Enhancing The Value Of Green Hotel Tourism Essay

Enhancing The Value Of Green Hotel Tourism Essay Abstract For the purpose of enhancing the value of green hotel, the hotel comes out with the new business management concept, which brings the green concept into the hotel operations and management. In order to establish a green marketing concept, it is a need to collect green information, green technology, development of green product, development of green price to carry out green marketing, take deepen green management philosophy to provide green service of the hotel and the construction of green hotel and green culture management, to achieve the sustainable development of the green hotel. Nowadays, the concept of green marketing has generally become the international community to implement in the modern enterprise marketing. Therefore, the green marketing model in hospitality industry become the need in this era, also, the pressure of the external economic environment will force the hospitality industry to do so. There is a low carbon green marketing mode had undergone a great change in th e marketing concept and content in some hotels. In this research will attempt to make some personal views on this topic in helping the hotel to have better management. Green marketing will achieve the balance between development of the hotel and the social environment; advocate the green consumption, saving energy, reducing consumption and protect the environment, providing green service will become an important marketing strategy in the hotel industry of China. Lastly, as one of the core green management, the trend of green marketing in protecting environment and developing in green consumer will achieve a big success in the future. Introduction Green concept has become the most important topic in the past few years and it gradually continue to growing up. Action is the one most important in this green concept, without the right action we will not be able to adjust the damage that has been done. Nowadays, the entire world is focused the same problems to protecting environment. In this part will give an analysis about the entire research, it begins with background of information about the concepts and overview about the base of this study. It then continues to introduce the research problem and explains the objectives and goals of the research. Background 90 years, the world entered the era of environmental protection, green age. American Hotel Lodging Association president pointed out that the most important trends of todays hotel industry is the hotels green (environmentally friendly) (Joe McInerney, 2008).Green era of great impact on the world economy, hotel industry is no exception. Todays society, people only pursue economic development and improved quality of life and people not realized that peoples living space has been severely damaged. People in the production and consumption process start increasingly concerned about resource and environmental protection. People had to choose one that meets the development needs approach to development while protecting the environment, called by sustainable development. While the tourist hotels like energy consumption and serious pollution of heavy industry to the serious ecological and biological damage to the environment but also varying degrees of implicit or explicit pollution and wast e of resources. Countrys sustainable development strategy to establish, from the policy, legal acts of the hotel business made specifications, requirements, hotels must implement green marketing; international trend of environmental protection also have a significant impact on the hotel, hotels with international environmental standards required engaged to go green. In the international environmental pressure, a few hotels began to establish awareness of green marketing. However, most hotels are still far away from the green marketing, green concept do not even have color. Hotel implementation of green marketing has long way to go. Going green is a concept for people how to make the environment become better. This green means is multifaceted, it can refer to products, trade or industry, it can be a philosophy or concept of an act, green the central meaning refers to protecting the global environment and promote human and nature, socio-economic and ecological harmony, to ensure the sustainable development of human society and the economy. The green movement can make people aware of their daily life affect this living space. Nowadays we are running out of water and other natural resources and this problem can cause the world become worse place for live. Green marketing appears for making a people have responsible daily that benefit for environment and help to reduce the waste. Going green in hospitality industry is defined by being eco-friendly industry with the environment. It contains small changes in daily life and this small change can add up to the bigger changes by our action for protecting the environment. An important concept behind efforts to reduce damage to the environment is sustainability, an idea which gained importance because of the publication of Our Common Future (Filho, 2000; Daub Ergenzinger, 2005). Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Hobson Essex, 2001) Sustainability has been further described by Brady (2005) as comprised of three dimensions: economy, society, and environmental stability. Environmental sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as naturally possible based on ideal-seeking behavior. Commitment about green marketing needs to be the important part in the hotel to protecting the environment, its need to be important for guide the hospitality industry and foster such a culture. It can make the hotel have an environmental culture that will ultimately affect the peoples to have a consequent in the natural environment. However, if people have responsibilities with this kind of environment and concept, and able to apply it in their daily life and work can be consciously adjust their own behavior. That definition of going green and sustainability development explains why it is so important for both individuals and businesses to make change for their lives and environment. The beginning of the 21st century; smokeless industry, a sunrise industry and green business in China has been continued to growth fast, which the hotel industry in the green on the most prominent. Hotel has been considered a high consumption places to have so many resources, need to have an attention with the environmental protection. In this, the hotel needs to change the concept; the hotel should meet the needs of customers to reduce resources. This perspective should spread through all aspects of hotel operations in the all levels and functions of employees, fundamentally, sustainable development of the hotel. Sense of social responsibility, many hotels began to take shape. With the gradual promotion of the marketing concept in China, hotels increasingly recognized as part of the community and the hotel should take social responsibility. For example, April 28, 1999, Zhejiang response to dozens of tourist hotels create green activities half of them said that we do not begrudge investment, but want to reduce waste, so that the limited resources to achieve maximum effectiveness; hotel intended to limit the guests behavior, just want to work together with customers to improve the ring, and get a good clean green feeling. Statement of the Problem China is one of the fastest developing countries in the world. Especially development of hotel industry in the China is growing so fast. At the beginning, the hospitality industry in China is not growing compared to other countries. Over time, China had to develop in the hospitality industry very well. With this development, China became one of the top ten international destinations in 2010. Therefore, the hospitality industry in the world is very wide. They are trying to develop new innovations to the hospitality industry continues to develop stable. Recent years, the environment on the planet where we live is damaged. Everyone in the world started to pay attention on the environment and how to maintain it. They began to appear with the latest innovative green marketing. Hotels in the world began to develop the green concept in this hospitality industry. But the hospitality industry in China is huge and it takes a long time to change each hotel to follow the green concept. They begin to develop from five star hotels to budget hotels. Along with those changes, a lot of problems start to appear when develop the concept of green marketing in the hospitality industry. One of the obstacles in applying the