Absolutism under Louis XIV

Louis XIV lived from 1638- 1715 and became the king of France in 1654. At the time he became king, France was financially ruined, politically corrupt, and divided between warring nobles and private armies and under the threat of riots from the people, especially in Paris. Louis XIV was an absolute monarch. Absolutism is the system of rule that allows one or more rulers to maintain absolute power over everything in the land. There is no higher power and even the Parliament could not overrule Louis’ decisions. As absolute monarch, Louis XIV set about reforming the state politically, economically and culturally. Louis XIV’s absolute monarchy had three components: Centralization- this meant that the monarchy was the center of everything. All decisions from the monarchy were undisputable and final. All counties and villages were expected to follow this rule to create a united state and a centralized leadership. Economic reforms- â€Å"Under the guidance of Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-83) a modern system of accountancy and yearly state budgeting was introduced. Colbert also supervised systematic attacks on corruption, removing, punishing, or paying off office holders. He also introduced tax reforms ending exemptions, tax-farming, and military collection of taxes and state support for industry, science, trade, and the arts. As regards the operations of the state, Colbert raised government income to the point when it could pay for quite massive expenses. Government subsidizing and directing of industry and manufacture increased productivity, raised wages, and brought France into the trade wars with the English and the Dutch. Colbert, like many French officials, repeatedly remarked that the inhabitants must pay the tax not only because it would raise additional funds, but also because paying the levy was the obedience which is due His Majesty. [1] â€Å"Theater of Monarchy†-this is the public representation of royal power and glory. Under the theory of absolutism, sovereignty is grounded in God, not the people. The glory of the monarch is, as it were, the earthly point at which is expressed both the glory of the state as a social whole ordered around and dependent upon the monarch and the glory of God from whom the monarch derives power and role. It was therefore important to show, through royal events and presentations, the state as personified by the king. Louis XIV distinguished between â€Å"nature as it ought to be†, as ordained by God, and â€Å"nature as it is†, disrupted by human activity. As the new, distant and mysterious God no longer intervened directly in the natural order, it fell to the monarch to uphold â€Å"nature as it ought to be† and prevent it disintegrating into disorder.   [2] One of his reforms began with the acquisition of the providence of Roussillonnais in 1659, which was inhabited by a specific ethnic group known as the Catalans. Louis XIV understood that there can be no shared political allegiance without shared cultural values. Thus a government, if it is to exercise its political authority in an area, must first make the region culturally homogeneous with the ruling nation. Louis XIV undertook to replace the Catalan ethnic identity with the French one, mandating the foods, clothing, legal system, language, educational institutions, and religious traditions that should be used in the province.  Ã‚   [3] The Catalans did not agree with Louis and made it clear with smuggling, legal battles and even open rebellion. They wished to maintain their own culture and laws and did not want to accept the monarchy as their ruler. Like all peasants, they were reluctant to pay taxes to the monarchy and many turned to smuggling as an alternative.   By the 1680’s, however, Louis XIV and his government were successful in achieving their goal of political assimilation. The Roussillonais had accepted France as their political rules but continued to conduct their legal, commercial, judicial, and religious business in the Catalan language, continued to dress as Catalans, to give their children Catalan names, and to celebrate traditional feasts. They were quite firmly French in a political sense, and equally firmly Catalan in their culture.  Ã‚   [4] A trend that began in the 17th century was for the ruler to govern from one location versus the many homes and palaces of the past. Louis XIV was one such ruler, moving from the royal palace of the Louvre in Paris to a permanent home in Versailles. It was from this location that he ruled France for his entire reign. Louis XIV was also known as the â€Å"sun king† due to his use of the symbol as his personal emblem. As the highest star, now accepted by science as the centre of the universe, the sun was an obvious choice to symbolize absolutism’s claim to constitute the political centre of earthly life. The sun was both terrifying and awe inspiring, dazzling through its brightness, yet also warming and beneficent, and without its presence all life would whither away. [1] David Stewart, Assimilation and Acculturation in Seventeenth-Century Europe: Roussillon and France, 1659-1715 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997) 39, [2] Peter H. Wilson, Absolutism in Central Europe (London: Routledge, 2000) 5. [3] David Stewart, Assimilation and Acculturation in Seventeenth-Century Europe: Roussillon and France, 1659-1715 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997) 1. [4] David Stewart, Assimilation and Acculturation in Seventeenth-Century Europe: Roussillon and France, 1659-1715 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997) 9.

