International Organizations

International organizations have existed to address certain issues that involve two or more countries, to provide help for members of the international organization, to create order among members of the international organization and etc(Spiegel et al.,2004). Many international organizations have been established and have fallen through the course of history, and one international organization that have fallen is the League of Nations. The League of Nations was established after the first World War in order to prevent war among nations from recurring , but failed as the league was rendered powerless in preventing the Second World War from occurring(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk,n.d.). The League of Nations also failed because the United States did not ratify the treaty thus weakening its credibility and power to stop Japan, Italy, and Germany from conquering foreign land( League of Nations, n.d.). I believe that the failure of the League of Nations can be related to the members of the organization's conflicting interests and the lack of arbitration in the issues that the organization should be addressing. The failure of the League of Nations led to the establishment of the United Nations after the Second World War. The United Nations is still existing and has had its greatest success during the Gulf war wherein the planned invasion of Kuwait by Iraq was stopped by the organization. The United Nations had also failed during the United States' invasion of Iraq, but the failure did not constitute to the collapse of the organization (Spiegel et al., 2004). The United Nations remains to be a respected organization and continues be an organization that maintains order among its members.


references:

• League of Nations(n.d.). accessed October 28,2010 from www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
• League of Nations(n.d.). accessed October 28,2010 from http://www.answers.com/topic/league-of-nations
• Spiegel et al, 3rd ed.(2004). World Politics in a New Era: Thomson Wadsworth,Pp.551-589

Informalization

Edkins and Zehfuss(2009) implies that informalization as a type of activity wherein authorities find difficulties in enforcing the law upon certain activities that involves some type of business that deliberately or inadvertently evade following government regulation. Edkins and Zehfuss(2009) also implies that informalization comprises a huge part of a country's gross domestic product(GDP); sometimes even comprising about 50% of other countries' gross domestic product.

In my opinion , informalization causes a huge problem in our government's budget. Our President said in his state of the nation address (SONA) that the Philippines' tax collection lacked 23.8 billion pesos and the government expenditures exceeded to an amount of 45.1 billion pesos( President Benigno S. Aquino SONA 2010 transcript, July 25,2010). The government could have collected more taxes for the national budget if authorities have jurisdiction over the online business sector. Many people have use the internet to do business and are not obligated to pay taxes. Aside from the informal online businesses that are established, many entrepreneurs that do business in sidewalks or sidewalk vendors do not pay taxes. The government tries to create establishments for these vendors,but these vendors do not occupy these establishments in order to evade paying rent and getting business permits. These vendors know that occupying those establishments and getting business permits would significantly lower their income. The government also tries to stop sidewalk vendors through the MMDA, but these vendors just keep coming back. The govenrment must think of ways that would convince sidewalk vendors to operate legally,and find ways to have these online businesses to pay taxes. The national budget would greatly increase once the government finds solutions to the problem of informalization.


references:

• Edkins, J. and Zehfuss, M.(eds.).(2009). Global Politics: A New introduction.London:Routledge

• President Benigno S. Aquino SONA 2010 transcript.(July 25,2010).Accessed October 28,2010 from http://www.philippinegovernment.info/2010/07/president-benigno-noynoy-s-aquino-pnoy.html

Nation building

Edkins and Zehfuss (2009) define nationalism as a process wherein citizens pledge allegiance and share a national community and cultural identity. The definition mentioned the term allegiance, and Edkins and Zehfuss (2009) defines allegiance as a process wherein citizens identify themselves to the nation-state. The term allegiance is a strong word as it connotes loyalty and nationalism to your country. However, some Filipino citizens has a type of allegiance which could be called "selective nationalism". Filipinos are very proud of being a Filipino when Boxers like Manny Pacquiao and Artists like Leah Salonga are revered internationally. A good example where Filipinos are proud of their citizenship is when Pacquiao said that he is proud of being a Filipino while being awarded by an international association of boxing hournalists. The comments to the article where all positive and filled with self pride with being Filipino( Tagala, D. , June 6,2010). the ohter side of this "selective nationalism" is when Filipinos are ashamed of their citizenship because of an incident that puts the Philippines in a bad spot. An example is the recent Quirino Grandstand Hostage taking that killed eight Hong Kong nationals that weakende our tourism and foreign affairs (Admin, August 24,2010). Many Filipinos were enraged, but it is also a shame for Filipinos because the flaw on our country's national security was internationally exposed. Aside from that incident, many Filipinos act as if they are not Filipinos just because they are able to live better lives overseas. It is a pity to see that some Filipinos suffer from "selective nationalism" , but it these types of people should not be looked down upon. These people have their own reasons why they act like that and suffer from selective nationalism.

