Review of the imperial peace democracy, force and globalization Essay

Review of the imperial peace democracy, force and globalization - Essay Example In 1980s the focus was really placed on the state resulting in â€Å"a rigid boundary between the pacific nature of inter-liberal state relations and the warlike nature of liberal–non-liberal state relations.† (MacMillan, 1993) The view on this problem changed when more researchers started to relate it with the process of globalization. Statistical world of internal state politics was substituted by concepts in motion which highlight the dynamic nature of the relations between democracy and war. From the globalization perspective the international system is viewed as a whole divided into discrete zones with different logics of interstate relations. As the meanings of ‘democracy’ and ‘war’ cannot be really fixed, the belief that ‘democratic’ states do not start a war with one another is inadequate since the states and their political systems are subject to changes. The notions of democracy and war differ across the time and location. The relation between them is determined by historical location and social contexts in which they are embedded. As these notions are analyzed in the context of relations between sovereign territorial states in an anarchic international system, democracy and war defined in a historical and state-centric manner and globalization factor are little considered which is a serious oversight since the processes of social change related to the changing nature of democracy and war are global processes. In the majority of studies war and peace as the central problem of international relations are separated from globalization. However, the historical evolution of democracy and war is a part of broader patterns of global social change which impacts directly on the nature and meaning of democracy and war and conditions of use of the force by the states. As Barkawi & Laffey (1999) frame it â€Å"states and peoples fashion democratic claims and

Constructing Feminine Form for Masculine Sake Essay Example for Free

Constructing Feminine Form for Masculine Sake Essay Fashion provides one of the most ready means through which individuals can make expressive visual statements about their identities. (Bennett, 2005) Constructing Feminine Form for Masculine Sake. Does it make sense to say that sex is at the heart of identity today? The answer is surely yes, and more so than ever before. (Gauntlett, 2008). Introduction. Consider the cover of the December 2011 edition of FHM (Fig. 1). It portrays a constructed ideal of female attractiveness. Aimed at the male market it conveys the attributes of female form deemed attractive to men. Has this identity been constructed by women or imposed upon by men? Butler (1999) suggests ‘the female body is marked within masculinist discourse’ , and women have not had the freedom to create their own identity, ‘women with the ostensibly sexualized features of their bodies and, hence, a refusal to grant freedom and autonomy to women as it is purportedly enjoyed by men’ (Butler, 1999). Macdonald (1995) notes that this enforced construction is neither a new concept nor just present in magazines aimed at a male audience: The body has historically been much more integral to the formation of identity for women than for men. If women had defined for themselves the ideals of their bodily shape or decoration, this would not be problematic. It is the denial of this right in the western cultural representation, in medical practice and in the multi-billion dollar pornography, fashion and cosmetic industries, that has granted women only squatter’s rights to their own bodies. However for the purpose of this essay we will concentrate on the feminine identity constructed in men’s lifestyle magazines and identify from where this was created. Why we enjoy beauty. ‘It is suggested that what makes one thing beautiful and another less so is our psychological attraction, probably unconscious, to some quality in the former that is absent from the latter, combined of course with equally-implicit cultural biases.’ (Lakoff and Scherr, 1984) Considering this, it is hard to determine how a particular portrayal of the female form is universally attractive. However studying the following passage from Sigmund Freud’s study Civilization and its Discontents we can note the possibility that the images constructed of women in men’s magazines are not to portray beauty, but to invoke sexual feeling through lack of clothing and provocative poses: Psychoanalysis, unfortunately, has scarcely anything to say about beauty either. All that seems certain is its derivation from the field of sexual feeling. The love of beauty seems a perfect example of an impulse inhibited in its aim. ‘Beauty’ and ‘attraction’ are originally attributes of the sexual object. (Lakoff and Scherr, 1984) Another psychotherapist Lacan puts forward the idea ‘women are objects for men: men are objects for women: men are objects for men, and women are objects for women. Each of us can only ever be objects for another subject, however much we try. (Hill, 1997) With this in mind it can be said that all identity is constructed to receive the admiration of others, regardless of gender. (Gauntlett, 2008) states ‘sex as being at the core of identity’ further suggesting that male identity is constructed with the same intentions the female. Although ‘it has been women in particular who have been defined primarily in terms of their physical appearance’ (Negrin, 2008). The emergence of new men’s lifestyle magazines. It is interesting to note that men’s lifestyle magazines are not a new concept, neither has their content changed over time. The earliest attempt to launch a men’s lifestyle magazine in the UK was in 1935, it consisted of ‘heroic masculinity with style features and pictures of female nudes’. (Gill, 2007). The 1950’s saw the launch of Playboy, a lifestyle magazine aimed at an emerging class of men who enjoyed consumption as much as their female counterparts. The magazine ‘became the ‘bible’ for the men who dominated this class fraction; its individualistic, hedonistic, consumption-orientated ethic of personal gratification represented a rebellion against the ‘old’ figure of male as breadwinner and family provider and opened up a space of libidinous fun and lascivious consumption, albeit premised on troublingly sexualized and objectified representations of women. (Gill, 2007). The content of such magazines was not necessarily in place to objectify women but to protect the ‘new man’s’ masculinity. ‘Consumption for men was promoted in an atmosphere not threatened by suspicions of homosexuality’ (Gill, 2007) and said of Playboy ‘the breasts and bottoms were necessary not just to sell the magazine, but also to protect it’ (Ehrenreich, 1983.). If we look forward to the 80’s and 90’s we see a new generation of men’s magazines emerging, ‘constructed around an assumed white, working class aesthetic and sensibility, centred on football, (beer) drinking, and heterosexual sex. (Gill, 2007) In circulation terms, figures from 2006 show that over 370,000 copies of FHM are sold per month and almost 300,000 copies of Nuts per week. (Gauntlett, 2008). From this we can see the popularity of such publications and the importance of the portrayal of a new type of masculinity. Considering the content of these magazines; ‘numerous photo-shoots of semi-clothed and topless women appear in the UK magazines’ (Gauntlett, 2008), and speaking of the launch of Loaded ‘the sexual politics of the magazine were in place from the first issue, which featured photographs of Liz Hurley, a homage to hotel sex, porn channels etc., a ‘travel feature’ recounting cheap cocaine and cheap women, and the Miss Guyama bikini contest. (Gill, 2007). The magazines depict the rise of a new type of masculinity or the ‘new lad’, the figure of which ‘became embedded in advertising and popular culture- his multiple articulations in different spaces generating a sense of his solidity and ‘realness’, making him instantly recognizable as an embodiment of a type of masculinity’ (Gill, 2007). This new generation of ‘Lads Mags’ has often been attributed to two factors; firstly the ‘feminine backlash’ occurring in the 80’s. These new publications ‘constructed around knowingly misogynist and predatory attitudes to women, represents a refusal to acknowledge the changes in gender relations produced by feminism, and an attack on it. (Gill, 2007) served to reaffirm male dominance in the gender war and a refusal to change. They are considered by Whelehan ‘a direct challenge to feminism’s call for social transformation, by reaffirming – albeit ironically – the unchanging nature of gender relations and sexual roles.’ (Gill, 2007) Studying the content of these magazines in more depth there is an underlying theme where ‘’feminist’ becomes a pejorative word to label, dismiss and silence any woman who object to the lad mags’ ideology’ (Gill, 2007). Two examples of such; ‘an article concerned with the question of ‘how to get your girlfriend to come in your face’ (FHM, April 2000) any possible feedback is forestalled with the comment ‘now before I get any angry letters from feminists..I have asked women and they agree it can be an incredibly rewarding experience’. (Gill, 2007) and ‘a letter to FHM from a woman called Barbara who wished to object to the magazines portrayal of women as ‘weak, frail, ob edient, submissive and sexually available’ is dismissed as a ‘blundering rant’ from ‘Butch Babs’ (FHM, May 2000)’ (Gill, 2007.) Two prime examples of where the subject of feminism is dismissed before it has even been raised, suggesting the magazines know their content is anti-feminist, but either dispel the argument before it is raised or ridicule and patronise anybody that dares challenge their viewpoint. The second factor is again a backlash, this time on a type of masculinity, himself more aligned with the ideals of feminism, referred to as ‘The New Man’. (Gill, 2007). Trying to dispense with this, the ‘masculinity they constructed was regarded as true to men’s real selves, in contrast to the contrived image of the new man.’ (Gill, 2007.) As with the issue of feminism this form of masculinity was ridiculed and dismissed, leading the way for ‘laddish’ behaviour to be accepted. ‘New man was derided for his ‘miserable liberal guilt’ about sexual affairs and presented as insipid and unappealing. By contrast, new lad was presented as refreshingly uncomplicated in his unreserved appreciation of women’s bodies and heterosexual sex.’ (Gill, 2007) Are these the views of the average man? So we can deduce how these magazines and images within them came to be but where does this leave the average male? Are these depictions of woman the ‘ideal’ for men? ‘By men’s own admission, the playboy ideology has created conflicts both in men’s view of themselves and in their attitude towards women.’ (Lakoff and Scherr, 1984) Many men insist they do not subscribe to this scantily clad, temptress type identity as being their ideal. (Lakoff and Scherr, 1984) suggest what most men fantasize about is a woman they can connect with and that personality is more important than looks; ‘Many men spoke of movement, gracefulness, a direct look in the eyes, an aura of mystery, attributes which cannot quite be captured by a camera, as what they felt constituted female beauty.’ Their ‘observations seem to contradict what the media not only tell us men want but also what they propose women should look like.’ This seeming indifference to contrived images of female form could be the over production and readily available means to consume them. ‘we are so bombarded with visual images that men are taking refuge and looking for the real thing’ (Lakoff and Scherr, 1984) Also another factor is that as we are increasingly aware of artifice in the production of images it can cause the consumer to be disillusioned with them; ‘And its disappointing to find that the women, when interviewed, don’t sound that interesting really. And it’s disappointing because you see these gorgeous women who wouldn’t look twice at you, but then you remember that they probably look like people you know, really, and it’s the careful styling and makeup and photography that makes them so irresistible’ (Gauntlett, 2008) Where do women fit in? What we have to remember is there always a willing subject to construct identity upon. In this case, a women to present as the ideal to men. Whilst feminists may view the women featured in the magazines as ‘submissive, obedient and sexually available’, do the subjects themselves feel this is the case? Pre-feminist women were programmed to be as attractive as possible to their male counterparts. Anne Fogarty an extremely successful American fashion designer highlights the importance of dressing for men ‘when your husband’s eyes light up as he comes in at night, you’re in sad shape if its only because he smells dinner cooking’ (Fogarty, 1959). It is possible that even now women are still programmed by society to want to appear as attractive as possible to men. With the post-feminist shift in gender relations it is argued that women are now objectifying men in the same way that they have traditionally been; ‘looking at scantily-clad women was clearly quite wrong for a right-thinking man, but have started to change their views as time has moved on and gender relations have changed again (including the development of the new language in popular culture where women can treat men as disposable eye-candy too).’ (Gauntlett, 2008). This seems to have caused a sense of double standards when talking of the objectification of women; â€Å"I used to agree, and I mean I really did agree, with women who said that naked women in magazines was a bad thing. But now-a-days I can hardly remember what the argument was. Women can look at handsome men in films and magazines, and men can look at attractive womenit seems fair.† (Gaunlett, 2008) Another reason argued why women cultivate this identity is it can provide means to increase their economic and social standing; ‘denied access to power and status by legitimate means, they had to resort to using their looks as a means of furthering their aims.’ (Negrin, 2008). This was very true of the playboy era where working class women did not have the same opportunities for advancement as their male counterparts. Conclusion. So who is determining this supposed ideal of the female form? Psychoanalysis tells us we all respond to natural sexual urges and have the need to objectify other beings. Yet today’s men’s magazines were not primarily constructed to satisfy their sexual urges. The content was also put into place long ago, not to objectify women, but to protect masculinity from any suggestion of homosexuality. What better way to diminish these threats than by filling the pages with naked women? The tone of the ‘new generation’ of men’s magazines was constructed around a backlash to feminist principles and the emergence of the ‘sensitive, understanding man’. Again what better way to protect these new threats by objectifying women and distancing themselves to ‘new man’s’ ideals? As gender roles have shifted and the issue of equality is facing us, men do not feel that looking at women is a guilty pleasure, as women do it themselves towards men and are compensated for it by the advancement of their social and economic standing. It can be said that this construction of female identity truly is for masculine’s sake, not necessarily for their consumption and enjoyment, but to protect and cultivate the meaning and existence of masculinity, reminiscing of a time where men were secure in their place in society. Fig. 1. Bibliography. Halberstam, J. (1998) Female masculinity. Durham, N.C. ; London : Duke University Press, 1998.:. Bennett, A. (2005) Culture and everyday life. London: Sage, p.95 116. Berger, J. (1972) Ways of seeing : based on the BBC television series with John Berger / a book made by John Berger [et al.].. London: Penguin. Butler, J. (1999) Gender Trouble; Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge. Forgarty, A. (2011) The Art of being a Well Dressed Wife. 2nd ed. London: VA Publishing. Gauntlett, D. (2008) Media, Gender and Identity: An Introduction.. 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge. Gill, R. (2007) Gender and The Media. Cambridge: Polity Press. Happysocks.com (2011) Happy Socks / FHM UK  « Happy Socks in the Press. [online] Available at: http://www.happysocks.com/press/?p=2851 [Accessed: 2nd June 2012]. Hill, P. (1997) Lacan for beginners. London : Writers and Readers:. Lakoff, R. and Scherr, . (1984) Face value : the politics of beauty . Boston ; London : Routledge Kegan Paul:. Macdonald, M. (1995) Representing Women:Myths of Femininity in the popular media. London: Edward Arnold, p.192 221. Meyers, D. (2002) Gender in the Mirror. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.. Negrin, L. (2008) Appearance and identity: Fashioning the body in Postmodernity. Cowden: Palgarve Macmillan, p.33 52. Sturken, M. and Cartwright, L. (2001) Practices of looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press., p.72 108.

