What are the main changes that the music industry has gone through Personal Statement

What are the main changes that the music industry has gone through since the 1980's - Personal Statement Example The technological development in recent years, has bankrupted record companies with the rise of legal downloading and the demand for live performances. What is more artists who try to sell their CDs during their concerts realized that fans prefer to buy a T-shirt for $20 instead a CD for $10. Therefore, artists now focus their attention on how to market T-shirts and other extra-musical extensions. Word of mount and internet sites like MySpace play a huge role in boosting popularity and music consumerism. Many groups decide to undertake the marketing of their music by themselves and succeed. An example is Take to the Skies which was the second unsigned band to sell out 2000 seats in London. In the past groups often tour to present their music losing the investment. Nowadays, is the other way round.Free downloading is perceived as excellent promotional tactics which will increase the audience and will stimulate the fans to attend concerts. Prince, is giving his fans a free copy of his newest CD if they come to his concerts at O2 in London. Music business analysts comments that record sales are in decline because of the wider music market today - live performances, video-clips, social networking, merchandising - they all influence the transformation of the consumer attitudes. Because of this the four big labels - Sony/BMG, Warner Music, Universal and EMI are struggling to keep up and apply cost-cutting operations for many years now. The publishers are trying to gain profits through different licensing, advertising, additional charges for films and outlets that try to open music stores. An example of the decline of record sales in given with Spice Girls debut album in 1996. Virgin a subsidiary of EMI sold the album for 13 GBP and the company's profit was more than 5 GBP. Today a CD costs no more than 9 GBP, and the actual expected profit (if the label is lucky) might be 2GBP. In comparison, the market for top-selling CDs in Great Britain decreased with 20% in the first quarter of 2007, as to the same period in 2006. The label's hope is that the demand for physical formats will be replaced by the growth of the download market. The last figures in the U.S show that the digital download was worth $ 981 million. The author notes that the music moved from being a high-margin product, into low-margin commodity. Buying an album with 10 songs when you like only three of them is an old-fashioned and uneconomical way of constructing a MP3 player music library. At the end of 1990s a single is sold for $5, today you can get a track for 99 cents at the iTune music store. The authors explains that the creation of the CD, brought it to its own destruction. Record companies manufactured CDs in remote places and sold them as more expensive format than the cassette or vinyl LP. CD burning software made it the easiest task to produce thousands of copies in just few minutes. Yet, another reason which ruined the music industry was the emergence of "file-sharing" illegal websites like Napster in the late 1990s. The industry underestimated the damages that this can cause and said that these activities were no harm to the music sales. The ultimate drop-off of the CD sales coincided with the emergence of the iTunes and the portable MP3 players. There is another fact which blames the music industry for the decline of the CD and that is the free distribution of albums through newspapers and magazines, which devalued the recorded music in general. Live music and tickets for live performances soared in comparison, however, it is difficult to prove that this directly affected the record companies. Finally music appreciation should be something more than just consuming, buying and listening to the song, music is sharing and that is why people shifted from individual at home consumption to attending live concerts. B) To what extent do you agree with the author's explanation for the current state of the music business Justify

Behavioural Aspects of Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Behavioural Aspects of Marketing - Essay Example Even in the remote, unheard of societies, all people remain consumers with diverse interests and gullibility to get influenced in their decisions. Placing the consumers in the market place and psychologically dissecting their behaviour could be a cross-subject study of psychology, marketing and advertisement results. When we take consumers individually, it is necessary to take the perception and the factors influencing it. Learning and the resultant memory that motivates further action with changed or unchanged values that cause involvement and attitudes are very important. It is necessary to remember that this research region is very young, influx and energetic. It also is being 'constantly cross-fertilised' by external perspectives belonging to various disciplines. It is interesting to know the everyday activities of people. In one of the most influential works in the field, Solomon et al have impressively provided a comprehensive and contemporary detail of the currently prevalent consumer behaviour. The arguments are lively and practical while portraying the strategic marketing issues, diverse European values etc. They also provide a peek into the multi-dimensional European lifestyle, buying habits, marketing behaviour, their relationship with the global market and the behavioural