Sunday, October 12, 2008

Help fight hunger!!!

Play this game! For each correct answer freerice.com will donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

Link for the game:
http://www.freerice.com/index.php

About their cause:
http://www.freerice.com/about.html

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Another Great, Meaningful Song!

If Tomorrow Never Comes-Garth Brooks
(You can hear the song on youtube at this link)
(Lyrics from this site)


Sometimes late at night
I lie awake and watch her sleeping
Shes lost in peaceful dreams
So I turn out the lights and lay there in the dark
And the thought crosses my mind
If I never wake up in the morning
Would she ever doubt the way I feel
About her in my heart

(chorus)

If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That shes my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face the world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes

'Cause Ive lost loved ones in my life
Who never knew how much I loved them
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel

*chorus*

So tell that someone that you love
Just what you're thinking of
If tomorrow never comes






Thursday, September 11, 2008

Being Free...

I was thinking, with this being the 7th anniversary of September 11th, what it means to truly be free. America is truly free. I should also say that, just like any other man-made or man-supported institution, America is not perfect, but I don't think that I could be prouder to live anywhere else.

In America I am financially free. I may not have the millions that everyone dreams they could have but I have the choices and the resources available to me that I can utilize to create my life. Financially, my life is what I make it.

In America I am free to think and to say, with the proper tones, whatever it is that I want to say. It is my choice if I want my religion, family or any other external influence to have a say in how to run my life. Because of the utmost respect that I have for my family and religion, I allow them to have a say in how my life runs however, any decision I make is mine and although I listen to what everyone has to say, no one, in America, has the power to make my decisions for me.

Many foreigners really do have the wrong idea of how Americans really are. They let the few Girls Gone Wild tapes, racy teen movies, and tabloid headlines represent the entire American population. Of the many lessons that I have learned so far (and hopefully I will be blessed to never stop learning) is that one should never let a stereotype of an individual tarnish the way that you view them. If I applied the stereotypes that I knew of every culture to each person that I met, then I would have a very limited circle of friends and an even smaller scope of knowledge. Let's take the French for example. The main stereotype for them is that they smell terrible and have terrible politics. But who doesn't? I can't think of one country in the entire world that doesn't have at least one person with a foul body odor nor can I think of one country whose politics can't be criticized. The whole idea is to not let a silly stereotype keep you from seeing the good in everything.

In America, as long as I respect my government, my family, and my religious institution, I can do, say, and be what I want.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

My Hindi Phrases

मैं तुम्हे स्लाप मौन चाहती हूँ
मुझे नींद रही हैं
मैं सोने जा रही हूँ
मैं
तुमसी प्यार करती हूँ
मेरा राजकुमार!
तुम
बहुत सिल्ली हो मेरा नाम कैरोलीन है
శివ
శిరీష్ మోదుగ
కైరోల్య్న్


यह मेरा मेंहदी डिजाईन हैं
















Thursday, April 24, 2008

My Case Study on Argentina & Effects of Peronism

Argentina:

A Case Study on Peronism

Without change, how can there be progress? As seen so many times in the history of Latin America populist caudillo governments are slow to accept change. With the constant cries from both the laborers for reform and from the elite for maintenance of the status quo, it is difficult for these leaders to significantly develop their nations. However, Argentina, today displays itself in the top three for Human Development Index of all Latin American countries (World Bank). Although Argentina’s development process has been significantly more successful than most other Latin American countries, their success has been subdued due to the infamous effects of political instability, populism and caudillismo.

Political History of Argentina

Argentina’s recent history has been marked with a long line of military authoritarian rule. As Manwoo Lee points out, Argentina has, since its beginning as an independent nation in 1810, been plagued with either anarchy or caudillo rule (Lee, 558). These caudillos, struck with upholding the traditions of populist authoritarian rule, failed to properly address the needs that every new nation lacks.

In order to have a successful nation there are two key elements that must be established in order to maintain a stable nation. One is the question of political rule. The people must decide whether or not they want a leader who can be democratic or authoritarian. Under the category of choosing a preferential type of government also falls the question of centralization. This is a subcategory that must be established as well. The second key element is the preferred economic system. In an ideal world a leader will take time to gather relevant information as to how to go about modernizing and improving their country.

