Waste Management Reseach Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Waste Management Reseach - Research Paper Example The disposal of the petroleum should be done in a way least harmful to the human and natural environment. The price of the property will depend on the level of environmental degradation, therefore, the more the levels of contamination, the lower the price of the property and the other way round. The existing legislation in the state government where the Brownfield is located should be put into consideration, to determine the procedure the voluntary buyer will use in acquiring the property. The client will also need to know the legal issues that may arise from acquiring such a property, therefore, the services of an environmental attorney will be come in handy. The attorney will determine whether, in consideration to the current legislation the activities being conducted on the property are legal or not. This way the reputation of the client will be maintained and any legal issues arising will be anticipated. Before purchasing the property the client needs to get all the permits, lice nses and approvals by the owner of the property, on compliance with state and federal government regarding environmental regulations. The documents should also reflect the right to be in possession of hazardous materials, and the means of disposal. The client should identify the partnerships that they will engage in and what they intend to set up in the site. Some of the property buildings which may not be in such good shape, therefore the voluntary buying party will need to make a decision whether to demolish or renovate them. A review of all the environmental records will be important to determine whether the current holders comply with the set regulations or not. Since the staff and management are not straight forward with their businesses and dealings, the potential buyer will need to use public information on the property. Using the services of the environmental attorney, they should draw up an agreement, to come up with compensation mechanisms, just incase an individual or gro up sues for compensation in future. This may be due to the harm caused by the activities of the premise, before the current owner acquired possession of the property. 2) If your client assumes responsibility for clean up and wants you to head the clean up effort, what are some of your first steps? The voluntary buyer of the parcel of land, together with the buildings, has seen the potential of the property, regardless of the fact that it is contaminated. Clean up exercises when done correctly, have the potential to change the landscape of otherwise unproductive and polluted pieces of property. The benefits of conducting clean up exercises are improved human and environmental health and profit margins to the new developer. - The first step will be acquiring more information on the parcel of land for example tax records and the real owners of the land. This step will be crucial putting into consideration that the management and staff in charge of the project were not so forthcoming wi th details such as existence of petroleum products, something which is very crucial. - The next plan of action will be to sign a contract, which will state clearly the scope of work, important definitions of terms and confidentiality of the terms. This will be important when legal issues arise and one of the parties or a third party decides to go to court. The contract should state clearly how the clean up

DinkaAgaar of South Sudan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DinkaAgaar of South Sudan - Essay Example Information was also given to Deal by various government officials and military officers, to try and determine the root and level of the violence and torture experience by the DinkaAgaar. Perhaps the most central concept of the research is that of Cieng. This is, as a noun, â€Å"human relations, conduct, behavior, habit, personality, custom, law, rule, way of life, culture, essence, and nature† (Deal, 2010, p571) and dictates the reason behind much of the violence within the group. The definition of Cieng seems to be the object of study in much of social anthropology, and the fact that it plays such an important role in the group dynamic explains the reasons for much of the behaviour. Deal (2010, p571) suggests that the importance of Ciengensures that the good of the group outweighs the good of the individual, and therefore, some of the torture and violent behaviour continues as it is thought to be an important part of Dinka culture. The main approach used by Deal (2010) is t hat sanctioned by Malinowski; fieldwork, taking the time to get the ‘native’s perspective’ through participant observation and communication with the members of the tribe. Torture and other forms of violence may seem unsavoury to an outsider, but when torture â€Å"appears to be a manifestation of deeply held perceptions of self and society within the people one studies, the calls to intervene are not so sharp† (Deal, 2010, p571) and an anthropologist needs to be sure not to use personal ethical frameworks on the tribe in question. This is perhaps the most appropriate methodology to use when studying such a culture. 