Child Support Agency: Critical Analysis of its Current State

Child Support Agency: Critical Analysis of its Current State Support that Needs Supporting: A Critical Analysis of the Current State of the Child Support Agency Abstract: On November 17, 2005 Prime Minister Tony Blair stated to the House of Commons that the CSA has fundamental problems. And this is the current opinion amongst many of the users of the service. This project will critically analyse the issues which have caused the agency to fail in its provision of support to some of the most vulnerable people in society; children. Table of Contents (Jump to) Preface Introduction Chapter 1: Investigation Chapter 2: Adjudication Chapter 3: Enforcement Chapter 4: Technological and Staffing Problems Chapter 5: The Future for the CSA Conclusion Bibliography Table of Cases and Statutes Preface This dissertation examines the current state of operation of the United Kingdom Child Support Agency, an organisation beset with criticism and administrative difficulties. It was hoped that the CSA, which has the two-fold role of assessing and collecting child support payments, would solve many of the problems of the court-based regime it was designed to replace. However, after 13 years of operation and several intervening attempts to reform the Agency these early ambitions have not proved well founded. In the following paper various areas of institutional weakness are identified and discussed, and conclusions are drawn on the basis of the observations made. Introduction The Child Support Agency (â€Å"CSA†) commenced operations in April 1993. It is an executive agency of government and a branch of the Department for Work and Pensions. The CSA is obliged to implement the 1991 Child Support Act and all relevant legislation relating to child support.[1] Child support, which is more popularly known as child maintenance, can be defined as the contribution made by a non-resident parent towards the financial costs of raising their child and it is usually paid to the person (usually the other parent) with whom the child resides. Before the establishment of the Child Support Agency disputes regarding child maintenance were dealt with by the courts. It was hoped that the introduction of the CSA would solve many of the problems associated with the old system in particular its inability to trace parents and its tendency to impose arbitrary and unfair settlements. The CSA was charged with the duty to assess payments on a consistent basis against a standard formula and thereafter to collect and distribute child support in an efficient manner. There is no doubt that this is a very sensitive and difficult area of public policy to manage but it is hard to avoid the assertion that the Child Support Agency has performed poorly. Criticism has been levelled at the CSA since its inception. In 1998, Prime Minister Tony Blair accepted that the CSA had â€Å"lost the confidence of the public†. He described the Agency as â€Å"a mess, in need of urgent reform†.[2] Various costly and comprehensive reforms were indeed implemented but the Agency’s performance deteriorated yet further over time. In November 2004, Doug Smith, the head of the CSA, resigned after wide-ranging criticism of the CSA systems..[3] Chairman of Work and Pensions Committee Sir Archy Kirkwood was moved to describe the situation at the CSA as: â€Å"a systemic, chronic failure of management right across the totality of the agency..† In November 2005, confronted by reports that for every  £1.85 that is collected for child support, the CSA spent  £1 on administration, Tony Blair acknowledged that the CSA was â€Å"not properly suited† to its function.[4] Blair proceeded to admit to the House of Commons that the CSA has â€Å"fundamental problems.† It is submitted that this is now the view of the overwhelming majority of commentators and clients of the CSA’s services. There is now a strong likelihood that the CSA will be subject either to radical reform or be scrapped altogether. At the time of writing in June 2006 it is anticipated that the government’s plans for the CSA will be laid before Parliament before Parliament rises for the summer. These are therefore important weeks for the Agency. This project will critically analyse the issues which have hindered the CSA in its efforts to provide support to some of the most vulnerable people in society; the children of failed relationships. Chapter 1: Investigation â€Å"†¦I make no defence of the current situation. The CSA is in an extremely difficult position†¦it is the investigating agency, then it is the adjudicating agency, then it is the enforcement agency†¦.The basic problem remains†¦It is extremely difficult to make this operation cost effective when the agency is the investigating, adjudicating and enforcing authority†¦.The truth is that the agency is not properly suited to carry out that task† Prime Minster Tony Blair House of Commons, 16 November 2005[5] Perhaps the first point to make is that the CSA caseload is very heavy. Changes in society are producing more and more broken families and thus child support claims, and many of these may prove to be highly complex cases. The investigation-stage of a case is clearly resource-intensive and the plain fact of the matter is that staffing resources and internal efficiency protocols have never been adequate to meet the demands of the burgeoning caseload. It needs hardly be said that the process of investigation of child support cases is often a very difficult and thankless task. Non-resident parents will often make great efforts to conceal and misrepresent facts so as to circumnavigate, obfuscate and frustrate the work of the Child Support Agency and it is unfair to blame the Agency for the behaviour of those with whom it is charged with dealing. Anecdotal evidence suggests that parents have taken extreme steps such as changing jobs or rendering themselves unemployed to defeat CSA investigations aimed at building a case to require them contribute financially to the upbringing of their children. It is likely that evasive or duplicitous parents create many times the amount of work for the Agency that a cooperative parent does and it is perhaps unreasonable to lay that responsibility at the door of the CSA. However, it is submitted that the style of management and administration systems operative at the Agency has exacerbated the profou nd external difficulties it faces, magnifying inevitable difficulties and allowing other problems that could be avoided under a tighter and more cogent regime to manifest themselves causing additional costs and delays. Perhaps the greatest weakness in the CSA investigation system the policy organisation’s policy that â€Å"the non-resident parent has a right to be believed† which ties the hands of Agency staff. This policy is clearly in place to reduce the administrative burden on the CSA but it is manifestly susceptible to abuse, if not, frankly, ripe for it. If a parent with care is fully aware that the non-resident parent has several jobs but has disclosed only one job to the Agency, then telephones the Agency to disclose this fact, the Agency will respond by repeating the aforementioned mantra and refuse to take further action unless â€Å"pay-slips from other jobs can be provided†, which in almost every case is an impossible demand. This is a ridiculous state of affairs, and one that gives non-resident parents full and open licence to deceive the Agency and avoid paying the proper amount to the children who are supposedly the priority in the system.. It is also submitted that the CSA, being an administrative entity, is not best suited to dealing with some of the highly complex and contentious cases that fall for its attention.. Such cases, which would probably be better suited to solution within the court system, serve as logjams in the Agency’s workload, and delay the progress of many more straightforward cases.[6] CSA investigations have been hampered not only by clumsy managerial procedures and organisation, but also by the information technology systems upon which it relies. The problems with the CSA’s IT systems have been well-publicised and are so extensive as to merit specific discussion later in this paper.[7] However, with regards to the issue of case investigation in particular, it has been impossible for management accurately to scrutinise and evaluate the performance of the Agency, and thus set in place long term strategies and goals, because of failings and incongruities within its information technology infrastructure. As the Commons Work and Pensions Committee commented in 2005: â€Å"It is difficult to exaggerate the Agency’s already low reputation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ .[8] It is submitted that the credibility of the CSA is perhaps one of the greatest obstacles to its case investigation work. The Agency does not enjoy the unqualified respect of parents on either side of the child support equation, and this probably understates the truth. The CSA is widely perceived to be a disorganised and failing entity. Given that effective investigation is heavily reliant on prompt and fulsome compliance by parents, the credibility of the Agency itself has become a major factor in reducing its effectiveness as an organisation. In simple terms, parents are not scared of the CSA or intimidated by the consequences that dilatory or obstructive behaviour on their part might provoke. When one contrasts the reputation of the CSA with that of the Inland Revenue or the Police it is clear that the Agency is its own grea test enemy, in particular in regards to its role as investigator something which is so dependent on its relationship with and image in the eyes of parents, many of which already harbour a recalcitrant agenda. CSA investigation has also been hampered by weaknesses and omissions in the range of powers made available to the Agency for the fulfilment of its case investigation work. For example, Liberal Mps David Laws and Danny Alexander recently claimed that the CSA has had to shelve 46,000 cases where the non-resident parent cannot be traced, noting, almost incredulously, that there is no obligation on non-resident parents to inform the Agency when they change either their job or their address.[9] This position has been labelled as â€Å"absurd† by the Work and Pensions Select Committee.