Liberal Principles and Minority Rights Essay Example for Free

Liberal Principles and Minority Rights Essay Liberal Principles and Minority Rights BY shax0521 We live in a world with differences, biases and hindrances we tend to take into account to be able to cope up with the changes happening around us. These differences could be between races,religion, culture, language, etc. But within a country, these differences also exist. Most countries are composed of diversed culture that divides the society to the majority and the minorities that establishes cultural differences related problems. It is often heard that minorities are deprived from certain freedom and the majority avails most of the best previleges that could e given. Minorities are often Judged by different steoreotypes and prejudices that establishes conflict between the groups. The main point of Prof. Hans Ingvar Roth, head of the sweden research team of the University of Lund in his article Liberal Principles and Minority rights, minority groups particularly in a liberal democratic society should be able to deal with the existing problems confronting their existence and culture in relation to the liberal principles through group-targeted measures. These group-targeted measures will be further explained throughout the article critique. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief summary of Roths article Liberal Principles and Minority Rights, what are the liberal principles of a liberal democratic society how it affects the condition of the minorities and my point of view as a reader. It will also tackle the different features of a liberal society, the problems encountered by minorities and the possible solution to the problems. In other words, the life of the minorities in a liberal democratic society. According to Roth, inequalities in modern western societies are faced by the inorities particularly ethnic, racial and religious which sometimes seen to result to discrimination. The minorities are confronted by social, political and cultural inequalities which were percieved to be the consequences as a memberofa liberal democratic society. Moreover, the majority enjoys the benefits and priveleges that were given by the society. In relation to this, to know the reason why these inequalities occur, we must know the grass roots of this condition. Roth stated in his article his definition ofa liberal democratic society. According to him, a liberal democratic society is charcterized by the certain institutions or norms that are seen among many of its citizens as essential guidelines for the organization of society. A liberal democratic society has its liberal principles namely, majoritarian democracy, free moblity, market economy, meritocracy and neutrality. The first principle is the majoritarian democracy or the rule of many . This concept of democracy implies disadvantages to the minorities because literally, it shows how minorities are outnumbered by the majority in terms of their cultural survival. As stated in the article, this idea of democracy have serious consequences for defenseless minorities. Furthermore, another liberal principle which is a burden to minorities is free mobility where people get to move freely without any intent hindrances but it has its limit in reality. Roth expounded it as the ideal of open borders for refugees from non- european countries in contrast to the migration policies implemented on various principle is the easy access of majority population into minority territories that could threaten the cultural survivability of the latter which is also dependent upon its eography. Moreover, the market economy as a principle which assumes freedom of choice that is considered to be the prevailing model for arranging economic activities systems in liberal societies. Roth added that according to many of his critics, the market economy could lead the majority to cultural supremacy over the minorities where the former has more access to important resources that could affect the cultural life of a country. It is considered to be the most efficient among other economic systems. Another liberal principle is meritocracy. According to Roth, merit should administer the appropriation of employment and places in higher education. This implies that the majority will dominate the labour-market of the society and eventually earn the highest ranks in offices. This would result to the alienation of the minorities in any encounter of several forms of higher education because the majority gets the best priveleges they could have in the society. In addition, Roth cited another principle which is neutrality or even-handedness. This occurs when the government doesnt interfere with certain policy decisions uided by religious views or substantial philiosophies of life and this kind of action implies contradiction to relgious minorities and securalism in some way influence the society. The abovementioned principles in any circumstances could stand in conflict with one another. As we have tackled the 5 principles of a liberal democratic society, it is also important to know some features of this kind of society which could have significant consequences on the cultural standing of different minorities in the society. The first feature is lingua franca which refers to having a common language in the society for he people have one language they could use to communicate with each other. Roth stated in his article that the language is an important element for the cultural identity of a group. Eventually, the language of the majority will be the lingua franca due to its long history in the country and the minorities must accept it and use to be able to communicate with others. However, this doesnt mean that the languages from the minorities cannot be recognized as official languages in significant bailiwick of society such as education or law. Another feature of a liberal democratic society is nation building. Roth referred it as the creation of various institutions, traditions and spheres of society in which it will be affected by the long history of the majority group. In this case, it stresses that even without ethnic or cultural nationalism; the majority culture is advantageous because of its historical standing in the society. According to Roth, cultural preservation of minority groups depend on the members itself. They should have the best interest in maintaining and preserving their culture. A part from Roths article tackled about the shared values in the ulticultural debate for minority rights where possessing a secure cultural belonging could be valuable in a way that it is an important condition to an individual well being or it could be a crucial part of a ones personal identity or as a framework adapting the majoritys culture and integration or affiliate with the majority on the other side. However, they have one common view that minority groups should not face anu unfair or excessive burdens in maintaining their cultures. Furthermore, if a minority group had encountered am intense discrimination from the other groups in he society, they should pay for the serious cultural disadvantage that the minority group faces. In other words, cultural diversity should be reagarded as a valuable objective for the whole society and a shared public responsibility to secure the preservation of the minority culture. However, if a certain minority in question have encountered no grim history of discrimination, and its cultural changes was due to voluntary change of its own members, it conditions become more unclear. The members itself should pay the price of maintaining or preserving their culture given hat they have been attracted to the majority culture. In addition, the majority is not coerced to share a costs of preserving that particular minority. As discussed earlier, there are ethnic and religious minorities in a society and their situation could be less favourable in certain conditions. Roth emphasized in his article that cultural influence by the majority usually occurs to the minorities that live in so-called open agricultural territories, small in size and the history of discrimination. Furthermore, it was stressed that shared language, religion and a istory of discrimination or an idea of geographical location make the minorit group maintain their culture. There are minority groups that prefer to attain independence and others to lower their claims and instead strive for various forms of cultural autonomy. In the entire article, the two main problems of minorities in relation to the liberal principles are cultural preservation and problems of integration. According to him, problems of preservation arise when liberal principles such as free mobility and the endorsement of a market economy may threaten a traditional form of community life. Due to the dominance of the majority in terms of size, resources and historical standing, these principles work to their cultural advantage. Furthermore, the practice of having a lingua franca gives more disadvantage to the minorities in terms of preservation of their own language. The abovementioned problems has its group-targeted measures so that the minority culture will survive. These are metaphors the fence, the ladder, the springboard and the plane. With these meaures, there could be a continous existence of minority groups in liberal democratic societies. Through the fence it ould take form of exceptions from laws that burden traditional cultural practices or even property rights that would prevent majority population from buying lands from the minority territories. In addition, Roth used the cultural autonomy with regards to certain forms of legislation such as family as an example of a fence which protects the minority from being influenced by the family customs of the majority. Another measure is the ladder wherein group representation should be practiced by religious and ethnic groups in order to have a level of representation in the society. This metaphor can neutralize and attenuate unfair thresholds or hindrances such as blind spots, various forms of animosity, stereotypes and nepotism. To be able to gain entrance in the main sphere of society in spite of the diminish this hindrances in the remote future. The first measure or method is called the springboard that would present opportunities to minorities such as labour market and higher education in instances that they face discrimination and prJudices in the society. According to Roth, the springboard is not enough for minorities to be able to enter to such society that is hy the plane was created. It is considered to be the supplementary method of the springboard. It aims to alter engrained and stubborn attitudes and habits among the majority population through information campaigns and cross-cultural meeting places. From what I understand in the Roths article, inequalities of minorities in the society are caused by the liberal principles. I agree on it due to the different situations presented in the article. These principles namely majoritarian democracy, free mobility, meritocracy, market economy and neutrality are advantageous to the ajority population and affect the minoritys cultural preservation. The articles premises are still valid according to the current situations in most western countries. His interpretation of the evidences presented were likely to lead us to the same conclusion that the liberal principles should be improved rather than to replace them with something different in order to solve such inequalities in such society. His arguments regarding the disadvantages of the minorities in the society such as the lingua franca where the majoritys language will be the official language of the ociety and meritocracy where the majority gets the highest ranks in the offices had the biggest impact to me which I agree on. If we compare it to the philippines, a non- liberal democratic country but compose of a majority and minorities, due to the geographical boundary and size of population of christians with tagalog as their language is considered to be the official language of the country, officially called as Filipino and in terms of meritocracy, the muslims as a minority experience biases regarding employment in government and other fields of offices because of different stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination.

