Breakdown of the Roman Republic Essay Example

Breakdown of the Roman Republic Essay As Senator Cato the Censor (234-149 BCE) righteously perceived, the Roman Republic was â€Å"not made by any one man, but by many; not in a single lifetime, but over many lifetimes. † (Rodgers 2006, pge. 89) Cato aimed at preserving the mos majorum (â€Å"ancestral custom†), which rejected any new forms of influence that would jeopardies his position as Censor, and the Senates power of ruling authority. ‘He passed measures taxing luxury and strictly revised the lists of persons eligible for the Senate† (www. britannica. om, 2013) The Senate was full of men like Cato, determined not to defy traditional laws and practices. And that’s why it was inevitable for the political system to fail, because their rulers acted only in desire and self-pleasure. Undoubtedly this caused major disturbance to the peasants and farmers of ancient Rome, and resulted in a string of actions instigated by multiple individuals, supported by these communities that weakened the power of the Senate and initiated the breakdown of the Roman Republic. 500BCE is said to be the start of economic, political and cultural breakdown. †¦partly due to the reduction on trade at the end of the monarchy†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Roberts, 2006) The Senate was originally there only as an advisory body, but through wars and international trading, they won absolute power over the republic. The consuls and magistrates still remained, but they had little effect over political change if the Senate refused to pass their laws. The governing system needed to change, the revenues won at war were only divided up against the high-class aristocratic. Leaving the peasants, farmers and soldiers who earned that land nothing.The rich and stubborn males of the Senate became greedy and power hungry, men were elected, but to gain entry, money surpassed power or experience. Yet, no one was willing to give up his privileges in return for an honest functioning state. Sallust (86-35BCE) affirms, â₠¬Å"Fortune turned against us and brought confusion to all we did. Greed destroyed honour, honesty and every other virtue, and taught men to be arrogant and cruel†¦Rome changed: a government which had once surpassed all others in justice and excellence now became cruel and unbearable. † (Ping, n. d)Farming was the ‘back-bone to Roman society’ (Garnsey, 2004) Traditionally, the lands were filled by strong independent farmers who tended to small individual plots of land. Those able to purchase armour would make up the ranks of Roman legionaries. Those that went off to to war would be gone for the majority of the year, and their land often became neglected and dysfunctional. (Flowers, 2004) After the Punic and Macedonian Wars (264-168 BCE), there was a massive influx of slaves captured by the Roman Republic, which according to Livy (45. 34. 6) was up to 150,000 Epirotes.Large landowners running concentrated holdings, or latifundia bought the slaves, (Butler, 2007 ) who took over the small farms when their owners were away at war. For those who remained, debt laws became increasing more expense, to the point where a lot of farmers were moving off their land and migrating into the city to make a living by selling their vote. Author and political scientist Dr. Larry L. Ping (1989) supports this statement by claiming ‘any farmers moved to Rome and live by selling the only thing they could: their vote. ’ Ping has been lecturing history for over 23 years and presents a neutral perspective on the topic.Peter Garnsey, a Professor of History and Cambridge University, corroborates Ping’s information suggesting, ‘The fundamental fact is that the Roman peasants has been forced to make, and would continue to make, enormous sacrifices for the cause of Roman militarism, and that the aristocracy responded by enforcing harsh debt laws, turning them off land, and blocking their reinstatement onto the land. ’ (Garnsey, 2004) Pr ofessor Garnsey has written multiple publications regarding ancient Rome ad tends to favour the peasants when analyzing the relationship between the lower classes and the government.This entire situation is extremely unfair on the farmers of Rome, as the amount of men eligible for the army began to deteriorate. No army, no money. In 133 BCE a tribune by the name of Tiberius Gracchus (164-133 BCE) launched an agrarian land reform that would distribute currently owned public land to the mass of peasants and farmers, in order to increase the number of men eligible for the army. Motivated either by personal gain, or general interest in reviving the peasantry Tiberius approached the Populas Assembly and presented them with the lex agraria (‘land bill’). Bradley, 1990) This action directly threatened the Senates power as traditionally all new reforms went through them. However Tiberius wasn’t breaking any laws by approaching a different governing body, he just started an unsaid war between the Gracchus, the Senate and the peasants and farmers. His mass slaughter in 133BCE led by the senatorial leader Narsica, (Plutarch, 16-20) set the standard for individuals in the future about what would happen to someone if thee went against the Senate.Tiberius’ reform would have allocated land to farmers and part-time soldiers returning from war, which would have been divided up amongst the aristocratic few. There was even a time, when farmers were being moved out of their land and onto another’s, often of lesser quality to there own. As Appian describes the situation with immense sympathy towards the farmers remarking, ‘†¦land was resurveyed some owners were obliged to give up their fruit –trees and farm buildings in exchange for naked ground.Others were transferred from cultivated to uncultivated lands, or swamps, or pools. ’ (Appian, pge. 18) Appian of Alexandria is the most reliable and relevant historian of the repu blican time period. He does however manipulate his sources to support his views of the importance of Alexandria and the virtues of the Romans. Appian is rather unsympathetic towards the ideologies and practices of the republic and thus, shares a different perspective on the farmers and peasants.Ultimately the farmers and peasants were motivated by the actions instigated by the Senate. Their unfair treatment towards the plebs is what fuelled their hatred and dismay, to move into the city and become unemployed. By abandoning their farms and dismantling the deep-set traditional agricultural ways, they lessened the power of the Senate. There was nothing they could do to stop them, without jeopardising their own wealth and power. Thus the actions of the peasants and farmers instigated by Tiberius Gracchus initiated the breakdown of the Roman Republic.

