Saturday, January 25, 2020

The Tourism Planning Discussion Paper Tourism Essay

The Tourism Planning Discussion Paper Tourism Essay Tourism is one of many human activities in a community or region, and has the idea as a private and public sector activity and especially as an area of government intervention that requires planning and coordination. On the one hand, tourism is also one many activities in an area that must be considered as part of economic, physical, environmental, and social planning. Thereby, it is very important in ensuring that the tourism industry can thrive and develop by trying to maximize all these valuable aspects and to develop comprehensive tourism planning at a community or region. This discussion paper will be mainly discussing about the different approaches to tourism planning and the tourism planning framework for the development of tourism in the destination region of the Central Highlands of the Island. The overall framework in this paper consists of the appropriate steps to be taken in the planning process and in a way to achieve successful planning and development in the destinatio n region, the guiding principles in the planning, and several issues to be considered in the planning. 2.0 Critical review of approaches to tourism planning Based on Getz (1987) there are four different approaches of tourism planning at the destination level can be recognized according to the values that support the planning or policy activity include boosterism, economic, physical/spatial, and community-oriented that emphasizes the role the destination community plays in the tourism development and experience. Then to these four approaches, Hall (1998) added an additional approach of sustainable planning. Each of tourism planning approach differs in its underlying assumptions about planning, and their strengths and weakness that play in the tourism development. The following describes the strengths and weaknesses for each approach. 2.1 Boosterism Boosterism is one of the tourism planning approaches that have attitude towards tourism development which is inherently good and will provide benefit to the hosts destination. This approach also characterized as being part of an attitude to the development of growth is good and any negative impact of tourism development will be dominated by positive benefits. From this approach perspective the primary planning problem is one of how to attract as many people as possible to a given location or destination. Boosterism approach however, doesnt take into account or involves their host community in the decision making process, planning and policy process surrounding the tourism developments. Yet it is still being adopted by governments and politicians to promote tourism growth, regional economic diversification and employment creation. This attitude approach towards tourism development is seen as to give benefits to the host destination and community which can bring higher living standards to a destination and improves quality of life of the people especially in the developing countries. Tourism development could improves quality of life ,as it supports the creation of community facilities and services, through the provision of better or upgraded infrastructure, facilities, services, transport, health, better quality of commodities and food. The indirect benefit of tourism development will also increase job opportunities towards the whole community and at the same time boost up the countrys economy. However on the other hand, since this approach does not involved residents of the tourist destinations in the tourism development plan and policy, and decision making process, thus there will be lack of public or community participation in the local tourism development. The tourism development tend to benefit more on th e government instead of the local community because the community has no power to make their own decisions in the tourism planning and therefore it will not encourage them to participate and does not allow them to share tourism benefits with the wider community. 2.2 Economic The second approach of tourism planning is the economic (industry-oriented approach). It is an approach that aims to promote economic growth and development in a destination, as well apply the use of marketing and promotion to attract visitors. The economic approach emphasizes more on the economic impacts of tourism and the most efficient and effective use of tourism to create income and employment benefits for the regions, communities, and countries as a whole. The main strengths of this planning approach are as it is mainly focuses on the economic impacts of tourism, it believes that tourism development is becomes a key driver of economic growth or will boost the countrys economy through the creation of employment, generation of foreign exchange earnings, contribution of government revenues, stimulation or improvement of infrastructure investment, and the create contribution to the local economy. Yet there are some weaknesses from this approach which it doesnt take into account env ironmental concerns and social issues which means there is limited attention is given towards the environmental and social impacts brought about by tourism. Another weakness would be the high satisfaction of tourists result from tourism development and the positive attitudes towards tourists in host communities are unknown. 2.3 Physical/Spatial The physical/ spatial approach to tourism planning considers tourism as a form of land use to be managed using spatial strategies and regarded as having an ecological base with a resultant need for development to be based upon certain spatial patterns, capacities or thresholds that would minimize the negative impacts of tourism on the physical environment. The key planning approaches from this perspective include carrying capacity, hazard and risk assessment, resource and landscape evaluation, resource appraisal and allocation, decision making and evaluation and the development of appropriate institutional arrangements. While the main point of this approach is to control and maintain the capacities, land use and the number of physical infrastructure being built for tourism, so it wont exceeds the environmental and social carrying capacities of the destination. As a result, it will help to minimize the negative environmental impacts resulting from tourism development. Besides, a well planned physical destination with structured design and layout would also attract visitors to visit a destination as it can provide a good and open space for tourists. Other strengths would be the increase protection towards the environment due to the less land being use and it keep the sustainability of tourism. The weakness of this approach is if the number of infrastructure, buildings, and capacities are being controlled, thus economically the destination unable to maximize their profit from the result the inability to fulfill the high demand of tourism to build more attractions. Limited attention is also given to social and cultural attributes of the destination. 