Political Science

One concept in governance unique to a democratic system such as the US is the separation of power into three co-equal branches, the executive, legislative and the judiciary.  But on the question of balancing power, are these branches of government really equal Considering the traits and functions of each branch could give us an idea on how the balance of power is being played out.

Congress drafts the law to guide the development of the country and by theory should be the most powerful because of its collective mandate from the people. It could even impeach a president and more important it could change the rules on system of governance. Representatives to Congress have more grass roots exposure and hence as an institution could rally support in a more expansive and representative manner than any sitting president.

The executive branch meanwhile, implements the law and the president more or less functions like a chief-executive-officer but the role has been magnified by a clause on another presidential function, that of the commander-in-chief. The president is expected to lead the country especially at times and period of great uncertainties.  The executive branch, which included federal agencies including law enforcement, unlike the other two branches, is encapsulated in the persona of the president, elected every four years. Congress and the judiciary have no equivalent persona and more or less perceived as a collective unit.  This somehow trumps the power of Congress, as when the situation gets critical, it is the president who usually takes over the role of keeping the country together.

The judiciary, the third branch is powerful because it is the keeper of the law and this branch of government has the last say on anything pertaining to the law and its implementation. In societies based on the rule of the law, judges occupy position of power in society. This power is negated in some ways because it is manifested after an act has been committed and the court is tasked to establish the constitutionality or legality of said action.  Hence, the Supreme Court for example, is really out of the loop of governance but functions more as an arbiter between Congress and the President.

While it is difficult to compare powers of the three branches as these are different and unique to each branch, we can see how external or environmental factors such as the political parties and public opinion exert an influence in tilting the balance in favor of one branch over the other with respect to question of power. The public especially in societies with strong representative mechanisms such as political parties, e.g., Democratic and the Republican parties lobby and advocacy groups such as the green lobby could give added premium to a branch of government. The unpopularity of the war on Iraq for example dismantled the Republican hold on the White House. Though at the onset, then Pres. Bush was able to rally support for the war efforts playing on the 911 attack to push his anti-terrorism program, which included toppling Saddam Hussein. When the intelligence gaffe that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, which was the pretext of going to Iraq, the public support waned and consequently Congress shifted its sight to eventual pull out from Iraq placing the presidency of Mr. Bush into a defensive position.

There are accounts, which place premium on flexibility as a measure of power.  The president for example could use tactics as signing statements or clarification on what the president would do or how he treats such a legislation he signed, which as pointed out by Examiner.com, had been used extensively by then Pres. Bush to circumvent immediate implementation of certain laws which not to his list of priorities.  It is not however, only the president who has a trick or two when it comes to exercise of power, representatives could use filibustering techniques to scuttle issues and make it difficult if not impossible for a president to secure necessary legislation such as budget allocation for his programs. Another point which limits the presidents power is that a president for example, no matter how popular and powerful to a point that he could get what he wanted would still have to go after two terms. That is the law.

On the whole, when it comes to balance of power, we can say that because of the nature of leadership and succession in governance, the pendulum shifts as to which is more powerful in shaping national priorities at certain times.  The president sometimes appeared as the most powerful but this could be more due to the president as a symbol of the country as head of state but a president under the American system would still have to answer to where real power resides  to his constituency and to his political party, to the American people.

While it might appear that Lius Legislating the Universal The Circulation of International Law in the Nineteenth Century is of little relevance for scholars of international relations, it is definitely not the case. One of the major strengths of this piece, which focuses on the translation of Henry Wheatons Elements of International Law into Chinese in 1864 by W. A. P. Martin, is its comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach. Borrowing methods and insights from discourse studies, linguistics, historiography, philosophy, and jurisprudence, the author makes important observations about the implications that circulation of legal texts has had for historical developments in international relations.

The central argument the author advances is that translated texts produce intended and unintended meaning between discursive contexts of source and target languages, especially if such languages had little contact before and are only learning to speak in each others political discourse (which certainly was the case with English and Chinese in the middle of the nineeenth century). Thus, translators are charged with creating hypothetical equivalences between languages which are subsequently fixed through repeated use. Martin had to come up with neologisms which were barely intelligible to his Chinese contemporaries,such as quanli for right, created by removing negative connotations associated with quanshi (power or domination) and adding the word li (interest of calculation) from commercial vocabulary nowadays, the terms seem perfectly natural. However, it is important to keep in mind that due to different connotations attached to any word in target language, concepts are transplanted from one discourse to another with a great degree of imprecision.    

Leaving the linguistic peculiarities aside, the author examines how Western powers employed international law to project their influence around the globe. Chinese ordered translations of some passages from Vattels Le droit des gens (another work considered by Martin for translation which, however, was not endorsed by American authorities because of the author being French) to justify their refusal to trade in opium. In such a way, the approach to international law among Chinese was purely instrumental they tried to use it as a rhetorical device to persuade the West (the British Empire in this case) of righteousness of their position. Western powers ignored the letter and spirit of the law during the Opium Wars, forced numerous unequal treaties upon China, colonized Hong Kong, and opened its ports to international vessels. Under such historical circumstances, the translation of Wheatons Elements of International Law was considered timely for two main reasons. First of all, it helped to construct the image of the West as a more benign power which relied not only on force but also law in its dealings with other nations. Secondly, it legitimized unequal treaties and served as a useful instrument for ensuring their implementation. This marked an important shift in the perception of universality of international law rather than defending it on the basis of shared humanity and moral vision, as early European philosophers did, the emphasis shifted to universal consent, treaties, balance of power, and international tribunals.      

The only noticeable weakness of the text is that it makes several points which are not sufficiently integrated into the texts canvas. The discussion on Lord Macartneys mission which discovered that China was reluctant to open up to international trade  and therefore established the image of Chinese as sinocentric, traditionalist, backwards and uncooperative, the central image employed by the so-called colonial historiography  is an interesting point in itself yet does little to advance the authors argument. So is the discussion of the naturalization of the translating the word yi (originally meaning foreigner or stranger) as barbarian, deemed to be highly offensive by the British and banned from all Chinese official documents on these grounds.

Other than that, the argument of the author appears sound and complete. Using the example of a particular legal text, the author investigates how purely discursive events influence actual material reality. This text is extremely relevant nowadays, given the apprehensions that the recent rhetoric of universality of human rights and humanitarian interventions can be just a guise for neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism.                                  

History
Federal Express known as FedEx is a US bases logistics Services Company whose headquarter is in Memphis. Frederick W. Smith In 1971 invested 91 million as a capital for a business enterprise. After he added 4 million more to his money he purchased a second-hand airline company named Little Rock in Arkansas. He started to use the airplanes to offer delivery services for envelopes and small parcels being delivered within the United States. Finally Smith named his business as Federal Express.

The company started its operation in April 1973. At that time FedEx owned 14 Dassault Falconaircraft and had nearly 400 workers. The services that were offered included overnight and two-day package delivering services and also Courier Pak. Sometime later the company started to experience financial crises and Smith was unable to cover the companys expenses. After his loan application was rejected he flew to Las Vegas and won a fortune at Black Jack table. In 1976 the company became profitable with an average quantity of 19,000 parcels per day. In 1977 the Us Govt. allowed the Federal Express to purchase their first large aircraft the Boeing 727. In 1978 the company was listed in the New York Stock Exchange. Federal Express started to use a centralized computer system to keep track of packages, weather, routes, employees and vehicles. In 1980 the company started to provide facilities in nearly 90 states. Federal Express started to establish hubs at different airports in the late 80s. In 1989 the company purchased to Flying Tiger Line to expand its international services. In 1994 Federal Express adopted the name FedEx and also launched their website and in 2000 the company officially dropped the Federal Express and became FedEx Corporation.

Managerial Aspects
Individuals involved at FedEx
The key individuals involved at FedEx involve
Frederick W. Smith who is the founder of FedEx and is the Chairman, President and CEO of FedEx. His responsibilities include giving tactical instructions to all of the FedEx Corporation operating Companies.
Michael Glenn who is the Executive Vice President of Market Development and Corporate Communications he controls all sales, marketing and communications across the FedEx operating companies.

Alan Graf who is the executive vice president and chief financial officer. His responsibility is to control all the financial aspects of FedEx Corporation.

Christine Richards who is the Executive vice president and General Counsel and Secretary of FedEx Corporation. She is responsible for making sure that FedEx Corporations worldwide activities are in accordance with global, national, state and regional government rules.

Robert Carter who is the Executive Vice President and Information Services and Chief Information Officer. He is responsible for placing technology direction, and also the companys key applications and technology framework.

Organizational Chart
The organization chart of the FedEx is given below

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

Project Manager and Team
The FedEx Corporation includes one chairman four vice presidents, four Chief Executive Officers, five international executives, and eleven other key executives.

Types of Cargo Transported
FedEx transports all types of cargo all over the world including from letters to parcels to houses to cargo containers. FedEx offers fast and most of the time same delivery depending on the destination. Before being transported the cargo is categorized into different categories and this categorization depends on what type of item is being transported, what is the size of the item, how long will it take to deliver the parcel. Shipments are generally categorized as domestic goods such as furniture or art pieces etc, parcel, express and cargo. Small enveloped or packages are termed as express shipments. Express shipments are usually delivered by air. Parcel shipments include big boxes and do not travel by air but are transported through road or rail.

Operation
Operational Philosophies
The major underlying philosophy of FedEx Corporation is to complete collectively, operate independently and manage collaboratively (Knudson, 2009). This philosophy is responsible for binding all the services of FedEx express together. Other underlying major operational philosophies of FedEx Corporation can be to provide 100 reliable service in less time period. The FedEx corporation also tries to link up the team members in such a way that they feel like an important part of the company. This philosophy makes the employees to work harder and to provide good results.

Market Served by FedEx
FedEx Corporation is situated in the United States. The hub of FedEx at Memphis is the head quarter of FedEx Corporation and it is responsible for providing the services to the country as well as too many other markets of the world like Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Europe, Central and South America, the Caribbean and China and so on. It is serving almost 220 countries and has provided a global access.

Types of Cargo
The FedEx delivers a wide range of cargoes across the world. FedEx is serving the world with different types of cargo like air cargo, shipping cargo, road cargo and so on. Hence ships, trucks, vans, airplanes all are being used for delivering the services to the customers. All types of cargo are being delivered across the world from letters to parcels.

Problems Limitations
Although FedEx is a very reliable and fast delivery service but still sometimes few limitations can be observed in the operations. The most commonly limitations or problems of FedEx have seem to be a delivery which is not made on time. Another problem with the FedEx operations is the increasing costs of operations which sometimes takes place because of having lack of coordination along the employees. Although these problems are observed only sometimes but still are very important and should be solved.

