Nursing Profession Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nursing Profession - Essay Example Additionally, they create and monitor nursing plans, advice patients and their families in proper care, and help individuals and groups to take steps towards improving or maintaining their health. In practice, there are several types of nurses: hospital nurses, office nurses, nursing home nurses, home health nurses, public health nurses, occupational nurses, nurse supervisors, and advanced practice nurses (APNs). To become a nurse, one must graduate from an approved nursing program and pass a national licensing examination. For APNs, they must meet higher educational and clinical practice requirements beyond the basic nursing education and licensing required of all other registered nurses (RN). More so, they are specialists who offer basic primary healthcare through diagnosis and treatment of common acute illnesses and injuries. Nursing has its hazards especially in hospitals and other facilities where nurses may care for individuals with infectious diseases. Thus, nurses must observ e strict guidelines to protect themselves against diseases and other dangers such as those posed by radiation, chemicals used for sterilization of instruments and anesthetics. The value of registered nurses The next part of this paper will discuss the nursing profession within the context of Canadian Nurses Association (CNA). CNA was established in 1908, and now it is a federation of 11 provincial and territorial nursing associations and colleges representing almost all registered nurses in Canada (CNA, 2011). According to the fact sheet on The Value of Registered Nurses, nurses are associated with saving lives, promoting health, and reducing costs to the health system. First, RNs through their skills and interventions, improve the quality of care and aid patients in getting better health outcomes. Secondly, they shorten length of hospital stays, reduce rates of medication errors and wound infections, and reduce waiting time by providing timely access to care. Thirdly, by increasing the number hours of care provided by RNs, the in-patient deaths and the adverse outcomes among residents in sensitive areas can be reduced significantly. Fourthly, by involving RNs in health promotion and prevention care among the patients, there can be improved mental and physical functioning, a reduction in depression, lower costs per person for prescription drugs, increased number of patients who quit smoking, and better management of chronic diseases (CNA, 2011). More so, home visits by RNs have been shown to improve child and maternal outcomes. Finally, by increasing the number of hours of care provided by RNs, there can be net cost savings through reduced length of hospital stays and avoided adverse outcomes (Needleman et al., 2006). Nurses offer solutions for cost effective health care According to the factsheet on Nurses Offer Solutions for Cost Effective Health Care, nurses are well positioned and work in all parts of the health system, thus they can offer innovations that reduce costs and enhance effectiveness of the health system. First, studies have revealed that by reducing nurse turnover, there can be a reduction in costs and improvement of nurse, patient, and system outcomes. This can be

International markets small business in USA Essay Example for Free

International markets small business in USA Essay International markets small business in USA Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Venture capitalists invest massive of money to companies that want to expand but have no enough access to public funds. They are willing to invest in such companies because they earn massive benefit when the company succeeds. Consequently, venture capitalists look for firms with strong management staff, large markets and unique goods with high competitive advantage (Gladstone Gladstone 2004). They are driven by the desire to own a large portion of the company so that they can influence its direction.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   International markets are complex due to their vast geographical coverage in the worlds rapidly changing and growing nations. The basics for international markers ranging from diverse culture and languages, handling issues related to business ethics, selection of distribution and global marketing channels and international communication. They are the key issues that guide the operationality of worldwide markets (Omar, Abduh, Sukmana, 2013)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This situation represent personal and professional dilemma where by the personal and professional interests that are simultaneously conflicting. I will use the principles of ethical decision making process seek supervision self mirror image and illumination of the process will also consider legal obligation that supersedes my professional and personal ethics (Wueste,1994). I will talk both the boss and supervisor to examine their feeling about my situation as that pertain my professional ethics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The small businesses are important in US economy in many aspects. They employ many people, actually about the half of the total workforce in there a key in driving the economy as opposed to giant multi-billion dollar companies (White House Committee on Small Business, 1962).They are instrumental in stabilizing forces in the economy .the owners are backbone for creativity innovation production and value creation in United States. The small business is actually what stimulates the economy. References Gladstone, D., Gladstone, L. (2004). Venture capital investing: The complete handbook for investing in private businesses for outstanding profits. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Financial Times Omar, A., Abduh, M., Sukmana, R. (2013). Fundamentals of Islamic money and capital markets. Singapore: John Wiley White House Committee on Small Business (U.S.). (1962). Small business in the American economy: Its contributions and its problems [and] the role of the Federal Government. Washington. Wueste, D. E. (1994). Professional ethics and social responsibility. Lanham, Md: Rowman and Littlefield. Source document

