Small States Essay Example

Small States Essay Why do political demands for smaller states and bifurcation arise? There are, of course, emotional considerations like culture, language, religion and a sense of economic and regional deprivation. But more importantly, politicians envision additional posts of power as chief ministers or ministers, leaders of the opposition, Assembly speakers and so on. Similarly, government servants think of becoming chief secretaries or secretaries, DGs of police, chief-engineers, directors and so on.A common notion is that a larger share of central funds would flow into a new state compared to when it is a region in a larger state. Most also believe that a new capital city would provide better living conditions. Arguments are set forth that a smaller state with less number of districts would diminish the span of control of state-level functionaries. And that reduced distances between the state capital and peripheral areas would improve the quality of governance and administrative responsiveness and accountability.However, this can easily be achieved with strong regional administrative units in larger states. Evidence shows that both large and small states have fared well and that poor performance is not necessarily linked to size. In fact, today, technology can help make governing larger territories easier and bring even far-flung areas closer. Much more than the size of a state, it is the quality of governance and administration, the diverse talent available within the state’s population, and the leadership’s drive and vision that determine whether a particular state performs better than the others.A small state is likely to face limitations in terms of the natural (physical) and human resources available to it. Moreover, it will lack the kind of agro-climatic diversity required for economic and developmental activities. It would also be restricted in its capability to raise resources internally. All these factors would only make it more dependent on the Centre for financial transfers and centrally-sponsored schemes.Further, increasing the number of states in the country would expand the span of control of the central ministries dealing with states and of party high commands dealing with state party units. A new small state may find itself lacking in infrastructure (administrative and industrial), which requires time, money and effort to build. Some may argue that it is with this very purpose of developing infrastructure that demands for the creation of smaller states are encouraged.But experience shows that it takes about a decade for a new state and its government and administrative institutions to become stable; for various issues of division of assets, funds and of the state civil service(s) to get fully resolved; and for links to the new state capital to stabilise. The cost of this transition is not low and the state’s performance may suffer during this interim period. So, the rationalisation of some existing state boundaries and reorganising territories may be desirable for reasons of physical connectivity.And even as this and other socio-political factors could be considered by a new State’s Reorganisation Commission, a change merely for the sake of having a small state is not desirable. Moreover, we cannot fix a state’s optimum size on a whim. It calls for a thorough evaluation of physical features like land quality and topography, agro-climatic conditions, socio-cultural factors, natural and human resource availability, density of population, means of communication, existing administrative culture and effectiveness of its district and regional administrative units and so on.There are numerous demands for smaller states in different parts of the country. However, smaller states are not a panacea for India’s myriad problems. Neither can they resolve issues faced by various regions and sections of society. Larger states may be, in fact, more economically- and financially-viable and better capable of serving people and achieving planned development. If the administration in a large state suffers from inefficiencies, what is the guarantee that it will become competent by merely creating a smaller state?