fluctuations. They wrote in the preface: "The field of consumer behaviour is, to us, the study of how the world is influenced by the action of marketers. We're fortunate enough to be teachers and researchers whose work allows us to study consumers". This consumer behavioural insight has to be applied to our Whole Foods Market. USUAL BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS The advertisements are so persuasive today that it is impossible not to listen or get influenced. Marketing opportunities, to a large extent are connected with the cultural dimensions that influence the behaviour issues and concepts. This does not mean that cultural compulsions do not change at all. We have seen that even in the rigidly religious countries, where almost everything is a taboo, consumer behaviour changes, but changes with ultimate slowness. Consumers are eager to new experiences, especially in the food region, with the recent food and nutrition knowledge. Solomon et al have drawn a multi-dimensional portrait of European consumers within which they have shown the European modern family structure and how it has influenced the household decision making. They have shown the traditional influence of the culture which still holds its own in addition to the influence and compulsions of income and the social class and how they command the consumer behaviour and individual decisions. Basic model of consumer decision making might follow the traditional path of problem recognition, search for the information, evaluation of alternatives, decision of choice, evaluation after the purchase and all these are adequately influenced or dictated by the values, lifestyle, cultural and cross-cultural differences. Habit forming products, non-habit forming products that are not purchased regularly fall into two different categories and are not influenced by the same decision making process. Then comes the power of

Contemporary Issues in business and management Essay

Contemporary Issues in business and management - Essay Example Sustainability refers to the voluntary activities of the company, which show that it is committed to environmental and social concerns, according to the ways it administers its operations and in its dealings with its stakeholders (Van Marrewjk & Verre, 2003). This paper will discuss the challenges encountered by the leaders of the organization, in their attempts to incorporate CSR, and particularly that related to the impacts of their business activities, in the light of the models, theory and the analytical tools related to CSR, change and innovation management and leadership. Further, the paper will evaluate the ways in which companies are going green, giving some examples. The era for applauding the economic prosperity of corporations as a stand-alone area has ended, as corporations, societies, governments and agencies are questioning the impacts of corporate activities and actions (Orlitzky, Schmidt and Rynes, 2003). This change of outlook requires firms to redirect and split their attention towards increasing its economic performance, while at the same time filling the position of good corporate citizen. Filling these positions requires companies to keep in touch with global trends on maintaining commitment to the two major goal areas; meeting private and public needs (Henderson, 2007). These new demands have forced corporations to review their rules, frameworks, and business models. Among the most responsible companies, it is a daily practice to review short and long-term plans, so as to stay safe and at the front line in the rapidly changing world. There has been a change in the way that companies consider their place, paying reference to local an d global stakeholders (Holcomb, Upchurch and Okumus, 2007). There has also been a change in the management of the relationships maintained between companies and its stakeholders, particularly with customers, suppliers, investors,

Competition between Loblaw and Wal-Mart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Competition between Loblaw and Wal-Mart - Essay Example The Executive Chairman of the company is Galen Weston who at the time of the launching of these stores was just five month into the new position. He succeeded his father W. Galen Weston. The Executive Chairman is in a very demanding place at the moment. He not only has to flip the tables for the company but also has to save the family’s reputation. He supporting executives have let him down very badly with awfully wrong recommendations, now he has taken the reins of the organisational strategy in his own hands. He believes that he can turn the fortune of the company around because according to him the company has been through much more difficult times than this and it has always managed to crawl back up. And there is no reason to believe that the company would not do the same now when it faces a similar crisis situation (Besanko, Dranove, Shanley, and Schaefer, 2007). BARRIERS TO ENTRY: Barriers to entry are placed by an existing business of an industry in the industry to disc ourage other interested entrant from entering the industry (Ferguson and Ferguson, 1994). The existing business can discourage a new entrant in a number of ways, for instance its can fabricate certain situations in the industry which would require a new entrant to put up huge capital investment before entering the industry (Leamer, 2009). The existing business can also put up a show of its strong brand equity in the marketplace, which can also discourage a new entrant from entering (Barthwal, 2000). Michael E. Porter (2008), while analysing the competitive environment of an industry identified six entry barriers: 1. Economies of scale: This occurs when unit price of a product decreases when a certain level of production volume is reached by a business (Mankiw, 2009). When existing players in the industry gain this advantage they force the new entrant to either find a competitive production volume or bear the high unit cost. Other similar cost advantages which the existing player wou ld have on his side include: proprietary information, favourable location, experience, excess to raw material, government subsidies and etc (Arnold, 2008). 