Self Analysis Based on Banduras Theory free essay sample

The way we think, how we treat people, how we talk, how we perceive others, etc. are very important for us. That means it’s the aspects that our parents or environment teaches/nurtures us. Self-introspection is very important for us. Especially for psychology students, because if we don’t know about who we are, how can we understand others. In this theory Bandura wants us to express our own thoughts about ourselves. We are expected to control ourselves from anything that we have to face. In order to control ourselves, we need to have our own standpoint and stay committed to it. We can’t let anyone bother or affect us in any way. II. SELF ANALYSIS LEARNING Bandura believes that people learn through observing others and by attending to the consequences of their own actions. Although he believes that reinforcement aids learning, he contends that people can learn in the absence of reinforcement and even of a response. We will write a custom essay sample on Self Analysis Based on Banduras Theory or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are two types of learning, observational learning and enactive learning. Observational learning means that we learn from modeling others. For kids, mainly parents, teachers, caregiver, or anyone who’s close to the child. I know that it is impossible that I’m the only one who gone through this phase of learning, every child must’ve copied acts of others based on what they see. When I was 2 years old, I was going somewhere together with my parents. Suddenly a car passes through and cut our lane, then I yelled, â€Å"ape lo? (what do you want? )† to that car. My parents were shocked and laughed about it. That shows that I modeled what they usually do without even realizing that those acts can really do affect children. Modeling does not always occur while we were still young; it is attached to our self. We tend to model people who has higher position than us and people who got positive feedbacks on what they just did. Bandura recognized four processes that govern observational learning, which are attention, representation, behavioral reproduction, and motivation. I took ballet for 9 years since I was 3 years old. For dancing, the most important aspect that we need to do is pay attention to the teacher so that we can represent the dance step by memorizing them. After we perceive and memorize the dance step, we will try to reproduce them by practicing the dance steps that we’ve learned. The last thing is our own motivation whether we are motivated because we got positive feedbacks or not because of negative feedbacks. But we still can keep on trying and practicing in order to get the positive feedbacks. Enactive learning is the same as operant conditioning, which means that we receive consequences on anything that we do. We will get reward if we do something that’s good or right. But in contrast, we will be punished if we do something bad or wrong. There are positive and negative aspects of both reinforcement and punishment. Cognitively anyone don’t want to be punished, that’s why people tend not to repeat their mistakes and try to get more reward by doing the right things. Throughout my life as my parents’ child, I got reinforced and punished a lot. Negative reinforcement means removing pain or anything uncomfortable so that we can feel better. Me taking a medicine when I got ill means that I got negative reinforcement, whereas positive reinforcement means that we receive something for our pleasure. This happens quite a lot too, whenever I achieve something my parents tend to give me something that I want as a reward. When I do something wrong, I’ll get punished for sure. Negative punishment means that my pleasure have been revoked from me. Up until now when I got bad score or come home late, I will get grounded. My parents will take my phone away and I’m not allowed to go anywhere with my friends for some time. And for positive punishment, it’s an act that cause us feel uncomfortable. I rarely got positive punishment, but I got my things thrown into me by my mom. It’s because I spend too much on Japanese CDs, DVDs, goods, magazines, etc. and charged it to my credit card. My mom told me to reduce my spending on those things, but I keep on doing it. In the end my mom got really mad and threw those things towards me. Since then I stop spending my money on those merchants. TRIADIC RECIPROCAL CAUSATION Social cognitive theory holds that human functioning is molded by the reciprocal interaction of behavior, personal factors, including cognition, and environmental events—a model Bandura calls triadic reciprocal causation. In differential contributions, Bandura does not suggest that the three factors in the triadic reciprocal causation model make equal contributions to behavior. The relative influence of behavior, environment, and person depends on which factor is strongest at any particular moment. And in chance encounters and fortuitous events, the lives of many people have been fundamentally changed by a chance meeting with another person or by a fortuitous, unexpected event. Chance encounters and fortuitous events enter the triadic reciprocal causation paradigm at the environment point, after which they influence behavior in much