Its 7 questions about political science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Its 7 questions about political science - Essay Example First, policies of the government must reflect the wishes that the people have. Other conditions state that leaders in government must be elected, and elections need to be free and fair. Fourth, people must take part in any political process. Fifth, the available information must be of high-quality. Finally, the majority must rule. Political equality relates to the concept that every individual carries an equal weight in voting as well as other political decision-making. Greenberg et al. argue that this principle is crucial in an ideal democratic society since democracy is a means of making key decisions. Political liberty is the third component of democracy. It relates to the fundamental freedoms crucial to the expression and formation of the popular will as well as its transformation into policy. The necessities of political liberty include freedoms of religion and conscience, of the press, of speech, and of association and assembly. Greenberg at al. argue that the fundamental principles of democracy cannot exist if the mentioned liberties lack (12). In the â€Å"Democracy for the Few†, Dr. Parenti describes how the society is majorly divided into two sections; the working class and the owning class. He goes ahead to explain the individuals under the owning class, where he described them as well-to-do people and in most cases are wealthy and live in the profits of their businesses. In this class, he recognized individuals who owns large amount of shareholders from bigger corporation as well as the small scale and struggling business owners. He compared the small and the giant business owners as squirrels and elephants to enable him provide a better perspective of who can bully their ways in the market and society set up. Parenti also mentioned working class, and he was able to describe them as those individuals who were able to live and depend on salaries, wages, and pensions. He

The Mirror and the Lamp Essay Example for Free

The Mirror and the Lamp Essay M.H. Abrams: The Mirror and the Lamp. It is establishes between a work and three pivotal points. -The primary focus of literature/art is to instruct which brings it into the realm of education. 1. Work represents the product itself. It is called an artefact. 2. Most important thing is artificer (artist)Â  3. Taken to have a subject derived from something 4. Lastly this comprehensive quality is absorbed by people. -There are varying literary schools of thought but they exclusively choose one. Artist If the focus is on the artist, we read Hamlet but we look at Shakespeare, the creator. Biographical criticism, the perspective that the biographical criticism reflects the event, specific experiences, personal prejudices, and life are reflected in the work. So that Hamlet is a projection of Shakespeare. The danger of this approach is that it can become a fallacy. The poet is (not) the speaker. It can and cannot be the speaker, we dont separate the work from the writer. Psychological In the world of physiological, the physiological state of the artist and the manifestations of repressed needs, desires, and frustrations are reflected in the work. We move away from the work and focus on the physiological state of the artist. Universe: Social Historic The work expresses the values, issues, and concerns of the age which produced the work. Moral/Didactic From this perspective, the art should reflect an ethical perspective. If it teaches us anything, it becomes didactic. Audience: Reader Response There is no single interpretation which takes present over another. It becomes affected, tainted by our emotions, and perspectives. We arent really talking about literature, we are taking our feelings. How we interpret literature changes the work itself. Work The work should stand alone from the artist, universe, and audience. 1. Philosophical Within the realm of PC, the work reflects an idea. We eliminate the art when we just view a work from a philosophical idea. 2. Linguistic We are forced to look at syntactical use of words and the meaning of words because its purpose is communication. It becomes too scientific and we dont take into consideration the connotation, denotation, and the metaphoric aspect. 3. Formalistic The focus is on the artful and formal arrangement of language. Our focus is then on the rhetorical. -All literature should be viewed from all four points. No piece of literature will stand alone, it will have to be viewed with all for aspects.

Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman When in 1792 the French minister for education proposed a revolutionary system of state-supported system of public education for men only, Mary Wollstonecraft was outraged. As a concrete embodiment of the French revolutions promise to redress the wrongs of past, this proposal seemed a betrayal of all that the revolution stood for. Wollstonecraft responded with A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, arguing a simple principle: that if she (woman) be not prepared by education to become the companion of man , she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue ; for truth must be common to all or it will inefficacious with respect to its influence on general practice. Just one year earlier she had leapt to the defense of Richard Price and Thomas Paine in her Vindication of the Rights of Men against the attack of Edmund Burke in his Reflections on the Revolutions in France, she now turned her attention to the injustice that presented itself in this revolutionary program for universal educa tion in France. The context of the Vindication of the Rights of Woman was written as a response to Rousseaus immensely influential book Emile, which laid out Rousseaus vision of how boys should be educated. In the process Rousseau created a character; a female associate for Emile named Sophie and in the process slighted the education of women. In this essay we would explore that how successfully Wollstonecrafts Vindication of the Rights of Women is expressing the ways in which women could improve themselves and how society would benefit from this in 1790s and how affected the impact on patriarchal oppression and on the feminism as a whole. J.J Rousseau primarily claimed that we are inherently good, but we become corrupted by the evils of society. We are born good and that is our natural state. Through attending to nature we are more likely to live a life of virtue. In Emile, which is Rousseaus influential book, he was able to dramatize his ideas and reach a very wide audience. He made, it can be argue, the first comprehensive attempt to describe a system of education according to that he saw as nature. In his educational theories Rousseau attempted to preserve natures pure state. His concept of negative education allowed a child to discover for himself and to be punished by the nature he sought to defy. The tutor must not try to reason with the child or show authority. Books would not be forced on the child; at twelve Emile would hardly know what to do with a book. Positive education, or direct instruction, would only begin at approximately the age of adulthood, and then the studies would be based on the students natur al curiosity. Rousseau stressed utility, the need for teaching things with practical applications. This concept of negative education as applicable to women was totally inconceivable to Rousseau. Rousseau outlines his theories for the ideal education for the women in chapter V of Emile. He viewed womens options as entirely limited to the roles of wife and mother. What need would there be to allow her to determine for herself when nature had already physiologically dictated her destiny Rousseau demanded a reversion to primitivism in the education of women, offering minimal vocational training while insisting on her inability to reason and her inferiority to man. A womans education must be planned in relation to man.[S]he will always be in subjection to a man, and she will never be free to set her own opinion above his.(Rousseau p:176). He stresses freedom of movement and physical exertion for Emile, asserting that weak bodies contain weak minds. At the same time he discourages Sophie from too much physical activity and uses her weakness as another proof of her inferiority. The object of that cultivation is different. In the one sex it is the development of corporeal powers; in the other, that of personal charms, (Rousseau:pp.322) The power a woman have in Roussseaus poltical doctrine is dependent on the power allotted them by nature. And that power can be reduced to a simple law of nature. For nature has endowed woman with a power of stimulating mans passions in excess for mans power of satisfying those passions, and has thus made him dependent on her goodwill, and compelled him in his turn to endeavor to please her, so that she may be willing is superior strength. Is it weakness which yields to force, or is it voluntary self-surrender? This uncertainty constitutes the chief charm of the mans victory, and the woman is usually cunning enough to leave him in doubt. (Emile: 387) Rousseau emphasized the fundamentally different roles of men and women, he considers men and women complimentary to each other , women roles is to nurture and essential if men free to take on public roles and warrior and politicians. In Emile,Sophie is his sexual identity. Rousseau considers a mans union with a woman a debasement of his nature. Rousseau has a view of marriage apparently quite traditional in many respects, but he does not defend that arrangement traditionally. Rousseaus Emile makes the wife responsible for keeping the man at home and she is to maintain in him a sense of his freedom and yet at the same time use all sort of feminine charms and intelligent deceptions to make sure that he wants to stay at him, still free but also fulfilling his parental duty. Rousseau considers wifes job, simply put, is to deceive the man into staying at home by sustaining for him the illusion of his freedom, by serving his need for such a psychological state, that point is discussed by W ollstonecraft that if Sophie has to play complicated role of such a smart understanding wife, she has to know the men traits and nature, psychology of men to deal with them. Rousseau anticipates this stance and argues against it, making the case that if women seek to compete with men by defining themselves in terms of male virtues, then they will foster a state of society in which they are even more than before the servants of men. Men are better at being men than women are, Rousseau claims. Rousseau explains that Sophies education needs to be different because she is to be future mother, and women are designed by nature for motherhood. While insisting on the importance of motherhood, he stumbles on womens role as mothers. In addressing mothers in