Essay --

Why would a married man pursue a woman in hopes of gaining more than a platonic relationship? Dmitri Gurov is a Russian womanizer that spent two weeks on a vacation resort in Yalta. During his stay, Dmitri always took interest in the new women that arrived in Yalta. He discovered a young lady with a dog walking along the sea-front. Whenever he saw her approaching the public garden, he would always make a presence to meet her there. There are definitely characteristics of his personality that caused Dmitri to venture beyond his marriage. Dmitri was married at a young age. Dmitri was not happy in his marriage. His wife considered herself very intelligent. However, Dmitri considered her unintelligent, non- attractive, and did not like to be home with her. He had been unfaithful to her for a long time. Due to the lost love Dmitri had for his wife, his view for all women took a negative stand. Whenever women were discussed in his presence, he spoke about them in a negative manner. He referred to them as â€Å"the lower race† (252). Dmitri did not like to affiliate with members of the same sex. In the presence of men, he was he was bored and uncommunicative. Although he spoke negatively about women, he felt comfortable in their presence and knew what to say to them. The way he conducted himself in public, as well as his personal appearance grabbed the women attention and lured them to him. However, something about women got his attention and drew him to them. Dmitri meets the lady with the dog while dining in the gardens. While waiting at a table to be served, the lady with the red beret took the table next to him. Dmitri assumed the lady was married by the way she walked; the way she dressed, the way she did her hair, and her expression. ... ... All awhile Anna had been deceived by the man she fell in love with, not knowing Dmitri true feelings for women. However, the two of them shared a common bond. Regardless of how Dmitri felt about other women, his compassion for Anna was something he never experienced with any other woman. To conclude, While on vacation at a resort in Yalta; two people of the opposite sex both married and unhappy, meet and establish a relationship beyond their imagination. When they departed the resort, their relationship never ended. However, it continued to grow. The two would occasionally visit each other to rekindle the relationship previously established. Throughout this man’s life, his view of women took a negative stand. For he had deceived himself by thinking he could never have the feelings of love for a woman. The women that he fell deeply in love with had proven him wrong.

