Media and Gender Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Media and Gender - Research Paper Example With the advent of media and information technology, sweeping changes has manifested itself on women. Today, women spend all their time and resources on media, and are willing to anything in order to be beautiful or change their natural outlooks. This clearly shows that women use media as a tool of educating themselves as a way of seeking freedom from the yoke of women folk, which has enslaved them for long (Joo, 2012). It is evidently clear that most of the media houses take considerable airtime to advertise what appropriate appearance a woman should have in the modern world. This includes the likes of â€Å"figure eight†, tall and slender and less body weight women. Some of these ideal desirable body structures are may not be attainable practically by some of the women. This creates a negative mindset of dissatisfaction from such women should they fail to attain such desirable qualities (In Carter et al, 2014). Therefore, they start a voyage of events that will see them modify their natural bodies in order to pose those deemed desirable by the society. The main problem associated to most of these processes and operations women have to go through may bring adverse lifelong damages in health of victims. The worst outcomes arise where the desired body appearance fails to happen, or the desired characteristics become abnormal, the likes of the various cases that have been documented. Several w omen are on record to have for instance, applied breast enlargement cream only for one of the breasts to be extremely larger than normal and fail to match with the other pair. The main problem is that, some of these outcomes remain unchanged forever and hence a permanent scar of psychological dissatisfaction rules the entire life of a woman in question. Scholars have cautioned on negative results of female objections in the media. It is not, therefore, miracles to find women in the society who are bed-ridden after suffering the negative images that are

The Women's Social Movement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Women's Social Movement - Research Paper Example For decades, women are relegated to a subordinate position to that of men especially in our patriarchal societies dominated by masculinity. In America national laws, traditions and religious doctrines only acted to sustain the women’s subordinate status and codified women’s lack of legal and political rights. Though the constitution states that men and women are equal since they have inalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness women are often denied the opportunity to enjoy these rights due to their feminine status. This begins with families where men are viewed as the heads of the households and women as helpers or assistants to other institutions of society especially in politics. Even today, women are far from gaining equality with men as they rarely occupy important positions. In the 113th Congress of U.S there are only 20 women in the senate out of 100 senators and in the House of Representatives there are only 79 women out of 435 members (Center for American Women and Politics). It is in light of this oppression that women’s movements became an important of life. This essay will focus on the women’s suffrage movement formed in 1848 and continued up to 1920; how it was formed, its goals, problems and challenges and major achievements over the period as well as the key figures in the movement. The women’s suffrage movement was formed in the late nineteenth century and continued up to early twentieth century. It was founded in 1848 during the Seneca Falls Convention by women who were fed up with being treated as inferior members of society although some men who sympathized with the women’ s plight were also present. Just like it is stipulated by Staggenborg that social movements undergo a natural cycle of maintenance, growth, and decline, the suffragist movement was no exception (10). The period before the American Civil War was that of growth. However,

Leadership and Financial Goal Setting of Top SMEs Dissertation

Leadership and Financial Goal Setting of Top SMEs - Dissertation Example ExplanationIt is good to study on this subject because there will be additional knowledge on how SMEs try to adapt some changes in the leadership process as their way to integrate financial stability with their daily business operation. Research aim:The overall purpose of this dissertation is to find out the link between leadership and financial goal setting of top SMEs in the UK. This has to be found out from ten of the best 100 SMEs in the UK. Thus, at the end of this study, the proponent will achieve concrete information about the role of leadership activities and its form in the financial goal setting of top SMEs in the UK. The business world is always looking forward to increase revenue and minimise expenses in order to ensure either profit or good business performance (Liu and Wang, 2008; Abi and Shimizutani, 2007; Ingene and Parry, 1995). The very activity of achieving this is focused on maximising financial concerns in order to achieve the bottom line.Trying to come up with s omething new in the business is focused on many aspects but financial activities and business performance seem to be at the top priority (Hallin et al., 2011; Liao and Rice, 2010). Therefore, it is important to bear in mind that there has to be other considerations when it comes to other significant activities on how to maximise business performance.Considering that business is dependent on human resource as one of its best assets, it is important to consider that people have to be redirected to perform the vision.