Book I of Emile, he acknowledges their primacy in the education of youth. By denying women the ability to reason he denies them the ability to raise children, which Mary Wollstonecraft later attempts to prove. Mary Wollstonecraft applauded Rousseaus scheme for Emile but deplored the neglect of Emils perfect wife, Sophie in her book The Vindication of the Rights of Woman written in response to Rousseau. Wollstonecraft seeks to find a rational explanation for the state of her sex. She questions whether women are really created for the pleasure of men. She initiates her attack on patriarchal oppression in the first page of the introduction explaining how men have created books `considering females rather as women than human creatures, have been more anxious to make them alluring mistresses than affectionate wives and rational mothers (P:11): then on Sophies garb simple as it seems, was only put in its proper order to be taken to pieces by the imagination. To this she retorts, Is this modesty ? Is this a preparation for immortality? she accuses Rousseau of depicting not a wife and sensible mother, but a pleasing mistress. She challenges Rousseaus depiction of men having superior strength and free will to do experiences. Let us then , by being allowed to take the same exercise as boys, not only during infancy , but youth, arrive at perfection of boys, that we many know how far the natural superiority of man extends. She firmly endorses the nothing of the public space in which people can compete, she says, in effect, give women access to this public space, and if we can not hold our own , then lets concede that women are not the same as men and change things accordingly. But let us first give women a chance. In the period prior to the enlightenment women were legally and socially inferior. One example of this is in crime: a man convicted of murdering his wife would be hanged, but a woman convicted of murdering her husband would, by law, be burned alive (Misenheimer,1981:p21). They were also unequal in financial and property rights, women were uneducated and taught to be pure and respectable so they could gain a husband and a home and the legal position of most women totally dependence on their husbands (Mill,1878). Its quite clear that Wollstonecrafts world did have considerable oppression and it was within this context that her attack on male dominance of society was based. She expresses how women are `legally prostituted, attacking marriage and the power men have through marriage (P:75). She attacks that women can only advance through marriage explaining how its the only security of public freedom and universal happiness (P:18). She also argues heavily against the socially constructed' position of women, which has been forced upon them by men. This is possibly her strongest argument against male dominance which conforms to the ideas of what is natural and what has been created by man; similar to the ideas of Thomas Paine, Rousseau. The idea is that the subjugation of women is unnatural and obviously goes against rational, enlightened and more important moral society. Wollstonecraft argues that if marriage is strongest institution and cement of society then men and women should be educated equally regardless of their sexes and marriage never can be held sacred till women, by being brought up with men, are prepared to be their companions rather than their mistresses. Wollstonecraft proposes that education should be accessible through national establishments as private education is confined to only elite class. She proposes her radical idea of educating girls with boys and that girls should be taught anatomy and medicine to make them rational nurses of their infants, parents and husbands. As living in mens society Wollstonecraft realized that her suggestions can cause a stir, hence the major pitch of her appeal for the rights of women might be seen as a call to extend to women the same educational opportunities as those extended to men. She cautions that she has no desire to breed a generation of independent and unattached women like herself, but that she seeks to develop wiser and more virtuous mothers. She believes that childrens characters are formed before the age of seven; hence it is very necessary to raise a child by an educated mother rather than by addle-headed mother. Wollstonecraft trying to make the male society of her time to realize that present education of women focuses far too much on attempts to please and tease men , which is no good basis either for the development of a morally responsible personality , longer lasting marriages or good mothers. And if we educate our women as equal to men, society can really benefit and if they continue to be excluded, society will suffer, it will not progress. Without stressing independence she believes that once women gain intellectual equality, they should be given political and economic equality as well. A Vindication of rights of Woman was a vital piece of work for the Feminists, however it did not really get appreciated among the women of 18th century. It is quite clear that her thoughts were revolutionary for her period and were more suited to the society of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century, when feminists would reintegrate Wollstonecrafts work into their movements. But Rousseaus point is still being made by those who think that a good deal of mainstream liberal feminism, for all its impressive record of social and political achievements, is demanding that women live by a standard foreign to them, that they become like men rather than developing fully as women. Those who, like Wollstonecraft, deny the classification of men and women as different, and this debate between Rousseau and Wollstonecraft is still very much alive in modern arguments about feminism. The present fierce arguments between and within various mens and womens groups indicate that the question is n ot yet off the table. These arguments manifest themselves, among other things, in modern concerns about the rising frequency of divorce and of men abandoning their families, of super-moms, of teenage pregnancies, of the need for men to be in control of the family, and so on, all of which remind us that two hundred years after Wollstonecrafts important contribution this great debate, the conversations continue with no loss of urgency.

