Keats Ode Poems Essay

This essay will work in unifying themes of Keats’ poems, Ode to a Nightingale, Ode to Melancholy, Ode to Psyche, Ode to Indolence, and Ode on a Grecian Urn. The paper will analyze these poems and then apply thematic links. In Keats’ poem Ode to a Nightingale, the first stanza begins with the narrator describing heartache. The following emotions each illustrate this main point through the use of words such as ‘drowsy numbness’, and ‘dull opiate’ (Lines 1-3). The first stanza introduces the reader to the natural element of the nightingale, ‘light-winged Dryad of the trees’(Line 7). This nightingale juxtaposes the narrator’s emotion in a contrasting point of happiness, and thus elicits of the narrator a response of envy (Crawford 478). The narrator’s intent on comparing their lot with the happiness of the nightingale is one full of earnest just as much as envy. The narrator wants to have the nightingale’s happiness as is proven with the lines, ‘O for a draught of vintage†¦That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim’(Lines 11-20). Thus, the desire of escape is an established theme in Keats’ poem Ode to a Nightingale (Crawford 476). This idea of escapism is further established in the third stanza as it reads, ‘Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget†¦The weariness, the fever, and the fret’ (Lines 21-23). The wish to be a nightingale, of the thins in life the speaker wishes they could own is all tied up in this tiny songstress, and its life is envied all that much more because of the unattainable nature of the speaker to become like the bird (Columbia Encyclopedia 12356). It is a different world that the speaker desires, one in which heartache, loss, and fretful worries of the mundane world are too heavy to bear, and so their escape is not only to leave society, to wander off into the woods, or even to leave the country, but to transmogrify into another creature, a bird, in which the very symbolism of flight alludes to escape, and a fast one. Not only is escape the ideal of the speaker but to be able to forget about the worry enough to create a beautiful song is the other objective in desiring to become a nightingale. These illusions, and ponderings of transformation is the theme which runs throughout Keats’ poems. For, in the speaker’s present state in this poem, because, presumably, of their inability to see the world before them, as is interpreted in the lines, ‘I cannot see what flowers are at my feet, Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs’(Lines 41-42). Thus, in becoming a nightingale, the narrator will shed the worries of his present human state in society and be able to engross themselves in the natural world (Stillinger 595). In the same mood of transformation the speaker suggests that perhaps death is a great escape, ‘I have been half in love with easeful Death, Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme, To take into the air my quiet breath’(Lines 52-54). Here then is seen the ultimate escapism theme; Death. These two themes, that of escape through nature (nightingale) and through supernatural (Death) run in opposing directions, as Keats points out in the poem, â€Å"Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! ’(Line 61). Thus, the bird is proven to be an eternal symbol and thus, the poem’s narrator must find which persuasion; the natural or the supernatural will win them over (Smith 400). In Keats’ poem Ode to Melancholy, the theme of wanting joy is read throughout the poem. The poem seems to be an inspirational change from Ode to a Nightingale as the poem illustrates a sort of derision from death in the lines, ‘For shade to shade will come too drowsily, And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul’ (Lines 9-10). Thus, death’s personification is in the shadows which the narrator portends to be the end of life, where a person should not go (Lethe). The struggle of depression between happiness is a very simple theme in all of Keats’ poems, and one that is no different in this poem, yet its syntax is more intricately woven (Stillinger 596). The poem states that happiness cannot be gotten without melancholy and the greater the depression the greater the happiness. The desire of the narrator in this poem, as in Ode to a Nightingale is to be joyous, although the pathway to this joy is complicated with desperate thoughts, and the dragging of reality. This compare and contrast of melancholy and happiness is best seen in the lines, ‘ She dwells with Beauty-Beauty that must die’ (Line 21). Thus, the transcendence of the ethereal of Beauty, as with the nightingale’s song, is something that is captured once, and then is gone, either changed into a memory, a dream, an illusion, or death. The achievement of beauty, joy, and happiness is the main objective for Keats’ poems. This objective is perfectly illustrated in his poem Ode to Psyche in which the narrator professes the beauty of the goddess. The narrator is questioning the beauty of Psyche, not to test its reality but to wonder whether or not they truly did see her, ‘Even into thine own soft-conched ear: Surely I dream’d to-day, or did I see, The winged Psyche with awaken’d eyes? ’ (Lines 4-6). Thus, Psyche’s beauty is not contested, but the vision of her beauty is by the speaker. The speaker goes on to elaborate on the forest scene as had been done with the escapist route imagined in Ode to a Nightingale. The narrator goes on to discuss the nature of their vision as two nymphs embracing arm in arm, a winged boy and Psyche. Thus, the element of the supernatural is combined with that of the natural, which was clearly defined in Ode to a Nightingale with the bird and death; in this poem they collaborate with the goddess being seduced in a forest glen. Thus, these elements, natural and supernatural, work together to form a collaborating image for the reader. This poem dwells more on the illustration of a scene of Psyche being made love to, and the extreme beauty of her, while the previous poems were mainly focused on the narrator’s interpretation of their world in terms of escape and melancholy. The escapist route taken in this poem may best be described as escapism through beauty. The divine is predominately seen in this poem that its presence in comparison to the melancholy wishes found in the previous poems points the decisive reader towards the viewpoint that in beauty, especially of mythological proportions, is found a different form of escape. The belief in the ethereal realm, the realm found beyond the mundane, banal, and real, and into the heavens. The desperation found in the previous cited Keats’ poems is found in Ode to Psyche in the element of wanting Psyche, of desiring her in this (the narrator’s) modern day, ‘Too, too late for the fond believing lyre, When holy were the haunted forest boughs, Holy the air, the water, and the fire’ (Lines 37-39). The dedication to this mythological realm is fully witnessed with the narrator in the final stanza, ‘Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane’ (Line 50). Thus, the narrator professes to want to be in servitude to the goddess and makes many vows, and paints a pretty picture of what such a life of servitude would be like. This picture involves a lot of natural settings of the forest with trees, bees, birds, streams, stars, flowers, etc. Thus, the image of the real, the natural, is given to support the claim of making the supernatural as real as possible; the theme of the natural and supernatural are seen once again. It does not seem as though Keats is writing with personification; that is, making a woman into the image of the goddess Psyche, but he is using the actual image of the goddess to fulfill a desire. Ode to Indolence deals with temptation and innocence. The poem begins, again, with a very Keats’ hallucination involving robed figures, with urns. The connotations of death, and of mythology are seen in this imagery. This poem has the narrator ask the three figures why did not leave the speaker alone; this means that the speaker wishes to remain in their state of indolence as Keats writes, ‘my pulse grew less and less’. When the speaker is done questioning the figures, and they leave the narrator, the poem takes a different turn, as the speaker state, ‘Then faded, and to follow them I burn’d And ached for wings, because I knew the three: The first was a fair maid, and Love her name; The second was Ambition, pale of cheek, And ever watchful with fatigued eye; The last, whom I love more, the more of blame Is heap’d upon her, maiden most unmeek, – I knew to be my demon Poesy’ (Lines 22-31). The speaker then is preoccupied with wanting something of the supernatural world, as is seen in the previous poems discussed, ‘They faded, and, forsooth! I wanted wings’ (Line 32). The desiring of a different world, the world with the shadows is felt just as strongly in this poem as was analyzed in the previous poems. The dream world also survives in this poem as a theme for Keats. It is in the dream that the soul exists more fully than in the actual world, that is the fact that the soul is the conduit through which joy is realized, and so it is in a dream, or a dreamlike world that the speaker is able to find happiness. The longing for the shadows in this poem is the final image which Keats leaves the reader with, ‘Fade softly from my eyes, and be once more In masque-like figures on the dreary urn’ (Lines 57-58). With the image of the urn in this poem, the obvious allusions to death cannot be misinterpreted, and so, death as a supernaturally desired figure as with Ode to a Nightingale is seen by the reader (Mauro 290). The theme of escapism, although quite obvious in the other poems analyzed in this paper is undoubtedly seen in the poem Ode on a Grecian Urn. The idea of negative capability is also read in this poem, or uncertainties. The reader is not given the identities of the figures on the urn, although their impact on the speaker is obvious. The figures are representational of Keats’ own uncertainty (Negative Capability). The poem serves to focus the use of the imagination as a gateway into the supernatural realm which in itself, and its mysterious are not always known in the corporeal realm. The relationship of art to real life is the inspiration for this poem. The same idea of negative capability, or mystery as was seen in Ode to Indolence with the hazy three figures, and the reader’s own ignorance on their identity is once again seen in Ode to a Grecian Urn. This ‘mystery’ or ignorance is most importantly read in the last three lines of the poem, ‘Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st, ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,–that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know’ is said by the urn or is the poet’s, Keats own view. Each poem analyzed and compared and contrasted in this paper has had an underlying theme of truth; that is, the speakers attempt to find out their own soul, their own personal truth in the realm of the supernatural while at times either forsaking the natural, or dwelling more in the natural in order to make the supernatural seem that much more tangible as is seen in Ode to Psyche. The theme of escape was very strong in Keats’ poems, it was not all together the main focus of the poet’s viewpoint; instead the focus may also be the singular point of desiring a change. The idea of transformation is what truly captures the reader’s imagination with Keats, and it is with transformation that a true concurrent theme is found. Works Cited Crawford, A. W. Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale. Modern Language Notes. Vol. 37, No. 8. (Dec. , 1922). pp. 476-481. John Keats Selected Poetry. 3 April 2009. < http://englishhistory. net/keats/poetry. html> Mauro, Jason. The Shape of Despair: Structure and Vision in Keats’s ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’. Nineteenth-Century Literature. Vol. 53, No. 3. (Dec. , 1997). pp. 289-301. Smith, Hillas. John Keats: Poet, Patient, Physician. Reviews of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 6, No. 3. (May-June 1984). pp. 390-404. Stillinger, Jack. Keats and Romance. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Vol. 8, No. 4. (Autumn 1968). pp. 593-605. The Columbia Encyclopedia. Criticism. 6th Edition. 2007.

