History Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

History Analysis - Essay Example Imperialism is also always associated with the autocratic rule of the empires (Johnston, â€Å"The Dictionary of Human Geography†). The term ‘empire’ basically denotes those nations, which have or had many of the countries or territories under its control. Few of the leading imperialist nations include Great Britain, United States of America, Russia and France. It is commonly perceived by the experts of the discipline that imperialism has greatly affected the development and the normal standard of living in the subordinate countries for ages. Even after the dominating countries moved back from the conquered nations, the after affects of imperialism continued in lieu of the plights of the citizens of those nations. Among the global imperial powers, Britain deserves special mention. It is often a food for thought for the research scholars that how could such a small nation of Europe successfully rule almost all of the world for years. The history of British Empire builds up as it establishes relationship with Ireland, the America, the Caribbean Islands and India. Great Britain also had deep past of rivalry with the other imperial nations like that of the Netherlands, Portugal, France and Spain. The ‘credit’ of setting up of slave trade also goes to the British Empire of West Indies (the Caribbean) and Africa. Apart from slavery, which is considered as the height of all oppressions, the ill effects of imperialism can also be understood through in-depth study of British Raj in India. One of the fast emerging economies and most promising democracies of the present world, India had been under British rule from 1757 till 1947. Great Britain built relationship with India through trade and formed British East India Company. Soon from the company, the powers were transferred to the government of UK. A country with huge stock of natural resources, India was virtually robbed of its resources. The scholars of the arena remarked

What are the main risks faced by banks and how does a bank attempt to manage these risks?

