Visual Arts and Film Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Visual Arts and Film Studies - Essay Example In 2009, He received the first Jack Wolgin Fine Art Prize that was given to him at the Art at Temple University in Philadelphia. That is known for recognizing the peak level of artistic excellence on an international level. He is currently residing and working and living in Philadelphia. Ryan Trecartin’s video â€Å"A Family Finds Entertainment† is a video that was released in 2004 and stars a clownish but psychopathic boy called Skippy who locks himself up in the upstairs bathroom during a wild party. He is persuaded to join in the party but he refuses. He cuts himself with a knife and musing opaquely on his dilemma regarding King Lear style delirium. Whereas, downstairs, the partiers have having complex mood swings that are constantly disrupted by a burst of animated sequences and visual effects. This seems to disorient the characters similar to many lightening strikes. Eventually, Skippy comes out of the bathroom, borrows money from his sexually inappropriate parents and heads for the outdoors. He meets a documentary film maker who decides to make a movie about him but, Skippy is hit by a car and apparently dies. Back at the party, a hyperactive gal called Shin, a cat played by Trecartin receives the sad new regarding Skippy (Trecartin 2004). She spends twenty minutes of being hysteria filled with the sad news as she prepares to tell her friends what has happened. After she has informed her friends, the band compose a song that seems to magically raise the teenager from the dead. Everybody runs outside the house and sets the fireworks. However, on the event the police appear, they run back to the house. Ryan Trecartin’s video â€Å"A family Finds Entertainment† unfolds with a similar intent like futuristic fever dreams. This is a collaboration that assembles the cast of family and friends. He displays the skill of being able to merge complex digital manipulations with footage from pop culture, animations and internet employing wid ely stylized performance and sets. Despite the fact that, this video has drawn major comparison to early John waters, Jack Smith and Perr – Wee play House, Ryan Trecartin’s video is thoroughly unique. His video, sculpture performance, photography and installation creates scenario that are displayed with the collaboration of his friends. Critical study of the video The quote from the video â€Å"I believe that some where there is something worth dying for and I think is amazing.† Skippy sounds sarcastic but envious. In the video he polariods himself and cuts the picture into half. When he cuts himself while looking at the mirror, he tries to test a true reflection of his soul and knowledge of himself. In the other room, a young man says â€Å"Show me something beautiful and, I will live, show me something worth holding on and I will hold on.† Veronika tell the young man that they are planning to go on a tour very soon. This is an indication that this group contains musicians who like to sing and go on tours. While Skippy is still hiding in the toilet, Veronika come to tell him that her friends want to leave because his show is boring and the environment is not intriguing. Accidentally, Skippy cuts himself but pretends that he cut himself more dramatically while he

Business Operation And System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business Operation And System - Essay Example Through technology power, the company has come up with new ideas and brand new experiences. The company is recognized due to its variety of products such as online businesses, game, music and picture. It is ranked among the leading company in the globe due to its customer brands. Sony-Ericson mobile phone segment serves a global communications market with original mobile phones, PC-cards and accessories (Worthington and Britton, 2006, p. 37). The company was established following a merger of Sony and Ericson in 2001. Its corporate functions are based in London although the company has a multinational workforce and has research and development centres in Japan, China, Europe and America (Lewis and Slack, 2011, p. 85). Mobile phone products produced by Sony-Ericson have to compete with other products from other major mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung and Alcatel among other manufacturers. Firms vary in many ways, but the common feature is that they are all involved in transformation of raw materials into output by combing various resources such as labour and technology (Worthington and Britton, 2006, p. 30). The transformation process occurs within a setting being influenced by external factors which affects the operation of a company. The exter nal environment is usually volatile, complex, and interactive which cannot be ignored in the analysis of business activity. In the external business environment, PESTLE analysis is critical for it indicates the various external influences the company is facing. PESTLE is an acronym of political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors in the firm’s macro-environment (Worthington and Britton, 2006, p. 38). Following a PESTLE analysis, Sony has been able to respond accordingly to technological advancement to come up with Sony Ericsson Smart Phone. This demonstrates the influence of technological advancement on the operations of a company. Previously, Nokia