Battle for Political Power Politicians and Bureaucrats Essay Example

Battle for Political Power: Politicians and Bureaucrats Essay Central to politics around the world is the concept of power. Power is commonly acknowldged as excercised in   modern states by the poltical class. There is the usual adage that it is the politician who wields political power and is the real authority making centre. Along side the political class has emerged the bureaucrat. This is evident to anyone who has watched the BBC’s serial ‘Yes Minister’ and ‘Yes Prime Minister’. Though political satire, it effectively denotes that in nine out of ten cases of decision making on a matter affecting government, it was the bureaucrat who made the final decision, leaving the Minister to only sign on the dotted line.(Yes Minister, 2003). In governments of modern states there are two components. First is the political part, with its elected leaders, members of parliaments and the like and second is the civil service that actually administers. Normally, the political system makes the policy and the civil service, or the bureaucracy, implements them. Of course, there is a need to distinguish the political system in democracies and in dictatorships. The rise of bureaucracy is associated by some with Fabian institutions such as the London School of Economics which are believed to have led to promoting the power of bureaucracy. (Micklethwait, 2000). In the US, the politician wields a lot of power, both through Congress and the individual post that he or she holds. But the bureaucrat retains his traditional powers to nullify decisions of the politician if he thinks it will impinge on the interests of the bureaucracy. Perrow (2002) has indicated that American society has been shaped more by bureaucracies than by other attributes of Americanism. This bureaucracy is also seen to pervade all sectors of American society thereby making it all powerful. In Japan it is said that till 1993, the Liberal Democratic Party took all the major decisions. Thereafter weak governments has led to some transfer of power to the bureaucrat. This is an ongoing process and has interesting implications for other countries also. We will write a custom essay sample on Battle for Political Power: Politicians and Bureaucrats specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Battle for Political Power: Politicians and Bureaucrats specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Battle for Political Power: Politicians and Bureaucrats specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer There are several ways of defining political power. The most simplistic view would see it as power used by politicians to institutionalize social control. If one were to dissect the various aspects of political power there would emerge three dimensions of power. These include decision-making, agenda-setting, and preference-shaping. The first advocates the idea that the formal political arena with its elections and voting brings forth the politician who controls or takes decisions. A broader sociological view would inform us that in fact decisions are often controlled in democracies by the elite, whether intellectual, bureaucratic or administrative. The other view is that of the politician acting as the agenda setter. This involves both the formal political arena and elites deciding the agenda for the Government or its departments. Vested interests within and outside the Government who will set the agenda may often have hidden agendas which the public may not know of. Of course, there can be a combination of both political processes and agenda setting. Another perspective takes the route of civil society dealing with the government. And how the latter tend to shape the preferences for society by propaganda or by disinformation. To this end political power can be exercised for narrow ends without the general public knowing what decisions are actually taken and how these may affect the people. There is thus a possibility of a distortion in the perceptions of the people about the Government. There may be variance as to who is seen to be the real centre of power. There is one view that holds that most Americans see the preservation of bureaucracy as being the main goal of American society. It is claimed that bureaucrats are not liked by the general public in America. This is a historical fact also. Because bureaucracies are inherently power hungry and very conservative they do tend to operate at a level where self-preservation is all pervasive. The US President heads the Executive Branch and is independent of the Legislature. The bureaucracy in the US is distinctive in that political authority over it, is dispersed among several institutions. And secondly, the bureaucracy itself in turn shares its functions with state and local agencies. Historically, patronage was the main means by which people could get federal jobs. But the modern bureaucracy in the US can be traced to the 1930s and the Second World War. The bureaucratic machinery in America is huge, but more important than size is the fact that those in office wield inordinate discretionary power to take decisions. The US government today employs over 2.7 million employees. And to just mention a historical fact, the government began with just three agencies in 1789. One must be aware that some aspects of political power within the bureaucracy are universal. We know that each time a new President is elected in the US, there are positions in the government waiting to be filled. Most of these positions often go to political â€Å"friends† and some others who possibly made huge contributions to the political campaign of the President in office. What happens is that these appointees who become bureaucrats are often ignorant of what they are supposed to do. So the bureaucrat trains the political bureaucrat on what to do and how to do it. This is how it happens everywhere around the world in democracies. Historically we can trace three phases in the development of American bureaucracy. First there was the government by gentlemen from 1787-1829. Then came the spoils system from 1829 to 1883. The modern civil service system can be traced to 1883 and continues to be in place with modifications till date. In the American system, the manner in which bureaucrats are appointed and kept in their jobs determines their power quotient. Additionally, the