Mica and men review :: essays research papers

Of Mice and Men Review Of mice and men was such a great movie it was shocking that it didn’t receive any Academy Awards. Gary Sinise made a heart effecting very well done adaptation on Steinbeck’s classic novel. It is set in the great depression, where men travel around trying to get any work they can. It is based around two characters George (Gary Sinise) and Lennie (John Malkovich). Both characters care for each other deeply and take care of one another. Lennie has a mental disability but is very strong, whereas George is very intelligent and cunning and he does the thinking for both of them, while Lennie does a lot of the work. Both Lennie and George find themselves working on a ranch during harvest season with a variety of other quaint characters. The foreman of this ranch is named Curley and Curley’s unnamed wife who plays an important role. The life of these two men is held up by a dream of one day owning their own piece of land. Candy(Ray Waltson) is an old cripple and old ranch hand, he finds out about George and Lennie’s plan to buy land he wants to buy into it. Crook's is another character, a black labourer that is left lonely because he is excluded, and Slim who is a labourer who the others tend to look up to. Curley’s wife likes to show off the fact that she’s good looking and in turn, tends to get people into trouble. Sherilyn Finn quite convincingly plays the character of Curley’s wife. Unfortunately Curley’s wife can’t find anyone to pay attention to her leaving her lonely the same way some of the other characters feel. The film has some very strong acting throughout the film. The acting was led by the always wonderful John Malkovich as Lennie.

