The Brics In The Global System Economics Essay

The Brics In The Global System Economics Essay In 2006, as BRICs mania gathered momentum, the four governments, at the initiative of former Russian President Vladimir Putin, collectively lifted themselves from the pages of investment reports to hold their first foreign ministers meeting on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly session. After a second meeting of the four foreign ministers in New York in September 2007, the BRICs launched a consultative process at the level of deputy foreign ministers to foster regular contacts and multilateral diplomacy. By 2008 the four BRICs foreign ministers, and on a different track the finance ministers, established a process to hold regular meetings to discuss common approaches to international problems, including the global financial crisis. Again at Russias initiative, the four BRIC heads of state met in July on the sidelines of the G8 (the G7 plus Russia) summit in Japan and plans were laid for a formal summit to be held in the Ural mountains city of Ekaterinburg, Russia in June 2009. Despite the groups improbable beginnings, BRICs were on a roll. 2. Successive communiquà ©s from follow-on meetings enumerated demands for an adjustment of global governance structures to better reflect the BRICs rising share of global output, trade, and financial flows. Nearly 60 percent of the total 14 increase in world output in 2000-2008 took place in developing and transitional countries, half of which occurred in the BRICS; their share of global GDP during the same period rose from 16 to 22 percent. Current projections estimate that China will overtake Japan as the worlds second largest economy in about 2010, and within the next two decades the top three economies in the world are expected to be China, the U.S., and India, with Russia and Brazil moving higher within the top ten. 3. BRICS symbolises the collective economic power of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Together the BRICS account for more than 40 per cent of the global population, nearly 30 per cent of the land mass, and a share in world GDP (in PPP terms) that increased from 16 per cent in 2000 to nearly 25 per cent in 2010 and is expected to rise significantly in the near future. The Rise of BRICS 4. BRICS, the five of the most important rising economic powers in the early twenty-first century, have emerged individually as second-tier regional powers and collectively as a joint presence in world politics. Although BRICS diplomacy took wing under Western radar, it now features well-publicised regular summits, communiquà ©s summarising common positions and demands, and activities to promote peer learning and public diplomacy. Goldman Sachss analyses may have indirectly spawned an incentive to collaborate diplomatically, but the bank is not alone in identifying (and promoting) such trends. Even before the global economic downturn, attention had begun to focus on the post-American world, a non-polar world, and especially the rise of China. 15 5. The BRICS countries have a significant strategic position on their continents: the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa. Taken together, these five countries account for approximately 30 per cent of the earths surface. The importance of this vast territory is related to the amount of their mineral, water and energy resources, the availability of fertile land for agriculture and their biodiversity. All five countries have intensively developed activities in these areas with varying degree of success. The relative importance of agriculture and extractive activities, the transformation of mineral and energy resources and the magnitude of the BRICS agro-diversity are shown by their share in global trade in commodities and in the evolution of industrial activities. Their rich biodiversity also provides the opportunity for the development of very dynamic industries such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. 6. The total population of the BRICS is even more significant than their territory. The BRICS percentage of global population remained constant at around 43 percent of the worlds total population over the period 1985-2005. Chinas share of the world population declined from 22.1 percent in 1982 to 19.6 percent in 2005. However the population of all the other BRICS except Russia increased. The most significant increase in population occurred in India, which had 17.4 percent of the world population in 2005. This large share of the population represents both a challenge ad a source of opportunities. Challenges that frequently occur in large populations are those to do with the provision of water, food, energy and sanitation, as well as with the health and education systems. Other undesirable challenges associated with the population problem take the form of unemployment and the high degree of inequality in the distribution of income. These problems are common to the five countries, where a significant portion of the population lacks access to essential goods and services, and demand urgent redress. Data available from the United Nations show that Brazil and South Africa are among the countries with the worst distribution of income and that India and Russia are among those with the 16 largest percentage of the population living below the poverty line, 28.6 percent and 30.9 percent respectively in the mid 2000s. Problems related to the perverse distribution of income and limited access to public services (education, health, housing and urban infrastructure, public safety etc.) are reflected in their low human development index. 