Medicinal Drug Addiction Essay Example

Medicinal Drug Addiction Essay Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion World Health Organization Geneva 1988 ISBN 92 4 154239X O World Health Oganbatian, 1988 Publications of the World Health Organization enjoy copytight protection in accordance wiVl t e provisions of Protocol 2 of the Universal C o r n Convention. For rights of h reproduction or translation of W O publications, in part or in tom, application should H be made to the Gffice of Publications, World Health Organization, Geneva, S w i a n d .The World Heam Organization welcomes such applications. The designations employed and te presentation of the material in this publication do h not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of t e Secretariat of the h World Health Organization concerningthe legal status of any country, territory, cky or area or of its authorities, or concerningthe delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers productsdoes not imply that they are endor sed or recommendedby the World Health Organhation in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters. Typeset and printed in Switzerland 88/7708-WHO/Gloor43WO Ethical criteria f6r medicinal drug promoW~ Resolution WHA41. 17 Introduction Objective Ethical criteria Applicability and implementation of criteriaPromotion Advertising Medical representatives Free samples of prescription drugs for promotional purposes Free samples of nomprescription drugs to the general public for promotional purposes Symposia and other scientific meetings Postmarketing scientific studies, surveillance and dissemination of information Packaging and labelling Information for patients: package inserts, leaflets and booklets Promotion of exported drugs Appendix: Sample drug information sheet Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion Resolution WHA41. 7 adopted by the Forty-first Wo rld Health Assembly, 13 May 1988 Ethicalcriteriafor medicinal drugpromotion The Forty-first World Health Assembly, Recalling resolutions WHA21. 41 and WHA39. 27; Having considered the report of the Executive Board concerning the ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion based on a draft prepared by an international group of experts; Convinced that observance of ethical criteria for medicinal l drug promotion by al parties concerned will contribute to a more rational use of drugs; 1. THANKS the international group of experts for its work; . ENDORSES the ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion that are annexed to this resolution, on the understanding that they constitute general principles that could be adapted by governments to countries circircumstances as appropriate to their political, economic, cultural, social, educational, scientific and technical situation, their national laws and regulations, disease profile, therapeutic traditions, and the level of development of t heir health system, and that they do not constitute legal obligations; 3.URGES Member States: (1) to take account of these ethical criteria in developing their own appropriate measures to ensure that Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion medicinal drug promotion supports the aim of improving health care through the rational use of drugs; (2) to monitor and enforce, where appropriate, the implementation of the measures they have developed; 4. APPEALS to pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, the promotion industry, ealth personnel involved in the prescription, dispensing, supply and distribution of drugs, universities and other teaching institutions, professional associations, patient and consumer groups, the professional and general media (including publishers and editors of medical journals and related publications), and the public: (1) to use these criteria as appropriate to their spheres of competence, activity and responsibility; (2) to adopt measures based on th ese criteria as appropriate, and monitor and enforce their standards; 5.REQUESTS the Director-General: (1) to ensure the wide dissemination of these criteria in all official languages; (2) to follow the practice of these criteria and to report to the Executive Board from time to time as appropriate. Ethical criteria. for medicinal drug promotion Introduction 1. Following the WHO Conference of Experts on the Rational Use of Drugs held in Nairobi in November 1985, WHO prepared a revised drug strategy which was endorsed by the Thnty-ninth World Health Assembly in May 1986 in resolution WHA39. 27.This strategy includes, among other components, the establishment of ethical criteria for drug promotion based on the updating and extension of the ethical and scientific criteria established in 1968 by the Twenty-first World Health Assembly in resolution WHA21. 41. The criteria that follow have been prepared in compliance with the above on the basis of a draft elaborated by an international gr oup of experts. Objective 2. The main objective of ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion is to support and encouragethe improvement of health care through the rational use of medicinal drugs.Ethical criteria 3. The interpretation of what is ethical varies in different parts of the world and in different societies. The issue in all societies is what is proper behaviour. Ethical criteria Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion for drug promotion should lay the foundationfor proper behaviour concerning the promotion of medicinal drugs, consistent with the search for truthfulnessand righteousness. The criteria should thus assist in judging if promotional practices related to medicinal drugs are in keeping with acceptable ethical standards. Applicability and implementation of criteria . These criteria constitute general principles for ethical standards which could be adapted by governments to national circumstances as appropriate to their political, economic, cultural, soci al, educational, scientific and technical situation, laws and regulations, disease profile, therapeutic traditions and the level of development of their health system. They apply to prescription and nonprescription medicinal drugs (over-the-counter drugs). They also apply generally to traditional medicines as appropriate, and to any other product promoted l as a medicine.The criteria could be used by people in al walks of life; by governments; the pharmaceutical industry (manufacturers and distributors); the promotion industry (advertising agencies, market research organizations and the like); health personnel involved in the prescription, dispensing, supply and distribution of drugs; universities and other teaching institutions; professional associations; patients and consumer groups; and the professional and general media (including publishers and editors of medical journals and related 4 -Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion publications). Al these are encouraged to use the cril teria as appropriate to their spheres of competence, activity and responsibility. They are also encouraged to take the criteria into account in developing their own sets of ethical standards in their own field relating to medicinal drug promotion. 5. The criteria do not constitute legal obligations; governments may adopt legislation or other measures based on , them as they deem fit. S ~ l yother groups may adopt l self-regulatory measures based on them.Al these bodies should monitor and enforce their standards. Promotion 6. In this context, promotion refers to all informational and persuasive activitiesby manufadurers and distributors, the effect of which is to induce the prescription, supply, purchase and/or use of medicinal drugs. Active promotion within a country should take place only with respect to drugs legally available in the country. Promotion should be in keeping with national health policies and in compliance with national regulations, as well as with voluntar y standards where they exist.All promotion-making claims concerning medicinal drugs should be reliable, accurate, truthfulI informative, balanced, up-to-date, capable of substantiationand in good taste. They should not contain misleading or unverifhble statements or omissions likely to induce medically Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion unjustifiable drug use or to give rise to undue risks. The word safe should only be used if properly qualified. Comparison of products should be factual, fair and capable of substantiation.Promotional material should not be designed so as to disguise its real nature. 8. Scientific data in the public domain should be made available to prescribers and any other person entitled to receive it, on request, as appropriate to their requirements. Promotion in the form of financial or material benefits should not be offered to or sought by health care practitioners to influence them in the prescription of drugs. 9. Scientific and educational activi ties should not be deliberately used for promotional purposes.Advertising (a) Advertisements in all forms to physicians and health-related professionals 10. The wording and illustrations in advertisements to physicians and related health professionals should be fully consistent with the approved scientific data sheet for the drug concerned or other source of information with similar content. The text should be fully legible. 11. Some countries require that advertisements should contain full product information, as defined by the 6 Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion pproved scientific data sheet or similar document, for a given period from the date of first promotion or for the full product life. Advertisements that make a promotional claim should at least contain summary scientific information. 12. The following list, based on the sample drug information sheet contained in the second report of the WHO Expert Committee on the Use of Essential Drugs1and appended for ease of reference, can serve as an illustration of the type of information that such advertisements should usually contain, among others: he name($ of the active [emailprotected](s) using either international nonproprietary names (INN) or the approved generic name of the drug; the brand name; content of active ingredient(s) per dosage form or regimen; name of other ingredients known to cause problems; approved therapeutic uses; dosage form or regimen; side-effectsand major adverse drug reactions; precautions, contra-indications and warnings; major interactions; name and address of manufacturer or distributor; reference to scientific literature as appropriate. WHO Technical Report Series, No. 722,1985,p. 43.Ethical criteria for medicinal drug pronotion 13. Where advertisements are permitted without claims (reminder advertisements),they ought to include at least the brand name, the international nonproprietary name or approved generic name, the name of each active ingredient, and the name an d address of the manufacturer or distributor for the purpose of receiving further information. (b) Advertisements in all forms to the general public 14. Advertisementsto the general public should help people to make rational decisions on the use of drugs determined to be legally available without a prescription.While they should take account of peoples legitimate desire for information regarding their health, they should not take undue advantage of peoples concern for their health. They should not generally be permitted for prescription drugs or to promote drugs for certain serious conditions that can be treated only by qualified health practitioners, for which certain countries have established lists. To fight drug addiction and dependency, scheduled narcotic and psychotropic drugs should not be advertised to the general public.While health education aimed at children is highly desirable, drug advertisements should not be directed at children. Advertisementsmay claim that a drug ca n cure, prevent, hs or relieve an ailment only if t i can be substantiated. They should also indicate, where applicable, appropriate limitations to the use of the drug. 15. When lay language is used,the information should be consistent with the approved scientific data sheet or 8 Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion other legally determined scientific basis for approval. Language which brings about fear or distress should not be used. 6. The following list serves as an illustration of the type of information advertisements to the general public should contain, taking into account the media employed: the name(s) of the active [emailprotected](s) using either international nonproprietary names (INN) or the approved generic name o the drug; f the brand name; major indication(s) for use; major precautions, contra-indications and warnings; name and address of manufacturer or distributor. Information on price to the consumer should be accurately and honestly portrayed. Medical re presentatives 17.Medical representatives should have an appropriate educational background. They should be adequately trained. They should possess sufficient medical and technical knowledge and integrity to present information on products and carry out other promotional activities in an accurate and responsible manner. Employers are responsible for the basic and continuing training of their representatives. Such training should include instruction regarding appropriate ethical conduct taking Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion into consideration the WHO criteria.In this context, exposure of medical representatives and trainees to feedback from the medical and allied professions and from independent members of the public, particularly regarding risks, can be salutary. 18. Medical representatives should make available to prescribers and dispensers complete and unbiased information for each product discussed, such as an approved scientific data sheet or other source of inform ation with similar content. 19. Employers should be responsible for the statements and activities of their medical representatives.Medical r e p resentatives should not offer inducements to prescribers and dispensers. Prescribers and dispensers should not solicit such inducements. In order to avoid overpromotion, the main part of the remuneration of medical representatives should not be directly related to the volume of sales they generate. Free samples of prescription drugs for promotional purposes 20. Free samples of legally available prescription drugs may be provided in modest quantities to prescribers, generally on request. 10 Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotionFree samples of mmpresdption chugs to the general puWi for promotional purposes 21. Countries vary in their practices regarding the provision of free samples of non-prescription drugs to the general public, some countries permitting it, some not. Also, a distinction has to be made between provision of free drug s by health agencies for the care of certain groups and the provision of free samples to the general public for promotional purposes. The provision of free samples of non-prescription drugs to the general public for promotional purposes is difficult to justdy from a health hs perspective.If ti practice is legally permitted in any country, it should be handled with great restraint. Symposia and other seientiic meetings 22. Symposia are useful for disseminating information. The objective scientific content of such meetings should be paramount, and presentations by independent scientists and health professionals are helpful to this end. Their educational value may be enhanced if they are organized by scientific or professional bodies. 23. The fad of sponsorship by a pharmaceutical manufacturer or distributor should be clearly stated in advance, at the meeting and in any proceedings.The latter should accurately reflect the presentations and discussions. Entertainment or other hospitalit y, and any #S offered Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion to members of the medical and allied professions, should be secondary to the main purpose of the meeting and should be kept to a modest level. 24. Any support to individual health practitioners to participate in any domestic or international symposia should not be conditional upon any obligation to promote any medicinal product. Post+nadcet~ng scientific studies, suweiC ance and dissemination of information 25. Post-marketing clinical trials for approved medicinal drugs are important to ensure their rational use. It is recommended that appropriate national health authorities be made aware of any such studies and that relevant scientific and ethical committees confirm the validity of the research. Intercountry and regional cooperation in such studies may be useful. Substantiated information on such studies should be reported to the appropriate national health authorities and disseminated as soon as possible. 26.Post- marketing scientific studies and surveillance should not be misused as a disguised form of promotion. 27. Substantiated information on hazards associated with medicinal drugs should be reported to the appropriate national health authority as a priority, and should be disseminated internationally as soon as possible. 12 Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion Packaging and labelling 28. Appropriate information being important to ensure the rational use of drugs, all packaging and labelling material should provide information consistent with that approved by the countrys drug regulatory authority.Where one does not exist or is rudimentary, such material should provide information consistent with that approved by the drug regulatory authority of the country from which the drug is imported or other reliable sources of information with similar content. Any wording and illustration on the package and label should conform to the principles of ethical criteria enunciated in this docum ent. lrrfonnation for patients= package inserts, leaflets and booklets 29. Adequate information on the use of medicinal drugs should be made available to patients. Such information should be provided by physicians or pharmacists whenever possible.When package inserts or leaflets are required by governments, manufacturers or distributors should ensure that they refled only the information that has been approved by the countrys drug regulatory authority. If package inserts or leaflets are used for promotional purposes, they should comply with the ethical criteria enunciated i this document. The wording of the n package inserts or leaflets, if prepared specifically for patients, should be in lay language on condition that the medical and scientific content is properly reflected. Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion 30.In addition to approved package inserts and leaflets wherever available, the preparation and distribution of booklets and other informational material for patien ts and consumers should be encouraged as appropriate. Such material should also comply with the ethical criteria enunciated in this document. 31. Ethical criteria for the promotion of exported drugs should be identical with those relating to drugs for domestic use. It is desirable that exporting and importing countries that have not already done so should use the WHO Certification Scheme on the Quality of Pharmaceutical Products Moving in International Commerce.Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion Appendix Sample Drug Information Sheet1 Various types of information are needed by prescribem and consumers to ensure the safe and effective use of drugs. The following list is a sample that should be adjusted to meet the needs and abilities of the prescriber. (1) International Nonproprietary Name (INN) of each active substance. (2) Pharmacological data: a brief description o pharmacolf o i a effects and mechanism of action. gcl (3) Clinical information: (a) Indications: whenever appropriate, simple diagnostic criteria should be provided. b) Dosage regimen and relevant pharmacokinetic data: average and range for adults and children; dosing interval; average duration of treatment; special situations, e. g. , renal, hepatic, cardiac, or nutritional insufficiencies that require either ineased or reduced dosage. (c) Contra-indications. (d) Precautions and warnings (reference to pregnancy, lactation, etc. ). Reproduced from The use of essential dnrgs: s m n d report of the WHO fipert Committee on the Use of EssentialD ~ g (WHO Technical Report Series, No. 722, s %, P. 43). Ethical criteria f r medicinal drug promotion o e) Adverse effects (quanbfy by category, if possible). (f) Drug interadions (includeonly if clinically relevant; drugs used for self-medication should be included). (g) Overdosage: brief clinical description of symptoms; non-drug treatment and supportive therapy; specific antidotes. (4) Pharmaceutical information: (a) Dosage f o m . (b) Strength o f dosage form. (C) Excipients. (d) Storage conditions and shelf-life (expiry date). (e) Pack sizes. (f) Description of the product and package. (g) Legal category (narcotic or other controlled drug, prescription or non-prescription). (h) Name and address of manufacturerb) and importer(s).