Homosexuality in the Military during World War II

Military has a long history with the allegations of homosexuality. They both have always made strange bedfellows. The leadership of armed forces all over the world, usually traditionalists, has in general seen homosexuals as morally wrong, and a threat to solidity. At the start of a war the enormous task of mobilizing thousands of soldiers surpassed concerns about the sexual behavior of troops.But in the case of prolonged war those military men who are found in disgraceful conducts such as homosexuality become a problems for the senior military leadership and they become increasingly determined to rid the services of these types of military men. Paul Jackson’s book – One of the Boys: Homosexuality in the Military during World War II – has discussed this problem in very excellent literary style. In 1990, Allan Berube in his study — Coming out under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two –discussed experiences of gays and lesbians in the military of the United States during the World War II.(Berube 1990, 1-22) The reading of Berube’s book had a great excitement and compelled me to read Paul Jackson's book on the World War II experiences of surprising Canadian servicemen (and women). Jackson’s book — One of the Boys — is a deeply researched study of homosexuality in the Canadian military during the years of the World War II. The book contains the result of hours of pouring over court-martial transcripts, police reports, psychiatric assessments, and dozens of interviews.One of the Boys is one of the deeply research researched peaces of writings on the issue as the literature about any feature of gay and lesbian history from the pre-Stonewall period (or to use the Canadian equivalent, before Trudeau's Omnibus bill) requires widespread investigative literary work. No doubt it was not an easy task to discuss the coded disguising of homosexuality and Jackson has done a wonderful job while d eciphering the coded phrases that were used to disguise homosexuality.In the hypermasculine, heteronormative world of the Armed Forces, Jackson has exposed a rich tapestry of homosexual experiences, and thus has made a considerable contribution both to queer history and to the social history of the World War II. In One of the Boys, Jackson seems very careful in choosing words. He avoided using the term gay, which was rarely used in its modern sense during the World War II. He used those terms that were familiar at the time of World War II such as homosexual, queer, fairy or fruit.It seems that Jackson intentionally addressed the subject of homosexuality that he broadly defined to be â€Å"the ability to derive sexual pleasure from members of one's own sex† (Jackson 148). By this way in fact Jackson refused to narrowly limit homosexuality to those who self-identified as such, or to exclude those who engaged in homosexual sex for bodily pleasure, rather than emotional love. Jac kson has not included in the book the controversial debates over whether homosexuality is innate or learned behavior.For the reasons of this work, he casts a wide net to cover the very diverse personifications of homosexuality in the Canadian military during Second World War. To be sure, as Jackson points out, military psychiatrists often decided that a person was not a â€Å"homosexual,† despite overwhelming proof that the person had engaged in same-sex sexual activities, and often regardless of the claims of the man himself that he was homosexual (Jackson 145).While the analysis in One of the Boys of the queer experience of World War II is inspiring, there are a few areas in which Jackson’s work might have been stronger. Unlike Allan Berube's work, Jackson has a very small portion in his book about female homosexuality. However, he seems justified in this omission partly on methodological grounds, since the Canadian military did not target women for courts martial or psychiatric evaluation on this basis. Given that these are Jackson’s main primary sources, one can see how this could pose a major challenge.In terms of oral history, he asserts that lesbians could not be found to be interviewed because the Canadian Legion Magazine would not allow the word â€Å"sexuality† in his advertisements, and that as a gay man he found it difficult to find lesbians to interview (Jackson 22). However, it can be said that this is a rather unsatisfying basis for not including lesbians in the book. Certainly, it might have been better to simply argue that the experience of homosexual women in the World War II is likely to have been qualitatively different from that of men, and consequently out of the range of the book.Jackson included the occasional reference to the experiences of lesbians in the Wrens. It can be little disappointment for those hoping Jackson’s book will provide the comprehensive examination of lesbianism in World War II cal led for in Ruth Roach Pierson's â€Å"They're Still Women After All†. (Pierson 1986, 219) Although the works of Berube and Jackson are good analyses of the subject, but they differ on many occasion.As the Canadian experience of the World War II was clearly different from that of the United States, and Jackson clearly indicates why and how his methodology is different from that of Berube, it is likely that many readers of Jackson's book will be well known with that of Berube. In some respects, the differences and similarities between the two countries are well addressed. For instance, the Canadian regimental system, organized by region, is different against the US buddy system that in views of Berube provided cover for homosexual relationships, and certainly fostered them.On the other hand, Jackson also is of the view that contrary to the American experience found by Berube and John d’Emilio, discharges for homosexuality did not lead to postwar gay activism among Canadi an old boys. (d'Emilio 1983, 1-7) However, it would have been useful to test some of the other conclusions of the American experience. For example, to what amount did Canadian veterans who had homosexual experiences during the World War II stay in urban centers where queer networks survived after demobilization?How did the fight between psychiatrists and military police for authority over the issue of homosexuality play out and what were the larger impacts of this for the psychiatric profession? Berube seems arguing in his book that US psychiatrists went far towards setting up their professional credentials during the World War II; it would be attractive to know if the same held true for their Canadian counterparts and the degree to which identifying homosexuality was important for this.Jackson’s book reads almost as if it is two books merged together: one a policy analysis, the other a social history. The first three chapters of â€Å"One of the Boys† deal with how th e different sections of the Canadian military tried to regulate homosexuality. Chapter I looks at the quite confused efforts of the military to describe its policy on homosexuality. Chapter II looks at the court martial proceedings of those accused with homosexuality-related legal offences, while Chapter III discusses how military psychiatrists attempted to declare their authority over homosexuality as a medical issue.The latter two chapters are oriented around a systematic reading of their respective primary sources: court martial transcripts and psychiatric evaluations. Jackson methodically attracts the attentions of his readers and takes them through the various phases of the court martial and psychiatric assessment processes, providing detailed and personalized accounts of how these two sections of the military dealt with the issue of homosexuality, the first as a moral and legal issue, and the second is trying to make it a medical issue.Jackson’s arguments in his book ma ke it clear that there was a serious unwillingness on the part of authorities to discharge homosexuals from military service. Courts martial were used primarily to discourage homosexual activity, but rarely led to the discharge of noncommissioned servicemen. More commonly, the soldiers would be sentenced to serve time in a custody, after which they would be allowed to return to service. Officers were more likely to be discharged if guilty was established, but were conversely much less likely to be convicted.Jackson’s book suggests that the reason here matches the reason as to why psychiatrists were so unwilling, more so than the courts martial, to state that a man was homosexual. The medical model of homosexuality constructed a homosexual as an antisocial individual, a standpoint reflected in the moral standards of the court martial officers. Yet it was hard to settle this conception with the productive, healthy men who stood under examination; so, many were released, especia lly when they had fellow officers and servicemen keen to vow for their good character innocence.The first chapter of One of the Boys discusses in details this contrast between official military policy denouncing homosexuality on the one hand and the routine leniency towards homosexual behavior on the other. This attitude of military examines the various facets of the military's policy on homosexuality as crafted by the medical services, the National Film Board, the military police, and the RCAF. Generally the first chapter presents a rather random and inconsistent approach to homosexual behavior in the Canadian military: ruthless investigations on the one hand, routine denials on the other.The chapter highlights amusingly in Jackson's satirical â€Å"Routine Order† on homosexuality, in which he describes the de facto military policy on homosexuality, in the absence of an official one. Boiled down to essentials, the de facto policy was to ignore or reject homosexual behavior u nless the performer was otherwise a misfit or a behavioral problem. Any punishment should be light for men in combat units, and heavy for noncombatants, unless they were well liked.Again and again, Jackson discovers that the Canadian military attempted to ignore homosexuality unless individuals were otherwise problematic or were flaunting their sexuality. This silent policy followed from 1940s beginnings of sexuality: all military men were supposed to be male, masculine, and heterosexual, and in the absence of overwhelming proof to the contrary, would be treated as such. In the second half of One of the Boys, Jackson focuses on the social history of homosexuality in the military during the World War II.Chapters IV and V look at the experiences of queer servicemen in Canada and overseas, and chapter VI looks at the impact of homosexuality on esprit de corps, unity, and confidence. The chapters of the second half of the book rely a lot on oral histories and war diaries in addition to the sources used for the earlier chapters, and paint bright pictures of the wartime experience for queer servicemen. Certainly, these sections bring to mind Desmond Morton's excellent work on the experience of Canadian soldiers in the World War I.(Morton 1993, 7-15) In conclusion it can be said that an inspiring amount of research has gone into Jackson’s book, and it would be a remiss if one neglected to mention the visual component of One of the Boys. The book presents an impressive array of war art, including many works by gay war artists that demonstrate aspects of homosexuality and the homosocial bonds that formed during the war. Many of these pieces illustrate homoeroticism and same-sex emotional bonds in the armed forces more clearly than a chapter of text can.Combined with images from drag shows, stills from NFB films, and photos of young military men together, these pictures add a rich visual element to the text. Jackson should be praised also for his use of frank, op en language in unfolding cases of homosexuality during the World War II. Not only does this reflect the actual language used in the records he found, but it is appropriate to the sexually charged material he is dealing with. The book tells the story with frankness and humor. Works Cited Berube, Allan. , Coming out under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two (New York: MacMillan, 1990).d'Emilio, John. , Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983). Jackson, Paul. , â€Å"One of the Boys: Homosexuality in the Military during World War II† McGill-Queen’s Univ. Press 2004. Morton, Desmond. , When Your Number's Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War (Toronto: Random House, 1993). Pierson, Ruth Roach. , â€Å"They're Still Women After All†: The Second World War and Canadian Womanhood (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1986), p. 219.