type of people who are recruited, does not reflect the broad social strata of society. Unlike the UK, where the civil servant is hired through an examination system and is permanently employed, in the US a federal employee can be politically appointed. But in the US too federal employees who are non-bureaucrats can last a lifetime in service. The key issue is command and control of the Federal Executive. The US Congress has a range of powers to tackle the issue. To start with Congressional statues will sometimes determine the very nature and character of an agency. Being able to control the purse strings makes the Congress important in more ways than one. But if there is a problem between the executive and the president then negotiations are the way to find a solution. There are often tensions between the US Department of State, Department of Defense and the National Security Council on foreign policy issues. The State Department has its own bureaucratic set up, and has closer links with Congress, and the NSC staff tends to serve the political needs of the American President. In the UK the civil service has a very important role to play in decision-making. Political power is vested in a strong executive and is backed by disciplined political parties. The UK also has a strong and insulated civil service, and centralizes power in the national government, leaving localities to implement diktats from London. In America, federal power is de-centralized from the President downwards and the bureaucracy is not so strong. The states tend to make their own decisions on a range of issues in the decentralized federal system. The UK has a more welfare state oriented government while in America there exists a stronger and more intrusive set of civil rights laws. The civil service in the United Kingdom supports the Government in power regardless of which political party is in office. Senior civil servants will remain in the post even upon a change of Government. This ensures continuity in policy. But it has also led to institutionalization of power within the bureaucracy, which can influence even things like a political broadcast on the BBC. But because of the institutionalization of power in the hands of the bureaucrats and the problem of red tapism it became necessary for the UK to find ways to reduce bureaucracy. This led to the privatization drive by prime minister Thatcher in the 1980s. In the case of large democracies like India (as is the case elsewhere too), the bureaucracy is answerable to the political establishment. But given the nature of power informally held by bureaucrats, it is often seen that they can take decisions that even the politician may find difficult to overrule. The civil servant in the Indian context can become a compliant tool of the politician, if he or she accepts political patronage. This is probably true even in the US. In the US today the war on terror provides the best   examlpe of how interests within the establishment, gives political power a new meaning. Both the political elite and   the bureaucracy have become accustomed to enjoying international power. As a result they want more. As seen above, in the US, cabinet officers are politically appointed. The executive often regards the bureaucracy as obstructionist, but it is really the bureaucracy that provides long-term stability and ensures the implementation of government policies. One can cite numerous examples of how individuals with strong personalities can overshadow bureaucrats and vice versa. A strong NSC Chairman can sometimes overshadow the Secretary of State, as in the case of Henry Kissinger and William Rogers. In most democracies, political control over the bureaucracy means having an elected assembly and an executive head of government. The UK system provides a kind of fusion of powers, which enables it to manage a powerful bureaucracy. In the American presidential system the decentralized nature of power tends to often create problems. The unity of authority principle that is applicable to the UK cabinet model of government tends to make control over the bureaucracy more effective than does the presidential system. While the details can be debated, in actual fact, in the Cabinet system in the UK it is the bureaucrat who actually makes the rules. From a bureaucratic perspective, a de-centralized system of functioning tends to create problems of decision-making and undermines the coordination of work. How does this system actually work? Keeping the bureaucracy relatively weak to ensure it does not usurp powers but can administer well does this. There are two variables that explain this phenomenon. One is experience and the other is the ability to coordinate. In the American system, most appointees are tenured and stay in office long enough to know how to solve problems. They also have enough powers to take decisions that may not be questioned. By coordination, it is meant that officials have sufficient movement within the national and local government to maintain a meaningful grasp of the issues that concern the nation and manage to work effectively. Actually an interesting analogy can be drawn from India where the civil servants at the top are generalists who tend to broadening their horizons while working and this in turn increases their capacity to exercise power in all fields. Therefore, it is not easy to find an answer to the question to who wields real political power in the US or in other democracies. Some of the most powerful bureaucracies today are in states which were the first to espouse democracy and freedom. France is perhaps the most significant example where the President and the French bureaucracy remain the most powerful. (Silveira, 1998). The President and the Congress actually wield power, but the bureaucracy also holds a lot of power in its hands. This is apparently more so on the foreign policy front than in domestic affairs. The real issue here is not who controls the reins of power, but the answer seems to depend on the system of government in place in a democracy. It also depends on the element of political power the bureaucrat can leverage within the existing rules and those outside it. Discretionary power can create disproportionate authority in the hands of bureaucrats as seen in the US. This is the key to understanding whether the b ureaucrat rules supreme or does his political master.

