Saturday, August 31, 2019

Khobar Towers Bombing

The following document will look at the operations that took place in the bombing as well as how they got the money to fund the implementation of the bombing, as well as the association of the terrorist with the governments that funded them. It will also look at how the government of America responded. Introduction Khobar Towers bombing is an attack that was organized by Islamic terrorists and it is said to have taken place in the city of Khobar situated in Saudi Arabia.This is a building that provided housing to the Americans who had come to work in Saudi Arabia. The group that is said to be responsible for the attacks was the Saudi Arabia Hezbollah (Risen et al). The amount of money that was needed to carry out the operation was 1. 2 million dollars (Burrough). They got this money from collaborating with the Iranian government that gave them the gasoline and the explosives that were needed. Al Qaeda is also said to have funded the group to carry out the operations.The members of He zbollah were affiliated with Al Qaeda and the government of Iraq. There was no training that was carried out since the group was already well trained. The government provides the necessary funds for the operations; this is because after the Gulf war, they wanted the Americans to get out of their land. The government of US reacted by evacuating the other Americans that were in the country and moving them in their own country. Investigations were carried out and there were some people who were arrested and charged for the crime.Before the crime the housing complex and its surroundings was under tight security that it could not have been imagined that such attacks would be carried out (CNN). References Bryan Burrough (November 6, 2005). â€Å"‘My FBI': Heroes and Villains†. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-06-11. Risen, James, Jane Perlez (June 23, 2001). â€Å"Terrorism and Iran: Washington's Policy Performs a Gingerly Balancing Act†, The New York Times. Both sides decry new Ruby Ridge charges†. CNN (August 21, 1997). Retrieved on 2008-12-11.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Advertising & Marketing

â€Å"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it.† This quote as stated by Stephen Lealock who was a renowned economist and humorist gives an ideal description of the category of advertising that I would be flowing in this paper.There are several com/how-does-advertisement-influence-peoples-behaviour/">kinds of advertising techniques that can be followed but the implementation of any one depends upon the nature of the product. When persuading the target market into buying a product that they do not necessarily need, the medium that would be chosen should be able to lay impact so as the consumer may not be able to ignore it. An idyllic media for this type of advertising is the use of television ads or promos.Advertising is a form of above-the-line promotion as it is usually directed towards the appropriate target market by selecting certain media but it is likely that many people who are unlikely to purchase the product might see the advertisement too.Advertisements are often classified into two types; informative advertisement, which are the adverts that give information about the product such as the price, main features or technical specifications.The other form is Persuasive advertising, which is the process of creating a distinct brand image or identity and it may not contain details or specifications about the product.There are a number of factors that affect the choice of medium that is to be used for advertisements. The major considerations are of the cost of advertising, the size of the audience, the message to be communicated, the law and other constraints.Television ads are a form of broadcast advertisements and it is one of the most popular advertising medium that there is. The issues that need to be considered when launching television advertisement include the duration of the advertisement, the time of broadcast and the channel on which the advertisement would be broadcasted. A ll these factors need to be considered with respect to the target audience.When selling a product that is not a necessity or requirement for the people, it would be feasible to use the persuasive advertisement approach. First, the target audience needs to be recognized. Television has the advantage of catering to a large audience and of being a more active and dynamic form of advertisement.It is important for television commercials to be attractive and eye catching. The content of the ads would reflect the target audience. For example, when addressing teenagers, a celebrity appearance in an ad could be influential. Similarly, humor, script and other factors need to be considered according to the market that is being targeted.A new revolution in television ads is the documentary style ads, which is a new concept in television commercials where commercials are created in such a fashion that they seem more like television content and hence, retain more customers.In conclusion, it shoul d be stated that television advertisements are said to be the most influential in mass marketing as they attract the consumers and hook an interest in them about the product. Moreover, with upcoming concepts such as the documentary style advertisements, viewers do not feel that their television programs are being interrupted and do not skip these commercials.Therefore, television can target a large market, and can psychologically persuade them into developing an interest in the product and thus buying something that they did not really need prior to the advertisement.Works CitedBaker, M.J (2001). Marketing: critical perspective on business and management. Taylor and Francis.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Assignment Essay

1) By creating a new position between the CEO and the location managers the position can deal with the day to day tasks and operations needed for the store to operate properly. This will allow Dalman and Lei to spend less time assisting the location managers. By Dalman and Lei efficiently delegating the work, they will be able to spend more time on the strategic aspect of building and growing the business. 2) Both hiring within as well as seeking someone from the outside have their advantages and disadvantages. By hiring within the person who moves up is already working for the company as well as be familiar with some the needs and goals of the business. The negative aspect of hiring within would be possible issue with jealousy among co-workers. The advantage to hiring from outside you get the advantage of a fresh set of eyes coming in and seeing things from different perspectives. The disadvantage would be that they would not be familiar with the company and how it works. 3) Both Dalman and Lei should make the decisions. As the owners of the business they should be the ones deciding how they want their business ran. Dalman is currently playing and active role in this position as is, this should help them determine what they may want to change about how it is currently being ran. This would allow for a nice transition in to the change. Weather Dalman and Lei decide to hire from within in or find someone from the outside; it should be a joint decision that takes the growth of the business into full consideration when making the choice. 4) The levels of authority that Sandwich Blitz Inc have including the new position would be: CEO, CFO, Staff accountant, Operation manager, Site Managers, Team supervisor, Customer associate.

Concept of bureaucracy as an effective system of organization Essay

Concept of bureaucracy as an effective system of organization - Essay Example The concept of bureaucracy has great importance in social science and organization theory as it plays a pivotal role in the world of management. According to Du Gay (2000), bureaucracy is not only organizational form that is strictly restricted for a modern society rather it is followed by every society worldwide. Organizational behavior, organizational theories and management identify the effect of bureaucracy in a formal and rational organization. The model of Weber treated as the descriptive version of organizational model of Taylor is based on the scientific management theory. The strict rules, division of labour and specialization codify one of the best ways for strict subordination. The exclusion of any personal element from the code of conduct of work is the most familiar elements, which is attributed to Fayol, Taylor and Weber. According to Udy (1959), the elements are generated from different opinions of the scholars of social sciences. These scholars considered the elements of the companies as the driving factors for increasing the efficiency levels of the organizations. The rational school for management is followed by human relations movement that proved to have significant presence of the personal elements like attitudes, emotions and values, which are shared by the workers frequently. The human relation movements actually pointed out the factors that have great impact on the efficiency of organization. The results that are obtained from the human relations have questioned the efficiency of the formal- rational organizational theorem (Du Gay, 2000). Open system theory developed for the organization relies on the theoretical approach and uses the comparative statistical evaluation process extensively. This method is applied for searching the different characteristics in an efficient organization. The success of an

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Risk Assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Risk Assessment - Research Paper Example However, there is no security expert tasked with ensuring secure operational environment. The company’s network is segregated into segments. The Trusted Computing Base is the internal network within GFI. This segment hosts company’s mission critical systems that are essential to the company’s operations that affect the financial situation. The most used systems in the enterprise are Oracle database and email. GFI cannot afford a network outage due to the nature of activities in it undergoes. It financial activities will be adversely affected since they depend on network availability and stability. As it is, GFI has experienced DoS attacks twice this year, and its Oracle database and email servers have been compromised for a total downtime of one week. The recovery process cost the company $25,000 and an estimated loss of $1, 000,000 was recorded in addition to customer confidence. In this study, I am going to undertake risk assessment based on GFI network diagram. Knowledge of the vulnerabilities existing in the network will facilitate the design of a solution to counter the threats. Risk assessment will be conducted ion GFI network to establish the likely areas of failure. Risk assessment will focus on managerial, operational and technical aspects that are prone to vulnerabilities and which can be exploited by attackers. Once vulnerabilities have been established, it is easy to tailor safeguards to counter them. Security safeguards and controls are measures undertaken in the company, or added to the information technology environment to mitigate the risks associated with the operation and management of resources. A risk assessment procedure is conducted to determine the adequacy of security controls employed by Global Finance Incorporation. The risk assessment process adopts a methodology and, in this case, a qualitative methodology is preferred. It focuses on the

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Reading Responses 9 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reading Responses 9 - Case Study Example Birth control can be supported on economic and social grounds with the big families being an economic strain to any family. The social limits show that, in the modern era, the socially acceptable family size is the small family. It is necessary to  make sure that the members of the community are well informed to make choices that will favor the family. Making sure that the society has adequate knowledge so as to make informed decisions will enable the society to progress. Controlling the birth levels of the human race is crucial in the evaluation of living standards. Increased population causes a strain on natural resources, which causes competition for available resources (Sanger 3). Birth control needs to be done to maintain socially acceptable behaviour or morals in the society. Maintaining high moral standards in the society will determine the nature of interactions in the society. The issue of birth control is thus a sensitive issue in the society and should be resolved by ensuring that the members of the society are provided with adequate information. It is noteworthy that the members of the society make their own decision with regards to the matter since they have the information required (Sanger 4). The question arises, is the information available to the citizens enough for them to make the right decision? The article evaluates birth control in the society and the factors that affect the perception of the community towards the action. Birth control has been a discussion topic for some time with the moral side of the activity being evaluated. The main questions asked with regards to the need of birth control is the issue of the population effect on global peace, the legal issues affecting birth control, effect of birth control on moral attitude and the amount of knowledge in the society with regards to the issue. The need for birth control needs to be

Monday, August 26, 2019

TVR chapter 5 and 6 journal entries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

TVR chapter 5 and 6 journal entries - Essay Example as young as 2 years old, like, for instance, The Triplets: Christmas Special, as well as for a much more mature audience, as the movie About Schmidt starring Jack Nicholson as an aging man approaching retirement and coming to terms with his life. The movie medium is now taking over most of the entertainment industry medium, with books being sidelined as a secondary source of entertainment, and every book, in a way, claiming to be a movie in the making. Additionally, more and more individuals are taking up movie making, as they perceive it to be a medium through which they would be able to express their true selves and emit their ideas to other individuals. In a day and age where each not only has a story to tell, but wants to share it with as large an audience as possible, it is only logical that such individuals will reach out to the movie industry, an industry that reaches the maximum number of audience. Professional movies, with a director, producer, and cinematographer, try to be as creative as possible and tell a story, but, with the use of a camcorder and a connection to the Internet, individuals like Chris Crocker on YouTube expressing his views about Britney Spears aim to present themselves as their true selves. This use of the medium can have both positive and negative effects on its audience, as the way a situation is perceived varies from individual to individual. Moreover, such platforms for â€Å"movie making†, so to speak, normally end up not serving the audience, but causing them to be frustrated. Notwithstanding the movie platform is a great source of entertainment to the public as well as a platform to raise social issues, it can be used to merely document the mundane routine of one’s life, as is often seen on YouTube. YouTube, in my personal experience, can be, and often is, used for uploading mundane videos about people who have no clue what they are talking about, simply wanting their voices to be heard, or wanting to get noticed.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

