The Importance of Themes in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place...

â€Å"A Clean Well-Lighted Place†, a short story written by Ernest Hemingway first appeared in a collection of short stories titled, Winner Take Nothing. Soon after the collection of stories had been published in 1933, â€Å"A Clean Well-Lighted Place quickly became one of Hemingways most eulogized short stories. Through his excellent use of character development, Hemingway provides the reader with a lively portrayal of theme, plot, and symbolism throughout the entire piece. We are taken through a journey as we learn of an Old man who sits at a cafe alone at night. The Old man is deaf, and had recently tried to commit suicide although he is a pleasant customer; the two waiters must watch him to ensure that he doesnt get too drunk, because he†¦show more content†¦He continues to think to himself after the Younger waiter leaves, that he doesn’t like bars and that he doesnt like loud music either. He seems to be questioning himself and wonders what he is afraid of. He says two prayer’s substituting â€Å"Nada† meaning â€Å"nothing† in Spanish for a few very powerful words. â€Å"Our nada who are in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada.† After reciting this prayer he finds himself at a bar, ironically he doesn’t like bars and he mentions to the bartender who lacks persona that the bar is not clean. He realizes that he will soon be home, to fall asleep as the sun comes rises. He finds himself telling the reader that he has insomnia which is a common problem, most likely because he is afraid of admitting that he has a much larger problem. We come to realize that the Older waiter sees himself in the Old man who comes into the cafe, which explains why he has such compassion and understanding as to why the Old man stays at the cafe late at night. The Older waiter’s character also allows us to see the meaning of despair. It is the despair that brings him and others to find peace in the cafe, by telling the reader that it is â€Å"nothing†. If it weren’t for the development of such characters we would not be able to find this strength in the the theme of theShow MoreRelatedAnalytical Essay : Dead Man s Path By Chinua Achebe And A Clean, Well Lighted Place1337 Words   |  6 Pagestake the word analytical it is asking you to analyze the literature. I will be taking a deeper look into three different short stories. Two of my favorite short stories this semester were Dead Man s Path† by Chinua Achebe and â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† By Ernest Hemingway. My third choice was a short sto ry by Viginia Woolf called â€Å"A Haunted House.† â€Å"Dead Man’s Path† was written by a man named Chinua Achebe who was a devout christian. He was very talented and began learning English by the age ofRead MoreEssay about A Clean Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway641 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,† was written in 1933, by Ernest Hemingway. The main characters in the story are two waiters, one old, one young and an older man who is their customer in the cafà © on the evening the story takes place. There are three main elements of style portrayed in the short story, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.† The elements of imagery, symbolism and irony, are illustrated throughout the short story, in turn leading to the theme of despair. ImageryRead MoreAnalysis Of Ernest Hemingway s Hills Like White Elephants And A Clean Well Lighted Place 2195 Words   |  9 PagesMathew Muller ENG 215 Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway has this uncanny, yet, clear and distinctive writing style, that has made him a successful author and a means of many criticisms. One critic in particular, David M. Wyatt, says that Hemingway has a way of making the beginning of his stories â€Å"raise the very specter of the end against which they are so concerned to defend.† (Wyatt). In his two short stories, â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† and â€Å"A Clean-Well Lighted Place, Hemingway draws out this uncannyRead More Comparing F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway Essay1214 Words   |  5 PagesComparing F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, though both evolved from the same literary time and place, created their works in two very dissimilar writing styles which are representative of their subject matter. The two writers were both products of the post-WWI lost generation and first gained notoriety as members of the American expatriate literary community living in Paris during the 1920s. Despite this underlying fact which influencedRead MoreWhat Lies Beneath: The Meaning Beneath the Surface of Ernest Hemingways Work3267 Words   |  13 Pagesthe freezing waters, but instead the unseen structure twice its size that lurked beneath the surface. Ernest Hemingway does the same thing to his readers that the iceberg did to the titanic. In Hemingway’s writing it is undeniably what lies beneath the surface, what remains unsaid, that truly shakes the reader to their core. Like other American writers, such as Mark Twain and Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemmingway worked as a journalist before beginning his career in literature. As a rule, journalistsRead More The Rise and Fall of Existentialism1287 Words   |  6 PagesThe Rise and Fall of Existentialism   Ã‚  Ã‚   Existential literature often focuses on the personal journey towards existential awareness. Common themes in existential works, such as alienation and confrontation with death, often lead the anti-hero towards a climactic choice that defines whether they have reached true understanding. The themes within existential literature are reflected from the world at large, and the works themselves are a metaphor for a grander shift in Western philosophy. Read MoreBelonging Essay4112 Words   |  17 Pages– English - related material English HSC 2009 - 2012 is Belonging. What does belonging mean? From the Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus: belong, verb, 1) to be rightly put into a particular position or class; 2) fit or be acceptable in a particular place or environment; 3) belong to be a member of; 4) belong to be the property or possession of. Belonging, noun, affiliation, acceptance, association, attachment, integration, closeness, rapport, fellow feeling, fellowship. Antonym: alienate, verb 1) cause

LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES Example

Essays on LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES Assignment Question DuPont Analysis – Lucent Technologies ROE = Net Profit X Asset x Financial Margin Turnover Leverage = Net Income X Revenue x Total Assets Revenue Total Assets Shareholders’ Equity 1st Quarter 1998 = 1124 X 8724 x 24752 8724 24752 4671 = 0.1288 X 0.3525 x 5.2991 ROE = 24.06% 1st Quarter 1999 = 1523 X 9842 x 31641 9842 31641 8437 = 0.1547 X 0.3111 x 3.7503 ROE = 18.05% 1st Quarter 2000 = 1175 x 9905 x 38634 9905 38634 16079 = 0.1186 x 0.2564 x 2.4028 ROE = 7.31% The increase in ROE in 1st quarter of 1998 was continuity in Lucent Technology’s start-up soaring of profits as the company was enjoying gains. However, in the same period, a considerable decline was observed in ROE mainly because of Lucent Technology’s losing grip on its operations, as a result, earnings went down from 24% to around 18%. The major setback which hit Lucent Technology in 1st quarter of the year 2000 that erased the earnings so sharply had significant reasons. The filing of material information as per Form 8-K to SEC hurt Lucent Technology a lot. The material information that was reported included the impacts of decrease in the earnings from Service Provider Network (around 2%), customer shifts to optical based technologies, capacity problem, production problems, delivery issues and huge cancellations of customer orders. These problems shrunk the ROE of Lucent Technologies from 18% to somewhat 7% as compared to the same period in the previous year. Question 2 Seasonally Adjusted Change Dec-99 Sep-99 Jun-99 Mar-99 Dec-98 Sales 9,905 10,575 9,315 8,220 9,842 -6.34% 13.53% 13.32% -16.48% Accounts Receivable 10,143 10,438 9,486 8,752 9,185 -2.83% 10.04% 8.39% -4.71% Inventory 5,380 5,048 5,179 4,332 3,778 6.58% -2.53% 19.55% 14.66% Gross Profit 4,646 4,869 4,481 3,893 5,212 -4.58% 8.66% 15.10% -25.31% The explanation of "bump in the road," provided by Lucents Chief Financial Officer, Don Peterson seems a bit unrealistic. The claim of fall in the earning being a temporary cause does not seem valid because of severe problems in the operations of the business. Lucent Technology was losing sales growth on consistent basis. Accounts Receivables were on the varied side as well with no persistent growth. However, due to cancellation of orders, the inventory also piled up a lot with huge growths in amount inventory increasing holding cost of the company. Gross Profit growth was also disappointing with high negative growth percentages on consistent basis. Question 3 (a) The 2nd quarter of 1999 was the exact year when troubles hampered the performance of Lucent Technology. Major declines in sales and earnings were reported along which put the company into extreme difficulties. Lucent Technologies could not make those impacts till 1st quarter of 2000. Question 3 (b) The class-action lawsuits might not have merits because it is the absolute disclaimer of the listed companies that investment in shares is subject to risk and volatility. Therefore under such protections available to Lucent Technologies, there are fewer chances of Lucent Technologies to be penalized. Question 3 (c) Apparently there are very less chances for Lucent Technology to recover as current operations are adding nothing to the company. More strategic changes need to be implemented if recovery and future growth is required in future. References R. A. Brealy, S.C. Myers, and F. Allen. Principles of Corporate Finance, 8th ed. Northwestern University: McGraw-Hill/Irwin P, 2008. Print

Authentic Happiness free essay sample

Psychology has made great strides with mental illness, and what makes a person unhappy. Past scientific evidence shows that we have a fixed range of happiness. New research however demonstrates that it can be lastingly increased. Many believe that happiness is inauthentic. Seligman refers to this view of human nature as the rotten-to-the-core dogma. Positive Psychology has three pillars: the study of positive emotion, positive traits and positive institutions. Chapter 1: Positive Feeling and Positive Character Two interesting studies were conducted. One was involving nuns that wrote biographical sketches upon taking their vows. Those that expressed more cheerfulness on average lived longer. The other study involved college yearbook photos of women. Those with a genuine smile were more likely to marry, stay married and be happier than their fake smile counterparts. Author Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph. D. focuses on three questions in the first half of the book. 1. Why has evolution endowed us with positive feeling? What are the functions and consequences of these emotions, beyond making us feel