Practicing the Italian Present Perfect Subjunctive Mood

I’m glad you came to my party! I’m sorry we didn’t eat pizza from Naples on your trip. I think she went to her Italian lesson. What verb tense would you want to use to express the sentences above? While you might be tempted to use the present perfect indicative tense (il passato prossimo), the most grammatically correct way to form those sentences would be using the present perfect subjunctive mood. Why? Because each of the sentences expresses an emotion, a thought or an opinion, all of which require using the subjunctive mood. If you need to review the subjunctive mood, I would start with the congiuntivo presente. How to Form the Present Perfect Subjunctive Mood (il congiuntivo passato) The congiuntivo passato is a compound tense formed with the congiuntivo presente of the auxiliary verb avere (to have) or essere (to be) and the past participle of the acting verb. For example: Sono contento che tu sia venuto alla mia festa! - I’m glad you came to my party! Sono contento Phrase that expresses an emotionChe tu PronounSia Auxiliary verb â€Å"essere† conjugated in the subjunctiveVenuto Past participle of â€Å"venire - to come† Here’s a table showing how it’s formed below. Congiuntivo Passato of the Verbs Avere and Essere PRONOUN AVERE ESSERE che io abbia avuto sia stato(-a) che tu abbia avuto sia stato(-a) che lui/lei/Lei abbia avuto sia stato(-a) che noi abbiamo avuto siamo stati(-e) che voi abbiate avuto siate stati(-e) che loro/Loro abbiano avuto siano stati(-e) Congiuntivo Passato of the Verbs Fare (to Do) and Andare (to Go) PRONOUN FARE ANDARE che io abbia fatto sia andato(-a) che tu abbia fatto sia andato(-a) che lui/lei/Lei abbia fatto sia andato(-a) che noi abbiamo fatto siamo andati(-e) che voi abbiate fatto siate andati(-e) che loro/Loro abbiano fatto siano andati(-e) Here are some other phrases that require use of the subjunctive mood: Nonostante che†¦ - Notwithstanding that†¦A meno che†¦ - Unless†¦A condizione che†¦ - Under the condition that†¦Immagino che†¦ - I imagine that†¦Aspettarsi che†¦ - I expect that†¦Essere necessario che†¦ - It’s necessary that†¦ Here are some examples of the congiuntivo passato: Mi dispiace che durante il tuo viaggio non abbiamo mangiato la pizza napoletana. - I’m sorry that we didn’t eat Napoletan pizza during your trip.Penso che (lei) sia andata alla lezione di italiano. - I think she went to her Italian lesson.Credo che abbiano ripreso le discussioni. - I think they resumed discussions.Mi dispiace che abbia parlato cosà ¬. - Im sorry that he spoke that way.Siamo contenti che siano venuti. - Were glad they came.Non credo che siano andati in Italia. - I dont believe they went to Italy.Mi aspetto che oggi tu abbia studiato per gli esami. - I expect that you studied for your exams.Temo che lei si sia persa. - I’m worried that she got lost.Immagino che tu non abbia conosciuto molte persone a Roma, vero? - I bet that you didn’t know many people in Rome, right?