A religious or moral issue Essay

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One night Pat sees Ricky picking up Natalie from round the corner from their house. The next morning Pat confronts Natalie about what she saw and tells her to end it but Natalie starts crying and says that she still loves Ricky, but Pat tells Natalie about her own love life and that she would be making a big mistake by seeing Ricky. Natalie is still confused and not sure whom she wants to be with. On Ricky’s birthday Natalie stays home and looks after Jack and Liam, Ricky’s son. So Barry, Pat and Roy can go to Ricky’s party soon after they arrive Barry persuades Roy and Pat to go home and baby-sit so Natalie can come to the party. When Natalie arrives she gives Ricky his card and on the back of the envelope Natalie wrote meet me outside the back where she tells him that she is going to leave Barry. Pat and Natalie talk again and Pat shows Natalie the secret tape, which Barry has recorded for Natalie’s birthday it is a really special tape because Barry says how much he loves her, how important she is to him and how happy she makes him feel, after seeing the video Natalie realises that she is doing wrong and tells Ricky it’s over. Natalie realises she can’t forget Ricky and soon their affair is back on and they plan to move away from the square and start afresh. They plan to leave on Natalie’s birthday, Natalie doesn’t even care about the preparations that Barry made for her birthday party in the Vic. They are ready to head off but Ricky’s car has broken down so they have to take the car that Barry bought for Natalie. Barry is still in the Vic waiting for the guest of honour to arrive but Janine knows about Ricky and Natalie and tells Barry. Barry runs outside and sees Natalie driving off but he stops them. Natalie then tells Barry she’s leaving him, Barry takes her into the Vic and shows her what he has organised for her, Natalie runs off to the toilets Barry runs after her and tries o make her change her mind but her minds already made up. Natalie is ready to leave but then Janine tells Natalie that Ricky slept with Sam, Natalie leaves the square only taking her son with her. Barry is left heartbroken, he then finds out that Pat knew about Ricky and Natalie, Pat and Roy end up having an argument about it, Roy has a heart attack and dies. The issue seen was dealt sensitively because the different characters feelings were expressed, although it was Natalie who was having the affair, you could see that not only was it the innocent partner that was confused but the partner which was committing adultery was even more confused, Natalie wasn’t sure who she wanted to be with at some points and was getting very upset over it. Pat tried to help her make the right decision but Natalie didn’t care. This soap opera made the moral issue less appealing, I think that it made people think more about what they are doing is totally wrong. The reason it did not make it more appealing is because it showed all the different circumstances people were left in, Natalie ended it with Ricky because he slept with Sam, Barry was left with no son and no wife, the baby was left with no father, Pat was left as the enemy and homeless because Roy dies and leaves the house to Barry, so the issue was shown well balanced because all the main characters feelings and circumstances were shown, many of the characters were feeling hurt. Overall I think this soap opera has shown adultery to be unpleasant because it shows just how many peoples lives are ruined not just the adultery committers, but people who try to help them understand what they are doing is wrong, but are then given the evil for not telling the truthful partner. So this teaches most viewers that adultery is not a good thing. I don’t think that soap opera’s might affect people’s behaviour because mostly they deal with issues to express the circumstances of good and bad. This issue would not cause offence because although it is an issue, which is happening in everyday life it is not based on particular people.

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The Making of a Football Blog - Essay Example The author is the one to usually generate the content of a weblog, or blog for short and simple terminology. All blogs have a home on the internet somewhere. That home could be your own website, e.g. http://yoursite.com. But, your blog’s home could also be upon a free blogging site, such as http://yoursite.wordpress.com or http://yoursite.blogspot.com. Even though you have a site for your football blog and are ready to generate content, you still must have a working knowledge of the subject matter that you are writing. For example, if you want to write about your favorite Premier League Football Club your blog could be called the United Ones, Manchester U, Manchester FC, United Biggest Fan, etc. This would not necessarily be the name of your blog to which you would write stories, articles, interviews, game recaps, boxscores, matchup previews, etc. about Manchester United or your favorite Football Club. Generated content is the main thing that is on a blog. You do need to make sure that when generating the content that not only does you have the knowledge of the material that you are presenting, that you are accurate in your spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. Lastly, you also want to make sure that the content written on your blog is original and not a copy of anybody else’s work without giving them the credit they so rightfully deserve. Social Media and Blogs Social media can allow for your blog to have increased visibility to gain you more followers than you would have without the use of the social media that is available to you out on the internet. Technology allows us to get information at our fingertips instantly, and social media allows us to instantly connect with another person from anywhere in the world. Using social media, like Twitter and Facebook, in conjuncture with your blog will allow your blog to be visible in places where it might not have otherwise been seen or by people who otherwise would not go searching fo r it. Furthermore, the use of Twitter and Facebook can allow your followers to ask questions more directly and be able to give comments and advice to you about how to possibly improve your blog. Also, if you plan on using a blog with a lot of images within it, then it might be best if you had a photo streaming account with a site like Flickr. This might be useful for a blog about a football club, using images from the team in a photo gallery or highlight reels. With Twitter, you can even keep up with the game live as it is being played down upon the field. Lastly, with the social media of today, you can link one with another so if you are tweeting about the game, then your Facebook account can receive those same tweets posted directly to your wall. Podcasts Another way you can provide information on your blog to your followers is through the use of podcasts. Podcasts are essentially an audio format that is posted onto the web in either QuickTime, WAV, or even Flash formats. These po dcasts can be downloaded and listened to upon an MP3 player for further listening pleasure. With this feature, you can place upon your blog a recorded interview you did with Manchester United’s star, David Beckham about the upcoming match with Wolverhampton about how he feels his club lines up with Wolverhampton.  

Technical Advantages of a Cone Crusher Essay Example for Free

Technical Advantages of a Cone Crusher Essay Henan Daswell Machinery is a professional supplier for mining machinery. We can provided all kinds of stone crusher,like cone crusher,impact crusher,jaw crusher,hammer crusher ,diesel engine crusher.etc.and our stone crusher are widely used in road construction with top quality and best services. As we all know,ore is a kind of hard and unbreakable material in crushing raw material. It must adopt the special method to collect and use it. However, the most utility is to crush and grind it through the mechanical force. Stone crusher receives a good reputation relying on the high efficiency, low energy consumption and the stable operation. In addition, it is also used in hydro-dam construction, transportation, chemical industry and building materials. DHC hydraulic cone crusher, which is designed by Daswell Machinery engineers, absorbs the various features of international advanced cone crushers. It is obviously different from the traditional cone crusher in design of structure, and focuses on the major advantages of various cone crushers until now. Daswell Machinery new-design cone crusher is the new generation of products, which replaces the spring cone crusher and the common hydraulic cone crusher. It is an ideal equipment for the large stone processing factory and mining crushing. From the aggregate production to the ore reduction, it can supply the incomparable crushing performance in the work of secondary crushing, fine crushing and ultra-fine crushing. Daswell Machinery insists on the continuous innovation, and improves the performance and reliability of cone crusher constantly. What s more, it takes the road of typical development, so as to create a world-class brand in the crushing and screening industry relying on our innovative and professional skills.