Violent Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Violent Crime - Essay Example Rational choice theory can be used to explain the high rates of crimes in areas characterized by poverty, unemployment, school dropouts, and divorce among others in many ways. First, the theory notes that the offenders are willing to do all that they can to obtain money, sex, status and any other thing that can make them happy (Ahmad, 2014). As it is commonly known, those who are unemployed lack the basics of sustaining themselves such as the daily upkeep and decent housing. Because of this, they are likely to be involved in violent crimes to get what they want. Same thing applies to the school dropouts who lack the skills that employers look for their employments. Lastly, the theory bases on cost benefit analyses among the offenders (Ahmad, 2014). Residents living in recession areas weigh the impact of violent crimes to obtain what they want with the punishment they are to get. In most cases, some of them commit violent crimes and run before being caught. This encourages them to continue with the act since the benefit is high compared to cost because they are not caught. Hence, the unemployed, poverty stricken, and school dropouts are more likely to commit violent crimes often compared to others. In conclusion, rationale choice theory of crimes assumes that human beings are rational actors who calculates and weighs their behaviors before committing a crime. They indulge in violent crimes after considering the impact in terms of pleasure versus pain.

A critical investigation into the social-economic impacts at a dark Dissertation

A critical investigation into the social-economic impacts at a dark tourism site, particularly Phuket, Thailand - Dissertation Example More specifically, the paper aimed to assess the differences in the travel motivations of Thai and Scandinavian tourists. Also, to establish if there are any differences in the motivations by gender and age. The main findings of the research though not very articulately discussed or even clearly or explicitly mentioned were – 1. Sandanavian and Thai Tourists differed in their motivations to travel to Phuket – Thai tourists motivated by desire to help and curiosity. The Scandinavians were also motivated by attractive marketing packaging and beauty of the destination 2. Younger tourists were motivated by curiosity 3. Female tourists were motivated by safety There is however considerable digression in the paper throughout on the factors or relationships it set out to assess, the aims mentioned in the abstract and the actual findings. Paper B Summary The paper hypothesizes that there is no dichotomy between actual dark tourism sites or the in situ sites and the secondary or the created sites that are established among the affected people. It takes the case study of a single created site - Yad Vashem, Jerusalem that is a memorial to the Holocaust or the Shoah. The researcher proposes that Yad Vashem has equal authenticity and acceptance among a specific set of tourists – the educational tourists as the actual in situ sites of the Shoah across Europe. The paper was able to establish that in the specific context of the educational tourists visiting secondary site of Yad Vashem, there was no difference in their experience and feelings about the authenticity of the site. 2. Identify the research methodology adopted for each paper. Primary Research Secondary Research Paper A Research method/s used Mixed Method (Qualitative and Quantitative) Literature Review Population/Data set(s) For Qualitative – Members of the Thailand Tourism industry (tour operators, hotel managers, staff members of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, members of tsunami me morials ) and For Quantitative – tourists who visited Phuket post Tsunami Searching for articles in databases -focused on tourism in Phuket post tsunami -focused on dark tourism in general -philosophical and opinion articles on thanatourism Sources of information For Qualitative –Interview using one question For Quantitative Self-Administered Survey Questionnaire with information on tourist behaviour, travel motivation and personal demographic characteristics Journal Articles, Books, Opinions, and Newspaper articles Sample Used For Qualitative (n=8) -2 tour operators -2 hotel managers -2 staff member of the Tourism Authority of Thailand -1 local administrator of the tsunami memorial at Kamla beach -3 Scandinavian tourists at Phuket For Quantitative 250 Thai and Scandinavian Tourists Sampling Method(s) Used For Qualitative Snowball sample of stakeholders of three tsunami memorial monuments in Phang Na and Phuket and Bangkok For Quantitative 1. Single Stage Cluster Analy sis to select 3 hotels for tourists in Phuket 2. Convenience sample of Thai and International tourists (only Leisure Tourists )from local Bus Terminals and beaches. Excluding Residents of Phuket 3. Purposive Sampling at Bangkok airport to select Phuket Bound non-Phuket resident leisure tourists Paper B Research method/s used Qualitative Case Study Method Literature Review Population/Data set(s) European Teachers who were Educational Tourists interested in knowing about the Holocaust and Jewish history Searching for art