History Of Labor And Employment Laws - 1356 Words

INTRODUCTION In the history of labor and employment laws in the United States of America, things had drastically varies from years to years. The law of slavery, which governed many American workers until 1865, is covered in a separate entry of laws. Beginning with the 1880s, there was a courts development to control workers injunction with the labor relationship, unlike before the American Revolution when there was no field of labor or employment law. The Revolution brought out powerful independent that are needed among the new nation s workers and also gave the involvement of fighting a revolution for new state and federal constitutions against the damaged respect and stimulated expectations of freedom and fairness. By the year 1880, adult wageworkers in the Northern States were free from specific routine and disciplinary sanctions. This change over the successive duration of employment can be given an identity and be categorized with different generation, pre-Revolutionary 1600s to 1770s, from the Revolution through the Civil War 1770s to 1865, from the Civil War to the Great Depression 1865 to 1929, from the Great Depression to the Taft-Hartley Act 1930s to 1940s, and from the Taft-Hartley Act to the present 1950s to 2000s (Stanley N. Katz, 2009) EMPLOYMENT DEPRESSION Starting with the great depression period 1929s, employment relationship became not so important anymore because of the rate at which the country economy is about to crash, company were called to fireShow MoreRelatedChild Labor Essay809 Words   |  4 PagesChild labor has been an extremely serious issue since the early industrial revolution and it continues to be an issue today. The movement towards the industrial revolution increased demand for labor, especially cheap labor, which targeted young children as a means for performing work in the factories. Since it was an economically growing era for the United States, children in the 18th century worked long hours for low minimum wage under harsh conditions to help their families. Children were easilyRead MoreHistory of the Flsa Essay982 Words   |  4 PagesThe History of the Fair Labor Standards Act Abstract After the great depression, unions were legalized in order to be the voice for the workers for whom they represented to their employers. Once this legalization became evident through federal statute, set the stage for what was to become the Fair Labor Standards Act. Having just survived a depression, the United States was hoping to avoid any future economic downturns, the government would accomplish this with paying higher wages that theRead MoreChild Labour : A History Essay1228 Words   |  5 PagesChild Labour in The United States Child Labour: A History America and The Industrial Revolution ‘Forms of child labor, including indentured servitude and child slavery, have existed throughout American history.’ (http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html) During the years following the Civil War, (http://americanhistory.about.com/od/industrialrev/a/indrevoverview.htm) the American working class made an abrupt transition away from farm work and home choresRead MoreUnited Kingdoms Employment Law and Relationships953 Words   |  4 PagesKingdom employment relationships are highly regulated by law. It would be more accurate, however, to state that there are certain areas of employment law that are well regulated from a variety of different sources. Prior to denoting just what these sources are and what effects they have on various employers, employees, and organized labor unions, however, it is necessary to delineate the development of employment law throughout the United Kingdom which, given this regions lengthy history, is fa irlyRead More Age Discrimination in Employment Essays1726 Words   |  7 PagesThere has always been some â€Å"ism† that social movements have fought against throughout America’s history, and the issue of â€Å"ageism† was finally addressed in The Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Ageism can be defined as prejudiced beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors pertaining to older adults. To understand the ADEA fully, a brief history of age discrimination is useful to comprehend the Structural Level of this bill. Discrimination based on age was not a large issue until the beginning of the 20thRead MoreIs Affirmative Action in Higher Education Outdated?783 Words   |  3 Pagespromotion, and retention practices in both the private and public sectors, and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In the years since, interpretations of these laws by the U.S. Supreme Court has defined how affirmative action policies are to be implemented. The Court has held that affirmative action policies are Constitutional wherever it can be shown that  ¦ there has been a clear history of racial discrimination (United Press International). In 1978, the Court ruling in RegentsRead MoreAmericans with Disability Act926 Words   |  4 Pagesrestrain illegal discrimination in employment against individuals qualified to be disabled. The purpose of the law was to generally end discrimination in the place of work and to deliver equal employment chances for individuals living with disabilities or have had histories of disabilities. The act defends employees that experience physical or mental deficiency that greatly limits a key life activity. In addition to that, it protects the rights of employees with a history of disability and those that employersRead MoreThe Impact Of National Relations Labor Act ( Nlra ) And The Fair Labor