Globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Globalisation - Essay Example At the time, 'USA produced at least half of the world's manufactured goods and held half its reserves' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_sytem ). While the gold standard prevailed, currency exchange rates were more or less fixed, ensuring stability in world trade. Although expounding a liberal free trade and free market philosophy, the USA also is accused of being isolationist. 'America first' is a very powerful slogan. 'The historic insulation of the American economy from the global one stems from the size and physical remoteness of the U.S. market, which relies less on trade than virtually any other in the world. ' even a modest percentage of American GNP constitutes a sizable share of global economic activity. In the early 1950s ' American exports constituted more than a third of industrial exports, yet less than 5 percent of GNP' (http://www.lehigh.edu/'bm05/research/global15.htm ). This kind of hegemony of the US economy began to be eroded in the 1960s and 70s when financial capital in the form of international syndicates of the largest banks of the world undermined the stability of national currencies. There was speculation in currency trading at a time when the currencies of post-war Germany and Japan were becoming stronger vis-a-vis t he American dollar. There was also greater manufacturing successes and enhanced export potential evinced by Japan and the EEC as a trading bloc. Since then trans-national or multinational corporations have also complicated capital and currency movements across the world. A cogent reason for the U.S. planners to advance the concept of a liberal, free market international economic system was that, as the then US Secretary of State Cordell Hull (1933 - 1944) argued the perception that the main cause of two world wars of the 20th century were due to economic protectionism. Nazi Germany's exchange controls in the form of bilateral arrangements and the British Empire's Sterling Area, stood in the way of international free flow of capital and foreign investments. The U.S. indulged in the rhetoric that '' free markets (were associated) with material prosperity, stability, justice, democracy, human rights, international peace and more' (Moon, 1998). However, without government intervention vulnerable groups like unskilled labour find themselves outside the benefits accruing to countries in the wake of such liberalisation (vide The Stolper-Samuelson theory). The 'Heckscher-Ohlin trade theory' also predicts that 'inefficient sectors of the economy will suffer losses. ... As American supremacy ' eroded since the 1970s, greater vulnerabilities have produced dislocations in scattered industries, most prominently in textiles, steel and autos'(op. cit.). As a result of this ''vulnerability to trade competitors and its changing pattern of comparative advantage, American policy has become increasingly narrowly self-interested' (op. cit.). Outsourcing or offshoring are terms used to explain the migration of most of American service and technical jobs

Lysistrata Unbound fit as a prequel to Aristophanes' original play Essay

Lysistrata Unbound fit as a prequel to Aristophanes' original play - Essay Example She tries to achieve this by asking the Greek women to deny their husbands of sex until an agreement had been reached to ceasefire (Aristophanes 26). She had an arrangement with the elderly women in Athens to capture Akropolis, which serve as the central point of both the Athenians and the Spartans. The essence of the plan by Lysistrata was just to point out the negative effects of war on the women, as they seem to be more concerned about the welfare of the society. As the play progresses, the chorus of both the old men and women were involved in a confrontation and the women were victorious. In the course of the confrontation, the men made some remarks that seem derogatory and portraying the female race as a gender of no societal value, aside from their domestic functions as wives and mothers at home. This when compared to the ancient Greek society could create some kind of semblance in the way women are being treated as slaves and object of sex (Aristophanes 33). The crux of the wo men’s argument is the fact that they want to be recognized as an important element in the Greek society. They realize the impact of their hard work in the society and would not want the selfish interest of the men, whose quest for self glorification undermine the interest of the society at large. Lysistrata unbound by Machado Machado represents one of the modern adaptations of the original play by Aristophanes. The focus of the play by Machado was centered on a matron that was transformed by the current war situation tearing apart the family structure in the society. The play exonerates the will power of women as opposed to the notion presented in the Aristophanes’ original conception of male dominance. Machado added a feminist angle to the play, which serves as a basis for the differences from the original plot. The answer to question two The use of chorus in the play, Lysistrata unbound helps in the translation of the play to the audience in a clear and explicit mann er. Most Greek plays possess an element of dance and chorus which is more visible by the audience, but the difference with Lysistrata unbound is the way the chorus was employed as a unifying element that joins the dialogue between the women and older men. In the modern adaptation of the play, the chorus was employed as an element that helps interpret the tension and respite in the play. For example, the conversation between the chorus of old women and chorus of old men reflected the tension and respite that accompanied the act in the play. Thus, at some point, it functions as a sort of comic relief, which takes away the shine off the tensed atmosphere caused by the confrontation. While in the original play, the use of chorus signifies the rich Greek culture employed deliberately by Aristophanes to create an avenue where there would be an opportunity for both parties to confront each other. Without the chorus, there possibly could not have been any other avenue for the confrontation to take place. It would be quite irrational for the women to have taken arms against the Greek male whose main occupation is to execute warfare. A careful analysis of the chorus would point out the intention of Aristophanes in employing chorus as a dramatic element. In the course of the chorus, the women saw an avenue in which they could express their desires and anger at the male folks while the chorus of old men