Lone Parents Poverty And Unemployment Social Work Essay Essay Example

Solitary Parents Poverty And Unemployment Social Work Essay In an ongoing review, Rafferty and Wiggan 2011 territory, in the days gone by, solitary guardians with kids beneath 16 mature ages old enough reserved the option to look for paid work or non, without danger of face. The proposals of the Freud Review ( 2007 ) of Welfare-to-Work stipulation and the 2007 Green Paper on Welfare Reform, In Work Better Off, denoted a basic stage in strategy, recommending another cultural understanding that fortified solitary guardians obligation to look for paid work ( Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) , 2007 ) . Since October 2008, solitary guardians whose most youthful ward kid is over 12 mature ages old enough are not, at this point qualified for Income Support ( IS ) on the confirmations of being a solitary parent. From 2010, this was stretched out to solitary guardians whose most youthful ward kid was over seven mature ages old and this was additionally reached out in the Budget 2010 to those whose who s most youthful ward kid being iâ ¬?ve or over ( Great Britain, Parliament, Her Majesty s Treasury, 2010 ) . We will compose a custom exposition test on Lone Parents Poverty And Unemployment Social Work Essay explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom paper test on Lone Parents Poverty And Unemployment Social Work Essay explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom paper test on Lone Parents Poverty And Unemployment Social Work Essay explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer This paper will break down the reasonings of the Government s strategy points and their vision that it is all in all correct to envision individuals to do each endeavor to secure themselves prepared for work, each piece great as raising standpoints. The specialists reason for existing is that the individuals who look for some kind of employment profit by higher salary and improved prosperity. There are other than monetary advantages, with a lower advantage trouble the specialists evaluates that this arrangement change will affect around 100,000 individual guardians in 2011and make retirement funds of ?380m somewhere in the range of 2011 and 2015 ( Tickle, 2010 ) there is other than expansive cultural augmentations with diminished adult and child destitution through expanded work ( DWP, 2008 ) . Solitary guardians feel that their interests have been dismissed ; that being a parent is a full clasp occupation and there are insufficient adaptable, family benevolent occupations accessible ( Woods, 2010 ) . Gordon ( 2002 ) expressed that uncertainness about how to secure advantages restored quickly if the occupation accomplished non work out has put another obstruction in the way of looking for business each piece great as the loss of Housing Benefit and changes in their Working Tax Credit. This is fortified by the Policy Studies Institute ( 1996 ) which found that many jobless solitary guardians state they can't take paid occupations, regardless of whether they could happen minimal effort kid care and the greatest ground given was that their children were too much youthful and required their female parent at place. Channel 4 News ( 2011 ) communicate that as the new open help changes for singular guardians come into power, solitary guardians are being set up to disregard ( Gingerbread, 2011 ) . Gordon, ( 2002 ) other than expressed that approaches sought after by back to back Conservative authoritiess all through the 1980s and 1990s prompted a solid expansion in the figure of low-pay families and family units. New Labor changed way and had strategies on accomplishing work wage by making a decent negligible compensation and an open help political direction, which stressed the significance of maternal consideration. One of the stays of New Labor s plan to chop down open help reliance was making work wage , a plan that was especially aimed at solitary guardians through expanded monetarily bolstered youngster care and a particular New Deal which began after the 1997 political decision. This focused on solitary guardians among other defenseless gatherings. The program was deliberate and offered a blend of occupation chase backing, planning and functional help for the section to work. There were just restricted possibilities for readiness, with the boss point of convergence being on securing solitary guardians once more into work. Gregg, Harkness and Smith ( 2007 ) area that Government strategies to help solitary guardians once more into work and chop down degrees of need, could had a profoundA contrast and adjust the personal satisfaction for single parent family units. The UKs committedness to a customized, bespoke, support is restricted in light of the lack of assets and planning. Cunningham A ; Cunningham ( 2008 ) expressed that Social Workers ( SW ) ought to be mindful of solitary guardians and their fight with destitution and employability since need is a cardinal and characterizing trademark in the lives of many Service Users ( SUs ) . They go on to area that human science in Social Work is an of import achievement for Social Workers to pass on into example to help support the General Social Care Council ( GSCC ) Codes of Practice ( COP ) . The GSCC COP area SW s must hold suitable perception and achievements to gracefully cultural consideration and keep up those achievements and information up to day of the month. Fitting to Knijn, Martin and Millar, ( 2007 ) cut bringing down open help reliance for solitary guardians could follow in diminished open help outgo and augmented work rates alongside improved socio-political effect for grown-up females. The monetary incitements for work must be significant and supportable to chop down the danger of in-work pove rty. Gregg, Harkness and Smith, ( 2007 ) expressed that as segment of its open help change and child poverty conspire, the approaching New Labor specialists started a progression of strategies focused on cut bringing down youngster destitution in 1997 and a cardinal segment of this was to expand business rates among family units with kids, especially lone guardians. Finch et Al ( 2004 ) recommended that a lack of good youngster care is one of the significant boundaries to the authoritiess focus to build the single parent work rate to 70 % by 2010. The Welfare Reform Green Paper ( 2007 ) territories work is at the chest of our Welfare Reform Program . Allan ( 1997 ) expressed that advantage statutes were changed trying to advance solitary female guardians into work and more noteworthy power per unit region was put on non-inhabitant male guardians to do adequate financial parts to their children s requests. In its Green Paper ( 1998 ) Supporting Families, New Labor s position on solitary gu ardians was clear about the advantages of marriage ( Cunningham and Cunningham, 2010 ) what's more expressed paid work is the best way out of poverty ( Department of Social Security ( DSS ) ( 1998 ) . Solitary guardians were one of their cardinal imprint gatherings. At this stage guardians could at present assume between staying at position and being a parent or making a trip out to work. In the Budget 2010 reference, Mr Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, expressed that the specialists anticipates that solitary guardians should search for work when their most youthful child goes to class. The changesA were actualized on 25 October 2010 and influenced solitary guardians guaranteeing IS.A Job Seekers Allowance ( JSA ) Regulations ( 2010 ) changed the arrangement too much, once kids are of full clasp young, guardians who can work and are asserting advantages ought to be relied upon to search for paid work to back up themselves and their family. Ahrends, J ( 2010 ) expressed that Gingerbread, a foundation for singular guardians, is as yet naming on the Coalition Government toA actualize projects to empower all representatives to use for adaptable working, to ensure all occupations in the people division are offered on a section cut or adaptable balance andA acquaint a privilege with paid parental leave to help guardians spread with cut off when children are wiped out. David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg entirely swore to contest predisposition against singular guardians in 2010 ( Ahrends, 2010 ) and the newly chosen Coalition Government ( 2010 ) further expressed that it was focused on introducing adaptable working for all and propelled a taskforce on children and family units, unfortunately 9 months therefore this equivalent specialists has scratched mandates which came into power April 2011 as segment of a heap of steps to chop down bureaucratism for concerns. Stratton and Wintour ( 2011 ) wrote in The Guardian, Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, will ease houses with less than 10 representatives from all new reddish tape for three mature ages as it subjects 21,000 bits of mandate to a review by the people. This will see a racking of the option to bespeak adaptable working for guardians with kids under 17 which will use to all houses, non only minimal 1s. It will other than rubbish the option to bespeak cut for readiness and guidance to ward Continuous Professional Development ( CPD ) . Freegard, ( 2010 ) fellow benefactor of NetMums, remarked on the advantage modifications and recommended numerous solitary guardians would encounter truly kicking the bucket. She other than noted individual guardians much of the time need to work, however happening occupations to suit around the school twenty-four hours is extremely hard ; as is occurring and paying for fit great quality kid care when the school twenty-four hours. Woods D ( 2010 ) expressed that family-accommodating occupations are still far unnecessarily uncommon in spite of the Government requiring 100,000 individual guardians to look for work in 2011. Blending to Gingerbread the gigantic insufficiency of occupations with flexibleness could imperil projects to hold increasingly singular guardians in work. A national investigation of individual parent individuals and clients of NetMums site found that individuals had seen scarcely any occupations promoted that they could utilize not many for with partition cut hours, inside school hours or as an occupation parcel or adaptable in some other way. Building up a Gingerbread Briefing on adaptable working, primary official of the foundation Weir ( 2011 ) approached the Government to travel fas

Evaluating Eligibility Rules Free Essays

Every one of the three are open day in and day out and each can suit up to twenty young people a night. Likewise with cost social administrations, the deciding of money related and clinical qualification is the integral factor for these in danger youth profiting by the projects gave past crisis administrations. The administrations they give after qualification has been set up are case the executives, physical and psychological wellness administrations, concoction reliance administrations, legitimate help, school commitment, work availability and help, and discovering protected and stable lodging. We will compose a custom exposition test on Assessing Eligibility Rules or then again any comparative theme just for you Request Now There are numerous sorts of rules that can be assessed for a wide range of associations, for example, earlier commitments, regulatory principle, private agreements, proficient tact, Judicial choice, connection to the workforce, and means testing which are just explicit to qualification manages as there are numerous types of advantages and administrations which are just explicit models to advantages and administrations, for example, normalization, target productivity, exchange offs, cost-adequacy, substitutability, coerciveness/nosiness. A few measures explicit to qualification rules, for example, over-illumination’s, overpowering expenses, off-focusing on advantages and shame/estrangement are models explicit advantages which are viewed as facial issues that neutralize the accomplishment of an utilitarian arrangement and programs and certainly neutralize ampleness, value, and effectiveness. These uncommon issues are frequently made by the nearness of the qualification rules which have direct connection to those recorded as exceptional issues and if pertinent to this association they will be talked about as assessed for value of its fit with the social issue origination that underlies the program or approach viable. â€Å"For a program or approach to be an intelligible answer for a social issue, the individuals who get the climaxes benefits as well as administrations must be incorporated inside the gathering whom the social issue examination Identifies as having a problem,† (Chambers ; Wedded, 2005, Chi. , p. 118). This assessment will cover the rules for advantages and administrations and rules for qualification rules of this specific organization’s social approaches and projects. Definitely known are the advantage types which are associated with this specific association accordingly with such advantage types likewise gives a ramifications of objectives, a nd destinations for sufficiency, value, and proficiency. This association meets he rules for a Value-basic Appraisal of Social Policy Programs. Essential Policy Collectivities | 1. Purposes. Long haul Short term. Show 1. Explicit to objectives and destinations (an) administration and conveyance as well as the final result. (b) clearness, insurability, manipulability. Ramifications of objectives and goals for ampleness, value, and productivity. 3. Attack of objectives and targets with the social issue examination: issue definition and factors (outcomes) in easygoing investigation. I Forms of Benefits and Services 1. Individual social administrations (â€Å"expert services†)2. â€Å"Hard benefits†: money, merchandise, Commodities. Credits/vouchers. Appropriations. Government credit ensures. Defensive guidelines. Control over choices Each gathering gives or trades what different needs or needs where some accompany explicit specifications. Regularly vows to contribute a specific add up to a specific association inside a particular apportioning of time are made with the end goal for them to get what they are needing now. The Cocoon House has guaranteed, showed and gave the final product they proposed. Each business game plan, any affiliations, and all contributions with are for the advancement of the in danger adolescents and youthful grown-ups that are destitute inside Washington. Shortcoming in qualification rules were not demonstrated nor ensnared. These principles were all around framed, clear and brief and doubtlessly will stay away from any political intercession in the activity of the association except if purposefully invited. The Judgment of the assessed qualification rules are accepted to be reasonable and adequate. They are accepted to be such on the grounds that they fit with the social issue investigation and issue definition/target bunch determinations alongside the Reference Chambers, D. E. , Wedded, K. R. (2005). Social Policy and Social Programs: A Method for the Practical Public Policy Analyst (thee. ). Boston, MA: Allan and Bacon The most effective method to refer to Evaluating Eligibility Rules, Papers