Business Relationships
Partners, alliances and pacts of FedEx
FedEx has done partnership with partners such as the American Express, Google Checkout, Amazon Services, GotVMail, Pitney Bowes, USAA and QuickBooks to offer its customer exclusive savings. FedEx gives its customers many intelligent ideas to save money daily and the customers can bring improvement in their business. They have formed alliances with several government institutions, financial, academic and insurance organizations and foreign trade associations that provide support and beneficial services along with high quality and economical prices. Besides that FedEx also gives special discount offers for small and medium sized customers that actively participate in the PyMex Ship and Save Program. Some alliances of FedEx include Concepta Engo, Partnership Yellow Pages Brazil, Seven Idiomas, INPG LICEX,Seu Sucesso, World Tariff, and PyMEx Ship  Save. FedEx has signed a pact with OfficeMax to offer local FedEx express and ground shipping services in over 900 OfficeMax stores opening this autumn as the struggling office-supply vendor looks to improve traffic at its stores. FedEx has also signed a pact with Prakash Airfreight Pvt. Ltd. (PaFex) and Wincor Nixdorf USA.

Code-Sharing, Joint Ventures
In 1999 FedEx Corp. and Tianjin-based Da Tian W. Air Service Corporation formed a joint venture in Beijing. The goal of this venture was to provide unmatched international express transport facilities for clients with delivery requirements to and from China. A code sharing venture was formed between FedEx Corp and Nippon Cargo Airline Ltd. (NCA).

Any Unique Agreements, arrangements etc
FedEx and its subsidiaries have agreed to enter into an alcohol shipping agreement in which FedEx will provide shipping facilities for alcohol and wine under certain conditions. Like for wine it is that the customer should be a licensed dealer, distributor, manufacturer etc. For alcohol it is that a licensed dealer, distributor, manufacturer etc can ship alcohol to other licensed dealer or distributor.

Company Resources
Vehicles and Employees
FedEx is providing its services in more than 210 countries of the world. The workforce of FedEx all around the world is estimated to be having 142,000 across the globe. The drop off locations is more than 44,700. When it comes to the vehicles then FedEx has 40,900 vehicles in all in the entire global network. Also it has got a 615 aircrafts available.

Main Airports Served by FedEx
As it has been discussed above that FedEx serves more than 210 countries all over the world. According to estimation more than Following are some of the main airports that are served by the FedEx
Central Japan International Airport.
Memphis international airport.
Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Miami International Airport.
Oakland International Airport.
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
Newark Liberty International Airport
Indianapolis International Airport.
Fort Worth International Airport.

Biggest Customers
FedEx serves 211 countries of the world supplying millions of items per day. It has got number of customers but few of them can be termed as the biggest customers of FedEx. Few of the biggest customers of FedEx are United States postal services, Thaigem, Steve Irwin, IBM and EMEA automotive industry and so on.

Key Facilities
FedEx facilities are located almost all over the world. Facilities located at France, Paris, Netherlands and china recently located offices of fedEx. These new offices are supporting the company. All the offices are however becoming a chain to support the company. The needs of people can be supported with the growing branches It can match the worlds ever- changing needs. The expansion of fedEx will surely benefit its customers. Expansion of fedEx includes online fedEx trade tools and supply chain visibility. These facilities are recently added in companys plan. 14 new offices are being located in 2009.

Future Plans
The cargo airline of USA has also made many plans for its future development and improvement. In future, FedEx wants to establish the visibility is such a way that it may have multiple nodes. By having visibility on multiple nodes means to be visible at every division of the cargo airline from a single place. This will create a single platform for all the various services provided by the cargo airline. The various services or divisions may include FedEx freights, FedEx express, FedEx custom critical and FedEx ground and so on. This visibility will make it easier for the customers to track the information at a single place. This is possible when the information from all the operating services of FedEx is developed as a single unit of information which will be tracked by the customers. If this goal is achieved then the customers would not have to look the different web sites of different services of FedEx in order to view their tracking information. This plan will not only enhance the accessibility of the customers by providing them a single interface but it will also increase the collaboration among the different operating services. Other future plans of the FedEx Express may include the increment in the profits every year. The cargo airline wants to increase this revenue or profit by 10 percent almost. It is also desired that the strategies should be developed that may increase the flow of cash within the company. The operations should be performed in such a way that the return over these operations can get maximum. FedEx Express also wants to grow its network by covering more geographical locations.

Summary
In this paper we have made an analysis of the managerial side of FedEx operations. FedEx is considered to be the best courier service in the world. The network of FedEx is very strong which provides it access to the entire globe. FedEx has established a very effective network of transportation, information services, business and supply chain. In the paper we have also discussed the history of FedEx which states that how this company has made progress and grew in to a large cargo airline service. In this paper we have mainly focused over the managerial side and for this reason we have also provided the organizational chart of FedEx along with the introduction to the key people involved in it. The biggest customers as well as the main airports where the services are being provided by FedEx have also been given in this paper. It has also been discussed that what the future plans of this company are. These plans clearly states that the company aims to progress more by introducing innovative ways for improving the coordination and collaboration.

Experts view on terrorism vary however, most view terrorism as the only general characteristic commonly agreed upon is that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence. This criterion alone does not produce a useful definition, as it includes many acts not usually considered terrorism- war, organized crime, revolution, or even a simple riot. Terrorist violence may be perpetrated by rebels in opposition to an established social order or it may be inflicted by a state upon its own citizens or those of another state. Further discussion will be addressed concerning terrorism to me, terrorism definitions, and lastly different terroristic criteria.

Being in the military, we use terms such as Asymmetric warfare and low-intensity operations, which stand for tactics that can include terrorism. At its core, the definition of terrorism is not so much a description of a particular kind of violence, like bombing or assassination, but a way to differentiate an act of violence comparative to the speaker, and their point of view. Terrorism as a word in its usual usage has a connotation of evil, indiscriminate violence, or brutality. Terrorism, in my perspective is a term that attempts to define, as a separate phenomenon, a philosophy of coordinated violence which tends to have a high degree of social impact on the target society.

One 1988 study by the US Army discovered that over 100 definitions have been used. The United States State Department, Department of Defense, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation all have different definitions of what constitutes terrorism, broadly reflective of their areas of competence and operation. Some examples include The organized use of violence to attack noncombatants (innocents in a special sense) or their property for political purposes. U.S. Code of Federal Regulations ...the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. Current U.S. national security strategy premeditated, politically motivated violence against innocents. United States Department of Defense the calculated use of unlawful violence to inculcate fear intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies in pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological. British Terrorism Act 2000, defines terrorism so as to include not only attacks on military personnel, but also acts not usually considered violent, such as shutting down a website whose views one dislikes. U.S. Army training manual says Terrorism is the calculated use of violence, or the threat of violence, to produce goals that are political or ideological in nature.

The following are some further criteria that are sometimes applied, and the acts they exclude from the definition of terrorism. Many incidents often labeled as terrorist fail one or more criteria. First is target, which commonly held that the distinctive nature of terrorism lies in its deliberate and specific selection of civilians as targets. Furthermore, an act is more likely to be considered terrorism if it targets a general populace than if it purposefully targets a specific individual or group. Secondly is objective as the name implies, terrorism is understood as an attempt to provoke fear and intimidation. Hence, terrorist acts are designed and intended to attract wide publicity and cause public shock, outrage, andor fear. The intent may be to provoke unequal reactions from states. Lastly is motive which is acts that are intended to achieve political or religious goals, not for personal gain. For example, a gang of bank robbers who kill the bank manager, blow up the vault and escape with the contents would normally not be classed as terrorists, because their motive was profit. However, if a gang were to execute the same assault with the intent of causing a crisis in public confidence in the banking system, followed by a run on the banks and a subsequent destabilization of the economy, then the gang would be classed as terrorists.

In conclusion, there is no universally accepted definition of terrorism and even when people agree on a definition of terrorism, they sometimes disagree about whether or not the definition fits a particular incident. In order to understand terrorism, one must assess the different views of what exactly constitutes terrorism. Reaching a general conclusion on the definition of terrorism has generated much debate in the social sciences and internationally. No single definition seems to satisfy the wide interpretation of what specifically is terrorism.

In this article, the author has attempted to explore the literal meanings of terrorism, using a vast variety of references to drive his point. However the question that comes to my mind, is that is such an article actually needed in our body of knowledge Terrorism to me and the rest of the world, especially the numerous civilians that are affected by it every week, is a simple derivative of terror  an act that will strike fear into the hearts of every person that comes into contact with it. Do we really need to get in to the nitty gritty of the definition to properly define the term, so that some unlawful acts are excluded, or should all acts be cloaked under terrorism so that they are equally dealt with. How can a bank robbery not be defined as terrorism because the robbers were after profit Go ask the people inside the bank or the secretary that was held up at gunpoint whether they werent terrified. Go ask them whether a gun held to their head cannot be defined as terrorism. Defining the term will get us nowhere, denying it will.

Terrorism, what is it
Terrorism is defined as the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear)... This is also how the US Department of Defense defines terrorism. Within this definition, there are three key elementsviolence, fear, and intimidationand each element produces terror in its victims. (International Terrorism and Secruity Research) Another definition is terrorism means premeditated politically motivated violence against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or agents. This was usually to influence an audience. Terrorism is unlawful use or threat of violence. It is used against people or property to further political or social objectives. The result is to intimidate or coerce a government and individuals or groups modify their behavior or politics.

These are just a few definitions found on the web. As we can see terrorism can mean just about anything. But all these definition seem to have a few things in common, they all start by saying premeditated or calculated which when defined means to plan or intentionally do something, and it always against someone or a group. It is then described by some as both a tactic and strategy a crime and a holy duty a justified reaction to oppression and an inexcusable abomination We may think that terrorism is new to the world, but it has been among us for a very long time. It is said that it has been around since the beginning of recorded history. And although it is an ancient happening, it is still hard to define.

Terrorism is used against the weak and the strong but is used in an underhanded or undermined way. Look at the way it was used against the US. Everyone that got on those planes or was in those buildings was not expecting it to be their last day. Using terrorism in a way that no one is expecting is a very deceitful, cruel, evil way. Due to the secretive nature and small size of terrorist organizations, they often offer opponents no clear organization to defend against or to deter. But this seems to be the only way terrorists know. Harming by blind-side someone is the cowards way.

Terrorism may have many different, but the mean is still the same. It is a mean and evil way for someone to gain control over a nation or individuals by creating fear. It is a way for someone to change the way people live by bring doubt and fear in to their lives. Terrorism is not a new thing of hate it is an old way of hatred that has tried to keep people locked in fear. And the only way to stop them is to keep living as if they never happened. The pain hurt of their actions will live on, but we can not let them win by giving up. Loving, living and being happy are always the sweetest revenge.

