An Investigation of Latino Participation in Politics Essay -- Politica

An Investigation of Latino Participation in Politics This research examines the disjuncture between Hispanic strength in population and Hispanic participation in politics. I examine the nature of this disjuncture: its severity, its causes, and its consequences. Hispanics currently comprise 11.2% of the U.S. population, but the Hispanic vote in the 1998 elections comprised only 4.7% of all ballots cast. The situation is even bleaker when considering Hispanic representation in Congress. Currently, less than four percent of U.S. House members are Latino. Add to that clear disjuncture the fact that two of the Hispanic Congressmen do not even possess the ability to vote and that there is not a single Hispanic Senator, and we see that Hispanics lack a substantial voice in lawmaking.[1] Surely, the scarcity of Hispanic voters who vote accounts for much of this under-representation in Washington, D.C. Since the number of Hispanic voters severely understates recent Hispanic population increases in the last two decades, an in-depth investigation into the possible explanations of this disjuncture is needed in order to ensure Hispanics achieve a more active voice in American government. Yet, the causes of this disjuncture are not easily collapsed into a single explanation. Why do Latino participation levels not reflect relative strength in population? Is the discrepancy due mainly to the traditionally low socioeconomic characteristics of many minority adults, or is it due more to Latino-specific issues of language barriers and non-citizenship statuses? In this work, I investigate these central questions in an analysis of Hispanic political behavior. Previous Research A contemporary explanation of political participation is perha... ... [3] Question #43 from LNPS (ICPSR survey #6841) 4 Respondents were asked if they speak more Spanish than English, are equally bilingual, or speak more English than Spanish. Question #46 from LNPS: â€Å"How strong is your love for the U.S.? Is it: extremely/very/somewhat or not very strong?† 7 For a demonstrative case study, see coverage of the 1996 & 1998 congressional race between Loretta Sanchez and Bob Dornan for California’s 46th District seat. 8 Negative values in the beta weights and t-score values of â€Å"support bilingual† and â€Å"support immigration† may reflect the phraseology and response coding of survey questions 163 and 167b, in which responses are coded from strong support to low support. 9 I refer here to the anti-immigration referendums of the late 1990s, like Proposition 187 and 209 in California. 10 U.S. Census Bureau projections (1999)