Benefits of Evidence Based Practice in Nursing

Benefits of Evidence Based Practice in Nursing Assignment: Nursing Evidence based details Table of Contents Part A: Essay References Part A: Essay The health care practices that are evidence based are accessible for many diseases and ill health cases like diabetes, heart failure, Asthma etc. The implementations of the evidence-based safety excercises is not an easy job, and require to form policies which deal with the complication of the health-care system. There is a requirement for the healthcare ways to be evidence based as per the changing environments. The evidence based practice is considerable and very careful in utilization of the existing finest evidences along with the clinical know-how and the norms of the patients to make right decisions in terms of health care. These best evidences comprise of practical evidences as of unsystematic controlled assessments, as of few scientific approaches like descriptive and qualitative study with the implication of details of some previous researches, reports, and opinions of the skilled people. In case there is not much of the research evidence accessible, then the health care decisions can be taken by non research substantiations like, opinions of the experienced people etc. And in case, the ample research results are accessible, then the practice can be as per the substantiation of it along with the skills in nursing and the norms of the patients (Cullen et al.2005) The models for the evidence based practice (EBP) are many in number and have been put to use in various clinical situations. All these models have one or two components which are similar. These can be choice of a theme for the EBP, evaluation and syntheses of evidence, application, and assessment of the influence on the care of the patients and the thoughts regarding the situations in which these practices are exercised. The discovering that happens amid the procedure of making an interpretation of examination into practice is profitable data to catch and input into the process, so others can adjust the confirmation based rule and/or the execution methodologies (Straus, 2000). There is wide acknowledgement of the idea that interdisciplinary joint effort is a vital building square for effective health-care groups. This conviction is grounded in our understanding of how group’s capacity to address complex care needs that change with intense sickness or damage. This general understanding has been accepted in studies that have reported good conclusions connected with effectively executing interdisciplinary models of health-care conveyance in non-discriminating care settings. The brief time spans over which the care needs of basically sick or harmed grown-ups change and the group approach taken by almost all Icus emphatically propose that interdisciplinary cooperation is additionally gainful in this setting. It has been foreseen that those health-care arrangements that productively employ interdisciplinary partnership will be prior to the arc in offering premium care at as small a price as probable. These kinds of institutions will in addition possibly b e superior situated for civilizing teaching and offering a better groundwork for decisive care study in their establishments. Source: Leape, 2005 Steps of advertising reception of EBPs could be seen from the point of view of the individuals who behavior scrutinize or produce knowledge, those who utilize the proof based data in practice, and the individuals who serve as limit spanners to connection learning generators with information clients. These phases of information exchange are seen through the viewpoint of scientists/makers of new learning and start with figuring out what discoveries from the patient security portfolio or individual exploration ventures should be dispersed. Steps of learning move in the AHRQ model speak to three real stages: (1) Information creation and refining- Information creation and refining is leading exploration (with expected variety in preparation for utilization in health care conveyance frameworks) and afterward bundling significant examination discoveries into items that might be put vigorously, for example, particular practice suggestions consequently improving the probability that exploration confirmation will think that its path into practice.37 It is crucial that the learning refining procedure be educated and guided by end clients for examination discoveries to be executed in care conveyance. The criteria utilized within learning refining ought to incorporate viewpoints of the end clients (e.g., transportability to this present reality health care setting, plausibility, volume of confirmation required by health care associations and clinicians), and also customary information era contemplations (e.g., quality of the proof, generalizability). (2) Dispersion and spread- Dispersion and spread includes banding together with expert presumption pioneers and health care associations to scatter learning that can structure the premise of activity (e.g., crucial components for release educating for hospitalized patient with heart disappointment) to potential clients. Dispersal organizations join analysts with mediators that can work as learning representatives and connectors to the professionals and health care conveyance associations. Middle people might be proficient associations, for example, the National Patient Safety Foundation or multidisciplinary information exchange groups, for example, those that are powerful in scattering exploration based malignancy avoidance programs. In this model, scattering associations give a legitimate seal of approbation for new learning and help distinguish persuasive gatherings and groups that can make an interest for application of the proof in practice. Both mass correspondence and focused on dispersal are utilized to achieve groups of onlookers with the expectation that early clients will impact the last adopters of the new usable, confirmation based examination discoveries. Focused on dispersal endeavors must use multifaceted spread procedures, with a stress on channels and media that are best for specific client portions (e.g., attendants, doctors, drug specialists)? (3) Authoritative reception and execution. End client reception, usage, and systematization is the last phase of the information exchange process.37 This stage concentrates on getting associations, groups, and people to receive and reliably utilize proof based exploration discoveries and advancements in ordinary practice. Actualizing and managing EBPs in health care settings includes complex interrelationships among the EBP point (e.g., lessening of pharmaceutical failures), the hierarchical social framework aspects, (for example, operational structures and qualities, the outer health natures domain), and the individual clinicians.35, 37–39 A mixed bag of techniques for execution incorporate utilizing a change champion as a part of the association who can address potential usage difficulties, guiding/attempting the change in a specific patient care territory of the association, and utilizing multidisciplinary execution groups to support in the commonsense parts of inserting developments into continuous authoritative me thodologies. Changing practice requires significant exertion at both the individual and authoritative level to apply confirmation based data and items in a specific connection. At the point when changes in care are exhibited in the pilot studies and conveyed to other important units in the association, key faculty might then consent to completely receive and manage the change in practice. Once the EBP change is fused into the structure of the association, the change is no more considered an advancement however a customary of care. Application of evidence to every patient Application of evidence to every patient administration is such an argumentative issue, to the point that it merits further elaboration (Titler, Cullen and Ardery, 2002). Once the clinician has found the evidence important to the patients clinical condition, he/ she need to choose about its appropriateness. Measures of treatment viability got from clinical trials are normal measures and because of the unavoidable biologic variability, are certain to change over the populace. Be that as it may it pays to remember that patients selected in clinical trials are prone to be significantly more like one another than they are liable to be different. Thus, significant contrasts in the greatness of impact are impossible (Karthikeyan, 2007). Qualitatively diverse impacts (hurt for some and profit for others) are to a great degree uncommon. In this way, the consequences of clinical trials could be connected at the bedside, to patients extensively like those in clinical trials with the reckoning of profits like that seen in the trials. The vicinity of co-dreariness and expansive contrasts in age from the study populace is a few components, which can genuinely impact the clinicians choice. A related region of significance to individual-patient choice making is the utilization of subgroup dissects. As clinicians, the aftereffects of subgroup dissects hold instinctive engage us. It is calming to recall that, implanted in any clinical trial populace; there are a limitless number of subgroups and subgroup impacts, the vast majority of which are spurious. The genuine trouble is in searching out the genuine subgroup impacts. In assessing subgroup breaks down, the accompanying issues need to be viewed as: (i) Were the dissects pre-specified or were they left upon in the wake of looking at the information, (ii) How expansive are the impacts? (iii) Is the subgroup impact biotically conceivable? (iv) Would it say it is factually not quite the same as whatever is left of the study populace? v) Is there substantiating evidence from different studies? The criteria for tolerating subgroup results need to be stringent on the grounds that, as we called attention to, most are spurious and in fact, not very many subgroup breakdowns have rested the test of time. Nursing division has an important part to play in the plan of evidence-based conveyance of care. EBP just obliges that the clinician be sufficiently acquainted with the evidence-base in his/ her field and have the capacity to unbiasedly evaluate it, so he or she can apply it suitably in practice. Clinicians ought to recognize that EBP is a paramount stage in the advancement of the act of prescription, which endeavors to convey care of consistently high caliber. As the central executors in charge of conveying this care, they ought to instruct and prepare themselves better for this key part. References Cullen L, Greiner J, Greiner J, et al. Excellence in evidence-based practice: an organizational and MICU exemplar. Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am 2005;17(2):127-42. Leape LL. Advances in patient safety: from research to implementation. Vol. 3, Implementation issues. AHRQ Publication No. 05-0021-3. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2005. Karthikeyan G. Evidence-based medicine and clinical judgment: an imaginary divide. J Am Coll Cardiol 2007; 49 : 1012. Straus SE, McAlister FA. Evidence-based medicine: a commentary on common criticisms. CMAJ 2000; 163 : 837- 41. Titler MG, Cullen L, Ardery G. Evidence-based practice: an administrative perspective. Reflect Nurs Leadersh 2002;28(2):26-27, 46.

Nonverbal Communication A Universal Language English Language Essay

Nonverbal Communication A Universal Language English Language Essay Nonverbal communication is the way we talk, without talking, and whether it is realized or not, every human being in the world speaks this language. Non-verbal communication is an accent to the verbal part of language, and can be done in various ways. Although every person in the world expresses him/herself with nonverbal communication, it does not mean every person in the world speaks the same language. This paper will focus on several aspects of nonverbal communication that can be found throughout the world, and comparing those looks, gestures, body positioning and appearances with those typically found in North American. Appearance As previously mentioned, nonverbal communication is typically thought of as how an individual may look at others or gesture with their body, but generally speaking, the first form of non-verbal communication being projected, and subsequently translated, is that of an individuals overall appearance. Deciphering an individuals wardrobe is typically based upon previous experiences with individuals who have been dressed in a similar fashion. For example, while walking through a mall, one encounters a tall, lanky, high school teenage boy. His hair is black and brushed across his eyes. His complexion is pale, he is wearing very dark, baggy clothes in addition to dark eyeliner and heavy, metal face jewelry. Based upon someones previous experiences with this type of individual, they may immediately translate his appearance to mean, keep away from me; I dont want to talk with anyone and I am not your friend. However, another individual may have had different experiences with individuals dressed in this manner, and may be deciphering the non-verbal communication as, Im confused à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I dont know where I am going à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I need help. A persons previous experiences, may either cause an individual to avoid the teenager by either ducking into a random store or walk past quickly, while directing their to the floor, or contrariwise, look at the boy and smile, offering silent encouragement. It is unknown at this point whether or not this is an individual to be avoided or someone to be helped. Therefore, past experiences can have an impact on how one may perceive others, simply based upon how they are dressed. Understanding the different opinions that can arise from such a simple example as the boy in the mall, one might ask, Should we judge a book by its cover? The young man may actually have modified his appearance because he felt it made him look more attractive. He may have watched the Twilight movie series and felt this to be the way he should dress in order to attract the opposite sex. If this is the case, then we can expect to find similar appearance-altering practices in other cultures. Appearance-Altering Cultures As with the young man in the mall, there are many examples of appearance-altering behaviors in other cultures that may seem unusual or even bizarre to those in the United States (U.S.). Like the U.S., the appearance alterations performed within other cultures may be perceived as beautiful and possibly an indication of social status. A good example is that of foot binding in China, also known as Lotus Feet. Foot binding has been done for thousands of years in China, thought to be a means of keeping women from abandoning husbands and family. Binding begins with a baby girl, conforming her foot muscles and bones to be able to fit in very tiny shoes. Though the feet may appear small and delicate, the womans ability to walk is greatly inhibited and leads to medical complications later in life. This practice is still done in some parts of China today, and is thought to depict wealth and a delicate demeanor. Other examples of beauty include the Mangbettu women of Africa who have their heads very tightly wrapped during childhood, thereby elongating the skull; the Mayans who would strap boards on each side of childrens heads so that their skulls would be flattened; and finally, the Burmese women, whom put one-inch thick rings around their necks to make them longer. Based upon preconceived notions, cultural norms and possibly ignorance, it can be easy for individuals to misunderstand the non-verbal communication of appearance. It may not always be easy for people to remember that what may be foreign to those in the U.S. is another cultures normal. Gestures Almost everyone knows the story of President George H. W. Bush in Australia, in which he intended to make what is known as the peace sign in the U.S., toward people gathered to protest his visit. Unfortunately, he made the gesture the wrong way causing great furor in the Australian tabloids. Now this case was a simple mistake, but none-the-less a mistake. Gestures are not something to be taken lightly; the wrong signal at the wrong time, directed toward individuals of a different culture, could get you into some big trouble in a handful of countries. Gestures are the accent to verbal communication. Due to the fact that one wrong gesture could hurt you, I will give various examples of gestures from different cultures. I will describe their action and then their meaning compared to North American translation. In Ethiopia there are two gestures for silence. A woman will put one finger to her mouth when directing silence to a child, but will put four fingers to her mouth when directing silence to an adult. Four fingers are used towards adults because one finger is disrespectful. Another one-finger act is that of tapping the forefinger to the side of the nose. In some cultures, it signals secrecy or confidentiality. But in the United Kingdom, Holland, and Austria, if the tap is on the front of the nose it quite frankly means, Mind your own business. The OK gesture, it means okay right? In America and England, yes, but, in Japan it means money. In Latin American and France it is an insult, most commonly known as flipping the bird. In Australia it means Zero, and in Germany it may mean either a job well done or, an offensive insult, depending on which region you visit. In Turkey, if someone directs the OK sign at you, they are referring to you as a homosexual! The next gesture is one that is relatively familiar, the V for victory sign. In the U.S., the victory symbol was expressed by raising the index and middle finger in the form of V and bending the third and fourth finger to touch the tip of the thumb. This symbol was popularized by Richard Nixon in America. The V sign is considered rude in Italy and if you are showing the outside of your hand, then it is a form insult, which is established in Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand (Sengupta 2010). To beckon someone, is to signal them to come towards you. In America the beckoning signal is the palm up with all of the fingers together except the index finger. You then begin to make a curling motion with your index finger towards you. In China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and in the Philippines, that particular motion is used only for animals. In these countries, the beckoning signal is placing your palm downward and curls the fingers in a scratching motion towards your body. The crossed-finger gesture, (good luck in America) has several other meanings. In Turkey when the crossed fingers are directed to an individual it is the breaking of a friendship. In other cultures it is used to seal/swear an oath to someone. Each of these gestures we recognize and fully understand the gain, and consequences of their actions. But what we have learned is that little, to none of our gestures meant the same in any other cultures. Conclusion Nonverbal communication can be a tricky language to decipher. It is expressed in the way a person appears (dresses) and various body gestures. How this nonverbal communication is interpreted is generally based upon an individuals past experiences and cultural norms. Therefore, it is good advice for anyone seeking to make their livelihood as a communicator in a global marketplace, that they not only understand the nonverbal communication nuances of their own culture, but to educate themselves in the nonverbal forms of communication of other cultures.

