Friday, November 29, 2019

Theories of crime free essay sample

One such influential psychological theory of crime is by Bowlby (1969), who emphasized that crime is the product of attachment insecurity with the mother. Bowlby identified that the type of attachment relationship in childhood leads to the development of a cognitive framework known as the internal working model which consists of mental representations for understanding the world, self and others. A person’s actions and interactions are guided by this internal working model and influences their contact with others (Bretherton Munholland, 1999) and their understanding of the world. This impairment in their internal working model as a result of deprivation could result in conditions such as a cold affectionless character and delinquency (Bowlby, 1951). This is related to future criminal behaviour by causing the inability to show affection or concern for others and little regard for the consequences of their actions and their impact on others. This notion was heavily influenced by his study of 44 juvenile thieves and 44 control children. We will write a custom essay sample on Theories of crime or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Through interviewing parents, it was found that 40% of the juvenile thieves (compared to 2% of controls) had been separated from their mother for 6 months or more during childhood. A third of the juvenile thieves had an affectionless character compared with none of the controls and this meant that Bowlby concluded that the thieves stole because of their lack of concern for others. This provided strong evidence for Bowlby’s theory as it indicated that prolonged separation increased the risk of showing affectionless psychopathy and juvenile behaviour. This research used case studies which provide thoroughly comprehensive and rich data. However, it must be noted that we should be wary to generalize as the findings concern the specific subject alone. Furthermore, the research was correlational and non-experimental. Due to ethical reasons, deprivation could not be manipulated as the independent variable so cause and effect cannot be inferred. We simply cannot assume that deprivation was the direct cause of affectionless psychopathy within the thieves as Unlike Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, another key figure in the attachment theory used three specific types of insecure attachment: anxious avoidant, anxious anxious ambivalent and disorganized. Mary Ainsworth (REFERENCE), conducted ‘The Strange Situation’ – standardized laboratory research. Maybe add sample criticism – normal controls. The insecure attachment styles identified by Ainsworth have had a large influence on the way researchers viewed attachment and has influenced much further research on the relationship between attachment relationships in childhood and attachment disorders in adult life that lead to crime. Models of adult attachment have been developed by Bartholomew (1991) which found that childhood attachment types are predictive of adult attachment styles. Bartholemew (1991) in particular highlights the avoidant attachment which has been indicated in previous literature as prevalent in offenders. Bartholemew separated the avoidant attachment style into fearful and dismissive. Fearful style individuals have a negative view of self and others and blames others for their own hostility. This means that fearful offenders may focus on a victim whom they think has caused their inability to bond. They may blame the victim for their hostility and will lack remorse for their own crimes (Ward Hudson, 1996) (CITE) A dismissive offender has a positive view of self and a negative view of others; leading them to be very narcissistic. They may see victims as objects which means that sadistic traits are developed and the victims worth is devalued (Ward Hudson, 1996). It has been found by Ward et al (1996) (CITE) that paedophiles often show this attachment style characterized by their need for intimacy and fear of abandonment. As well as the avoidant attachment style the dismissive attachment style has also been shown to be predictive of crime. Ijzendoorn et al (1997), found that (GET REFERENCE) out of 40 male serious offenders, most had insecure attachment style (95%) with 53% in particular a disorganised insecure attachment. Fonagy, 1997 also found that a disorganised attachment was most predictive of violent behaviour (Fonagy et al, 1996). Fonagy (1999) (CITE) stated that relationship violence is an exaggerated response of a disorganised attachment in childhood. Rapists and violent offenders often show this dismissive style. From this evidence, it appears that different attachment styles are associated with specific types of offending. Despite being an extremely influential theory, it is now regarded to have overestimated the impact of early life experiences on later offending. It makes the assumption that an insecure attachment will lead to criminal behaviour. However, not all offenders with an attachment disorder in adult life are found to have had an insecure attachment in childhood and not all offenders are found to have an insecure attachment. Therefore despite an insecure attachment being a contributing factor to crime, this theory cannot provide a comprehensive theory on crime. Another psychological theory of crime is that of operant conditioning. The behaviourist, Skinner (1974) said that the best way of explaining behaviour is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. Skinner stressed that behaviour can be modified through applying operant conditioning: the use of positive and negative reinforcement and punishment as consequences of the actions. Reinforcers strengthen behaviour (negative reinforcement removes an aversive consequence and positive reinforcement presents a positive consequence) whilst punishers reduce the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated. Operant conditioning is based on the idea that when a behaviour is followed by a particular consequence such as a reward, it is more likely to recur than a behaviour that is followed by a punishment. Through the consequences, behaviours are either reinforced or eliminated. However, a criticism of this is that the punishment of imprisonment does not always deter people from committing crimes. However, it may be that prison does not seem like a large punishment to someone with a troubled upbringing and actually may provide a better environment than their home life. Jeffrey (1965) (CITE) states that criminal behaviour develops through operant conditioning. However, Bandura highlighted that reinforcers aren’t vital for behaviour to be learned. Behaviours may also occur by simply observing a model take part in the behaviour. Bandura (1961) (CITE) called this social learning theory and demonstrated it through the Bobo Doll experiment. Children saw a model either acting aggressively or non aggressively towards a Bobo doll (kicking and punching it). Children exposed to the aggressive model displayed more direct imitation than those exposed to the non-aggressive model. Those exposed to the non aggressive model showed much less aggressive behaviour than those exposed to the aggressive model. This study devalues the importance of operant conditioning in learning as it shows that not all behaviours depend on reinforcers and punishment and can be simply learned through observation. However, it is often questioned whether the children would have reacted in the same aggressive way towards a real person rather than a bobo doll, which raises issues about the ecological validity of the study. There is evidence to show that aggressive behaviour does get copied such as through observing it in the media (find evidence) and the theory has practical applications for rehabilitation of offenders through the use of positive role models reinforcing behaviour. However, social learning theory does not provide an explanation for opportunistic crime which has not been observed or learnt such as murder.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Free Essays on Ducati