How to Make 1000 pounds a profitable Investment in UK Stock Market Essay

How to Make 1000 pounds a profitable Investment in UK Stock Market - Essay Example b. Acting on rumours knowing that it is in fact a rumour. c. Buying Dividends for long-term investment in stock market. It is a stable and less risky way of earning profit. d. Opening an account with a broker. e. Investing in Penny stock to earn profit. Method 1 Basic Plan: The first method is to look for companies that have undervalued ratings. This method does have it perks considering that undervalued firms have a lot of value, of which general public is unaware, due to rating agencies (Graham, 1985). Now the first scenario is an investor having ?1000 and he or she has to make money through investing it in stocks looking for undervalued companies. The first reasonable thing that the investor should do is to look into companies, which have the least value on the FTSE index. For example, the investor comes up with four companies, whose stock value is ?2, ?3, ?3.50 and 3.75. Initially, I will analyse why that particular company is undervalued, does that company have large debts that it needs to pay, or the company has a record of bad investments or if the company was indicted in law-suits involving fraud etc. If the company has large debts, the investor shall see the prospects of that company paying off the debt while pragmatically and logically calculating, the duration in which the company will be able to pay its debt. If the investor wants to earn the money quickly i.e., in a week and he or she is able to find a company that can pay off its debt in two weeks, it would be best to buy stock of that company. And if the prospects of paying debt are low, the investor shall not invest in that company because of the obvious downfall state of the company. One thing that shall be kept in mind that, one must not sell all the shares if there is a slight rise in stocks because of the thought about, being on the safe side. One must project a slight confidence by observing the attitude of the market towards that company if that attitude is confident towards it then thereà ¢â‚¬â„¢s no need to sell the price and if the attitude contains lack of confidence, then one must sell shares at the price offered as earliest as possible, if one wants to liquidize stocks instantaneously. Another way is to invest it, in two or more companies at a time. The approach shall be the same as above and the reason to invest in two or more companies at a time; is unreliability in any one company. It’s just an alternative because companies are being kept undervalued for specific reasons. Sometimes the reason is right and justified in view of the person who wants to invest, but not always. This is a good way to earn money, but the chances of earning money quickly are very bleak. Drawbacks: The biggest risk involved in this kind of investment is, in case undervalued company gets further devalued because in such cases the value of stocks further decrease, resulting in loss for the shareholders. Another drawback of this plan is lack of experience of the investor who is in vesting the amount of ?1000, which is a high value. It is very important that a person should be an experienced investor person while investing because then there might be rational discussion taking place instead of decisions made on gut feeling. Another risk here is of fraud and being conned, which is very common for new investors. A new investor might get caught because of his or her

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Assessment Tools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assessment Tools - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that the Mobile Interaction Chart (MIF) is a flow chart used for the identification of older people who are prone to falling. It includes the observation of mobility level and ‘Stops Walking when Talking,’ the ‘DiffTUG, a test of vision and a rating of concentration. Having these complete details of observation makes valid information for the assessment. It is designed in order to evaluate older people living in residential areas and could be applied to older males and females, 65 years old and above. This assessment has been applied by the Department of Community Medicine as well as rehabilitation Physiotherapy and Geriatric Medicine (Sweden) and tested to be quick, easy and requires no expensive facilities.This paper outlines that Peter James Centre Fall Risk Assessment Tool also known as PJC-FRAT, is a new instrument which is designed in order to obtain a baseline fall risk assessment. This PJC-FRAT is used in a sub-acute rehabil itation setting and have been tried to male and female patients, 38-99 years old (average 80 years). It is a long term process that could be used by a team. Â  It can identify intervention that will prevent the patients from falling. According to Strudwick in terms of convenience and simplicity, this multidisciplinary tool is close to ideal since it can be easily incorporated to the nurses’ workflow and can be fitted into the routine duties without difficulty.... It is designed in order to evaluate older people living in residential areas and could be applied to older males and females, 65 years old and above. This assessment has been applied by the Department of Community Medicine as well as rehabilitation Physiotherapy and Geriatric Medicine (Sweden) and tested to be quick, easy and requires no expensive facilities. This tool could help nurses to deliver good and quality health care even in the residential areas where they deal with numerous older people in the absence expensive facilities and available resources. PJC-FRAT TOOLS Peter James Centre Fall Risk Assessment Tool also known as PJC-FRAT, is a new instrument which is designed in order to obtain a baseline fall risk assessment. This PJC-FRAT is used in a sub-acute rehabilitation setting and have been tried to male and female patients, 38-99 years old (average 80 years). It is a long term process that could be used by a team. It can identify intervention that will prevent the patients from falling. According to Strudwick (2006) in terms of convenience and simplicity, this multidisciplinary tool is close to ideal since it can be easily incorporated to the nurses' workflow and can be fitted into the routine duties without difficulty. Watson's Theory of Human Caring Patient-nurse interactions are involved in this theory. A phenomenon which is intrinsic to the core of nursing in 10-1tem "carative factors" framework was initially conceptualized by Watson. The framework was changed over time, from carative to "caritas," as the theory's merging elements which means love and caring, were transformed into deep interpersonal caring. Its framework tenets include humanistic-altruistic values; presence of faith-hope;

Friday, August 23, 2019

Law for business report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law for business report - Essay Example The second question deals with the name itself. Is the name Toys4Everyone prohibited by law? If the use of the name Toys4Everyone would be considered to be an offence of offensive, or if it contained â€Å"other sensitive words,† then the name would be prohibited. (Companies Act 2006 5(1)(53)(a)(b); Companies Act 2006 5(1)(55)(1)). To qualify as a sensitive word, the word would have to be one that is regulated by Secretary of State. (Companies Act 2006 5(1)(55)(1)). Likewise, if the name is likely to give the impression that the company is associated with Her Majestys Government, the local authority or any public authority, then they would not be able to use the name, either. (Companies Act 2006 5(1)(54)(1)(2)). In this case, Toys4Everyone would not seem to fall under any of the above. It would not give the impression that the toy company is associated with government, it is not offensive and likely would not be considered to be an offence to use the name, and it is doubtful that it would be a sensitive word that would be subject to regulation by the Secretary of State. So, there does not seem to be a legal issue there. Moving on through the Companies Act, and there is a provision that states that the name chosen by the company must not be the same or too similar to another that is registered with the registrar. (Companies Act 2006 5(3)(66); Companies Act 2006 5(3)(67)). If the name is the same as another, then they cannot use the name. If the name is too similar to another, then the Secretary of State can order them to change their name. (Companies Act 2006 5(3)(67)). This is one legal challenge that may face the Board of Directors, if in fact there is another company with the name of Toys4Everyone, or if there is another company that has a very similar name as Toys4Everyone. If there is another company with a similar name on the registrar, then they

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Native American Essay Example for Free

Native American Essay It is believed that the Hopi are the Native American tribe that has been living for the longest time in the same place. They arrived in the arid region of Northwest Arizona probably over a thousand years ago, and traditionally lived in the cultivation of corn and other plants, for which they achieved a very careful use of water and space. Despite the friction between the Hopi and both the Navajo and the Western, resulting from the invasion of both cultures of the Hopi lands in the past, they are one of the few aboriginal groups who maintain their culture until today. Their villages are ancient, some with a history of 1000 years. They have developed a reputation for basketry and sculpt miniatures. They are owners and operators of a cultural center, a museum and a hotel complex. According to Hopi tradition, the history of mankind is divided into periods they call worlds, which are separated by terrible natural disasters: the first world fell in the fire, the second by the ice and the third by water. Our present world, the fourth according to their prophecies, is coming to an end and will give way to a new world in the not too distant future. In total, humanity must walk through seven worlds. Hopi Indians claim that their ancestors were visited by beings from the stars who moved on flying shields or thundering birds and who dominated the art of cutting and carrying huge blocks of stone, as well as to build tunnels and underground facilities. These rescuers were called katchinas, meaning wise, honorable and respected. Katchinas were able to save the Hopi from some disasters, and they taught them to observe the stars, cutting roots, enforce laws and a long list of activities. They multiplied as people, and from them emerged clans and nations that extended across America. Hopi means peaceful or civilized person in Hopi language. Fascinated by the Hopi language linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941) became inspired on his research on the Hopi to formulate his principle of linguistic relativity, which states that the language in which people operate affects their view of reality. When Whorf studied the tribe of the Hopi, he was surprised to find that the Hopi language words cannot express the past, the present and the future. The Hopi see life as a continuum and that is why they need not to describe the meaning of time as we do. According to Whorf, the lack of isomorphism between the Amerindians and the English language indicates a basic difference in thinking that is culturally acquired by the individual in the process of language acquisition. The Hopi language, according to Whorf, has a much larger number of verbs than names, unlike European languages, and this is reflected for instance in a different conception of time and motion and this is very important for the following: The Hopi conceive time and movement in a purely operational way – a matter of complexity and scale of those operations that connect facts so that the time element is not separated from the element of space, which enters as a part of the operation regardless of the former. Whorf tells us that one could assume that the Hopi, who know – initially only the language and cultural ideas of their own society, have the same notions of time and space that we have, or that concepts such as time and space involve intuitions that are universal. Yet this is not true, the Hopi do not have – originally a general notion or intuition of time that elapses uniformly and in which everything in the universe goes by the same pace. Though this theory has been observed for several decades, it has also been the target of attacks and criticisms, including those of the well-known professor emeritus of languages Ekkehart Malotki, a specialist in Hopi culture, who argues on his studies that the Hopi language contains various tenses, metaphors and units of time. These include days, number of days, parts and kinds of days, such as yesterday, morning, day, week, month, months, lunar phases, seasons and years. The Hopi live, move and exist within their religion, they fit into the description that anthropologist Mircea Eliade makes of the archaic or religious man , which perceive both the environment and the human actions as sacred, and who is able to respond to this sacredness in the sense that they repeat the exemplary models that they’ve received from their ancestors. The perception of a primordial temporality, as opposed to our Western linear temporality, responds to how they perceive objects and actions in the world. The objects are not perceived as themselves, in isolation, but as participants in a web of meaning that shapes totality, in this way everything is done and acquires significant value in response to other things to which it relates. In relation to actions, each action has an exemplary model, which was inaugurated by a mythical ancestor (for the Hopi, the katchinas), who initiated the action and forged its exemplariness or genuineness, which is now repeated: the paramountcy of time in the repetition of exemplary actions. We see that the difference between the Hopi and Western temporalities can be explained from the meaning of human actions on both cultures, in our Western culture in everything we do we are affected by the past, and we act in response to the consequences that we can get done in the future, however Hopi perceive time as a unit, a continuum, and the actions that ultimately shape their perceptions are not divided in a linear temporality (past-present-future) as they are a constant repetition of the key, mythical actions. This means that the Hopi continually celebrate with their doings a more genuine status of things.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The War Between the Classes Essay Example for Free