Grahams Formula for Diffusion and Effusion

Graham's Formula for Diffusion and Effusion Grahams law expresses the relationship between the rate of effusion or diffusion of a gas and the gass molar mass. Diffusion describes the spreading of a gas throughout a volume or a second gas, while effusion describes the movement of a gas through a tiny hole into an open chamber. In 1829, Scottish chemist Thomas Graham determined, through experimentation, that the rate of effusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of the gas particle mass and to its density. In 1848, he showed that the rate of effusion of a gas is also inversely proportional to the square root of the molar mass of the gas. Grahams law also shows that the kinetic energies of gases are equal at the same temperature. Grahams Law Formula Grahams law states that the rate of diffusion or effusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of the molar mass of the gas: r ∠ 1/(M) ½ or r(M) ½ constant ï » ¿where r rate of diffusion or effusion and M molar mass. Generally, this law is used to compare the difference in rates between between two different gases: Gas A and Gas B.  The law assumes that the temperature and pressure are the same for the  two gases.  When Grahams law is used for such a comparison, the formula is written: rGas A/rGas B (MGas B) ½/(MGas A) ½ Example Problems One way to apply Grahams law is to determine whether one gas will effuse more quickly or slowly than another and to quantify the difference in rate. For example, if you want to compare the rates of effusion of hydrogen gas (H2) and oxygen gas (O2), you use the molar masses of the gases (two for hydrogen and 32 for oxygen) and relate them inversely: rate H2/rate O2 321/2 / 21/2 161/2 / 11/2 4/1 The equation shows that hydrogen gas molecules effuse four times more quickly than oxygen molecules. Another type of Grahams law problem may ask you to find the molecular weight of a gas if you know the identity of one gas and the ratio between the rates of effusion of two different gases. This problem can be expressed as: M2 M1Rate12 / Rate22 A practical application of Grahams law is uranium enrichment. Natural uranium consists of a mixture of isotopes, each of which has a slightly different mass. In gaseous diffusion, uranium ore is made into uranium hexafluoride gas, which is repeatedly diffused through a porous substance. Each time, the material that passes through the pores becomes more concentrated in U-235 (the isotope used to generate nuclear energy). This is because the isotope diffuses at a faster rate than U-238, which is heavier.