[10] It can be argued that such lacunae in the powers awarded to the CSA have made a significant contribution to the inefficiency of its case investigation operations.. Moreover, in this regard it should be noted that the ability of the Agency to obtain information about a non-resident parent’s income at the investigation-stage from Government bodies and other organisations and is woefully inadequate, and this weakness predictably generates a huge amount of unnecessary delay. The CSA’s inability to access confidential information such as credit cards records clearly hampers the organisation’s activities although there is a limit on just how far enhanced legal powers could assist in bringing the most assiduously evasive and duplicitous non-resident parent to book. Ironically, given that the future of child support may well lie in that direction, it is submitted that there has to date been poor communication and ineffective cooperation between the Child Support Agency and the Inland Revenue.. Unfortunately, even in cases where both parents offer full cooperation, due to the CSA’s parlous communication networks families rout inely have to wait many months before a child support assessment is made and a maintenance liability is established, and of course over this period extensive arrears may build up. Another factor which has frustrated CSA investigation work is that the rules and frameworks under which it operates have been subject to constant and comprehensive change over the course of the life of the Agency. Seemingly well-meaning â€Å"reforms† have been implemented with such regularity that the CSA is in a constant state of learning. For example, The Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 introduced a wholly new system[11] (known in the literature as the new scheme†) which entered into force for new cases as of March 2003. The intention was that the new scheme, which incorporated much simpler calculations, would elevate the problems of the Agency, however, it is submitted that this attempt to improve the situation at the CSA only made things worse, because the Agency now had to deal with a new an unfamiliar system alongside the old rules which remained applicable to earlier cases. Further work was generated by the need to convert cases from the old system to the new. These demands inevitably had a negative effect on the on-going case investigation work of the Agency, further depleting morale and resources. Other weaknesses in the investigation process may prove simply intractable. Under the rules of the CSA men are liable to start paying maintenance from the moment they are named by the mother as the father of the child. Unfortunately, almost one in five men who challenge the claim and ask for a DNA test discover that they are not the father of the child in question (3034 of 15909 1998-2004).[12] Refunds to the men are paid by the taxpayer, no attempt has been made by the CSA to recover any of the money wrongly paid over to the women in question. Labour MP and ex-social security minister Frank Field has commented: â€Å"The situation in the CSA is getting so absurd that even Lewis Carroll would have rejected it as a script for Alice in Wonderland.†[13] However, this is just one example of the difficulty faced by the CSA in attempting to impose an administrative framework and order in its investigative case work over such complex, sensitive and fraught personal relationships. The very latest report on the Child Support Agency’s performance, published on 27 June 2006 by Independent Case Examiner (ICE) Jodi Berg (who is charged with the responsibility of monitoring the CSA) expresses â€Å"deep concern† about the standard of its investigation work and the weakness of the basic administration of the Agency.[14] Berg reported that complaints against the Agency rose 5 per cent over the past year and noted that more than fifty per cent of all complaints were associated with delays or errors in the case investigation process. This increase in complaints follows on the back of record increases in the past two years.[15] Given the problems identified above this is perhaps not surprising. Berg recommended in more than half of all complaints ultimately investigated (1,348 over the last year) that the CSA should offer some form of financial recompense to the complainant.. The examiner concluded that the Child Support Agency would only be able to deal wi th its poor levels of customer service if it achieved the establishment of â€Å"sound fundamental administration processes†.[16] It is submitted therefore, in summation on this issue, that the CSA operates under a weak and pregnable administrative system, and that holes and ambiguities in the system are exploited by non-resident parents determined to avoid paying child support by any means. This commentator asserts that this combination of factors is in large part responsible for the poor performance of the Agency’s work on case-investigation. Chapter 2: Adjudication Alongside its role as investigator, the Child Support Agency is charged with the responsibility to adjudicate the cases that come before it. It is clear that the Agency has dramatically under-performed in this area just as it has in other spheres of its activity. The National Audit Office (NAO) has qualified its opinion on the CSA’s account in every single year since the Agency’s inception due to the level of error detected in maintenance assessments.[17] The NAO has reported that more than a quarter of receipts from non-resident parents and, astonishingly, more than three quarters of maintenance assessment debts are incorrect under the CSA‘s accounts. The NAO has also estimated that overstatement errors run to more than  £20 million pounds per year and that understatement errors may amount to around twenty times that amount.[18] This is an appalling state of affairs, and one which prejudices, in particular, the interests of children which the CSA is supposedly duty bound to hold high. The CSA Standards Committee provides the Chief Executive with a independent review of the quality of decision making within the Agency, and on the mechanisms in place for quality assurance. The Committee expected an improvement in the standard of adjudication achieved by the CSA after transition from the old to the new scheme, however it noted in its 2003/04 annual report that the new IT system was unable to deliver the anticipated results.[19] The report indicates an overall accuracy figure of 81.8%, which is below the 90% target imposed by the Government. It is submitted that this figure, which suggests mistakes in around 20 per cent or one fifth of all adjudications is unacceptable and that it cannot be explained merely by blaming IT difficulties. It is argued that staffing issues and poor management and surveillance play a significant part in erroneous adjudications and this is one aspect of the work of the Agency that cannot be defended by pointing at the behaviour of recalcitra nt non-resident parents.. The accuracy of decisions exclusively made in maintenance assessments is put at 79.8 per cent by the Committee, which is a steadily improving figure. (accuracy was put at 75% in 2002/03 and 71.6% in 2001/02). The report suggests that the primary causes of â€Å"inaccuracy† under the old scheme were: miscalculation of earnings errors regarding housing costs supersession errors[20] insufficient documentary evidence..[21] The Committee expressed disappointment that similar errors appeared to be creeping into the operation of the rules under the new scheme, and reported that these included mistakes in the setting of effective dates, elements of client contact and erroneous earnings calculations.[22] In March 2005 the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee delivered its report: The Child Support Agency: Government Response to the Committees 2nd Report of Session 2004–05. In this report the Work and Pensions Committee expressed continued concern at the â€Å"lower than expected level of accuracy of maintenance calculationsâ€Å". The Select Committee noted, the findings of the Agency’s Standards Committee as discussed above and recommended adherence to policies set down in the Transformation Programme designed to smooth the problematic transition from the old scheme to the new. These policies include double-checking for the most commonly made errors, and measures ensuring that all decisions are correctly documented (inadequately documented decisions are classified as inaccurate even if the calculation is correct). The Select Committee noted that a series of measures would be developed to further improve the adjudication process and these include: The adoption of a Standardised Adjudication Form – completion of which should be mandatory in the case of all â€Å"off-line decisions† unsupported by the system. It is submitted that this should support the documentary trail supporting these decisions. The introduction of a risk-based checking system – It is suggested that this policy should target surveillance and quality control resources on stages in the adjudication process known to be error-prone. In terms of opportunity-cost it is clearly prudent to make such stages a priority in this regard, but that is not to say that other less commonly arising mistakes should be ignored. Centralised Checking Teams – It is submitted that, in theory at least, this is also a well-founded policy. A centralised quality assurance mechanism, could more efficiently improve consistency and standardisation within the Agency and it is perhaps surprising that such a resource has not been in place within the CSA since its inception. Introduction of Quality Support Officers – again it is surprising that it took 12 years of operation before the creation of such posts were seriously considered. It is argued that the prior lack of such officers goes someway to explain the poor performance of the Agency since its establishment.. Such officers could quickly draw adjudication errors to the personal attention of the decision maker and the relevant Team Leader to ensure that misunderstandings are promptly and effectively rectified through focused coaching and targeted support.. Enhancements in Staff Training – Again it is noted that the User Education Programme concentrates on training aimed at eliminating the top five errors, but it is submitted that improvements aimed at eliminating the propensity to err in general should also be implemented if the Agency is really to address the mistakes plaguing its adjudication processes. As has been argued was the case in the context of the Agency’s case-investigation work the transition from the old scheme to the new scheme rules has proved problematic.. Efforts to improve the