Archive for category Power
Think of your future. i.e. your child’s future..!
Posted by Subhashana Manaram in Politics, Power on May 4, 2010
No mother would ever thought, one day my son/daughter must become a terrorist; and no father would ever thought, one day my son/daughter must become a terrorist. Every mother and father please to see their child becoming a Barck Obama, a Bill Gates or a Sanjay Gupta.
But, why one can become really dangerous to others? Or how one can become a Umar Abdulmutallab, a Faisal Shahzad or a Mohammed Ajmal Kasab?
It’s the system. Poverty, lack of education, lack of proper healthcare, economic and social injustice create terrorists.
An AFP news report says Ajmal was a school drop-out and a labourer before becoming a gunman in Mumbai on 26/11.
National Geographic: On Board Air Force One
Posted by Subhashana Manaram in Power on January 30, 2009
Where has the money gone?
Posted by Subhashana Manaram in International Relations, Political Economy, Power on January 21, 2009
Capital markets are falling, banks are less willing to lend, prices of property are plummeting, currencies are losing its value, consumers are struggling and economies are shrinking.
Where has the money gone?
Here’s the answer. Followings are the IMF (International Monetary Fund) data on current account balances of few countries. Check the IMF, World Economic Outlook Database – April 2008 for complete database for 181 countries. All the amounts are in USD billions.
Those who have money – The 5 counters with biggest current account balances from foreign trade.
|
# |
Country |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
||
|
1 |
China |
249.87 |
360.71 |
385.86 |
||
|
2 |
Japan |
170.44 |
212.82 |
193.32 |
||
|
3 |
Germany |
147.13 |
185.03 |
190.68 |
||
|
4 |
Saudi Arabia |
95.51 |
100.77 |
145.17 |
||
|
5 |
Russia |
94.26 |
76.60 |
98.63 |
||
Those who don’t have money – The 5 counters with wrest current account balances.
|
# |
Country |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|
177 |
Australia |
(41.69 ) |
(56.20 ) |
(65.57 ) |
|
178 |
France |
(28.19 ) |
(33.39 ) |
(67.00 ) |
|
179 |
United Kingdom |
(92.57 ) |
(136.20 ) |
(137.37 ) |
|
180 |
Spain |
(106.40 ) |
(145.56 ) |
(170.96 ) |
|
181 |
United States |
(811.48 ) |
(738.64 ) |
(614.70 ) |
Look at these to countries as well. Afghanistan has mange to balance its current account with all the difficulties it faces. Whilst Sri Lanka in the negative side whose current account would be balanced 450 times if we use the USD 900 billion bailout package passed by US Congress for US financial system.
|
# |
Country |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|
60 |
Afghanistan, Rep. of. |
(0.44 ) |
(0.07 ) |
0.00 |
|
138 |
Sri Lanka |
(1.34 ) |
(1.37 ) |
(2.00 ) |
China: The new world superpower.
Posted by Subhashana Manaram in Politics, Power on January 18, 2009
Last year world has seen many falling economies. US, UK, Japan, so on. China too had a bad year. Despite all China had many achievements which are consequential for decades to come. Some of those notable achievements are;
- Hosting the biggest Olympic ever at least in terms amount of money spent.
- Becoming the biggest community of internet users.
- Passing the Germany to become the 3rd largest economy of the world.
These are not simple achievements. As Fareed Zakaria argues this is ‘The Rise of the Rest’. Zakaria, a prominent international relations expert, in his book ‘The Post-American World‘ says one of the major power shifts in our times is emerging new economic powers, especially China. Have a look on the 1st chapter of his book here.
Not only Zakaria talks about China. Parag Khanna, Senior Research Fellow in the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and author of ’The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order‘ identifies China amongst the three new global empires. Viz. USA, Euroland and China. Read more here.
Look at these interesting numbers.
- Cost of the game (USD);
|
2000 Sydney Olympics |
7 billion |
|
2004 Athens Olympics |
15 billion |
|
2008 Beijing Olympics |
42 billion |
|
2012 London Olympics (est.) |
19 billion |
From Wikipedia
- Online heads;
|
Internet users in china |
298 million |
|
Population of USA |
306 million |
- Size of gross domestic product (USD);
|
USA |
13.8 trillion |
|
Japan |
4.3 trillion |
|
China |
3.4 trillion |
|
Germany |
3.3 trillion |
From CNN
Here are the news stories;
- NDTV news item on Beijing Olympic:
Beijing Olympics funding exceeds $43 bn.
- BBC news item on Chinese internet users: Surge in Chinese internet users
- CNN news item on Chinese economy: China passes Germany in economic rankings
Accounting as a Hegemony
Posted by Subhashana Manaram in Accounting, Organizational Anthropology, Politics, Power on August 8, 2007
Title of my undergraduate research paper.
Many had the question why I do a research paper in organizational power & politics while been an undergraduate student in accounting. Well, it is a more outside look in to accounting. To develop accounting and to change accounting outside view is a must.
Much credit should go to Mr. S.D.W. Jayawardena a senior lecture in human resource (how can I limit him into HR? He does play in disciplines like law, strategic management, politics.) who uncovered me to the vastness of social science, politics, history, and so on.
Accounting as a Hegemony? I invite you to have a look on it, rather me making an introduction. Just to have an idea, here is the abstract;
Domination is occurs when there is an asymmetrical relationship between objects, such that one has limited capacity to act. With this the concept of power relation can be identified. Power relations are characterized in terms of conflict or alliance between forces and again he says that power relations are said to arise whenever there is action upon the action of others. To live in society, is to live in such a way that action upon other action is possible – and in fact ongoing. A society without power relations can only be an abstraction. It should be noted that this ideas on power have made a shift of forms of power from external disciplinary regime to internal exercise of power. Therefore, it is noteworthy that when controls are exercised those controls will become power.
Full report is here >> Accounting as a Hegemony