the same way as do planned events. I do believe there is fate. Especially when we’re talking about friendship. So, it was back in junior high school. I was a big fan of a Japanese boyband called NEWS, there was an international forum for the fans from all over the world. And in the Indonesian topic room, I met some Indonesian who lives all over Indonesia and some abroad. Then I met my friend. She was in the same age as mine and lives in Jakarta too. We have so much in common. Until one day we decided to meet up, and we did. It was so fun. We could talk anything with each other even outside the topic of the Japanese boyband. We did nearly lost contact, but eventually we did still keep in touch. Then she lost interest in that Japanese boyband, but we remained friends. She’s now one of my best friends. From all of the odds I found one of my best friend through the internet. It’s indeed funny and silly, even our friends consider our meeting as geeky and odd. We even still laugh at how we met. But when you are fated to meet or know that person, it will happen. HUMAN AGENCY CORE FEATURES OF HUMAN AGENCY According to Bandura, human agency is the essence of humanness; that is, humans are defined by their ability to organize, regulate, and enact behaviors that they believe will produce desirable consequences. Human has 4 core features, which are intentionally, forethought, self-reactiveness, and self-reflectiveness. Intentionally literally means that we have the intention or plan that includes action to produce the result that we want. I planned on going abroad for college back when I was still in junior high school, that’s why I intentionally enrolled to an international high school. But when I dad changed his mind that I can’t go abroad for college, I altered my plan to enroll to UI International Program. I still want to study abroad. Then at first my dad won’t approve, and in contrast my mom told me to go for it. When my dad told me to take the SNMPTN and SIMAK exam I deliberately failed on those exam so that I could enter the international class. Because I know how much my dad wants me to be in this university and I explained to him about how mature that I’d be to leave this country and study abroad. Forethought is our ability to set goals and selecting the behavior that will produce the outcomes that we desire and avoid things that we don’t want it to happen. I planned on going to graduate school right after I finish my undergraduate studies. That was my plan since I decided to take psychology back when I was still in junior high school. I have the will to achieve this goal of mine. That’s why I will still keep on studying so that I can get in to graduate school as I planned before and I wont let anyone disturb my goal or even let myself distracted. I will to achieve my ultimate goal and be a successful consultant. Self-reactiveness is the process of motivating and regulating our own actions to fulfill our choices that we’ve made. In order to achieve my goal on being a successful psychologist/consultant I have to keep on studying and achieving good grades so that there won’t be any difficulty when it’s time to enroll myself to a graduate school. I have to keep focusing on my goal and not letting anyone or anything interfere with it. Although right now my grades are not satisfying, I still have to keep up with it and try to fix my scores. I still have to be motivated because being here was my own choice since the beginning. I have to be committed to myself. Self-reflectiveness allows us to think about and evaluate our motives, values, and life goals. By evaluating myself, I find that I’ve achieved almost every goal that I’ve made. I’m glad with it, but there are still a couple of goals that I have to achieve. I still have to improve my academic achievement. All these years I passed my courses with only average scores. I underestimated my scores; I always thought that as long as I pass it’s okay. But in fact I have to be able to achieve more. I feel that I’m too less motivated, I feel satisfied with my average score. The only thing that makes me worry is when I fail or got less than average score even though I know that it’s my own fault. I have to improve my point of view and hopefully achieve higher scores. SELF-EFFICACY How people behave in a particular situation depends in part on their self-efficacy, that is, their beliefs that they can or cannot exercise those behaviors necessary to bring about a desired consequence. Self-efficacy combines with environmental variables, previous behaviors, and other personal variables to predict behavior. It is acquired, enhanced, or decreased by any one or combination of four sources: mastery experiences, social modeling, social persuasion, and physical and emotional states. Mastery experience is the most important factor on determining our self-efficacy. It basically success raises self-efficacy and failure lowers it. I’m good at baking, when I bake people tend to enjoy what I’ve made. Whenever I got good feedbacks from people who eat my baking I feel satisfied and happy. I conclude myself as pretty good in the kitchen. But someday I tried cooking main course dishes instead of desserts, it came out not as I expected. I expect it to came out great because I handle things in the kitchen