Is Venezuela a Rentier State Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Is Venezuela a Rentier State - Essay Example The question of whether Venezuela derives significant portions of its economy from oil is without a doubt true; Corrales (2006) even characterized President Hugo Chavez as one of the world’s most powerful CEOs, in regards to his sale of oil to the United States. The Venezuelan government can also be seen to embody Rentier characteristics: Chavez has been successful in centralizing power through an elimination of intermediary government structures; he has allowed rampant crime to persist; and has allowed highly questionable election processes. While these actions can be seen to be highly indicative of a populace that ceases to intervene because of an abundance of oil money and reduced taxes, the reality of the situation is more complex. Indeed, it’s been argued that rather than Venezuela’s political structure being allowed by the citizens out of apathy in the face of reduced taxes, it has occurred because of a systematic effort on the part of Chavez to scare the c itizens into submissions and acceptance of more lax governmental standards. Corrales (pg. 9, 2006) compares this mentality to the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, â€Å"The more insecurity that citizens face—the closer they come to living in the brutish state of nature—the more they will welcome state power.† In this regard, it’s not the oil money that has influenced the populace, but the calculated manipulations on the part of Chavez and his regime that have trained the population into acceptance. When investigating the plausibility of democracy surviving in situations outside the United States, one must agree on what democracy means. If it is the communal rule of society through group consensus, as embodied in elected officials, protests, and free speech than Democratic rule is not only an element of Americanness, but a lynchpin of much of the European Union, as well as Australia, Israel, and Canada.

Commodity fetishism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Commodity fetishism - Essay Example Significantly, these dynamics form the framework of both subjects and popular cultural forms. Commodity fetishism is not merely a notion or illusion. It refers to the functioning of capitalism as a system, and explains why media representation has ideological power. The 1994 Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or award-winning film Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, USA, 1994) consists of a trio of stories revolving around the â€Å"violent misadventures of a collection of outlaws – right out of the pages of pulp fiction† (Marlow, 2001: 90). Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism explains the ideological concepts in the film. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to provide an ideology critique of the film Pulp Fiction written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, 1994. The critique will be based on Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism. Extensive changes have occurred in cultural, political and economic practices since around 1972. These changes are related to the new major ways in which time and space are experienced by individuals. Postmodernism is related to the culture of the advanced capitalist societies, with a changing sensibility and a shift in the structure of feeling, in practices, and discourse formations. This leads to new assumptions, experiences and propositions, as evident in cultural manifestations and the media including films (Harvey, 1989). Developed by modernist culture, â€Å"the postmodern is characterized by experiments in time, space and perception† (Wayne, 2005: 108); it is now increasingly integrated with popular genres, as in Pulp Fiction and other films such as The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995), and Sliding Doors (Peter Howitt, 1998). Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction is â€Å"one of the best examples of the mysterious subtext of the curio shop in contemporary narratives† (Goh, 2002: 19). The film has been highly popular, winning critical acclaim,