How I will lead groups to become great teams Essay

How I will lead groups to become great teams - Essay Example As a member of the Large Learning Group, I noticed various issues that emerged in the process of our interaction and learning. To begin with there were various psychodynamic characteristics that emerged among the group members which are pertinent to any person with the ambition to lead and make decisions on large groups or team. The first lesson I learnt from the Large Learning Group is that it is pertinent for any group to define roles among the members. I will apply this strategy in my leadership program. I will begin by allocating roles to each member of the group; a process which will begin by identifying my roles and ultimately the roles of others. Allocation of roles is pertinent due to the fact that it allows the group members to focus on their specific duties and have a sense of direction. This process will be guided through proper communication and motivations as well as supervision in order to ensure that members follow direction and are enthusiastic in performing their duties. Proper communication also encompasses taking feedbacks from the group members in order to determine the challenges faced as they perform their duties and the development of solutions. Secondly, I also learned a common feature that existed between the Large Learning Group and the Peer Learning Group; the confirmation of authority. It is very crucial for any person aspiring to be a successful leader to be in a position to confirm his/her authority that is, it is imperative to determine and confirm your duties and responsibilities as well as the duties and the responsibilities of others. This step is arrived at by making agreements among the group members on each person’s responsibility as it will ensure that there are proper intra-group relationships and a harmonious flow of actions. As a leader, I am going to apply this strategy to ensure that the possibility of occurrence of conflicts is reduced and that

Online dating services Essay Example for Free

Online dating services Essay Online Dating Services, once a haven for the desperate and lonely are starting to attract a significant user and revenue base and are growing at an increasing rate. These services now attract over 30 million users a year in the U. S. and soon will be the highest revenue subscription content service on the Internet. The growth of online personals and many of the industrys characteristics are similar to those of products such as fax machines, DVD players, and the Internet itself. The main similarity is that the value of these services for each user increases with each additional user. However, many other characteristics hold true as well. It has significant economies of scale, requires highly complimentary products, and displays some semblance of standards and compatibility between its competitors. Since online dating services have proven to be so similar to other networked goods, much of the knowledge gained by examining these other services can be applied. This means that one can expect these services to continue to grow rapidly, gain mainstream acceptance and that subscription prices will remain low as long as the major services remain incompatible. Further, they likely will remain incompatible for a variety of technical and strategic reasons. Online dating services have been around since 19951. Computer dating services date (no pun intended) back as far as the 1960s2. However over the last three years these services have seen explosive growth. While other dotcoms reached their peak in 2000 and have since crashed, dating sites have seen explosive growth since 1999 both in users and revenue. The industry generated over $50 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2002, 550% year over year growth3. This growth has been so fast and successful that many of the Internet companies that survived the crash have turned to dating services for additional revenue and profitability4. This explosive growth and several of the industrys other characteristics are reminiscent of other technologies or innovations. The fax machine, VCR, and the Internet itself have all followed similar growth curves5. What online dating has in common with these sites is that they are all examples of networked products or services where each additional user increases the overall value of the good to all the other users. The following report provides an overview of the online dating industry and its recent growth. It then examines the characteristics of networks and whether these apply to the online dating. Based on these characteristics, it models an explanation for its recent growth and attempts to explain any potential shift in attitudes towards online dating. Finally, this report looks at the competition between services and the likely affect this will have on consumers utility, prices, the services themselves and societal welfare as a whole. The following section provides an overview of what online dating sites are, the major players, industry size and business models to establish a basis for comparing this industry to the characteristics of networked industries. Online dating services are simply websites that carry a database of singles for other singles to search. Typically users can visit the site and search based on sex, age and often certain characteristics of their profile, for example: I am a male seeking a female aged 18 to 24 in Toronto, ON. Only show ads with pictures. [insert screen shots here] From here visitors view a list of matching profiles and can click through on any of these to view the full profile. The full profile can contain one or multiple pictures, various stats on the user (age, sex, body type, sexual or religious orientation) as well as an opening headline, description and clever answers to profile questions. Registered users can then make contact with the user, usually through a messaging or chat system within the site and if the match is successful the relationship moves off of the site into the real world. Online dating services are big business. The online personals industry generated $53. 1 million in revenue in the first quarter of this year. That number is over 5 1/2 times the $8. 1 million total for that period in 2001. That number will likely continue to grow substantially this year once industry wide figures are available. Revenue at the leading service Match. com more than doubled in the third quarter of 2002 to $33. 4 million and this is a company with less than one third of the market. Nearly 34 million people visit personals sites each year6. The industry is dominated by two major players. Match. com is the biggest site with nearly 6 million visitors per month while Yahoo, at 3. 