David Berman Essay

David Berman reviewed the macroeconomic numbers on inventory turns as he prepared for his regular appearance on CNBC’s â€Å"Squawk Box† as a morning co-host. A leading expert on â€Å"consumer related† stocks, Berman and his colleagues including portfolio manager Steve Kernkraut, a seasoned retail executive and analyst, were frequent contributors to various TV shows. On April 4th 2005, Fortune magazine ran a story on Berman called â€Å"King of the Retail Jungle†, and on December 13th, 2004, Barron’s ran a story called â€Å"Smart Shopper† where Berman’s four stock picks as identified, appreciated 30% on average over the next quarter. â€Å"Off air† he was a fund manager as well as founder and president of Berman Capital (which managed proprietary funds) and founder of and general partner in New York-based Durban Capital, L.P. (which managed outside and proprietary capital). Glancing at his notes on macro trends in retail inven tory turns, Berman wondered if he should talk about his impressions on the show. Berman held a bachelors degree in finance and masters equivalency in accountancy from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He had also passed the South African chartered accountant and the United States CPA examinations. Berman obtained his CPA qualification in California while an auditor for Arthur Andersen and Company where he examined the financial statements and operations of a number of retail clients. He had been the auditor of Bijan, the notable men’s upscale clothing store on Rodeo Drive and 5th Avenue. Prior to starting his own funds Berman worked as a portfolio manager and analyst primarily at two Wall Street firms. He evolved his investment style under the tutelage of Michael Steinhardt of Steinhardt Partners, which he joined shortly after graduating with distinction from Harvard Business School in 1991. From 1994 to 1997 Berman worked in consumer-related stocks at another large hedge fund. He subsequently launched Berman Capital in 1997 and Durban Capital i n 2001. Professor Ananth Raman of Harvard Business School, Professor Vishal Gaur of the Stern School of Business at New York University, and Harvard Business School Doctoral Candidate Saravanan Kesavan prepared this case. Certain details have been disguised. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. Copyright  © 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617-783-7860. 605-081David Berman Berman believed that his training as an accountant together with his MBA and practices he developed over the years to refine accounting estimates enabled him to notice aspects of retail accounts that would be missed by most investors. The relationship between inventory and earnings and therefore share price, for example, while obvious to a retailer, was seldom recognized by analysts or investors. â€Å"This relationship,† Berman observed, â€Å"is ASTOUNDINGLY powerful, but surprisingly few understand why. Most think it’s just a function of inventory risk. It’s not. It’s primarily a function of how the operating margins can be manipulated by management in the short term by playing around with inventories†. â€Å"For example,† said Berman, â€Å"if a retailer’s inventories are growing much faster than sales, then gross margins would be higher than they ordinarily should be, as the retailer has not taken the mark-downs that a solid disc iplined retailer should take.† â€Å"Interestingly,† Berman beamed, â€Å"there is no law in GAAP that limits the number of days’ inventory to any â€Å"norm,† and as such, the practice of increasing inventories beyond any â€Å"norm† goes unfettered.† Berman continued â€Å"managements sign-off on the inventories as being fairly valued, and the auditors pretty much rely on their word.† Berman believed that â€Å"from an investor’s perspective, it’s a game of musical chairs; you don’t want to be the last person standing. In other words, you don’t want to be an investor when sales slow and when mark-downs of the bloated inventory finally need to be taken to move the goods†. The relationship of inventories to sales was also an important one that Berman focused on. â€Å"In a period of rising inventories on a square foot basis†, Berman says â€Å"it is quite obvious that same store sales should rise as the offering to the customer is that much greater. Simply put, the more offerings you put in a store, ceteris paribus, the bigger sales should be.† â€Å"It is at this time,† Berman argued, â€Å"that the stock price rises, as investors place higher valuations on retailers with higher sales, despite that this higher valuation is achieved primarily due to the higher inventories†. An excellent example of the inventory to sales relationship was Home Depot: In 2001 and 2002 Home Depot’s new CEO, Bob Nardelli1, seemed to struggle in managing the transition from a cash-flow GE-type philosophy to a retailer Home Depot-type philosophy. In his DeeBee Report2 dated June 10th 2003, Berman stated: â€Å"Bob Nardelli learned the power of inventory the hard way. In focusing on cash flow improvement, he dramatically lowered inventories – and yes, increased cash balances – only to see a huge decline in same store sales, and in its stock price {the stock went from around $40 to $22}. And so, under immense pressure, Nardelli reversed course and focused intensely on increasing inventories. Since Q2 of last year, inventories had been building until they were up 25% year over year. And yes, same store sales did improve, as did the stock price.† Recognizing this as potentially a short-fix, Berman continued â€Å"Now the cynical would view this increase in sales with skepticism, noting that it wasn’t of â€Å"high quality† as it was due, in part, to the massive inventory build. It is, however, pleasing to note that Home Depot simply got inventories back to â€Å"normal†, in that it now has turns similar to its’ competitors†. The stock, following the same store sales and earnings increases, which in essence followed the inventories increase, rose from $22 at the start of 2003 to $36 by the end of 2003. When asked about this â€Å"fix†, Berman responded â€Å"it will be more challenging for Nardelli to increase same store sales and margins going forward because his increasing inventories and therefore same store sales is arguably a one-time benefit and is essentially what caused the â€Å"fix†. Berman concluded by 1 Nardelli had worked at General Electric (GE) before taking over as CEO of the Home Depot. 2 A periodic report where Berman discusses his thoughts on retail, focusing on inventories. Given his insights as articulated, Berman believed his fund could value firms more accurately through better valuation of inventory. This was pivotal to his investment strategy. â€Å"You see,† Berman elaborated, â€Å"Wall Street basically ignores inventory. It’s actually quite amazing to me! This gives us one of our edges.† Comparing recently gathered retailer numbers that examined total sales in the U.S. economy to total inventory, for almost 300 retailers, Berman remarked: â€Å"The total sales to total inventory numbers is also a crucial relationship over time, and it gives us a macro edge, if that’s possible to believe. Indeed, at the end of Q2, 2003 I knew there would be serious inventory rebuilding in the economy going forward, as overall sales had grown at a faster rate than inventories. Indeed, in Q3, 2003 we saw a rapid and unexpected increase in GDP from 2.3% to 3.5% thanks in part to inventory rebuilding. This increase continued through Q1, 2 004 when GDP growth reached 5%.† Berman loved to discuss investment opportunities he had spotted by looking carefully at firm inventory: One of the clearest examples was Saucony (Nasdaq: SCNYA), a shoe company based near Boston, MA. Berman identified this company as a strong buy when he noticed in 2003 that even though sales were flattish, inventories had declined about 20% year over year. To Berman, this bode well for future gross margins. He started buying the stock at $14 in late 2003 due primarily to these lean inventories, despite that the stock was illiquid thus presenting greater risk, and despite that management was remarkably coy about sharing information. A year later, the stock had doubled. During this time period, sales rose, as did inventories, and of course, the gross margin expanded significantly, as expected. Earnings per share rose from $0.85 in 2002 to $1.29 in 2004. Berman’s selling, which came shortly after management asked him to ring the Nasdaq bell with them, was again based on a function  of his inventory analysis. This time it was the opposite scenario – inventories were now growing at the same pace as sales, so the trend of sales to inventories had deteriorated – and Berman was worried. To make matters worse, calls to management were not being returned. Sure enough, in March 2005, before Berman had gotten out of this illiquid position, Saucony announced it would miss earnings estimates and the stock cratered 20%. Yet another clear example was Bombay (NYSE: BBA). In November 2003, Bombay Company, a fashionable home accessories, wall dà ©cor, and furniture retailer, announced that sales were up 19% with inventories up 50% year over year. While the retailer beat earnings estimates, the company spoke of early November sales weakness, and the stock declined 20% that day to $10. Despite the decline, and noticing that inventories were up way too much, Berman felt the â€Å"music had stopped.† â€Å"Going into Q4 it was clear they would have to miss numbers again unless the consumer saved them, which would be a shocker†, he said. Just over two weeks later they lowered earnings again and the stock crated another 20% to $8. Remarkably, just four weeks later, after Christmas, management lowered earnings yet again, and the stock declined yet another 20%. â€Å"It was so sweet† exclaimed Berman, â€Å"to see the classic inventory / earnings relationship at work so quickly.† In just one and a half months, the stock declined 50% primarily because of inventory mismanagement along with weaker sales. As Berman prepared to leave for the studio, Christina Zinn, a young apprentice he had just hired from Harvard Business School, walked in and presented him with a stack of papers containing the valuation of John B. River (John B. River Clothiers, Inc. NASDAQ: JONR). â€Å"JONR is undervalued,† Zinn remarked, â€Å"and I think we should invest in this stock. Sales were up 24% in 2004 over the previous year, and gross margins, having risen for four straight years, seem to have peaked at 60% (one of the highest gross margins in all of US retail). 2005, the company’s price/earnings ratio is less than that of its primary competitor, Men’s Wearhouse, which is at 17.5 times estimated earnings. This is particularly strange given that John B. River has been growing faster than Men’s Wearhouse during the last few years.† Inventory Productivity in the Retail Sector Inventory turnover, the ratio of cost of goods sold to average inventory level, was commonly used to measure the performance of inventory managers, compare inventory productivity across retailers, and assess performance improvements over time.3 But wide variations in the annual inventory turnover of U.S. retailers year to year not only across, but also within, firms made it difficult to assess inventory productivity in practice, as evidenced by the following example and questions. Between 1987 and 2000 annual inventory turnover at Best Buy Stores, Inc. (Best Buy), a consumer electronics retailer, ranged from 2.85 to 8.53. Annual inventory turnover at three peer retailers during the same period exhibited similar variation: at Circuit City Stores, Inc. from 3.97 to 5.60; at Radio Shack Corporation from 1.45 to 3.05; and at CompUSA, Inc. from 6.20 to 8.65. Given such variation how could inventory turnover be used to assess these retailers’ inventory productivity? Could these variations be correlated with better or worse performance? Could it be reasonably concluded from this example that Best Buy managed its inventory better than Radio Shack? Inventory turnover could be correlated with other performance measures. Strong correlations, as between inventory turnover and gross margin, might have implications for the assessment of retailers’ inventory turnover performance. (Figure 1 plots the four consumer electronics retailers’ annual inventory turnover against their gross margins (the ratio of gross profit net of markdowns to net sales) for the period 1987-2000.) Relationships among Management Measures Relationships among inventory turns, gross margins, and capital intensity were central to deriving suitable benchmarks for assessing corporate performance. (Figure 2 presents a simplified view of an income statement and balance sheet. Table 1 presents mathematical definitions for inventory turnover, gross margin, capital intensity, return on assets, sales growth, and other management measures based on Figure 2 .) Whereas return on assets, sales growth, return on equity, and financial leverage tended not to vary systematically from one retail segment to another, variation in the components of return on assets was observed between and within industry segments. (Table 2 lists retail segments4 and examples of firms.) Table 3 presents gross margins, inventory turns, GMROI5, and asset turns for supermarkets, drugstores, convenience stores, apparel retailers, jewelry retailers, and toy stores.) Retailers with stable, predictable demand and long product lifecycles such as grocery, drug, and convenience stores tended to have better â€Å"efficiency ratios† (asset turns and inventory turns) than other retailers, retailers of short lifecycle products such as apparel, shoes, electronics, jewelry, and An alternative measure of inventory productivity, days of inventory, could be substituted for inventory turnover for the present analysis. Classification of segments is based on S&P’s Compustat database. GMROI is defined as gross margin return on inventory investment. Variation in gross margins, inventory turns, and SG&A expenses within and between segments ROE could be decomposed into gross margin and