2. Product Differentiation: Since existing businesses in an industry have an established brand equity and identity, this fact makes it important for new entrant to come up with a different product. In this regard the new entrant has to invest a lot of resources, which can be very discouraging for him (Wessels, 2000). 3. Capital Requirement: This is a requirement which comes up when new entrant wants to enter an industry. They have to commit huge amount of capital to acquire operational status (Johnson & Scholes 2001). 4. Switching Cost: This cost has to deal with customers, who have to bear this cost when they switch to a different provider of the same product. Certain industries have a very high switching cost which makes it important for the new entrant to offer customers some relief or incentives so that the customers find som e motivation to switch (Borodzicz, 2005). 5. Access to Distribution Channels: In an industry the established players have a dominating position when it comes to influencing the members of distribution channels. Through long standing relationship agreements an established business erects a hurdle for a new entrant, who has to

Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 6

Sociology - Essay Example These perspectives show the same problems in the society but offer contrasting views on how to solve them (Vandelay, 2009). Health hazards are always present in the society since the beginning of time. They are part of the world as much as much as the tiniest organisms are. Although they are infamous because of their effects to humanity, nobody could totally get rid of illnesses. Even scientists who have been studying about illnesses for hundreds of years already could not answer all the questions regarding the causes, symptoms and solutions of some of the illnesses that threaten human existence. But man does not seem to give up easily, as time passes by, more and more attempts to answer essential questions regarding the origins of illnesses have been done. There are some scientists who explain the origins of illnesses as an accumulated result of environmental threats, personal defects and incapability to adapt to the environment. This view has been supported in the work of Boaz (2009). Because of illnesses, some if not all of functions of a person is hampered. And this is where it gets really detrimenta l. Once a person suffers from an unknown illness, its either he lives or he dies. Although doctors could well explain the biological causes of most of the diseases using experiments, scholars think that there are a lot of other reasons why diseases exist. People have different levels of immunity from illnesses, but this is not the main reason why people suffer greatly from diseases which have been solved by other scientists already. Some people wonder why these illnesses still exist. Perhaps the best way to analyze the reason behind the existence of these illnesses is to look at the social roots of these illnesses. Some scholars say that the answers in today’s biological issues are social in nature. This means that society has a say in whatever

Summary of Cooking Terms Essay Example for Free

Summary of Cooking Terms Essay The following is an alphabetical list of terms that describe ways of applying heat to foods. Basic cooking methods described earlier are included, as are more specific applications of these basic methods. BAKE To cook foods by surrounding them with hot, dry air. Similar to roast, but the term bake usually applies to breads, pastries, vegetables and fish. BARBECUE (1)To cook with dry heat created by the burning of hard wood or by the hot coals of this wood. (2) Loosely, to cook over hot coals, such as on grill or spit, often with a seasoned marinade or basting sauce. BLANCH. To cook an item partially and very briefly in boiling water or in hot fat. Usually a pre-preparation technique, as to loosen peels of vegetables, fruits, and nuts, to partially cook French fries or other foods before service, to prepare for freezing, or to remove undesirable flavors. BOIL To cook in water or other liquid that is bubbling rapidly, about 21. 