good? . Who has positive emotion in abundance and who does not? What enables these emotions, and what disables them? 3. How can you build more and lasting positive emotion into your life? Positive feelings are not what people want. They want to be entitled to those feelings. Those that use shortcuts to good feelings end up with feelings of emptiness. The positive feeling that is a result of the use of strengths and virtues and not short cuts is authentic. The feeling one gets after a kind act towards another far outshines that of a shortcut. Positive Psychology chose twenty-four strengths using three criteria; valued in almost every culture, valued in their own right, and they must be malleable. There are six core virtues: * Wisdom and knowledge * Courage * Love and humanity * Justice * Temperance * Spirituality and transcendence Some strengths are tonic and some are phasic. Tonic strengths are displayed almost daily while phasic ones are demonstrated when faced with a challenge. Strengths that are deeply characteristic to a person are referred to as signature strengths. The second part of the book focuses on how to identify signature strengths. Chapter Two: How Psychology Lost Its Way and I Found Mine Seligman while traveling on vacation with his family anxiously awaits the news of whether or not he was elected as the president of the American Psychological Association (APA). He looks back on the transformations in the science of psychology as well as his career in the field. At the end of the World War II psychology is a small profession of academics trying to find the basic process of learning and motivation. Soon after the war, they began to treat troubled veterans and after years of dispensing therapy, they become synonymous with treating mental illness. He spends more than thirty years studying learned helplessness in animals then humans. Ten years into the study, he discovers that some never give up when given insolvable problems while others are helpless to begin with. He receives the announcement that he has won the election for presidency of the APA by a landslide. He needed to come up with a mission for his tenure. His theme would be prevention. Psychology has focused on treatment. He proposed that intervening when someone is still well could greatly diminish the need for treatment in the future. While spending time with his young daughter, he had an epiphany. He realized that raising her was not about correcting her shortcomings but nurturing her strengths. Could there be a psychological science about this? He had found his mission. Chapter Three: Why Bother to Be Happy? During evolution, complicated animals acquired an emotional life. Why would this occur? Comparing negative and positive emotions is the first clue to figuring this out. Negative emotions are the first line of defense against external threats. These are win-lose situations. The thought is that ancestors that had strong negative emotions when threatened survived and past on those genes. Positive emotions have not been as easily explained. There is a personality trait called positive affectivity that is heritable. There is a theory that says we are born with a certain amount of positive affectivity and not much we can do to increase it. Barbara Fredrickson, an associate professor at the University of Michigan was awarded for her theory of the function of positive emotions. Positive emotions go beyond making us feel good. Those induced with positive emotions perform better than those that do not have positive emotions. Happy people view their skills as more than they actually are and remember more good events than actually occurred. Depressed people are accurate about both. Thoughts are that a positive mood puts us into a different way of thinking than does a negative mood. Happy people tend to live longer healthier lives compared to negative people. Happy people are more satisfied with their jobs, more productive, and earn higher incomes. They also deal better with adversity. Happy people have rich fulfilling social lives. Positive feelings invoke win-win situations. Chapter Four: Can You Make Yourself Lastingly Happier? The happiness formula is an equation used to represent the makings of enduring happiness. H=S+C+V: H is your enduring happiness, S is your set range, C is the circumstances of your life, and V represents factors under your voluntary control. Enduring happiness is quite different from momentary happiness. Momentary happiness can happen while watching a movie or eating candy. Enduring happiness is the summation of the formula. It was once believed that with enough effort every emotional state and personality trait could be improved. Discoveries in the 1980’s showed that roughly fifty percent of a personality trait is heritable. This however does not mean that a trait is unchangeable. Some traits do not change much like body weight. Fearfulness on the other hand for example is very changeable. Happiness tends to be like a thermostat. Many wonder if we have a set inherited range for happiness. When exceptional good fortune comes our way the happiness increases dramatically. After a period, however our levels return to previous levels. It also works the other way as well. If faced with misfortune our set level will bring us back up to our set range. We also tend to adapt to good things by taking them for granted. This results in the need to achieve even more to keep the same level of happiness. This is known as the â€Å"hedonic treadmill†. These three things known in the equation as the S variables tend to keep the happiness level low. The other