Is It Wrong To Prevent People From Expressing Wrong Ideas? :: essays research papers

Is it wrong to prevent people from expressing â€Å"wrong† ideas?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is not wrong to prevent people from expressing their â€Å"wrong† ideas because everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Freedom of speech is something that we all are able to exercise freely in the United States. The right to one’s own thoughts and their disposition is a fundamental human right. If they choose to share them, they also have the right to control the way in which they may be shared. In this way, intellectual property rights and free expression are inextricably linked. Perhaps the most essential right is that of communication. Without the freedom to communicate, other rights deteriorate. The right to communicate however is also exercised by providing a forum for those who have been denied a means to speak out on important issues. When told about the acts that occurred in Travers Hall, I was very upset that people would have the decency to deface school property and inflict some kind of hurt towards people. Although some people just look at this incident as nothing, it was clearly something. This is still an issue that needs to be addressed to the college students. The person(s) responsible for this act used it as a way to express themselves against the other ethnic backgrounds that live on campus. Since the first day of school, we have been constantly reminded of the topic of â€Å"Diversity†. When asked what the word â€Å"diversity† means, one can come up with many definitions. Some that come to mind are means different ethnicity, race, nationality or culture. It can also be illustrated as people with different thoughts and ideas, social status or economic/education levels or different religious backgrounds. Now with this in mind, why would people deface property with racial slurs and artwork? These people are absent-minded of the fact that there are many ethnic groups on campus. Everyone should be treated as equals, despite race, religion, sex, etc. Ignorance should not be tolerated. One way to try to prevent this from happening again would be to inform people of what has happened and the penalties that come with this offense. This should not and will not be tolerated. The people who were affected by all of this are afraid. These people should not have to fear for their lives when living here. Is It Wrong To Prevent People From Expressing Wrong Ideas? :: essays research papers Is it wrong to prevent people from expressing â€Å"wrong† ideas?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is not wrong to prevent people from expressing their â€Å"wrong† ideas because everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Freedom of speech is something that we all are able to exercise freely in the United States. The right to one’s own thoughts and their disposition is a fundamental human right. If they choose to share them, they also have the right to control the way in which they may be shared. In this way, intellectual property rights and free expression are inextricably linked. Perhaps the most essential right is that of communication. Without the freedom to communicate, other rights deteriorate. The right to communicate however is also exercised by providing a forum for those who have been denied a means to speak out on important issues. When told about the acts that occurred in Travers Hall, I was very upset that people would have the decency to deface school property and inflict some kind of hurt towards people. Although some people just look at this incident as nothing, it was clearly something. This is still an issue that needs to be addressed to the college students. The person(s) responsible for this act used it as a way to express themselves against the other ethnic backgrounds that live on campus. Since the first day of school, we have been constantly reminded of the topic of â€Å"Diversity†. When asked what the word â€Å"diversity† means, one can come up with many definitions. Some that come to mind are means different ethnicity, race, nationality or culture. It can also be illustrated as people with different thoughts and ideas, social status or economic/education levels or different religious backgrounds. Now with this in mind, why would people deface property with racial slurs and artwork? These people are absent-minded of the fact that there are many ethnic groups on campus. Everyone should be treated as equals, despite race, religion, sex, etc. Ignorance should not be tolerated. One way to try to prevent this from happening again would be to inform people of what has happened and the penalties that come with this offense. This should not and will not be tolerated. The people who were affected by all of this are afraid. These people should not have to fear for their lives when living here.