The Impact of Forest Management on Water Supply and Quality Essay

The Impact of Forest Management on Water Supply and Quality Forest management can have either detrimental or positive effects on watershed supply and quality. The type of effect depends on the type of operation(eg. harvesting vs. reforestation), the way it is conducted, and the view point of the land manager(eg. more or less water yield). Timber harvesting activities tend to increase the water yields of a watershed. Evapotranspiration is decreased by the removal of vegetation. This decrease in ET causes the amount of soil water that is moving into the channel system to increase. Lower ET rates also increase the amount of water available for deep percolation that provides baseflow (Satterlund and Adams, 1992). The decrease in ET may be short lived. For example, when a stand is thinned, the remaining trees quickly capture the increase of resources that is made available through the thinning. Understory vegetation also increases growth after removal of the overstory. Therefore, timber harvesting should be viewed as a temporary reduction in ET rates. Another way harvesting increases the water yield of a watershed is by increasing runoff. When an area is totally or partially harvested, temporary or permanent logging roads are usually constructed. These logging roads can capture subsurface flow and divert it to ditches associated with the road. These roads can divert surface flow that would ordinarily by dispersed and infiltrate (Satterlund and Adams, 1992). Because of the surface characteristics of roads, precipitation that falls on them has a reduced capacity to infiltrate. The effects of logging roads can be temporary or permanent. Temporary logging roads eventually revegetate, and may even be planted with herbaceous pla... ... encourage sediment deposition. Some forest management practices include fertilization. This can degrade water quality if nutrients are allowed to enter the stream system. Fertilization normally takes place at stand establishment as a site preparation technique. Because this is a time in the forest's life where ET is reduced and runoff is increased, the greatest risk of contamination is then. Fertilization is also accasionally applied in mid-rotation. Fertilizer applied during this time period is not likely to affect water quality. Reforestation of a highly disturbed watershed will improve water quality. The amount of erosion will be lessened, and nutrient inputs from agricultural land can also be intercepted and taken up by the forest. Reference Satterlund, D.R. and Adams, P.W. 1992. Wildland Watershed Management. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York.

Disciplining Children Essay

When I was younger we used to get disciplined with corporal punishment. Not saying that this is always the answer but it is what is needed sometimes. If more parents were allowed to use corporal punishment as means of discipline it would let the children know who is in charge. Sometimes it seems the law gives most of the authority to the children. When children do something wrong there needs to be a punishment fitting to the actions. If a child writes on the wall you should talk to them and tell them that it is not ok to write on the walls and why. When you catch them a second time and they acknowledge what they did was wrong you explain to them why it is not ok to write on the walls, and let them know that they will really be in trouble if they do it again. Now if you catch them writing on the walls again at this point there needs to be something that shows them you are serious†¦ in comes corporal punishment. Depending on the age of the child and what was done decides the severity of the corporal punishment. Sometimes this could be as simple as a tap to the hand of a three year old for using foul language, up to taking a belt to the behind of a thirteen year old for taking a knife to school. I’m not saying that corporal punishment is the first means or the only means of discipline. Explaining what was done is wrong should always be the first course of action. When the same problem constantly arises that’s when it is necessary. But after you do use corporal punishment you must talk to the child and explain that you don’t like having to spank them, but you have to show them there will be serious consequences for their actions in life. If you only talk to children it could lead them to believe this will be the highest level on discipline. As children get older they base the level of punishment on what was given to them by their parents. If you constantly let your children get away with things and only talk at the problem they will think that’s what the world will do also, so acting out in school would be nothing to them even when the teacher tells them they are going to have to call their parents. But if the child receives corporal punishment often for being too out of hand when the teacher says they are going to call the child’s parents they’ll know the better get it together because there will be serious consequences if they don’t.