Standards Act1181 Words   |  5 PagesLabor Legislation in the 20th Century Much of what we know about the improvements in the workforce came from 20th century advancements with the workforce that we know today. Important developments came in the form of methodology and data collection efforts. The 20th century was a remarkable period for the American workers. Despite the initial stages of labor management, working conditions, wages and benefits improved over the last century with the workforce increasing six fold over theRead MoreMinimum Wage : Low Skilled And Young Workers1553 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Minimum wage, a program created to help the poor, has every contrary effect to its well intentions. Throughout the history, people who hurt the most during minimum wage hikes are the low-skilled and young workers. Drastically raising minimum wage is meaningless as high inflation usually comes alongside with wage increases. Past economic statistics have shown that the rate of increase in inflation usually outpaced the rate of increase in minimum wage. Thus, the real value wageRead MoreLegal, Safety, and Regulatory Requirements Paper817 Words   |  4 Pagesenvironment for employees to feel safe and secure. Regulations such as Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Labor have in some ways removed the common sense and compassion in the workplace and replaced it with litigation. The effect of these regulations have balanced the workplace and created a more structured environment. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws that make it illegal for any workplace to discriminate an employee because

Becker’s Rational Theory Free Essays

string(91) " not practical because it does not take its effects on society as critically as it should\." Gary Becker is both a sociologist and economist although he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for his rational theory for economics.   The lecture he gave for the Nobel was divided into six points: his economic approach to life, his view of the discrimination against minorities, his theories on crime and punishment, his understanding of human capital, his perspectives on family ties and how he believes people will accept the theories he had proposed. Becker’s ideas are refreshing, if not altogether new and worth understanding. We will write a custom essay sample on Becker’s Rational Theory or any similar topic only for you Order Now First of all, he distinguishes his analysis from the Marxian perspective.   He explained that the communist concept is purely based on utilitarian terms while his concept of rationality is a method of analysis and not an â€Å"assumption about particular motivations.† (38) His approach is founded on the idea that time has its own cost.   He argues that many human developments have been made to extend life expectancy but no one can alter the pace of time from twenty-four hours to another pattern.   Thus, time has its cost and also affects the choices that people make because of its price. Becker takes hiring of workers and discrimination into a new light with his idea that the employers may usually be the source of discrimination but in truth, the employees and customers of a company also contribute to the decisions being done on employment. He cites that some workers refuse to be assigned under a woman and certain clients may prefer to deal with white instead of black sales agents. One of his theories on discrimination is that when the quantity of the majority of a prejudicial relationship is greatly higher, the income of the mentioned party will be much higher while those of the minority group will be very limited.   However, Becker also believes that if the prejudicial group is smaller in quantity compared to the group they have chosen to outcast, then the prejudice will be harmful to the prejudicial people. Becker also controversially cites that the popularized beliefs of employers, teachers and other persons of influence on the community can create stereotypes that are harmful or counter-productive.   He bases his assumptions on the premise that education is an investment because previous studies show that putting more time and money in getting academic training boosts a person’s chances to become economically successful. Stereotyping people causes these minorities to lessen their educational investments both academically and career-wise.   This makes them less productive to society. It is worthy to note that Becker highly believes that education is a very good investment for the economy and that learning can be hindered by prejudice. Another institution Becker chose to analyze is society’s view on crime and punishment.   Becker sought to explain that crimes like stealing may not seem to cost the society very much but criminals also invest on weaponry and premeditated planning which could have been put to better communal use.The Nobel winner explained that in the mid-twentieth century, crimes were viewed as originating from mental illness and social oppression to the point that criminals were made to look like victims of society. These, therefore, affected social policies by giving criminals more rights, reducing the chances of apprehending and convicting criminals while lessening the security of the rest of the innocent. In his economic point of view, Becker believes that policies must be geared towards higher costs of punishment for criminals to deter them from making their crimes a livelihood.   He believes that to lessen crime, the economic and social environment formed by public policies (e.g. expenditures for punishments, employment opportunities, educational programs) must be taken into consideration.   