The author provides some clever insights into the history of the terror phobia that arrests the world in our times. With countries like the United States forming global coalitions and increasing troop presence in other rogue states, her argument may come as a surprise to the think tanks in Washington. The dilemma that has plagued most of the world this time around is how does one stop all this madness Also is their really any one way to stop them Whereas governments across the globe are scrambling to increase security measures in potential threat zones, and countries are partnering to share any shred of intelligence that may help in destabilizing the global terror network, what are the masses supposed to do to protect themselves An honest answer will be  nothing.  There are two options that we can go with. Firstly we can go up in arms, fortify our houses and neighbourhoods and join the witch hunt, and ultimately clash with everyone who may look suspicious to us. The more intelligent option is to go about our lives as usual.  One must understand as the author so correctly argues, that the basic objective of terrorism is to strike fear into the hearts of the victims. If we cower down, they have won. If we let them get to us, they have won and their objective has been achieved. If we stop coming on the streets and start hiding in corners they have been successful. If we stop enjoying our life, going out, spending money, it will bring down our economy and they will have achieved what they had planned since the outset. However, if we go about our normal lives in the freedom that is meant for us we will win. If we are brave enough, we will love one another, and we will overcome.

Terrorism has many different definitions. The Department of Justice says it means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. The Department of States definition is premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets and The Department of Defense states that it is the use or threat of violence intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals. All definitions of terrorism have similar meanings and generally all use the same wording violence, fear, influence, attack and civilians (Terrorism, n.d., para 1-2) Despite there being many definitions, no act of terrorism is random (Prince-Gibson, 2008). To many people, terrorism and insurgency are often synonymous. To distinguish between terrorism and insurgency, you have to look at the goals for each. The main goal for insurgency is to challenge the existing government for partial or full control of territories whereas terrorists usually dont attempt to control certain locations because it makes them easier to locate. While insurgency does sometimes use terroristic actions to attain what they want, their main goal is not invoke fear by the use or threat of violence.

There are many different kinds of terrorism ecoterrorism, cyberterrorism, state terrorism, international terrorism and many more. However, state terrorism and international terrorism seem to draw the most concern (Rourke and Boyer, 2008). State terrorism is terrorism controlled, funded or preformed by an established country. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussein are just a few world leaders that have tried to control, suppress or exterminate population under their control (Terrorism, n.d., para 38). International terrorism is terrorism that transcends the boundaries of countries. Al Qaeda is the most known of international countries, spanning all oceans and reaching all continents. While these two forms of terrorism seem very different, they can (and sometimes do) cross over and become one. The lines of state terrorism and international terrorism are thin.

Although there are many differing ideas about what terrorism is, the elements and behaviors attached to each are very similar. Generally, they are all political, psychological, dynamic, deliberate and extensive. For the most part, terrorist acts are political in nature or aim to result in political change. Their threats are psychological in nature and must be coercive. If the perceived threat of violence isnt credible, than the terrorist has nothing to enforce their intended effects. Terrorism acts are always deliberate and extensive. It might take years to plan one attack but, for the terrorist, if the intended purpose is met it was worth the time.

I believe that terrorism is all of those things. Ask ten people and youll more than likely get ten different answers. Ask an Al Qaeda member and they would not say that they were terrorists. Instead theyd describe themselves as freedom fighters or legal combatants fighting for a legitimate cause. At the end of the day, every person fighting is doing so for one reason their beliefs.

The author of this article has very ably brought together the varying themes of terrorist together to create an interesting insight that explains the core of all terrorism  beliefs. Whereas it may be true that all terrorists explain themselves with this singular notion, it definitely does not solve anything. The clash of beliefs is something that has been a long time coming, and although it has been studied a number of times, no research article has really provided a viable solution that has been implemented. Some critics of religion tend to say that beliefs systems and organized religion are actually the reason that many people fight today, and thus the world is in the shape that it is in. Countries like Iran tend to see the United States as the Great Satan as well. However one thing that all people of religion tend to forget, whether they are heads of state, common masses or even academics, is the singular statement that lies at the core of all religions and belief systems. Brotherhood, friendship, loves and cooperation - these are the themes that are common across every religion. Serving humanity is something that needs to tie us all together when everything else divides us. It is only this spirit that can unite us and improve the world at large.

Formulating foreign policy decisions are by far the most complex decisions that an executive head of a country has to take because the effects of any foreign policy decision have a short term and a long term component, which can result in a multitude of negative or positive outcomes. It therefore becomes extremely important that the decision making process is well balanced and logical. At the apex, any decision making body necessarily has to consist of a group of people where decisions are usually arrived at through consensus and due deliberation. However, a decision making process can get afflicted by groupthink which is defined as a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. Such a definition obviously has immediate negative connotations though social scientists routinely complain that groupthink is a poorly specified and largely untested theory. This essay examines the effects of groupthink theory on foreign policy decision making process and argues that groupthink does not necessarily produce negative outcome by referring to two specific incidents namely The Bay of Pigs incident and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.  

Groupthink has several distinct characteristics. A group may develop illusions of invulnerability that may catalyse unwarranted risk taking. A group over time automatically feels protective towards the decisions it evolves and this might trigger a need to rationalise warnings given by others to the groups decisions. Unquestioned belief in morality of the group may also become a focus point where rational dissent becomes stifled. A group may also resort to rationalising that those opposed to its wisdom are weak, evil, unpatriotic, biased or even stupid. Under such circumstances, every member of the group may subconsciously be under social pressure not to be disloyal to the group by voicing an opposing view and thus results in self censorship. In every group, there could be members who act as keepers of the faith who interject to preserve the groups majority view. In highly complex and difficult situations, groupthink has shown to be even more accentuated due to the high stakes involved as also the personalities of the leaders involved. Sometimes a leader who displays authoritarian traits may simply force everyone to instinctively toe the line. On the other hand, a leader who is too accommodative may allow one or more dominant subordinate a greater voice in the decision. This becomes truer when decisions requiring a nation to go to war or launch an offensive are at stake where seeming weak is not the best face to show. Groupthink also becomes heightened if most of the members of the group come from the same ethnic, religious, educational or ideological background. The more numerous the characteristics described above in a group, the greater are the chances of groupthink resulting in a disastrous decision. This truism is exemplified by the Bay of Pigs incident.

Groupthink manifested clearly in the Bay of Pigs incident, the abortive attempt spear headed by the CIA to overthrow Fidel Castro of Cuba through landing Cuban exiles in Southern Cuba with support from the U.S. government in April 1961. President Kennedy had assembled a formidable team of advisors, some the best and the brightest brains in the country and yet he took a highly questionable foreign policy decision which ended in abject failure. In fact Kennedy was later to introspect as to how could I have been so stupid as to let them go ahead. One of the variations to traditional groupthink theory is that the Kennedy team of advisors suffered from a new group syndrome. Kennedys team was fairly new and had not had the time to develop group cohesiveness leading to magnification of personal inadequacies and fears precluding an objective assessment of the problem at hand.  The decision to launch the operation was taken just three months after assuming presidency. Kennedy flush with electoral victory was mindful of the right wing community that wished the President to act tough on Communists especially those flourishing in Americas backyard. Kennedys own need in this regard percolated to his advisors. To maintain secrecy, the entire decision making processes were limited to a very small group keeping the governments Latin America experts out of the loop. Secretary of Defence Robert Mc Namara was too involved in Pentagon administrative matters to pay close attention to this primarily CIA driven plan. The core group that did deliberate on the plan was a homogenous group of almost same educational, religious and ethnic backgrounds and were mostly males. The group also displayed loyalty to the Presidents idea and rejected contrarians views to the plan as articulated by Senator Fullbright in one of the meetings (Hart, Stern,  Sundelius, p. 174). When the plan was put to an informal voice vote, Kennedy himself interjected any member who tried to put forth a more nuanced view of the operation. When that happened, most members of the group naturally voted for the motion so as to conform to the groups thinking and not be singled out as the traitor or the undesirable. Kennedy also gave the CIA greater voice in meetings that subconsciously reinforced the acceptability of the plan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also did not voice any real opposition to the plan probably not wanting to counter the CIA and what increasingly seemed to be the Presidents idea.Thus the decision to embark on the plan got reinforced over time to a limit that not one dissenting voice was recorded from the entire group when the final decision was being made. This is one example where groupthink led to disastrous results.

On the other hand the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 shows how groupthink can produce positive results. The dilatory statements of Egyptian President Nasser and the equally alarming posturing of Arab states surrounding Israel prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli War strengthened the belief of Israelis that the Arab states were bent on destroying Israel. The closure of Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping by Egypt and the massing of Arab forces on Israels borders forced a groupthink amongst the Israeli planners that Israel needed to carry out a pre-emptive strike to neutralise the Arab threat. Within the Israeli group, the forceful voice of Yitzhak Rabin, the Commander in Chief rallied the rest of the group into a high risk option of striking pre-emptively. The political members wanted the Israeli Defence Forces to wait for the outcome of a meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Eban and President Johnson of the United States. Rabin explains in his memoirs that the Israeli Armed forces view was that what is the point of waiting any longer Weve already forfeited the advantage of strategic surprise. If we continue to wait, we run the risk of losing even the advantage of tactical surprise. That would be the worst situation imaginable. What are we waiting for. The political members of the group were not easily swayed by this exhortation and a voice vote ended in a stalemate. Rabin persisted and finally won the argument leading to the Six Day war which was a stupendous success for the Israelis in the short term. This was a classical example of groupthink as other members of the Israeli cabinet who were sceptical of possible Egyptian attack nonetheless went through with the decision lest they were labelled as weak, unpatriotic or indecisive. Thus in this case groupthink produced positive results while in the Bay of Pigs case groupthink resulted in a disaster.

In conclusion, it can emphasised that foreign policy decision making process whether in America or Israel or elsewhere in the world necessarily has to be taken by the executive where there always will exist a group that takes the decision. Group dynamics posit that dangers posed by groupthink will remain wherein decisions may be taken without proper evaluation of all options. In the Bay of Pigs case, the group deciding was relatively new, lacked cohesion and was dominated by one member, the CIA with others deferring to the perceived approval of the President. This led the Kennedy administration to launch the operation with disastrous results. In the case of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, there was considerable opposition to launching the war by the political members who wished to exhaust all political options before deciding to go to war. In this case, groupthink was forced by a forceful personality, Yitzhak Rabin who had the support of the entire Israeli Armed Forces behind him. Groupthink here was more balanced because the Israeli Armed forces had completely analysed the adversarys strengths and weaknesses and had a well developed plan unlike the Bay of Pigs incident where the Joint Chiefs of Staff had played only a marginal role leaving operational planning in the hands of the CIA. Groupthink can therefore result in positive or negative outcomes depending upon how well the group is able to resolve its inner dynamics and arrive at a more considered decision before implementing the same.

