Burnaston Vs Valenciennes, battle of the car plants.
Burnaston Vs Valenciennes, battle of the car plants. Bosses at Toyota tonight face a difficult decision tonight at where to locate their new manufacturing plant. The options they have are either Burnaston in Derby where they have a well-established plant along with experience workers or the town of Valencieennes in northern France. Here at the financial Times we have had a debate about which one they should go for. Burnaston: There are many advantages of them expanding on this site. They have a well-established work force with skilled labourers and a lot of room for expansion. They produce a total of 200 000 cars a year which provide 5% of the U.K with Toyota cars. Unfortunately they will receive no government funding for the extra project, as Derby has a high level of employment. Also it is unlikely to lift the sales of Toyota cars in the U.K so they will be paying a lot out in transportation costs over to the EU. They have the benefit of experience on their side and the fact they would only be paying 10% tax for each employee where as in France it is 45% tax a considerable amount more and they wages would be higher. Valenciennes: The advantages of basing they new factory here are greater than in Derby. They would receive 10% of the total factory price from the government along with waiving some of the employment taxes for a fixed period of time and would provide training
House of Lords Reform.
House of Lords Reform. Reform of the House of Lords seems inevitable. However, the new shape and form of the reformed Upper House is yet to be decided. The Government's procrastination on the issue is understandable. There are so many possibilities and the different factions within the British Political Spectrum are all champing at the bit to impose their ideas on the subject. Makeup of the House: In my eyes, the new Second House should be a half appointed half-elected assembly, where the public get to vote on the makeup of the House but the house still remains evenly aligned, available to buffer increasing Government power, without the influence of party loyalty and the response from the whips. The House would then be free from the constrains of the adversarial politics and all members of the House would be able to check the governments policies without party interference. Elections to the House: Elections should happen every 10 years in the middle of a Commons cycle. The elections should be on a PR basis, using the AV system. This would allow the House to represent all spheres of political opinion in the country as minority parties who get a spread vote would be able to represent those who wanted them in power. This would also allow opposition to the Government in the Commons to be more evenly balanced. This would cut out the "Boo-Yah" syndrome that has plagued the
Expansion of the European Union
TMA 01 Dan Whittle U5236871 DD200 P.1 The expansion of Europe to incorporate some of the formerly communist countries is a contentious issue for its governance. A commitment was made in 1997 to expansion, including the fast-tracking of Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Along with the proposed adoption of the Euro, this decision was met with skepticism on one hand and applause on the other. Integration brings up issues of economics, sovereignty and cultural identity. The fall of communism gives us great opportunities to spread the dream but leaves a vacuum in the justification of the EU. Again people from different perspectives are forced to define the future of Europe they want and believe possible. Dominique Moisi sees negotiable barriers to a successfully expanded union, to rival the power of America. Tony Judt uses socio-economic counter arguments and a historical perspective to indicate a shift back towards the nation state. The title of Tony Judts essay "Goodbye to all that" refers to his view that in post-cold war Europe we must say good bye to the dreams of a more inclusive expanded EU. Judts main argument is based around the economic problem of expansion. He says (para 14) that it would cost 20 Billion DM a year to include the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. He says these would be
'Building Union among people not cooperation between states' (Jean Monnet) - Is this an accurate description of the contemporary integration process?
'Building Union among people not cooperation between states' (Jean Monnet). Is this an accurate description of the contemporary integration process? Built on the foundations of communication, the EU has promoted the union among European people perhaps to a greater extent than cooperation between states. The EU has tried to encourage mutual respect and understanding, by focusing on good communication among people across Europe. To this end the EU is keen to encourage, language learning, exchanges and visits, an EU dimension in education, and partnerships and dialogue within the EU and with other parts of the world. However, this area of European integration is often seen as a hurdle as union among the people is harder to achieve than cooperation between states. This is in light of sovereignty and the individual's sense of national pride. Nonetheless, building union among people can be seen as a paramount issue in the integration process. Since its creation, the EU has indeed brought much more integration among the people of Europe. Prior to 1957, European countries were somewhat insecure or even suspicious of their neighbours as a consequence of many years of war and distrust. Nowadays, with regards to Britain, British citizens are free to travel, work, study and live in any other EU country. This has been particularly beneficial to the younger generation of people in
How successful was the League of Nations in the 1920's?
How successful was the League of Nations in the 1920's? The League of Nations was established after the 1st World War. President Wilson came up with the idea of an organization that could prevent future wars. All countries could become members except for Germany and Russia, who were able to join later. In the early 1920s the League did manage to solve quarrels such as the fight over the Aaland Islands but its weaknesses were soon to become apparent. Most of the Leagues successes came from their social reforms. The League helped to solve many refugee problems. It was also strong in organizing plebiscites in countries such as Germany. The League was concerned with a lot of social matters. They improved working conditions, pensions, wages and organized trade unions. These things affected peoples` everyday lives. The state of the health system improved. This was to the Leagues advantage because there was a noticeable improvement in people's general standard of living after the war. Another area of success for the League was the way in which they helped the mandate commission. The League governed the land taken away from Germany and Turkey fairly until it was ready to be independent. The League did not ignore Austria when it asked for help from them. Instead of refusing, the League helped them solved their problems; this was another of their major earlier
Common Agricultural Policy.