If the legal jobs were paying much higher than what would have been gotten from a quick crime, then it would lessen the probability of criminal acts. It was Becker’s ideas that have inspired Law Professor, David Friedman (1995) to propose other ways of fighting and preventing crime.   Based on the Nobel awardee’s theory, the professor suggests that instead of paying policemen regular salaries, these officers should just get what has been collected from the criminals he had apprehended and caused to be convicted. In this scenario, the victim shall pay for the investigation of the crime to the police so that investigative jobs will be allocated well to the uniformed men. According to Friedman, this will lessen the cost of taxes that ordinary law-abiding citizens pay for protection and judicial courts. When the criminal is able to pay the damages he had brought about, then the victim and police have been paid. In this way, the policeman are not   tempted to accept bribes from criminals while the cost of implementing justice is greatly lowered. Another point of view was given by Dr. Mark Thornton, Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, this time contradictory to Becker’s.   After his winning the Nobel, Becker became a staunch believer in the legalization of drugs to lessen its harmful impact on society.   On the other end is Dr. Thornton who made a paper entitled, Harm Reduction and Sin Taxes: Why Gary Becker is Wrong, to state his points.   According to Becker, legalizing drugs would bring in positive results if excise taxes will be created to make the price of these drugs less affordable.   However, according to Dr. Thornton, the taxes will still not eliminate the consumption of dangerous drugs but will only encourage production and consumption of more potent forms of these drugs.   Marking legal drugs as harmful will only make these even more attractive to young teens and adults.   Putting excise taxes will make the drug too costly for those who truly need it which might lead to consumers preferring a less expensive yet more harmful kind of solution and the formation of a black market.   Thornton further argues that there is no proper way to calculate the tax rate. (12) I In Thornton’s light, he reveals that Becker’s ideas may be highly theoretical but not practical because it does not take its effects on society as critically as it should. You read "Becker’s Rational Theory" in category "Essay examples" One subject that may give Becker a Marxian link is his use of the term â€Å"human capital.†Ã‚   Although the term he uses is Marxist, he does not intend it to mean something utilitarian.   Instead, Becker chose to use the term as a name for an analysis that bases its assumptions on how individuals choose their education, career training, medical care and other additions to knowledge and health by weighing the benefits (cultural and non-financial) and costs (value of time spent on these founding investments). (43) Becker identifies two theoretical concepts used in human capital analysis which are the general and specific training or knowledge.   Becker believes that general training is simply knowledge of how to make things work but specific training or knowledge refers to an individual’s skill in climbing up and down the authority structure of the company he or she works for and includes the talents that may be necessarily giving this employee more value to the company. With this proposition, human capital becomes an asset of a company as part of accounting principles. He further explains human capital investment in the light of marital relationships. He believes in the idea that marriages are unions that are based on the theory that putting together two people’s resources would make them stronger economically. Thus, divorce rates are affected by the financial stability of husbands and wives.   This also explains why the rich have lower divorce rates compared to couples who are problematic in their finances. Although romantics may want to challenge this idea, the statistics will provide Becker with more evidence rather than refute his contentions. Human capital is founded on the idea that education is an investment. Becker offers his human capital analysis to explain the gender gap in earnings of men and women.   Traditionally, women were more likely to get poorly-paid jobs because they spend time taking of children first before they can invest more attention to getting better education or training.   However, the decline of family size in the past decades, growth of divorce rates that leave single mothers to work for a living, increase in the fulfillment of job vacancies brought about by industrialization and legislation has been able to give women more opportunities for career and financial stability. Becker believes that his rational choice way of analyzing life can also explain the formation, dissolution and structure of families. The family is the oldest and most basic of all institutions. Becker already mentions that marriage is a union that is made between individuals who believe that staying together would benefit them both. Divorce, then, would be made if the two individuals believe that economic stability would be achieved without the other. One of the controversial principles regarding family and economics came from Malthus who believes that fertility would rise as incomes increase and would decline as incomes decrease.   