Edgar Allan Poe Essay Example for Free

Edgar Allan Poe Essay Edgar Allan Poe was evil genius for his time and a great literary forerunner of today. He created the mind set for current writers such as Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Robin Cook by creating the horror story. Poe invites the reader to enter the mind of the narrator by using our senses as a way to provoke terror, suspense, and awe. His writing was influenced by many tragic losses in his life, and this would explain why Poe was a writer of such morbid short stories and poems. Poes experiences in life definitely influenced the remarkable literary work he produced. In his early life he had to deal with the death of both his parents, a difficult experience, but Poe accepted it as time went on. Later on in his life Poes stepfather disowned him. Young Edgars life was changed due to abandonment, alcoholism, and depression. In 1832 Poe moved in with his aunt and his 11 year old cousin in Baltimore. Poe then married his younger cousin in 1836. However, Poe did not know that he would suffer yet another terrible loss, the loss of his love, his wife. Poes ability to write literature was the window for him to express his feelings. All of Poes tragic losses affected the way he wrote. Poe used his life experiences to make his writing a lot more interesting. Poes writing is remarkably interesting. The poem The Raven showed how Poe erected a crazed state of mind, as the poem shows how the loss or a loved one drove a person crazy. This poem was possibly created for his wife that he had lost. While reading the poem it seems as if the stresses of the life of Poe, and his thoughts and feelings were all put into this poem. Throughout Poes life, many factors have contributed and influenced his writing style. He lived a difficult life, because he was raised in a dysfunctional household. But the final product of Poes mind is printed in his short stories and poems. Poes stories all have similar motifs and composition that would suggest suppressed emotions from life experiences are being discharged through his writings. The most prominent feature of Poes writing is his obsession with death. Poes writing does more than entertain the reader. It can be an insight into the dark and somber world of Edgar Allan Poe. One does not understand the meaning of Poe if one reads at the superficial level. One has to read into Poe, and understand the hardships of his life and how he maintained them that way. He knew that death was an inevitable part of life, it is the price of life, but he tried to fight it as if it was an unnatural part of life. He was an extremely intriguing man from all viewpoints, and he was and is, the dark side of all of us. It is difficult not to link Poes fictional stories with his real life. Evidence shows that Poe had a heart condition during his later years in life. Could The Tell Tale Heart be his own fear of the disease? Who knows? Could Poe have been expressing his fears that his alcoholic rages may cause him to hurt the ones he loved most in his tale The Black Cat? Finally, was the Pit and the Pendulum an allegory of his life? Did he find himself caught between the pendulum of financial adversity and the pit of degradation of death? Poe made the reader feel as if the reader were there, in the story, struggling with the same terrors of the characters. All his famous mystery thriller works give the reader a sense of nervousness, a sense of fear, and a sense of evil, by making our five senses awaken by reading every word. Critics say that Poe did not merely imitate the Gothic tales, but he also enriched them by preserving a central action while adding philosophical speculations and lore that deepened the impressions of the tales. As a result of the traumas he endured, Poe was unafraid of taking his readers for a walk on the dark side, where lines between life and death were sometimes blurred. His ability to tap into humankinds deepest fears and his consistency in portraying such intriguing and captivating themes is what has kept the work of Poe timeless. In short, Edgar Allan Poe has created many great stories for us. He liked to illustrate the dissolution of an individuals mind and body, as he had suffered it himself for quite a long time. He thought death is unavoidable, because he experienced keenly deaths all around him and its threat on his own life. He was obsessed by the loss of love of ideal women, for he had the same experience in life. Now, we can understand why Poe had a tendency of choosing such themes. Poe is an author of the inner world and his writings are his psychological autobiography to some extent. In this respect, Poe pioneered a new field in literature. He is the first one who focused on mans mental and spiritual activities, and his writings have deep influence on many of later writers. WORKS CITED Poe, Edgar Allan. Introductory Notes and Editors preface by Phillip van Doren Stern. In Selected Tales and Poems. The Viking Portal Library, Penguin Books, 1993. Moore, R. The Tell-Tale Heart: Discussion. 2002.Online. Internet. 11 November 2002. Available WWW: http://www.allpoe.com Murphy, Sally. Poes Poetry. 2002.Online. Internet. 12 November 2002. Available WWW: http://www.allpoe.com Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe His Life and Legacy. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992. Peters, James. Edgar Allan Poe. April 1, 2002.http://www.island-of-freedom.com/POE.HTM Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: A Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991. Death of Edgar Allan Poe. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998

Kant And Mill A Comparison Of Ethical Theories Philosophy Essay