and Sony had the most superior phones in the market. However, iPhone and Android introduced the smart phones in the market. In addition, there is increased demand for phones in the market and the lifestyle and level of education of the mobile phone users is changing with more users demanding smart pho nes. This influenced Sony Ericsson to turn to manufacturing smart phones in order to meet the customer’s demands. Legislative and prevalence of stability within the market it operates in allows Sony Ericsson to market its products in different countries and to decentralize its research and development offices to Asia, America and Europe (Georgiou, 2006, p. 450). Sony Ericsson never led the way in the manufacture of smart phones but only responded in a similar way to the way its competitors were moving as based on the CATWOE model. CATWOE is based on a principle where a company involved in systems development waits to be given a transformation and information on others involved in the transformation and they way they are involved (Georgiou, 2006, p. 450). Moreover, CATWOE seeks to know why transformation is important and the restrictions when planning to implement change. Sony Ericsson should carry out a CATWOE analysis where using a knowledge database it can analyze the propo sal to transform its operations to manufacture smart phones. CATWOE analysis takes into consideration the external environment of the company and demonstrated that production of smart phone would benefit its customers whose demand for phones able to access the internet faster and run various applications could be met. In addition, Sony would be able to increase its sales. The company in developing its smart phone outsourced the

Cheating in the Coca-Cola's advertisement Essay

Cheating in the Coca-Cola's advertisement - Essay Example One of the important skills in creating advertisement messages by companies is the use of a language that consumers are able to understand. This way, they are able to be convinced and persuaded to buy and test particular company products. This paper examines some of the language that is being used by Coca-Cola Company in advertising its products worldwide, it deconstructs the particular the language used, seeking to evaluate their effectiveness and impacts on customer behavior. In modern times, we live in a consumer world, the purchase patterns and behavior of consumers is not that they buy goods because they need them; rather, it is because of the utility its because of the pleasure and utility that is expected from them. In addition, the things that we purchase to portray the picture we are, in most cases, people link the things that have to what they do. Consumers spend most of their time desiring products that are perceived to have certain levels of utility. As soon as consumers get what they were longing to have, they have many other substitutes for them, for this reasons, consumers needs are usually described as being unlimited (Stachowski 67). On the other hand, producers are always aware of this phenomenon; they make products and do all they can to persuade consumers to buy as many goods as they can in order to make profits. Producers use a special language in order to inform, persuade and influence our buying patterns; this kind of communication that they use to influence consumers purchasing decisions is referred to as advertisement. Advertisement is a business on its own; it has to be creatively designed to engage customers in its communication. Advertisements are common on billboards, journals, internet and other forms of electronic platforms; they part of the consumers’ daily life. Successful companies are those that have clearly defined advertisements and

Business ethic analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business ethic analysis - Essay Example Without ethical measures and programs the company is set to loss the benefit it has enjoyed financially by doing business ethically. We should always put in mind the principles of professional ethic which if our company would take into account we are going to avoid potential or apparent conflict of interest which in this case I see us breaching.   Ethical dilemma My point of concern is payment of bonuses to shareholders in these times of economic crisis when we have not even completed repaying of the loan granted to us by the government and further organizing retreats for the employees. I have realized that if we pay bonuses and continue organizing retreats, this will be more costly to the company. it is evident from the bonuses paid in 2008 and the retreat organized when the company was experiencing financial difficulties has impacted negatively on the public image of the company and its performance (French,1995). It is highly expected that we are going to pay bonuses to our share holders and the employees are expectant of the retreat. If we grant bonuses, it is going to be highly costly financially since the company has not been able to fully from the economic crisis that we have just been through. Because of the position of our company, anything we do would be highly publicized in the media thus creating unwanted attention from the public whose money has been used to bail us. On the other hand, failure to pay bonuses would raise eyebrows to our trusted shareholders and employees. Employees further expect to be motivated and over the year’s retreats for