inventory turns, and further into the relationship between capital intensity and inventory turns (see below).Anticipating roughly similar ROE measures for different retailers, all else remaining equal, a change in any of the component metrics on the right side of the equation would be expected to result in a compensating change in some other component metric. For example, for ROE among retailers to be equivalent a retailer with higher gross margins would need to experience a compensating change in some other component, such as inventory turns. Gross margin and inventory turns: Gross margin and inventory turns were expected to be negatively correlated, that is, an increase in gross margin was expected to be accompanied by a decrease in inventory turnover. A retailer that carried a unit of product longer before selling it (i.e., a retailer with slower inventory turns) would expect to earn substantially more on its inventory investment than a retailer that carried the inventory item for a shorter period. For example, Radio Shack, which turned its inventory less frequently than twice a year,  was expected to realize higher gross margins on each sale than retailers such as CompUSA, which turned its inventory more than eight times per year. Retailers such as Radio Shack were said to be following the â€Å"profit path† (i.e., earning high profit with each sale), retailers such as CompUSA the â€Å"turnover path† (i.e., earning quickly after making an inventory investment small profits with each sale). Retailers within the same segment were expected to achieve equivalent inventory productivity. Inventory productivity could be estimated as the product of a firm’s gross margins and inventory turns, termed gross margin return on inventory investment or GMROI (pronounced â€Å"JIMROY†). If GMROI remained stable within a segment an inverse relationship between gross margin and inventory turns would be observed. (Figure 3 depicts the expected relationship.) A correlation between gross margin and inventory turns, although expected, did not, however, imply a causal relationship between the two variables. That is, a firm that increased its gross margin by better managing its inventory turns would not necessarily decline commensurately. The correlation between gross margin and inventory turns could instead reflect mutual dependence on the characteristics of a retailer’s business. Capital intensity and inventory turns: Investments in warehouses, information technology, and inventory and logistics management systems involved capital investment, which, being accounted for as fixed assets, was measured by an increase in capital intensity. Firms that made such capital investments often enjoyed higher inventory turns. Hence, inventory turns could be positively correlated with capital intensity. That an increase in inventory turnover and concurrent decrease in gross margin was not necessarily indicative of improved inventory management capability suggested limits to the use of inventory turnover in performance analysis. If, however, two firms had similar inventory turnover and gross margin values but different capital intensities the firm with the lower capital intensity might possibly have better inventory management capability. It was thus desirable to incorporate changes in gross margin and capital intensity into evaluations of inventory productivity. Zinn’s Analysis of John B. River Berman fidgeted in his chair. He enjoyed opportunities to evangelize to and educate television audiences, but found the wait in the studio tedious. Until called to hold forth on various aspects of managerial performance and investment strategy he would, he decided, wade through the report Zinn had prepared for him. Company Background On November 8, 2004 John B. River Clothiers, Inc., a leading U.S. retailer of men’s tailored and casual clothing and accessories, opened its 250th store. The retailer employed, in addition to the physical store format, two other channels: catalogs, and the Internet. Production of John B. River’s designs according to its specifications was contracted to third party vendors and suppliers. John B. River’s product suite, intended to dress a male career professional from head to toe, was identified with high quality and value. Its upscale, classic product offerings included tuxedos, blazers, shirts, ties, vests, pants, and sports wear. Excepting branded shoes from other vendors, all products were marketed under the John B. River brand. Trends in workplace clothing were an important determinant of John B. River sales growth. Thus, the early 1990s trend towards acceptability of informal clothing in the workplace was cause for concern to a retailer that emphasized men’s formal suits. But in the early 2000’s the pendulum seemed to swing back, with increasing numbers of employees preferring to dress more formally for the workplace. The material in this section is from John B. River Clothiers, Inc’s 2004 10-K Statement Retail stores were John B. River’s primary sales channel. Eighty percent of store space was dedicated to selling activities, the remaining 20% allocated to stockroom and tailoring and other support activities. Tailoring was a differentiating service highly valued by the retailer’s clientele. John B. River catered to high-end customers and so located its retail stores in areas with appropriate demographics. Its seven outlet stores provided a channel for liquidating excess merchandise. John B. River’s catalog and Internet channels accounted for approximately 11% of net sales in fiscal 2003 and 12% of net sales in fiscal 2002. Approximately eight million catalogs were distributed over these two years. Catalog sales were supported by a toll-free number that provided access to sales associates. The primary competitors of John B. River were Men’s Wearhouse Inc. (Ticker: MW) and Brooks Brothers (privately held). Apart from competing with these  specialty retailers, John B. River competed with large department stores such as Macy’s and Filenes, which enjoyed substantially greater financial and marketing resources. Supply Chain John B. River’s merchandise buying and planning staff used sophisticated information systems to convey product designs and specifications to suppliers and third party contract manufacturers and manage the production process worldwide. Approximately 24% of product purchases in fiscal 2003 were sourced from U.S. suppliers. Mexico accounted for 15% and none of the other countries from which products were sourced accounted for more than 10% of purchases. An agent was employed to source products from countries located in or near Asia. All inventory was received at a centralized distribution center (CDC), from which it was redistributed to warehouses or directly to stores. Store inventory was tracked using point-of-sale information and stock was replenished as necessary. John B. River expected to spend between $3 and $4 million in fiscal 2004 to increase the capacity of its CDC to accommodate 500 stores nationwide. Growth Strategy and Risks John B. River had developed a five-pronged strategy for achieving growth. First, it planned to further enhance product quality by elevating standards for design and manufacture. Second, it planned to expand catalog and internet operations. Third, it intended to introduce new products. Fourth, it was moving towards eliminating middlemen from the sourcing of products Fifth, it was committed to providing consistently high service levels by maintaining high inventory levels. Anticipating that growth relied on opening new stores, John B. River planned to expand to 500 stores. Approximately 60 stores were opened in fiscal 2004, increasing store count to 273, and about 75 to 100 stores were planned from  2005-08. Upfront costs associated with opening a new store included approximately $225,000 for leasehold improvements, fixtures, point-of-sale equipment, and so forth and an inventory investment of approximately $350,000, with higher inventory levels during peak periods. John B. River’s growth strategy was sensitive to consumer spending. John B. River relied on its emphasis on classic styles to retain a niche in men’s suits, a strategy that rendered it less vulnerable to changes in fashions but dependent on continued demand for classic styles. Zinn’s Analysis of John B. River’s Financial Statements Inventory: John B. River used the first-in-first out method to value inventory. During price increases FIFO valuation generated higher net income than LIFO valuation. John B. River’s inventory had been growing rapidly over the past four years. Zinn was surprised by the inventory growth, especially that inventory had grown faster than sales. Although inventory grew by 54% in 2003, corresponding sales growth was only 23%. In 2004 however, sales grew 24% while inventory grew by only 4%. Inventory at the end of 2004 however continued to be high at 303 days. Further the days’ payables increased from 54 days in 1998 to 82 days in 2004. Payables as a percentage of inventory however had declined from roughly 33% in 1998 to roughly 27% in 2004. But Zinn was not sure these concerns had much impact on her valuation of the company. Financial ratios: Current ratio and quick ratio had been hovering around 2 and 0.2, respectively.10,11 The large difference between these two ratios reflected the fact that most of John B. River’s current assets were inventory. Obsolescence costs would consequently be fairly high and could place the retailer in financial distress. The other financial ratios were indicative of a healthy company. ROE had increased from 15% to 27% since fiscal 2000. This increase had been largely fueled by an increasing profit margin (0.7% to 5.5% over the same period). John B. River had enjoyed rapid growth in sales over the last few years. Annual Sales growth had increased from 9% in 1998 to 24% in 2004, fueled by sales growth in existing stores (approximately 8% per year) as well as the opening of new stores and increased sales from the retailer’s catalog and internet channels. John B. River enjoyed a healthy increase in gross margins from 51% to 60% over the same period. Tables 4 and 5 provide key operational metrics for John B. River and Men’s Wearhouse. Prospective Analysis: Zinn had taken the Business Analysis and Valuation (BAV) class at HBS and discovered the â€Å"BAV tool.†12 She had used this tool to create a simpler model (used in the present analysis) to capture key aspects of valuation. Table 6 provides some key historical operational metrics for John B. River that Zinn used for her prospective analysis. Current ratio, defined as the ratio of current assets to current liabilities, was an indicator of a company’s ability to meet short-term debt obligations; the higher the ratio the more liquid the company. Quick ratio (or acid-test ratio), defined as the ratio of (cash + accounts receivable) to current liabilities, measured a company’s liquidity. The BAV tool was an Excel-based model developed by Harvard Business School faculty for valuing companies. Key assumptions made by Zinn in performing the prospective analysis of John B. River included the following. 1) Time horizon: Zinn chose a five year time horizon from 2005 to 2009 based on expected sales growth (derived from management projections). Beyond 2009 Zinn assumed the company to have reached a steady state defined by terminal values. 2) Sales growth: Zinn assumed that management’s projections for new stores were reasonable and that the new stores would be equivalent in size and productivity with the retailer’s existing stores. Using growth assumptions about stores and same store sales, Zinn computed sales growth for fiscal years 2005-2008 to be 18% (based on 15% square footage growth and 3% same store sale growth), and 10% for 2009. Sales after 2010 in Zinn’s analysis were expected to grow at the 4% industry standard for retail apparel stores13. 3) Gross margin: Gross margin had been steadily increasing; Zinn expected it to hover around 60% for the next five years and then assumed gross margin to reach its terminal value to reflect increased competition. 4) Other assumptions about the income statement: Zinn assumed that SG&A to sales and other operating expenses to sales would continue at the 2004 levels for the near term (till 2008). 5) Assumptions about the balance sheet: Zinn assumed that current assets to sales, current liabilities to sales, and long term assets to sales would continue at their 2004 levels, that is, the company would maintain a similar capital structure and remain as productive with its long term assets as in 2003. Zinn obtained terminal values from industry norms for â€Å"Men’s and boys’ clothing stores†14. The market risk premium was assumed to be 5%, risk free rate 4.3%, marginal tax rate 42%, and cost of debt 4.5%. Based on these assumptions, the value of a JONR share was estimated to be $43.58. Given the current (April 11th, 2005) closing price of $34.37 (see Figure 4 for historical stock prices of JONR), Zinn rated the stock a â€Å"strong buy.† You’re On the Air in Five Minutes! Berman knew he had to return to thinking about the bigger questions that would be posed by the host of the TV show. Yet he could not take his mind off of Zinn’s analysis. Berman smiled, knowing that his apprentice’s results were diametrically opposed to his own intuition. He recollected his conversation with the CEO and CFO of John B. River during one of the quarterly earnings calls when he was trying to learn about the retailer. When questioned about the steep increase in inventory, the CEO had mentioned that John B. River was planning to grow inventory in certain basic items like white shirts, khaki pants etc. as well as increase product variety to enhance service levels to its customers. Berman was not sure about this strategy of John B. River and wondered if the company’s gross margins were temporarily inflated based on increased inventories over the years. On the other hand, inventory management had improved of late. As reported on the 4th April 2005, Q4, 20 04 sales had increased 24% while inventories were up only 4% year over year.