well. I had too high expectancy. That’s why since then I never cook any main course dishes. Social modeling is the experience when we see someone succeeding, our self-efficacy increases and when we see them failing, it decreases. Whenever I see someone succeeding in something, I will think that I can do it as well. When my older brother bought a Mercedes using his own money, I really think that why can’t I do that too. He finished his graduate school when he was 24 years old, and by 28 he could afford his own car. That’s why I want to be like him. I know that working is not easy, but it’ll be worth it. In contrast, when I see someone failing on a particular matter, I tend to avoid it. I don’t want the same failure to happen to me. Social persuasion basically means the encouragement or discouragement that we receive from others. Where encouragement will increase self-efficacy, and discouragement will lower it. I took ballet for 9 years, which means I was already enrolled in the advance class. There are a couple of difficult and complex routine. For example doing a triple/quadruple pirouette or a grand jete or any other complex routine. Whenever I tell my self that I can’t do it, I really can’t complete the routine. But when I got encourage by my teacher, I can do it. Physical and emotional states happen in a stressful situation, such as fear or anxiety and usually lower self-efficacy. Whereas in a contrast situation, it will increase our self-efficacy. This happens to me whenever I feel nervous at something. When I have to present a presentation in front of the class but I don’t feel well or I don’t really master the topic I will tremble and ended up messing up my presentation. The outcome will be very bad. But when I feel comfortable and confident, the presentation that I’m doing will turn out great. PROXY AGENCY Bandura recognize that the influence of proxy agency through which people exercise some partial control over everyday living. People nowadays have to rely on the proxies or else our life will be unproductive because we have to do all unnecessary things by ourselves. We rely on people who are specialized at their jobs. We rely on our parents to take care of us, rely on our housekeeper to clean up our house, we even rely on the internet for finishing our assignments or just stay in contact with our friends. All of them/it helps us to complete tasks easier, but the negative impact is when we rely on them too much, without them we can’t complete those tasks by ourselves. We’ll be too dependable. COLLECTIVE EFFICACY Collective efficacy is the level of confidence that people have that their combined efforts will produce social change. At least four factors can lower collective efficacy. First, events in other parts of the world can leave people with a sense of helplessness; second, complex technology can decrease peoples perceptions of control over their environment; third, entrenched bureaucracies discourage people from attempting to bring about social change; and fourth, the size and scope of worldwide problems contribute to peoples sense of powerlessness. SELF-REGULATION Humans can manipulate their environments and produce consequence of their own actions by giving them some ability to regulate their own behavior. Bandura believes that behavior stems from a reciprocal influence of external and internal factors. External factors affect self-regulation by providing people with standards for evaluating their own behavior. There are 2 factors that contribute to external self-regulation, they are standards of evaluation and external reinforcement. Environment is the most common external factor of self-regulation. My family and friends are the ones who affected me the most. I evaluate myself right after my family or friends commented something about me. Whether it’s a reprimand or complement, I’ll always re-evaluate myself what have I done, how can I keep up or change what’s wrong and become better. Internal factors there are 3 factors contributing to this matter. Which are self-regulation, judgmental process, and self-reaction. All of those factors came from inside us, our own self-introspection on our acts and behaviors. I tend to observe myself right after I do something, whether I did it correctly or not. I think about anything that bothers my mind, I even regret when I know I did something wrong towards something or someone. Once I said something wrong to my friends and I know that they were offended. I wasn’t thinking what I was saying and I just realize right after that. I feel very bad and feel like I’m such a bad person on what I’ve done. I regret it and wishing that I could take back what I’ve just said to them. Up until now, I still feel guilty towards them although they’ve forgiven me. We have our own standards on how we evaluate or judge our performance. Every person has different threshold. For me myself, I don’t want to compare myself with others. I just want to be me. I don’t want to be influenced by others. I’d accept when people tell me to change my bad habits. But if people are trying to change me, I wont accept that. DYSFUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR Dysfunction behavior is learned through the mutual interaction of the person (including cognitive and neurophysiological