two variables C and V however raise the happiness level. Circumstances do change happiness however; they are often expensive and impractical. Money is something that can change happiness. It is not the amount of money one has, but how important money is to you. The more important money is to you the less likely you are to achieve those goals and the less happy you will be. Married people tend to be happier than unmarried people are. The reasoning for this is not yet determined. Very happy people lead rich and fulfilling social lives. Much like the factor of marriage this is hard to determine if happy people are more social or that being more social causes happiness. Negative emotion does not have a profound effect on happiness. Conversely, a very happy person is not immune to negative emotions. Life satisfaction increases slightly, pleasant affect decreases slightly and unpleasant affect is unchanged with age. What does change is the intensity of emotions. The spikes in happiness and dramatic drops into despair become less common with age. Health is related to happiness. Objective health is not the issue though. It is ones subjective view of how healthy they are that is the key. People with severe long lasting illness do have a decline in life satisfaction and happiness but not as much as one might think. Religion can be linked to happiness. Religious people tend to be happier than nonreligious people. Faith and hope for the future effectively fights despair and increases happiness. External circumstances only account for between eight and fifteen percent of the happiness variance. Along with the set range, these do not count for much of the happiness equation. The variables that are under a person’s voluntary control can increase happiness. Chapter Five: Satisfaction About the Past The past present and future can invoke positive emotion. These three senses of emotion are different and not tightly linked. You can feel positive about one while feeling negative about another and neutral about the third. How we feel about our past greatly influences our level of happiness. Learning about each of the three different kinds of happiness can move the emotions in a positive direction by changing how we feel about our past experience our present and think about our future. A low level of appreciation for positive events in our past and an overemphasis of the bad events can be detrimental to our level of happiness. There are two ways to increase our levels of contentment about the past. Gratitude amplifies the good events and forgiveness helps diminish the effects of the bad events. Gratitude increases the effects of good events from the past. This in turn increases a person’s level of happiness. Showing gratitude towards another person can also increase that person’s level of happiness. At times, this can also help overshadow less joyful events of the past. Forgiveness is a way to help alleviate the negative emotions of the past, which can block positive emotions. It can also even change a bad memory into a good one that will increase the level of positive emotion even greater. Chapter Six: Optimism About the Future Positive emotions about the future include optimism and hope. These can better resist depression when a bad event happens, better work performance and better health. Permanence for optimism is temporary for a bad event and permanent for a good event. Pervasiveness works in much the same way. People who have specific explanations for their failures show a sign of optimism. During good events, they have universal explanations as to why the good even took place. People who are optimistic are hopeful. There is a well-documented method for increasing optimism, recognize and then dispute pessimistic thoughts. There are four ways to make your dispute convincing. Show that the negative belief is factually incorrect. Show a less negative alternative to the pessimistic view. Show that the implications of a bad event do not mean that the worst outcome will occur. Show how the situation can be changed for the better in the future. Chapter Seven: Happiness In The Present Happiness in the present is different from that of the past and future. It involves pleasures and gratifications. Pleasures involve little thinking and have sensory and emotional components. Gratification does not necessarily involve feeling but lasts longer than pleasures involve a lot of interpretation and thinking. They are also based on our strengths and virtues. Bodily pleasures need little interpretation. They are not easy to build your life around due to their momentary duration and become habitual requiring larger doses to create the same sensation. Higher pleasures are much like bodily pleasures in that they invoke â€Å"raw feelings†, are momentary and habitual. They are however more complex Three ways can be used to enhance these pleasures. Finding optimal spacing between pleasures will keep the habitual nature of the pleasures at a minimum. Savoring the pleasures will allow even greater pleasure and will allow for better memories of the event in the future. Mindfulness occurs more readily in a slow state of mind rather than in one that is racing through life. This can allow greater recall of pleasures. Gratification is a result of activities that invoke are signature strengths. It is the absorption, pause of consciousness, and flow the gratifications bring about that cause us to like the activities, not the pleasure. Ancient philosophers such as Aristotle could easily distinguish between pleasures and gratification. It can be a great buffer against depression as well.