Catch-22 and the Theme of Death Essay -- Catch-22

Catch-22 and the Theme of Death    There are many ways for a man to die, but there is no way to bring him back after he has entered the world of dead. Catch-22 is a novel satirizing war, and because of this, it inevitably has a strong underlying theme of death. But unlike many war novels, Catch-22 doesn't use violent depictions of fighting or bloody death scenes to denounce the evils of war; it utilizes humor and irony to make an arguably more effective point. And even more importantly, Catch-22 is ultimately a novel about hope, not death. Although the inevitability of death is still a prominent motif, it eventually leads the main character, Yossarian, to realize that the desire to live is important and also that he can't simply live; he must live free of hypocrisy and oppression.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Nately's whore plays a major part in conveying the message about life and death in Catch-22, even though she doesn't become an important character until the novel nears its climax. Although Yossarian is only the messenger bearing the bad news of Nately's death, Nately's whore holds him responsible and follows him back to Pianosa in an attempt to murder him. Yossarian manages to repeatedly escape from her, but only as long as he continues to disobey the illogical and immoral rules of the military. When he agrees to meet with Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn, she catches him and seriously injures him. This may imply that by submitting to the oppression of the bureaucratic military system, Yossarian is only headed towards death and disaster. And in the midst of Yossarian's final revelation and his decision to desert the military, Nately's whore was hiding behind a door, ready to stab him. But ... ...but the desire to live is the most important impulse a man can have. But Yossarian can't live a life of hypocrisy or oppression under the military; this is what finally pushes him to desert. The knowledge that Orr finally paddled all the way to Sweden gives him hope, and he sees the only path he can take to be free. He knows it will be difficult, but he knows there is no alternative for him.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Although Catch-22 is a novel about war, it is not only about death. The message it ultimately conveys is one of hope. Yossarian finally realizes that the basic instinct to survive is the most important quality of a man, and that he must follow his impulse and escape from the military, which will only lead him to his death. Catch-22 may allow the military to do whatever the people can't stop it from doing, but it can't destroy hope.   

Essay --

B00466902 Introduction to African History (AFST/HIST 283A) December 16th, 2013 1. (a) Africans and Europeans have relations that date all the way back to the origins of humans and human migrations. Scholars have hypothesized that Homo erectus found in Europe about 800,000 years ago originated and migrated from Africa Europeans and Africans also had religious relations; which is evident from the spread of Christianity, introduced by the Byzantines, throughout Africa specifically in North Africa, the Nile Valley, and the Horn of Africa. Aside from religious relations, Africans and Europeans also had economic and political relations as a result of European colonization and conquest of the African regions. Economic relations were a result of Europeans coming into Africa and taking natural resources to benefit from in the production of goods and trade. Another specific example of economic relations between Europeans and Africans is the practice of mercantilism, in which European nations were the mother countries and countries of Africa were the colonies. As the moth er country, Europeans, would take natural resources from the colony, African regions, to produce goods, which would then be sold back to the colony. This also attributed to the political relations between Africans and Europeans because the economic desires of the Europeans often led to them controlling the Africans to maximize profit and their own personal benefits; which is directly related to slavery, one of the biggest relations between Africans and Europeans. Slavery and the slave trade in turn created social relations because slaves were considered to be a class of their own. Another social relation that resulted from slavery was the creation a â€Å"new race† known as the... ...ural resources. Post independence Africans although not ruled by Europeans nations such as Britain, France, and the Dutch were still dependent on these nations for goods and other trading purposes. Culturally, post independence Africans and precolonial Africans were different because post independence Africans were greatly influenced by the mother countries that ruled them because their mother countries cultures were inflicted on them whether it was language, food, religion, or even clothing. Precolonial Africans and post independence Africans also differed politically in the aspect that precolonial African governments were more tribe like, while post independence Africans governments had western influence and some cases lead to dictatorships as seen in Liberia dictated by Samuel Doe, Zaire dictated by Mobutu Sese Seko, and Somalia dictated by Muhammad Siad Barre.

bill cosby :: essays research papers

Bill Cosby   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bill Cosby was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on July 12, 1937 as William Henry Cosby, Jr. In the 1950’s, Bill Cosby dropped out of high school to join the Navy. He did attend college on a football scholarship at Temple University years later. He also completed his doctorate in education at the University of Massachusetts during the 1970‘s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1965, Bill Cosby married his wife, Camille Hanks. They have celebrated 35 years of marriage, and this year will make 36 years. They had five children: Erika, Erinn, Ens, Evin, and Ennis (who was tragically killed in January of 1997).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Today Bill Cosby is one of the richest entertainers in America. His wealth is estimated at about $325 million. Bill Cosby started perform stand-up comedy routines during the 1960s in night clubs. In 1965-1968, Bill Cosby co-stared with Robert Cult in a adventure series called I Spy. He earned 3 Emmy Awards for his performance in I Spy. His success at that time was a true breakthrough for black people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bill Cosby has always provided the world with fresh, clean, family comedy. His comedy albums often received Grammy honors. In the 1980’s, Bill Cosby had the nation’s top-rated TV series, The Cosby Show. The books he has written on the subject 2 the humor in just plain everyday life, starting with the book he entitled, Fatherhood, were successful best-sellers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bill Cosby has a starred in a long list of funny movies. His recent television series, Cosby, has not been very successful. His movie, Leonard Part 6, was a big disappointment, also. Bill Cosby continues to work hard to entertain us with quality humor. He has more successful shows to his credit than disappointments.

Discuss the essential elements of a valid contract? Essay

Ans: Section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 defines a contract as an agreement enforceable by law. Section 2(e) defines agreement as â€Å"everypromise and every set of promises forming consideration for each other.† Section2(b) defines promise in the word: â€Å"When the person to whom the proposal ismade signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted. A proposalwhen accepted becomes a promise.† From the above definition of promise, it is obvious that an agreement is anaccepted proposal. The two elements of an agreement are: 1: – Offer of a proposal. 2: – An acceptance of that offer or proposal. What agreement are contracts? All agreements are not studied under the Indian Contract Act, assome of them are not contracts. The Contract Act is the law of thoseagreements, which create obligations, and in case of a breech of a promise byone party to the agreement, the other has a legal remedy. Thus, a contract consists of two elements, 1.An agreement 2.Legal Obligations i.e. It should be enforceable at lawHowever, there are some agreements, which are not enforceable in a law court.Such agreements donot rise to contractual obligations and are not contracts. Essential Elements of Valid Contracts All agreements are contracts if they are made by free consent of parties,Competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object and are not here by expresslydeclared to be void.Thus the essential elements of a valid contract can be summed up as follows: 1.Agreement 2.Intensions to create legal relationships 3.Free and genuine consents 4.Parties competent to contract 5.Lawful considerations 6.Lawful Objects 7.Agreements not declared void or illegal 8.Certainty of meaning 9.Possibility of performance 10.Necessary illegal formalities Agreement: As already mentioned, to constitute a contract there must be an agreement. An agreement is composed of two elements, Offer and Acceptance.The party making the offer is known as a offeror, the party to whom the offer ismade is know as the offree. Thus, there are essentially to be two parties to anagreement. They both must be thinking of the same thing in the same sense. Inother words, there must be consensus-ad-idem. Intensions to Create Legal Relationships: As already mentioned there should be an intension on the part of the parties to the agreement to create a legalrelationship. An agreement is purely social or domestic nature is not a contract. Free and Genuine Consent: The consent of the parties to the agreement mustbe free and genuine. The consent of the parties should not be obtained bymisrepresentation, fraud, undue influence, coercion or mistake. If the consent isobtained by any of these flaws, then the contract is not valid. Parties Competent to Contract:These parties to a contract should be competent to enter to a contract. According to section 11 ,every person iscompetent to contract if he, (1) Is of the age of majority, (2) Is sound mind, and (3) Is not disqualified from contracting by any law to which he is subject. Thus,there may be a flaw in capacity of parties to the contract. The flaw in capacitymay be due to minority, lunacy, idiocy, drunkenness or status. If a party to acontract suffers from any of these flaws, the contract is an unenforceable except in certain exceptional circumstances. Lawful Considerations: The agreement must be supported by consideration onboth sides. Each party to the agreement must give or promise something and receive something or promise in return. Consideration is the price for which thepromise of the order is sought. However, this price need not be in terms of money. In case promise is not supported by consideration, the promise will beNudum Pactum (a bare promise) and is not enforceable at law. Moreover theconsideration must be real and lawful. Lawful Objects: The object of the agreement must be lawful and not one which the law dis-approves. Agreements not Declared Illegal or Void: There are certain agreements, which have been expressly declared illegal or void by the law. In such cases,even if the agreement possesses all the element of a valid agreement, theagreement will not be enforceable at law. Certainty of Meaning: The meaning of agreement must be certain or capable of being certain otherwise the agreement will not be enforceable at law.