them has been the mean of motivating them. This company has to strive to maintain its reputation which it has built over the years. Ethical practices have been key to the success and performance of this company. Although the company is set to benefit by rewarding best performance of its employees, it has to consider the implications to the public which is a critical part of this company. Furthermore, o ur shareholders are critical to the continuous success of this company but payment of bonuses at such a time might have negative implications on the integrity of the company since it has not even cleared repayment of loans resulting from the bail out by the government and also considering that the company has been selling off some of its holdings and subsidiaries to clear the loan. The management of this company thus needs to offer continued support to enable the ethical values of this company to work.    Furthermore the company needs to communicate this effectively to employees and shareholders. It is in my view that we should include in our code of conduct  when the company can organize retreats for its employees and when the bonuses can be paid without having any negative impact on the company’s reputation. The issue of giving bonuses and organizing retreats is unethical especially at such a time when the company is just recovering from financial difficulties (French, 1995). It is obvious that incentives and rewards play an important role in motivating employees to accomplish corporate goals and a company committed to doing business ethically would want to reward its employees for that. But the matter of rewarding employees by organizing retrea

Export in Pakistan from the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Export in Pakistan from the UK - Essay Example By transferring knowledge and gaining perspective a company can strengthen its position as an international firm and increase its competitive advantage all over the globe (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 2007 p 21-23). The process of development, executing the commencement, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services all over the globe, anywhere in the world, to create exchanges that can suit and satisfy the organisational objectives is called the concept of international marketing. Through effective marketing a company can expand its operations anywhere in the world (Srinivasan, 2005 p 3-5). The company would follow the concept of BRIC and would incorporate theories related to these advancing economies. It would also put forward as to if the business is business to business (B2B) or business to consumer). Selected Product The product introduced is Dinner in the Sky. This unique idea will take the experience of dining to a whole new level. The restaurant itself will be s uspended on cables and the customers will enjoy their food literally in sky. The mission of the restaurant is not only to concentrate on the food quality but also to have an environment providing well-organised and friendly entertainment and to ensure maximum level of customer satisfaction at the Dinner in the Sky. Dinner in the Sky has its head office in Guildford UK. Each event will be available for a session of 8 hours which can be planned and personalised according to the customer’s requirements. The service provides the accommodation capacity of 350 people per session. The beauty of this service is that it can be arranged anywhere as long as the venue provides support for the restaurant structure. The main purpose of the service is to provide exclusivity and unique enjoyment with utmost measures of safety (Dinnerinthesky.com). After the initial response provided by the market it is the intention to provide various other services through this service as well, like organis ing events related to marriage or showbiz activities. This service is currently being provided in more than 15 countries and through this service the advertisements promoted by the company are providing many other organisations benefits as well. Country and Market Segment Selection The opportunity of growing the business globally is always a value addition to the shareholder’s equity, but for that purpose it is essential that the decisions relating to global expansion should be made carefully. Just selecting the market segment is not everything, it has to be ensured that that market segment will also generate profits for the company that would in turn increase the value of the investments for the shareholders of the company. The target for the launch of this service after being launched successfully in more than 15 countries is India. India is counted as one of the growing economies