7. Huge regional disparities in human and economic development are evident in all five countries. In general, the wealthier are those that are more industrialised. Regional redistribution of income and access to essential goods and services represent a significant challenge that these five countries have in common. 8. Regarding the structure and performance of production, the combined GDP of the BRICS (in terms of purchasing power parity) represented in 2007 approximately 23 per cent of world GDP, more than the United States. In that year, China and India accounted for 10.8 percent and 4.8 percent of world GDP respectively. The economic performance of the BRICS has, however, varied widely in the last decades. China has maintained the fastest growing economy worldwide. India has grown significantly and more regularly. Russia after experiencing a severe crisis in the 1990s, and being faced with significant disorganization of the socialist economy, began a phase of significant growth in this decade propelled by the role of oil and gas in the economy. Brazil and South Africa have seen a small improvement in their economic performance, also well below their potential. 9. The spectacular economic growth in China is mostly due to the competitiveness of its manufacturing sector. It is important to point out that the industrial system in China has diversified to a significant degree during the last 25 years. The most noteworthy change, in recent years, has been the growth in the consumer durables and electronics sectors. In China, the share of technologically 17 intensive sectors in industrial output during the middle of the present decade approached 35 percent of the total value added by the manufacturing sector. This share is between 14 percent and 17 percent in the other four countries. 10. All the BRICS have raised their export and import levels in the last two decades, both in volume terms and as a share of GDP. In China, Russia and South Africa, foreign trade reached, in 2002, more than 50 percent of GDP while in Brazil and India it represented approximately 30 percent of GDP. Except South Africa, which has not increased its share of world exports in the last ten years, all the other four countries experienced high growth in exports? On the import side, all five countries increased their share of world imports, with the exception of Brazil. 11. The BRICS have been the recipient of significant amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the last 50 years. Prior to 1984, Brazil received the greatest amount of FDI of all the BRICS. Although China reached the same level in 1985, Brazil continued to be a major destination for FDI during the 1990s, most notably during the process of privatization that took place during that decade. 12. China became the largest recipient of FDI in the world beginning in1993. The Chinese policy of attracting multinational companies was part of a strategy to expand their technological knowledge and later to strengthen domestic industries and companies. In China and India, where the capital account was not liberalized, FDI seems to have been concentrated in new investments in production and innovation. The other BRICS countries i.e. Brazil, Russia and South Africa, where the economies were liberalized with fewer restrictions, received more portfolio investment. This demonstrates the economic and political importance of the BRICS. The increase in the degree of influence of these countries took place during a period marked by intense transformation in the economy and global society. One of 18 this is the integration in the economy and society of significant proportion of previously marginalised segment of the BRICS population. 13. The crisis that started to affect the world economy in 2007-2008 has repositioned the role and importance of the BRICS. In a new scenario characterised by geopolitical realignment and where the role and function of the state in the economy are being redefined, their economic weight has in fact increased. Also, their capacity to remain immune is seen as a relevant source of ideas about how to survive during the crisis and to find ways of overcoming it. The differentiated role of the BRICS in the configuration of global power and the global economy will in some way constrain the evolution of their domestic system for innovation. Also, their national system of innovation are highly dependent on their historical development and on how the different domestic actors interpret global developments as well as how they position themselves in the national and international economies. On the other hand, more room for manoeuvre for setting up new industrial and technological policies may be e xpected. Significance of BRICS 14. The BRICS countries have consistently displayed high annual growth rate since 1980. China has grown at about 9.8%, followed by India at around 5.8% and Russia also at about the same level as India, while Brazil showed 2.4% growth. In comparison, the large industrialized nations group of seven (G-7) have shown 2.7% average annual growth. China and India have shown sustained growth by maintaining significantly high growth rates over a long period. 