The War Between the Classes Essay This book tells about a Japanese girl who has an relationship with a white boy and an Color game in their class. Emiko Sumoto is a 17 year old middleclass Japanese girl. She has a relationship with a white rich boy called Adam Tarcher. Her father is against this relationship because his afraid of his daughter and doesn’t trust the whites. At the beginning of the book Amy, so Emiko is called by her friends and Adam go to the school ball. Amy’s father wants her to be home at one a clock right after the ball. On the ball Adam’s friend speak stupidly to Amy. Amy doesn’t like Adams friends but she doesn’t say a word about it. But after the ball Amy and Adam forget the time and Amy comes home after two in the night. Her father is very angry and therefore Amy isn’t allowed to see Adam for a week. She calls him and tells it to him But they decide to be together in school every day. After telephoning she and her parents go to visit her brother Hideo. Her father hasn’t talked to him over a year because he had married a white woman named Sue. At the dinner Sue tells that she is pregnant. The next week in school they start a Color game in Amys and Adams common class. Her teacher Otero explains them how it works: it lasts for four weeks. There are four colors: The blue the highest, the dark greens, the second highest, the light greens and the oranges which are the worst. They have to pick out there color out of a bag. Then they get a band which they’ve to wear 24 hours a day and some play money. The lower colors must do what the higher colors want them too and if they obey they have the chance to be promoted otherwise they can be demoted. They also have to take a journal with them in which they’ve to write their experiences with the game which Otero collects each week. They’ve also to report if somebody of the lower colors disobey. There are also guards, the G4’s who watch what they are doing and control if they disobey. They have to pick their color out of a bag. Amy picks blue and Adam orange. So they aren’t allowed to talk with  each other anymore without being punished. There’s also a difference between boys and girls. The girl are called Teks and have a higher position than the boys, the Non-Teks. So Amy is in the highest position and Adam in the lowest one. At first Amy enjoys being a blue. So she can order the others like Adams friend Justin around whom she doesn’t like. She likes to have power now and is listened to by everyone. She also isn’t punished as she talks to Adam. Only Adam has to pay with his play money for it. But then she doesn’t like it anymore because she isn’t allowed to talk to Adam and to her other friends. Only to the blue ones. So she tries to restore to contact to her friends. She calls her friend Carol, which is a dark green one and asks her to go shopping like they did in former times. But Carol wants to be promoted as a blue and she can’t if she’s seen with a blue one. But finally she accepts it. They go to the mall and Carol wears her band though they’ve said that they wouldn’t wear it. And then they meet Brian, one of the G4’s he wants to see Carols band and journal and writes Amy down as she says that she had intentional left her band at home. After shopping she goes home and thinks about it. She colors a poster: All Colors Unite. She calls her friend Juan, who’s a light green to help her and together they go to hang up the poster in the school at night. She also eats again with her friends in lunchtime and she starts to bow to the lower colors which they would have to do to her. Brian sees that and writes it down. In the next lesson. The G4’s accuse the Oranges to had hung up the poster. But Amy stands up and says that she had done it and also Juan does. So after all she had done she got demoted to an Orange and Juan too. Amy is now happy because she’s now again together with Adam and her friends. Together they decide to make a rebellion to make all colors equal. They want to make bands which include all four color, write posters and distribute pamphlets. Also in this time Amy starts to contradict Adam, not to do anything for him.  She also dares to contradict to her father as Sue loses her baby. She cries to him that he couldn’t be nice to her. After that they visit Hideo and Sue and her father tries to show affection for the first time. At Juan’s house they make the four colored bands and produce the posters. As they’ve finished the G4’s Brian and Mary come and want to take away their bands. But Amy protests and the others agree and load in the bands into the cars. In school they put the bands into the lockers but when they want to get it they’re gone. But Gwen, a blue one helps them. She has procured a bag with a red band. They cut it and distribute it to all pupils and finally they know that they’ve won. At the last day of the color game they mad a beauty contest for the boys and the boys see how terrible it is to be treated like a piece of meat. Then they are allowed to give away their bands. Then they embrace the teacher and all are glad to have come through this hard time. Also Amy’s father had changed in this time. He said that Adam could come to them for dinner and it with them together with Hideo and Sue. Amy is very happy about it. 1. Summaries The following are short summaries of each chapter of the book The War Between the Classes written by Gloria D. Miklowitz an author who has specialized in writing young adult books. The story takes place in somewhere in California and deals with a relationship between Amy a young of Japanese extraction and Adam an upper-class WASP. For their disappointment their parents are too prejudice to really accept their relationship. Chapter 1 At the beginning of this chapter Amy is waiting at home for her boyfriend Adam. As he arrives and after her father has told her to be back right in time both are driving to a dance at school. On the way she is telling him about the fear of her father that he could lost her like her older Brother Hideo who married a white women. When they enter the courtyard Amy is first  talking to her friends Carol and Juan. Hereafter she moves with Adam to a table which his friend Justin has reserved for them and some other friends. Then because Adam has requested her for it, Amy shows the others how to dance the hula. Soon Juan a friend of Amy and Justin are in trouble who is next to dance with her. Just before they begin to fight Amy divides them saying that she has already promised Juan to dance with him. Both begin to talk about what happened just until Adam joins them and she goes away with him. Chapter 2 This Chapters starts in front of Amy’s house. Amy and Adam are sitting in his car when Amy looks on her watch and gets shocked that it is already so late. She is hastening to the house hoping that her parents are already asleep but instead both are still waiting for her coming home. So she gets in trouble because of being late and her father forbids her to see Adam for a week. Sad she goes to bed. The next day she calls Adam at his home when their parents are outside working. First of all she is a little bit confused and fears that she only is some girl for Adam but she soon calms down and informs Adam about what has happened and that she cannot go to the beach party with him. Afterwards she is visiting her Brother Hideo and his wife Sue which Amy has not seen for about a year because her father prohibits her to do so because of being angry that Hideo has married without his permission. Both are living in small and old apartment trying to make the best out of it. They are eating some chicken Sue has cooked and are talking about several things including the color game. Moreover Hideo tells his parents that they are going to get a child. First off all Mr. Sumoto reacts in a very unfriendly way just asking Hideo if he could afford that. But then he notices that it might be not so bad to have a grandchild. Chapter 3 The next day she meets Adam when she is walking at school and Amy tells him what she has get to know about the color game and her fear that it could divide them. However she is thinking that this might be a good test for their relationship. When they arrives at class in front the students sorted by skin colors Otero, their teacher, arrives an opens unlocks the  door. He informs everybody that the game will start today and thereafter explain its rules (Þ 2. Description of the Color Game). A few, especially Adam, think that this game is far from reality and shows it in making some jokes. Nevertheless everybody has to chose a color by chance so that Amy gets Blue and Adam Orange. Sad about this situation Adam tells her that there is the possibility that he is promoted or she is demoted so that they could meet in the middle. Other people just like Paul Thomas, a black, enjoys their new status and superiority. Chapter 4 This Chapter begins in the library where Amy is thinking about what has happened. We get to know that in a Japanese Camp she has learned, besides other things, that being female means being a chameleon adapting the boy you are dating with. Moreover she does not want to be bad to be demoted because its not her way of living. That all makes her felling trapped by others just like her father or even Adam. Later, at lunchtime, she searches Adam and finds out that he is in the back of the row just because being an orange. After she has taken her food she sits down on a table with him, Justin, Melissa and some others. As Justin wants to answer Melissa’s question about the armbands and several other things Amy gets angry and remembers him of her superiority. But he does not want to follow her instructions and so gets into trouble with Brian a G4 so that Amy regrets a little that she is responsible for this. Moreover Brian remembers Amy to stop socializing with an Orange like Adam. So she is a little depressed but Adam promises to call her.While she is await of that call in the afternoon she thinks about seeing Adam when she is going to tutor his sister Bettina. When he calls her they are talking about what happened in school and Adam has to admit that it does not feel good to be in so a low position and several other things related with the game and their relationship. Chapter 5 The next chapter starts with Amy on her way to school lost in thought when Brian arrives and tries to get a date with her. Adam interrupts and remembers him that Amy is his girl but Brian uses his position as a G4 to quiet him. But however Amy does not want to go with him so that he leaves. Then she arrives at class this time the students standing sorted by the colors of the game. In class Thomas makes a joke about how it would be if he could keep his position also in real live and then Mary a G4 explains another aspect of the game: sex discrimination. (Þ 2. Description of the Color Game) Afterwards some students including Adam and Amy are fined for offences of the rules. But Amy is shocked that Adam because of being an Orange is fined much more then here. For the remaining time Otero shows them some other examples of racial injustice how it could be find in literature.After class Amy is talking to Carol a friend of Amy who owns the position of a Dark Green about cheating the game. But Carol is unsure what to do and Amy must fear that she might be reported to Brian because Carol really wants to be promoted. Chapter 6 Amy tutors or better tries to tutor Bettina in math because Bettina tries everything to avoid it just as talking about a boy from school. Soon we get to know that Bettina has the prejudice the Orientals are especially good in mathematics but Amy tells her that it is only a matter practice and not of color. Even though she has promised Adam to wait for him coming from soccer practice she has to left. On the way outside she meets Mrs. Tarcher which makes feeling her uncomfortable just taking her for Eileen a girl she prefers instead of Amy. When she leaves Adam arrives in his car, jumps out and explains that he is sorry because he could not manage to leave earlier. Both go happily back into his car but Amy cannot forget what happened and feels again sad because of their parents prejudices. Adam tells her his experiences of being low class and because he ask if it is always that way for those people Amy tells him a story about a man who lost his arm so that he could not longer work and that his family has so no more chance to move up in society. Therefor Adam explains her that he now understands what Otero want to show with the game but that he is also going to manipulate its the system. Before Amy can answer the two are disturb by a policeman but as he recognizes that he is speaking to Adam Tarcher he is sorry and lefts. Just before she leaves she remembers when her brother has been in trouble with the police and that this officer has not been so polite because Hideo is no privileged. Chapter 7 Later in the evening she is calling Carol. After a while they arrange to meet at the shopping hall next Saturday. Moreover we get to know how Amy has tried to convince other Blues to help her cheating the game in uniting all colors but has not been successful. So she hopes now that maybe Carol would help her. On Saturday just before going to the mall she is visiting Hideo and Sue. Both are doing housework and Amy is surprised where her brother has learned to do so. Later Amy wants to know how they have met and if their different colors has ever mattered. So we get to know that both have met in College and that Hideo has first tried to avoid further contact with Sue because of fearing the old-fashioned opinion of his parents but he could not manage this for very long. For Sue it never matter that Hideo has got another color because for her those things are unimportant. But she knows that other people do so and is of the opinion that Otero’s game might let them notice what they are doing. At the mall Amy meets Carol in front of the bookstore. As Carol presents Amy the romances she has bought she notices for the first time that it shows always white people on the cover. We are also informed that Amy and Adam have met in a Toy Factory on the mall where she has worked. Afterwards they are going in a fast-food-restaurant talking about the game and how Amy wants to cheat it as Brian a G4 arrives. He checks for the armbands an journals and as he assumes that Amy has just forget to wear her armband she tells him that she has intentionally not brought it with her so that she is going to be reported and demoted. Chapter 8 When Amy is lost in thoughts why she is going to be a rebel, Bettina Adams sister calls her because she wants to tell her that she passed the math test. Moreover she insists that Adam is going to have a party at Saturday with some friends and also Eileen so that Amy is confused that Adam has not invited her. Saturday night she is playing chess with her father telling him about the color game and her try to cheat it. But her father cannot understand her will to be a rebel instead of being pleased with her position in the game. He cannot understand why she wants to help the lower classes and begins to speak about his time in a camp during World War II and Amy’s  grandfather who has tried to change things and was sent to another camp. And when Amy says her brother thinks she should do what is right and not what is safe he blames him being unknowing because he has lived longer and therefore more experiences he can relate to. The next day she is producing posters saying All Colors Unite for putting them up at school. Later she call Juan because of not knowing someone else for help her doing this. And both together manages it without any problems. The next day she arrives at school she bows back at everybody just showing to be equal. Moreover she sits down at a table with Light Greens getting the attention of the G4’s and the advice to move to the right table. In class they are talking about a book they had have to read Black like me which deals with a educated white man how wants to know if color really matter so that he changes his skin color to black and therefore has to notice that everybody just looked at his color and not at his capabilities. Then Brian begins to speak blaming the Oranges to have put up those posters and wants to know who is responsible for it. Finally Amy and Juan admits to be responsible and so that they are both demoted Orange. Chapter 9 Amy and Adam leaves class together when there is soon a little trouble why Juan helped her and not he but after a while everything is right again. And when Amy goes to her next class they are already going to have an Orange meeting at Adam’s house later. There after everybody is convinced that Amy is no spy they are making plans what they could do to improve the situation and soon there is the idea of making four-color-armbands for everybody at school to finally unite all colors. They decide to meet at Juan because his mother is doing piecework for dress manufacture so that there is enough material to be used for it. Chapter 10 On Wednesday Amy is called by her brother who tells her that Sue does not feel all right and he has unfortunately an urgent meeting so that Amy offers him to look for her right after school. On her way to school she meets Brian blaming her being late and wanting to see her journal so that she has to stay in the rain a little longer. Therefore she is in hurry and sit down in  the first row like usual but is send to the front by Carol who has promoted Blue. In the Lesson they are talking about another book Otero has forced them to read. It is Down These Mean Streets which deals with a Puerto Rican and his experiences of living in the USA. This man was unable to move up in society and was not accepted by upper classes because of being white. Because of this some which similar roots begin to report about their parents or grandparents bad experiences and that differences color and money seems to be the factors most responsible for it. After class Amy calls Mrs. Tarcher to excuse her for today in explaining her the situation and offering her to tutor Bettina next Saturday. Moreover Amy is surprised that Mrs. Tarcher does not say anything like: Hope she feel