quality of the adjudication process have been hampered by the change from one system to the next and by the fact that the two quite different systems run in parallel and must be administered as such within the organisation.. These effects have been felt not only in the UK CSA but in its Northern Ireland counterpart. In the Annual Report on Decision Making in the Northern Ireland Child Support Agency (2003-2004)[23] the Independent Standards Committee reported that whereas under the old scheme around 1 in 4 decisions contained an error, under the new scheme almost half of adjudications contained a flaw, although curiously financial accuracy is reported to be 92 per cent in both cases. This suggests that most errors are either procedural in nature or to be found in the inaccurate/incomple te recording of decisions and this is very much a management issue. Ultimately, it is argued that it is the senior management team of the CSA that should be held responsible for the general tendency of the Agency to err in its adjudication role.. It is the function of the leadership of the Agency to set in place the appropriate systems and cultures necessary to ensure accuracy. After thirteen years of operation one would, it is submitted, properly expect that teething troubles in the adjudication process should have been long-since identified and rectified, but that does not appear to have been the case. Indeed the management malaise at the CSA, while perhaps most obvious in the context of poor adjudication standards, translates into below-par performance in other fields of activity beyond the largely internal scope of the adjudication process, with even greater force due to the determination of non-resident parents to hamper the administration that lax management has left pregnable.. Chapter 3: Enforcement Enforcement is the third of the CSA’s three main functions in the field of child support.. Yet again however, it is submitted that the Agency has been found lacking and criticism of its efforts in this arena has been both extensive and far-reaching. The CSA has consistently exhibited a disturbing failure properly to enforce maintenance payments. In an enforcement monitoring exercise supervised by the Child Support Agency Standards Committee in 2003 it was discovered that only 10 per cent of enforcement cases were dealt with in a correct manner. This, it is argued is a simply disgraceful state of affairs. Moreover, the National Audit Office has qualified the CSA’s Client Fund accounts in every single year since the Agency’s inception and this is an indefensible situation that would have led to collapse and investigation if it had occurred in the private sector in the context of any normal commercial undertaking.[24] Part of the blame can be laid on the behaviour o f obstructive non-resident parents but the lions share of the responsibility for this appalling record of failure must lie with the management and administration system dedicated to enforcement that those reluctant payers seem to find so easy to exploit. In principle, where a non-resident parent fails to pay regular maintenance, the Agency’s policies dictate that so-called â€Å"front-line staff† should endeavour to negotiate an arrears agreement. If such an agreement cannot be reached on a voluntary basis, and the non-resident parent is in employment, a debt manager may be called upon to impose a Deduction from Earnings Order on his or her salary. If this action proves ineffective the case will be referred to an Enforcement Team which will consider legal proceedings (this decision and the form of such proceedings is at the discretion of the Enforcement Team). The Child Support Agency Standards Committee have found numerous errors occurring at this important stage..[25] Among the errors the most commonly occurring include a failure to use the full range of powers available to the Agency to obtain information to allow the conversion of a case from an interim maintenance assessment to a full maintenance assessment.. In this regard it should be noted that section 14A of the Child Support Act permits criminal proceedings to be brought against those failing to provide information or who offer false information. It is argued that cultural factors within the management of the organisation deter resort to criminal action in some cases and that this tendency coupled with the fragile administrative superstructure is deleterious both to t he CSA’s performance and its reputation. Another frequently noted error is the incorrect application of Liability Orders, which are necessary to obtain legal recognition that a debt is owed as a precursor to further enforcement proceedings against the non-resident parent. In many other cases no action is taken after the issuing of a letter warning of enforcement action to an unresponsive non-resident parent.. There is strong anecdotal evidence and a commonly held public perception that the Agency takes a very tough and rigorous line on non-resident parent’s willing to cooperate and make payments, but a far less assiduous approach to uncooperative and evasive parents. It is submitted that there is a widely held belief that the CSA pursues this line with a view to the preservation of its own resources and the improvement of its own performance figures and the Agency is routinely criticised for disregarding the interests of children and single parents as a consequence. Indeed, the CSA has been roundly criticised by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman for this engrained pattern of behaviour.[26] However, that is not to say that the Agency has not made progress in some fields of enforcement activity. Prompted by recommendations made by the Standards Committee the CSA has sharpened its policies to some extent. For example the  £250 de minimis[27] debt threshold for enforcement action (imposed presumably for administrative and cost efficiency) has been abolished and new fines have been introduced along with the option to seek the withdrawal of driving licences from non-payers. That said, by 2005 the Agency had only used its power to withdraw driving licences 11 times in the five years since the introduction of the penalty[28], and given that over that period well in excess of 250,000 non-resident parents had become habitual non-payers, this must be viewed as a lamentable if not disgraceful record. Unfortunately the developing picture became even gloomier despite the increase in resources made available to the Agency’s enforcement teams. Billions of pounds have now been written off by the Agency as â€Å"uncollectable†. It is submitted that the Agency’s political overseers must take some of the blame alongside the senior management of the organisation. Under Tony Blair’s Labour administration the amount of the uncollected child maintenance had tripled from  £1.1bn in 1997 to  £3.3 billion by 2005. It is clear that the Agency puts insufficient emphasis on compliance and that, for some inexplicable reason it resorts to middle-order procedures to compel regular payments in far fewer instances than should be the case. The parent with care is typically forced to make numerous complaints before any enforcement action is taken by the CSA and even then there is no guarantee that effective measures are put in place. For example, it has been asserted that only around 19 per cent of long-term defaulting cases are subject to a Deduction of Earnings Order.[29] It has also been noted that the sheer amount of complex regulation confuses both parents with care and non-resident parents, and that the latter group has become skilled in the art of exploiting the convoluted appeal system so as to either evade payment or delay it for as long as possible.[30] This commentator is spoilt for choice in the selection of statistics for mention in this paper on the CSA’s enforcement performance but perhaps the most damning fact of all is that the Agency Enforcement unit retrievedjust  £8 million in 2005 but cost £12 million to operate.[31] That really speaks for itself. Again it is pertinent to restate the fact that non-resident parents have exacerbated difficulties over enforcement by their obstructive and often duplicitous behaviour, but this does not justify the results obtained by the Agency. If the CSA was using the full range of its powers to their full effect and achieving poor results, this commentator would indeed dwell more on the behaviour of parents and the agenda of the Government which awards and delimits the powers. However, it is manifestly clear that the Agency does not use its powers effectively something best evidenced by the stated statistic on the incredibly low use of the driving licence withdrawal option. Such a threat is obviously a potent weapon in the arsenal of the CSA, and while it may not always be appropriate, perhaps because the non-resident parent relies on his or her licence in order to generate an income, this commentator simply refuses to accept that it has only proved ap

Creon As The Tragic Hero Of Antigone by Sophocles Essay -- Greek Sopho

Creon As The Tragic Hero Of Antigone by Sophocles Greek tragedy would not be complete with out a tragic hero. Sophocles wrote Antigone with a specific character in mind for this part. Based on Aristotle’s definition, Creon is the tragic hero of Antigone. Creon fits Aristotle’s tragic hero traits as a significant person who is faced with difficult decisions. Creon is significant because he is king. This makes him both renowned and prosperous. Creon is not completely good nor completely bad; he is somewhere in-between, as humans are. The audience can relate to this and they admire his qualities of intelligence in political affairs. They can also relate to his ability to make hard decisions with apparent ease. These hard decisions are what lead Creon to fit Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Creon faces decisions that lead to a no-win situation, with confidence, and he makes the best decision he can, based on his beliefs. He believes that Polyneices should not be buried because he was a traitor to his family. This decision affected Antigone greatly, and Creon knew that the decision would be hard on some people. Family and burials are very important in society, and Creon is asking Antigone to not consider them, to onl y consider that Polyneices was a traitor to his home city. Creon is then faced with the knowledge that Antigone went against his will and law, and buried her brother. Again, Creon is faced with a hard decision. He must choose to kill his own family memb...