processes), the environment (including interpersonal relations), and behavioral factors (especially previous experiences with reinforcement). Such as depression, phobias, and aggression. These dysfunctional behaviors can be treated by a regular therapy treatment. In my whole life, I’ve never had any dysfunctional behavior. I don’t have any specific phobias. Of course I’m disgusted by reptiles or insects but I don’t have any significant phobias towards them. I’m not a cold-headed person, I can get angry easily but I don’t imply an extreme aggression. The most aggressive thing that I’ve done is throwing things when I got really mad. But I don’t throw the things towards people but mostly doors or walls or anything that I can at least ease up my mind a bit. III. CONCLUSION After comprehending Bandura’s theory, I can conclude that he wants us to know more about ourselves and wants us to be ourselves, by not letting anyone interfere on what we believe in. Although we still have to consider what people think about us, we have to accept our flaws and try to improve ourselves. We have to be independent in some way so that we wont be dependent on one thing or another. We could achieve what we want to do by ourselves. Not forgetting that we still have to stay motivated on what we are doing and what we want to achieve. We can’t give up or just get distracted that could jeopardize our future goals. In order to still be motivated, we have to find ways so that we could still be interested and still determined to reach our goal. By looking at people who’ve reached their goals and be our role model, we could still be motivated. We have to have the will from inside ourselves to be able to reach our goal and for external factors such as family and friends that are always there for you and keep supporting you until you reach your goals.

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buy custom Systems Development Life Cycle essay The term Systems Development is refers to the creation of new information software or alteration of existing information software, models and the methodologies that are used to develop the software(Blanchard Fabrycky, 2006). It is a process that passes through various stages of development. There are seven main phases of systems development process. Planning Phase This is the phase that is regarded by most systems developers as the first phase of systems development. This phase is sometimes referred to as the feasibility study phase. It is characterized by the determination of organizational goals in relation to the system that is being developed. During this phase, the systems developers allocate the budgetary requirements and time schedule for the project. Other requirements for the project such as equipment and personnel are also established and put in place. A quick ex ante evaluation is also done at this stage to establish the likelihood of the success of the success of the project. Other factors that are considered by an organization during this phase is the knowledge of the employees and their ability to use the new system. If the employees are not able to use the new system then the organization should examine their ability learn new skills at this phase. System Analysis Phase Systems Design Phase This phase is important in the systems development cycle because it is characterized by documentations which are used in the succeeding phases as reference. The desired feature and operation are described exhaustively. This description involves outlining each component of the system including its nature and how it is going to contribute towards achieving the goals of the system being developed. The components may include screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams and other documentation. Implementation Phase This is the most technical phase of systems development cycle. It is during this phase that the real coding of the system takes place. The knowledge of high level programing languages such as java, and Pascalisdirely needed in this phase. In addition there should be high level of competency and experience of systems development among the technical team at this phase in order to ensure confidence in the outcome (Beynon, 2009). Integraation and Testing Phase In this phase, the different components and features of the components are assembled together and tested to determine if they can really work. Evaluation is done to establish changes,bugs and errors that may have occurred accidentally. Corrections are then made. Acceptance and Installation Phase This phase appears to be the last stage of the initial development of the software. The software is put in actual use at this stage. The actual business activity is carried out using the software and the intended organizational goals are achieved. Maintenance Phase This very last phase of systems development cycle is probably not the last one. It is the most important phase since it continues throughout the lifetime of the software unlike the other phases which takes short periods of time. It involves administration of adjustments such as changes, additions and corrections that makes the system more adaptable and efficient in its functions (Cummings, 2006). The phases of systems development are not as distinct as they appear in this essay. These phases usually overlap and sometimes the activities that are expected to be done in one phase may be done in a preceding or subsequent phase. At some point it might be required that all the phases be repeated again thus the name cycle (Blanchard Fabrycky, 2006). Buy custom Systems Development Life Cycle essay

