be gained (Baily et al. 1998). In addition, it is not just enough to make outsourcing decisions, the selection of suppliers that will contribute to the organisational goals is critical. Before selecting suppliers, Gadde and HÃ ¥kansson (1994) argued that the purchasing strategy must be decided, be it single, parallel, multiple sourcing. But Svahn and Westerlund (2009) emphasised that the characteristics of the purchasing strategy, efficiency (cost-driven) or effectiveness (innovation and value-adding), affects supplier selection and way purchasing manages the relationship with suppliers in line with the organisations competitive strategy. Purchasing must be able to assess the capabilities of the suppliers through a series tools like e-procurement, purchasing portfolio management, collaborative tools to identify suppliers that can enable the firm gain competitive advantage. Drake and Lee (2008), through the use of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were able to emphasise the importance of aligning purchasing strategy with business strategy. They argued that purchasing through AHP is able to prioritise the importance of components for manufacturing or impact on the strategic priorities and that purchasing is able to ensure the uninterrupted flow of materials through selection of suppliers in such a way to meet the corporate strategy and competitive priorities (quality, cost, speed, flexibility) of the firm. Purchasing portfolio analysis suggested by Kraljic (1983) is an important model for strategic purchasing. Kraljic was able to argue that a firms supply strategy depends on two factors: profit impact and supply risk and with that identified 4 portfolio quadrants: strategic, leverage, bottleneck and routine. This model proposes that purchasing strategies must be chosen for each supplier. Van Weele (2005) also emphasised that a companys spend can be categorised using the 20:80 rule; which says 20 percent of suppliers provide 80 percent of supplies and evaluate suppliers according to priority. From these two views, purchasing must be able to identify the suppliers of critical to non-critical products and develop strategies that ensure minimal supply risk and increase buying power. Also, Baily et. Al (2005) suggested that tiering of suppliers can help identify important suppliers and improve partnership with them. Wagner and Johnson (2004) argued that carefully configured, developed, and managed supplier portfolio can contribute to the firms value creation and competitive advantage. At this point, purchasing must have a proactive approach to making sure that it identifies supplier that contributes to the organisation the competitive advantage needed. Another importance of purchasing especially when buying capital goods is that it focuses on total cost management. Most buying processes are usually based on the price as indicated by Baily et at. (1998); Van Weele (2005). Baily et at. (1998) sees purchasing as of strategic importance as it able to focus on the total acquisition cost than price and bears in mind the total cost of ownership of capital goods like cost of maintenance, spare parts in the long term. Purchasing is able to contribute to the specifications by informing to other functions of delivery reliability, assuring timely supply of necessary inputs to ensure that the initial purchase price alone is considered but rather the total lifetime cost of equipments are considered to make sure purchasing is adding value to the organisation by reducing cost over time. Again mutual relationship with suppliers can bring about cost, price reduction and ultimately cost transparency as supported by Lamming (1993). E-procurement is another strategic tool for purchasing that can contribute to competitive advantage due to its huge cost savings. William (2003) argued that E-procurement cuts across the whole purchasing process and helps facilitate early supplier involvement as well as minimise complexities and unnecessary costs as real-time information is shared between buyer and seller, it also gives top management visibility as they are concerned with the increased operational spend. E-procurement has contributed to the success of many organisations, for instance, Volvos supplier selection (Van Weele 2010) and Gap Inc. to reduce lead-time and overall operations of its retail channels (Demery 2006). Despite the benefits of e-procurement, if top management do not strategically initiate the need for e-procurement, the benefits of it giving an organisation competitive advantage are lost. Conversely, after much consideration of the importance of strategic purchasing to gain competitive advantage, it is necessary to focus on non-strategic purchasing and why it is seen as not important to gain competitive advantage. A nonstrategic purchasing function is task-oriented, while a strategic function makes business decisions as argued by Carr and Smeltzer (2000). Carr and Pearson (2002) also argue that non-strategic purchasing has no contribution to the long-term goals of the firm, are insignificant and of low status. Indeed, if top management of an organisation does not see the importance in the purchasing role in contributing to competitive advantage, it will continue to be seen as non-value adding and just focusing of activities that are non-critical to the successful functioning of the organisation. Altogether, the development in purchasing over time has shown that there is a need by organisations to incorporate into their corporate policies purchasing strategy. Strategic involvement of purchasing for the overall aim of controlling prices, reducing costs, managing supply proactively, and improving quality to successfully deliver goods and services that will satisfy the end-customers and enable the organisation gain sustainable competitive advantage