Organization Culture of Harley Davidson Essay

Harley Davidson has a strong organizational culture. The organization transformed its business strategy and aligned its organization strategy to meet the challenges it faced from low cost and fuel efficient Japanese competitors in the late 1970’s. However, the introduction of an online biker community could require certain changes in the organization culture. These changes discussed below will not be radical in nature and would only further strengthen the culture that exists at Harley Davidson and the contribution the culture makes to make the brand a cult. Aspirers and owners perceive Harley Davidson to possess a brand persona that liberates, excites and gives them a sense of identity while still being part of a large family. To strengthen this positioning the organization should continue to focus on its endeavor to make it a gender neutral organization and continue to provide women a succession path in the organizational hierarchy. The organization needs to work a bit harder in achieving an ethnically diverse mix of employees. This is as necessary as the focus on diverse mix of employees coupled with the current organizational encouragement towards ideation would help make the online community a success. The diverse mix of employees will bring together the behavioral understanding required to motivate people to join the community and ensure sustained participation in the community. As even though the initial membership can be offered free with the purchase of an Harley Davidson, subsequent years would require the community member to be motivated enough to go for a paid subscription. The organizations current emphasis on learning should incorporate sharing of ‘learning’s’ that employees have across diverse geographical markets and with a diverse demographic customer base. This would help foster a greater understanding of the needs and wants of an online community and package offerings that would help subscribers gain the maximum. There are a lot of cross functional teams and specialized teams within the organization. This could be a challenge as well as an opportunity. The organizational culture should imbibe a sense of participation amongst various teams to promote the online community. All teams involved including the sales function, brand promotion, technical teams and others need to feel that the selling the online concept is part of the overall organizational strategy. Also all teams/roles have to ensure that operational and strategic support is provided towards this goal. However the entire premise of the online community is the values that the brand seemingly upholds. The organization culture should be continuously strengthened around the ethos of freedom of expression and being part of a larger community to make the online endeavor a success.

Cost Accouting Essay

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of bringing a product or service to the market without fully understanding the total costs involved and the prices they can charge. As a result, they discover they can’t sell enough of the product or service to make a profit. One of the most important tools you can use to make better business decisions is the break-even analysis; it enables you to determine with great accuracy whether or not your idea is a profitable one. Best of all, you can use this tool to evaluate every product or service you offer. The break- even point is the starting point for CVP analysis because before a company can earn profits; it must first cover all of its variable and fixed costs. What is CVP? Cost-volume-profit analysis is a tool that can be utilized by business managers to make better business decisions. Among the tools in a business manager’s decision-making arsenal, CVP analysis provides one of the more detailed and objective ways by which a manager can assess and even predict the course of business for the company and its employees. Another major benefit of CVP analysis is that it provides a detailed snapshot of company activity. This includes everything from the costs needed to produce a product to the amount of the product produced. This helps managers determine, very specifically, what the future will hold if variables are altered. For instance, transportation expenses and costs for materials can change. These variable costs can affect the bottom line. CVP analysis allows the manager to plug in variable costs to establish an idea of future performance, within a range of possibilities. This, however, can be a disadvantage to managers who are not detail-oriented and precise with the data they record. Projections based on cost estimates, rather than precise numbers, can result in inaccurate projections. Cost Volume Profit (CVP) Analysis Model says: (Sales – variable costs) – Fixed costs = Operating income TC = VX + F * If the sale minus all costs (variable and fixed), we can make a profit * The contribution margin (revenue – variable costs) helps to pay fixed costs * The contribution margin = fixed costs break