Can I Take Zyban If I Have High Blood Pressure

Can I Take Zyban If I Have High Blood Pressure Depression Treatment Medication Print Can Zyban or Wellbutrin Cause High Blood Pressure? Hypertension Among Side Effects of Popular Drugs By Nancy Schimelpfening Nancy Schimelpfening, MS is the administrator for the non-profit depression support group Depression Sanctuary. Nancy has a lifetime of experience with depression, experiencing firsthand how devastating this illness can be. Learn about our editorial policy Nancy Schimelpfening Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on August 05, 2016 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD Updated on February 04, 2020 BSIP/UIG/Getty Images More in Depression Treatment Medication Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Types Childhood Depression Suicide Bupropion is a drug primarily used as an antidepressant or smoking cessation tool. It is marketed under the brand name Wellbutrin  when used in the treatment of major depressive disorder and seasonal affective disorder. When used as for smoking cessation, it is marketed under the brand name Zyban. Both drugs are made by the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. In either form, bupropion is associated with a number of common side effects (occurring in over 10% of users):?? DizzinessConstipationNausea and vomitingHeadacheDry mouthExcessive sweatingRapid heartbeatAgitationBlurred vision One of the less common side heart-related side effects is hypertension (high blood pressure). According to the FDA-registered prescribing information, hypertension was shown to occur in 4.6% of users or roughly one of every 22 people.?? This more than doubles the risk seen  in the general population. Understanding Hypertension Hypertension is a condition in which the force of the blood against the artery walls is too high. The elevated pressure with these vessels places a strain on the cardiovascular system as a whole and, over time, increases a persons risk of heart attack, aneurysm, kidney disease, and stroke. Normal blood pressure is defined as a systolic pressure below 120 mmHg and a diastolic value under 80 mmHg. Hypertension is blood pressure that is greater than 140/90 mmHg. For people over 60, high blood pressure is defined as 150/90 mmHg or greater.?? Depending on the systolic pressure (during a heartbeat) and diastolic pressure (between heartbeats), the severity of hypertension could be classified as: Prehypertension: between 120 and 139 systolic and 80 and 89 diastolicStage 1: between 140 and 159 systolic and 90 and 99 diastolicStage 2: 160 or higher systolic and 100 or higher diastolicHypertensive crisis: 180 or higher systolic or 110 or higher diastolic Bupropion and Hypertension Bupropion has the potential to increase blood pressure because it affects the levels of certain neurotransmitters produced by the brain, known as catecholamines, which regulate not only mood but blood pressure.?? The risk of hypertension is known to increase to 6.1% (or roughly one of every 16 people) if bupropion is taken in conjunction with a transdermal nicotine patch. This appears true whether a person has had a prior history of hypertension or not. If you must remain on Wellbutrin to control your depression, high blood pressure medication can be prescribed to counteract this side effect. Otherwise, you may need to speak with your doctor about switching to a different antidepressant. A Word From Verywell Bupropion can be an effective tool for treating depression or smoking addiction.?? Persons prescribed with Zyban or Wellbutrin should have their blood pressure tested before starting treatment and routinely monitored thereafter. If you experience any symptoms of hypertension, speak with your doctor. You can also get your blood pressure tested at most larger retail pharmacies. Call 911 or rush to your nearest emergency room if you or a loved one experience symptoms of a hypertensive crisis, including:?? Severe chest painA severe headache accompanied by confusion and blurred visionNausea and vomitingSevere anxietyShortness of breathSeizuresUnresponsiveness

Women s Leadership Position Within The Sport Industry

â€Å"Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, ‘She doesn t have what it takes.’ They will say, Women don t have what it takes. Clare Boothe Luce. Luce’s words are an example of the way women were viewed in the mid 1900’s, and are still a topic of discussion today. There are many different views about women in leadership positions within the sport industry. Some people have positive views, some people have negative views, and some people are indifferent. Women have dealt with equality issues throughout history, but how do they compare in this day and age within a male dominated profession, like athletics? The purpose of this study is to look into what men and women think about females in team sport leadership positions, and why they feel that way. This study allowed the researchers to ask men and women already in the field of team sport leadership if there was still a lacking, how they feel about it, and wh at needs to be done for women to increase their leadership opportunities. Research that has been done on this subject has tended to focus just on the number of women in these sport leadership positions, more so than the reasons behind why there is or is not a lacking of them. This study needed to take place to gain an understanding from men and women, who already hold these positions, on the differences in opportunities for males and females in sport leadership, and what change needs to happen to increase the number ofShow MoreRelatedDiscrimination Is Not A New Controversy1974 Words   |  8 PagesDiscrimination in sport is not a new controversy, discrimination in all forms has been happening since the very beginning of physical activity and sport. Some forms of discrimination in sport include sexism, gender stereotyping, homophobia, and racism. All forms of discrimination affect everyone involved in sport, from athletes to coaches, spectators to owners. To fully comprehend the eff ects of discrimination in sport, we must understand the definition of discrimination. According to Oxford DictionaryRead MoreHow Did Mary Barra Become Gm Ceo? Essay1561 Words   |  7 Pagesowners and buyers we think of men. Sports cars and trucks are tailored to the â€Å"manliness† of the automobile industry. The reality is, there are more women drivers than men, â€Å"women purchase, or are involved in purchasing around 85% of all vehicles.† (Colby, 2015). With the growth of women as automotive customers, the industry has fostered and sought out female leadership in their organizations. 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In the United States, women synthesize a majority of the population earning higher college degrees as compared to men, yet holding only 19.2% top executive positions in the corporate world accordingRead MoreThe Under Armour, Inc., And The Adidas Group1634 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction This analysis of the Under Armour, Inc., and its subsidiaries is depicted in the paper; Under Armour and its subsidiaries develops, markets, and distributes branded performance apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth primarily in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. The company is in direct competition with Nike, Inc. and The Adidas Group. Therefore, this paper will further attempt to evaluate the pressure exertedRead MoreWomen s High School Athletes1414 Words   |  6 PagesWomen in sports, over the past 100 years, has become a topic of intense interest in society. Men have long argued that women have no right to play in the same arena as men do while on the flip side, women argued that they possess the right to the same physical activities that men enjoy. Women participation in sports, up until that time, had been frowned upon universally. Women were eventually granted the right to play sports in the collegiate setting however there was no equality to the treatmentRead MoreHow Gender Affects Women s Role1644 Words   |  7 PagesAffects Women s role in Newsrooms? While the increasing of female journalists ratio in newsrooms regarded as an accomplishment for women, statistics and other variables indicate the contrary. The fact that women s representation in newsrooms became larger than the past takes a lot of attention. However, most people do not know that this slightly enhance in women s representation remained stagnant for decades. 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The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of the â€Å"gender gap† in the business world, specifically sports marketing for the National Football League and how this issue may be solved: by presenting a sense of self-confidence in professional women. Employers constantly hold women to different standards than theirRead MoreThe Governing Body And League Format For American Football1600 Words   |  7 Pagessporting league in the world. The sport symbolises and embodies American culture as it is fast paced, dazzling razzmatazz of a show brought to a conclusion every year by the greatest show on earth, the Super Bowl. The themes explored are going to be America’s issue with race, how the sport has evolved with TV and commercialism linking the sport to capitalism and the free market. And just like the opening a theme will be size, how large everything is about the sport and the country and how it is associatedRead MoreWhat Makes A Politically Savvy Leader?1173 Words   |  5 Pagestoday’s ever evolving organizational settings organizations have grown into multifaceted labyrinth of concerns, hostilities, personal sandboxes, personalities, and sacred cows. Thus the techniques used by old titans of industry are beyond ou tdated and will do very poorly in the organization s of today. While many roads can lead to becoming a successful leader, being politically savvy can help to smooth the path and even shorten the journey. In this paper I aim to identify what is a politically savvy leader

Performance and Safety of Hydraulic Turbines Free Essays

Research Paper M.V. Sai Ram AP17110020010 Branch: ECEHYDRAULIC TURBINES:Abstract: The first part of the paper contains the choice of small turbines for run of the river power plants. We will write a custom essay sample on Performance and Safety of Hydraulic Turbines or any similar topic only for you Order Now Then a discussion is given on the optimization of the performance of different types of large turbines. Finally a discussion on the safety and necessary maintenance of turbines is given with special attention to bolt connections.A set of empirical equations has been developed which defines the peak efficiency and shape of the efficiency curve for hydraulic turbines as a function commissioning date for the unit, rated head, rated flow, runner speed, and runner throat or impulse turbine jet diameter. The aim of this investigation was to develop an environmentally friendly nano -hydraulic turbine utilizing waterfalls. A model of an impulse type hydraulic turbine constructed and tested with an indoor type waterfall to arrive at an optimum installation condition. Effects of an installation parameter, namely distance between the rotor and the waterfall on the power performance were studied. The flow field around the rotor was examined visually to clarify influences of installation conditions on the flow field. The flow visualization showed differences of flow pattern around the rotor by the change of flow rate and rotational speed of the rotor.Every single turbine is custom-designed specifically to meet the requirements of a hydroelectric power plant. Performance of a designed turbine is validated, to some extent, by computational fluid dynamics simulations. Field performance testing of hydraulic turbines is undertaken to define the head-power-discharge relationship that identifies the peak operating point of the turbine. This relationship is essential for the efficient operation of a hydraulic turbine. The art of hydraulic turbine design never stands still but always progresses. In recent years major emphasis has been on the materials of construction and on such features of design as will reduce maintenance work and costly outages in the field.LimitationsHydro power plant or we can say that hydraulic turbines are widely used from the last decades. It is an efficient renewable energy source. There are many up and downs. Hence there Some limitations as shown in below,1.It is a renewable energy source. Water energy can be used again and again.2.the running cost of turbine or less compare to other.3.It has high efficiency.4.It does not pollute environment.5.It is to maintain. How to cite Performance and Safety of Hydraulic Turbines, Papers