As the first leaders of Argentina failed to establish these parameters, each of them had a different set of ideas of ideal governing, which led to deep social unrest and overall disdain. However after 1850, Juan Bautista Alberdi and Domingo Faustina Sarmiento developed and implemented their theories of nation building, which resulted in a short period of limited stability. Although both of their theories concentrated on the failures of the “old” method of governing, each theory had a different approach to resolving the issue. Whereas Alberdi declared that European immigration was the key to “creating civilization”, Sarmiento emphasized education of the people in hopes of dispelling the “savage picture provided by the gauchos of the interior” (Lee, 560).

Nevertheless, Lee states that although these men provided a good basis for establishing the young Argentina, their theories resulted in a greater instability in the long run. Lee goes on to say that the increased immigration to Argentina did, in all its help, increase the population of Argentina however since the immigrants had little political experience and therefore fit perfectly with what the gauchos preferred in their governing-a culture of people who did not actively pursue reform (Lee, 561).

In addition, the immigrant population brought forth a middle class. In traditional Argentina, there was the feudal relationship of caudillos or gauchos and the campesinos who worked under them. This new concept of a middle class was not readily accepted even so, the passive idea was that “as long as individuals outside the ruling class did not threaten the lifestyles of the elite they should be left alone” (Lee, 562). It was in this manner that Argentina was governed for many years.

Through this manner of governing, a deep gap was created, setting the stage for a social uprising. Additionally, it is within the nature of the economic system that modernization occurs whether initiated by a government itself or through the involuntary method of globalization. Samuel Huntington developed a theory known as the “gap hypothesis” (Adelman, 244). This idea essentially states that as modernization occurs, standards and expectations increase without the consideration as to whether or not the system in question is able to meet the higher demands. Thus, a gap is created pending disaster and the possibility of unrest is heightened when governments do not reform to meet demands.

This is exactly the case with Argentina just prior to the rise of Perón. Immigrants, although lacking in political experience, were well versed in labor movements and fair work. When the ideas, completely foreign to the near feudal Argentina, began to circulate amongst the citizenry and expectations slowly began to rise, the governments found themselves in a situation they had no power over. With this, the laissez-faire attitude of the government towards the emerging bourgeoisie ended up having to address the concerns and simultaneously “deal with” the middle class as well (Adelman, 245).

Consequently, it was not the government who “dealt with” bridging the gap, rather it was a political party that would begin to ensure the needs of the laborers. In 1916, the Radical Party came to power (Lee, 562). This party was the representative of the middle and lower classes. Lee articulates that as a result of the rise of the Radical party the inert approach of the elite “began for the first time to develop defensive attitudes toward social change and development” (Lee, 562-3).

Henceforth, Lee’s titled article, Argentine Political Instability: A Crisis of Simultaneous Quest for Authority and Equality, comes to fruition. Although lower and middle classes had legitimate representation in government, a tell-tale sign of a growing democracy, “Argentine governments [still] tended to cater to the needs of only…the upper class” (Lee, 563).

It was in an essay by Jose Lucero where the stated that “uprisings and revolutions provoked nightmares in the criollo elite imagination of subaltern sectors waiting like volcanoes to erupt” (Lucero, 30). Better said, the mounting unrest was similar to waiting on a volcano to erupt, the great time there is for the pressure to accumulate the more fury there is to be release when everything falls apart.

Yet, in every tragic story, there is a hero who comes to pull everything together again. Juán Perón rose up as a populist leader with new and vibrant ideas to reform Argentina. He envisioned addressing the aforementioned needs of a nation and undergoing a complete reform the government.

Due to the earlier immigration ideas of Alberdi and Sarmiento, an excess immigrant population had been formed in Argentina. Still, as the elite were not interested in the new bourgeoisie, assimilation into the Argentine “identity” rarely occurred. Subsequently, one of the platforms that Perón ran on was to create an Argentine national identity (Lee, 564).

Peronism

Perón, through his healthy and numerous relations with various labor parties and workers (unionized and not), became such an appealing leader to the lower and middle class especially with his promises of “state jobs and upward social mobility” (Ciria, 22). Ciria also states that Perón’s appeal for every other citizen was a “[fostering] of nationalism, Argentina’s neutrality in the war [WWII], better living conditions and a still imprecise sense of community” (23). Unsurprisingly, the Catholic Church was also a major supporter of Perón and his ideals (23).

Once in power, Perón created the Peronist Party, or the Partido Peronista (PP), which consequently incorporated all of his supporters under one umbrella party (23). Everyone else that he did not have under his party, Perón’s wife at the time-Evita-slowly but surely included them into their national movement.