What are the main risks faced by banks and how does a bank attempt to manage these risks? What are the main risks faced by banks and how does a bank attempt to manage these risks? All companies which have a profit maximising objective hold a certain degree of risk whether through microeconomic or macroeconomic factors. Banks also face a number of risks atypical of non financial companies due to the payment and intermediary function which they perform. Recent changes in the banking environment has lead to an increased pressure to maximise shareholder value, this means that banks take on a higher risk in order to gain a higher return. It is due to this increased pressure and market volatility that banking risk needs such effective management to ensure the banks continued solvency. Risk can be defined as an â€Å"exposure to uncertainty of outcome† measured by the volatility (standard deviation) of net cash flow within the firm. Banks aim to add equity to the bank by maximising the risk adjusted return to shareholders highlighting the importance of fully considering the risk and return business equation. Exposure to risk does not always lead to a loss, pu re risk only has a downside from the expected outcome but speculative risk can produce either a better or worse result that expected. Credit risk is the risk that the counterparty will fail to repay the loan in part or full. This includes delayed payments or any default on the loan agreement. It is widely know that credit risk is one of the most damaging risks to banks, for this reason there is usually a separate credit department run around a credit culture of the managements views. The objective of the credit department will be to maximise shareholder value added through credit risk management. To manage credit risk banks do sometimes take a security over the loan such as property or shares which the bank can take possession of in the event of default on the loan agreement. If the market prices of the security become volatile the bank may ask for more security to offset the probability of marginal default increasing. Credit constraints are implemented to make sure there is a restriction on certain loan agreements to a specific category of borrower, well defined credit limits will reduce the risk of adverse selec tion. Pricing the loan is a technique which uses a risk adjusted premium to determine the rate of interest on a loan, with the riskier the loan the higher the premium, although a higher interest rate may increase probability of default so must be monitored regularly. The final credit risk management method is to reduce credit losses by building a portfolio with diversification between low and high risk lending. This essentially offsets high risk and return lending with low risk and return lending to minimise any losses incurred. A similar but more specific concept to credit risk is sovereign risk involving risk that a government will default on a loan agreement from a private sector bank. This case is unusual because if a government sates that the default is due to movement of resources to resolve domestic issues it can declare the loan agreement void due to immunity in the legal process, this will barrier debt recovery through the taking the possession of assets and often leave the bank with partial or full loss of the loan. Debt repudiation is an extreme case where the government no longer recognises their debt or obligations to creditors. Due to problems and the high risk associated with government lending a foreign currency sovereign credit rating was defined in an attempt to enable informed investor lending decisions. An interest rate is a premium paid in order to consume resources in the present rather than at a later date. Interest rate risk is loss or gain in the value of a position due to changes in the interest rate, it is a speculative risk because the changes in interest rates can lead to both a positive and negative result. There are two types of interest rate which are fixed rate and rate sensitive, the simpler form of risk lies with fixed rate assets and liabilities because a change in the interest rate above or below the fixed rate with lead to a loss or gain in capital. Simulation approaches are highly complex and involve an assessment of the potential changes of interest rates on earnings, future economic value and impact on cash flow. Static simulations assess only the cash flow of on and off balance sheet activity, whereas dynamic simulations build a model predicting the future changes of interest rates and expected changes in the banks activity. The best known interest rate risk m anagement method is gap analysis. This is a detailed analysis of the gap between interest rate sensitive assets and interest rate sensitive liabilities over a specific duration. A rate sensitive asset or liability is defined by an asset or liability in which the cash flow changes in the same direction as interest rates. The changes in interest rates have a detrimental effect if there is a mismatch between rate sensitive assets and liabilities, this is because if the level of rate sensitive liabilities is higher than rate sensitive assets, an increase in interest rates will lead to less profits. High quality interest rate risk management can effectively increase or decrease the gap in order to maximise revenue. Operational risk is defined at the risk of loss from a breakdown in internal processes and/or management failure. This can occur through different events such as a law suit, systems failure, or damage to assets and its effects can lead to an increase in unsystematic market risk and liquidity risk. Although there has been significant importance placed upon operational risk there is at present still no clear method of measuring its risk and effects on a general basis. The Basle II provided three suggested methods of calculating the operating risk of a firm. The basic approach allocates capital using gross income as an indicator for the banks exposure to operational risk. The Standardised approach divides the bank into business units and lines and uses individual indicators to calculate a department specific level of exposure to operational risk. The final method of calculating operational risk is the internal measurement approach which allows each bank to use individual internal loss data to determine the capital allocation. Market risk is the risk of movement in the price function of financial instruments, resulting in the loss/gain in value. It is a speculative risk, measured by the probability in potential loss/gain in value of a portfolio. The risk occurs in two separate forms; Systematic market risk is caused by the price movement of all financial instruments due to changes in the macroeconomic climate. Unsystematic risk occurs when an instrument moves out of line with the rest of the market due to internal factors with the issuer. Systematic market risk can be prepared for in event of downturn in the economic climate by capital allocation to the specific risk calculated by the risk adjusted rate on capital. Value at risk is a measure of potential losses incurred to a portfolio due to adverse market price movements often used in risk management. Unsystematic risk can be offset by diversifications of investments into several different countries and/or industries affectively spreading the risk in att empt to avoid huge losses in specific sector investment. The diversification of investment into foreign countries may increase the potential probability of currency risk. Exchange rate flexibility exposes all firms with a short or long term position in any given currency to currency risk. Globalised markets have lead to increases in multinational firms and foreign investment, increasing the level of foreign exchange and political risks. Any exchange of money in a currency other than the firms home currency would be expressed as a purchase of foreign currency. Foreign exchange transactions can involve many forms of on and off balance sheet financial instruments. Duration analysis can be used to compare the value of foreign bond to the foreign or domestic currency interest rates. Measures of net risk exposure for each currency can be assessed using gap analysis and will be equal to the difference between assets and liabilities in each currency. Political risk arises through the risk of political interference in the operations of a private sector bank, the exposure of which can range between interest rate and exchange regulations to the nationalisation of the financial service industry. The main factors which have been stated as to affect political risk is internal or external armed conflict, democratic government, and government stability. The level of Liquidity risk can affected by many of the other risks and is defined as the risk that the bank will have insufficient liquid assets on its balance sheet and is therefore unable to fulfil financial commitments without the sale of assets; this is generated from a mismatch in size and maturity of assets and liabilities on the balance sheet or due to loan defaults with a surge of depositor demands. Day to day liquidity risk (funding risk) relates to the daily withdrawals and is predictable due to low depositor withdrawals, if there was a surge of withdrawals then many banks would rely in loans from the interbank market to cover the short term illiquidity. A more unpredictable risk also arising from increased depositor withdrawals is a liquidity crisis. The increase in withdrawals often stems from lack of confidence in the bank, this situation will force the bank to borrow at an elevated interest rate or rely on central bank intervention and deposit insurance to avoid a run . In this situation the central bank can provide provisions in the form of high interest loans or advances, however this is costly and can further damage the banks reputation. Ideally the bank could use a method of maturity matching to guarantee liquidity and eliminate the funding risks. This is the coordination of cash flow by matching the maturity of an asset with the maturity of a liability. This is unlikely to be a widely used approach as asset transformation is a key source of banking profit. Usually the bank will hold a certain level of liquid assets to reassure creditors and signal to the market that the bank is doing well, an increase holding of liquid assets will avoid the liquidity problem but due to a trade off between liquidity and profitability lower return on investments. The most widely used technique of managing banks liquidity is Gap analysis, the liquidity gap is defined by the difference between net liquid assets and unpredictable liabilities. This gives the abili ty to monitor available capital over time. Financial services differ from other firms because of the high level of financial risks that they assume through the payment and intermediary functions. It is therefore critical to manage the risks faced to ensure solvency and to maximise the firms value added. In some cases the management of an individual risk can have a positive or negative effect on another risk which shows that they are not mutually exclusive. Many of the main financial crises have risen from a combination of risks surrounding losses due to poor credit risk management, it is important to highlight diversification of a portfolio and asset liability management as influencing factors in effective risk management as they can reduce the probability of several risks. In the future it is important to continue developing new formal and quantitative risk management processes to ensure continues solvency within the financial services industry.