Indian Democracy at Crossroad

Avinash Shankar MAD12015 Politics Essay: 2 Topic Can post-colonial India's political experience be characterized as moving towards becoming more democratic Democracy, the form of government where supreme power is directly or indirectly vested in people, has become a global discourse that can be gauged from the fact that many post-colonial countries have adopted it with remarkable success.The dramatic global expansion of democracy in the last few decades in post-colonial countries speak volume of this most popular form of representative government. The ever fluctuating political dynamics coupled with changing socio-economic patterns since Independence has given new meanings to Indian democracy at each stage of its progression. India inherited a colonial state and kept much of its functioning architecture intact. Much of state practice, despite its massive quantitative expansion, is heavily governed by legislation passed somewhere between 1860 and 1947.During the 65-years of long journ ey, India as a nation has witnessed moments wherein democracy looked to find its true meaning, while moments like national emergency during Indira Gandhi’s regime qualify as the abysmal low that India touched as democratic nation. Adoption of socialist pattern, the middle path between capitalism and communism, at the early stage of our independence and a series of economic reforms that began in 1980s were primarily targeted at delivering the true essence of democracy in social, economic, and political spheres.This paper is an attempt to answer how Abraham Lincoln’s notion of democracy as a government of the people, by the people and for the people has been put to test in India on different social, political, and economic parameters at different stages of its progression since independence and whether ever changing political, social and economic dynamics have brought India closer to true democratic model. India retained a deep commitment to principles of parliamentary g overnment during the three decades after independence. Indian leaders described their approach planning nder a democratic pattern of socialism as a new model for Asian and African development. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who set the direction of India’s development during the first fifteen years of freedom, pointed to his country as an area of agreement between opposing ideologies of capitalism on the hand and the communism on the other. Under his leadership, the commitment to democratic social transformation was an integral part of India’s development strategy. Nehru also tried to incorporate Gandhian ideals of social reforms in his development programs.Nehru spoke of this mode of development as a third way which takes best from all existing systems—the Russian, the American, and sought to create something suited to one’s own history and philosophy. In the nascent stage of Independence, the Nehruvian socialist model of developmen t seemed to have worked well within the social and economic framework of India. But Nehru too had to face many challenges in the implementation of his development model. Nehru’s attempt to bring serious bourgeois land reforms was thwarted through a combination of feudal resistance, judicial conservatism, and connivance of state Congress leaderships.Although Congress was content to accept the continuance of semi-feudal rural power, it adopted massive plans for capitalist movement. Consistent with this general objective, the ruling elite adopted a plan for heavy industrialization and institutional control of capital goods industries through the state sector, a largely untried experiment at the time in the underdeveloped countries. Indira Gandhi who became Prime Minister after Nehru’s demise gave a new populist dimension to Indian politics.The shift of the Congress to populist politics quickly set up a new structure of political communication in which Indira could directl y appeal to electorates. While populist endeavors like Garibi Hatao (remove poverty) and nationalization of banks brought her good name, she has often been criticized for changing the Congress into a highly centralized and undemocratic party organization, from the earlier federal, democratic, and ideological formation that Nehru had led. Indira’s regime, in my opinion, was the beginning of the stage when India started to show its meaningful presence internationally.Creation of Bangladesh was the beginning of the India’s assertiveness at international level. Nuclear test conducted in 1974 was the extension of this assertiveness. Ironically Indira’s regime will also go down in history for bringing disrepute to democracy by imposing emergency in the most undemocratic manner. Perhaps it was the first blow to the essence of democratic model that India followed since independence. The manner in which rights and liberties, the two important tenets of democracy, were su spended during emergency reminds us how an authoritarian regime can play havoc in people’s minds.The emergency perhaps was the turning point in the Indian democratic history because it paved the way for major political and social shift. It was perhaps the trigger that led to the end of absolute majority era and ignited the undercurrent of regional politics played largely around caste and religious lines. Easwaran Sridharan and M. V. Rajeev Gowda however believe that the end of Congress’s dominance and fragmentation of the party system have stopped short of undermining the basic power-sharing characteristics of the system and have indeed contributed to democratic consolidation.While the seeds for the decline of one-power dominance were sown during Indira’s regime it became more apparent during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister of India. Some scholars however believe that the decline of one-party dominance and the emergence of a large number of sm aller or regional parties which ensure that state-level elections are vigorously contested have had positive effects on competition. These developments represent political empowerment of historically marginalized groups and reflect favorably on the vibrancy of political entrepreneurship.I feel that mushrooming of small regional parties can also be attributed to effect of anti-defection law enacted during Rajiv’s regime. Emergence of regional parties has also led to political instability due to opportunist attitude shown by these parties time and again. Rajiv attempted to bring party reforms and rebuild Congress as an organized party. He also played a vital role in tackling Punjab problem that assumed alarming proportion during Indira’s regime. Rajiv can also be credited for bringing constitutional status to Panchayati Raj, one of most important tenets of Indian democracy.During Rajiv’s regime too the essence of democracy looked dismantled characterized by high-s cale violence against the Sikh community in the aftermath of Indira’s assassination. Coalition politics gained momentum after Rajiv’s assassination in 1991. Caste and religion became the driver and determinants of Indian politics thereafter. Anti-reservation protest in the aftermath of the implementation of Mandal Commission is the stark reminder of the despair that results when the advocates for meritocracy lose their battle against the saviors of petty caste politics.Hindu nationalist forces too jumped the bandwagon soon and tried to establish their presence in the Indian political arena through much talked about Ram Janmabhumi agenda. We are also witnessing a paradigm shift in the redistributive politics wherein leftist forces are happy with a kind of statism that protects the state sector even if it means stifling the rest of economy. On the other hand the proponents of Mandal fear that rolling back the state on economic reform issues at the moment when Backward Ca stes (BCs) are getting access to its resources would be exercise in bad faith.Of late, globalization and economic reforms have given a new dimension to Indian politics, and for that matter to Indian democracy. Development has become the main political agenda pushing caste and religion gimmicks on the backburner. Political results in two successive elections in Bihar mark the paradigm shift in people’s voting pattern. It shows how voters are trumping the populist agenda in favor of developmental agenda. It augurs well for Indian democracy. The ensuing paragraphs discuss at length achievements, challenges and issues that India faces as democratic nation.Despite the considerable success of the Indian state in holding free and fair elections, sustaining a free press, and dramatically expanding the franschise, the abuse of coercive state power remains one of the major problems. Frequently such power is used arbitrarily against the poor, minorities, and those who dare to challenge the state’s writ. Furthermore, police abuses are more pronounced in poorer states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where standards of accountability are sorely lacking. The evidence from such states of rampant deaths in police custody underscores the gravity of this ill.India as a democratic nation has underachieved when it comes to protecting human rights. Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1990 was aimed at containing ethno-religious insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. It allows armed forces to conduct counter-insurgency operations. Under the garb of this act, security forces often resort to extrajudicial killings. The 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Activities Act (POTA), that came into existence in the aftermath of a series of terror acts, was sometimes used against political opponents and also infringed upon the individual rights and civil liberties of Indian citizen.The secular structure of Indian democracy also looked threatened on many occasions. The project of secularism has inc reasingly been under threat as communal ideology and political forces have come to enjoy greater purchase in society and the polity. The demolition of Babri Masjid engineered by Hindu nationalist forces like Bajrang Dal, RSS, and VHP, doesn’t augur well for the secular structure of the country.The Hindu nationalists’ hostility to secularism became evident in a number of different arenas, ranging from a systematic attempt to alter history and socio-science science textbooks to party leaders’ willingness to countenance widespread state-sanctioned violence against Muslims, especially during bloody disturbances that rocked the western state of Gujrat. On the positive side, the growth of a plethora of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) focused on development, along with the growing participation of hitherto quiescent groups, are gradually resulting in a political system that is more accountable to the citizenry.The roles NGOs are playing have the potential to reshap e the much needed developmental path. In times to come, NGOs will play much meaningful role by representing face of common people largely ignored by political entities. However politicization and financial irregularities rampant at these rapidly multiplying NGOs could act as a deterrent to the primary objectives that these nonprofits stand for. At Independence, the imperative for welfare mechanism was obvious due to widespread poverty and lack of food security, specially in the rural areas.Even after sixty five years of Independence, a large percentage of Indian population officially are still subsisting below poverty line and incidents of acute food insecurity continue to occur. Since 1985 Kalahandi has been more or less uninterruptedly suffering from food crisis of alarming dimensions and proportions, officially and disarmingly described as drought, but unofficially, by critics, as famine. The politics of nomenclature apart, Kalahandi has become a metaphor for hunger in several ot her districts in the more backward hill areas of south-western Orissa.The most ugly part of the Kalahandi starvation issue was highlighted by the Baidyanath Mishra Commission Report that attributed starvation deaths in the region to a set of issues including corruption, fraud, misuse, wastefulness, and mismanagement of development. Enhancing food security at the household level is an issue of great importance for developing country like India where millions of poor suffer from lack of purchasing power and malnutrition. Right to food is a part of an overall goal of achieving the right to development.Attainment of self-sufficiency of foodgrains at the national level is one of the big achievements in post-independence period. After remaining a food deficit country for about two decades after independence, India has not only become self-sufficient in foodgrains but now has a surplus of foodgrains. Despite many poverty alleviation programs initiated since the time of Indira Gandhi, pover ty still remains one of the concerns and state and central governments need to look into it. Employment guarantee schemes like NREGA bring some hope even though effective implementation remains largely unaddressed.India has made significant progress in fostering high levels of economic and industrial development. But when it comes to ethnic conflict in India, four sets of causal conditions have usually combined in different ways in different areas to produce conflict and violence. First is the fear of assimilation or cultural dilution and unfulfilled national aspiration. Second is the process of modernization by inducing large-scale migrations and by raising standards of literacy and aspirations.This process of modernization has not only forced ethnic groups to live closely together and to compete for rewards and resources, but has also sharpened their sociopolitical awareness and increased their capacity to mobilize for collective action. The third reason is unequal development, po verty, exploitation, lack of opportunity, and threats to existing group privileges. Finally, political factors such as endemic bad governance, the growth of anti-secular forces, institutional decay, and vote-bank politics have also contributed to large scale ethnic conflicts.The role of mass media has become more important in today’s context. Mass media has played a positive role in highlighting issues of public concern such as corruption, electoral malpractices, and economic instability. Anti-corruption movement launched by social crusader Anna Hazare could become successful due to large scale involvement of mass media. On the flipside politicization and commercialization of mediums of mass media don’t paint rosy picture for the fourth pillar of Indian democracy. Another area where we need to work is the social security for unorganized workers.The social security problems for unorganized workers in India can be divided into two sets of problems. The first is the capab ility deprivation in terms of inadequate employment, low earnings, poor health, and educational status which are related to general deprivation of poorer sections of the population. The second is the adversity in the sense of absence of adequate fall back mechanisms to meet contingencies such as ill health, accident, death, and old age. Central and state governments also need to focus on social sector by ensuring larger allocation for such expenditure.On human development index India is not comfortably placed either. Infant mortality rate remains one of the major issues. The incidence of child labor is among the highest in the world. Women have significantly higher morbidity and mortality rates than men. Though we have made significant inroads in achieving greater literacy, the numbers don’t sound adequate. Human development conditions are particularly egregious in four northern states, Bihar, Rajasthan, UP, and Madhya Pradesh. It becomes apparent that our democratic aspirati ons are only partly realized.Large scale corruption, communalism, electoral malpractices, perverted forms of Muslim and Hindu radicalism, sponsored terrorism, regional separatist insurgencies, corporate-political nexus, apart from many other things, have been obstructing the India’s journey along the path of democracy. Through a series of economic reforms India has made its presence at international stage, but marginalized sections of Indian society are yet to reap substantial benefits from it. Strong political will is needed to put us in the forefront of successful democratic nations.We also need to get rid of the corrupt hierarchy of bureaucratic structure because it acts as a deterrent to the implementation of welfare programs. As the citizen of a democratic nation what hurts me most is the deep rooted corruption, not only because it has become an exercise of power and impunity for many, but also because it has made its locus in the minds of people where it has become stan dardized. We spent enough time passing the bucks as to which apparatus/ apparatuses of our social, economic and political systems has/have failed us as the democratic nation.It is not the time to retrospect what we achieved as a democratic nation in the long journey so far, rather it is introspection time for each actor of democracy including politicians, bureaucrats, and off course the most powerful people. This introspection will surely bring the urgency among actors to realize the accountability they owe to the democratic edifice of India that is standing tall after having weathered challenging times since independence. Spread of education and emergence of political, social, and economic consciousness among citizens give me hope that India will slowly inch closer to aligning herself ith the essence of true democratic values and ideals. I will choose to finish this manuscript on a positive note by going back to the famous quote of Harry Emerson Fosdick †¦ â€Å"Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people. † Bibliography 1. Mehta, P. B. , The Burden of Democracy . Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2003 2. Frankrel, F. R. , India's political economy, 1947-2004:  The Gradual Revolution. London: Oxford University Press, 2005 3. ibid 4. Karanjia, R. K. , Mind of Mr. Nehru,London: Allen & Unwin, 1961 5.Kaviraj, Sudipta, â€Å"A critique of the Passive Revolution,† Economics and Political Weekly 23 (Nov 1988): 2433 6. Chandra, Bipin, Mukherjee, Aditya, Mukherjee, Mridula. India after Independence, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 1999 7. Ganguly, Sumit, Diamond, Larry and Plattner, Marc F. , The State of India’s Democracy , Oxford University Press, 2009 8. Yadav, Yogendra, â€Å"Electoral Politics in the Time of Change: India’s Third Electoral System, 1998-99,† Economics and Political Weekly, August 21-28, 1999 9. Mehta, P. B. , The Burden of Democracy , Penguin Books, New Delhi, 20 03 10.Genteman, Amelia, Killings in Delhi Slum Expose: Unequal Justice for India’s Poor,† International Herald Tribune, January 6, 2007 11. See the National Human Rights Commission Report for 2004-2005, available at www. nhrc. nic. in 12. Jayal, NirajaGopal, ed. , Democracy in India Oxford University Press, New Delhi 13 Ganguly, Sumit â€Å"The Crisis of Indian Secularism,† Journal of Democracy 14, October 2003 14. see Ganguly, Diamond, Plattner 15. see Jayal 16. see Jayal 17. see Jayal 18. Dev, S. Mahendra, Inclusive Growth in India: Agriculture, Poverty, and Developoment Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011 19. ee Ganguly, Diamond, Plattner 20. See Dev 21. Atul Kohli, ed. , â€Å"The Success of India’s Democracy,† Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2011 ——————————————– [ 1 ]. P. B. Mehta, The Burden of Democracy (Penguin Books, New Delh i, 2003), 106-107 [ 2 ]. F. R. Frankel, India's political economy, 1947-2004:  The Gradual Revolution (London: Oxford University Press, 2005), 4 [ 3 ]. F. R. Frankel, India's political economy, 1947-2004:  The Gradual Revolution (London: Oxford University Press, 2005), 25 [ 4 ]. R. K. Karanjia, Mind of Mr. Nehru (London: Allen & Unwin, 1961), 100-101 [ 5 ]. Sudipta kaviraj. A critique of the Passive Revolution,† Economics and Political Weekly 23 (Nov 1988): 2433 [ 6 ]. Bipan Chandra, Aditya Mukherjee, Mridula Mukherjee. India after Independence (Penguin Books, New Delhi, 1999), Chapters 11, 13 [ 7 ]. Sumit Ganguly, Larry Diamond, and Marc F. Plattner, The State of India’s Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2009), xviii-xix [ 8 ]. Yogendra yadav, â€Å"Electoral Politics in the Time of Change: India’s Third Electoral System, 1998-99,† Economics and Political Weekly (August 21-28, 1999): 2393-99 [ 9 ]. P. B. Mehta, The Burden of Democracy (Penguin Books , New Delhi, 2003), 168-169 [ 10 ].Amelia Genteman, Killings in Delhi Slum Expose: Unequal Justice for India’s Poor,† International Herald Tribune (January 6, 2007) [ 11 ]. See the National Human Rights Commission Report for 2004-2005, available at www. nhrc. nic. in [ 12 ]. NirajaGopal Jayal, ed. , Democracy in India (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 170 [ 13 ]. Sumit Ganguly, â€Å"The Crisis of Indian Secularism,† Journal of Democracy 14 (October 2003): 11-25 [ 14 ]. Sumit Ganguly, Larry Diamond, and Marc F. Plattner, The State of India’s Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2009), xxi-xxii [ 15 ]. Jayal, 198 [ 16 ]. Jayal, 199 [ 17 ].NirajaGopal Jayal, ed. , Democracy in India (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 200 [ 18 ]. S. Mahendra Dev, Inclusive Growth in India: Agriculture, Poverty, and Developoment (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 201), 101-103 [ 19 ]. Sumit Ganguly, Larry Diamond, and Marc F. Plattner, The State of India’s Democra cy (Oxford University Press, 2009), 49 [ 20 ]. S. Mahendra Dev, Inclusive Growth in India: Agriculture, Poverty, and Developoment (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011), 201-202 [ 21 ]. Atul Kohli, ed. , â€Å"The Success of India’s Democracy (Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2011), 211 Indian Democracy at Crossroad Avinash Shankar MAD12015 Politics Essay: 2 Topic Can post-colonial India's political experience be characterized as moving towards becoming more democratic Democracy, the form of government where supreme power is directly or indirectly vested in people, has become a global discourse that can be gauged from the fact that many post-colonial countries have adopted it with remarkable success.The dramatic global expansion of democracy in the last few decades in post-colonial countries speak volume of this most popular form of representative government. The ever fluctuating political dynamics coupled with changing socio-economic patterns since Independence has given new meanings to Indian democracy at each stage of its progression. India inherited a colonial state and kept much of its functioning architecture intact. Much of state practice, despite its massive quantitative expansion, is heavily governed by legislation passed somewhere between 1860 and 1947.During the 65-years of long journ ey, India as a nation has witnessed moments wherein democracy looked to find its true meaning, while moments like national emergency during Indira Gandhi’s regime qualify as the abysmal low that India touched as democratic nation. Adoption of socialist pattern, the middle path between capitalism and communism, at the early stage of our independence and a series of economic reforms that began in 1980s were primarily targeted at delivering the true essence of democracy in social, economic, and political spheres.This paper is an attempt to answer how Abraham Lincoln’s notion of democracy as a government of the people, by the people and for the people has been put to test in India on different social, political, and economic parameters at different stages of its progression since independence and whether ever changing political, social and economic dynamics have brought India closer to true democratic model. India retained a deep commitment to principles of parliamentary g overnment during the three decades after independence. Indian leaders described their approach planning nder a democratic pattern of socialism as a new model for Asian and African development. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who set the direction of India’s development during the first fifteen years of freedom, pointed to his country as an area of agreement between opposing ideologies of capitalism on the hand and the communism on the other. Under his leadership, the commitment to democratic social transformation was an integral part of India’s development strategy. Nehru also tried to incorporate Gandhian ideals of social reforms in his development programs.Nehru spoke of this mode of development as a third way which takes best from all existing systems—the Russian, the American, and sought to create something suited to one’s own history and philosophy. In the nascent stage of Independence, the Nehruvian socialist model of developmen t seemed to have worked well within the social and economic framework of India. But Nehru too had to face many challenges in the implementation of his development model. Nehru’s attempt to bring serious bourgeois land reforms was thwarted through a combination of feudal resistance, judicial conservatism, and connivance of state Congress leaderships.Although Congress was content to accept the continuance of semi-feudal rural power, it adopted massive plans for capitalist movement. Consistent with this general objective, the ruling elite adopted a plan for heavy industrialization and institutional control of capital goods industries through the state sector, a largely untried experiment at the time in the underdeveloped countries. Indira Gandhi who became Prime Minister after Nehru’s demise gave a new populist dimension to Indian politics.The shift of the Congress to populist politics quickly set up a new structure of political communication in which Indira could directl y appeal to electorates. While populist endeavors like Garibi Hatao (remove poverty) and nationalization of banks brought her good name, she has often been criticized for changing the Congress into a highly centralized and undemocratic party organization, from the earlier federal, democratic, and ideological formation that Nehru had led. Indira’s regime, in my opinion, was the beginning of the stage when India started to show its meaningful presence internationally.Creation of Bangladesh was the beginning of the India’s assertiveness at international level. Nuclear test conducted in 1974 was the extension of this assertiveness. Ironically Indira’s regime will also go down in history for bringing disrepute to democracy by imposing emergency in the most undemocratic manner. Perhaps it was the first blow to the essence of democratic model that India followed since independence. The manner in which rights and liberties, the two important tenets of democracy, were su spended during emergency reminds us how an authoritarian regime can play havoc in people’s minds.The emergency perhaps was the turning point in the Indian democratic history because it paved the way for major political and social shift. It was perhaps the trigger that led to the end of absolute majority era and ignited the undercurrent of regional politics played largely around caste and religious lines. Easwaran Sridharan and M. V. Rajeev Gowda however believe that the end of Congress’s dominance and fragmentation of the party system have stopped short of undermining the basic power-sharing characteristics of the system and have indeed contributed to democratic consolidation.While the seeds for the decline of one-power dominance were sown during Indira’s regime it became more apparent during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister of India. Some scholars however believe that the decline of one-party dominance and the emergence of a large number of sm aller or regional parties which ensure that state-level elections are vigorously contested have had positive effects on competition. These developments represent political empowerment of historically marginalized groups and reflect favorably on the vibrancy of political entrepreneurship.I feel that mushrooming of small regional parties can also be attributed to effect of anti-defection law enacted during Rajiv’s regime. Emergence of regional parties has also led to political instability due to opportunist attitude shown by these parties time and again. Rajiv attempted to bring party reforms and rebuild Congress as an organized party. He also played a vital role in tackling Punjab problem that assumed alarming proportion during Indira’s regime. Rajiv can also be credited for bringing constitutional status to Panchayati Raj, one of most important tenets of Indian democracy.During Rajiv’s regime too the essence of democracy looked dismantled characterized by high-s cale violence against the Sikh community in the aftermath of Indira’s assassination. Coalition politics gained momentum after Rajiv’s assassination in 1991. Caste and religion became the driver and determinants of Indian politics thereafter. Anti-reservation protest in the aftermath of the implementation of Mandal Commission is the stark reminder of the despair that results when the advocates for meritocracy lose their battle against the saviors of petty caste politics.Hindu nationalist forces too jumped the bandwagon soon and tried to establish their presence in the Indian political arena through much talked about Ram Janmabhumi agenda. We are also witnessing a paradigm shift in the redistributive politics wherein leftist forces are happy with a kind of statism that protects the state sector even if it means stifling the rest of economy. On the other hand the proponents of Mandal fear that rolling back the state on economic reform issues at the moment when Backward Ca stes (BCs) are getting access to its resources would be exercise in bad faith.Of late, globalization and economic reforms have given a new dimension to Indian politics, and for that matter to Indian democracy. Development has become the main political agenda pushing caste and religion gimmicks on the backburner. Political results in two successive elections in Bihar mark the paradigm shift in people’s voting pattern. It shows how voters are trumping the populist agenda in favor of developmental agenda. It augurs well for Indian democracy. The ensuing paragraphs discuss at length achievements, challenges and issues that India faces as democratic nation.Despite the considerable success of the Indian state in holding free and fair elections, sustaining a free press, and dramatically expanding the franschise, the abuse of coercive state power remains one of the major problems. Frequently such power is used arbitrarily against the poor, minorities, and those who dare to challenge the state’s writ. Furthermore, police abuses are more pronounced in poorer states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where standards of accountability are sorely lacking. The evidence from such states of rampant deaths in police custody underscores the gravity of this ill.India as a democratic nation has underachieved when it comes to protecting human rights. Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1990 was aimed at containing ethno-religious insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. It allows armed forces to conduct counter-insurgency operations. Under the garb of this act, security forces often resort to extrajudicial killings. The 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Activities Act (POTA), that came into existence in the aftermath of a series of terror acts, was sometimes used against political opponents and also infringed upon the individual rights and civil liberties of Indian citizen.The secular structure of Indian democracy also looked threatened on many occasions. The project of secularism has inc reasingly been under threat as communal ideology and political forces have come to enjoy greater purchase in society and the polity. The demolition of Babri Masjid engineered by Hindu nationalist forces like Bajrang Dal, RSS, and VHP, doesn’t augur well for the secular structure of the country.The Hindu nationalists’ hostility to secularism became evident in a number of different arenas, ranging from a systematic attempt to alter history and socio-science science textbooks to party leaders’ willingness to countenance widespread state-sanctioned violence against Muslims, especially during bloody disturbances that rocked the western state of Gujrat. On the positive side, the growth of a plethora of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) focused on development, along with the growing participation of hitherto quiescent groups, are gradually resulting in a political system that is more accountable to the citizenry.The roles NGOs are playing have the potential to reshap e the much needed developmental path. In times to come, NGOs will play much meaningful role by representing face of common people largely ignored by political entities. However politicization and financial irregularities rampant at these rapidly multiplying NGOs could act as a deterrent to the primary objectives that these nonprofits stand for. At Independence, the imperative for welfare mechanism was obvious due to widespread poverty and lack of food security, specially in the rural areas.Even after sixty five years of Independence, a large percentage of Indian population officially are still subsisting below poverty line and incidents of acute food insecurity continue to occur. Since 1985 Kalahandi has been more or less uninterruptedly suffering from food crisis of alarming dimensions and proportions, officially and disarmingly described as drought, but unofficially, by critics, as famine. The politics of nomenclature apart, Kalahandi has become a metaphor for hunger in several ot her districts in the more backward hill areas of south-western Orissa.The most ugly part of the Kalahandi starvation issue was highlighted by the Baidyanath Mishra Commission Report that attributed starvation deaths in the region to a set of issues including corruption, fraud, misuse, wastefulness, and mismanagement of development. Enhancing food security at the household level is an issue of great importance for developing country like India where millions of poor suffer from lack of purchasing power and malnutrition. Right to food is a part of an overall goal of achieving the right to development.Attainment of self-sufficiency of foodgrains at the national level is one of the big achievements in post-independence period. After remaining a food deficit country for about two decades after independence, India has not only become self-sufficient in foodgrains but now has a surplus of foodgrains. Despite many poverty alleviation programs initiated since the time of Indira Gandhi, pover ty still remains one of the concerns and state and central governments need to look into it. Employment guarantee schemes like NREGA bring some hope even though effective implementation remains largely unaddressed.India has made significant progress in fostering high levels of economic and industrial development. But when it comes to ethnic conflict in India, four sets of causal conditions have usually combined in different ways in different areas to produce conflict and violence. First is the fear of assimilation or cultural dilution and unfulfilled national aspiration. Second is the process of modernization by inducing large-scale migrations and by raising standards of literacy and aspirations.This process of modernization has not only forced ethnic groups to live closely together and to compete for rewards and resources, but has also sharpened their sociopolitical awareness and increased their capacity to mobilize for collective action. The third reason is unequal development, po verty, exploitation, lack of opportunity, and threats to existing group privileges. Finally, political factors such as endemic bad governance, the growth of anti-secular forces, institutional decay, and vote-bank politics have also contributed to large scale ethnic conflicts.The role of mass media has become more important in today’s context. Mass media has played a positive role in highlighting issues of public concern such as corruption, electoral malpractices, and economic instability. Anti-corruption movement launched by social crusader Anna Hazare could become successful due to large scale involvement of mass media. On the flipside politicization and commercialization of mediums of mass media don’t paint rosy picture for the fourth pillar of Indian democracy. Another area where we need to work is the social security for unorganized workers.The social security problems for unorganized workers in India can be divided into two sets of problems. The first is the capab ility deprivation in terms of inadequate employment, low earnings, poor health, and educational status which are related to general deprivation of poorer sections of the population. The second is the adversity in the sense of absence of adequate fall back mechanisms to meet contingencies such as ill health, accident, death, and old age. Central and state governments also need to focus on social sector by ensuring larger allocation for such expenditure.On human development index India is not comfortably placed either. Infant mortality rate remains one of the major issues. The incidence of child labor is among the highest in the world. Women have significantly higher morbidity and mortality rates than men. Though we have made significant inroads in achieving greater literacy, the numbers don’t sound adequate. Human development conditions are particularly egregious in four northern states, Bihar, Rajasthan, UP, and Madhya Pradesh. It becomes apparent that our democratic aspirati ons are only partly realized.Large scale corruption, communalism, electoral malpractices, perverted forms of Muslim and Hindu radicalism, sponsored terrorism, regional separatist insurgencies, corporate-political nexus, apart from many other things, have been obstructing the India’s journey along the path of democracy. Through a series of economic reforms India has made its presence at international stage, but marginalized sections of Indian society are yet to reap substantial benefits from it. Strong political will is needed to put us in the forefront of successful democratic nations.We also need to get rid of the corrupt hierarchy of bureaucratic structure because it acts as a deterrent to the implementation of welfare programs. As the citizen of a democratic nation what hurts me most is the deep rooted corruption, not only because it has become an exercise of power and impunity for many, but also because it has made its locus in the minds of people where it has become stan dardized. We spent enough time passing the bucks as to which apparatus/ apparatuses of our social, economic and political systems has/have failed us as the democratic nation.It is not the time to retrospect what we achieved as a democratic nation in the long journey so far, rather it is introspection time for each actor of democracy including politicians, bureaucrats, and off course the most powerful people. This introspection will surely bring the urgency among actors to realize the accountability they owe to the democratic edifice of India that is standing tall after having weathered challenging times since independence. Spread of education and emergence of political, social, and economic consciousness among citizens give me hope that India will slowly inch closer to aligning herself ith the essence of true democratic values and ideals. I will choose to finish this manuscript on a positive note by going back to the famous quote of Harry Emerson Fosdick †¦ â€Å"Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people. † Bibliography 1. Mehta, P. B. , The Burden of Democracy . Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2003 2. Frankrel, F. R. , India's political economy, 1947-2004:  The Gradual Revolution. London: Oxford University Press, 2005 3. ibid 4. Karanjia, R. K. , Mind of Mr. Nehru,London: Allen & Unwin, 1961 5.Kaviraj, Sudipta, â€Å"A critique of the Passive Revolution,† Economics and Political Weekly 23 (Nov 1988): 2433 6. Chandra, Bipin, Mukherjee, Aditya, Mukherjee, Mridula. India after Independence, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 1999 7. Ganguly, Sumit, Diamond, Larry and Plattner, Marc F. , The State of India’s Democracy , Oxford University Press, 2009 8. Yadav, Yogendra, â€Å"Electoral Politics in the Time of Change: India’s Third Electoral System, 1998-99,† Economics and Political Weekly, August 21-28, 1999 9. Mehta, P. B. , The Burden of Democracy , Penguin Books, New Delhi, 20 03 10.Genteman, Amelia, Killings in Delhi Slum Expose: Unequal Justice for India’s Poor,† International Herald Tribune, January 6, 2007 11. See the National Human Rights Commission Report for 2004-2005, available at www. nhrc. nic. in 12. Jayal, NirajaGopal, ed. , Democracy in India Oxford University Press, New Delhi 13 Ganguly, Sumit â€Å"The Crisis of Indian Secularism,† Journal of Democracy 14, October 2003 14. see Ganguly, Diamond, Plattner 15. see Jayal 16. see Jayal 17. see Jayal 18. Dev, S. Mahendra, Inclusive Growth in India: Agriculture, Poverty, and Developoment Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011 19. ee Ganguly, Diamond, Plattner 20. See Dev 21. Atul Kohli, ed. , â€Å"The Success of India’s Democracy,† Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2011 ——————————————– [ 1 ]. P. B. Mehta, The Burden of Democracy (Penguin Books, New Delh i, 2003), 106-107 [ 2 ]. F. R. Frankel, India's political economy, 1947-2004:  The Gradual Revolution (London: Oxford University Press, 2005), 4 [ 3 ]. F. R. Frankel, India's political economy, 1947-2004:  The Gradual Revolution (London: Oxford University Press, 2005), 25 [ 4 ]. R. K. Karanjia, Mind of Mr. Nehru (London: Allen & Unwin, 1961), 100-101 [ 5 ]. Sudipta kaviraj. A critique of the Passive Revolution,† Economics and Political Weekly 23 (Nov 1988): 2433 [ 6 ]. Bipan Chandra, Aditya Mukherjee, Mridula Mukherjee. India after Independence (Penguin Books, New Delhi, 1999), Chapters 11, 13 [ 7 ]. Sumit Ganguly, Larry Diamond, and Marc F. Plattner, The State of India’s Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2009), xviii-xix [ 8 ]. Yogendra yadav, â€Å"Electoral Politics in the Time of Change: India’s Third Electoral System, 1998-99,† Economics and Political Weekly (August 21-28, 1999): 2393-99 [ 9 ]. P. B. Mehta, The Burden of Democracy (Penguin Books , New Delhi, 2003), 168-169 [ 10 ].Amelia Genteman, Killings in Delhi Slum Expose: Unequal Justice for India’s Poor,† International Herald Tribune (January 6, 2007) [ 11 ]. See the National Human Rights Commission Report for 2004-2005, available at www. nhrc. nic. in [ 12 ]. NirajaGopal Jayal, ed. , Democracy in India (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 170 [ 13 ]. Sumit Ganguly, â€Å"The Crisis of Indian Secularism,† Journal of Democracy 14 (October 2003): 11-25 [ 14 ]. Sumit Ganguly, Larry Diamond, and Marc F. Plattner, The State of India’s Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2009), xxi-xxii [ 15 ]. Jayal, 198 [ 16 ]. Jayal, 199 [ 17 ].NirajaGopal Jayal, ed. , Democracy in India (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 200 [ 18 ]. S. Mahendra Dev, Inclusive Growth in India: Agriculture, Poverty, and Developoment (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 201), 101-103 [ 19 ]. Sumit Ganguly, Larry Diamond, and Marc F. Plattner, The State of India’s Democra cy (Oxford University Press, 2009), 49 [ 20 ]. S. Mahendra Dev, Inclusive Growth in India: Agriculture, Poverty, and Developoment (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011), 201-202 [ 21 ]. Atul Kohli, ed. , â€Å"The Success of India’s Democracy (Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2011), 211