The argument behind this is that if ones parents

Alcohol is a drink that is consumed orally and has an intoxicating effect. A drug when it is defined using medical terms is any substance that when consumed affects body functions whether positively or negatively. The argument is that medically prescribed drugs can help one recover from a certain illness but when drugs are taken for fun can lead to addiction and other bad side effects.As per the above given definition, alcohol qualifies to be a drug and thus should be controlled like other drugs. The essence of this paper is to support the argument that alcohol is a dangerous drug and thus should be controlled.Alcohol is one of the most abused drug with the most affected being the youths. No one wants to become an alcoholic victim but one accidentally finds himself in it. It is hard to determine when one would become its victim or not as there are many underlying factors that act as catalyst. One person may consume it for a short time and become addicted while another might take alon g time before becoming one.There are two theories that are advanced by psychologists and sociologists and thus each of them takes the respective perspective. According to psychologists there are some genetic predispositions that determine if one will become an addict or not.The argument behind this is that if ones parents were addicts then the chances of one becoming like them are higher. The other theory advanced by the later is that there are some social factors that may cause one to become addicted these are factors like environmental factors such as cultural exposures and other social practices.Any drug that can lead to addiction like alcohol is dangerous and thus should be controlled. Apart from this, it has a wide range of health effects for example it interferes with normal brain functioning something that causes psychiatric disorders such as depressive disorder, panic disorder and anxiety disorder. Unlike other dugs like cocaine and heroine where withdrawal can only be fatal if one has other health complications, alcohol withdrawal can be fatal.The reason behind this is that when alcohol is taken it stimulates the GABA receptors something that causes anxiety and when it is consumed in large amount and consistently, it desensitizes and reduces these receptors thereby causing the body to be entirely dependent on it such that when it is abruptly stopped, it leads to the breakdown of the central nervous system.The victim immediately registers some life threatening seizures or convulsions, hallucinations and in extreme cases it results to heart failure (Cohen, Sidney. 1983).Socially it has led many to lose their prestigious jobs as when people become addicted they are forced to consume it even when they are supposed to be busy at work and in sober mind. This economically affects the productivity of companies as drunken people cannot be expected to be productive. If anything they make them incur loses as they put off the very customers they are expected to s erve. For this reason, alcohol is an obstacle to development and should thus be banned completely (Cohen, Sidney. 1983).Studies show that alcohol car related car accidents are the main cause of death of the youth between 15 and 24. It also increases suicide, homicide and drowning cases as in most cases victims who commit suicide are drunkards or those who are drowned are its victims.Alcohol also interferes with ones thought system and for this reason; most drunkards do no reason appropriately. Alcoholism leads to reduced judgment and that is why victims can cross a busy road without checking whether the road is safe or not and one end up being hit. Most car accidents are drivers who are under the influence of drugs. Like it is mentioned above, alcohol clouds ones judgment such that it is hard to think straight.When one is drunk he/she loses control over everything such that one is aware that something is happening but cannot take the appropriate measure and that is how accidents res ult. â€Å"Alcohol, even at low doses, significantly impairs the judgment and coordination required to drive a car safely.† (Partnership for a Drug Free America).According to a survey that was done by the Davis Law Group in 2007, about 12, 998 died in car accidents where drivers were under the influence of alcohol. If these cases are to be reduced, then the government must wake up and adopt a zero tolerance strategy to alcoholism (Davis Law Group. 2007).