The Arab Spring The contemporary Era

Introduction The Arab spring is a wave of revolutionary protests and demonstrations that have been taking place in the Arab world since December 18th 2010.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on The Arab Spring: The contemporary Era specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The revolution has claimed entire regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, as well as major protests in Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, Iraq, Oman, Morocco and Syria. There have been minor protests that were quelled by the governments of Lebanon, Sudan, Mauritania, Kuwait, Western Sahara and Saudi Arabia, by yielding to some of the demands of protestors. The Arab spring also inspired clashes in May 2011 at the borders of Israel. The sustenance of the revolution has been credited to the sharing of civil resistance techniques by the protestors in the different Arab countries, where there were rallies, marches, demonstrations as well as strikes that were mainl y organized and communicated through social media (Sakbani, 2011). The awareness of the people due to the flow of information was always repulsed by the respective governments’ internet censorship and even total disconnection as was the case in Syria from 2008 to 2011 February. Where this has failed there has often been violent repression of the protests by government security forces, often with a considerable amount of casualties as well as counter demonstrations by the respective government supporters. This paper seeks to explore the political situations, in regard to the internal policies established by the leaders of the Arab countries and specifically in Syria and Egypt that led to the Arab spring. The Arab Spring To understand the root cause and the process of the Arab spring, we have to first explore the conditions that triggered its inception. The Arab uprising was sparked by the self-immolation of a Tunisian by the name of Mohamed Bouaziz on December 18th 2010. He wa s protesting the unlawful arrest, corruption and ill treatment by the police amid the hard economic situation in the country. The protests that followed thereafter were greatly successful, with the ousting of the then president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and this inspired similar protest in other Arab countries. The Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, resigned after there were 18 days of massive protests amid crackdowns by government security forces on the 11th of February 2011.Advertising Looking for term paper on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Other leaders, however, moved to quell the anger of the protestors by announcing that they would not context in the next elections, such as the Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir and the Iraqi President Nouri Al-Maliki. King Abdullah of Jordan went ahead to sack two successive governments as the protests still continued. Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president of Yemen, a nnounced that he would resign in 30 days back on 23rd of April in a bid to quell massive protests that had rocked the country, but he later changed his mind and retracted the statement which has led to continued protests. The Arab Spring in Egypt The revolution in Egypt was mainly inspired by its success in Tunisia and it started on the 25th of January. The then to be presidential candidate, Mohamed ElBaradei had already warned government officials that there was going to be a revolutionary wave of protests similar to those in Tunisia, if the pleas of the people were not addressed. It was, however, too late before the government of Egypt could take any action to salvage the situation as on 28th January at midnight, their attempts to stop the organization of the protests by blocking all internet access in the country did not work. Though the social media was successfully crippled, the organizers still found new ways to encourage people to join them and the internet blockade was one o f the reasons they cited as a motivation to increase their protests. In a bid to salvage the situation, President Mubarak appointed a new cabinet as well as a vice-president, who was the first in almost three decades. Mubarak later gave the vice-president, Omar Suleiman the power to rule Egypt on 10th February, though this was followed by an official statement that he would still hold on to the presidency until the end of his presidential term. This move was not taken well by the protestors as the demonstrations still intensified. The vice president later announced that Mubarak had resigned on the next day and he went ahead to transfer power to the Egyptian armed forces. This inspired a wave of celebrations across the country with the biggest being at Tahrir square.