ANZ Anz Culture Study: Management Principles

Question 1) Explain the term ‘corporate (or organizational) culture’, and discuss its importance to the operational success, or failure, or organisations. Corporate culture, also known as organisational culture is ‘the system of shared values and beliefs that develops within an organisation and guides the behaviour of its members’ (Schermerhorn,et al, pg 45, 2004). Robbins, et al, pg 70, 2003, explain that culture is a perception, and people perceive culture to be what they see hear or experience within the organisation. This is one reason that corporate culture is so important, as it just becomes part of daily routine or ‘the way we do things here’ (Schermerhorn,et al, pg 45, 2004). Therefore if these common practices are good practices there is a strong chance the organisation will be more successful. The culture of an organisation is very important and can for a large part determine the success of organisations. As culture is a perception, it is concerned with how its members perceive the organisation and not whether they like it, (Robbins, et al, pg 70, 2003). If its members like the culture, the organisation is more likely to succeed. Organisations that have a good culture often perform at high levels, which also corresponds with staff morale. Robbins et al, pg 73, 2003 refer to a case study involving Virgin Blue, who have a different recruiting policy and job roles than other airlines in Australia. Virgin Blue want their staff to show their outgoing personality and interact with their customers during flights. Virgin Blue staff say morale is high and management gets on well with the workforce. The perception of Virgin Blue is that it is a little different to the other airlines in Australia, and that it is a fun outgoing organisation to be a part of, which is a perception Virgi n Blue appears to promote and are proud of. Question 2) Examine and summerize the cultural shifts that occurred on the ANZ over this period and the benefits they brought to various stakeholders. The ANZ like most banks in the late 1990’s had a poor public image. Banks were criticised for bank fees, branch closures and scandals, as a result morale for bank employees was also poor. ANZ conducted a staff survey, which confirmed morale was low and staff satisfaction was below 50%. The survey results were quite clear that staff did not feel valued in their workplace, and employees were asked to nominate words they felt best describes the ANZ bank. Words rating at the top of the list were cost reduction, profit and shareholder value. The ANZ initiated a program, ‘the breakout program’ which was designed to shift the culture, as the bank wanted to create a new public image or perception that distinguished them from other banks. Executives of the ANZ realized a shift if employees mind set was needed to regain the trust of their staff and assist with this intended culture change. This was done with various workshops and subsidising computers for its staff, which in particular was very well received by its staff. As well as increasing staff morale by subsidising computers, staff were given the opportunity to use skills they had acquired by assisting and educating customers with money matters. This was something staff were very passionate about, and by giving them the opportunity to complete such duties may have been a factor to increased morale. ANZ claim a complete transformation in organisational culture, believing their culture has changed for ever. Judging by further surveys conducted since the change in culture, staff morale is high, and this also coincides with customer satisfaction. Question 3) Evaluate the leadership style/s that would have been used by McFarlane and other senior executives in ANZ to implement this cultural shift in the ANZ and describe other leadership styles that may not have been beneficial in doing so. It is quite likely that more than one leadership style or a combination of styles was used by ANZ to initiate its change in organisational culture. One particular style that may have been used is the path-goal theory. ‘A leadership theory that says it is the leaders job to assist their followers in attaining their goals and to provide the direction or support needed to ensure that their goals are compatible with the overall objectives of the groups or organisation’ (Robbins, et al, pg 577, 2006). At the ANZ bank staff morale was low and its public image poor, and to change that McFarlane used the path-goal leadership style to attempt to increase morale, which would also lead to enhancing its public image. The path-goal theory discusses input from staff, this was done by taking information from the staff survey, and gaining an understanding of what is important to staff. Change was then implemented so staff could start working in an environment which they feel much more comfortable, more likely to succeed and have higher job and customer satisfaction. The staff were given direction (path) and could see the rewards or goals, the leader helps facilitate this transition. Mcfarlane changed his leadership style, to give staff more involvement by conducting staff surveys, then implementing change due to results of the survey, this is further evidence to using path-goal theory. As the path goal leadership style assumes that leaders are flexible and can change their behaviours (Robbins, et al, pg 587, 2006). This is contrast to another leadership style, Fielders contingency model, which suggests that leaders could not change their behavior. If using this theory it would been very difficult for ANZ to change its culture as the leader would be unwilling to change their own behaviour in order to facilitate the required changes to result in the change in culture. Question 4) Discuss the challenges faced by McFarlane and his executive team in introducing change across ANZ. For change to occur, someone must take responsibility for managing the change process, the person who does this, who is also usually a manager, is known as a change agent (Robbins and Coulter, pg 360, 2007). At ANZ their CEO McFarlane is the change agent, and he may have encountered significant resistance change. There are numerous reasons why people within organisations resist change. Kreitner & Kiniki pg 546 – 547, 2008 explain that individual and group behaviour following organizational change can take many forms, from extreme ranges of acceptance to active resistance. This