The Sociological Definition of Anomie

The Sociological Definition of Anomie Anomie is a social condition in which there is a disintegration or disappearance of the  norms and values that were previously common to the society. The concept, thought of as â€Å"normlessness,† was developed by the founding sociologist,  Ãƒâ€°mile Durkheim. He discovered, through research, that anomie occurs during and follows periods of drastic and rapid changes to the social, economic, or political structures of society. It is, per Durkheims view, a transition phase wherein the values and norms common during one period are no longer valid, but new ones have not yet evolved to take their place. A Feeling of Disconnection People who lived during periods of anomie typically feel disconnected from their society because they no longer see the norms and values that they hold dear reflected in society itself. This leads to the feeling that one does not belong and is not meaningfully connected to others. For some, this may mean that the role they play (or played) and their identity is no longer valued by society. Because of this, anomie can foster the feeling that one lacks purpose, engender hopelessness, and encourage deviance and crime. Anomie According to Émile Durkheim Though the concept of anomie is most closely associated with Durkheims study of suicide, in fact, he first wrote about it in his 1893 book  The Division of Labor in Society.  In this book, Durkheim  wrote about an anomic division of labor, a phrase he used to describe a disordered division of labor  in which some groups no longer fit in, though they did in the past. Durkheim saw that this occurred as European societies industrialized and the nature of work changed along with the development of a more complex division of labor. He framed this as a clash between the mechanical solidarity of homogeneous,  traditional societies and the organic solidarity that keeps more complex societies together. According to Durkheim, anomie could not occur in the context of organic solidarity because this heterogeneous form of solidarity allows for the division of labor to evolve as needed, such that none are left out and all play a meaningful role. Anomic Suicide A few years later, Durkheim further elaborated his concept of anomie in his 1897 book,  Suicide: A Study in Sociology. He identified anomic suicide as a form of taking ones life that is motivated by the experience of anomie.  Durkheim found, through a study of suicide rates of Protestants and Catholics in nineteenth-century Europe, that the suicide rate was higher among Protestants. Understanding the different values of the two forms of Christianity, Durkheim theorized that this occurred because Protestant culture placed a higher value on individualism. This made Protestants less likely to develop close communal ties that might sustain them during times of emotional distress, which in turn made them more susceptible to suicide. Conversely, he reasoned that belonging to the Catholic faith provided greater social control and cohesion to a community, which would decrease the risk of anomie and anomic suicide. The sociological implication is that strong social ties help people and gr oups survive periods of change and tumult in society. Breakdown of Ties That Bind People Together Considering the whole of  Durkheims writing on anomie, one can see that he saw it as a breakdown of the ties that bind people together to make a functional society, a state of social derangement. Periods of anomie are unstable, chaotic, and often rife with conflict because the social force of the norms and values that otherwise provide stability is weakened or missing. Mertons Theory of Anomie and Deviance Durkheims theory of anomie proved influential to American sociologist Robert K. Merton, who pioneered the sociology of deviance and is considered one of the most influential sociologists in the United States. Building on Durkheims theory that anomie is a social condition in which peoples norms and values no longer sync with those of society, Merton created the structural strain theory, which explains how anomie lead to deviance and crime. The theory states that when society does not provide the necessary legitimate and legal means that allow people to achieve culturally valued goals, people seek out alternative means that may simply break from the norm, or may violate norms and laws. For example, if society does not provide enough jobs that pay a living wage so that people can work to survive, many will turn to criminal methods of earning a living. So for Merton, deviance, and crime are, in large part, a result of anomie, a state of social disorder.

John M. Keynes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

John M. Keynes - Research Paper Example To Keynes, the nineteenth-century classical economics was inherently inadequate not only in eliminating national unemployment for those qualified and able to work at the prevailing wage rates, but they were also inefficient in distributing the national cake, thus creating unnecessarily the poor and uncivilized middle class (Keynes, 1963). Accordingly, he [Keynes] modeled a theoretical alternative framework, allowing governmental intervention to eliminate the faults of an economic system as they arise (Harrod, 1951). Indeed as it is, Keynes ended up with a powerful model, whose application is currently underway in sorting wide ranging practical human distress under the existing economic systems, right from the United States, a world economic leader struggling with massive deficits in the aftermath of a deadly crisis, to smaller, poor nations in the developing world. In his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (basically the heart of Keynesian economics), Keynes directed hi s energies in challenging the classical orthodoxy with an explicit analysis of what determines and what is the essential nature of effective demand within any economic system. With the exception of foreign trade, effective demand, according to Keynes, consists of three expenditure streams: household consumptions, investments, and government overheads, all of which are determined autonomously (Davidson, 2007). A realist with a strong distaste for the Panglossian philosophy, Keynes argued that the level of aggregate demand may well outstrip or fall way below the national physical production capacity. As such, the philosophy of automatic adjustment to produce at a level tending to the full employment of all available productive resource was a flawed economic assumption that might not be realized after all, for ‘In the long-run we are all dead', a fundamental theoretical shocker to the traditional economic optimism regardless of the circumstances, however strenuous (Davidson, 2007 , p. 15). In his own words, Keynes notes that: The optimism of traditional economics, which looks at economists as Candides, who, even though left critical analysis for other duties [cultivation their gardens], still teach â€Å"all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds† provides us with a false hope. For sure, there would be a natural tendency towards the full employment in a Society which was functioning in the manner of the classical postulates. It may be that they [the classical theorists] provided a representation of how we would want our Economy to behave. Nonetheless, assuming the Economy operates so only means assuming national difficulties. (1936, pp. 33–4) Nothing could be further from the truth; whether in the traditional or modern times, governments are voted in to decisively tackle the existing social deficiencies. With arguments that went against the old Say’s law supply creating demand, Keynes maintained that a government has the poss ibilities of stimulating the economy by increasing the aggregate demand, thereby arousing the existing firms to respond by utilizing the available unemployed