Nobel memorial prize for economics 2009 elinor ostom Research Paper

Nobel memorial prize for economics 2009 elinor ostom - Research Paper Example In the context of the current global economic crisis that has been brought about due to a paradigm that celebrates unlimited growth and rampant misuse of the world’s resources, Ostrom’s work takes on a significance that goes beyond theory and if applied to the real world of ecosystems and how we can manage with the resources that have been bequeathed to us by nature, her work is indeed laudatory. Ostrom’s work is especially relevant when one considers the fact that our planet is in the throes of an ecological crisis due to climate change arising out of burning fossil fuels and that we as a species have used up most of the finite resources like oil, minerals etc. Hence, Ostrom’s pioneering work in the field of managing common pool resources can be said to be especially relevant for the times that we live in. To quote from a website that analyzed her work in the area of self governance and usage of common pool resources, â€Å"In general there are two main governance structures that are widely accepted in the literature; market or government oriented solutions. The eminent free-rider problem thwart social optimality when individuals do not coordinate their actions and cooperation cannot be accomplished internally. Ostrom argues against both of the external mechanisms and, through her extensive fieldwork, shows that self-governance is possible where communities develop their ruling systems to manage common pool resources. Her findings clearly indicate that rules imposed or dictated have little legitimacy and would be violated. On the contrary, when there is consensus on the governing principles or internal enforcement apparatuses people tend to obey them. This presentation aims to delve into more details of her criticisms of standard economic governance theories. Then, her contributions to collective decision making and her

Conflict between Israelis & Palestinians Research Paper

Conflict between Israelis & Palestinians - Research Paper Example Religion itself, of course need not be blamed as it is an impulse of nature that derives from â€Å"man’s religious constitution† (James, xi). While religion is a complex reality, it is commonly identified with man’s â€Å"feeling of the infinite† (43). As such, it is an ennobling capacity or trait of humankind. Still, religion or religious experience admits varieties, such as to divide individuals and societies. In human history, religion has proven to be both a boon and a bane to humanity. Consider the religious persecutions, oppressions, and wars in history. And along this trend of thought, this paper takes the position that while religion itself is good, distortion of the religious impulse by way of bias and extremism can become destructive. In this situation, religion serves to become the root cause of conflict, such as in the case of the estranged Jewish Israelis and Muslim Palestinians living in what is known as the Holy Land. Seed of religious conf lict Not generally known is the fact that Muslims and Jews had a failed relationship even during the lifetime of the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad. The situation was rather unfortunate, because in the beginning, the learned rabbis of the Jewish tribes of Yatrib, a settlement in the Middle East, admired Muhammad. They saw in him the awaited prophet who would come from the Arabs with whom they the Jews would destroy the idolaters of the region (Pickthall xiv). In fact, they even came to Mecca to vow allegiance to the prophet and invite him to their city. And owing to the hate and plot of assassination, Muhammad himself sought refuge among Jews in Yatrib. This event was later known as Hijrah or the Flight from Mecca, marking the beginning of the Muslim era (xv). But during the eventuality of a blood feud between Meccans and Muhammad and a temporary defeat of Muslim forces, the Jews reneged on their friendship with Muhammad and joined the hostile Meccans. To aggravate the situa tion, the Jews of Yatrib also declared that the religion of the pagan Arabs was superior to Al-Islam (xx). Then in a rather unforeseen reversal of fortune in the seventh year of Hijrah, the Prophet led a victorious campaign against Kheybar, the hornets nest of the idolatrous Arabs and stronghold of Jewish tribes in North Africa. The Prophet and his army overcame his persecutors, and by the ninth year of the Hijrah, all Arab tribes from all part of Arabia swore allegiance to Muhammad making him the emperor of Arabia. And for their infidelity, the Prophet expelled the Jews from Arabia (xxvi). The seed of a prolonged Jewish and Muslim hostility was sown. Spread of Islam Muhammad spread his faith in only One God all over Arabia, later in other continents by means of preaching and war. His words were made into a new Bible called the Koran, and today the Koranic religious law is followed by about 1.4 billion people scattered all over Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Earlier on, Muha mmad’s faith was a religion of peace, but it spread rapidly as a warlike faith offering unbelievers three choices: to fight it out, to accept the new religion, or keep their old religion but pay tribute to the conquering Muslims or followers of the Prophet Muhammad (Boak et al., 168) Given the quick brains of Arabs, Muslims absorbed the Greek learning of the Eastern Roman Empire, and contributed Arabic advancement especially in the fields of chemistry, medicine and