Loath and Loathe

Loath and Loathe Loath and Loathe Loath and Loathe By Maeve Maddox Paul Russell writes: I am loath to admit, or maybe loathe to admit, that I always thought the correct expression was â€Å"loathed to admit† But having Googled, I find the â€Å"loath† version scores about 1.1m pages,†loathe† around 55,000 with â€Å"loathed† in a lowly last place at 32,000. Please can you tell me which is correct, although I suspect Google has already answered my question. The forms loath, loathe, and loathed are not interchangeable. The word loath is an adjective. It’s from Old English laà ° which meant â€Å"hostile, repulsive.† It’s related to German Leid (sorrow) and French laid (ugly). Its most frequent modern usage is in the expression â€Å"to be loath to do something,† in which the meaning is not much stronger than â€Å"reluctant.† Ex. I am loath to admit my mistake. In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath tells the story of the â€Å"loathly lady.† A young man must choose between an ugly (loathly) bride who will be faithful, and a beautiful one who will not be. The word loathe is a verb. It’s from Old English laà °ian which had the meaning â€Å"to hate, to be disgusted with.† The modern meaning is about the same: â€Å"to feel strong aversion for; have extreme disgust at.† The form loathed is the participle form. Ex. The child loathed the cruel teacher. A variant spelling of the adjective loath is loth. The th in the adjective has the unvoiced sound heard in thin. The verb loathe (despite the tutor’s note at Answers.com) has a different pronunciation. The th in loathe has the voiced sound heard in this. The silent final e is what signals the difference in pronunciation. In looking for examples on the web I came across the form â€Å"loather.† The Kingdom of Loathers is an online game. The Loathers is a music group. A blogger criticizing the ACLU indicated that the letters must stand for American Christian Loathers Union. I couldn’t find any indication of how the word â€Å"loather† in these examples is pronounced. If the â€Å"loather† is so called because of feelings of reluctance, I should think that the pronunciation is [lÃ… th-É™r] with unvoiced th. If the â€Å"loather† is so called because of feelings of intense dislike of something (as is presumably the case in the ACLU reference), then it would be pronounced with a voiced th: [lÃ… TH-É™r]. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Farther vs. FurtherList of 50 Great Word Games for Kids and AdultsPeople vs. Persons

Malcolm X Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Malcolm X - Essay Example Furthermore, his highlighting on the black community having self help and self-respect gives life to his scrutiny in human rights. He depicts African American culture with vibrancy and criticizes unacceptable behavior from his point of view of Muslim faith. The book ‘Autobiography of Malcolm X’ conceptualizes a transformation from lack of knowledge and misery to awareness and religious initiation (Haley). In his comment that, people never realize how a persons’ life can be altered just by a book he tells Harley the prime belief underpinning each effort to put down an autobiography as an exemplar for others. Malcolm’s views and ethics in the fight for civil rights of the 60’s were entirely different from Martin Luther King Jr., but both of them were in some way similar as in the case of loving the almighty and loving your self are virtues prime and primary steps towards achieving independence, sovereignty and power. This can be seen when Malcolm says that: He might have portrayed nearly all non-Christian aversion for loving his adversaries, but he and Martin Luther tacitly understood the success to freedom. In his Harlem life encounter, he realized that the black community should be more vibrant in helping themselves in an attempt to improve their oppressing situation. This in its sense applies to everyday life and should be embraced if one wants to improve a situation. He was the pioneer behind establishing over hundred mosques in the better part of the United States territory. As chief representative for Elijah Muhammad, saw the Nation of Islam rise to being a spiritual and religious organization in the 1960’s, hence expanding its reach. Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad agree that a polite reaction to isolation and separation is not Integration but cultural division. Malcolm mostly wanted racial justice to be upheld in America. In the event that

Explain how coso framework can be applied in a computerised Essay

