Arts and Social Sciences Journal

The objective of this article is to compare the State’s role in the progress and development of the press system in relation to the Euro-Mediterranean model and that of English-speaking countries. Within this framework, we will discuss historic moments that may be considered decisive in the configuration of both systems today, and that have influenced how they came about. Additionally, we will examine legislative measures that have been most noteworthy in the progress of the press market in recent years. The State’s influence on the transformation of the newspaper business is studied from the following perspectives: censorship, control systems, regulation of the figure of the journalist, aid to the press, pluralism of information and limits on concentration. These aspects were selected because they have been observed to be key points to understanding Press-State relations. In the four Euro- Mediterranean countries studied, a radical break took place in the information systems as a consequence of the implementation of their respective totalitarian regimes between 1926 and 1976; a situation which did not occur in Great Britain, a major figure of democratic and business continuity. Whereas the disappearance of aid to the press in the British model was understood to be a means of guaranteeing the independence of the journalism profession from those in political power, in the Euro-Mediterranean model the aim of aid for press distribution is to consolidate the cooperative distribution system, preserve the pluralism of newspapers reporting political and general news, and guarantee the development necessary for the effective exercise of liberty proclaimed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen 1789.

Several studies indicate a significant correlation between small states and democracy, smallness usually being defined in terms of microstates with populations of less than one million. However, no convincing model has emerged so far of the mechanisms that serve to transform smallness into democratic conduct. This is probably in part a consequence of the negligence of the fact that the smallness-democracy relation is within the microstate camp time-dependent as well threshold-dependent. A mechanical application of the conventional microstate criteria therefore appears a somewhat doubtful method to achieve an understanding of the true impact of smallness.

Generally, this paper discusses Malaysia’s nation building process that includes the changing of national understanding from Sultanate perspective towards democratic nation. In 1957, Malaya achieved its independence. Ethnic Malays through United Malays National Organization (UMNO), ethnic Chinese through Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and ethnic Indian through Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) are the major political parties, which at that time maintained separate identities, based on ethnicity. However, they had to compromise and unify for independence. This paper will also touch on the factors, which influenced the process of nation building, especially internal and external factors. The role of several important leaders, especially former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, their policies and actions to develop and establish Malaysia’s nation building process, is discussed.

This paper addresses women’s participation in social, political and economic activities. In particular, factors that hinder women from participating in social, political and economic activities in mainland Tanzania are discussed. Analysis shows that factors such as level of education, type of place of residence, marital status, religion, region of residence and age groups, with different levels of magnitude contribute differently to their poor participation. Cross-tabulation is used to establish the relationship between “participation” as the dependent variable and the aforementioned factors. Multiple logistic regressions were used to determine the relative importance of the factors. Results indicate that place of residence; age group and region of residence are significant while education and religion are insignificant.

According to Paragraph 1, Article 14 of ICCPR, fair trial rights applies in the determination of “criminal charge”. The definition of “criminal charge” determines the scope of application of fair trial rights. In definition of “criminal charge”, the way of autonomous interpretation is adopted in order to avoid the national authorities evading the obligations of guaranteeing fair trial rights. China has a considerable number of administrative sanctions that may belong to “criminal” category. The preliminary investigation before the initiation of criminal proceedings in China amounts to “charge”. When ratifying ICCPR, China should make reservations concerning applying fair trial rights in correction of illegal conducts through education and other serious administrative sanctions, and reform the preliminary investigation system and case filing system to make the preliminary investigation be the sign of initiation of criminal proceedings.

The purpose of this essay is to examine whether or not a hybrid healthcare system would work in the United States. In order to do this, I utilized multiple research methods. The first method I used was to look at case studies; the second method utilized was application of economic models and expert opinion. After I thoroughly examined these, I was able to tell if the U.S. is able to handle a hybrid healthcare system.

The Anti-Money laundering law (AMLA) is a financial regulation enacted mainly because of external demand, as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) called on the Philippine Government to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regime. The FATF not only summoned the Philippine Government, but also determined the shape and content of the AMLA by requiring the institutional policy actors to conform to the global standards. Thus, the FATF exercised direct powers — agenda setting and decision making — in persuading the Philippine Government to enact the law. The institutional policy actors were impelled to prioritize the consideration and deliberation of the financial regulation (agenda setting) and compelled to enact and rework the content of the policy to conform to the FATF standard within a time frame (decision-making). The FATF’s use of direct powers was made possible and reinforced by the context-shaping power of the prevailing financial structure, specifically, the establishment of the AML regime. Context-shaping bound the institutional actors to enact the policy because of the prevailing AML regime established by the FATF. As the context-shaping power underscored the exercise of the agenda-setting and decision-making powers, the lawmaking experience that created the AMLA highlights the employment of the different dimensions of power as well as the contemporary dynamics in the global financial structure vis-à-vis the policymaking process.