2.4 Community Community tourism planning approach is focuses on the social and political context within which tourism occurs and it advocates greater local community control over the development process. Under this approach, community is considered as the focal point or actor that encourages the development process of the tourism and seeks for public participation in a destination in order to enhance their economic livelihoods while protecting their cultural values, and preserving the natural environment. Community planning approach which implies a high degree of public participation in tourism planning process, highly involved the community in the decision making and planning process, as well as in the sharing of tourism benefits and in the sharing of tourism profits with the wider community. Therefore, the main strengths of this community based approach in terms of its benefits, will likely to create and increased employment opportunities available to the locals as more community being involved in the process while it also contributes positively in the improvement on household income and general quality of life through the extent of contribution vary from one aspect to another. Moreover, public participation is also to design tourism development in such a way that it is intended to benefit the local community and to encourage them to participate in their own development through mobilizing their own resources, defining their needs and making own decisions about how to meet them. Then if the government is being supportive and let the community to take a large part of the decision making for tourism, there will less conflict arises between the government and community, and if problem arises the community would be able to make decisions and solve it on their own. Bringing educational elements towards the whole community is also one of the strength of community approach. The locals likely to be educated and trained in order to improve their knowledge about tourism and as a results it will help them to recognize and conserve their local culture, natural resource values, and creating a good image about the destination. Tourists who come from different parts of the world will also encourage the locals to interact and provide cultural exchange between hosts and tourists, at the same time it also gives the opportunities for the locals to learn foreign language and lead to a better understanding of cultural differences and build tolerant attitude towards foreigners. On the other hand, there are weaknesses of this approach in terms of the barriers or the difficulties in implementing a community approach to tourism planning in tourist destination. The major difficulties or barriers to incorporating public participation in tourism planning can include the lack of financial and human resources in the tourism sector especially in the developing country. Resources at the local level may not enough to finance the present scale of tourism development and therefore it will lead to discourage community participation in the tourism planning. Then generally the public may have difficulty in understanding complex and technical planning issues, not always aware the decision making process, and the difficulty in maintaining representativeness in the decision making process due to the lack of knowledge, experiences and possible conflicts that may arise between cultures. In addition, there is also need for the government to be able to manage the involvement of t he community that aims to achieve the desired result however it does not give the impression to the community of being control by the government. Power should also be distributed evenly within a community so that some groups or individuals will not have the ability exert greater influence over the planning process than others. 2.5 Sustainable The sustainable approach towards tourism is an integrative form of tourism planning which brings together economic, environmental (physical/spatial), and socio-cultural (community) planning methods. This approach seeks to provide lasting and secure livelihoods which minimize depletion of resources, environmental degradation, cultural disturbance and social instability. It also concern about both inter and intra-generational equity which in sustainable development it means that we should not only concerned with the maintenance of environmental capital (Jacobs, 1991) but also the maintenance and enhancement of social capital (Healey, 1997). The main strengths of sustainable approach are include long term protection of environment resources since it focuses on tourism development which try to avoids damage on the environment, economy, and cultures of a tourist destination as well as provides positive experience for host community tourism industry and the tourist itself. As a result of t hese, it will also lead to the preservation of essential ecological processes, give beneficial and opportunities for future generation ability to use the resources and enjoy the same situation as now, protection of human heritage and biodiversity, improve economic benefits to support sustainable tourism, and it also benefit the communities by providing more employment opportunities and the improvement of standard of living. The weaknesses of this sustainable approach are include the overprotecting the resources will result that the tourists unable to enjoy or being satisfied with the overall tourism experiences, for instance tourists might have high expectation when they travel to the tourism site, yet they are not allowed to connect to the environment thus their perception will be lower because it doesnt meet their high expectation, and become very unsatisfied. Besides, by adopting sustainable tourism approach could also create conflict between public and private sectors in terms of having different views and perspective on sustainable planning. Public sector might want to save and maintain the environment while private sector wants to gain more economic benefit in having less concern on sustainable tourism benefits. Sustainable tourism approach could also be difficult to achieve and has been often criticized for its contradictory goals that never achieved, as it requires cooperation and coordination b etween industry and the manager of destinations, and the needs to build consumer and producer awareness. 3.0 A review of the main issues or challenges that tourism planners face As millions more people travel and to seek for personal rewards from their experiences, the massive development of tourism resources is the consequences (Gunn, 2002). The various activities that tourists engage in a tourism destination are important and expanding aspect of the tourist industry in which it creates huge development for tourism in a destination and provides tourism benefits in many ways. Thus, it is now recognized that planning is necessary for tourism to develop, to be managed in a controlled, integrated, and sustainable manner in such a ways that would lead to enhancing the benefits derived from tourism. By using this planned approach to design of all tourism development, it allows tourism to generate economic, social, and environmental benefits to the host community and any negative impacts results from tourism can be minimized. Moreover, planning for tourism can be a challenge regarding to the several main issues, complication or challenge that tourism planner may face in trying to plan tourism. Besides, due to the rapid growth and