Assignment #1:  Entrepreneurial Leadership

Assignment #1:   Entrepreneurial  Leadership A Company cannot be innovative and competitive without understanding the importance of leadership. There are three main points to identify leadership which are, having people to lead, having certain skills to reach company's objectives, being focused on and accomplishing goals. In being a leader one possess quality and empowerment. In relation to leadership in a company, three outstanding renowned leaders are, Victor Kiam, Sergey Brin and Larry Page Victor, Kiam, has been known around the world for his vastly flourishing advertising campaign as the man â€Å"who liked the Remington Shaver so much, he bought the company. † But Victor Kiam is much more than a TV spokesperson-he is the man who took a money-losing corporation and quadrupled its sales and turned it around. He is a classic example of a successful leader and entrepreneur. Kiam demonstrates the democratic leadership style, by not only creating a great company all by himself but allowing others input, in helping make decisions for the corporation. The approach to the major business principles of a profit-oriented entrepreneurial in relation to Kiam gives way to the role of entrepreneur being crucial and critical in the context of building the enterprise. He plays many roles linking human resources, finance, production, marketing, operations, research and development and overseeing the same with a broad and big picture. He networks with bankers, major clients, suppliers and others thereby ensuring smooth functioning of the enterprise. Kiam identifies the opportunity, builds the base and leads the organization by attracting and retaining the precious human resources. He usually looks at the niche areas and goes by the road less traveled. In the sense, in order to have the goal of providing a great product and to make a profit he looks for novel and innovative methods so as to try and work out his idea. Kiam is an innovator, creator, risk taker and leader. A successful entrepreneur is one who senses the opportunities constantly, manages the risk, collaborates effectively for building strong teams, raises the bar, learns from mistakes and failures and constantly innovates and pursues the project with passion till the end. Sergy Brin and Larry Page are known for co-founding Google in 1998, and redefined the way people use the web. Now two of the world's richest people, they still play an active role in the company, encouraging resh approaches to Google's unique culture and its expanding suite of services. One would say Brin and Page’s leadership style is characterized from the participative style known as democratic because both individuals are involved in the decision making process as well as working together to solve situations within the company. Many of the same principles that intuitively guide the collective innovation of the Renaissance are now being deliberately and sy stematically applied within the world’s fastest growing companies. Google as a company still aims to continuously innovate to find new ways to organize and present the information that its users say they need and want. New products like GoogleMaps, GoogleEarth, GoogleNews, GMail, and GoogleDocs continue to keep the company at the forefront of the field. Social Responsibility plays a main part in keeping a business running smoothly The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin believe that it is incredibly important for people to have access to information around the world and that this is something that Google can deliver. They have run into issues with foreign governments over censorship, but recently it has not been a major problem. CEO Eric Schmidt predicts that Google will become an unintended central focus around global copyright and ownership legal issues. It is essential for the entrepreneurial leader that people is the most important resource to manage and the most effective to use. Focusing on people, knowing the ways to motivate, inspires, and enabling people to act is what brings the leader to a new dynamic market level. The entrepreneurial leader is to be passionate about what he/she is doing. Every process has to be challenging with a devotion of time and effort. All researches in entrepreneurship view entrepreneurs as innovators. And this is the only way to face increased competitiveness. Innovation today aims at obtaining dominance in a market. When it comes to Victor Kiam who is the most innovative of all US business leaders and who possess, salesman in his bones, he went beyond social responsibility within his company. When Kiam bought the company from Sperry Corporation, Remington it was a loss-making company it was America's dominant electric razor manufacturer. Every salesman knows, a pitch above all has to have the ring of truth. In its first incarnation, the Remington ad featured Kiam in a suit. He notice the unrealistic, he performed the commercial in a bathrobe, only to discover that most American men did not wear a bathrobe when they shaved so he decided to use a towel. As Kiam related in a speech accepting the 1988 Outstanding Business Leader award, â€Å"I draped a towel over my shoulder and covered one breast, as two