Village Election and Corruption

Village election and Corruption in China Background (problem): In China,the election system refers to the election of deputies to the people’s congresses at various levels, which includes general local election and the election of deputies from the armed forces, in the special administrative regions. There are two kinds of election: direct election and indirect election. 1. Direct election means voters directly elect deputies to the people’s congresses by casting their votes.Direct elections are applicable to the election of deputies to the people’s congresses of the counties, districts, townships and towns, which China's authoritarian(the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)) regime has allowed, encouraged, and required to be held at the village level,but not at higher levels. 2. Indirect election means deputies to the people’s congresses at the next higher level are elected by deputies to the people’s congresses at the next lower level. Indirect elections are applicable to the election of deputies to people’s congresses above the county level and deputies among the armed forces at the same level and deputies to the NPC(National People's Congress) elected from special administrative regions. In this essay, I will focus on the direct election(village election). Since the problem of corruption in the village election is very common in China,such as buying-votes, treating to dinner to persuade by promising private goods and so on. Mainly comes from the following aspects: 1. In a small electorate, campaigning is not an effective strategy to win an election.In contrast, vote buying—corruption—can easily be an effective means to win an election with a small electorate. A Chinese village is small enough a community for each villager to know all the other villagers in person as they interact with each other on a daily basis and voters may already know whether the candidate has the intention and ability to provide public goods, which could become the condition of perfect information, in other words,in a village election, voters and candidates know each other personally, and voters may easily acquire personal information about the candidates.Therefore, because under the conditions of perfect information, it is not costly for a candidate to seek office by treating a subset of the electorate to dinner or to give private goods to voters. On the other hand, it is relatively costly to attempt to sway voters by stating policy proposals that promise the provision of public goods for the whole electorate. 2.In China village elections, officials in the position of monitoring village elections do not have a strong incentive to regulate the elections because implementation of fair village elections is not considered an important criterion for the evaluation of local officials by higher authorities (Edin 2003; O‘Brien and Li 1999; but Kennedy 2007). 3. the cost of punishment for the corru pt act of buying votes is low in the case of China‘s village elections.Even with formal rules stipulating severe punishment, if people do not believe that cases of corruption are revealed and formal rules are enforced, the punishment will not be considered a cost of the illegal act and will not deter it (Tsebelis 1989). Therefore, it is not puzzling that candidates compete to buy votes by providing private goods in campaigns for Chinese village elections. Model setting: The model describes the electoral competition between two candidates as a noncooperative simultaneous-move game.In the model, two candidates compete to win an election,and at equilibriums, electoral competition would increase the probability of vote buying in electorate. In other words, electoral competition gives strong incentives for candidates to buy votes, but not to form an organization for mobilizing votes in a electorate. 1. The Candidates’ Choice of Strategies and Payoffs Assume: 1. If both candi dates adopt the same strategy, Candidate 1 will have a chance to win the election with the probability of p and Candidate 2 will have a chance to win the election with the probability of 1 – p (0 < p < 1).And we let 0 < p ? 0. 5,which means the candidate 1 is weaker. 2. if one candidate buys votes while the other candidate does not,the candidate that has bought votes will win. Utility: The utility of the candidate gaining from winning the election is denoted U (U > 0). Strategies: Each candidate has two strategies: buying votes (BV) and not buying votes (NBV). Cost of buying votes (C): the multiplication of the cost to buy one vote (? ) and the number of votes needed to buy (V). C= ?V suppose that C1>C2 (the cost of buying votes to win is higher as the candidate is weaker. ) Competitiveness:we can define the competitiveness of an election as the difficulty with which one can predict who will win, the election whose value of p is closer to 0. 5 will be considere d more competitive. candidate2 Buying votes candidate1 Buying votes Not buying votes (pU-C1), (1-p)U-C2 0, U-C2 Not buying votes U-C1, pU, 0 (1-p)U The matrix in shows the incentives affecting candidates in a village election. . Solution of the model Since assume that 0 < p? 0. 5 and assume without loss of generality that Candidate 1 is weaker. Candidates 1 and 2 must choose their strategies simultaneously. Thus, neither candidate is certain about which strategy the other candidate will take. (BV, BV) will be equilibrium if: U? C1/p (NBV, BV) will be equilibrium if: C1/p? U? C2/p (NBV, NBV) will be equilibrium if: U? C1/p (BV, NBV) can not be equilibrium, since we can not find any U that satisfies U? C1/(1-p) and U?C2/(1-p) as well. Because C1/(1-p)? C2/(1-p). As an election becomes more competitive(p is closer to 0. 5),the range where at least one candidate always buys votes,U? C2/p is larger. Moreover as p is larger,the range where neither candidate buy votes,U? C1/p is smaller . Overall, candidates are more likely to choose the strategy of buying votes as an election becomes more competitive. In the villages where each candidate's expected value of winning an election is high, the candidate is tempted to buy votes.Proposal: Would electoral competition prevent a corrupt candidate from being elected? From the model, we can see, candidates are more likely to choose the strategy of buying votes as an election becomes more competitive, which may generate the following new hypothesis: effective informal institutions would make it easier for villagers to reach a pre-electoral consensus, make a village election less competitive, and give candidates less incentive to promise the provision of private goods.How to reach a pre-electoral consensus? Since a Chinese village is enough small that could lead to kinship system in village. In multi-kinship villages, whether pre-electoral consensus is reached and hence an election is not corrupt would depend on the relationsh ip among kinship leaders.If the kinship leaders are in conflict, villagers would fail to reach pre-electoral consensus, an election would be competitive, vote buying would be more likely; meanwhile, if relations among kinship leaders are cooperative, the village would succeed in reaching pre-electoral consensus, an election would not be competitive, vote buying would be less likely, and public goods would be properly provided. Therefore,how to prevent a vote-buying candidate from getting elected is a major policy question for China's village elections.

How Miller Creates Conflict in the Crucible?