complication nature of tourism have made it difficult for planners to apply even the most fundamental of research findings and recommendations for improved tourism. Based on Claire A. Gunn (2004) described the prospects for tourism planning in term of the key issues and concerns in the field of tourism planning in which the issues include the poor understanding of the need for planning, the lack of systems planning, poor organizational integration, and lack of tourism literacy. The first issue of poor understanding of the need for planning refers to the unclear understanding or different assumptions on tourism planning that seen as the unncecessary interference in market driven development. Investors and developers might seen a opportunity to build various kinds of attractions or tourism related places in the destination to increase tourism development. Then tourism promoters usually belief that all development is positive by bringing better employment and economic benefits and continually to attract tourists. However, this merely a half truth even though tourism development can provide economic benefit but the undestanding on plannning doesnt take into account that tourism growth also create negative impacts in which it creates more demand for new investment to build more attractions as a result may lead to increased in pollution, and destroyed natural landscape. The high volume of visitor in the destination could also have reduce the local quality of life , and forcing long time residents to move. Hence, these issues requires new plannig techniques and planners must cope with the constantly changing environment results from tourism growth. The second issue is the lack of system planning. Most tourism planners have modeled the fuctioning tourism system which have two main drivers of tourism consist of a demand and a supply side. The five supply side major components include transportation, attractions, services, information, and promotion. They are all interdependent which subject to travel demand and require planning that relates to market trends as well as to physical characteristics of land and resources. The supply side is influenced greatly by many external factors such as the governmental policies, competition, community involvement, entrepreneurship, labor, finance, cultural and natural resources. This way of viewing tourism is oppose to the mindset of tourism as an industry and mostly on the business sector. Understanding of tourism as a system is relatively important and knowing how each part of tourism depends upon each other. Poor organizational intgration is another issue in the tourism planning in which there are lack of communication and integration between different and separate organizations (suh as in in the business tourism sector there are the hotel organizations, restaurant, attraction, and airline organizations) developed in tourism in tourism planning,. The lack of organizational mechanism is affect the tourism as entirerly. There is a need for better communication aamong many existing tourist organizations in order to gain mutual benefit and assist better understanding of change. Lastly, is the lack of tourism literacy means within parts of tourism all parties are very well knowledgable about their functions and operations. However, there is still remains a lack of understanding among developers and managers considering the full meaning and importance of tourism to them. Due to the tourism illiteracy, community is not well prepared to plan their localities in the best interest of tourism and t o protect local lifestyle. Other issue or complication of tourism planning developed by Gunn (2002) is regarding with the worldwide proliferation ofecotourism, acculturation, and the dramatic evoluationary changes in many aboriginal societies. Native populations (non-industrial foundation) could face the dilemma of introducing tourists to their cultural uniqueness and lead them to move into new industrial societies. Thus, it will be difficult for them to plan for tourism development that might generate economic advantages without facing the great internal stress for protection of their cultural heritage and acculturation. 4.0 The Central Highlands of the Island The Central Highlands of the Island is the chosen destination region to develop tourism planning to encourage tourism development in the destination. The Central Highlands of the Island is a developing country and known for its tourist destination. Despite having a number of potential tourist attractions, the area still have little development on tourism and facing quite number of problems, based on the facts that the country has experienced a number of environmental problems include water pollution and having limited of human and natural resources of fresh water resources and electricity. It also experienced a depressed economy with limited infrastructure and supply accommodation in the central region area. Besides, the destination has a unique ethnic groups living in the central highlands region and having the majority population of Islandese, yet several of these ethnic groups are being isolated who have typically been ignored in most government policy exercises. These people also have limited of education background and low levels of languages which can be one reason that discouraged the community participation in the tourism development or make them difficult to participate. However, by experiencing these various conditions the local government should have promote tourism planning to encourage tourism development in the destination by taking account all the tourism resources, organizations, then economic, environmental, and social aspects of tourism development. The government should also need to get involved the local community in the tourism planning process to help support and encourage the tourism development of the destination at the same time intended to benefit the community as a whole and giving them opportunities to participate in their own development. The next part of this paper will be discussing about overall framework on the Central Highlands of the Island which are emphasizes on the steps in the planning process, the set of guiding principles for planning participants and list of issues to be considered in the planning process.. 