The issue of the role of religion in current European affairs comes to a head every time there is an incident such as the recent headscarf debate. That incident was more about political rather than just a religious problem but it leads to the uncertainty about the place religion has in a post-modern, secular Europe.

Religion has a far greater impact on present-day European identity than is either acknowledged or given credit for. The evidence to prove this statement is not difficult to come by. The European Union has so far failed to provide a basis for a common identity among the member states. Schlesinger and Foret write the putative Eurodemocracy is still hunting for its principles and conditions of existence. Given this lack of unity, it is inevitable that a shared religious identity should become the basis for communal identity.

It is the expression of religion rather than just a system of values which has created this importance of religion in the European mind. Challand argues in a 2009 article that religion was not a significant concern in Europe before 1980. He gives evidence for this by saying that the number of articles published in journals and newspapers combining the words religion with Europe increased steadily over the decade from 1980 to 1990. There are two conclusions to be drawn here the first is that the place of religion in Europe had become a debatable topic long before the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001 the second is that religion became a mounting concern in the European mind as the rates of non-Christian immigrants to the European Union increased. The mention of migrants immediately brings to mind the presence of a Muslim population within Europe and the place Islam can be expected to have within a secular Europe.

It cannot be denied that the European Union has painlessly absorbed Catholic, Protestant, Christian Orthodox and any number of other faiths, so why should the concept of Islam within the European Union cause such dread  To answer this question one needs to question the secularity of Europe itself.
Casanova  writes  western European societies are deeply secular societies and havedifficulty in recognizing some legitimate role for religion in public life and in  collective group identities. He adds Muslim-organized collective identities and their public representations become a source of anxiety concerning the role of religion in the public sphere. This opinion implies that it is the presence of a collective Muslim mindset as well as the actions of the people having that mindset which raises the issue of religion in secular European thoughts. This statement may be accurate in saying that the public display of religious sentiment makes Europeans uneasy, but is false in suggesting that secular Europe has completely cut off its ties to its religious heritage.  Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes about pockets of Muslims living across Europe who choose to confine themselves to their own rituals rather than blending within the community of their adopted country.  in the town of Evry, south of Parissupermarkets stopped selling pork and alcoholic beverages and ritual seep slaughter has become an official activity because Muslims constitute two thirds of the total population. The anxiety caused by the creation within the European Union of such Islamic states, along with the pictures of Muslim youths becoming trained terrorists has led to a reversal to Judeo-Christian values in a number of European states. Nowhere is this clearer than in the more than 50 year old problem of Turkeys admission to the European Union. Challand writes  simplistic argumentsabout an alleged Islamic threat take the upper hand and the fact tat Turkey fulfils most of the criteria to enter the EU are ignored. The idea of allowing a Muslim country, even one as sincerely secular as Turkey to enter the fold of the EU clearly goes against some buried Judeo-Christian feelings. The basis of this thinking is the same one that leads migrants to clump together with others of the religion, even though they may not belong to the same nation. Schlesinger and Foret write religion can play a role in cultural defense by providing resources with which to protect national, ethnic, local or group cultures.

It is not correct to say that a sharing of Judeo-Christian values can create an automatic connection with a European identity, nor is it correct to claim that not having a Christian past bars a state from becoming a member of the European Union. The point is to acknowledge that a lack of religious feeling is extremely unlikely, even in so-called secular groups like the EU.

Romano Prodi suggested that  the traditional logic of liberalism isno longer enough to meet concerns and fears regarding ones own identity in the era of globalization. Europe has to come out from behind the veil of secularism and confront its own religious identity as well as the role of religion within its union.

Part 1
Richard Clarke made several attempts to persuade the White House to focus more attention on the Al Qaeda threat but he proved unsuccessful in influencing shifts in counterterrorism measures during the Bush administration. When President George W. Bush  assumed the highest office of the country, he inherited the still-pending issue of the USS Cole, which in Clarkes viewpoint galvanizes the observation that al Qaeda remains to be the most dangerous threat to U.S. national security.  Clarke and colleagues from the counterterrorism unit were dismayed that no military response was initiated during the Clinton administration, one colleague even retorting Does al Qaeda have to attack the Pentagon to get their attention (911 Commission, 2004, p. 196). As early as January 2000, Clarke gave briefings to Condoleezza Rice, her deputy Hadley, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of State Colin Powell that warning the global adaptability of al Qaedas network. Thereafter, Clark, through Rice, made several attempts to seek an audience with the new President in an effort to persuade the new administration to make terrorism a high priority. He submitted a comprehensive memorandum entitled Strategy for Eliminating the Terrorist Threats from the Jihadist Networks of al Qida Status and Prospects concluding that we urgently need a Principals level review on the al Qida network (911 Commission, 2004, p. 201).  In a memo dated January 25, Clarke made a recommendation to Rice that the U.S. should come up with a proper response to the Cole attack at a time, place, and manner of our own choosing (911 Commission, 2004, p. 202). George Tenet briefed Bush on the USS Cole attack sometime in January 2000 making a preliminary assessment that ties al Qaeda directly to the attack but finding insubstantial evidence to find bin Laden as the mastermind. Despite repeated efforts, pleas from Clarke and Tenet seemed to have fallen into deaf ears. The Bush administration was largely indifferent, complacent, and blithe despite several warnings and alarms sent not only by Clarke but by other officials of the counterterrorism unit. The  Bush administrations priorities lie elsewhere, particular, on China, missile defense, Middle East peace process, and the Persian Gulf (911 Commission, 2004, p. 199). Clarke made a last-minute attempt to brief the President on August 6, 2001 but his Daily Briefing Memo was scrapped, Rice justifying later that the memo did not mention any attacks inside the United States (911 Commission Report, 2004, p. 205).

Clarke continuously requested for the Principals to convene and  discuss the al Qaeda threat seriously, but no meeting was held until September 4, 2001, seven days before the 911 bombings.
The Bush administrations indifference coupled with the breakdown of the U.S. intelligence process has been blamed for the events leading up to the tragedy of September 11, 2001. In particular, the lack of cooperation between and among federal agencies drew out the most criticisms for this breakdown. In July 10, 2001, a memo, now coined the Phoenix memo was drafted by an operative named Kenneth Williams from FBIs Phoenix Bureau, warning that al Qaeda may be sending students to U.S. flight training schools for terrorist activities and urged the FBI to look into the matter. The memo recommended, Phoenix believes that the FBI should accumulate a listing of civil aviationuniversitiescolleges around the country ( Gertz, 2002, p. 83 ). Williams 5-page memo was left unheeded by the FBI - a blunder of monumental proportions (Gertz, 2002, p. 85). It was received by the Radical Fundamentalist Unit and never got far. As it turned out, had the memo been acted upon promptly, it would have most likely prevent the 911 tragedy. Since the Phoenix memo was ignored, it was not analyzed and shared across other intelligence agencies like the FBI  Minneapolis field office. Agents stationed there had arrested Islamic extremist Zacarias Moussaoui based on a tip from a civil aircraft training school employee. Williams said later that had the FBI acted upon a crucial piece of information and authorized an investigation of flight training schools, the 911 plot would have been frustrated.

Part 2  Questions 2 and 3
(2) Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) (hereinafter Miranda) held that exculpatory and inculpatory statements given  by a defendant in response to police interrogation will be admissible in court only if four warnings are given to the defendant a) the right to remain silent , b) anything he says may be used against him, c) right to an attorney present during interrogation, d) if indigent, a right to lawyer free of charge. The landmark case was decided on a slim 5-4 vote, and the dissenting opinion, written by Justice Harlan, articulates the many flaws of the decision. Among the problems the dissenters found was that Miranda was leading not toward the elimination of police brutality as it asserts, but to discourage confessions altogether. This poses several drawbacks to law enforcement ,where suspect questioning is intrinsic and considered undoubtedly an essential tool in effective law enforcement (citing Crooker v. California). Miranda aims to provide a protective shield for the accused against coercion and other cajoling tactics that would force a defendant to confess absent the element of voluntariness. The dissenters affirm the Constitution disfavors spontaneous confessions and agree that although confessions may be inherently suspect due to the accusatorial nature of interrogation and the compelling environment that the defendant may be subjected to, current tactics of interrogation have already taken into consideration due process concerns. However, dissenters argued that Mirandas inadmissibility rule is hazardous experimentation.

(3) U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (hereinafter US Term Limits) dealt with the nature of sovereignty and the limitations of the State in the exercise of sovereign powers, especially those that dealt with the imposition of congressional qualifications. US Term Limits rejects the argument that States are empowered to impose qualifications by virtue of the original powers granted by the Tenth Amendment. The majority opinion, penned by Justice Stevens, provides two major reasons. First, the power to attach additional qualifications is not within the purview of the States original powers prior to the Tenth Amendment, but is a new right originating from the Constitution itself (Hall, 1999).

Second, this would be inconsistent with the intent of the Framers in a uniform national legislature to represent the citizens of the United States.  Another landmark decision, U.S. v. Lopez, bolstered the limitations of Congress legislative power. In this case, legislative power was exercised in conflict with commerce power. The case decided on whether or not Congress has the power to legislate policies designed to control the public school system. In a narrow decision, the Court struck down the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act, finding that it exceeds the bounds of federal commerce power (Hall, 1999, p. 165).

Part 3  Questions 1, 2, and 7
(1) Certiorari refers to a type of writ which seeks judicial review. Certiorari, which in Latin means to be more fully informed is a remedy that brings a decision made by a lower court to a higher court for review (Black, 1970). In the US legal system, certiorari is a writ issued by the US Supreme Court to a lower court in order to review the latters judgment for possible legal errors where appeal is no longer accessible.  However, when a writ for certiorari is granted, this does not mean that the Supreme Court opposes the lower courts decision. Granting of a writ, which requires the vote of at least four Justices, indicates that the Court has deemed the circumstances and nature of the petition substantial for review.

(2) Stare decisis is a legal doctrine, which translated in Latin means to stand by that which is decided (Black, 1970). This is often referred to as the precedent principle practiced and adhered to by the courts. This doctrine purports that once a point has been settled with a decision, cases of like nature are to be similarly decided. The stare decisis doctrine is founded on the assumption that the major objectives of the legal system  certainty, stability, and predictability  are fundamental elements of jurisprudence, but does not prevent reexamination or revocation of earlier judgments of decisions.
(7) The landmark case, U.S. v. Lopez, determined the limits of legislative power specifically in relation to the enactment of laws seeking to control the public school system. In response to the escalating incidence of gun-related violence in the public schools, Congress passed the Gun-Free School Zones Act in 1990. Alfonzo Lopez, a senior high school student of San Antonio, Texas was arrested for the possession of a .38 caliber handgun in violation of the Gun-Free Act (Hall, 1999).