The Man of Justice: To Kill a Mockingbird

He never yelled at the two, or abused them by physical punishment. Tactics also never bragged about how he could do many things, like shoot a gun, which may have taught the children a lot. Tactics woke up one day to see his neighbors house on fire. He tells Jam and Scout to wait by the Raddled house, because Miss Media's home is in a dangerous state. While the children watched the house burn from the Raddled', they spotted their brave dad run into the house to grab something. L saw Tactics carrying Miss Media's heavy oak rocking chair, and thought it was sensible of him to save what she most valued† (Lee 93). Tactics had the courage to run into a burning house to save a neighbor's favorite rocking hair in the freezing cold! The Old Sacrum Bunch came to the prison where Tom Robinson was held; (with rifles and weapons), and Tactics wouldn't accept their orders. The children were watching their father sitting in front of the jail with a light and a book, when many cars then came b y.Tactics began speaking to the group and they asked â€Å"ahoy know what we want' another man said. ‘Get aside the door Mr.. Finch'† (Lee 202). Tactics courageously replied by stating mayo can turn around and go home, Walter (Lee 202). This is only one of the things Tactics has done for Tom Robinsons safety and comfort. Tactics was put in a situation where he had to shoot a dog to save his neighbors. This started when Jam and Scout were trying to find some wildlife to shoot at when, they spot Tim Johnson (a dog).He was acting weird, so the children ran to their nanny, California, and told her about the situation. She later called Tactics and told him to come because of this animal. Sheriff Heck Tate and Tactics came out Of the car with a rifle. Tactics is handed the gun and shoots Jim Johnson. Tactics later states to the child â€Å"don't you go near that dog you understand? Don't go near him, he's just as dangerous dead as alive†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ (Lee 128). Tactics is a brave hero that has done many things to improve others' joy, like when he let Mr..

Are Females Better Students Than Males Essay

Sajetha: As a whole, females do better than males in school. Am I saying that the individual female will always do better than the individual male? No. There are of course males who perform academically better than girls in school. However, speaking from a male’s point of view, female academic performance is higher than male academic performance. A simple Google search will also attest to this fact. Amy: Males are simply smarter. Thousands of years of male dominance must have meant something. Why would males be considered dominant by history? Because its a fact that was always proven. Males are born smarter, although they have a lot of sexual desires. Yeeting: The time has change. Come on. We might think that boys are good at everything†¦ And that is wrong. Most of the scientist might be boys, but what about Barbara McClintock-the one that found out that DNA and Irine Joliot-Curie-the one that found nuclear. I have to admit that girls are also better. Tvya: No gender is better than the other. Even if women generally test better than males, you can’t say that one gender is better at school than the other. It doesn’t matter what is in between a student’s legs as much as what is in between their ears. Society molds boys and girls into acting a certain way rather than the opposite. Sajetha: Girls are more dedicated. Girls have a tendency to dedicate more time and energies to their studies than boys. Girls typically set a schedule for studying that rarely is interrupted. This consistency ensures that studying will occur on a set and regular basis. Amy: No, females and males are equal students. Females are no better or worse students than males. Both genders have their pros and cons in terms of being a student, but more importantly, how great a student is is up to the individual. It’s really impossible to say if any one gender is better than  the other. They’re both equal. Yeeting: Intelligent, powerful and smart. Girls are more intelligent, discipline and matured than boys. Now a days in most of the universities girls are in the top of the list.What do you say? But boys think that they are more creative and intelligent. Tvya: Females are NOT better than Boys. Most people will tell you that girls are smarter than boys. A study by Dr. Paul Irving and Dr. Richard Lynn, states that the opposite is true. Despite the fact that girls get slightly better grades, males on average have a higher IQ than girls by about 5 points. The grades are merely a product of an educational system geared towards females. Sajetha: I’am a boy. Being a boy I will support girls as it is universal truth that girls are better students. I accept boys have stupid and nasty thoughts. Girls have a kind of discipline in them and they maintain it. Girls follow what the teacher say in class and boys usually do opposite. Only a few examples can be seen that boys seems to be better ones but other boys use to call them bookworms. But girls don’t do. Amy: No I do not believe this. This doesn’t mean that one is better than the other, this simply means that each excel in their own way. As for successful males versus females, it hasn’t been proven that females have more success in the future or that they are smarter. Yeeting: Yes they are Because girls are more mature than boys and they focus better and they get in trouble way more than boys. Also the female gender starts to mature a year or two earlier than the male gender so that’s why i think girls make better students than boys. Tvya: If females were better students than males why would males always be dominant. To choose a governor for your place country you would choose someone wise which shows men are better students than males because they are mostly the ones in power and to be in power you have to be a good student Sajetha: Females are always better student than the male. I am totally agree with this statement. That’s why they got the chance to study in old time and there was no chance of study of girls. Their family members think that this is not good to send females to school but females proof this that they are good they have right to study even they are better than the males in our classes. Amy: Are female students better or are males I think that males can be better than females in studies because if you see, that most of the best students in the world are males. Many people think that females are better in studies because it is a natural fact. This does not mean that males are not as good as females in a studious environment Yeeting: Of course! There is no doubt that the girls are superior than boys in every aspect. I think that the girls have more moral values than the guys. Girls make world but the boys just destroy it. By the way I KNOW that there is no need to explain the importance of girls because we all know that our world cannot run without them. Tvya: I say no they are the same. Each student are the same. Some can do good on day and the other can do bad. You cant chose which is better because at the end of it they are all just the same. I think that pupils shouldn’t be judged by the way they do their work we should just let them be them. Sajetha: Yes there are Because I said so. They are better because at school we are doing a debate on who are better students. And my group got girls are better students. So I did some research and I went on this website and I see that 6% more voted for boys than girls so I said girls are so it would be only 3% and then it told I have to write something if I brought it up a % so I wrote this. Amy: Definitely not — .. Affirmative action for females, a system designed for female learning patterns. As students are females better? No! But in current conditions, maybe. This is a very poor excuse to preach female  superiority, whereas if anything even hinting to superiority of males is taken with little seriousness and is seen as blatant sexism, double standards. Yeeting: I think that females are better at school Because as my school we got to go to a baseball game if you got straight a’s in all subjects there were like 15 people invited and only 1 guy got invited. So that why I think that girls are usually better students than guys but that’s at my school your school may be different. Tvya: I totally Disagree. I believe everyone’s equal . We are all born with the same brain capacity . We choose to study or not to study , women choose to study but it does not point a finger that they are smarter . We are the one’s that have control over ourselves . No one was born stupid!

The event which influenced me a lot Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The event which influenced me a lot - Essay Example It all started when I look at some of the pictures of that devastating incident on my TV screen first. It all looked terribly bad. Hundreds and thousands of men, women and children live their lives without food, water and shelter. After this impression I tried to keep follow-up of that story. It al happened on the morning of 8th of October and I got first glimpse of that on 12th of October. Since world has been witnessed of so many tragedies in past two years, it awakens my interest in that. At the time of Tsunami, We were al amazed to witness something so huge swept across whole of the population from the face of the earth. This time around it all looked even more tragic. I know that South East Asia is not a very developed part of the world. They have their own set of problems. So I guessed at that time that it would not be very easy for them to get out of all that themselves. I mentioned the tragedy of tsunami. I saw pictures of that on net several times. But as far as my information is concerned I knew it from the newspapers that the effected area of tsunami was al plain fields. One big tidal wave came and destroyed everything in its vicinity. After the water of that tidal wave dried out, it was relatively east to get started with the rebuilding process. It was easy in those areas to transport food, medicines and other supplies as well. Injuries of water were of different type as well. When I made that comparison then I realized that it all looked very bad.I saw pictures of hungry children, people fighting for blankets and tents, rescue workers taking people out of the rubble without proper equipment and accessories, spending their nights under heavy rainfall and in bitter cold. It all took it away from me my sleep and appetite. As I got into thick of the things, I got information that UN reported that more than 4 million people were directly affected, prior to the commencement of winter snowfall in the Himalayan region. It is estimated that damages incurred are well over US$ 5 billion (Rs. 30 billion) Five crossing points were opened on the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan to facilitate the flow of humanitarian and medical aid to the affected region. It was broadcasted from the whole of the media channels that whole towns and cities were completely vanished from the face of earth. According to the officials death toll was around 87,350 and tally of injured people was around 100,000. I heard in reports that winter was approaching very fast in those areas and to keep all those helicopters in operation to provide them with tents and basic necessities they need huge sum of funds.Everyday channels all around the world were giving different web addresses where we all can donate our contribution to that poor people. I tried to gather something out of my own pocket money as my friends and I did at the time of Tsunami as well. I donated directly to Red Cross. I felt helpless. First it was Tsunami, second Katrina and then this massive earthquake. That is all I can do. Not more than that in the kind of conditions where even the best-developed nations felt helpless. I heard rescue workers saying on TV