To add to his popularity, Perón and his wife always followed a policy of direct communication with their followers. It was in this manner that his charisma was able to be seen by Argentineans’ living inside and outside of the major cities (24).

Nevertheless Perón, who enjoyed success in the political arena, failed to adequately address the needs of the economy. Everything looked fine at the beginning, foreign investors were plentiful, light industry was coming to realization, and gross national product (GNP) was on the rise (24). However, as the years moved along, little else was done to embrace free trade and even less was done to keep foreign investors in the country. Perón engaged in spending money everywhere else, such as in the army, as opposed to improving infrastructure. Investors began to back out when Argentina’s external debt became too high due to deteriorating terms of trade thus creating a deficit in their foreign reserves. Perón attempted to correct this occurrence through instituting laws regulating foreign investment, but even these actions came about too late (24-25).

In September 1955, Juan Perón was overthrown through a military golpe de estado due to his unfavorable actions with the Argentine economy. After a short military rule, elections were held in 1957 and all Peronist affiliated parties were forbidden to run. Even again, in 1963 these parties were banned from participating (25).

Peronism Reformed

Despite the banishment of the PP, the various bureaucratic authoritarian regimes (BAU), of which there were many, and through the many general elections held, it is seen that not one group came to power without exhibiting some form of the Peronist ideals. For example, Frondizi was able to win a majority vote by appealing to the Peronists by means of promising “to restore legality for the party, recognize the workers’ confederation, and re-implement some nationalist programs” from the era (26).

The elite were more than overjoyed while Perón was in exile, as they regularly describe Peronismo as the hecho maldito (James, 276). The more that the PP was repressed, the harder it fought to rise, though not always under the Peronist name. Many new parties were created during this time frame that were still Peronist by nature but for the sake of political participation were not the same names (James, 273).

New party names include: the Revolutionary Peronist Youth, Revolutionary Peronist Movement, and others. More importantly than the new names, were the new unions and groups that were formed. One social combative union was the Huerta grande under Frondizi, which increased workers’ living standards (277-8) while another new PP was called the Partido Justicialista (Corradi, 14). Guerilla groups formed, mostly by youth, called Juventud Universitaria Peronista and Juventud Argentina por la Emancipación Nacional (JAEN)(James, 282-3). Many of the youth groups, although rooted in Peronism, actually dispelled Peronist ideals in a way since much of the younger generation concentrated more on getting heard than actually developing an Argentine identity (Ciria, 29).

Peronism Today

Nevertheless, Peronism leaves its mark, even today in everyday Argentinean politics. The current president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, wife of previous president Néstor Kirchner, actively campaign through the Justicialist Party which has “repeatedly reinvented itself to suit the times, shifting from its leftist populist roots to 1990s neoliberalism, and back again” (Sax, 86). Sax, in his article The Power behind Peronism, states that Kirchner has “since sought to distance himself from Duhalde [a remnant of the PP]” as he prefers to construct alliances outside of Peronism (87). After hearing this, many were disheartened due to the apparent attempt to move away from Peronism and the party was split into two “camps” (87).

Conclusion

In the actual Argentine Politics, Peronism is still seen in two different lights. Though there are still those that swear by it, there are others who believe that Peronism, at the end of the day, is just a populist method of governing. However insignificant or significant it may be today, Peronism undoubtedly had many lasting effects in the politics of the region. Peronistic ideals reached even as far as Uruguay and beyond.


References

Adelman, Jeremy. Reflections on Argentine Labour and the Rise of Perón. Bulletin of Latin American Research. Vol 11, No 3 (Sept, 1992) pg. 243-259. www.jstor.org/stable/3338863

Arcenaux, C.L. Institutional Design, Military Rule, and Regime Transition in Agentina (1976-1983): An Extension of the Remmer Thesis. Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol 16, No 3 (1997) pp 327-350. www.jstor.org/stable3338946

Brennan, James P. Review of Peronism without Perón: Unions, Parties, and Democracy in Argentina By: James McGuire. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,Vol 561 (Jan 1999) pp 198-199. www.jstor.org

Ciria, Alberto. Peronism Yesterday and Today. Latin American Perspectives. Vol 1, No 3 (Autumn, 1974) pp 21-41. www.jstor.org/stable/2633118.

Corradi, Juan. Argentina and Peronism: Fragments of the Puzzle. Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 1, No. 3. (Autumn, 1974). Pp 3-20. www.jstor.org/stable/2633117.