Kant And Mill A Comparison Of Ethical Theories Philosophy Essay John Mills Utilitarianism and Immanuel Kants Fundamental Principle of the Metaphysic of Morality present the two philosophers divergent views on the field of moral philosophy. Mills Utilitarianism is a more refined ethical theory compared to Kants breakdown of the metaphysics and its use in proving what is right and what is wrong. Kant employs his corroboration of the subsistence of metaphysics as a discipline in his ethical philosophy. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if a law is to have moral force, i.e., to be the basis of an obligation, it must carry with it absolute necessity. (Kant preface). This dictum forms the base for Kants ethical theory. Mill disputes Kants assertion that our moral force must be driven by an obligation. Instead, Mill argues that humans are driven by a desire to be happy. Immanuel Kant utilized practical reasoning in his moral theory and suggests that there exists only one moral obligation; categorical imperative. He states, Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law (Kant second section). This obligation is derived from the notion of duty, and describes the categorical imperatives as the demands of moral decree, and further emphasizes that an individuals behavior ought to live up to the moral laws. These categorical imperatives should be the constitution governing all men; they should be the principles of human life. Kant argues that all ethical duties inherently expected of humans stem from these categorical imperatives, and it systematically follows that human obligations are put to the test. He goes on to state that employing these imperatives, an individual regarded as rational could be able to achieve specific ends using certain means. Kants categorical imperative forms the basis of the deontological ethics. The fundamental principle of the metaphysics of morals postulates that moral law is a base or foundation of reason in itself and it does not have to be influenced by other contingent factors. The biggest flaw of Kants moral theory is that it fails to mention the role of human desire in the choices individuals make. Kant theory succeeds only in highlighting moral versus immoral human actions, and specifically makes it easier in making choices that exclusively involves evil versus good. It does not provide insight into what an individual should do in case he or she is faced by two evils, a nd he or she has to make a choice between the two. For instance, what does one do when faced with the exclusive choices of either lying or killing? Mills ethical theory offers an insight. Mills utilitarian ethical theory provides a rule that illuminates this quandary. Utilitarian theory supports Machiavellis the end justifies the means; according to the utilitarian opinion, the end of human action, is necessarily also the standard of morality (Mill ch II). The greatest happiness principle proposes that humans should inherently choose the option that gives them the most happiness. Mill constructs a world where the happiness of humans is judged. Mill believes that the best happiness is achieved when everyone is happy; the absence of suffering and pain. He believes that true happiness must be moral or intellectual in nature. Physical happiness does not qualify as true happiness. Happiness is greater than feeling of contentment. Mill talks of different forms of happiness, high and low happiness. When an individual experiences both forms of happiness, he or she develops a preference of one over the other. Mill opines that simple pleasures are preferred by individuals who have not experienced greater ones. Nevertheless, he still holds that higher pleasures are really valued. Because happiness predetermines human desires, it is only logical that our actions are determined by will; will to be happy. Mill however posits that the realization of human desire can at times be subjective to the will of an individual or an individuals habit. Mills utilitarian therefore covers more on human motives as compared to mere indulgence. Every intrinsic human desire is a derivative of elementary human desires to be happy or achieve gratification. Sometimes the pursuit of basic human pleasures may result in pain as a result of sacrifices humans consciously or subliminally make. Such sacrifices for the sake of happiness in the en d are fully justified. A significant difference between Mill and Kant, based on the two writings, is the gradation of ethics. Under Kants metaphysics of science, an individual can be regarded as morally upright while still being selfish. Under Mills utilitarian, an individual cannot be morally right if he or she is selfish since Mills ethical theory requires humans to extend happiness to others. All honour to those who can abnegate for themselves the personal enjoyment of life, when by such renunciation they contribute worthily to increase the amount of happiness in the world (Mill ch II). Kant negates the utilitarian idea by stating that there exists a divergence between desires and ethics and that contemplations of human rights temper estimations of cumulative utility. Kant holds that everything in existence possesses a price or a dignity. He adds that whatever possesses a price can be easily replaced by something else of the similar value as it, but whatever has a dignity can never be replaced. Both philosophers have deep thought on the issue of morality. Mill has his thoughts based on utilitarian grounds, which is an elaborate system that revolves around happiness of people. It hypothesizes that an individual ought to act in a way that ensures the happiness of those around them. Kant has his philosophy of giving morality a good versus bad angle. He, on the other hand, hypothesizes that reasoning and human nature should be the determinants of morality and not human desires. Morality is the root of human interaction and without it, humans would not discern right from wrong. Morality is very important but between the two philosophers John Mill offers an upgraded version of ethical philosophy that is more elaborate and practical.