Ducati Motor Holding got its start in 1926, when the Ducati brothers founded a small electrical appliance business in the suburbs of Bologna Italy. By the 1950’s, Ducati was building much stronger and faster motorcycles. It was shortly after the production of this cycle that Fabio Taglioni’s new found valve gear system changed the future for Ducati. His valve gear system allowed engines to run more efficient while adding horsepower. Superior performance has been the hallmark of Ducati for decades. Since the early fifty’s many changes were made to Ducati motorcycles to improve their performance. A new bike, the 750 V-twin, scored a sensational and unexpected victory in the Imola 200 and launched the Ducati V-twin dynasty. Throughout more than fifty years of superior engineering, competition, testing, and cutting edge Italian design, Ducati has built an enduring motorcycle legacy. With its primary branch based in Bologna Italy, Ducati operates in high performance motorcycles. Only selling on average 600,000 units per year Ducati manages to make 408 million dollars annually. Motorcycle sales are not the only contributor to Ducati’s revenue however. Ducati also sells high performance replacement parts, accessories and apparel, and engine sales. Ducati however did not always have such a high percentage of profits. In 1995 Ducati suffered a huge finical crisis. Once a change in control was made, sales quadrupled. Being in the high performance motorcycle industry, Ducati has many competitors. An interesting fact is that Ducati does not consider Harley Davidson as a competitor. One advantage that Ducati has on the rest of its competitors is customer loyalty. This literally means that two out of three people that have bought a Ducati motorcycle will return to Ducati when they are ready to purchase again. Ducati offers its employees many different benefits, such benefits as full medical, eye, and dental plans. ... Free Essays on Ducati Free Essays on Ducati Ducati Motor Holding got its start in 1926, when the Ducati brothers founded a small electrical appliance business in the suburbs of Bologna Italy. By the 1950’s, Ducati was building much stronger and faster motorcycles. It was shortly after the production of this cycle that Fabio Taglioni’s new found valve gear system changed the future for Ducati. His valve gear system allowed engines to run more efficient while adding horsepower. Superior performance has been the hallmark of Ducati for decades. Since the early fifty’s many changes were made to Ducati motorcycles to improve their performance. A new bike, the 750 V-twin, scored a sensational and unexpected victory in the Imola 200 and launched the Ducati V-twin dynasty. Throughout more than fifty years of superior engineering, competition, testing, and cutting edge Italian design, Ducati has built an enduring motorcycle legacy. With its primary branch based in Bologna Italy, Ducati operates in high performance motorcycles. Only selling on average 600,000 units per year Ducati manages to make 408 million dollars annually. Motorcycle sales are not the only contributor to Ducati’s revenue however. Ducati also sells high performance replacement parts, accessories and apparel, and engine sales. Ducati however did not always have such a high percentage of profits. In 1995 Ducati suffered a huge finical crisis. Once a change in control was made, sales quadrupled. Being in the high performance motorcycle industry, Ducati has many competitors. An interesting fact is that Ducati does not consider Harley Davidson as a competitor. One advantage that Ducati has on the rest of its competitors is customer loyalty. This literally means that two out of three people that have bought a Ducati motorcycle will return to Ducati when they are ready to purchase again. Ducati offers its employees many different benefits, such benefits as full medical, eye, and dental plans. ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