2 degrees F (100 degrees C) at sea level and at normal pressure BRAISE (1)To cook covered in a small amount of liquid, usually after preliminary browning. (2) To cook certain vegetables slowly in a small amount of liquid without preliminary browning. BROIL To cook with radiant heat from above DEEP-FRY To cook submerged in hot fat. DEGLAZE To swirl a liquid in a saute pan, roast pan, or other pan to dissolve cooked particles of food remaining on the bottom. DRY-HEAT COOKING METHODS Methods in which heat is conducted to foods without the use of moisture. FRY To cook in hot fat GLAZE To give shine to the surface of a food by applying a sauce, aspic, sugar, or icing, and/or by browning or melting under a broiler or salamander or in an oven. GRIDDLE To cook on a flat, solid cooking surface called a griddle. GRILL To cook on an open grid over a heat source. MOIST-HEAT COOKING METHODS Methods in which heat is conducted to foods by water or other liquid (except fat) or by steam. PAN-BROIL To cook uncovered in a skillet or saute pan without fat. PAN-FRY To cook in a moderate amount of fat in an uncovered pan. (EN) PAPILLOTE Wrapped in paper (or sometimes foil) for cooking so the enclosed food is steamed in its own moisture. PARBOIL To cook partially in a boiling or simmering liquid. PARCOOK To cook partially by any method. POACH To cook gently in water or other liquid that is hot but not actually bubbling, 160 degrees to 180 degrees F (71 degrees to 82 degrees C). REDUCE. To cook by simmering or boiling until the quantity of liquid is decreased, often to concentrate flavors. ROAST To cook foods by surrounding them with hot, dry air in an oven or on a spit in front of an open fire. SAUTE To cook quickly in a small amount of fat, usually while mixing or tossing the foods by occasionally flipping the pan. SEAR To brown the surface of a food quickly at a high temperature. SIMMER To cook in water or other liquid that is bubbling gently, 185 degrees to 205 degrees F (85 degrees to 96 degrees C). SMOKE-ROAST To cook with dry heat in the presence of smoke, as on a rack over wood chips in a covered pan. SOUS VIDE Vacuum-packed. Refers to techniques for cooking foods that are packaged under vacuum in plastic bags. STEAM To cook by direct contact with steam. STEW To simmer or braise a food or foods in a small amount of liquid, which is usually served with the food as a sauce. STIR-FRY To cook quickly in a small amount of fat by tossing cut-up foods in a wok or pan with spatulas or similar implements. Similar to saute, except the pan is stationary. SWEAT To cook slowly in fat without browning, sometimes under a cover. FIVE-SPICE CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES Ingredients: †¢ 2 tbsp sesame oil †¢ 1 garlic clove, chopped. †¢ 3 spring onions, trimmed and sliced †¢ 1 tbsp corn flour †¢ 2 tbsp rice wine †¢ 4 skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips †¢ 1 tbsp Chinese five-spice powder †¢ 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger †¢ 125 ml/4 fl oz chicken stock †¢ 100 g/3 ? oz baby corn cobs, sliced †¢ 300 g/10 ? oz bean sprouts †¢ Finely chopped spring onions to garnish(optional) †¢ Freshly cooked jasmine rice, (to serve) Procedure 1. Heat the oil in a preheated wok or large frying pan. Add the garlic and spring onions and stir-fry over medium-high heat for 1 minute. 2. In a bowl, mix together the corn flour and rice wine, then add the mixture to the pan. Stir-fry for 1 minute, then add the chicken, five-spice powder, ginger and chicken stock and cook for another 4 minutes. Add the corn cobs and cook for 2 minutes, then add the bean sprouts and cook for another minute. 3. Remove from the heat, garnish with chopped spring onions, if using, and serve with freshly cooked jasmine rice. SHINJAGA Ingredients: †¢ 1 ? lb new potatoes †¢ 1 tbsp vegetable oil †¢ 4 tbsp Kikkoman †¢ 2 tbsp sugar †¢ 1 tbsp mirin Procedure: 1. Wash and scrub new potatoes 2. Put them in a deep pan and pour enough water to cover them. 3. Bring to a boil on high heat. 4. Turn down the heat to medium and cook about 10 minutes or until softened. 5. Drain potatoes in strainer. 6. Mix Kikkoman, mirin, and sugar in a small cup and set aside. 7. Heat oil in a large pan on medium heat and fry potatoes until lightly browned. 8. Pour the sauce mixture over the potatoes. 9. Shake the pan to let the sauce coat new potatoes over high heat. Stop the heat. CORDON BLEU Ingredients: †¢ chicken breast fillet (marinated seasoned with pepper salt) †¢ bread crumbs †¢ egg †¢ oil †¢ toothpicks †¢ cheese †¢ ham Procedure: 1. Put the chicken fillet in a flat surface. Then add cheese and ham on top of the chicken fillet. Roll it and use the toothpicks to hold it. 2. Dip the rolled chicken fillet in the egg and roll it in the bread crumbs. 3. Deep-fry until golden brown. 4. Remove the toothpick when serving. FISH FILLET Ingredients: †¢ fish(Dory) †¢ calamansi †¢ seasoning †¢ egg bread crumbs †¢ mayonnaise Procedure: 1. Slice the fish. 2. Mix the calamansi and the egg with the fish. 3. Add a little bit seasoning on it. 4. Dip the fish on the bread crumbs. 5. Deep-fry it until it becomes golden brown. 6. After cooking, place the mayonnaise on a small bowl for you to dip your fish on it. SQUASH MIX Ingredients: †¢ oil †¢ egg †¢ squash (grated) †¢ cornstarch. Procedure: 1. Mix the grated squash and the egg. 2. Add cornstarch to the mixture. 3. Fry it. CRUNCHY CHICKEN FINGERS Ingredients: FOR CHICKEN FINGERS †¢ ? kilo chicken breast fillet, sliced into 1 inch thick strips †¢ 1 8g MAGGI MAGIC SARAP †¢ 1 cup all purpose flour †¢ 2 cups finely crushed NESTLE cornflakes †¢ 2 eggs, beaten †¢ Cooking oil for frying FOR TROPICAL CHILI SAUCE †¢ ? cup sweet-chili †¢ 1 tsp MAGGI MAGIC SARAP †¢ ? cup water †¢ Pineapple tidbits †¢ Salt to taste Procedure: 1. Rub MAGGI MAGIC SARAP on chicken strips and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. 2. Coat chicken strips in flour. Dip in egg then roll in crushed cornflakes. 