3-page case study on recent developments of Napster and its industry Essay

3-page case study on recent developments of Napster and its industry - Essay Example After a takeover offer of $2.43 million by the Private Media Group, Napsters brand and logos were acquired at bankruptcy auction by the company Roxio, Inc in 2002 and the online service was called as pressplay in 2003. At present Napster, LLC (formerly Roxio, Inc.) is an online music provider offering a variety of purchase and subscription models. The new legal online music service let user’s access music through a subscription or on a fee-per-song basis. The Napster PC-based subscription service is currently available in the U.S., UK, Canada, Germany and Japan. There are two types of subscription service offering at present Napster To Go, The portable subscription tier, which offers music fans to unlimited transfer of music to their choice of compatible MP3 players, cell phones and PDAs in addition to unlimited streaming and PC downloading for $14.95 per month. Napster also offers Napster Light, pay-per-track (no monthly subscription fee) and Napster.com, a free advertising supported website that enables full-length versions of over 3 million tracks three times to stream/listen . It had also launched NapsterLinks, which links to all of the music in Napster catalog that can be embedded into WebPages, blogs or in emails for sharing anywhere on the web. Napster also offers a mobile music service called as Napster Mobile. This service enables mobile users to search and browse Napster’s music catalog and preview, purchase and play songs on their mobile handset through an integrated music player. June 27, 2006: The availability of Napster 3.7, an updated version of its PC application featuring PowerSync, which optimized the process of transferring subscription music content to compatible MP3 players. May 12, 2006: The launch of Napster.com as a free advertising supported website that enables full-length versions of over 3 million tracks three times to

Effective Business Communication Routines Essay

Effective Business Communication Routines - Essay Example In practice, communication is an unavoidable venture in running day-to-day business and, therefore, the way communication is to be done must be effective in disseminating the message. It is worth noting that communication is a process that involves delivery of messages from the sender to the recipient and back. In both ways, the message delivered should have qualities such as clarity, accuracy, brevity, preciseness, and sensitivity to needs and emotions of the recipients. (Belch &Belch, 1993). Stacks and Salwen (2008) stated that efficient communication is subject to regulation by specific moral values. Business ethics control a companies’ course of action as per the accepted moral standards and principles. Ethics are applicable to the way a company relates to the customer and the society as a whole. Stacks and Salwen (2008) further, added that ethics in business language refers to the practical use of regulations, values, and set standards of discipline related to a business setup. Ethics act as a guide to business behavior and order that propels the business in the right direction. This order controls preparation of documents and fosters good relationship between employees and clients. This relationship is fostered when communication is done effectively and positively leaving no chances to arrogance in routine messages and replies (Stacks & Salwen, 2008). In order to prepare an effective business communication message, there is a need to apply the three-step process of writing routine positive messages and replies. Body Nearly all communication activities performed by officers in a business firm can be viewed in two perspectives: Firstly, all communications dealing with real work for instance contacting business clients. Secondly, communication actions dealing with internal issues for example communicating across departments or management. Internal communication is divided into two parts: Important communication, whereby a new message with an attached value is passed for instance an answer or resolution to a puzzling problem, talks, team consultations, and planning. The other part of internal communication is routine which includes; submitting reports and assignments to relevant departments and authorities, sharing experiences in the face of a problem or a challenge just to mention a few. This paper focuses on Routine Replies and Positive Messages a sub section of internal communication (Guffey & Almonte, 2008). The letter below is an example of a complain letter to the accounts department in a business firm whose services were not satisfactory. It follows the three-step progression of writing routine positive messages (Bovee & Thill, 2008). The tone is professional, expects a fair adjustment and all correspondents has been documented. It comprises of three parts delivering the message, which are; Problem statement in the first paragraph, Details of the letter, and explanation of the problem in the second paragraph and action or solution expected in the third paragraph. Managing director, Print Point Company, 8452 Green valley. February 1, 2012. To: The chief accountant, Accounts department, Dear Sir, RE: DEPARTMENTAL COMPLAINTS As someone who has worked with this firm for a long time, the board was very dissatisfied with the quality of work done by your department in the last financial year. We expected you to

Economic analysis construction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Economic analysis construction - Assignment Example Realizing that this increase in the available financial resources is not a sustainable growth strategy in the long-term, the UAE government has made several public commitments to reform its regulatory environment, strengthen the country’s macroeconomic foundations, sustain the rapid growth in the non-oil sector, and invest in human capital (World Economic Forum, 2). On the macro-economic level, economic recovery after the recent financial crisis is on a sustained track. UAE’s economic recovery has continued to gather momentum in the recent past, driven by sturdy expansion in trade, tourism, manufacturing and transport. Additionally, the construction and real estate sectors have also bounced back from the slump experienced during the recession. On the back of a notable rebound of consumer confidence, real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2013 stood at 4.0%, following a 4.4% growth in 2012, according to the estimates provided by the International Monetary Fund (Bank Audi, 1). The GDP growth and the rebound in consumer confidence is a good development within the market the construction company intends to penetrate. This is because it will create opportunities that will drive demand in the construction sector for commercial and residential real estate. The Abu Dhabi Government committed to finance an additional AED 330 billion in early 2013 for major developments over the coming five years. The government’s commitment focuses on social development, specifically in the education, healthcare, housing, and selective strategic transport projects (Kerr, Ryburn, McLaren, & OrDentons 1). The UAE’s real estate sector continues to be characterized by unique patterns in two major cities. While Abu Dhabi’s market remains subdued, Dubai’s market has been experiencing renewed development activities, an increase in prices, and growing concerns about a bubble comeback