concept of green marketing is costly. In this green marketing we have to change little by little until it became a big change. But to change the concept of green is the hospitality industry requires cost very much. This change we must begin to change from the base. Hotels room is the main product of the hotel. It can start to change from the material of the rooms furniture and continue to how the employee works with the friendly environment. Its means they need to use on recycling of reusable materials for recycling. On the beginning to apply green marketing, hotels need a lot of cost and they need to consider about the quality. Green hotels focus on the ecological environment, with a focus on the pursuit of economic and environmental benefits of the new management is optimal. Not only every manager, but also every employee mind set of ideas and concepts of green management, it will be possible to allow them to take the initiative to take the behavior of a variety of green management. At first, hotel that you would like the concept of sustainable development as the guiding ideology of management, hotel management must fully understand and analyze the future direction of the hotel is good that tomorrow is a green hotel, why become a green hotel, and how to combine its own hotel management to implement the concept and application of green is the foundation of the hotel staff, implementation of policies to achieve the employee with the hotel management and staff to implement, so let employees understand the companys development direction and determination. If employees understand what the concept of a green hot el, it also impact for the company, themselves and the community that can bring what is the impact of some complicated process, not easy to reach the company. Management style is also a hotel on the challenges of sustainable development. Green product in China has not yet become the first choice of hotel. In other countries, green products have become the best-selling products, the first choice for consumers. However, some hotels even get a small gain and the pursuit of contaminated products. Research Problem To enable it easier understand and to explore for more details information point of view, the questions will be able to reply to additional verification and give clear successfully obtained results. What are the problems between green product and environment sustainability? What are the problems between green price and environment sustainability? What are the problems between green promotion and environment sustainability? What are the problems between green place and environment sustainability? Conceptual Framework More formally, the main purpose of this study is to identify that the independent variable can influence the environment sustainability development in hotel industry. According to Leedy and Ormrod (2005), independent variable is a variable that studied as a possible cause of something else. According to Hussey and Hussey (1997), dependent variable is a variable that the value are predicted by the independent variable and intervening variable The intervening variable can be defined as a factor that will affect the observed, but cannot be seen or measured. This intervening variable is referring to relationship between hotel and the environmental sustainability. These relationships is very important, hence they can influence environmental and sustainability for the hotel. The dependent variable is Environmental Sustainability Development and the independent variable of this study is green price, green product, green promotion, and green place. Thus, green marketing become intervening variable. Hypotheses: H1: Green price positively influence hotel to be environment sustainability development. H2: Green product positively influence hotel to be environment sustainability development. H3: Green promotion positively influence hotel to be environment sustainability development. H4: Green place positively influence hotel to be environment sustainability development. Research Objectives The main objectives are to study for the following thing: To identify what are the benefits of going green in green marketing concept for new environment development of hospitality industry. To mention the problem of applying green marketing concept in the hotel. To related the green marketing concepts with green marketing mix that consists of green product, green places, green price, and green promotion in the hospitality industry. To understanding what are the concept of green marketing and the terms of green marketing that related to environmental sustainability development. To discuss why nowadays green marketing very important in hospitality industry. Significance of the Study Combining with all the information and data for the hotel industry to grasp better the green marketing in green concept to the hotel itself to the significance of environmental sustainability is so important and far-reaching. The ends results of this dissertation will be not only play to understand the relationship between the independent variable and dependent variable and it also help more how to make sure the hotel industry is doing well on the environmental sustainability. Through the green marketing, a results on the actually of the relationship between green marketing and environmental sustainability will be more clearly. But this will either guide you to the agreement or disagreement to the improved green marketing concept model. Literature Review This part will be discussed about the concept of Green Marketing Mix which are Green Place, Green Product, Green price, and Green promotions. This Green marketing concept linked to the dependent variable of this study which is environment sustainability development that can be affected from the green marketing concepts in the hospitality industry that is hotel. Green Marketing The green awareness began in between of the 1960s and early 1970s with increasing concern about the negative impact of consumption pattern, impact of economic and population growth on the environment (Cohen, 2001).The first definition of green marketing was according to Henion (1976); the implementation of marketing programmes directed at the environmentally conscious market segment (Banerjee, 1999, p.18). Green marketing practices generally promoted as the genuine concern for the nature of inputs as well as outputs waste reduction and the impact of these upon the environment and society as a whole both in present future conditions (Walker and Hanson, 1998). In a sample way to say, green marketing is the strategy for hotel to turn themselves become green hotel and to achieve environmental sustainability development. According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Refers on that statement, green marketing is a new marketing method driven by environmental sustainability. The sustainable development of environment is that modern consumers understand the deterioration of the environment has to their way of life and quality as a certain effect, the requirements of the process of production and sales of all enterprises minimal impact on the environment. The so-called green marketing refers to the enterprises to adapt to the trend of green consumption, from the protection of the environment against pollution and full use of resources point of view, through the development of products, the use of natural, turning waste into wealth an d other measures, to meet consumer demand for green, enterprise marketing goals. The green marketing has evolved over a period of time. According to Peattie (2001), the evolution of green marketing has three chapters. First chapter was termed as Ecological green marketing, and during this period all marketing activities were concerned to help environment problems and provide remedies for environmental problems. Second chapter was Environmental green marketing and the focus shifted on clean technology that involved designing of innovative new products, which take care of pollution and waste issues. Third chapter was Sustainable green marketing. It came into prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000. As resources are limited and human wants are unlimited, it is important for the marketers to utilize the resources efficiently without waste as well as to achieve the organizations objective. So green marketing cannot be avoided. Main Elements of Green Marketing Mix When hospitality industries start to do with eco-friendly, actually they try to access the new markets with the green marketing. Green marketing has 4 elements, the element called by green marketing mix. Marketing mix is adapted from conventional marketing, but nowadays hotel also