4.1 Steps in the Planning Process In the tourism planning process, it takes a proactive role in assisting and promoting the implementation of a good quality of development. A large number of groups or individuals including stakeholders, community, and operator are involves in the tourism planning. They conduct various kinds of planning which are include feasibility, marketing, product development, promotion, forecasting, and strategic planning. The following are main series of steps to be taken in the planning process in terms of the tourism development of the Central Highlands of the Region as a tourist destination. According to Stynes and OHalloran (1987), there are six steps in the planning process include define goals and objectives, indentify the tourism system (resources, organizations, markets), generate and evaluate alternatives, select and implement, lastly monitor and evaluate. The first step that the destination need to accomplish is to obtain clear statements of tourism development goals and objectives which should acquire more from general community on how they want to achieve specific tourism development, whether the community wants to serves the broader community goals in seeking for better quality of life and to improve living standard. These objectives could be achieved by working together with various groups and organizations in the community. The appropriate types of goals to be achieve and the degree in which tourism is addressed in planning depends on how long the community has been involved in tourism or the importance of tourism to them. Since the Central Highlands region i s still in the early stages of tourism development, goals that may want to achieve involve setting up organizational structures and collecting information to have better understanding on the tourism system in the community. Then later throughout the process, more precise objectives can be created. The second step involve in identifying tourism as a system by breaking it down into three subsystems; tourism resources, organizations, and market. This will refers to how the community in the destination region coordinates their activities toward common goals and striving to achieve certain objectives by matching available resources and programs with the needs and wants of tourists, and identify the availability to be able to serve the tourists and provide opportunities for tourism development. For instance, for tourism resources in the Central Highlands; natural resources which can be used and available for the tourists are climate, scenery, favorable geographic location for shipping trade and high supply of local food and wine, while for cultural resources could be the unique ethnics cultures, cultural heritage, archaeological sites, and the local cuisine. Human resources of having a productive labor force and capital resources include the availability of infrastructure (roads, ac commodation, utilities of water and electricity) are quite limited. Moreover, the community also needs to recognize and list all the diverse range of public and private sectors in the destination that manage or coordinate tourism activities, and to make all these groups to work together achieving the same goals. Lastly, is to identify the tourism market segments or types of tourists the destination wish to attract and serve. Furthermore, after the second step moving on to the generating and evaluating alternatives step in tourism planning process. The generating alternatives development and marketing option to meet the goals requires brainstorming. And there are two parts to evaluation of tourism development and marketing alternatives; feasibility analysis, and impact assessment whether it is possible to be done and understand the impacts both positive and negative associated with tourism development. The last critical steps in a tourism plan are the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. As objectives have been set up for the plan, it needs to be implemented through a set of specific actions that should be adopted and developed by the community with clearly defined responsibilities and timetables. Then implementation is should be monitored and evaluated to find out the success of the plan in meeting its goals and objectives. Plans generally still need to be adjusted over time because of changing go als, changing market conditions, unexpected impacts. Thus the most important of all, successful tourism planning and development should able to serve both tourists and host communities. However, tourism should serve the community first since tourism development is closely coordinated and supported by the local population of the destination. 4.2 Guiding Principles for planning participants Tourism is very important and as the main key driver of economic growth or development tool for the Central Highlands Region, which its future development should therefore be maintained by tourism developers or planners engaging in the tourism planning process. There are set of guiding principles that can be used to support tourism planning which by providing specific policies that need to be developed to suit the particular area of the Central Highlands of the region. The tourism policies which are include in a plan can aim to maximize the benefits of tourism by ensuring that the development able to reach its potential contribution to tourism in the destination at the same time providing benefits for local community. Then it is also to integrate development with its surroundings in terms of design and layout in the way that the facility or service is able to function properly and in order to avoid unexpected impacts such as disturbance to activities. In preparing such policies it re quire planners to understand a number of important factors which are include market demand, environmental impact, transport and accessibility, functional link, regeneration benefits, and labor supply which all these can be vary for different tourism developments such as for labor supply, the quality and amount of labor will be different from one area to another. Tourism planning generally seeks to place new development where the need for employment exists and to benefit the local population from the various ranges of job opportunities. 4.3 Issues to be considered In terms of planning tourism development of the Central Highlands destination region, comprehensive planning is required for successful planning and development which involves systematic approach and series of steps that has been mentioned above. In addition, there are still several issues to be considered regarding to tourism planning for tourism development in the destination especially in terms of the complications and issues that tourism planner may encounters. Refer to the previous Claire A. Gunn descriptions of issues or challenges in the field of tourism planning; the major issues that probably face by the tourism planner in the destination are the lack of system of planning and the dramatic evolutionary changes for aboriginal societies and acculturation. The lack of system of planning can occur in which there is no enough balance between two main drivers of tourism elements both demand and supply. The limited supply in the destination which are include limited infrastructure, accommodation, natural and human resources, as well as tourist attractions would not enough to fulfill the high tourism demand as both elements are dependent on each other. Besides, due to the majority of the island population are ethnic groups and they seems to be distrustful of strangers it will be difficult for the community to develop tourism plan because it requires them adaptation with the industrial societies and they need to decide which areas of the community that will be shared with the tourists and how the community will capture the benefits. Since they need to have a contact with the tourists, it will also lead to modification of the culture as a result of contact of different culture. 5.0 Conclusion The Central Highlands of the Island which is the main discussion in this paper, as a tourist destination region, still have a very little development on tourism due to the lack or limited of supply and natural resources (fresh water) that are important to support for tourism activities and development. One way is that the local government needs to encourage tourism planning and get involve the community in the process and decision making, and use different approaches of tourism planning that play important role in the tourism development in the region. Thus, planning is necessary for tourism in the area to develop at the same time it will provide benefits for the communities in terms of economic, social, and environmental aspects of tourism. Besides, comprehensive planning should be also applied by involving series of steps to achieve specific objectives of tourism development and highly coordinated with the local community and regional planning efforts. However, there are also some issues or challenges in the tourism planning that planners might face include the lack system of planning and acculturation in the area since the community has to still maintain and protect their strong and unique cultures.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Philippine Party-List System: A Failure or a Success? Essay