After sentenced to six months in prison by the federal district court, Lopez appealed to the Court of Appeals of the Fifth Circuit where the latter reversed the earlier decision, citing unconstitutionality. The Fifth Circuit argued that the Gun-Free School Zones Act was an invalid exercise of commerce power by Congress. The US Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Fifth Circuit. Until now, US v. Lopez is considered one of most important cases affirming state sovereignty.  

As one of the most progressive economic centers in the world, it is truly amazing how Singapore, despite of its limited resources, has been able to succeed in being a highly-industrialized nation.  It seems to have discovered the perfect formula on how a nations economy should be managed, and how competent manner of governance can make a nation prosper.  

Despite of the economic crisis that has befallen Asia and the rest of the world, Singapores economy seemed to have recovered its former dynamism.  As proof, even though they have posted a -6.5 growth on the first half of 2009, they have reformed by registering a 3.5 by the end of the 4th quarter, ending the fiscal year of 2009 with only a -2.1 economic setback a figure much better than neighboring nations.  In addition, Singapores economic experts have estimated that the worst part of the crisis has already passed, and is in fact expecting a much better performance in 2010.  This scenario will most certainly open opportunities to level the field with economic giants such as China and India, and will hasten Singapores recovery.  Singapore therefore must plan carefully for future actions in order to position herself at the right place and time to maximize her chances of success.  Presently, the government has already introduced extensive measures to further accelerate Singapores economy, thus, workers will need to prepare challenges that will demand them to be flexible, ready to adapt to changing conditions, prepared for new jobs that the changing conditions will call for, to up-skill, re-skill, and multi-skill.  Most important on the governments agenda would be to limit the influx of foreign workers, in order for the Singaporean economy not to be overwhelmed with the enormous numbers.  Likewise, those foreign employees who have displayed hard work and expertise in entrepreneurial skills must be encouraged to stay.  Singapores economy will further accelerate by increasing its Gross National Product through skills advancement programs with the help of the government, and by upgrading the employees competitiveness only then will Singaporeans be able to regain the economic prosperity and every citizen can be enthusiastic into having a better standard of living.  

With all of these economic aspirations in consideration, if given the opportunity to ask Prime Minster Lee Hsien Loong, Singapores main economic tactician and government leader, my most important question would be, What would be Singapores long-term strategies, over a 10 to 20 year period, that will assure sustained economic growth and increase the chances of positioning the nation as being the leader among other advanced economies  This would be critical as Singaporeans should be prepared for the changes that are coming as a result of the governments efforts to up-skill and multi-skill.  By having a clear resolution on what to expect in the next couple of decades, not only can we better equip ourselves towards achieving the nations goal, but more importantly, we can educate and guide the younger generations as they will eventually become the pillars of the Republic of Singapore.            

Genocide is a very important topic that has to be carefully studied. In cases wherein one has to defend a certain stance regarding a particular genocide that took place in history, it is necessary that the researcher should give sufficient number of evidences coming from reputable sources in order to prove his or her claim. These requirements are only some of the factors that were taken into consideration by the researcher in the paper entitled, Cambodia Genocide or Massacre

The researcher was able to think of a very catchy title for the paper that also captures the main point that the paper discussed. The paper argues that the killings that took place during the Pol Pots administration should be regarded as genocide instead of a mere massacre. This argument was properly substantiated by the corresponding evidences that the researcher gave in order to prove her stance. She used primary and secondary resources, which validates the argument that she presented. The main strength of the researcher in the paper that she presented is her use of credible sources and the way she used it to make her argument viable.

However, there are also some points that the researcher must improved on. First, the researcher did not include an abstract for the paper, which is essential as this served as the summary of the contents of the research. Second, the researcher also failed to use the appropriate APA citation because the references in her paper are more like MLA rather than APA. Third, it would be better if the researcher placed headings in the paper to help in the organization of the paper. Fourth, the researcher should improve on her grammar and she should have proofread the paper because there are some grammatical errors and misspelled words.

All things taken into consideration, the research paper about the Cambodian killings was able to present a good discussion to prove that the deaths that took place are indeed genocide and not a massacre. The only weakness of the paper is in the citation and organization of the paper.

An Evaluation of Financial Issues Involved
Ruritania is one of the democratic nations situated in Eastern Europe.  Through this report, an attempt has been made to evaluate the significance of the proposal of  making investments in opening up a new manufacturing unit in Ruritania.  This being the first opportunity for the company to make a foreign investment, holds great importance for the company. Performance in this venture could decide the path for the organisation in becoming a multinational organisation from being a domestic company  as of today.  Expansion and globalisation  of this sort has its own advantages as well as challenges.

Advantages include comparative cost advantage in terms of labour cost, material cost, transportation cost, etc. Tax benefits received in destination countries is another advantage. Financial diversification in terms of spreading the firms risk over larger number of nations rather than limiting it to just one nation  is yet another motivation for acquiring a multinational character by a company. Moreover the  company hopes to establish a profound presence in the region through this project. The company would also be in a position to deny the markets to the companys global competitors.

However such investments  also has some problems in the areas of capital budgeting decisions, which are seldom encountered in domestic enterprises. International firms have to deal with various issues among others, such as exchange rate risk, expropriation risk, blocked funds, foreign tax regulations, political risk, differences between basic business risks of foreign and domestic projects, FDI allowance regulations, tariff  non tariff trade barriers posed by the target nation, monetary policy of the country, remittance limits set by the country, country risk or sovereign risk, corruption level in the country, costs of sustainability goal obligations if any, set by the government of the country, interest risk on loans taken both domestically as well as internationally, market risk, risks arising due to violence, agitations, unrests, environmental calamities and others.

The choice of eastern Europe as a destination for expansion, needs to be studied. Other developed export driven economies like Germany  France already rely heavily on the eastern European countries to satisfy their globalisation aspirations. This however has added pressure on these not yet developed economies. Vistesen and Hugh (2009) point out that an extraordinarily high inward flow of funds into these countries in the form of FDI, combined with a high outflow of labour through migration leads to the incapability of these countries in catering to the rising credit driven consumer demand and high growth rate needs particularly due to the lack of enough labour supply. Therefore before investing in these countries, it is important to predict whether these nations would be able to deal with this peculiar situation.

The concerned data available for these economies (International Monetary Fund 2009) have been tabulated as below.
Data for 2008Size of GDP
(Billions US )GDP annual percent growth rateGDP per capita ()Rate of InflationMajor trade partnersCountriesArmenia11.916.78 3684.555.2 Germany, Netherland, Belgium, RussiaAzerbaijan46.37811.63 5349.39115.4 Italy, Czech Republic, UK, RussiaBelarus60.30210.02 6234.68613.3 Russia, Latvia, Ukraine, UK.Bulgaria49.9046.01 6560.7237.18 Germany, Turkey, Italy, Greece.Georgia12.8642.06 2923.5455.55 CIS countries, TurkeyMaldova6.0477.2 1692.5477.3 Russia, Romania, Ukraine, GermanyRomania200.0747.1 9310.3866.3 EU, Russia, ChinaUkraine179.6042.1 3909.87322.34 EU, CIS, China, USRuritania-3.2 -5.2 -

From the above table we can observe that the GDP growth rate of Ruritania at 3.2  is lower than all of its neighbours excepting that  of Ukraine and Georgia. Its inflation rate at 5.2  is also lower than the average of the countries of the region.  However, the recent recession has turned the picture, and fast growing economies have shown deeper signs of recession in 2009.  We may conclude that Ruritania has not yet fully exploited its potential if it has any,  and these figures must be taken into account while reaching to any decision about making investments in Ruritania. Moreover UK is a major trade partner for most of the nations in the region.

It is pertinent to note that Ruritanias government is systematically doing enough groundwork by pegging the Crown with a major currency at this point of time. Its intention to join Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM 2) would link Crown to the Euro, thus helping the European Union to evaluate the proposed inclusion of Ruritania into the Eurozone. Inclusion of Ruritania in the Eurozone, would mean having a free access to the markets of Ruritania which would prove to be a great boon to the company in the event of the company having a manufacturing facility in the country.

In spite of the evident bright future prospects,  it would be prudent if several other factors were taken into  consideration before going ahead with the investment

Incremental Cash Flows  Any project has its cash outflows and inflows. In order that a foreign capital budgeting project be evaluated correctly, it is important to calculate the incremental Cash Flows After Taxes (CFAT) that the project eventually has. This incremental CFAT is distinct from total CFAT and essentially involves the use of cash outflows and inflows, that can be exclusively and wholly identified with the proposed project. Thus the firms profits should be reduced with decrease in the cash profits due to decrease in export sales of the parent company, costs of technology transfer, shipping charges, custom duties, training costs, repatriation costs, and opportunity costs involved. On the other hand, dividends received from the subsidiary, management fees, royalties received, increase in cash profits of the parent company due to the increase in export sales to the subsidiary and others should be added to this amount to arrive at the correct decision.

Transfer Pricing policies  This area needs great emphasis and diligence because of the complex set of interests involved in this type of a decision. Factors influencing transfer pricing include, minimising income taxes, achieving goal congruence, tariffs and customs duties levied on imports of products into a country,  restrictions that some countries place on dividend or income related payments to parties outside their national borders (Horngren, Datar and Foster 2006, p.776). In countries having high income taxes, and high restrictions on profit repatriation to outside countries, subsidiaries may keep the prices of their products low while selling to the parent company.  This would also help minimise import duties and tariff payments of the parent company if such duties levied  in home country of the parent company are too high. Prices can be kept high for products of subsidiaries located in countries having low income taxes, and minimum restrictions on repatriation amounts. This would help minimise income taxes paid by the parent company. However, performance measurement and evaluation goals for motivating management effort in the subsidiary as well as parent company must also be factored in while making a transfer pricing decision. There is a high possibility of all these motives conflicting with each other.

FDI allowance regulations  Each country has its own policy regarding the way it wants the businesses in its economy to function. Those leaning towards a communist ideology tend to have more and more industries in government control. These countries do not allow much foreign capital invested in the country to retain ownership of its assets. Similarly conservative economies and economies who are at nascent stages of opening up prefer to keep the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) at the minimum possible level. It should be gauged whether Ruritania will continue to allow same or even increasing levels of FDI in their county in the coming future.    

Tariff  non tariff trade barriers  Nations employ various barriers or hurdles on imports as well as exports in their countries to curtail trade in certain industries, products or services. This is done either to protect domestic companies in fierce competition from the global players, to give boost to domestic companies in order to reach them to a comparatively advantageous positions in the global competition, or to harm the interests of the foreign companies.  Such trade barriers can be tariff or non tariff. Tariff barriers include levying of import and custom duties, excise duties, cesses etc. Non tariff barriers include lengthy registration and documentation procedures, quantitative restrictions, standard requirements, subsidies, legislations and others which cut on the profits of the foreign players. The members of the EU when faced with such trade barriers are expected to register a complaint on the Complaints register section of the Market Access Database website of the European Union Commission at  HYPERLINK httpwww.mkaccdb.eu www.mkaccdb.eu .  