better soon! Later Adam drives her to Sue who is found by Amy in the bedroom not looking good. After Amy has got to know that she has lost a lot of blood Sue begins to cry so that Amy tries comfort her and calls her parents. When they arrives the cares for her cooking some special tea and explaining that she should rest in bed like the doctor has said. Chapter 11 This Chapter is introduced by an journal entry of Amy telling us about a test they have written in class and that it has seemed to be much easier for the upper colors than for the lower. Furthermore she calls Sue which has unfortunately lost her baby and say that she wants no one to come over before tonight. Moreover Amy informs her parents about this when they comes home from work. And she blames her father being unfair to Sue so that her mother shows her the things she has made for Hideo’s and Sue’s baby and the old bonsai which her father was going to hand to them. Finally they decide to get over tonight. When they arrive Hideo opens them, looking very sad. Quiet they are going into the bedroom where Mr. Sumoto settles the bonsai on the dresser and explains Sue that Hideo and the doctor are all right when they says she shall take care of herself and not go to work. Moreover he promises her that she will have a son one day. And for the first time they seem to be one b ig family. Chapter 12 After tutoring Bettina Amy and Adam are driving to Juan’s house. On the way they are talking about the contest which Adam might win and then Amy ask for the party she was not invited. But Adam is surprised and then angry because he realizes that his sister has played a shabby trick on them. When they arrive at Juan’s the Oranges and some Light Greens are already going to produce the four-color-armbands and some new All Color Unite-posters. Both are helping to finish the latter. Beside they all are talking about several things and their experiences with the color game. Around six o’clock everything is finished and they are going to load everything in there cars when Brian arrives and tries to confiscate everything but they just ignore him. So that he cannot do anything except promising them that he has ways to hinder their rally they have planed for Wednesday. Chapter 13 When Amy arrives at school next Monday she is immediately going to her locker to stow away some of the new armbands when she is stopped by Paul Thomas who seems to know something about it. But then she can reach her aim without further disturbance. In the rest room she meets Gwen a Blue who is also informed about the rally and warns Amy that G4’s and Otero plans something to hinder it. Moreover she will try to find out how it should be managed. Moreover she does not treat Amy like an Orange but a friend. In front of a class Dark Greens and Blues are still separated but Oranges and Light Greens have begun to mix. At the beginning of the lessons Otero reminds everybody of the beauty contest and that it shall show how sexist they really are. The girls sit down in a circle around the boys which are forced to demonstrate their physical attributes. After a while more and more boys are sorted out finally only Adam and Paul remains. To decide who will win there is a kind of quiz based on differences between the genders. At last Paul wins. Afterwards just before they leave class the students talk about the contest and their feelings about it. Chapter 14 This is the last chapter and deals with the rally on Wednesday. It starts with Amy awaking, having breakfast and going to school. On the way she meets Gia Dark Green who tells her that something is going on with the  armbands they have met. The posters has been already hang up but no one make any attempt in removing them. Before she can open her locker Adam appears, looking angry because all of the four-color-armbands disappeared. Soon they suppose that someone must be a spy. Not knowing what to do Gwen arrives with some red ribbons which they can use as armbands. And it works. Everybody wants to get an armband and soon the whole school is wearing them. When they arrive at class Otero is proud because for the first time a class was able to united everybody before the game ends. The fines the G4’s imposes does not matter for anybody now. On Friday morning Amy’s mother asks her about Adam and tells her that they was possible wrong. Moreover her Dad has had the idea of inviting Adam for dinner. Happily she is going to school. There they sit down in a circle and before dropping their color-bands they are talking about their experiences with the game. They get also to know how Otero it has managed to select what people shall become what color and that Troy was the spy who has informed the G4’s about the rally. And he is also very proud because of Amy who has successfully changed the system of the game. Many have found new friends through the game and are going to stop judging others by color now. In the end Adam declares that he would like having dinner with Amy and her parents very much. 2. Description of the Color-Game The Color Game developed by Ray Otero works like described in the following text. First off all there are four colors (Blue, Dark Green, Light Green, Orange) representing four different classes in society, with Blue at the top and Orange at the bottom. All participants of the game which will last four weeks are allocated to one color by random that is what they thinkbut in fact there is a pre-selection by the teacher based on a evaluation of a test everyone has had to write. So if they have chosen a color they get a armband of their color and a journal which his to be carried all the time. In this journal they have to write a report of every day helping the teacher to decide if the owner learns anything or not what can be a responsibility for de- or promoting someone. By the rules of the game inferior colors are not allowed to speak to or socialize with superior ones. The other way round a superior color may address an inferior. Moreover lower colors must show their inferiority by bowing to higher colors. And   of course higher colors does have more privileges in society so they gets e.g. more money than others. Then there is a police force called G4 which is responsible for checking if every keeps to the rules of the game and will fine everyone who is not doing not. The G4’s also check for the journals. Additionally there are spies who will report when someone tries to rebel against the system. Besides reporting someone who does so means the chance of moving up in the game. Furthermore all the subject of sex-discrimination is included in the game working vice versa as in real life. That means that women or Teks like they are called in the game are the superior and man called No-Teks the inferior gender. Moreover that has to be shown by every No-Tek in curtsying to Teks. In addition No-Teks are also forced to bring self made cookies and coffee to class. And they will also take part in a beauty contest so that Teks could judge for their physical attributes and talents. And at last Teks also gets more money then No-Teks of the same color. The game was developed because of the still present prejudices against people of other classes of society or other colors. This game shall prevent that these prejudice still grow and furthermore demonstrate that they are unfounded. The color game helps to understand the situation of others better so that the participants of the game learn to get along with each other after it. It also shall prove how man treats women without really knowing. So they are forced to think about their behavior. Moreover it illustrates how society really is and instruct people to behave in another way just like they have learned in the game. So a when also far aimof the game is to change society as well. 3. Characterization of Amy and Adam their families 3.1. Amy and her family Amy Sumoto which is the nickname for the Japanese name Emiko is the first person narrator in the story from whose point of view the story is presented. That can be proven with following. So first of all we get only to know about her experiences, thoughts and feelings. Other persons are therefore always seen through her eyes. Moreover there is no other narrator in the story. For that reason we suppose that she is the main character of the story. Her outward appearance is not described very detailed in the  story but she is generally described as beautiful and exotic. It is very probably that she looks like Japanese person in general. Moreover we get to know the following about her. She is like already mentioned -Japanese and lives with her parents in a multi-cultural middle-class neighborhood. She is 17 years old and is therefore going to high school. Her most preferred teacher is Mr. Otero who is also the developer of the color game and instructs it to the class. Except the end that means the last two chapters she has a not so good relationship to her father because she thinks that he is old-fashioned and stubborn and not accepting that she is in love with Adam a WASP. (Þ 4.1 Relationship: Amy and Adam) Moreover she blames him and also her mother for not being able to accept Sue the wife of her older brother Hideo as a part of the family. But in the end we get to know that her parents are not so narrow minded like Adam’s parents and sister. (Þ 3.2 Adam and his family). And we get also to know that he has a real reason to be prejudices what are his experiences in a camp he was forced to live during World War II. But deep inside she loves her parents.During the color game she tries several times to help the lower colors and to unite all against the system. She also does not give up when she is demoted an Orange and finally is successful. That shows that she can be a very strong-willed person if she really believes in something. So she does e.g. say that it is not in her nature to try to fail. (p.33, l.33) Moreover she is usually very friendly and polite towards others. For example in the color game she does not treat someone bad only because he is of a lower color. Of course there are some exception especially in her treatment towards Justin and Brian but in general she tries to be a diplomatic person. Furthermore mainly relating to Adam she is also very loyal. So she does not go out with Brian just because she cannot go with Adam or does not end their relationship only he is said to have a party with Eileen instead of her. That also shows the deepness of her love towards Adam. 3.2. Adam and his family Adam is Amy’s boyfriend. Because of this close relationship to the narrator of the story we can say that he is the second main character in the story. Adam is a white American upperclass WASP. The he must be wealthy can be proven with following. So he is living in a very big house on Valley Vista (p.9, l.5) which is described by Amy as looking like a castle (p.9, l.8) with fourteen or more rooms (p.9, l.6). Moreover he has got his own and expensive car, an BMW (p.52, l.4). He is also one of the best looking boys in class so he is e.g. one of the last two No-Teks in the beauty-contest and is e.g. compared with a statue of a young Greek (p.8, l.13). Moreover he has golden meaning blonde hair (p.8, l.14/15) so that he is a strong and attractive boy. He has got a sister called Bettina who is a few years younger than him and who is tutored in mathematics by Amy. Moreover we got to know a little about his mother but nothing about his father. All in this family maybe except Adam have prejudice against non-white persons. So she is of the opinion that Amy is not good enough for Adam and wants to replace her with Eileen an also rich white girl form the circle of friends of the family. Moreover she e.g. thinks that Orientals have special attitudes for math and science (p.49, l.7 f.) how Bettina informs Amy when she is tutored by her. That shows indicates that she is also prejudiced. Moreover she plays a shabby trick on Adam and Amy when phoning Amy and telling her that Adam is going to have a party with some friends just as Eileen. But also because of his prejudices and the conflicts with his parents he is not willed to leave Amy just because other does not accept her. 4.1 Relationship: Amy and Adam The relationship between Amy and Adam develops into the story so that I will try to draw attention to the most important points in this process. In the beginning there are in love and especially Adam does not see what could change their relationship but Amy already recognizes the prejudices from both families which try to separate them. Then their relation is menaced by Amy’s father who places her under house arrest four one week because of coming home late from the dance. (Þ Chapter 2) Therefore she is not able to got with Adam to a beach party and because of this calls him but when is call just some girl (p. 18, l. 6) she begins to doubt that Adam is upright to her especially when he tells her to go to the party anyway because he has promised to accompany Justin. But also because of his diplomatic abilities everything seems to be again all right after the call.When the color game starts it is possible the most difficult test for their relationship since it beginning becau se of Amy getting Blue and Adam getting Orange (Þ 2.  Description of the Color Game) Therefore they can next to nothing meet each other for about two weeks because of the rules of the game. So she can have a little time with Adam at his home after she has tutored his sister. Then their relationship gets finally into crisis when Bettina played a trick on her brother and her. Therefore she asks Juan instead of him for putting up the All Colors Unite posters so that the situation is near to escalate. But their relationship improves when Amy is demoted an Orange. Now they can prepare the rebellion against the color game together and at the end of the story also Amy’s parents want to meet Adam so he is invited for dinner. (Þ Chapter 14) But there relationship gets also some mature. So while playing the color game Amy recognizes the sexist behavior of Adam. Because of this she is no more trying to adapt himas she has usually done when meeting boys. And also Adam finally recognizes this fact and is going to change his behavior for not jeopardizing their relationsh ip this way. 4.2 Subplot: Hideo and Sue The subplot Hideo and Sue shows mainly that such a relationship like this of Amy and Adam can exist for a long period. So it might be an outlook of their future life. Moreover it demonstrates that whites are not naturally prejudiced. Moreover it illustrates how oldfashioned the idea is that women should do housework and man should go to work. Instead of this Sue and Hideo see each other equal. So both are go to work and shares the housework between each other. Hideo usually makes those things you need more physical strength for and Sue does the remaining work. It is in fact a very idealistic view of people, always being unprejudiced against others in trying to understand and help them. Moreover they always try to make the best out of everything, e.g. out of their home a small but now clean and tidy flat. 5. Assessment of the Color Game In my opinion the color game is a good way of teaching people how unfair it really is to be judged by color, wealth or gender. Moreover it shows students belonging to a low class that which usually become Dark Green or Blue why how it feels to be upper-class and why upper-class people normally do not care for inferior classes. For a few weeks you becomes  another person with another status and learns what it means to live so if you then regain you origin status you can see everything from two perspectives so that upper-class people might stop to discriminate lower-classes and the other way round lower classes does better understand the behavior of upper-class persons. Moreover especially because the game works with colors you might remember how it felt to be judged by it and will stop to do so with other people. Moreover I do not believe that you can really be emotionally damaged by the game. So upper colors are of course threatened well so that in my humble opinion there is no reason of being emotionally damaged this way. But also when you get a low color you have only to bear things for about four weeks black or Puerto Rican people did for decades. Moreover the teacher gets to know about the emotional situation of the person through his/her journal. So if someone is really depressed to much he can be promoted every time. Moreover in the appendix of the book it is written about only one student who has blamed to have being emotional damaged by the game. But this person has only played the game for one day so that this cannot be a real proof. In my opinion playing the color game might be uncomfortablealso for me but for being emotionally damaged the probability is very small. 6. Book Review I enjoyed reading the book very much. First of all because it was not written in my mother tongue and so I get the chance to see how good I can cope with the English language also when it was much easier to understand than e.g. a book of one the big classical authors such as Shakespeare or Huxley. Then story was very interesting and authentic because of being based on something we all good know: school. And it is furthermore based on the real existing color game developed by Ray Otero who personally explains it in the story. This game everything is constructed around comprises so many aspects of the American class system and shows how miserable your life could be just because of your skin color. So by reading the book you get a when sometimes even exaggerated outlook on living in the USA what was also very interesting for me. But the book or the color game it deals with does not only show how unfair the American class system could be it shows that something can be changed and orders the reader to drop groundless  prejudices. And that all packed in an exciting story of relationship between a Japanese girl and a upper-class WASP called Amy and Adam made it fun to read the book and made it easy to get part of the story. Also when I prefer reading good science fiction novels stories (when I read for my own) it was also exciting to read this one.

Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning

Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning Interactive planning of Dutch infrastructural project A case-description of Mainport Schiphol and the A12 national expressway Interactive Planning of Sustainability 1. Introduction Since the beginning of the ‘90s, the implementation of new infrastructural projects in The Netherlands became increasingly problematic. Related environmental issues had a lot of societal attention. The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, responsible for maintaining a high quality of mobility in the Netherlands, identified three major problems with earlier attempts to solve the infrastructural problems; little social acceptance for new projects, procedures for realizing new projects took too long, and the proposed solutions were not really original and often ‘more of the same’. For solving these problems, this Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management proposed a change from top-down decision making to a more open and interactive form of policy making for planning, developing, and implementing new infrastructure (Enthoven and de Rooij, 1996). With interactive policy making, the main goal is to make more creative and effectiv e plans, by involving all stakeholders like citizens, (local and/or national) governments and experts. For this paper, 2 cases are selected, related to a Dutch infrastructure issue and dealt with on an interactive way; Mainport Schiphol near Amsterdam and the A12 national expressway near The Hague. The first one is selected because of its elaborated description in Susskind et al. (1999), its high degree of complexness and the fact the outcomes were fairly positive, the second one is selected also because of its suitable description in Glasbergen en Driessen (2005), but with a more straight-forward problem definition and its positive outcomes. Discussing these two Dutch cases, we will focus on four critical issues, related to interactive planning and often discussed in literature: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. Although more critical issues can be defined, like Roles op participants, Modes of evaluation and Use of outcomes by policy makers, only these four are chosen because of the fact that these are clearly discussed in the selec ted case-descriptions and these seemed to be crucial for the success of these cases. Chapter 2 will discuss each critical issue shortly. Chapter 3 will discuss the two cases in the light of the four different critical issues, and chapter 4 will give a conclusion. To structure this research the following research question is formulated: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? 2. Critical Issues This chapter will elaborate a bit more about what is actually meant with the four different critical issues: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. 2.1 Participant selection The question of which parties to involve is answered by a set of four considerations that should be taken into account when selecting the participants (De Bruijn et al., 2002). Firstly, parties with blocking power in the decision-making are important. Involving these parties in the process may keep them from using their blocking power in ways that are unforeseen. Secondly, parties with productive power should be part of the process. These parties will actually have to implement the decisions that are taken, and can influence the decision making with their control over the productive resources. Thirdly, parties that have an interest in the decision-making should be considered. These are parties that do not have substantial power in the decision making process (like blocking power or resources), but nevertheless are confronted with the outcomes of the group process and therefore can provide important information and moral considerations. Finally, this moral aspect of decision-making ca n by a reason to invite certain parties to join the process. Moral and ethical considerations can be important to embody the voice of those who are affected by the potential decision, but are not invited to the process for different reasons (De Bruin, 2002). 2.2 Power and access One of the key goals of interactive policy making is that it should reduce the influence of dominant elites and enable the less powerful groups to give input. Those parties or actors, who do not have access to formal decision-making processes or who cannot exert enough influence by the way of discussion and negotiation are more likely to initiate legal proceedings. Public’s ability to participate in decisions can be assessed according to three elements (as defined at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992): access to information, access to the decision-making process, and access to redress or change decision. These three elements will shortly be explained below. ‘Access to information’ can be seen as the first foundation of access and also one of the most passive forms of access seen from the perspective of the public. With access to information is meant the ability the public has to easily get access to forms of relevant information in which they are directly or indirectly involved, such as environmental impact assessments, reports from industries about their emissions etc. But one also can think about getting informed about potential relevant activities, which possibly can affect the public’s environment. ‘Access to the decision-making processes’ wants to give the public a more active role. Once this form of access is attained, one can even speak of a certain form of power. One must not focus on only the opportunity to provide input on specific subjects, but also the ability to influence more general decisions, such as the making of new laws or national policies. ‘Access to redress or change a certain decision’ is also related to a form of power, since the ability to change a certain decision gives a citizen the power to influence the decision-making process. This form of access can be translated into making judicial or administrative remedies accessible to the public, when officials fail to do their work in a proper manner (Mock et al., 2003). 2.3 Roles of facilitators The roles that a facilitator can play in group decision processes constitute of consistent packages of specific tasks within the group process combined with a more general ‘attitude’ towards the group members and the process. In literature, three major roles of a facilitator are commonly distinguished: a role as process architect or process manager, a mediating role and a convening role. As a process architect, the facilitator lays down the backbone of the group process. The process should be structured in such a way that all relevant insights from the participants will play a role in the process. Four core principles for designing a group process can be discriminated: openness, protection of core values, speed and substance (De Bruijn et al., 2002). These four ‘core elements of process design’ should be included and safeguarded in any process design in order to satisfy all the participants. The facilitator focuses on the process so that group members can focus on the substance and can suggest different ways of discussing problems, ensuring that all group members can freely express there comments and are free of any abuses of power or personal attack (Susskind et al., 1999). Especially in environmental issues, the interests, values and problem perceptions of different parties may often be far apart form each other. With such large contrasts of interest within the group, a facilitator often is faced with disputes and conflicts within the group process, that are hard to solve with mere changes in the structure of the process. In such case, the role of the facilitator can be very closely related with a mediating role in which the facilitator is mediating between parties, even to establish a general structure of the process. In addition, an external mediator can be asked to solve the conflicts. An external mediator is a neutral person that specializes in solving disputes between different participants in the group process, often using a variety of negotiation techniques and (psychological) methods of reframing problems and solutions (Acland, 1995). In a convening role, the facilitator has a say in which parties should be involved in the group process, and at what roles they will have. The convening role of a facilitator is sometimes not far apart from the role that a facilitator has as a process designer. Proper management of a group decisions process clearly has a very import influence on the effectiveness of that process. The facilitator can influence that process to quit a large extent. The consensus of all group members on the final decision depends for a large part on the level of agreement within the group with the approach that facilitators takes in structuring and managing the process. 2.4 Role of knowledge Knowledge is a crucial ingredient of interactive planning. However, the significance of the use of knowledge depends on one’s view. Over the years, the view on the role of knowledge has changed. The rational actor model has gradually been replaced by adaptive decision and learning strategies interacting with the environment. Before, planning would be perceived as proceeding in an orderly and linear fashion (Friend Hickling, 2005). Today some authors state that knowledge is a result of collective social processes. This implies that knowledge is a social construct, rather than an objective entity. In the new approach, linear progression of the process is seen as unrealistic. Instead, the uniqueness, ambiguity and unpredictability of real world processes are emphasized. With the recognition that planning is an interactive and communicative process, the notion of the interrelationship between expert and experiential knowledge has become more and more crucial. Interactive planning is now seen as ‘organized rituals’ where ‘deliberating participants’ listen to one another, search for new options and learn to find new ways of going on together (Khakee et al., 2000). 3. Case description For a complete description of each of the two cases, see appendix 1 and 2. This section will only discuss the previously mentioned four critical issues related to interactive policy making (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge), related to the experiences of these two cases. 3.1 Mainport Schiphol Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol will cause an increase of nuisances of noise, pollution, and safety). These two opposite interests caused a stalemate to occur since the 1950s. In the 1980s, one of the government authorities took the initiative to change the ‘common way of working’ and activated the policy network, to address the issues (Driessen, 1999). 3.1.1 Participant selection The most important actor in this case was the Dutch Government, who made the prefigured decision to expand the airport into an international hub. All other participants had to find their ‘win-win’ outcomes within this context of developmental growth. From the beginning, various government organisations have been involved in the development of Schiphol Airport. The main players are three ministries. The ministry of Transport and Public Works is by far the most important actor, responsible for the economic development of the airport as well as the abatement of noise nuisance. Second, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment is also involved, responsible for physical planning in The Netherlands and implementing policies regarding the rest of the environmental effects of the activities of the airline industries, namely air pollution, stench and hazard. Finally, the Ministry of Economic Affairs plays and important role, pursuing further economic development in the region of Schiphol (Driessen, 1999). Lower tiers of governments involved were the province of North Holland, responsible for environmental policy and planning for the region, and the municipalities surrounding the airport, both benefiting (by increased employment and tax-incomes) and enduring the aggravation (caused by noise, stench, air pollution, and other activities that degrade the environment) of having the airport close by. The municipality of Haarlemmermeer is a special case, because this municipality is authorized to create a land use plan for the airfield. Additionally, two enterprises play a crucial role: NV Luchthaven Schiphol (operating the airport and completely state owned) and KLM (the major Dutch carrier and partly owned by the state) (Driessen, 1999). Because the Ministry of Transport and Public Works occupied a pivotal position, being both responsible for the economic development of Schiphol and the abatement of noise nuisance, it was agreed that noise regulation would be regulated by the Aviation Act, which was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Nevertheless, little actions were made to reduce noise nuisance, because all participants believed that technical solutions would solve all noise-problems in the near future. Because no agreement could be made between these participants on how much the airport should be allowed to grow, or how to tackle the environmental problems, the Dutch government asked the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment to make an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. In the following process, a project group and a steering committee were established. The steering committee was comp osed out of all above-mentioned parties, while the project group contained all interest groups. Any party with interest in the case could join the project group (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it must be concluded that parties with blocking and productive power were strongly involved in the interactive planning process, by joining the steering committee. Other parties with interest were also involved, by joining the project group, but their influence was relatively small. If parties were involved, based on moral considerations, does not become clear from this case-description. 3.1.2 Power and access The three different Governmental agencies (the ministry of Transport and Public Works, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs) with jurisdictional authority over airport expansion, had accepted the mandate for airport expansion, but each with more at stake than achieving this outcome. Interagency rivalry and power played a critical part in the positions the ministries adopted and the coalitions they build during negotiations. The creation of a project group composed of all interest groups and of a steering committee of essential power brokers gave much power to the steering committee alone. From the case description, it does not become clear that the members of the steering committee, who were eventually excluded from the decision-making, were those who could not benefit in a ‘win-win’ situation, or were simply not powerful enough to block or advance progress. Nevertheless, the exclusion of interests cannot lead t o a ‘win-win’ solution and has encountered difficulties building consensus and achieving compliance (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the three elements described in section 2.2, it must be concluded that ‘Access to information’ does not form an obstacle. Perhaps the overload on information and the opposed and contradicting information gave bigger problems. The public was given some access to the decision-making process when they joint the project group, by commenting the ideas of the steering committee. However, the steering committee made all final decisions, so there was certainly no access to redress or change a decision. 