4 million, is the second most popular site, leveraging its large population of web directory and email users7. Following well behind these two are a dozen or so fairly evenly trafficked sites (see chart: Major Players in Online Dating). The business models for most of these sites are some combination of free and paid access. For all the sites browsing the ads is free. However users have to register and pay between $20 and $25 in order to post ads or respond to ads or both. Over 93% of online dating subscription prices are in the $5-50 range8. Both Match. com and Yahoo charge to post an ad and respond to ads. Lavalife (the 10th most trafficked site) is free to post ads but requires users buy credits in order to contact other users. Overall 98% of purchases at online dating sites are subscriptions. 54% of those subscriptions are monthly, 22% annual. The user population of online dating sites is about 60% male, 40% female9. The ages of users range from 18 to 80 with the largest percentage (32%) between 35 and 44 years of age. Followed by 24% for 25-35 year olds, 22% for 45-54 year olds and 11% each amongst 18 to 24 year olds and those 55 and over (see graph: age distribution)10. The fastest growing segment appears to be the 18-30 space. In the first quarter of 2002, fully half of the new users of Match. com have been under 3011. This suggests that dating sites are no longer just for the desperate, those over 35 and still single, but have become another source for those with time and looks on their side to accelerate their dating or improve their dating efficiency. 5 Online Dating Growth While spending on online content as a whole has increased, no category has increased more than online dating (see graph: Quarterly Growth of Consumer Spending by Category of Online Content). While the other categories such as business content and research have experienced steady linear growth, the growth curve for online dating is an exponential curve. Not only is it growing but the rate of growth quarter over quarter is also increasing. At its current rate by the time numbers are available for the rest of 2002 it will exceed business spending as the largest category of online spending. It is also the only category of online content that has significant consumption externalities. When purchasing any of business content, research, single player games, news, credit help, sports or online greeting cards, the number of other users of the product does not play more than a minor role in the purchasing decision. There is also plenty of room for the industry to grow in both revenue and users. Soon these services will have video chat capabilities12. People will overcome a lot of their negative perceptions of the practice as the number of users increase and many of these primarily US-based services will begin to expand internationally. Many products are not useful without a complementary product. Portable CD players are useless without headphones, and DVD players require DVDs to play. This is one of the factors that separate network goods from goods such as an apple which can be consumed by itself. Arguably online dating services could be the required complementary product to the Internet. With an Internet connection one needs content to look at, and certainly users of online dating services are required to have an Internet connection, so there is some complementarity here but this connection is somewhat weak. While CDs are needed for a CD player to be useful at all, dating services are not a requirement for the Internet to be useful. Further, even with the rapid growth in online personals, it still lags Internet growth and coverage so significantly that for at least the next little while the overall growth of the Internet will have a negligible effect on online dating when compared to the growth it will experience from existing Internet users. With the requirement many networked goods have for complementary products comes the need for compatibility and standards. The benefits of making goods compatible with others are clear. Consumers can benefit by being able to choose from a number of headphone choices knowing that for the most part (except on airplanes) these headphones will plug into their CD player, stereo, and computer. From a headphone manufacturers perspective it is far cheaper to build for a standard jack than specifically for every device. While there is not a single standard that all online dating services are based on to the point where a profile or other stored information from one service can be seamlessly transferred to any other, several competing platforms are starting to emerge. Nerve. com, after the rapid growth of the personals section of its website, spun the service off into a separate company, Springstreet Networks, which provides a standardized shared match making service for other content providers such as salon. com, bust, boston. com and others14. Match. coms database is shared with licensees including msn. com, nytimes. com and villagevoice. com to name a few. Relationship Exchange is another network that powers the personals services behind. cupidjunction. com, and personals. canada. com amongst others. Even some of the smaller dating sites like people2people. com are licensing their databases to online newspaper sites like sfgate. com. The competition is not necessarily amongst the dating sites themselves but the networks they supply and pull from. However, Yahoo Personals is independent and not licensed to other parties. It is banking on its existing position as the top website on the Internet15 and its large pool of users of its other tools to provide a large enough pool of users. Lavalife also has its own proprietary system and is banking on its unique features and credit based rather than subscription based system. While Yahoo and Lavalife are staunchly independent, the advantages to smaller sites are obvious. A personals site is only as valuable as its pool of profiles that match the user. If the user is unable to find people with the same interests, geography and whatever other characteristics determine a match, the user will not subscribe to the site for very long, nor be enticed to subscribe in order to contact a matching user. The larger the pool of people, the better the selection of people that may match, the more likely the user is to subscribe or purchase credits. 6. 3 Consumption Externalities The increase in value with an increase in users is the fourth characteristic of networked industries: consumption externalities. If there is one heterosexual person of each gender on one of these sites the possible number of connections is only one. However with five people of each gender the number of possible connections is 25. With 100 males and 100 females the number of possible connections is 10,000. Thus the total value of the network, as measured by the number of possible connections, increases by Vn = nm x nf where n is the number of users and m and f indicate male and female respectively.