Multinationals, corporations that have direct business activities in many countries. The terms "transnational" or "international" are used more or less interchangeably with multinational. Similarly the terms "companies", "firms", "enterprises" are often used instead of "corporations". Their activities involve some form of direct production and/or distribution, and the establishment of branches or affiliates, in the host countries in which they operate. According to the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations: "A foreign branch is a part of an enterprise that operates abroad. An affiliate is an enterprise under effective control by a parent company and may be either a subsidiary (with majority or sometimes as little as 25 per cent control of the voting stock by the parent company) or an associate (in which case as little as 10 per cent control of voting stock may be judged adequate to satisfy the criterion)." The foreign activities may be measured in terms of assets, employment, sales, or profits of the branches or affiliates. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by the Multinational Corporation (MNC) may take the form of acquisition of an existing company, or of "greenfield"investment which develops a new productive activity (factory or distribution chain) where none previously existed. Though enterprises with production activities in several countries, such as the
Types of Democracy and Ways of Participating.
a) Define Representative Democracy Representative democracy is a form of government in which elected officials represent the people of the country. In the UK each MP represents a constituency, they represent the interests of the constituency as a whole and their constituents as individuals. They are expected to take up the grievances of the people of their constituency to the government and see what can be done in order to sort out the problems. The houses of Parliament are also to some extent expected to act representatively towards society as a whole, however they cannot please everyone in society and therefore they can unfortunately not claim to be truly socially representative of the nation. However in a representative Democracy the government tries its best to be socially representative of their nation 3a) Define Liberal Democracy Liberal Democracy is a form of Representative Democracy. According to the rules of a Liberal Democracy. Elections should be free and fair and the political process should be competitive. Meaning whoever wants to create a political party can create one and run for election for example the elections in Britain are free from corruption, there is an independent election commission that oversees elections and makes sure they are fair, however some people believe that voting under the first past the post system isn’t fair. The
What was the original purpose of NATO?
What was the original purpose of NATO? In which ways has NATO "reinvented" itself in the post-cold war world? Suggestions: Concise coverage of NATO + CW Belief of many politicians that NATO had become redundant re: end of CW How NATO has defied this prediction Eg expansion of NATO -> PFP -> NATO+Russia Kosovo 9/11 Afghanistan At present two important formal alliances dominate the international security scene. By far the most powerful is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which encompasses Western Europe and North America (the second is the US-Japanese alliance). Using GDP as a measure of power, the 26 NATO members possess nearly half the world total. The NATO “allied supreme commander” has always been a U.S. general. In NATO, each state contributes its own military units- with its own national culture, language, and equipment specification. NATO was founded in 1949 to oppose and deter Soviet power in Europe. Its counterpart in East Europe during the Cold War, the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, was found in 1955 and disbanded in 1991. During the Cold War, the USA maintained more than 300000 troops in Europe with advanced planes, tanks and other equipment. After the Cold War ended, these forces were cut to about 100000. But NATO stayed together because its members believed that NATO provided useful stability even though its mission was unclear. Article 5
The Euro.
THE EURO What is the euro? It is the official name of the new currency which will be used by the participants in EMU. The euro is also known as the single currency or the single European currency. The introduction of the euro is just one aspect of EMU, although it will be the most visible sign. While legislation will probably refer to the plural of euro as euro, common parlance will probably refer to euros. What will the sub-unit of the euro be called? The sub-unit of the euro will be the cent. Each euro will have 100 cent. Although common usage may refer to cents or centimes as the plural of cent, the technically correct plural is cent, not cents nor centimes. If the £ sign represents sterling, what sign will be used for the euro? European Commission Regulations specify that the euro is officially represented by the symbol . Hence, a reference to 100 euro can also be written as 100. In addition, every currency is provided with a three letter code by a body called the International Standards Organisation. For example, the three letter code for sterling is GBP. The three letter code for the euro is EUR. Hence, 100 euro will often be written in financial circles as EUR100. Many financial institutions will also write 100 euro as euro100, as their computer systems are more easily able to cope with this. Many people will not be able to use the
The European Commission.
The European Commission by Neill Nugent Chapter 1 Introducing the Commission Two distinct levels: College and the services The College of Commissioners: 20 members (two from F, D, I, SP, UK and one from each of the other ten). College: sits at the apex of the Commission. Approval is necessary for all major initiatives and decisions in the Commission's name. Strong tendency towards consensual decision-making. Members of the College hold policy portfolios (responsible for particular areas of policy). Commissioners = the most senior figures in the Commission. The services: 21 000 full-time employees (small). Commission's administration is sub-divided. Main sub-units: Directorates General (DGs). Numbers are subject of periodic change, in the recent years: 20 - 25. Other sub-units: special services. The Commission's multi dimensional nature: composed of many parts contains wide range of different views and interests. Commission = complex "multi-organisation" (Cram). Sometimes tension and friction between the political (College) and administrative (services) arms. College: sometimes tensions and frictions, especially in the cross-sectoral policy areas, over who is responsible for particular aspects of policy. Services: common problem is differences between DGs over policy priorities and policy methods. Functions of the Commission: Commission = Position at the heart of the EU