English Controlled Assessment Draft: Conflict in the Crucible The play I am studying for this essay is called â€Å"The Crucible† and I will be focusing on Act 1 of the book. The question I will be answering is what’s the most powerful type of conflict in the opening act of the crucible? The word conflict means a state of disharmony, opposition and or fighting. The conflict portrayed in the Crucible is often described as tools used to describe events in Millers time period.For example, witchcraft doesn’t exist in Salem yet that is the basis of the storyline of the play and many people die as a result of accusations over witchcraft. During the time Miller wrote this book, the cold war was happening and many people in America were accused of communism (including Miller himself), when they were accused they were routinely asked to give names of other communists which is the same as the ‘witches’ in Salem were asked, whether the devil â€Å"come-with an other person† and many of these people turned out to not be communists in the first place same as the accused ‘witches’.So it seems that Miller uses the fact there were not any witches in Salem as a metaphor suggesting there were not any communists in America. Miller conveys Putman as a source of conflict as a result of his rivalry for power with Parris. This is demonstrated when Mr Putman is seen as attempting to stir drama over Parris’s daughters situation â€Å"No witchcraft! Now look you Mr Parris†.As Parris is so plainly defiant in his denial of â€Å"witchcraft† affecting his daughter, this portrays Mr Putman as deliberately trying to annoy Parris to most likely make him look like a loose cannon in the eyes of Salem to steal his job. Which makes sense as Miller tells us that the Putnam’s resent Parris and Mr Putnam wanted his brother in law to have Parris’s position. The directive â€Å"Now look you† magnifies this a s although Parris has more authority than him, he is already seen as trying to order Parris around.This is then amplified when Parris replies stating â€Å"They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house† as Mr Putnam is seen as the main rival to Parris, it seems that Parris implies that Mr Putnam is the one who will â€Å"howl† him out of Salem. In addition, the word â€Å"Howl† at first seems to be a hyperbole as Salem is first thought of as a good religious community, but it then creates contrast towards the end of act one as the town is seen as willing to give the death penalty to children because they think that their witches â€Å"This woman must be hanged! . This creates tension throughout the audience as it makes them realize Salem isn’t as united as it first seemed and there is a massive power struggle between the two families as â€Å"howl† also portrays Mr Putnam as a monster, more specifically a werewolf which is a mytho logical predator and predators like to be at the top of the food chain. However, Parris already has a place on top of the metaphorical food chain which places Putnam and Parris as natural rivals.Also, it creates tension in the audience by showing just how important power is in Salem as Parris and Putman both care more about power and their reputation than their own daughters. Miller’s intentions of this may be to show that people will act in extreme ways to protect themselves including neglecting their daughter, which links back to Millers era as many accused communists were interrogated under torture and many tried to escape leaving behind their families.In the play â€Å"the crucible† Miller portrays a community in conflict when proctor’s commitment to their puritan ideology is doubted. This is demonstrated when Proctor states â€Å"No, No, Abby. That’s done with† when Abigail appears to flirt with him. The connotation of â€Å"That’s don e with† suggests that Proctor once committed the sin of Adultery with her which is a very serious sin to the Puritans. The repetition of â€Å"No, No† shows that proctor knows he’s done a bad thing not just in terms of the Puritan Ideology but also in terms with his own morals.However, the fact Abigail wants to do it again and doesn’t consider it a bad thing shows the conflict and divides between the older and younger generations in Salem as the younger generation’s challenge the Puritans rules without remorse. This creates nervousness within the audience as it demonstrates just how fragile the unity of the community in Salem is. It also links back to Miller’s intentions as he may be trying to suggest that paranoia divided communities as it did in America when many people were being accused of communism over little things.Miller intensifies a sense of conflict towards the end of act 1 through a fast paced scene when multiple accusation of wit chcraft are made. This is started when Abigail exclaims â€Å"I want to open myself! † and from there onwards Betty also takes up the chant and blames people â€Å"I saw Martha Bellows with the devil! † The fact that the curtain descends with â€Å"Devil† as the last word spoken reflects the state of fear on stage and the divides caused by this conflict to Salem as normally the people of Salem talk about God but as a result of this conflict they end by talking about he Devil, an abnormal thing for them. The use of Exclamation marks, snappy sentences and the amount of accusations made infers that it is a fast paced, loud scene and reflective of the hysteria on stage. This creates dramatic irony towards the audience as they know the truth which is that witchcraft doesn’t actually exist, the fact witchcraft is punishable by death shows them that the girls are willing to let someone else die to prove themselves innocent thus creating a sense of conflict.The r epetition of the word â€Å"Devil† towards the end makes the audience feel sympathy towards the people that are getting blamed as they know that none of it is actually true. This can be linked back to Millers intentions as he may be trying to show that when people fear for their life they are willing to lie and blame others to save themselves which also occurred during the cold war (Millers era) when people lied and blamed other people of being communists to avoid themselves going to prison.To conclude, there have been many powerful conflicts throughout act 1, my final judgement is the rivalry of power between Parris and Putnam is the most powerful conflict. This is important as it provides the baseline for the story line. Parris states that there are ‘factions’ after his position in Salem, It is likely that he is meaning the Putnam family as they are seen as a main antagonistic rival in ‘The Crucible’ against Parris. He describes calling for Reveren d Hale as a â€Å"precaution† but denies that â€Å"witchcraft† is the reason for his daughter’s problem.As a result it is likely that he called for Mr Hale just so Mr Putnam doesn’t complain and demand his removal from power, so it is essential that Miller introduced with this conflict as without it the play wouldn’t be as gripping. This conflict effects the audience by making them realize that even before witchcraft entered the picture there was already a fragility in the community relations in Salem and it’s likely that these conflicts would probably at some time be realised and spark irrational action. Witchcraft is seen as just the trigger to this.