Levels of Processing and Their Effect on Information Retention free essay sample

Memory and Self Assessment 2 Abstract One of humanities’ greatest strength is our capacity to learn, although not all methods of learning were created equal. If humanity is to continue to grow as a species our methods of learning must continue to grow and improve. This experiment illustrates how different methods of encoding can affect how information is retained. Nine hundred and ninety nine participants were presented with 26 pairs of words under both semantic and phonemic conditions and then tested to see how many they could recall. Participants were also asked to assess themselves prior to the experiment. It was found that most people overestimated their abilities and did not take into account the method of encoding. Memory and Self Assessment 3 Levels of Processing and their effect on Information Retention Do we perceive our ability to retain information accurately? Significant time and effort has been invested into researching memory and the effect the depth of processing has on the ability to recall words. Research has shown that semantic encoding has resulted in significantly better word retention than such as phonemic encoding (Craik Tulving 1975). When asked to estimate their ability to perform in tasks involving memory, the majority of people will not take the method of encoding into account and will estimate inaccurately (Dunning, Heath Suls 2004). The reason that semantic encoding has resulted in a better word retention than phonemic is due to the variation in the depth of processing. Sensory interpretations such as the sound or appearance of a word are processed at shallower levels and produce only shortterm recall. These levels are involved in phonemic encoding, for example grouping words together depending on how they sound, such as TRAIN and SPAIN. Deeper levels of processing concern the meaning of the word and result in a more long-term recollection. These levels are involved in semantic encoding, grouping words together depending on their meaning, CAT and DOG for example. The reason people estimate their ability to recall inaccurately could be one of a many. It could be that people feel the task simple and overestimate their ability or they could think the task difficult, when in reality it isn’t, and underestimate their abilities. Another reason could be that people aren’t aware of the theory behind the task and are unable to make an informed decision (Dunning, et al. 004) This experiment aims to demonstrate whether semantic or phonemic encoding yields a higher recall, and to investigate how accurate people are at estimating their abilities. The primary hypothesis of this experiment is that participants in the semantic condition, the deeper level of processing, will result in a higher percentage of words recall ed. The secondary hypothesis is that people aren’t aware of how the encoding process affects their ability to recall the words and so the estimations for both conditions will be the same. The tertiary hypothesis is that people will overestimate their abilities and so the predictions for both conditions will be higher than the given value. Memory and Self Assessment 4 Method Participants There were 992 first year psychology students that participated in the experiment. The age and gender of the students was not recorded. 518 students participated in the phonemic condition and 474 students participated in the semantic condition. Materials The experiment involved the use of a web browser on a computer; participant’s input was done with keyboard and mouse. 6 word pairs were used and six test word pairs. Procedure Participants were randomly assigned to either the phonemic or semantic condition. They were told to go to a computer open the web browser to the experiment, enter their name and select the condition they had been assigned. Participants were instructed in the experiment’s procedure and then asked to estimate the percentage of words they would be able to recall. They were then presented with a trial of six practice word pairs, presented one at a time for 30 seconds. Whilst the word pairs were visible, the participants were asked whether they agreed or disagreed, if the words rhymed or were in the same semantic category. After the participants selected they were given feedback about whether the answer was correct or incorrect. The participants then began encoding. During encoding participants were presented with 26 word pairs, one at a time for 30 seconds each. Participants then had to select whether they agreed or disagreed for each word pair. No feedback was given during encoding. Participants then began the recall phase. During the recall phase one word from each of the previous pairs was presented on the screen, all 26 pairs were presented one at a time, participants were asked to enter the partner word. During this phase there was no time limit and participants were not penalised for incorrect spelling. After this phase a result page opened, with a table indicating scores for each phase. Results The results illustrate that for both (Table 1) the phonemic and (Table 2) semantic conditions the mean actual recall score was lower than the mean estimated recall score. Participants in the semantic condition had a higher mean recall than participants in the phonemic condition. The Cohen’s d for this was 0. 61, which is a medium effect. The estimated recall for both conditions was similar, the participants in the phonemic condition having a slightly high mean, and Cohen’s d for this was 0. 09 showing this was a very small effect. Memory and Self Assessment 5 Table three shows the combined results of both conditions, it shows that the estimated recall is greater than the actual recall. The Cohen’s d for this effect was 1. 4 a very large effect. Table 1 Statistics for the Phonemic encoding condition Table 2 Statistics for the Semantic encoding condition Table 3 Statistics for both conditions combined Discussion It was found that participants in the semantic condition remembered on average 10% more word pairs than participants in the phonemic condition. This supports the hypothesis that deeper levels of processing lead to greater ab ility to retain information. It would then be a logical conclusion to say that semantic encoding leaves a more long-term memory. Since there was an almost negligible difference in the mean estimated recall between the two conditions, Cohen’s d supports this. It is reasonable to say that people were unaware of how the different levels of encoding would affect their ability to recall the word pairs. This supports the secondary hypothesis, which states there will be no difference in the estimates between the two conditions. The tertiary hypothesis is also supported; it was noted that people estimated their recall to be on average 28% higher than their actual recall. Which shows that people will Memory and Self Assessment 6 verestimate their ability to recall word pair. This could be due to the lack of information given in the task, for example a greater emphasis was placed on the first phase of the experiment. Alternatively people could have perceived the task as easy. This study has lead to similar findings such as those in Lewandosky and Hockley (1987). This study does differ in a few key aspects though, such as the introduction of a recall estimate. It is quite a sobering fact to know that people have such little knowledge of how different encoding conditions can greatly affect one’s ability to retain information. This experiment has only acted as introduction into the field, however further research into this area can lead to better teaching and studying methods. The experiment had a few limitations, the venue for the test for example, participants were not isolated and could talk during the experiment, and also there was a significant amount of background noise and other distractions. Participants were not well supervised during the experiment; it would have possible for some participants to cheat by recording the word pairs. To prevent this future experiments should isolate participants during the testing process and supervise them more vigilantly. I would also suggest that participants should be asked to estimate the percentage of words they can recall between phase 1 and phase 2, this should eliminate bias since some participants could have spent ore time trying to commit the words to memory knowing that they would have to recall them later. Another point of interest would be to look at the correlation between word pairs remembered and whether the participant agreed or disagreed with the particular word pair.

7 Great Online Research Resources for Writers

7 Great Online Research Resources for Writers 7 Great Online Research Resources for Writers 7 Great Online Research Resources for Writers By Mark Nichol Doing research to strengthen a current story or article, or to get ideas for a new one? You can google all you want and hope for a productive return, but to engage in a focused search, try one of these mediated experiences instead: 1. Infoplease From current events to reference-desk resources to features about history, this site puts a remarkable array of information within reach. Guides to the nations of the world, timelines of political, social, and cultural developments, special quantitative and qualitative features like â€Å"The Worlds Most Corrupt Nations† and â€Å"Color Psychology,† and more cover just about anything you could think of. 2. The Internet Public Library Unlike the other reference centers on this list, the IPL is a portal to other Web sites, brimming with directories of links in topics like Arts Humanities. (Dictionary of Symbolism? Check. Ask Philosophers? Right. Legendary Lighthouses? We got your legendary lighthouses right here.) If you need background information on either fiction or nonfiction projects, stop by for a visit I just dare you to leave without a digressive click or ten. 3. The Library of Congress The online presence of the official repository of knowledge and lore of the United States is an indispensable resource not only for nonfiction writers seeking background information for topics but also for fiction authors seeking historical context for an existing project or inspiration for a new one. 4. Merriam-Webster Online The publishing world’s dictionary of record is at your fingertips online as well as in print, with a thesaurus and Spanish-English and medical compendia, to boot. The dictionary also includes refreshing can’t-we-all-just-get-along usage commentary. (That and which, as pronouns that introduce restrictive clauses, are interchangeable.) You’ll also find video tutorials on usage from dictionary staff, a Word of the Day feature, word games, and a variety of language-watch features. 5. Refdesk Refdesk.com, like Infoplease, is a clearinghouse for online research, with links to headline news and timeless information alike. You can easily get lost in its Daily Diversions directory, which includes links not only to humor, games, and trivia sites but also to more respectable resources like DailyWritingTips.com (whoo!). If you have a question, chances are you can find the answer on this site. 6. Snopes How do you verify that this self-described â€Å"definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation† is what it claims to be? Go to the site and find out. The fine folks at Snopes.com will set you straight about any one of hundreds of posts each with a prominent judgmental icon, and commentary to back it up about that one thing you think you remember you heard about that one thing. (For example: Posh comes from an acronym for â€Å"port out, starboard home† the ideal respective locations for accommodations on a luxury liner right? Cue the buzzer. Bogus.) TruthOrFiction.com is a similar site. 7. Wikipedia This user-generated online encyclopedia got a lot of flak a few years ago for some inaccurate information posted by someone with a grudge, but that was an isolated incident. Also, many sources warn against using Wikipedia as a primary source for research. That said, don’t hesitate to avail yourself of the wealth of information available on the site much of which is written by subject-matter experts in the field in question. Then click on one of the online sources linked in the footnotes, or take your search to one of the other sites in this list. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Grammar Test 1Writing the Century45 Idioms with "Roll"