Should Chinas Human Rights Record Prevent Permanent Normal Trade Relations :: Human Rights Essays

Background Since the initial warming of U.S.-China relations in the early 1970s, policymakers have had difficulty balancing conflicting U.S. policy concerns in the Peoples' Republic of China. From Nixon to Clinton, presidents have had to reconcile security and human rights concerns with corporations' desires for expanded economic relations between the two countries. While the U.S. regularly objects to China's human rights violations, the Chinese government counters with complaints that the American concerns represent unwarranted American intrusion into its internal affairs. In 1989 the Tiananmen Square massacre drew public attention to the inconsistent character of U.S.-China policy. A wave of public indignation with China's repressive practices forced the Bush administration to adopt a sterner posture toward human rights violations and to impose sanctions, including restrictions on bilateral and multilateral aid. But these measures have not satisfied some critics of China's human rights practices, who contend that the U.S. should apply even more rigid trade restrictions against China. Specifically, some critics insist that the U.S. government not give China "permanent normal trade relations" status, which would free China's government from an annual review of its human rights record by Congress. Many critics say PNTR standing should be linked to improvements in China's human and labor rights practices - a policy that has been rejected by the Clinton administration. Rather than denying China normal trading status because of human rights violations, the Clinton administration has opted for a policy of "comprehensive engagement," which holds that long-term U.S. goals such as human rights improvement are more likely to be achieved through sustained contact and open trading than by further isolating China. Yet Chinese human rights practices, including respect for political and labor rights, continue to fall well below internationally accepted standards. In perhaps the stickiest issue, the White House warned last week that there was little chance of PNTR for China without legislation setting up a watchdog commission to monitor Beijing's human rights practices. China, however opposes any plans by the U.S. to monitor human rights as a condition to granting PNTR. On One Hand... American businesses should not be coddled at the expense of human rights. Despite expressions of concern for human rights conditions, the U.S. government has allowed narrow economic interests, particularly those of corporate investors, to guide its China policy. So far, the U.S. government has been unwilling to jeopardize U.S. economic relations by adopting stricter human rights conditions on aid and trade. China's trade status is currently reviewed annually by Congress.