A Game of Thrones Chapter Sixty-one

Daenerys When the battle was done, Dany rode her silver through the fields of the dead. Her handmaids and the men of her khas came after, smiling and jesting among themselves. Dothraki hooves had torn the earth and trampled the rye and lentils into the ground, while arakhs and arrows had sown a terrible new crop and watered it with blood. Dying horses lifted their heads and screamed at her as she rode past. Wounded men moaned and prayed. Jaqqa rhan moved among them, the mercy men with their heavy axes, taking a harvest of heads from the dead and dying alike. After them would scurry a flock of small girls, pulling arrows from the corpses to fill their baskets. Last of all the dogs would come sniffing, lean and hungry, the feral pack that was never far behind the khalasar. The sheep had been dead longest. There seemed to be thousands of them, black with flies, arrow shafts bristling from each carcass. Khal Ogo's riders had done that, Dany knew; no man of Drogo's khalasar would be such a fool as to waste his arrows on sheep when there were shepherds yet to kill. The town was afire, black plumes of smoke roiling and tumbling as they rose into a hard blue sky. Beneath broken walls of dried mud, riders galloped back and forth, swinging their long whips as they herded the survivors from the smoking rubble. The women and children of Ogo's khalasar walked with a sullen pride, even in defeat and bondage; they were slaves now, but they seemed not to fear it. It was different with the townsfolk. Dany pitied them; she remembered what terror felt like. Mothers stumbled along with blank, dead faces, pulling sobbing children by the hand. There were only a few men among them, cripples and cowards and grandfathers. Ser Jorah said the people of this country named themselves the Lhazareen, but the Dothraki called them haesh rakhi, the Lamb Men. Once Dany might have taken them for Dothraki, for they had the same copper skin and almond-shaped eyes. Now they looked alien to her, squat and flat-faced, their black hair cropped unnaturally short. They were herders of sheep and eaters of vegetables, and Khal Drogo said they belonged south of the river bend. The grass of the Dothraki sea was not meant for sheep. Dany saw one boy bolt and run for the river. A rider cut him off and turned him, and the others boxed him in, cracking their whips in his face, running him this way and that. One galloped behind him, lashing him across the buttocks until his thighs ran red with blood. Another snared his ankle with a lash and sent him sprawling. Finally, when the boy could only crawl, they grew bored of the sport and put an arrow through his back. Ser Jorah met her outside the shattered gate. He wore a dark green surcoat over his mail. His gauntlets, greaves, and greathelm were dark grey steel. The Dothraki had mocked him for a coward when he donned his armor, but the knight had spit insults right back in their teeth, tempers had flared, longsword had clashed with arakh, and the rider whose taunts had been loudest had been left behind to bleed to death. Ser Jorah lifted the visor of his flat-topped greathelm as he rode up. â€Å"Your lord husband awaits you within the town.† â€Å"Drogo took no harm?† â€Å"A few cuts,† Ser Jorah answered, â€Å"nothing of consequence. He slew two khals this day. Khal Ogo first, and then the son, Fogo, who became khal when Ogo fell. His bloodriders cut the bells from their hair, and now Khal Drogo's every step rings louder than before.† Ogo and his son had shared the high bench with her lord husband at the naming feast where Viserys had been crowned, but that was in Vaes Dothrak, beneath the Mother of Mountains, where every rider was a brother and all quarrels were put aside. It was different out in the grass. Ogo's khalasar had been attacking the town when Khal Drogo caught him. She wondered what the Lamb Men had thought, when they first saw the dust of their horses from atop those cracked-mud walls. Perhaps a few, the younger and more foolish who still believed that the gods heard the prayers of desperate men, took it for deliverance. Across the road, a girl no older than Dany was sobbing in a high thin voice as a rider shoved her over a pile of corpses, facedown, and thrust himself inside her. Other riders dismounted to take their turns. That was the sort of deliverance the Dothraki brought the Lamb Men. I am the blood of the dragon, Daenerys Targaryen reminded herself as she turned her face away. She pressed her lips together and hardened her heart and rode on toward the gate. â€Å"Most of Ogo's riders fled,† Ser Jorah was saying. â€Å"Still, there may be as many as ten thousand captives.† Slaves, Dany thought. Khal Drogo would drive them downriver to one of the towns on Slaver's Bay. She wanted to cry, but she told herself that she must be strong. This is war, this is what it looks like, this is the price of the Iron Throne. â€Å"I've told the khal he ought to make for Meereen,† Ser Jorah said. â€Å"They'll pay a better price than he'd get from a slaving caravan. Illyrio writes that they had a plague last year, so the brothels are paying double for healthy young girls, and triple for boys under ten. If enough children survive the journey, the gold will buy us all the ships we need, and hire men to sail them.† Behind them, the girl being raped made a heartrending sound, a long sobbing wail that went on and on and on. Dany's hand clenched hard around the reins, and she turned the silver's head. â€Å"Make them stop,† she commanded Ser Jorah. â€Å"Khaleesi?† The knight sounded perplexed. â€Å"You heard my words,† she said. â€Å"Stop them.† She spoke to her khas in the harsh accents of Dothraki. â€Å"Jhogo, Quaro, you will aid Ser Jorah. I want no rape.† The warriors exchanged a baffled look. Jorah Mormont spurred his horse closer. â€Å"Princess,† he said, â€Å"you have a gentle heart, but you do not understand. This is how it has always been. Those men have shed blood for the khal. Now they claim their reward.† Across the road, the girl was still crying, her high singsong tongue strange to Dany's ears. The first man was done with her now, and a second had taken his place. â€Å"She is a lamb girl,† Quaro said in Dothraki. â€Å"She is nothing, Khaleesi. The riders do her honor. The Lamb Men lay with sheep, it is known.† â€Å"It is known,† her handmaid Irri echoed. â€Å"It is known,† agreed Jhogo, astride the tall grey stallion that Drogo had given him. â€Å"If her wailing offends your ears, Khaleesi, Jhogo will bring you her tongue.† He drew his arakh. â€Å"I will not have her harmed,† Dany said. â€Å"I claim her. Do as I command you, or Khal Drogo will know the reason why.† â€Å"Ai, Khaleesi,† Jhogo replied, kicking his horse. Quaro and the others followed his lead, the bells in their hair chiming. â€Å"Go with them,† she commanded Ser Jorah. â€Å"As you command.† The knight gave her a curious look. â€Å"You are your brother's sister, in truth.† â€Å"Viserys?† She did not understand. â€Å"No,† he answered. â€Å"Rhaegar.† He galloped off. Dany heard Jhogo shout. The rapers laughed at him. One man shouted back. Jhogo's arakh flashed, and the man's head went tumbling from his shoulders. Laughter turned to curses as the horsemen reached for weapons, but by then Quaro and Aggo and Rakharo were there. She saw Aggo point across the road to where she sat upon her silver. The riders looked at her with cold black eyes. One spat. The others scattered to their mounts, muttering. All the while the man atop the lamb girl continued to plunge in and out of her, so intent on his pleasure that he seemed unaware of what was going on around him. Ser Jorah dismounted and wrenched him off with a mailed hand. The Dothraki went sprawling in the mud, bounced up with a knife in hand, and died with Aggo's arrow through his throat. Mormont pulled the girl off the pile of corpses and wrapped her in his blood-spattered cloak. He led her across the road to Dany. â€Å"What do you want done with her?† The girl was trembling, her eyes wide and vague. Her hair was matted with blood. â€Å"Doreah, see to her hurts. You do not have a rider's look, perhaps she will not fear you. The rest, with me.† She urged the silver through the broken wooden gate. It was worse inside the town. Many of the houses were afire, and the jaqqa rhan had been about their grisly work. Headless corpses filled the narrow, twisty lanes. They passed other women being raped. Each time Dany reined up, sent her khas to make an end to it, and claimed the victim as slave. One of them, a thick-bodied, flat-nosed woman of forty years, blessed Dany haltingly in the Common Tongue, but from the others she got only flat black stares. They were suspicious of her, she realized with sadness; afraid that she had saved them for some worse fate. â€Å"You cannot claim them all, child,† Ser Jorah said, the fourth time they stopped, while the warriors of her khas herded her new slaves behind her. â€Å"I am khaleesi, heir to the Seven Kingdoms, the blood of the dragon,† Dany reminded him. â€Å"It is not for you to tell me what I cannot do.