Introduction to international studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Introduction to international studies - Essay Example Main points: Population: The article certainly addresses population, in the sense of human resource, as a key component for industrialization and sustainability unto the future. Demographic elements in the population of a country influence a country’s predisposition to domestic production, political stability, and regional influence. The article argues that a change in the population brought about by a change in the population size composition, and distribution relative to that of neighboring countries has a direct impact on the countrys GDP and international security. The article postulates that for sustainability unto the future, a renewal in the population’s working force (by maintaining proportional composition and distribution) was essential. Culture: The article does not address culture to any meaningful extent. However, it uses one element of culture i.e. religion, adopting a radical approach to it in justifying the threat imposed by high growth rate in Muslim states. Industrialization: The article discusses industrialization as amongst the major changes onto the future as well as an intermediate effect of the change in population demographics. Consequently, industrialization as identified in the article will be a determinant for international trade and influence the flow of capital and human resources as between countries. However, the article fails to establish which sectors of these economies will influence the transition of the developing countries into fully developed states as forecasted. Governance and Politics: The article addresses the issue of governance and politics under primarily two mechanisms: Firstly, it analyses the foreign policy relations of the United States, postulating that the US international influence is continuously receding, even amongst its traditional allies such as the Turkey, Egypt. Secondly, it discusses the issue of politics in relation to the US’ super power status. The article argues that

Chapter 9 summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chapter 9 summary - Essay Example This notion takes on an absurd twist when the author states that cobras would then not exist if someone were not thinking about cobras. However, cobras existed before people began thinking and talking about them. This prompts Plato to argue that conceptual thoughts exist outside the material and human thought, placing them in a state of permanence and the physical object in a state of impermanence. Though Plato argues that material objects aren’t as real as Forms, he states that objects do contain some degree of reality, which introduces his concept of metaphysical dualism. This portion of Plato’s philosophy is that someone cannot fully comprehend reality until they grasp that reality consists of two independent components that cannot be explained in terms of the other - mind and body, which is referred to as mind-body dualism. This theory states that a human being consists of an immaterial mind and a material body. One cannot exist without the other; our immaterial soul travels to new bodies between each cycle of life and death. Plato’s dialogue is discussed, which outlines how Plato views the mind and body in terms of invisible and visible. The material things that can be explored with the five senses are material, whereas the immaterial things are invisible. The human body, being visible, is considered to be material, and the soul and the mind, or the intellect are immaterial since they cannot be perceived by any of the senses. By categorizing the body and mind in this way, Plato is able to reveal how the soul is able to survive death while the body succumbs to the destruction associated with death. The soul is an unchanging entity while the body is subjected to a myriad of changes over time. Along with this mind-body dualism, Plato also argues that there are various degrees of reality. We normally consider reality in terms of what is real and what is not real. However, Plato argues that a mirror image has only