The country’s population is about 90 million; about 70 percent of which is in poverty. It is not farfetched to say that majority of the country’s population is underserved and marginalized ― our farmers, fisher folks, the youth and the women among others ―and are in need of government’s attention. In a developing country like the Philippines, decision-making or policy-making must gear towards development of these underserved sectors of the Philippine society. The population elects its legislators ― congressional and party-list representatives, senators and the rest of the elective members of the bureaucracy. But what assurance do the Filipino people get that the underserved are represented in the policy-making body of the country? It is the party-list system. As defined by Republic Act No. 7941 also known as the Philippine Party-list Act, â€Å"the party-list system is a mechanism of proportional representation in the election of representat ives to the House of Representatives from national, regional and sectoral parties or organizations or coalitions thereof registered with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).† The rationale behind the emergence of the Philippine party-list system in the Philippine party politics is to provide representation to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors of the society ― a ‘democratizing agent’ to the elite-oriented Congress. Nonetheless, it attempts to challenge the status quo and truly serve the underserved masses (Rivera, 2007). The emergence of the party-list system is not an event which transpired â€Å"out of the blue† rather an attempt to redress an insufficiently undemocratic growing elite party politics in the country. Tracing history backwards, the domination of the elite-oriented party politics can clearly be seen since its beginning up to its continuing ascendancy in the Philippine politics today. When the American rule in the Philippines instigated, they were faced with Filipino armed resistance. To resist such â€Å"insurgencies† and to install its complete control over the Philippines, the Americans painsta kingly deceived the Filipinos thru the Filipinization it proposed ― a venue for Filipino participation in the realm of governance and politics. To achieve such purpose, they â€Å"recruited† the elites to join the Filipinization (Gealogo, 2007). Why the elites? For one, they have their own interest to protect. They have much and more to lose than to gain if they won’t yield and collaborate with the colonizers. And they do not trust their fellow Filipinos for they themselves have branded their fellowmen as ‘thieves’. Simply put, they try to maintain political power. And political power resides in property: in their wealth. It is interesting to note, they have collaborated not with the Americans only but with all the other colonizers who came to our land and they successfully maintained a stronghold in the political arena ― in the arena of influence and the influential ― and so begins the reign of the elites. Dante Simbulan (2005) sites that â€Å"the political parties or factions that developed [today] had one common beginning: the principalia group which . . . was composed of the native ruling elites under the Spaniards [emphasis added].† The elites of today are in fact the elites of the colonial Phi lippines. Surprisingly, the entire Philippine party system in today’s time is dominated only by less than a hundred to a hundred wealthy families, and they exist as political clans and dynasties (Simbulan, R., 2007). Does one expect an elite-oriented Congress to legislate against its own interests and genuinely serve the greater masses ― the marginalized and the underrepresented? Prior to the party-list system, minority parties that represent the interest of the same sectors that the party-lists represent today have existed. They tried to forward the interest of the underserved and the marginalized, but eventually, â€Å"no working class (or counter elite) political group or party was able to prosper [emphasis added] (Simbulan, D., 2005).† Former minority parties did not thrive. Now that the Philippine Party-list Act provides the establishment of the party-list system, the question is: Will it, too, vanish like the minority parties which used to assume the same role it does today? This paper seeks to assess the efficacy of the party-list system while pointing out loopholes and lapses in the system. As Section 2 of Republic Act No 7941 or the â€Å"Party-list System Act† states, the Party-list System has three basic elements: (1) to include the â€Å"marginalized† and â€Å"underrepresented† sectors of the country in the legislative processes of the House of Representatives ― democratize the Congress; (2) to pluralize the party system by encouraging multi-parties and (3) to simplify the electoral system. Let us examine the first element of the party-list system by finding out whether it complies with its most basic purpose or not ― that is to democratize the Congress. Based on RA 7941 and the 1987 Constitution, the party-list (originally) has the following basic features: 1. Twenty percent allocation. The party-list representatives constitute 20% of the total number of representatives including those under the party-list. 2. Two percent threshold. A party or organization must obtain at least two percent of the total votes obtained by the party-list system in order to get one seat. 3. Three-seat limit. Section 11 of RA 7941 specifies that a qualified party would be entitled to a maximum of three seats. 