17 months is a long period of time to be conducting fieldwork, but perhaps is needed to gain the trust of the group and a true appreciation for their lifestyle. Going in and collecting surveys full of quantitative information can be useful in some approaches, but may be likely to give bias. Deal (2010) was incorporated into the society and was even given a Dinka name by which he was addressed (p566), and as such it is certain that there was a certain level of trust in the researcher by the group. This is not without its failings, as there may be a situations where the group is misrepresented by the researcher due to sympathetic bias. However, it seems more appropriate than using a Western framework on a distinct culture. Additionally, Deal listed the types of information he gathered during the fieldwork period, and these were numerous and came from a number of different sources, so it seems certain that the majority of the research was free from particular bias (Deal, 2010, p564). As the research here focuses on the use of violence and torture as part of the justice system, the most interesting thing to be learnt is about the use of different moral and legal codes by the Dinka people. The use of violence within this tribe must only be seen from their social perspective, as they use violence as a means of starting war, rev enge, and justice (Deal, 2010, p567). Torture is also used to exacerbate the differences between the Dinka and the neighbouring Nyueii, as well as a punishment from indecent contact with these rivals (Deal, 2010, p566). Violence is part of the Cieng defined and used by the Dinka, and it is used to define ‘us’ from ‘them’ in the tribe. In conclusion, this research uses a wide range of material to illustrate the use of violen

Edward and Adam role play Essay Example for Free

Edward and Adam role play Essay The piece did not have a title. As it was an assignment we didnt name our play. It is called Edward and Adam role play, because in this scenes we show when Edward has just been captured and he meets Adam for the first time. Edward is really confused, and when Adam try to calm him down, he thinks that Adam is an Arab whos there to beat him up again.  AIM OF THE PIECE: I think that the main aim of the piece is to show how two men kept in captivity would react when they meet for the first time. Adam is an American doctor, while Edward is an Irish journalist. Edward, is steady and thoughtful. A hard-living, hard-driven man, he is tormented by the regret that he has pushed away his wife and not taken the time to know his children, and now never may. He is a complex, charismatic, charming and irritating man, whose best weapons against despair and self-pity are quick jokes, biting humor and a healthy awareness of his failings. When Edward is being taking into the cell he tries to fight back, by spitting at the Arabs. The reaction of the Arabs is shown with violence, and Edward get beaten up. When Adam sees what is happening he tries to help the new arrived, but he gets beaten up as well. When Edward wakes up, he ears the voice of a stranger, that stranger is Adam, who is trying to reassure him that everything is fine. Edward first response is trying to get away from the chains, and trying to find a way out of the jail. When he finally realises that hes locked up with a stranger, he starts screaming that hes Irish, and that hes country is neutral. In all this time Adam is trying to interrupt him, but Edward completely ignores him, until then he starts asking questions. What he hears, hes not what he expected. In fact he has been told that he would stay in the cell for an indeterminate time. In the scene there isnt much movement as they are both suppose to be chained up. The only movement we get in the scene is when Adam starts exercising, and tell Edward that he should do something as well, to keep his mind full. Edward is still really confuse and want to know more about his new friend. He keeps on asking questions, and they start to know each other better. The scene finish up when Adam tells Edward that hes not alone as he has got him to watch over him. We of course choose this ending by the title of the play. PRESENTATION: The piece has been presented well, and my partner and I have done a good job as the piece was understood by everyone in the audience. As we werent able to use the stage once more, we used another space in the room. We planned the scene carefully, and we decided to have Adam sitting down lining against the wall, reading the Koran. When Edward is coming in we have both of the characters trying to fight back the Arabs but as both get beaten up they faint. When Edward wakes up, hes very scared as he founds out that he is chained. For a moment he thinks hes dreaming, but when he realizes that that is reality, we can feel the stress and the fear coming out of his voice. Adam is tries his best to welcome him in the cell. But how can you make someone welcome when you are kept in chain? Edward is really stressed and keeps on asking more questions as he wants to know more about what its happening. After a while Adam start getting exercising, but this only makes Edward more confuse and makes him ask more questions. When the two men get to know each other more, Edward start to relax, and they start to talk normally and calmly, about everyday things, such as family, sports, jobs and so on.  For most of the scene the two men are sitting down lining on the wall, talking.  In this scene we had a big contrast between two different men, such as Adam and Edward.. Adam, is very calm, kind, and tries to reassure Edward. While Edward is very aggressive, as hes just been captured, and in first place he thinks that Adam is an Arab, and he doesnt trust him. STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES: The piece strength as weaknesses as well. Once again I think that my partner and I have done a good job, because we have done a original piece, which I think has impressed the audience, as we have explored the inner side two men who meets for the first time in a situation of hostages. We wrote a script of the piece so that we would have been able to remember the piece. I think that the main strength of this piece is that I had the opportunity to work with the same partner, and we put very good ideas together. Some of the weaknesses of this piece were that we couldnt act the piece on the stage, I think that it would have been more effective as we would have had more space, and we could have used the lights as well.  PROBLEMS I HAVE EXPERIENCED: The major problem in acting this piece was that I was suppose to calm down a man who has just been captured and thrown into a cell. I had to be very patient into the play as Edward kept on interrupting, and kept on asking questions.  Looking back at the play I think that I have done a good job into acting Adam, and I also enjoyed it.