Impact of Poverty on Personality Development

Impact of Poverty on Personality Development Does Poverty affect personality development from early childhood into adolescence? Eric Fromm said that Mans main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality (Fromm, 1947, p.237).Fromm believes that an individuals purpose in life to is to come fully into themselves so that they may be able to exceed their own expectations. Fully coming into oneself comes from growing into ones personality. Personality is the combination of behaviors, emotions and thought patterns that define an individual or make up their character. Over the course of our lives we go through many changes. Changes that makes us stand taller or our voices grow deeper. Changes that happen on the inside and on the outside. Throughout the course of our lives our behaviors change and develop into habits that shape our very personalities that can lead us into success or prove to be a seemingly permanent obstacle on the path to success. These behaviors either change for the good or bad carry over into our older years as our personalities change. Our personalities dictate who we connect with and get along with, they are central to the way we go through and experience through the world in many different experiences. There is no singular personality that ensures success for anyone but what if the environment influences or fosters a certain type of personality? Can someone truly be a product of their upbringing and environment? In this case, we will be viewing poverty as a type of environment in which individuals live and grow within. Poverty is a long-standing injustice and social issue that restricts specific resources and opportunities for those who are affected by it (Utsey Constantine, 2008). Across many studies there are many varying definitions of poverty. But how does poverty exactly affect personality development? Specifically the personality development from childhood into adolescence. The definition of poverty in this paper will be defined as condition or way of life where peoples basic needs arent being met. Those needs being food and shelter. Poverty is operationally defined across many studies and experiments and sometimes grouped differently. Each study looks at a specific factor that comes directly into play with poverty. Establishing differences in the level of poverty is important in terms of noting how much exposure the developing individual has had to poverty or a lack general lack of resources because in some cases the longer the exposure the more of an effect it has on someone. An example would be impoverished neighborhoods split into three groups where high poverty rates being between 30-40%, moderate poverty with the rates between 20-30% and low poverty rates being 20% (Leventhal Brooks 2011). In some cases, there can be brief periods of poverty because sometimes individuals manage to get out of an impoverished area. There is sometimes a period where there is a flux between persistently being impoverished and being recently impoverished (Leventhal Brooks 2011). Experience of poverty can be into terms such as persistent poverty and transitional or intermittent poverty (Ackerman, Brown Izard 2004). Persistent poverty is related to lower quality home environment that lasts or persists that later is connected to problem behaviors. Neighborhood poverty is defined as neighborhood hardship that is caused by a lack of economic, social and familial resources (Harden, Copeland-Linder Nation 2011). Two different definitions of poverty are identified: the first says that poverty and the behaviors of the poor are explained by their occupation, socioeconomic status and their level of income. The second explains poverty by talking features of persons personality that can connect with a culture of poverty in society from (Sailing Harvey 1981). So, if there is a culture of poverty and disadvantage what does that mean for the youth or the future? Will the cycle be continued or can they possibly find a way to get out of it? There have been studies conducted on how youth and adolescents in poorer areas are academically affected by being surrounded or growing up in poverty (Anderson, Leventhal Dupà ©rà © 2014) and about how neighborhood affluence and poverty can affect achievement and behavior. They wanted to find out how poverty affects academics and behavior. Does poverty affect academics and behavior in negative or positive ways? Does their behavior indicate a risk factor in their personality? When it comes down to these children that go from early childhood into adolescence who have bad relations with the law and substandard test scores tend to have higher externalized behaviors that get them into trouble. Is this truly their faults? Are their potentials met or are they held back by the environment that they are surrounded by? Poverty is something that holds back many promising individuals that have potential to do so many amazing things. This is an important topic because the thing that many people fail to realize is that individuals from these impoverished areas that are considered high risk are only that because of what they are surrounded by. It is an important topic to speak on and to bring up because it brings attention to a marginalized group of people that are mostly overlooked and not heard about. Well-being is challenged and constantly put under duress due to the pressures and anxieties of being impoverished. So, how does poverty affect personality development from childhood into adolescence? What Poverty effects The claim that I am making is that poverty first and foremost affects opportunities within the communities that it is prevalent and present in. Opportunities can be defined as chances or a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. Opportunity comes with levels of educational attainment, employment and quality of resources. Levels of attainment can increase levels of affluence in the area. Resources could be food, water, shelter, clothes or several things that can contribute to the standard of living being higher. They are chances for an individual to exceed their own expectations and attain a goal that they previously hadnt thought they could attain. Depending on the area in which an individual is surrounded by opportunity can either be given or not be not given. The level of affluence in a neighborhood implies an accessibility to certain resources that can improve the quality of life and can make life easier for families and children in that area. Affluence within neighborhoods can be broken down into adults or parents within a neighborhood that have B.A. degrees and those who were currently employed in managerial or professional occupations (Anderson, Leventhal Dupà ©rà © 2014). Access to quality resources is maintained through a consistent salary so when they run low they are able to replenish them with no problem. They are also able to maintain the possessions that they already have. Within maintaining the possessions and a certain quality of life along with experiencing the stability that can come with affluence a sense of self-worth is fostered. Self-worth can be fostered through competency in daily tasks or within the academia. For those who happen to not be in a stable and plentiful environment academic achievement can be seen as the opportunity that can grant some a beginning foundation or a means to aspire to move away or out of poverty. One of the main things that can certainly help alleviate the instability of poverty is educational attainment that can lead to so many opportunities for gainful employment. Affluence and poverty correlated with participants outcomes achievement in regards to Math and Reading scores affluence of the neighborhood corre lated with higher achievement (Anderson, Leventhal Dupà ©rà ©, 2014). Although in some cases there can be periods of poverty because sometimes some individuals manage to get out of an impoverished area (Damian et al., 2014).. Over time family needs increased so family wealth increased. But, neighborhood poverty indicators declined from early childhood to middle childhood and early adolescence. If participants in this study moved from an impoverished area into a better one, they tended to move during early or middle childhood, not so much during adolescence (Anderson and Leventhal Dupà ©rà ©, 2014). Affluence and poverty in this study correlated with participants outcomes achievement and with behavioral problems. In regards to Math and Reading scores affluence of the neighborhood correlated with higher achievement and the internalizing/externalizing behavior hypothesized models had no support as well. Children who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely than those in affluent ones to undergo a negative personality change which can create a stigma (Hart, Atkins Matsuba, 2008). There is sometimes a period where there is a flux between persistently being impoverished and being recently impoverished. So, there are different kinds of poverty levels in this study, one that is consistent and persistent while the other is transitional because sometimes people can get out of poverty (Eamon, 2000). Lower-quality environments, strained relations between the family or mother, and low stimulation quickly impact recent povertys effect on internalizing behaviors. Lower quality environments refer to the state of the home itself, so if it is clean, safe and uncluttered the environment is of higher quality. Strained relations mean the ways that the parent interacts with their child or other family members after recently becoming impoverished. Stimulation comes in with social interactions with people outside of the family. Recent poverty means that the family had not previously been in poverty but due to a circumstance they have fallen into poverty. So, it is the Persistent poverty that seems to have in regards to have the longest lasting impact behavior in developing children (Eamon, 2000). I think that children are aware of when there is a lack of something or when they dont have access to some of the things that they want or some of the things that they see other people with. They are quick to acknowledge the lack of what they want and even more quick when asking for the object or thing that they want. Sometimes the line between what one needs to have and what one wants to have is very blurred especially when the things that are essentially needed care out of reach. Individuals from disadvantaged or impoverished areas experience unpredictable childhoods tend to feel as if they themselves have no actual control. Poverty happens for a varying amount of reasons that most of the time boil down to not being the individuals fault or out of the individuals control. For example, a family or an individual could fall below the poverty line because of job loss, loss of finances, unemployment and income level that changes their socioeconomic status. Poverty affects Behavior Poverty affects behavior in negative or positive ways. Poverty creates a complex and demanding environment that are mostly not conducive to development. Individuals are put under a lot of stress, duress and pressure when growing up in an impoverished environment. Behavior is how an individual acts towards others. Within this limited and high stress environment many frustrations arise. Being in poverty or living in poverty can make a person feel hopeless and out of control (Mittal Griskevicius, 2014). When people feel a lack of control they try to find other things that they can exercise effective control over. In trying to exert control or find control in smaller situations they can become reckless and risky in their judgement. To adapt to this environment of poverty certain behaviors are expressed and these behaviors form into habits. Habits that arent always good are formed to find ways to get by or adapt with the environment. Some of the harmful ways frustrations by being in an i mpoverished environment can manifest themselves is through maladaptive and unsavory behaviors; for example yelling or fighting or refusal to comply with requests (Castellanos-Ryan et al.,2013). For example, aggressive behaviors like physical damage that can cause hurt or harm to an individual themselves or someone else. These horrible and sometimes aggressive or violent tendencies that are seen or portrayed dont necessarily mean that that is what the adolescent or individual truly is or how they truly are. Maybe the reason the individuals are acting in such a way is that they themselves do not know how to process their own emotions or feelings. So, instead of trying they resort to lashing out either at themselves or others. Does behavior indicate a specific personality or personality traits? Some negative ways that behaviors can be expressed are known as internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Across the studies that use the terms externalizing and internalizing the definitions are quite similar. Externalizing behaviors as problem behaviors that are expressed externally (Castellanos-Ryan et al.,2013). Aggressive behaviors like yelling, screaming or fighting can be seen as externalizing behaviors.Internalizing behaviors as negative behaviors that are expressed inwardly (Leventhal, Brooks Gunn , 2011). So, these behaviors are inflicted upon the self. Anxiety and depression are two forms of the behavior that are frequently experienced. Stress can cause a number of emotional and behavioral problems. Poor children were rated and found to have more externalizing problems in comparison to those who werent poor. Tying back into the availability of specific resources for the need and the enjoyment of the individual. If there are not enough financial resources to help support the lives of the individual some strain and stressors may arise. These strains can be felt in different ways and some of them may even be acted out in harmful or destructive ways that add more tensions and frustration into the very situation itself. There is also a correlation between family income and behavior issues, it was discovered that family income was related to externalizing problems. Children had fewer problems when their familys income was higher than children whose familys income was low. The children that had been severely impoverished had more outward problems as opposed to those children who never had experienced of were even in poverty themselves (Dearing, McCartney and Taylor, 2006). The longer the exposure to poverty the more likely children are to experience sadness, anxiety, and dependency or other forms of problems. The behavior, the externalizing and internalizing problems begin in