Monetary policy of the country  Depending upon the condition of the economy of a country and the ideology of the ruler of the government of a nation, the countrys central bank may have a tighter or lenient monetary policy.  Monetary policy directly influences the bank  interest rates, inflation rate,  money supply in the market of the country and such other major determinants of volume of business in the economy.  Knowledge of the generally pursued monetary policy in Ruritania would make the company more equipped to take a right decision.  

Repatriation of Profits  remittance limits set by the country  Small economies and  conservative economies tend to place restrictions on the volume of profits that can be repatriated to the home country.  Limited foreign currency reserves, need for making funds available for the development of the country, increasing the supply of money in the domestic markets to curtail inflation, could be the reasons behind such restrictions. These restrictions reduce the amount of funds repatriated to the parent company  and in effect it adversely impacts the profitablity of the parent company.  Effective Transfer pricing policy, loan repayments, fees and royalty payment adjustments, are the tools to deal with such situations. However such restrictions should not be worrying for this company if it plans to continue to expand its business  in Ruritania over a long term period.    

Capital Structure  financing methods available  At the outset, the company will have to decide the capital structure of the manufacturing facility in Ruritania. It has to decide the percentage of total capital that it is going to invest itself, that it is going to raise from the public through sale of shares, that it is going to raise from the banks, and other financial institutions. Money can also be raised through ECBs in the form of buyers credit, suppliers credit, floating rates notes, fixed interest bonds and others.  Other long term primary instruments are Foreign Currency Bonds (FCCBs), American Global Depository receipts Cerificates (ADRsGDRs) (Khan  and Jain 2007, p.36.26).  

Having done preliminary study of the micro and macro economic conditions for the business in Ruritania, it would now become important to get aquainted with the various risks involved in the investment. Risks faced in international businesses have more dimensions alongwith those faced in the domestic business.  

Interest rate risk This risk occurs in the situation when company has borrowed from various domestic  international lenders, and interest rates fluctuate in a very volatile environment. This risk can be mitigated by trading surplus funds in debt market.

Country risk or sovereign risk  This form of risk arises out of the very existence of the subsidiary in a foreign country.  The government of the host country may take actions such as prohibiting remittance  to a particular country or in a particular currency due to foreign currency shortages and adverse political events.  In order to predict such a risk, issues such as trade policy, fiscal stance ( deficit or surplus ) of the government, government intervention  in the economy, its monetary policy, capital flows and foreign investment, inflation, structure of the financial system and political stability history and others must be studied (Saunders and Cornett 2007, p.564). An extention of this form of risk would be Expropriation risk and political risk. Political risk may be mild interference or even reach upto complete confiscation of all assets termed as expropriation risk.  Mild interference would include law making it mandatory to employ nationals at important positions or upto a percentage of total labour force, to invest in environmental and social projects, and restricting currency convertibility etc.

Corruption Level in the country  High corruption level in many countries make it unviable to do business in those countries, even if all other conditions and regulations are favourable.  So a company must always be aware of the levels of corruption in a country before entering into the foray.

Exchange rate risk  Any business indulging in international trade and business inherently face foreign exchange risk. The business charges its clients and customers in one currency. If that currency fluctuates unfavourably drastically after an agreement or commitment has been made in relation to supplying of goods, the company has to bear the losses to the tune of number of goods times the difference that occurred in the exchange rate of the currencies. In case of such drastic changes, a profitable project might turn unviable overnight.  Hence stability in the value of currency is of utmost importance. Ruritania does not have a long history of exchange rate stability. Stability over a period of eighteen months does not warranty anything about the future. Hence it is worth mentioning that the decision of investing in Ruritania is challengeable on the grounds of high level of  foreign exchange risk. Foreign exchange risk can however be mitigated by hedging.  On- balance sheet hedging involves making changes in the balance sheet assets and liabilities whereas off - balance sheet hedging involves taking a position in forward or other derivative securities  (Saunders and Cornett 2007, p.238).

Apart from these risks, there are also risks arising due to possibilities of violence, agitations, unrests among the people of the host nation or possible environmental calamities in risk prone countries.  Market risk arising out of fluctuating prices of the companys products due to fluctuations in overall demand and supply of the particular product in the economy  should also be considered while devising the business plan.

Other Considerations
Performance measurement in Multinational Corporations  becomes complicated because of the various inherent differences between economic, social and business environments across these countries.  The commonly used ROI method of evaluating and comparing performances of the units and managers suffers from inefficiency because of the foreign exchange fluctuations. To get a true picture therefore, historical cost based ROIs of units in different countries should be compared instead of current cost values, because they negate the effects of any differences in inflation rates between the two countries. This should also be applied to the Residual Income method of performance measurement (Horngren,  Datar and Foster 2006, p.804). This method can however be used only for relatively newer organisations, as using historical values of the assets of older organisations would be misleading, they being irrelevant and insignificant as of today .

Other costs that can be incurred by the company in the course of its business such as legal costs for registration  and lisencing purposes, and in the event of any litigation should be taken into account.  Some governments may have mandatory laws regarding sustainablility goals to be achieved by businesses. Businesses would have to incur costs in order to install proper environment management systems in their units. Such and other such costs and risks if any must be considered at the time of preparing the budget for the new manufacturing facility in Ruritania.

Recommendations
From the above discussion we can conclude that the growth rate figures  of other nations in Eastern Europe are more attractive for doing business than Ruritania. Prospects of Ruritania entering the EU look good, but the business could face high foreign exchange risk which is indicated from the absence of long history of currency stability of the country.  Hence through this report, it is advised to the company to refrain from taking any hasty steps towards investment in Ruritania, and that a deeper study of the economy of the country needs to be done to verify the future prospects.

Besides  considering all the above issues, if a manufacturing facility is to be set up, a systematic procedure must be adopted to arrive at the decision on whether to venture into  such a particular International Capital Investment. The Net Present Value (NPV) of the Future Cash Flows after taxes (CFAT) that can be repatriated to the parent company must be calculated and the decision should be taken accordingly (Khan and Jain 2007, p.36.9).  The steps involve the following
Estimating cash outflows for undertaking said foreign investment in Sterling Pound.

Determining the expected incremental cash inflows after taxes (CFAT) mentioned earlier. This should be calculated  in terms of Crown.

Determining the expected repatriation of CFAT as per the regulations of the Government of Ruritania.

Deducting the withholding tax from expected repatriation. This amount so determined will be the amount available for repatriation to this company.

Converting the expected CFAT into Pounds at the future projected exchange rates.

Determining the Net Present Value (NPV) of the CFAT of the project by discounting it with the appropriate rate of return  cost of capital, also adjusted for the aforesaid risks that the proposed international project carries.

The project is accepted if the NPV calculated as above is positive. It should be rejected in case the NPV is negative.

All said and done, management decisions must always have an element of individual judgement in making any strategic level decisions. This report therefore calls upon the management to factor in all these issues as well as their judgement to devise a prudent strategy.

Sayyid Qutb is one of the most controversial but celebrated religious figures in the Muslim community today. He has contributed greatly to the understanding of Quran and his works are today highly regarded especially by traditional Muslims. The main theme of the writings of Sayyid was to fight against social injustices that he believed were being perpetrated by the liberal nationalists. Prior to becoming a fully committed Islam follower, Sayyid was a liberal nationalist who highly advocated for democracy and social and human rights of individuals. However, this changed after he experienced discrimination in the United States as well as the events of the Second World War. He felt that all human kind had deviated from the true rule of Allah and had instead begun adoring the westernization. His writings were thus founded on the call for Muslim brothers to arise and practice jihadism that he felt was the only way of reaching all humans around the world. Much of his writings are backed up by the Quran and this has made them very powerful even today among the Muslims. He never advocated for terrorism or killing innocent people but rather for the stoppage of the same and for the upholding of human rights and social justices. However, much of his work has been highly demonized today with terrorist groups interpreting it wrongly and basing their actions on them.

Sayyid did not advocate for terrorism but rather for the upholding of social justices and human rights through practice of true Islam and jihadism. This paper will evaluate the life of Sayyid Qutb, his writings and contribution to Islamism and also evaluate how extremists have wrongly interpreted his work to fit into their own terrorism plans based on his ideologies. Furthermore, the paper will try to justify that jihadism advocated for by Sayyid does not translate to terrorism or even encourages it.

To fully understand the stance that Sayyid took while advancing his ideologies pertaining to jihadism and offensive war as opposed to defensive war or jihad, the paper will first evaluate his life and the various events and circumstances that shaped his believes and ideologies.

Sayyid was a theorist in the Islamic movement as well as the Muslim brotherhoods leader. He was highly opposed to Nassers secular Arab nationalism and this was the major reason why he was executed in the year 1966 after being accused of planning to overthrow the government of Egypt. Sayyid Qutb has continued to serve as one of the major Islamic intellectual and spiritual guides. His conception on Islamic region, its secular relation and modernity relativism have had great influence in the Muslim world, especially in Egypt where he was born, and other Arab countries. Most political movements with Islamic banners have been affected by the thoughts of Sayyid Qutb and antipathy to governments and states not being governed according to the revelation of God. One of the major reasons as to why the thoughts of Sayyid Qutb are today very influential is because of his ability to carefully integrate his thoughts with various sections of the Quran-the holy book of Muslims. This has had a very authoritative ring that could be heard very clearly by individuals who were being guided by tradition and not sexual nationalism. Quran is a major source of understanding and inspiration for Muslim faithful, especially those practicing the traditional Islam. Even before his pre-Islamic period, Sayyid Qutb had a great interest in Quran and this is evident in his later life, especially by his artistic Quran expression. The Quran was Sayyids proof to most of his ideas as well as last resort court.

Most of the works of Sayyid Qutb have been attributed with the rising terrorism acts around the world. Most authors and philosophers, especially in the western cultures, believe that Sayyid Qutb is the founding father of terrorism acts and the Muslim brotherhood movement associated with emergence of terrorism groups such as the Al Qaeda, associated with terrorism attacks of 911 bombing of the World Trade center in the United States. However, careful analysis of the works of Sayyid Qutb reveals that he was not advocating for terrorism but the subsequent interpretations of his work by individuals have contributed to increasing terrorism activities around the world. Terrorist groups have been interpreting the work wrongly to serve their own needs and desires.

Background of Sayyid Qutb and his ideologies
Sayyid Qutb was born in Egypt in the year of 1906. He was the first born in a family of five and his father was highly educated while his mother was a very religious person. Qutb is described to have had a formal relationship with his father, although his mother and the rest of their siblings were more affectionate and closer to him. His mother brought him up in a very religious way and by the time he was aged ten, Sayyid had memorized the entire Quran. In the year 1921, Sayyid traveled to Cairo and in the year 1929, he joined a teachers college where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in education arts in 1933.