resistance to change is an emotional /behavioural response to real or imagined threats to an established work routine. One particular reason discussed by Kreitner & Kiniki, 2008 is an individuals predisposition to change, which is highly personal and deeply ingrained. With so many employees at the ANZ there is a strong chance that there would have been quite a lot of people who just resist change for personal reasons. Another reason for resistance to change is due to a climate of mistrust (Kreitner & Kiniki pg 547, 2008). This may have been the biggest resistance to change within the ANZ. Prior to the change employee morale was low, employees perceptions of ANZ were that they did not care about their staff and were more concerned with profits, cost reduction etc. ANZ were aware of their employees feelings, the lack of trust and realized the importance of having employees trust. Therefore when ANZ were initiating change staff may have found it difficult to adjust and believe that the change was going to be a change for the good. Question 5) Discuss whether or not the executive management instigated changes to the culture of the ANZ are ethical. Ethical behaviour is described as ‘behaviour that conforms to generally accepted social norms’ (Davidson & Griffen, pg 106, 2003). The workplace info case study mentions that most banks in the late 1990’s had a poor public image due to bank fees, branch closures etc. Although it is common practice amongst banks to operate under the conditions, .it is not considered acceptable behavior by the wider community, namely its customers. The ANZ bank wanted to be different to the other banks, it wanted its culture to be a point of difference from the others. It could be said that the ANZ felt it had a responsibility to change peoples perceptions of itself and banks in general. Davidson & Griffen, pg 117, 2003 explain that ‘ethics relate to individuals. Organisations themselves do not have ethics, but organisations do relate to their environment in ways that often involve ethical dilemmas and decisions. Social responsibility is the set of obligations an organisation has to protect and enhance the society in which it functions’. The society for the ANZ bank is the banking community, general community (customers) and its staff. The ANZ bank felt it had responsibilities to their customers, by providing a higher level of customer service in order to enhance its public image, but it had a responsibility to its staff, as they are the people who are to implement the changes. The ANZ may have avoided an ethical issue when it decided that its staff could choose where it could spend time volunteering. ANZ originally controlled where staff would go to volunteer, but this was quickly changed, possibly as a result to ethical dilemmas that may have arose. While there may have been some resistance by staff to change, it did occur and its staff and customer satisfaction have increased, without any major ethical dilemmas arising. Question 6) Determine the organisational structure that would best facilitate the implementation of these new practices. Organisational structure is the formal arrangement of jobs within an organisation. When managers develop change or structure, they’re engaged in organisational design, which involves 6 key elements (Robbins and Coulter, pg 266, 2007). Therefore to develop an organisational structure the manager must consider the elements of organisational design. One of these elements that would have been used by ANZ would have been span of control, which would then also lead to either having a tall or flat organisation structure. Span of control is determining how many people will report to each supervisor or manager (Davidson & Griffen, pg 357, 2003). The decision about span of control determines the overall structure of the organistaion, which will be either a flat or tall organization (Davidson & Griffen, pg 358, 2003). The ANZ may have shifted from a tall organizational structure to a flat structure. Davidson & Griffen, pg 106, 2003 explain that many experts agree that business run more effectively with fewer layers of organisations, which depicts a flat organisational structure. Flat organisations often lead to increased staff morale, productivity as well as increased managerial responsibility (Davidson & Griffen, pg 358, 2003). ANZ structure may look like a tall organization due to the large number of employees, braches and therefore managers for each branch, however a change occurred which would have resulted in less layers, which increased communication from employees to management which assisted in the culture change at ANZ. Question 7) Explain the importance of informal groups in achieving the managerial objective of cultural change. Groups are defined as ‘two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals’ (Robbins and Coulter, pg 424, 2007). For example, an ANZ branch might have a customer service team, who get together regularly to discuss new ways to increase customer satisfaction. The members in this group are from same ‘team’, and perhaps if not for working within close proximity of each other would not socialise, they are organised formal groups. Contrast to this is informal groups, which Davidson and Griffen, pg 645, 2003, descibe as ‘A group created by its members for purposes that may or may not be relevant to the organisation’s goals’. Informal groups may form while standing around in the morning making coffee, some informal groups are formed by an interpersonal attraction (Davidson and Griffen, pg 646, 2003). Whatever the reason informal groups are formed, they will be important in assisting in the shift for cultural change. When informal groups are formed, they are likely to become cohesive groups, Davidson and Griffen, pg 653, 2003, explain cohesiveness as ‘the extent to which members are loyal and committed to a group; the degree of mutual attractiveness in the group’. Therefore if informal groups within an organisation are open to change it is more likely that the organisation will be able to achieve its objectives, and it this case that is assist with a cultural change. The ANZ bank appears to have undergone a successful cultural transformation, with a focus of staff morale, which increased customer satisfaction. This change has been so well received by staff it now embedded in its staff, and will become the norm for all future staff, regardless of their personality or who is managing them.