Response paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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New Product Introduction Processes. ( Engineering Strategy ) - Coursework Example Protection is better than treatment and even if it is expensive because here the cost we pay is through money but when we have to treat a disease we pay it through both our health and money. In this new era where health research has got to a point where a vaccine is available for all the difficult and resistant disease why not just avail it. â€Å"Although many successful antiretroviral drugs have been developed with enormous impact on HIV-associated morbidity and mortality, access to antiretroviral therapy remains limited to only 5% of the total population of HIV-infected subjects in developing countries† (Schwartlà ¤nder, 2434–2436). There are antiretroviral and a few more new vaccines developed by two pharmaceutical companies. These vaccines have a lot better efficacy and safety profile that has been tested and made sure through animal models first and then through clinical phase III trials. â€Å"Over the past 10 yr there has been a progressive increase in resourc es for vaccine research, allowing the generation of several candidate vaccines capable of stimulating anti-HIV immunity (Bart, 286–293. & McMichael, 227–255. ) These vaccinations need to be advertised in such a way that people get to know the facts of their productions and more importantly their good impact on health. These are T cell based vaccines, which have proven to be the most promising one out of all the other categories so that point should be the point of focus to get the customer’s trust in this new product. â€Å"T cell vaccines are unlikely to prevent infection but may control HIV replication after infection, leading to attenuation of HIV disease†(Desrosiers, 221–223& Pitisuttithum, 1160–1165). It is hard to accept a new thing easily and specially when it is dealing with human being’s health but in order to take care of these viruses that are merging day by day and

Assignment 13 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

13 - Assignment Example are different in employment of labor where in some organizations, workers have the freedom to choose what they want to do while in others, duties are assigned to employees. However, many inequalities that arise from the nature of the employment, as identified by, Adam Smith need to be addressed to create harmony in the work place. These principal counter balances in some employment while in others, it is a gain. The first principal, the wages of labour vary with the hardship, the cleanliness, the honorableness of the employment. Those who carry out heavy duties earn more that those who undertake light duties. Additionally, dirtier work tends to fetch more wages than the clean ones and exposure to unsafe or dangerous environment (Smith and Dickey, 1993). The employees in dishonorable employment may take home more wages than those in the honorable employment because it takes patience and courage to carry out the duties; however, this is not always the case in all employment. This also applies in the profits of stock the bigger the stock the more the profit it earns. Secondly, the wages of labour vary with the easiness and cheapness, or the difficulty and expense of learning the business. If an employment requires a skilled person who have taken enough time to learn about it and used expensive resources, the level of wages must be high. This is because time consumed in training is great and not just anyone who can perform the duties especially the specialized ones be it technical or technological. Skilled labour fetches more wages and as one upgrade the position is left vacant for another to join and learn as the latter continues with his/her training under the master just like it is in Europe (Smith and Dickey). Easiness and cheapness hardly affect the stock of profit because for any business to do well, a lot of effort must be employed. Thirdly, the wages of labour in different occupations vary with the constancy or inconstancy of employment. Employment varies

Features of a Successful Brand

Features of a Successful Brand The word brand is derived from the Old Norse brandr, meaning to burn. It refers to the practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their products. A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business. A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. A brand represents many more intangible aspects of a product or service: a collection of feelings and perceptions about quality, image, lifestyle and status. It creates in the mind of customers and prospects the perception that there is no product or service on the market that is quite like yours. In short, a brand offers the customer a guarantee and then delivers on it. A legally protected brand name is called a trademark. The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity it affects the personality of a product, company or service. 