Experiments made in Transfer of Training or Learning Essay Example for Free

Experiments made in Transfer of Training or Learning Essay The question of transfer has been definitely put to a test in order to show far training in one line influences other lines. Many experiments and studies in transfer of training have been performed by psychologists. Starch considered the problem of transfer in two fields: 1. Transfer in Specific Psychological Activities—The experiments performed in this field were the following: Experiments in memory, by James—William James was the first to attack the problem of memory-training experimentally. He investigated the effort of memorizing one kind of material on ability to memorize other kinds of materials. James himself memorized 158 lines from Victor Hugo’s Satyr and kept record of the time spent. He then devoted thirty-eight days (20 minutes per day) to the mastery of Milton’s Paradise Lost. After his Training in memorization, he selected another 158 lines from the Satyr and memorized them. He discovered that he needed more time to learn this selection than he had spent in memorizing the first selection from the Satyr. His result showed negative transfer. From their studies James was led to believe that formal discipline is not an efficacious means of improving the memory (National Society for the Study of Education, 2000). Experiment in perception, by Thorndike and Woodworth, in 1901— Thorndike and Woodworth studied the influence of special training on the estimation of magnitudes upon the ability to estimate magnitudes of the same general type, and the influence of training in observing words containing certain other letters. Thorndike and Woodworth concluded from the first part of the experiment that there was more improvement in the ability to estimate areas similar to the practice material than in the ability to estimate dissimilar areas. The result of the second experiment showed that practice in cancelling words with certain letters had an indirect effect on the cancelling words of words with other letters (National Society for the Study of Education, 2000). Experiments in judging weights of various sizes transferred to estimation of other weights, by Coover, in 1916—these experiments showed positive transfer. Experiments in maze-learning for both rats and human, by Webb in 1971—It was concluded from the results of these experiments that there were carry over effects from practice in one sensory-motor activity to another but the amount of transfer varied with the individual subject (Morgan, 1999). From these studies of transfer two conclusions may be drawn: (a) both negative and positive transfers occur between specific learning activities: (b) the more similar the specific activities, the greater the positive transfer. In other words, whatever transfer occurred could be expanded in terms of identical elements of procedure, habits, and methods. Transfer in School Subjects—Most of the experimental studies made of transfer in high school subjects were the following: From Latin to English by Thorndike and Rugger in 1923—Thorndike and Rugger found out that their studies that high school freshmen who studied Latin made slightly higher scores in an English vocabulary test than did students who had not studied Latin, the gain made on all words derived from Latin roots. So far as pedagogical practice is concerned, Thorndike’s and Rugger’s investigation established the fact of transfer of training (Skinner, 2000). From Latin to English vocabulary, by Hamblen in 1924—Hamblen concluded that transfer from Latin to English vocabulary was great when word derivations were stressed in the teaching of Latin (Skinner, 2000). In conclusion, experiments in the effect of cross-education, in observing and judging sensory and perceptual data, and in forming sensory motor association habits have been conducted in considerable number by other psychologists. A few experiments in special school functions have also been carried out. The results obtained from the experiments in those different lines, although confusing and sometimes contradictory, seem to warrant the belief that the old idea of a vast transfer, in some subtle and unexplained way, of special improvements to a general faculty, is false. It may be summed up by saying that the weight of evidence is all against formal discipline. The experimental evidence is against the idea that the faculties or powers of the mind can be trained like muscles so that the strengthening of these powers will automatically insure a high degree of efficiency in new and unrelated material or activities.