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on The Arab Spring: The contemporary Era specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The military then noticed that they were also facing resistance and went ahead to lift emergency laws that had been in place for thirty years. The army then dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution, then promised to organize free and fair elections in the next six months. The armed forces went ahead to appoint a civilian by the name of Essam Sharaf, as the Egyptian prime minister on 4th March. This was greatly approved by the protestor and the protests reduced, though there were other small protests that continued in July with the complaints that the Essam Sharaf administration together with the armed forces supreme council was slow in establishing reforms in the institutions of governance, than expected. The Arab Spring in Syria The Syrian uprising started with a case of self-immolation that sparked protests all over the capital city on the 26th of January. The protestors’ main grievances were political reforms and the observance of their civil rights by the government (Sakbani, 2011). They also complai ned that the county had been in a state of emergency for the last 48 years since 1963. The attempts by the protestors to organize a major demonstration dubbed ‘the day of fury’ was, however, not successful, but on the 6th of March, the arrest and torture of 15 children who were accused of having written some slogans that were against the regime, sparked even more protests. Thousands of protestors who were against the Baathist regime that had ruled Syria since 1963, gathered in the cities of Deir Ez-Zor, Hama, Daraa, Al-Hasakah, Aleppo, and Damascus, with Daraa being the first to protest on the 15th of March after the release of Suhair Atassi, a politician who became the unofficial spokesperson for the protestors in the revolution. This was followed by reports that the government had arrested over 3,000 Syrians and there had been a lot of casualties as the government security forces shot at protestors. The climax of the protest was on 18th April when almost 100,000 prote stors sat at the Square of Horns to demand for the resignation of President Bashar Al Assad. The protests continued throughout the next three months with the government conducting harsh security crackdowns and military operations in the country, with the most violent incident occurring on the 31st of July when army tanks stormed cities and killed over 136 people. Political Conditions That Triggered the Arab Spring in Egypt and Syria The revolution was observed to have been motivated by two main issues: the economic hardships of the citizens of these countries; and the harsh laws that were in place that discouraged democracy. The triggering incident that occurred in Tunisia involved a man whose market stall had been confiscated and his complaints were that besides acquiring an education, selling vegetables was his only option to make a living.Advertising Looking for term paper on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Analysts have specifically pointed out that in Syria and Egypt, the prolonged economic stagnation, violation of human rights, as well as rampant corruption by government officials have led to the common citizens’ suffering, and hence the need for political change. There has been decades of under-development and even in some cases there is evidence of de-development as the established economic policies have failed, and institutions of governance broken or abused (Partridge, 2011). The overall economic growth in the Arab world has been negative since 1971 and specifically the per-capita income of citizens of gulf countries like Syria has been reducing by almost 2.8 percent every year (Gershoni, Jankowski, 2010). The rampant corruption in Syria and Egypt has meant that those who are already rich or are in positions of power enjoy better quality of life while the poor suffer even more. This has led to a wide economic gap between the rich and powerful in these countries, and the poor. However, what took the rest of the world by surprise is the flow of information on the economic conditions of these countries, as previously their dictatorial governments had ensured that they filtered any information on these countries and had declined to participate in any surveys (Tejel, 2009). The inequality and the corruption in these countries is influenced by the fact that most of the economic centers are owned and managed by government institutions, hence, discouraging private entrepreneurship. In Egypt for instance, the government has ceded most of the economic control of the country to the military. This has ensured that the military owns most corporations where they employ retired military leaders and/or their immediate family and friends. It is also observed that state companies consume almost all the financial credit available in Egypt, hence, forcing other family owned small and medium businesses to have to rely on un-informal means of funding which are often exp ensive and exploitative. This has diminished the business community and those who are in business have to sell their products at high prices which have contributed to high cost of living amid reducing incomes (Odugbemi Lee, 2011). The failure of economic policies in Syria and Egypt has contributed to high rates of unemployment as well as under-employment, which are more common for the young who have been the back bone of the uprisings. The rampant corruption, regional conflict and dictatorial leadership has contributed greatly to companies’ thinking of only the short-term, as there is too much uncertainty in the region (Partridge, 2011). The same uncertainty has discouraged domestic investments and the revenues generated due to the rising commodity prices end up being transferred abroad. It has been identified that in Syria, local banks have had low capacities to the point of collapse. The Arab spring