adapts this marketing mix to hospitality industry. The concept of green marketing mix was introduced by Bradley (Bradley, 2007). Green marketing mix is about product or services that environmental friendly. These green marketing mixes are green product, green place, green price, and green promotion. Element of Green Marketing Mix (Al-Bakry, 2007): The green products: Green products are products that respond to environment needs and requirements. As the customers needs are necessary to improve and develop products, the customer needs in an environment more safe and healthy are also important and should be considered. The green pricing: The green pricing refers to the price specified in the light of companys policies with regard to environmental consideration imposed by rules and company instructions or its initiatives in this regard. The green distribution: This is related to distribution gates use that deal with green products, which are appropriate for consumers, in terms of facilitating their delivery, and to secure cycling procedures conducting within environmental conditions and requirements. The green promotion: This refers to providing real information about the products in a way that does not hurt the materialistic and moral consumers interests. Green Products The guest room is the main body of the hotel, is also the main products provided by the hotel to the guests. This requires the hotel from initial to final product design provide involved environmental behavior must accord with environmental protection requirement (Xiong, 2011) In addition, the hotel restaurant also provides and promoting the green food, the product must meet the physical quality and health standards green, product packaging, storage and transportation must according with standard of green food packaging storage. Production of green products has become a part of the hotels purpose. Many hotel rooms putting in such a card, for example If you do not need to replace the bed sheets, please put the card on the pillow, most of foreign guest who living more than one days will do the information cards about changing bed sheet. For the local guest mostly they are not really know about. Two reasons why they didnt do that are forget to place the card and as they know bed sheets should be change every day. These guests may think that I paid, no matter how many days I live, every item should be changed daily, many people asked that hotel implied green concept for save money. A hotel manager expressed, green marketing objective might be saving money, but this is not the main purpose. We just want to reduce waste, so the limited resources can play a greater role. Some replacement in the room is not necessary, such as towels and bed sheets, because if the guest use in one day only is not dirty. Green Promotion Hotel industries should focus on green cultural awareness training, to shape the cultural environment of green marketing. The promotions that related to green are the things when hotel promote about their hotel use the friendly materials and recycle materials. With the green promotion, hotel still need to stabilize the quality of product and service to attract the customers interest for continue the green promotion concept. Green promotion strengthens company image. (Chan, 2001), we included I plan to switch to products and services that were advertised as being green. Green promotions in hospitality industry also can take along about promotion to the guest, such as a voucher for laundry or food and beverages in the hotel. It means that customers no need to think about having a food outside the hotel. It can saves energy and reduce the gas pollution for the transportation. Green promotion is to pass the green guidelines for media promotion of green consumption, inspiring guide to consumer demand for green, and finally with buying behavior (Anon, 2007). Three aspects of green promotion are green advertisement and green promotion itself. Green advertising need to have green function positioning through the advertisement product to guide the consumers understand with the environmental friendly product. The green advertising should have a green atmosphere and appeals to stimulate the consumers desire to buy. Green promoting have purpose to increase public awareness of green, green corporate image building, green marketing to build a broad social base, to promote the development of green marketing industry. Green Price In general, the input of green products on the market, production costs will be higher than similar conventional products, because the cost of green products in accrued expenses on environmentally friendly products. The use of new green materials can increase the cost of resources. Hence, green goods have higher initial out-of-pocket expenses but lower long-term costs (Rubik Frankl, 2005). In other way, price increases will be temporary, with the development of science and technology and the increasing variety of environmental protection measures, the cost of production of green products will gradually decrease, and tend to be stable. At this time, the green product will be having a higher price, but it also benefits for the long term costs and productivity. In hotel industry, they will take the price higher than the normal products, but it will be make benefits for the customers in the every aspects. The price is market sensitive pricing is an important marketing strategy; the implementation of green marketing cannot fail to study the formulation of the price of green products. In general, the input of green products in the market, production costs will be higher than similar conventional products, because the cost of green products in the accrued cost of the product environmentally friendly, including the following aspects: In product development, because of increased or improve environmental protection function and pay for the development of the funds. In the manufacturing, due to the development of the environment and human non-polluting, non-injury increased the cost of the process. The use of new green materials and accessories may increase the cost of resources. Management costs may increase due to the implementation of green marketing and selling expenses. However, the price rise will be temporary, with the scientific and technological development and the improvement of various environmental protection measures, the manufacturing cost of green products will be gradually decreased, and tended to stabilize. To develop green products, prices, on the one hand, of course, should take into account the above factors, on the other hand should be noted that the income increase peoples awareness of environmental protection, consumer economic concept of an acceptable price consumer goods and consumption gradually The concept of phase coordination. Therefore, corporate marketing green products not only make the profitability of the business to better advantage in the peer competition Green Place Environmentally responsible or green marketing refers to the satisfaction of consumer needs, wants, and desires in conjunction with the preservation and conservation of the natural environment. Based on the location, green marketing can be applied. For this marketing mix, place or location is very affect the environment sustainable development. It depends how the hotels building with the environment because many hotel have not build the environmental awareness and damages the environment surrounding the area. The best place for the hotel for going green, they need to consider the environment. It is can damages the environment or disturbed their ecosystem of the place or not. Ecosystem in one area is very important for the whole place, because one of the ecosystem damages or broken it will affect or disturbing another ecosystem in surrounding area. For building the hotel needs to be in the green design with the environment friendly products and have a proper placement for their product, so it can help the environment by giving a fresh air pollutant. Hotels also need the proper location, so it will not need many transports that can cause air pollutant. Hotel that will implement a green components in their hotel must be consider when choosing a place for develop their hotel. Hotel must be in the strategy place or area to reach from another place. It can decrease a using a transportation that is the number one that caused of air pollutant. Green place is about managing logistics to cut down on transportation emissions, thereby in effect aiming at reducing the carbon footprint. The choice of where and when is to make a product available will have significant impact on the customer. Some other Elements To build a green hotel