is essential. CONCLUSION At the heart of conventional wisdom lies the argument that purchasing is not strategically important for the organisation to gain competitive advantage. This argument is seen as ungrounded due to the fact that purchasing is gaining importance within the academia and the business environment. The need for reduction of costs, improvement of value-added into the business, better bottom line has led to the improved relevance of purchasing to the performance of an organisation. Purchasing has over the years developed from non-strategic, transactional stage of procuring supplies to a strategic, integrated stage that focuses proactively on the total satisfaction of both internal and external customers of an organisation. Again, the change of purchasing to strategic purchasing, incorporating purchasing strategy into the corporate strategy, for achieving competitive advantage has changed the view of organisations and has led to a rethink of the organisations operation to decide the core compe tences and non-core competences and rather focus on the core ones and sources others from external sources. However, sourcing externally requires effective supplier relationship management. Purchasing in this aspect is able to select suppliers that with collaborate in meeting the organisations competitive strategy. Purchasing is also able to use tools and techniques like e-procurement and total cost of ownership approach along with their skills to manage purchasing costs and balance power and dependence between the company and supplier as well as work out strategies to use with different suppliers. Without giving a strategic importance of purchasing, an organisations opportunities of gain competitive advantage may be missed.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (or as they say in French le Organisation du traità © de lAtlantique Nord (OTAN)), began as a military alliance of governments due to the North Atlantic Treaty ( 4 April 1949). From its inception NATO, with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, has focused on a structure cooperative defence. It translates this structure as having the member states responding to a joint and mutual defence against attack by a non- NATO aggressor. From the original 12 member states there are now 28 participants in this organization dedicated to keeping the alliance strong and vital in a changing world order. Initially, NATO began as a political body, more prone to discussion rather than action. This changed when the Korean War spurred the member states into action and they set up a military command structure under the leadership of two U.S. supreme commanders to effectively deal with the situation that was brewing in Korea. As the first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated the organizations goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.[4] The alliances of WWII with the Russians had taken a beating as the battles became ideological with communism on one side and democracy as represented by the west and NATO was on the other. As for the Germans, there was a basic distrust since they had been responsible for both world wars and it was only four years after their surrender that NATO was formed. Eventually Germany became and is a vital and full-fledged member of the organization. The alliance had some initial credibility issues, since the ever changing relationships between European members and the US were in flux (as always). There was a significant feat that NATO would be unable to stand together against a Soviet invasion. As a sign of its coolness towards the alliance, and basically as a vote of no confidence, the French developed their own nuclear arsenal and withdrew from NATOs military structure in 1966 and hasnt rejoined that aspect of NATO since. In 1955, in retaliation to NATO, the Soviet Bloc countries started their own alliance The Warsaw Pact, and thereby created a common antipathy towards each alliance. In 1989, precipitated by the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification of Germany, NATO focused its attention on the turmoil of the Balkan states and the troubles brewing in that region. At the same time NATO forged stronger and more durable associations with their former Warsaw Pact adversaries and succeeded so well that quite a few of these states joined the alliance between 1999 and 2004. On 1 April 2009, the NATO membership grew it its present 28 states with the entrance of Albania and Croatia into the alliance.[5] Due to the 11 September, 2001 attacks against New York and Washington, NATO has refocused its mission to fight terrorism, instead of the Eastern block and re purposed itself to meet new and more difficult confrontations in other regions of the world. The alliance has provided troops to Afghanistan as well as trainers to Iraq in order to fulfill its treaty obligations to a member state, in this case the United States, that has been attacked. As part of its ever evolving nature, NATO and the European Union (many of whose members are also members of NATO) signed a package of agreements called The Berlin Plus Agreement on 16 December 2002. The crux of this agreement gives the EU the possibility to use NATO assets in case it wants to act independently in an international crisis, on the condition that NATO itself did not want to act-the so-called right of first refusal.[6] Thus if NATO, as the alliance refused to act in a crisis, the EU therefore has the option to respond. NATO members provide 70-plus% of the worlds defence spending.[7] The United States contributes 43% the total military spending of the world[8] with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy spending an additional 15%.