Defining Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Defining Philosophy Essay Philosophy derives from the two Greek words philein, which means ? to love, and sophia, which means ? knowledge or ? wisdom (Moore Bruder, 2002, p. 2). This is not the only definition of philosophy as philosophy is a very vast subject. A critical examination of reality characterized by rational inquiry that aims at the Truth for the sake of attaining wisdom (Russo Fair, 2000, 4). My interpretation of philosophy is a field of study where one thinks outside of the box in the search for knowledge or wisdom that does not involve scientific explanations. There is no consistency in the nature of philosophical questions. The nature of many philosophical questions concern norms. The application of norms, also known as standards occurs when people decide whether something is good or bad, right or wrong, beautiful or ugly. Normative questions ask about the value of something. The field of science explains how things are but does not tell us how things ought to be. Sometimes philosophical questions arise when different people believe different things. For example, some people believe that a cause-and-effect relationship exists in everything. If a person drinks spoiled milk, he or she will get sick. There are others that believe when one voluntarily decides to do something- nothing made them decide to do that. This refutes the cause-and-effect relationship belief. Then there are many other ways to look at the situation. Is every happening caused? Or are some happenings uncaused? Or is it perhaps that decisions are not happenings? These questions cause a dilemma that involves philosophizing. The importance of some philosophical questions-Is there a God who is attentive, caring, and responsive to us? and Is abortion morally wrong? -is obvious and vast. A justification would have to be given for not contemplating them. But some philosophical questions are of more or less obscure, and seemingly only academic or theoretical, consequence. Not everything philosophers consider is dynamite. But then, every field has its theoretical and non-practical questions. Some questions are inherently interesting to the people who pose them. Some philosophical questions are asked because the philosopher wants to know the answer simply to know the answer. Most philosophical questions tend to fall into one of these four areas: Questions related to being or existence (Metaphysics), Questions related to knowledge (Epistemology), Questions related to values, and Questions of logic or the theory of correct reasoning. Metaphysics and Epistemology are branches of philosophy that are very similar to one another. The questions related to values are standards of conduct and conditions of responsibility. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that is concerned with these areas: Cosmology- Theory of reality and Ontology- Theory of being. The two basic questions of metaphysics ask what is being?  and what are its fundamental features and properties? Some specific examples of metaphysics questions are: What is the mind? Do people have free will? Metaphysical bookstores, for example, specialize in all sorts of occult subjects, from channeling, harmonic convergence, and pyramid power to past-life hypnotic regression, psychic surgery, and spirit photography. However, the true history of metaphysics is quite different. Metaphysics has little to do with the occult or Tarot cards and the like. Epistemology is the theory of knowledge that asks what is the nature of knowledge and what are the criteria, sources, and limits of knowledge. Specific examples of epistemology questions are: What is truth? and Is it possible to know anything with absolute certainty? The questions related to values involve four different philosophies: (1) moral philosophy (ethics)- is the study of right and wrong in human action or the philosophical study of moral judgments; (2) social philosophy- the philosophical study of society and its institutions; (3) political philosophy- which focuses on the state and seeks to determine its justification and ethically proper organization; And (4) aesthetics- is the study of beauty or the philosophical study of art and of  value judgments about art. Questions of logic or the theory of correct reasoning, seeks to investigate and establish the criteria of valid inference and demonstration. Logic is the study of the principles of right reasoning. Logic is the basic tool that philosophers use to investigate reality. The questions raised by logic are: (1) What makes an argument valid or invalid (2) What is a sound argument? Philosophical questions differ from questions of a scientific or factual nature because philosophical answers usually entail making careful distinctions in thought, words, argument, and recognizing subtle distinctions among things and among facts. Philosophical solutions also require logic and critical thinking skills, discussion, and exposition. Philosophy involves one to learn how to look carefully for similarities and differences among things and develop an ability to spot logical difficulties in what others write or say and to avoid these pitfalls in their own thinking. In addition, in philosophy people learn to recognize and critically assess the important unstated assumptions people make about the world and themselves and other people and life in general. These assumptions affect how people perceive the world and what they say and do; yet for the most part people are not aware of them and are disinclined to consider them critically. Finally, learning philosophical lessons allow people not to become trapped by stubbornness. Philosophical lessons instill the value of open-mindedness and seeking solutions to problems that meet standards of coherence and reasonableness. References Moore, B. N. , Bruder, K. (2002). Philosophy: The Power of Ideas (5th ed. ). Boston: McGraw-Hill Russo, M. , Fair, G. (2000). What is Philosophy Anyway. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on March 17, 2006 from: http://www. molloy. edu/academic/philosophy/SOPHIA/what_is_philosophy_anyway. htm.