3.1.3 Roles of facilitator After the developed deadlock between the initially participants, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was made primary responsible for the task of making an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. The fact that this ministry had a strong affiliation with environmental issues raised initial suspicion among the other governmental bodies. They wondered whether this ministry would be able to take a neutral position in the ensuing discussions. However, their initial wariness soon gave way to a realistic attitude, and actively joined the process (Driessen, 1999). The Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment designed an organizational framework for the discussion whereby the coordinated approach would be given a concrete form by activating the policy network. With this, the ministry acquired a dual function in the project, because it was the convenor, chair and facilitator of the planning process, and had to secure the input of environmental interest in the decision-making (Driessen, 1999). In the initial stage, the strategy of the project leaders of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was to bring the various parties closer together by conducting investigations and exchanging information, assuming that this might contribute to a better understanding and more appreciation for each different standpoint. The was no need for a professional facilitator, because all information was being collected, analyzed, and disseminated in an orderly way, although a professional facilitator could have helped structuring the problem. At the end of this stage, the project leaders formulated a plan, which could not be released because of the rain of criticism it caused (Driessen, 1999). Because of this setback, the project leaders decided to recruit a professional facilitator, with the task not to increase the supply of information, but to let parties sought to digest what they had and to arrive at a decision. From the case-description, it does not become clear if this facilitator had staff support and whether he/she had analytical, problem solving skills. The approach taken by the facilitator was aimed at bringing the main bottlenecks to the fore, in order to reach agreements at least on key points. The approach was characterized by the creation of a strong interaction between the project group and the steering committee. The later reviewed the issues that the project group had pared down in size, and either approved the solutions offered by the project group or send them back to the project group for reconsideration (Driessen, 1999). After this process, the facilitator presented the choices made by the project group and the steering committee to the public. The central aim of this was, to gain social and political legitimacy; the plan was opened up to the public discussion and the reactions were taken into account in the final version. Unfortunately, the public was hardly informed about the process preceding the plan and therefore it was generally received with great suspicion. Adding to this, the public discussion did not proceeded in a coordinated fashion, but each government resorted to its own method of public discussion. At the same time of these public hearings, the facilitator had to focus on the steering committee, because each party could take criticism of the plan as a lever to reopen discussion on subjects already discussed. At the end, the facilitator wrote the final text of the plan, shaping the final agreements also including the difficult topics of a reduction of noise nuisance and hazard (Driessen , 1999). From this description of the facilitator, it becomes clear that the facilitator had both the role of process architect, and mediator. The facilitator designed the entire framework of decision-making and mediated when problems occurred. If the facilitator also had a convening role is unclear. Which stakeholders could join the steering committee was already decided before the facilitator got involved. How actually the project group was formed, stays unclear from this case-description. 3.1.4 Role of knowledge Especially in issues related to airfield, experts disagree on numerous crucial uncertainties. This makes the role of knowledge both important but not of the same tenor. Research plays a key role in these controversies. This relates to research on, for instance, the need to build a new airport or expand the existing one, it may concern the most desirable infrastructure in and around the airport, it may deal with the profitability of operation, it may investigate the economic impact of the airport, or it may consider possible negative effects on the environment. However, this research must never be judged as ‘objective’ and will always play a role in the conflict of interest, expressed in this case, in the frequency of requested ‘second opinions’ (Driessen, 1999). In the case of noise nuisance, it took long time to be acknowledged as a problem and to find a way of calculating the level of distress. In the mid-1960s, a system was developed to measure noise nuisance, but no agreement could be made on how it should be applied. For instance, there was discussion about how to determine the threshold value for maximum admissible noise nuisance. Furthermore, options differ on setting a specific norm for night flights. The disagreement revolves around the degree to which departing and arriving airplanes disturb the sleep of nearby residents, and whether such disruption is detrimental to public health. There was also uncertainty about, the rate air traffic would increase, and the degree to which technical developments in aeronautics could help reduce noise levels by changing the aircrafts design (Driessen, 1999). Therefore, as also stated in section 2.4, knowledge is very important in decision-making processes, but as these processes get more interaction with a broad scale of actors, knowledge becomes more a result of collective social processes and loses its objective entity. From this case-description, it does not become explicitly clear if the decisions were based on knowledge provided by ‘experts’ or that it was formed in an interactive learning process. Implicitly, one could state that the agreement on noise nuisances could only have been established, when such interactive knowledge development occurred. 3.2 A12 national expressway The ease of accessibility of The Hague depends to a large extent on the A12 national expressway. Its final 30 km stretch is marked by many access and exit ramps, and the intensity of traffic in this area has increased dramatically in recent decades. This is partly thanks to the enormous increase in the volume of vehicular traffic, and partly to the proliferation of new urban development locations around The Hague. Much of the traffic is ‘destination traffic’ which enters the city in the morning and leaves at night. As a result of the higher volumes, congestion became a big problem (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). 3.2.1 Participant selection The planning agency initially saw itself as the owner of the problem at stake and formulated a classical solution of road widening. This approach failed because of public resistance and of a budget problem at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. Because of this, the ministry stepped back, which un-deliberately created opportunities for other parties to take initiative. The government authorities of The Hague took the initiative to develop a new architecture for interaction among the different stakeholders. They organized a public dialog and a series of workshops involving local politicians and private businesses from the region, resulting in a new definition of the problem, focussing on the underutilization of existing capacity. The role of the planning agency changed from orchestrator of the infrastructure project to a partner in the wider regional consultation on issues of mobility and livability. They also made subsidies available to the business community , enabling them to work out individual, sometimes innovative, mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Before concluding the analysis of participant selection in this case, the fact that there were no objections to the planes made by this interactive planning-process is probably the best evidence that all relevant stakeholders were included in the process. Nevertheless, from the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it does not become clear how all relevant stakeholders were defined, if all parties with blocking and productive power were added to the process, or if parties with moral and ethical considerations were included. 3.2.2 Power and access This case can bee described as a restricted interactive process, because it was intended to promote the cooperation of public authorities with the private sector. Civic organizations and individual citizens were kept informed through a public relations center. The governmental authorities of The Hague decided which stakeholders were included in the process. Despite this fact, no opposition to this project did arise (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). The access to information was well looked after, in the form of the public relations center. They kept civic organizations and individual citizens informed about the plans and progress. More power was not given to the public in this case. 3.2.3 Roles of facilitator In order to link the government agencies (where the plans were developed), and the business community, a ‘godfather’ was appointed. This honour was given to the director of the public transport company in the region, and he served as a contact between the project and the private sector. He kept all relevant firms informed about the development of the project and called these firms to task with respect to their responsibilities for the region’s accessibility, by reminding them that they might be lagging behind other firms in the development of their mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). From the case-description, it must be concluded that the government authorities of The Hague acted as a convener, initially selecting the different stakeholders. Facilitating the process and mediating in conflicts were partly done by the ‘godfather’ and partly by the government authorities of The Hague. The precise division of responsibilities does not become clear from the case-description. 3.2.4 Role of knowledge According to this case-description, it was the government agencies of The Hague who decided what knowledge was used in the decision process. The only organization consulted for information was the planning agency, also participating in the planning process (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Although knowledge is crucial in interactive planning (see section 2.4), the role of knowledge in this case is not very big. This probably has two reasons. One is the relative simple problem at stake (congestion) and secondly the fact that all parties agreed on the content of the relevant knowledge. Nevertheless, the fact that only one party provided the relevant knowledge could potentially have caused major problems afterwards. 4. Conclusion This research started with the question: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? How each criterion added to the success of the case is described at the end of each subsection in chapter 3. Overall, it can be concluded that the success of interactive planning depends on the care each criterion is taken care of. If one of these criteria is neglected, it will be reflected in the outcomes. If, for example, participants are forgotten, power is not distributed evenly, facilitators are not adequate, or knowledge is not as objective as possible, the process will take much longer time and the change of good end-results and thus consensus will diminish. Both cases make clear that solutions were impossible to reach in the traditional way of policy making and that interactive policy mak ing contributed to good end results. Nevertheless, in future comparable processes, more attention should be given to the four discussed critical issues, and probably to the seven mentioned in the introduction. Only than, the rate of success of these kind of processes will increase. References Acland, A.F. 1995. Resolving Disputes without going to Court. London, Century Business Books. Bruijn, H. de, E. ten Heuvelhof and R.J. in ’t Veld. 2002. Process management: Why Project Management Fails in Complex decision making Processes. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Driessen, P. 1999. Activating a Policy Network; The Case of Mainport Schiphol. in Susskind et al., 1999, The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. Enthoven, G.M.W. and A. de Rooij. 1996. InfraLab; Impuls voor open planvorming en creativiteit.Bestuurskunde, Vol. 5, Issue 8, p. 1-8. Friend, J. and A. Hickling. 2004. Planning Under Pressure, The Strategic Choice Approach. Oxford, Buttorworth/Heinemann. Glasbergen, P. and P.J. Driessen. 2005. Interactive planning of infrastructure: the changing role of Dutch project management. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Vol. 23, p. 263-277. Khakee A., A. Barbanente and D. Borri. 2000. Expert and experimental knowledge in planning. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 51, No. 7, p. 776-788. Mock, G.A., W. Vanasselt, and E. Petkova. 2003. Rights and reality: Monitoring the public’s right to participate. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol. 9, p. 4-13. Suzzkind, L.S., S. McKearan and J. Thomas-Larmer. 1999. The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. London, SAGE Publications. Appendix 1 – Case sheet Mainport Schiphol (Driessen, 1999) 1. Position Initiative: several governmental ministries Time period: 1980-present Level of used policy process: regional/national Phase in policy process: in process 2. Background This case is about plans to expand Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and the disputes related to it. Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol Airport would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol Airport will caus Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning Interactive planning of Dutch infrastructural project A case-description of Mainport Schiphol and the A12 national expressway Interactive Planning of Sustainability 1. Introduction Since the beginning of the ‘90s, the implementation of new infrastructural projects in The Netherlands became increasingly problematic. Related environmental issues had a lot of societal attention. The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, responsible for maintaining a high quality of mobility in the Netherlands, identified three major problems with earlier attempts to solve the infrastructural problems; little social acceptance for new projects, procedures for realizing new projects took too long, and the proposed solutions were not really original and often ‘more of the same’. For solving these problems, this Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management proposed a change from top-down decision making to a more open and interactive form of policy making for planning, developing, and implementing new infrastructure (Enthoven and de Rooij, 1996). With interactive policy making, the main goal is to make more creative and effectiv e plans, by involving all stakeholders like citizens, (local and/or national) governments and experts. For this paper, 2 cases are selected, related to a Dutch infrastructure issue and dealt with on an interactive way; Mainport Schiphol near Amsterdam and the A12 national expressway near The Hague. The first one is selected because of its elaborated description in Susskind et al. (1999), its high degree of complexness and the fact the outcomes were fairly positive, the second one is selected also because of its suitable description in Glasbergen en Driessen (2005), but with a more straight-forward problem definition and its positive outcomes. Discussing these two Dutch cases, we will focus on four critical issues, related to interactive planning and often discussed in literature: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. Although more critical issues can be defined, like Roles op participants, Modes of evaluation and Use of outcomes by policy makers, only these four are chosen because of the fact that these are clearly discussed in the selec ted case-descriptions and these seemed to be crucial for the success of these cases. Chapter 2 will discuss each critical issue shortly. Chapter 3 will discuss the two cases in the light of the four different critical issues, and chapter 4 will give a conclusion. To structure this research the following research question is formulated: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? 2. Critical Issues This chapter will elaborate a bit more about what is actually meant with the four different critical issues: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. 2.1 Participant selection The question of which parties to involve is answered by a set of four considerations that should be taken into account when selecting the participants (De Bruijn et al., 2002). Firstly, parties with blocking power in the decision-making are important. Involving these parties in the process may keep them from using their blocking power in ways that are unforeseen. Secondly, parties with productive power should be part of the process. These parties will actually have to implement the decisions that are taken, and can influence the decision making with their control over the productive resources. Thirdly, parties that have an interest in the decision-making should be considered. These are parties that do not have substantial power in the decision making process (like blocking power or resources), but nevertheless are confronted with the outcomes of the group process and therefore can provide important information and moral considerations. Finally, this moral aspect of decision-making ca n by a reason to invite certain parties to join the process. Moral and ethical considerations can be important to embody the voice of those who are affected by the potential decision, but are not invited to the process for different reasons (De Bruin, 2002). 2.2 Power and access One of the key goals of interactive policy making is that it should reduce the influence of dominant elites and enable the less powerful groups to give input. Those parties or actors, who do not have access to formal decision-making processes or who cannot exert enough influence by the way of discussion and negotiation are more likely to initiate legal proceedings. Public’s ability to participate in decisions can be assessed according to three elements (as defined at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992): access to information, access to the decision-making process, and access to redress or change decision. These three elements will shortly be explained below. ‘Access to information’ can be seen as the first foundation of access and also one of the most passive forms of access seen from the perspective of the public. With access to information is meant the ability the public has to easily get access to forms of relevant information in which they are directly or indirectly involved, such as environmental impact assessments, reports from industries about their emissions etc. But one also can think about getting informed about potential relevant activities, which possibly can affect the public’s environment. ‘Access to the decision-making processes’ wants to give the public a more active role. Once this form of access is attained, one can even speak of a certain form of power. One must not focus on only the opportunity to provide input on specific subjects, but also the ability to influence more general decisions, such as the making of new laws or national policies. ‘Access to redress or change a certain decision’ is also related to a form of power, since the ability to change a certain decision gives a citizen the power to influence the decision-making process. This form of access can be translated into making judicial or administrative remedies accessible to the public, when officials fail to do their work in a proper manner (Mock et al., 2003). 2.3 Roles of facilitators The roles that a facilitator can play in group decision processes constitute of consistent packages of specific tasks within the group process combined with a more general ‘attitude’ towards the group members and the process. In literature, three major roles of a facilitator are commonly distinguished: a role as process architect or process manager, a mediating role and a convening role. As a process architect, the facilitator lays down the backbone of the group process. The process should be structured in such a way that all relevant insights from the participants will play a role in the process. Four core principles for designing a group process can be discriminated: openness, protection of core values, speed and substance (De Bruijn et al., 2002). These four ‘core elements of process design’ should be included and safeguarded in any process design in order to satisfy all the participants. The facilitator focuses on the process so that group members can focus on the substance and can suggest different ways of discussing problems, ensuring that all group members can freely express there comments and are free of any abuses of power or personal attack (Susskind et al., 1999). Especially in environmental issues, the interests, values and problem perceptions of different parties may often be far apart form each other. With such large contrasts of interest within the group, a facilitator often is faced with disputes and conflicts within the group process, that are hard to solve with mere changes in the structure of the process. In such case, the role of the facilitator can be very closely related with a mediating role in which the facilitator is mediating between parties, even to establish a general structure of the process. In addition, an external mediator can be asked to solve the conflicts. An external mediator is a neutral person that specializes in solving disputes between different participants in the group process, often using a variety of negotiation techniques and (psychological) methods of reframing problems and solutions (Acland, 1995). In a convening role, the facilitator has a say in which parties should be involved in the group process, and at what roles they will have. The convening role of a facilitator is sometimes not far apart from the role that a facilitator has as a process designer. Proper management of a group decisions process clearly has a very import influence on the effectiveness of that process. The facilitator can influence that process to quit a large extent. The consensus of all group members on the final decision depends for a large part on the level of agreement within the group with the approach that facilitators takes in structuring and managing the process. 2.4 Role of knowledge Knowledge is a crucial ingredient of interactive planning. However, the significance of the use of knowledge depends on one’s view. Over the years, the view on the role of knowledge has changed. The rational actor model has gradually been replaced by adaptive decision and learning strategies interacting with the environment. Before, planning would be perceived as proceeding in an orderly and linear fashion (Friend Hickling, 2005). Today some authors state that knowledge is a result of collective social processes. This implies that knowledge is a social construct, rather than an objective entity. In the new approach, linear progression of the process is seen as unrealistic. Instead, the uniqueness, ambiguity and unpredictability of real world processes are emphasized. With the recognition that planning is an interactive and communicative process, the notion of the interrelationship between expert and experiential knowledge has become more and more crucial. Interactive planning is now seen as ‘organized rituals’ where ‘deliberating participants’ listen to one another, search for new options and learn to find new ways of going on together (Khakee et al., 2000). 3. Case description For a complete description of each of the two cases, see appendix 1 and 2. This section will only discuss the previously mentioned four critical issues related to interactive policy making (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge), related to the experiences of these two cases. 3.1 Mainport Schiphol Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol will cause an increase of nuisances of noise, pollution, and safety). These two opposite interests caused a stalemate to occur since the 1950s. In the 1980s, one of the government authorities took the initiative to change the ‘common way of working’ and activated the policy network, to address the issues (Driessen, 1999). 3.1.1 Participant selection The most important actor in this case was the Dutch Government, who made the prefigured decision to expand the airport into an international hub. All other participants had to find their ‘win-win’ outcomes within this context of developmental growth. From the beginning, various government organisations have been involved in the development of Schiphol Airport. The main players are three ministries. The ministry of Transport and Public Works is by far the most important actor, responsible for the economic development of the airport as well as the abatement of noise nuisance. Second, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment is also involved, responsible for physical planning in The Netherlands and implementing policies regarding the rest of the environmental effects of the activities of the airline industries, namely air pollution, stench and hazard. Finally, the Ministry of Economic Affairs plays and important role, pursuing further economic development in the region of Schiphol (Driessen, 1999). Lower tiers of governments involved were the province of North Holland, responsible for environmental policy and planning for the region, and the municipalities surrounding the airport, both benefiting (by increased employment and tax-incomes) and enduring the aggravation (caused by noise, stench, air pollution, and other activities that degrade the environment) of having the airport close by. The municipality of Haarlemmermeer is a special case, because this municipality is authorized to create a land use plan for the airfield. Additionally, two enterprises play a crucial role: NV Luchthaven Schiphol (operating the airport and completely state owned) and KLM (the major Dutch carrier and partly owned by the state) (Driessen, 1999). Because the Ministry of Transport and Public Works occupied a pivotal position, being both responsible for the economic development of Schiphol and the abatement of noise nuisance, it was agreed that noise regulation would be regulated by the Aviation Act, which was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Nevertheless, little actions were made to reduce noise nuisance, because all participants believed that technical solutions would solve all noise-problems in the near future. Because no agreement could be made between these participants on how much the airport should be allowed to grow, or how to tackle the environmental problems, the Dutch government asked the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment to make an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. In the following process, a project group and a steering committee were established. The steering committee was comp osed out of all above-mentioned parties, while the project group contained all interest groups. Any party with interest in the case could join the project group (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it must be concluded that parties with blocking and productive power were strongly involved in the interactive planning process, by joining the steering committee. Other parties with interest were also involved, by joining the project group, but their influence was relatively small. If parties were involved, based on moral considerations, does not become clear from this case-description. 3.1.2 Power and access The three different Governmental agencies (the ministry of Transport and Public Works, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs) with jurisdictional authority over airport expansion, had accepted the mandate for airport expansion, but each with more at stake than achieving this outcome. Interagency rivalry and power played a critical part in the positions the ministries adopted and the coalitions they build during negotiations. The creation of a project group composed of all interest groups and of a steering committee of essential power brokers gave much power to the steering committee alone. From the case description, it does not become clear that the members of the steering committee, who were eventually excluded from the decision-making, were those who could not benefit in a ‘win-win’ situation, or were simply not powerful enough to block or advance progress. Nevertheless, the exclusion of interests cannot lead t o a ‘win-win’ solution and has encountered difficulties building consensus and achieving compliance (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the three elements described in section 2.2, it must be concluded that ‘Access to information’ does not form an obstacle. Perhaps the overload on information and the opposed and contradicting information gave bigger problems. The public was given some access to the decision-making process when they joint the project group, by commenting the ideas of the steering committee. However, the steering committee made all final decisions, so there was certainly no access to redress or change a decision. 