The Ukrainian Famine Genocide

Death by Starvation â€Å"The famine began†¦The dead were all around; on the roads, near the river, by the fences†¦Altogether 792 souls have died in our village during the famine, in the war years – 135 souls† (Kuryliw, p. 2). This is how Antonina Meleshchenko remembers the Holodomor, or the Ukrainian genocide famine. This famine took place between 1932 and 1933 in a country in Europe called Ukraine. Although many survivors wish not to remember, this event needs to be recognized.The Ukrainian genocide famine killed hundreds of thousands of people; this tragic incident occurred because Stalin wanted to convert the world to communism. After 250 years of living under Russian Tsarist rule, the Ukrainians became part of the Soviet Union in 1922. Farmers thrived, economic freedom was permitted, and private enterprise was allowed. Among these, writers, artists, and scholars grew. Stalin, in 1924, took over Russia after the previous leader, Vladimir Lenin, died. Later , in 1928, Stalin launched a plan to force farmers into giving up their private land, livestock, and farms.Joseph Stalin felt he could not trust the Ukraine peasantry; he believed that the upper class farmers, or kulaks, were holding crops. Stalin took all the grain from the peasants. He had his men search for any hidden grain and Stalin analyzed fecal matter to see if the Ukrainians had stolen ‘government property’ and eaten the grain themselves. It was because of Stalin that many starved and resorted to eating anything. They drank water to fill their empty bellies. Small children perished first, then the elderly, followed by the men, and soon after, the women.Up to twenty-five percent of the population died because Stalin took all of the food. When Stalin seized all of the rations, starvation became widespread. Blockades prevented the hungry to leave and search for food. Viachislav Molotov was in control of transporting grain to other countries. He punished the Ukrain ian farmers by taking away anything that could be eaten. Help from other countries was not an option. Stalin was very careful in keeping this famine a secret and denied the world and international aid from entering the country.Secret police and troops were used to control rebellious farmers and keep all the Ukrainians inside Ukraine. Lazer Kaganovich controlled a particular section of the secret police. He handled mass executions and became the organizer in charge of mass murder. The troops were also in charge of the camp in Siberia were over 850,000 Ukrainians are deported. Stalin ordered the kulacks, or wealthy farmers, into three groups: those to be executed, those to be imprisoned, and those to be shipped off to Siberia and Russian Asia. Stalin caused starvation and death in Ukraine when he detained all of the food.Stalin’s plan to take all the food was based off of the ideas of the former Russian leader, Vladimir Lenin. Lenin knew that peasants believed that what they gr ew was theirs and that the peasants could do whatever they wanted with their crops. He knew that this would result to poor rationing. Non-equal rationing went against Lenin’s policy of communism. Since the farmers controlled the crops, Stalin knew he would have to ‘break the body and spirit of the Ukrainian farmer and nation, thus, subjugate the Ukrainian people completely to Soviet rule’ (Kuryliw, p. 1).Stalin recognized that without the farmers, Ukraine would not be strong enough to stand by itself. He wanted to overpower the Ukrainian people to Soviet rule and convert Ukraine to communism. He desired to control Ukraine because the country was the last to resist Russian control. He needed a capital to build more factories and increase agricultural exports. Stalin believed the fastest way to increase exports was to obtain Ukraine and use their farms to attain and trade crops. After Stalin achieved power in Ukraine, he was able to reach his goal and break the far mers.From 1932 to 1933, Ukraine suffered through a famine that killed between seven to ten million people. Various were shot and killed by firing squads while others were shipped to concentration camps. Twenty-five percent of the population was starved. This event was caused by Joseph Stalin in his effort to convert Ukraine to communism. He wanted to use Ukraine’s agricultural exports to his advantage and break the spirit of the farmers to control the whole country. The Ukrainian genocide famine was known as the ‘Holodomor,’ which means death by starvation.

Hiv Theory And Behavior Paper - 2195 Words

HIV Theory and Behavior Paper HIV also Known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a virus that leads to the disease Aids by disturbing the helper T cell of the immune system.There are two types of HIV-1 which is carried througout the world and HIV-2 which is dominant in mjaority of West Africa.HIV transmission is when the HIV virus is spread from person to person.The most common way HIV is spread through the United States is by sex intercourse and sharing drug injection equipment such as needles and syranges with people who have the virus HIV.You can get HIV by coming in contact with blood,semen,pre-seminal fluid, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, or breast milk of someone who is infected with HIV.You can not get HIV by shaking someones hand†¦show more content†¦The article â€Å"Driving Down HIV Disparities Among African American†was an article that explains how the rates of HIV for african american Gay and bisexual men have increased. 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