US Intelligence Failure Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

US Intelligence Failure - Research Paper Example ver did not carry out any immediate action such as keeping the terrorist by the name Khalid al-Mihdhar from entering the US even though they even had his passport number. They took that action too when he was already in the country and even registered as well as taking flying lessons (Zegart 96). There were several reasons that cause this failure in intelligence as will be discussed below in detail. The CIA is a very bureaucratic agency and had been so since the era of the cold war. The policies that had been formulated then were never changed even after the cold war was over. This therefore meant that they had no policies and directives of how to handle the terrorism situation if it arose or what mandate they had in the whole issue. Even though Clinton had formed an Al Qaida taskforce, it only handled issues to do with Osama bin Laden and it was still not an active group and would not have known how to handle the terrorist intelligence information about the 9/11 attacks. The bureaucracy in the federal government also led to delay in intelligence decisions and legislations and hence the reason there was delay in taking action in regards to the Khalid situation. Other than bureaucracy, the budgetary allocation for the CIA was limited hence leading to a flat budget. They could not therefore afford to start investigations on the terrorism planning meeting or even follow up on the situation in Afghanistan because they had limited agents in the field. The airport surveillance would also require a lot of money and manpower resources which they had a shortage of considering the number of work they had to tackle in the whole nation. Majority of the funds was dedicated to the defense and the wars ongoing in other parts of the Middle East and hence little remaining for intelligence purposes. The CIA and other intelligence organizations had their own fair share of other internal intelligence issues to deal with that demanded immediate attention. Since they had not

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Most-Favoured-Nation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Most-Favoured-Nation - Essay Example MFN is regarded as an important standard code of international commercial transaction. It has been said that MFN clause is one of the commonly adopted principle in the international investment2 domain. The definition of Most favoured-Nation is3 well explained in Article 5 of International law commission Draft Articles4, Treatment accorded by the granting State to the beneficiary State, or to person or things in a determined relationship with that State, not less favoured than treatment extended by the granting State to a third State or to person things in the same relationship with that third state. The scope of Most Favoured nation is a two way sword creating controversies related to whether the international investment treaties covers jurisdictional or procedural matters. The inclusion of MFN clauses became a general practice in the numerous bilateral, regional and multilateral investment-related agreements till 1950. The aim of MFN clause is to reiterate the importance of equality of treatment irrespective of the nationality of the investors5 and eliminate the discriminative forces.MFN clause had a variant approach towards different treaties leading to more problems in identifying the scope and extend protections based on different treaties and their conditional clauses. Thi... There are 2 differing hypothesis raised by experts on the scope of MFN clause such as MFN clause could be extended to cover jurisdictional matter. The scope of application of the MFN clause concerned does not cover procedural or jurisdictional matter.The above hypothesis involves 2 conditional clauses to facilitate the jurisdiction concept. First clause is that the starting point of interpretation process should be a MFN clause. Second clause assumes that the MFN clause allows the incorporation of the provisions of the dispute settlement mechanism included in third-party BITs8. Overview of Recent Arbitration Cases Among the numerous cases brought to ICSID9 in recent years, two cases, Maffezini v. Kingdom of Spain10 and Tecnicas MedioAmbientales Tecmed S.A. v. the United Mexican States stand out as raising issues concerning the MFN clause. In Argentina and Spain treaty(hereinafter BIT) ,the claimant can avoid stipulations in the absence of the a friendly settlement and negotiation within six months period, the host state has eighteen months trial period to work on the dispute as the disputes are first filed at the local courts of the host state. Host state should make an attempt to resolve the dispute before the claimant approaches tribunal arbitration as the next step. The invoking of MFN clause by the claimant refers the Article IV (2) of the Argentina-Spain BIT that. In all matters subject to this, treatment shall be no less favourable than that extended By each Party to the investments made in its territory by investors of a third country11. The above article guarantees a fair and equitable treatment for the claimant and there can be a replacement