4. Proportional representation. The additional seats that the party is entitled to are computed in proportion to its total number of votes. Over the years, there have been debates on these basic features of the party-list system― the structure per se is said to be a â€Å"counter-productive† structure and is in contrast to the very purpose of the party-list system. To show this, let us take a look at the 14 years of the party-list system. The first ever party-list election in 1998 was accepted with enthusiasm. A total of 123 parties participated in the election. The first party-list election was not free of controversies. Right after the election, a certain party-list (PAG-ASA) filed a petition wanting the filling up of the complete 20 percent membership of the party-list to the House of Representatives― they argued it is mandatory. This petition gathered support from nine other organizations which also filed. Eventually, the COMELEC declared all the other 38 organizations in addition to the already declared 14 winners. In declaring the other 38 organizations the COMELEC clearly disregarded the 2 percent threshold and it reasoned out that their decision was based on the following justifications: (1) ‘the marginalized and the underrepresented sectors must be represented in the House of Representatives, (2) the party-list system must represent the broadest sectors of the society and; (3) it would encourage multi-party system.’ However, 12 of the parties which were initially declared by the COMELEC objected to the proclamation of the other 38 organizations arguing that only them (the 14 initially declared winners) are entitled to the seat in the lower house because the other 38 organizations failed to attain the 2 percent vote threshold. Eventually, the dispute was resolved in the Supreme Court. In an en banc session of the Supreme Court in October 1998 it ruled that the 20 percent seat allocation as prescribed by Section 5 (2) of the Constitution is not mandatory. Furthermore, it ruled that the 2 percent threshold is constitutional thus required to obtain a seat in the House of Representatives. So the COMELEC had to recall the proclamation of the other 38 organizations. Given the basic features of the party-list system, one important question needs to be answered: â€Å"How does the party-list system enhance the chances of marginalized or underrepresented parties of winning seats in the House of Representatives?† The COMELEC says that with the three- seat cap for the party-lists, major political parties or the bigger parties which usually dominates the elections will not have the chance to â€Å"corner all the seats† in the House of Representatives and â€Å"crowd out† minority parties. This, th ey argue, will encourage the party-lists to win seat in the House of Representatives. Granted this to be true and the desired or expected consequence to be existent, the party-list is indeed a potential counter-foil to the elite-dominated Congress. However, given this features, particularly the three-seat cap, Felix Muga (2007c) argues―in contrast with what the COMELEC declares―that this features of the party-list system particularly the three-seat cap is a â€Å"counter-productive† structure for â€Å"it promotes the break-up of a strong party into smaller ones and discourages parties to form bigger coalitions† (Para. 4). To illustrate this, let us consider the events after the 2001 Party-list Elections. After the Supreme Court disqualified some parties during the 2001 Elections, Bayan Muna’s percentage share of total party-list votes reached 26.82 percent (Party-List Canvass Report Number 26 as September 7, 2001). Sadly, they were just given three seats. Consequently, in the 2004 party-list election, Bayan Muna broke up into smalle r parties and obtained 6 seats in the House of Representatives. Note that not only Bayan Muna resorted to this break up; there are also several of other party-lists like the Sanlakas. Thus, Muga further claims that â€Å"it [3-seat cap] does not pave the way for smaller parties to win seats in the House of Representatives. Together with the 2% informal threshold in the simplified Comelec Formula or with the first party-rule of the Panganiban Formula, it cannot fill up the available number of party-list seats and causes the Formula used to contradict the principle of proportional representation [emphasis added].† The party-list as defined is a ‘mechanism for proportional representation’ (RA 7941). Thus, for instance, if a party gets 50 percent of the total party-list votes, it shall get the 50 percent of the total number of seats allocated for the party-lists (principle of proportionality). RA 7941 requires a vote threshold. The two (2) percent vote threshold means that the party which obtained at least 2 percent of the party-list votes will be allotted the seat. Mathematically, this can be represented by total number of votes of all parties divided by the total number of available seats (Hare Quota). In the 2007 Party-list election, the total number of party-list votes reached 8,416,421; the 20 percent seat allocation for that particular Party-List Election translated to 55 seats. Therefore, following the above-mentioned formula, we arrive at â€Å"8,416,421 divided by 55 seats, equals 153,025† (Hare Quota). Following the principle of proportionality, we now compute the ideal seat for BUHAY party-list, the top-notch party-list group in the 2007 Party-List Election. BUHAY attained a total number of votes of 1,169,234; we divide it with the Hare Quota for the 2007 Party-list Election computed earlier which is 153,025 (1,169,234/153,025). Thus, the ideal seat for BUHAY is 7.64. However, the ideal seat is not the actual seat given to the winning party-list groups. Muga (2005) came up with the idea of â€Å"seat allocation error† to illustrate the difference between the ideal seat and the actual seat given (ideal seat – actual seat given). BUHAY party-list’s ideal seat is 7.64, but it was granted with only 3 seats. Thus, the â€Å"seat allocation error† is 4.64 seats. They were deprived of 4 more seats in the Congress and were only given 3. Muga also provided a formula in computing the disenfranchised votes which can be expressed as: Degree of Negation X Hare Quota = Number of votes disenfranchised To a certain extent, the basic features ― the three-seat cap, the 2 percent vote threshold and the First Party Rule ― of the party-list system’s structure caused the negation of proportional representation. This structure is indeed â€Å"counter-productive† on the part of the party-lists and most of all, the entire marginalized sector they represent. The party-list system seeks to democratize the Congress. Ironically, the structure itself does not provide any clear means for a genuine â€Å"democratization† of the Congress. Given this restrictions, ‘no party can really grow in the Congress.’ In the latter part of this paper, performance of the party-lists (in terms of legislation) shall be assessed and we will found out if the current party-list structure has something to do with the party-lists’ performance. Also, major concerns of the party-list system are issues on accreditation, membership and legislation. The accreditation p rocess employed by the Commission on Elections is very loose ― there is lack of prohibition against party-lists with links to the government (irrespective whether direct or indirect), lack of strict imposition of prohibition on party-lists receiving foreign support, lack of strictness in following the rules set by the law on who shall become the party-list’s nominee among others. To illustrate this, let us consider the party-list Aksyon Sambayanan or AKSA. It is very clear in the Supreme Court ruling that a party-list shall be disqualified if â€Å"It is receiving foreign support from any foreign government, foreign political party, foundation, organization, whether directly or through any of its officers or members, or indirectly through third