breasts would have been too much for the American public. † A part of the leadership style of a person is something the person was born with and the other part is formed by multiple factors, such as, society, experience, working environment, and cultural differences. Taking all of these factors in consideration, my leadership style can be described as a combination of democratic leadership and transformational leadership. I believe I posses some of the democratic leadership style characteristics because I make sure my group members are encouraged to share their thoughts, I can lead people around me to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems. Group members also feel more involved and committed to projects, making them more likely to care about the end results. I know I can bring the best out of an experienced and professional team. With being a democratic leader I know it capitalizes on skills and talents by others letting them share their views, rather than simply expecting them to conform. If a decision is very complex and broad, it is important to have the different areas of expertise represented and contributing input this is where democratic leader shines. Research on leadership styles have also shown that democratic leadership leads to higher productivity among group members. Transformational leadership style is also a character I possess. I can create a clear structure of a task that needs to be done always tied together with rewards or punishments. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders. I know that within myself I set the bar and others follow just like, transformational leadership which enhances the motivation, morale and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the mission and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them, challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that optimize their performance. I believe it is critical to use leadership power in a way that makes people depend less on the leader. Arising motivation and a sense of importance in followers plays an important role in leadership. Besides, the high competition and market perspective this makes me aspire after entrepreneurial leadership. The Small Business Administration (SBA) and SCORE are both useful resources for entrepreneurs. The SBA is set in place to provide funding and to provide entrepreneurs with information to assist in business operations. SCORE is a non-profit organization with chapters across the United States which has volunteers that either have been or are presently successful entrepreneurs and executives who give back by sharing their expert business advice. They provide an entrepreneur with a big range of priceless and unique to small business information, basic and general information, laws and regulations, statistics and researches are available to use in order to learn more and be a successful entrepreneur. Information presented and topics discussed make a process of opportunity searching much easier and less time and cost consuming. Furthermore, it has a live chat, blogs, and online advising system that help to find an answer or solve a problem. I will utilize the SBA to secure funding for my business. While the SBA does not make direct loans to businesses, it sets the guidelines for loans, which are then made by lenders, community development organizations, and other lending institutions. SBA guarantees that these loans will be repaid, thus eliminating some of the risk to the lending partners. The SBA also has a variety of training material on topics such as creating business plans, marketing and outreach, laws and regulations, and many other areas. The Small Business Administration will be instrumental in laying the foundation and funding for my business. SCORE will also be utilized to provide guidance and mentorship. I will utilize the expertise of SCORE’s volunteers to give me valuable input on best business practices, effective strategies for success, enthusiasm and support. SCORE also has an assortment of training material ineffective strategies to manage, grow, and finance, business. The Small Business Administration and SCORE both will provide assistance on the keys to creating an appropriate business infrastructure, keys to sustainability, and strategies for growth. If you were to create your personal principles of leadership, what would they be and explain why you would chose them. My personal principles of leadership consist of three elements, lead by example, have a sense of accountability, and inspire a shared vision. These principles are the most important components of leadership and are the essence of effective leadership. Reference page * ^ Victor Kiam Going for it! How to succeed as an entrepreneur, ISBN 0688060609 * ;http://investing. businessweek. com/research/stocks/private/person. asp? personId=376317;privcapId=26851117;previousCapId=26851117;previousTitle=Lia%20Sophia; * ;http://www. google. com/about/corporate/company/business. html; * ;http://www. sba. gov/; * ;http://www. score. org/;

Assess Albert Speer’s contribution to the Nazi war effort Essay