Analysing The Philippine Political Party System Politics Essay

Analysing The Philippine Political Party System Politics Essay First, there is a need to know the difference between strongly institutionalized party systems from weak ones. For a party system to be considered as strongly institutionalized, it must have two characteristics: (1) the stability in the policies and patterns of inter-party rivalry, and (2) the view of political actors on parties as legitimate and crucial parts of the democratic process. On the other hand, a weakly institutionalized party system has the following characteristics: (1) there is a high degree of instability in the policies and patterns of inter-party rivalry; (2) the birth and death rates of parties are high- there are a lot of new political parties entering the system and a lot of existing parties leaving the system; (3) high degree of electoral instability-the fate of the individual parties depend on the results of the election, and last; (4) the political actors view of parties as just spare at best and as a danger at worst (Allen Hicken). Analysis of the Philippine Party System For a party system to be considered as strongly institutionalized, the inter-party rivalry must be stable and the political actors must view political parties as legitimate and important. However, in the Philippine setting, these two characteristics seem to be missing. Stability of Interparty Rivalry Electoral Volatility A good indicator of the stability of interparty rivalry of party systems is the gauge of electoral volatility. Electoral volatility determines the level to which there is variation in aggregate party vote shares from one election period to another. When there is a low volatility score, it affirms that the same political parties receive constant degrees of support from one election period to another, therefore, the pattern of inter-party rivalry is considered as stable. A high volatility score indicates that there is instability in the preferences of voters from one election period to another and/or there is elite-driven changes made to the party system, such as the termination of existing parties, the birth of new parties, party coalitions, party factions, etc (Mainwaring and Zoco 2007). In spite of all these, electoral volatility is not a perfect gauge of the stability of interparty rivalry because finding party vote shares is tremendously complicated where there are many party coal itions or factions, or where a candidates party affiliation is difficult to determine. The latter remains a problem in the Philippine party system because some candidates often claim to be affiliated with several parties. That fact alone tells that party labels in the Philippines are so fluid that it becomes hard to measure the volatility of electoral results (Ufen 2008). It is also significant to consider that electoral volatility does not allow one to distinguish among the sources of instability-whether they are indecisive voters or temporary parties (Hicken and Kuhonta). Another problem with the Philippines is that it lacks the updated information needed to measure electoral volatility. During the 2001, 2004 and 2007 elections, the information needed regarding party vote shares was not yet released and there was even a scandal involving accurate vote counting during the 2004 elections. However, even though updated information are missing, Allen Hicken was still able to measure el ectoral volatility of the Philippines using only the vote shares information available and supplemented those information with available data from party seat shares. The only available data was from the elections during 1992, 1995 and 1998 elections. Table 1 Electoral Volatility Period Number of Elections Volatility of 1st 2nd elections Volatility of Last election Average Volatility Philippines 1992-1998 3 46.4 28.2 37.3 (Source: Hicken and Kuhonta) Electoral volatility is measured by taking the sum of the net change in the percentage of votes achieved or lost by each party from one election to the next and then dividing it by two. A score of 100 indicates that the political parties winning votes are utterly different from the one election to the other. A score of 0 indicates that the same political parties achieved exactly the same percentage of votes from two different elections. The higher the volatility score, the less stable the pattern of inter-party rivalry and vice versa (Allen Hicken). Because the Philippines electoral volatility score are quite high, it is clear that the inter-party rivalry in the Philippine party system is still not stable, contributing to the party system being weakly institutionalized. Voters still do not have loyalty to parties and parties have not yet established a certain support base that would vote for them each and every election. The absence of loyalty and continued support by voters indicate that they still do not see certain political parties as groups that would promote their welfare so they seek and try to vote for other parties every election. The instability of inter-party rivalry in the Philippines makes the party system weaker and political parties less reliable in consolidating the democracy of the country. Birth and Death Rates of Parties The rate of the birth and death of parties in the party system of a country is another factor in determining whether a party is strongly or weakly institutionalized. If there is a high birth and death rate in the party system, it means that the inter-party rivalry is not stable and there are a lot of parties entering and leaving the system. In the post-Martial law period up to 2007, because of the conversion of the Philippine party system from a two party system into a multi-party system, the birth and death rates became high. Stabilization around parties was not present. A large number of political parties