REFLECTIVE COMMENTRY- Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

REFLECTIVE COMMENTRY- - Essay Example According to him, while traveling through the predominantly Asian locality to cover for his Asian colleague, he was threatened by one of the Asian males standing on the pavement along with two others shouted â€Å"You White Bastard! Come over here and we’ll give you a good kicking†. Fearing immediate violence, the mail worker left the place and reached his office. The statement was recorded by the Police Officials and case was registered under section 4 of Public Order Act (Amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994). As per the act, the law states that according to section 42; it is an offense to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior to someone else in the following cases; make them believe that violence will used against them, which is the case with Royal mail worker, provoke the immediate use of violence; when that person is likely to believe that violence will be provoked, when it actually is violence will be provoked. (Carl Haacke, 1997:99) The section 4 also further states that it is an offence if any person distributes or displays to another person any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting intending to intimate that person believe that immediate unlawful violence will erupt in the place against him.3 (Paul Clayden, 2006:19) The enquiry was conducted on the basis of the complaint, but in vain. The local residents of the Asian area either did not understand English or were unwilling to cooperate with Police personnel. The area unfortunately didn’t even have the surveillance of CCTV to capture the incident. And one of the main complications in such cases is the implication the shift towards an emphasis on taking responsibility for harms is the reform of disciplinary procedures and increasing interest. It is the utmost duty and responsibility of the Police

Evolution of Human Parental Care and Recruitment of Juvenile Help Research Paper

Evolution of Human Parental Care and Recruitment of Juvenile Help - Research Paper Example Cooperation between parents and juveniles The costs incurred in the raising of a child are high, and this is the reason parents opt for smaller families. The costs involved in this process tend to be high due to the investment in them and that they are free from any work. The cost of raising children in the pre industrial age was not as high since the children gave back to the society (Karen 54). Children receive assistance from their parents, and as so, their parents benefit from the assistance of their own children. The juvenility as such has a twofold nature of receiving and giving back. Juveniles both depend on their parents and at the same time help the parents. Young juveniles provide valuable childcare assistance to their siblings in many societies. The dependence and help from juveniles are some features that determine the modern human beings. Even, though, juveniles receive a lot of assistance from others, they also give back to by exchanging labor and resources with others more so those who assist them. Enlisting of juvenile help by the restructuring of parental investment to involve juveniles gives the humans an advantage (Royal society (Great Britain) 156). They are associated advantage to be able to both increase reproduction and increased offspring survival by incorporating interdependence at various ages. In the quantity-quality, trade off the determination of the quality of an offspring stems from the parental care given. The quantity or quality of resources allocated by the parent to the offspring is dependent on the ability of the parent to harness energy from the environment. The quantity-quality theory argues that if there are extra parental inputs these can affect the quantity or quality of the offspring by either direct allocation to the offspring quality and include food provision, childcare, all nursing, financial or other transfers. Extra parental inputs can also decrease the energy that the mother employs in providing and other activit ies leaving a metabolic stability for lactation and reproduction. Notwithstanding the physiological constraints in offspring production, quality of offspring is not necessarily a purpose of quantity. A juvenile who is not sexually mature to fit into the production class and not competing for mates does not fore go many costs. If the juvenile contributes in any way, directly or indirectly, and results in the reduction of the mothers energy employed the juvenile receives immediate fitness benefit and does not have to wait to maturity in order to benefit. According to Karen (88) division of labor celebrated as an age association as efficiency improves when inequities in return rates differ between tasks and individuals. When there is an adjustment of the level of investment by parents based on the availability of helpers, where help is sensitive to help accorded by juveniles then there can arise some changes. When the parents get helpers, they may increase their levels of investment an d retain the same level of care to the offspring’s and transferring the saved energy to the task of reproduction. The number of children might increase without necessarily reducing the survivorship or child quality unless the number of the helpers also decreases. If, on the other hand, the number of helpers increases due to the recruitment of juveniles, the parents then placed in a position to produce more children