was created in such a way that it suggests a new awakening among the citiz ens of Syria and Egypt, which would bring with it a new political and socio-economic order. This has suggested that the Arab world will never be the same again, and the autocratic and dictatorial governments that are still existent in the region, may only have a few years if not months before they come to an end if they don’t establish political, educational and socio-economic reforms. Perhaps the most outstanding difference between the Arab spring and other uprisings, is the fact that the people are fueled by their need for dignified lives rather than the need for political superiority, as has been the case in sub-Saharan Africa and the Balkan states in the past (Ben-Meir, 2011). The passion of these people will probably not let any politically radical group to take power without receiving resistance from them. Previously, there was a belief that the people in Syria and Egypt could not organize themselves and speak with one voice, as the regimes had discouraged any form of o rganization. However, this was not to be as the Syrians and Egyptians organized amid speculation with their governments believing that the voice of the people was too fractured, too radical, too politically immature and insignificant to make any impact or even to be taken seriously. There was also the belief among the political class that the Arab authoritarian rule was going to continue for many decades to come as there was succession of governments among powerful families in most Arab countries, where the sons of the rulers inherited power from their fathers upon them leaving office, as was the case in Syria (Partridge, 2011). The greatest weakness of these assumptions, as is evidenced in Syria, is that they did not put into consideration the greatly educated, informed and politically assertive youth of the country. They still thought that the loyalty of the old generation to these regimes was to be transferred to the younger generation, and they always tried to promote this throu gh their authoritarian rule that has been able to squash resistance fro the citizens for along time. This younger generation is greatly aware of their rights, and has a high appeal for democracy which was earlier profiled as an evil western propaganda that is against their Muslim religion (Press-Barnathan, 2009). As far as the politics of Syria is concerned, the administration of President Assad has squashed the opposition since he came to power as it was the policy before during his father’s rule. This has seen anyone who exhibited political ideas that contradicted his party’s banned from travelling outside the country, arrested and even tortured to death by the police. There have been reports of secret police units that have been used to quell any opposition through inhumane ways. The human rights watch groups in the Middle East have ranked Syria as number one in violations of human rights and this is said to be the greatest down fall of Assad’s legislation wh ich has fueled the revolution in Syria. Political Effects of the Arab Spring The revolution has transformed the geo-politics of the region as it has been observed that the traditional understanding of the political environment of the region has been thrown out of balance. It was previously believed that the politics of the region was defined by the difference in ideologies between those who were pro-western and those who were anti-western, or those who are Sunnis and those who were Shi’a, as well as the belief that it was based on the differences between the Arabs and the Jews, in the case of Israel and its neighbors. It was, however, observed that the great inequalities or disparities in the qualities of life, between the authoritarian regimes and the citizens they ruled were the greatest motivations of the revolution (Gershoni, Jankowski, 2010). The ultimate political result of the revolution has been the great spotlight cast on authoritarian or dictatorial regimes, as the y feel the pressure to restructure their legislative policies or face resistance from their citizens. Some like the Kuwaiti administration have, however, been able to quell the anger of their citizens by introducing subsidies and cash handouts. Others, as is the case in Syria, have had to give fake promises of economic and political reforms (Lunnon, 2011). The young people, who were mostly idealists, utilized the loopholes that had been left by the governments’ belief that they could not organize and therefore were at ease. Their skillful utilization of social media was particularly impressive as it surprised many with its success. There was also the use of nonviolent means to organize protests that took the governments by surprise as they did not know what to do with them since they had always figured out that due to their foolproof control of their territories and strong security agencies, any threat would probably have to be excessively violent. Lastly, the quick and effec tive success of the revolution in Tunisia and Egypt worked to fuel the revolution even further as other countries realized that it is easy and possible to remove even the harshest dictators from power. This has been the short-term change that has brought hope to the people of the Arab countries that there can be an end to authoritarian rule and they can enjoy both economic growth and their freedom. It has also