Nationalism And Case Study Of Northern Ireland History Essay

Nationalism And Case Study Of Northern Ireland History Essay Introduction The concept of nationalism has been influencing domestic and international politics for centuries in various aspects. The predominant role of nationalism and the high interest in it has led to extensive literature on the topic and many scholars published works and studies on it in a number of other fields besides political sciences such as psychology and sociology. As is the case with many political concepts, there are a number of approaches to the topic of nationalism. The case study shortly discussed here will focus on nationalism in Northern Ireland. Nationalism had a major impact on Northern Irish politics and life during the second half of the twentieth century, a time when the rest of Western Europe did not have to face such problems. In a recent issue of The Big Issue journalist and Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan writes about how growing up in Belfast during the Troubles meant being used to an environment of checkpoints, steel barriers, the army on the street (Murnaghan, 2011). Only after moving to England to study did he realize that the situation in Northern Ireland wasnt normal, it was actually very strange. (Murnaghan, 2011) Nationalist tendencies continue to influence actions, behaviour and policies in many if not all parts of the world. A thorough understanding of nationalism, its sources, workings and possible consequences thus is crucial. In the following, this paper will first discuss the concept of nationalism. The distinction between different usages of the term will be highlighted and the variety of approaches be acknowledged. It will then go on to consider how nationalism influenced the developments in Ireland. In its last part, the essay will conclude with an answer to the essay question whether nationalism is an extremist and exclusivist political ideology that tends towards violence. Nationalism Modern nationalism was born out of anti-enlightenment thought. While ethnic groups have long existed, nations were an invention of a time when big empires gave place to the rise of these and the theory of national sovereignty arouse in Europe. In his very influential book Nationalism Elie Kedourie actually describes nationalism as just that: a doctrine invented in Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century [that] divides humanity into separate and distinct nations and claims that such nations must constitute sovereign states. (Kedourie, 1961: 9, 73) As is the case with every political concept, there are a number of approaches to the topic of nationalism. Arguably the most influential at the moment are the modernization approach, Marxist/neo-Marxist models and postmodernist ideas. The Dictionary of International Relations names two usages of the term nationalism: as a characterization of an ideology and a description of a sentiment or attitude (Evans and Newnham, 1998: 346 ff.). The second usage of nationalism describes a sentiment of loyalty towards the nation which is shared by the people. (Evans and Newnham, 1998: 346) Religion and language may be possible examples for elements that provide such communality. The first aspect of nationalism can further be divided into two connotations: it could either be used as an ideology, a political theory joined to a programme incorporating ultimately attainable goals (OLeary, 1981: 4), or political movements and actions motivated by said ideology. Also acknowledged should be that nationalism is only one form of how ethnic groups may react; other options include but arent limited to assimilation or seeking a place within a political system with distinctive ethnic rights and resources. (OSullivan, 1986: 6) Furthermore, the manifestation of nationalist tendencies differs from the social status of said group. Whereas in an already existing nation-state a nationalist group would work towards maintaining strong boundaries, nationalist movements such as the Irish Republican Army work towards separation and independence (OSullivan, 1986: 5). While in earlier times nationalist tendencies regularly ended in wars, the expression of radical nationalism in the Western world of today has become terrorist attacks, much as the IRA used to operate in Northern Ireland; the potential of gaining much public attention with bombings and similar attacks is high. As mentioned before, nationalism has been the object of much scrutiny. To name only one of many critics of the notion of nationalism, Sir Lewis Namier wrote that nationalism, from the outset, was the expression of social and political maladjustment and has since been at least as much the vehicle as the source of destructive passions (Namier in Kenneth, 1960: 499). However, considering its nation-building process and its quest for self-determination, in its chapter on nationalism the Dictionary of International Relations describes nationalism as not only the most potent force in world politics, it is also, judging by mere numbers, the most successful. (Evans and Newnham, 1998: 349) The case of Northern Ireland To understand the current situation in Northern Ireland it is absolutely essential to consider the impact of historical events and developments on the Irish island. English invasion of Ireland can be dated back to as early as the twelfth century. Bringing the island both progress but also suppression, opposition to English occupancy can be traced back to these times as well. In the centuries to follow a number of wars strained the region and while most of Britain converted to the Church of England under the rule of Henry VIII, many Irish men and women remained Catholics. Up until the Troubles and possibly sometimes today the religious split of the Northern Irish society is partly to blame for the extent to which attacks were committed. This long history of contact, conflict, and accommodation between the two major ethnic groups (OSullivan, 1986: 2), here the English and Irish, is crucial to acknowledge because it lay the groundwork for nationalist feelings that would result in radica lism responsible for the violent clashes and attacks of a time that today is called the Troubles. Struggle for freedom from English intervention highly influenced developments on the island ever since the beginning of the last millennium. The long on-going struggle had also hardened the fronts on both sides; on the side of the Unionists that would prefer to stay loyal to the Crown and whose nationalist feelings are for a future as part of the United Kingdom, but also on the sides of the Republicans fighting for a separation from the UK and a subsequent reunion with the Republic of Ireland, their nationalist feelings being for a united Ireland. In her book First World Nationalism, Katherine OSullivan See writes that neo-nationalism movements among Ulsters working class Protestants and the separatist efforts of the Irish Republican Army [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] belie any claims that increasing modernization and secularization of the state and economy will moderate ethnic cleavages. (OSullivan, 1986: 102) A little more than a decade after the publication of this book, however, the Belfast Good Friday Agreement was considered by many to have ended the Troubles. Although violence sporadically still shocks the nation, most paramilitary forces that had previously been involved in violence ceased armed fighting. Conclusion In answer to the essay question whether nationalism is an extremist and exclusivist political ideology that tends towards violence it seem of great importance to mention that under the term nationalism much can be understood. There is no such thing as one single ideology of nationalism; each nationalist group is characterized by certain historical backgrounds and other factors that have an influence on their goals and proceedings. In terms of being exclusivist, it can be said that even though the idea of nationalism is supposed to embrace the people of one nation, the whole concept of it is without a doubt aimed at achieving at least a certain degree of separation from another ethnic group, either building up boundaries or focusing on maintaining them. With reference to extremism, for an incident to make front page and come to the attention of many, it has to have reached a certain degree of tragedy. Much more rarely do meetings of peaceful nationalist groups get covered in the media . However, it is undisputed that in a great number of cases in- and outside of Europe nationalist movements led to violence and loss of innocent lives. Nationalism seems to be an ideology more prone to the use of brute force than other political believes are. But as with every ideology, eventually the degree of commitment to and the exclusive belief in the ideals proposed by the ideology and the readiness to use violence of group members decide the outcome. As to the case of Northern Ireland, the Stormont Assembly has been back in legislature for a couple of years know and although not all violence has ceased, the situation definitely has improved greatly compared to a couple of decades ago. Also, devolution processes in the United Kingdom are ongoing and the Assembly in Northern Ireland has a considerable amount of executive and legislative power today.