culture and to establish the ecological values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹of the hotel independent positive premise of the implementation of green management. Hotel green culture is not only reflected in the various aspects of green management, but also to its inherent cultural force reacts to the various aspects of green management. To achieve a green hotel culture, we must ensure that the interests of the hotel staff to reach a balance. It will make the interests of the hotel and customer satisfaction to reach an agreement. For the hotel to continue and promote green management concepts and ecological values for staff is to encourage the environmental behavior of employees, increase green investment in management, thus forming the green culture of the hotel. Walk the road of eco-development; cultivate a green culture to rely on sustained advocacy to instill education and other activities. Thus making the hotel a green culture to penetrate into all the activities of the hotel, and has become a powerful driving force to promote the sustainable development of the hotel. Provide green services, hotels in green products while also vigorously promoting green services on the one hand actively promoting green products. Such as food service recommended green food and beverages to the guests, so when the guest ordering is affordable, reasonable nutrition, resources are not wasted. On the other hand, actively carry out a green consulting service activities, and vigorously promote conducive to conserving resources, protecting the environment, consumption pattern, a healthy and civilized lifestyle, motivate consumers to conscious energy-saving, water conservation, and to engage in waste separation and recovery that. In 1993, China began to implement environment mark plan, but the environment mark plan have not yet received most of public and government attention. At that time, some developed countries already apply the environmental marking system for the background of economic globalization. Environment mark becomes open international market green keys. As consumers, green consumption concept of recognition and the tendency of national policy, green products will be occupy a lot of investment in market segment. Environmental  labeling  is not only a means to influence the companys  consumer buying behavior should also be used  as a measure of  marketing,  but  many hotels  are often ignored by consumers of green  consumer psychology and  paying  enough attention. Hotel  marketing  tool is not the introduction of a green  way of thinking. Because many  of the  hotels  we  have not  build  environmental awareness  and thus  the  marketing tools  are still  limited. For example,  some hotels  are not  interested in the welfare  of society,  but the  pursuit of star effect that can spend billions of dollars. Some of the hotel attracts  customers  to  use a vulgar things causing spiritual pollution in market competition, not in quality. Benefits of Green Marketing (Going Green) Having an effective green marketing makes a lot of benefits for the hospitality industry. With the green marketing, it will help a lot in the protecting and maintaining the environment that nowadays the damages are increasing and become one of the important problems to help the environment. Nowadays, hotel starts to make a green concept in every part of their operation. As the hotel which is one of the big industries in the world, hotel needs to consider about green marketing and take the benefits from this. The benefits of going green in the green marketing not only effects for the environment itself, but it also affect the employee and customer. There are so many reasons why hotels want to apply this green marketing, and most of all its because the hotel industry wants to be viewed positively by the consumers. Green marketing also refers to the satisfaction of consumer wants, needs, and satisfaction with the conservation of natural environment. The most important things to applying the green marketing are protecting this living space, because the damages are too big. In this, we need to save the environment with using less for water consumption, energy consumption and reduce the air pollutant. These are all the benefits for the environment and protect for the future generation for this living space. The concept of green marketing can makes a new concept of consumers in hospitality industry, because of with the new concept of the friendly environment it will be make a differences. Consumers will feel the new thing about the new products that hotel gives. According to Patrick Hartmann and Vanessa Ibanez, if the brand considered green, then consumer willing to pay more for that product (2006). The long term costs are one consideration why hotel need to do green marketing. Green goods have higher initial out-of-pocket expenses but lower long-term costs (Rubik Frankl, 2005). For the new changes in green marketing concept need to have a lot of costs for the product, promotion, and images, but as the time goes by

Prevalence of One Party Rule in African States Essay

Africa, often known as the ‘Dark Continent’ rightfully occupies its place as the ‘Cradle of Civilization’ as the first humans have been known to originate from this continent of diverse ethnicities, tribes and clans. Since ancient times, the very nature of African society predicated formation of kingdoms and states centered on ethnicities and clans. Later, the advent of colonialism brought to Africa new forms of governance, which included democratization, socialism, communism and dictatorships. One enduring feature of African style of governance has been the prevalence of one party rule in most African countries. This paper examines why there is such a preference for such single party model of governance in Africa. To fully examine the subject, this paper shall first provide a historical overview of the progression of styles of governance in Africa and then examine the trends in major countries that make up the African continent. The paper will argue that the intrinsic nature of the African society and the effects of colonialism predispose them to following a one party rule. Historical Overview Africa is the world’s second largest continent both in terms of size and population and has 54 countries many of which are struggling democracies, a few communist regimes, and a number of authoritarian regimes bordering on dictatorship. Since ancient times, Africa had its indigenous systems of governance based on tribes and ethnic affinities. Africa also had great civilizations like the Egyptian civilization in 3300 B. C (Martin & O’Meara, 1995, p. 79). The earliest foreign influence came in 814 B. C. with the founding of Carthage in present day Tunisia under the Roman Empire which was followed by Persian domination of Egypt. In 332 B. C. , Alexander the Great replaced the Persian domination of Egypt and Roman rule continued in much of North Africa till the advent of Islam in the early 7th century (Martin & O’Meara, p. 99). In all these cases, the style of governance was centralized, as exercised by the emperor based in Rome or Persia through an appointed sovereign. The influence was limited mostly to North Africa, while the rest of Africa was considered too difficult to traverse due to thick jungles. Thus even in North Africa, from ancient times, the focus was on one –man rule and that more or less ‘conditioned’ the North African people to accept models of ‘uni-power’ in those times. Since the jungles were impassable and large number of tribes and ethnicities abounded, it was natural that rest of Africa had thousands of small kingdoms, states and at times independent nomadic tribes who dominated a particular territory. Each tribe had its own set of rules, customs, traditions and styles of governance, which again was predicated on the rule of one man or a tribal elder. The concept of Greek ‘city-state’ like democracy complete with a senate and an executive was non-existence. Over time, some of the tribes became more powerful and evolved into larger settled kingdoms that coalesced around similar ethnicities and language such as the Ghanaian empire that existed in 790-1076 A. D. followed by the Mali Empire from 1230 to 1600 A. D. (Martin & O’Meara, p. 70) The significant changes in style of governance came with the advent of colonialism. From the 18th century and by the late 19th century, most of Africa was divided up between the colonial powers; France, Britain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Netherlands. Under colonial rule, the African people had to undergo centralized rule of the colonial powers and the brutal suppression of