Psychological Conflicts in Literature(1) Essay

We all experience psychological conflicts, knowingly or unknowingly. They involve psychological conflicts among our thoughts, emotions, and rational thinking. It may be the most dangerous conflict of all due to the battleground in which it take place in — our mind. There are many examples of psychological conflicts in the stories we have read. In â€Å"Leiningen Versus the Ants† by Carl Stephenson, Leiningen battled not only on his South American plantation, but in his mind. He struggled with the issue of running away and letting the ants take over his plantation. He wasn’t a quitter and enjoys the mental aspects of things. But when the ants and the reality of death came, he had to resolve the conflict whether to stay or flee. This was especially true when he ran to the dam wheel. He could of fled then or died, but he chose to try to save the plantation and workers. He was faced with the conflict living or, perhaps the greatest psychological conflict, which he resolved when he chose to run to the wheel. In â€Å"The Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets† by Jack Finney, Tom also faced a psychological conflict. The story was mainly focused on his physical conflict, but near the end he experienced psychological conflict. As with Leiningen, Tom faced the choice to die or to live, and he realized with that conflict how much his wife meant to him. He overcame the conflict when, as we read, the yellow paper flew out the window again, but he left to be with his wife. In â€Å"Blues Ain’t No Mockin’bird† by Toni Cade Bambara, Granny experienced a psychological conflict with her past treatment and her current conflict with Smiley and Camera. She struggled to break and maybe actually kill them or fall into depression, but she was successful in winning the conflict. When she hummed in a high pitch instead of low, it showed that she had finally won. In conclusion, psychological conflicts are important. They can be very dangerous because we are fighting within ourselves and our rational reasoning. And when we fight within ourself it is hard to win. Psychological  conflicts can be won, however, by set priorities and moral standards.