[9] The remaining alliance countries make up the remainder of the 12% that accounts for this huge outlay of funds, materials and personnel, making NATO ready to meet any crisis. History The history of NATO is a history of treaties that came in the wake of the Second World War. In 1948 he Treaty of Brussels, signed by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom was the forerunner to the NATO agreement. The signing of this treaty coupled with the insidious Soviet Berlin Blockade gave rise to the Western European Unions Defence Organization that same year. [10] There was an understanding though that in order to thwart the rising military power of the USSR, the United States had to be brought into the picture to enable the west to have a solid counterbalance of power. This strategy precipitated a need for a new military alliance. Talks began at once and in less than a year, the North Atlantic treaty was signed between the 5 signatories of the Treaty of Brussels and the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. There was a lot of hostility regarding the treaty and it even caused some Icelanders to advocate and participate in a pro-neutrality, anti-membership riot in March 1949, just days before the final signatures on for April. The Parties of NATO agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. Consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence will assist the Party or Parties being attacked, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm ) The phrase Such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force does not necessarily mean that other member states will respond with military action against the aggressor(s) has raised many questions over the years. Member states are obligated to respond to a crisis concerning the alliance or any one of its members, however these states have the freedom to choose how they will respond. (Hence Frances decision to withdraw from the military structure, as it never wants to commit its troops to a fight) This clause negates Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels that states that the members will aid the attacked member militarily. Further, the article limits the organizations scope to Europe and North America, which explains why the Falklands War did not result in NATO involvement. However, there was justification for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars involvement as the organizations that attacked the Member state, the US , were not national and merely located in another location . With NATO, some consistency of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology has been brought into existence. This has often meant that European member countries adopting U.S. practices and techniques. There are about 1300 Standardization Agreements (STANAGs) codifying these standards. For instance the 7.62ÃÆ'-51 NATO rifle cartridge of the 1950s became the standard firearm cartridge among many NATO countries while Fabrique Nationale de Herstals FAL was NATO rifle in Europe and used until the early 1990s. In addition to consistent firearms and rifles, signals became standardized, enabling any NATO aircraft to land at any NATO base without confusion. Even the NATO phonetic alphabet has made its beyond NATO into civilian use. Cold War Perhaps the defining moment in early NATO was the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. This police action became a critical test for the alliance as it confronted what appeared to be all Communist countries working together to destabilize the Koreas. This forced NATO into developing military plans.[11] This war was also the precipitator to the nascent cold war between the West and the East and their ideological disparity. In 1952, NATO began to codify its requirements for a Long Term Defence Plan. The Lisbon conference first suggested that there be 96 divisions dedicated to the alliance, however in 1953, this number was devolved to 35 divisions, with an increased dependence on nuclear weaponry to make up the difference. There were 15 at the ready divisions located in Central Europe and Italy and Scandinavia hosted another ten. Another outcome of the Lisbon Conference was that the Chief Civilian post of Secretary General of NATO was created (Baron Hastings Ismay was appointed). (12, 13) By September of 52, the first NATO exercises were held and Operation Mainbrace brought 200 ships and over 50,000 troops and sailors to practice defending Norway and Denmark. It was a huge success. By the end of that first year, Greece and Turkey joined the alliance. This forced some very contentious negotiations, with the United States and Britain disputing as to the logistics of bringing these two countries into the command structure.[14] All through the controversy that was openly under discussion, covert operations were underway to set up a solid resistance in case of a successful Soviet invasion (Operation Gladio). This resistance was original to the Western European Union, however it seemed more logical and effective to transfer these plans and operations to NATO control. Despite the disputes there were signs of unity a bonds began to grow among the different between NATOs armed forces so that the troops themselves were more cohesive. This included the NATO Tiger Association and competitions such as the Canadian Army Trophy for tank gunnery among the different units and countries. By 1954, the Soviet Union felt that it should become a part of NATO in order to keep the peace in Europe.[15] This did not sit well with the NATO member countries, as they feared that the real motivation of the Soviet Unions was weaken the alliance from within, sewing discord, so they rejected the proposal. However, despite earlier declarations of keeping the Germans down, the admission of West Germany into NATO on 9 May 1955 was described as a decisive turning point in the history of our continent by Halvard Lange, Foreign Minister of Norway at the time.