19 15. BRICS share of the global economy has increased by 1.5% over the last decade. During the period 2000-03, the BRIC countries contributed 1.4% of the annual global growth rate of 3.3% at purchasing power parity. Over the period 1980-2003, the per capita GDP at purchasing power parity has grown twelve fold in China, quadrupled in India, more than double in Brazil. In Russia, per capita GDP has increased by 50% over the 1998 levels. This indicates an overall increase in prosperity in BRICs. Accordingly the living standards have gone up in the BRIC economies, and the gap between the BRICs and advanced economies is narrowing down.(page 32 Sujatha) 16. This is also perhaps the most opportune time for forging closer links, given that the world economy is in a state of flux and a rebalancing is taking place towards the emerging economies. Their pivotal role in the global recovery has already catapulted the BRICs into the leadership role, which needs further cementing through greater interface among economies. Key Indicators and Statistics http://www.globalsherpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/BRICs-Development-Indicators-e1304046996149.gif 20 17. Economic Growth and Development of the BRICs (a) From 2000 to 2008, the BRIC countries combined share of total world economic output rose from 16 to 22 percent. Together, the BRIC countries accounted for 30 percent of the increase in global output during the period. (b) To date, the scale of Chinas economy and pace of its development has out-distancebd those of its BRIC peers. China alone contributed more than half of the BRIC countries share and greater than 15 percent of the growth in world economic output from 2000 to 2008. The chart above on key development indicators for the BRIC countries shows the sharp contrast in GDP, merchandise exports and the UNDPs Human Development Index (HDI) between China and the other BRIC countries. 18. Growing BRIC Middle Class (a) The rapid economic growth and demographics of China and India are expected to give rise to a large middle class whose consumption would help drive the BRICs economic development and expansion of the global economy.   The charts below depict how the increase in the middle class population of the BRIC countries is forecasted to more than double that of the developed G7 economies.   21 http://www.globalsherpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/brics-middle-class-income-bracket-2020-goldman-sachs-5.10-300268.png http://www.globalsherpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/expanding-world-middle-class-goldman-sachs-5.10-300246.png

Moral Degradation Essay

I think all would consider this fact to be tenable that nowadays more youth and youngsters are involved in crime and hence an extreme phase of social illness is undeniable and inescapable. You can’t just deny this fact. It’s all in the statistics. I mean it is facts and figures that we are talking about; black and white. Nothing remains to hide and no where to run. We are in a reality to face it. Some would debate before they say it moral degradation. However, if they do so you have enough reason to ask them about what morality constitutes and how he or she would label this new unexpected development. Moreover, the increase in juvenile cases recent months is shocking and the news of students killing one another can be seen a chronic disease. Young generation with whom we are used to dream for the future of the country is having a great contribution to this new specter. From ogling, winking, passing comments in the form of sexual innuendos, to touching, groping, ‘eveteasing’, stalking, sending lewd text messages, ‘prank’ calls, display of pornography, threatening and intimidation, acid attacks, and unwanted ‘love’ proposals. Compared to back then, things do not happen like this. Is there any doubt that more youngsters nowadays are involved in social crimes and problems? The disrespectful attitude carried out by youths and students is very much common nowadays if you were to compare again to the last couple of years. I mean what is wrong with youngsters and youths nowadays? Why are they acting in such a way? There is no fear and tear to say it is kind of social moral breakdown and it is taking its shape through such abnormal and undesired manner. Government and society has nothing to do with it or unwilling to do it? May be the last one is closer to the truth than the former one. However, it is the failure of the state to ensure the moral growth of the young girls

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

IntroductionThroughout history, our conceptualization of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has been changing alongside changes in the way we have viewed the world. With the dawning of the Renaissance in Western Europe, religious explanations based on demonic possession were superseded by a more humanistic understanding. By the early seventeenth century, the obsessions that drove Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth to suicide were recognized to be a product of her guilty mind, for which there was no medical cure.Obsessions and compulsions were first described in the medical literature of the early nineteenth century. They were viewed as an unusual expression of melancholia. By the beginning of the twentieth century, with the development of psychoanalysis, the focus shifted onto psychological explanations based on unconscious conflicts, but this did not provide a useful strategy for treatment. The subsequent application of learning theory to OCD led to the development of effective behavioural treatments in the 1960s and 1970s.Compared with the pace of these historical