childhood when exposed to poverty and then carry on into adolescence when poverty is persistent and consistent through development which lead to other areas like academic achievement and opportunity along with personality disorders or anger issues (Ackerman, Brown Izard, 2004). The longitudinal study looked at the connection between the amount of family income and the rate of poverty over a 6 year period through the use of assessments or questionnaires given out to the children and to their parents or caregivers and went from when the child was in preschool to 5 years of age. They found that as the years went by the children were very likely to experience sadness, anxiety and dependency (Ackerman, Brown Izard, 2004). When breaking up neighborhoods their levels of poverty the main thing to remember is that there is a relationship between the level of poverty itself and the prevalence of specific behaviors. My claim is that levels in poverty itself also play a role in the mediating or eliciting specific behaviors. So in a high poverty neighborhood the presence of decreasing poverty would help alleviate problem behaviors meanwhile in a moderate poverty neighborhood the presence of increasing poverty would be the source of youth problem behaviors (Leventhal, Brooks Gunn, J., 2011). There seems to be a trend in the behavioral development of boys, young children and toddlers when in poverty or in an at-risk area that they tend to have more externalizing behavior issues (Holtz, Fox Meurer, 2014). Low-income families are at higher risk for family and social stressors, for example job loss, poor quality child care, inadequate supervision, unaddressed medical issues, maternal mental health issues, and unsafe neighborhoods, which in turn, negatively impact parenting practices that have been found to be related to the development and exacerbation of behavior problems in children (Holtz, Fox Meurer, 2014). An extension on the aforementioned definition of externalizing behaviors can be called challenging behaviors. These challenging behaviors can include throwing temper tantrums, destroying property, refusing to listen, noncompliance and elevated levels of aggression (Holtz, Fox Meurer, 2014). This study implemented the use of Early Childhood behavior screenings to be able to track the exact time or time frame of when the problem behaviors arose in the toddlers that were being used as subjects. The Early Childhood Behavior Screen is a 20 item questionnaire that was made for the toddlers and preschool kids. The questions within the questionnaire were made to measure the positive behaviors and challenging behaviors. The ECBS were measured by the frequency or the prevalence of challenging behaviors then the complete score was between 10 and 30. There were gender differences found for the challenging behaviors items, for example on items like throws things at others and kicks othersthe boys had higher percentages respectively with the first item mentioned being at 60% for boys and 43% for girls and for the second 25% for girls and 40% for boys (Holtz, Fox Meurer, 2014). My claim is that not only behavior but other facets that can be acted upon or increased due long exposure to poverty are poor impulse control, bad decision making including risky behaviors. Risky behaviors can be having unprotected sex, having multiple partners or doing drugs. Bad decision making can be tied to criminal or delinquent behaviors like theft or robbery (Griskevicius et al, 2013). Long time exposure to harshness and unpredictability were the markers that were used in Griskevicius et al. (2013) to track the rise of risky behaviors from before birth and well into adolescence. Unpredictability was operationally defined through the changes in mothers employment status, residence and living arrangements; harshness was assessed by socioeconomic status (Griskevicius et al., 2013). Changes in employment status means a change to salary and could lead to poverty. In the study they measured five different outcomes over the span the ages between 6 and 16 then age 23; the first two co mponents deal with sexual history and the other three deal with deviant behaviors and they were aggression, delinquency and ties to criminal activity (Griskevicius et al., 2013). Results showed that the male participants had many more sexual partners and participated in more delinquent behaviors than that of the female participants. It was also found that unpredictability in the early stages of childhood correlated with the amount of sexual partners later on in life, levels of aggression and criminal behaviors (Griskevicius et al., 2013). So instability throughout early years of childhood are indicators of a possible risky personality forming later on in life which was measured when the participants answered questionnaires when they turned 23. Instability and unpredictability can also be a good indicator for aggression and delinquent behaviors that can continue well on into adulthood and have a major effect on the many things that can potentially happen in someones life. So what can actually be done to help alleviate the problem of the instability, unpredictability and harshness of poverty so that children dont grow up and become products of their own environ ments? The outlook after this looks a bit bleak and not so hopeful. Although it does seem hopeless in many ways and that only negative things come from growing up impoverished like externalizing and internalizing behaviors, lack of availability to resources and a higher chance of being unstable and not having good sense of well-being there are some positive behaviors that can come out of growing up within an impoverished community or area. This is not to say that there should not be any efforts to relieve and help close the gaps that let people fall into poverty and stay there. Coping, adaptability and resilience are all positive behaviors that can come from growing up in adversity. Impoverished children grow up learning how to cope which helps them learn how to better manage and deal with stress and stressors that can arise from the unpredictability of life (Wadsworth Berger, 2006). Within the poverty environment stress plays another role in development. Poverty related stress has been shown to have a strong correlation with the development of anxiety and depression but the way in which an individual responds or reacts to the stresses or stressors is called coping. But there are different kinds of coping that work for each individual separately, everyone has their own strategy that helps them deal with their own kinds and varying amounts of stress; the two types of coping are referred to as primary control coping and secondary control coping (Wadsworth Berger, 2006). So, primary control coping consists of strategies that have more of a direct approach to dealing with ones own feelings and this includes problem solving, emotional expression and emotional regulation while secondary control coping consists of trying to adapt ones self to differing environments, like for example stressful environments or events, and this this includes acceptance, changing ones outlook, distraction and positive thinking (Wadsworth Berger, 2006). Both types of coping can be seen as beneficial in comparison to disengagement coping, which is coping that is unhealthy and includes avoidance, denial and wishful thinking; all of which do not exactly interact with the problem or deal with the emotional side to arising stressors (Wadsworth Berger, 2006). Coping is only really helpful when it is effective towards the type of stress it is up against. It has also been suggested that coping interacts with both internalizing and externalizing behaviors by changing the degree at w hich they affect the person. But is something like coping with poverty based stressors and stresses going to happen when an individual is an environment that doesnt have that many poverty related issues or challenges? Is the effectiveness of coping dependent on the interaction with the poverty linked stressors? During an 8 month period poverty based stressors, responses those stressors and the behaviors that arose in response to those stressors were observed in Wadsworth Berger (2006). The responses were collected by the responses to stress and youth self report questionnaires. The RSQ has 16 factors while the YSR had 112 factors. Their findings indicated that the level of stress elicits a certain stress reactivity to it that is correlated with coping itself. My other claim is that individuals, namely, adolescents who either grew up in unpredictable and impoverished areas to tend to be flexible and can adapt to new situations with more ease since they have had to adapt and be more flexible due to their upbringing (Mittal et al, 2015). As seen before, with different levels of stress and stressors comes different approaches to coping with the arising stress. They believed that the influence of high stressful environments and they went about proving that by doing two experiments. The first one has two deal with inhibitions and shifting. The following experiments served as replications of the first. Inhibition is the deliberate overriding of dominant responses and Shifting can also be called task switching, it involves flexibly changing between different tasks (Mittal et al., 2015). Participants gave information about their backgrounds and then were either sorted into groups that had inhibition tasks or shifting tasks amongst different enviro nments. They found that people who had remembered having unpredictable childhoods did better on the shifting tasks and worse on the inhibition tasks (Mittal et al., 2015). So the very the environment of unpredictability requires an individual to be quite flexible and adaptable. This trait can carry well on into adulthood and serve the individual well in the long run. Poverty and Personality Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individuals unique and distinctive character. There are many facets and parts that compile it and they are called traits. Personality is one of the things that keeps growing, evolving and changing throughout the rest of our lives. It takes some time for people to develop their own distinctive personality because it can be influenced by so many outside factors like their environments, parents, friends, family or a plethora of reasons. It takes time for people to truly come into themselves and to come into their own personalities. Individuals go through many stages in their lives. The first formations of personality come from the behaviors that are learned and acted out from the earlier stages of development and then carried on into the later stages. Repeated behaviors can in turn become habits (Salling Harvey, 1981). And habits become harder and harder to break as time goes on. If personality is negatively affected by poverty then that could lead to the of a risky personality and predict negative behaviors that can extend well beyond adolescence and have effects on adulthood behaviors and interaction between people (Hart, Atkins, Matsuba , 2008). As exemplified by the aforementioned studies poverty has a significant role in the increase and prevalence of negative behaviors of both kinds being externalizing and internalizing. Sometimes these behaviors dont arise in opposition to the environment but to cope with the demand and stresses of the environment itself (Wadsworth Berger, 2006). Sometimes the ways in which individuals decide to cope happen to be the wrong ways, instead of trying to work with the problems presented within the challenging and demanding environment, they shut down or completely disengage from the environment or try to detach themselves from the problem (Wadsworth Berger, 2006). Poverty related stressors can take tolls on groups and families with tension rising between them. When there is tension due to poverty related stressors it can cause chaos and issues within the household itself and this can strain the social climate of the home and can be an indicator of childrens ability to recognize and properly process their own negative emotions (Raver, Blair, Garrett-Peters, 2015), It was found that the higher the amount of exposure to conflicts and tension within the home the harder or more difficult it was for children from that home to be able to process and understand negative emotions when faced with them. These negative behaviors become habit and then these habits are carried into adulthood that turn into risky behaviors that can create a risky personality. Conversely, if personality is positively affected by personality it can lead to better overall well-being, mental health and in self-worth and self-esteem (Eamon, M.K, 2000). From the research presented before I claim that some of the positive behaviors that can come from growing up in an unpredictable, unstable and impoverished environment can be successful and healthy coping, adaptability and flexibility in difficult and uncertain situations. So not only do individuals who grow up in poverty cope well, they cope the right way. As mentioned before there are two types of coping that can be seen as the healthy way to cope although coping is different for everyone; primary control coping is the more direct approach to dealing with ones own feelings and secondary control coping is consists of trying to adapt ones self to differing environments (Wadsworth Berger, 2006). Although those are two different ways in which an individual can cope they both give time for the person to actually process what they are feeling and interact with the stressor or the problem in their own ways. I think that through these processes of coping understanding how to handle negative emotions is learned. It is through learning how to handle negative emotions that can arise with stress and strain from stressors that negative behaviors can be diminished. Conclusion Poverty does indeed change and affect personality in many ways even if the individual can move from a place with high levels of poverty. The lack of resources leaves individuals brought up in poverty at a deficit in some areas that carry on into adulthood and it is very unlikely that deficit can be closed. It can increase the prevalence of outwardly aggressive and violent actions which can only lead to negative outcomes for the future. But there are also some positives that come from this restricted lifestyle, like the ability to cope and the ability to be flexible. Although it is difficult to say that poverty can be eradicated so that everyone has the same equal and equitable opportunities it is still a worthy course of action so that everyone can meet their full potential.