This theory failed when the modern era showed that as industrialized countries were becoming super economic powers, birth rates started to dwindle. According to Becker, the only problem with the Malthusian principle is that it was not adaptable to modern life. Modern people put great value in time and so taking care of children costs greatly. Parents also recognize that the success of their children are based on the good quality education and training they are able to get. This raises the cost of investments even more which leads to couples having fewer children. This explanation also addresses why more and more women are entering the labor force. With fewer children to tend to, women are freer to pursue their careers. Becker also sought to analyze why there are societies wherein gender roles seem to attribute to women the child-rearing and agricultural activities compared to the men who are delegated to do the fighting and market work.   He believes that these are because of biological differences and cultural conditioning. He incorporates his human capital analysis by saying that any investment in education requires practice and that since men have more time to delve into the sporty and marketing skills, they are the ones given the gender role.   Women, on the other hand, are too busy with children to develop their own talents and skills and would do better in simply doing what else should be done to uphold the family. Becker believes that the way one is raised has a lot of bearing on how one thinks and acts as an adult.   Choices adults make in life are based on their childhood experiences.   Therefore, the family is a very important institution in society because the preferences that are at work in his rational theory are formed when people are growing up. Another aspect of family life Becker chose to single out was the issue of altruism.   Based on the â€Å"Rotten-Rid Theorem,† selfish individuals use altruistic behavior to ensure their own welfare. Therefore, parents and children can strive to uphold altruism within their families because of their own selfish purposes. For example, parents who are not planning to leave bequests to their children strive to uphold love, guilt and assistance among family members to ensure their welfare once they grow old.   By imbibing values such as caring, older children are made to feel guilty when they cannot take good care of their old parents. Parents who do not plan to leave bequests to their kids tend to strive to work or assist their children in housekeeping to compensate for their lack of financial contribution. With children who have been taught to give back something in return while they were young, the kids will be obliged to take good care of the old parents. Parents who are not planning to leave bequests can also give their children the best investment they can have – education – to ensure that when they are already old, the young ones will be able to provide for their needs. With these in mind, Becker makes a funny proposal for parents to have contracts with their children to oblige them to take care of the old couples once they are too weak to work. With his analysis of familial relationships, Becker also realizes that social institutions like homes of the aged are contributing to the breakdown of families. With the government taking care of what could have been someone’s responsibility, the family members communicate less and become estranged from each other. Other sources of this problem are greater geographical mobility, increased wealth due to better national economy, better capital and insurance markets that create financial endowments for these responsibilities, higher divorce rates that separate family members from each other and even health care which also takes care of things so that people can continue to work instead of taking care of each other. Becker concludes his lecture by summarizing the main points he had so far mentioned.   He also predominates any oppositions to his claims by saying that since his concepts are based on economic or rational choices towards behavior, many critics have already raised issues about individuals not acting consistently all the time and that behaviors are not always forward-looking (especially the ones of criminals). Becker counters these allegations also by explaining that his rational choice theory is not simply an economic approach limited to the micro level.   He believes that the theory can be a very good and powerful tool to use to understand and derive implications on the macro level. Backer believes that using assumptions about technology and other determinants of opportunities, market and non-market situations, laws, norms and traditions can help obtain better results about group behaviors. Becker’s ideas are truly remarkable. Some are simply a review of what has been happening to society (e.g. family dissolution) while others like his view of crime and punishment are refreshing and obviously revolutionizing social policies and perspectives. His view on crime, particularly, raises many controversial questions towards practicality especially because it concerns the security of many innocent people. Controversial or not, his rational choice theory shines a new light towards how humans keep adapting to the society he is forming at every moment and this makes him worth of the Nobel Prize. Works Cited Becker, Gary. â€Å"The Economic Way of Looking at Life.† Nobel Lecture. 09 December 1992 Economic Sciences.(1992): 38-58. Friedman, David. â€Å"Rational Criminals and Profit-Maximizing Police: Gary Becker’s Contribution to the Economic Analysis of Law and Law Enforcement.† 23 March 2008. http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Becker_Chapter/Becker_Chapter.html Thornton, Mark. â€Å"Harm Reduction and Sin Taxes: Why Gary Becker is Wrong.† 23 March 2008. http://www.mises.org/journals/scholar/Thornton9.pdf          How to cite Becker’s Rational Theory, Essay examples

