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
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
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