The most formative stage in the life of Qutb was the period between the years 1919 and 1952 following the rise of the independent Islamism in Egypt. This was a period that marked transition from the tradition Islam to modernity in Islamic culture. It was a colorful period that was marked by contradictions and vitality that inspired the ideas of Sayyid Qutb as well as his thoughts. This stage also marks the formative era for most contemporary thought, theater, cinema and literature in modern Egypt. The westernization process that had commenced in the early 19th century was beginning to fully manifest during this time from the form of governance that was in place to the very lives of Egyptians inclusive of Sayyids. The nation was dominated by secular educational structure that led to the widening gap between religious and secular education. Liberal nationalist forces that were operating in Egypt during this period were being inspired by the western countries and the liberals were gaining more strength during this period. This ultimately led to the introduction of a system of government that was being led by a parliament based on a constitution in the year 1923. Egypt was leaving their culture as well as intellectual life and openly mimicked the civilization of the western countries. As liberal nationalists continued to do so, Islamists became more violent leading to the polarization of the country.

Towards the mid 1930s, the reaction against the widespread and rapid westernization increased national movements in Arab west and Arab east. The establishment of a liberal nationalist failed to gain independence in Nile valley as well as to solve the pressing problems in the society. Sayyid Qutb was involved and was affected by this westernization as he viewed it as a deviation from the true worship of God alone. The Second World War had negative impacts on the economic, social and political life and ideologies of the Egyptians, further dividing the country and leading to alienation of ideal nationalists as well as liberal politicians. After the completion of the Second World War, Egypt slipped to a period of violence with law and order being broken. Social injustices increased within the country during this period. Nasser was presiding over the military revolt prior to the year 1952 for seven years and he was a tyrant. The country during this period was characterized by despair, grieve and anger towards the political institutions and the situation was made worse by the defeat Egypt suffered in Palestine war in the year 1948. Defeat in this war led to the defection of most camps of the Egyptians and the formation of two groups the Muslim brothers and the Marxists group that wanted to challenge the orders that were already in existence. This led to the transformation in the life of Sayyid Qutb as well as his thoughts and inspired much of his works that have raised much controversy today especially with increasing terrorist acts by the Muslim brothers groups believed to have been inspired and mentored by Sayyid.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Sayyid Qutb was a secular man and he only transformed in the later 1940s, becoming an Islamist. Prior to becoming an Islamist, Qutb was a poet and a man of letters. However, as explained earlier, the events of the Second World War and the subsequent defeat of Egypt in the Palestine war changed the focus of Sayyid on Quranic studies. He found refuge for his personal needs in Quran as well as answers to most of the social and human ills that were being perpetrated in the society. This made him forsake literature fully for Islamic cause and enabled him to pursue or lead an Islamic kind of life. Between the years 1948 and 1950, Sayyid was in the United States and the kind of racial segregation he received and observed only served to reinforce the believe that Islam was the only valid form of salvation that could rescue or save humanity from the godless materialism of communism and capitalism. He actively opposed the secular policies that were being practiced by Nasser who was then the president of Egypt and this made him be imprisoned between the years 1954 and 1964. It was while in prison that Qutb wrote some of his controversial writings in which he accused all governments and societies inclusive of Egypt as being pagan or Jahili. In his writings, Sayyid called for the removal of the societies and institution of governments or societies that were just and true Islamic. According to him, the world societies were not submissive to the will of God or the Hakimiyyah as explained in the idea of al-uzlah al-shuuriyyah or the separation of individuals via feelings. Shortly after his release from jail, Sayyid was rearrested and subsequently tried whereby he was charged with heading an underground apparatus. He was asked to apologize to President Nasser but he refused citing that God had prohibited people to apologize to tyrants. This eventually led to his execution in the year 1966. The execution of Qutb among others had no justification or logical explanation. In actual sense, President Nasser had no need of carrying out such executions for him to establish a firm foundation of his governance. He could have done that in the year 1954 when Sayyid and other members of Muslim brothers had tried to overthrow his government. Also, during this time, the political system of Egypt was firmly founded on its popularity among the citizens as well as politically. The economy of the country was also very stable at this time.

Despite the fact that President Nasser was able to physically eliminate Qutb, his ideas continued to flourish even more after his death. Sayyid was being viewed as a revolutionary and his execution was termed as martyrdom of his faith and his ideas. Without its knowledge, the Nassers regime led to the resurgence of the Islamic groups as well as the writings of Sayyid which he had written concerning jihadists. Jihadist had become common in Egypt and other parts of the world by this time, a concept that had been well expounded by Sayyid. According to the Quran, Muslim faithful ones were supposed to observe jihad, a concept or law that calls for defensive war with an aim of attaining righteousness. Sayyid was opposed to this concept arguing that it was the duty of all Muslims to arise and defend their cause and the injustices that were being perpetrated by the liberal nationalists or the democracies. Sayyid developed the concept of jihadism which advocated for offensive war as the only means of brining all mankind to the Islam culture and belief as a means of bringing peace to the world. Sayyid argued that social injustices like the ones he had experienced in the United States could only be eliminated if human kind was made to submit to the rule of God or Allah. He argued that defensive war could have not been effective in accomplishing this task given by God to all Muslims. In his writings, Sayyid stated that preaching Islam and physical war was the major avenues via which true jihadist could be achieved.

Methodology
Many scholars have looked and analyzed the writings of Sayyid Qutb over the past years. For this study, secondary sources will be used in gathering information pertaining to Sayyid Qutb and his ideologies of his writings. The secondary sources will include materials obtained from the websites, books and journals. Based on the information obtained, an analysis of the workings of Sayyid Qutb will be done on whether his writings really promote or advocate for terrorism or the Islamic era or not.

Differences between Islam and Islamism and their relation to global jihad
Islam is derived from an Arabic word meaning total submission and obedience to God or Allah. Over one and a half billion of people around the world are faithful of Islamic religion. In understanding the concept of terrorism and their beliefs, it is essential to understand the difference between Islam and Islamism religions. Unlike the Islam religion, the basic beliefs and creeds, Islamism also known as political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism refers to a political ideology that emphasizes on a particular way of living that is made up of social, political, economic and religious and other lifes spheres. Islamism highly advocates for the Islamic code or a Shariah based society that ought to replace the non Islamic and secular societies oriented or founded on governments that are governed by man-made laws. Followers of the Islamism also participate in political systems that are pluralistic in nature and also actively participate in democratic elections. Revolutionary and radical Islamism on the other hand, as well as the global jihadism, call for overthrowing of the secular regimes that they view as being infidel by whatever means even if it means use of force. Islamism aims at establishing Islamic societies that are based on Shariah law all over the world. Most of the terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda represent radical Islamism also known as global jihadism.

The only differences between Islam and radical Islamism are seen on the interpretation of the holy Qurans teachings and their applications. Understanding these two terms and categories of the Muslim religion is essential in effective and unbiased interpretation of the writings of Sayyid Qutb as well as terrorism. Jihad in Muslim religion can be translated to mean to endeavor, to exert oneself and to strive its verb is jahada which means to wage holy war against infidel or to fight for a cause while striving to go on the paths of Allah in spreading or preaching about Allah to the whole world and in making the world submit to the teachings of Allah. Prophet Mohammed in the holy Quran termed the greater jihad as the jihad by heart that aims at fighting the devil and all evil things in this world. Muslim jurists argue that jihad is a collective duty for the entire Muslim community with the faith being subject to aggression. The jihadists deviated from this believe arguing that jihad is a personal duty and also a collective obligation for all Muslims.

Sayyid Qutb is credited for advocating for jihadism through his writings. Traditionally, jihad was purely defensive in nature and not a personal commitment or duty of Muslim faithful but rather a collective duty for all Muslims. However, Sayyid felt that this interpretation of jihad was wrong hence he reinterpreted it to mean that jihad was a personal obligation as well as a community or collective duty of Muslims. Following this interpretation of jihad, Sayyid was able to strengthen the Muslim brotherhood as he was its spokesperson. This movement, thought highly influenced by Sayyid Qutb, was not started by him. It had begun earlier in the 19th century. The interpretation of jihad by Sayyid has been a major basis for his association with terrorism and he is today being regarded as the founding father of terrorism groups such as Al Qaeda among others. However, while Sayyid truly advocated for personal commitment to jihad, he did not expressly or implicitly promote or advocate for terrorism nor began a terrorism movement. The jihad he advocated for was meant to ensure that all Muslim faithful participated in ensuring that Shariah or the laws of God or Allah were being observed or practiced in the public life of all Muslims. He called upon his Muslim brothers to stand up and defend the abuse of or replacement of Allah laws or the Shariah by secular laws that he termed to be immoral and infidel. He argued that true worship meant being ruled and guided by Shariah laws and not man made laws and this was the major reason he was angry with the western countries that were governed by constitutional government and parliamentary laws. Today, extremists from the Islamic religion have misinterpreted the works or the writings of Sayyid and used them as a basis for their attacks in the name of jihadism.

Analysis of writings of Sayyid Qutb
Searching via the web, it is evident that the writings of Sayyid have been highly demonized today. They are associated with the creation or the uprising of the terrorism activities that have been on the rise today. The anti-Muslim and anti-Arab movements have been on the forefront in the arguments that Sayyids writings are the major foundation or cornerstone of what has come to be referred to as Islamic terror. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade and Pentagon in the United States, much of the literature on terrorism has focused their attention on Sayyid Qutb, the Islamic religious leader. In the year 2003, the Sunday magazine of New York Times published an article titled the philosopher of Islamic terror and it is believed to have been among the widely read articles owing to its presence in the websites. Some of the Muslim clerics have also treated Sayyids writings harshly in the Arab world where Muslim religion is prevalent. The Quramic commentary of Sayyid in his writing dubbed in the shades of the Quran as well as in the milestones has continued to raise mixed reactions among the Muslims. Muslim clerics term them as Sayyids innovation that actually deviates from the dogma and teachings of Islam. Clerics have even warned young Muslims not to read the works of Sayyid, claiming that an individual with no in-depth knowledge of the Quran and Muslim teaching can easily be mislead. They argue that the case in Egypt where al-takfir wa-al-hijrah translated to mean penance and retreat who were led astray by the writings of Qutb due to deviation from the dogma of Islam.