developments, modern understanding of OCD has expanded with dramatic speed. The development of effective medical treatments of OCD has revolutionized the outlook for sufferers and propelled OCD to the forefront of scientific attention. With the growth of research into the epidemiology, psychopharmacology, neurobiology, neuropsychology and genetics of OCD, reviewed throughout this publication, the emphasis has once again swung back toward a medical model. As we enter the twenty-first century, we now recognize OCD as a common, treatable form of major mental disorder.After the pioneering epidemiological catchment area (ECA) studies carried out by the National Institute of Mental Health in the early 1980s reported that the prevalence of OCD was substantially higher than expected, (Robins, Holzer, & Weissman, 1984) repeated population studies using similar methods have demonstrated a lifetime prevalence of 2-3% worldwide (Weissman, Bland & Canino, 1994).   Taiwan and India were the only exceptions, with rates below 1%. If these estimates are accurate, then OCD affects more than 50 million people in the world today. The prevalence does not appear to be influenced by socioeconomic status, educational achievement, or ethnicity. The disorder is more common than schizophrenia, and about half as common as depression. Yet the illness remains largely under-recognized, and the psychosocial and economic costs to society from untreated OCD are high (Hollander, & Wong, 1998).   It is not surprising that the World Health Organization has now recognized OCD as a public health priority.While there is little doubt that the ‘hidden epidemic' of OCD exists, the actual prevalence of clinically relevant disorder has been called into question. In the ECA studies lay interviewers were trained to make DSM-III diagnoses using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). However, clinical reappraisal of DIS -positive cases resulted in less than 25% continuing to meet the criteria for OCD (Nelson & Rice, 1997).One explanation is that the rates of illness reported in the original ECA studies may have been exaggerated. Alternatively, the findings may reflect variability in the severity of the disorder over time.Obsessive compulsive disorder is more common in women, although the differences are not as obvious as in depression or other anxiety disorders. An average female to male ratio of 1.5:1.0 is accepted for the community at large, although the ratio appears roughly equal in the adolescent population, reflecting perhaps the earlier onset in boys. In particularly in males, having obsessions and compulsions or magical thinking, poor social adjustment, and an early chronic course, predicted a worse outcome.A more recent 5-year prospective follow-up study of 100 OCD patients showed that in spite of the introduction of modern treatments, outcomes were similar to Skoog and Skoog's cohort, wit h only 20% reaching full remission of their OCD, 50% showing partial remission, and the remainder unchanged or worse over 5 years. Less severe illness and being married were associated with a better outcome (Steketee Eisen & Dyck, 1999).Most patients suffer a mixture of different obsessions or compulsions. Surveys have consistently identified contamination fears as the most common obsession, with concern about harm to others, pathological doubt, somatic obsessions and the need for symmetry also occurring frequently. Half of all OCD patients admitted for treatment suffer compulsions in the realm of repetitive checking or excessive cleaning and washing. 20 Key themes have been identified that underlie most symptoms. These include abnormal risk assessment, pathological doubt and incompleteness.Patients with OCD usually retain full insight into the absurdity of their symptoms, although this is not always the case (Insel & Akiskal, 1986). The DSM-IV singles out patients with poor insight as a meaningful subgroup. These individuals have more complex symptomatology, which makes diagnosis more difficult, and tend to be more severely ill. They have only a limited sense of the excessiveness and irrationality of their thoughts and behaviours and are therefore difficult to engage in treatment. They may appear to be deluded (and hence receive inappropriate treatment) but longitudinal studies show they do not go on to develop schizophrenia-like illnesses. In a cohort of 475 patients with OCD, (6%) displayed lack of insight.Mild forms of obsessional behaviour, such as repetitive checking or superstitious behaviour commonly occur in everyday life. They only meet the criteria for OCD if they are time-consuming, or associated with impairment or distress.Recurrent, intrusive thoughts, impulses and images also occur in other mental disorders thought to share a relationship with OCD: for example, the preoccupation with bodily appearance, in body dysmorphic disorder; with a feared object, in specific phobia; with illness, in hypochondriasis; or with hair-pulling, in trichotillomania. A diagnosis of OCD should only be contrast; men predominate in surveys of OCD referrals, possibly reflecting a greater severity in males.Women during pregnancy and the puerperium are particularly at risk of developing the disorder. In a study by Neziroglu et al of 59 mothers with OCD, experienced their symptoms for the first time during pregnancy. In many cases, pre-existing obsessional tendencies are unmasked and exaggerated by the events surrounding childbirth.Obsessive compulsive disorder is considered to be one of