continue to enter and leave the system every election, and these rates contribute as well to the electoral volatility of the party system (Allen Hicken). Table 2 Party Birth and Death Rates During House Elections (Seats) Birth Rate Death Rate Number of Parties 1987 NA NA 8 1992 0.43 0.50 7 1995 0.13 0 8 1998 0.50 0.50 8 2001 0.33 0.25 9 2004 0.73 0.11 30 2007 0.33 0.40 27Birth Rate Death Rate # of Parties(Source: Allen Hicken) The shift of the nature of the party system from a two-party into a multi-party system seems to have given the chance for other parties to evolve and get involved in the system, however, it seems that this change only brought unsteadiness to the birth and death rate of parties in the Philippines. Because of the multi-party system, parties can enter and leave the party system freely, although looking at it in different point, it may seem good for the inter-party rivalry basing on the fact that not only a few number of parties can compete and gain seats in the government, it is still not considered good for the institutionalization of the party system for it makes the party competition unstable. The high rate of the death and birth of parties only makes the Philippine party system weaker. View of Political Actors on Parties The perception of political actors on political parties is one of the most important factors for a party system to be considered as strongly institutionalized. If the major political actors doubt the legitimacy and importance of political parties, then it means that there is a lack of institutionalization. The Filipino people or the public are part of the government and they are also considered as political actors. Their views on political parties are very important in determining whether democracy in the Philippines is working well. Conversely, there seems to be a detachment on the principle of real democracy and on the truth of Filipino democracy. For instance, a great number of Filipino people surveyed (around 55 percent) were reported to have been discontented with the way democracy works in the Philippines (Hicken 2009b). This discontentment is strongly interconnected with the doubt of the Filipino people on the genuineness of Philippine political parties. This survey was just a mong the ordinary Filipino citizens, that is why there is also a need to analyze the view of the major political actors themselves on the existing Philippine political parties. Major political actors like the military seems to have been dissatisfied with government a lot of times as well, since military interventions and rumored plans of coups have been present in the country for a couple of times, especially during the 1986 and the 2000 elections (Allen Hicken). Electoral volatility, birth and death rate of parties and the perception on political parties show how weakly connected are the parties to the different social interests/groups in the country. Filipino voters do not have specific parties in which they are loyal to, they do not vote candidates coming just from one political party, they often times vote candidates from different political parties and it is not even consistent with their votes in the previous elections. An instance would be during the 1992, 1998 and 2010 presidential elections, the presidents and the vice-presidents voted were from two different political parties. It is also very hard to identify one political party from another based on their party platforms and ideologies, this difficulty in distinguishing one party from another makes the strings connecting Philippine parties and societal interests and social groups very frail. The number of voters who can genuinely identify with any political party is very small. In one SWS 2006 survey, it has been reported that two-thirds of the people surveyed said that no party truly endorsed their welfare (SWS 2006, Allen Hicken). Nathan Gilbert Quimpo, a professor, summed up the state of Philippine political parties: Far from being stable, programmatic organizations, the countrys main political parties are nebulous entities that can be set up, merged with others, split, resurrected, regurgitated, reconstituted, renamed, repackaged, recycled or flushed down the toilet anytime (Quimpo 2005). What Quimpo wants to point out is that there is no certainty among political parties in the Philippines. They tend to be unsteady and impermanent, every election, parties tend to change, either through factions, coalitions or merges-even members of the parties tend to leave their respective parties once they feel that their own interests are not being pursued. In summary, through the different measures (electoral volatility, birth death rates, perception) used, one can conclude that Philippine political parties and the Philippine party system display a low level of institutionalization, or even, a very weak and fragile institutionalization. The pattern of inter-party rivalry stays fluid and political actors including voters even doubt if political parties are legitimate and necessary for the countrys democracy (Hicken). Analysis of the Thai Party System Political parties and the party system in Thailand, just like those in the Philippines, are also weakly institutionalized. The two characteristics needed for a party system to be considered strongly institutionalized seem to be missing as well in Thailands party system. Stability of Interparty Rivalry Electoral Volatility Having a weakly institutionalized party system, the electoral volatility of the Thai party system is one of the highest in Asia (Kuhonta 2009). However, it is still notable that the electoral volatility of the Thai party system is lesser than that of the Philippine party system (Average volatility of Philippine party system is 37.3, see Table 1 for more details). This means that the interparty rivalry in the Thai party system is more stable