Joseph Stalin Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Joseph Stalin - Research Paper Example For instance, according to statistical estimates provided by Haynes and Husan in their book A Century of State Murder? Death and Policy in Twentieth-Century Russia, if the 1920s mortality rates are to be extrapolated to the 1930s, one has to reach a conclusion that there were about 8.5 million excessive deaths for 1928-1936, and additional 1.5 million for the second part of the decade of the 1930s, making total number of casualties of Stalinism in the 1930s close to 10 million people (Haynes and Husan 65). If one compares the population predictions for the year of 1937 compiled by Soviet Gosplan in the late 1920s (about 181 million people) with the 1937 census’s actual results (i.e. 168.5 million people, further reduced to 167 million by the new 1939 census), it is clear that Soviet population fell by considerable number in the 1930s, as even Stalin’s government was forced to concede (Haynes and Husan 64). This tremendous number of excessive unnatural deaths should be f urther extended by taking into account the number of deaths of Soviet soldiers and citizens in the course of WW II, which, while not entirely caused by Stalin’s military ineptness, were significantly increased by it. In addition, the death rate in Soviet forced labor camps rose to its highest level in the 1940s, with 1.01 million of dead prisoners in 1941-1945 (Haynes and Husan 83). Finally, the 1940s deportations of national groups deemed not loyal to the Soviet regime cost their own share of deaths: almost 300-400.000 are likely to have perished, as the data provided by Pohl testify (2). This means that in all certainty, Stalinism led to deaths of about 20 million people, if the part of wartime deaths is included in overall estimate. Nonetheless, despite the natural aversion that may arise towards Stalin and his system of government when exposed to such information, it is known that memories of Stalinist era are often fondly invoked in modern Russia and, to a lesser extent, in other post-Soviet states. In particular, Putin’s government often uses memories of Stalin’s rule to support its own actions, especially un the field of foreign policy, and the new history textbooks used in Russian schools often include statements of the like that â€Å"Stalin acted ‘entirely rationally’ in executing and imprisoning millions of people in the Gulags† (Stewart). The nature of such fondness for Stalin on the part of Russian authorities is understandable, as the Russian government, while pursuing harsh neo-liberal economic policies, widely employs appeals to ‘Soviet nostalgia’ in its symbolism and external policies. At the same time, a characteristically different kind of ‘popular Stalinism’ exists among the wide strata of Russian society. Exemplified by the policies of ‘red-brown’ Communist Party of Russian Federation, which for all purposes dropped its former Marxist tenets in favor of more op en Russian imperial patriotism and of other, smaller but ideologically similar parties and groupings, this type of ‘Stalinist’ feelings mix nostalgia for the ‘orderly’ society unaffected by market turbulence with strong cultural conservatism and xenophobia. Therefore, despite strong condemnation levied upon Stalinism by Russia’s liberal intelligentsia, Stalinist sentiment, or,

United Nations Conventions on Contract Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

United Nations Conventions on Contract - Essay Example In the first case under consideration, SamCo & DeanCo appear to be the parties to the contract, where a deal in respect of buying and selling five dark blue bonnets was to be executed. Similarly, the second case looks for giving legal advice to the above-described Swedish company SamCo in respect of its deal with the Brazilian reseller company CastielCo. However, before embarking upon the topic under consideration, and providing them with a piece of advice in the light of the Vienna Convention on and International Sale of Goods Contracts, it would be advisable to elucidate the terms that create responsibilities and liabilities to the parties to the contract, in order to explore whether or not any contract has been entered into between the parties, could bind them to execute some specific performance, which is as following: The 1980 Vienna Convention1 provides the parties to the contract with a complete and wide-ranging procedure while entering into a legal relationship between one an other during foreign trades and business ventures. The main objective behind the Vienna Convention includes the protection of the rights and privileges of the individuals on the one hand and enforcement of the promises and agreements the individuals and parties have entered into2 at the international scale on the other. ... nce, deceit and misrepresentation.3 In addition, 1980 Vienna Convention also protects the rights of the people who have either not entered into any contract with the persons and organisations outside their countries, but are falsely claimed to be having entered into the same. Consequently, 1980 Vienna Convention also endorses the statutes of Contract Law, which have defined and determined some conditions, fulfilment of which is vehemently necessary for a valid contract. â€Å"An agreement†, according to section 2 (h) of the English Contract, â€Å"creating obligations to the parties, and enforceable at law is a contract†4 Young (2010) has defined contract in these words: â€Å"A contract is an agreement (usually between two persons) giving rise to obligations on the part of both persons which are enforced or recognised by law†.5 Consequently, social contracts do not create legal enforcement due to the very fact that there is no intention of any legal remedies aga inst non-fulfilment of the same. The same is also applied to the international contracts, all of which aim to create legal responsibilities on the parties to the contract. Vienna Convention, according to its statutes, applies to contracts of sale of goods between parties whose places of business are in different States.6 In order to comprehend with the elements of an international contract, it is essential to explore the basics of an agreement. According to English Contract Law, â€Å"Every agreement is a contract if it is made by the free consent of the parties, competent to contract for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object, and not hereby expressly declared to be void.†7 In other words, a valid contract maintains the following elements in it; accomplishment of all of them is essential for making it an