The elegant prose of Sayyid Qutb reveals the anger and rage he had concerning immorality and injustices that inspired him to organize Muslim brotherhood or the al-lkhwan al-muslimun movements. Such immorality and injustices drove him to the military interpretation of Qurans jihad striving in the cause of God. While this was not meant to inspire the killing of innocent people, the interpreters of his work included that in their interpretation hence the increased interest on the role of Sayyids writing on terrorism rose around the world. The main reason why Sayyid wrote the milestone and other writings was to address the social injustices that he himself had experienced both in Egypt and in the United States and to provide an avenue to curb such injustices. The anger of Sayyid was not in any way expressed towards innocent people, but those he deemed were ones perpetrating social injustices and immorality around the world. He believed that the true Islam is to fully submit to the rule of God and he was convinced that this was the only way that true salvation and peace could be obtained. According to him, bringing the whole human kind all over the world to Islamism was the sole duty of every Muslim that he had been given by God. Sayyid believed in true worship without hypocrisy or love for wealth as he had observed in most westerners.  

Previously, jihad was interpreted to mean striving for cause of God. Muslims believed that they had a call or a duty to God to submit and strive for his cause. Jihad was previously interpreted to mean defensive war while striving to be righteous. Sayyid was greatly influenced by Maududis idea or perception of Islam as a force of revolution. According to Maududi, Islam is a revolutionary ideology and program which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world and rebuild it in conformity with its tenets and ideals.

Sayyid expounded on this notion of Maududi and argued that Islam was indeed a revolution against people and human situation where Godhead or sovereignty is granted to human beings. Sayyid believed that any situation that gives people ultimate authority to become like God takes the authority of God. Human liberation according to Islam translates to the act of giving back the authority to God by rejecting those ruling over communities according to laws made by the people. Verbal advocacy in Islam cannot achieve this and this was the basis of military interpretation of jihad by Sayyid. He suggested that the state that was in existence in Egypt at that moment, since it was un-Islamic, could have been overthrown. By suggesting this, Sayyid reinterpreted the jahiliya concept already contained in the Quran to the non Muslim world. Traditionally, the Islamic world was divided into two the dar al-islam and dar al-harb, with the first one meaning the islam abode and the second one meaning the conflict abode that is the non Islamic, imperfect and social order. He argued that though Muslims were ignoring the conditions of the conflict abode, it was their duty and responsibility to reduce the threat of jahiliya or the religion truths ignorance that was being posed to Islam. According to Sayyid, jahiliya could be translated to mean the forces of ignorance in the modern world and the secularization of eastern communism and western capitalists. Faith declaration was also not enough as secular tyrants rose to rule over the world of Islam. As such, a militant form of jihad was essential if Islam was to fulfill the real jihad or their duty to God.

According to Qutb, jihad could be enforced against rulers of the Muslim community who did not implement the laws God. Such rulers were taken to be takfiri or apostate or traitors. He argued that such rulers were living in ignorance or jahiliyya and hence, the Muslim community should oppose such rulers. Traditional Muslims had believed that calling branding another fellow Muslim as takfiri translated to mean pagan was not an Islamic act. Sayyid however advocated for this mostly calling the secular Muslim rulers who had embraced modernism as pedlars of modernity. He even accused them of being guilty of apostasy and ridda hence they should be excommunicated and as such, they could be opposed justifiably. The excommunication that Sayyid Qutb advocated for did not in any way refer to the killing of fellow Muslims or citizens of other nations simply because they were being viewed as being takfiri. Sayyid only argued that since takfiri rulers were viewed as being ignorant or living in a state of jahiliyya, they were not fit to the rule the Muslim community, especially because they were not living according to the laws given to Allah for all Muslims to follow. Rulers became takfiri after adopting the laws and practices of modernity that were contrary to the holy teachings of Allah thus deviating from the true worship of Allah. Excommunication meant disowning such a person from the Muslim community but not eliminating or killing such a person. While most terrorists have taken the idea of takfiri advocated by Sayyid as a license to kill their fellow Muslims, this is their own interpretation of his writings but not the real intention of Sayyid. No writer can be judged according to wrongful interpretation of his work by other people. Also, while takfiri dealt with the issue of rulers and fellow Muslims, it did not extend to non Muslim individuals as is the case with terrorism. Terrorists have attacked non Muslim states and rulers in the name of takfiri and have ended up killing people not even subscribing or following the Muslim doctrine. The wrongful interpretation of takfiri by terrorists and the subsequent application of the misinterpreted work cannot be taken to demonize the works of Sayyid who had no intention of promoting terrorism activities.

Most critics have taken this interpretation of Sayyid on jihad as a license to the terrorists who feel that it is their duty to bring down tyrant rules and institute an Islamic kind of a society whereby all individual revere to God. While this is contained in Quran and it was expounded by Sayyid, his interpretation of jihad to include a militant form of intervention did not give way for innocent killing of American citizens or other people around the world through terrorism. Terrorism leads to killing of innocent children and both good and bad people. Sayyid called upon the Muslim brotherhood to bring down Muslim governments that were exercising injustices and immorality in the society and to institute a government that was purely guided by the laws of Allah. He did not advocate for killing of innocent individuals around the world. The main motivation of Sayyid via jihad was the elimination of social evils and injustices but not innocent people. Azzam who came following the execution of Sayyid was the one who took the role of interpreting the writings of Sayyid. He is the one who misled the Muslim brotherhood by adding that jihad and fighting jahiliya involved killing of innocent persons. This was not the original writing of Sayyid hence his reinterpretation of jihad and his explanation of the same cannot be said to be the basis through which terrorists are today being perpetrated. Later interpretations of his writings have created their own meaning, a deviation from the original work of Sayyid and expounded on concepts he did not tackle and have subsequently based their justification for their acts on the same.

Islamic religion does not entail a declaration of Arabs liberation only and its message is not only meant for the Arabs only either. On the contrary, it is given to all human kind and as such, the whole world is the field work of Islam. As such, it is the duty of Islam to ensure that all people are brought back to the true Lord and this means liberating them or stopping them from worshiping, serving or submitting to other authorities but to God. From the point of view of Islam, the real and true worships or servitude only occurs when a person submits to laws formulated and enacted by human beings. Any person who serves another person other than God is termed to have deviated from Islam regardless of his confession of the Muslim faith. Sayyid only took it upon himself to remind his fellow Muslims that they have a duty and responsibility to ensure that jahiliya was reformed and by doing so, he was able to move away from earlier interpretations of jihad by Islamic scholars who had termed it as purely defensive war. He argued that those who viewed jihad as defensive in nature were casting away the real objective of the jihad of ensuring that no tyrannical powers were in force in the entire world. This enabled him to reinterpret jihad terming it as being offensive rather than defensive. To Sayyid, Islam homeland meant or represented the Islamic way of living, the beliefs of Islam and the entire Islamic community. He reasoned that Islam liberating power had to be opposed and as such there was inevitability of a military form of jihad. Liberating human kind in the entire world could not go unopposed, especially by the tyrannical powers and hence this could have resulted to military action. Since the main aim of jihad was to liberate men, then jihad would ultimately lead to peace being obtained in the world. Peace that is characterized by submission to God alone and not to human beings or laws made by human beings and subjected to others to follow.

While writing about the jihad assuming a military form, Sayyid oversaw this as a result of resistant from the tyrannical authorities resisting the liberation of mankind to make them submit to the true God. Jihad was only meant to take this form in cases where Muslim brotherhood was resisted and it was not meant to be carried on the very people that the brotherhood was meant to liberate. The role of military form of jihad was to fight tyranny but not innocent people as is the case of the terrorism attacks. Taking for example the bombing of young school children, bus terminals and the 911 bombing of the World Trade Center, all these acts believed to have been carried out by the Islamic terror group Al Qaeda led to the killing of innocent people who were not in authority and who were on the contrary subjected to the tyrannical rule as per the believes of the Islam. According to Sayyid, it is the duty of every Muslim to ensure that people are liberated and made to serve or offer their worship to God alone. Sayyid said this could only be done via preaching and physical intervention. Terrorism, instead of liberating men or bringing them closer to liberation or to the Islam religion, is drawing them far away from the Islamic community hence not meeting or acting according to the writings of Sayyid. Basing on the argument that Sayyids writings are the basis of terrorism acts thus loses ground in that if that was the case, the innocent bloodshed we are experiencing today as a result of terrorism and the increased deviation from this religion should not be experienced. Sayyid advocated for mens liberation and not the killing of individuals who are supposed to be liberated. Islamic terror or the Muslim brotherhood that has been involved in terrorist attacks has interpreted the writings of Sayyid wrongly. Sayyid did not advocate for terrorism attacks but rather liberation of people and an end to social injustice and immorality.

Another issue that Sayyid highly advocated for in his writings was the essence of going back to ijtihad which means the process of reasoning in regard to the interpretation of Islamic law. This activity had previously been declared as being closed (by Islamic scholars who had existed in the 11th century) to Sunni Muslims. In writing this, Sayyid was being guided by the Ibn Taymiyyah which stated that the ijtihad process must never cease. Almost all Muslims today have this stand and they are calling for ijtihad gates reopening and the rejection of ways and thoughts of non Islamic origin. This approach brought up by Sayyid and in use today has significant differences as compared to traditional Islamic practice of the Sunni. Sayyid further suggested that revolutionary vanguard should establish Islamic states so as to help in Islamizing states from above. This idea had been advanced by Maududi earlier. Through the ijtihad restoration, Sayyid was advocating that while interpreting the Islamic law, reasons should prevail. If this was the case, reason would reveal that terrorism leads to killing of innocent people who have no right to die. As such, ijtihad advocated by Sayyid would rather stop rather than promote terrorism. Sayyid was not advocating for terrorism and this is quite clear through his writings although they have been subjected to misinterpretations and reinterpretations that make them seem like they advocate for and even form a basis for terrorism although this is not true.

Sayyid Qutb was one of the religious figures who contributed largely to the understanding of jihad, takfiri and jahiliyya among other Quran laws. With increasing terrorism attacks and his advocacy for jihad, takfiri as well as jahiliyya, most scholars today have termed his ideologies as the major foundation of terrorist attacks. Jihad against rulers is one of the most cited examples as a fact believed to have contributed to the rise in terrorism around the west. Most of the works of Sayyid clearly show that he was unhappy with the ways of life, especially for the people who were living in western countries. This is understandable given the fact that he was a stout follower of Shariah law and the Muslim religion. Sayyid viewed the westerners as being immoral and materialistic and in his writings he abhorred such things and only believed that true worship and good leadership could be founded on the laws of Allah or the Shariah. Having this in mind, most scholars have argued that such believes are the major reason for emergence of terrorism. Significant clues show that most of the terrorists beliefs are highly influenced by the works of Sayyid. However, from the above analysis of the works of Sayyid, it is clear that Sayyid did not advocate for killing of innocent people or for terrorism but rather he called upon all Muslims to ensure that human beings were brought back to Allah and to submission to the laws of God. Misinterpretation of the true meaning that Sayyid had while writing his books has been taken as license for killing by extremist Muslims. However, Sayyid Qutbs work should not be demonized on the fact that other people have wrongly interpreted his work.