Congugal Cacaphony in Anita Desai’s Novels

CONGUGAL CACAPHONY IN ANITA DESAI’S NOVELS Suneeta Upadhyay, Research Scholar M. M. H. college, Ghaziabad, C. C. S. University, Meerut Indian novelist and short story writer, Anita Desai is specially noted for her insightful depiction of the inner life of the female characters in her writings. In most of her novels Anita Desai dwells on the themes incongruity, incertitude and hazards of human relationship particularly the man-woman relationship. D. H. Lawrence points out: The great relationship for humanity will always be the relationship between man and woman.The relation between man and man, woman and woman, parent and child will always be subsidiary. Desai in her portrayal of man-women relationship mostly broods over the predicament of modern women particularly in male-chauvinistic society and her destruction at the alter of marriage. According to Anita Desai most marriages are proved to be unions of incompatibly. Though she does not negate the futility of institution of ma rriage but depict the psychic state of her protagonist at some critical juncture of life.She has presented conjugal cacophony in Indian male dominated traditional families. In India where women have resigned role, which does not allow any room for individualism, identity and assertion, Anita Desai talks of women who question the age old traditions and want to seek individual growth. They try to discover and rediscover meaningfulness in life through the known and establish. Thus, Desai dramatises the clash between two irreconcilable temperaments (man-woman) who does not find a proper channel of communication.She writes mostly about the miserable plight of women suffering under their insensitive and inconsiderate husbands, fathers and brothers. So man-woman relationship brings characters into alienation, withdrawal, loneliness, isolation and lack of communication that frequently occurs in her novels. Most of her novel’s protagonists are alienated from the world, from society, f rom families, from parents and even from their own selves because they are not average people but individuals. When these characters have to face alienation, they becomerebels.Anxiety,uncertainties, misery gloominess, disenchantment fretfulness and fright become their lot and they lose their sense of sanity and mental poise, for example Maya in Cry, the Peacock, Sita in where shall we go this summer? And Nanda Kaul in Fire on the Mountain. Some characters like Monisha and Nanda Kaul are unable to reconcile to alienation and meet with a tragic end. The novel Cry, the Peacock, is mainly concerned with the theme of marital discord between husband, Gautama, and wife, Maya.In this novel dreamy, sensitive and emotional, Maya cries for love and understanding in her loveless marriage with realistic, insensitive and rational Gautama. The matrimonial bonds that bind the two are very fragile and tenuous; the growing tension between them reaches its culmination when Maya in frenzy murders Gauta ma and then commitssuicide. In Voices in the City, Anita Desai also deals with the incompatible marriage of Monisha and Jiban. Like Maya she is also miserable misfit among her in-laws.Monisha’s husband is the prisoner of conservative customs and considers that a woman’s most important roles besides child bearing are of family household under the authority of a stern mother-in-law. Monisha feels that her privacy is denied to her. Monisha’s ill matched marriage, lack of intimacy with her husband, infertility and stress of living in a combined family push her to commit suicide. In Where Shall We Go This Summer? Anita Desai highlights how different attitudes, individual complexes and fears add to estrangement between the husband and the wife resulting in conjugal disharmony.Raman and Sita have irreconcilable temperaments and attitudes to life and confronted with the same problem of husband-wife discord. Sita affirms, â€Å"they are nothing-nothing but appetite and sex. Only food, sex and money matters. † Sita shudders the idea of giving birth to a fifth child in aworldnot fit to obtain it. Against all sane advices she goes to the magical world so that she could prevent the biological process of delivery. Nand kaul in Fire on the Mountain, a great grandmother, totally disillusioned with all marital bonds.Her husband was the Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University but treated her simply as some useful object in house. He carried on a life long affair with another woman. He is such a coward that he could not marry a Christian lady because he could not dare break social conventions. Nanda could not belong to the family and her position is no better than a house keeper. Outwardly, the Kaul’s are an ideal couple for university community but from inside their relationship is all-barren. After Maya, Monisha and Nanda Kaul there comes a change in the concept of matrimony for Desai’s heroine.Sarah, Bim, Sarla, Leila, Lotte, Aruna and U ma. They face their problem unflinchingly. They too have their poignant predicament, mental and spiritual incongruity, supremacy of male community, suffering at the hand of their in-laws, conjugal cacophony etc. still they struggle and compromise in their wedded life and survive. They believe there is no other way out and inspite of adverse conditions, life is worth to be lived. In Clear Light of Day rather we get a fresh addition in the treatment of man-woman relationship at the hand of novelist.Desai does not write about the strain and incoherence between husband and wife but brother and sister. The chief protagonist Bim is left alone after her parents’ death to take care of her aged, alcoholic aunt, younger brother Raja and her mentally retarded brother Baba. It is these burdens and responsibilities that shatter her marital bliss and destroy her conjugal identity. Utterly neglected and treacherously deserted, Bim muses painfully on how the passage of time has ravaged the o ld relationships of childhood and created a changed pattern of relationship in the family.Marriage to Bakul affords Tara a means of escape. For Raja Marriage is means to become rich and fat by marrying the one time landlord’s only daughter. In Custody, delineates the theme of marital friction and relationship problem. In this novel, Deven an improvished college lecturer lead an unhappy married life with a gloomy and tedious wife Sarla. has no interest in literature. She is ignorant about Devan’s interest and concludes her husband’s frequent visits to Delhi for meeting his girl friend. Both of them are frustrated in their own ways but they are unable to do anything for each other.Bye-Bye Blackbird mirrors marital confrontation of Adit and Sarah. Sarah’s inter-culture marriage fails to offer her anything striking and extraordinary. Sarah is peculiarly drifting apart within and try to find her ‘self’ that is lost after her marriage with an India n immigrant. Her life becomes perfunctory keeping an emotional aloofness from anyone and anything. Anita Desai’s Fasting Feasting represents that repression of woman in India directly or indirectly connected with worn out customs. For Anamika’s parents marriage is seen as the only career for women.How bride becomes a prisoner in joint family by arranging marriages too hastily which further proved disastrous. The beautiful and talented anamika is regularly beaten by inlaws and finally was slaughtered at the alter of marriage. To conclude, Anita Desai presents to reader her opinion about complexity of human relationships as a big contemporary problem and human condition. So, she analyses this problem due to shows changing human relationships in her novels. She is a contemporary writer because she considers new themes and knows how should to deal with them.Anita Desai takes up significant contemporary issues as the subject matter of her fiction while remaining rooted in t he tradition at the same time. She explores the anguish of individuals living in modern society. Desai deals with complexity of human relationships as one of her major theme, which is a universal issue, as it attracts worldwide readers to her novels. She strives to show this problem without any interferes. In other hand, she allows to her readers who have their judgment about her novel’s characters and their actions. ======== References

Is action more important than knowledge Essay

Pablo Picasso once said that, â€Å"Action is the foundational key to all success†. In some ways I must agree with Picasso. To succeed in something of importance and value you must take action and not idle away as action speaks louder than words. Though knowledge is important because in some aspects as you cannot be illiterate about your cause if you wish to succeed. Knowledge is a key aspect of human beings. In order to advance in our society you must gain knowledge. Therefore to take action you must have a basis of information in order to be successful. You should not act in haste or proudness but rather develop your ‘pool of information’ and make an informed decision to acquire your desired results, â€Å"ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven†. Some may say that taking action is more important than acquiring knowledge. They may say that people may spend too much precious time on gaining knowledge and miss there time of action. ‘History does not remember those who were knowledgeable but rather those who took action in a steadfast manner.’ Though I must disagree. History are full of those who carelessly and in alacrity took an ill-informed decision that was destructive on humanity. For example in when Lenin, the first leader of communist Russia died, his testament was not read out in public. This testament would have kicked Stalin out of the Communist Party and therefore would have stopped the mass murder that happened due to Stalin’s orders under his reign. Due to the ill-thought Trotsky and other high members of the Bolsheviks, the decision was to not read out the testament in public. This enabled Stalin to take power and soon Stalin became a despotic leader of the communist parties and created a terror in Soviet Russia as well as the rest of the world. Therefore I believe knowledge is of key importance. This is due to the timeless evidence of how acquiring knowledge is more important than taking knowledge, like the testament of Lenin and this story; There once was a man named Pars. He was thought to be slow as before making every decision he would sit and ponder about the connotations and effects this decision would have on him and his fellow classmates.