Criminology- Moffitt's Life Course Persistent and Elliott's Integrated Essay

Criminology- Moffitt's Life Course Persistent and Elliott's Integrated Strain- Control Paradigm - Essay Example Teenagers mostly develop antisocial behavior based on the hormonal changes that their bodies are undergoing. However, a different class of antisocial people exists whose antisocial behavior can be rather persistent and stable. Most of the individuals with antisocial behavior tend to use it as an item of self-defense against their fears, for example, their inability to control their environment (Net Industries, 2015). A lot of research studies has been conducted to investigate the probable causes of this rare maladjustment in the society. Researchers tenet this condition to stress, child abuse, hyperactivity disorder and family problems including divorce or the death of a parent. The environment where an individual is raised up in also contributes to the type of behavior they will have. The salient feature of people having antisocial behavior is that they will appear to have no positive feelings for others but only remorse. They also tend to lack expression of their feelings except for anger and hostility and even these are seen through their violent and aggressive acts (Net Industries, 2015). Moffitts Adolescent-Limited or Life-Course Persistent theory suggests that there are two types of distinct developmental pathways to delinquency. In his theory, he argues that antisocial behavior may be adolescent limited or life-course persistent. Based on the theory of life-course persistent antisocial behavior, there is a cumulative interaction between the criminogenic environment and neuropsychological problems. This theory asserts that this group exhibits antisocial behavior beyond their adolescent stage. On the other hand, the adolescence-limited antisocial behavior is a contemporary antisocial behavior that prompts adolescents to engage in antisocial behavior but in ways that can be adjusted and are normal. For example, adolescents may violate school rules or engage in antisocial