3. Fry chicken strips until golden brown. Drain using paper towels to remove excess oil. Serve with Tropical Chili Sauce on the side. SWEET AND SOUR FISH Ingredients: †¢ 2-3 lbs red snapper, whole fish †¢ 4 tbsp vegetable oil †¢ 1 tbsp salt †¢ ? tsp ground pepper †¢ 2 tbsp soy sauce †¢ ? cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar †¢ ? water †¢ ? cup brown sugar †¢ 1 large chopped onion †¢ 6 tbsp minced garlic †¢ ? cup ginger, julienned †¢ ? cup carrot, julienned †¢ ? cup red bell pepper †¢ ? cup scallion, julienned (spring onions) †¢ 1 tbsp sifted flour Procedure: 1. Clean the fish and slit it open. Let it stand for few minutes and drain well. 2. Sprinkle fish with 1 tbsp salt 3. In a medium skillet, heat the oil and fry the fish until brown. Remove the fish from the pan and set aside. 4. In the same skillet, saute the garlic until light brown, then saute onion. 5. Add salt and white pepper. Stir in ginger, scallions, carrot and red bell pepper. 6. Add soy sauce, vinegar, water and sugar. Salt and pepper to taste. 7. When the mixture boils, add the flour to thicken. Then, add the fish. 8. Cover the skillet and simmer for 5 minutes. PINAKBET Ingredients: †¢ okra †¢ eggplant †¢ squash †¢ MAGGI magic sarap †¢ Tomato †¢ Garlic †¢ Onion †¢ Salt †¢ Umami †¢ Oyster sauce. †¢ Cabbage Procedure: 1. Saute garlic and onion. 2. Add a little amount of water and put vegetables. 3. Add oyster sauce. 4. Season it with MAGGI magic sarap, salt umami. 5. Taste it and adjust flavors if needed. 6. Serve hot. RELLENONG TALONG Ingredients: †¢ egg †¢ eggplant †¢ ground pork †¢ garlic †¢ onion †¢ oil †¢ salt Procedure: 1. Fry the ground pork. 2. Slice the eggplant in the middle and get the inner part of the eggplant. 3. Mix the pork, garlic onion add salt to season it. 4. Then put the cooked pork in the middle of the sliced eggplant then, put the eggplant in the pan and put egg to close the eggplant.

The Political Philosophy Of Deception Philosophy Essay

The Political Philosophy Of Deception Philosophy Essay Deception is a part of our everyday lives, it is a part of who we are. What differentiates each and every one of us is the degree of deception that we incorporate in to our lives. Hence, how we look at and interpret deception, and thus, the truth, depends on our perspective, our moral grounding, our exposure and experiences in the wider world- beyond our immediate circle of life. This essay will attempt to find a general definition for deception that will agree with most, and will explore how deception is present in our lives and how that affects the amount of deception involved in politics. It will argue that deception is necessary in politics, and sometimes beneficial (and sometimes not), and this is because we as the general public allows it so. Drawing from the Machiavelli and Strauss schools of thought on how deception is an integral part of politics- and examining this claim through the case studies of the Vietnam and Iraq wars- this essay will conclude that the reason politici ans use deception is because it is sometimes more desirable than the absolute truth and also because it is easier to exploit and appeal towards the human conditions deep inclination towards self-deceit. Lies and deception often used interchangeably however, there is a difference. Citing Mahon (2008), Arico Fallis (2013) states that in order to lie one must say something that they believe is false. Deception engages people in a more deeper extent with the intention overriding the face-worth of a lie; Lies are a form of fabrication, where false information is created and presented as true whereas deception, especially in politics, is more motivated to manipulate, where information which is technically true is being presented out of context in order to create a false implication (Caddell, 2004). According to Caddell (2004) deception depends on two criteria: first, it is intentional; and, second, it is designed to gain an advantage for the practitioner. To understand why and how deception is involved in politics warrants a deeper analysis into the people involved and thus a look into understanding human behaviour and reasoning associated with deception. In the most basic sense, politicians and those who are engaged in the governing processes of our everyday life are only distinguishable from the general public because of the authority we as the general public grant them. Therefore they are also susceptible to the behavioural and cognitive aspects of an ordinary human being. With studies that propose and adopt the notion of self-deceit thus also applies to politicians, so as this essay will argue, will inherently translate into their decisions and actions and thus it is no surprise that politics, as with all other parts of life, would involve deception; therefore, deception is s present and necessary in politics. Self-deception also has many definitions offered its way, and as with the definitions for lies and deception, it will identify with everyone in varying levels- because individuals tend to treat their personal values as a kind of ideal point (Cowen, 2005). He defines it as individual behaviour that disregards, throws out, or reinterprets freely available information; people keep, absorb, and magnify the information that puts their values and affiliations in a favourable light and disregard the rest. Beahrs (1996) adds that deception of others is often accompanied by deception of self and vice versa. This leads to what Williams (1996) calls collective self-deception where the status of politics as represented in the media is ambiguous between entertainment and the transmission of discoverable truth. There are many ways deception is used in politics, and for many reasons. In politics, deception as the term will be used in this essay, could be used as a diversionary tactic, as a means to retain a favourable public relations image, a strategy to handle a difficult and sensitive situation or