Analysis of a Local Day Care Essay -- Local Nurseries

This report analyses the strengths and weaknesses of a local day care which is registered on the Early Years Register and is located in Derby, UK. It is called Happy Day Nurseries Ltd. This report is based on the inspection dated 18/04/2015 and focuses on quality and standards of the early years provision, the compliance of the early year’s provider to meet the needs of children and the contribution to the well being of children and the effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provider. The previous inspection, carried out in Oct 2014 was graded as good. It was brought forward as a result of concerns raised regarding lack of curriculum planning and safety issues and has been termed as inadequate for failing to provide children with an acceptable standard of education. The inspector observed children and staff in each of the four nursery rooms and found inconsistencies in delivery of educational programme across the nursery. The inspector found planned activities uninspiring and failed to motivate children. The Statutory framework 2012, recommends each area of learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. It was found that staff does not consistently encourage children’s communication, language skills for the youngest children in particular. Due to very less communication in the toddler room, very young children did not gain the necessary skills to move on in their learning. There were inconsistencies found in the practice planning and delivery of the educational programmes and teaching in different rooms. The local daycare provider may be in breach of their obligation of igniting children’s curiosity ... ...andards in Education. (2012). Raising Standards Improving Lives. [online]. Available from: http://www/ofsted.gov.uk/ [Accessed 15 January2014] Office for standards in Education. (2013). Inspection report. [online]. Available from: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/CARE/EY440265 [Accessed 10 January2014] Pugh, G. and Duffy, B. (2009). Contemporary Issues in the Early Years. (5th ed). London: Sage. Robins, A. and Callan, S. (2010). Managing Early Years Settings: Supporting and Learning Teams. London: Sage. Rodd, J. (2006). Leadership in Early childhood: the path way to professionalism. (3rd ed). Maidenhead: O.U. Stogdill. (1998) and Mann. (1959). ‘ Leadership in the Early Years: areview of the literatuire’ In Whalley ,M. E and Allen, S. (2011) Leading Practice in Early Years Settings. Exeter: Learning Matters

American Technological Advancements and the Cold War Essay -- Military

American Technological Advancements and the Cold War Many of the military technological advancements that have been made in the last 60 years can be attributed to the Cold War. Much of the technology developed during the period of the Cold War is still in use today by the military and government. Advancements in offensive technology are well known to just about everyone in the way of nuclear energy harnessed in the form of the nuclear bomb, but little is known about the battle for information during the Cold War. The Cold War produced some of the most advanced technology used in the fields of detection and reconnaissance in history. The United States’ detection and reconnaissance technology played a major role against communism during the Cold War, and these types of technology still play roles today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A cold war is an ideological conflict with military standoffs while keeping diplomatic relations open. The Cold War consisted of two sides (or Superpowers); the first was the United States, who believed in and practiced capitalism, the opposing side was the Soviet Union, who believed in and practiced the idea of communism. Many historians dispute the start time of the conflict; however, it began some time after World War II and dragged on until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. The Cold War Project Group Online claims â€Å"the advancement of technology during the Cold War was greater than that of any one time period† (â€Å"The Arms Race†). The war developed nuclear missiles and many other technological advancements taking the world into a new era, the Nuclear Era. It was estimated at one time the United States and the Soviet Union could nuke the world seven times over; the governments realized the pointlessness of so many nuclear missiles a nd turned their attention toward other ways to get an upper hand in the conflict. Tensions ran high during this time; without military confrontation, research and resources were redirected towards other fields of technology such as detection systems, surveillance equipment, and underwater technologies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The North American Aerospace Defense Command, other wise known as NORAD, is a series of radar stations in North America that were built in 1950s. NORAD is a joint United States and Canadian organization that provides warnings and aerospace control for North America. The North American Aerospace Defense Comm... ...ent, they have found usefulness in today’s world through reassessing their mission or in scientific research. The art of reconnaissance changed during the Cold War with the invention of the spy satellite, the U2 Spy Plane, and the nuclear powered submarines. Today much of the photo taken by the United States spy satellites and U2 Spy Planes are classified but they are still used today as a part of the military and the Center Intelligent Agency to identify threats just as they did during the Cold War; submarines The tracking down and monitoring Soviet submarines movements during the Cold War was one of the major missions of the nuclear submarines, unfortunately today the submarine force of the United States is slowly shrinking do to budget cut with in the military. Fear and uncertainty surrounded the Cold War, however thanks to these technological advancements during the Cold War it helped to keep offensive weapons form being fired and destroying the world. Unfortunately on ly a few of these technologies have found there way into the world today. The Cold War was a conflict that brought fear to Americans but also brought the United States new technology that is still around today.