Topics in cultural studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Topics in cultural studies - Essay Example Another strong reason of degradation of Latin in the 12th century was associated with the emergence of unitary nations.  The 12th century was the era of national development, the basis of which was laid by the previous evolution of feudalism, especially within its last period, when the distinctions between towns and villages became sharper; there was a rapid growth of crafts, trade; and when migration of people broke the isolated nature of separate feudal states. New national cultures, that required unity and full understanding of all members of new societies, could not just preserve the former language practice with its bilingualism, fragmented local dialects and dead literary language.  In contrast to the linguistic fragmentation of the feudal period, a language unity throughout a nation was required, and that common language could not be dead, it had to be capable of flexible and rapid development (Ruhlen, 1996). Three major problems, related to languages, appeared: 1) creatio n and development of vernacular languages; 2) studying and mastering different languages on an international scale; 3) review of the Ancient linguistic heritage (Greenberg, 1972). At different peoples the process of formation of nations and vernacular languages progressed at different epochs and environments, at different speed and with different results. It depended primarily on the intensity of growth and decay of feudal relations in a country, composition of its population and its geographical range. A significant role in the process belonged to lines of communication and cross-cultural companionship: so, maritime states (Italy, Holland, Spain and later on France and England) entered  the path of transformations first (Baldi, 1983). The first eminent herald of the Latin language downfall in literature was Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), who wrote the book of poems Vita nuova (The New Life,1290), dedicated to beloved Beatrice, in Italian, not Latin, and later defended the use of th e new  national language in the Latin tractate De vulgari eloquentia (On the Eloquence of Vernacular) and Italian II convivio (The Banquet), where he wrote that out of one thousand people who know Latin, only one is wise, others just use their knowledge seeking  money and honors. So, he wrote not in Latin but in Italian, as it was not the language of chosen ones but of the vast majority. According to Dante, the vernacular language was nobler than Latin, as it was natural and Latin - artificial.  The Divine Comedy by Dante, Petrarch’s sonnets and The Decameron by Boccaccio, are a brilliant proof of the convenience and superiority of the new national language (Wendell, 1980). In the new vernacular language the records of the great journeys of Columbus and Vespucci were written.  A philosopher Giordano Bruno and Galileo, a scientist, also switched from Latin to the national language.  Galileo, defending his position, said that he saw no necessity in Latin books and wor ks, as an ordinary person with a good native wit could not read them anyway. He also stated that by no means all technical trade terms could be expressed in Latin; at the same time even the worst artisans and peasants knew that terminology in the national lang

Basics of Existentialism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Basics of Existentialism - Essay Example The way man lives his life is according to his desires. There are some people who live their lives â€Å"as morally and as rationally as possible.† Their intention for doing this is to be a light, an example, to their fellow men. They want others to know that it is possible to live life following what is moral, and rational. These people, however, have one time or another â€Å"been false to themselves.† Even when man gets all else he wants and desires, he will want to prove himself. The choices he will make will be far from rational in this effort. When life is lived manifesting the will of a man, it becomes worthless. Man has desires which present him with the chance to make a choice. The option that man makes is made, according to what he stands to gain from it. But, the advantage only seems, it is not real. The way we live our lives is what makes it a sorry business. When man makes a choice, it is made in order to obtain a supposed advantage. But this advantage that seems to be real is, in fact, nonsense. More so, the choice is made in foolishness. Therefore, looking at the whole business of making choices, it is driven by things that are not what they seem to be. When the options possible for explaining a certain situation are worked out on paper, the desires that drove us to them in the first place no longer exist. We make these choices nonetheless. The desires we have, give essence of our living. â€Å"Extractions of square-roots,† is a means of Dostoevsky saying that life is not a series of mathematical deductions.

Short answers about Introduction to Political Economy Essay - 2

Short answers about Introduction to Political Economy - Essay Example Another cause of monopolies occurs when one firm expands to the point where it has tremendous economies of scale; other competitors drop out of the market because they cannot compete. Companies are likely to collude with each other if there are very few firms in an industry. Because of this, a change in one firm is likely to result in a change in another firm so that market forces remain the same. On the other hand, companies are likely to compete with each other when there is free market economy that allows consumers to pick and choose from many different companies. Regulations can cause a huge shift in the market, particularly in the labor market. When the government stipulates that employees must certain type of social security, employers have to respond to those changes. This can often mean that a business downsizes because it cannot afford to employ the same number of workers. Regulations primarily stifle business because of all the extra red tape that comes along with it. Capture theory stipulates that a government agency may allow the industry that it is charge of to dictate policy that favors the industry as a whole. On the other hand, public-interest theory deals with the interest of consumers. For example, when the market is not efficient as it could be, a regulatory body can act to make changes in regulations. The abolition of private property and the application of all rent to public purpose is designed for zoning laws that allow the government to own property. Progressive income tax makes all Americans pay their fair share. The abolition of all rights of inheritance offers limited inheritance through tax statues. Confiscation of property of rebels allows the government to seize property belonging to terrorist groups. Centralizing the credit system gives the state control over loans. Centralizing communication and transport allows the state to set regulations. Corporate capacity allows land to be improved. Equal labor

U.S. and Texas Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

U.S. and Texas Government - Essay Example Who else might do it better? Developing issues and educating the public. This would be done better by non-partisan individuals in a government. 3. What is the SMSP (single member, single plurality) electoral rule? What is a common alternative to the SP (single plurality) part? Which rule sometimes requires a runoff? SMSP is the process of voting whereby the person who gets most votes wins. An alternative to it is the Multiple-winner and the rule that requires a run off is the SMSP. 4. What is a PR (proportional representation) electoral rule? Why would an SMPR (single member, proportional representation) electoral rule be a logical impossibility? It’s a voting method that uses quota system to ensure that each part wins with a given number of votes. It can’t represent all the voters. 5. It is important to understand why an SMSP electoral rule favors a two-party system. Why does this rule give incentive to third parties to join up with a major party? When a third party joins one of the two parties, it has more advantages than being solo. Most voters tend to associate themselves with the ruling party when making decisions to vote. c) Effect of communications technologies on both voters and candidates; voters are able to understand an individual’s agenda and a choice is made even before elections are held. Technology platforms have provided such information.

Is It Weird Weather or Climate Change (extreme weather) Assignment

Is It Weird Weather or Climate Change (extreme weather) - Assignment Example The incident prompted 11,000 residents in towns that bordered the river to quit to safe places and some of their enterprises experiencing losses. The flooding also destroyed property and agriculture, which approximated to $2million. Corps and other aid agencies like FEMA intervened in containing the situation in diverse ways, which encompassed barring the public from using some bridges and roads that were not safe. Additionally, there entailed evacuation of the region’s residents to safety who resided in approximately 4,000 homes (Holbrook 18). This menace compared to other previous events that has ever occurred in the region or nearby is the worst and emanated from an altered climate, which the world is currently experiencing. Hypothesis Missouri River flooding and its adverse effects on the bordering residents is an indication of a climate change that is continuously depicting itself in anomalous incidences globally. The trend may continue to accelerate and yield to further catastrophes if human fails to alter activities that interfere with climate, for illustration, release of Greenhouse Gases to the atmosphere (Stromberg & Kuenzi 37). Hypothesis Evaluation Missouri river has tributaries that feed it and originates from the rocky mountains of Montana and Wyoming. ... The state’s six dams due to snowmelt, which augmented water capacity, their records depicted increased rates even amid the interval months of May and June/July. Dam Previous flow Rate Previous Year Record May 1 Flow Rate 2011 May 31 Flow Rate 2011 June/July 2011 Flow Rate Gavis point 70,000 1997 45,000 77,000 160,700 Oahe 60,000 1997 30,000 86,000 160,400 Big Bed 75, 000 1997 21,300 84,000 165,000 Garrison 65,000 1975 17,500 80,500 150,000 Fort Peck 36,000 1975 7,000 9,700 66,000 Fort Randall 67,000 1997 42,500 76,600 158,000 Figure 1: Past Six Dams' Flow rates compared to 2011 May - June/July Figure 2: Annual Flow due to climate change affecting snowmelt. Retrieved from http://www.swc.nd.gov/4dlink9/4dcgi/GetContentPDF/PB-2023/Flood%20Presentation.pdf Figure 3: Augmenting water Flow rate. Retrieved from http://www.swc.nd.gov/4dlink9/4dcgi/GetContentPDF/PB-2023/Flood%20Presentation.pdf According to the data depicted in this section, the trend seems to augment with time, which results to increased anomalous incidences. These comprise floods and other related climate catastrophes triggered by increased snow melt emanating from climate destruction by Greenhouse Gases. It also indicates an altered variability with time where at some instances it is unpredictable according to the then News’ reports. Societal Relevance Discussion Environmental negative impacts normally befall society, which at many occasions may not be aware of what may culminate after certain environmental degradations (Stromberg & Kuenzi 37). This is due to ignorant and sometimes misinformations especially from the relevant authorities like the weather forecast.

BHE 314 Mod 5 CBT Environmental Health and Safety Essay

BHE 314 Mod 5 CBT Environmental Health and Safety - Essay Example t is observed that nightclubs are major source of exposure of high-intensity sound, which results in a number of health risks and illnesses, such as high blood pressure, stress, headache, anxiety, ulcers, and coronary diseases. (Koren, 2003) A number of physicians have associated heart diseases with regular and frequent exposure to sound waves of high decibels. According to a number of environmental protection organizations, migraine headaches and high blood pressure are common consequences of noise exposure from nightclubs. In this regard, government should take effective steps to prevent the health hazards associated with community exposure to noise produced by nightclubs. It is observed that unfamiliarity with law is one of the major factors that encourage nightclub owners to keep the noise high in their clubs, as the residents do not complain noise-related problems. In specific, awareness programs related to noise exposure from nightclubs and other sources should be organized by the government to ensure public and environment safety. According to a survey, more than hundred decibels of sound level were noted in most of the nightclubs, which is much higher than the standard levels. (Koren, 2003) In this regard, nightclubs should be instructed to keep the noise levels according to the allowed ones, and such nightclubs should be constructed away from the residential regions. It is hoped that the paper will be beneficial for better understanding of health hazards associated with noise exposure from nigh tclubs. Now the paper will briefly discuss health hazards associated with presence of radon gas in homes. According to a number of health organizations, radon is a tasteless, invisible, and odorless radioactive gas that is one of the major causes of cancer. It is observed that such gas is present in a number of homes that results in health risks to the family. In this regard, effective steps should be taken to prevent emergence of radon gas in homes through proper

Cash Rate and Bank funding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cash Rate and Bank funding - Essay Example Long term debt funding is a relatively expensive source of funding than equity finding. This resulted in the rise in funding costs for major banks and consequently they were forced to increase their housing loan interest rates relatively more than the rise in cash. RBA have also accepted this fact and considers the existing spread as new normal standard spread. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Cash Rate – An Overview 4 Major Banks’ Funding and Costs of Funding 5 Pricing for Risk and Variable Housing Loan Rates set by Banks 6 Standard Variable Housing Lending Rates and Spreads 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 Cash Rate – An Overview Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) uses cash rate as a tool to control the pressure of inflation in Australia. RBA targets to keep the inflation rate in and around 2% to 3%. This refers to the monetary policy followed by RBA. RBA’s monetary policy also includes curbing unemployment rate and assuring a stable econo mic growth of the country as its other objectives. When the inflation rate goes beyond the target of RBA, the cash rate is enhanced. Otherwise RBA tries to reduce the cash rate when it feels that inflation is not posing a great threat and Australia can have a faster economic growth. Since 2007, there has been a steady growth or hike in cash rate till the beginning of Global Financial Crisis (GFC) during mid 2008, when the cash rate was 7.25%. Starting from September 2008 to September 2009, in one year the cash rate fell drastically to 3% figure. This was done by RBA to help Australian economy recover from the effects of GFC. Next from October 2009 onwards, the cash rate shows a steady increasing trend (Graph 1). Present cash rate is 4.25%, which is constant for the last 5 months (Reserve Bank of Australia, n.d.). Graph 1 Source: (RBA, 2012, p.18) Major Banks’ Funding and Costs of Funding The funding bases of Australian banks are diverse. The primary sources of funding for the major banks in Australia are: a) Deposits, b) Short term wholesale debt, c) Long term debt and d) securitization. Prior to GFC, the major banks had a stable funding mix. However, GFC had an adverse effect on the costs of funding of the banks derived from different sources. Since 2007, the major banks have shifted their focus away from short term debt and securitization. The funding mix now is composed of greater percentage of deposits and long term debt (Graph 2). It is so because they are considered to be relatively safer sources of funds. However, these being relatively expensive sources of funds, the cost of funding have increased considerably relative to the cash rate and money market rates relevant to it (Brown, et al., 2010). Graph 2 Source: (RBA, 2012, p.30) Pricing for Risk and Variable Housing Loan Rates set by Banks Risks involved in lending housing loans to the borrowers are an important consideration for banks in determining the variable housing loan rate. Since 2007, t he spread of banks’ lending rates on all the loan products offered by them relative to the cash rate have increased (Graph 3). The increase in these interest rates varied across different types of loans depending on the banks’ perception about the credit risk of the borrowers and the pace with which each type of loan can be re-priced