[16] German military forces and manpower were a deciding factor into allowing their former enemy into the alliance. Without the extra soldiers fielding enough forces to resist a Soviet invasion[17] would have been impossible. The upshot of this admission though was the Warsaw Pact, signed on 14 May 1955 (6 days later) with the Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and East Germany as members. This formal response to Germanys admission into NATO , defined in no uncertain terms, the two sides of the Cold War. French withdrawal Charles de Gaulles presidency of France from 1958 caused a constant strain on the NATO alliance. De Gaulle ongoing objections to the United States role in the organization was the basis of his never ceasing disputation with NATO. He felt that the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom was undermining the alliance and he wanted France to be the predominant member state. De Gaulle wrote to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 17 September 1958, where he basically demanded a tripartite directorate that would put France on an equal footing with the United States and the United Kingdom in NATO. He also stipulated that NATOs coverage be expanded cover French geographical areas, most notably French Algeria, so that NATO could assist Frances counter-insurgency against Algerian rebels. De Gaulle did not like the response Eisenhower and Macmillan gave him so he began to pull away from a unified alliance and create independent defences for his country. He wanted to play both sides of the alliance in case East Germany invaded West Germany. He was determined to have a separate peace with the Eastern bloc and had no desire to involve France in a NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict. In 1959, despite being a signatory to the alliance, De Gaulle began his severing his allegiance to the alliance. In March 1959, France withdrew its Mediterranean Fleet from NATO command. In June 1959, de Gaulle proscribed foreign nuclear weapons on French soil. By this act, the United States began transferring military aircraft out of France and returning control of all air force bases that NATO operated in France since 1950 to the French by 1967. De Gaulle wanted only his own military and nuclear arms on his own soil, despite his supposed solidarity to the alliance. In 1962, during the Cuban Missle Crisis de Gaulle showed unity with NATO, however afterwards he sustained his unrelenting determination of creating his own independent defence through the removal of Frances Atlantic and Channel fleets from the NATO command structure. Therefore it was no surprise to anyone within the alliance that by 1966, all French armed forces were removed from NATOs integrated military command, and all non-French NATO troops were asked to leave France. All his actions caused the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) to move from Rocquencourt, near Paris, to Casteau, Belgium, by 16 October 1967. While France remained a member of the alliance, its removal on the surface seemed to preclude any sort of committed defence of Europe from possible Communist attack. On the other hand, France did have forces stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany throughout the Cold War. A chain of clandestine agreements between U.S. and French officials, ( Lemnitzer-Ailleret Agreements) delineated the way French forces would fit together and return to NATOs command in case hostilities commenced during the Cold War. [18] Although on the surface France and DeGaulle had manipulated themselves into an independent there was nevertheless a way for France to unite and fight with NATO in case of war. It wasnt until 1995 that the French position on the military structure of NATO began to change. Dà ©tente NATO was able to keep from actual military engagements as an alliance throughout most of the Cold War. The organization was prepared in case of such a scenario. In 1968, NATO argued that since the United States controlled nuclear weapons until a decision to go to war and NATOs own nuclear sharing arrangements with the US were no in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty that was being signed. Since few states actually knew what NATOs nuclear position actually was, whatever the alliance declaimed was considered truth and there was no challenge to their stance as far as controlling nuclear weapons was concerned. NATO countries officially defined two balancing aims of the Alliance on 30 May 1978. The first was to follow their initial directive and maintain security throughout the alliance. The second was to pursue dà ©tente. The purpose of these two complementary aims was to match the NATO defences to those of the Warsaw Pacts offensive capacity without inciting an extra arms race. In 1979, since the Warsaw Pact countries built up their nuclear capabilities in Europe, NATO approved the deployment of U.S. GLCM cruise missiles and Pershing II theatre nuclear weapons in Europe. These new warheads strengthened the western position regarding nuclear disarmament. This Dual Track policy meant that peace was pursued on one hand while meeting weapons build up on the other. Essentially it was a game of one-upmanship conducted by both sides. This occurred again in 1983-84, when NATO responded to the positioning of Warsaw Pact SS-20 medium-range missiles in Europe, by deploying modern Pershing II missiles. These missiles have the ability to hit military targets quite hard such as tank formations, should there be a war. These dual actions led to peace movement protests throughout Western Europe in light of the fact that the danger level ratcheted up in case peace talks were unsuccessful. Escalation Most of Europe was divided between the two alliances. Members of NATO were