Housing represents the most basic of human need and it has a profound impact on the health, welfare, and productivity of individuals. For housing to produce these impacts, it must be adequately provided with functional infrastructure. In Nigerian urban centres, these basic infrastructure have suffered major neglect over a long period of time in the hands of government and its different agencies that are expected to provide and maintain the infrastructure. Therefore, property developers are responsible for the provision of the infrastructure in their properties which have increased the development cost of the properties. For the property developers to continue to invest in property development, the rental values of the property must continue to be attractive to allow developers recoup back the investment on such property. This study therefore investigated into the available infrastructural facilities in residential properties in Akure, Nigeria and analysed their influence in the determination of the rental values of the properties. Akure was divided into four residential zones and one hundred and ninety tenants were randomly selected for interview. Eleven infrastructural facilities were identified as peculiar to residential properties in Akure. The study employed multiple regression model to determine the influence of the infrastructural facilities in the rental values of the property while the step-wise analysis revealed that wall-fence and installed burglary proof are significant determinants of rental values of residential properties in Akure. However, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient matrix was used to verify the significant level of the independent variables. The study concluded that although other infrastructural facilities are also necessary but residential property developers should essentially ensure the provision of these two infrastructural facilities in order to attract higher rental values.

This paper explores Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to analyze Kurtz’s ghastly vision of horror (trauma) and how he overcomes this traumatic experience through the metamorphosis of becoming-animal/savage in forming his lines of flight from the oedipalizing/oppressive capitalism and imperialism. To avoid following a conventional approach to study this novella, I explore Kurtz’s unspeakable horror that underlies a postmodern aesthetics of problematizing representation. To further unveil the strategies for (re)presenting Kurtz’s unspeakable pain and horror, or to be more specific, the mysterious vision that overwhelms him right before he dies, I apply the Deleuzian conception of the “impossible writing”—a writing strategy that is characteristic of minor literature/writing—to analyze Marlow’s narrativization, for it happens to highlight Marlow’s impasse, just like Kafka’s, that bars him access to writing for Kurtz’s outrageous experience and vision and thus turns this narration/writing into something impossible.

Injuries including those that are self-inflicted results in 12% of the world’s burden of disease. In the case of attempted suicide, this attracts global disability adjusted life years lost (11%) throughout the World, while in the Caribbean, potential years of life lost represents 27%. These are manifested in the form of (i) microfracture of vertebrae; (ii) echimosis (from asphyxiation); (iii) long-term developmental, reproductive and systemic effects (from poisoning); inter alia. The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of self-inflicting violence on the well-being of individuals in the English-Speaking Caribbean. Information was obtained via field research (convenience and snowball sampling), police statistics using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) 17.0 to analyze the data. Self-inflicting violence in the form of attempted suicide has shown constant increase over the period 2005 (N=121) to 2006 (N=134), but a slight decline in 2007 (N=133). Attempted suicide was significantly dominant among female than male, especially those within the 10-44 age cohort. Males were more likely to fail at attempted suicide than their female counterparts were over the period 2003-2007 (male = 225, female = 38). The method of suicide most practiced in Jamaica over the period 2003-2008 was hanging, followed by shooting, poisoning and drowning. The least practiced methods were jumping and electrocution. In 2008, causes of such suicide methods were as a result of depression (19.1%), domestic matters (10.6%), mental disorder (8.5%), murder (2.1%), and unknown (59.6%). Self-inflicting violence (commonly drug overdose, cutting, hanging, poisoning, shooting) bears serious socio-medical implications and has economic impact on both individuals and states.

This paper is a critical appraisal of NGO activism against female genital cutting (FGC) practices among Ejagham communities in Southwest Cameroon. The paper argues that by framing female circumcision as a ‘‘harmful traditional practice’’, local anti-female circumcision activists (NGOs and their external allies), using educational, health, legal awareness and human rights-based approaches, have produced mixed results, thereby re-inforcing resistance among cultural hardliners. Their demonization of culture and failure to address the local context of these practices tends rather, to reify and re-inscribe the practice as central to Ejagham cultural identity, personhood and femininity. Although tension is absolutely central not only to any attempt to stop the practice but probably to the processes involved in the practices themselves, I maintain that a community-led, ‘Positive Deviance Approach’ could be a way forward towards the eventual eradication of FGC.

In this paper I will just cite two American movies—Little Buddha and Music and Lyrics—to illustrate how (Tibetan) Buddhism (or Dharma) has long been misrepresented and Orientalized on American cultural landscape. Since its spread to the West in the 19th century, Buddhism has long been a target or source in the Westerners’ creation of Orientalism in the arts or even mass media. In mass media, Buddhism (especially Tibetan Buddhism) has long been a source for commercial films (e.g. The Little Buddha, directed by Bertrolucci in 1993). Some of them may have been an attempt to present Buddhism as some Oriental spiritual practice or an Oriental mysticism that looks appealing to the American/Western audience and thus satisfies the Westerners’ exotic taste. Reasons of the Americanization or secularization of Buddhism may be caused by Buddhist diasporas that lead to the alienation and contestation of Dharma in a Christian context. Hence, misinterpretation is the way of understanding/interpreting a new culture. On the other hand, the misrepresentation is an inevitable phenomenon when an idea or object is translated into a foreign culture in which there is no equivalent to the idea/object. Since cinema is a main medium for public entertainment and commercial profit in the contemporary postmodern world, it could easily reflect the mass consensus of some cultural phenomenon. Hence, the misinterpretations or stereotypes of Buddhism revealed on the American cinema at least highlight the emerging need and popularity of the Dharma/Buddhism in western spiritual practice as well as its decline.