Explain how coso framework can be applied in a computerised environment - Essay Example COSO is an internal auditing standard. Internal control activities include all procedures required for ensuring financial statements that are true and correct, not tainted with errors or frauds. The COSO framework helps entities improve the management of the economy and efficiency of business operations (Cascarino, 2012). Control Activities: Control activities focus on ensuring all management policies and directives are implemented. The control activities include gathering valid and relevant data. Data pertains to the competitors, economy, and regulatory measure compliance. Management uses the control activities to reduce the effects of risks (Regan, 2004). Policies and Procedures. Management responsibilities include the implementation of the COSO Framework’s internal control policies and procedures. The aspects focus on being aware of any possible operational risks. Being aware includes pinpointing current and future business and other computerised environment risks. Conseque ntly, management should focus the COSO Framework on resolving current and future risks that crop up during each business operation. For example, policies and procedures include requiring the cashiers to issue official receipts for each computer generated sales activity. The official receipts are evidences of the day’s total generated cash collections. The computerised printout of a day’s total sales should include the official receipts, or purchase order forms. The store personnel must ensure the physical count of store or office supplies is equal to the quantity of each supply type shown in the computerised database list (Pfister, 2009). Security (application and Network). The COSO Framework’s internal control activities require that all individuals must use passwords in order to prevent the unauthorised persons from viewing, adding, or deleting the computerised database. Likewise, security guards and other company personnel shall prevent the entry of unauthori sed persons into confidential computerised environments. For example, only the authorised inventory personnel cannot enter and change the details of the inventory department’s computersied inventory database. Likewise, only authorised employees are allowed to open, append and edit the accounting database. The Information Technology department allows authorised employees to access certain databases such as the inventory and receivables databases. Lastly, the company should affix CCTV cameras on all floors, offices, rooms, entrances, and exits within the computerised entities’ premises (Moeller, 2011). Further, the COSO Framework’s internal control activities incorporate a computerised generation of assigned performances. The computerised performance results will help management implement remedial measures. Remedial measures are used to correct lackluster performances. For example, the computerised report indicating a sales person generated low sales performance w ill persuade management to increase the advertising budgets (Moeller, 2011). Further, management must ensure that segregation of computerised database access is implemented. For example, the cashier cannot access the accounting department’s database. Likewise, the accounting department personnel cannot access the inventory dep

Fair Is Foul and Foul Is Fair Essay Example for Free

Fair Is Foul and Foul Is Fair Essay â€Å"Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air,† said the witches in the first act and scene of Macbeth. Pertaining to the story, I believe this quote sheds light to the audience on the evil the witches possess. Without even reading further into the book, the audience can feel the eerie aura that the witches give off. You can foreshadow that the witches are going to turn what is good, foul and maintain what is foul. The witches are saying that fair and foul are the same: to be fair, you must be foul and to be foul, you must be fair. The witches do foul things because they think it is the only fair way. The witches basically symbolize everything that the kingdom does not need to prosper. The witches are manipulative. They manipulate Macbeth simply because his downfall would bring them joy. Evil and foul prophecies will cloud Macbeth’s judgment, making him think that they are fair and what he needs to follow. They are foul in their motives but their words are fair and their wordplay cannot be defined as lying but they skillfully dance around the truth. To the witches foul is fair and vice versa. You can also say that what is foul to any normal human is what is fair and good to the witches because they embody everything that we believe is evil. You can relate the phrase to reality or just believe that this is the witches’ opinion. Relating to real life outside of the book, I believe that this quote can mean that sometimes do be fair and just you have to go about it in a way that isn’t fair and just. Justice has to be attained, sometimes, by unjust means. It can also mean that the truth hurts and life is not fair, also to be fair is not to be appealing. These two words are opposite of their meanings. Depending on a person’s definition of fair and foul, it can change its meaning. It is circumstantial, and the meaning can change frequently. Defining fair as benevolent and good and foul as evil and menacing, you can say that to be good, you have to be malicious and to malicious you have to go about it in a ‘good’ and nice way. Some things that are fair might not always be the best but things that are fair might always be what a person what a person wants. Also, it could mean that people and things aren’t as they seem. People who seem foul could be fair and people who seem fair could be foul.