3.1.3 Roles of facilitator After the developed deadlock between the initially participants, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was made primary responsible for the task of making an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. The fact that this ministry had a strong affiliation with environmental issues raised initial suspicion among the other governmental bodies. They wondered whether this ministry would be able to take a neutral position in the ensuing discussions. However, their initial wariness soon gave way to a realistic attitude, and actively joined the process (Driessen, 1999). The Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment designed an organizational framework for the discussion whereby the coordinated approach would be given a concrete form by activating the policy network. With this, the ministry acquired a dual function in the project, because it was the convenor, chair and facilitator of the planning process, and had to secure the input of environmental interest in the decision-making (Driessen, 1999). In the initial stage, the strategy of the project leaders of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was to bring the various parties closer together by conducting investigations and exchanging information, assuming that this might contribute to a better understanding and more appreciation for each different standpoint. The was no need for a professional facilitator, because all information was being collected, analyzed, and disseminated in an orderly way, although a professional facilitator could have helped structuring the problem. At the end of this stage, the project leaders formulated a plan, which could not be released because of the rain of criticism it caused (Driessen, 1999). Because of this setback, the project leaders decided to recruit a professional facilitator, with the task not to increase the supply of information, but to let parties sought to digest what they had and to arrive at a decision. From the case-description, it does not become clear if this facilitator had staff support and whether he/she had analytical, problem solving skills. The approach taken by the facilitator was aimed at bringing the main bottlenecks to the fore, in order to reach agreements at least on key points. The approach was characterized by the creation of a strong interaction between the project group and the steering committee. The later reviewed the issues that the project group had pared down in size, and either approved the solutions offered by the project group or send them back to the project group for reconsideration (Driessen, 1999). After this process, the facilitator presented the choices made by the project group and the steering committee to the public. The central aim of this was, to gain social and political legitimacy; the plan was opened up to the public discussion and the reactions were taken into account in the final version. Unfortunately, the public was hardly informed about the process preceding the plan and therefore it was generally received with great suspicion. Adding to this, the public discussion did not proceeded in a coordinated fashion, but each government resorted to its own method of public discussion. At the same time of these public hearings, the facilitator had to focus on the steering committee, because each party could take criticism of the plan as a lever to reopen discussion on subjects already discussed. At the end, the facilitator wrote the final text of the plan, shaping the final agreements also including the difficult topics of a reduction of noise nuisance and hazard (Driessen , 1999). From this description of the facilitator, it becomes clear that the facilitator had both the role of process architect, and mediator. The facilitator designed the entire framework of decision-making and mediated when problems occurred. If the facilitator also had a convening role is unclear. Which stakeholders could join the steering committee was already decided before the facilitator got involved. How actually the project group was formed, stays unclear from this case-description. 3.1.4 Role of knowledge Especially in issues related to airfield, experts disagree on numerous crucial uncertainties. This makes the role of knowledge both important but not of the same tenor. Research plays a key role in these controversies. This relates to research on, for instance, the need to build a new airport or expand the existing one, it may concern the most desirable infrastructure in and around the airport, it may deal with the profitability of operation, it may investigate the economic impact of the airport, or it may consider possible negative effects on the environment. However, this research must never be judged as ‘objective’ and will always play a role in the conflict of interest, expressed in this case, in the frequency of requested ‘second opinions’ (Driessen, 1999). In the case of noise nuisance, it took long time to be acknowledged as a problem and to find a way of calculating the level of distress. In the mid-1960s, a system was developed to measure noise nuisance, but no agreement could be made on how it should be applied. For instance, there was discussion about how to determine the threshold value for maximum admissible noise nuisance. Furthermore, options differ on setting a specific norm for night flights. The disagreement revolves around the degree to which departing and arriving airplanes disturb the sleep of nearby residents, and whether such disruption is detrimental to public health. There was also uncertainty about, the rate air traffic would increase, and the degree to which technical developments in aeronautics could help reduce noise levels by changing the aircrafts design (Driessen, 1999). Therefore, as also stated in section 2.4, knowledge is very important in decision-making processes, but as these processes get more interaction with a broad scale of actors, knowledge becomes more a result of collective social processes and loses its objective entity. From this case-description, it does not become explicitly clear if the decisions were based on knowledge provided by ‘experts’ or that it was formed in an interactive learning process. Implicitly, one could state that the agreement on noise nuisances could only have been established, when such interactive knowledge development occurred. 3.2 A12 national expressway The ease of accessibility of The Hague depends to a large extent on the A12 national expressway. Its final 30 km stretch is marked by many access and exit ramps, and the intensity of traffic in this area has increased dramatically in recent decades. This is partly thanks to the enormous increase in the volume of vehicular traffic, and partly to the proliferation of new urban development locations around The Hague. Much of the traffic is ‘destination traffic’ which enters the city in the morning and leaves at night. As a result of the higher volumes, congestion became a big problem (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). 3.2.1 Participant selection The planning agency initially saw itself as the owner of the problem at stake and formulated a classical solution of road widening. This approach failed because of public resistance and of a budget problem at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. Because of this, the ministry stepped back, which un-deliberately created opportunities for other parties to take initiative. The government authorities of The Hague took the initiative to develop a new architecture for interaction among the different stakeholders. They organized a public dialog and a series of workshops involving local politicians and private businesses from the region, resulting in a new definition of the problem, focussing on the underutilization of existing capacity. The role of the planning agency changed from orchestrator of the infrastructure project to a partner in the wider regional consultation on issues of mobility and livability. They also made subsidies available to the business community , enabling them to work out individual, sometimes innovative, mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Before concluding the analysis of participant selection in this case, the fact that there were no objections to the planes made by this interactive planning-process is probably the best evidence that all relevant stakeholders were included in the process. Nevertheless, from the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it does not become clear how all relevant stakeholders were defined, if all parties with blocking and productive power were added to the process, or if parties with moral and ethical considerations were included. 3.2.2 Power and access This case can bee described as a restricted interactive process, because it was intended to promote the cooperation of public authorities with the private sector. Civic organizations and individual citizens were kept informed through a public relations center. The governmental authorities of The Hague decided which stakeholders were included in the process. Despite this fact, no opposition to this project did arise (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). The access to information was well looked after, in the form of the public relations center. They kept civic organizations and individual citizens informed about the plans and progress. More power was not given to the public in this case. 3.2.3 Roles of facilitator In order to link the government agencies (where the plans were developed), and the business community, a ‘godfather’ was appointed. This honour was given to the director of the public transport company in the region, and he served as a contact between the project and the private sector. He kept all relevant firms informed about the development of the project and called these firms to task with respect to their responsibilities for the region’s accessibility, by reminding them that they might be lagging behind other firms in the development of their mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). From the case-description, it must be concluded that the government authorities of The Hague acted as a convener, initially selecting the different stakeholders. Facilitating the process and mediating in conflicts were partly done by the ‘godfather’ and partly by the government authorities of The Hague. The precise division of responsibilities does not become clear from the case-description. 3.2.4 Role of knowledge According to this case-description, it was the government agencies of The Hague who decided what knowledge was used in the decision process. The only organization consulted for information was the planning agency, also participating in the planning process (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Although knowledge is crucial in interactive planning (see section 2.4), the role of knowledge in this case is not very big. This probably has two reasons. One is the relative simple problem at stake (congestion) and secondly the fact that all parties agreed on the content of the relevant knowledge. Nevertheless, the fact that only one party provided the relevant knowledge could potentially have caused major problems afterwards. 4. Conclusion This research started with the question: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? How each criterion added to the success of the case is described at the end of each subsection in chapter 3. Overall, it can be concluded that the success of interactive planning depends on the care each criterion is taken care of. If one of these criteria is neglected, it will be reflected in the outcomes. If, for example, participants are forgotten, power is not distributed evenly, facilitators are not adequate, or knowledge is not as objective as possible, the process will take much longer time and the change of good end-results and thus consensus will diminish. Both cases make clear that solutions were impossible to reach in the traditional way of policy making and that interactive policy mak ing contributed to good end results. Nevertheless, in future comparable processes, more attention should be given to the four discussed critical issues, and probably to the seven mentioned in the introduction. Only than, the rate of success of these kind of processes will increase. References Acland, A.F. 1995. Resolving Disputes without going to Court. London, Century Business Books. Bruijn, H. de, E. ten Heuvelhof and R.J. in ’t Veld. 2002. Process management: Why Project Management Fails in Complex decision making Processes. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Driessen, P. 1999. Activating a Policy Network; The Case of Mainport Schiphol. in Susskind et al., 1999, The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. Enthoven, G.M.W. and A. de Rooij. 1996. InfraLab; Impuls voor open planvorming en creativiteit.Bestuurskunde, Vol. 5, Issue 8, p. 1-8. Friend, J. and A. Hickling. 2004. Planning Under Pressure, The Strategic Choice Approach. Oxford, Buttorworth/Heinemann. Glasbergen, P. and P.J. Driessen. 2005. Interactive planning of infrastructure: the changing role of Dutch project management. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Vol. 23, p. 263-277. Khakee A., A. Barbanente and D. Borri. 2000. Expert and experimental knowledge in planning. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 51, No. 7, p. 776-788. Mock, G.A., W. Vanasselt, and E. Petkova. 2003. Rights and reality: Monitoring the public’s right to participate. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol. 9, p. 4-13. Suzzkind, L.S., S. McKearan and J. Thomas-Larmer. 1999. The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. London, SAGE Publications. Appendix 1 – Case sheet Mainport Schiphol (Driessen, 1999) 1. Position Initiative: several governmental ministries Time period: 1980-present Level of used policy process: regional/national Phase in policy process: in process 2. Background This case is about plans to expand Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and the disputes related to it. Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol Airport would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol Airport will caus