Features of Quantitative Research Essays

Features of Quantitative Research Essays Features of Quantitative Research Essay Features of Quantitative Research Essay Quantitative research tends to be numerical or categorical. This type of research aims to make predictions, establish facts and test hypothesis that have already been stated, that is, aims to find evidence which supports or does not support on existing hypothesis. Quantitative research normally involves large numbers of respondents, typically a hundred or more, and obtains results that are representative of the total population. Therefore, it is a form of research method that is considerably appropriate for generalization of descriptions. There are several main types of approaches to quantitative research (show as following) and these techniques are widely used in many substantive fields to study and explain individual differences and patterns of relationships among variables. Correlational research aims to find out whether there is a relationship between two or more variables (Gay Airasian, 1999). In any case, if a relationship is found, then its degree is identified by a number between -1. 00 and +1. 00 and this number is known as a correlation coefficient. For instance, when one variable increases and the other also increases, then the correlation in this case would be positive. On the other hand, if a correlation is negative, that means, when one variable decreases, the other also decreases. Survey research targets to answer questions about current status of the subject of study. This usually involves studying attitudes, practices or concerns of certain group of people. (Gay Airasion, 1999).   Causal-comparative research aims to find a cause-effect relationship between two or more different programs, methods, or groups. : An example of this would be to find out if children watch violence programs on TV causes aggressive behaviours. The main advantage of quantitative research is the results are statistically reliable and the results are able to be projected to the population. It has high reliability as different researchers, using the same measurement system are likely to come up at the same measurement for same subjects This method is appropriate for measuring both attitudes and behaviours and therefore quantitative research method is one of the traditional research method that many psychologists used in their approach to research design. Differences in features in another basic type of research approach When talking about the features of quantitative research, people often mention another basic research method qualitative research as a comparison. In qualitative research, it involves emhasising meanings, experiences, descriptions and etc (Coolican, 1990). And it uses mainly non-numerical data such as observations and interviews, that is, it does not use numbers in its analysis. Data is usually in the form of words that have been recorded to represent observations. Also in contrast to quantitative research, qualitative research often requires small number of respondent. The reason of why mentioned the features of qualitative research method is because this would add up to the disadvantages of quantitative research method to explain why I think many psychologist has become dissatisfied with the more traditional quantitative approach to research design, despite it is the most common type of approach in many psychological research. Disadvantages of quantitative research As one of the reasons for using quantitative research is to find out whether a group of people shares certain characteristic in common, the disadvantage of this method is that the resulting theory usually unable to take account of the unique characteristics of individual cases. Another characteristic of results which generated from quantitative research is they tend to be very simple in comparison to qualitative research, which is generally rich in information with detailed descriptions such as interview transcripts, personal comments and audio recordings, the results obtained from quantitative research are generally reduced to a few numerical statistics and summarised in a few short statements. In this sense, depth of understanding in qualitative research is therefore considerably superficial. According to McCullough (1995), the primary disadvantages of quantitative research is that issues are only measurement if they are known prior to the beginning of the survey (and therefore, have been incorporated into the questionnaire) and quantitative research requires the advance formulation of specific hypothesis by Huysamen (1997). With this characteristic in place, quantitative research is therefore only appropriate when the issues to be tested are known. This research method would not be appropriate to use in situations such as an initial leaning phase or as a method to explore new ideas. One disadvantage of quantitative research is that its study can be unreliatble since this type of study is relied on statistical method of analyzing data, unless use large enough samples of respondents, otherwise it might not be able to provide accurate or meaningful results. Some psychologists criticized that quantitative research usually takes place in artificial settings. And the way researchers create an artificial settings such as in laboratory in quantitative research is due to the attempt to control the variables in their studies. That is the reason of why some psychologists doubted whether the results obtained in these unnatural settings can apply in the real world. Thus, again, results from this research method can possibly be unreliable. Summary Quantitative research is criticized for its low validity as it is unable to take account of the unique characteristic of individual cases and therefore results are generalized, narrow and lack of detailed information. Also, as the settings of this type of research are often artificial, information or data obtained from these type of studies are likely unrealistic. For these reasons, many psychologist has become dissatisfied with this traditional research approach in research design. Reference Coolican, Hugh (1990), Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology. Hodder Sloughton. Gay, L. R. , Airasian, Peter. (1999). Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Application, Sixth Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. Huysamen, G. K. (1997, March). Parallels Between Qualitative Research and Sequentially Performed Quantitative Research. South African Journal of Psychology, 27, 1-8.

Communications and the City Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Communications and the City - Essay Example Consider the tricorders in use in the original Star Trek television series and early films; the video wristwatches that were available to James Bond back in the 1970's, and the eerie way in which Sandra Bullock's droid character was able to see into Sylvester Stallone's memories in Demolition Man. Now that the 21st century has arrived, we are completely surrounded by communication. We carry access to the World Wide Web in our pockets; the ability to communicate digitally has actually slowed our interpersonal communication, as we spend our time with other people texting people who are not with us, or posting information about what we are doing on Facebook or other social media sites. However, communication from the media to us does not just travel through smartphones, and the newest forms of urban planning are taking this change into account. One of the challenges facing urban planners is the inclusion of robust methods of communication and media technology without ending up living in the dank, black sort of city that served as The Running Man's labyrinth. However, incorporating media into city planning does not mean that citizens have to have walls built up between themselves and others, either in the form of dark skyscrapers or suburban sprawl. The very word â€Å"media† has taken on the connotation of passive reception of entertainment, networking with people close at hand as well as on the other side of the globe (McCullough 2006, 16). McCullough (2006) applies the term â€Å"locative† to media technology that leaves the desktop and the laptop behind and works its way into the other parts of our mundane lives. The good news is that the media technology that is used in urban planning does not have to take the form of a separate world that sits behind a large desktop monitor, as Walker (1989) envisioned. This vision of larger access to media did populate the cultural imagination, as such films as I, Robot and such novels as Ready Player One saw a future in which the true controllers of the world would sit behind glass walls in offices, manipulating events through touch screens and avatars. However, the world has proven not to be so difficult to infiltrate with media. The advent of the smartphone, as well as larger-scale technologies, enable people to indulge their taste for media while out on the streets. This has taken some time to take place, though. In 2005, the Where 2.0 conference was all about the transition of online information from the computer to geospace (McCullough 2006, 16). The advent of all of the Web 2.0 tools has made the notion of â€Å"cyberspace† almost an antiquated one. While one still sees ruddy invitations to come to websites, more often than not one can find the necessary web content all about one, no matter where one is. You no longer have to unplug from your social surroundings, go upstairs, power on the computer, plug in the modem, and wait for your information. You don't even have to sit down; you can access it while on the move. In fictive environments, of course, this was predicted long ago, most frightfully by the visions of George Orwell in 1984. The purpose of the information technology in Smith's world, of course, was surveillance, as Big Brother and the Party were all about keeping tabs on the deeds, words, and even thoughts

Financial economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Financial economics - Essay Example Theories that have brought about pop assume that at some circumstances, it would cost exactly the same number of for exampleUs dollars to buy euros and then to use the proceeds to purchase the same basket as it would cost to use those US dollars directly in buying the market basket of goods. For example, a cake that sells for C$1.50 in Australian city should cost US$1.00 in a U.S. city when the exchange rate between Canada and the U.S. is 1.50 USD/CDN. (Both cakes cost US$1.00.) Therefore, the fundamental for PPP is the "law of one price". Consequently, on elimation or assumptiontransportation and other transaction costs, competitive markets will have same price for identical good in two countries, on expressing the prices of involved countries into the same currency. The concept and principle of purchasing power parity enables and aids in estimation of what the exchange rate between both currencies should be in order for the exchange to be the same with the purchasing capability of the currencies of the two countries. Thus, when a countrys domestic price level is increasing as it is in the case when it is experiencing inflation that countrys exchange rate must depreciated so as to stabilize the PPP. PPP exchange rates is significant in that it helps to avoid inaccurate and erroneous international comparisons that arise due to use of market exchange rates. A good example is when two countries output similar physical amounts of goods in two separate years. Due to adverse fluctuation in market exchange rates when the GDP of one country (measured in its own currency is converted to the other countrys currency using market exchange rates) one country can be deemed to have higher real GDP than the other country in one year but relatively lower in the other; both of these comparisons wouldmiss-reflect the reality of their relative levels of