Research Proposal E Construction Dispute Model Construction Essay

Research Proposal E Construction Dispute Model Construction Essay Construction industry cannot avoid from disputes as many parties involved in one industry. All the parties insert dispute resolution mechanisms into the contract in the hope that the disputes can be avoided or solved as quickly as they can as they arise. If disputes are not managed properly, they tend to drag on and escalate to cause projects delays and ultimately ruined the relationships. There is now a wide armoury of dispute resolution methods available for resolving construction disputes. The most popular out of these being litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes such as arbitration, mediation, and conciliation. These dispute resolution processes suffer two key disadvantages, which arise from the fact that these processes only come into play after a dispute has arisen. One disadvantage is that, during the dispute resolution process, trust between the parties may be sorely tested, or even destroyed. The other disadvantage is that the time and cost of resolvin g a dispute may affect the expected project gains of parties concerned. It is essential in construction industry to adopt an anticipative approach to management. Since disputes have been one of the major factors affecting cost and time, it is necessary to determine the classification of dispute from the construction law cases and then the e-CDM can be the tool/database to prevent the conflicts or disputes at any stages of construction. By having thorough knowledge and information in this tool/database, it will definitely help the project manager and contract manager to anticipate problems at an early stage of the project without going through any other Alternative Dispute Resolution method which will cost extra money on the top of the project cost. INTRODUCTION Malaysia has been developing rapidly in tandem and racing a head to become industrialised nation. Undoubtedly, the building and construction industry are instrumental as the driving forces to contribute towards realising this aspiration. The construction industries are expected to play a vital role by contribution of 11.2% to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013.  [1]  According to CIDB Chief Executive Datuk Sri Dr. Judin Abdul Karim, the construction industry is expected to secure RM 120bil worth of the project in 2013.  [2]  In order to achieve this encouraging but challenging target, the Government and the private sector must work closely together to ensure projects under the Economic Transformation Program (ETP), the Entry Point Project (EPP), project under the 5 corridors and the Greater Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley are implemented in the timely manner to avoid any delays that would increase cost. The construction industry in Malaysia is fast growing and in light of the economy uncertainty, the world is now facing, great challenges face players in the industry. Dispute amongst parties involved in the industry are unavoidable. It would be impossible to create an environment where the industry would not be affected but great effort should be expended to minimize the effect that would be failing the industry. To do so, it is important that disputes be resolved in the most expedient and economic manner to enable parties in the industry to move forward without being badly affected. BACKGROUND STUDY Modern day construction projects vary from simple houses for individuals to complex infrastructure projects for governments. Some construction projects may even involve cross border movement of resources and not limited to the control of a single jurisdiction. A variety of factors, including, unfair allocation of risks, multiple contracts, unrealistic expectations and schedules, poorly drafted or inadequate contract documents, design omissions, tighter funding, the lack of experienced personnel, communication problems, and even the state of the economy, add to the complexity of construction projects. As a result, construction projects are a breeding ground for contractual dispute. Cooke J in Canterbury Pipe Lines Ltd v Christchurch Drainage Board  [3]  said Building contracts have been traditionally a fertile source of disputesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The enunciation aptly summarizes the very nature of construction industry as an industry notorious for complex disputes.  [4]  The primary cause of such disputes arises from inadequate legal knowledge.  [5]  Majority of construction practitioners comes from technical engineering and architectural background without adequate legal knowledge in contracts and this has led to numerous disputes in construction contracts. Lack of knowledge in construction laws by construction players has been the leading cause of dispute. Employers, Consultants and Contractors though with years of experiences in the industry are usually lacking of the legal knowledge and understanding on the operation and effects of various clauses in construction contracts in general and handling dispute. The lacking in understanding the legal and contractual aspects of contract may be caused by not having the experience to undergo the process itself or just plain ignorance of the topic overridden by over-zealous attitude of churning maximum profits and in the understanding that legal experts are there to provide all the required advice and service. Lack of knowledge in construction law will lead to wrong interpretation of contracts in which the party tends to take trivial matters to the dispute. Construction industry cannot avoid from disputes as many parties involved in one industry. All the parties insert dispute resolution mechanisms into the contract in the hope that the disputes can be avoided or solved as quickly as they can as they arise. If disputes are not managed properly, they tend to drag on and escalate to cause projects delays and ultimately ruined the relationships. Lord Denning  [6]  , when commenting on construction disputes, is quoted as saying; One of the greatest threats to cashflow is the incidence of disputes. Resolving them by litigation is frequently lengthy and expensive. Arbitration in the construction context is often as bad or worse According to Hibberd and Newman  [7]  , litigation gains an unpopular name when time goes on. They quote that A substantial majority (70%) suggested the whole system takes too long, whilst almost 30% suggested that the costs of litigation are far too high. As the litigation cannot solve dispute effectively, arbitration had been introduced. Professionals believed that arbitration can solve the problems without ignoring the main desire of clients. Most of the clients depend on those who know contract better than them. They hope these professional can help them with the lowest cost and fastest way to solve the problem. There is much truth in the old adage that prevention is better than cure. The various dispute resolution processes referred to mediation, conciliation and arbitration all suffer two particular disadvantages, which arise from the fact that these processes only come into play when a dispute has crystallized. One disadvantage is that, during the dispute resolution process, trust between the parties may be sorely tested, or even destroyed. The extent to which this occurs is likely to be proportional to the time and cost (in both money and resources) of resolving the dispute. As ongoing trust between contracting parties is such an essential ingredient of healthy and efficient project delivery, this can be a significant disadvantage in a continuing relationship such as will typically be found in a BOOT project. The longer and more acrimonious the dispute resolution process, the greater the likelihood that there will be a loss of trust in any continuing relationship. By having a readily accessible resource such as e-Construction Dispute Model (e-CDM) which the parties can access during the course of the project at any construction stages, the impact of disputes is minimized. In contrast to the dispute resolution processes earlier described, e-CDM seek to avoid or minimize the incidence of disputes by a timely, little costly and relatively informal process which takes place while the work is in progress. Used effectively, they can lead to a reinforcement and enhancement of trust, with a positive impact on the project as construction unfolds. PROBLEM STATEMENT The construction industry is notorious for high levels of conflicts and disputes. It is a project based industry with each project being unique. Some construction projects may even involve cross border movement of resources and not limited to the control of a single jurisdiction. A variety of factors, including, unfair allocation unfair allocation of risks, multiple contracts, unrealistic expectations and schedules, poorly drafted or inadequate contract documents, design omissions, tighter funding, the lack of experienced personnel, communication problems, and even the state of the economy, add to the complexity of construction projects. As a result, construction projects are a breeding ground for contractual disputes.  [8]   It could be said that the adversarial nature of the construction industry contributes to the germination and manifestation of construction disputes. As such, the construction industry has been at the forefront of the search for effective and efficient dispute resolution mechanisms. Project procurement and construction disputes are two of the major concerns in the construction industry worldwide.  [9]  There is now a wide armoury of dispute resolution methods available for resolving construction disputes. The most popular out of these being litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes such as arbitration, mediation, and conciliation. These dispute resolution processes suffer two key disadvantages, which arise from the fact that these processes only come into play after a dispute has arisen. One disadvantage is that, during the dispute resolution process, trust between the parties may be sorely tested, or even destroyed. The other disadvantage is that the time and cost of resolving a dispute may affect the expected project gains of parties concerned. In the circumstances, the current trend is to look for methods other than processes such as litigation, arbitration, mediation, and conciliation that could be put in motion before or at least, soon after a conflict has arisen. The aim is to ensure that dispute prevention measures, or at least measures for minimizing the scope of any dispute is put in place before the parties positions have hardened. Traditionally, resolving construction disputes are done through litigation. This can be confirmed by 72 cases related to building contract being reported by the Malayan Law Journal between 1990 and 2007 and the Current Law Journal which reported about 200 cases of construction related issues since 2004.  [10]  Yet, today the litigation procedures have fallen into disrepute, particularly due to excessive costs, delays, procedural complexity and adversarial approach.  [11]  The earlier research have come out with the new approach by developing eDR model but it only focus on on contractual variations  [12]  in construction projects. The lacking of law knowledge in every term of contact still needs to be addressed. It is essential in construction industry to adopt an anticipative approach to management. Since disputes have been one of the major factors affecting cost and time, it is necessary to determine the classification of dispute from the construction law cases and then the e-CDM can be the tool/database to prevent the conflicts or disputes at any stages of construction. By having thorough knowledge and information in this tool/database, it will definitely help the project manager and contract manager to anticipate problems at an early stage of the project without going through any other Alternative Dispute Resolution method which will cost extra money on the top of the project cost. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE The objective of this study are: To classification the types of dispute in the Malaysian construction industry base on the related law cases; To develop an e-CDM model as the database for construction industry; and To develop an application of e-CDP prototype/system based on types of the disputes, the parties involved, type of the project, when do the disputes occurred, and standard form of contract for the project. RESEARCH AIM The research has highlighted the problem statements on poor understanding of contract administration and lack of contractual knowledge toward the most litigious issue in construction. Therefore, the aim of this research is to classify the types of dispute based on related law cases in construction and subsequently propose and develop eCDM tool/database on construction disputes as an alternative way for resolving disputes in construction projects. SCOPE OF STUDIES This research is limited to the following:- a) To construction disputes reported by Malayan Law Journal. b) Cases related to Building Contract in Malaysia. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Briefly, this research will be carried out with five (5) different stages: Identifying the research issue Literature review Data and information collection Data and information collection Research analysis Data and information collection Conclusion and recommendations Data and information collection Identifying the Research Issue Identifying the research issue is the very initial stage from the whole research. Initial literature review was done in order to obtain the overview of the particular research topic. In identifying the issue, firstly, it will involves reading on various sources of published materials such as journals, articles, seminar papers, cases, previous research papers, or other related research materials, newspapers, magazines and electronic resources as well as World Wide Web and online e-databases from UM librarys website.  [13]  At the same time, discussions with supervisors, lecturers, as well as course mates have been done to gain more ideas and knowledge relating to the topic. Literature Review The second stage in executing a research is literature review. Literature review stage is basically a stage when the researcher will be reading and also need to criticize on each and every material that has been read. Published resources, like books, journals, varies standard form of contract and related statutory are the most helpful sources in this stage. Literature review also will be involving the collection of documents from the secondary data research, such as books, journals, newspapers.  [14]   Data and Information Collection This stage is data and information collection stage. This is an important stage towards achieving the objectives of this research. In this stage, the further action is to collect the relevant information based on the secondary data from the published resources. Lexis-Nexis database which provides cases of Malayan Law Journal is the main sources in getting the related cases. Research Analysis During this stage, all of the data collected data, information, ideas, opinions and comments were specifically arranged, analyze and also will be interpreted based on the literature view which will be carried out. This stage also could be called as the heart of the research as from this chapter; we can see how the objective has been achieved. Conclusion and recommendations Conclusion and recommendations is the final stage of the research. In this stage the findings will be able to show the result of the research. A conclusion needs to be drawn in-line with the objectives of the research. At the same time, some appropriate recommendations related to the problems will be made for a better solution in relation to the said problem. CONCLUSION Disputes between parties to construction projects are of great concern to the industry; nevertheless, the subject is dominated by anecdote and hearsay. The study of construction industry disputes, and the causes of those disputes, is essential. In fact, it would seem that effective management action can be taken only if based on reliable evidence and as contract manager it is essential for them to consider all kinds of dispute in construction industry.