Historical Letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Historical Letter - Essay Example The Iroquois lived in villages and were mainly farmers who stayed near their fields of crops. We only lived and cultivated lands within the period of 10-20 years after the soil proved infertile due to the worn out form of farming. Although we stayed along the streams, we later moved on to hilltops so that we could protect ourselves from the attacking tribes and even used palisade which had watch towers to spot invaders (De 17-27). Farm lands were cleared by men and women followed with the actual planting by using tiny wooden spades in creating mounds. We believed that mounds would play a major role in protecting the seeds from cold, and that the three crops grown could provide both physical and spiritual sustainers of life. We used a companion planting method in growing corns. We used to plant three main agricultural crops which included corn, squash, and beans which were commonly referred to as â€Å"Three Sisters†. We always planted the crops together in a very close distanc e where some flat topped mounds of soil were created for every cluster of crops. Every mound was almost 30cm high and 50cm wide, and numerous corn seeds were collectively planted in the middle of the mounds and rotten fish or even eels were buried together with the seeds to act as fertilizer (De 17-27). It was interesting to note that the crops mutually benefited from each other like the maize provided its stalk for the beans to climb, beans provided nitrogen for other plants to utilize, while squash nicely covered the ground to prevent the growth of weeds and retain moisture in the soil. We strongly believed that the mixture of maize and beans provided a great balanced diet. The natural relationship of the three crops was very vital, hence, requiring us to plant them together. During the harvest crops were gathered, women and seniour girls did the part of scrapping the kernels off the corn ears immediately the corns dried and later stored in the containers made of bark. We made a n ice soup from the dry corn and bread with the grounded ones (Kleinberg, Boris & Ruiz 30-35). Apart from the three crops, we grew sunflowers so that we could use oil from their seeds in cooking, protecting us from the sun or cold after rubbing on our bodies and even in healing cuts. Women could gather fruits at times as men hunted bear, beaver, rabbit or deer using bows and arrows or even trapping the animals in snares. Despite the abundance of food, we ate only one great meal in the late morning using our wooden spoons, bowls or shells. We used deerskin and other animals’ hides and furs to make our clothes which we commonly used both for protection and decoration. We wore our clothes considering different times of the year: during the summer we used loincloths of soft deerskin, while during cold weather men got dressed in leather leggings and tunics and women in skirts and leggings. Shells, beads, and porcupine quills provided a lovely decoration for the clothes, necklaces, a nd bracelets (Kleinberg, Boris & Ruiz 30-35). Our customs and beliefs were simply amazing. We believed that there existed numerous spirit forces that were created by a supreme being such as the sky spirit which included the moon and the sun as well as the earth spirits that included animals and plants. Every Iroquoian believed that their dreams would become true, and it was, therefore, common to see someone cutting him or herself in a harmless way whenever he or

20th Century American Liberalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

20th Century American Liberalism - Essay Example However, these ideas were challenged, asserted or weakened by the modern philosophers such as David Ricci and Will Kymlyika as they introduced new thoughts and beliefs with regards individualism, behaviorism and equality in the field of political philosophy.David Ricci, a leading philosopher in the previous century, argued that many political scientists have produced a plethora of literature only to improve their possibilities of tenure and thus, sacrificed rationality in their search of novelty which can give a scholar quick fame and prove her worth in her field. Ricci also argued in his essay Behavioral Persuasion that the rise of behavioral science brought about the decline of political philosophy (Ricci 150). He also contends that the quantity of work on the field of behavioral science has not produced real breakthroughs and that the behavioral scientists failed to see how systems in politics function. This, according to Ricci, resulted to the field's ethical shortcomings as expe rts in this area studied pseudo-politics and not real politics nor moral agendas applied to the field of politics.... This clearly means that if there is a conflict between individual and collective rights, individual rights should prevail (Kymlicka 122) . Although Kymlica's contentions have their precedence in the works of Rawls especially the pairs of moral principles Rawls suggested in his works, their ideas on individualism do not take parallel paths. In Rawls lecture titled Powers of Citizens and Their Representation, Rawls argued that democratic institutions usually lead to pluralism as our differences and diversity, groupings and ethnic variety often results to divergence in opinions (Rawls 47-88). He added that citizens will mostly disagree on their ideas with regards moral and political question but this pluralism is 'reasonable' in modern society. However, Kymlicka clearly argued that in the conflict of individual and 'plural' rights, the rights of an individual should prevail. This does not mean, nevertheless, that Rawls does not advocate respect of an individual opinion. As a matter of fact, Rawls contends that it is unreasonable to unwillingly acknowledge the claims of others (Rawls 51). For Rawls, disparate philosophies are results of freedom and this should be viewed positively as this lead to a diversity of 'comprehensive philosophical and religious doctrines about the nature of the good or ultimate value'. If this difference leads to arguments, Rawls suggest that these altercations should be viewed favorably as it is always difficult to reach a consensus (Rawls 56-57). On the topic of moral psychology, we will find that Ricci and Rawls have totally disparate assertion. While Ricci 'blames' behaviorism on what he claims as the culprit for

Can violence,or force, or the threat of threat of force help to lessen Essay

Can violence,or force, or the threat of threat of force help to lessen or eliminate racism - Essay Example But whether the use of such violent means justify and succeed in eliminating racism, is the fundamental question, that is being probed in this paper. I personally feel that such a question cannot be answered in a meaningful and rational manner with a specific ‘yes’ or ‘no’, particularly considering the background: the historical circumstances as well as the present day conflicts; which has evoked such a deliberation. Any rational individual, in my view, would not consent to use of violence as a legitimate means of overcoming racism unless, it is the only means available to defend personal values and it justifies the cause to fight a greater evil. There exists a moral / ethical dilemma regarding the use of force or threat for safeguarding one’s own interest and defending integrity of the suppressed population. Thus, while on one hand we have a considerable section of the society, believing in non violence who would unanimously negate the use of any for m of aggression or dominance to counter suppression and prejudicial behavior, and promote non violent and subtle means as a more favorable and rational action, and yet on the other hand, there are those who claim that violence is justified if it is used to eliminate greater evils. The choice that this question offers, gives rise to contradicting ideologies, which challenges our moral judgment, since theoretically, violence is generally condemned by societies as an illegitimate and irrational action that does not justify any cause, and yet factually, we may find several instances where violence was successfully used to eliminate social evils. For instance, the aggressive revolt led by Nat Turner, a black slave, in the early 1830s against the tyranny of white Americans, in a bid to escape racist laws and reinstate dignity and self empowerment for the blacks, which eventually led to bloodshed

The Role of International Law in Preserving the Environment Essay

The Role of International Law in Preserving the Environment - Essay Example On the one hand, intuition and logic demands that an international or regional response is in many contexts a practical necessity. The nations of the world routinely confront challenges that are global or regional in scope—challenges in areas as diverse as environmental change, communications technology, and regional security. These challenges demand a more coordinated and concerted approach than any single, national solution can provide. Should criminals launch from a server twenty feet into a neighboring sovereign state, it would be foolhardy to believe that the country whose citizens were targeted by such criminals could effectively investigate and prosecute the criminal agents. Should refugees flood into a region because of instability in one-state, the stability, welfare mechanisms, and infrastructure of all affected regional states are challenged by the sudden flux in displaced persons. It would be ignorant to assume that the actions of one state are not directly affecte d by the actions of other states. So it is with the environment. Should carbon dioxide spill out of factories run by Western businesses and make their way into the stratosphere, the areas affected by the resulting greenhouse effect won't be limited to the areas where those factories were built. Should toxic waste be dumped into a river that in turn feeds a lake or an ocean, the water will carry that waste to shores far removed from the polluters. One nation can do little to change the world, when their neighbors or their peers remain unconcerned about their own contributions. On the other hand, these same nations exist as legal entities thanks to a juridical system inherited from a time when legal purviews were far more provincial. As such, the legal regimes in place within each nation-state tend to privilege the sovereignty of that state, which is to say that they accord that state near-absolute control over the legal decisions that occur within their borders. The boundaries of jur isdiction are thus by default the dividing lines between different models or standards for jurisprudence, and should a nation will itself immune to the pressures or legal regimes in other countries, it can do so. Problematically, the incentive to do just that correlates positively with the relative power-status of the country in question. Weaker, smaller, less developed countries may feel that external legal pressures that might compromise national sovereignty are nonetheless in their best interest, since they do not wish to alienate the great military or economic powers, especially if they rely on those power for financial or military assistance, or for regular trade. The more powerful countries, by contrast, have every incentive to view their own sovereignty as inviolate, a reflection of their global standing. These countries also tend to be more effective in resolving problems within their own borders, and as such may feel like their approach to larger-scale problems should be ad opted by less-powerful nations, rather than engaging in cooperative solutions that would compromise their own sovereignty alongside those of other state participants. Sadly, this scenario is precisely what has unfolded with many of our international institutions. The United Nations, for example, gives a select group of countries, the United States chief among them, de facto veto power over the will of the General Assembly. Perhaps most exemplary of this tendency is

Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Susan Glaspell’s play â€Å"Trifles† was written in 1916 and then reworked into a short story entitled â€Å"A Jury of her Peers† in the following year. The content is very similar to each version. Both pieces tell the story of a murder investigation. In both cases, the main suspect, Mrs. Wright, is much discussed, but she never appears. The women deduce that Mrs. Wright has been abused by her husband, and they cover up incriminating details so that the men do not find sufficient evidence to convict Mrs. Wright of the murder of her husband. The play shows how the men notice different things than the women, while the story allows an even more nuanced judgment of the various characters. The play begins with the investigation of the Wright household. The men proceed according to the letter of the law as written and enacted by men. The Sheriff, for example, dismisses the evidence of the domestic environment by looking around and saying â€Å"There’s nothing here but kitchen things.† The play’s title is an ironic reference to the domestic objects and activities which make up the majority of women’s lives in this period. The way the kitchen looks and the condition of objects within it are factors which bear witness to what happened to this woman. Only women can read and understand these signs, while men think they are unimportant and do not look closely enough at the detail. When the women look at the preparations that were underway in the kitchen they see what has happened. Mrs Peters says â€Å"she had bread set.† (p. 12) This looks, on the surface, like a simple observation. Both women understand the context of bread-making, however, and they realize that something must have interrupted Mrs Wright, because normally a housewife would not leav bread half made. The play illustrates the complicity of the three women. These subtle connections are difficult to convey in dramatic form on the stage, and this may be why one performance of the play had mixed reviews. A modern production of the play in East Village, Manhattan, performed in February 2010, received mixed reviews (Jaworowski, 2010). The director introduced elements to enhance the dramatic atmosphere: â€Å"Extended pauses have been inserted throughout, creating long silences; characters often abruptly stop for 5 or 10 seconds between lines or in the middle of dialogue.† (Jaworowski, 2010) Jaworowski finds this pretentious, and implies that the audience also were nervous and not sure how to interpret the silences. Other additions such as wordless singing and musical accompaniment, as well as lighting effects, help to convey â€Å"an eerie, affecting mood that lingers after the show ends.† (Jaworowski, 2010) The rising tension is conveyed effectively by these novel means, but the reflective side of the short story is largely lo st. The intimacy of the reader sitting alone and imagining the meaningful looks between the women is a more effective technique than any real life visual representation could manage. On stage an actor has to use body posture, timing, and facial impressions to indicate what the character is thinking. The subject matter of this play is subtle, and so it is extremely difficult to convey the solidarity of women in their thinking. The written form is simply better at showing nuances of judgement about characters.In contrast to the play the story’s title â€Å"A Jury of Her Peers† uses legal language to point out that the peers of Mrs Wright are not the sheriff, the attorney and assembled male jurors, but in fact women like herself who can understand the pressures she has suffered in her life. In a way the story is a plea for the right of women to be judged by women, and not by a sexist legal system which is subject to male prejudice, while the play is more like a debate abo ut the two perspectives. The story is more detailed and explicit than the play, providing extra information about the relationships between all three women characters. The narrative voice