The Arab Spring free essay sample

On the whole, the success rate of democratization is so far disappointing. That begs the question whether the Arab popular uprisings for democratic change, what the media conveniently dubbed the ‘Arab Spring’, are dead or still alive. Certainly, the Arab Spring is not dead; prevailing political and economic realities do, however, indicate that it is inching towards the death bed. Though it is too early to make such an assertion, the insurmountable political and economic challenges facing the post-revolutionary governments portend less hope for its success. There exist huge gaps between what the pro-democracy forces expected from the revolutions, that is, the expectations of transforming their societies away from authoritarian to democratic order, and what has been achieved or what is achievable on the ground. Neither national conditions nor global developments appear propitious to favor the goals and expectations of the pro-democracy forces. The Arab Spring, in stark contrast to other great historical revolutions, is marked by a series of distinctive features, and many of its weaknesses largely originate from these distinctive features. This is probably the first time in history that popular uprisings for social and political change kicked off without a particular ideology to promote. The Arab youths who organized the uprisings and shaped its course come from different political persuasions; they had no common political platform, no common political thread to tie them together. Neither in the post-uprisings period did they galvanize their political spirit by floating a common political party to consolidate their victories against the anti-democratic, counter-revolutionary forces. Equally noticeable was the absence of able leaders to guide the uprisings to successful conclusions. True, there existed some timid political parties in Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen but no revolutionary or visionary leaders in the likes of George Washington, V. I. Lenin, Mahatma Gandhi, Ayatollah Khomeini or Nelson Mandela. These political parties were hesitant to join the pro-democracy popular movements but tried to catch up once protesters defied the security forces and went out of control of the autocratic regimes. The leadership vacuum has put the army initially and then the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Ennahda Party in Tunisia, a conglomerate of anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya, and elements of the old guards in Yemen in power. The beginning rather sounded inauspicious. Worse of all, the uprisings have fostered close collaboration between democratic and counter-revolutionary camps. The conservative Gulf monarchies, except Kuwait to a large extent, are the most fortified anti-democratic fort of the Middle East. In order to preserve hereditary rules and oil money-supported patronage systems, the Saudi King Abdullah sent troops on 14 March 2011 to suppress the popular demands for political and economic reforms in the island kingdom of Bahrain. The US, which has its Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain and a welter of strategic and business interests throughout the Gulf, acquiesced to Saudi intervention. Iran was projected as the enemy out there to take advantage. The Saudis, the Qataris and the Americans also found themselves onboard to oust Muammar Gaddafi through NATO-led military assault on Libya – a wonderful episode of cooperation between democracy and authoritarianism history will preserve in its archive for good. The young Egyptians, Libyans, Tunisians and Yemenis have defied all authoritarian hurdles to set their homelands on the track to democracy. They did not dream of becoming European liberals or American conservatives overnight but were motivated by the need to bury their authoritarian past and build their countries anew. There is a minimum expectation that propels every great revolution. In 1917 the Russian proletariat and the unpaid armed forces supported V. I. Lenin’s socialist revolution in the hope of securing a guaranteed future for bread and butter; the French revolutionaries of 1789 mobilized the common Frenchmen by promising an end to monarchical absolutism and the promulgation of inalienable rights, citizenships for all and good governance. In 2011, the Arab youths and mass people started their uprisings believing that they would be better off in a post-authoritarian system. Their expectations focused on achieving three principal goals – freedom from want, freedom from fear, and the freedom to live in dignity what together make up human security, a concept the UNDP first popularized in 1994. Human security is widely defined as ‘safety from the constant threats from hunger, disease, crime and repression’. The achievement of human security in the post-revolutionary Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen requires, at a minimum, enough employment creations for the Arab youth bulge (15 – 29 age brackets) who constitute one-third of the total population, elimination of mass poverty (that ranges from 25 per cent in Egypt to 54. 