references:

• Edkins, J. and Zehfuss, M. (eds.)(2009). Global Politics: A new introduction. London: Routledge

• Admin(August 24,2010). Reaction to the Quirino Grandstand Hostage taking. Accessed October 12,2010 from http://pinoybiz.blogspot.com/2010/08/reaction-to-quirino-grandstand-hostage.html

• Tagala, D. ( June 6,2010) PAcquiao: " I'm proud to be a Filipino. Accessed October 12,2010 from http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/06/06/10/pacquiao-honored-fighter-decade

Accross Borders

People go across countries for different reasons and purposes, but going to another country is not as easy as going to a mall. Legal documents are needed in order to be granted access into a country, but others find ways to go into a country without legal documents. This has been a problem in a lot of countries especially in the United States. Many people have been going into the United States without proper documentation. About 11.1 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States in 2009. The number of illegal immigrants is alarming for the United States, because the American Government is spending about 1.4 billion dollars of taxpayers' money on illegal immigrants for health care and other services (Hope Yen The Associated press, September 1 2010) .

Many of our fellow Filipinos have been seeking better employment opportunities and better lives in other countries such as the United States. In the United States alone, there is an estimated 270,000 illegal Filipino immigrants as of January of this year (www.dzme1530.com). Many of our undocumented Filipino immigrants are becoming victims by abusive employers and illegal recruiters. Recent news involves thirteen OFWs suing AV Tech, a Taiwanese electronic company, for abusive verbal language and racial discrimination. The thirteen OFW' are also complaining for receiving unwarranted deductions and unpaid overtime pay (Migrante criticizes MECO on plight of 12 OFWS, Spetember 12,2010) . Due to poverty and the desire of a better life our OFWs are forced to deal with these illegal recruiters and suffer the consequences. Our Department on Foreign Affairs cannot do much help in these cases, because they do not have the diplomatic power to help our OFWs. is caused by the bad reputation of some of our OFWs and the status of our economy being labeled as third world.

References:

• Hope Yen The Associated press.(September 1,2010). Study: Number of illegal immigrants drops for first time in two decades. accessed September 28,2010 from http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15964641?source=pkg
• Mga Filipino, Isa Pa Rin sa Mga Nangunguna sa Pinakamaraming Illegal Immigrants sa US.( February 10,2010). Accessed September 28,2010 from http://www.dzme1530.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=208:mga-filipino-isa-pa-rin-sa-mga-nangunguna-sa-pinakamaraming-illegal-immigrants-sa-us&catid=36:government&Itemid=50
• Migrante criticizes MECO on plight of 12 OFWS.(September 12,2010). accessed September 28,2010 from http://trafficking.org.ph/v5/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3360&Itemid=56
  

The Evolution of the Family

The composition of a family has evolved through the years. In the olden days, the family was traditionally composed of a mother, a father ,and children (www.writework.com). T'etreault and Lipschutz (2009) discusses that the traditional family is headed by the father and confirms to the patriarchal society, but the rise of new ideologies and social movements have changed the traditional composition of the family. Ideologies like feminism which promotes equal treatment to all genders sparked social movements that lead to the evolution of the composition of the family (Michaels,M.W., n.d.). Nowadays, the family does not need to be the traditional mix of the father, mother , and children. Heterosexual parents with children, homosexual parents with adopted children, or just plain couples can be considered as a family. The acceptance of nontraditional families today which were considered taboo in the past can be credited to the people that pioneered social movements whose goals were to establish fair treatment to different genders in society. The traditional ideology that the father is the head of the family has also evolved. The head of the family in contemporary times need not to be the male, but also the female. the head of the family does not confirm to the patriarchal society anymore but to whoever is able to make the most critical decisions and is able to support the whole family. It is also imperative for the head of the family to be able to act as the foundation of the family.

References:

• T'etreault, M. & Lipschutz, R. (2009) Global Politics as if People mattered. 2nd edition. Lanham,MD: Rowman & Littlefield

• Michaels,M. W. (n.d.). Feminism and Woman's nature. accessed September 23,2010 from http://www.answers.com/topic/feminism

• The traditional nuclear family is a vital institution in producing and maintaining a healthy society in Britain.( January 29, 2003) retrieved September 23,2010 from http://www.writework.com/essay/traditional-nuclear-family-vital-institution-producing-and