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Beer and cola, on the other hand, are heavily branded product categories: Consumers have formed a relationship with and will search out their preferred brands. To position your offering properly, you need to identify the key attributes or benefits that represent the value of your product or service. That will, in turn, create trust in your brand. As you begin to understand the relationship that your customers have with your brand, you will be able to more efficiently meet their needs, wants and desires through your brand. Brand Promise: The Brand Promise is the single most important thing that the organization promises to deliver to its customers-every time. To come up with your brand promise, consider what customers, employees, and partners should expect from every interaction with you. Every business decision should be weighed against this promise to be sure that a) it fully reflects the promise, or b) at the very least it does not contradict the promise. Benefits need to be backed with some sort of persuasive reason to believe the products hype. Many times, products or services have some formula or patent that is unique from all the other brands out there. Why do we trust Pantene shampoo, for instance? Because we believe in the brands revolutionary Pro-V formula that leaves hairs strong and healthy. Why do we believe Secret antiperspirant will keep women smelling sweet? Because its pH balanced for a woman, and not a man. Ask yourself: What promises are you making about your brand? Can my products or services follow through on those promises? Brand Personality: Brands that carry with them a true persona, and the beliefs and experiences similar to a personality make a brand rise to a new level. After all, its hard not to like someone with a good personality. In matters of branding, a personality helps to humanize an otherwise inanimate object or service so that a prospects defenses are lowered. An attractive brand personality can pre-sell the prospect before the purchase, reinforce the purchase decision, and help forge an emotional link that binds the buyer to the brand for years to come. In such cases, you are more willing to overlook flaws and search for strengths. A brands personality can offer the single most important reason why one brand will be chosen over another, particularly when there are few product or service features that are different between competing brands. The personality gives the consumer something to relate to that can be more vivid than the perceived positioning of the brand. Although a strong ident ifiable personality is not imperative, it can make it easier for customers and prospects alike to understand what the marketer has to offer. Even more important, a brand with a distinctive personality presents the would-be buyer with something he or she can relate to as an individual, a practical prerequisite for success in an increasingly individual-driven marketplace. Personality is usually shown in three ways. Provider-driven Provider-driven images are popular with services because there is a greater need to build confidence between the provider and seller since there is usually an intangible product on the table. Brands that lean heavily on the provider image include insurance companies and financial institutions. Prudentials The Rock and Allstates Youre in good hands, show that the brand is trustworthy and their brands reflect the same attitude. Image of the user Other brands like to show that the people who use the brands are people that you could be friends with, relate to, or want to be like. Many companies with branded products geared toward Generation X and Y use this tactic. However, these generations are also skeptical of marketers and are keenly aware of when a brand is targeting them. Image of the product or service As strange as it may sound; packaged products often take on a personality that consumers can relate to. Whether through a mascot or an animated figurine, products come to life to give consumers more than just a brand to trust, but also a face. For instance, the Pillsbury Doughboys laugh reinforces that the product will make your family feel good. Brand Story: The Brand Story illustrates the organizations history, along with how the history adds value and credibility to the brand. It also usually includes a summary of your products or services. The story and meaning of your brand is its most valuable and irreplaceable asset. Great brands large or small have a story that conveys both a truly valued attribute and an attitude which in combination sets them apart. You can rarely make up a great brand story, its usually already there. Our role is to uncover that story for you, bring it to life and then integrate it throughout your business. Most brands today dont have the financial muscle to buy awareness or market share and operate in arenas where consumers are no longer spectators. Instead they are constituents that ask increasingly tougher questions of brands. This makes it critical to ensure that brands not only encapsulate a business or products unique story but also work as hard as possible at every touch point. Brand Story has a wealth of experience gained from working with