any African revolt reinforced this submissiveness to a one-man rule. During the colonial period, the colonial powers brought with them their systems of governance, jurisprudence and legislation (Martin & O’Meara, p. 8). Colonialism lost its vigor in the early 20th century and by 1980, most ex-colonies in Africa gained independence. The former colonial powers before exiting from the continent tried to put into place systems of governance in ‘their own image’. Thus across Africa, a variety of ‘democratic’ systems took hold. Most of these ‘democratic systems were basically presidential forms of government, being the closest approximation to what they were used to both as per their pre-colonial experience and their colonial experience. The end of the Second World War gave rise to the Cold War and the Soviet Union tried to expand its influence in Africa also. This gave rise to numerous socialist-communist regimes in Africa that were opposed by the U. S. leading to proxy wars. Having examined the broad trends of the historical period of Africa till the advent of independence, the paper will now examine specific examples of how prevalence of one party rule exists in Africa. It is not intended to cover all 54 countries, but few sample countries that typify the various regions of Africa. For the ease of comprehension and brevity, Africa will be discussed under the heads North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa. North Africa North Africa because of its proximity to Asia had significant influence of Asian and Islamic traditions superimposed on ethnic African traditions and cultures. It is because of the spread of Islam in the 7th century, most of North Africa is Islamic. Islam, an egalitarian religion is considered as a complete body of work wherein all aspects of human life including politics and governance can be practiced through the Quran, the Holy book and the Hadith, the Islamic interpretation of Jurisprudence. Under Islamic law and Islamic political systems, an Islamic state is governed by a Caliph and where a Caliph no longer exists, then by a monarch or a ruler. Ideas such as secularism and democracy have very little congruence with the practice of political Islam. When such a system is overlaid over ancient tribal culture of a village head, it becomes natural that a state be ruled by a monarch or an authoritarian head and if not, the nearest approximation, a single grouping or party. Take for example, Egypt. Egypt, since ancient times was a land ruled by the Pharaohs, then the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Ottomans and the Arabs. In the colonial era, Egypt was ruled by Britain but the largely Islamic populace got independence from Britain in 1922 (Pateman & El-Hamamsy, 2003, p. 28). Egypt was initially a constitutional monarchy and had adopted the British parliamentary system of government but constant political interference from Britain led to internal turmoil that finally resulted in a military coup in 1952 (Pateman & El-Hamamsy, p. 28) in which the monarchy was overthrown and Egypt declared itself to be a Republic under General Muhammed Naquib. Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew Naguib in 1954 to become the Egyptian President. Nasser, on assuming power banned all political parties and created a one party named the Liberation Rally to run the government. This move helped him consolidate his power and rule Egypt till his death in 1970 after which he was succeeded by Anwar El-Sadat, the vice President (Pateman & El-Hamamsy, p. 29). Sadat carried out political reforms and reverted to a multi-party system (Pateman & El-Hamamsy, p. 31); creating one of the parties called the National Democratic Party and remained the President till he was assassinated in 1981 by a group of Egyptian army officers during an army parade (Pateman & El-Hamamsy, p. 29). Sadat’s successor, Hosni Mubarak is still in office since 1981 and is the present leader of the National Democratic Party. Though by the Egyptian constitution, multi-party system is allowed, due to sustained state patronage, the National Democratic Party is the only party which has the necessary financial and political clout to win elections. There are other smaller parties that have virtually no chance of winning a single election and till to date Egypt is essentially ruled by a single party. Libya, a British colony was declared as a monarchy under King Idris in 1951 but was overthrown by a revolution led by Colonel Muammer al-Gaddafi in 1969 (Wright, 1981, p. 130) who has ruled the country ever since. Political parties were banned by Gaddafi in 1972 and the country is ruled by the ‘revolutionary leader’, Gaddafi aided by a Revolutionary Committee also called as the People’s Congress. Tunisia was a French protectorate that became independent in 1956 and adopted a Presidential form of government, copying the French model, except that it rapidly turned into an authoritarian police state where most ‘Presidents’ have been military personnel. The present incumbent, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is a former military officer (Perkins, 2004, p. 7). On paper, political parties are allowed but in reality, it is only the President’s party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally that gets almost all the seats. The rest of the political parties are usually browbeaten into submission by the state’s security system and there is virtually no free press. The farcical nature of Tunisian ‘democracy’ can be gauged by the fact that in the 2009 presidential election, Ben Ali received 89. 62% votes to continue as the President (Lowe & Amara, 2009, p. 1). The ancient kingdom of Morocco, a French and Spanish Protectorate gained independence in 1956 as a constitutional monarchy, a system that continues till to date. Though the King of Morocco has a prime minister, a parliament and a multi-party system, the style of governance continues to be – rule by one man, the King (Forum, 2008, p. 49). West Africa In West Africa, the situation is slightly different. Here more than Islamic influence, it was the effect of local dynamics, ethnic rivalries, Christian missionaries and communist influence that has determined the preference for single party rule. Take for example Liberia, the only other country other than Ethiopia which has an American connection rather than a European past. Liberia was created through a private American enterprise to house freed African American slaves and became independent in 1847. Since, the project was American led; Liberia adopted a presidential form of system. However, the American backed Liberian elite who ruled the country came in conflict with 16 other indigenous ethnicities living in Liberia. Since the regime was thrust ‘top down’ from the Americans, tensions quickly developed and a coup by a group of ethnic military soldiers led by Samuel Doe took place in 1980. Doe replaced the presidential republic with his authoritarian regime. Political parties were allowed to exist but their freedom remained curtailed by the regime which furthered the hold of its own party, the National Democratic Party of Liberia. The 1985 election results in which the opposition Liberal Action Party won were declared invalid by Doe, which led to the Liberian Civil War in 1989. Doe was killed and the power passed into the hands of Charles Taylor (Moran, 2008, p. 106), who continued his dictatorial regime which again led to another civil war in 1999 that continued up to 2003 and only came to halt with Charles Taylor being forced into exile in Nigeria. From 1847 till 2003, Liberia was ruled by the Americo-Liberian elite and their single party. Since 2003, a transitional government was put into place with international intervention, which because of corruption was dissolved and fresh presidential elections were again held in 2005 and was won by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the head of Unity Party who became the first woman President of an African country (Polgreen, 2005, p. 1). Nigeria got its independence from Britain in 1960 and had numerous political parties. These political parties were sharply defined along ethnic lines comprising of three main ethnicities; the Hausa, the Igbo and the Yoruba (Rotberg, 2007, p. 19). The Yoruba dominated Nigerian National Democratic Party won the elections in 1965, which led to political dissensions and instability resulting in two military coups in 1966. This did not resolve the problem as the Igbo, dominating the Eastern region of the country declared independence from Nigeria leading to the Nigerian civil war 1967-1970 that led to over a million deaths. The civil war ended but not the ethnic strife and the military