† Across the city, a building collapsed in a great gout of fire and smoke, and she heard distant screams and the wailing of frightened children. They found Khal Drogo seated before a square windowless temple with thick mud walls and a bulbous dome like some immense brown onion. Beside him was a pile of heads taller than he was. One of the short arrows of the Lamb Men stuck through the meat of his upper arm, and blood covered the left side of his bare chest like a splash of paint. His three bloodriders were with him. Jhiqui helped Dany dismount; she had grown clumsy as her belly grew larger and heavier. She knelt before the khal. â€Å"My sun-and-stars is wounded.† The arakh cut was wide but shallow; his left nipple was gone, and a flap of bloody flesh and skin dangled from his chest like a wet rag. â€Å"Is scratch, moon of life, from arakh of one bloodrider to Khal Ogo,† Khal Drogo said in the Common Tongue. â€Å"I kill him for it, and Ogo too.† He turned his head, the bells in his braid ringing softly. â€Å"Is Ogo you hear, and Fogo his khalakka, who was khal when I slew him.† â€Å"No man can stand before the sun of my life,† Dany said, â€Å"the father of the stallion who mounts the world.† A mounted warrior rode up and vaulted from his saddle. He spoke to Haggo, a stream of angry Dothraki too fast for Dany to understand. The huge bloodrider gave her a heavy look before he turned to his khal â€Å"This one is Mago, who rides in the khas of Ko Jhaqo. He says the khaleesi has taken his spoils, a daughter of the lambs who was his to mount.† Khal Drogo's face was still and hard, but his black eyes were curious as they went to Dany. â€Å"Tell me the truth of this, moon of my life,† he commanded in Dothraki. Dany told him what she had done, in his own tongue so the khal would understand her better, her words simple and direct. When she was done, Drogo was frowning. â€Å"This is the way of war. These women are our slaves now, to do with as we please.† â€Å"It pleases me to hold them safe,† Dany said, wondering if she had dared too much. â€Å"If your warriors would mount these women, let them take them gently and keep them for wives. Give them places in the khalasar and let them bear you sons.† Qotho was ever the cruelest of the bloodriders. It was he who laughed. â€Å"Does the horse breed with the sheep?† Something in his tone reminded her of Viserys. Dany turned on him angrily. â€Å"The dragon feeds on horse and sheep alike.† Khal Drogo smiled. â€Å"See how fierce she grows!† he said. â€Å"It is my son inside her, the stallion who mounts the world, filling her with his fire. Ride slowly, Qotho . . . if the mother does not burn you where you sit, the son will trample you into the mud. And you, Mago, hold your tongue and find another lamb to mount. These belong to my khaleesi.† He started to reach out a hand to Daenerys, but as he lifted his arm Drogo grimaced in sudden pain and turned his head. Dany could almost feel his agony. The wounds were worse than Ser Jorah had led her to believe. â€Å"Where are the healers?† she demanded. The khalasar had two sorts: barren women and eunuch slaves. The herbwomen dealt in potions and spells, the eunuchs in knife, needle, and fire. â€Å"Why do they not attend the khal?† â€Å"The khal sent the hairless men away, Khaleesi,† old Cohollo assured her. Dany saw the bloodrider had taken a wound himself; a deep gash in his left shoulder. â€Å"Many riders are hurt,† Khal Drogo said stubbornly. â€Å"Let them be healed first. This arrow is no more than the bite of a fly, this little cut only a new scar to boast of to my son.† Dany could see the muscles in his chest where the skin had been cut away. A trickle of blood ran from the arrow that pierced his arm. â€Å"It is not for Khal Drogo to wait,† she proclaimed. â€Å"Jhogo, seek out these eunuchs and bring them here at once.† â€Å"Silver Lady,† a woman's voice said behind her, â€Å"I can help the Great Rider with his hurts.† Dany turned her head. The speaker was one of the slaves she had claimed, the heavy, flat-nosed woman who had blessed her. â€Å"The khal needs no help from women who lie with sheep,† barked Qotho. â€Å"Aggo, cut out her tongue.† Aggo grabbed her hair and pressed a knife to her throat. Dany lifted a hand. â€Å"No. She is mine. Let her speak.† Aggo looked from her to Qotho. He lowered his knife. â€Å"I meant no wrong, fierce riders.† The woman spoke Dothraki well. The robes she wore had once been the lightest and finest of woolens, rich with embroidery, but now they were mud-caked and bloody and ripped. She clutched the torn cloth of her bodice to her heavy breasts. â€Å"I have some small skill in the healing arts.† â€Å"Who are you?† Dany asked her. â€Å"I am named Mirri Maz Duur. I am godswife of this temple.† â€Å"Maegi,† grunted Haggo, fingering his arakh. His look was dark. Dany remembered the word from a terrifying story that Jhiqui had told her one night by the cookfire. A maegi was a woman who lay with demons and practiced the blackest of sorceries, a vile thing, evil and soulless, who came to men in the dark of night and sucked life and strength from their bodies. â€Å"I am a healer,† Mirri Maz Duur said. â€Å"A healer of sheeps,† sneered Qotho. â€Å"Blood of my blood, I say kill this maegi and wait for the hairless men.† Dany ignored the bloodrider's outburst. This old, homely, thickbodied woman did not look like a maegi to her. â€Å"Where did you learn your healing, Mirri Maz Duur?† â€Å"My mother was godswife before me, and taught me all the songs and spells most pleasing to the Great Shepherd, and how to make the sacred smokes and ointments from leaf and root and berry. When I was younger and more fair, I went in caravan to Asshai by the Shadow, to learn from their mages. Ships from many lands come to Asshai, so I lingered long to study the healing ways of distant peoples. A moonsinger of the Jogos Nhai gifted me with her birthing songs, a woman of your own riding people taught me the magics of grass and corn and horse, and a maester from the Sunset Lands opened a body for me and showed me all the secrets that hide beneath the skin.† Ser Jorah Mormont spoke up. â€Å"A maester?† â€Å"Marwyn, he named himself,† the woman replied in the Common Tongue. â€Å"From the sea. Beyond the sea. The Seven Lands, he said. Sunset Lands. Where men are iron and dragons rule. He taught me this speech.† â€Å"A maester in Asshai,† Ser Jorah mused. â€Å"Tell me, Godswife, what did this Marwyn wear about his neck?† â€Å"A chain so tight it was like to choke him, Iron Lord, with links of many metals.† The knight looked at Dany. â€Å"Only a man trained in the Citadel of Oldtown wears such a chain,† he said, â€Å"and such men do know much of healing.† â€Å"Why should you want to help my khal?† â€Å"All men are one flock, or so we are taught,† replied Mirri Maz Duur. â€Å"The Great Shepherd sent me to earth to heal his lambs, wherever I might find them.† Qotho gave her a stinging slap. â€Å"We are no sheep, maegi.† â€Å"Stop it,† Dany said angrily. â€Å"She is mine. I will not have her harmed.† Khal Drogo grunted. â€Å"The arrow must come out, Qotho.† â€Å"Yes, Great Rider,† Mirri Maz Duur answered, touching her bruised face. â€Å"And your breast must be washed and sewn, lest the wound fester.† â€Å"Do it, then,† Khal Drogo commanded. â€Å"Great Rider,† the woman said, â€Å"my tools and potions are inside the god's house, where the healing powers are strongest.† â€Å"I will carry you, blood of my blood,† Haggo offered. Khal Drogo waved him away. â€Å"I need no man's help,† he said, in a voice proud and hard. He stood, unaided, towering over them all. A fresh wave of blood ran down his breast, from where Ogo's arakh had cut off his nipple. Dany moved quickly to his side. â€Å"I am no man,† she whispered, â€Å"so you may lean on me.† Drogo put a huge hand on her shoulder. She took some of his weight as they walked toward the great mud temple. The three bloodriders followed. Dany commanded Ser Jorah and the warriors of her khas to guard the entrance and make certain no one set the building afire while they were still inside. They passed through a series of anterooms, into the high central chamber under the onion. Faint light shone down through hidden windows above. A few torches burnt smokily from sconces on the walls. Sheepskins were scattered across the mud floor. â€Å"There,† Mirri Maz Duur said, pointing to the altar, a massive blue-veined stone carved with images of shepherds and their flocks. Khal Drogo lay upon it. The old woman threw a handful of dried leaves onto a brazier, filling the chamber with fragrant smoke. â€Å"Best if you wait outside,† she told the rest of them. â€Å"We are blood of his blood,† Cohollo said. â€Å"Here we wait.† Qotho stepped close to Mirri Maz Duur. â€Å"Know this, wife of the Lamb God. Harm the khal and you suffer the same.† He drew his skinning knife and showed her the blade. â€Å"She will do no harm.