Hitlers Gain of Power :: Papers

Hitler's Gain of Power When Hitler came to become chancellor in January 1933 his powers were relatively weak. Hitler had been appointed chancellor by the president, Hindenberg. Hindenberg had the power to appoint any chancellor he wishes, and can get rid of Hitler at any time. This means that Hindenberg controlled all of Hitler's power. The Nazi politicians were in the minority in the cabinet and in the Reichstag - only 3 in the first cabinet. Hitler only won 33% of the vote in 1932. Without this support it was hard to gain much support for Hitler. Also, the Generals had no loyalty to him. The German army, the Wehrmacht, were very powerful and had the power to overthrow Hitler is they wished. They were afraid that Hitler would replace the army with his own SA - which had increased in size dramatically since it was first created. Hitler managed to achieve complete control by 1934 by establishing a one-party state where he would have full control. He did this in several ways. The Reichstag building was burned down on 27 February 1933. This helped Hitler to gain a majority in the upcoming March election. The Nazis blamed the fire on the communists, specifically Van der Lubbe - and they claimed that he intended to spark a communist uprising in Germany. It is debatable as to who really caused the fire. Although Van der Lubbe confessed to it, some historians claim that the Nazis started the fire themselves deliberately to increase their chances of success. It is undeniable that Hitler did use the fire to help win the election. He launched a propaganda campaign to whip up fears of a communist uprising. This was hoped to frighten the middle-classed landowners into voting for them. The day following the fire, the "Reichstag fire decree" was introduced. This gave the Nazis the power to arrest a number of communists and socialists and hold them for unlimited periods of time without having to appear in court. The Nazis still failed to gain a majority in the Reichstag, receiving