Analysis of the Armed Special Forces Act 1943 in India

Analysis of the Armed Special Forces Act 1943 in India Civil society is a term oft-repeated in democratic contexts today. Seen as an essential component of the liberal framework of political structures, it is essentially the space of free association for the masses. India, a multicultural democratic country, boasts of a vibrant civil society. At the same time, it also has accusations of being one of the worst offenders of human and civil liberties of some of its people, in the form of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. This chapter seeks to introduce the motivation, hypothesis, methodology and key concepts of this paper. Introduction The spotlight of global affairs and the ‘march to democracy has been on the Middle East in 2011. Mass rebellions against autocratic, unjust and oppressive regimes have swept the region in a sort of domino-effect swarming hordes of people rose up to replace what seemed no more applicable or tolerable in Tunisia to Tahrir Square in Egypt, in a bid to in-state the only form of governance that allowed ‘power to the people i.e. democracy. This phenomenon has come to the West as a pleasant surprise, that have viewed the Islamic world as essentially subject to notions of conservatism, violence and religion all seen as harbingers of a pre-modern past that the West feels it has left behind for good. â€Å"What is happening in Tunisia and Egypt is the completion of the 1989 revolutions the Egyptians are reclaiming the values of the Solidarnosc and the Civic Forum from the neo-liberals who usurped them The people in Tahrir Square and elsewhere are giving us back the meaning of c ivil society a place where people can talk, discuss and act freely,† says Mary Kaldor , examining the notion of civil society and how it has changed since the last time it was picked up from the annals of a rejected history and reinvented to bring monumental political change in Eastern European states. Closer home, the beginning of summer this year has seen a heated campaign against corruption being driven by a single mans Satyagraha Anna Hazare would definitely qualify as a ‘non-entity even by the modest standards of celebration that Indian civil society activists enjoy. Yet, this army truck driver of the 1960s is today the poster-boy of ‘publicness, coming to symbolise the space for mediation and political interference to bring out moral dividends that is the hallmark of a vibrant democracy. Some have called his actions ‘Gandhian, one of the few attempts at reform emerging from among the non-political that post-independence India has seen, otherwise witnessed only in Irom Sharmilas consistent campaign from Manipur against the travails of militarisation of the north-east region and abuse of power that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 has become synonymous with. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which the Indian government has thought fit to implement in two contexts all the North Eastern states and Jammu Kashmir is arguably among the most contentious legislations of post-Independence India. Said to be based on a 1942 British ordinance intended to contain the Indian independence movement (Quit India movement) during World War II, it was enacted as a short-term measure to allow the deployment of the army in Indias north-eastern Naga Hills but since has been in existence for five decades. It has, since then, also been implemented in Jammu Kashmir which has shown violent separatist aspirations since the late 1980s. The Act has been controversial because of the fact that it gives to the armed forces extended powers of action without accountability, which has led to abuse of power and gross violation of human and civil rights, building around it a sense of impunity. In a democratic framework, this move to retain the sovereign integrity of the Indian state has been vociferously derided by people both within and outside these regions. Even though justifications for the laws existence abound from freedom of operation to existence of provisions for accountability and redress within the armed forces set up, the Act in itself has become a symbol of oppression at the hands of the Indian state and therefore a part of the problem, not the solution. Hypothesis This paper attempts to therefore study civil society in India its role and scope with specific focus on this nugget of legislation that has a strong reference to the case of maintaining or violating civil liberty in a democracy. It seeks to analyse the effectiveness of the Indian democracy in this respect, considering whether ‘power to the people is just another catchphrase or if it goes deeper than that. This researcher is of the view that even though the definition of a modern civil society in a multicultural context as India needs to be revisited, and even though largely (as in the case of the AFSPA) political, military, judicial and legislative action has a will of its own, there is scope for activism and there are voices that get heard. The necessity of such a space of negotiation in a democracy cannot be stressed hard enough. The arbitrariness of power, possible marginalisation of the ‘have-nots and the dilemma of national unity versus individual rights need to be examined in the light of modern liberal rhetoric of freedom and equality that are foundational aspects of the Indian constitution. Methodology The study has used both primary and secondary sources of data along with analysis using both the deductive and inductive methods. I have analyzed government records, media reports, library sources, existing literature on the subject, archival data, think-tank reports as well as spoken / interviewed a few primary sources within the civil society. The study has also use information and experience gathered at symposiums, lectures and workshops related to the topic. It has been largely qualitative in approach, since the issue required an exploration of theory and potential policy-making role of civil society in situations of conflict and civil unrest. Chapterisation The paper shall follow this sequence: the first chapter will examine the trajectory of conceptualisation of civil society in the corpus of philosophy and political studies and its relevance globally as well as in India. The second chapter will elaborate upon the Act, the controversy and the issues surrounding it. In the third chapter, I will look at civil society initiatives regarding this aspect, both in terms of humanitarian redressal and rehabilitation and attempts at political negotiation and policy amendment. It will also look critically at the degree to which these initiatives have worked in mitigating the more negative consequences of the law. The last chapter, in conclusion, will critically analyse the role that civil society has played so far in the dynamics of the Indian democracy and the scope for positive change it contains. The rest of this chapter is dedicated to elaborating on the key concepts of this paper: civil society and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Key Concepts Civil Society: It is crucial to understand what civil society in a changed global context means. Historically, it has been understood to mean the public space that exists between the family and the state that seeks to mitigate the preponderance of individualism as well as the ‘tyranny of the majority. Based on principles of voluntarism, association and pluralism and tolerance, this was an imagination that sought to negotiate with power structures in every context it arose in, whether during industrialisation of England where a new bourgeois class of powerful traders emerged that sought to bargain with the state and the Church for power, or in Eastern Europe of the 1980s where a bid to parlay Communism resulted in associational uprising that stemmed out of sports clubs, trade unions, bars and basements. After 1989, civil society got the rejuvenation that had been missing for the past couple of centuries since Marx and Gramsci had derided it as yet another excuse for state/power domination and co-option of the masses. It has since been taken much more seriously, both academically and in its practical application, although consensus on what it constitutes is hard to come by. However, with democracy becoming the chosen form of ‘correct government, where representation and election to power is ‘by the people, for the people and of the people, civil society assumes new meaning as the arena of civilised battle. There is more to a democracy than public participation through ballot-box approval. This, in a nutshell, could be the motive for a functional civil society.   However, the proprietorship of the West over the concept of civil society is often criticised. By linking it with modernity, it is seen to be a concept both inherently Western and also as the Wests boon to the world. Ernest Gellner paints civil society as the space of the profane that gives freedom to the baser aspects of human beings and their relationships. Having associated it with capitalist liberalism, he posits many upcoming rivals to it such as Islam, Asiatic capitalism, fierce nationalism- leading one to believe that this essentially Western notion is one under threat from more preponderant forces in different parts of the world that do not essentially derive from rationality. Mary Kaldor finds in this a patronising approach of the entire West, evident also in US and Europes response to the upheaval in the Middle East. She observes that there already exists a term for civil society in Arabic Almujtamaa Almadani and therefore finds that the concept has more antiquated roots than otherwise presumed. To offset this overlordism, she says, â€Å"Instead of imposing yet another neo-liberal formula, western countries and institutions should consult the people of the Middle East about how they can help to construct a fairer, more sustainable economy. Instead of giving governments money to buy western weapons, they could discuss with civil society how they could help to restructure the armed forces to provide human security, to establish civilian control over the military, and to convert the substantial military industries to peaceful uses.† Ruminating on the changed idea of civil society, she says disappointedly, â€Å"After 1989, everyone celebrated the idea of civil society. But it was rapidly reduced within the framework of neo-liberal thinking to mean western-supported NGOs who would help to smooth the path of neo-liberal transition.† In the post-Cold War phase, since the world has gone more global, the meaning of civil society has veered towards international-level cooperation and institutionalism, through NGOs, forums, transnational networks of activities to work on a ‘global humanitarian regime. It has now become a buzzword relating to democracies, liberalism, neo-liberalism, anti-war movements, global justice and so on, and thereby is seen as a platform inhabited by activists of all sorts. In the normative sense, civil society is and always has been seen as the arena where consent is generated for and in opposition to concentrated authority. In the descriptive sense, or in considering what all should be included in this realm, lies the tensions should regulatory bodies such as the UN and the World Bank be considered part of civil society? Should one include international NGOs that depend on government funding? Does civil society include religious or ethnic organisations? Does it include militant or sece ssionist organisations that are fighting against an oppressive state or for some defined nationalism? As the concerns that occupy minds in a global world change (such as todays preoccupations include AIDS, landmines, terrorism, nuclear disarmament/disaster, receding water levels etc), the definitions of all realms of society would change too. This paper, taking insights from the corpus of philosophy on the subject, defines civil society as the associational space, lying between the family, state and market, where autonomous individuals voluntarily come together to define and pursue common goals to reap collective benefits. Schmitters definition of civil society, as a set or system of self-organised intermediary groups that: (1) are relatively independent of both public authorities and private units of production and reproduction, that is, of firms and families; (2) are capable of deliberating about and taking collective actions in defence or promotion of their interests or passions; (3) do not seek to replace either state agents or private (re)producers or to accept responsibility fo r governing the polity as a whole; and (4) agree to act within pre-established rules of a civil, i.e. mutually respectful, nature. It is civil society based on the four characteristics of dual autonomy, collective action, nonusurpation and civility that this paper will refer to. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA): The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is a law, enacted by the Parliament of India, to meet violent internal situations created by underground militant outfits to further their illegal and ‘unconstitutional causes. The law was enacted to provide necessary powers and legal support to the Armed forces for carrying out proactive operations against the militants in a highly hostile environment that was threatening the integrity and sovereignty of the Indian nation-state. The Act dates back to September 11, 1958, when the Parliament of India passed the act bestowing more power on the armed forces in â€Å"disturbed areas†. First introduced in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, the Act was later extended to Jammu and Kashmir as the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 in July 1990. The Act allows an officer of the armed forces to fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law against assembly of five or more persons or possession of deadly weapons, to arrest without a warrant and with the use of necessary force anyone who has committed certain offenses or is suspected of having done so, to enter and search any premise in order to make such arrests. The act also bestows legal immunity to the officials, which means that they cannot be sued or prosecuted. While the law was enacted to mitigate militant action, violence and to quell secessionist tendencies that violated the essence of the Indian union, it has since inception over half a century ago turned into a controversial aspect of governance in the country. An increasing militarisation of areas branded as ‘disturbed and a consequent violation of human rights and civil liberties has resulted in a worsening of conditions in both the regions it has been applied to. Instead of bringing about greater cohesion, or of managing to bring the north-east and Jammu Kashmir peacefully into the fold of the Indian union, the law has become just another reason for the strengthening of secessionist demands. This is in contradiction with the reasoning given for consistent political will to keep the Act in place in the two regions: in a response to the United Nations Human Rights Committee questioning the validity of the AFSPA under the Indian law and in light of Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR, the Attorney General of India responded that the AFSPA is a necessary measure to prevent the secession of the North Eastern states. He said that a response to this agitation for secession in the North East had to be done on a war footing. He argued that the Indian Constitution, in Article 355, made it the duty of the Central Government to protect the states from internal disturbance and that there is no duty under international law to allow secession.