Customs union

Another example to understand the situation better could be “Ikeaization”. In his article “On the Ikeaization of France”, Tod Hartman has fairly pointed out the relationship between the consumerism and mass production. How has the industry and the users got affected with the introduction of a new concept of mass production? The characteristics of the Ikea store being extremely tidy, well arranged, with mock up spaces and showcases of interior design magazines makes the customer feel convinced at…

Defamiliarization in Mohsen Namjoo: A Marcusian Study of “Reza Khan” Estrangement: a short overview Mikics defines defamiliarization (estrangement) and as an example he cites Fredric Jameson, which is his accounts of Studying Gulliver’s Travels. It states: Defamiliarization in Russian, ostranenie: a term from the Russian formalist school of criticism, active in the early twentieth century. […] According to the Russian formalists, literary art devotes itself to the making strange (the…

In the 1930’s, Hoover was instructed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to investigate various activist activities in the United States, such as Nazi and Communist espionage. Hoover despised any sort of “activist” activities, causing him to investigate the “Ku Klux Klan and Martin Luther King, Jr” (John Edgar Hoover). Hoover would go on to commit numerous illegal surveillance on those suspected to be a threat to the public (J. Edgar Hoover). The Media Creates a False Interpretation of Hoover…

Balance of power can be seen as a state of stability between contending forces. In International Relations (I.R.), Balance of power refers to “a condition of equilibrium amongst states” according to Viotti et al (1990, pp.584), so this will prevent states from becoming too powerful therefore attaining the ability to impose its will upon the other states. In these kinds of situations, self-preservation is usually seen as the main guiding principle; it commonly leads to states building up…

Lastly, within both works, the struggle for a sense of cultural identity is also the struggle for oneself. In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Kundera utilizes the political setting of his work to evaluate the influence of cultural identity on his characters. When Tereza and Tomas return to a Czech spa after the Russian invasion, Tereza notes that its appearance is just as it was six years ago; however, in a show of passive resistance, Czech people remove street signs to disorient their…

Totalitarianism is a type of government that is dictatorial and requires compliance from the state. Modern examples of totalitarianism include Nazi Germany under the power of Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union under the power of Joseph Stalin, and North Korea under the power of the Kim dynasty. Within these societies, freedom of speech as well as certain religions are banned. Margaret Atwood’s novel; The Handmaid’s Tale, takes place in the Republic of Gilead; a totalitarian society. Offred’s best…

The individual level examines how the personal attributes and ideologies of a state’s leader affect foreign policy and their decisions in contrast to systemic or domestic factors. In Daniel Treisman’s Why Putin Took Crimea he argues from the individual level of analysis. While Treisman acknowledges that some systemic factors may have influenced Putin’s decision to annex Crimea, he argues that it is best explained by understanding Vladimir Putin’s personal beliefs. Treisman’s syntax and focus on…

currency area? While Europe all together is not an optimum currency area, the European Union is. This is because only the countries that make up the European Union share a single currency, the euro. This leads to greater economic benefit in the countries that make up the union than there is in one remaining an independent country. However, there are European countries that are not members of the European Union, such as Great Britain or Russia. These countries are not considered to be part of…

The 1960s and 70s brought forth a wave of decolonization in the Africa, but it did not mark the end of external intervention in the African continent. As Elizabeth Schmidt states, “the predicaments that plague the continent today are not solely the result of African decisions but also the consequence of foreign intrusion into African affairs” (1). Over recent decades, foreign intrusion in Africa has taken on multiple forms: from explicit political intervention, economic aid, and humanitarian…

The Current Refugee Crisis The amount of people the have immigrated or are attempting immigrate to Europe or many other countries in the world has increased drastically over the course of years. In the New York Times article, “Desperate Crossings” is a story about people from Eritrea, Africa who are trying to flee their home country and go to Italy, Greece. The authors Paolo Pellegrin, who did most of the photography, and Scott Anderson, who did the articles text, travelled with Bourbon…