Elections, Bourgeois Democracy, and Development Essays

Elections, Bourgeois Democracy, and Development Essays Elections, Bourgeois Democracy, and Development Essay Elections, Bourgeois Democracy, and Development Essay Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable. To a very large extent, elections and electoral practices shape the fate of the modern nation state. The reason for this is not difficult to establish. Elections provide the medium, by which the deferent interest groups within the modern nation state can stake and resolve their claims to power through peaceful means. Elections therefore determine the manner and methods by which changes In the social order may be brought about. Where this method fails, individuals and groups may be left to their win means including assassinations, coup datasets, revolutions, insurgency and bush wars to press their claim to power. It is this fact more than any thing else that makes the subject of elections and electoral practices In Nigeria so crucial today. As we are aware, the controversial elections of 1965 produced the coup detat of January 1966. Again the flawed elections of 1983 produced the military coup of December 31, 1983. Finally, Bandages flawed elections of 1993 produced the Abaca palace coup of that year and paved the way to his memorable dictatorship. As we look now awards 2007 against the background of the failed elections of 2003 and 2004 the question naturally arises as to whether our country can arrive there in one piece or survive it in whatever form thereafter. In order to answer this question or suggest ways In which it can be answered so that we can arrive there, as one country with a renewed faith in the democratic process, there Is a need to examine the nature of elections and its place in furthering democracy and development in a bourgeois social order such as ours. 2. Elections. Bourgeois Democracy and Development Almost everywhere, the enlightened self-interest of the ruling class dictated that autocracy be replaced first by the classical form of democracy and that next, the classical form itself be replaced by Its liberal form within the context of representative democracy. This is not to say that members of the ruling class voluntarily, willingly and at their own initiative conceded the right of elections. Even in the Greek city state with which the classical idea of democracy is most closely associated, only free men could participate In the debates and therefore Influence the mode of governance of the city. Thus slaves were not allowed to participate In the debates as the Greek city was divided between the nobility and subjects and freemen and slaves. The emergence of bourgeois society, not only produced struggles to redefine the meaning but also the practice of democracy. From the bourgeois point of view, democracy becomes: OF 29 arriving at political, legislative and administrative decisions. It is a method by which the individual acquires the power to participate in decisions by means of a competitive struggle for the peoples vote.. It is the competition for votes that is the distinguishing character of the democratic method.. Further, democracy ensures: Meaningful and extensive competition among individuals and organized groups (especially political parties, either directly or indirectly, for the major positions of governmental power, a highly inclusive level of political participation in the selection of leaders and policies, least through regular and fair elections, such that no major (adult) social group is excluded, and a level of civil and political liberties freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom to form and Join organizations sufficient to ensure the integrity of political competition and articulation (Diamond, 1988:4) It can be seen that that the concept of elections or the vote and the processes associated with it are seen to lie at the heart of a system of representative democracy. The other elements are the guarantee of civil and political liberties and the existence of an institutional arrangement or government whose function it is to maintain the aforementioned elements throu gh, among other things, the rule of law. This is not the place to undertake a critique of the theoretical postulations and hence practical implications and applications of the bourgeois concept of democracy (we eave undertaken such a critique elsewhere Away, 1995). What is important is that elections play a crucial role in the bourgeois understanding of democracy and that the stability of the bourgeois order is premised upon the credibility of its elections. Further, this understanding has provided the benchmarks against which democratic and hence electoral practices have been measured in all bourgeois contexts in the world (Dye and Ziegler, 1971). As an index of the culture of politics in a context, these benchmarks also indicate that the integrity of the electoral process has major implications for the level of economic ND social development that are possible or attainable in that context (Family, Jay and Webby, 2003). As Aka (2001: 1-6) has pointed out, that both the failure of development and the failure to put development on the agenda in Africa are largely attributable to political conditions. One of these more salient conditions is the conception of politics as Warfare by the politically active segment of the ruling class. The implication of this however is that there is a recursive relationship between political practices as engendered by the political system and development. A political ultra that is defined by violence makes development impossible because by its very nature, such a political culture is destructive of the need and motivation for achievement. A culture of elections that is marked by violence and warfare is thus totally anathema to the possibilities of development. As Kooky (2003:vii) has pointed out in Do the Votes Count? Final Report of the 2003 General Elections in Nigeria: Elections are a complex set of activities with different variables that act and feed on one another. It can be defined as a formal act of collective decision that occurs in a treat of connected antecedent and subsequent behavior. It involves the participation of the people in the act of electing their leaders and their own participation in governance. Elections are not necessarily about Election Day activities although it forms an important component. It encompasses activities before, during and after elections. It includes the legal and constitutional framework of elections, the registration of political parties, party campaigns, the activities of the electronic and print media in terms of access; it includes campaign financing, the activities of the security agencies and the government in power. It includes the authenticity and genuineness of the voters register; it includes the independence or lack of it of electoral agencies and organs. It includes the liberalism or otherwise of the political process in the country and the independence of adjudicating bodies of elections. An examination of the character of elections in Nigeria must thus deal with these issues, not simply in a theoretical sense but more in terms of the way in which they have functioned over the period. It is particularly important in this regard that such an examination deals with not one but all elections that have occurred in the context n order to discover underlying dynamics and thus to be sure that in suggesting the way forward, it deals, not with symptoms but with causes. For this reason we shall examine elections and electoral practices in Nigeria in four phases. These will be: v Elections in the colonial period v Elections in the first ears of independence v Elections during the years of military rule and autocracy v Elections under civilian regimes in between the years of military rule and autocracy 3. Elections in the Period of colonial rule A number of elections were held in Nigeria in the colonial period. These elections Egan with the legislative councils in Lagos and Callback from 1922 (Kernel, 2003). The growth of the labor movement and the development of towns led to concessions by colonial authorities that culminated in these city and legislative council elections. By 1938, for example, the Nigerian Youth Movement, an organization that was hostile to British colonial interests in Lagos in particular and Nigeria in general was able to win three out of the four available seats in the city council elections. In the same year, it also won all three legislative seats in the legislative council elections. Several other elections took place between 1951 and institution of the same year, the 1954 elections took place under the new Federal Constitution. Whereas all constitutions up to 1954 limited the right of elections to certain members of the population, the Federal Constitution granted universal adult suffrage. In the book, British Administration in Nigeria: 1900-1950 A Nigerian View, John has provided a graphic account of the motives for and electoral practices of the period. In the 1951 and subsequent elections for example, the British colonialists worked assiduously to tilt the political scale in favor of the Northern Peoples Congress (NP). Coordinated by Sir Bryan who was to become the Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Northern Nigeria during the crucial run off period to flag independence, these efforts ensured that the genuine pro-democracy forces in the country did not acquire political power. For example, Sir Bryan confessed that in the elections of 1951, he not only helped to prepare Naps manifesto, slogans and strategies but that in the case of more than a dozen, I had to hold and guide the pen hand, after cajoling from them the names of those for whom they wished to vote. He also confessed to election manipulations even in areas where Muslims were in a minority so that the Northern Peoples Congress could win 90% of the votes. Commenting on the 1951 elections and Sir Brans role in it, John (1974:331) has observed that: An American scholar has described Sir Brans account of the 1951 elections in Kane over which the latter presided, as revealing as it is obtuse. Sir Bryan became, in the last ten years of his Northern Nigeria service the chief pillar of the administrative establishment in that part of the country. Under him and his other British associates in power, the defense of the status quo became much more than an official preoccupation. In the face of the threats from within the North represented by such lunatic fringe anti-British parties as the Northern Elements Progressive Union and the Middle Zone League, and represented from without by such parties as the Action Group or the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon, the British residents decided to throw their weight in support of the fledging Northern Peoples Congress, the only party in Northern Nigeria dedicated to the preservation of the status quo. The 1951 elections to the regional legislature, conducted under the McPherson constitution, were conducted with the resident of ACH province as the chief electoral officer. Sir Bryan was the Resident of Kane province at this time, a province which had to select twenty of the ninety seats of the new Northern House of Assembly. This pattern of electoral practices was repeated in the subsequent post 1951 elections. Against the background of the Richards and McPherson constitutional provisions which stipulated that 50% of the seats in Parliament be reserved for the Northern part of the country, it is not surprising that the Northern Peoples Congress assumed control of political power at flag independence in 1960. In effect, the manipulation of the electoral process by the British ensured as Chief Anthony Narrow (1985:21 ,22) has succinctly observed, that Nigeria became the only country in the entire history of the anti-colonial struggles of our time in which those who of meeting the challenges of independence The truth of the matter, which determined efforts to falsify history cannot forever conceal, is that the nationalists who were prepared to work, to fight, to risk, to dare to die if need be so that a new and democratic nation might be born, these people lost control of the situation and ere displaced or succeeded by those who had remained untouched by the unifying and modernizing flames of the new nationalism When independence came in the fullness of time, neither the goodwill of progressive forces Or our trade unions, nor our youth could prevent the inevitable course of events when those who were least disposed towards democracy became the official guardians our fledging democracy. 4 Elections in the first years of independence: 1960 1965 Three sets of elections were held in the period from 1960 1965. These were the elections in the newly reared Midwest Region in February 1964, the Federal elections of December 1964 and the Regional elections of 1965. The prelude to the December 1964 Federal elections was provided by the census exercise and the creeping crisis in the Western Region from 1962 onwards. The census results released in March 1961 had shown that the South had a higher population than the North. As the time of the Federal elections approached, the Bale NP government not only cancelled the 1961 census results but also slated a recount for 1963. Then Just before the elections in 1964, the new census results were released. The results declared that the North had 55% of the population of the country. For the NCSC which had gone into alliance with NUMB, NINEPIN and its old adversary, the GAG to form the United Progressive Alliance and therefore hoped to win the Federal elections because it anticipated the census results to revalidated the 1961 results, and because it was already in control of virtually three out of the four Regions in the federation, the census figures provided the last straw in a litany of pre-election measures by the NP government that were aimed at frustrating the opposition. Demagogy (1981:19) recounts that: .. As the elections approached, the NP government of the North did not hesitate to frustrate the PUPS candidates in the North, so that many of them could not file in their nomination papers. Hence, before the elections, sixty-seven NP candidates had been declared elected unopposed. That did not go down well with the PUPS leadership who called for an immediate postponement of the elections. But the Below Government rejected the idea of postponement. Thereupon, the PUPS led by Dry. Spark, the Premier of the Eastern Region, called for a mass boycott of the election by its supporters. Again, the Below government ordered the election to go ahead in spite of the boycott. Thus, the elections of December 1964 turned out to be a farce. It was completely boycotted in the Eastern Region, where the NCSC Government used its powers to ensure that no election was held. It was also partly boycotted in the West, North, Mid-West and Lagos, with the effect that the election results lacked credit and were nationally unacceptable. However, while the PUPS rejected them, the NP and its allies of the ANA, which single-handedly carried out the elections, accepted them. There followed a national stalemate. Farcical. Although the people clearly rejected the Okinawa government at the polls and voted massively for the GAG opposition party, the Okinawa government publicly (interfered) with the results of the elections. In very many cases, GAG candidates who held certificates that they were duly elected in their constituencies later heard their names mentioned as defeated candidates through governmental news media (Demagogy, 1981:21-22). These developments, including the simmering TIP revolt in the Middle Belt, the political impasse at the centre, the resulting mass revolt in the Western Region by the people who felt rightly that they had been cheated at he polls set the stage for the first military coup of January 15, 1966. 