The Extent to which Football Clubs and Governing Bodies Restrict Essay

The Extent to which Football Clubs and Governing Bodies Restrict Player Rights under Article 45 of the TFEU - Essay Example This report stresses that Article 45 of the TFEU refers to rights of workers to move freely within the union. In addition, it also contends that this freedom of movement will involve the elimination of discrimination on the basis of nationality for nationals of member states with regards to remuneration, employment, and conditions of employment and work. This paper makes a conclusion that a further alternative to the home-grown rule in countering the effects of the Bosman ruling has been the transfer fee caps, which has been seen as more attractive in restoring competitive balance. While it will restrict the signing on fees earned by player moving to other clubs, which is in contravention of Article 45(3) of the TFEU with regards to remuneration, it is more preferable to restrictions on player remuneration. However, getting back to the home-grown rule, the view that this will increase the national talent pool is a weak argument. It is evident that the best clubs always recruit the best players from their nation, meaning that there will be adequate numbers of eligible players to play for the national team. As observed by Relvas et al, the Scottish national team is not affected by the fact that most of their best players chose to play in the Premier League, while he also comments on the fact that the influx of international players int o national leagues tends to improve football skills of the domestic footballers, instead of stunting their development.

Pedagogic and Syllabus Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pedagogic and Syllabus - Case Study Example Mr. O’Bryan was diligent in discussing the exercises from the textbook and could fairly assess the progress of the students through the students’ participation in class, as well as in results of the examination. Mr. O’Bryan could gauge the level of competencies of the current students based on their cultural orientations, exposure to English as their second language, as well as in the predominantly similar cultural background. Likewise, from the topics that have been covered so far, students and the course supervisor are accorded with opportunities to assess the progress and competencies of the class, in general; and of any particular student who could manifest higher or lower proficiencies in the subject matter. For one’s scheduled teaching activity, the subject is on Reflexive pronouns. At the end of one’s session on Reflexive Pronouns, the students should be able to have a greater understanding of the use of pronouns such as me, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves; and be able to apply these in different sentence structures with greater competencies. In teaching the verb tenses, Mr. O’Bryan relied predominantly on discussing the exercises from the textbook. He uses the examples contained therein and solicits the response from the class according to what is thought to be the correct answer. Likewise, Mr. O’Bryan gives other examples and asks further questions from the class to determine if they have already clearly understood the lesson or subject matter being discussed. For instance, in the lesson on irregular verbs, Mr. O’Bryan determined if the class understood what the past tense of the verb ‘choose’ is through asking the appropriate question and soliciting the needed response.

Assess the extent to which it would be beneficial for Norway to join Essay

Assess the extent to which it would be beneficial for Norway to join the European Union - Essay Example In fact, Norway has close political and economic ties with the EU (regjeringen, 2011). For instance, according to regjeringen (2011), Norway and the EU are members of the European Economic Area (EEA, signed in 1994). Moreover, the EEA agreement regulates the relationship between Norway and EU (regjeringen, 2011). In addition, Norway and the European Union signed Schengen agreement and they are partners in the Iceland and Liechtenstein (regjeringen, 2011). The foundations of Norway-EU trade relations were led by the EFTA (European Free Trade Association), which was established in 1960 (regjeringen, 2011). The EU in collaboration with Norway participate in the fields of justice and home affairs, climatic changes, foreign policies, research policies and in regulation of energy consumption (regjeringen, 2011). Increase in cooperation of Norway with European Union dramatically affects more aspects of both Norwegian and the EU community and economy (regjeringen, 2011). Norway is a major su pplier of natural gas supplying up to 24% of the total gas imports, (regjeringen, 2011). Norway has contributed to the EU budget â‚ ¬ 230 million in 2010 (regjeringen, 2011). In addition, according to regjeringen (2011), the overall amount of Norway’s export to the EU is 80.7%. In order to understand the importance of the EU for Norway, one should not only look at the EEA Agreement, but analyze the entire structure of agreements. For example, the Schengen Agreement or the many other agreements between Norway and the EU that concern Justice, Security policy, fisheries and agriculture (regjeringen, 2012). On the other hand, Norway persistent refrains from joining the EU for various reasons, even though accession to the EU would bring new insights and new opportunities for Norway across diverse areas. Ladegaard (2012) states that, accordingly to