The nation states affected by globalisation

The nation states affected by globalisation INTRODUCTION In Viewing Globalisation and the ways it has affected nation states; it is safe to study it from two different schools of thoughts: The globalists and the sceptics. It is almost impossible to talk about Globalisation without relating it to a Nation States economy or politics. The two go together. A Nation State is affected by Globalisation in so many ways, and vice versa. The hyper globalists argue that the nation states have lost their power completely in this era of globalisation. The fact that the world is globalised means the end of the nation states especially through what is termed the â€Å"Borderless World† (Ohmae, 1990:172). For the complex globalists, although the international organisations are powerful, the nation states havent completely lost their powers. (Held et al, 1999: p27). The Sceptics, on the other hand disagree with the theories of the globalists that see the â€Å"end of nation states†. For Hirst and Thompson, The nation states are still very much in control, in fact, they have the most power and there is no such thing as the word â€Å"globalisation†, therefore, the notion that there is an effect of globalisation on nation states does not make sense (Hirst and Thompson, 1999: p256-280) In this essay, the hyper globalists and the complex globalists are classified as the liberalists or the globalists as they accept the concept of globalisation, believe in the reduction of the nation states powers, view the world as â€Å"being governed globally and conceptualise globalisation as a reordering of the frame work of human action† (Held et al, 1999: p10). They believe that globalisation is being spread through the technologies arising everyday. The Sceptics are classified as the realists who believe that the word should not be â€Å"globalisation, rather it is internationalisation and regionalisation† (Held et al, 1999: p10) and this â€Å"internationalisation depends on states acquiescence and support† (Held et al, 1999: p10) Firstly, the term â€Å"Globalisation† would be defined for clarification and the definition would serve as a reference to my points. Secondly, this essay would point out the relationship between globalisation and nation states, the institutions that arose with globalisation and how they affect nation states politically, economically and culturally, with examples. Thirdly, I would raise arguments from the globalists and sceptics points of view; my argument would show that nation states have lost their power due to the spread of globalisation and I would buttress my argument with citations and relative examples. I would also examine concerns (if any). Lastly, I would draw a conclusion which would portray my personal thoughts on globalisation and how it has affected nation states as a whole. â€Å"A globalised world is one in which political, economic, cultural, and social events become more interconnected.by Globalisation, we mean the increase of connectedness between societies† (Baylis, J. et al, 2008:8) Globalization, affects states, not only political but culturally as well as economically. The connectivity of these states and their dependence on one another for political stability, economic growth and cultural modification or awareness is also a factor of Globalisation. Nation states are naturally dependent on themselves for different resources, it could be as a result of competition, power in the international arena, or simply, for sustenance to their own economy (which may not be as rich). One major effect Globalisation has had on nation states was obviously the spread of the Global Crisis earlier this year. The crisis which was believed to have started in the United States seeped its way through other nation states and affected a large number of countries economically. The idea of globalisation which relates to interconnectedness of states, broken barriers and â€Å"borderless world† seems to have played a huge role in spreading the Financial Crisis witnessed by nation states. Banks were shut down as a result of illiquidity, not just in the United States but some countries in the EU, Brazil, and Japan etc. Unemployment rates sky rocketed in countries like Nigeria. People were getting sacked from their jobs all over the world. Even though this economic crisis started in the United States, the fact that it has the biggest economy in the world and lots of other nation states were connected to its economy meant the downfall of these nation states too. It is safe to say that international organisations or institutions have become the defining factor for most nation states in their global relations. The United Nations (for example) is the only international organization that has the authority over a states security and economic developments, â€Å"encompasses the protection of human rights and..the environment† (Taylor Curtis in J. Baylis et al, 2008: p.314). This further explains the effect of globalisation on nation states. Due to the tribal and religious wars in Africa and Asia, for example, The UN stepped in to examine these conflicts. Nation States now have to rely on these international organisations in times of conflicts especially when they cannot solve their problems on their own. The United Nations was created in 1945 and hosts different positions such as UNICEF which assists children; WHO which works on global public health and the UNHCR which provides aids to refugees. (Weiss, Forsyth Coates in OBrien Williams, 2007: p125). In this organisation, Weiss et al also state that the peace keeping/building of nation states are treated and looked into as well as some elections. (2007: p125). The United Nations is a very powerful organisation because it makes its laws and compels nation states to abide by