Monday, November 18, 2019

E-marketing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

E-marketing - Research Paper Example In this survey, the viewers were required to answer a number of questions that would provide key information on what the average user was provided with in terms of service quality by each of these two sites. Other important reasons for choosing these companies are due to the fact that they continue to operate in similar ways. Moreover, they are in direct competition in the quest for gaining more shares in the online auction market. For the ease of conducting the survey, a group of around 30 people were chosen for the survey after having established that each of them had had no prior experience in all the site operations such as placing bids, searching, monitoring bids, buying them using credit cards etc. These people were then given a time frame of 10 days within which, they had to get familiarized with the operations of both the sites. As such, these set of 30 customers got ample time to explore the site and were encourage to do things such as placing bids, bidding for other objects, buying some of the products that had been posted on these sites etc. Thereafter, these customers were asked to answer a questionnaire that had a set of 15 simple questions. The questions were simply aimed at assessing different parameters of site quality such a the time required to get acclimatized to the site, the level of security visible, the range of products offered, the ease with which a customer could place a bid/compete/buy a product, the level of transparency in the site etc. in addition, questions that were asked as part of the questionnaire also aimed at assessing the site features such as the appeal, quality of site content, ease of navigation, ease of operation etc. thus, the parameters assessed by way of these questions would ensure that both these sites were thoroughly assessed for the extent of service quality gap present in these sites.The results of the analysis for each of these questions are presented in the form of a table. The table shows the average of the points given by the test customers on a scale of 1 to 4. INDEX QUESTION EBay Amazon Average rating Average rating 1 Ease of finding a product on the site 3.24 3.28 2 Ease of navigating through the site 3.40 3.55 3 The site makes you come back again and again 3.35 3.41 4 The appearance of the site 3.21 3.35 5 The level of competition among customers 2.95 3.12 6 Range of products 3.32 3.60 7 The ease of financial transactions 3.25 3.30 8 Security of private information 3.50 3.52 9 Ease of communication with the other party 3.15 3.26 10 Pace of sale of products 2.87 3.00 11 Product is verified thoroughly 3.40 3.35 12 Better for bargaining 3.26 3.17 13 Reputation 3.10 3.45 14 Speed with which products are delivered 2.95 3.15 15 Allows for resolving queries 2.90 3.04 The purpose of the evaluation was more directed towards using the actual and existing situation for evaluating the service quality rather than conduct the survey in a test environment. Therefore, it was useful in this regard to have customers who were fresh from having interacted actively with the site just prior to the survey. It so happened that in addition to registering and using the various features of the sites actively, many had in fact been buying and selling products and had thus gained good experience with

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Human Resource Management and Organizational Performance

