Sonja Meyer – författare

Essay from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Region: USA, grade: A, University of Otago (New Zealand - University of Otago), language: English, abstract: The traumatic experience of World War II led to an international consensus on the need of a universal framework protecting the rights of each individual and the integrity of communities. The United States having been largely isolationist before the War entered the World stage and took a substantial part in the formulation of human rights. Against the background of the Cold War the institutionalization of a common framework was everything but easy. In retrospect it seems that the American commitment to human rights is ambivalent. On the one hand American rhetoric constantly uses human rights as a legitimating moral claim, on the other hand it stays in its exceptionalist tradition and sees itself not to be in need of any international supervision. To understand the gap between ideal and reality, the concept of American exceptionalism needs to be examined. How does this conception affect the political culture in the USA and how can we explain this sense of superiority? Another question will be the legitimacy of this belief and the rationale that drives policy makers to perpetuate this notion. To evaluate the commitment to human rights in foreign policy, it will be necessary to have a look at the different administrations and their attitude toward human rights. They all face institutional constraints in policy decision making so that even if there is a “real” commitment to human rights, it is not enough that the president himself endorses such a framework. Similarly, there are other national interests that can trump moral considerations which was especially evident during the Cold War. Special events and public opinions as well as ideological beliefs of the main actors strongly influence the place of human rights in the hierarchy of preferences. Even though good intentions can be identified in some administrations, the commitment to human rights in US foreign policy remains rather marginal and serves merely as a legitimating rhetoric. This affect not only the credibility of the United States itself but the validity of the whole concept of universal human rights.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Environmental Policy, grade: A+, University of Otago (New Zealand - Department of Anthropology), course: Global Politics of Food, language: English, abstract: This paper will look at the effects of the Green Revolution. As part of the imperial strategy of US foreign policy, the new agricultural strategy shows how the World food system does not only consist in food trade itself, but also comprises the industry of respective production factors. Through development strategies like the Green Revolution, the US manage to boost its own economy while pretending to have only altruistic and benevolent intentions. The interrelatedness of agricultural practices and the wider system of societal organization leads to the fact that this imperialism does not only impose economic standards but also affects the cultural sphere of the concerned countries.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Cultural Studies - Basics and Definitions, grade: A, University of Otago ((New Zealand) Department of Anthropology), course: Labour and Society: Working Cultures, language: English, abstract: As the cartoon above suggests, workers all around the world are situated at the bottom of the power spectrum in the international economic world. Globalisation is a catch-all term, that nowadays seems to be relevant to every field of social science. It affects every part of the world and of our every day lives. This is not to say that the locality of our lives does not play a role in how we experience the globalising forces. Rather it leads us to analyse what globalisation exactly is, how it has been conceptualised in the academic debate and how it changes conditions for every one of us. This paper will firstly address the general question of globalisation, outlining the controversy and the different approaches to developments that are subsumed under the term globalisation. To assess in how far people on the ground, in this case workers, are active agents, it is important to consider what changes globalisation brings about for their specific environment, in this case the international labour market. Finally, it should be shown that globalisation is not an independent force that dominates us all, but one that is actively created by humanity and in which every one of us takes a little part to a certain extent.

In diesem essential erhalten Sie einen Einblick in die aktuelle Situation rund um ehrenamtliches Engagement und auch, was ehrenamtlich engagierte Menschen brauchen bzw. sich wünschen, um weiterhin einen wirksamen Beitrag kompetent leisten zu können. Praxisorientierte Einblicke in ausgewählte Hilfsorganisationen eröffnen wertvolle Perspektiven für die Weiterentwicklung des sozialen Engagements in Deutschland. Gleichsam erfahren Organisationen, wie sie ehrenamtlich engagierte Personen binden und weiterhin kompetent entwickeln können.