5 per cent in Yemen) and economic inequalities, the elimination of conflicts, crimes and violence, and an end to intimidations, illegal tortures, and discriminations. In a nutshell, in order for the Arab Spring to stay alive, the post-uprisings Arab governments must achieve a minimum level of economic development to satisfy the basic needs of their people, and reorient the political order to secure good governance and social justice for all. The big question is: can they do it? Both insiders and outsiders easily comprehend that much of the violence and conflicts that keep battering Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen originate from the lack of adequate economic provisions for the common people. The initial euphoria for democracy, it seems, may not last long unless the economy picks up dynamism with job promises for the young people. A 2012 Pew Research Center poll has found that the common Arabs prefer a strong economy to a democratic government. One does not need to be a genius like Karl Marx to grasp the simple idea that economics shapes the patterns of politics. The Egyptians are particularly frustrated that their post-revolution economic condition is worse than it was under Hosni Mubarak. Fiscal crisis and current account imbalances are more than threatening to the goals of pro-democracy movements. Egypt’s foreign currency reserves dropped from $36 billion in 2010 to $24 billion by July 2011 and by January 2013 it shriveled to $13. 6 billion; foreign investors pulled $5. 5 billion by the end of 2011 and foreign direct investment declined sharply; GDP growth rate slid to 1. 8 per cent in 2011 to 1. 5 per cent in 2012 creating many economic woes for the Egyptians. The same picture is visible in Tunisia and Yemen. The dictators vanished leaving behind their economies in shambles. Under Hosni Mubarak, Egypt strongly pursued a pro-market private sector-led development strategy till his fall in February 2011. Late Anwar El-Sadat introduced this strategy in the mid-1970s that marked a cut-off point from Gamal Abdel Nasser’s social contract that guaranteed employments for the educated youths and free social services for the common Egyptians in exchange for political loyalty. Mubarak’s son Gamal Mubarak, groomed as the next in succession line, pursued a rapid privatization program and sold most state corporations to private Egyptian businessmen and investors from Brazil, China, Russia, the US, and the Gulf Arab states. The program spread elite corruption and sharply widened the gaps between the rich and the poor effectively turning Egypt into a two-tier society. In Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali established a family fiefdom where his family members and relatives came to firmly control the economic and commercial activities of the country. The common Tunisians suffered so much so that their patience broke down once the college graduate Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on 17 December 2010. In Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh dispensed power and patronage through biased tribal and regional systems that bred discontents nationally and ignited rebellion in some parts of the country. Al-Qaeda fighters stepped in to take advantage of domestic political and economic grievances created by Saleh’s misrule. A quick improvement in post-revolutionary economies requires nothing less than economic miracles but this is very unlikely to happen. A few steps that seem urgent include a bold transition to market economy, introduction of sound fiscal and economic growth strategies to create employment opportunities for the youth bulge, policies to reduce social and economic gaps between the rich and the poor and simultaneous democratization of the political order at a pace people find acceptable. Libya may find the transition relatively easy since money coming from the oil sector gives it substantial leverage to navigate through financial and economic difficulties. The Libyan government earned a total of $54. 9 billion in 2012 in oil and gas revenues with a state budget of approximately the same amount for the same year to finance (50 billion Libyan dinars budget). For resource-poor Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen there is no easy solution. Their limited capacities to deal with post-revolution social and economic problems are chipped away by the continuing global economic recession, particularly the economic decline in the European Union (EU) member states. The economies of Egypt and Tunisia are more integrated with the EU; Tunisia, in particular, is sensitive to the ripple effects of what happens in the big EU economies. The economic and social problems are complicated more by the evolving patterns of politics. Except in Yemen, the Islamists are in control in all the post-revolutionary Arab states. Long repressed by the Arab autocrats, the Islamists rose to power by capitalizing on the weaknesses of the secular political forces and by dint of their organizational strength. The electoral victories of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or the Ennahda Party in Tunisia did not bring with them a wealth of democratic state and nation-building experiences. While in the opposition they found too many faults with the now toppled dictators but once in power they started wavering in action, sometimes making the politically counterproductive decisions. The violent popular reactions to power grab by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is just a case at hand. In the absence of governance experiences and a development plan to stimulate economic growth to steer clear of political discontents, many Islamists turned to Turkey under the AKP (Justice and Development Party) rule since 2002 as a possible model to emulate. Soon after the Tunisian