Onnagata: The Art of Woman in Japanese Kabuki Essay -- Japanese Societ

The grace of a swan, subtle graceful movements, beauty, and finesse, these are all aspects of the Japanese Onnagata 1.The Onnagata (male actors portraying women) in Japan is viewed as the ideal women, according to the revered Misaki Isaka, their conduct â€Å"offstage is made responsible for artistry onstage, such as singing (ka), dancing (bu), and acting (ki)† 2. This is how Japanese society has come to view them over the years, but in reality, the Onnagata is a repressed individual that is not allowed to express their masculinity in any facet in society. This can be seen in a quote, within a short story, written by Yukio Mishima; â€Å" He must live as a woman in his daily life, he is unlikely to be considered an accomplished Onnagata. When he appears on stage, the more he concentrates on performing this or that essentially feminine action the more masculine he will seem†3. The Onnagata, in Japan, is the ideal perfect woman who surpasses all women, but they are the co ntradictory, male representation of the male fantasy. The manner in which, the Onnagata, essentially is in Japanese society has created a new ideal of gender in Japan and a new form of repression. "Kabuki would have died had not increasingly believable, instead of merely pretty, female characters begun to appear in the mature male kabuki that emerged in the 1650s †¦ an open transition from gay theater to Gei Theater, gei being Japanese for art†¦Only actors past their adolescence could do and they were forced by law to cut their physical attractiveness" 4. The dictatorial members of the government at the time felt women and homosexual men had over stepped their bounds in theater, thus banning them. One reason for this is the essential make up of society for; women in the To... ...the protests against this form of life, I never realized that this was the basis of their ideas. 19. Isaka, Misaki, "Box Lunch Etiquette†, Manners and Mischief, 56. (Ayame a famous Onnagata from the Tokugawa period who laid out decorum for Onnagata. He said one should show dedication to their every action including eating and one should never leave their onstage role. They are to become onna in every way and to be beautiful even in old age. Ayame told them to embody real women and to look mischievous with a chaste mind and should never be seen to purposely make the present audience laugh for it is disgraceful, their most important role is to appear chaste). 20. Mishima, Yukio â€Å"Onnagata† Death in Midsummer, 1966, 146 (Onnagata can never capture the complete sense of femininity, for it is a piece of a brief moment in time, simply a fragment of a way of life).

Critique of the Novel Our Town Essay -- Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder was born on April 17, 1897, and died on December 7, 1975. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin to Amos Wilder, an American diplomat, and Isabella Wilder. Thornton Wilder started writing plays in The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1915. He served in the Coast Guard in World War II. After the war he attended Oberlin College, then Yale University where he earned his B.A. in 1920. His writing was honed at Yale where he was a part of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity which is a literary society. In 1926, he earned his M.A. in French from Princeton University. Wilder won Pulitzer Prizes for The Bridge of San Luis Rey in 1928, Our Town in 1938, and The Skin of Our Teeth in 1942. He also won the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1957, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, and the National Book Award in 1967 for his novel The Eighth Day. Form, Structure, and Plot The novel is organized into three acts, each one representing a different period of time. There are only two flashbacks in the book. The first takes place in act two, after George and Mr. Webb have a conversation. They both leave the stage and the Stage Manager introduces the flashback of when Emily and George had their first date at Mr. Morgan’s drugstore. The second flashback is not so much a flashback as it is time travel. It occurs in act three after Emily Webb joins the rest of the dead. She, as well as the Stage Manager, goes back in time to revisit her twelfth birthday. The first act is of George Gibbs and Emily Webb as teens, the second act is of their marriage, and the third act is of Emily Webb’s funeral. In the play a total of twelve years is covered. Throughout the play, the tone becomes more and m... ...out that Emily is dead. Additional Comments I was not thrilled with this book, but I did not hate it. The book’s strengths are that it has good, applicable themes that are easy to understand. Another strength that the book has is that it is not written in formal diction, so it is easy to read and understand. One of its weaknesses is that it is sometimes hard to follow the plot because of the lack of narration. The reader can get confused because of sudden scene or time changes. The book does leave one lingering question: What happens to George Gibbs? Although this is not my favorite book, it will have lasting effects on me. The transience of human life is a universal theme that can be observed by anyone. Bibliography Thornton (Niven) Wilder (1897-1975). . Our Town. Wikipedia. .