continued to rule Nigeria with coups and assassination of the presidents being a regular feature. For thirty years, Nigeria continued under military rule till 1999 when it finally elected Lusegun Obasanjo, a former military dictator as its President. Obasanjo was re-elected in 2003 (Rotberg, p. 13) as the President amidst allegations of rigging. Obasanjo was replaced by Umaru YarAdua of the People’s Democratic Party in 2007 and on his demise now been replaced by Goodluck Jonathan (Nossiter, 2010, p. 1). So while the American model was adopted, the actual functioning of a presidential type of government has been a recent development in Nigeria’s history. At present there are two main parties in Nigeria, the ruling People’s Democratic Party and the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party with numerous smaller parties. What must be noted is that a democratic political system in Nigeria is still nascent and fragile and should ethnic differences arise again it will not be long that another military coup will take place in the interests of ‘national security’. Angola became independent in 1975 after having been a Portuguese colony from the 16th century. Angolan independence came right in middle of the Cold War where Soviet influence in Africa was rising. The independent country was immediately plunged into a civil war between the Soviet backed Communist MPLA faction and the American backed anti-communist UNITA rebels (Sheehan, Yong, & Lin, 2010, p. 38). The Angolan civil war continued for 27 years (Sheehan, Yong, & Lin, p. 43) till declaration of ceasefire in 2002 by which time over 500,000 people were killed. The ideological factions had an ethnic base too wherein the MPLA comprised basically Angolans of the Kimbundu clan and the UNITA, the Ovimbundu tribe. Presently, the Communist MPLA holds power in Angola. As can be deduced, this being a communist regime with no legitimacy, the concept of political parties in a democratic system does not apply. East Africa East Africa including the Horn of Africa portrays a region of extreme instability with a few deceptively stable nations. Sudan, the first country being analyzed, after gaining independence from Egypt and Britain in 1956, was gripped by a civil war till 1973 (Barker, 2008, p. 16). This civil war was basically because of ethnic differences between the people of Northern Sudan (Islamic of Arabic lineage) and Southern Sudan (non-Islamic of non-Arab lineage). While the civil war raged, Khartoum was ruled by the Sudanese military. A ceasefire in 1973 negotiated through granting autonomy to Southern Sudan kept the peace till 1983 when the military general, and the de-facto President, Nimeiry unilaterally decided to incorporate Southern Sudan into a federation. The civil war continued (Barker, p. 18), Nimeiry was ousted in 1983 and replaced by a democratic government under Prime Minister Al Sadig Al Mahdi which was not recognized by the Sudan’s People Liberation Army (SPLA) of Southern Sudan. Civil war continued anew. In 1989, Colonel Omar al-Bashir over threw Prime Minister Al Mahdi, abolished political parties and established an Islamic code on entire Sudan. Al-Bashir formed the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation and allied his group with National Islamic Front to consolidate Islamization of firstly, Northern Sudan and then the rest of the country. In the subsequent military action by the Sudanese army, the SPLA were defeated in Southern Sudan by 1994. Having achieved consolidation, Bashir dissolved the revolutionary council in 1993. In the 1996 election Bashir declared himself to be the only candidate eligible to run for President. All other political parties were disbanded and Bashir converted Sudan into an Islamic state with single party at its helm – the newly created National Congress Party (NCP). Meanwhile, Bashir unleashed a brutal war of suppression on the non-Arab ethnic minorities in the Darfur region using proxy militia known as the Janjaweed that has resulted in deaths of over 400,000 Darfuris (Kessler, 2005, p. 1) leading to an indictment of Al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide. At the tip of the Horn of Africa lies the failed state of Somalia where no functional government exists. Somalia was never formally colonized by any power and had come under a variety of influences ranging from Islamic influence during the Ottoman Empire, Fascist influence under Mussolini’s Italy and then British military administration from 1941 that was replaced by the formation of a republic of Somalia in 1961 with a parliamentary form of government (Lewis, 2008, p. 33). This brief democratic interlude was shattered in 1969 when President Shermake was assassinated and replaced by a military government. The military created the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party in 1976 and ruled the nation till 1990. Meanwhile, various Islamic factions and clans grew in size and potency that overthrew the military government leading to a series of skirmishes through the period, 1990-1991. The long standing military dictator, Siad Barre was ousted in 1991 and President Ali Muhammed was installed, yet the civil war continued. The UN Security Council approved the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) in 1992 that has since been replaced by UNOSOM II with no success. Presently, a Transitional Federal Government (Lewis, p. x)is the internationally recognized government of Somalia whose writ does not even run through the entire city of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. In the dismal narrative so far, Kenya appears to be a bright democratic spark in the African continent. After achieving independence from Britain in 1963, Kenya adopted a semi-presidential form of government albeit, with the peculiar African preference for single party rule. The Kenyan constitution mandated formation of only a single party in Kenya. Governments continued to be formed under the single party system until 1992 when electoral reforms were introduced to allow a multiparty system. The elections since then have been held in generally free and fair manner. The 2007 elections were marred by allegations of rigging in which the main opposition party, the Orange Democratic Freedom accused the ruling Party of National Unity for stealing the election. In the ensuing rioting, over 1000 Kenyans lost their lives (Raghavan, 2010, p. 1) and hundreds of thousands were displaced. Peace was restored through international mediation in 2008 and the country is presently being run by a grand coalition of members of both the parties under a new constitution (Raghavan, p. 1). Kenya’s relative stability is attributed to the British colonial era, where unlike the rest of Africa, the colonists set up educational institutions and government infrastructure. Also, unlike the other African countries, 78% of Kenyans are Christians while 10% are Muslims, 10% indigenous and the rest 2% are Asian immigrants (CIA World Factbook, 2010, p. 1). Central Africa In Central Africa, the Republic of Congo has been in the news for decades for all the wrong reasons. Congo received independence from France in 1960 and adopted the French presidential model of governance. However, the first President, Fulbert Youlou was ousted in 1963 by a military coup, which then installed a puppet civilian government (Rorison, 2008, p. 225) and also adopted communist ideology. In 1965, the Congo republic formally joined hands with the Soviet Union, firmly coming into the soviet bloc (Rorison, p. 226). This alignment did not bring about political stability as the original French democratic influence clashed with the ‘uni-power’ Soviet ideology leading to a series of coups and dictatorship under Denis Sassou. During his first spell of rule from 1979 to 1992, Sassou ruled Congo under a single party rule of the Congolese Labor Party (PCT) (Rorison, p. 227). When external pressures grew strong, he introduced multiparty system in 1990 and was defeated in the 1992 Presidential election. Sassou’s ouster led to a civil war between the supporters of Sassou and his competitor Pascal Lissouba. Sassou, a former colonel won the civil war and proclaimed himself as the President in 1997. In 2009, Sassou was sworn in for another seven-year period (Amnesty International, 2010, p. 1). In Congo’s case too, for most of its independent history, the country has been ruled by a single party and now despite a multi-party ‘democracy’ in place, the original political party, the PCT continues to rule the country. Southern Africa In Southern Africa, any discussion regarding Africa would remain incomplete without illustrating the case