the most strongly inherited mental disorders (Pauls, Alsobrook, & Goodman, 1995). Approximately one-fifth of nuclear family members of OCD sufferers show signs of OCD, and the younger the sufferer the more likely they are to have a first-degree relative affected. The clustering of OCD and Tourette's syndrome (TS) within families suggests a common inherited factor.Th e course of the illness can vary from a relatively benign form in which the patient experiences infrequent, discrete episodes of illness interspersed with symptom-free periods, to malignant OCD, characterized by unremitting symptoms and substantial social impairment.In a 40-year prospective follow-up study, reported by Skoog and Skoog, the authors managed to locate and examine 144 out of 251 OCD patients who had previously been admitted as inpatients under their care between 1947 and 1953. 1Given that effective treatments for OCD were not developed until the end of the study, much of the data is naturalistic. The authors found that roughly 60% showed signs of general improvement within 10 years of onset of illness, rising to 80% by the end of the study.However, only 20% achieved full remission even after nearly 50 years of illness; 60% continued to experience significant symptoms; 10% showed no improvement whatsoever; and another 10% had worsened. In 60% of cases the content of the obsessions shifted markedly over the follow-up period (Pauls, Alsobrook, & Goodman, 1995).One-fifth of those who had shown an early, sustained improvement subsequently relapsed, even after 20 years without symptoms, suggesting early recovery does not rule out the possibility of very late relapse. Intermittent, episodic disease was common during the early stage of illness, and predicted a more favourable outcome, whereas chronic illness predominated in the later years.Early age of onset, made if there are also unrelated obsessive-compulsive symptoms, in which case more than one diagnosis may be warranted. Activities such as preoccupation with eating, sex, shopping and gambling are not considered genuine compulsions because they are not egodystonic, and the individual usually only tries to resist because of the adverse consequences.Reference:Hollander E, Wong C, 1998). Psychosocial functions and economic costs of obsessive compulsive disorder, CNS Spectrums (3 (5) suppl. 1:48-58.Insel T, Akiskal H, 1986. Obsessive compulsive disorder with psychotic features: a phenomenological analysis, Am J Psychiatry 143:1527-33.Nelson E, Rice J, 1997. Stability of diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the Epidemiological Catchment Area Study. Am J Psychiatry 154:826-31.Pauls DL, Alsobrook JP, Goodman W et al, 1995). A family study of obsessive compulsive disorder, Am J Psychiatry 152 : 76-84.Robins LN, Holzer JE, Weissman MM et al, 1984 Lifetime prevalence of specific psychiatric disorders in three sites, Arch Gen Psychiatry (1984) 41 :949-58.Steketee G, Eisen J, Dyck I et al, (1999) Predictors of course in obsessive compulsive disorder, Psychiatr Res   89 (3):229-38.  Weissman MM, Bland RC, Canino GL et al, 1994. The cross national epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder, J Clin Psychiatry 55 :5-10.

Evolution A Scientific Theory - 1625 Words

According to National Center for Science Education, evolution is a scientific theory that explains the emergence of new varieties of living things in the past and in the present. Evolution accounts for the striking patterns of similarities and differences among living things over time and across habitats through the action of biological processes such as natural selection, mutation, symbiosis, gene transfer, and genetic drift. There has been an ongoing debate between religion and science as to whether evolution truly takes place. It may be possible for religion and scientific reasoning to support one another when it comes to evolutionary theory. Many who support the Christian faith are against evolution and believe God is the creator of†¦show more content†¦This supports the concept of microevolution. There are beliefs that the children born in Generation X and Z are more intelligent opposed to those who were born in the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers Generation. T he children of Generation X and Z were exposed to more technological advances than earlier Generations, which forces their minds to think quicker in order to keep up with the vastly changing technological world. â€Å"Karl Rahmer believes in the notion of â€Å"active self-transcendence.† God is interiorly present to evolving creatures, not simply enabling them to exist in a static way, but enabling them to transcend what they already are. The power of self-transcendence comes from within the creature, but it is a power that finally comes not from the creature, but from the ongoing creative activity of God. God upholds and empowers the process of evolution from within, as the power enabling creation itself to bring about something new (Edwards, p. 89).† God is very intelligent and he created humans in his image. God has given living things the ability to evolve and/or adapt to their environment. â€Å"How does the organism know what kind of genetic mutation is needed in order to become the kind of entity that will be able to survive a new environment? Cells must have been pre-programmed by an intelligent mind that designed them to experience limited adaptation to a changing environment (Geisler Bocchino, p.147).† In colder climates, humans and animals tend