Competency To Stand Trial

On the night of February 4th, police responded to a call at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. They had been shot and killed; the only other person in the home was the Wilson’s 25 year old son Edward. Subsequently Edward was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder. Edward was found to be incompetent to stand trial; now that he has come to the facility where I work for restoration of competency I am responsible for providing a re-evaluation of competency.Knowing Edward’s past mental issues and suicide attempt a few years back there are many things that I would need to take note of before and during the evaluation process. First I would want to obtain information from Edward’s previous doctors, specifically the one who first had diagnosed Edward and prescribed him his medication; even interview the doctor if possible. To aid in the behavioral research I would want to interview Edward’s school teachers to have record of progress and behavior in school.Also, I would want to review school transcripts to see if there was any deterioration of grades and/or behavior. I would want to interview family members and friends to determine any previous rage or anger issues Edward had previously displayed, besides the one(s) already noted. â€Å"Competency to stand trial, is a legal construct that usually refers to a criminal Defendant’s ability to participate in legal proceedings related to an alleged offense† (Mossman, Noffsinger, Ash, Frierson, Gerbasi, Hackett, Lewis, Pinals, Scott, Sieg, Barry, Wall, Zonana, 2007) or.Can be defined as having the capacity mentally to understand and be aware of what was happening as far as the court proceedings the defendant was involved in, as well as being able to communicate and understand information between attorneys. In order to be considered competent to stand trial there are numerous questions that the defendant would need to be able to answer and/or comprehend. Some example s of these questions would be, does the defendant understand what he or she is being charged with, and does he or she understand why?Does the defendant understand the various verdicts from the outcome of the trial, and the possible consequences of each verdict (Forensic Checklist)? There are many instruments to assist with the evaluation assessment, such as the Competency assessment instrument (CAI). In order to assess Edward and his competency to stand trial I would ask him whether or not he was able to communicate relative information to the attorney about the night in question, I would assess his decision making ability when it related to the crimes Edward was charged with.I would ask Edward if he understood the roles of the defense counsel, the judge, the prosecutor and other players in the trial process. I would assess Edward’s view of the crime and the way others would perceived him if found guilty, whether or not people would be in fear of Edward because of the nature of the crime. I would the ask Edward to describe what happened on the night in question, who was there and the timeline of events of that night; I would see if he understood why the police had arrested him and what led up to the arrest.(Whitlock, Feix, Banner, Gerdes, Santina, Trageser, 2012)Besides the interview questions I would assess and evaluate Edward’s demeanor and the way he upheld his appearance. I would evaluate the hand gestures, if any, facial expressions, how in-depth he thought about the answers to the questions I asked, and his overall actions on the outside, or physically. You can tell a lot about a person with the way they carry themselves, their hygiene for instance can tell you if the person is incapable of caring for himself or maybe they have poor hygiene practices.After assessing Edward’s competency level his awareness and his ability to comprehend reality, I do not think that Edward is competent to stand trial. Given his diagnosis of paranoid sch izophrenia and his inability to control the symptoms without medication, along with his past incidents involving anger, rage and violence I do not think Edward would react in an appropriate manner if he was provoked or just had a violent outburst. Considering the charges of first degree murder I believe for the safety of him and others he should be deemed incompetent to stand trial.Because Edward has been found to be incompetent to stand trial, the court proceedings will be put on hold while her continues to receive treatment until his competency has been restored (Frontline, 2013). I believe with continued treatment including medication taken consistently and counseling and observation Edwards’s competency to stand trial will be restored in a few more months. If I had to choose the theory of criminal behavior that would best conceptualize Edward’s behavior I would choose biological, and psychological. Biological, because his condition that he was diagnosed with is a d isorder of the brain, which is biological?Something in his brain has distorted reality and has made him paranoid, hear see and think things that were abnormal and delusional. These symptoms can be controlled with the use of medication when they are take, and again these points to a biological behavior. I chose psychological because in order for somebody to commit murder there must be something wrong in the way they think. This could be attributed to the biological issue of having a disorder of the brain but I feel if that is the case then biological and psychological factors would go hand in hand.Regardless, either way there is an illness in Edwards’s brain that can be associated with biological factors which would in turn lead to the psychological factors and behaviors. If I was on the stand and the judge asked me to assess Edwards risk of future violence, I would tell him Edward is probably unstable. Taking into consideration his past violent outbursts, the fact that he is on medication that controls symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and the nature of the crime he is being charged with I would inform the judge there is a strong possibility that Edward could have more violent episodes in the future.I would not be able to say for certain but given the facts I would lean very strongly in the direction of him being a threat to himself and others. For those who have been deemed imp competent to stand trial and are put into inpatient treatment, form specialty groups. These specialty groups while in treatment watch video tapes and are given special instructions on how the court processed works. (Greene, 2012) This is the specialty groups I feel Edward would need to fit into for treatment and counseling and would help restore competency.I am hoping that within a couple months of treatment Edward would be able to stand trial and be fairly tried for the crime committed. After assessing Edward and revaluating his competency I have found that even though he has mental issues and is on medication for his diagnosed issue, restoration of his competency to stand trial is a possibility. There is no fear of malingering in Edward’s case, although if there were an issue with a fear of malingering there are tools to help decipher whether or not an individual is trying to fake an incompetency when it comes it to standing trial.