often shown in blue, with members of the Warsaw Pact shown in red on any maps depicting their allegiances. President Ronald Reagan of the United States was determined that the buildup of the tension between the US and USSR should be exacerbated even more by having NATO deploy those Pershing II and cruise missiles in Western Europe, primarily West Germany. These Pershing II missiles are tactical nuclear weapons intended to strike targets on the battlefield in the event that the Soviets invaded West Germany. The Soviets fed into the Reagan paranoia and played into his deployment plans on 1 September 1983, when they shot down a South Korean passenger airliner when it crossed into Soviet airspace. Reagan characterized the shooting down of the plane a massacre. With world opinion on their side the U.S., galvanized support for the deployment of the missiles. This deployment stood in place until the later accords between Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev were reached and the hegemony of the Soviet Union began to dismantle.. Gamesmanship in the membership was still around although during the late 1970s and early 80s there was some stagnancy. In 1974, when the Turks invaded Cyprus, Greece withdrew its forces from NATOs military command structure. Finally though, in 1980, they were readmitted (Turkish cooperation was necessary) Finally in May 1982, Spain was able to join the alliance as its former dictator had died and the newly democratic country was free to become part of NATO. Spain joined the alliance. In November 1983, NATO maneuvers simulated a nuclear launch and it caused widespread panic in the USSR. General Secretary Yuri Andropov, who was in ill health at the time, was worried that the maneuvers, were actually a genuine first strike. In response, Soviet nuclear forces were readied and air units in East Germany and Poland were placed on alert. It was a tense situation and although U.S. intelligence felt that the Soviet response was merely a propaganda effort, there are many who feel that ailing Andropov was convinced that a NATO first strike was imminent. Post Cold War When the Cold War ended and the Warsaw Pact dissolved in 1991, the main adversary of NATO was gone. There was a strategic reassessment of NATOs purpose. While this reassessment and realignment of the nature and tasks of the alliance were underway, the ultimate result is that NATO has expanded into Eastern Europe and former Warsaw Pact countries are becoming part of the alliance. NATO has also extended its activities into new areas. In 1990, NATO welcomed the German reunification. This meant that the former East Germany was part of the Federal Republic of Germany and therefore alliance. This had been agreed in the Two Plus Four Treaty earlier in the year. There was still a need for Soviet approval of a united Germany to remain in NATO so it was stipulated that foreign troops and nuclear weapons would not be stationed in the eastern part of the country (the former East Germany). Because of this new treaty, there has been an ongoing controversy between scholars and diplomats regarding the expansion of the NATO Alliance. Once scholar, Stephen F. Cohen argued in 2005 that a commitment was given that NATO would never expand further east,[19]. On the other hand but according to Robert Zoellick,( then a State Department official involved in the Two Plus Four negotiating process,) feels that Cohen is wrong as there was no formal commitment of the sort made in the treaty regarding any other country besides Germany.[20] In May 2008, The Daily Telegraph held an interview with Mikhail Gorbachev who felt along with Cohen that there was a commitment made. Gorbachev said the Americans promised that NATO wouldnt move beyond the boundaries of Germany after the Cold War but now half of central and eastern Europe are members, so what happened to their promises? It shows they cannot be trusted.[21] NATOs military structure was cut back and reorganized in the post Cold War era, with new forces such as the Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps established. The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe agreed between NATO and the then still existent Warsaw Pact, mandated specific reductions in personnel, weapons, and nukes. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the military balance in Europe shifted and this was recognized in the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty. Finally in 1995, after nearly a 30 year absence, France rejoined NATOs Military Committee in 1995. French President Nicolas Sarkozy reformed Frances military position and enabled the country to return to full membership on 4 April 2009. This date also saw France rejoin the integrated military command of NATO, even as it still maintains its own nuclear deterrent independently of the alliance.[22] Balkans interventions After years of military preparedness and no fighting during the Cold War, NATOs first military operation came during the former Yugoslavia civil war. It was called Operation Sharp Guard and ran from June 1993-October 1996. NATO provided maritime enforcement of the arms embargo, and set ic sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Six months into the embargo and blockade, (28 February 1994) NATO took its first military action, by shooting down four Bosnian Serb aircraft. These planes violated a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone over central Bosnia and Herzegovina. NATOs Operation Deliberate Force, a bombing campaign started in August, 1995, against the Army of the Republika Srpska, after the Srebrenica massacre. Operation Deny Flight, the no-fly-zone enforcement mission, started in 1993, continued the end of December 1995. The NATO air strikes forced an end to the war in Bosnia. This culminated in the the Dayton