them, and not the other way round. Nation states have more benefits when they work with these international organisations in terms of the security they are being offered (most times). The World Trade Organisation (WTO) was created in 1995 and is usually affiliated with trade and economic activities. The organisation has support from some of the wealthiest economies in the world such as the nation states in the EU, the United States and Japan. Developing countries would argue that some of these international organisations do not favour them because they are real powerful and tend to support the already developed countries in terms of these economic activities. The Rise of the Bretton Woods Institutions and its effect on Nation States. The Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 had a prominent effect on the world today. Out of this conference, two very important institutions: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and The World Bank emerged (OBrien Williams: 2007, pp. 209-210). The IMF was the regulatory body that nation states had to apply to, to be part of the â€Å"gold standard† policy. This policy meant that the dollar would be the worlds currency and would be exchange for gold to determine its worth. The policy did not hold but the IMF is still the body in charge of global exchange and interest rates (OBrien Williams: 2007, pp. 86-89). More nation states were trading with each other; therefore, it became necessary, with time, to have exchange rates. The decision on what a dollar is to a pound is based on the outcome of what the IMF has concluded; not the nation states. The World Bank on the other hand is known as â€Å"the lender of the last resort†. Although, it claims to benefit nation states in crisis by bailing them out, there are also strict rules governing this procedure. The World Bank has the final say on which countries are benefitting from whatever money it would lend. The Nation States are entirely under their control here, they play no significant role; their only â€Å"role† is to fulfil all the rules the World Bank has set, and they just might be eligible for these monies. Ngaire Woods describes the IMF and World Bank as â€Å"The Globalizers†. She says that they have inculcated a good number of nation states into world economy by advising the governments of these states to be more open to investments and capital, and to allow for global trade (2006, p 3). She also states that â€Å"they have presented globalisation as a solution to challenges they have faced in the world economy† (2006, p3) Another major effect globalisation has had in nation states; (especially in recent years) is in the area of Migration. In the EU states, the schengen visa makes it possible to visit as many states as there are in the EU. Years ago, one would have needed 12 different visas to visit 12 different countries in the European Union, but today, with the spread of globalisation, one visa gets you to those 12 nation states. The sceptics like Hirst and Thompson might argue that although, we are seeing the emergence of these international organisations (in this case, the EU), which might have a say in national policies, â€Å"people are less mobile than moneythey remain ‘nationalized, dependent on passports, visas, residence and labour qualifications† (Hirst and Thompson,1999: p257). Thereby arguing that in fact, we do not live in a borderless world; rules in terms of migration are still made by the nation states. Globalists can defend their theories here that although individuals may need visas to move around countries, it is still the organisations that determine the nature of these visas especially in the EU where a visa to Italy equates a visa to France. Currencies are no longer national, that is, peculiar to their nation states. The Euro, for example is being used by nation states in the European Union. The use of this single currency by countries in the European Union has made it possible to break barriers (if any) of economic trade across EU nation states. This was implemented, not by the nation states but by the European Monetary System. Globalisation has affected the states in the sense that they had no option than to give into the use of this common currency or face the threat of having a depreciating currency that would eventually lead to a depreciated economy. Therefore the benefit of being in a unit saves exposure in the case of Recession etc. It is no shock that the nation states with the most powerful economies have the most amounts of Multi National Corporations. A survey done in 2006 by Data from Fortune shows that the top 25 (twenty five) MNCs in the world consist of nine in the United States, thirteen in the EU countries and two in Japan. Twenty four out of the twenty five largest corporations (by revenues) are for the wealthiest states (OBrien Williams, 2007: p175). This shows how relevant these MNCs are to their nations economy. MNCs now find their ways into different nation states with thriving economies to make profit from them. Borders are broken when a US based MNC decides to have an operating base in China, for example. The above citation goes to prove that MNCs are no longer ‘nation-owned but actually control the nations in the sense that they move to whichever state they want to be situated. THE CONCERN Speaking as an individual from a third world country, it is easy to say that there is a major concern and it is rightly justified in the sense that these governing international bodies which have been springing up due to the spread of globalisation, has still been one-sided. Politically, in 2007, Nigeria witnessed the election of President Umaru Yaradua. Usually, during elections, the US organises an electoral committee to oversee the process, making sure it is free and fair. During the elections, the