The Foundation Of Power And Justice In International Law Essays

The Foundation Of Power And Justice In International Law Thucydides wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War believing that it was a good picture of the past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or other and in much the same way, be repeated in the future. This paper will present a comparison between the time of Thucydides and how the International system has reflected certain aspects that are contained in the document. It will attempt to address the possibilities of oncoming systemic war, concepts of trust, and the earlier statement of Thucydides. Terms that are important to this argument are anarchy, security dilemma, and balance of powers. Anarchy is the system that world politics works under: with the presence of no prominent authority, any state can do what it chooses on the international stage. The notion of security dilemma rises out of the fear of other states building up their forces and becoming a larger threat to all of the other states. The tie between anarchy, security dilemma, and life in a sovereign state is the balance of powers; which aims at primarily to preserve peace and the status quo. Thucydides' balance of power involved two states: Athens and Sparta. After the Persian war, Athens had become a very powerful military state, and began to assimilate other states they had recently saved in the Persian War. Athens justified their actions by suggesting that, having won the war, their rights to become an empire were prevelent. They then built walls around their new territories and continued to increase their military power. This worried the Spartans because if Athens were to attack them it would be difficult to counter attack. Sparta, however, did not respond by building up their forces to maintain the balance. The Spartans acted slowly and tried to avoid the conflict. However, when the smaller states went to Sparta and pleaded for aid, the Spartans agreed, to defend against hostile Athenian actions. Sparta and its smaller allies soon engaged the Athenians and were eventually victorious over the Athenian threat of hegemony. The underling cause of Spartan engagement orig inated in the pleas of the fleeing allied city-states. They claimed that since Sparta was the only other major power that it was Sparta's duty to protect the smaller states. These states also created the fear in the Spartans that Athenians would develop enough power to create a hegemony, and that they all would lose their sovereignty. They stated that an Athenian attack was inevitable. The Spartans began to position troops to defend themselves, as it was better military strategy to stop Athenian forces before they gained any more power. This was considered an aggressive act by the Athenians and sparked the beginnings of the Athenian-Spartan conflict. In comparison, Europe of the 19th century involved five major powers England, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia. These five powers through communication and shared interest created a system in which they managed to maintain stable international relations. The larger powers were responsible for maintaining the independence of the smaller states' sovereignty. This system, though there were many small wars over territory and maintaining the balance, managed to avoid any systemic wars for ninety years after the Napoleonic war. In this alliance, England had taken on the role of a balancer and joined any side necessary to maintain the balance. The European system ran on many concepts that allowed for its stability. Their system was designed to ensure that all independent states would survive, preserve the system, and that none would control the others. The nature of their trust allowed each state to maintain a balance of power where none had to worry about the rise of hegemony. War was inevitable on a small scale to maintain the balance and status quo; however, due to the nature of the structure, the groups interest superseded the need for any state to take over others. Thucydides was correct in his assumption that some of his understanding of human nature would last through into the future. The structure of the system in both examples are remarkably similar even after almost two thousands years they still have many of the same underling principles. In both systems,

was hitler a legal dictator during after his rise in 1933 essays

was hitler a legal dictator during after his rise in 1933 essays THE YEAR 1933 SAW HITLER RISE IRRESSISTABLY FROM LEGAL CHANCELLOR TO LEGAL DICTATOR. HOW VALID IS THIS ASSESSMENT OF THE NATURE AND THE EXTENT OF THE NAZI CONSOLIDATION OF POWER DURING 1933? In recent years many historians have come to the conclusion that during the year of 1933 Hitler was able to move from a chancellor of Germany to its dictator. A dictator is defined as a ruler who is not bound by constitution or laws. A dictator can also be a person who behaves in a tyrannical manner. So was this the position that Hitler found himself in at the end of 1933. Was he bound by a constitution or laws and did he behave in a tyrannical manner. Through looking and analyzing the key events of this year we will be able to answer this question. At the beginning of 1933 Hitler found himself in a very promising position. When Hitlers conservative supporters including Franz Von Papen allowed Hitler to become chancellor on the 30th January 1933 they did it because they felt they could control him. Papen himself was minister president of Prussia ultimately having control over the police as well as the civil service. He felt that by obtaining this position he would be able to stop Hitler from gaining any extra power. Papen explained within two months we will have pushed Hitler so far into a corner that hell squeak. However Hitler himself already began to get the upper hand by convincing the conservatives to allow him to hold an election. Now in charge of government agencies this would naturally help the Nazis come to power. At this time talks about creating an authoritarian government were being held with the army. Hitler wanted Germany eradicated of Marxism and the cancer of democracy. Confidence within the nazi party at this time was high and Goebbels himself had promised once we have power we will never surrender it unless we are carried out of are offices as corpses. Control ...

Sexualization of Young Girls Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sexualization of Young Girls - Essay Example Without question the society that we live in is one that is highly affected by marketing, media, and the representation of culture that we the individual is bombarded within on a daily level. Countless scores of research projects have been performed on the way in which individual integrate with these marketing ploys, the degree to which they allow marketing to affect their lives, and the percentage of income that such efforts are able to siphon off the viewer. Although this is a fascinating topic and doubtless deserves an even greater degree of analysis due to the fact that it segments many interrelated sectors of psychology, sociology, culture, gender, representation of self image, insecurities, and a litany of others. As a function of understanding this threat, the following analysis will seek to draw a level of inference with regards to the hyper-sexualization of children via marketing, the internet, advertising, and parenting. Ultimately, as these different factors will be analyz ed and discussed, it is the hope of this author that a level of understanding and analysis can be drawn to the ways in which the sexualization that is taking place might ultimately be reduced. Although the advertising media is nothing new with regards to its ability to sway human judgment and define culture, as the documentary which has been viewed as a means of informing this response has indicated, the renewed focus that marketologists have placed upon the niche market of â€Å"tweens† has been a powerful determinant in exemplifying the means by which products are engaged to some of the at-risk teenage girls within our society. One of the sources that has been read as a means of informing this particular piece is that of Taylor Wolleck’s piece entitled, â€Å"Of 'The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization Of Young Girls And Five Keys To Fixing It†. As such, this particular journal entry details the way in which media, advertising, and marketing all work single handedly to mold and establish a culture that has and would not otherwise exist before (Wolleck 124). This is a seminal and important inclusion in the field of the literature on the topic due to the fact that it is one of the few journal entries that seeks to deal with the full range and scope of the issue rather than dealing merely with ways to curb its effect. Although it is the author’s belief that this text is important as well as influential in helping to expound nuances of the situation, it has however unfortunately missed the point with regards to providing any help at all with regards to reversing the trend. Ultimately, the source is useful as it provides a broad and overarching framework from which the reader can seek to approach the issue of media interpolation into fashion, culture, and attitudes towards sexualization of the youth of the nation (Egan 293). As the documentary illustrates, the identification of a distinct group that can be identified as â€Å"tweens † was ultimately a figment of advertisers and marketologists as a means to create a distinct group that they could target with product lies that would ultimately translate into a higher level of sales. Although it is not the intention of this brief paper to belabor the point of the â€Å"tween† market, seeking to understand it is integral in understanding the hyper-sexualization of culture that has been experienced over the past several years. In much the same way, marketologists have focused upon development sleek and highly sexualized means of integrating with this new â€Å"