Structural Functional Approach

Retrieved from: http://www. cifas. us/smith/chapters. html Title: â€Å"A structural approach to comparative politics. † Author(s): M. G. Smith Source: In Varieties of Political Theory. David Easton, ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. p. 113-128. Reprinted in Corporations and Society. p. 91-105. FIVE M. G. SMITH University of California, Los Angeles A Structural Approach to Comparative Politics Comparative politics seeks to discover regularities and variations of political organization by comparative analysis of historical and contemporary systems.Having isolated these regularities and variations, it seeks to determine the factors which underlie them, in order to discover the properties and conditions of polities of varying types. It then seeks to reduce these observations to a series of interconnected propositions applicable to all these systems in both static and changing conditions. Hopefully, one can then enquire how these governmental processes relate to the wider m ilieux of which they are part. It would seem that this comparative enquiry may be pursued i~. various ways that all share the same basic strategy, but differ in emphases arid sta~ ­ ing points.Their common strategy is to abstract one aspect of political reality and develop it as a frame of reference. With this variable held constant, enquiries can seek to determine the limits within which other dimensions vary; as the value of the primary variable is changed, the forms and values of the others, separately or together, can also be investigated. Ideally, we should seek to deduce relevant hypotheses from a general body of theory, and then to check and refine them by inductive analyses of historical and ethnographic data. ActuaJ procedures vary. 113 114 /A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS Initially, we might expect anyone of four approaches to be useful in the comparative study of political systems. These four approaches use respectively the dimensions of process, content, function, and form as the bases for their conceptual frameworks. In fact, cOlIlparative studies based on process and content face insuperable obstacles due to the enormous variability of political systems. In centralized polities, the institutional processes of government are elaborately differentiated, discrete, and easy to identify.They are often the subject, as well as the source, of a more or less complex and precise body of rules which may require specialists to interpret them. In simpler societies, the corresponding processes are rarely differentiated and discrete. They normally occur within the context of institutional activities with multiple functions, and are often difficult to abstract and segregate for analysis as self-contained processual systems. Before this is possible, we need independent criteria to distinguish the governmental and nongovernmental dimensions of these institutional forms.The substantive approach rests on the category of content. By the con.. tent of a governmental system, I mean its specific substantive concerns and resources, whether material, human, or symbolic. As a rule, the more differentiated and complex the governmental processes are, the greater the range and complexity of content. This follows because the content and processes of government vary together. Since both these frameworks are interdependent and derivative, both presuppose independent criteria for identifying government. The functional approach avoids these limitations.It defines government functionally as all those activities which influence â€Å"the way in which authoritative decisions are formulated and executed for a society. â€Å"l From this starting point, various refined conceptual schemes can be developed. As requisites or implications of these decisional processes, David Easton identifies five modes of action as necessary elements of all political systems: legislation, administration, adjudication, the development of demands, and the development of support and solidarity. They may be grouped as input and output requisites of governmental systems.According to Almond, the universally necessary inputs are political socialization and recruitment, interest articulation, interest aggregation, and political communication. As outputs, he states that rule making, rule application, and rule adjudication are all universa1. 2 Neither of these categorical schemes specifies foreign relations and defense, which are two very general governmental concerns; nor is it easy to see how these schemes could accommodate political processes in non-societal units. Such deductive models suffer from certain inexplicit assumptions with1David Easton, â€Å"An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems,† World Politics, IX, No. 3 (1957), 384. 2 Gabriel Almond, â€Å"Introduction† to Almond and James S. Coleman, The Politics of the Developing Areas (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961). A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITIC S / 115 out which the initial exclusive stress on political functions might be im- . possible. But despite their universal claims, it remains to be shown that Bushmen, Pygmies, or Eskimos have governments which are functionally homologous with those of the United States and the Soviet Union.Legislation, rule adjudication, and interest articulation are categories appropriate to the discussion of complex, modern polities rather than simple, primitive ones. But the problem which faces the student of comparative politics is to develop a conceptual framework useful and applicable to all. To impute the features and conditions of modern polities to the less differentiated primitive systems is virtually to abandon the central problem of comparative politics. The functional approach, as usually presented, suffers from a further defect: It assumes a rather special ensemble of structural conditions.When â€Å"authoritative decisions are formulated and executed for a society,† this unit must be territorially delimited and politically centralized. The mode of centralization should also endow government with â€Å"more-or-Iess legitimate physical compulsion. â€Å"3 In short, the reality to which the model refers is the modern nation-state. By such criteria, ethnography shows that the boundaries of many societies are fluctuating and obscure, and that the authoritative status of decisions made in and for them are even more so.Clearly bounded societies with centralized authority systems are perhaps a small minority of the polities with which we have to deal. A structural approach free of these functional presumptions may thus be useful, but only if it can accommodate the full range of political systems and elucidate the principles which underlie their variety. In this paper, I shall only indicate the broad outlines of this approach. I hope to present it more fully in the future. Government is the regulation of public affairs.This regulation is a set of processes whic h defines government functionally, and which also identifies its content as the affairs which are regulated, and the resources used to regulate them. It does not seem useful or necessary to begin a comparative study of governmental systems by deductive theories which predicate their minimum universal content, requisites, or features. The critical element in government is its public character. Without a public, there can be neither public affairs nor processes to regulate them.Moreover, while all governments presuppose publics, all publics have governments for the management of their affairs. The nature of these publics is therefore the first object of study. Publics vary in scale, composition, and character, and it is reasonable to suppose that their common affairs and regulatory arrangements will vary correspondingly. The first task of a structural approach to comparative politics is thus to identify the properties of a public and to indicate the principal varieties and bases of pu blics. 3 Almond, â€Å"Introduction,† p. . 116 / A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS As I use the term, public does not include mobs, crowds, casual assemblies, or mass-communication audiences. It does not refer to such categories as resident aliens, the ill, aged, or unwed, or to those social segments which lack common affairs and organized procedures to regulate them-for example, slaves, some clans, and unenfranchised strata such as the medieval serfs or the harijans of India. Such categories are part of one or more publics; they are not separate publics of their own.For example, in an Indian village, a medieval manor, or a slave plantation, members of the disprivileged categories constitute a public only if they form an enduring group having certain common affairs and the organization and autonomy necessary to regulate them; but the existence of such local publics is not in itself sufficient for the strata from which their memberships are drawn to have the status of publics. For this to be the case, these local publics must be organized into a single group co-extensive with the stratum. With such organization, we shall expect to find a set of common affairs and procedures to regulate them.The organization is itself an important common affair and a system of institutional procedures. By a public, then, I mean an enduring, presumably perpetual group with determinate boundaries and membership, having an internal organization and a unitary set of external relations, an exclusive body of common affairs, and autonomy and procedures adequate to regulate them. It will be evident that a public can neither come into being nor maintain its existence without some set of procedures by which it regulates its internal and external affairs. These procedures together form the governmental process of the public.Mobs, crowds, and audiences are not publics, because they lack presumptive continuity, internal organization, common affairs, procedures, and autonom y. For this reason, they also lack the determinate boundaries and membership which are essential for a durable group. While the categories mentioned above are fixed and durable, they also lack the internal organization and procedures which constitute a group. When groups are constituted so that their continuity, identity, autonomy, organization, and exclusive affairs are not disturbed by the entrance or exit of their individual members, they have the character of a public.The city of Santa Monica shares these properties with the United States, the Roman Catholic Church, Bushman bands, the dominant caste of an Indian village, the Mende Pora, an African lineage, a Nahuatl or Slavonic village community, Galla and Kikuyu age-sets, societies among the Crow and Hidatsa Indians, universities, medieval guilds, chartered companies, regiments, and such â€Å"voluntary† associations as the Yoruba Ogboni, the Yako lkpungkara, and the American Medical Association. The units just listed ar e all publics and all are corporate groups; the governmental process inherent in publics is a feature of all corporate groups.Corporate groups-Maine's â€Å"corporations aggregate†-are one species of â€Å"perfect† or fully-fledged corporation, the other being the â€Å"corporation A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS / 117 sole† exemplified by such offices as the American Presidency, the British Crown, the Papacy, governorships, chieftaincies, and university chancellorships. Corporations sole and corporate groups share the following characteristics, all of which are necessary for â€Å"perfect† or full corporate status: identity, presumed perpetuity, closure and membership, autonomy within a given sphere, exclusive common affairs, set procedures, and organization.The first four of these qualities are formal and primarily external in their reference; they define the unit in relation to its context. The last four conditions are processual and func tional, and primarily internal in their reference. The main differences between corporations sole and corporate groups are structural, though developmental differences are also important. Corporate groups are pluralities to which an unchanging unity is ascribed; viewed externally, each forms â€Å"one person,† as Fortes characterized the Ashanti matrilineages. This external indivisibility of the corporate group is not merely a jural postulate. It inevitably presumes and involves governmental processes within the group. In contrast with a corporate group, an office is a unique status having only one incumbent at any given time. Nonetheless, successive holders of a common office are often conceived of and addressed as a group. The present incumbent is merely one link in a chain of indefinite extent, the temporary custodian of all the properties, powers, and privileges which constitute the office.As such, incumbents may legitimately seek to aggrandize their offices at the expens e of similar units or of the publics to which these offices relate; but they are not personally authorized to alienate or reduce the rights and powers of the status temporarily entrusted to them. The distinction between the capital of an enterprise and the personalty of its owners is similar to the distinction between the office and its incumbent. It is this distinction that enables us to distinguish ffices from other personal statuses most easily. It is very possible that in social evolution the corporate group preceded the corporation sole. However, once authority is adequately centralized, offices tend to become dominant; and then we often find that offices are instituted in advance of the publics they will regulate or represent, as, for example, when autocrats order the establishment of new towns, settlements, or colonies under officials designated to set up and administer them.There are many instances in which corporate groups and offices emerge and develop in harmony and congr uence, and both may often lapse at once as, for example, when a given public is conquered and assimilated. These developmental relations are merely one aspect of the very variable but fundamental relation between offices and corporate groups. Despite Weber, there are a wide range of corporate groups which lack stable leaders, 4 Meyer Fortes, â€Å"Kinship and Marriage among the Ashanti,† in African Sys- tems of Kinship and Marriage, eds. A. R.Radcliffe-Brown and Daryll Forde (London: Oxford University Press, 1950), pp. 254-61. 118 / A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS much less official heads. Others may have senior members whose authority is at best advisory and representative; yet others have a definite council or an official head, or both. In many cases, we have to deal with a public constituted by a number of coordinate corporate groups of similar type. The senior members of these groups may form a collegial body to administer the common affairs of the public, w ith variable powers.Ibo and Indian village communities illustrate this well. In such contexts, where superordinate offices emerge, they often have a primarily sacred symbolic quality, as do the divine kingships of the Ngonde and Shilluk, but lack effective secular control. Between this extreme and an absolute despotism, there are a number of differing arrangements which only a comparative structural analysis may reduce to a single general order. Different writers stress different features of corporate organization, and sometimes employ these to â€Å"explain† these social forms.Weber, who recognizes the central role of corporate groups in political systems, fails to distinguish them adequately from offices (or â€Å"administrative organs,† as he calls them). 