Radio Essay example -- essays research papers

Radio Radio becomes Americas second national mass medium after magazines -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  99% of American’s homes have radios -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  95% of American’s cars have radios -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  40% of Americans listen to the radio between 6 am and midnight -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7% of Americas bathrooms have radios in them Radio: A technological Leap 1835 Samuel F. B. Morse demonstrates his electromagnetic telegraph system March 10, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell sent a message to his associate Thomas Watson with the aid of his new invention, the telephone Heinrich Hertz experiments with radio waves that become known as Hertzian waves and leads to the development of radio broadcasting Guglielmo Marconi used Morse, Bell, and Hertz ideas to transmit waves without the aid of wires In 1912David Sarnoff relayed news from Nantucket Island that he received distress calls from the Titanic on his Marconi wireless device Federal Government Polices the Airwaves Federal government decided to regulated broadcasting almost as soon as it was invented The Radio Act of 1912 required licenses for people who wanted to broadcast or receive messages KDKA Launches Commercial Broadcasting October 27, 1920 the U.S. Department of Commerce used the powers of the Radio Act of 1912 to license KDKA as the nations first commercial station The Radio Audience Expands Quickly In 1922 Americans spent $60 million on receivers More than 500 stations began broa...

Particular style and cultural context of the theatre Essay

â€Å"Taking a range of plays studied on the course show how the play texts are affected by the particular style and cultural context of the theatre from which they are drawn. † For this essay I will be looking at The Menaechmi by Plautus, Once upon Four Robbers by Femi Osofisan, Therese Raquin by Emile Zola, Hernani by Victor Hugo, Riders to the Sea by J. M. Synge, Aoi no Uye by Zenchiku Jinobu and East Lynne by Mrs Wood, adapted by T. A. Palmer. I have chosen this selection of plays as I feel it gives an accurate cross section of the plays which have made up the course this year. From delving into the culture surrounding these different plays I will be examining the cultural and political aspects which have affected their creation, and how these plays may reflect or affect reality. Plautus having been born in Italy became a Roman soldier, â€Å"This is probably when he was exposed to the delights of the Greek stage†. After the Macedonian conquest, Greek comedy moved away from â€Å"The daring personal and political satire of Aristophanes†. The Three era’s of Greek Comedy are categorised as Old, Middle and New, and the development of comedy is said to be â€Å"mainly due to the political and social conditions of Athens, it finally held up a mirror to all that was characteristic of Athenian life. † Plautus made adaptations of Plays by the Popular Greek playwright Menander. However the refined work of Menander would hold little interest for a rowdy Roman crowd. So Plautus’ plays are, as the Romans would have loved to watch, full of debauchery and brashness. This can certainly be seen in The Menaechmi, from the very beginning of the play. The Prologue in its entirety encourages the audience to pay attention, with the rhyming language appealing to all classes and making the play very easy to listen to and understand. The character Menaechmus 1 is the epitome of infidelity and licentiousness; he says to his mistress Desiree â€Å"now can you guess what I want to do? † Desiree, your typical subservient sex object, replies â€Å"Yes, I know and what’s more, I’ll do what you want†. The language Plautus uses throughout is loaded with sexual innuendo â€Å"twist in it, won’t you? † and â€Å"Your Tight pants. † Plautus seemed to pander to the wants of his Roman audiences, with great success. Another playwright of the time who took ideas from Menander’s comedies was Terence. However Terence, unlike Plautus â€Å"cared little about public taste, instead he devoted himself to capturing the spirit of the Greek originals which he adapted†. East Lynne, adapted by T. A. Palmer, is another play which is a pure product of the popular culture of its time. One source of information I used in my research on East Lynne said â€Å"The story’s extreme emotionalism made it popular in its time, especially in the U. S. Today it is seen as the epitome of melodramatic excess. † This quotation, I believe, really does sum up the feel of the play. The Victorian Era, from which the play is drawn, was filled with similar performances. The style was known as â€Å"Pictorial Theatre† as it conveyed absolutely no sense of realism, and simple pictures were used to make scenery. Looking at the play itself you can see the ‘stock’ characters very clearly, the insipid female roles, the strong over-bearing and controlling males, and the almost sickening displays of emotion that signify this romanticism. Particular