John Dewey Habits and Will

Would Dewey’s advice for correcting a bad habit work for you? How would you go about reforming one of your habits? According to John Dewey, Habits are inevitable. We are empowered by both good and bad habits. In his essay, â€Å"Habits and Will†, Dewey states that we envision bad habits as such acts of â€Å"foolish idling, gambling, addiction to liquor and drugs†, and we associate good habits with skills such as walking, playing a musical instrument, and typing. We see bad habits as desires and good habits as abilities that â€Å"exist far from our impulsive desires†.Bad habits are not deliberately formed and are also hard to break. Dewey explains that will power alone is not enough; one must follow a specific method to turn habits around. I feel that I, someone who tends to get distracted easily and procrastinate, should benefit from Dewey’s habit-breaking method. Dewey writes that a friend of his remarked that there was a superstition among perso ns that believe that if one is told what to do, if the right end is pointed to them, all that is required in order to bring about the right act is will or wish on the part of the one who is to act.According to them, if a man who slouches is told to stand up straight, all that is needed is an effort by him, and the problem is fixed. Dewey’s main argument in his essay is that this method does not work. Instead, he suggests that in order to fix or undo our bad habits we must replace them with another habit that is of goodness; you must have more than solely will power to defy a habit. I think that I can benefit from Dewey’s method and start a new habit to break my habit of procrastinating.Every day, I feel that I am easily and frequently distracted when doing schoolwork, which causes me to procrastinate. Every day, I try to break this habit and am unsuccessful. Sitting and thinking â€Å"don’t get distracted† does not work because in doing so, I get distract ed by thinking about not getting distracted, instead of actually working. My problem is not struggling to sit down and take my homework out. My problem is getting distracted frequently and taking forever to make progress- especially when I know I have time to spare.When time is running out, I tend to work much more efficiently. My bad habits of getting distracted and procrastinating counteract my good habit of taking out my homework as soon as possible. I am well aware of my habits, and know that I would feel less stressed if I could correct them. Also, every day, I have to listen to my parents tell me constantly to hurry up my work and get to bed, when I obviously want to do just that, but cannot. If I use Dewey’s method, I need to create a flank movement that will form a good habit which will aid me in breaking my bad habits.These flank movements that Dewey speaks of are some action that prevents the bad habit and leads you in the direction of something else. Instead of sol ely relying on willpower alone, I could think of a way to make myself concentrate better and feel an urge to get my work done as soon as possible. One idea I thought of is changing my environment, and instead of sitting at my desk to work, I can move somewhere else, less distracting, such as the library. If I work there, I will feel more rushed and obliged to work efficiently.I will set a goal to get a certain amount of work completed during my time at the library. I do not want to and cannot spend all afternoon and evening at the library, so and I will desire to get my work done speedily, and I will work as if it was late at night. In â€Å"Habits and Will,† John Dewey says, â€Å"[A habit] makes us do things we are ashamed of, things which we tell ourselves we prefer not to do. † He elaborates on the fact that we are our habit. Dewey forces us to admit that our bad habit is a fundamental part of our self.He insists that a bad habit can’t be overcome by will al one. We need to forget the bad habit and find an alternate activity (a flank movement) that can attract us and that we can focus on. He repeats that a bad habit can’t be overcome by will alone, contrary to popular belief, but only by picking up a flank movement. So in order for me to abolish my procrastination, or at least minimize it, I need to find an act that is different from my usual routine. I have to make the completion of this new action my new goal, and focus on reaching it.If I do not, I will continue to do the same thing over and over again, like I have done for years. All habits are demands for certain kinds of activity; and they constitute the self. Our â€Å"self† is the interpenetration of will and desire and habit and action. Our selfhood isn’t what we think, but what we do; the way we act. we never intend to become an alcoholic or addicted to cigarettes. These habits come from a weakness within us all. We are too self– loved and too stubb orn to face facts which leads us to the excuses of somehow and evil power has overcome our certain abilities.Thirdly, he believes that bad habits are created from our feeling of a lack of purpose and the desires that come shortly after in attempt for immediate solutions. It would take a experience in life that enables something purposeful about us to truly appreciate the importance of ridding of the bad. http://www. alexandercenter. com/jd/johndeweyhabits. html http://www. nashvillegreatbooks. com/2009/11/john-dewey-habit-and-will. html http://www. ljhammond. com/phlit/2005-11c. htm