Role of Rosaline in Romeo and Juliet

Would anything be lost (or gained) if Rosaline were never mentioned? Rosaline is the niece of Lord Capulet whom Romeo falls in love with prior to the play, Romeo and Juliet; however, she doesn’t reciprocate Romeo’s feelings as she has chosen to remain celibate. In most film adaptations, she is usually omitted, yet Romeo is always grieving for his rejected love at the beginning of every adaption. Now, this is rather paradoxical as Rosaline is not important enough to be portrayed by an actor, yet she is always mentioned by Romeo. So would anything be gained or lost if Rosaline is removed from the original play? Theoretically, Rosaline is only important in this play for Romeo’s past with her, but if she is removed, Romeo wouldn’t have attended the party where he meets Juliet, and consequently he would appear less impulsive and passionate. To the audience, Romeo’s love for Rosaline helps them to understand the depth and nature of Romeo’s relationship with Juliet. When the audience first meet Romeo, he is seen moping around Verona because Rosaline cannot return his love as she chose to be chaste for life. This affects him greatly as he becomes depressed and he alienates himself from his friends and families; indeed, all he can think of is his rejected love. Subsequently, Benvolio, cousin of Romeo, attempts to make Romeo forget about Rosaline by telling him to examine other beauties of Verona, which Romeo refuses to do. However, when a Capulet servant asks them to read the guest list for the Capulet’s party, from which Romeo finds out that Rosaline, is expected to attend; Benvolio then suggests Romeo to crash the party in order to look at other beauties of Verona, and Romeo reluctantly agrees. While at the party, when he is looking for Rosaline, he sees Juliet for the first time and falls in love with her immediately. Therefore, Rosaline is often seen as a plot device as her presence at the Capulet party convinced Romeo to seek for her, where he would ultimately fall in love with Juliet. Romeo’s love for Rosaline has been dismissed by literary critics as childish and many believe that Shakespeare uses Rosaline’s unattainable love to contrast with Juliet’s feelings. Most characters use poetry to express their feelings, and Romeo is no exception to this, especially when declaring his feelings. There is a noticeable difference between the poems he writes for Rosaline and Juliet; the former focuses more on Rosaline’s beauty while the latter focuses more on the love they share between them. Friar Lawrence remarked that Romeo’s affection for Rosaline is not real as Romeo is repeating the poems that he memorised; however, the poems he makes for Juliet is spontaneous and far more affectionate. The origin of Romeo’s attention for Rosaline is questioned by critics and readers. There is no doubt that Romeo and Juliet are a pair of star-crossed lover who are meant to be together, and in many ways, Juliet influences Romeo. However, Friar Lawrence remarks to Romeo that â€Å"Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear, /So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies/Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes. † Therefore, it is possible that Romeo may have never conversed with Rosaline, thus the basis for his love would lie in her physical appearance. Comparing with a pre-destined love, Romeo’s reason for loving Rosaline appears childish and weak. Romeo’s relationship with Rosaline also makes his love for Juliet more secretive and it helps to emphasis the feud between the two households. Most of Romeo’s friend, including Benvolio and Mercutio, know of his love for Rosaline, as Mercutio is constantly making remarks about that â€Å"same pale hard-hearted wrench† and Romeo could do nothing more than saying â€Å"he jests at scars that never felt a wound† when he is alone. However, Romeo’s love for Juliet is only known to 2 people; the Friar and the Nurse, and if it had been known by more people, the feud between the Capulets and Montagues would have ended. On the day Romeo got married to Juliet, he is challenged by Tybalt but he declines it they are kinsman now, through his marriage. However, Romeo is unable to explain to Tybalt as to why he can’t duel him who then provokes Mercutio to duel Tybalt for Romeo, and it results in a death that leads to Romeo’s banishment. Lastly, Romeo’s love for Rosaline contributes greatly to Romeo’s characterization as a passionate and impulsive man. His passion is demonstrated by his willingness to be estranged from his family, as he tells no-one about his rejected love and he refuses to accept Benvolio’s advice, which is to forget Rosaline. His impulsivity is demonstrated through how quickly he forgets about Rosaline; in Act 1, Scene 4, Romeo says to Mercutio that â€Å"I am too sore enpierced with his shaft†¦Under love’s heavy burden do I sink. It is evident that he is still lovesick for Rosaline. However, in Act 2, Scene 5, he proclaims that â€Å"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! † And in Act 2, Scene 3, Rosaline vanished from his memory altogether by his â€Å"I have forgot that name, and that name’s woe. † No-one can fall out of love in under a day, and thus, Rosaline helped to characterized Romeo as an impulsive man. In short, Rosaline is important to Romeo and Juliet not because that she is a major character; in fact, she isn’t portrayed in most film adaptations. However, she is important as she is a plot device, essential to Romeo’s first meeting with Juliet. Her relationship with Romeo is often used to contrast with his love for Juliet. Their relationship emphasises the secrecy of his bond with Juliet as the former is publically known while the latter is only known to two people; this also helped to stress the enmity between the Capulets and the Montagues. Finally, Romeo’s short-lived love contributes greatly to Romeo’s characterization as a passionate and impulsive man. Therefore, without Rosaline, the story would lose a great amount of detail.