5. Elections during the years of military rule and autocracy The military rulers conducted three elections during their period of misrule. These were (I) the elections of 1979, under the first coming of Bassoon, the 1992-1993 elections under General Bandaging and the 1999 elections under General Abdominal Babushka. Commenting on these elections, especially on the first and the last, the EX. Election Group, which monitored the 2003 elections has suggested that, the most free, fair and peacefully conducted elections in Nigeria were those in 1959, 979, 1993 and 1999, and the most chaotic, violent and disputed were those in 1964 and 1983. The reason for this is that the first three were transition elections in which the regimes in power and responsible for organizing the elections had to hand over power to a democratic civilian regime. So, in 1959 the British colonial regime wanted a smooth transfer of power to Nigerian self-government, in 1979 the military government of General Bassoon viewed itself as an interim fixture to ensure stability and then hand over to elected officials, in 1993 a combination of internal and external pressure forced General Bandaging to organism the elections and in 1999, after the disastrous rule of General Abaca the military had no political credibility and wanted only to disengage as quickly as possible. In contrast, the other elections can be viewed as potential consolidation elections, in which an elected civilian government was responsible for organizing elections to hand over power to a successor regime. The failure of these elections to consolidate democracy (each led in fact to disruption and eventually a return to military rule) was due to the elegance of the incumbent regime to allow a level playing field, in case they lost their grip on power. Both the assessment of these elections and the reasons advanced for the Judgment are greatly at variance with the historical facts, some of which we have already provided. The assessment is also greatly flawed by the assumption that voter behavior on voting day is indicative of the fairness and peacefulness of elections. The colonial and military regimes were rooted in force and repression. Thus arrangements for voting were also highly militarisms. The 1993 elections, for example, reduced the 12 2/3 controversy, which the Bassoon military regime resolved in favor of its interests. The elections of 1992-1993 were frequently delayed, cancelled, postponed and adjusted to produce a result predetermined by the military. In the annulled by General Bandaging on the excuse that the military was uncomfortable with them. The 1999 election results were also predetermined. Acting in concert with neo-colonial and imperialist interests, the dominant coalition within the local ruling class drafted General Bassoon into a political process that ended with him being declared the winner of the process. All these processes occurred with flawed electoral rules, without legitimate and valid constitutions, with electoral agencies under the firm Jackboots of military rulers. Thus it was public knowledge that Professor Henry Knows who replaced Proof. Away as head of Bandages electoral agency was brutalized by security agents on account of the fact that he dared in 1993 to announce some of the authentic results. In 1993 as in 1999, the political parties were the creatures of the military despots. They were, as the late Chief Bola leg characterized them, all leprous fingers on the same leprous hand. 6. Elections under civilian regimes from 1983 onwards From 1983 onwards, three sets of elections were conducted under the civilian regimes. These were the general elections of 1983 under the She Shari NP government, the general elections of 2003 and the local government elections of 2004 under General Bassoon. In the 1983 elections, the ruling NP government perpetrated all sorts of electoral atrocities. The voting process, voter registration, and actual votes cast were all grossly distorted. To produce the so-called landslides, moonshines and bandwagon effects, the order of elections was reversed and voters sisters inflated. For example, whereas the order of elections provided that the Presidential elections be held last, the NP government decided that these elections would come first. In Mandrake, a suburb of Fife, voter registration Jumped from an original 26,000 voters to 250,000 thus making the voting population there more than the voting population of the whole of Fife. Indeed, at the national level, the Federal Electoral Commission (FEEDER) announced that voter registration had increased from 1971 to in 1983. This was in spite of the fact that the 1979 figures had indeed been considered to be highly inflated. FEEDER and the state owned mass media became willing and active accomplices in the electoral frauds perpetrated by the NP government in power. For example, FEEDER played an active role in deepening the crisis that engulfed such opposition parties as the Peoples Redemption Party (PR) and Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNP). It also selectively accorded recognition and hence registration to political parties that would weaken the opposition to the NP government. The state owned media equally crude partisanship in playing its role. The Nigeria Television Authority (ANTA) became, in effect, the campaign mouthpiece of the NP overspent as it bandied around slogans that were meant to intimidate the opposition and assure victory for the NP government in power. The NP government also intimidated political opponents. Alkali Shabby was deported from the country on the ridiculous grounds that he was not a Nigerian. The Nigerian Police was equally used to intimidate the opposition. Thus armored vehicles were and were subsequently used by the police to perpetrate massive electoral frauds. Not surprisingly, the results of the elections were rejected by the opposition parties and the ensuing crisis provided the context for the military to stage another coup on December 31, 1983. The final elections by a civilian government were the general elections of 2003 and the Local government elections of 2004. Conducted under the Bassoon government, these elections (including the various party primaries) will go down in history as the most fraudulent and equal only to a coup detat against the people. All commentaries on the 2003 and 2004 elections except those from the PDP government in power are unanimous in their verdict that all aspects of the elections were fraudulent. The following excerpts from the Report by the Transition Monitoring Group are indicative of the general texture of the 2003 elections: Twenty-nine of the registered political parties that either contested or did not contest the elections have variously rejected the results as announced by the NICE declaring the results as fraudulent. Both Domestic and International Election Observers documented massive irregularities that characterized the elections and refused to endorse the elections as free and fair. Some political parties and their candidates decided to challenge some of the results before the various Election Petition tribunals and have gone ahead to do so while others declared mass action to pressure a government without popular mandate to abdicate power. It is now historical reality that no electoral instrument in the history of Nigeria has been so challenged and so thoroughly discredited like the electoral Act 2001. Its replacement, the Electoral Act 2002 has also had its own fair share of controversy and nobody can now say with certainty whether the operative law is the Electoral Act 2001 or 2002 Act. What we have is a situation where the political gladiators sought to use the instrumentality of any documents which best served their personal advantage, creating an uncertainty in the electoral process. It is self evident that elements within the political class and the different political arties drawing from their experiences during the 1998 voters registration process perfected the art of rigging the 2003 elections. The full import of their actions dawned on the country when NICE on its own excluded millions of names from the voters register. From the report of Domestic election Observers during the 2003 elections, there are so many voters cards that are still in the hands of ghost and underage voters. Those who sought to corrupt the electoral process used those cards effectively and to their advantage during the three strands of elections conducted by EN-C. During the elections, the Nigerian people trooped out in large numbers to cast their votes. In fact, during the registration of voters, most state governments threatened residents of their various states with sanctions if they did not go out to repeated the same feat during the National Assembly and Presidential / Gubernatorial elections. They demonstrated patriotism and resilience. In some states, gunmen tried to chase them away from polling stations. In other states, political thugs simply made away with the ballot boxes and or stuffed the ballot boxes with unlawful votes. Yet again, in some states, ghost and under age voters kook the centre stage while in others, community leaders and other leaders of thought did the voting on behalf of their communities. While the voters waited and persevered in the polling stations to cast their votes, the political class and the political parties had different ideas. The voters wanted their votes to determine the winner of elections while the political class wanted to corrupt the process and rig their way into elective offices. Besides the electoral malpractices and irregularities that characterized the elections in some states, other issues combined to undermine the process. The political parties on whose shoulders Estes voter education and manipulation simply abandoned the duty to civil society groups and organizations. Party agents had to do the voting on behalf of the voters while in other places, security agents assisted those who could not identify the symbol of the parties they intended to vote for. NICE contributed its own fair share of electoral problems. The lack of clearly designated compartments for thumb printing undermined the secrecy of the vote and exposed the voters to the machinations of those that would have preferred community voting. NICE also did not make adequate arrangements for the remonstration of sensitive election materials to polling stations and to collation centers. Result sheets disappeared and re-appeared in different forms at collation centers while corrupt party agents simply sold unused ballot papers to the highest bidder. Following the reversal of the process for the order of the elections by NICE, voters deserted the State House of Assembly elections. Thus no real voting took place in these elections although winners emerged from the process These massive electoral frauds so demoralized the public that by 2004 when the Local Government elections took place, the governments in power simply allocated toes to candidates as they wished. All the elections were characterized by threats of, or, actual assassination of political opponents. The security agencies either simply stood by while these crimes were being committed or took active part in facilitating electoral frauds in order to assist the government in power. Thus in many instances, political candidates who did not stand for elections were returned as having won elections. These events were helped by others, notably; multiple, ghost and underage voting, violence, intimidation and harassment, stuffing of ballot boxes, stealing and eying votes, disruption of polls, absence of electoral officers, intimidation of election observers, and Justification of rigging by the President, Governors, ministers and party officials. TM, 2003). 7 Common Features of Nigerian Elections the period, elections in Nigeria have shared a number of common characteristics. First, they have been particularly characterized by massive frauds, the intimidation of political opponents and controversy. The governments in power have had their own designs and used the instruments of the state in penetrating electoral brigandage, tougher, violence and warfare. Secondly, while there has been continuity in violence and warfare, there has been lack of continuity in the political organizations through which both violence and warfare have been conducted. Each period has thus produced new political formations reflecting not only the penchant for lack of principle and shifting allegiance among members of the political class but also the total De-idealization of the issues on which members of the class were divided into antagonistic camps. For example, the major political parties in the 1951 1966 period were the NP, the NCSC and the GAG. Between 1979 and 1983, the major political arties in the field became the NP, UPON and NP. Between 1987 and 1993, the members of the political class were herded into the NRC and the SAD. During Bachs Vicarage assisted ill-fated self-succession bid, the two herds metamorphosed into the famous five leprous fingers on the same leprous hand. Between 1999 and 2003, the five leprous fingers changed major into the PDP, AD and the KNAP. Thirdly, what is striking about this pattern of lack of continuity in the political platforms used by members of the political class to compete for power is not simply that the names of the platforms keep changing; it is rather that there is simply no tatter to the way in which members of the class change their political allegiance. This situation assumed such tragic proportions in the 2003 elections that an individual politician could and did change party membership three of four times on the same day. Over the years, this shifting political allegiance has meant that there has been no tradition of party building among members of the political class. Fourthly, the sudden shifts and turns in political commitments and orientations have meant that the parties have not been defined by ideological positions that set them apart from each other. And yet, such defining and at the same time limiting ideologies are crucial to the development of a genuine political culture for several reasons. First, they indicate the overall direction of development favored by the different sections of the political class. They thus enable the electorate to make informed choices. Secondly, they permit reforms within the political parties themselves as the constant interaction between the favored ideology and reality creates a permanent tension towards change and realignment of the different components of the ideology. In the process, the parties change and become more need to the demands of society. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, they prevent the seizure of the centre stage of political action and practice by calculations based on primordial and potentially divisive political orientations. Indeed, one clear consequence of the absence of an ideologically driven political competition among the political elite in Nigeria is the resort to ethnicity as the primary credential for qualifying for the stake to power. The practice not only reinforces primordial divisions; as a result of this fact, it also prevents the emergence of a national consciousness and national identity.