Evolution and Stages of Development of Self-Managed teams Essay

One of the most effective means of extracting the unutilized portion of the healthcare industry has been the self-managed team. This has been a recently identified area, and healthcare organizations are beginning to use it for their advantage in improving the health outcomes of the patients. Self-managed teams are also known as ‘self-directed teams’, ‘natural teams’, or ‘semiautonomous teams’. They are a group of employees that have to do daily responsibilities along with managing themselves. They would perform several tasks including managing work responsibilities, planning, problem solving, decision-making, scheduling the work, etc. The self-management teams would be having several characteristics including interacting with other working groups, responsibility providing the services, performing interdependent activities and managing the operations of the team (Schrubb, 1992 & Silverman, 1996). The basic evolution of a self-managed team occurs in five stages. Zawacki and Norman framed this in the year 1994. With a different situation arising due to the workflow, the team can revert to an earlier situation. A self-managed team would be having several roles to play with relation to patient care, and each of these roles would be in one of the seven stages of development. It is important to note that each of these roles played by the team members, would be in any of the seven stages of team development. The stages of self-managed team development include: – In the first stage, when the team is new and do not know the skills and the knowledge of the work, a leader who is familiar with the work processes and competent with the work skills, would be providing supervision and would train the staff to perform the daily tasks. The leader once actually trains the staff members to perform the tasks, slowly shifts his role from a supervisor to a manager. He would now be slowly managing the activities of the team. Slowly the manager would begin to coordinate all the activities of the team. He/she would be training the staff members to perform tasks that would involve leading the lower staff members. Most of the members of the team take up certain responsibilities concerned with management. The manager acts as an interface between the self-managed team and the administration or the portfolio management. Slowly the manager of the team becomes an additional resource that would not only perform the tasks that the members of the group would be performing, but would also be invoked in interacting with the administration (Silverman, 1996). It is important that the organization moves thought all these stages in the self-management development process. The specific reasons for having a self-management development process include: – To ensure that the patient is satisfied with the treatment To ensure that the team members get the feedback directly from the customers rather than from the managers and the supervisors. This would help the team to continuously develop over a period of time. The customer satisfaction levels would improve with time. To ensure that further responsibilities and roles for the staff members are incorporated in an appropriate manner. The organization, which has dynamic objectives, is able to function better if self-managed teams are existent. The managers and the supervisors, who play an important role guiding the staff members, can be utilized to engage in growth-related activities of the origination (Silverman, 1996).

Free Essays on Houdini

â€Å"Houdini the Life, the Legend† There have been many entertainers in the past, but few rival the entertaining career of Ehrich Weiss. Ehrich Weiss was born in Budapest Hungary on March 24th, 1874, and brought to the United States by his mother and father (pbs.org). It was in Appelton Wisconsin that Ehrich would have to go to work at an early age to help support his family. But who is Erich Weiss? The man better known as Harry Houdini was known by many names: the Prince of the Air, Eric the Great, the Handcuff King, and the Card King (geocities.com). Ehrich became fascinated with the idea of magic when he was eight years old after his father took him to see a show performed by Dr. Lyan who was a traveling magician. By the age of twelve Ehrich ran away from home and traveled with circuses and side shows, using two show names â€Å"Ehrich the Prince of the Air† and â€Å"Eric the Great† (geocities.com). After a year of traveling Houdini now thirteen reunited with his parents in New York. While i n New York Ehrich read the autobiography of a Frenchman named Jean Robert-Houdin who was a magician and Harry Houdini was born, legally changing his name after establishing himself as an international icon while in Great Britain. Houdini and Beatrice Rahner were married in 1894. Bess Houdini traveled with her husband and became an assistant in his act. There were no children to follow in their father’s footsteps and keep his name alive, but his wife did a very good job. For sixteen years after Houdini’s untimely death Bess paid a publicist to keep his name alive (geocities.com). Houdini spent a few years in the United States making a name for himself and then in 1900 he left for England. During his stay in England Houdini became the highest paid entertainer in Europe. At $2,000 a week he was making $112,000 a year, an incredibly high salary for 1900. Harry stayed in Europe for five years enjoying his money and coming up... Free Essays on Houdini Free Essays on Houdini â€Å"Houdini the Life, the Legend† There have been many entertainers in the past, but few rival the entertaining career of Ehrich Weiss. Ehrich Weiss was born in Budapest Hungary on March 24th, 1874, and brought to the United States by his mother and father (pbs.org). It was in Appelton Wisconsin that Ehrich would have to go to work at an early age to help support his family. But who is Erich Weiss? The man better known as Harry Houdini was known by many names: the Prince of the Air, Eric the Great, the Handcuff King, and the Card King (geocities.com). Ehrich became fascinated with the idea of magic when he was eight years old after his father took him to see a show performed by Dr. Lyan who was a traveling magician. By the age of twelve Ehrich ran away from home and traveled with circuses and side shows, using two show names â€Å"Ehrich the Prince of the Air† and â€Å"Eric the Great† (geocities.com). After a year of traveling Houdini now thirteen reunited with his parents in New York. While i n New York Ehrich read the autobiography of a Frenchman named Jean Robert-Houdin who was a magician and Harry Houdini was born, legally changing his name after establishing himself as an international icon while in Great Britain. Houdini and Beatrice Rahner were married in 1894. Bess Houdini traveled with her husband and became an assistant in his act. There were no children to follow in their father’s footsteps and keep his name alive, but his wife did a very good job. For sixteen years after Houdini’s untimely death Bess paid a publicist to keep his name alive (geocities.com). Houdini spent a few years in the United States making a name for himself and then in 1900 he left for England. During his stay in England Houdini became the highest paid entertainer in Europe. At $2,000 a week he was making $112,000 a year, an incredibly high salary for 1900. Harry stayed in Europe for five years enjoying his money and coming up...

