Is it political culture, social cleavages or inherited institutions Essay

Is it political culture, social cleavages or inherited institutions that has the most significant influence on the current problems facing the consolidation of - Essay Example The repercussions f the Russian and Asian financial crises, together with the apparent fraying f Cardoso's governing coalition and a unilateral moratorium on federal debts declared by some states, exposed the fiscal and political fragility f Cardoso's policy agenda. Brazil's ability to recover quickly from the global economic shocks and Cardoso's success in winning legislative assent on major structural reforms as f May 2000 reveal as much his political skill as the many overlooked strengths and growing versatility f the Brazilian political system. The discussions in the texts to be reviewed here place in crisper perspective the political and institutional conundrum facing Cardoso's administration. The seven books share many features. Each in its own way addresses critical political and institutional issues facing Brazil today. For most f these analysts, the central question is, why has Brazil's new democracy performed so poorly in terms f redistributive reforms and democratic governance Why has the return to democracy resulted in neither good governance nor improvements in the country's profound social deficit While the authors have their own distinctive approaches and ways f framing f the central problem, this review will focus mainly on the themes f democratic governance and social welfare. As a group, the works under review here reveal four shortcomings. First, they understate the achievements f democracy in Brazil. This assessment stems in part from mostly normative hidden assumptions about an ideal type f democracy, in c omparison with which the performance f Brazilian democracy falls short. Second, these authors perceive more continuities than breaks in Brazilian political development, with corrosive practices and institutions f the past remaining intact--or even strengthened-following the transition to democracy. Third, they underestimate the capacity f the three key political institutions in Brazil--the parties, the legislature, and the executive or generalize about their hypothesized weakness. This problem is especially egregious in the analysis by Ronald Schneider, who describes the Brazilian party system as "primitive" and blames the "dysfunctional public sector" as the root cause f the country's economic and political crises. But the problem is equally visible in the books by Souza, Weyland, and Hagopian. Despite a growing body f research showing otherwise, (Martins 78-93) several f the texts reviewed here illustrate how works on Brazilian party systems and legislative-executive relations con tinue to be dominated by outdated, impressionistic, and overdrawn arguments and evidence. The first signs f a modern democratic government in Brazil appeared in 1945 when the military deposed President Getlio Vargas. Vargas had created a "semi-corporatist authoritarian regime (the Estado Nvo) based largely on the military." Once Vargas had been removed from power, Brazil instituted a competitive multi-party system. Multi-party systems are not a requirement for democracy, "but certainly the history f democratization has been associated with the development f parties and their legitimation." This step towards a true democratic government was negated in 1964 when the military forced a reversion to an authoritarian form f rule. The president remained the top government official, but he was

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Project management - Essay Example That is the task of advertising. In order to expand sales and gain profit companies have use advertisement through various means of communication. This economic activity helps to spread the message across the target market for goods or services of the business. At the same time, though advertising can be said to be an element of public relations activities, advertising itself does not always mean public relations. The two concepts, though have much in common, contain many differences as well. Public Relations work for the improvement of company’s image, building public awareness about the company and its activities, as well as effective promotion of certain offers of the company or outstanding features of a product or service. So, public relations refers to â€Å"strategic communication that different types of organizations use for establishing and maintaining symbiotic relationships with relevant publics† (Sriramesh, 2009, p. xxxi). As for advertising, it is currently defined as a communication tool â€Å"directed towards specific target customers in order to carry the message regarding a particular product, service or ideas, meaningfully and persuasively with a view to achieve certain specific objectives such as, to establish brand loyalty, expansion of the existing markets, increased sales volume, etc.† (Kumar & Mittal, 2002, p. 2). ... The country has been admitted to the World Trade Organization (Walters & Samiee, 2003) and, therefore, became an attractive market for many multinational corporations. While the effect of media is suspect of influencing the relationships of different individuals, the targeting of commercial advertising and PR activities toward consumers and strategies employed in order to reach Chinese audience is the primary focus in this study. The fact that media outlets became so widespread in Chinese society serves as the impetus for studying in a more narrow scope the relationship between commercial advertising and PR, and the viewer/consumer in media commercial programming. In addition, the given work aims at analyzing techniques and strategies of advertising agencies used to influence Chinese consumers. Research questions Though Chinese market can be considered relatively new for western companies, it does not experience any lack of attention and is already flooded with foreign companies and, as a result, advertising and PR. However, thought the market is attractive, it has certain peculiarities and unique characteristics that should be considered by entering businesses when trying to become popular in China. Therefore, the given research is trying to clarify the following aspects of public relations and advertising in China: How in particular and to what extent public relations in China differs from advertising and what particular signs make a difference between the two communication activities in the Chinese market. What major communication means, tools and techniques Chinese and multinational companies use in China to effectively deliver the message to the target audience and how effective particular strategies and techniques are.