Social Support and Health and Well Being Essay Example for Free

Social Support and Health and Well Being Essay Social Support is a multidimensional construct which is not unilaterally beneficial i.e. maladaptive vicarious learning; Dependence; Provision of bad advice. It is generally thought that the more social support a person receives the more beneficial upon their health and well-being. Access to appropriate resources may protect the individual from the deleterious effects of stress Martin (1989). Lazarus and Folkman (1984) state all else being equal, morale, health and functional capabilities will be better if support is perceived to be adequate. Levels of social support a person receives have been associated with mental and physical health and well-being. In stressful times, social support helps people reduce psychological distress (e.g., anxiety or depression). Social support has been found to promote psychological adjustment in conditions with chronic high stress like HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, stroke, and coronary artery disease. People with low social support report more sub-clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety than do people with high social support. In addition, people with low social support have higher rates of major mental disorder than those with high support. These include post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and eating disorders. Social support has numerous ties to physical health, including mortality. People with low social support are at a much higher risk of death from a variety of diseases (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease). Numerous studies have shown that people with higher social support have an increased likelihood for survival. Individuals with lower levels of social support have: more cardiovascular disease, more inflammation and less effective immune system functioning, more complications during pregnancy, and more functional disability and pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis, among many other findings. Conversely, higher rates of social support have been associated with numerous positive outcomes, including faster recovery from coronary artery surgery less susceptibility to herpes attacks, a lowered likelihood to show age-related cognitive decline, and better diabetes control. People with higher social  support are also less likely to develop colds and are able to recover faster if they are ill from a cold. There are two main hypotheses that address the link between social support and health: the buffering hypothesis and the main effects hypothesis. The main difference between these two hypotheses is that the direct effects hypothesis predicts that social support is beneficial all the time, while the buffering hypothesis predicts that social support is mostly beneficial during stressful times. Evidence has been found for both hypotheses. In the buffering hypothesis, social support protects (or buffers) people from the bad effects of stressful life events (e.g., death of a spouse, job loss). Evidence for stress buffering is found when the correlation between stressful events and poor health is weaker for people with high social support than for people with low social support. The weak correlation between stress and health for people with high social support is often interpreted to mean that social support has protected people from stress. Stress buffering is more likely to be observed for perceived support than for social integration or received support. In the main effects hypothesis, people with high social support are in better health than people with low social support, regardless of stress. In addition to showing buffering effects, perceived support also shows consistent direct effects for mental health outcomes. Both perceived support and social integration show main effects for physical health outcomes. However, received (enacted) support rarely shows main effects. Several theories have been proposed to explain social support’s link to health. Stress and coping social support theory; dominates social support research and is designed to explain the buffering hypothesis described above. According to this theory, social support protects people from the bad health effects of stressful events (i.e., stress buffering) by influencing how people think about and cope with the events. According to stress and coping theory, events are stressful insofar as people have negative thoughts about the event (appraisal) and cope ineffectively. Coping consists of  deliberate, conscious actions such as problem solving or relaxation. As applied to social support, stress and coping theory suggests that social support promotes adaptive appraisal and coping. Evidence for stress and coping social support theory is found in studies that observe stress buffering effects for perceived social support. One problem with this theory is that, as described previously, stress buffering is not seen for social integration, and that received support is typically not linked to better health outcomes. Relational regulation theory (RRT) is another theory, which is designed to explain main effects (the main effects hypothesis) between perceived support and mental health. As mentioned previously, perceived support has been found to have both buffering and direct effects on mental health. RRT was proposed in order to explain perceived support’s main effects on mental health which cannot be explained by the stress and coping theory. RRT hypothesizes that the link between perceived support and mental health comes from people regulating their emotions through ordinary conversations and shared activities rather than through conversations on how to cope with stress. This regulation is relational in that the support providers, conversation topics and activities that help regulate emotion are primarily a matter of personal taste. This is supported by previous work showing that the largest part of perceived support is relational in nature. Life-span theory is another theory to explain the links of social support and health, which emphasizes the differences between perceived and received support. According to this theory, social support develops throughout the life span, but especially in childhood attachment with parents. Social support develops along with adaptive personality traits such as low hostility, low neuroticism, high optimism, as well as social and coping skills. Together, support and other aspects of personality influence health largely by promoting health practices (e.g., exercise and weight management) and by preventing health-related stressors (e.g., job loss, divorce). Evidence for life-span theory includes that a portion of perceived support is trait-like, and that perceived support is linked to adaptive personality characteristics and attachment experiences. Many studies have tried to identify biopsychosocial pathways for the link between social support and health. Social support has been found to positively impact the immune, neuroendocrine, and cardiovascular systems. In terms of the immune system, Social support is generally associated with better immune function. For example, being more socially integrated is correlated with lower levels of inflammation (as measured by C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation), and people with more social support have a lower susceptibility to the common cold. In terms of the neuroendocrine system, Social support has been linked to lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels in response to stress. Neuroimaging work has found that social support decreases activation of regions in the brain associated with social distress, and that this diminished activity was also related to lowered cortisol levels. Finally, The Cardiovascular system and Social support have been linked as social support has been found to lower cardiovascular reactivity to stressors. It has been found to lower blood pressure and heart rates, which are known to benefit the cardiovascular system.

Reasons for Delay in Insulin Therapy

Reasons for Delay in Insulin Therapy Although the reasons for poor glucose control amongst diabetics is complex, one concerning issue remains the reluctance of physicians and patients to begin insulin therapy. This has been widely documented, despite awareness amongst both caregivers and Type 2 diabetics of the increased health risks caused by inadequate glucose control. Diabetes, and the complications caused by poor management of the disease, are rapidly becoming a health concern of epidemic proportion in Europe and the United States. According to Celafu (2004), normal glucose levels are seldom maintained over time in Type 2 diabetics. â€Å"Even with early intervention and education, many patients with type 2 diabetes are unable to achieve treatment goals through lifestyle changes alone† (Anon 2005, 4). Oral antidiabetic drugs, the initial treatment for Type 2, â€Å"eventually fail to provide adequate glycemic control† (Anon 2005, 4). Targets are missed both due to the progressive nature of the disease and to a reluctance to initiate insulin therapy (Davies 2004). Davies (2004, S15), citing an unpublished study by the British Diabetic Association, reports that â€Å"in the UK a large dataset of over 600, 000 from across the country in the year 2000 reported a mean HbA1c of 8.6 in type I patients and 7.8 in type II patients.† This is significantly above the 6.5 recommended (Davies 2004). Funnell and Kruger (2004) similarly report that over half the Type 2 diabetics in the United States regularly exceed recommended glycemic goals, such as an A1C of less than 7%. However, they cite three large independent trials which all show significant A1C improvement with the introduction of insulin therapy (Funnell and Kruger 2004). Results from the 1998 UK Prospective Diabetes Study suggests that even a 1% Hb reduction can lead to a 21% reduction in diabetes-related death (Stratton et al 2000). Similar reductions also result in a 14% reduction in myocardial infarction, and up to a 37% reduction in microvascular complications (Stratton et al 2000). Reductions in peripheral vascular disease by over 40% are also cited (Stratton et al 2000). According to Davies (2004, S14), a number of studies show â€Å"unequivocally that reducing hyperglycemia reduces both the incident risk and progression of diabetic complications, with no threshold level of HbA1c beneath which further prognostic advantage cannot be achieved.† â€Å"Given the scope of the problem, clinicians need to identify type 2 diabetes early and initiate aggressive intervention to positively influence patients at risk for the disease and help prevent disease progression and associated complications† (Anon 2005, 3). â€Å"In order to achieve the suggested targets for glycemic control necessary to reduce the incidence of diabetic complications, it has been established that a more intensive insulin regimen† and earlier use of insulin is often called for (Cefalu 2004, 1149). Unfortunately, such early insulin use is uncommon (Cefalu 2004). Literature reviewed cites a number of barriers responsible for the slow introduction of insulin regimens to Type 2 diabetic treatment. Barriers on the part of patients typically include fear of injections, feelings of failure, misconceptions regarding the effects of insulin, and concern that the disease is worsening. Cefalu (2004) found that fear of pain and inconvenience of having to inject insulin greatly increases patient anxiety regarding initiating insulin. He concludes â€Å"a major limitation for advancing to intensive insulin therapy is that the only viable way to administer insulin is through injection† (Cefalu 2004, 1149). Davies (2004, S18) similarly found that in Type 2 diabetics, â€Å"needle phobia presents as a common additional barrier to good control.† Patients may also view moving to an insulin regimen as a indicator they have failed at other therapies, such as lifestyle management (Cefalu 2004). This can produce guilt over even minor incompliance in previous treatment, and cause the patient to want to â€Å"try harder† on their existing treatment plan rather than move to insulin (Cefalu 2004). In a recent survey, nearly forty percent of patients agreed that ‘Starting insulin would mean that I have not followed my treatment recommendations properly’ (Davies 2004, S16). Kuritzky and Nelson (2004, S11) additionally found that â€Å"well-intended practitioners may have inadvertently set the stage for patient nonreceptivity by portraying insulin as appropriate therapy for patients who have failed with oral agents.† Davies (2004) goes further, offering anecdotal evidence of practitioners who attempt to coerce non-compliant Type 2 diabetics into lifestyle and oral medication compliance by the threat of beginning insulin therapy. This can result in strong patient resistance to insulin when it is eventually called for (Davies 2004). This can even lead to belief that insulin indicates inevitable complications or death to the patient. â€Å"The perception is that use of insulin signifies progression to a more serious phase of their disease; some patients view insulin use as a ‘prelude to death’ (Cefalu 2004, 1152). Some patients also â€Å"mistakenly believe that insulin intensifies insulin resistance† (Kuritzky and Nelson 2004, S11). Others claim considerations of weight gain outweigh their desire for tight glucose control (Anon 2005). Physicians and caregivers more often cite hypoglycemia, obesity, and patients lack of coping skills as reasons to delay insulin initiation. Davies (2004, S16) found â€Å"concerns about causing hypoglycemic episodes or increasing patients’ obesity means that physicians may permit poor control to continue unduly by delaying the initiation or intensification of insulin therapy† and â€Å"regard insulin as treatment of last resort.† Instead, Kuritzky and Nelson (2004, S11) recommend â€Å"patients should be taught that insulin therapy is appropriate at any time during the course of diabetes to achieve glycemic goals.† Finally, those diabetics on insulin therapy are often on less than optimal dosages. Mayfield and White (2004, 489) conclude from their study of Type 2 diabetics that â€Å"statistics suggest that suboptimal insulin therapy is too common.† Nearly thirty percent of Type 2 diabetics use insulin therapy, â€Å"but less than one half achieve the recommended A1C level of 7 percent or less† because even physicians who are willing to intiate insulin therapy are hesitant to aggressively use insulin (Mayfield and White 2004, 489). REFERENCES Anon 2005. The Role of Basal Insulin in Type 2 Diabetes Management. Supplement to The Journal of Family Practice, October 2005, 2-8. Cefalu, W. 2004. Evolving Strategies for Insulin Delivery and Therapy. Drugs 2004, 64(11): 1149-1161. Davies, M. 2004. The reality of glycaemic control in insulin treated diabetes: defining the clinical challenges. International Journal of Obesity, 28(Suppl 2): S14–S22. Funnell, M. and Kruger, D. 2004. Type 2 Diabetes: Treat to Target. The Nurse Practitioner , January 2004, 29(1):11-23. Kuritzky, L. and Nelson, S. 2004. Insulin therapy in primary care: Practical issues for clinicians. Supplement to The Journal of Family Practice, June 2005, S10-S11. Mayfield, J. and White, R. 2004. Insulin Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes: Rescue, Augmentation, and Replacement of Beta-Cell Function. American Family Physician, August 1, 2004, 70(3): 489-500. Rizvi, A. 2004. Type 2 Diabetes: Epidemiologic Trends,Evolving Pathogenic Concepts, and Recent Changes in Therapeutic Approach. Southern Medical Journal, November 2004, 97(11): 1079-1087. Stratton et al 2000. Association of glycaemia with macrovascular and microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes. British Medical Journal, 321: 405–412. UKPDS 1998. UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) Group: Intensive blood-glucose control with sulphonylureas or insulin compared with conventional treatment and risk of complications in patients with type 2 diabetes. Lancet 1998, 352: 837-853.