served to warn other dictators like Bashar al-Assad of Syria, or would be dictators in other countries, that their end was near (Ben-Meir, 2011). It has now dawned on many that, autocracies and monarchies in the Arab countries have an uncertain future as the young Arabs have disapproved any cultural obligations to these autocracies. These young people are proponents of regional sovereignty that takes a pan-Arab approach that may not be viable for any western nation that sees this as an opportunity to assert their influence on the regime that comes after. The west has to basica lly take a back seat and watch as the Egyptian and the Syrians try to establish their own forms of government that they think suits their political ideologies as well as their religious and cultural background. In as much as the army may be the final political arbiter in Egypt as has been the case since 1952, there is now a chance for liberals, Islamists, repackaged elements of the previous regime and leftists of various backgrounds, to gain control of, and even influence, the country’s parliament and the government, which was not the case under the ousted Mubarak government. The success of the emerging institutions such as the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions may be evidence of this phenomenon, as they may set limitations to the young neo-liberal economic reform project (Odugbemi Lee, 2011). The other group, besides the army that is probably going to lose much of the influence it enjoys in these nations, is the US government as their regional political clout diminishes with the ouster of the authoritarian governments that they were previously able to influence. The US campaign on the Palestinian-Israel conflict will now enjoy less support or even resistance from the new governments that want nothing to do with the fetishes of the previous regimes, and will probably stay neutral (Shemesh, 2008). This is evidenced by the fact that the US is currently feeling the treat of a growing Iranian regional influence, as the foreign policies of Egypt are now reflecting previously unseen popular sentiments. Economic Effects of the Arab Spring In the long-term, the Arab world hangs in uncertainty as everyone is skeptical of the stability of the new systems of governance that will be put up to replace the fallen ones. This is behind the further uncertainty of whether the desired democratic system of governance will even be established in the near future as it has been previously evidenced in other countries like Somalia, that the ouster of a governmen t by the people may not necessarily be advantageous, as there might be an eruption of violence as different groups seek to assume leadership of the country. This spring may sadly take too long to yield any fruits in some of these countries as traditional liberals, Islamic extremists, high ranking military personnel that still want to cling to power, ethnic groups, business elites and other religiously affiliated groups, compete against each other on the basis of their different ideologies that they all want to be adopted (Lunnon, 2011). The revival of the respective economies may take a while, and it’s dependent on the success of the transitional period and the success of the next administration amid all the international scrutiny especially by the west. The economic consequences of the Arab revolution have affected the entire world and have been especially brutal, to struggling economies of South East Asia and Africa as the prices of oil have shot up. This has brought with i t an unprecedented increase in the prices of basic commodities especially food stuffs. There is, however, hope that with the successes of most of the protests, the oil market in the world will stabilize soon. This is not to say that there is no future threat to the oil market in the horizon since there is still an uncertainty as to how the new regimes will react in relation to the policies and the policy making process of OPEC, which is a body that most of them belong to. Reference Ben-Meir, A. (2011). Above The Fray: Arab Spring, Revival Of The Islamic state. The Jerusalem Post. Web. Gershoni, I., and Jankowski,J., P. (2010). Confronting fascism in Egypt: dictatorship versus democracy in the 1930s. London: Stanford University Press. Lunnon, H. Et Al. (2011). Arab Spring — Chief Consequence? The Definition. Web. Odugbemi, S., and Lee, T. (2011). Accountability through Public Opinion: From Inertia to Public Action. New York: World Bank Publications. Partridge, M. (2011). How t he economic policies of corrupt elite caused the Arab Spring. New statesman. Web. Press-Barnathan, G. (2009). The political economy of transitions to peace: a comparative perspective. New York: University of Pittsburgh Press. Sakbani, M. (2011). The revolutions of the Arab Spring: are democracy, development and modernity at the gates? Contemporary Arab Affairs. 4(2). Web. Shemesh, M. (2008). Arab politics, Palestinian nationalism and the Six Day War: the crystallization of Arab strategy and Nasir’s descent to war, 1957-1967. London: Sussex Academic Press. Tejel, J. (2009). Syria’s Kurds: history, politics and society. Volume 16 of Routledge advances in Middle East and Islamic studies. New York: Taylor Francis. This term paper on The Arab Spring: The contemporary Era was written and submitted by user Makhi J. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.