Argument for God using the Design argument Essay

Argument for God using the Design argument - Essay Example The world was created in a way that human beings have no control or clue of the occurrence or existence of different phenomena. This essay is going to explore and affirm that God exists through the argument for design. Thesis Statement: The coordination and the intricate way in which human beings live by purpose suggest the existence of an intelligent designer. Overview Our lives in the world are inspired by the events and activities that we, human beings, undertake. However, in the process we have questions on our existence and, most importantly, on whether God exists. An argument by design explains the existence of God through the use of facts, theories and examples of how God created life. The world is meant for human inhabitation because there is a pattern in which life occurs and exists. It is true to argue that the world and life were designed by someone or a spirit that is unexplainable due to the following facts: Teleological orders: This is used to explain how order in the w orld occurs since everything in the world seems to follow a certain pattern. Teleological order can exist as spatial and temporal order whereby spatial order explains the co-presence while the latter explains succession. It is easy to look at the world and wonder at the facts of co-presence and succession. For instance, the human body is made up of millions of parts which interact with one another to come up with a complex living creature. William Paley who was an advocate of natural teleology argued that as a watch is a timepiece that is made up of millions of parts, then also the world and human life is designed that way. Another advocate of the teleological argument was Thomas Aquinas who argued that we see the world as being made up of many things some of which lack knowledge. He elucidates that these beings act for an end and this is evident by the small animals of living things (Sweet 95). As a result, a thing that does not have knowledge cannot move towards and end but only i f it is directed by an intelligent being. Apart from humans who possess knowledge, natural things cannot move towards an end and therefore, what drives their move towards end is an intelligent being who in this sense is God. Paley’s argument is that the world is created in a perfect manner different from a watch due to several reasons. For instance, in his natural teleological argument he says that â€Å"as a watch is perfectly crafted and a well oiled machine,† then the world is also perfect. For instance, in the world there is enough oxygen for everybody. It is not less because it would not support life and again, it is not a lot because it could lead to easy combustion. Apart from William Paley’s theory, other scientists have supported the analogy of design through the positioning of the earth. For instance, if we look at the way earth is positioned, it not so close to the sun because it would cause problems to people and life would not be supported. Furtherm ore, if the sun was in a far position from the earth, then life would not be supported in the world (Sweet 102). The look of the universe from this view presents us with conclusion that God was involved in the creation of the world. This is summed by Isaac Newton who said that the most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets can only proceed through the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. Criticisms: The William Paley analogy created a lot of criticism from a lot of quarters, especially from David Hume. The first

Encouraging University Freshmen to Perceive Writing Positively Essay

Encouraging University Freshmen to Perceive Writing Positively - Essay Example Though this is expected, hard working students find the subject interesting after attending a few classes. They use the available materials from such sources as Think Tank, WSIP, the library, as well as UITS to develop their skills, thus finding it easy to do the subject. On the other hand, those who do not put in enough effort find the subject tasking, thus developing a negative attitude towards the subject. This hinders the ability of such students to excel in the subject. Consequently, the overall performance of the student gets affected, as other subjects also require them to write assignments as part of their course work. Therefore, I urge you to maintain a positive attitude towards this particular subject as it defines part of your success story at the university. I joined the writing class without much knowledge on how to do good writing. I had problems with constructing logical sentence, and maintaining flow in my work. More to these, I had problems with clarity as most of my points were disorganized, which made it difficult to comprehend my writing. In addition to these, the tenses gave me a load of problems, which gives you enough reasons that I was once a pathetic writer. However, I believe a determined mind conquers any difficulty. Consequent to this belief, I purposed to improve in all these areas. I attended my lectures punctually, and paid attention to the lessons. More to these, I set time to practice my writing skills on a daily basis, leading to an improvement in four weeks.