Internationalisation of Public Relations Education

Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Introduction The main theme of the dissertation is internationalisation of public relations education. It is quite a broad topic and can be reviewed and discussed from different points of view. In this regard the selected literature first examines international public relations concepts and secondly an impact it has on public relations education. Therefore, literature review has been divided into the following major themes: International public relations (IPR) and International public relations education (IPRE). The chapter will begin by presenting the main debates about international public relations and its concepts alongside with a brief overview of factors influencing it. It will be followed by a section presenting state of research on IPR. The discussion will then move to section two international public relations education, exploring the requisites and challenges for internationalisation. Finally the chapter will summarise the key themes and points identified. The major part of the literature review focuses on contemporary research, defined as 1989-2009. International PR A growing number of publications document the development and challenges of the public relations in every major continent and region of the world (Nally, 1991, Moss et al., 1997, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003b, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Freitag and Stokes, 2009). This research refers term global PR to globalisation of the profession, which is being practises and recognised in more countries throughout the globe, while International PR refers to the planning and implementation of programmes and campaigns carried out abroad or for international audience. Hence international PR education refers to the process of adopting professional training to International PR concepts and demand. Public relations is still relatively new concern for management, even though its modern origins can be traced to the end of the last century (White, 1991). According to (Cutlip, 1994), a key researcher in the history of public relations in the U.S., the first international public relations agency The Hamilton Wright Organization was founded in 1908. International communities of professionals and scholars are increasingly interested in transferring knowledge, experiences, and best practices from national to transnational scenarios. This advancement is generated by the increasing role of public relations which is driven largely by the influence of new information technologies and globalisation (Flodin, 2003). Drawing upon this, DiStaso et al. (2009) discussed the effects of globalisation, that began with the Maastricht Treaty and NAFTAA in 1992, the WTO in 1994 and claiming it had great impact on the public relations industry. According to Szondis (2009, p.115) International public relations is the planned communication activity of a (multinational) organisation, a supra- or international institution or government through interactions in the target country which facilitates the organisation (or government) to achieve its policy or business objectives without harming the interests of the publics. There have been papers which presented international PR to be simply about how to overcome barriers that are created by other cultures, including language, laws or cultural issues, which are often indentified as problems (Wilcox et al., 2001), rather than opportunities or the manifestation of diversity. The most frequently referenced paper which stands against IPR has been Angell (1990) asserted that the variance between local countries was so great as to preclude any possibility of globalisation. A much different study, also highly referenced, has been provided by Pavlik (1987), who as early as the 1980s considered IPR one of the most rapidly growing areas of the profession, and one of the least understood. The problem with defining difference between domestically and internationally done public relations is that there is not enough research or critical assessment. While basic principles do not change, the way they are carried out from culture to culture and country to country, and the attitudes and values embedded within those different cultures or countries, are different (Wakefield, 2007b). A similar study was conducted by Botan (1992, p. 157), who argued that international public relations is always intercultural. The existing public relations body of knowledge, and public relations curricula around the world, have a U.S. bias (Sriramesh, 2002). U.S. paradigm, however, strikes with the idea of that European or non-U.S. perceptions of public relations become more of value in the twenty first century. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield (2007b), who have been practicing and researching in the area of IPR for almost two decades, believes that principles and practices of PR in Europe, emphasising social role of public relations, are more promising for effective PR in the multinational than the American-based PR-as-marketing-tool approach. He, alongside the majority of new PR schools, supports paradigms of PR incoming out of places other than the U.S. Therefore, need and call for the elsewhere theories and concepts was also a factor for a research in international/global PR. Ovaitt (1988, p.5) made an interesting suggestion saying that it was not a popular idea with marketing and advertising experts when they started thinking about internationalisation decades ago and it was not popular with public relations practitioners back to late 1980s. The idea is that what these professionals do for a living might be done on a global basis global in the sense of achieving some significant level of standardisation, not only of what is offered to customers, but also how it is presented and promoted. Public relations as a profession is not necessarily understood and practised in the same manner all around the world. This is not news per se, as several scholars (Sharpe, 1992, Vercic et al., 1996, Taylor, 2000, Rhee, 2002, Valentini, 2007) for many years have underlined that public relations requires a global understanding of cultural differences. Different studies (Kent and Taylor, 1999, Lee, 2005) show that public relations practitioners are increasingly required to be able to communicate with different international publics, no matter the size of the organisation they are working for, or whether it is private or public, including non-profit organisations. After the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Excellence Study yielded a review of normative principles (Grunig, 1992), Vercic et al. (1996) explained the importance of identifying five contextual variables that influence the practice of the normative principles. Vercic, Grunig, and Grunig (Vercic et al., 1996) proposed a global theory of public relations that was elaborated by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003a, 2003b, 2009) in their Global Public Relations Handbook and by Sriramesh (2009) in a special issue of PRism. Their global public relations theory attempted to answer the question of whether public relations theory and practice should be unique to each country or culture or whether it should be practiced in the same way everywhere. Authors answered this question by theorising that global public relations should fall in the middle between standardisation and individualisation (Grunig, 2009). The theoretical framework of Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) has been used to assess the status of public relations in countries around the world. Contextualised studies are the core component of the global public relations concept. As Vercic (2009) reported, international PR practices should represent the best practices anywhere because of their necessary complexities and reach. Global theory is not a positive theory, which describes a type of public relations that currently is practiced everywhere in the world. Research, such as that reported in Sriramesh and Vercic (2003, 2009), does show that there are many idiosyncrasies in public relations practice around the world that reflect cultural differences. It also shows that the one worldwide universal in public relations practice is what is J. Grunig have called the press agentry/publicity model (Grunig et al., 1995)-the least effective of the models. Rather, their global theory is a normative theory that argues that public relations will be most effective throughout most parts of the world (Grunig, 2009, p.2). Emphasising cross-cultural effects on reputation in multinational organizations Wakefield (2007b, 2008) argues that there still is an important distinction between global and domestic public relations practices, and that understanding those differences will contribute to better global practice. More specifically, recent research has also called into questions of need to understand how culture affects public relations. There are numbers of key researches (Grunig et al., 1995) who have written papers specifically on the subject. A similar study was conducted by Neff (1991), who has indicated that economic development is leading public relations firms down a path requiring knowledge of culture and language in addition to public relations. Perhaps one of the most influential recent publications on multiculturalism in public relations education was produced by Sriramesh (Sriramesh, 2002, Sriramesh, 2003). He has also reported that public relations education has not kept pace with the rapi d globalisation that has occurred since 1992 (Sriramesh, 2002). Sriramesh (2009) called for a need for a more thoughtful representation of many of the generic principles of public relations practice to suit the local environment, so that the body of knowledge is more holistic and relevant to global demands. However, there still is a room for an assumption that not all the practitioners require international training and international perspective. RESEARCH / CRITICS: Since the advent of the Internet, it is even more tempting to view PR practice as the same anywhere, and therefore it decreases attempts to produce research or principles that need to view à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“cross-border PR as different (Wakefield, 2007a). Despite the numerous calls for research, reviewed works and studies on global (national) public relations released in the 2000s (see table 1) (Portugal, United States see table) have recorded that this area of research is underrepresented. Despite global trends underlining increased internationalisation, these results can be interpreted to indicate that Researchers have not paid enough attention to the international perspective. An important indicator is the place international public relations occupy in the list of priority research topics. One recent example is a Study of the Priorities for Public Relations Research conducted by Deputy Dean of Media School of Bournemouth University (UK) Tom Watson (Watson, 2008, Watson, 2007)  [1 ]  .He sent 26 public relations topics to a Delphi study panel and the Top Ten PR research topics were identified, however, international perspective was excluded from the list. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield responded critically to Watsons Delphi study: First, I was surprised in finding that the topic fell all the way out of the top ten. After all, arent PR issues and challenges, along with its overall scope of practice, becoming more international with each passing year?(2007a, p. 6) Nonetheless he added: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There really are no more studies being done on international public relations now than have been done over the course of the last three decades. Those that are being published are increasingly making such statements as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there is no such thing as local PR anymore, or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“today, everything is global. Well, if this represents what academics and practitioners are thinking, then it would stand to reason that no real different research needs to be done-that ANY PR principles, even if they are all traditionally domestic in nature, would suffice for research or practice anywhere in the world (2007a, p.7). The seminal critique in this area is also by Sriramesh (2009, p.6), who argues: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When scholars think of, and discuss, public relations, the global perspective is often overlooked. Srirameshs (2009) critique of Mackey (Mackey, 2003), who claimed to introduce the various contemporary theories of public relations in the inaugural issue of Prism is also indicative: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The author attempted to review à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the changing vistas in public relations theory, there was not a single mention of any advances in global public relations theorising in that piece even though by 2003/that time there were several advances worth reporting'(2009, p.8). Another example is Distasso (2009). Authors surveyed 312 public relations executives and educators to examine how well practitioners and instructors perceive public relations students to be prepared for the practice, the content and value of public relations curricula and, the future of public relations education in the United States. Even though scholar mentioned globalisation as a factor increasingly influencing public relations practice he had not included it in the questionnaires or research questions. Somewhat it contrast are papers from the annual International Public Relations Research Symposium Bledcom, which reflect the diverse and up-to-date research traditions amongst scholars working in the field of public relations both within the USA and Europe (Moss et al., 1997, Newman and Vercic, 2002, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003a, Sriramesh, 2004, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Van Ruler et al., 2008, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2009). These are scholars, who systematically examines the priorities for PR research and determine international agenda These differences in research agenda are reflected/explained, to some degree, in the/by Scholars like Sriramesh, Vercic, Wakefield and others highlighted the important point that an issue of international public relations is not reflected enough in the research questions. International public relations education (IPRE) As a corollary to the process of globalisation has been the recognition of the need to make public relations education more internationally focused and future public relations professionals more internationally and interculturally competent (Lane DiStephano, 1992) / Huthcings et al., 2002 There have been numbers of calls for new public relations curricula aimed at educating staffs that can understand and meet increasing international social, economic and political complexities and challenges. (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, p. 13). The International Association of Universities (1998) supported the need for business schools to be more international in their strategy, claiming higher education must integrate an intercultural dimension into its teaching and research, if it is to fulfil its role and maintain excellence. (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 58). Another rationale for an international public relations course is the accelerating pace of societal and technological change today. These cha nges call for adaptations in academic curricula and professional development programs. There were written dozen papers on justification of international public relations education based on research in the different areas. Some went radical claiming that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“any curriculum that excludes international public relations courses is ineffective in addressing student and practitioner needs, particularly in the next century (21 century).(Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994) p.9 Factors what influence the development of IPRE are mostly the same, however they have different interpretations. The need for international courses in public relations is demonstrated further by the growing global recognition of public relations degree programs and education, a phenomenon that Cantor (1984) predicted more than twenty years ago. And indeed, previous investigation has established that the call for internationalisation of public relations education has been there for a long time and comes from both industry and academia sectors (Neff, 1991, Cottone et al., 1985). However, disagreements between practitioners and educators on a blueprint for international public relations education have also been documented (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994). A decade old survey of U.S. public relations educators and practitioners that explored the state of curricula and content in public relations education found that both practitioners and educators perceive need to incorporate courses and cont ent that will prepare future practitioners for the global landscape (Neff et al., 1999). A Public relations is a multidisciplinary area of study and practice that must change as rapidly as the context and society in which it exists (Baskin, 1989, p. 35). As public relations continues to be a globalised profession, curriculum should be updated to reflect the practice. Ten years later similar study has recorded, that having a global perspective and experience with a variety of cultures are necessary but lacking skills for advanced level practitioners (DiStaso et al., 2009, p.269). An important consideration in providing students with some skills in achieving cross-cultural understanding is the recognition that, as future business professionals and leaders, they will live in a society increasingly characterised by international labour mobility and multiculturalism. The international manager or employee will be an individual who will spend their working lives in several distinct job areas working for several organisations as well as making several sojourns to various international postings. This means that the new style employee will need to be cosmopolitan, multilingual, multifaceted and what Schneider Barsoux (1997, p. 157) refer to as a capacity to operate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“across national borders somewhat like James Bond. Public relations education at all levels and in both communication and MBA programmes should educate students to practise public relations globally (Grunig and Grunig, 2002). However, not only do students need to be trained and prepared for this mobility, but even those who do not move to another nation face the recognition that the domestic work environment also requires some responsiveness to differing cultures (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 69). Sriramesh (2009, p.6) makes a reasonable argument that even textbooks in the US and the UK should contain more global cases and interpretations so as to give their own students a more international and holistic education, thus broadening their horizons. It is indicated that authors of universitys level public relations textbooks have not yet realised the growing importance of international public relations and thus deal marginally with it. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has drawn on its international membership to research and recommend standards for public relations education and has established the results of its work in two Gold papers in 1982 and 1990 (IPRA (1982) Gold paper No. 4, A Model for Public Relations Education for Professional Practice, and (1990) Gold Paper No.7, Public Relations Education Recommendations and Standards). (White, 1991) p.184-185 Not much has changed since that time. WAYS: Number of general papers were designed in response to the need for public relations education to produce well-trained, culturally sensitive practitioners (Miller, 1992, Ekachai and Komolsevin, 1998, Burbules and Torres, 2000, Bardhan, 2003, Dickerson, 2005, Tuleja, 2008). With the increasing importance of international communication, some educators had considered creating a course dedicated to international public relations (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, Taylor, 2001). In a special edition of Public Relations Review on developing teaching related materials, Taylor (2001) offered guidance to public relations educators on how to develop an international public relations curriculum because: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New communication technologies and global communication processes create more frequent international communication (Taylor, 2001, p.2). Nevertheless, some of the Taylors conclusions sounded far too decisive: The most comprehensive way to internationalize the public relations curriculum is to offer a course dedicated to international public relations (p. 74). Creedon and Al-Khaja (2005) analysed how adding cultural competency to the list of skills and competencies required in educational programs presents an opportunity to educate a generation that will accept difference and value a global culture separate from national identity. Then again the study was rather limited the authors conducted a survey of accredited programs to determine whether or not a history course was required of their majors. Another empirical-based study argued that just talking about the importance if IPR in the classroom is not sufficient, students have to be able to live international public relations in order to understand its relevance (Bardhan, 1999, p. 19). An important portion of literature on international public relations education suggests the necessity for students to learn about other countries through immersion. According to Porth (Porth, 1997, Tuleja, 2008) the international study tour course may be a legitimate answer to critics of education who urge business schools to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“go global and to create stronger ties with the international business and academic communities. More specifically, recent research has also called into question the assumption of studying internationally. For instance, Hutchings et al. (2002, p. 58)suggests that the challenge for the education is how to devise a short-term study program that is effective in exposing international concepts to the student. Yet, foreign travel alone is not the panacea for internationalising PR education because it is difficult to manage even if having resources. Hutchings study is focused on going abroad, even so it may make some contribution to understanding of glo bal consciousness characterised as moving towards a recognition and appreciation of increasingly global diversity and interdependence. Arguments about which is the best approach to international public relations education, courses and its numbers, or changing the context with its live experience and observations, largely missed the important point that methods have to be fit for their purposes. For some purposes, this is the best, and in other cases the choice will be this and that. Furthermore, although those approaches rest on very different use of resources and possibilities, they can be complementary in the hands of future research and need to be incompatible. Many studies would benefit from mindfully using each approach for different purposes at different stages of the internationalisation. Fuller discussions of this are to be found in some public relations papers, including (Neff, 1991, Dibrova and Kabanova, 2004, Peterson and Mak, 2006, Chung, 2007/8, Dolby and Rahman, 2008). CHALLENGES/BARRIERS: Authors such as Kalupa and Carroll Bateman (1980) have suggested that public relations educators have failed maintain the currency of the teaching in relation to the practice. On the other hand, Holbrook (1985, 1995) has been one of the most prominent critics of the idea of selecting research topics based on what is of interest to practitioners. He has argued that such an orientation tarnishes the purity of the academic endeavour. Amongst other challenges Bardhan (1999) recorded that educators feel unprepared at present to handle the task effectively and lack of interest among students. Falb (1991, 1992) has claimed that because of putting public relations curriculums in either Mass Communications or Journalism public relations has been inhibited in its growth in academic and professional areas. Similar study was conducted by (Pincus et al., 1994), who argued that communication topics do not rate high in MBA programs: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of public relations topics in MBA programs, the profession will never realize entry to the highest levels of corporate decision making (1994: p.55) . Making an analogy, this statement might be extended by claiming that If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of international public relations concepts in Postgraduate programs, the profession will lack behind present state of research and practice. This statement finds a reflection in recent research as well. Papers like Sriramesh (2002) claim that it is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals. CONCLUSION: Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) underlined the compelling need for a text describing and explaining public relations practices and body of knowledge in different parts of the world. Their call for research has been taken up and largely because it proposed a framework, which made it easier to facilitate global research. Thereby, by critically examining the framework scholars in different countries enrich international public relations body of knowledge and provides prove or counter-arguments to the Global theory. Nonetheless, it might be argued that among those five factors, which have been put forward by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003), one is missing professional PR training. In this regard it can be concluded the following. Firstly, such indicator as level of professional training can be considered as a sixth factor influencing practicing public relations in country. Secondly, on the basis of a global concept can be developed a similar concept and subsequently applied to the study of inte rnational public relations education. Thirdly, basing on data provided from the five factors, it allowed to determine the degree of standardization vs. localization of IPR programs and courses and to identify barriers and obstacles. Achieving internationalisation of public relations education is concluded to be important for three reasons. First, because many graduating students will be finding employment internationally and benefit from having been educated to be effective in differing cultural settings. Second, because rapid changes in national immigration policies have meant that many more nations are considerably more multicultural than they have been in the past and citizens need to be more conscious of diversity in their national and organisational surroundings. Third, because the pace of changes in the international political economy necessitates that people must be responsive to international economic and business forces. Thus, students who receive an internationally focused public relations education should be more culturally and socially aware and prepared to cope with the demands of rapid international economic, political and social change (Hutchings et al., 2002). Professional education and training are one of the major issues in every country in which public relations is practised. Even the US, where there are hundreds of public relations education are frequently expressed, and senior practitioners rise questions about the value of existing public relations education programmes (White, 1991, p. 184). Sommerness and Beaman (1994) found only few offerings of university courses emphasising international public relations across the United States at that time. However, most recent study has shown that some authors (Hatzitos and Lariscy, 2008) report an increased interest in scholarly research in international public relations and an effort to internationalise the public relations curricula at many U.S. universities. Despite the fact that significant gaps were found between desired outcomes and those actually found in the opinions of both practitioner and educators, certain surveys (Neff et al., 1999) have revealed strong agreement between educator s and practitioners regarding the training, experience and expertise outcomes needed for career development in public relations. Thus, while the goals of public relations education to certain extent seem clear, the means of achieving those goals, including curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, may not be as clear. However, studies such as examining perception, asking whether or not IPR should be emphasised doesnt really contribute anymore as the concept have solidly grounded. There have been dozen papers reporting that call for a development. What more valuable for this particular research is the fact that international public relations education requires to be integrated into global PR perspective. International experiences, approaches and cases must be studied and shared between international academic societies. The literature review recorded a substantial gap in international public relations education research elsewhere than U.S. Therefore there is a need in further researching and describing development in IPRE globally. This particular study will explore perceptions and state of IPR education in two countries the United Kingdom and Russia. Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Introduction The main theme of the dissertation is internationalisation of public relations education. It is quite a broad topic and can be reviewed and discussed from different points of view. In this regard the selected literature first examines international public relations concepts and secondly an impact it has on public relations education. Therefore, literature review has been divided into the following major themes: International public relations (IPR) and International public relations education (IPRE). The chapter will begin by presenting the main debates about international public relations and its concepts alongside with a brief overview of factors influencing it. It will be followed by a section presenting state of research on IPR. The discussion will then move to section two international public relations education, exploring the requisites and challenges for internationalisation. Finally the chapter will summarise the key themes and points identified. The major part of the literature review focuses on contemporary research, defined as 1989-2009. International PR A growing number of publications document the development and challenges of the public relations in every major continent and region of the world (Nally, 1991, Moss et al., 1997, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003b, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Freitag and Stokes, 2009). This research refers term global PR to globalisation of the profession, which is being practises and recognised in more countries throughout the globe, while International PR refers to the planning and implementation of programmes and campaigns carried out abroad or for international audience. Hence international PR education refers to the process of adopting professional training to International PR concepts and demand. Public relations is still relatively new concern for management, even though its modern origins can be traced to the end of the last century (White, 1991). According to (Cutlip, 1994), a key researcher in the history of public relations in the U.S., the first international public relations agency The Hamilton Wright Organization was founded in 1908. International communities of professionals and scholars are increasingly interested in transferring knowledge, experiences, and best practices from national to transnational scenarios. This advancement is generated by the increasing role of public relations which is driven largely by the influence of new information technologies and globalisation (Flodin, 2003). Drawing upon this, DiStaso et al. (2009) discussed the effects of globalisation, that began with the Maastricht Treaty and NAFTAA in 1992, the WTO in 1994 and claiming it had great impact on the public relations industry. According to Szondis (2009, p.115) International public relations is the planned communication activity of a (multinational) organisation, a supra- or international institution or government through interactions in the target country which facilitates the organisation (or government) to achieve its policy or business objectives without harming the interests of the publics. There have been papers which presented international PR to be simply about how to overcome barriers that are created by other cultures, including language, laws or cultural issues, which are often indentified as problems (Wilcox et al., 2001), rather than opportunities or the manifestation of diversity. The most frequently referenced paper which stands against IPR has been Angell (1990) asserted that the variance between local countries was so great as to preclude any possibility of globalisation. A much different study, also highly referenced, has been provided by Pavlik (1987), who as early as the 1980s considered IPR one of the most rapidly growing areas of the profession, and one of the least understood. The problem with defining difference between domestically and internationally done public relations is that there is not enough research or critical assessment. While basic principles do not change, the way they are carried out from culture to culture and country to country, and the attitudes and values embedded within those different cultures or countries, are different (Wakefield, 2007b). A similar study was conducted by Botan (1992, p. 157), who argued that international public relations is always intercultural. The existing public relations body of knowledge, and public relations curricula around the world, have a U.S. bias (Sriramesh, 2002). U.S. paradigm, however, strikes with the idea of that European or non-U.S. perceptions of public relations become more of value in the twenty first century. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield (2007b), who have been practicing and researching in the area of IPR for almost two decades, believes that principles and practices of PR in Europe, emphasising social role of public relations, are more promising for effective PR in the multinational than the American-based PR-as-marketing-tool approach. He, alongside the majority of new PR schools, supports paradigms of PR incoming out of places other than the U.S. Therefore, need and call for the elsewhere theories and concepts was also a factor for a research in international/global PR. Ovaitt (1988, p.5) made an interesting suggestion saying that it was not a popular idea with marketing and advertising experts when they started thinking about internationalisation decades ago and it was not popular with public relations practitioners back to late 1980s. The idea is that what these professionals do for a living might be done on a global basis global in the sense of achieving some significant level of standardisation, not only of what is offered to customers, but also how it is presented and promoted. Public relations as a profession is not necessarily understood and practised in the same manner all around the world. This is not news per se, as several scholars (Sharpe, 1992, Vercic et al., 1996, Taylor, 2000, Rhee, 2002, Valentini, 2007) for many years have underlined that public relations requires a global understanding of cultural differences. Different studies (Kent and Taylor, 1999, Lee, 2005) show that public relations practitioners are increasingly required to be able to communicate with different international publics, no matter the size of the organisation they are working for, or whether it is private or public, including non-profit organisations. After the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Excellence Study yielded a review of normative principles (Grunig, 1992), Vercic et al. (1996) explained the importance of identifying five contextual variables that influence the practice of the normative principles. Vercic, Grunig, and Grunig (Vercic et al., 1996) proposed a global theory of public relations that was elaborated by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003a, 2003b, 2009) in their Global Public Relations Handbook and by Sriramesh (2009) in a special issue of PRism. Their global public relations theory attempted to answer the question of whether public relations theory and practice should be unique to each country or culture or whether it should be practiced in the same way everywhere. Authors answered this question by theorising that global public relations should fall in the middle between standardisation and individualisation (Grunig, 2009). The theoretical framework of Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) has been used to assess the status of public relations in countries around the world. Contextualised studies are the core component of the global public relations concept. As Vercic (2009) reported, international PR practices should represent the best practices anywhere because of their necessary complexities and reach. Global theory is not a positive theory, which describes a type of public relations that currently is practiced everywhere in the world. Research, such as that reported in Sriramesh and Vercic (2003, 2009), does show that there are many idiosyncrasies in public relations practice around the world that reflect cultural differences. It also shows that the one worldwide universal in public relations practice is what is J. Grunig have called the press agentry/publicity model (Grunig et al., 1995)-the least effective of the models. Rather, their global theory is a normative theory that argues that public relations will be most effective throughout most parts of the world (Grunig, 2009, p.2). Emphasising cross-cultural effects on reputation in multinational organizations Wakefield (2007b, 2008) argues that there still is an important distinction between global and domestic public relations practices, and that understanding those differences will contribute to better global practice. More specifically, recent research has also called into questions of need to understand how culture affects public relations. There are numbers of key researches (Grunig et al., 1995) who have written papers specifically on the subject. A similar study was conducted by Neff (1991), who has indicated that economic development is leading public relations firms down a path requiring knowledge of culture and language in addition to public relations. Perhaps one of the most influential recent publications on multiculturalism in public relations education was produced by Sriramesh (Sriramesh, 2002, Sriramesh, 2003). He has also reported that public relations education has not kept pace with the rapi d globalisation that has occurred since 1992 (Sriramesh, 2002). Sriramesh (2009) called for a need for a more thoughtful representation of many of the generic principles of public relations practice to suit the local environment, so that the body of knowledge is more holistic and relevant to global demands. However, there still is a room for an assumption that not all the practitioners require international training and international perspective. RESEARCH / CRITICS: Since the advent of the Internet, it is even more tempting to view PR practice as the same anywhere, and therefore it decreases attempts to produce research or principles that need to view à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“cross-border PR as different (Wakefield, 2007a). Despite the numerous calls for research, reviewed works and studies on global (national) public relations released in the 2000s (see table 1) (Portugal, United States see table) have recorded that this area of research is underrepresented. Despite global trends underlining increased internationalisation, these results can be interpreted to indicate that Researchers have not paid enough attention to the international perspective. An important indicator is the place international public relations occupy in the list of priority research topics. One recent example is a Study of the Priorities for Public Relations Research conducted by Deputy Dean of Media School of Bournemouth University (UK) Tom Watson (Watson, 2008, Watson, 2007)  [1 ]  .He sent 26 public relations topics to a Delphi study panel and the Top Ten PR research topics were identified, however, international perspective was excluded from the list. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield responded critically to Watsons Delphi study: First, I was surprised in finding that the topic fell all the way out of the top ten. After all, arent PR issues and challenges, along with its overall scope of practice, becoming more international with each passing year?(2007a, p. 6) Nonetheless he added: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There really are no more studies being done on international public relations now than have been done over the course of the last three decades. Those that are being published are increasingly making such statements as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there is no such thing as local PR anymore, or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“today, everything is global. Well, if this represents what academics and practitioners are thinking, then it would stand to reason that no real different research needs to be done-that ANY PR principles, even if they are all traditionally domestic in nature, would suffice for research or practice anywhere in the world (2007a, p.7). The seminal critique in this area is also by Sriramesh (2009, p.6), who argues: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When scholars think of, and discuss, public relations, the global perspective is often overlooked. Srirameshs (2009) critique of Mackey (Mackey, 2003), who claimed to introduce the various contemporary theories of public relations in the inaugural issue of Prism is also indicative: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The author attempted to review à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the changing vistas in public relations theory, there was not a single mention of any advances in global public relations theorising in that piece even though by 2003/that time there were several advances worth reporting'(2009, p.8). Another example is Distasso (2009). Authors surveyed 312 public relations executives and educators to examine how well practitioners and instructors perceive public relations students to be prepared for the practice, the content and value of public relations curricula and, the future of public relations education in the United States. Even though scholar mentioned globalisation as a factor increasingly influencing public relations practice he had not included it in the questionnaires or research questions. Somewhat it contrast are papers from the annual International Public Relations Research Symposium Bledcom, which reflect the diverse and up-to-date research traditions amongst scholars working in the field of public relations both within the USA and Europe (Moss et al., 1997, Newman and Vercic, 2002, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003a, Sriramesh, 2004, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Van Ruler et al., 2008, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2009). These are scholars, who systematically examines the priorities for PR research and determine international agenda These differences in research agenda are reflected/explained, to some degree, in the/by Scholars like Sriramesh, Vercic, Wakefield and others highlighted the important point that an issue of international public relations is not reflected enough in the research questions. International public relations education (IPRE) As a corollary to the process of globalisation has been the recognition of the need to make public relations education more internationally focused and future public relations professionals more internationally and interculturally competent (Lane DiStephano, 1992) / Huthcings et al., 2002 There have been numbers of calls for new public relations curricula aimed at educating staffs that can understand and meet increasing international social, economic and political complexities and challenges. (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, p. 13). The International Association of Universities (1998) supported the need for business schools to be more international in their strategy, claiming higher education must integrate an intercultural dimension into its teaching and research, if it is to fulfil its role and maintain excellence. (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 58). Another rationale for an international public relations course is the accelerating pace of societal and technological change today. These cha nges call for adaptations in academic curricula and professional development programs. There were written dozen papers on justification of international public relations education based on research in the different areas. Some went radical claiming that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“any curriculum that excludes international public relations courses is ineffective in addressing student and practitioner needs, particularly in the next century (21 century).(Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994) p.9 Factors what influence the development of IPRE are mostly the same, however they have different interpretations. The need for international courses in public relations is demonstrated further by the growing global recognition of public relations degree programs and education, a phenomenon that Cantor (1984) predicted more than twenty years ago. And indeed, previous investigation has established that the call for internationalisation of public relations education has been there for a long time and comes from both industry and academia sectors (Neff, 1991, Cottone et al., 1985). However, disagreements between practitioners and educators on a blueprint for international public relations education have also been documented (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994). A decade old survey of U.S. public relations educators and practitioners that explored the state of curricula and content in public relations education found that both practitioners and educators perceive need to incorporate courses and cont ent that will prepare future practitioners for the global landscape (Neff et al., 1999). A Public relations is a multidisciplinary area of study and practice that must change as rapidly as the context and society in which it exists (Baskin, 1989, p. 35). As public relations continues to be a globalised profession, curriculum should be updated to reflect the practice. Ten years later similar study has recorded, that having a global perspective and experience with a variety of cultures are necessary but lacking skills for advanced level practitioners (DiStaso et al., 2009, p.269). An important consideration in providing students with some skills in achieving cross-cultural understanding is the recognition that, as future business professionals and leaders, they will live in a society increasingly characterised by international labour mobility and multiculturalism. The international manager or employee will be an individual who will spend their working lives in several distinct job areas working for several organisations as well as making several sojourns to various international postings. This means that the new style employee will need to be cosmopolitan, multilingual, multifaceted and what Schneider Barsoux (1997, p. 157) refer to as a capacity to operate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“across national borders somewhat like James Bond. Public relations education at all levels and in both communication and MBA programmes should educate students to practise public relations globally (Grunig and Grunig, 2002). However, not only do students need to be trained and prepared for this mobility, but even those who do not move to another nation face the recognition that the domestic work environment also requires some responsiveness to differing cultures (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 69). Sriramesh (2009, p.6) makes a reasonable argument that even textbooks in the US and the UK should contain more global cases and interpretations so as to give their own students a more international and holistic education, thus broadening their horizons. It is indicated that authors of universitys level public relations textbooks have not yet realised the growing importance of international public relations and thus deal marginally with it. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has drawn on its international membership to research and recommend standards for public relations education and has established the results of its work in two Gold papers in 1982 and 1990 (IPRA (1982) Gold paper No. 4, A Model for Public Relations Education for Professional Practice, and (1990) Gold Paper No.7, Public Relations Education Recommendations and Standards). (White, 1991) p.184-185 Not much has changed since that time. WAYS: Number of general papers were designed in response to the need for public relations education to produce well-trained, culturally sensitive practitioners (Miller, 1992, Ekachai and Komolsevin, 1998, Burbules and Torres, 2000, Bardhan, 2003, Dickerson, 2005, Tuleja, 2008). With the increasing importance of international communication, some educators had considered creating a course dedicated to international public relations (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, Taylor, 2001). In a special edition of Public Relations Review on developing teaching related materials, Taylor (2001) offered guidance to public relations educators on how to develop an international public relations curriculum because: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New communication technologies and global communication processes create more frequent international communication (Taylor, 2001, p.2). Nevertheless, some of the Taylors conclusions sounded far too decisive: The most comprehensive way to internationalize the public relations curriculum is to offer a course dedicated to international public relations (p. 74). Creedon and Al-Khaja (2005) analysed how adding cultural competency to the list of skills and competencies required in educational programs presents an opportunity to educate a generation that will accept difference and value a global culture separate from national identity. Then again the study was rather limited the authors conducted a survey of accredited programs to determine whether or not a history course was required of their majors. Another empirical-based study argued that just talking about the importance if IPR in the classroom is not sufficient, students have to be able to live international public relations in order to understand its relevance (Bardhan, 1999, p. 19). An important portion of literature on international public relations education suggests the necessity for students to learn about other countries through immersion. According to Porth (Porth, 1997, Tuleja, 2008) the international study tour course may be a legitimate answer to critics of education who urge business schools to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“go global and to create stronger ties with the international business and academic communities. More specifically, recent research has also called into question the assumption of studying internationally. For instance, Hutchings et al. (2002, p. 58)suggests that the challenge for the education is how to devise a short-term study program that is effective in exposing international concepts to the student. Yet, foreign travel alone is not the panacea for internationalising PR education because it is difficult to manage even if having resources. Hutchings study is focused on going abroad, even so it may make some contribution to understanding of glo bal consciousness characterised as moving towards a recognition and appreciation of increasingly global diversity and interdependence. Arguments about which is the best approach to international public relations education, courses and its numbers, or changing the context with its live experience and observations, largely missed the important point that methods have to be fit for their purposes. For some purposes, this is the best, and in other cases the choice will be this and that. Furthermore, although those approaches rest on very different use of resources and possibilities, they can be complementary in the hands of future research and need to be incompatible. Many studies would benefit from mindfully using each approach for different purposes at different stages of the internationalisation. Fuller discussions of this are to be found in some public relations papers, including (Neff, 1991, Dibrova and Kabanova, 2004, Peterson and Mak, 2006, Chung, 2007/8, Dolby and Rahman, 2008). CHALLENGES/BARRIERS: Authors such as Kalupa and Carroll Bateman (1980) have suggested that public relations educators have failed maintain the currency of the teaching in relation to the practice. On the other hand, Holbrook (1985, 1995) has been one of the most prominent critics of the idea of selecting research topics based on what is of interest to practitioners. He has argued that such an orientation tarnishes the purity of the academic endeavour. Amongst other challenges Bardhan (1999) recorded that educators feel unprepared at present to handle the task effectively and lack of interest among students. Falb (1991, 1992) has claimed that because of putting public relations curriculums in either Mass Communications or Journalism public relations has been inhibited in its growth in academic and professional areas. Similar study was conducted by (Pincus et al., 1994), who argued that communication topics do not rate high in MBA programs: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of public relations topics in MBA programs, the profession will never realize entry to the highest levels of corporate decision making (1994: p.55) . Making an analogy, this statement might be extended by claiming that If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of international public relations concepts in Postgraduate programs, the profession will lack behind present state of research and practice. This statement finds a reflection in recent research as well. Papers like Sriramesh (2002) claim that it is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals. CONCLUSION: Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) underlined the compelling need for a text describing and explaining public relations practices and body of knowledge in different parts of the world. Their call for research has been taken up and largely because it proposed a framework, which made it easier to facilitate global research. Thereby, by critically examining the framework scholars in different countries enrich international public relations body of knowledge and provides prove or counter-arguments to the Global theory. Nonetheless, it might be argued that among those five factors, which have been put forward by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003), one is missing professional PR training. In this regard it can be concluded the following. Firstly, such indicator as level of professional training can be considered as a sixth factor influencing practicing public relations in country. Secondly, on the basis of a global concept can be developed a similar concept and subsequently applied to the study of inte rnational public relations education. Thirdly, basing on data provided from the five factors, it allowed to determine the degree of standardization vs. localization of IPR programs and courses and to identify barriers and obstacles. Achieving internationalisation of public relations education is concluded to be important for three reasons. First, because many graduating students will be finding employment internationally and benefit from having been educated to be effective in differing cultural settings. Second, because rapid changes in national immigration policies have meant that many more nations are considerably more multicultural than they have been in the past and citizens need to be more conscious of diversity in their national and organisational surroundings. Third, because the pace of changes in the international political economy necessitates that people must be responsive to international economic and business forces. Thus, students who receive an internationally focused public relations education should be more culturally and socially aware and prepared to cope with the demands of rapid international economic, political and social change (Hutchings et al., 2002). Professional education and training are one of the major issues in every country in which public relations is practised. Even the US, where there are hundreds of public relations education are frequently expressed, and senior practitioners rise questions about the value of existing public relations education programmes (White, 1991, p. 184). Sommerness and Beaman (1994) found only few offerings of university courses emphasising international public relations across the United States at that time. However, most recent study has shown that some authors (Hatzitos and Lariscy, 2008) report an increased interest in scholarly research in international public relations and an effort to internationalise the public relations curricula at many U.S. universities. Despite the fact that significant gaps were found between desired outcomes and those actually found in the opinions of both practitioner and educators, certain surveys (Neff et al., 1999) have revealed strong agreement between educator s and practitioners regarding the training, experience and expertise outcomes needed for career development in public relations. Thus, while the goals of public relations education to certain extent seem clear, the means of achieving those goals, including curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, may not be as clear. However, studies such as examining perception, asking whether or not IPR should be emphasised doesnt really contribute anymore as the concept have solidly grounded. There have been dozen papers reporting that call for a development. What more valuable for this particular research is the fact that international public relations education requires to be integrated into global PR perspective. International experiences, approaches and cases must be studied and shared between international academic societies. The literature review recorded a substantial gap in international public relations education research elsewhere than U.S. Therefore there is a need in further researching and describing development in IPRE globally. This particular study will explore perceptions and state of IPR education in two countries the United Kingdom and Russia.