Steps to Writing a Grant Proposal Essay Example for Free

Steps to Writing a Grant Proposal Essay For all organizations funding can be an issue. Depending if the organization is for profit, they depend on loans and revenue to support them, building inventory, and expanding. While non-profits depend on grants and donations to keep their organizations running. The most important with non-profits is writing grant proposals to keep the financial aspects of the organization intact. Human services need to take great care in who is responsible of writing grant proposals for their organization. The important steps that must be followed in writing the grant proposal after finding the appropriate request for proposal or application is to write an abstract for the proposal, which would include a summary of the proposal with the agency name, type, purpose and objectives, interventions, target population, location, and relevance of the proposed program to the funding intentions (Terao Yuen, 2003). The next phase of the proposal would be the table of contents, which is a guide of the contents covered and their location within the proposal. Other important parts of the written proposal should be included within this proposal are the plans, background and significance, and needs and problem statement. Not only are these important they define the needs of the targeted population, demographics, the current state of affairs, and what will be needed to ease the problem. Discussing the barriers to service helps the funders decide if the goals meet their stated goals; these include accessibility, availability, awareness, appropriateness, and acculturation (Terao Yuen, 2003). While it may seem that not all programs have all of these issues, most do in one way or another. Literature review helps to support the proposal request by identifying previous program results, data about the target population, and studies which are related to the issues. Stating who the target population is for a program is very important for consideration by donors; they need to know who will be served, why they are currently underserved, and why they need to be served. Age, race, at-risk status, economic status, gender status, or other urgent needs are all aspects of target populations which should be addressed; as well as others, as appropriate. The approaches and  methods section of the proposal tells the donor how you intend to address the problem as identified in other sections. Showing what your plan is, how you intend to intervene in the existing problem or situation, and how your program is unique to the current solutions which others are using. In effect, it is a summary of how your plan will work to â€Å"fix† the problem which presents itself in the target population. The vision of a program is the ideal of what the situation will become if the mission, goals, and objectives come to be reality. Vision may seem to be a rosy view of what could be; mission, goals, and objectives lay out the plan that the organization will use to get as close to the vision as possible. The activities of intervention or service and the definition of the desired outcome help the reader to understand what your agency intends to do and how they plan on doing it. The next step is closely related to vision, mission, goals, and objectives; the evaluation plan shows the continuous ways that an organization can judge whether it is meeting the needs of the target population. The agency evaluation step is probably one of the most important aspects of a grant proposal; donors want to know how you will measure if your program is successful or failing in its mission. The agency capacity and project management section of the proposal show the previous record of an organization; how well it has measured up on past programs, how well it managed past grants, and recommendations from other donors or people who sit in the public eye. The project management aspects address staffing, their responsibilities, the organizational structure, and how this program is related to past projects. The budget and budget justifications stage of proposal writing shows how the money requested will be spent and why it should be spent the way the detailed budget has projected. Items like the percentage to be spent on general expenses, salaries, staffing, and travel are all important to funders; if the largest percent of administrative salaries exist, the funder may require money be spent on other purposes. The other sources and amounts of funding which have been committed should be disclosed in this section of the proposal. An ending summary which pulls together the plan, the desired outcomes related to mission, goals and objectives, the budgetary definitions, and how all interventions will best serve the clients involved in a situation where urgent or unique need has made the program important. Grant writing is a skill that will be developed  with greater expertise through practice and experiences with funders. Great care should be taken to properly apply for grants related to specific programs and projects; otherwise, future submittals may be discounted because an agency has previously ignored the requirements of Requests for Proposals. Wasting the time of reviewers does not bode well for future applications. Being aware, attentive, and addressing accurately the requirements of those grants which relate to their programs will save the time and energy of grant writers which would be better served by applying for other appropriate grants. Section Two: Santa Rosa Philharmonic Youth Symphony Needs and Problem Statement Students in the Santa Rosa area who attend elementary and middle schools have recently lost opportunities to learn, appreciate, and gain practical knowledge of music due to budget cuts. They must wait to participate in music programs until high school or college; by then many have lost interest unless they have been taught privately. Few families can afford to sponsor private lessons for their children in this area. If there are not extracurricular activities available for students, they will find other avenues to fill their spare time; law enforcement, parents, educators, and social service professionals are concerned that gang activity, drug abuse, loitering, and other negative influences on a young person’s life may increase since there are less planned, positive, growth-related activities. When a survey was taken of community members and leaders, they were concerned that the lack of essential music programs would set students behind others who attend school in districts which still support music and fine arts and another concern is without access to formal music programs, the youth of Santa Rosa will lose their appreciation, enjoyment, and participation in music programs. Since the costs associated with private lessons are beyond the reach of most families, they recommend development of a project which educates students and supports music education, appreciation, and leadership training. There is a program in existence, The Santa Rosa Philharmonic Youth Symphony (SRPYS), which addresses all of these issues. Their mission, goals, and objectives will help to absorb students which have been excluded from musical experiences, but additional funding  will be required to continue and expand the program. While not all students will be talented enough to perform in the major Philharmonic events, some will gain entry to the Symphony proper through auditions which are held each June. Those who are not chosen will still be able to participate in education and appreciation programs; thus, keeping them interested and exposed to different types of music while also aspiring to be accepted to the Symphony through practice and individual learning opportunities. References Terao, K., Terao, K.L. Yuen (2003). Practical Grant Writing and Program Evaluation. Brooks and Cole/Cengage Learning, Florence, KY.