revolution, the Ennahda Party leader Rachid Ghannouchi told a press conference that his party would follow the Turkish model. A 2011 TESEV (Turkish Economic and Social Studies Center) public opinion survey in the Arab world found that 66 per cent of Arabs preferred Turkey as a model for their respective countries. Though opinions on what the Turkish model exactly means are divided, a simple articulation of the model points to the coexistence of democracy, political Islam, and successful economic liberalization. The Islamic AKP coexists with secular political parties in a secular democratic state structure without Islamizing the face and identity of Turkey but supervising rapid economic development with an average 8 per cent growth rate in 2010 and 2011. That marks a fundamental shift from the pre-2002 Kemalists-led state-imposed, elitist, and military supervised economic and political modernization of Turkey. Turkey, as a Muslim country and also because of its geographic proximity, appeals to the Arab world but it is doubtful whether Egypt, Libya or Tunisia can follow the footsteps of AKP. There is limited prospect for these countries at best to score big on issues like Turkish-style successful transition to market economy and integration into the global markets, a sufficient level of economic development to cope with the pressures of population growth, and efficient governance systems. Turkey itself is also experiencing economic contraction as its economy grew only by 1. 6 per cent in the third quarter of 2012. What hopes the economically less developed, less modernized Egypt, Tunisia or Yemen hold out for their people? While the AKP, being an Islamic party, has not really attempted to bring about Islamic transformation of Turkey, the Arab Islamic political parties and groups seek to promote Islamic laws and identities of their societies. Post-uprisings Egyptian, Libyan and Tunisian constitutions prioritize Islamic religion as the principal source of law and values. Extra pressures for Islamization are created by the salafi groups, such as the Libyan Islamic Movement for Change or the Al-Nour Party in Egypt. This is what destabilizes the post-revolution political order by unleashing diverse and conflicting political forces who constantly jockey for power and influence. No less damaging has been external interference in the spontaneous course of Arab pro-democracy movements. Great and regional powers have got dangerously enmeshed in the movements, either supporting or opposing the movements. UN Security Council Resolution 1973 legitimized NATO-led military intervention in Libya to promote democracy; it succeeded in bringing down the Gaddafi regime on 20 October 2011 but raised new serious questions about the application of force to promote democracy in the name of ‘the responsibility to protect’. The French arms delivery to the rebel fighters in violation of Security Council Resolution 1970 that imposed arms embargos on all Libyan parties, and regime change through force, according to many observers, overstepped the powers and jurisdictions of the two Resolutions. The Russians and the Chinese subsequently used it to justify their decisions to veto similar resolutions on Syria to stifle the pro-democracy forces. The Arab Spring, in fact, created a new geopolitical arena for the great powers either to promote or preserve their national interests, real as well as perceived. France became eager to spearhead the NATO military strikes on the Gaddafi regime once it secretly concluded coveted oil deals with the rebel National Transitional Council; the Russians would leave no stone untouched to safeguard their naval base in Syria’s sea port Tartus and continue arms supplies to the Bashar Al-Assad government; and the Americans would support no action against their allies – the Bahraini Al-Khalifa rulers and Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh though they warranted Security Council interventions. One notices with painful sadness that Arab democracy promotions did not genuinely figure in their interests calculations. Distressing internal developments and encumbering external environment together have retarded the normal course of the Arab Spring. It is beyond the imagination of many people that the Arab Spring is getting dried out so soon. The fates of past great historical revolutions constantly remind us not to be too much optimistic about the glorious Arab pro-democracy movements. The 1917 Russian socialist revolution lasted some seventy years what prompted the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm to label the 20th century as ‘the short twentieth century’, the French Revolution soon unleashed a ‘Reign of Terror’ though normalcy returned after massive killings and bloodshed, and the 1979 Iranian Revolution soon found itself entangled in a long war with Iraq and then in shackles of sanctions imposed by the West. The Arab Spring is tied up by irresolvable internal politico-economic problems and unwelcome external involvements. This is what is cutting short the life of the Arab Spring. The young Arab democratic forces are angry with post-uprisings developments, they lack the capacities to define and determine the course of their countries but are spirited enough to safeguard what they have achieved by overthrowing the dictators in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen. That promises no return to the authoritarian past but, at the same time, guarantees no progressive actions to materialize the objectives of the pro-democracy revolutions to keep the Arab Spring alive for years or decades to come.