Education is an important tool that is applied in the contemporary world to

succeed, as it mitigates the challenges which are faced in life. The knowledge
gained through education enables individuals’ potential to be optimally utilized
owing to training of the human mind. This opens doors of opportunities
enables individual to achieve better prospects in career growth. Education has
played a paramount role in the modern industrial world. This is attributed to
the fact prospective employees must be qualified adequately to perform
various tasks effectively. Industries entail resources that are sufficiently
equipped with the modern technology to suit the needs and wants of the
society. This thus, makes education to become a norm for services in all
industrial sectors. The primary skills and the ability to apply the skills is the
basis for evaluating the market.

The foundation of the society is based on education since it brings economic

and social prosperity. Gaining education enhances an individual to live a
respectful life in the society.

This is because education offers a setting in which culture and values of a

society are developed. In this respect, education in modern society provides a
forum where the society examines its issues and identifies solutions. The
advancement of a society both economically and socially is by gaining
education which consequently enables them to run a modern society.

Career wise, education is the foundation of developing individuals by

providing knowledge regarding humanity the worldover. Individuals in the
society acquire new approaches in life that build opinions on the economical
and social life.

Education enables the society to interpret the world around them rightly,
innovating to new ways and means that conform to their environment.

The current advancement in technology has been enhanced largely by

education, as individuals are able to apply the skills acquired in real life
leading to innovations. Employment in the contemporary world is based on
education, as employees must possess the required skills that correspond
with the current technology to perform their tasks. Prospective employees
must be equipped with skill for them to cope with ever advancing technology
in all industrial and agricultural sectors. Therefore, education has become a
basic principle to measure the labor market on the basis of essential skills and
the ability to appropriate them through suitable communication.

Education has played a major role in the modern life to all individuals in the
society. It has enabled societies to prosper both socially and economically by
enabling them to develop common culture and values. It is through education
that Technological advancement has been realized enabling communication
and production of cost effective products and services to the society at large.

Contemporary International System

Political Science Midterm
The structure of the contemporary international system involves many
different factors that influence how the world operates today. The international
system is defined as the study of the interactions among the various actors
that participate in international politics, including states, international
organizations, nongovernmental organizations, sub-national entities, and
individuals. The study of international relations aims to evaluate how countries
interact within the political and social international system. Neo-realists
believes that since the world is an anarchy, war is unpreventable and is going
to be around forever. They favor a bipolar world, because it is easier to
balance and appease the other side. This will lead to less war, but that doesn’t
mean war will be permanently stopped. Further, they believe that states are
self interested only. If a state intervenes in affairs of another country, then
they are not doing it out of the goodness of their own heart.

They have a personal interest, whether it is visible or not. The implications of

neo-realism are usually non-intervention, meaning states don’t help out other
countries. Instead, they provide a military for defense purposes only. On other
hand, neo-liberalists believe that war is preventable. They believe that it is
possible for states to co-operate, and we do have a duty to come to the aid of
other countries. The neo-liberal approach believes in intervention. A crucial
belief for neo-liberal philosophy is “complex interdependence.” Meaning, since
states are all so connected, it makes more sense to co-operate than to wage
war. Neo-liberalism most accurately describes the contemporary international
system because intervention is common in the world. In the era of
globalization, realism doesn’t work that well because countries need to
intervene in order to solve international problems.

Neo-liberalism and neo-realism are contrary theories due to the differences

they provide. Both theories believe the international system is anarchicic. The
major point of contention is that neo-liberals are sure such a system will not
constrain the foreign policy options of the state to simple survival, with neo-
realists essentially believing the opposite. As neo-realists have the idea that
man by nature has a restless desire for power, cooperation becomes more
difficult to achieve, because in trying to gain power a state will upset another
state in doing so. Neo-liberals agree that states act in their own interests, but
have a greater belief in cooperation, for the very reason that “it is in the self-
interest of each [actor] to cooperate”. The situation the neo-liberals put
forward is the prisoner’s dilemma, a tale of two prisoners who are questioned
after committing an alleged crime.

Neither prisoner knows what is being said by the other, but if they both
cooperate and confess to the crime, their time in prison will be shortened,
where if neither confesses the sentence length will be even shorter. However,
if one confesses and the other does not, then the one who confessed will be
set free and the one who did not will receive a lengthy jail term. This risk is
why both will confess, and thus get a reduced sentence. However, it was in
the interest of each to “have cooperated with each other by remaining silent”,
and thus have received the shortest sentence. This is a scenario neo-liberals
use to explain why states would wish to cooperate with each other, with the
implication that there is a great risk for states if they do not. However, neo-
realists are certain that cooperation will not happen unless states make it
happen. It is unlikely that states will often make it happen because, from the
viewpoint of the state, involvement in international cooperation and a
strengthening of your own position rarely go hand in hand.

Additionally, following cooperation, we have the debate between the two

theories about the importance of absolute and relative gains. Neo-realists
speak of how vital relative gains are in state considerations, or to put it
another way, states are compelled to ask not “will both of us gain?” but “who
will gain more?”. Neo-liberals, on the other hand, are sure states are happy to
have any gain for themselves. This is a focus on absolute gains. State leaders
will accept any accord that makes the state better off regardless of the gain
achieved by any other state. All of the above information ties down the fact
that neo-liberalism and neo-realism are indeed contrary theories.

Alternative theories such as Marxism do offer explanatory utility above and

beyond what is provided by the neo-liberalists and the neo-realists. Marx was
thought of to have two sets of ideas. First, he gave us an explanation of how
society works, reasoning behind why history unfolded, and an account of the
nature of capitalism. These are great for describing what is going on in the
world, and to understand problems and directions of our society today. Marx
also referred to capitalism as unsatisfactory and was very concerned about
getting rid of it. Getting rid of capitalism would create the rise of communism.
Obviously very minimum people were in favor of the second idea because
most people feel capitalism is desireable, and most people do not like the idea
of revolution or communism.

Marx argued that the economic situation, the productive system, is the biggest
determining factor over all other aspects of society. Marx was a “materialist”.
He argued that material or economic conditions produced dominant ideas, so
he was against reformers that thought change in ideas could change a
society. The way to understand a society is to focus on the mode of
production. The “forces of production” and “relation of production” are what
Marx saw as the main determinant of the type of society existing. The “forces
of production” refer to the type of productive technology the society has. The
“relations of production” refers to the social organization of production; ie,
basically who owns a production company and how it is run. Social relations
of production involve different classes.

The determining factor of ones class is ones relationship to the means of

production. Inequality in power and wealth was a moral concern for Marx.
Some groups dominate others to win for themselves a huge share of society’s
wealth, power, and privileges. Marx aimed at a society where all enjoy more
or less equal wealth of society. Marxists believe that social analysis should
focus on class structure and relations. Although it is impossible to create a
classless society, it is important to know that most people own some sort of
wealth, when only about 2% of the world owns a lot of capital. It can be seen
from the foregoing that Marx put forward a theory of history, or a principle in
which he thought explained the dynamics of history.