History of the Concept of Hegemony and Power

History of the Concept of Hegemony and Power The concept of hegemony is notoriously difficult to quantify both in concrete political terms and in a less tangible philosophical manner. Moreover, in a world increasingly divided upon religious as opposed to ideological lines, the concept of hegemony has suffered from a certain crisis of relevance whereby it would seem that the preponderance of resources has indeed become the central precept for the paradigm per se; whereby, furthermore, economic and cultural imperialism have united to ensure the dominance of one geo political system within the international order in the vacuum created by the dissolution of ideology and the triumph of multi national capitalism. Yet all is not quite as it seems in the modern international sphere. Current events have a distinctly repetitive feel but, at the same time, the international relations landscape is changing and re configuring its boundaries with such rapidity and vigour that definitions and sweeping statements are deemed, correctly, to be o ut of place concerning any particular sphere of international relations. Certainly, the broader subject of hegemony and inter state communication is of utmost importance in the comprehension of the new world order, though keeping track of new theories is an essentially difficult, contradictory experience, particularly at the dawn of the twenty first century. As Benno Teschke (2003:1) explains in the opening chapter of his book, The Myth of 1648, the entire subject of contemporary international relations theory is in a constant state of flux, inspired by the death of the nation state and the advent of post modernity. â€Å"The classical Westphalian system, rooted in the primacy of the modern, territorially bounded sovereign state, is being replaced by a post territorial, post modern global order. The old logic of geopolitical security is being subordinated to geo economics, multi level global governance, or the demands of a multi actor international civil society. A fundamental transformation in the structure of the international system and its rules of conflict and co operation is unfolding before our eyes.† For the purposes of the essay, it will be necessary to analyse the concept of hegemony from its origins to see how it has evolved over time and where its relevance might lie within todays post structuralist society, taking a chronological view so as to see how its conceptual meaning has altered along the way. It will likewise be necessary to examine international economic realities and histories as well as political instances of hegemony to highlight the essential duality between continuity and change – in other words, how the past might help us to better understand the present and the future, yet also how the current world order presents unique problems that were of no relevance in the past, which necessarily makes an overall academic judgement more problematic. First a definition of hegemony must be attempted. Within the context of this essay, it is extremely important to comprehend the inherently different strands of hegemony: political, military, economic and cultural. Even more noteworthy is the general interchange that is apparent between the above factors – politics merges with economics and military helps to define any given national culture, which, in turn, means that hegemony is very difficult to quantify in the essentially narrow conceptual terms of simply a preponderance of resources. It will be shown that, throughout recorded history, nations and states have used a combination of factors to control other states, all designed to increase the security of the region and underwrite the strength of the dominant geo political power. Each nation and state that has enjoyed a period of relative dominance has chosen, either through external circumstances that have been thrust upon the rulers or via a conscious, calculated ideologica l choice, to use one of the above themes of hegemony to perpetuate its power base. When a group of people takes control over the fate of another it is never via only one of the above strands – political, military, economic or cultural. Rather, there always exists a concoction of more than one of the dominant conceptual themes to achieve the sum of hegemony and though much has changed throughout the course of history, this central precept remains difficult to ignore. The key player in any discussion pertaining to hegemony and the preponderance of resources has to be the state. Certainly, as far as G. John Ikenberry (1986:53) is concerned, the interaction between any given domestic and international political economy has always been at the epicentre of international relations theory and the comprehension of the rule of empire and state elites lies in understanding the ultimate power that the state has always possessed. â€Å"As administrative and coercive organisations, states are embedded in complex political and economic environments and have a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. Although they vary considerably, they have several elements in common. All states make exclusive claims to the coercive and juridical control of particular territories, and they also make special claims to the definition and representation of broad national interests.† In conceptual terms, hegemony is best understood as the expression of societys ruling classes over the majority of the nation or state over whom they propose to rule. Gramsci (1971:328), the interwar international relations academic and political prisoner who spent his final years behind bars in Mussolinis Italy, describes hegemony as, â€Å"a conception of the world that is implicitly manifest in art, in law, in economic activity and in all manifestations of individual and collective life.† Gramsci here describes cultural hegemony, which was of particular relevance when he was writing in the 1930s, in a world that was dominated by ideological concerns. This type of hegemony and cultural control is a constant political reality that has been a feature of culture and society since the first recorded migrations of man. Never has hegemony as an ideal simply been confined to the realms of natural resources and economic might; it has always been an intangible equation of political power expressed through the elite of any particular nation, state or empire. The much celebrated Athenians, for example, made hegemony an everyday feature of the ancient world, whereby people were defined via their status within the broader Greek political and cultural hierarchy. The Greeks underscored their cultural ideal of hegemony with language and politics, especially the concept of citizenship, which remains a key feature in the study of political and cultural hegemony today. The United States today uses its visa system, for example, to differentiate between alien visitors from within the wider plates of the hegemony that it has created. In the ancient world, Plato and Aristotle grouped the various bands of hegemony together to form what they saw as civilisation. Therefore, to be an Athenian Greek was to be a civilised member of the hegemony of the nascent nation state; to be a barbarian was to be an uncivilised member of the outposts of society, the parts where hegemony had hitherto failed to penetrate as a paradigm and as a cultural and economic force. This phenomenon has since been mirrored in the twenty first century with President Bushs with us or against us stance to global terrorism, where hegemony is once again used as the primary force in the perpetuation of the dominant military, political and economic power of the epoch. Ancient cultures used the acquisition of foreign resources to underline their superior military and cultural power, although it should be noted that the technology and logistics did not then exist to ensure the movement of goods and services across inter state borders so that the preponderance of resources could not become the only outlet of hegemony as a concept. The Middle East trade route, for instance, remained a largely autonomous cultural, political and economic region in spite of the combined power of the Greek and Roman Empires, curtailing efforts at building an Empire from the sole premise of a sound economic base. Therefore, in the ancient world, hegemony meant much more than a preponderance of resources. It implied tangible political and citizenry rights and access to a pre defined status quo that was welded by the elite members of the state and continually updated and re defined by the men and women who had access to power within the machinations of the state. Indeed, the central role of the human actors within the state system remain as relevant today as they were in the ancient world and to dismiss their relevance as secondary to the preponderance of resources would be to misinterpret the dynamics of inter state governance. Individual diplomats, ministers, parties and politics will always have a bearing on the future of both international relations as well as the concept of hegemony where economic resources are only one factor in a much larger pyramid of political and economic concerns. It thus becomes apparent that hegemony must co exist with the broader notion of empire, which is itself constructed upon the solid foundations of economic dynamism garnered through the procurement of resources. The notion of empire altered irrevocably during the dawn of modern history where industrialisation proved to be the catalyst for the significant, seismic shift in the view of hegemony as cultural, economic and political benchmark. The nineteenth century was indeed a watershed in terms of the re drawing of the conceptual parameters of hegemony. The Victorian era saw the traditional European empires of France, Belgium, Britain and Germany use their vast military and economic superiority to carve up the undeveloped world amongst each other with the procurement of raw materials and economic resources utilised as the main motivation for extra territorial action. Without doubt, it is at this juncture in world history that the preponderance of resources becomes the pre eminent factor in the power of hegemony and cultural imperialism. The Scramble for Africa, for instance, constituted a devouring of the worlds finest natural resources and raw materials; resources that were unavailable in Europe were discovered in seemingly endless abundance in Africa and the poor political and social infrastructure of the indigenous tribes meant that, militarily, it was a case of simply buying off the key local decision makers and men of influence to ensure European preponderance of locally based economic wealth. Furthermore, unlike the false promise of El Dorado that hampered the conquistadores in Latin America, the lure of previously unimaginable wealth in Africa was the determining factor behind the unprecedented and swift carving up of the African continent. The impulse for hegemony, in this instance, was therefore the possibility of individual accumulation of economic empire as well as the broader national acquisition of another nations indigenous wealth. Charles Tilly (1985:172) explains how the extraction of resources from local producers and traders in Africa was the most important development for the edification of European hegemony in the undeveloped world and for the structure of the contemporary world order today. â€Å"The quest inevitably involved them in establishing regular access to capitalists who could supply and arrange credit, and to imposing one form of regular taxation or another on the people and activities within their sphere of control.† Industrialisation was therefore the central difference between nineteenth century views of imperial hegemony and that which was witnessed in the ancient and medieval worlds. Resources became, for the first time, the main concern of empire builders. This period in world history is also important for what it implies about the motives of the European leaders and rulers who embarked upon their scramble for Africas resources. What is immediately noticeable when reading the primary sources of these explorers was the way in which they attempted to hide their true (economic) motive from view. The first British travellers to the dark continent promulgated the view that the Europeans were on a civilising mission to save the Africans from a life of pagan sin. Moreover, they said, their religious and missionary zeal would inevitably rub off on the political and economic mood of the continent so that, in effect, the Africans would wish to copy their European partners in order to better help thems elves in the long term; politically, economically and socially. To achieve this end, the Europeans thus tied the notion of political territorial acquisition to the preponderance of resources by controlling the mechanisms of the fledgling states as well as the production of raw materials and natural resources. The nineteenth century partition of the undeveloped world by the most powerful industrial states of the age thus left a legacy that is of the utmost relevance for the topic of hegemony in todays twenty first century society. As economic resources become increasingly scarce in the contemporary world, the major Western powers must find ways of securing the holding of resources while covering up the raw economic reasons for doing so. One can see, as Chomsky and Vidal attest, a certain similarity between the contemporary US symptom of national security and the war on terror and the Victorian ideal of a missionary zeal. Significantly, both propaganda spins fail to recognise that the preponderance of resources is the real reason why these states have found themselves fighting foreign wars and stationing troops so very far from their own national borders in the recent past. Of added significance was the fact that the Victorian experimentation with imperialism showed, for the first time, how a state might achieve supreme power with resources and capital based outside of the national territorial borders. Susan Strange (1988:2) sees this as the most important step in the development of true imperial hegemony in the West; the point where a modern nation has the ability to dictate key economic policy far beyond its own national, geo political borders. â€Å"The location of productive capacity is far less important than the location of the people who maker the decisions on what is to be produced, where and how, and who design, direct and manage to sell successfully on a world market.† At this point it makes sense to shift the focus of our investigation from a broader viewpoint of historical instances of hegemony to a dissection of the most important contemporary topic within the confines of the essay title. The key contemporary actor within the study, without a doubt, must be the United States, the source of the preponderance of twenty first century economic resources and the still the most potent post modern military force on the planet. As the eminent British historian, E.H. Carr (1992:292), writing on the eve of the Second World War, testified, hegemony is a by product of realism; an essentially Darwinist view of politics that suggests a discernibly detectable survival of the fittest in international affairs. The unassailable American hegemony of the post modern age is best understood within this wholly realist context. â€Å"To attempt to ignore power as a decisive factor in every political situation is purely utopian. It is scarcely less utopian to imagine an international order built on a coalition of states, each striving to defend and assert its own interests.† Since 1945 the USA has built its empire upon the twin pillars of the military and its insatiable consumer economy, even going so far as to re model the state to the tune of the desires of the political economy. The National Security Act (1947), for example, which oversaw the formation of the CIA, was the first in a long history of decrees and acts designed to ensure the longevity of the republican model and the destruction of all of its ideological enemies in the process. Gore Vidal (2004:95 96) explains the dynamic nature of American national security policy, post 1945, a policy that deemed aggression as the best form of political and economic defence. â€Å"When Japan surrendered, the United States was faced with a choice: either disarm, as we had done in the past and enjoy the prosperity that comes from releasing so much wealth and energy into the private sector, or maintain ourselves on a fully military basis, which would mean a tight control over our allies and such conquered provinces as West Germany, Italy and Japan.