5 For Weber, corporate groups are defined by coordinated action under leaders who exercise de facto powers of command over them. The inadequacy of this view is patent when Barth employs it as the basis for denying to lineages and certain other units the corporate status they normally have, while reserving the term corporate for factions of a heterogeneous and contingent character. Maine, on the other hand, stresses the perpetuity of the corporation and its inalienable bundle of rights and obligations, the estate with which it is indentified. 7 For Gierke,s Durkheim,9 and Davis,10 corporate groups are identified by their common will, collective conscienc~, and group personality. For Goody, only named groups holding material property in common are corporate. 1! These definitions all suffer from overemphasis on some elements, and corresponding inattention to others. The common action characteristic of corporate groups rarely embraces the application of violence which both Weber and Barth seem to stress.Mass violence often proceeds independ5 Max Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, trans. A. R. Henderson and Talcott Parsons (London: Wm. Hodge & Co. , 1947), pp. 133-37, 302-5. 6 Fredrik Barth, Political Leadership among Swat Pathans. Monographs in Social Anthropology, London School of Economics, No. 19 (London: University of London Press, 1959). 7 H. S. Maine, Ancient Law (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd. , 1904), p. 155. S Otto Gierke, Natural Law and the Theory of Society, 1500 to 1800, trans. Ernest Barker (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957). Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labour in Society, trans. George E. Simpson (New York: Free Press of Glencoe, Inc. , 1933). 10 John P. Davis, Corporations (New York: Capricorn Books, 1961), p. 34. 11 Jack Goody, â€Å"The Classification of Double Descent Systems,† Current Anthropology; II, No. 1 (1961), 5, 22-3. A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS / 119 ently of corporate groups. Corporate action is typically action to regulate corporate affairs-that is, to exercise and protect corporate rights, to enforce corporate obligations, and to allocate corporate responsibilities and privileges.When a group hol ds a common estate, this tenure and its exercise inevitably involve corporate action, as does any ritual in which the members or representatives of the group engage as a unit. Even the maintenance of the group's identity and closure entails modes of corporate action, the complexity and implications of which vary with the situation. It is thus quite fallacious to identify corporate action solely with coordinated physical movements. A chorus is not a corporate group.The presumed perpetuity, boundedness, determinate membership, and identity of a corporation, all more or less clearly entail one another, as do its requisite features of autonomy, organization, procedure, and common affairs. It is largely because of this interdependence and circularity among their elements that corporations die so hard; but by the same token, none of these elements alone can constitute or maintain a corporation. An office persists as a unit even if it is not occupied, providing that the corpus of rights, r esponsibilities, and powers which constitute it still persists.To modify or eliminate the office, it is necessary to modify. or eliminate its content. Among ! Kung bushmen, bands persist as corporate groups even when they have no members or heads12 ; these bands are units holding an inalienable estate of water holes, veldkos areas, etc. , and constitute the fixed points of ! Kung geography and society. The Bushman's world being constituted by corporate bands, the reconstitution of these bands is unavoidable, whenever their dissolution makes this necessary.As units which are each defined by an exclusive universitas juris, corporations provide the frameworks of law and authoritative regulation for the societies that they constitute. The corporate estate includes rights in the persons of its members as well as in material or incorporeal goods. In simpler societies, the bulk of substantive law consists in these systems of corporate right and obligation, and includes the conditions and c orrelates of membership in corporate groups of differing type. In such societies, adjectival law consists in the usual modes of corporate procedure. To a much greater extent than is commonly ealized, this is also the case with modern societies. The persistence, internal autonomy, and structural uniformity of the corporations which constitute the society ensure corresponding uniformity in its jural rules and their regular application over space and time. As modal units of social process and structure, corporations provide the framework in which the jural aspects of social relations are defined and enforced. Tribunals are merely functionally specific corporations charged with handling issues of certain kinds. Neither tribunals nor â€Å"the systematic ap12 Lorna Marshall, â€Å"! Kung Bushmen Bands,† A/rica, XXX (1960), 325- 5). 120 / A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS plication of the force of politically organized society†13 are necessary or sufficient for t he establishment of law. The law of a primitive society consists in its traditional procedures and modes of corporate action, and is implicit in the traditional rights, obligations, and conditions of corporate membership. In such societies, units which hold the same type of corporate estate are structurally homologous, and are generally articulated in such a way that each depends on the tacit recognition or active support of its fellows to maintain and enjoy its estate.Thus, in these simpler systems, social order consists in the regulation of relations between the constitutive corporations as well as within them. In societies which lack central political organs, societal boundaries coincide with the maximum range of an identical corporate constitution, on the articulation of which the social order depends. Though the component corporations are all discrete, they are also interdependent. But they may be linked together in a number of different ways, with consequent differences in the ir social systems.In some cases, functionally distinct corporations may be classified together in purely formal categories, such as moieties, clans, or castes. The Kagoro of northern Nigeria illustrate this. 14 In other cases, corporations which are formally and functionally distinct may form a wider public having certain common interests and affairs. The LoDagaba of northern Ghana and Upper Volta are an example. 15 In still other cases, corporations are linked individually to one another in a complex series of alliances and associations, with overlapping margins in such a way that they all are related, directly or indirectly, in the same network.Fortes has given us a very detailed analysis of such a system among the Tallensi. 16 However they are articulated in societies which lack central institutions, it is the extensive replication of these corporate forms which defines the unit as a separate system. Institutional uniformities, which include similarities of organization, ideology , and procedure, are quite sufficient to give these acephalous societies systemic unity, even where, as among the Kachins of Burma, competing institutional forms divide the allegiance of their members. 7 To say that corporations provide the frameworks of primitive law, and that the tribunals of modem societies are also corporate forms, is simply to say that corporations are the central agencies for the regulation of public affairs, being themselves each a separate public or organ, administering certain affairs, and together constituting wider publics or associations of publics 13 Roscoe Pound, Readings on the History and System 0/ the Common Law, 2nd ed. (Boston: Dunster House Bookshop, 1913), p. 4. 14 M. G.Smith, â€Å"Kagoro Political Development,† Human Organization, XIX, No. 3 (1960), 37-49. 15 Jack Goody, â€Å"Fields of Social Control among the LoDagaba,† Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, LXXXVII, Part I (1957),75-104. 16 Meyer Fortes, The Dynamics 0/ Clanship among the Tallensi (London: Oxford University Press, 1945). 17 E. R. Leach, Political Systems of Highland Burma (London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. , 1954). A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS / 121 for others. By the same token, they are the sources or frameworks of disorder.In some acephalous societies, disorder seems more or less perennial, and consists mainly in strife within and between corporations. Centralization, despite its merits, does not really exclude disorder. In concentrating authority, it simultaneously concentrates the vulnerability of the system. Accordingly, in centralized societies, serious conflicts revolve around the central regulative structures, as, for instance, in secessionist or revolutionary struggles, dynastic or religious wars, and â€Å"rituals of rebellion. â€Å"18 Such conflicts with or for central power normally affect the entire social body.In acephalous societies, on the other hand, conflicts over the regime may proceed in one r egion without implicating the others. 19 In both the centralized and decentralized systems, the sources and objects of conflict are generally corporate. Careful study of Barth's account of the Swat Pathans shows that this is true for them also, although the aggregates directly contraposed are factions and blocs. 20 Societal differences in the scale, type, and degree of order and coordination, or in the frequency, occasions, and forms of social conflict are important data and problems for political science.To analyze them adequately, one must use a comparative structural approach. Briefly, recent work suggests that the quality and modes of order in any social system reflect its corporate constitution-that is, the variety of corporate types which constitute it, their distinctive bases and properties, and the way in which they are related to one another. The variability of political systems which derives from this condition is far more complex and interesting than the traditional dicho tomy of centralized and noncentralized systems would suggest.I have already indicated some important typological differences within the category of acephalous societies; equally significant differences within the centralized category are familiar to all. This traditional dichotomy assumes that centralization has a relatively clear meaning, from which a single, inclusive scale may be directly derived. This assumption subsumes a range of problems which require careful study; but in any event, centralization is merely one aspect of political organization, and not necessarily the most revealing.Given variability in the relations between corporations sole and corporate groups, and in their bases and forms, it seems more useful to distinguish systems according to their structural simplicity or complexity, by reference to · the variety of corporate units of differing forms, bases, and functions which they contain, and the principles which serve to articulate them. Patently, such differen ces in composition imply differences in the relational networks in which these corporations articulate. Such ifferences in structural composition simultaneously describe the variety of political forms 18 Max Gluckman, Rituals of Rebellion in South East Africa (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1954); â€Å"Introduction† to Gluckman, Order and Rebellion in Tribal Africa (London: Cohen & West, 1963). 19 Leach, Political Systems 0/ Highland Burma. 20 Barth, Political Leadership among Swat Pathans. 122 / A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS and processes, and explain differences in the scale, order, and coordination of polities.This is so because corporate organization provides the framework, content, and procedures for the regulation of public affairs. For this reason, the analysis of corporate structure should be the first task in the case study of a political system and in comparative work. For many political scientists, the concept of sovereignty is essential as the foundation of governmental order and autonomy. In my view, this notion is best dispensed with. It is a hindrance rather than a help to analysis, an unhappy solution of a very real problem which has been poorly formulated. In a system of sovereign states, no state is sovereign.As etymology shows, the idea of sovereignty derives from the historically antecedent condition of personal dominion such as kingship, and simply generalizes the essential features of this form as an ideology appropriate to legitimate and guide other forms of centralization. The real problem with which the notion of sovereignty deals is the relation between autonomy and coordination. As the fundamental myth of the modern nation-state, the concept is undoubtedly important in the study of these states; its historical or analytical usefulness is otherwise very doubtful.It seems best to formulate the problems of simultaneous coordination and autonomy in neutral terms. As units administering exclusive common a ffairs, corporations presuppose well-defined spheres and levels of autonomy, which are generally no more nor less than the affairs of these units require for their adequate regulation. Where a corporation fully subsumes all the juridical rights of its members so that their corporate identification is exclusive and lifelong, the tendencies toward autarchy are generally greatest, the stress on internal autonomy most pronounced, and relations between corporations most brittle.This seems to be the case with certain types of segmentary lineage systems, such as the Tallensi. Yet even in these conditions, and perhaps to cope with them, we usually find institutional bonds of various types such as ritual cooperation, local community, intermarriage, clanship, and kinship which serve to bind the autarchic individual units into a series of wider publics, or a set of dyadic or triadic associations, the members of which belong to several such publics simultaneously.Weber's classification of corpo rate groups as heteronomous or autonomous, heterocephalous or autocephalous, touches only those aspects of this problem in which he was directly interested. 