Statement of Purpose Santosh G Vattam MS

Statement of purpose Santosh G Vattam MS, Embedded Systems (CIS), May 2012 Research Interest I am a Master of Science and Engineering student majoring in Embedded Systems from University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 2012. I am interested in embedded systems modeling and model based code generation. This interest has developed thanks to my research project with Prof. Insup Lee as well as the Embedded and Cyber Physical Systems and the Principles of Embedded Computation courses I took at Penn with Prof. Insup Lee and Prof. Rajeev Alur respectively.The Embedded and CPS course involved modeling and implementation of a pacemaker, while the Principles of Embedded Computation course provided the much needed theoritical foundation for developing embedded system models and verifying and validating thus developed models. Research projects In Jan 2011, I started working on the Medical Device Dongle(MDD) Project with Prof. Insup Lee. The idea was to make patient monitoring, patient centric rather than device centric by developing a standards-based interface for medical device interoperability.We decided to use the existing device interoperability standard – IEEE11073-PHD with slight modications. I implemented the rst prototype of the IEEE11073 Manager and Agent state machines. We later encountered the problem of providing a medium for using the services of the MDD and thus we designed and implemented an interface to sit on top of the MDD. We have since presented our work at the Wireless Health Conference 2011, San Diego, CA and at Embedded Software Week Android competition, Taipei, Taiwan. We shall also be presenting at the International Health Informatics Symposium, Miami, FL in Jan 2012.Prior to this, I have worked on the Coverage Analysis of RTEMS(Real Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems) as part of Google Summer of Code 2009 and mentored another student in 2010 for the same project. This project was my rst step into the embedded world. I wrote tes t cases to validate that every single line of object code generated was executed. I worked on the RTEMS-core codebase and in 2010 I mentored a student to work on the extended codebase. Research focus I would like to focus my research on model based code generation and validating the conformation of code to the model on which it was based.This is a problem that I have come across while working on the MDD project. We have based our design on the IEEE11073 architecture but there are no open implementations of it through which we can verify our implementation. There are certain validation tools but these just analyze the packet structure of the 11073 packets but not the ow of these packets within the network of devices. I am partly tackling this problem through my Masters thesis by writing test cases to validate the exchange of the right packets. This method, however, does not provide insight into the internal state ow of the code. I would like to study, n depth, the ways of validating code to the state model. I believe that by pursuing a PhD I shall not only gain the necessary skill set to tackle this problem, but also the insight of looking at unstructured data and obtaining structured information from it. Prof Insup Lee and his team at the PRECISE Center work on model based design and validation in the medical device domain. I have been working with Prof. Insup Lee and his team for close to a year now on the MDD project. I believe that the environment and the expertise at the PRECISE Center will provide me with the encouragement and the academic stimulus to excel at my research. Statement of Purpose Santosh G Vattam MS Statement of purpose Santosh G Vattam MS, Embedded Systems (CIS), May 2012 Research Interest I am a Master of Science and Engineering student majoring in Embedded Systems from University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 2012. I am interested in embedded systems modeling and model based code generation. This interest has developed thanks to my research project with Prof. Insup Lee as well as the Embedded and Cyber Physical Systems and the Principles of Embedded Computation courses I took at Penn with Prof. Insup Lee and Prof. Rajeev Alur respectively.The Embedded and CPS course involved modeling and implementation of a pacemaker, while the Principles of Embedded Computation course provided the much needed theoritical foundation for developing embedded system models and verifying and validating thus developed models. Research projects In Jan 2011, I started working on the Medical Device Dongle(MDD) Project with Prof. Insup Lee. The idea was to make patient monitoring, patient centric rather than device centric by developing a standards-based interface for medical device interoperability.We decided to use the existing device interoperability standard – IEEE11073-PHD with slight modications. I implemented the rst prototype of the IEEE11073 Manager and Agent state machines. We later encountered the problem of providing a medium for using the services of the MDD and thus we designed and implemented an interface to sit on top of the MDD. We have since presented our work at the Wireless Health Conference 2011, San Diego, CA and at Embedded Software Week Android competition, Taipei, Taiwan. We shall also be presenting at the International Health Informatics Symposium, Miami, FL in Jan 2012.Prior to this, I have worked on the Coverage Analysis of RTEMS(Real Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems) as part of Google Summer of Code 2009 and mentored another student in 2010 for the same project. This project was my rst step into the embedded world. I wrote tes t cases to validate that every single line of object code generated was executed. I worked on the RTEMS-core codebase and in 2010 I mentored a student to work on the extended codebase. Research focus I would like to focus my research on model based code generation and validating the conformation of code to the model on which it was based.This is a problem that I have come across while working on the MDD project. We have based our design on the IEEE11073 architecture but there are no open implementations of it through which we can verify our implementation. There are certain validation tools but these just analyze the packet structure of the 11073 packets but not the ow of these packets within the network of devices. I am partly tackling this problem through my Masters thesis by writing test cases to validate the exchange of the right packets. This method, however, does not provide insight into the internal state ow of the code. I would like to study, n depth, the ways of validating code to the state model. I believe that by pursuing a PhD I shall not only gain the necessary skill set to tackle this problem, but also the insight of looking at unstructured data and obtaining structured information from it. Prof Insup Lee and his team at the PRECISE Center work on model based design and validation in the medical device domain. I have been working with Prof. Insup Lee and his team for close to a year now on the MDD project. I believe that the environment and the expertise at the PRECISE Center will provide me with the encouragement and the academic stimulus to excel at my research.

Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Nigeria Essay

Basically, Nigeria is a plural society and heterogeneous in virtually all the facet of life. The custom and tradition of Nigerians is so diverse to the extent that Nigeria as a country is now confronted with the problem of religion and ethnicity towards their political stability. The origin and history of ethnic conflict (societal wars and violence) can be traced from eternal (internal) state rivalry to external (physical). And its root cause is not very far from power competition and decision making over economic resources and other important human factor, like position. The implementation process has always involved more than one or two persons. In general concept, the author of this work traces conflict back to the first and early Patriarchal of human history and ever since then, there has been an increase (in various dimensions) of Conflict in the face of human world. Some are personal (internal) conflict, family, community, and group, intellectual, state, national and international in nature, to mention but few. In conforming to this idea, Badawi (2006) in his statement titled â€Å"World Apart† stated thus, â€Å"indeed the greatest discord today is among the descendants of Abraham. These are the people of the book, the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who had in fact shared a common beginning in the religion of Abraham†. In shedding more light in the above statement, Badawi statement goes far beyond religion, rather, he was tracing one of the earliest source of conflict which Badawi mentioned the off-springs of the said Abraham. Even before Abraham, there had been conflict, so it is as old as human history down to the Abrahamic period, to ancient kingdoms, Dukes, and Kings. In about 88 B. C. , King Mithriadates VI of Pontus invaded Roman territory in Asian Minor. He advised Asian debtors to kill their Roman creditors. Happy to reduce their credit card bills, the Asians massacred 80,000 Romans. Ethno-political conflicts have greatly shaped our present world and of course have its structural phenomenon, (William Easterly, 2001). For instances, the conflict we now call Israeli and Palestinian war, has been an ever-lengthening sort. The Assyrian, Babylonian war, by King Nebuchadnezzar of the hanging Garden in history, the Persia war, Alexander the Great (the Macedonian mad man in history), the German war of Adolf’s. Hitler, the Roman wars, narrowing all these down, we came to the horn of African continent which seem to be an epidemic field of conflicts of diverse kinds till date. The giant-lion of African continent, just like the origin of conflict is said to have stated very old in human history, even so in the case of Nigeria, which can be traced to the colonial period of history. Conflict takes different sizes and shapes with diverse reasons and purposes. Majority of the conflicts takes time before their escalation and at such, could have been transformed right at their respective early stages. The history of ethnicity and ethnic conflicts in Nigeria is also traced back to the colonial transgressions that forced the ethnic groups of the northern and southern provinces to become an entity called Nigeria in 1914. In the case of Nigeria situation, disturbing history of colonialism, this generated hatred and conflict among different ethnic groups. The task of addressing this seed of conflict planted by the British has been a complex one. After weakening the former diverse kingdoms, Emperors, etc now called Nigeria and reordering the groups’ politics, the colonial powers failed in nation building and providing for the people’s basic needs. Hence, unemployment, poverty increase, and due to these, conflict over scarce resources ensue. The Southern and Northern protectorates were also being amalgamated into a nation. Thereafter, the merging of different colonies into one country called Nigeria was forcefully done without the people’s consent. This was a major seed of conflict that is still troubling Nigeria today. This article is focused on the historical incidents of ethnic conflicts in within Nigeria societies, the cause of the conflicts and perhaps, the government actions towards ethnic conflict in the country. In conclusion, this paper will explore into decision-making (by the elites and those in authority) process has contributed immensely in generating the syndromes of conflict in the said state. The Nigerian political situation has witnessed more breaking of heads, than counting them. In fact, even when it has been convenient for heads to be counted, the outcome has always been the breaking of heads instead. Conflict in Nigeria is so intense because of lack of democratic behaviour. The head of the individual in the democratic context signifies citizenship. So when heads are broken in the Nigerian political community, the issue in respect of broken heads is citizenship. If conflict in Nigeria means the absence of democratic behaviour, it follows, therefore, that conflict in Nigeria is interwoven with the absence of democratic governance. Gurr (2000): has also shown that the incidence of conflicts at the global level declined in recent years with the deepening of democratisation. Nation-states where conflicts persist are those where what obtains is the democratisation of disempowerment (Ake 1996). Beyond the veneer of elections, the state remains ambushed, privatised, repressive and unpopular. The people who were tantalised by the prospect of a democratic revolution that would terminate decades of alienation and pauperisation have been short changed and given a ‘choice less democracy’ (Mkandawire 1999). The ‘credibility gap’ which fostered the De-linkage of the people from the state, and ignited social forces to struggle for democracy, is not being bridged (Rothchild 1995: 58). African peoples out of clear rational calculations sans atavistic attachments have turned their backs on the state ‘and given their loyalty to sub-national social formations such as the community, the sub nationality or ethnic groups’ (Ake 2000: 114). It is against this backdrop that the proliferation and exacerbation of violent ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria in the post-transition period can be appreciated. This article adopts an analytical framework that holds that The interface between ethnicity and democratisation is found in absence of effective citizenship and good governance in post-transition societies. In the circumstance that democracy does not go beyond the conduct of multiparty elections to include improvement in the quality of life of the