â€Å"The shrill rhetoric demanding that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act be repealed, if allowed to hold sway, may drive us deeper into the dark world of both Islamist terror and the Maoist insurgency, † Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd) has warned more recently. The primary issue of controversy here is the violation of human and civil rights. According to a Human Rights Watch report, the act is in violation in the following respects: The right to life is violated by section 4(a) of the AFSPA, which grants the armed forces power to shoot to kill in law enforcement situations without regard to international human rights law restrictions on the use of lethal force. The right to liberty and security of person is violated by section 4(c) of the AFSPA, which fails to protect against arbitrary arrest by allowing soldiers to arrest anyone merely on suspicion that a â€Å"cognizable offence† has already taken place or is likely to take place in the future. Further, the AFSPA provides no specific time limit for handing arrested persons to the nearest police station. The right to remedy is violated by section 6 of the AFSPA, which provides officers who abuse their powers under the AFSPA with immunity from legal accountability. This section of th e AFSPA prohibits even state governments from initiating legal proceedings against the armed forces on behalf of their population without central government approval. Since such a sanction is seldom granted, it has in effect provided a shield of immunity for armed forces personnel implicated in serious abuses. In practice the AFSPA also facilitates violation of the right to be free from torture, and from cruel or degrading treatment. Since the AFSPA provides powers to arrest without warrant and then detain arrested persons for unspecified amounts of time, the armed forces routinely engage in torture and other ill-treatment during interrogation in army barracks. However, the support from within the armed forces and certain other sections of the political and academic circles is strong for the continuance of this act. Northern Army Commander General Jaswal in Jammu Kashmir gave the following reasoning: I would like to say that the provisions of the Armed Forces Special Power Act are very pious to me and I think to entire Indian ArmyWe have religious books, there are certain guidelines which are given there, but all the members of the religion do not follow it, they break it also, does it imply that you remove the religious book or you remove this chap. My take on it is to find someone guilty, take him to task, but dont touch this pious document or provision of the Armed Forces Special Power Act giving the similarity to religious book.† In the past couple of months Army has argued that without the Act it will not be able to launch proactive operations. The Army will also not be able to use force except in self-defence and not have powers to destroy ammunition dumps and IEDs. The army also says that a majority of human rights abuse cases are found to be false and those found true have been severely dealt with. Human rights activists have however contended time and again that the Act gives excessive powers to the soldiers. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said in recent past that there is a need to revoke the Act since it is prone to abuse. One of the grounds that the citizens have stated is that the people arrested or otherwise detained should be allowed to plead their case under section 130 and 131 of the Criminal Code. The Article 21 of the Constitution also gets violated in the process. In spite of the various cases filed and protests initiated there has been no revocation or dialogue towards the same. The issue revolving the AFSPA is that the principle of national integrity and sovereignty is in direct conflict with the liberal democratic frameworks of human rights and the civil society has the potential to the site for this negotiation. This is the premise under which the rest of this paper seeks to examine how the civil society and the Indian state have sought to deal with the AFSPA. CIVIL SOCIETY This Chapter seeks to chart the history of philosophy on civil society, in political sciences and social sciences. It will then look at civil society in India specifically, in todays context, and some of the major criticisms levelled against the concept and its real-time manifestation. Civil Society: The Concept At the abstract level, civil society has historically been conceptualised as a mediating space between the family, state and recently, also separate from the market. It is the site of association, voluntariness and community engagement, set apart from the politics and compulsions of the state as well as the individuality and liberty of the family. Bruce Sievers identifies seven strands that go into the making of civil society: nonprofit and voluntary institutions, individual rights, rule of law, the common good, philanthropy, freedom of expression and tolerance. Emerging in the context of the 18th century industrialisation rampant in Europe that gave rise to a new class of bourgeoisie and the new ideas of utilitarianism and capitalism, civil society gets inextricably linked with libertarian ideals that seek to carve out spaces for autonomous action in every individual and societal aspect.   â€Å"A ‘civil society was civilized and ordered by the rule of law. Unlike tribal so ciety, it was also large-scale and held together by impersonal bonds of interest rather than ties of kin and blood. It was also, to a degree some found frightening, a self-correcting mechanism in which the selfish actions of myriad individuals, brought together only by the rule of law, managed to produce an orderly and dynamic accumulation of prosperity unprecedented in human history,† observes Michael Ignatieff The importance of social engagement and principle of tolerance have only gained more importance in a globalised world that is characterised by multi-cultural, multi-ethnic nations. Robert Putnam identifies civic engagement, dense networks of interaction, political equality, solidarity, trust and tolerance and a strong associational life as crucial to the generation of ‘social capital the resource that could help to facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit in societies. He says that networks of civic engagement foster norms of generalised reciprocity, encourage the emergence of social trust, facilitate communication, collaboration and therefore collective action on common dilemmas and endorse the idea of collective benefits. Through its history, a number of philosophers have vouched for and expanded upon this realm of an advanced society. Alexis de Tocqueville , in Democracy in America, says that Americas answer to the problem of limiting the absolutist state was to have a constitution defined in law and protected by a counterbalancing force of independent bodies. These were the local associations of citizens acting together in the affairs of daily life. This was a civil society engaged in politics, voluntary by nature. His idea of civil society was based in the observation of an absolute sovereignty of the majority, but this principle, which could just as well turn into a tyranny of the majority, was also mitigated through a non-centralised frame of governance that set importance to localised chains of command and responsibility. Civicness emerged in America, he observed, through the relentless formation of associations: â€Å"Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of disposition ar e forever forming associations. There are not only commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but others of a thousand different typesreligious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very limited, immensely large and very minute. . . . Nothing, in my view, deserves more attention than the intellectual and moral associations in America.† Civil Society, for Hegel , is the site that lies between the Family and the State in the Ethical Life, as described in his Philosophy of Right. It is the site where the ‘determination of particularity as per individual rights is given free rein, but which has to acquire a mantle of universality for the rights to become acquirable or even legitimate, so to speak. Here, therefore, are two elements: the concrete person who is out to pursue self-interest and personal motive, and the form of universality, or the generation of common motive, through forming bonds and finding over-lapping areas of interest. A particular end, therefore, assumes the form of universality through this relation to other people, and it is attained in the simultaneous attainment of the welfare of others. It has three dimensions: the system of needs, the administration of justice and the police and the corporation. The system of needs refers to the generation of ‘universal human capital through human beings exceptional capacity to generate needs and spot commonness with others and then to satisfy those needs through work and labour. A single persons particularity of interest can be recognised if he manages to associate himself with one sphere of the needs. The administration of justice is the principle of rightness that becomes universally known through a public legal code. Not only does this embed within the principle of freedom in both subjective individual and universal platforms, it also makes wrongdoing an infringement on the people that live within such an ethical life. The polizei, then, is the bearer and the guardian of this publicly generated and accepted principles of right, the public authority that also looks after public utilities and regulation activities as well. The corporation, on the other hand, is the arrangement whereby common interests are brought to fore through voluntary association as in sports or religious clubs etc. All these aspects together form the civil society for Hegel, the space where freedom of self-interest is allowed to reign but within the limits of the principle of universality.   Antonio Gramsci, however, had a more critical view of civil society, from a Marxist vantage point. He saw civil society not as the benign space that afforded a voice and power to the masses, but as an instrument of domination linked in an unholy alliance with the bourgeois elements in the civil society seeking to protect propertied interests . He was also convinced that the intricate, organic relationships between civil society and political society enable certain strata of society not only to gain dominance within the state but also, and more importantly, to maintain it, perpetuating the subalternity of other strata. In other words, the site of hegemony was civil society it was the arena wherein the ruling class extends and reinforces its power by non-violent means through components such as the press, the libraries, schools, associations and clubs that could all become media for propaganda and homogenisation of the masses. The state and the civil society in his purview are inextri cably linked, which only facilitates subordination by the state without coercion, focussing instead on ‘manufacturing consent. However, he does acknowledge the potential of civil society as a site for breeding revolutions and for newer ‘conceptions of the world to take place. However, the manifestation of this fairly utopian concept is fraught with tensions and dichotomies. Ernest Gellner, in Conditions of Liberty, analyses the role of civil society in the Marxist, socialist and capitalist frameworks and has also assessed post-modern rivals to it that have emerged, such as Islam. The Eastern European states found the concept of civil society useful in gaining independence from a Communist stronghold precisely because of the possibility here for mobilisation of the masses in opposition to totalitarian militarist regimes. Through meetings of trade unions, religious groups, bars etc, the emphasis was on autonomy, self-organisation and withdrawal from the state to create islands of civic engagement for the emergence of a ‘parallel polis. For Gellner, a civil society was â€Å"a profane society, a society that explicitly sought to put the lowest of human desires to productive uses. Mandevilles paradox private vices make public virtues naturalized the profane by demonstrating that â€Å"capitalist individuals were more likely to promote the public good when they looked exclusively to their private interest.† He found the Marxist, and therefore the socialist strain of civil society, that stressed on driving religion out of life and also investing the economic with the ultimate sacredness, as faulty for it denied space to the profane, the self-interest and avarice of human nature that could be harnessed and channelled into collective action. With the ‘disenchantment of the world that comes with modernity and its powerful agencies of science and capitalism came the advent of ‘the modular man    who associates voluntarily with other prototypes, giving rise to a Gesellschaft, the inorganic form of social bonding, through fostered ties, rather than a Gemeinschaft, the organic community based on ties of blood and kin. â€Å"The genius of capitalist civil society is that it not only harnesses our profane energies, b ut relieves us of the moral burden of thinking of them as profane. In so doing, it relieves us of the strain of constant longing for unattainable self-transcendence in desperate simulations of paradise,† says Ignatieff. He also observes that liberty in civil society is essentially negative because there cannot be, in principle, agreement among human beings about the positive ends of political communities, beyond the protection of the liberties of the individuals who compose it. If people seek to overcome their own alienation and separateness, they can do so only as individuals or in voluntary groups. Civil society, then, becomes crucial for maintaining checks and balances, says Ignatieff. The realms of politics, economics and culture are neatly segregated, and power in any one domain does not endow power in another. The society is free, acting through a vibrant media and elected representatives, all functioning within the ambit of law. â€Å"Needless to say, no civil society has ever lived up to this goalyet the formal promise is more than hypocrisy: it remains the standard against which civil society judges itself and from which it finds renewed impetus to reform.† In this sense, civil society, albeit being a flawed ideal, also has the potential for redeeming itself simply by virtue of being embedded in the notion of reform, of itself as well as of society, simply by virtue of allowing private trajectories of interest being followed.   Despite changing meanings, civil societys core rests in a rule-governed society based on the consent of individuals. The ‘social contract that Hobbes defined is another way of understanding the liberal ideas behind the conception of civil society through different phases, civil society can be seen as the process or the space through which different individuals negotiate, argue, struggle against or agree with each other and with the centres of political and economic authority. The element of autonomy, voluntariness and collective action through association remain hallmarks through all definitions of the term. Civil Society in India: It would seem natural that civil society, as has been described and conceptualised above is an integral part of a democracy, with its accompanying notions of equality, public participation, and masses-oriented governance. Robert Post and Nancy Rosenblum describe a consensus among contemporary theorists â€Å"that democracy depends on the particularist, self-determining associations of civil society, where independent commitments, interests, and voices, are developed . Civil society is the precondition for democratic decision making, whether democracy is conceived as deliberation or as interest group pluralism, and this is true even if the goal of democracy is to transcend particularism and arrive at uncoerced agreement or a common will.