Agreement, that provided NATO with authority to deployed peacekeeping force, under Operation Joint Endeavor, first named IFOR and then SFOR. This deployment ran from December 1996 to December 2004. Following the lead of its member nations, NATO began to award a service medal, the NATO Medal, for these operations in appreciation of its troops efforts in a difficult endeavor. NATO was now a fully fledged military organization that was as capable as any single member nation on conducting a military operation to successful conclusion. What had been words on paper was now put into practice. From 1994 to 1997, NATO and its neighbors set up several forums for dialogue in order to keep conflict at a minimum. The Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council were all results of these forums and led the way to a more inclusive membership in the alliance. On 8 July 1997, three former communist countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, were invited to join NATO and their final admission occurred in 1999. By 1998, the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council was established to keep communications open and free flowing between the former adversaries. NATO saw its first broad-scale military engagement in the Kosovo War, where it waged an 11-week bombing campaign, called Operation Allied Force. This was again against what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as the Serbians massacred and cracked- down on Albanian civilians in Kosovo. While a formal declaration of war never took place the NATO action was successful. Yugoslavian leader Slobodan MiloÃ…Â ¡eviĆ¡ agreed to NATOs demands and Kosovos native Albanians were free to stay or go. During Kosovo, NATO deployed one of its international reaction forces, the ACE Mobile Force (Land), to deliver humanitarian aid to Kosovan refugees. [23] NATO then established the KFOR, a NATO-led force under a United Nations mandate that operated the military mission in Kosovo. In August-September 2001, the alliance also mounted Operation Essential Harvest, a mission disarming ethnic Albanian militias in the Republic of Macedonia.[24] NATOs work in the military arena was expanding and becoming vital to international interests This expansion and necessity led the United States, the United Kingdom, and most other NATO countries to oppose efforts that require the U.N. Security Council to approve NATO military strikes, as had happened against Serbias invasion into Kosovo in 1999. France and some others claimed that the alliance needed U.N. approval of course probably more as a way to thwart the US/UK more than any ideological reasons. The U.S./U.K. side that Russia and China would have exercised their Security Council vetoes to block the strike on Yugoslavia and thereby condemned all those ethnic Albanians to slaughter. Russia and China could in fact exercise these same vetoes whenever future conflicts arose where NATO intervention was required. This would essentially cripple and the purpose of the organization. NATO adopted the Alliance Strategic Concept during its Washington Summit in April 1999 that emphasized conflict prevention and crisis management[25] as a prelude to any sort of military intervention unless required and approved by the alliance. After the 11 September attacks Everything changed after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. At this time, and for the first time, NATO invoked Article 5 of the NATO Charter. The Article states: Article 5 The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security . Essentially, an attack on any member shall be considered to be an attack on all members. This invocation of Article Five was ratified on 4 October 2001 when NATO determined that the attacks were indeed eligible under the terms of the North Atlantic Treaty.[26] Eight official actions were taken by NATO to respond to the attacks. Among them were Operation Eagle Assist and Operation Active Endeavour. Operation Active Endeavour is to prevent the movement of terrorists or weapons of mass destruction as well as to enhance the security of shipping in general in the Mediterranean . Despite this early show of solidarity within the alliance there was another crisis barely more than a year later. France and Belgium vetoed the procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq. Germany did not use its right to break the procedure but said it supported the veto. So that all efforts to assist that member fell into abeyance and should Turkey be attacked, there is no agenda in place to quickly form a reprisal. On the other hand the invasion of Afghanistan provided NATO with a chance for a more public unity. On 16 April 2003, NATO took command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Germany and the Netherlands, the two nations leading ISAF at the time of the agreement requested this action and all NATO ambassadors approved it unanimously. The handover of control to NATO took place on 11 August, and marked the first time in NATOs history that it took charge of a mission outside the north Atlantic area. By January 2004, NATO appointed Minister Hikmet Çetin, of Turkey, as the Senior Civilian Representative (SCR) in Afghanistan to be responsible for advancing the political-military aspects of the Alliance in Afghanistan. On 31 July 2006, a NATO-led force took over military operations in the south of Afghanistan from a U.S.-led anti-terrorism coalition and has been protecting the area since. Bowing to US Pressure, NATO even has set up a training program in Iraq to assist in that countrys efforts. NATOs involvement in both arenas has expanded its role in the war against terrorism and the alliance has been instrumental in assisting the now 8 year old conflicts in their efforts to bring the terror organizations in both countries to a halt.