people, there is frustration, and people who already feel alienated from the state are vulnerable and likely to be mobilised around counter-elites who exploit extant popular alienation from the state by whipping up sectarian sentiments. This has been the case in Nigeria and several multi-ethnic states of Africa (Osaghae 1994). Although the foregoing theoretical discussion has focused on ethnicity, the term ethno-religious is adopted because some of the recent violent conflicts to be examined were triggered by religious issues. The relevance of religion is also underlined by the fact that in Nigeria ethnic boundaries tend to coincide with religion, with the exception of the Yoruba ethnic group (Ibrahim 1999). The Nigeria state was amalgamated in the year 1914 by lord lugard. The various geographical areas or territory which was amalgamated to form Nigeria by the colonialist comprises of various cleavages, clans, towns even there were kingdoms and chiefdoms with diverse culture, language, religion, norms values, customs and political structures etc. The focus of the research monogram is to examine the role of religion and ethnicity in Nigeria nascent democracy. In Nigeria especially, religion plays a very vital and influential role in the society that has manifested itself as a potent force in the political development of the Nigerian state from pre-independence to post-independence. Hardly can the Nigerian state be talked about without reference to religion (Kukah, 1994; Falola, 1990; Kenny, 2006; International IDEA, 2000; Suberu, 2009). However, religion in Nigeria, at different levels, is mostly mentioned in negative terms. Or rather, historical events linked to religion tilts more towards its negative than its positive contribution to the Nigerian state. The Jihad, the civil war propaganda, the Sharia law controversy, the tensions provoked by the Nigerian accession to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and the incessant religious crises that have engulfed the Northern part mainly indicate that religion cannot be ignored or wished away in the Nigerian political development. Several religious crises have occurred in Nigeria. They have been documented as academic dissertations for some of them. This piece of work does not intend to start the discourse on religious violence anew but only recognizes the fact that as a recurrent phenomenon it is worth being explored further. Thus â€Å"Boko Haram† menace which gained global recognition and even press support ranging from July 2009 till date is a the central focus of this study together with other riots which has engulfed the Nigeria state from 1999 till date which most Nigeria educated elite believed that religion and ethnicity were the basic causes. The educated elite have conducted series of research on what the causes of this violent riots maybe. Most have concluded that it can be traced and linked to the failure of governance in Nigeria. 1. 2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS The mistake of 1914 has polarised the Nigeria society together with its citizens in which loyalty to the State is a mirage instead people pay loyalty to their various families and ethnic groups the effect of this can be traced to 1967 civil-war which disintegrate the country or in the political system which almost lead to secession of the country with the easterner believed to be the aggrieved ethnic in the war. Similarly Nigeria has a long history of religious crisis which has affected the political instability of Nigeria. The maintasine riot of 1980 can be said to be the first major religious riot in Nigerian history, claiming about 800 lives. The Boko Haram insurgence in the northern part of the country which has been directed mainly against the Christians, they have suffered a lot both physically, psychologically, economically, spiritually and even politically in the far North which has led political writers and pundits to affirm that Boko Haram conflict has its roots in Religion. The thrust of this work will be to examine the underlying reasons behind political instability in Nigeria using religion and ethnicity as a paradigm. 1. 3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY. The study will cover the impacts of religion and ethnicity towards the stabilization or in- stabilization of the Nigeria political system it will cover how religion and ethnicity have impacted on the political stability of Nigeria. Furthermore the study will emphasize more on the role the government is playing in stabilizing the un-stabilized country. 1. 4OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The following can be regarded as the aims and objective of the study 1. To know the meaning of religion, ethnicity, political stability, and political instability 2. To know how religion and ethnicity have negatively impacted on Nigerian political development 3. To develop possible solutions and panaceas to the problems of religions and ethnicity to Nigerian political in-stability 1. 5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1 What meaning does religion, ethnicity and political instability carries 2 How has religion and ethnicity impacted on the political stability of Nigeria 3 what are the possible solutions to the problem of religion and ethnicity in Nigeria political system 1. 6 JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY Many a developing countries of the world are currently experiencing the problems which ethnicity and religion have caused. The ethnic problem which led to the apartheid era in South Africa is also the same ethnicity and religion problem which has almost disintegrated the Nigerian State. Recalling back to what happen during the civil war in the late sixties and early seventies which led to the introduction of the national youth service corp. by the then military president General Yakubu Gowon which aim at integrating back the almost disintegrated country. Books, Journals, Magazines, Pamphlets, and lot of researches have been written and carried out respectively on the issue of ethnicity and religion, and its impact on the Nigeria political stability. This research work will serve as an additional material to the issue on ethnicity and religion to political instability in Nigeria, this work will focus more on ethnicity and religion and its impact on Nigerian politics 1. 7RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research methodology will be based on secondary data collections ranging from books, Journals Newspapers, News Magazines, Pamphlets and even the Internet. In conducting any research basically there are two methodologies employed by researchers which are the primary and the secondary methods. This research work will be basically conducted using the secondary methodology as earlier mentioned. 