lines that demonstrate this clearly within the text are this from Isabel: â€Å"Love and contentment can make the humblest home happy. † And: â€Å"When he leaves me it seems as though the sunshine had faded from my life†. The playwright makes little attempt to influence the actor’s interpretation of characters, with highly brief stage directions that literally just indicate each characters entrances and exits. Costumes at this time were contemporary clothing, and like every other aspect of this style, suggestively un-realistic – well at least it was consistent! Though this style was very popular at the time, interesting things were happening in Ireland†¦ â€Å"The hundred years between 1840 and 1940 saw Ireland struggle for, achieve, and deal with the consequences of political liberty and new nationhood. † The realism of theatre created by the likes of Synge, Yates, and Wilde eventually carried over to Britain and â€Å"is commonly known as the Irish Renaissance. † Personally I feel that this resurgence was brought on by the political liberty of Ireland and the desire to find a cultural identity. J. M. Synge wrote plays about Irish peasant life and considering the popularity of melodrama in Britain the differences between East Lynne and Riders to the sea is enormous. The most striking thing you notice when looking at Riders to the Sea is the constant interruptions by the playwright, directing the actor and production towards a realistic style. At the beginning of the play there is a stage direction, setting the scene in so much detail as to include that â€Å"Cathleen, a girl of about twenty, finishes kneading cake, and puts it down in the pot oven by the fire; then wipes her hands, and begins to spin†¦ † The majority of the cast are female, with the head of the household being ‘Maurya’ an old woman. This quotation from the plays sums up her reasoning and character â€Å"Bartley will have a fine coffin out of the white boards, and a deep grave surely. What more can we want than that? No man at all can be living for ever, and we must be satisfied. † For sure, J. M. Synge was one of the people who contributed to the naturalism we see in theatre today. In many countries, political theatre can be seen in one form or another. Modern African Drama is a general category of performances that â€Å"in practise and principle propose to stand in opposition to the dominant trends of cultural presentations and representations, productions and social relations†. Femi Osofisan’s play, Once upon Four Robbers, is a heavily loaded political tool. The prologue is highly motivational, with quotations like this: â€Å"Slogans about returning to the land, sermons of bourgeois morality, are empty to a man who is born condemned to poverty. † And: â€Å"I hope this play shocks us into a new awareness†¦ I hope it helps to change our attitude from passive acceptance or sterile indignation into a more dynamic more enraged determination to confront ourselves and our lives. † Within the play itself you can see elements which are almost Brechtian at times, the use of the ‘Song of the storyteller’ for example. Regarding a section of the text in which three characters read off a list of ‘scandals’ there are footnotes relating to this list which read†¦ â€Å"In production, the list should be made to include the most recent public scandals† effectively highlighting that the story of the play really is one that transcends eras of time so long as the political references are kept up to date. This also shows the flexibility of the writer; the flexibility of African theatre as a whole. The ending of the play depends on the result of the audiences opinions. Two separate endings are written. One sees the Robbers set free, and the other sees them put to death. This emphasises further Osofisan’s desire for the audience and for the African people as a whole to start passing judgement on their lives, on their governments and on their oppression. Africa as a continent is one which has always suffered through oppression; this play like many others seems to be trying to counteract this. In the words of Paulo Freire â€Å"What could be a more effective way of making people actors in their own development than to raise their awareness and arouse their energies through cultural activities. † The beginning of the Romantic Movement was supposedly heralded by the French play, Hernani, written by Victor Hugo. In France around 1660 – 1830 there were certain rules attached to the writing of a play. These were known as the Unities. The three Unities were that a play must take place in one day; the duration of the play could not span weeks or months. The second was that there could only be one setting for the entirety of the play. The third unity was that the action could only be on one plot or story line. Hernani breaks all of these rules as it involved characters from medieval history, had lots of scenery changes and does not hold one plot solely. The Romantic features of Hernani include the character Dona Sol, the emotional, bland female and the character of the Duke who barges into the play at the beginning