Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro's biography Evita is a cogent work that incorporates the childhood, acting career, politica

Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro's biography Evita is a cogent work that incorporates the childhood, acting career, political emergence, and subsequent adoration of the Argentine populace. Arguing that Evita's underprivileged childhood is the explanatory variable for her future actions, goals, and ambitions, the authors assert that Evita shou7ldered the burden of Argentina's poor workers, or descamisados, and by doing so, solidified the regime of her husband Juan Peron. Utilizing a thematic and chronological style, Fraser and Navarro clearly demonstrate that politically, socially, and economically Evita Maria Duarte de Peron strove her entire life to overcome the scarring poverty induced by her childhood and prevent others from suffering a similar fate. Evita was born on the featureless pampas in the hinterland of Argentina in 1919 a bastard child. Such a "second marriage" between her mother and an already married public servant were not unusual in the era,1 yet her father Juan Duarte's return to his first family in a neighboring town impoverished mother dona Juana and her five illegitimate children.2 Determining to abandon such a dismal life, and the unpromising future that poverty on the pampas entailed, Eva left her small town of Junin in 1935 to pursue a dream of becoming an actress when she was merely fifteen. Evita, even at this tender age, was ambitious, for she

  • Word count: 1880
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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Religion v Politics.

Religion v Politics Iran is more comparable to a theocracy on the whole then many of the classical examples of this system of rule that exist e.g. Pakistan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, in which religious experts on the holy law have real policy influence. Iran was led by the Ayatollah Khomeini in the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he advocated a secular government constrained by a 'theocratic guardianship' (I. McLean, 1996, pg. 495) to prevent policy falling out of line with holy law. Thus, the post-revolutionary state and its theocrats had a distinct understanding of women's place in society and the Islamic Iranian Constitution placed them resolutely within the home. But Iranian women have rejected this designated role and have "insisted on their right to participate fully in the political destiny of the nation" (H. Afshar, 2002, pg. 109). Iranian women justify their modern understanding of Islam by the traditional method of returning to the inception of the faith and emulating the paths chosen by the rightful; in this case, the paths chosen by the women associated with the Prophet Muhammad who played important parts in shaping the political destiny of Islam. This process of re-interpretation of the holy texts was a task undertaken by men for men in the past. However, as larger numbers of women gained access to education, and sought Islamic as well as secular learning, Muslim

  • Word count: 1712
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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A Modern World Study - Modern China.

GCSE Coursework: A Modern World Study - Modern China Why does the Chinese government at the start of the twenty-first century reuse to give its people democratic rights despite encouraging private enterprise in industry, commerce and agriculture and how do you see this situation developing in the next few years? Jason Torquato 10L China has experienced many wars and revolutions in its very long history, and even though it has had this rough past, China have still become one of the main world powers and have an extraordinarily large economy. China is now a major developing country in the world, and it still hasn't given its people democracy. It is now the only world power not to have a democratic government and the question that has baffled many people for years is "Why isn't China giving its people democracy?" Especially since it is increasingly a capitalist country, and capitalism is strongly linked with democracy. The early authoritarian rulers of China believed in the Mandate of Heaven which is based on three principles, these are; the right to rule is granted by heaven, there is only one heaven therefore there can only be one ruler, the right to rule is based on the virtue of the ruler. The beliefs are still the same now and this is why the Chinese government refuses to give its people

  • Word count: 2266
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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WHY WERE THE BOLSHEVIKS ABLETO TAKE AND HOLD POWERIN RUSSIA?

WHY WERE THE BOLSHEVIKS ABLE TO TAKE AND HOLD POWER IN RUSSIA? The February Revolution of 1917 had essentially resulted in the collapse of the Tsardom. For centuries autocratic and repressive tsarist regimes ruled the country and a majority of the population lived under strenuous economic and social conditions. Russia's unsuccessful involvement in the First World War resulted in growing discontent amongst the Russian population, and eventually the fall of the Tsarist government. The Provisional government had replaced the Tsar but proved to be no more capable of successfully leading Russia than he had. The October revolution was a seizure of power by the Bolshevik party, arguably, not through their own strengths but due to the weaknesses of the opposition and the inefficiencies of the interim government. In order to be able to assess the reasons as to why it was that the Bolsheviks successfully seized power, it is necessary to evaluate the political and economic condition of Russia before and during her entry in the war. Three years of total war seemed too greater strain for the Russian economy to cope with. Russia's national budget multiplied almost eight times between 1914 and 1918, taxes were increased, and the government began to circulate more notes after having abandoned the 'gold standard'. The result of these actions was severe inflation, and the prices of

  • Word count: 602
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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The American Civil War

The American Civil War was the culmination of sectional tensions brought about by a number of regional differences. The primary disputes were with positions on slavery and states' rights. These issues spawned widespread economic, political, and social sectionalism which the statesmen of the time chose in large part to ignore. Rather than get into an all out political battle, the politicians of the day avoided the problems rather than addressing them outright, and possibly preventing the widespread blood letting that was the Civil War. Their ad hoc compromises and poorly thought out legislation merely bought time for the nation by treating its symptoms and not the disease. These blundering statesmen led the young nation down a road of destruction, not taking into account the negative impact that their short sighted actions would have on the future of America. Martin Van Buren followed Andrew Jackson, one of the most popular presidents in American history, into office in 1837 (Anonymous "Martin..." 1). Van Buren was a man of good character and a shrewd politician. However, he became the fall guy for all of Jackson's failures, including the debacle that was his economic plan. These circumstances that surrounded his presidency set off a chain reaction that resulted in the election of a succession of presidents who were neither strong or far sighted enough to hold the

  • Word count: 5194
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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Why was the Weimar Republic able to survive the difficulties between 1919-23?