blue chip top 100 company brands to absolute start-ups and were equally comfortable and motivated in both scenarios. Brand Associations: Brand Associations are the specific physical artifacts that make up the brand. This is your name, logo, colors, taglines, fonts, imagery, etc. Your brand associations must reflect your brand promise, all of your brand traits, and support your brand positioning statement. Brand Associations are not benefits, but are images and symbols associated with a brand or a brand benefit. For example- The Nike Swoosh, Nokia sound, Film Stars as with Lux, signature tune Ting-ting-ta-ding with Britannia, Blue color with Pepsi, etc. Associations are not reasons-to-buy but provide acquaintance and differentiation thats not replicable. It is relating perceived qualities of a brand to a known entity. For instance- Hyatt Hotel is associated with luxury and comfort; BMW is associated with sophistication, fun driving, and superior engineering. Most popular brand associations are with the owners of brand, such as Bill Gates and Microsoft, Reliance and Dhirubhai Ambani. Brand associations are formed on the following basis: Customers contact with the organization and its employees; Advertisements; Word of mouth publicity; Price at which the brand is sold; Celebrity/big entity association; Quality of the product; Products and schemes offered by competitors; Product class/category to which the brand belongs; POP ( Point of purchase) displays; etc One Mantra Once youve developed and defined a relevant brand, you must begin building the brand with employees, customers, prospects, partners, etc. through consistent execution. Repetition is the key to the success of the branding process. Now after building up of your brand you must check out these three things at regular interval of time and that is your employee, customers services that you are offering. Because building up of any brand your employee play a very vital role. No one, including your employees, will ever really know or remember what your brand is, unless it is the same every time they are exposed to it. They only present your brand to the customers by direct conversation. If your product is good enough then customers will come again again and also convey the same to their friends relatives. Whether it is planned or not, word of mouth is well worth the effort it takes to generate it. Word of mouth is still considered the most potent marketing communication of all because its dispensed by the most credible sources of all ordinary citizens who dont carry a built-in bias of commercial sponsors. When your company is lucky enough to be the beneficiary of word of mouth, your identity problems may be over, and your capacity problems may just be beginning.

Congo :: essays research papers

Desperate Battle Defines Congo's Warlike Peace At the southern extreme of a ragged front line that winds 1,400 miles across Congo lies a ferry, dirty pink and half-submerged in the muddy Luvua River. Facing it on a gravel ramp stand the burned-out husks of 33 military vehicles -- armored personnel carriers, trucks, an ambulance -- waiting in a line that never moved forward. Unopened syringes lie underfoot, amid charred tires and a trampled note that a fleeing Congolese junior officer left behind: "Attaque," reads the neat cursive French. But by the time Rwandan forces approached Pweto on Dec. 3, the Congolese government army was in no position to attack. It was in panicked retreat, leaving a tableau of ruin on the riverbank and opening a rare window on a war usually fought out of sight. In two months of back-and-forth fighting here in the southeastern corner of Congo, all the elements that make this country's 21/2-year-old war such a dangerous puzzle came into play: foreign armies, ethnic militia groups, remote terrain and villages utterly emptied of civilians who, from the safety of refugee camps in a neighboring country, repeat matter-of-fact accounts of massacres. This is the "situation on the ground" that has kept the U.N. Security Council from dispatching 5,500 peacekeepers to monitor a cease-fire that appears to exist only on paper. This lightly populated, mostly forested stretch between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru had been one of the few corners of Congo where both sides had essentially honored a peace agreement signed 18 months ago. The Lusaka Accord, named for the Zambian capital where it was signed, was meant to arrest the cycle of advance and retreat that has marked a sprawling conflict that pits the Congolese army and allied troops from Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia against an assortment of rebel forces bolstered by Rwandan and Ugandan troops. But Congolese President Laurent Kabila, who signed the Lusaka pact in a moment of military disadvantage, has swept it aside whenever he spied what looked like a military opening. Last spring, his forces pushed back rebels sponsored by Uganda in Congo's far northwest, only to lose the same ground months later. And on Oct. 15, Kabila's armies launched a massive assault on Rwandan-held positions in the southeast, striking 100 miles north of Pweto at the town of Pepa. Six weeks later, just as happened in the northwest, Kabila's forces once again lost far more than they gained.