† According to Joerg Forbrig, a vibrant and functional civil society can contribute to strengthening a democracy in five ways: control of state power through the incorporation of a body of laws, individual rights and thereby becoming a space that overlooks the relationship between the pr Analysis of the Armed Special Forces Act 1943 in India Analysis of the Armed Special Forces Act 1943 in India Civil society is a term oft-repeated in democratic contexts today. Seen as an essential component of the liberal framework of political structures, it is essentially the space of free association for the masses. India, a multicultural democratic country, boasts of a vibrant civil society. At the same time, it also has accusations of being one of the worst offenders of human and civil liberties of some of its people, in the form of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. This chapter seeks to introduce the motivation, hypothesis, methodology and key concepts of this paper. Introduction The spotlight of global affairs and the ‘march to democracy has been on the Middle East in 2011. Mass rebellions against autocratic, unjust and oppressive regimes have swept the region in a sort of domino-effect swarming hordes of people rose up to replace what seemed no more applicable or tolerable in Tunisia to Tahrir Square in Egypt, in a bid to in-state the only form of governance that allowed ‘power to the people i.e. democracy. This phenomenon has come to the West as a pleasant surprise, that have viewed the Islamic world as essentially subject to notions of conservatism, violence and religion all seen as harbingers of a pre-modern past that the West feels it has left behind for good. â€Å"What is happening in Tunisia and Egypt is the completion of the 1989 revolutions the Egyptians are reclaiming the values of the Solidarnosc and the Civic Forum from the neo-liberals who usurped them The people in Tahrir Square and elsewhere are giving us back the meaning of c ivil society a place where people can talk, discuss and act freely,† says Mary Kaldor , examining the notion of civil society and how it has changed since the last time it was picked up from the annals of a rejected history and reinvented to bring monumental political change in Eastern European states. Closer home, the beginning of summer this year has seen a heated campaign against corruption being driven by a single mans Satyagraha Anna Hazare would definitely qualify as a ‘non-entity even by the modest standards of celebration that Indian civil society activists enjoy. Yet, this army truck driver of the 1960s is today the poster-boy of ‘publicness, coming to symbolise the space for mediation and political interference to bring out moral dividends that is the hallmark of a vibrant democracy. Some have called his actions ‘Gandhian, one of the few attempts at reform emerging from among the non-political that post-independence India has seen, otherwise witnessed only in Irom Sharmilas consistent campaign from Manipur against the travails of militarisation of the north-east region and abuse of power that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 has become synonymous with. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which the Indian government has thought fit to implement in two contexts all the North Eastern states and Jammu Kashmir is arguably among the most contentious legislations of post-Independence India. Said to be based on a 1942 British ordinance intended to contain the Indian independence movement (Quit India movement) during World War II, it was enacted as a short-term measure to allow the deployment of the army in Indias north-eastern Naga Hills but since has been in existence for five decades. It has, since then, also been implemented in Jammu Kashmir which has shown violent separatist aspirations since the late 1980s. The Act has been controversial because of the fact that it gives to the armed forces extended powers of action without accountability, which has led to abuse of power and gross violation of human and civil rights, building around it a sense of impunity. In a democratic framework, this move to retain the sovereign integrity of the Indian state has been vociferously derided by people both within and outside these regions. Even though justifications for the laws existence abound from freedom of operation to existence of provisions for accountability and redress within the armed forces set up, the Act in itself has become a symbol of oppression at the hands of the Indian state and therefore a part of the problem, not the solution. Hypothesis This paper attempts to therefore study civil society in India its role and scope with specific focus on this nugget of legislation that has a strong reference to the case of maintaining or violating civil liberty in a democracy. It seeks to analyse the effectiveness of the Indian democracy in this respect, considering whether ‘power to the people is just another catchphrase or if it goes deeper than that. This researcher is of the view that even though the definition of a modern civil society in a multicultural context as India needs to be revisited, and even though largely (as in the case of the AFSPA) political, military, judicial and legislative action has a will of its own, there is scope for activism and there are voices that get heard. The necessity of such a space of negotiation in a democracy cannot be stressed hard enough. The arbitrariness of power, possible marginalisation of the ‘have-nots and the dilemma of national unity versus individual rights need to be examined in the light of modern liberal rhetoric of freedom and equality that are foundational aspects of the Indian constitution. Methodology The study has used both primary and secondary sources of data along with analysis using both the deductive and inductive methods. I have analyzed government records, media reports, library sources, existing literature on the subject, archival data, think-tank reports as well as spoken / interviewed a few primary sources within the civil society. The study has also use information and experience gathered at symposiums, lectures and workshops related to the topic. It has been largely qualitative in approach, since the issue required an exploration of theory and potential policy-making role of civil society in situations of conflict and civil unrest. Chapterisation The paper shall follow this sequence: the first chapter will examine the trajectory of conceptualisation of civil society in the corpus of philosophy and political studies and its relevance globally as well as in India. The second chapter will elaborate upon the Act, the controversy and the issues surrounding it. In the third chapter, I will look at civil society initiatives regarding this aspect, both in terms of humanitarian redressal and rehabilitation and attempts at political negotiation and policy amendment. It will also look critically at the degree to which these initiatives have worked in mitigating the more negative consequences of the law. The last chapter, in conclusion, will critically analyse the role that civil society has played so far in the dynamics of the Indian democracy and the scope for positive change it contains. The rest of this chapter is dedicated to elaborating on the key concepts of this paper: civil society and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Key Concepts Civil Society: It is crucial to understand what civil society in a changed global context means. Historically, it has been understood to mean the public space that exists between the family and the state that seeks to mitigate the preponderance of individualism as well as the ‘tyranny of the majority. Based on principles of voluntarism, association and pluralism and tolerance, this was an imagination that sought to negotiate with power structures in every context it arose in, whether during industrialisation of England where a new bourgeois class of powerful traders emerged that sought to bargain with the state and the Church for power, or in Eastern Europe of the 1980s where a bid to parlay Communism resulted in associational uprising that stemmed out of sports clubs, trade unions, bars and basements. After 1989, civil society got the rejuvenation that had been missing for the past couple of centuries since Marx and Gramsci had derided it as yet another excuse for state/power domination and co-option of the masses. It has since been taken much more seriously, both academically and in its practical application, although consensus on what it constitutes is hard to come by. However, with democracy becoming the chosen form of ‘correct government, where representation and election to power is ‘by the people, for the people and of the people, civil society assumes new meaning as the arena of civilised battle. There is more to a democracy than public participation through ballot-box approval. This, in a nutshell, could be the motive for a functional civil society.   However, the proprietorship of the West over the concept of civil society is often criticised. By linking it with modernity, it is seen to be a concept both inherently Western and also as the Wests boon to the world. Ernest Gellner paints civil society as the space of the profane that gives freedom to the baser aspects of human beings and their relationships. Having associated it with capitalist liberalism, he posits many upcoming rivals to it such as Islam, Asiatic capitalism, fierce nationalism- leading one to believe that this essentially Western notion is one under threat from more preponderant forces in different parts of the world that do not essentially derive from rationality. Mary Kaldor finds in this a patronising approach of the entire West, evident also in US and Europes response to the upheaval in the Middle East. She observes that there already exists a term for civil society in Arabic Almujtamaa Almadani and therefore finds that the concept has more antiquated roots than otherwise presumed. To offset this overlordism, she says, â€Å"Instead of imposing yet another neo-liberal formula, western countries and institutions should consult the people of the Middle East about how they can help to construct a fairer, more sustainable economy. Instead of giving governments money to buy western weapons, they could discuss with civil society how they could help to restructure the armed forces to provide human security, to establish civilian control over the military, and to convert the substantial military industries to peaceful uses.† Ruminating on the changed idea of civil society, she says disappointedly, â€Å"After 1989, everyone celebrated the idea of civil society. But it was rapidly reduced within the framework of neo-liberal thinking to mean western-supported NGOs who would help to smooth the path of neo-liberal transition.† In the post-Cold War phase, since the world has gone more global, the meaning of civil society has veered towards international-level cooperation and institutionalism, through NGOs, forums, transnational networks of activities to work on a ‘global humanitarian regime. It has now become a buzzword relating to democracies, liberalism, neo-liberalism, anti-war movements, global justice and so on, and thereby is seen as a platform inhabited by activists of all sorts. In the normative sense, civil society is and always has been seen as the arena where consent is generated for and in opposition to concentrated authority. In the descriptive sense, or in considering what all should be included in this realm, lies the tensions should regulatory bodies such as the UN and the World Bank be considered part of civil society? Should one include international NGOs that depend on government funding? Does civil society include religious or ethnic organisations? Does it include militant or sece ssionist organisations that are fighting against an oppressive state or for some defined nationalism? As the concerns that occupy minds in a global world change (such as todays preoccupations include AIDS, landmines, terrorism, nuclear disarmament/disaster, receding water levels etc), the definitions of all realms of society would change too. This paper, taking insights from the corpus of philosophy on the subject, defines civil society as the associational space, lying between the family, state and market, where autonomous individuals voluntarily come together to define and pursue common goals to reap collective benefits. Schmitters definition of civil society, as a set or system of self-organised intermediary groups that: (1) are relatively independent of both public authorities and private units of production and reproduction, that is, of firms and families; (2) are capable of deliberating about and taking collective actions in defence or promotion of their interests or passions; (3) do not seek to replace either state agents or private (re)producers or to accept responsibility fo r governing the polity as a whole; and (4) agree to act within pre-established rules of a civil, i.e. mutually respectful, nature. It is civil society based on the four characteristics of dual autonomy, collective action, nonusurpation and civility that this paper will refer to. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA): The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is a law, enacted by the Parliament of India, to meet violent internal situations created by underground militant outfits to further their illegal and ‘unconstitutional causes. The law was enacted to provide necessary powers and legal support to the Armed forces for carrying out proactive operations against the militants in a highly hostile environment that was threatening the integrity and sovereignty of the Indian nation-state. The Act dates back to September 11, 1958, when the Parliament of India passed the act bestowing more power on the armed forces in â€Å"disturbed areas†. First introduced in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, the Act was later extended to Jammu and Kashmir as the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 in July 1990. The Act allows an officer of the armed forces to fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law against assembly of five or more persons or possession of deadly weapons, to arrest without a warrant and with the use of necessary force anyone who has committed certain offenses or is suspected of having done so, to enter and search any premise in order to make such arrests. The act also bestows legal immunity to the officials, which means that they cannot be sued or prosecuted. While the law was enacted to mitigate militant action, violence and to quell secessionist tendencies that violated the essence of the Indian union, it has since inception over half a century ago turned into a controversial aspect of governance in the country. An increasing militarisation of areas branded as ‘disturbed and a consequent violation of human rights and civil liberties has resulted in a worsening of conditions in both the regions it has been applied to. Instead of bringing about greater cohesion, or of managing to bring the north-east and Jammu Kashmir peacefully into the fold of the Indian union, the law has become just another reason for the strengthening of secessionist demands. This is in contradiction with the reasoning given for consistent political will to keep the Act in place in the two regions: in a response to the United Nations Human Rights Committee questioning the validity of the AFSPA under the Indian law and in light of Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR, the Attorney General of India responded that the AFSPA is a necessary measure to prevent the secession of the North Eastern states. He said that a response to this agitation for secession in the North East had to be done on a war footing. He argued that the Indian Constitution, in Article 355, made it the duty of the Central Government to protect the states from internal disturbance and that there is no duty under international law to allow secession.