† It is important to understand that Washington wishes its control of the globe not to be limited to its dominance of world economic resources; rather, hegemony, as it is understood in 2005, is a varied political, economic and cultural phenomenon that wishes to export the very ethos of the United States as well as importing the wealth generated by the nations pre eminent economic position. To date, the United States has used language, technology and the military to acquire its vast array of economic resources and likewise uses its dynamic corporate ethic to underpin the strategies of the imperial national government. Therefore, to see the preponderance of resources as the only specific aim of American hegemony in the twenty first century is to miss the point entirely. As previously outlined, the American government understands the essential interplay between the various features of hegemony. Certainly, the USA has used economics as its basis for the extension of power witnessed since 1 945 but the ideology of the most awesome capitalist country on the planet has been held in place via the spread of its symbolic features to every corner of the globe (except, of course, for large swathes of the Middle East, which is a source of much of the antagonism between the two diametrically opposed sections of the new global economy). Various international relations commentators have noted the way in which imperial America uses brand names such as MacDonalds and Nike to increase the economic and cultural hegemony of the US Empire, leaving fast food restaurants and designer clothes chains as castles by proxy. As Chomsky (2003:13) succinctly puts it: â€Å"The goal of the imperial grand strategy is to prevent any challenge to the power, position and prestige of the United States.† Theories have abounded concerning the so called decline of American hegemony, largely circulating since the oil crisis in the 1970s, which first highlighted the fragility of the preponderance of key natural resources in the post modern world. Susan Strange disagrees fundamentally with international relations commentators such as Nye, who see Americas decline as an inevitable by product of the notion of both hegemony and Empire, essentially dictating that from Rome to Byzantium to Britain any attempt to secure global pre eminence must end in the destruction of that political and economic model. She argues that the USA is a unique case that shows no signs of the fragmentation that beset its historical precedents. Essentially, this means that US notions of hegemony are not solely tied to economic factors pertaining to the preponderance of resources; its survival and indeed growth rests upon the fact that the USA ideal of hegemony is far more flexible than many critics give it credit f or. As Cox (2005:21) underscores, the issue of American hegemony entails far more than a swelling of the national treasury at the expense of extra territorial economic resources. â€Å"One of the more obvious objections to the idea of a specific American empire is that, unlike the real empires in the past, the United States has not acquired, and does not seek to acquire the territory of others. This in turn has been allied to another obvious objection: that the United States has often championed the cause of political freedom in the world. How then can one talk of empire when one of the United States obvious impulses abroad has been to advance the cause of national democracy and self determination?† The issue of hegemony in contemporary times is further hampered by the ambiguity and uncertainty that surrounds the ultra contentious geo political and economic topic of globalisation. Not only have scholars found globalisation extremely difficult to define but it also poses unique problems of conceptual bracketing. It is supposedly an economic question (intrinsically tied to the preponderance of resources) yet in practice, globalisation appears to be little more than an extension of American political hegemony, namely the spread of democracy to every reach of the globe as the initial platform on which to launch a visionary global hegemony. Whereas the nineteenth century European empires formulated the concept of the preponderance of natural resources as the most vital step on the way to the establishment of their brand of hegemony, the Americans in the twenty first century have used technology, particularly their corporate dominance of new media and the Internet to strengthen their dominant position in the world economy. Globalisation therefore is tantamount to Westernisation, which is itself a direct descendent of Americanisation. According to Sinclair et al (2004:297), â€Å"world patterns of communication flow, both in density and direction, mirror the system of domination in the economic and political order,† and in this way it can be shown how US hegemony is built upon sterner raw materials than the mere preponderance of economic resources. Indeed, logic dictates that if the USAs global hegemony was only standing upon the prevalence of resources, then its position would be nothing like as contentious as it is in the broader world order, constituting the front line of the new global disorder, as Robert Harvey describes it. Indeed, Harvey (2003:455) already views the concept of global hegemony as outdated, requiring five separate but interconnecting strands of economic and politic pro action to keep the status quo alive in the future. â€Å"These then are the five great areas of change necessary to avoid a state of global political economic anarchy: the establishment of superpower policing to combat terrorism and to prevent conflicts breaking out all over the world, through an efficient system of regional alliances and deterrents, backed up by the threat of major superpower intervention; the widening and deepening of global democracy; the regulation of the global economy through co operation between the three economic super states of the next few decades – America, Europe and Japan – in co operation with regional groupings of the rest of the world; a gigantic government primed stimulus for demand and development in the three quarters of the developing world untouched by globalisation; and reform from within of the capitalist corporation.† Conclusion The analysis of hegemony and power bases throughout history shows that the prevalence of resources is but one factor in a multi faceted chain of command that requires a strong military and political infrastructure as well as a flourishing economic base to prevail. The upsurge in interest that the topic of hegemony has generated in recent years has been due to the power of the worlds one remaining superpower alone. Hegemony has become synonymous with Americas quest for global dominance and various commentators have cited the contemporary â€Å"war on terror† as nothing but a smokescreen for the increasing garnering of resources, particularly oil in the Middle East. Indeed, Vidal (2004:7) compares the â€Å"war on terror† to a â€Å"war on dandruff†; such is his confusion over what the notion actually means. There is no doubt that it is this perceived neo imperialism that is at the heart of the current negativity surrounding the concept of hegemony and its continued association with solely (Western) economic motives. However, it should be noted that a significant change in the global order is currently under way, one in which the Americans will have to broker what Strange (1988:17) refers to as a series of â€Å"New Deals† with autonomous international states in order to remain a leading economic force. The advent of China, in particular, as the twenty first centurys most potent consumer and industrial society will undoubtedly challenge the very ideal of American and Western hegemony and will necessarily require a re drafting of the USAs preponderance of resources. Hegemony must, in effect, adapt to a discernible duality and spirit of inter state co operation that the concept has not known in the past. The concept of hegemony therefore has value far beyond the preponderance of res ources as the evolving concept of globalisation is in the process of emphasising. As globalisation begins to take hold as an economic, cultural and political reality, the effects of hegemony will be felt in all areas of the world that wish to be part of the dissolution of the concept of the nation state and the embracement of a new political and economic world order. History of the Concept of Hegemony and Power History of the Concept of Hegemony and Power The concept of hegemony is notoriously difficult to quantify both in concrete political terms and in a less tangible philosophical manner. Moreover, in a world increasingly divided upon religious as opposed to ideological lines, the concept of hegemony has suffered from a certain crisis of relevance whereby it would seem that the preponderance of resources has indeed become the central precept for the paradigm per se; whereby, furthermore, economic and cultural imperialism have united to ensure the dominance of one geo political system within the international order in the vacuum created by the dissolution of ideology and the triumph of multi national capitalism. Yet all is not quite as it seems in the modern international sphere. Current events have a distinctly repetitive feel but, at the same time, the international relations landscape is changing and re configuring its boundaries with such rapidity and vigour that definitions and sweeping statements are deemed, correctly, to be o ut of place concerning any particular sphere of international relations. Certainly, the broader subject of hegemony and inter state communication is of utmost importance in the comprehension of the new world order, though keeping track of new theories is an essentially difficult, contradictory experience, particularly at the dawn of the twenty first century. As Benno Teschke (2003:1) explains in the opening chapter of his book, The Myth of 1648, the entire subject of contemporary international relations theory is in a constant state of flux, inspired by the death of the nation state and the advent of post modernity. â€Å"The classical Westphalian system, rooted in the primacy of the modern, territorially bounded sovereign state, is being replaced by a post territorial, post modern global order. The old logic of geopolitical security is being subordinated to geo economics, multi level global governance, or the demands of a multi actor international civil society. A fundamental transformation in the structure of the international system and its rules of conflict and co operation is unfolding before our eyes.† For the purposes of the essay, it will be necessary to analyse the concept of hegemony from its origins to see how it has evolved over time and where its relevance might lie within todays post structuralist society, taking a chronological view so as to see how its conceptual meaning has altered along the way. It will likewise be necessary to examine international economic realities and histories as well as political instances of hegemony to highlight the essential duality between continuity and change – in other words, how the past might help us to better understand the present and the future, yet also how the current world order presents unique problems that were of no relevance in the past, which necessarily makes an overall academic judgement more problematic. First a definition of hegemony must be attempted. Within the context of this essay, it is extremely important to comprehend the inherently different strands of hegemony: political, military, economic and cultural. Even more noteworthy is the general interchange that is apparent between the above factors – politics merges with economics and military helps to define any given national culture, which, in turn, means that hegemony is very difficult to quantify in the essentially narrow conceptual terms of simply a preponderance of resources. It will be shown that, throughout recorded history, nations and states have used a combination of factors to control other states, all designed to increase the security of the region and underwrite the strength of the dominant geo political power. Each nation and state that has enjoyed a period of relative dominance has chosen, either through external circumstances that have been thrust upon the rulers or via a conscious, calculated ideologica l choice, to use one of the above themes of hegemony to perpetuate its power base. When a group of people takes control over the fate of another it is never via only one of the above strands – political, military, economic or cultural. Rather, there always exists a concoction of more than one of the dominant conceptual themes to achieve the sum of hegemony and though much has changed throughout the course of history, this central precept remains difficult to ignore. The key player in any discussion pertaining to hegemony and the preponderance of resources has to be the state. Certainly, as far as G. John Ikenberry (1986:53) is concerned, the interaction between any given domestic and international political economy has always been at the epicentre of international relations theory and the comprehension of the rule of empire and state elites lies in understanding the ultimate power that the state has always possessed. â€Å"As administrative and coercive organisations, states are embedded in complex political and economic environments and have a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. Although they vary considerably, they have several elements in common. All states make exclusive claims to the coercive and juridical control of particular territories, and they also make special claims to the definition and representation of broad national interests.† In conceptual terms, hegemony is best understood as the expression of societys ruling classes over the majority of the nation or state over whom they propose to rule. Gramsci (1971:328), the interwar international relations academic and political prisoner who spent his final years behind bars in Mussolinis Italy, describes hegemony as, â€Å"a conception of the world that is implicitly manifest in art, in law, in economic activity and in all manifestations of individual and collective life.† Gramsci here describes cultural hegemony, which was of particular relevance when he was writing in the 1930s, in a world that was dominated by ideological concerns. This type of hegemony and cultural control is a constant political reality that has been a feature of culture and society since the first recorded migrations of man. Never has hegemony as an ideal simply been confined to the realms of natural resources and economic might; it has always been an intangible equation of political power expressed through the elite of any particular nation, state or empire. The much celebrated Athenians, for example, made hegemony an everyday feature of the ancient world, whereby people were defined via their status within the broader Greek political and cultural hierarchy. The Greeks underscored their cultural ideal of hegemony with language and politics, especially the concept of citizenship, which remains a key feature in the study of political and cultural hegemony today. The United States today uses its visa system, for example, to differentiate between alien visitors from within the wider plates of the hegemony that it has created. In the ancient world, Plato and Aristotle grouped the various bands of hegemony together to form what they saw as civilisation. Therefore, to be an Athenian Greek was to be a civilised member of the hegemony of the nascent nation state; to be a barbarian was to be an uncivilised member of the outposts of society, the parts where hegemony had hitherto failed to penetrate as a paradigm and as a cultural and economic force. This phenomenon has since been mirrored in the twenty first century with President Bushs with us or against us stance to global terrorism, where hegemony is once again used as the primary force in the perpetuation of the dominant military, political and economic power of the epoch. Ancient cultures used the acquisition of foreign resources to underline their superior military and cultural power, although it should be noted that the technology and logistics did not then exist to ensure the movement of goods and services across inter state borders so that the preponderance of resources could not become the only outlet of hegemony as a concept. The Middle East trade route, for instance, remained a largely autonomous cultural, political and economic region in spite of the combined power of the Greek and Roman Empires, curtailing efforts at building an Empire from the sole premise of a sound economic base. Therefore, in the ancient world, hegemony meant much more than a