How did France come to look like a consolidated democracy and why the Essay

How did France come to look like a consolidated democracy and why the fifth republic has been a relatively stable period in French history - Essay Example This partly explains why democracies, unless the freedom on which they are founded is violated, are assumed to be poorly equipped to deal with threats to their security. This antinomy currently appears to be more pronounced as both terms of the alternative have been assuming new configurations. In terms of security, two opposing trends are at work. There is on the one hand an overall sense of irenization of modern polities' internal and external order that is encapsulated in the image of the neo-Saint-Simonean "consensual/warless society," and the parent neo-Hegelian view of "'the end of history." At the domestic level, their sociopolitical foundations are no longer questioned, and conflicts over the management of the state are settled through electoral alternatives. At the external level, appeasement induced by nuclear deterrence and continued with the progress of disarmament policies was enhanced by the collapse of the communist system, which represented enmity for the West. On the other hand, a new and more ambivalent threat pattern emerged that increases the ubiquity of order and security issues. Within societies, deepening center-periphery tensions and sociological cleavages lead to the displacement of traditional civility by more frictional relationships. From withou t, menaces become more insidious, discontinuous, and multifocal, and less predictable and identifiable than before the end of bipolarity, extending on the low-intensity side of the violence spectrum and assuming unconventional aspects. Concomitantly, old-fashioned institutions and instruments of violence management, doctrines, and protocols ruling their employment, and their articulations with the state appearing less suitable and effective, call for other less orthodox means based on preemption, swiftness, and secrecy, which are generally at variance with the democratic process. The concept of democracy has been evolving also. Karl Mannheim, T. H. Marshall, and more recently Edward Shils have described its logic in advanced polities. First, rights have been extended and their nature modified to encompass almost every aspect of the individual's life. Formerly limited to civic and political contents, they became economic and social, and finally sociological and cultural so as to include security. Second, the beneficiaries of these rights, once very few, have been extended to include the farthest peripheries of the social system (even beyond, in that advocates of the so-called "natural contract" or "deep ecology" also include animals and the environment). Thus, those who until recently would not have been judged as legitimate recipients of such rights, either because they were unable to enjoy them--e.g., the child, those mentally impaired, or immigrants, or those legally deprived such as delinquents--are now considered full members of the polity. Democratic rig hts, in other words, are seen as belonging to everyone, partisans as well as adversaries of democracy. Saint-Just's famous utterance, "no freedom for the enemy of freedom," would not be applicable today. Democracy has become a holistic concept, no longer defined in a discrete manner, be it in terms of the rights composing it or in terms of its titulars. The dilemma, then, is obvious. The rightful exigency for order and

The Statement of Principles terminated on 30 June 2013. The UK Essay

The Statement of Principles terminated on 30 June 2013. The UK Government has proposed a new programme, including a new mechanis - Essay Example The fishing industry offers employment to around 250,000 people in Indonesia and thus, with this tsunami there were a number of people that lost their jobs3. Tsunami not only has resulted in the death of local people in Indonesia, but there were a number of tourists from different parts of the world especially from Europe that came under the fire as well. Around 9,000 foreign tourists were dead in this flood, and most of these tourists were from European countries4. However, there is little that the government can do in such a catastrophic situation. Although there are certain techniques and strategies that the government can take in order to reduce the impact of these floods such as Stormguard Flood-plan can be implemented in order to be better prepared for such situations as well as to reduce the impact of such disasters5. Similarly, there have been floods in United Kingdom as well. Although the disasters were not as high as Indian Ocean tsunami but still a large number of people l ost their lives. North Sea flood is the worst flood that has occurred in United Kingdom6. North Sea flood occurred on 31st January, 1953 and a number of areas were affected including Belgium, Scotland, Netherlands and England7. The causalities because of the North Sea flood were equaled to 2,142 including 354 people that lost their lives in United Kingdom alone8. ... Thus, it badly affected the economic situation of the country. The damage estimated was around  ?5,000 which if compared in today’s monetary terms would be equal to ?740,00010. The London School Of Economics has announced and warned about flood risk in Britain. According to the research conducted by the school Britain is a highly risky area because of the changes in climate along with the continuous development in floodplains for both residential as well as commercial properties. Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment have conducted research and published the paper. They have also been consulted by the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)11. Therefore, this paper has raised concerns and risks for people that are buying and investing properties. In order to overcome this issue and concerns of the public, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) along with the natio nal government has come up with the Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) which is known as Flood Re. This Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the government, and the carriers and on the basis of this MoU, a non-profit or a not-for-profit flood fund has been developed12. Association Of British Insurers (ABI) is an important company in the insurance industry as it has more than 90% of the market share in the United Kingdom insurance market13. The basic idea of this Flood Re is to offer a cap flood insurance premium for the property owners. This insurance premium will be according to the value of the properties. Moreover, this fund will offer insurance to people that are at a higher risk for flood