â€Å"The shrill rhetoric demanding that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act be repealed, if allowed to hold sway, may drive us deeper into the dark world of both Islamist terror and the Maoist insurgency, † Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd) has warned more recently. The primary issue of controversy here is the violation of human and civil rights. According to a Human Rights Watch report, the act is in violation in the following respects: The right to life is violated by section 4(a) of the AFSPA, which grants the armed forces power to shoot to kill in law enforcement situations without regard to international human rights law restrictions on the use of lethal force. The right to liberty and security of person is violated by section 4(c) of the AFSPA, which fails to protect against arbitrary arrest by allowing soldiers to arrest anyone merely on suspicion that a â€Å"cognizable offence† has already taken place or is likely to take place in the future. Further, the AFSPA provides no specific time limit for handing arrested persons to the nearest police station. The right to remedy is violated by section 6 of the AFSPA, which provides officers who abuse their powers under the AFSPA with immunity from legal accountability. This section of th e AFSPA prohibits even state governments from initiating legal proceedings against the armed forces on behalf of their population without central government approval. Since such a sanction is seldom granted, it has in effect provided a shield of immunity for armed forces personnel implicated in serious abuses. In practice the AFSPA also facilitates violation of the right to be free from torture, and from cruel or degrading treatment. Since the AFSPA provides powers to arrest without warrant and then detain arrested persons for unspecified amounts of time, the armed forces routinely engage in torture and other ill-treatment during interrogation in army barracks. However, the support from within the armed forces and certain other sections of the political and academic circles is strong for the continuance of this act. Northern Army Commander General Jaswal in Jammu Kashmir gave the following reasoning: I would like to say that the provisions of the Armed Forces Special Power Act are very pious to me and I think to entire Indian ArmyWe have religious books, there are certain guidelines which are given there, but all the members of the religion do not follow it, they break it also, does it imply that you remove the religious book or you remove this chap. My take on it is to find someone guilty, take him to task, but dont touch this pious document or provision of the Armed Forces Special Power Act giving the similarity to religious book.† In the past couple of months Army has argued that without the Act it will not be able to launch proactive operations. The Army will also not be able to use force except in self-defence and not have powers to destroy ammunition dumps and IEDs. The army also says that a majority of human rights abuse cases are found to be false and those found true have been severely dealt with. Human rights activists have however contended time and again that the Act gives excessive powers to the soldiers. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said in recent past that there is a need to revoke the Act since it is prone to abuse. One of the grounds that the citizens have stated is that the people arrested or otherwise detained should be allowed to plead their case under section 130 and 131 of the Criminal Code. The Article 21 of the Constitution also gets violated in the process. In spite of the various cases filed and protests initiated there has been no revocation or dialogue towards the same. The issue revolving the AFSPA is that the principle of national integrity and sovereignty is in direct conflict with the liberal democratic frameworks of human rights and the civil society has the potential to the site for this negotiation. This is the premise under which the rest of this paper seeks to examine how the civil society and the Indian state have sought to deal with the AFSPA. CIVIL SOCIETY This Chapter seeks to chart the history of philosophy on civil society, in political sciences and social sciences. It will then look at civil society in India specifically, in todays context, and some of the major criticisms levelled against the concept and its real-time manifestation. Civil Society: The Concept At the abstract level, civil society has historically been conceptualised as a mediating space between the family, state and recently, also separate from the market. It is the site of association, voluntariness and community engagement, set apart from the politics and compulsions of the state as well as the individuality and liberty of the family. Bruce Sievers identifies seven strands that go into the making of civil society: nonprofit and voluntary institutions, individual rights, rule of law, the common good, philanthropy, freedom of expression and tolerance. Emerging in the context of the 18th century industrialisation rampant in Europe that gave rise to a new class of bourgeoisie and the new ideas of utilitarianism and capitalism, civil society gets inextricably linked with libertarian ideals that seek to carve out spaces for autonomous action in every individual and societal aspect.   â€Å"A ‘civil society was civilized and ordered by the rule of law. Unlike tribal so ciety, it was also large-scale and held together by impersonal bonds of interest rather than ties of kin and blood. It was also, to a degree some found frightening, a self-correcting mechanism in which the selfish actions of myriad individuals, brought together only by the rule of law, managed to produce an orderly and dynamic accumulation of prosperity unprecedented in human history,† observes Michael Ignatieff The importance of social engagement and principle of tolerance have only gained more importance in a globalised world that is characterised by multi-cultural, multi-ethnic nations. Robert Putnam identifies civic engagement, dense networks of interaction, political equality, solidarity, trust and tolerance and a strong associational life as crucial to the generation of ‘social capital the resource that could help to facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit in societies. He says that networks of civic engagement foster norms of generalised reciprocity, encourage the emergence of social trust, facilitate communication, collaboration and therefore collective action on common dilemmas and endorse the idea of collective benefits. Through its history, a number of philosophers have vouched for and expanded upon this realm of an advanced society. Alexis de Tocqueville , in Democracy in America, says that Americas answer to the problem of limiting the absolutist state was to have a constitution defined in law and protected by a counterbalancing force of independent bodies. These were the local associations of citizens acting together in the affairs of daily life. This was a civil society engaged in politics, voluntary by nature. His idea of civil society was based in the observation of an absolute sovereignty of the majority, but this principle, which could just as well turn into a tyranny of the majority, was also mitigated through a non-centralised frame of governance that set importance to localised chains of command and responsibility. Civicness emerged in America, he observed, through the relentless formation of associations: â€Å"Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of disposition ar e forever forming associations. There are not only commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but others of a thousand different typesreligious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very limited, immensely large and very minute. . . . Nothing, in my view, deserves more attention than the intellectual and moral associations in America.† Civil Society, for Hegel , is the site that lies between the Family and the State in the Ethical Life, as described in his Philosophy of Right. It is the site where the ‘determination of particularity as per individual rights is given free rein, but which has to acquire a mantle of universality for the rights to become acquirable or even legitimate, so to speak. Here, therefore, are two elements: the concrete person who is out to pursue self-interest and personal motive, and the form of universality, or the generation of common motive, through forming bonds and finding over-lapping areas of interest. A particular end, therefore, assumes the form of universality through this relation to other people, and it is attained in the simultaneous attainment of the welfare of others. It has three dimensions: the system of needs, the administration of justice and the police and the corporation. The system of needs refers to the generation of ‘universal human capital through human beings exceptional capacity to generate needs and spot commonness with others and then to satisfy those needs through work and labour. A single persons particularity of interest can be recognised if he manages to associate himself with one sphere of the needs. The administration of justice is the principle of rightness that becomes universally known through a public legal code. Not only does this embed within the principle of freedom in both subjective individual and universal platforms, it also makes wrongdoing an infringement on the people that live within such an ethical life. The polizei, then, is the bearer and the guardian of this publicly generated and accepted principles of right, the public authority that also looks after public utilities and regulation activities as well. The corporation, on the other hand, is the arrangement whereby common interests are brought to fore through voluntary association as in sports or religious clubs etc. All these aspects together form the civil society for Hegel, the space where freedom of self-interest is allowed to reign but within the limits of the principle of universality.   Antonio Gramsci, however, had a more critical view of civil society, from a Marxist vantage point. He saw civil society not as the benign space that afforded a voice and power to the masses, but as an instrument of domination linked in an unholy alliance with the bourgeois elements in the civil society seeking to protect propertied interests . He was also convinced that the intricate, organic relationships between civil society and political society enable certain strata of society not only to gain dominance within the state but also, and more importantly, to maintain it, perpetuating the subalternity of other strata. In other words, the site of hegemony was civil society it was the arena wherein the ruling class extends and reinforces its power by non-violent means through components such as the press, the libraries, schools, associations and clubs that could all become media for propaganda and homogenisation of the masses. The state and the civil society in his purview are inextri cably linked, which only facilitates subordination by the state without coercion, focussing instead on ‘manufacturing consent. However, he does acknowledge the potential of civil society as a site for breeding revolutions and for newer ‘conceptions of the world to take place. However, the manifestation of this fairly utopian concept is fraught with tensions and dichotomies. Ernest Gellner, in Conditions of Liberty, analyses the role of civil society in the Marxist, socialist and capitalist frameworks and has also assessed post-modern rivals to it that have emerged, such as Islam. The Eastern European states found the concept of civil society useful in gaining independence from a Communist stronghold precisely because of the possibility here for mobilisation of the masses in opposition to totalitarian militarist regimes. Through meetings of trade unions, religious groups, bars etc, the emphasis was on autonomy, self-organisation and withdrawal from the state to create islands of civic engagement for the emergence of a ‘parallel polis. For Gellner, a civil society was â€Å"a profane society, a society that explicitly sought to put the lowest of human desires to productive uses. Mandevilles paradox private vices make public virtues naturalized the profane by demonstrating that â€Å"capitalist individuals were more likely to promote the public good when they looked exclusively to their private interest.† He found the Marxist, and therefore the socialist strain of civil society, that stressed on driving religion out of life and also investing the economic with the ultimate sacredness, as faulty for it denied space to the profane, the self-interest and avarice of human nature that could be harnessed and channelled into collective action. With the ‘disenchantment of the world that comes with modernity and its powerful agencies of science and capitalism came the advent of ‘the modular man    who associates voluntarily with other prototypes, giving rise to a Gesellschaft, the inorganic form of social bonding, through fostered ties, rather than a Gemeinschaft, the organic community based on ties of blood and kin. â€Å"The genius of capitalist civil society is that it not only harnesses our profane energies, b ut relieves us of the moral burden of thinking of them as profane. In so doing, it relieves us of the strain of constant longing for unattainable self-transcendence in desperate simulations of paradise,† says Ignatieff. He also observes that liberty in civil society is essentially negative because there cannot be, in principle, agreement among human beings about the positive ends of political communities, beyond the protection of the liberties of the individuals who compose it. If people seek to overcome their own alienation and separateness, they can do so only as individuals or in voluntary groups. Civil society, then, becomes crucial for maintaining checks and balances, says Ignatieff. The realms of politics, economics and culture are neatly segregated, and power in any one domain does not endow power in another. The society is free, acting through a vibrant media and elected representatives, all functioning within the ambit of law. â€Å"Needless to say, no civil society has ever lived up to this goalyet the formal promise is more than hypocrisy: it remains the standard against which civil society judges itself and from which it finds renewed impetus to reform.† In this sense, civil society, albeit being a flawed ideal, also has the potential for redeeming itself simply by virtue of being embedded in the notion of reform, of itself as well as of society, simply by virtue of allowing private trajectories of interest being followed.   Despite changing meanings, civil societys core rests in a rule-governed society based on the consent of individuals. The ‘social contract that Hobbes defined is another way of understanding the liberal ideas behind the conception of civil society through different phases, civil society can be seen as the process or the space through which different individuals negotiate, argue, struggle against or agree with each other and with the centres of political and economic authority. The element of autonomy, voluntariness and collective action through association remain hallmarks through all definitions of the term. Civil Society in India: It would seem natural that civil society, as has been described and conceptualised above is an integral part of a democracy, with its accompanying notions of equality, public participation, and masses-oriented governance. Robert Post and Nancy Rosenblum describe a consensus among contemporary theorists â€Å"that democracy depends on the particularist, self-determining associations of civil society, where independent commitments, interests, and voices, are developed . Civil society is the precondition for democratic decision making, whether democracy is conceived as deliberation or as interest group pluralism, and this is true even if the goal of democracy is to transcend particularism and arrive at uncoerced agreement or a common will.† According to Joerg Forbrig, a vibrant and functional civil society can contribute to strengthening a democracy in five ways: control of state power through the incorporation of a body of laws, individual rights and thereby becoming a space that overlooks the relationship between the pr