Agrippina the Younger Essay

Agrippina the Younger, the wife of Claudius and mother of Nero, was one of the most famous women in Roman history and one of the greatest influences on Nero’s reign. She was an intelligent woman that was willing to do anything to help her son, Nero, inherit the throne. However, Nero thought that she was too powerful during his reign that he was the one to plan her death in 59 CE. Agrippina was born in Ara Ubiorum, Rome on November 6, 15 CE. Her parents, Agrippina the Elder and Germanicus Julius Caesar, were both grandchildren of Augustus. Agrippina had many other siblings. When she was thirteen, the emperor Tiberius arranged her marriage to Gnaeus Germanicus Ahenobarbus, which occurred in 28. The following year, her mother and her oldest brother were arrested and exiled for plotting against Tiberius. Afterwards, both her mother and brother passed away. In 37, Agrippina gave birth to Lucius Domitius, who was also known as Nero. Then, Gaius Caligula, her brother, became the emperor. He made Agrippina along with two other sisters honorary Vestal Virgins. He raised their status by adding their names to the annual oaths of allegiance to the emperor. Caligula accused Agrippina and his other sister Livilla of having affairs with M. Aemilius Lepidus, whom he chose as his interim successor. Also, in 39, Agrippina joined a plot to assassinate Caligula. Therefore, Agrippina and Livilla were exiled to the Pontian Islands, off the coast of Southern Italy. While she was in exile, Agrippina’ husband died in 40 CE. In 41, Agrippina’s uncle, Claudius, became the emperor. Therefore, he brought her and her sister back from exile. Agrippina got married to Claudius in 49. Her goal was to make sure that Nero inherits the throne. Thus, she convinced Claudius to adopt Nero in 50 AD. Agrippina eliminated all the potential enemies that will try to prevent Nero’s ascension to the throne. During the reign of Claudius, she received the title â€Å"Augusta†, becoming the first woman to be honored while her husband is alive and the second woman to be honored during her lifetime. Also, her name was attached to a colony for discharged veterans at oppidum Ubiorum. Unfortunately, Claudius died in 54 AD, and Agrippina was accused of poisoning him in order to make Nero the emperor. Nero inherited the throne in 54 AD. Agrippina had a lot of power during the early years of Nero’s reign, and she ruled most of the empire. Nero had many conflicts with his mother during that time because she was bossy and tried to control him. She did not approve of his affair with Acte, a freedwoman. Since Nero was not obeying her, she started supporting Britannicus, his stepbrother and Claudius’s son. This led Nero to have Britannicus killed in 35. Then, Nero chose his mistress, Poppaea Sabina, over his mother. He forced Agrippina to move out of the palace in 55. Agrippina became too powerful during Nero’s reign that he constantly tried to reduce her power. Finally, Nero began to plot Agrippina’s death. He attempted to sink the ship that she was on, but Agrippina survived and swam ashore. He sent assassin to her villa, where she was stabbed to death on 59 CE. Agrippina was cremated that same night after her death. Agrippina the Younger was very important during that time. She was one of the few women who were recognized while their husband was alive. She was determined to make Nero the emperor, and therefore, she eliminated all the people that will stop him from taking the throne. Even though she was responsible for the death of many significant people, she was still a powerful woman. Reference http://roman-emperors.org/aggieii.htm