1. 8DEFINITION OF TERMS Ethnicity: According to the oxford advance learners dictionary ethnicity can simply mean â€Å"the fact of belonging to a particular race† from the dictionary meaning we can deduced the fact that Humans believed in race and they have passion for race which leads to humans ethnocentrism i. e. highly ethnocentric in nature. Ethnicity has a strategic interaction of persons and other actors, who have different beliefs, attitude’s, values and goals as they decide particular conflict the distribution of resource’s and general issues of political rules within a context of norms, expectations and institutions. Any of the rule, expectation and institutions may be reversed, maintained or inverted by the individual who win the right to control them, in the course of those political negotiations that are sometimes called cooperation, and sometimes called war, and are usually somewhere between the two. In another sense, ethnic identity are political resources just like money or vote. Instrumentalist like Micheal Banton and Micheal Hecthtar, argue that ethnic identity are not inherent in group or socio-formation of people. They see ethnic identity as socio-capital brought to bear on the political negotiation table by different groups and at different times. Hutchinson and Smith also argue that ethnic identity are an important resource that political Elite employ in securing the support of the masses as a strategy for gaining a desired good. These goods and or goals are â€Å"measured in terms of wealth, power, and status and†¦ joining or national communities helps to secure these ends either by influencing the state, or in certain situations, through secession. Religion: religion on its own part can be regarded as the belief in the existence of God or gods and the activity that are connected in the worship of them. Religion can also be stress further by meaning one of the system of faith that are based on the belief in the existence of a particular God or gods. For example the Jewish religion, Christianity Islam and other world religion. Furthermore in the classical and ancient ages religion has achieved a lot in their politics for example the doctrine of Islam was used in many Arab nations has their constitution even up till the present age. The Ancient Romans, also, during the time of Constantine accepted Christianity as a religion and a mode of life which also affected their political terrain. Religion in the 21 century is now used narrowly towards Christianity and Islam even though other religion still exist but the former two religion have elevated to prominence that other religion are now beneath them. For instance about Political stability: can depict the mean of a system of politics in which the government of that State is experiencing a stable government and peaceful existence in the State or in otherworld’s a legitimately accepted government by the people. Democratically governed States are believed to be stable. In the global sense every political entity must be ruled democratically without internal oppression or external aggression. Any country of the world that is free from the aforementioned point are regarded as stable political system in other words internal oppression has cause a lot of havoc to many democracies of the world which has infringed on their stability as noted by Ojo 2002. Descent Rule: These covers a larger set of cases that we commonly understand to be ethnic than the rules that ethnic groups must have a myth of common ancestry or common origin. But it excludes several cases in which individuals routinely consider themselves, and are considered as members, of a group that we classify as ethnic even when their parents were not coded as members of this group. Take for example the category â€Å"Yoruba† when it was invented in Nigeria in the nineteenth century. At this time period, the parents of those who were classified as Yoruba were not themselves classified as Yoruba for the reason that this category did not exist during their lifetimes. According to Descent Rule, then, the category Yoruba in the nineteenth century would not be coded as ethnic. But the category Yoruba is universally coded as an ethnic category by all comparative political scientists, without making a distinction between time periods. As another example, consider the category â€Å"Backward Caste† in India, which included as members individuals who possessed a given set of last names and/or ancestral occupations. The category was introduced by the Indian Central Government in 1990. Within a few years, 52% of the Indian population classified itself and was classified as backward. Yet the parents of those who termed themselves â€Å"Backward Caste† were not coded by themselves or by others as â€Å"Backward Caste† because, as in the case of the first generation of Yoruba’s, this category did not exist during their lifetimes Democracy: According to Abraham Lincoln he defines democracy as the government of the people by the people and for the people. In this wise democracy connotes a system of government in which all the people in a country will have the outright say on the government of their country although in a representative manner meaning that they will elect representatives that will represent their interest in the government. Advanced countries if the world where democracy is practiced completely they have national identity as opposed to the developing world where they have ethnic identity. Advanced democracies always believe in secularism in which every religion is accepted and embraced not a system in which part will have cognisance to a religion and the other will believe in other religion causing serious tension in such states like Nigeria. Federalism : Elasar (cited in Akande, 1996:1)† the formation of European union (EU) which simply begun as a trading partnership for coal and steel is now moving towards a more integrated political union founded upon federal principle of governance†. The African union (AU) which is the federation of African counties where a central government intended to be created with sharing or division of power among the federating unit, even the world highest organization body united Nation have in some little degree, evolved the principle of federalism. Federalism is a system of government which embraces unity in diversity. Federalism as a system of government is one in which there will be central and regional governments each one autonomous of each other.