Relationship between Development and Democracy

The rapid political transformation that exemplified the last decade of the past century in various countries of the world encouraged a renewed interest in the relationship between development and democracy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 55). The argument in the 1960s had been that democracy was positively interrelated to the level of modernization, and then viewed as the equivalence of development. The two succeeding decades were much more cautious about any such relationship. It was only the turbulent years following the fall of communism and the attempts to move away from dictatorial modes of rule that encouraged comparative politics students to revisit the development – democracy nexus (Chan, 2002, p. 89).The students of Latin American politics had already started to respond to reform efforts embarked on in their region in the early 1980s. It was in the 1990s that issues of democratization reentered the mainstream of comparative politics. The re-orientation in the field of compara tive politics has already resulted in a wide range of publications.Mapping the Major ApproachesDevelopment and democracy are both very complicated concepts as they tend to mean different things to different people. For example, conceptions of development have varied over time in the last five decades from being the equivalence of modernization to being concerned with overcoming social inequities and on to providing opportunities for individuals in the marketplace and institutional improvements in the name of good governance. The definition of democracy has been the subject of much debate as to whether it should be a minimalist concept useful for analytical functions (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 57).I suggest that it may be helpful to follow a distinction along 2 axes. The first is methodological and epistemological where the two endpoints are agency and structure. The second is substantive in nature which differentiates between a focus on elite or mass level. The structuralist approaches typically adopt a historical standpoint in explaining the success or failure of democratization.The development and democracy also varies in terms of its focus on elites or the mass of the population. Those who are concerned with providing prescriptive advice tend to be focusing on the privileged because they are the ones directly concerned with making policy. Political scientists have amassed enough knowledge about democratization process that we can tell the political elite what traps to keep away from and what opportunities to take hold of. This remains the ultimate goal of political science as most people in the discipline are likely to adopt a more humble position, realizing that our knowledge of democratization is still very general and fragmented (Chan, 2002, p. 144).The University of Michigan administered a survey which has contributed to an understanding of how human values and preferences shift in response to changes in material circumstances. Associations also count in t his type of political studies. The long term positive outcome comes from people working together in small scale groups.Structuralist studiesStructuralist studies have evolved over the past 40 years and it has been proved that this is a fruitful area of research. Three issues have crystallized as being of special interest:(1)  Ã‚   Does location in the global economic order matter?(2)  Ã‚   Does class or social structure matter? and(3)  Ã‚   Do value changes caused by structural factors matter?I shall discuss these issues in turn before focusing on some of the methodological challenges associated with this approach.Location in the global economic orderStudies in this area have a long pedigree with many other well-known political sociologists and political economists having made contributions. The original finding was that the more prosperous a nation, the greater the chances that it will maintain democracy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 68). It was not the location in the global econo mic order that was important, but the ability of a country to adopt the structural and cultural features associated with modern society, i.e. an urbanized and educated population as well as an industrialized economy.Using the regression type of statistical analysis, scholars have demonstrated that level of economic development consistently appears as a statistically and substantively significant influence on democracy (Haggard, 2003). The level of economic development alone accounts for more variance in democracy than all other independent variables taken altogether. Therefore, some students of development and democracy are ready to treat it as such a strong correlation that it must not to be in question.Even if it is a vigorous relationship, it raises questions about what in that association really matters, and what kind of conclusions to draw there from. The thing which matters is at least in part determined by how the dependent and independent variables are specified. It has been found that while being well-to-do matters at the level of cross national comparison; it is not necessarily the economic but the social factors, such as education literacy that are the more powerful explanatory variables (Chan, 2002, p. 123).Few scholars have questioned whether it is the rate of economic growth or the level of economic development that is more important. The prospects to become democratic countries are rather dim, not because most Third World nations have low average per capita incomes, but because the economic development is not fast enough or the rate of growth is slow. The potential importance of location in the global economic order is also a very significant variable. Economic development has a differential impact and it matters most in the industrialized countries, only half as much in the semi peripheral countries, and even less so for countries in the periphery (Haggard, 2003).Studies have also established a positive correlation between key variables but the y do not necessarily rein in everything that matters in the development – democracy equation. One may assume that the economic development matters the most in the core or the industrialized countries because it has been present there for a longer time period. It is not only the domestic environment of the countries in the periphery that counts but also their exterior environment. One of the gaps that need to be filled in the research on development and democracy is clearly what difference globalization makes. The relationship between globalization, socio-economic development and democracy is of prime importance (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 52).Economic crises and other performance problems in the non democratic regimes help promote a democratic transition. Using data for approximately 100 Third World nations with populations of at least one-million, it was proved that inflationary crises tended to inhibit democratization in 1950s and 1960s but seem to have facilitated the same pro cess in the late 1980s. Another proposition is that there is no relationship between per capita income level and the probability of democratic transition contrary to what was indicated earlier. One such reason may be growing international pressure to democratize (Johansson, 2002, p. 23).The Role of Class StructureThis type of study is useful for focusing on wide systematic causal processes that hold across space and time, but needs to be complemented by those that include more characteristic explanations that hold at certain times or in certain regions only (Chan, 2002, p. 24). The analysis of specific historical events or processes is often an unavoidable complement to statistical techniques, especially if the objective of the research is to concentrate on the occurrence of discrete events within their historical context.The capitalist economic development creates growing pressure for democratization by fostering the emergence of a middle-class has been very broadly