ROLE OF ELECTION COMMISSION IN ENSURING FREE AND FAIR ELECTION AND DET

ROLE OF ELECTION COMMISSION IN ENSURING FREE AND FAIR ELECTION AND DET Research Dissertation On ROLE OF ELECTION COMMISSION IN ENSURING FREE AND FAIR ELECTION AND DETERRENCE OF DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF CASTE AND RELIGION Submitted to: Amity Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (AIALS), Amity University Uttar Pradesh IN PART FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LAWS (LLM) Submitted by: 2014-2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page No. 1. Chapter-1 Introduction Outline of role of election commission in ensuring free and fair election Theory of State Theory of Democracy Government and Politics in India 2. Chapter-2 Framework of Election Commission of India Electoral system Constitutional status of ECI Reservation in legislative bodies 3. Chapter-3 Legislative Framework Relating to Election Election Process Representation of People Act(Amendment and validation) Bill, 2013 President and Vice-President Act 4. Chapter-4 Election Disputes and Issues Free and Fair Elections Registration of Political Parties MCC- Model Code of Conduct Election Expenditure Election Offences: Penal Laws Anti-Defection Laws Election Petition 5. Chapter-5 Political and Religious Influence on Elections- An Analytical Overview Vote Bank Politics Religious impact on Election Discrimination on the basis of caste its aftermaths 6. Chapter-6 Conclusion and Suggestions Table of cases Bibliography. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 OUTLINE OF ROLE OF ELECTION COMMISSION IN ENSURING FREE AND FAIR ELECTION The Election Commission of India is an independent and self-governing body, established under federal authority. It is responsible for administering all the electoral processes in India. Under the supervision of the commission, free and fair elections have been held in India at regular intervals as per the principles enshrined in the Constitution. The Election Commission has the power of superintendence, direction and control of all elections to the Parliament of India and the State Legislatures and of elections to the office of the President of India and the Vice-President of India. Elections are conducted according to the constitutional provisions and other laws made to that effect by the Parliament. The major laws in this regard are Representation of the People Act, 1950, which mainly deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls; the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which deals with all aspects of conduct of election disputes in detail. These disputes include the post-election disputes. The Supreme Court of India has held that where the enacted laws are silent or make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct of elections, the Election Commission has the residuary powers under the Constitution to act in an appropriate manner. One of the most important features of the democratic polity is elections at regular intervals. Holding intervallic free and fair elections are essentials of democratic system. It is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. The Election Commission is regarded as the guardian of free and fair elections. In every election, it issues a Model code of Conduct for political parties and candidates to conduct elections in a free and fair manner. The Commission issued the code for the first time in 1971 and revised it from time to time. It laid down guidelines for conduct of political parties and manner of candidature during elections. However, there occur instances of violation of code by the political parties and misuse of official machinery by the candidates. The need for such code is in the interest of free and fair elections. However, the code does not have any specific statutory basis. It has only a persuasive effect. It only contains rules of electoral morality". But this lack of statutory backing does not prevent the Commission from enforcing it. A law regarding the registration process for political parties was enacted in 1989 and many parties got registered with the Commission. It was effective in avoiding the confusion of the administrative machinery and the electorate and ensuring that political parties are brought under the purview of the Election Commission. Also, in order to get rid of the growing corrupt influence of money during elections, the Election Commission has made many suggestions in this regard. The Election Commission has fixed the legal limits on the amount of money which a candidate can spend during election campaigns. These limits have been revised from time to time. The other measures have also been taken by the Election Commission in order to ensure free and fair elections. Modern methods such as introduction of EVMs- Electronic Voting Machines, supervision of electoral candidature, etc. are some of the basic steps taken by the Commission so as to develop the process of election on

HR problems negatively impacting on the operations of CGMS Case Study

HR problems negatively impacting on the operations of CGMS - Case Study Example Downsizing and reorganizing the structure of the organization have been figured out as the most viable strategies that can salvage the company from these problems. However, the key strategy is to reorganize the structure of the company since this will help it to be in firm control of its operations. Therefore, it has been recommended that the company should reorganize its structure in order for it to regain its waning status. Introduction Consolidated Global Mining Service (CGMS) is a giant company that deals with offering services related to mining as well as manufacturing of mining equipment. This is an industry leader in this sector but of late it has been facing different HR problems which are likely to threaten its viability in the long run. In order to address these problems, a lasting solution ought to be found and implemented in order to save the organization from crumbling. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to identify the critical problems that are affecting CGMS as well as to identify the strategies that can be implemented in order to solve the issues identified. This report will finally attempt to provide necessary strategies and recommendations that may be implemented in order to address the HR problems identified. ... conflict is related to the issue of downsizing since the company is spending a fortune on paying the interests while the revenue generated is not commensurate with the large size of staff members. The operational costs in terms of labour are higher than the revenue generated by the organisation and this is the reason why a holistic approach ought to be implemented in order to deal with the impending problem that is likely to scuttle the viability of the organization. Careel et al (1995) posits to the effect that the operational costs in terms of managing human capital should not exceed the revenue generated by the company. Such negative development requires the organization to downsize or reorganize its workforce. The other problem is that the organization does not have clearly defined structure. The issue in this case is that the organisational structure and the human resources management structures have to be standardized such that they can meet the demands of the organisation. Whe re there is a clearly defined organizational structure, it can be seen that there are less chances of duplication of duties since everyone is aware of what is expected of him or her in the organization. According to Wener (2007), organizational structure helps the company to define the job tasks to be performed so that the number of employees in an organization can be controlled such that they do not impact on the organization in the long run. One implicit problem bedevilling CGMS is that no one really knows his or her particular type of job description. Everything seems to be informal though the company has a very good reputation of producing the best results in its performance. Jobs need to be described and categorised so that the company can be in a position to achieve optimum results