and assumes control. There is also a sense of spiritualization in the play with the ghostly ‘Mask’ character. In fact, when the play was first performed in 1830, Hugo announced that he â€Å"would employ no claque or hired applauders†, a customary practise in French Theatres. It seems that Hernani was certainly affected by the style of theatre in France when it was written; it went against all the conventions that existed at the time. Another French playwright, Emile Zola, produced Therese Raquin in 1873, another play which certainly went against convention; Emile Zola’s novels were â€Å"attacked and even banned for their frankness and sordid detail. † In fact when he published the open letter ‘J’Accuse’ in defence of Alfred Dreyfus, an army officer who had been convicted of treason. Zola was sentenced to prison for libel. Zola was said to have been the â€Å"Leader of the naturalist movement in 19th Century Literature. † His early writing borrowed heavily from the Romantic Movement but as his style developed he was more influenced by science than art, and was said to have been â€Å"inspired by Claude Bernhard’s introduction to experimental medicine (1865)†. The play itself is very realistic, the setting is in one room which complies with one of the unities but takes place over a long stretch of time. The characters Zola creates in Therese Raquin include Camille, an irritating, immature and pompous Man who is seriously cossetted by his mother. His character is epitomised by lines such as â€Å"She hasn’t much brain, poor girl, but she looks after me marvellously when I’m ill. Mama has taught her to make my camomile tea. † Another Character of great importance is the mother Madame Raquin whose typical lines include â€Å"Now, now, Therese, Laurent is not very happy. He lives in a garret and they feed him very poorly at that little cafi of his. † Madame Raquin is a middle class, self righteous, snob who oppresses and patronises Therese. Camille is just as bad as his mother but is just a result of her conceited values. The subject is clearly an attack at the bourgeois, but many people seemed to have been more concerned with attacking Zola’s scientific methods of conveying relationships. Wilde Quipped that Zola was determined to show â€Å"that if he has not got genius, he can at least be dull. † The spirit world and the real world are highly linked in Japanese society and so it would be incredibly strange not to see some existence of this in Japanese Noh Theatre. The play Aoi no Uye by Zenchiku Ujinobu is certainly an example of this, with the witch character â€Å"reciting a mystic formula† which invokes â€Å"The living phantasm of Rokujo†. One of the most important features of the Noh play is the use of the Theatre as a means of enforcing religious morals, in particular the Buddhist doctrine that â€Å"human salvation is achieved through prayer and penance. † Aoi No Uye is an example of a Demon play, one of five of the categories given to all plays in the style of Noh. This particular category usually has a demon or supernatural figure as the protagonist, â€Å"there is a battle between the demon and hero in which the demon is usually subdued† and this is very much the pattern of events in Aoi no Uye. The high status Saint character comes along and drives out the demon Rokujo, who in his final speech exclaims â€Å"The voice of the Hannya Book! I am afraid. Never again will I come as an angry ghost. † Then, in order to drive the point forward even further the Ghost ends the play saying â€Å"When she heard the sound of Scripture the demons raging heart was stilled; shapes of pity and sufferance, the bodhisats v descend. Her soul casts off its bonds, she walks in Buddha’s way. † This theatre form seems to be incredibly moralistic and it is clear that religion exerts a dogmatic hold over the people who view such performances. The play text itself is a prime example of the Noh genre, it complies in every aspect. Out of all the plays I have chosen to cover in this essay it is interesting that despite whether the playwright has chosen to write his or her play in the cultural style of the time or to go against the grain entirely in order to produce a new style of theatre, whether the play itself adheres to the politics of a particular society or if it attempts to evoke a political stance in the audience, all are affected by their cultural, social and political circumstances. All these plays have affected the cultures from which they are drawn to a greater or lesser extent. The degree to which they have reflected their theatrical, political or cultural situation is variable and especially remarkable. Bibliography: Alice, B, 1935, Minute history of the drama, Grosset and Dunlap. Bates, Alfred, 1906, The Drama: Its history, literature and influence on civilisation, London Historical Publishing Company. Crowe, Stanley, 2003, Furman University site. Didaskalia, 1999, Ancient theatre today, UC Berkeley Freire, Paulo, 1972, pedagogy of the oppressed, Penguin. Guardian Unlimited, 2003, Guardian Newspapers LTD. The New Penguin Dictionary of the Theatre, 2001, The Penguin Group.