Albert Speer’s contribution to the Nazi war effort started well before the declaration of war. His work for the Nazi regime aided Adolf Hitler in lifting the morale of the German people and consolidating Nazi power which was determined to engage in armed conflict. Speer was an accomplished architect and a highly efficient organiser. Hitler addressed Berlin’s university students at a Berlin rally in 1931, and Speer who was in the audience was so overwhelmed by what he heard that he joined the Nazi party and committed himself to his work. By 1932 he was working independently as an architect and used his party contacts to gain him more work. In 1933, Goebbels asked Speer to renovate the Propaganda Ministry. His next project proved to be even more successful planning and organising massive banners, swastikas and searchlights for the celebration of the Day of National Labour on the Tempelhof Field in Berlin on May 1st 1933. Goebbels was so impressed that he commissioned Speer to design the surround of the Nuremberg Rally later that year. Soon he was renovating Nazi Party offices and through his hard work and enthusiasm he mad a name for himself amongst the Nazi leadership. With the death of Hitler’s architect Troost, Hitler co-opted Speer as his personal architectural advisor. They became personal friends and Speer moved his family to be near Hitler’s mountain lodge. Speer was commissioned to rebuild the Nuremberg Party Rally grounds and due to his success in propaganda architecture Hitler appointed him in 1938 as General Building Inspector for the National Capital. Speer placed his department at the disposal of the Wehrmacht. Among his innovations were quick-reaction squads who construct roads and cleared away debris. Before long, these units would be used to clear bomb sites. As the war progressed, he failed to convince Hitler of the need to suspend peacetime construction projects, so he continued to work on the Berlin and Nuremburg plans. Speer also oversaw the construction of buildings for the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, and developed a considerable organization to deal with this work. Speer continued with his duties designing and constructing for the Reich up until 1942. In this period, his ideas and plans were used by Hitler to show the German population how great the nation could be. That year he was appointed Reich Minister for Armaments & Munitions as a reward for his faithful and unswerving loyalty to Nazi Party and Hitler. Hitler also believed that due to his close relationship to Speer and Speer’s loyalty, he could control arm’s production. Speer’s effect was immediate. In the first six months, he increased production of guns by 27%, tanks by 25% and ammunition by 97%. By the end of 1944, production had increased by 300%. This included a rise in the construction of aircraft from 9500 in 1941, to 34300 by 1944. All this was done with only a 30% increase in the workforce. Speer convinced Hitler that many workers should be diverted from producing consumer items for armaments production. He also used foreign workers and prisoners to work as forced labour. When German war production was at its peak in late September 1944, there were over seven million foreign labourers and 400,000 prisoners of war working as slave labourers. This was approximately 20% of the total workforce. Speer was so efficient with his duties, that many historians credit him with prolonging the war for a further twelve months. Speer was a great believer in the V1 & V2 Rocket programs to swing the tide of the war in Germany’s favour. He claimed that the inability of senior Nazi figures to fully comprehend rocket technology led to a delay in overcoming initial problems with the V2. He believed that the V2 would have been operational far sooner if the project had received greater backing. General Eisenhower claimed after the war that if the V Weapon program had been in place in earl 1944, the D-Day landing may have been impossible. In early 1944, Speer was admitted to a clinic as a result of health problems. During the period of his recovery, he had time to reflect and in doing so, realised his growing disenchantment with Hitler and the Nazi regime. In November 1944 in a private conversation with Joseph Goebbels he indicated his belief that a German victory was not possible. The war was going so poorly for Germany that even Speer’s talent and efficiency drives were unable to reverse the oncoming defeat. By the middle of the year, he had disobeyed Hitler’s orders to put a halt of producing aircraft and boost anti-aircraft production. He also refused to engage in Hitler’s ‘Scorched Earth’ policy which meant that all infrastructure, power supplies, records & documents and food be destroyed before it could fall into the hands of the advancing Allied forces. He did this because he had realised that such an action would devastate any possible chance of recovery for the German people after the war had been lost. It is evident that Albert Speer had an overwhelming effect on the Nazi war effort. His ability to organise and plan projects from architecture, which would lift the peoples morale, to the production of arms which enabled the German armed forces to continue the fight against the allies for so long. Without a person of his ability, the German war machine and the Nazi government would have fallen far earlier.