Why was the Weimar Republic able to survive the difficulties between 1919-23? The first four years of the Weimar Republic's existence seem very volatile. It suffered a series of threatening incidents ranging from extremist uprisings to economic collapse. However these events, although significant in the long run, were not dangerous enough to topple the Republic immediately. The Constitution was drawn up in the town of Weimar in January 1919 and submitted to the National Assembly in February. It contained 181 articles designed not only to safeguard the future of the Republic but also to create the most advanced form of democracy in Europe. Universal suffrage was implemented and civilians enjoyed a greater sense of freedom. The chancellorship had powers, which if used effectively could pull the country out of an economic crisis. The presidential powers were greater, revolving around article 48 which, in effect, allowed the President dissolve the Reichstag and take control of the country himself - a power later abused by Hitler in order to take control. However the constitution did rely on proportional representation as an electoral system. This weakened the Republic as it led to weak shifting coalition governments, resulting in political instability. Another problem with the Constitution was that it had been introduced after a long hard fought war and amidst

  • Word count: 1268
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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Who would you vote for?

Who would win a general election if there was one held tomorrow? In my opinion if there was a general election tomorrow (8/9/07), the Labour Party would win, albeit only by a tiny percentage of the vote and by maybe 15-30 seats (resulting in a hung parliament). This is reflected in the latest polls which show Labour winning 36-8% of the vote (based on the findings of YouGov, Populus and Comres opinions polls 4/9/07), the Conservatives winning 35-36% and the Liberal Democrats getting 15-18%. When you consider the margin of error that comes with these figures, it seems that the Conservatives may overtake Labour in terms of popular vote. This does not however, mean they would win the election, as the current system is weighted in Labours favour. In fact, it has been estimated that Labours majority would have been reduced to 60 seats in the '97 election had they accepted the recommendations made by Lord Jenkins (he proposed changing from FPTP to AV+). Because of the current system I think Labour would again unfairly gain seats but that in order to continue running the country effectively would rely on the Liberal Democrats, granting them the unique status of 'Kingmakers'. This situation would not really suit anybody as it would make it very hard for anything to be changed. If this happens, it won't be for the first time. In the past, the opposition has gained the majority of

  • Word count: 2381
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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Why was the Weimar government on the verge of collapse by November 1923?

Why was the Weimar government on the verge of collapse by November 1923? By 1923 Germany had reached a crisis point, politically, socially and economically. I will be explaining how the affects of different situations changed the country and how Germany dealt with such problems. First there was the flu epidemic, or Spanish Influenza. This killed thousands, merely within the first few days of its outbreak. It brought the country to social ruin, for so many died little hope was left. It was just after the war had been ended, and due to the lack of heating systems, food and clothes-because of the Blockade and payment in reparations, the German public were faced with a very long, cold and painful starvation. Because Germany had been left so poor after the war, they had to pay reparations not only in money but in coal and wood, etc. So although for the first few years Germany struggled but coped with paying back the 6.6 billion, it was leaving its own people to starve and freeze to death, amongst such fatal illnesses as the Influenza. 400, 000 civilians died from it in less than a year. 186, 000 soldiers died at the same time. The coal shortage lead to public buildings being closed, such as cinemas and libraries. This caused public morale to drop, considering the civilians would then be stuck in freezing cold houses with little to eat and disease spreading quickly. The coal

  • Word count: 755
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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The Chinese times exclusive-results of the debate about the three gordes dam.

THE CHINESE TIMES EXCLUSIVE- RESULTS OF THE DEBATE ABOUT THE THREE GORGES DAM Yesterday, a debate went on about the controversial three gorges dam. Many groups of people were involved, the Chinese government, the engineers, Amnesty international, the residents of the village Chang Chang and the residents who are being moved for the creation of the dam and Environmentalists. All the groups had a chance to talk. The Chinese government went first. They talked about how the dam would save lives from flooding which is caused from the river. The dam is 185m high and 1.3 km wide. They also said that the dam would create 18 million kilowatts of power per year and that this energy was clean energy. For every tree lost in the reservoir, the government have promised to plant another one. They added that for all the people who will have to move, they have already built bigger houses. An attempt has been made by the authorities to save heritage and priceless artefacts. They pointed out that ships can get past the dam which would help neighbouring towns. The engineers spoke next. They talked about the dam and how it can stand a 7.0 on Richter scale. The dam would provide 10% of China's electricity needs. Better water supplies for farming and better navigation for ships are some of the plus points. There is also a way to get around it. They also added that the project is going to

  • Word count: 694
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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What were the strengths of the Weimar Government?

Nazi Germany: 918 - 1945 What were the strengths of the Weimar Government? Although it was flawed in many ways and ill-fated from its conception, the Weimar Republic did have several strengths which made it a pioneer of modern day democracy. Having declared itself as a republic, a government ruled by the representatives of the people, the Weimar government released its constitution which gave the German people many new-found rights and freedoms which had not been seen for. One of the most prominent aspects of the constitution was the inclusion of universal suffrage for Germans over the age of 20. This lead to political liberalisation unheard of throughout much of the western world at the time. The people's representatives, which met in the Reichstag were voted for by the people every four years and were presided over by a President, who in turn was elected every seven years. The fact that the head of state and the head of parliament were democratically elected was a very alien but welcomed idea to a people under monarchic rule for so long as they had been used to someone with an iron fist leading the nation. Although this was a great leap forward in politics and the civil rights of Germans, this political freedom would be the prime factor in the undoing of the Republic. Another example of this freedom was the introduction of the electoral system of proportional

  • Word count: 614
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Politics
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