Human Resource Management and Organizational Performance Introduction The study of HRM has come a long way in a relatively short period of existence. In a society that has become increasingly dependent on knowledge and skills it is clear that the companies training perform an important role in overall organization performance. This training comes from Human Resource Management practices. HRM practices are defined as the activities intend to enhance the performance of organizations and employees ability to achieve the goals of organization. HRM practices raise the outcomes of HRM to influence the organization performance This study focus on the relationship between HRM practices variables and organizational performance, impact of HRM practices on organizational performance and productivity. The performance of an organization depends on many factors and employees contribution. Impact of combined performance of employees on organization performance is greater than individuals. Explanation, importance of relationship and the impact of the HRM practices on the performance of organization. Different approaches of HRM practices and business strategy. It reflects the approach and different factors of the HRM practices. Effect of the individual and shared climate levels of organization Different Studies have emphasized the contribution of Human Resource Management practices to the organizational performance. These studies focused on HRM practices. There is shared idea that HR practices are only effective when bundles are considered including incentive system, training, flexible job assignment, high selectivity and performance management. These practices contribute to increase employee and organization performance by increasing the level of productivity and financial performance. HRM practices have an effect of motivating employees to adopt the required behaviours, it links to the organizational climate, service environment and customer satisfaction. Outcome of investment on employees training each year, this finding is generally shown to be stronger when an organization provides employees with opportunities for the involvement in decision making and organises work in ways that allows employees a higher level of discretionary efforts in the way work is done HRM practices and Organizational performance According to studies of Boselie, Paauwe and Jansen (2000), that relationship between relevant dependant and independent variable will vary according to such influences as technology, unionization, industry, company ownership and location, capital intensity, company age and size. Contingency arguments imply potentially complex interactions between HRM variable, between performance and contingency factors, between HRM variables and performance indicators and contingency factors. Commitment HR practices are based on the idea that the closer an organizations HR practices resembled the correct prototypical system, the greater the performance gain Nicolai and Dana (2009), focus on the impact of individual and bundles of HRM practices. The focus of the empirical research has been divergent and it is clear that reward and training have attracted disproportionate. These are important HRM practices, but it is hard to argue on a priori grounds that positive impact of, for example job design variables. They found that practices such as the use of selective hiring, the extent of training and active participation of the employee in decision making were conducive to organization learning, while group performance-based compensation was not found to be significant for organization learning A number of HRM researchers have argued that synergies are likely to exist among individual HRM practices. These studies indicate that when HRM practices are applied as coherent systems, they have greater effects on organization productivity than the sum of the individual effects from each practice alone Cristina (2007), explain the relationship and impact of HRM practices in organizational performance. People management should be matter of discussion and investment on the part of companies. As for as the theoretical approaches are concerned, the conceptualization of the relationship among HRM practices and business strategy has given birth to three main approaches, named universalistic, contingent and configurational. Under the common relationship among HR Practices and organization performance or outcome, these models hypothesize different set s of variable and relations among them eventually influence corporate results In the view of Peter and Donna (2008), firstly approach which reflects the early work examining the impact of HRM practices implicitly assumed a universalistic, rational model of work organization yielded significant performance dividend. This has been closely associated with a best practice model of HRM. Secondly HR practices are required to have consistency with other organizational factors to be effective. These factors include the nature of market and legislative change. Climate of organization both as individual level attribute and as a set of shared beliefs and values have effect of motivating employee to adopt desired attitudes and behaviour that in the collection, help to achieve organizations goals. HRM system can be read as communication between employer to employee. The effectiveness of HRM system as communication to employee will depend on those features that define HRM system strength. These features are distinctiveness, consistency and consensus. Rita and Miguel (2004) , research has shown that HRM practices contribute to organizational performance. Early studies emphasized the impact of several separate HRM practices, such as compensation, performance management system and training. Later studies reported the positive impact of HRM practices on organizational performance as well as the virtuous impact of HR sophistication, measured by investment in HR planning, in hiring and in employee development on productivity, particularly in capital intensive organization. These latter studies have a common idea that bundle of HR practices improve employee and organization performance. Overall set of HRM practices developed the employees skills, ability and motivation. High performance work system contribute to improve employee and organization performance by increasing the level of productivity Organizations Demand and outcome for HRM practices According to Bo Hansson (2002), in estimating the impact of training on the probability of the organization being a top performer in the industry, controlling for the past profitability is an effort to measure the net contribution of training to the profit op the organization. Percentage of wage bills spent on training is significantly and positively associated with the profitability in an organization. The proportion of employee being trained is positive but not significant. Most significant factor to indicate current performance is the past performance The measure of internal promotion is significantly and positively associated with profitability only in the presence of how much is invested in training and not in the estimates of how many employees are trained every year. Focusing on internal promotion seems to be a good strategy for organization profitability as this strategy reduces the training. Because measure of internal promotion is significantly in the presence of how much is invested in training Bruce and Benjamin (2009), explain the individual organizations decision regarding the extent of the investment in HRM practices. Following the mainline of HRM practices they assume the organization short-run objective is maximum financial return, which is simply treating as maximum profit. This assumption limits to private sector for profit organizations. The HRM practices are treat as an input factor in production. That is the organizations output is assumed produced with labour, capital and HRM practices. HRM is utilized therefore, because of its boost productivity. HRM helps to produced more output and profit Strength of HRM Practices and Turnover Rita and Miguel (2004), presents the links between HRM feature and outcome at organizational level, such as financial performance and productivity. HRM system or practices creates the conditions to achieve organizational goals by influences employee attribution. Individual practices intended to achieve objectives, such as promoting innovation, process deals with how the HRM practices is designed and administrated to send signals to employees that allow them to create a shared meaning about the desired response and collective sense of what is expected. According to one study (B Hansson, 2002), turnover is significantly and negatively associated with being a top performing organization. A large amount spent on employee every year. It is crucial for an organization to retain their employee in that turnover reduces the returns to training. This reasoning is in accord with the rational that mobility lowers an organizations training investment in that reduces the return on these training i nvestments. However, an explanation for the finding that mobility is not determining the provision of training is that the economic benefits to the organization from training their employees outweigh the cost of lost human capital investment that are caused by personal turnover. Important determination of training is personal turnover as it affects the ability of organization to benefit from training Aims and Objectives Following are the aims and objectives of this study To show the Impact of HRM practices on the performance of organization Effect of HRM practices on employees performance, ability and behaviour. Contribution of HRM practices in organization performance. what package of HRM practices affect performance. The Relationship between HRM and Organizational Performance. Organization Performance and HRM practices Conclusions We can conclude that there are possibilities for including the institutional setting in theoretical framework in order to have a full coverage of the relationship between HRM practices and performance. On a number of HRM practices the individual organization cannot differentiate itself from competitors. The best practices are already enforced for majority of organization due to role. Highlight the impact of the individuals and bundles of HRM practices on the productivity and performance on organization The purpose of study is to explore relationship between HRM polices human capital and organization performance at business and individual level by considering different variables. From the concept of the strength of the HRM system, we can suggest that workplace climate provide a high credible mechanism in creating the basis on which practices are institutionalised into the inimitable asset for the organization. Workplace climate appears to act as a significant mediator between HRM system and performance