compared to that of the Philippines. However, the difference is not that big and, because of the lack of Philippine data, the period measured in the Philippines is only until 1998 while the period measured in Thailand is until 2005. Period Number of Elections Volatility of 1st 2nd elections Volatility of Last election Average Volatility Thailand 1992-2005 6 38.1 28.0 35.0 With the given electoral volatility, it is clear that just like the Filipino voters, Thai voters also lack the loyalty to parties. The numbers stated indicate that Thai voters do not have enough allegiance to a certain party that they tend to vote different parties every election. The commitment of the followers is unsteady and the parties havent established a well grounded support even with the support bases that they claim to have. Birth and Death Rates of Parties The history of Thailand will provide evidence that the parties in the Thai party system come and go like that in the Philippines. The birth and death rate of parties is also high, making the pattern of inter-party rivalry, all the more unstable. Parties in Thailand are especially susceptible to the influence and power of party factions. Party factions are also present in the Philippine party system, but not as much like in the Thai party system. The Thai party system has more factions, while the Philippine party system has a lot of varieties of identical parties being founded, identical meaning having the same ideologies and platforms. These party factions in Thailand, however, do not bring any excellence to the party system but it even makes the birth and death rates of parties become unsteady each and every election period. The factions made by parties themselves do not have sufficient interest to make the party system and the government work well, these factions merely see parties as just roads to their own drives and tours for self interests and political power. As an effect, parties in Thailand tend to just come and go every election (Kuhonta 2009). Although it is right to say that there are exceptions, like the Democrat Party which remains as the longest standing party in Thailand, we still cannot presuppose that the constancy of the lives of just a few parties make the inter-party rivalry more stable. The government of Thailand has done things to make up for the unstable inter-party rivalry of Thai politics parties. Constitutional amendments have been enacted, one of which is included in the 1997 Thai Constitution, it is considered as one of the strongest ways to minimize if not eliminate the practices of party switching. According to the 1997 Constitution, MPs who left their parties within 90 days of registration for a new election would not be able to run in that upcoming election. (Kuhonta 2009). The 1997 constitution seems to have strengthened the pa rty system minimizing the amount of party hopping and switching. However, the amendment only has a limited effect and what needs to be done is to let democracy and the party system take their course in strengthening the government (Kuhonta 2009). View of Political Actors on Parties Electoral volatility can already indicate how loyal Thai voters are to their supported parties, however, the calculated electoral volatility of Thai political parties would already state that parties do not have constant support bases and that those voters do not have constancy when it comes to their votes. Like political actors in the Philippines, it is also evident that political actors in Thailand do not have the best perception on their political parties. The mere fact that voters switch their support from one party to another, every election, means that the parties have not yet cultivated their own mass support bases. The absence of loyalty to particular parties leads to a conclusion that Thai voters are dissatisfied with their political parties. Moreover, the lack of ideology and programmatic platforms and goals also makes it harder for parties to maintain their own support bases. The divided constituency returns supply adequate proofs that parties in Thailand lack their social bases, since this implies that voters do not have loyalty to a certain party. From the year 1986 to the year 1996, it has been recorded that more than 50 percent of constituencies had divided votes. This is with the exception of the two dominant parties that time, which are the Democrat Party and the Thai Rak Thai. Parties do not have connections with social groups like labor unions, womens groups, ethnic communities or other groups who make up most of the voting population. This shallow nature of party roots in society mirrors only the superficial aspect of party organizations (Kuhonta 2009). This is one of the problems of Thai political parties-they do not represent social interests which lead social groups to not extend votes and support to any particular party. Political actors themselves do not think of parties as representatives of their interests and as supporters of their welfare, that is why their perception of parties is not good most of the time. Like in the Philippines, one major political actor that could be considered as an excellent aspect contributing to the view of political actors on parties is the military. The weak connection of the political parties to social groups made them vulnerable to military counteraction. Military often times involved themselves in politics and when they oppose the governance or the reign of one political party, they would counterattack the government through coups. The military is very influential and often times, when they are dissatisfied with the system, they resort to using their power to overthrow a regime. However, Thailand has gone through more coups than the Philippines. Thailand has experienced 18 coups since the concept of party politics began in the year 1932 (Kuhonta 2009).