parties for partisan election purposes† (Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 147589, June 26, 2001, En Banc). Despite that, after known to be supported by Socialist International, AKSA still was accredited, allowed to join the election and was given seat in the House of Representatives (Manalansan, 2007). It may be safe to say that the Supreme Court ruling has not been proven insurmountable because such lapses occur. Also is the nominee Catalina Bagasina ― a provincial board member and a business woman ― of the Pilipino Association for Country or Urban Poor Youth Advancement Wel fare (Pacyaw). The Ang Galing Pinoy party-list is a group representing the security guards. Its representative to the Congress is the former first son―the son of the former President now Pampanga Representative Gloria Arroyo― Rep. Juan Miguel â€Å"Mikey† Arroyo. What is troubling about this is that Rep. Arroyo is not and has never been a security guard. In short, he doesn’t belong to the sector he represents. Logically, how can he truly understand the plight of the security guards if he himself is not one of them? The Supreme Court ruling states that â€Å"not only the candidate party or organization must represent marginalized and underrepresented sectors, so also must its nominees. The nominees must be Filipino citizen ‘who belong to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties [he/she represents]’† (Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 147589, June 26, 2001, En Banc, para. 8). Surprisingly, Ang Galing Pin oy which is in clear defiance to this rule is still in position in Congress. Still surprisingly, there are other party-lists in defiance to this. 1-UTAK party-list ― a group representing PUV drivers, operators and commuters ― had the late former Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes as its representative. It is interesting to note that former Sec. Reyes is a stalwart defender of the oil deregulation law, which this group he tried to represent, strongly opposes. Another point the Supreme Court ruling raised was that â€Å"the political party, sector, organization or coalition must represent the marginalized and underrepresented groups identified in Section 5 or R.A. 7941† (Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 147589, June 26, 2001, En Banc). However, APEC or the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives is not a marginalized group yet it is granted the chance to join the election and win seats. Manalansan (2007) further points out other party-lists which are not considered marginalized. They are BUHAY, Veterans Federation of the Philippines and Cooperative-National Confederation of Cooperat ives (Coop-NATCCO) among others. Moreover, the Supreme Court ruled that â€Å"the party or organization must not be an adjunct of, or a project organized or entry funded or assisted by, the government. . . . The participation of the government or its official in the affairs of a party-list candidate is not only illegal and unfair to other parties, but also deleterious to the objective of the law† (Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 147589, June 26, 2001, En Banc). However, the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP) is a government-funded group. It is in fact a creation of R.A. 2640 (Manalansan, 2007). Clearly, there are lots of loopholes in the current party-list system ― not only the structure which makes it ineffective but also the very process of filtrating or accrediting the party-lists-to-be and the nominees. In its 14 years of existence, how well did the party-lists performed in the Philippine legislature? In the 11th Congress, the party-list representatives filed a total of 3, 698 bills and resolutions. Only 20 bills reached Second Reading. In the 12th and 13th Congress, party-lists representatives filed a total of 5, 706 bills and resolutio ns, but majority of which are still pending (Manalansan, 2007). In the 14th Congress, there were 19 bills which reached the Third Reading but disappointingly, none became a law. One may remember the approval of the 125 pesos daily minimum wage increase in the 13th Congress. It was filed by Bayan Muna Rep. Crispin Beltran (12th Congress) and refilled by him again in the 13th Congress (this time as Anakpawis representative). It was approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate. However, it was later on recalled. At the brighter side, laws on Abolition of the Death Penalty, Protection to Children in Conflict with the Law, Anti-Trafficking in Persons, Anti-Violence against Women and Overseas Absentee Voting have been passed with party-list representatives as forwarders and/or consultants. The progressive party-list representatives are diligent enough to file and re-file bills and resolutions that would serve the greater mass. These are bills to amend the Labor Code, to repeal the Automatic Appropriations law, Mining Act, National Government Center Land Utilization Act and Oil Deregulation Act among others. On the contrary, a number of bills have been passed within a short period of deliberations only. These bills are alleged as â€Å"Malacaňang-certified† legislations. Examples of this are the Expanded Value Added Tax, Lateral Attrition Law and the infamous Anti-terrorism bill or the Human Security Act of 2007. Since the beginning of the party-list system there were assumptions that the party-list, originating from elite politics, shall only prolong elite politics in the country (Simbulan, 2007). Some believe that this is just a make-believe measure to make it appear that the Philippine society is well-represented in the legislature. At this point, we will try to assess whether this assumption is true or not. It is a fact that the Philippine congress is a congress of the elite or the wealthy oligarchs of the nation. As a matter of fact, in a study conducted by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), it found out that ‘60 to 100 wealthy families (political clans) â€Å"dominate† and â€Å"determine† the entire Philippine legislature or politics’ (Simbulan, 2007). The PCIJ studied political clans from 2001 to 2004 and found out that political parties in the country are really â€Å"clan alliances†. In a Congress like this ―dominated by traditional parties and wealthy political clans, where number matters ― what can the very few party-list representatives do to forward the interest of the masses when it conflicts with the elites? Proponents of the party-list system admit that the party-lists have been absorbed by the traditional parties in the Congress. In news article from GMA News TV on April 6, 2010, former Marikina Rep. Romeo Candazo ― one of the main authors of the RA 7941 ― said that ‘majority of the party-list representatives have been co-opted by traditional politics. As such, it is very difficult for this minority party-list to resist the domination of these ruling elites. These political clans coalesce with other clans or political parties to uphold and protect the status quo and to maintain a stronghold on the legislature. This sufficiently explains why the party-lists get co-opted by these traditional parties. Clearly, the party-list is to the disadvantage as compared to the traditional parties in the Congress. First, the party-list