as the version that is linked to Platonic Noble Lies, used to protect society, a little sacrifice, in order to achieve the greater good (Jacobsen, 2008). Deception in politics and especially foreign affairs, usually involve decisions that are made in the spirit that they are acceptable or excusable because it is done in service of the national interest (Jacobsen, 2008). Therefore according to Beahrs (1996) deceit is probably required for a politician to achieve political success, because we as the people are so engulfed with expectation that it is inevitable and that if it is done in good faith there can be no harsh consequences, so it is easier to handle and deal with. There are many arguments on whether or not deception in politics, in government- essentially as an institution that holds the peoples trust (Williams, 1996) is acceptable. The idealists make a moral and ethical case, where deception, according to an absolute set of standards, is absolutely improper and inappropriate, but according to realists, and dependent on a cost-benefit analysis, the use of deception depends on how good it will achieve and whether it is consistent with protecting national interests and values (Caddell, 2004). Politicians need the people support; and in a liberal democracy one cannot coerce it or expect it as a gift, so they need to put on a persona that is of acceptable standards to others and this leads to deception that builds on (Sofier, 1999). Machiavelli and Strauss: A Look at Modern Day Politics Politicians have less incentive to be absolutely truthful and tend to deceive because they are in office only for a number of years and hence their accountability is limited (Davis Ferrantino, 1996). And politicians know this; according to ex-Australian Senator Graham Richardson, whether one tells the truth is not what really matters, but whether one gets the job done- and in that respect, one simply has to do whatever it takes, and if that involves an element of deceit or misdirection, then so be it (Malpas, 2008). Politicians tend to distract people from the negativity that is involved in everyday political decision making and focus on tunnelling public emotion toward achieving their goals by appealing to their sense of nationalism and personal preferences/group and party loyalty, especially in the event of wars. Deception is politics is almost considered traditional- it is not a recent phenomenon nor is it a fad that peaks every now and then. How politicians conduct themselves have been largely influenced by how politics had been handled in the past and the role deception plays has evolved; it has been more of a learning process, where by using the past political deceptions, politicians have extracted knowledge from what works to what doesnt, and when and how to use it best. Therefore deception in modern politics have become more sophisticated and subtle in its execution. This essay will discuss the schools of thought of two famous political thinkers whose influence has shaped the way deception in politics is carried out. Niccolo Machiavelli, whose most famous work, The Prince, is a handbook that offers effective techniques to retain power- that is still considered relevant today, because it addresses to the primitive, most basic psychological aspect of people. He employs a realist approach to politics, which is still used by many countries in their approach to domestic and international affairs, and adopts the view that politicians need to act dirty and learn how not to be good (Bellamy, 2010). He insists though, that this shouldnt be always the case; there is a right time to apply this to decision making. This is because we live in a world of wolves and traps so one as a politician must be willing to act as lions and employ force to overcome the one and be as cunning as foxes to avoid the second. However, to compensate for their deceitful means poli ticians should use proportionality in their actions, and must appear good; therefore the Machiavellian politician must appear compassionate, generous, reliable, morally upright and honest, yet be prepared to be treacherous, break their promises and use their resources selectively (Bellamy, 2010). But for this to work, nobody must know or want to know- and this is where its success hinges upon; thus the reason deception in politics almost always works because we as the public allows it so, because we ourselves are prone to self-deceit. And especially when it comes to the politicians, as Machiavelli instructed his Prince, force- as it would be used in conflict and wars- might be necessary if the safety and perseveration of community is threatened but one should never to attempt to win by force what can be won by deception; however, he did not instruct carrying out deception because the public cannot handle the truth, it was more out of necessity to ensure national interest are served and power remains intact (Drury, 1996). Leo Strauss on the other hand, did believe that deception was necessary because the public cannot tolerate the truth. He believed that societies should be hierarchical, divided between the elites who rule and the masses who follow, and this was the natural order (Lob, 2007). He states that people need to be told only what is considered the bare minimum and no more and if information is not controlled as such, they would into nihilism or anarchism (Lob, 2007). Religion was seen as the moral grounding that one should lead their lives on, but this only applied to the masses; according to Lob (2007) rulers need not be bound by religion and the