DeRouen, Karl and Uk Heo. Modernization and the Military in Latin America. British Journal of Political Science. Vol 31, No. 3. (Jul, 2001) pp 475-496. www.jstor.org/stable/3593286.

Eaton, Karl. Can Politicians Control Bureaucrats? Applying Theories of Politica Control to Argentina’s Democracy. Latin American Politics and Society. Vol 45, No 4. (Winter, 2003). Pp 33-62. www.jstor.org/stable/3177130.

James, Daniel. The Peronist Left, 1955-1975. Journal of Latin American Studies. Vol 8, No 2 (Nov, 1976) pp 273-296. www.jstor.org/stable/156528.

Lee, Manwoo. Argentine Political Instability: A Crisis of Simultaneous Quest for Authority and Equality. Journal of Inter-American Studies, Vol 11, No 4 (Oct, 1969). Pp 558-570. www.jstor.org.

Lucero, Jose. Locating the "Indian Problem": Community, Nationality, and Contradiction in Ecuadorian Indigenous Politics. Latin American Perspectives, Vol 30, No 1. (Jan, 2003) pp 23-48. www.jstor.org.

Munck, Ronaldo. Democratization and Demilitarization in Argentina, 1982-1985. Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol 4, No 2 (1985) pp 85-93. www.jstor.org.

Sax, David. The Power Behind Peronism. Foreign Policy, No 144 (Sept-Oct, 2004) pp 86-87.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

New Semester

So, the new semester has officially started. What's on my TDL? Let's see...

1. Register/sign up for my OPI, Wisconsin exam, and exit interview
2. Apply for graduation...ya it's a little late and my name won't be in the program...but I get to walk! :D
3. Organize my Adopt-a-Spot project for MUN
4. Register for MUN to do community service during ODU's first annual International Festival!
5. Finish the agenda for my officer meeting Thursday
6. Present my merit system to Prof. Fornella
7. Tutor
8. Create a course outline to tutor one child in elementary school
9. Work (City of Norfolk and Blockbuster)
10. Almost forgot...Homework! Which includes buying the books that BOTH of my university bookstores are out of. :(
11. Keep tweaking my resume and sending it off to a million different places.
12. Talk to some military recruiters!
And the highlight!!!...
Talk with मेरा जान!


So ya, note to self...Find and hire a secretary!!! :D lol

Monday, January 7, 2008

My weekend!!!

So I got to hang out with three great people this weekend!!! I had my little brother and sister stay the night on Friday and my very good friend Siva visited me on Thursday night! It was a nice, fun, and easy going weekend...I wish there were more of them! Everything was nice.

I saw two movies this weekend...The Great Debaters and National Treasure:Book of Secrets. They were very nice.

I also has a very soul searching discussion with a very good friend about one of the few words in the world that excites me and scares me at the same time: शादी . Ya...the other word, or should I say phrase, that can give me the same feeling is: children. That's a lot to discuss and think about.

On the one hand, I can't wait to share experiences with the love of my life but on the other, I think that it is such a difficult concept to fathom. Especially since I am 20. Who can say that they are truly prepared, at 20 years old, to have kids? I can see getting married, but kids? Even thinking 4-5 years from now, I just don't see myself with kids. I know it's odd since I work with kids every day at work, and I think i'm pretty good at it. But with those kids, at the end of the day, they go home to their own parents. I don't know if I can give up my style of living for a child. Heaven knows having a husband will be just about the same...lol. Just kidding :D

I just feel that there is so much that I can do. As I am graduating this spring/summer, I am very confused as to what I want to do with my future. I would love to go to school and get my MA in translation or something, but on the other hand I would also love to work for some agency like the State Department or something. Even though I'm not an expert in international relations, I think I can do a pretty good job at it.

Oh my gosh, that got me thinking about Model UN. As president of the society, I have a hard task in front of me for the upcoming semester. I need to get my proposal for a MUN merit system approved by Professor Fornella and somehow figure out how to "bring the spirit of the UN back into MUN". Ya...a lot of work.

So I have decided that I will aid my research with a trip to the UN in NY! This weekend I will be in Jersey to visit Siva (and to go to Canal st. for another purse!) and I will also visit the Guggenheim Museum. I can't wait!

Until next time!!!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

New Year '08!!!

I am soo happy to be sitting here with Val and Alley!!! This is the way to start the new year...with my best friends! :D New year resolutions? I don't make them...I always try to improve myself. I hope that everyone has a great and prosperous new year!!! Love you all!!! God Bless!!!