preponderance of resources. It implied tangible political and citizenry rights and access to a pre defined status quo that was welded by the elite members of the state and continually updated and re defined by the men and women who had access to power within the machinations of the state. Indeed, the central role of the human actors within the state system remain as relevant today as they were in the ancient world and to dismiss their relevance as secondary to the preponderance of resources would be to misinterpret the dynamics of inter state governance. Individual diplomats, ministers, parties and politics will always have a bearing on the future of both international relations as well as the concept of hegemony where economic resources are only one factor in a much larger pyramid of political and economic concerns. It thus becomes apparent that hegemony must co exist with the broader notion of empire, which is itself constructed upon the solid foundations of economic dynamism garnered through the procurement of resources. The notion of empire altered irrevocably during the dawn of modern history where industrialisation proved to be the catalyst for the significant, seismic shift in the view of hegemony as cultural, economic and political benchmark. The nineteenth century was indeed a watershed in terms of the re drawing of the conceptual parameters of hegemony. The Victorian era saw the traditional European empires of France, Belgium, Britain and Germany use their vast military and economic superiority to carve up the undeveloped world amongst each other with the procurement of raw materials and economic resources utilised as the main motivation for extra territorial action. Without doubt, it is at this juncture in world history that the preponderance of resources becomes the pre eminent factor in the power of hegemony and cultural imperialism. The Scramble for Africa, for instance, constituted a devouring of the worlds finest natural resources and raw materials; resources that were unavailable in Europe were discovered in seemingly endless abundance in Africa and the poor political and social infrastructure of the indigenous tribes meant that, militarily, it was a case of simply buying off the key local decision makers and men of influence to ensure European preponderance of locally based economic wealth. Furthermore, unlike the false promise of El Dorado that hampered the conquistadores in Latin America, the lure of previously unimaginable wealth in Africa was the determining factor behind the unprecedented and swift carving up of the African continent. The impulse for hegemony, in this instance, was therefore the possibility of individual accumulation of economic empire as well as the broader national acquisition of another nations indigenous wealth. Charles Tilly (1985:172) explains how the extraction of resources from local producers and traders in Africa was the most important development for the edification of European hegemony in the undeveloped world and for the structure of the contemporary world order today. â€Å"The quest inevitably involved them in establishing regular access to capitalists who could supply and arrange credit, and to imposing one form of regular taxation or another on the people and activities within their sphere of control.† Industrialisation was therefore the central difference between nineteenth century views of imperial hegemony and that which was witnessed in the ancient and medieval worlds. Resources became, for the first time, the main concern of empire builders. This period in world history is also important for what it implies about the motives of the European leaders and rulers who embarked upon their scramble for Africas resources. What is immediately noticeable when reading the primary sources of these explorers was the way in which they attempted to hide their true (economic) motive from view. The first British travellers to the dark continent promulgated the view that the Europeans were on a civilising mission to save the Africans from a life of pagan sin. Moreover, they said, their religious and missionary zeal would inevitably rub off on the political and economic mood of the continent so that, in effect, the Africans would wish to copy their European partners in order to better help thems elves in the long term; politically, economically and socially. To achieve this end, the Europeans thus tied the notion of political territorial acquisition to the preponderance of resources by controlling the mechanisms of the fledgling states as well as the production of raw materials and natural resources. The nineteenth century partition of the undeveloped world by the most powerful industrial states of the age thus left a legacy that is of the utmost relevance for the topic of hegemony in todays twenty first century society. As economic resources become increasingly scarce in the contemporary world, the major Western powers must find ways of securing the holding of resources while covering up the raw economic reasons for doing so. One can see, as Chomsky and Vidal attest, a certain similarity between the contemporary US symptom of national security and the war on terror and the Victorian ideal of a missionary zeal. Significantly, both propaganda spins fail to recognise that the preponderance of resources is the real reason why these states have found themselves fighting foreign wars and stationing troops so very far from their own national borders in the recent past. Of added significance was the fact that the Victorian experimentation with imperialism showed, for the first time, how a state might achieve supreme power with resources and capital based outside of the national territorial borders. Susan Strange (1988:2) sees this as the most important step in the development of true imperial hegemony in the West; the point where a modern nation has the ability to dictate key economic policy far beyond its own national, geo political borders. â€Å"The location of productive capacity is far less important than the location of the people who maker the decisions on what is to be produced, where and how, and who design, direct and manage to sell successfully on a world market.† At this point it makes sense to shift the focus of our investigation from a broader viewpoint of historical instances of hegemony to a dissection of the most important contemporary topic within the confines of the essay title. The key contemporary actor within the study, without a doubt, must be the United States, the source of the preponderance of twenty first century economic resources and the still the most potent post modern military force on the planet. As the eminent British historian, E.H. Carr (1992:292), writing on the eve of the Second World War, testified, hegemony is a by product of realism; an essentially Darwinist view of politics that suggests a discernibly detectable survival of the fittest in international affairs. The unassailable American hegemony of the post modern age is best understood within this wholly realist context. â€Å"To attempt to ignore power as a decisive factor in every political situation is purely utopian. It is scarcely less utopian to imagine an international order built on a coalition of states, each striving to defend and assert its own interests.† Since 1945 the USA has built its empire upon the twin pillars of the military and its insatiable consumer economy, even going so far as to re model the state to the tune of the desires of the political economy. The National Security Act (1947), for example, which oversaw the formation of the CIA, was the first in a long history of decrees and acts designed to ensure the longevity of the republican model and the destruction of all of its ideological enemies in the process. Gore Vidal (2004:95 96) explains the dynamic nature of American national security policy, post 1945, a policy that deemed aggression as the best form of political and economic defence. â€Å"When Japan surrendered, the United States was faced with a choice: either disarm, as we had done in the past and enjoy the prosperity that comes from releasing so much wealth and energy into the private sector, or maintain ourselves on a fully military basis, which would mean a tight control over our allies and such conquered provinces as West Germany, Italy and Japan.† It is important to understand that Washington wishes its control of the globe not to be limited to its dominance of world economic resources; rather, hegemony, as it is understood in 2005, is a varied political, economic and cultural phenomenon that wishes to export the very ethos of the United States as well as importing the wealth generated by the nations pre eminent economic position. To date, the United States has used language, technology and the military to acquire its vast array of economic resources and likewise uses its dynamic corporate ethic to underpin the strategies of the imperial national government. Therefore, to see the preponderance of resources as the only specific aim of American hegemony in the twenty first century is to miss the point entirely. As previously outlined, the American government understands the essential interplay between the various features of hegemony. Certainly, the USA has used economics as its basis for the extension of power witnessed since 1 945 but the ideology of the most awesome capitalist country on the planet has been held in place via the spread of its symbolic features to every corner of the globe (except, of course, for large swathes of the Middle East, which is a source of much of the antagonism between the two diametrically opposed sections of the new global economy). Various international relations commentators have noted the way in which imperial America uses brand names such as MacDonalds and Nike to increase the economic and cultural hegemony of the US Empire, leaving fast food restaurants and designer clothes chains as castles by proxy. As Chomsky (2003:13) succinctly puts it: â€Å"The goal of the imperial grand strategy is to prevent any challenge to the power, position and prestige of the United States.† Theories have abounded concerning the so called decline of American hegemony, largely circulating since the oil crisis in the 1970s, which first highlighted the fragility of the preponderance of key natural resources in the post modern world. Susan Strange disagrees fundamentally with international relations commentators such as Nye, who see Americas decline as an inevitable by product of the notion of both hegemony and Empire, essentially dictating that from Rome to Byzantium to Britain any attempt to secure global pre eminence must end in the destruction of that political and economic model. She argues that the USA is a unique case that shows no signs of the fragmentation that beset its historical precedents. Essentially, this means that US notions of hegemony are not solely tied to economic factors pertaining to the preponderance of resources; its survival and indeed growth rests upon the fact that the USA ideal of hegemony is far more flexible than many critics give it credit f or. As Cox (2005:21) underscores, the issue of American hegemony entails far more than a swelling of the national treasury at the expense of extra territorial economic resources. â€Å"One of the more obvious objections to the idea of a specific American empire is that, unlike the real empires in the past, the United States has not acquired, and does not seek to acquire the territory of others. This in turn has been allied to another obvious objection: that the United States has often championed the cause of political freedom in the world. How then can one talk of empire when one of the United States obvious impulses abroad has been to advance the cause of national democracy and self determination?† The issue of hegemony in contemporary times is further hampered by the ambiguity and uncertainty that surrounds the ultra contentious geo political and economic topic of globalisation. Not only have scholars found globalisation extremely difficult to define but it also poses unique problems of conceptual bracketing. It is supposedly an economic question (intrinsically tied to the preponderance of resources) yet in practice, globalisation appears to be little more than an extension of American political hegemony, namely the spread of democracy to every reach of the globe as the initial platform on which to launch a visionary global hegemony. Whereas the nineteenth century European empires formulated the concept of the preponderance of natural resources as the most vital step on the way to the establishment of their brand of hegemony, the Americans in the twenty first century have used technology, particularly their corporate dominance of new media and the Internet to strengthen their dominant position in the world economy. Globalisation therefore is tantamount to Westernisation, which is itself a direct descendent of Americanisation. According to Sinclair et al (2004:297), â€Å"world patterns of communication flow, both in density and direction, mirror the system of domination in the economic and political order,† and in this way it can be shown how US hegemony is built upon sterner raw materials than the mere preponderance of economic resources. Indeed, logic dictates that if the USAs global hegemony was only standing upon the prevalence of resources, then its position would be nothing like as contentious as it is in the broader world order, constituting the front line of the new global disorder, as Robert Harvey describes it. Indeed, Harvey (2003:455) already views the concept of global hegemony as outdated, requiring five separate but interconnecting strands of economic and politic pro action to keep the status quo alive in the future. â€Å"These then are the five great areas of change necessary to avoid a state of global political economic anarchy: the establishment of superpower policing to combat terrorism and to prevent conflicts breaking out all over the world, through an efficient system of regional alliances and deterrents, backed up by the threat of major superpower intervention; the widening and deepening of global democracy; the regulation of the global economy through co operation between the three economic super states of the next few decades – America, Europe and Japan – in co operation with regional groupings of the rest of the world; a gigantic government primed stimulus for demand and development in the three quarters of the developing world untouched by globalisation; and reform from within of the capitalist corporation.† Conclusion The analysis of hegemony and power bases throughout history shows that the prevalence of resources is but one factor in a multi faceted chain of command that requires a strong military and political infrastructure as well as a flourishing economic base to prevail. The upsurge in interest that the topic of hegemony has generated in recent years has been due to the power of the worlds one remaining superpower alone. Hegemony has become synonymous with Americas quest for global dominance and various commentators have cited the contemporary â€Å"war on terror† as nothing but a smokescreen for the increasing garnering of resources, particularly oil in the Middle East. Indeed, Vidal (2004:7) compares the â€Å"war on terror† to a â€Å"war on dandruff†; such is his confusion over what the notion actually means. There is no doubt that it is this perceived neo imperialism that is at the heart of the current negativity surrounding the concept of hegemony and its continued association with solely (Western) economic motives. However, it should be noted that a significant change in the global order is currently under way, one in which the Americans will have to broker what Strange (1988:17) refers to as a series of â€Å"New Deals† with autonomous international states in order to remain a leading economic force. The advent of China, in particular, as the twenty first centurys most potent consumer and industrial society will undoubtedly challenge the very ideal of American and Western hegemony and will necessarily require a re drafting of the USAs preponderance of resources. Hegemony must, in effect, adapt to a discernible duality and spirit of inter state co operation that the concept has not known in the past. The concept of hegemony therefore has value far beyond the preponderance of res ources as the evolving concept of globalisation is in the process of emphasising. As globalisation begins to take hold as an economic, cultural and political reality, the effects of hegemony will be felt in all areas of the world that wish to be part of the dissolution of the concept of the nation state and the embracement of a new political and economic world order.