ethical codes associated with it because they are required to deceive in order to govern. Strauss believed that humans are wicked and aggressive by nature, and that there needs to be strict governance and this requires unity. But in order to unite the masses the politicians need to find a cause and this could be achieved by referring to an external threat, which could result in wars (Lob, 2007). Following the ideas of these two thinkers, this essay will now look into two wars that have resulted from roots of deception and analyse how political deception works in real life. Fabrication and manipulation have both proved to be useful in the history of warfare and used as a means to vilify opposition, justify violence and to protect national security and other interests. Caddell (2004) states that depending on the intent, militaries at the command of politicians engage in three levels of deception; The U.S. military community traditionally recognizes three levels of deceptionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢based on the nature of the intent; Strategic Deception intends to disguise basic objectives, intentions, strategies, and capabilities whereas Operational Deception, tries to misguide an adversary regarding a specific operation or action you are preparing to conduct and as seen in the American doctrines, finally, there is Tactical Deception which is intended to mislead others while they are actively involved in competition with you, your interests, or your forces. Caddell (2004) also points out that unless under oath in a court or otherwise bound legally to tell the truth, under domestic law there is no constitutional principle that says that the President of the United States or the Executive Branch must tell the truth. Iraq and Vietnam This essay will now discuss two of the most controversial wars (conducted by the United States of America) that have been marred by the use of identified deception in its operation. The Vietnam War (1964-1975) was initiated based on a lie. The incidents that supposedly initiated the war revolved around a couple of incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin; the USA announced two unprovoked attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese boats- one of which did not take place and the other being provoked by the USA due to their proximity (ten miles) of the destroyer to the Vietnamese coast and by a series of CIA-organized raids on the coast (Zinn, 1991). The lies followed and multiplied; there were lies that were told by the then-President Johnson who assured the USA was only engaged in conflict with military targets when thousands of non-combatants were killed, and when President Nixon suppressed information from the public about the 1969-1970 bombings of Cambodia, which was considered unnecessa ry (Zinn, 1991). According to Jacobsen (2008), the deceptions that took place were done with full knowledge of the people involved; as admitted by a US General, the objective at the time was to keep the American public in the dark and as later found out President Nixon wrote to Henry Kissinger that it would be very helpful if a propaganda offensive could be [mounted], consistently reporting what we have done in offering peace in Vietnam in preparation for what we may have to do. Following Machiavelli and Strauss, all this was masked by implanting ideas that those who opposed the war were un-American (Beahrs, 1996) and that this was a war being fought to secure American national interests and as a means to fulfil its world responsibility, in order to gather and maintain support and power. The recent Iraq war (2003-2011) is also under much scrutiny for its reasons for initiation and implementation. The main reasons to go to war were based on the suspicion that the Iraqi government harboured chemical weapons and that its dictator leader, Saddam Hussein, could potentially use them; what the justification for how inhumane this would be left out of the picture was that when weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) were actually used in the 1980s, the US government was supportive of the Saddam regime (Martin, 2003). There was more vocal debate against this war at the time, because its direct correlation with the war on terror did not provide sufficient ground for an invasion of that scale. The crucial political asset of trust which broke the publics opinion and respect for government was still not fully restored since Vietnam-because only one third of the Americans supported George W. Bush decision to go to Iraq (Jacobsen, 2008). Despite the undermining reports of the existence o f WMDs and other contradictory evidence, the need to go to war to protect American interests and defeat terrorism was too strong, and to justify this an agency called the Office of Special Plans was created, distinct from the known and reputable defence services, specifically to find evidence of WMDs and/or links with Al Qaeda, piece it together, and clinch the case for the invasion of Iraq (Lob, 2007). The public outrage over these two wars and the other scandals that have resulted after uncovered deception goes on to show that we still regard truthfulness is still somewhat important (Malpas, 2008). Governments have been overthrown and its officials brought to justice because such deception does much damage to our conviction of credibility and legitimacy of our trust; yet, at the same time, as Malpas (2008) suggests, associated with self-deceit, our commitment to truth in itself is a lie. Although truthfulness is an honourable