Social effects of hurricane Katrina in the Gulf region Essay

Social effects of hurricane Katrina in the Gulf region - Essay Example Social effects of hurricane Katrina in the Gulf region Research suggests Hurricane Katrina negatively impacted the Gulf region because it led to loss of lives, civil disturbances, and property damages. This included the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq in a type of political revenge attack against the terrorist activity led by Osama bin Laden. The hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in one of the worst times for America in Iraq, when the opposition attacks were at their strongest. The failure of the American government to help its own people in the aftermath of the hurricane contrasted sharply with the political rhetoric of the Bush administration, exposing its hypocrisy internationally on truly humanitarian and vital issues of domestic security. From this point on, the Bush administration would lose whatever political authority and respect it retained in America, eventually ending in the election of President Obama in the 2008 election. It is important to recognize how Hurricane Katrina eroded the political authority of the Bush administr ation at a time when it was conducting two unpopular political wars abroad. The symbolic effect of the images broadcast internationally displayed America as no different from the â€Å"Third World† nations that it perennially derides and rejects in building its political myth of superiority. The public, both domestically in America and internationally in civil society, are aware of the duality between the ideals proclaimed by the political leadership in America, and the actual actions taken by authority. For example, in talking about peace and justice, the U.S. administration at the time was practicing torture, extraordinary rendition, and other forms of illegal detention such as in undisclosed, secret prisons and Guantanamo Bay. This is a hypocritical stance in many ways, despite the way that it was posited by the Bush administration under the rhetoric of Homeland Security and public safety. What Katrina did is publicly expose the hypocrisy in this rhetoric to full internati onal view, showing that the Bush administration really was not concerned with people’s safety, health, and welfare at all, especially if they were not in a wealthy, Wall St. constituency. Thus, the first major effect of the Katrina disaster was to erode the public authority of the Bush administration and to associate it publicly with hypocrisy. (Brinkley, 2007). This result is quite important as the theme carried over into the 2008 Presidential election and led to the election of Barrack Obama and a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. As a political symbol, Katrina showed the dichotomy between rich and poor in America, and how those in positions of power are more likely to be serving their own interests rather than that of the public good or public need. This is important as it creates a type of despair popularly, a political vacuum of sorts that the â€Å"hope and change† mantra of the Obama administration capitalized on in 2008. F rom this it is legitimate to conclude that Hurricane Katrina caused a major change in political perceptions in America, and that this included a loss of faith in the ability of the government to provide services in an emergency situation. (Brown, 2005) Consider the vast destruction and number of deaths and injuries that took place in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and it is evident that this is precisely a situation where the

Conducting A Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Conducting A Strategic Management - Essay Example These entrepreneurs are very crucial factors for economic growth and development as they lead the entire society to the future growth and prospects. Every successful entrepreneur is having some distinct features but there are certain common qualities that must be present in each entrepreneur. Many scholars and researchers have studied the nature and traits of entrepreneurs and they have identified a number of such skills. However, some of the essential traits are leadership, initiatives, planner, risk bearer, opportunity explorer, creative, specific & clear goals etc (Kumar, 2008, p.38-39). There are a number of role models of an ideal entrepreneurs can be found from the past and present evidences. Some of the very popular and successful entrepreneurs are like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Walt Disney, Rupert Murdoch etc and many more. These people have set examples before emerging entrepreneurs and they are also great source of motivation for the society. Some of the comm on qualities in these entrepreneurs are that; they are good planners, they innovative and creative; and they have brought multiple social benefits through their innovation. In the process of starting a new venture, planning is the second most important task after generating a viable and feasible business idea. Success rate of new start-up venture is quite low. The following data shows the survival rate of new venture within one year. Figure 1: One Year Survival Rates by Firm Size (Source: Timmons and Spinelli, 2009, p.86) Considering the above table, a new business is always exposed to multiple risks, and as due to its vulnerable nature it becomes very difficult to cope with the existing competitive business environment. Therefore, before establishing a new venture, it necessary to develop a realistic and effective business plans. A business plan includes a detailed projection of the business consisting of marketing plan, operational plan, human resource plan and financial plan etc. For enhancing the probability of the success rate all these planning must be logical and feasible. In this process, it becomes very necessary to conduct the preliminary research tasks to explore the opportunities and identify expected threats. Moreover, business plan is also required for many purposes. Firstly, a new business venture requires a significant amount of capital and its major sources are prospective investors and creditor s. A comprehensive and effective business plan also includes the financial projection like future income and financial growth etc and it helps to attract investors and creditors. Secondly, it also helps in acquiring legal licenses as it described the nature of business and its environmental impact. Thirdly, a detailed business plan is required for risk management (Covello and Hazelgren, 2006, p.21-24). Before preparing a business plan it is necessary to analyse the market and economic condition based to the business idea. This paper will attempt to present market research for starting the new venture and will also present financial