lacks the number or a stronghold in the Congress due to the seat allocation restrictions of the Party-List System Act. Also, the party-list lacks the machinery during elections. The very low voters’ turnout on party-list election testifies to the ignorance of the people on this system. This may be attributed to the lack of machinery of the party-lists system. The party-lists lack the financial prowess to air political ads on televisions and other media of information. In a Pulse Asia Survey (March 27 to April 4, 2004), television is the leading primary source of election-related information (71%), followed by radio at 20 percent and newspapers by 4 percent (Arao, 2007). As such, how would the people know about the party-list if these media of information is not maximized by the party-list? However, we cannot deny the fact that the party-list has two faces: the rich and the poor. Some party-list representatives are found at the bottom 10 percent poorest Representatives, but there are party-list representatives who are millionaires. In the 12th Congress, APEC representatives were all multi-millionaires. There are many other millionaire party-list representatives like Alagad’s Rodante Macoleto, AVE’s Eulogio Magsaysay, and Coop-NATCCO’s Guillermo Cua among others. Note that in the 13th Congress, the richest party-list representative was VFP’s Gidaya with a net worth of 34.66 million pesos and the poorest was Anakpawis’ Rep. Rafael Mariano with a net worth of 18,000 pesos (Manalansan, 2007). It is not farfetched that one day the party-list is no longer of difference with the traditional parties in the Congress. What future awaits the Party-List System? Will it too vanish or survive the test of traditional politics? In conclusion, this paper does not undermine the potential of the party-list system for it has forwarded a significant number of bills and resolutions since 1998 up to this present Congress. It is a clear sign that the party-lists system, somehow, is working in the Philippines. They have provided the underserved and the marginalized a voice in the congress. They tried to strike a balance in an elite Congress. The party-list per se is a great chance for the masses to be represented. But it is undeniable that the party-li st system is failing. It might just be a matter of less than a decade that the â€Å"narrow alley constitutionally reserved for the representation of marginal sectors in Congress† be permanently closed by traditional politics (Tuazon, 2007). It is quite not hard to conclude that the Philippine party-list system is more of a failure than a success. First and for most, its goal to democratize the Philippine Congress is at the onset defeated for the structure itself limits the growth of this party-list groups in the Congress and even encouraged break ups among the party-lists. Secondly, the issue of accreditation weakens the chance of the party-list system to genuinely fulfill its promising purpose ― to serve the marginalized and the underrepresented sectors of the society. Moreover, the party-lists are co-opted by traditional politics. The party-list legislation has not resulted to any concrete law that would directly benefit the underserved sectors of the Philippine society. Nonetheless, the future for the party-list system is still bright despite such failures. As Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid of the Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma Foundation said: Those who argue that it [the party-list system] should be retained, and in fact strengthened, point to how it has been able to balance our â€Å"elite† democracy by providing representation to sectors which otherwise would have been excluded under our present political system. But how do we deal with blatant abuses like having individuals who had never been a part of the group that they are expected to represent? . . . It is about time that the system should be examined by groups from various sectors of society [emphasis added]. The party-list system as the sole legal or constitutional means by which the underrepresented and the marginalized sectors of the Philippine society assert their rights and be part of the Philippine legislature, despite its failure, should be braced and strengthened so as to serve its purpose truly.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Essay Working in Teams - 999 Words

Team Members’ Roles Working in teams can be a very effective way to accomplish a large project with less effort on each individual person in the team. The use of teamwork is beneficial because it brings different people together along with their different thought processes, which can bring many different ideas to the table. â€Å"A structurally diverse work group is one in which the members, by virtue of their different organizational affiliations, roles, or positions, can expose the group to unique sources of knowledge.† (Cummings, 2004) By having different types of people working together, they all contribute in their own unique way to the team. Many different things can contribute to team performance and success. By figuring out what†¦show more content†¦One conflict can be people in the group disagreeing on what should be done and how it should get done. Even if everyone else in the group does not care either way, then the group as a whole will suffer because of the two individuals that cannot agree. The best way for this problem to be resolved is for everyone to get involved and to decide on the best course of action. Whether they want to use one person’s idea or another and how they will achieve that idea or task. Another problem that may face affect teamwork is a lack of communication. When one ore more people within the team refuse to, or have the lack or responsibility to communicate with others, then the team will suffer because that persons’ part may not be complete or up to standard. This is why proper planning ahead of time and having the groups due dates set ahead of time to make some cushion room for any drawbacks. There is usually the feeling for some to be secluded and keep to them selves as well. 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Wednesday, January 1, 2020

The Sun A Popular Method For Pop Culture Essay - 1525 Words

Short films are a popular method in pop culture used to analyze ideas, perspectives, attitude and images of certain groups. â€Å"Herdsman in the Sun† is a short film that scrutinizes social rituals and socializing celebrations. It showcases the different roles that are played by men and women in the Wodaabe tribe. In the short film, physical appearance, attitudes and facial expressions of men and women, and the tribe’s rituals and customs as a whole, demonstrate the gender specific social setting of their culture. The physical appearance, rituals and customs break the gendered norms by placing sexual power in the hands of women instead of men, and giving the right to women to choose their grooms, and be sexually liberated. Additionally, men are the ones who use make up and and adorn themselves with beads and hats to impress women. On the other hand, the attitudes and facial expressions of men and women make the fact known that gendered norms are still being followed. 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