of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, originally Rhodesia became independent after a violent struggle with the British in 1980. Throughout the period, 1965-1979, the country was engulfed in a civil war between British government forces and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) led by Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) led by Joshua Nkomo as also a number of smaller splinter groups (Raftopoulos & Mlambo, 2009, pp. 141-165). In the 1980 elections, Robert Mugabe won by a wide margin but fighting with opposing parties and groups continued. The two main parties the ZANU and ZAPU fought bitterly until 1988 when ceasefire was declared and the two parties merged into ZANU-PF thus starting Zimbabwe’s slide into single party dominated system (Raftopoulos & Mlambo, p. 179). Till to date the ZANU-PF has won every single election by force. Mugabe’s policies of throwing out the white farmers and forcibly occupying lands and giving it to the poor black resulted in economic sanctions by the West and a meltdown of the economy. Owing to his bad economic policies, hyperinflation struck the country and created political space for Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change to challenge him in the 2008 elections. The results were rigged but could not conclusively establish Tsvangirai’s claim of having won the elections. In September 2008, Mugabe maintained his power as the President by agreeing to share power with Tsvangirai who became the Prime Minister (Raftopoulos & Mlambo, p. xxxii). Yet again, the single party rule dominates Zimbabwe. Finally, a discussion of Africa would be incomplete without examining its most prosperous and advanced state – South Africa. In South Africa, the colonial power, the Dutch did not relinquish their hold over the country and continued in the form of Apartheid, which was once again predicated on the dominance of a single party – the White minority party thereby conditioning the people of South Africa to rule by a single party. However, the violent suppression of the minorities could not continue indefinitely and ever since 1961, when South Africa left the British Commonwealth (Berger, 2009, p. 166) the white minority National Party faced constant protest from the black majority for equality. Till 1993, the National Party had banned other political parties (Berger, p. 166) and it was only in the face of sustained international pressure and internal struggle by the black and colored populations that the ban was lifted in 1993 and the African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela was allowed to participate in elections. In Mandela, the South Africans found a charismatic leader who exuded the moral authority and statesmanship, which promised to build a future for the suppressed races. Mandela delivered on his promises but also led to consolidation of the ANC as the only party of choice for the people of Africa. The National Party chose to merge with the ANC and this yet again showed the propensity of Africans to prefer single party rule. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be reiterated that analysis of all the regions of Africa shows a remarkable similarity of circumstances that seemed to have shaped their preference for single party rule. The ethnic make up into tribes and clans were at the most basic level, the building blocks for adhering to the instructions of the clan leader or village headman. This obedience in turn was further conditioned by brutal colonial rule, where the colonial masters used every suppressive means to keep the Africans submissive. Suppression and exploitation itself became the rallying point for the African clans to unite and fight for their independence. Since most of the colonial powers only exploited Africa and did not build institutions, the succeeding indigenous governments had no infrastructural back up to employ their people or give immediate succor; naturally, the people fell back to tribal and clan loyalties as rallying forces. Since these points of opposition had to be formed clandestinely, they became sort of secret societies that formed oligarchic groups to fight for independence. On attaining independence the basic dynamics of the groups did not change and they continued as a closed ‘in-group’, which only heightened social inequalities and strife broke out in most cases. As democratic institutions had not been allowed to mature under the colonial period, people tended to cluster around the ‘village headman’, in other words, any leader with some charisma and since one institution that always has a clearly defined leader is the army, most governments became victims of military takeovers. The populace conditioned by colonial repression now became victims of military repression. Military forces needed a ‘democratic fig leaf’ to govern nations and so they set up political parties which were then headed by serving or former military officers to perpetrate the rule of a single party in the states. Parts of Africa that had predominantly Islamic influence adopted Islamic laws, which ideologically are not compatible with democratic secularism. Therefore, these countries by default became ruled by a king or a dictator or by a single party. Where the Cold War intruded the African political space, communist regimes under laid by African tribalism became the dominant feature. In these cases, the political ideology required the rule of the state by a single party. Later, when communist regimes fell, the old habit of single party rule lingered on. Thus the assertion that there is prevalence of one party rule in African states is emphatically proved. However, as can be seen from the examples of African states discussed, the hold of one party system is slowly changing. Multiple parties are emerging as the African people are becoming more aware of the wider world through the process of globalization. They are also realizing the need for multiple choices for governance as a panacea against corruption and despotism. So while the one-party prevalence in Africa may seem predominant at the present, political evolution of the African polity is taking place that will, in time transform into a more inclusive political process across the continent. References Amnesty International. (2010). Congo (Republic of). Retrieved August 11, 2010, from http://www. unhcr. org/refworld/country,,,,COG,,4c03a835c,0. html Barker, G. (2008). Sudan. NY: Marshall Cavendish. Berger, I. (2009). South Africa in World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CIA World Factbook. (2010, August 3). Kenya. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke. html Forum, A. P. (2008). An Audit of Police Oversight in Africa. Cape Town: African Minds. Kessler, G. (2005, April 27). State Dept. Defends Estimate Of Deaths in Darfur Conflict. Retrieved August 10, 2010, from Washington Post: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601397. html Lewis, I. (2008). Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. NY: Columbia University Press. Lowe, C. , & Amara, T. (2009, October 26). Tunisian President Wins Fifth Term in Office. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from Reuters: http://www. reuters. com/article/idUSTRE59P03M20091026 Martin, P. M. , & O’Meara, P. (1995). Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Moran, M. H. (2008). Liberia: The Violence of Democracy . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. Nossiter, A. (2010, February 9). Nigerian Parliament Names Acting President. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from New York Times: http://www. nytimes. com/2010/02/10/world/africa/10nigeria. html Pateman, R. , & El-Hamamsy, S. (2003). Egypt. NY: Marshall Cavendish. Perkins, K. J. (2004). A History of Modern Tunisia . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Polgreen, L. (2005, November 12). In First for Africa, Woman Wins Election as President of Liberia. Retrieved August 10, 2010, from New York Times: http://www. nytimes. com/2005/11/12/international/africa/12liberia. html Raftopoulos, B. , & Mlambo, A. (2009). Becoming Zimbabwe: A History from the Pre-Colonial Period to 2008. Harare: Weaver Press. Raghavan, S. (2010, August 6). Kenyans Celebrate Approval of New Constitution. Retrieved August 10, 2010, from The Washington Post: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/05/AR2010080500525. html Rorison, S. (2008). Congo. Guilford: The Globe Pequot Press Inc. Rotberg, R. I. (2007). Nigeria: Elections and Continuing Challenges. NY: Council for Foreign Relations. Sheehan, S. , Yong, J. L. , & Lin, Y. J. (2010). Angola. NY: Marshall Cavendish. Wright, J. (1981). Libya: A Modern History. Beckenham: Croom Helm Ltd.