accepted: †˜without a bourgeoisie, no democracy'. This sets the broader parameters for the development of democracy by liberalizing economic market forces and thereby, also individualizing both behaviors and choices. Comparing Germany and Japan, which adopted a fascist approach to rule, with the UK and USA, which chose a democratic path, the class is an extremely vital factor. The middle class or the bourgeoisie enjoys a degree of self-sufficiency by being able to shape the course of political development in any direction. It is not expected that the middle-class will choose a democratic path over a non democratic one. It all depends on how they manage the challenges that structural factors present in the economy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 53).With economic liberalization being pushed around the world, one can hypothesize that class may grow in significance. Deeper social inequalities are reported from all regions of the world and Livelihoods are being threatened, quality of life is going down f or a bulk of people, more specifically in the Third World countries. The most immediate issue is how to make the concept of class operational. There is no universal accord about how that should be done. It is not easy at this point to arrive at any solid conclusions about the relationship between the class and the prospect of transition to democracy. In a first attempt to do so, it was found that class structure does not have an impact on the likelihood that a nation makes a transition to democracy (Chan, 2002, p. 67).It is a path breaking study that points to the need for many more studies in this area and the surveys that try to measure people's subjective perception of class. Survey data are available for industrialized nations but are yet to be collected in developing countries. Such data would significantly improve our ability to say something about the relationship between class and the probability of transition to democracy.Value ChangesChanges in the economy do not only crea te new forms of social stratification as they also influence our cultural values. Modernization and value change is the subject of several important studies in the field of comparative politics. Subjective aspirations reflect the nature of objective conditions, a point that is associated traditionally with Marxism but is also reflected in psychological theories (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 58). The strengthening of human striving for self expression that follows from enlarging people's cognitive and physical resources (modernization) reduces constraints on the level of formal rules by generating negative and positive freedom rights (democratization). Using data from 63 societies, it was found that:(1)  Ã‚   Democratization originates in aspiration adjustments on individual level,(2)  Ã‚   Democracy does not flow directly from economic changes but through shifts in ethical values,(3)  Ã‚   This sequence has cross cultural validity, and,(4)  Ã‚   The sequence holds against rival in fluences, the transnational infusion of changes in traditionally connected societies.More research is needed to ascertain whether these findings hold if other data sets are used, the notion that democratization in a given society is the result of both ethical and material changes is important. It is suggested that the dynamics of social change is driven more by internal than external factors. We do not specifically address this issue here, but it is one that should be considered in the light of amplified global communications (Haggard, 2003).Methodological IssuesOne of the problems with research on democracy and development is that scholars using quantitative methods tend to ignore those using qualitative methods, and vice versa. The latter tend to use thick concepts which are applied to a very small number of cases, whereas the former tend to rely on thin concepts that are applied to a large number of cases. Due to the lack of dialogue between these two researcher groups, the task of knowing more about causal relations has been stifled.The assumption being that qualitative researchers play a key role in opening up novel areas of inquiry, while the quantitatively oriented can determine the extent to which findings can be generalized. In short, the study of development and democracy requires both approaches since both of them are complementary to each other (Johansson, 2002, p. 23).There are many troubles with the existing state of knowledge in this field that stem from methodological inadequacies. The first concern is the quality of the data available. There has been a heavy reliance on the Freedom House Index (FHI) of Civil Liberties and Political Rights. With few other data sets available, it is quite understandable that many researchers have found the FHI handy.There are at least two problems with that Index. The first is that it relies on the evaluative input of a panel of experts rather than primary data collected in survey form. The scores in the Index, while not entirely invalid, nonetheless suffer from lack of representativeness of opinions in individual nations (Johansson, 2002, p. 213). The second problem is that the cumulative scores provided for each indicator and country tends to be rather rough. This lack of differentiation is also obvious in many studies that use other data.Most researchers have to settle for a sub-optimal choice, because it is extremely difficult to identify a singular manifestation. Reliability refers to the prospect that the same data collection process would produce the same data. Duplication prevails whenever other scholars are able to reproduce the process through which data were generated.Structured contingencyIf the structuralist concern with the pre-requisites of democracy constitutes the first generation of studies on democratization, a distinct second generation has emerged in the past two decades that is more process oriented and focused on contingent choice. This innovative approach incorporat es institutional factors as explanatory variables (Haggard, 2003). Democratization is understood as a historical process with analytically distinct, if empirically overlapping, stages of consolidation and transition. A variety of actors with different followings, calculations, preferences, resources and time horizons come to the fore during these successive stages.These stages vary in terms of degree of uncertainty prevailing at each point. During regime transitions, interactions, and political calculations are highly uncertain, actors find it hard to know what their interests are, who their supporters are, and which groups will be their allies or opponents. The absence of predictable rules of the game during a regime transition expands the boundaries of contingent choice (Johansson, 2002, p. 88). A government is being consolidated whenever contending groups come to accept some set of rules, formal or informal, about who gets what, when and how from politics.Power-sharing arrangemen tsDemocratization often runs into grave difficulties because societies are divided vertically rather than horizontally. Resource conflicts are not interpreted in straight-forward social class terms but take on meaning only in the context of identity politics. Whether ethnicity, race or religion constitutes the line along which cleavages are defined, they pose a special problem for democratizing countries specifically because the issue of inclusion in regime is conflated with inclusion in the community. Strategic choices are socially or culturally embedded to such an amount that it becomes difficult to produce governance agreements that satisfy all parties to the conflict (Johansson, 2002, p. 56).The problems of exclusion and inclusion do not fade away when new institutions are being adopted and put into operation. Democratization itself may aggravate such problems precisely because it brings elements of openness and competition into the political progression. Conceptions of the scop e of the political community become more prominent as people interact with