Alas, Babylon essays

Alas, Babylon essays The women in this novel have important roles. Most of the time the women are shown as the caregivers who watch over the children. There are many examples of this in this novel. Helen Bragg is the wife of Mark Bragg. She is very important in this novel because she shows a real motherly and caregiver role. In chapter four, Helen and her two kids, Ben Franklin and Peyton, are leaving to go stay with Randy. Mark has to stay behind in Omaha in a military place called The Hole. Mark says to Helen, Your job is to survive because if you dont the children wont survive. That is your job. There is no other (66). Mark states her role here. She needs to survive in order to take care of the children so they will survive too. While Helen and the children are staying in Randys house, she tries to keep things as normal as possible after the nuclear attacks. She tells Ben to wash his hands before they eat dinner. This also shows that she is in a caregiver role. Another woman with a caregiver role in this novel is Lib McGovern. When Helen has a fantasy about Randy being Mark, she kisses him and this freaks out Randy. He talks to Lib for help. She tells him that she wanted to major in psychology and that Helen was having a fantasy. Randy says, Youre talking like a professional, Lib (223). Her role is to help Randy with his problems. Another time when Lib has an important role in this story is when she goes over to Admiral Sam Hazzards house with Randy. Admiral and Randy are discussing what to do about the highwaymen that attacked Dan and stole his things and the only good car that they had. Lib is sitting there with those two men when she finally has to make a suggestion. She says that the best way to get the highwaymens attention is to ask Rita for her grocery truck and gasoline. The Admiral all this time treats her like a mess girl. After Lib sugges ...

Museum Rebort Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Museum Rebort - Essay Example Artists use ceramics to develop various sculptures that criticize the social and cultural features of the society. Some of the best ceramics artifacts on display in museums today harbor rich cultural and social history of various societies. The works of Ken Price has remained on display at the Los Angeles Museum of Arts. The multicolored sculpture glows in the lights of the display thereby depicting the lustrous nature of the carvings. The smooth flowing edges and curves of the sculpture portray the malleable nature of ceramics the artist manipulates thereby developing the work. Arts provide people with effective platform on which to criticize the developments in the society. In doing this, arts provide artists with the opportunity to maintain a relative criticisms of the various cultural and social developments in the society. The feature of arts presents a daunting task to the artists who must therefore develop an intriguing work but maintain an originality in their works. Ken Price achieves this in his sculpture, which oozes both uniqueness and originality. The unique sculpture has several molten like lumps that depict the artist’s creativity. As described above, the smooth flowing curves that appear as molten lumps are carefully done curving on the ceramic materials. The artists maintain the caution capable of achieving the illusion of the curves on the ceramic material. The artist curves the intricate shapes of the artifact from the delicate ceramic materials thereby developing the artifact before heating it in order to achieve the strength and longevity the artifact enjoys at the display to date. The artist employs a combination of artistic techniques in order to achieve the finished artifact on display at the museum today. The soft ceramic clay helps with the molding process; wet ceramic clay is not only ductile but also equally plastic in nature. This makes ceramics better than clay in the creation

Toyota Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Toyota - Essay Example The company has developed a separate system called Toyota Production System (TPS) in order to manage its production operations. This system gives more focus on avoidance of over production and this strategy may sometimes adversely affect the expansional notions of Toyota. Hence, it is recommendable for the company to engage in more large scale production. Similarly, the Toyota must improve its competitiveness by introducing effective long term promotional strategies as the company economically lags behind Japan’s No.2 Nissan Motor Co Ltd and third ranked Honda Motor Co Ltd. The company must design a well structured employee development program that would establish a balance between an individual’s personal interests and organizational goals. Likewise, it is advisable for the management to make interpersonal relationships with employees so that it can ensure effective information flow between the organization’s top level to bottom level and vice versa. For this pu rpose, the firm may arrange for periodical meetings or appoint unit supervisors.