Asian American Literature Essay

The stereotype created of Japanese men as military foes combined nationalism with racism. Since their physique has always been considered small, the danger from the Japanese was perceived to come from the Japanese Superman, possessed of uncanny discipline and fighting skills. Films, often punctuated with racial slurs, were quick to paint Japan’s treachery in battle, its brutality, and disregard for international rules of war. These stereotypic images carried over to Japanese-American men outside the context of the war. Pearl Harbor and the war years enabled Hollywood to revive the yellow peril characteristics and the fear of miscegenation. By the end of the war, Americans had learned to associate brutality and treachery with a Japanese face. Caricatures of the Japanese were found in the cartoons of the period. Warner Brothers, Looney Tunes, created a duck version of â€Å"The Jap† who had glasses, buckteeth and cries â€Å"oh sorry, sorry, sorry† (with slurred r’s). They also created â€Å"Tokyo Jokio† and â€Å"Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips. † The buck-toothed Japanese became a standard cartoon figure. Max Fleischer created a Popeye the Sailor cartoon entitled â€Å"You’re A Sap, Mr. Jap†, which is a song Popeye sings over and over. This cartoon showed the Japanese deceiving Popeye, causing him to cry out righteously: â€Å"Double-Crossing Japanese† The portrayal of women during this period fared no better. The common stereotype was the â€Å"Dragon Lady,† â€Å"Geisha Girl,† and â€Å"Tokyo Rose,† who had a penchant for White men, dressed in tight dresses, and bodies on display. They are sly, cruel, exotic sex objects, or subservient and hardworking. Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, in â€Å"Feminist and Ethnic Literary Theories in Asian American Literature† comments on how â€Å"the image of Japanese-American women usually remains on the margin, invisible, mute or constrained to limited stereotypic images of passion. † The media played on these stereotypes to sell misleading images to audiences, who wanted entertainment that was different from their normal lives and were willing to see and accept anything exotic. The stereotypes of Japanese and Japanese-American women were pervasive in the media because the media perpetuated these stereotypes through their portrayal of Japanese and Japanese-Americans. Unfortunately, for some, they still carry over in the perceptions of the American people. Japanese-Americans are challenging the stereotypical images of the past and have made a voice for themselves in American society. They are fighting against the persistent racism and sexism against themselves by establishing a unifying identity as Americans and monitoring the media’s representations. Although ethnic stereotyping is less common today than it was in the last century, it persists. The images are not so obviously offensive; consequently, many people do not recognize them as stereotypes. In terms of dramatic expression, then, the Japanese film labors under a heavy burden. If it portrays emotion within the traditional Japanese framework, it may achieve authenticity, but the effect is antiquated. If it portrays emotion within the Western framework, it comes across as meretricious and unconvincing. Films that try to blend the two modes often end up antiquated and unconvincing. Yet in animation, which lacks visual realism and features de-Japanized characters to begin with, the expression of emotion paradoxically takes on a more convincing sense of reality. This may explain why most of the serious and ambitious film efforts have used the vehicle of anime. Given the serious dramatic deficiency, Japanese live-action films can no longer tackle any serious or profound subject matter. In the context of contemporary Japanese film, then, anime often conveys a greater sense of reality than live-action films. The thin, insubstantial reality of animated film, that is to say, is more alive — literally, more animated — than the flesh-and-blood reality. And if anime is perceived as more real (i. e. , closer to physical reality) than live-action, this means that, increasingly, anime embodies the Japanese consciousness of reality. The Japanese conception of reality is undergoing a process of animation. The rise of anime as well as manga is a cultural by-product of modern Japan’s tendency to promote modernization and Westernization while rejecting its history and traditions. A medium that fuses elements of East and West, and lacks a clear national identity, could be considered international in a certain sense, and this is doubtless a major reason why anime has so many fans overseas. But the current state of affairs, in which anime represents the mainstream of Japanese cinema, is by no means desirable, inasmuch as it signifies an ever-widening gap between physical reality and people’s conception of it.

Human Beings and Happiness Essay - 1540 Words

Happiness is a major concern for human beings, and it comes as no surprise that history has yielded many explorations as to what happiness is, and how it can be achieved. These explorations of happiness can be traced back to the philosophical inquiries of classical times, to today’s psychological studies on happiness. While happiness itself is generally difficult to precisely define, the operational definition of happiness relates to what is known as subjective well-being (SWB). In psychological studies, it has been determined that individuals are best suited to assess their own happiness, hence the primacy of SWB. This is in contrast with previous notions of happiness that tie happiness to virtue or any other objective notion of†¦show more content†¦The identification of SWB also meant the identification of the factors that lead to happiness, namely wealth, social relationships, religion and personality, although more factors do exist as more research is done on happ iness. In the interest of this paper, wealth is the factor that is to be explored in terms of its relationship to happiness. Richard Easterlin, in his work â€Å"Does Money Buy Happiness† investigated the relationship between wealth and happiness. There is the common conception that money cannot buy happiness, but Easterlin’s research reveals a strong correlation between happiness and wealth. Utilizing surveys done across the world, Easterlin was able to conclude that an increase in wealth correlates to an increase in happiness: â€Å"This positive relation between happiness and income appears in every single one of the 30 national population surveys studied.† Specifically, Easterlin cites the December 1970 survey of the population, which revealed that those of low income, meaning $3000 or less annual income, only yielded a fourth saying that their SWB is very happy. In contrast, more than twice of the percentage gave the same response for those who have incomes of $15000 or more. 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