† Dany felt she could trust this old, plainfaced woman with her flat nose; she had saved her from the hard hands of her rapers, after all. â€Å"If you must stay, then help,† Mirri told the bloodriders. â€Å"The Great Rider is too strong for me. Hold him still while I draw the arrow from his flesh.† She let the rags of her gown fall to her waist as she opened a carved chest, and busied herself with bottles and boxes, knives and needles. When she was ready, she broke off the barbed arrowhead and pulled out the shaft, chanting in the singsong tongue of the Lhazareen. She heated a flagon of wine to boiling on the brazier, and poured it over his wounds. Khal Drogo cursed her, but he did not move. She bound the arrow wound with a plaster of wet leaves and turned to the gash on his breast, smearing it with a pale green paste before she pulled the flap of skin back in place. The khal ground his teeth together and swallowed a scream. The godswife took out a silver needle and a bobbin of silk thread and began to close the flesh. When she was done she painted the skin with red ointment, covered it with more leaves, and bound the breast in a ragged piece of lambskin. â€Å"You must say the prayers I give you and keep the lambskin in place for ten days and ten nights,† she said. â€Å"There will be fever, and itching, and a great scar when the healing is done.† Khal Drogo sat, bells ringing. â€Å"I sing of my scars, sheep woman.† He flexed his arm and scowled. â€Å"Drink neither wine nor the milk of the poppy,† she cautioned him. â€Å"Pain you will have, but you must keep your body strong to fight the poison spirits.† â€Å"I am khal,† Drogo said. â€Å"I spit on pain and drink what I like. Cohollo, bring my vest.† The older man hastened off. â€Å"Before,† Dany said to the ugly Lhazareen woman, â€Å"I heard you speak of birthing songs . . . â€Å" â€Å"I know every secret of the bloody bed, Silver Lady, nor have I ever lost a babe,† Mirri Maz Duur replied. â€Å"My time is near,† Dany said. â€Å"I would have you attend me when he comes, if you would.† Khal Drogo laughed. â€Å"Moon of my life, you do not ask a slave, you tell her. She will do as you command.† He jumped down from the altar. â€Å"Come, my blood. The stallions call, this place is ashes. It is time to ride.† Haggo followed the khal from the temple, but Qotho lingered long enough to favor Mirri Maz Duur with a stare. â€Å"Remember, maegi, as the khal fares, so shall you.† â€Å"As you say, rider,† the woman answered him, gathering up her jars and bottles. â€Å"The Great Shepherd guards the flock.†

Conceptualizing Addiction Paper Essay

The history of addiction goes back centuries, and unfortunately, there is still a long way to go for people to realize the effects of chemical substances do more harm than good. The difference between drug use and abuse relies heavily on a person’s dependence on the substance. The line between the differences is often very fine. Depending on other factors involved, such as morals, values, environment, and genetic predisposition, the line will most likely be crossed without regard to the consequences until treatment and recovery are the only options left. This is essay compares two theoretical explanations for addiction, including a psychological theory, and a biological theory. In addition, the writer will describe the viewpoints of each model, and how their effectiveness in addiction prevention and intervention. The Psychological Model The psychological model includes cognitive behavioral theories, psychodynamic theories, and the learning theory. Cognitive-behavioral theories associate a person’s motivation for taking drugs with their need for variety (McNeece & DiNitto, 2012). People often look for fulfillment and pleasure as they carry out their day-to-day responsibilities, thus finding chemical substances a way to escape reality or a reward. Psychodynamic theories suggest more complex explanations are the reason behind drug addiction. Childhood experiences and structure within the family determine a person’s ability to cope socially and emotionally. Thus, the person uses drugs to forget about the pain or provide a false sense of security. Finally, the learning theory of addiction implies that people learn over time and exposure to drugs that anxiety, tension, and stress all decrease with use, becoming a reinforcer for the user (McNeece & DiNitto, 2012). Each  of theories explain addiction in terms of a malfunctioning thought process or learning process that can be reversed. For less severe cases of addiction, this type of treatment is effective. However, usually, a multi-treatment approach is necessary. Psychological models focus on the emotion and the mind, while biological models, as discussed next, find that addictive behaviors depend on the structure and chemistry in the body’s genetic makeup. The Biological Model â€Å"The statistical associations between genetic factors and alcohol abuse are very strong† (McNeece & DiNitto, 2012). However, there is still much debate over the validity of genetics as a definite cause for addiction. Perhaps, the reason for this is because the number of children of alcoholics that go on to become alcoholics is still small. Additionally, genetic predisposition cannot explain the number of cases of alcoholics that did not come from alcoholic parents or families. In fact, addiction can be so prominent, that it remains even after the drug use has ended (McNeece & DiNitto, 2012). Therefore, the biological theory should not be ruled as it is based on what takes place in the body. There is no other theory that can explain how a person could still have addiction symptoms when the substance is absent from their system. Predisposition implies that there is a mutation or malfunction in the body that appears to cause a craving or susceptibility to becoming addicted t o a substance. Comparing Psychological and Biological Models Both of the psychological and biological models explain addiction. In addition, both models take a holistic approach in their arguments. They simply emphasize a certain portion of the body and based their studies around that. Interestingly, the theories related to the psychological model are all insightful to how humans think and interact, however, they do not explain well the interactions that take place once a substance takes over quite like the biological model. Finally, the main shortcoming of the psychological model of addiction is the treatment approaches, which attempt to retrain a person’s thinking. Since biologists have proved there are specific genetic components of addiction that are naturally either present or absent, causing a mutation, a simple change of thought will not be enough  to cure addiction in most cases. Treatment for Addiction Prevention and Intervention Out of the two models, the biological model has impressive supporting evidence regarding treatment for addiction. Perhaps, this is because of the perspective of how addiction affects people. It is easier to find a solution to a problem that is explained with support, rather than common thought patterns shared between people. Addiction may have specific characteristics that users share, but ultimately, it will affect everyone differently and many factors will be involved. Problems associated with drug abuse affect areas such as the digestive, cardiovascular, and reproductive systems, which is another advantage of biological treatment. Biologists study these systems and there functions and how addiction affects them. Thus, allowing them to incorporate treatment techniques that specialize in minimizing the effects of addiction while restoring the body’s systems. The duration, extent, and resiliency of the person still plays a vital role in the recovery and treatment process. Conclusion The history of addiction continues to stir controversy as to how it starts, who it affects, and why. While many choose to use chemical substances to get variety out of life, there are several that become addicted who cannot even give an answer as to why they continue to use. This is a sign of chemical dependency and typically means that the body and mind have now been altered in such a way that there will be adverse effects if and when a person chooses to stop using. Often, the decision to stop using is not voluntary. For many, there is not a realization that there is even a problem. There are just as many models that explain addiction as there are reasons that people become addicted. This essay explored the psychological and biological models of addiction. The psychological model deals with the mind and emotions, suggesting that people learn and adapt to certain behaviors over time. The biological model explains addiction as being present in all of us prior to being born, depending on the genetic predisposition and mutations. Arguably, no theory is better than another at explaining addiction. However, there is substantial evidence that supports  the biological model and its treatment when dealing with people with addictions. Reference McNeece, C.A., & DiNitto, D.M. (2012). Chemical Dependency: A systems approach (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.