Race-Based Traffic Stops in the US Essay -- racial profiling, police st

Imagine driving home, on a pleasant evening, after a tedious day at work. Just as you are about to arrive to your neighborhood, you notice blue and red flashing lights and pull over. It seems the police officer has no reason for stopping you, except to search your vehicle because of your suspiciously perceived skin tone. This unnecessary traffic stop, designed for people of colored skin, happens on numerous occasions and has been termed Driving While Black or Brown. Racial profiling is the act of using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime. Race-based traffic stops are dangerous for people of color, since they can happen anytime; various African Americans and Latinos modify their driving habits in uncommon ways. For example, some completely avoid predominately white suburbs, in fear of police involvements for looking out of place. Some intentionally drive ordinary vehicles or change his or her dressing style, and others who drive long distances even factor in extra time for the inescapable traffic stops (Harris). â€Å"From 2005 to mid-2008, approximately eighty percent of total stops made were of Blacks and Latinos, who comprise twenty-five percent and twenty-eight percent of New York City’s total population, respectively. During this same time period, only about ten percent of stops were of Whites, who comprise forty-four percent of the city’s population† (â€Å"Restoring a National Consensus†). Ray Kelly, appointed Police Commissioner by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, of New York in 2013, has not only accepted stop-and-frisk, a program that allows law enforcers to stop individuals and search them, but has multiplied its use. Kelly argued that New Yorkers of color, who have been unevenly targeted un... ...inspired action at the state and local level. The ACLU calls on legislators in every state to pass laws that will allow the practice of traffic enforcement to be statistically monitored continuously. Fourth, the Justice Department should ban racial profiling in all federally funded drug interdiction programs. Fifth, the fifty largest cities in the United States should voluntarily collect traffic stop data (â€Å"Restoring a National Consensus†). Earl G. Graves said, â€Å"Fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King expressed his dream that African Americans would someday be judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character, the line between the suspect is a black male and black males are suspect remains dangerously thin.† Our nation needs to follow the five-step plan outlined by ACLU to allow our members of society safety and equal rights for one another.

In Defense of Liberty and Individuality Essay -- Essays Papers

In Defense of Liberty and Individuality It is a little-known fact that for the past century, every American president has been given a copy of John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty[1] upon entering office. Since its publication in 1859, On Liberty’s discussions of liberty and individuality have been a foundation for modern Western political thought and for the liberal democracy. Mill brings to light a unique perspective on the relationship between liberty and individuality, and in the end, on tolerance. According to Mill, individual liberty should be limited by one, and only one thing: the self-preservation of society and other individuals. To that end, man should be free to act and even more so to think in any form he wishes, without the suppression of ideas or opinions, as long as it does not prevent others from doing the same. This liberty will diversify society and allow individuality to flourish. For Mill, liberty—based on a recognition of man’s fallibility and right to self-preservation —breeds individuality, which in turn leads to the betterment of individual character and of society as a whole. Mill begins On Liberty by stating his goal explicitly: a discussion of civil or social liberty and more specifically, what power society or government can legitimately wield over the people—â€Å"the struggle between Liberty and Authority† (On Liberty, 3). As will be shown in more detail later, Mill seems to find himself, and the developed world, in a period of transition. He notes that historical liberty was based on seeking protection against the political tyranny of leaders who did not rule by the will of the people or for the good of the people. Reformers, unsatisfied with the state of affairs, tried to limit the r... ...nt of recognizing all sides of the truth, are principles applicable to men’s modes of action, not less than their opinions† (On Liberty, 58). He argues that liberty and individuality are not only related, but are inseparable. He grounds his reasoning in the utilitarian view that because man is not perfect, no opinion or life should be taken as correct or incorrect unless given a chance to be tested, and that society and individuals can only progress if these tests are allowed. Mill remarks that society is currently being dominated by an emerging conformity and mediocrity. He sees individuality as the only hope to curb this dangerous progression, and liberty as individuality’s creator and protector. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. The Modern Library: New York, 2002. In Defense of Liberty and Individuality Essay -- Essays Papers In Defense of Liberty and Individuality It is a little-known fact that for the past century, every American president has been given a copy of John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty[1] upon entering office. Since its publication in 1859, On Liberty’s discussions of liberty and individuality have been a foundation for modern Western political thought and for the liberal democracy. Mill brings to light a unique perspective on the relationship between liberty and individuality, and in the end, on tolerance. According to Mill, individual liberty should be limited by one, and only one thing: the self-preservation of society and other individuals. To that end, man should be free to act and even more so to think in any form he wishes, without the suppression of ideas or opinions, as long as it does not prevent others from doing the same. This liberty will diversify society and allow individuality to flourish. For Mill, liberty—based on a recognition of man’s fallibility and right to self-preservation —breeds individuality, which in turn leads to the betterment of individual character and of society as a whole. Mill begins On Liberty by stating his goal explicitly: a discussion of civil or social liberty and more specifically, what power society or government can legitimately wield over the people—â€Å"the struggle between Liberty and Authority† (On Liberty, 3). As will be shown in more detail later, Mill seems to find himself, and the developed world, in a period of transition. He notes that historical liberty was based on seeking protection against the political tyranny of leaders who did not rule by the will of the people or for the good of the people. Reformers, unsatisfied with the state of affairs, tried to limit the r... ...nt of recognizing all sides of the truth, are principles applicable to men’s modes of action, not less than their opinions† (On Liberty, 58). He argues that liberty and individuality are not only related, but are inseparable. He grounds his reasoning in the utilitarian view that because man is not perfect, no opinion or life should be taken as correct or incorrect unless given a chance to be tested, and that society and individuals can only progress if these tests are allowed. Mill remarks that society is currently being dominated by an emerging conformity and mediocrity. He sees individuality as the only hope to curb this dangerous progression, and liberty as individuality’s creator and protector. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. The Modern Library: New York, 2002.

US Election :: essays papers

US Election Overview of the American Economy The American economy has been skyrocketing during the past decade. Growth in fields such as output, price stability, consumer demand, labor markets, and productivity have been increasing at an alarming rate. This over flow of growth occurring within the country has brought a sense of safety to the American people and with increased spending based on the â€Å"wealth effect† the American economy looks to be evermore prosperous in the years to come. Al Gore- Democrats Al Gore, the leader for the Democrat party, supports many freewill movements and has a firm understanding of the country’s future development. Gore is an avid believer in expanding the United States to encompass a more world wide approach at economics, such as enabling NAFTA to extend southward. Strongly supports cutting taxes and putting money back into the system to encourage future profits enabling for the tax cuts. More money going into the system gives ore money back tot he government and without taxation making both the government and the people benefit. George Bush- Republicans George Bush, the leader for the Republican party, strongly believes in conservative views and the welfare of the people. Bush’s ideals are more traditional and are shaped towards the white, heterosexual, over 40 year old man, which holds the majority in the United States. Supports cutting taxes and taking the money the government has and increase spending in public affairs to benefit the people. Eliminating the debt and estate tax are important also but with no increase in governmental profit. 15 percent cut in tax rates, providing greatest benefit to the rich. Favors 50 percent reduction in capital gains tax. Supports $500 per child tax credit. No mention of Comprehensive health care guarantees. Supports allowing of workers to retain health insurance while shifting jobs, nothing for uninsured. Maintaining existing tax structure, with only minor changes, favoring the rich. Supports $500 per child tax credit, $1 500 tax credit for community college. Opposes any expansion of federal programs or guaranties of health care. Privatization of Medicare. Mainly good for the rich, elderly, and veterans. Abolishing of the Department of Education. Promotes private schools against public education. Better for richer families. Encourages school prayer and patriotism. Cuts in spending and more restrictions. Eliminate food stamps and school lunch program. Very difficult for welfare cases. Cutting of $1 trillion from federal programs, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.