national television authority in Nigeria (NTA) announced that some of the ballot boxes had gone missing during the course of the elections. Of course, that meant that something was not right. The individuals sent by the Electoral Commission went on international television (CNN) and announced that they had, in fact, over seen the elections and it was free and fair so whatever the result, the election was a success. Now, to whos benefit? Is it to the Nigerian public? The Nigerian Politicians? Or the United States electoral body sent to conduct these elections? Culturally, norms and values are deteriorating speedily. In todays society, globalisation of the media and internet has made it easy to have access to Hollywood and the Western fashion. It is very easy to get lost in the world of pornography (easy access through the internet where restrictions are not followed), under aged drinking is more prominent with the youth today because they see their favourite stars on television and they believe its the norm. Nation States cannot stop these infringements into their societies because as they have embraced globalisation, they have welcomed its positive and negative results. We are aware of the show down that took place in sports recently. The World cup qualifiers between France and Ireland, to be more specific. A controversial goal was scored by William Gallass of France after Thierry Henry (France captain) was said to have handled the ball and passed it. The goal was allowed by the referee and France qualified on that note. After much contest and ‘a million highlights of that moment, The Irish football association (as a nation state) challenges FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) which is in charge of regulating laws concerning football internationally, to replay the match for a fair result. FIFA ruled against it and France was named as one of the countries participating in the world cup next year. The questions here are direct: Does France deserve to be in the world cup? More importantly, is France in the world Cup because Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president is close friends with French man Michel Platini, the UEFA (Union of Eu ropean Football associations) president? It is notable that FIFA and UEFA, the football governing bodies have the final decision on whatever happens on the pitch, sometimes, it could be a wrong call and nation states that are reportedly treated unfairly have no say in these matters. In my opinion, drawing concerns from globalisation is very crucial to nation states. Globalisations effect on nation states, as important as it may be, calls for a lot of attention and scrutiny. The systems that have come up as a result of our globalising world have not been entirely fair, because in the end, who are those governing in these international organisations and MNCs? Who are those in power making all these decisions? They are the people with hegemony, with power and wealth who are able to control nation states and make them puppets. They are the capitalists whose ultimate goal is to make profit, so we should definitely be concerned since it affects us globally. Globalisation is not successful until concerns are next to irrelevant. Every nation state should be able to benefit from the spread of globalisation, but at the moment, the powerful states are only getting more powerful, sapping resources form the developing countries by situating MNCs strategically. Nation states now go out of their way to create a more suitable business environment because these MNCs chose the best possible location involving cheap labour to situate their business. Therefore, states now compete with each other to be more and more favourable to the MNCs, most times, at the risk of their citizens. Generally, it would be of less concern if it benefitted the whole world equally. Concerns have risen because some nation states are being treated with more advantages than others. In concluding, the nation states played a huge role in policy making which affected individuals but with the spread of globalisation, states roles became very limited and less conspicuous in these political arenas. Territorial boundaries were becoming less important because they became more connected to one another (the states), flows of technology such as the internet and satellite made views and news more global; there by restricting in determining what its individuals are exposed to, movements became globalised such as the NGOs, INGOs; flows of capital ran through borders; and the media made everything recognisable especially through the consistent rise of Hollywood (the US film industry). Ohmae conceptualizes my idea on globalisation and how it affects nation states when he describes the states as â€Å"a dysfunctional unitrepresents no shared community of economic interest† (1990, p.24). It is clear that nation states are now being governed by external forces, whether it is the MNCs, the International Organisations, the NGOs or INGOs and it is important to note that most organisations are in business for profit making so the best possible state with the least possible labour would be a recipient of their businesses. However, many arguments may arise over the concerns of globalisation and how it affects nation states. Some may argue that it has enriched their nations economy; others may argue that it has given their nation states more exposure on the international scene, but a nation state that cannot make its own decisions because of a â€Å"governing body† is almost powerless. Decision making, governing its people, security for its citizens and most importantly, culture of a nations people should be overseen by its government. BIBLIOGRAPHY Baylis, J., Smith, S., Owens, P. 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