each other in the public realm and have to make choices about who is an insider and who is an outsider. One of the ironies of democratization is that, as the future is being planned, the past intrudes with escalating severity. There is no such thing as a fresh start in culturally plural societies; differences in historical depth are likely to matter.For example, where the notion of first-comers is deeply rooted, claims of political priority by virtue of indigenousness are typically made to confront those deemed to be immigrants (Haggard, 2003). Europe and Asia are particularly full of such claims. Sri Lankan Tamils really belong to South India. Chinese in Indonesia and Malaysia are immigrants and Bengalis are illegally in Assam. The Balkans, the Baltic and the Caucasus regions of the former USSR are other examples of places where such claims are being made. They are particularly hard to resolve because they a re frequently embedded in religious differences that reinforce the ethnic dimension and have a long history.Electoral modalitiesIn the 1990s, larger attention was paid to how different electoral rules may help promote inclusiveness. Such rules are the most specific manipulative instrument of politics. Africans realized this point at independence and many leaders proceeded to promote inclusiveness within a democratically designed single party system. Although the principle of competitive elections within a single party system was an interesting innovation, practical experience soon showed that sustaining the democratic element in such system became very hard (Chan, 2002, p. 345).Most of the conversation on what difference electoral systems or modalities make has focused on the comparative advantages of proportional representation and majority systems. The combination of parliamentary system with a proportional system of representation as the constitutional arrangement most likely to serve racially divided societies well. It is only in industrialist societies with a more dispersed population that proportional representation (PR) has the intended effects of enhancing the distribution of power among elites. Another study of electoral systems in southern Africa maintains that a mixed member proportional system (MMP), as used in Germany and New Zealand, may prove to be particularly relevant in countries such as South Africa where forms of power sharing have been considered vital to a successful democratic transition (Haggard, 2003).Legal SystemsOne of the more dominant arguments for the link between liberal democracy and capitalism rests on the premise that with the rise of a private property regime, the estate of the landlord is fully severed from the state, thus consolidating the separation between public and private spheres of power. Capitalist economic rule is no longer legitimated politically by reference to the performance of communal functions. Private power is stabilized to the extent that democratic principles of rule are successfully insulated within a public domain (Johansson, 2002, p. 98). This emphasis on human rights has also brought a renewed importance to concepts such as rule of law and by implication to the role of legal systems in democratization.Civil SocietyCivil society is a bothersome concept. It refers to all voluntary associations that have been created to mediate relations between the state and the family household. This excludes productive enterprises since their purpose is not to associate individuals to the state. Most students of civil society take a functional view of the society counting in all associations regardless of their normative stand on the democracy issue. Many nations that are attempting to consolidate democracy suffer from what is sometimes referred to as a civic deficit. This entails that society is short of the values that really help build democracy.This deficit often stems from disenchantment wit h the political leadership. The new democratic regime proves ineffective in various ways, such as not being able to curb corruption or to deliver tangible policy results. Once the transition from dictatorial rule has been made, it is more difficult to mobilize popular support for the measures that are necessary to keep the democratic process on the track. The civil society is most effective in the initial phase of the transition. It tends to lose its implication in the political process as it moves from transition to consolidation (Chan, 2002, p. 266).Social movements clearly energize civil society. They often lead major political transitions, but they also contribute to keeping civil society healthy at other times. Without such movements, the impact of civil society on democracy would be much less significant. Without implying that social movements always work for a civic or democratic cause (Johansson, 2002, p. 143). It seems a feasible proposition to state that a democratic chang e without the backing of a social movement is less likely to achieve something than one with such backing.ConclusionTo conclude, it may be worth making a few general observations on the studies of development and democracy. The first is that the difference between qualitative and quantitative studies is often exaggerated. There are substantive differences between the two, but they lie not in the criteria used to create and rationalize a particular research design but in the manner in which the former is executed (Haggard, 2003). It is primarily in the execution of research that quantitative statistical analyzes come to differ from qualitative forms of study. When it comes to designing research, considerable qualitative reasoning goes into designing quantitative studies.When choosing the unit of analysis, indicators for measurement and set of cases, qualitative criteria are being used to justify the design. The qualitative reasoning enters into the design in at least two ways: first, by differentiating between Europe and Latin America and the second, by bringing in the concept of stability, which does not even feature in the conceptual definition of democracy (Chan, 2002, p. 67). We should be alert to the fact that the distinction between qualitative and quantitative forms of reasoning is more blurred than many scholars would have us believe.The second observation is that the relationships between variables are not always linear in a causal sense. The study of the development – democracy nexus provides ample of evidence that the relations are often interactive; development, or dimensions thereof, influences democracy but scope of democracy may also affect development. Modernists and Marxists tend to assume that political democracy is the outcome of underlying changes in the socio-economic or cultural spheres.Those who essentially believe in human agency would argue that institutions and choices can be made to shape developmental outcomes. Much of the cur rent debate in the international development community focuses on the independent effects that good governance is expected to have on various aspects of development (Haggard, 2003).The third and final observation concerns the propensity to treat findings as universal or to generalize without taking into consideration the potential influence of contextual variables. Much knowledge that is acquired on the issues relating to development and democracy are both time and context specific. Changing either temporal or spatial dimensions may have significant influence on the results.Generalizations that hold across national and regional boundaries are typically at a high level of aggregation. The challenge that we often face in our research is not only to disaggregate or deconstruct these concepts and variables but also to continue testing how far these general findings still hold at lower levels of aggregation.In sum, whichever way we turn in the research exercise, there are challenges just around the corner (Haggard, 2003). The contributors to this essay are highlighting many of these challenges, thereby providing a sense of what comparative politics have achieved so far and also what remains to be done.