21 We need also to analyze and compare differing levels, types, and degrees of autonomy and dependence in differing social spheres and situations. From comparative studies of these problems, we may hope to derive precise hypotheses about the conditions and limits of corporate autonomy and articulation in systems of differing composition and span. These hypotheses should also illuminate the conditions and limits of social disorder.Besides the â€Å"perfect† or fully-fledged corporations, offices and corpo21 Weber, Theory 0/ Social and Economic Organization, pp. 135-36. A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS / 123 rate groups, there are â€Å"imperfect† quasicorporations with must also be studied explicitly. The two main forms here are the corporate category and the commission. A corporate category is a clearl y bounded, identifiable, and permanent aggregate which differs from the corporate group in lacking exclusive common affairs, autonomy, procedures adequate for their regulation, and the internal organization which constitutes the group.Viewed externally, acephalous societies may be regarded as corporate categories in their geographical contexts, since each lacks a single inclusive frame of organization. But they are categories of a rather special type, since, as we have seen, their institutional uniformity provides an effective basis for functional unity. In medieval Europe, serfs formed a corporate category even though on particular manors they may have formed corporate groups.Among the Turkana22 and Karimojong23 of East Africa, age-sets are corporate categories since they lack internal organization, exclusive affairs, distinctive procedures, and autonomy. Among the nearby Kipsigi24 and Nandi25 clans are categorical units. These clans have names and identifying symbols, a determinat e membership recruited by agnatic descent, certain ritual and social prohibitions of which exogamy is most important, and continuity over time; but they lack internal organization, common affairs, procedures and autonomy to regulate them.Though they provide a set of categories into which all members of these societies are distributed, they never function as social groups. Not far to the south, in Ruanda, the subject Hutu caste formed a corporate category not so long ago. 26 This â€Å"caste† had a fixed membership, closure, easy identification, and formed a permanent structural unit in the Tutsi state. Rutu were excluded from the political process, as a category and almost to a man. They lacked any inclusive internal organization, exclusive affairs, autonomy, or procedures to regulate them.Under their Tutsi masters, they held the status of serfs; but when universal suffrage was recently introduced, Rutu enrolled in political parties such as the Parmehutu Aprosoma which succee ded in throwing off the Tutsi yoke and expelling the monarchy. 27 In order to become corporate groups, corporate categories need to develop an effective representative organization, such for instance as may now be emerging among American Negroes. In the American case, this corporate category is seeking to organize itself in order to remove the disprivileges which define it as a category.Some corporate 22 Philip Gulliver, â€Å"The Turkana Age Organization,† American Anthropologist, LX (1958), 900-922. 23 Neville Dyson-Hudson, to author, 1963. 24 J. G. Peristiany, The Social Institutions of the Kipsigis (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd. , 1939). 25 G. W. B. Huntingford, The Nandi of Kenya (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd. , 1953). 26 J. J. Maquet, The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda (London: Oxford University Press, 1960). 27 Marcel d'Hertefelt, â€Å"Les Elections Communales et Ie Consensus Politique au Rwanda,† Zaire, XIV, Nos. -6 (1960), 403-38. 124 / A STRUC TURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS categories are thus merely formal units lacking common functions; others are defined by common disabilities and burdens, though lacking common affairs. Under Islam, the dhimmi formed such a category; in India, so do the individual castes. The disabilities and prohibitions which define categories are not always directly political; they include exogamy and ritual taboos. Commissions differ from offices along lines which recall the differences between corporate categories and corporate groups.Like categories, commissions fall into two main classes: one class includes ad hoc and normally discontinuous capacities of a vaguely defined character, having diffuse or specific objects. The other class includes continuing series of indefinite number, the units of which are all defined in such general terms as to appear structurally and functionally equivalent and interchangeable. Familiar examples of the latter class are military commissions, magistracies, professorships, and priesthoods; but the sheiks and sa'ids of Islam belong here also.Examples of the first class, in which the powers exercised are unique but discontinuous and ill-defined, include parliamentary commissions of enquiry or other ad hoc commissions, and plenipotentiaries commissioned to negotiate special arrangements. In some societies, such as the Eskimo, Bushman, and Nuer, individuals having certain gifts may exercise informal commissions which derive support and authority from public opinion. The Nuer â€Å"bull,† prophet, and leopard-skin priests are examples. 28 Among the Eskimos, the shaman and the fearless hunter-warrior have similar positions. 9 The persistence of these commissions, despite turnover of personnel and their discontinuous action, is perhaps the best evidence of their importance in these social systems. For their immediate publics, such commissions personalize social values of high relevance and provide agencies for ad hoc regulation and gu idance of action. In these humble forms, we may perceive the seeds of modern bureaucracy. Commissions are especially important as regulatory agencies in social movements under charismatic leaders, and during periods of popular unrest.The charismatic leadership is itself merely the supreme directing commission. As occasion requires, the charismatic leader creates new commissions by delegating authority and power to chosen individuals for special tasks. The careers of Gandhi, Mohammed, Hitler, and Shehu Usumanu dan Fodio in Hausaland illustrate this pattern well. So does the organization and development of the various Melanesian â€Å"cargo cults. â€Å"30 But if the commission is to be institutionalized as a unit of permanent administration, its arbitrary 28 E. E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer (London: Oxford University Press, 940). 29 Kaj Birket-Smith, The Eskimo (London: Meuthuen & Co. , Ltd. , 1960); V. Stefansson, My Life with the Eskimo (New York: The Crowell-Collier Publishing Co . , 1962). 80 Peter Worsley, The Trumpet Shall Sound (London: McGibbon & Kee, 1957). A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVB POLma / 125 character must be replaced by set rules, procedures, and spheres of action; this institutionalization converts the commission into an office in the same way that its organization converts the corporate category into a corporate group.Moreover, in the processes by which corporate categories organize themselves as groups, charismatic leadership and its attached commissions are the critical agencies. The current movement for civil rights among American Negroes illustrates this neatly. Any given public may include offices, commissions, corporate categories, and corporate groups of differing bases and type. In studying governmental systems, we must therefore begin by identifying publics and analyzing their internal constitution as well as their external relationships in these terms.It is entirely a matter of convenience whether we choose to begin with the smallest units and work outwards to the limits of their relational systems, or to proceed in the opposite direction. Given equal thoroughness, the results should be the same in both cases. Any governmental unit is corporate, and any public may include, wholly or in part, a number of such corporations. These units and their interrelations together define the internal order and constitution of the public and its network of external relations.Both in the analysis of particular systems and in comparative work, we should therefore begin by determining the corporate composition of the public under study, by distinguishing its corporate groups, offices, commissions, and categories, and by defining their several properties and features. As already mentioned, we may find, in some acephalous societies, a series of linked publics with intercalary corporations and overlapping margins. We may also find that a single corporate form, such as the Mende Para or the Roman Catholic Church, cuts across a number of quite distinct and mutually independent publics.An alternative mode of integration depends on the simultaneous membership of individuals in several distinct corporations of differing constitution, interest and kind. Thus, an adult Yako81 simultaneously belongs to a patrilineage, a matrilineage, an age-set in his ward, the ward (which is a distinct corporate group), one or more functionally specific corporate associations at the ward or village level, and the village, which is the widest public. Such patterns of overlapping and dispersed membership may characterize both individuals and corporations equally.The corporations will then participate in several discrete publics, each with its exclusive affairs, autonomy, membership, and procedures, just as the individual participates in several corporations. It is this dispersed, multiple membership which is basic to societal unity, whether or not government is centralized. Even though the inclusive public with a centralized a uthority system is a corporate group, and a culturally distinct population 81Daryll Forde, Yako Studies (London: Oxford University Press, 1964); Kenneth Little, The -Mende of Sierra Leone (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd. 1951). 126 / A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS without this remains a corporate category, functionally both aggregates derive their underlying unities from the same mechanism of crosscutting memberships, loyalties, and cleavages. In the structural study of a given political system, we must therefore define its corporate constitution, determine the principles on which these corporate forms are based, and see how they articulate with one another.In comparative study, we seek to determine what differences or uniformities of political process, content, and function correspond with observable differences or uniformities of corporate composition and articulation. For this purpose, we must isolate the structural principles on which the various types of cor porations are based in order to determine their requisites and implications, and to assess their congruence or discongruence. To indicate my meaning, it is sufficient to list the various principles on which corporate groups and categories may be based.These include sex, age, locality, ethnicity, descent, common property interests, ritual and belief, occupation, and â€Å"voluntary† association for diffuse or specific pursuits. Ethnographic data show that we shall rarely find corporate groups which are based exclusively on one of these principles. As a rule, their foundations combine two, three, or more principles, with corresponding complexity and stability in their organization. Thus, lineages are recruited and defined by descent, common property interests, and generally co-residence.Besides equivalence in age, age-sets presume sameness of sex and, for effective incorporation, local co-residence. Guilds typically stressed occupation and locality; but they were also united by property interests in common market facilities. In India, caste is incorporated on the principles of descent, ritual, and occupation. Clearly, differing combinations of these basic structural principles will give rise to corporations of differing type, complexity, and capacity; and these differences will also affect the content, functions, forms, and contextual relations of the units which incorporate them.It follows that differing combinations of these differing corporate forms underlie the observable differences of order and process in political organization. This is the broad hypothesis to which the comparative- structural study of political systems leads. It is eminently suited to verification or disproof. By the same token, uniformities in corporate composition and organization between, as well as within, societies should entail virtual identities of political process, content, and form.When, to the various possible forms of corporate group differentiated by the combination of structural principles on which they are based and by the relations to their corporate contexts which these entail, we add the other alternatives of office, commission, and category, themselves variable with respect to the principles which constitute them, we simultaneously itemize the principal elements which give rise to the variety of political forms, and the principles and methods by which we can reasonably hopeA STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS / 127 to reduce them to a single general order. Since corporations are essential regulatory units of variable character, their different combinations encompass the entire range of variability of political systems on the functional, processual, and substantive, as well as on the structural levels. Within this structural framework, we may also examine the nature of the regulatory process, its constituents, modes, and objectives.The basic elements of regulation are authority and power. Though always interdependent and often combi ned, they should not be confused. As a regulatory capacity, authority is legitimated and identified by the rules, traditions, and precedents which embody it and which govern its exercise and objects. Power is also regulatory, but is neither fully prescribed nor governed by norms and rules. Whereas authority presumes and expresses normative consensus, power is most evident in conflict and contraposition where dissensus obtains.In systems of public regulation, these conditions of consent and dissent inevitably concur, although they vary in their forms, objects, and proportions. Such systems accordingly depend on the simultaneous exercise and interrelation of the power and authority with which they are identified. Structural analysis enables us to identify the various contexts in which these values and capacities appear, the forms they may take, the objectives they may pursue, and their typical relations with one another within as well as between corporate units.In a structurally homog eneous system based on replication of a single corporate form, the mode of corporate organization will canalize the authority structure and the issues of conflict. It will simultaneously determine the forms of congruence or incongruence between the separate corporate groups. In a structurally heterogeneous system having a variety of corporate forms, we shall also have to look for congruence or incongruence among corporations of differing types, and for interdependence or competition at the various structural levels.Any corporate group embodies a set of structures and procedures which enjoy authority. By definition, all corporations sole are such units. Within, around, and between corporations we shall expect to find recurrent disagreements over alternative courses of action, the interpretation and application of relevant rules, the allocation of positions, privileges and obligations, etc. These issues recurrently develop within the framework of corporate interests, and are settled b y direct or indirect exercise of authority and power.Few serious students now attempt to reduce political systems to the modality of power alone; but many, under Weber's influence, seek to analyze governments solely in terms of authority. Both alternatives are misleading. Our analysis simultaneously stresses the difference and the interdependence of authority and power. The greater the structural simplicity of a given system, that is, its dependence on replication of a single corporate form, such as the Bushman band or Tallensi lineage, the greater its decen- 28 / A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS tralization and the narrower the range in which authority and power may apply. The greater the heterogeneity of corporate types in a given system, the greater the number of levels on which authority and power are simultaneously requisite and manifest, and the more critical their congruence for the integration of the system as a whole.