ideal, the realities of life require a more pragmatic approach, and thus we must accept the necessity of the lie, the half-truth, the obfuscation, and the omission (Malpas, 2008). But what is Truth? In order to fully appreciate deception, we must know what truth is. Malpas (2008) defines truth as a combination of both accuracy, understood in statements and sincerity, understood in actions. According to Arico Fallis (2013) you warrant the truth if you implicitly promise, or offer a guarantee, that what you assert is true. Truth is important, because if there is nothing to distinguish beliefs and our errors, deception and our limits. Truth is the idea of ethics that reach beyond the particularities of our personal and social situatedness that makes possible the engagement with others who may not share in that situatedness (Malpas, 2008). Self-deception thus falls under as a failure of sincerity (Williams, 1996). In government and politics, truth is desirable and it holds itself in virtue, but in line with Machiavelli thought, the responsibilities of government are sufficiently different from those of private individuals to make governmental virtue a rather different matter from t hat of individuals; that is for any government that is charged with the security of its citizens, a responsibility which cannot be discharged without secrecy, deception is a necessity- a government would be considered lucky if it can discharge its duties as such without force and fraud (Williams, 1996). Towards Effective Governance In conclusion, this essay will look at whether we can void deception in politics or whether we should not be fazed by its presence. In essence, only a few actually would prefer absolute truth from their political leaders, given that the deception we would expect would be for our own good. We are often victims of self-deception ourselves, and we accept that deception sometimes is acceptable- we engage in it in every day and every way of our lives. But what should not be confused with this admission is that deception in politics should not reflect politicians individual beliefs and opinions; as long as the deception serves domestic and foreign interests in a manner that would not jeopardize public trust and respect- and if it is done in secrecy than outright lying, it could be held with tolerance. But it should be noted that even benevolent deceptions can acquire their own momentum in unpredictable and undesirable directions (Beahrs, 1996). The way we understand politics could have an impact on how we approach and respond to political deception. The Machiavellians of our time, the advisors, the Generals, the state and defence officers insist that they serve national interests, national security and national defense; these phrases put everyone in the country under one enormous blanket, camouflaging the differences between the interest of those who run the government and the interest of the average citizen which would challenge any reservation we might have raising questions about our identity, our role in the society and our priorities (Zinn, 1991). This, depending on our various levels of understanding, would also stand to the extent deception is possible by a government and how susceptible we will be as the masses. To broaden our capacity to detect deception, we should expand our knowledge base; the more one knows, the harder it will be for someone to manipulate information out of context and the more likely one will be able to detect a fabrication (Caddell, 2004). But we must be careful because typically all deceit carries with it an element of self-deception and almost all deception involves to a greater or lesser degree a willingness on the part of the deceiver to be themselves a party to the deceit-to allow themselves to be deceived (Malpas, 2008). However, deception can only be recognized when we retain a sense of truth, so it is crucial that we keep our commitment to our sense of truth, because otherwise according to Malpas (2008), we lose our engagement with ourselves, others, and the world, and we lose, not only our sense of ethics, but we lose a sense of ourselves, of others, of the world. We need to appreciate that even after accepting the general basis for deception and truth in politics, when it really matters our opinions and acceptance vary; that is to say that ones sense of what deception and truth is and how much we will tolerate it comes from, as used in the premise to this essay, how we understand ourselves, our society and our world. In the political arena, the tragedy is that we cannot have perfect freedom or virtue at the same time (Drury, 1996). But what we can strive towards would be a world where deception would not be a means to justify the end and where truth will remain an honourable ideal and politics is not synonymous with deception but with the genuine intention for effective governance. general definition for deception explore how deception is present in our lives and how that affects the amount of deception involved in politics. deception is necessary in politics, and sometimes beneficial (and sometimes not), and this is because we as the general public allows it so. Drawing from the Machiavelli and Strauss schools of thought on how deception is an integral part of politics- and examining this claim through the case studies of the Vietnam and Iraq wars- the reason politicians use deception is because it is sometimes more desirable than the absolute truth and thus it is easier to exploit and appeal towards the human conditions deep inclination towards self-deceit.