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Disillusionment in Europe During the years 1914-1918 :: essays research papers

Analyze the spirit of promise that gave way to disillusionment in Europe during the years 1914-1918.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prior to the devastation of the first World War, a spirit of optimism and enthusiasm engulfed the minds of citizens across Europe. Relating the potential outcome of another war to the short, decisive, progressive wars in the nineteenth century, Europeans greeted the opportunity for war as a tool to cleanse the current ailments of Europe. The people, blinded by an overwhelming belief in progress and a developing sense of nationalism, failed to foresee that they were heading for disaster. World War I emanated from European leaders' aggression toward other countries, which was supported by the rising nationalism. Economic and imperial competition and fear of war prompted military alliances and an arms race, which further escalated the tension contributing to the outbreak of a war greatly exceeding the lethality of European expectation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A spirit of nationalism rang high in the atmosphere pre-world war Europe. Many were engrossed by potential benefits war could bring to their lives. Nationalism, however, was not a new idea; at the settlement of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the principle of nationalism was ignored in favor of preserving the peace. Despite the settlement, the principle was rejuvenated by the onset of the World War. The ardent nationalists fussed in masses to champion the need for war. â€Å"Patriotic demonstrations had an intoxicating effect and excited the war-mongers to excess...† (Phillip Schneidemanan). Under false aspirations and expectations the naive soldiers marched off to war, unexpectant of the tragedies they would encounter.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In only a few short months, the soldiers realized how false their assumptions were. Nationalism presented itself as a misleading concept rendering the soldiers to a rude awakening. â€Å"Oh, God how those men looked, as they came nearer-- those utterly immobile faces under their steel helmets...† The illusion brought about by nationalist ideals encouraged war, and under false pretenses delivered the devastation of the war as a shock exceeding all expectations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The power of alliances also played a key role in the creation and devastation of World War I. Dating back to the time of Bismarck, most alliances formed for the sake of reassurance or to postpone the outbreak of a war. But as time passed, alliances greatly increased international tension by dividing Europe into two armed camps. â€Å"I felt strongly that England ought to remain neutral, and I collected the signatures of a large number of professors and fellows to a statement.