Good Term Paper Topics

Good Term Paper Topics Good Term Paper Topics Good Term Paper Topics You have a great choice of term paper topics, of course if the teacher did not limit your choice to the specific one. You may write about the modern matters (Obama, financial crisis) or global problems (poverty, AIDs), or choose argumentative topics (Marijuana, addictions, abortions, etc.). Our free paper blog has many written papers posted for your unlimited use (no registration and no fees). is working hard to help all students with their term paper writing projects! If you cannot find a term paper sample on your topic, try our custom term paper writing services. We guarantee delivery of a custom written term paper prior to deadline! All term papers are checked by plagiarism detecting software! Good Term Paper Sample Many hospitals are so convinced of the necessity of fondling and close physical contact while an infant is nursing that such is even prescribed on the order chart for those babies who must be fed by bottle. This baby must be held in someone's arms while taking the bottle. Certainly this is a precaution that is not taken in most orphanages, asylums, and almshouses, and it is one of the reasons why institutionalization of infants is never recommended if there is any other possibility. Ribble feels that very widespread physiological and psychological effects result from breast feeding and the mothering that should go with, it. She mentions the following as favorable effects of unrestricted sucking: Deeper and more regular breathing (all of which stimulates flow of blood to the brain with attendant brain development); better sleep, digestion and elimination; earlier focusing of eyes and grasping of objects; earlier vocalization and articulate speech. Since Ribble reports no scientific co ntrol of the innumerable factors that bring about infant development, it is hard to say how much of the physiological and psychological superiority of her group of babies was due to unrestricted sucking. However, there has been no question in the minds of pediatricians and psychologists for a number of years that the early nursing and feeding experiences of a child do have a profound effect upon the child's personality and his reactions to people and to life in general, as well as upon his health. Sherbon says: With very, very few exceptions, every mother can nurse her baby. With almost no exception, every mother should nurse her baby. In addition to breast feeding, physicians today recommend the introduction of supplementary foods, such as orange juice and certain vegetable purees, as early as the second or third month. This not only increases the supply of needed nutriments, but helps to prevent abrupt and emotionally devastating weaning from the breast. In this connection, we may stop long enough to mention an obsession that many modern parents have developed. For the last few years we have been told that we should not feed a baby every time he cries. Instead, the instructions say, we should accustom him to regular feeding periods with regular intervals between in which he should not be fed even if he does cry. Now, this program may be and probably is sound doctrine for babies that are well and babies that are receiving adequate nourishment from their food.

Are The Council of Ministers and European Council Protectors of The State †Government Research Paper

Are The Council of Ministers and European Council Protectors of The State – Government Research Paper Free Online Research Papers European integration has deepened considerably in the recent years and many are predicting it to deepen even further, towards an all-embracing state of Europe in which national boundaries and cultural identities will gradually melt into one. This scenario is definitely feared by many. However, among all the institutions of the European Union, the last stronghold of national interests still stands: the Council of Ministers, the Union’s main executive and legislative power. Alongside it is the European Council, a meeting of the heads of member states, which defines the broad political direction of the Union, and is under national influence as well. Are these two institutions the protectors of state interests within the European Union? In this essay I intend to look at the organization and functions of both the Council of Ministers and the European Council. I will also examine how they interact with the rest of the European Union, and look at the functioning of the decision-making process closely to see whether the Council of Ministers protects national interests or strives for the common good of the European Union. Finally I will conclude on what I perceive as the role of the Council of Ministers and the European Council and whether they are protecting state interests within the European Union or not. The Council of Ministers The Council of Ministers was created on purely intergovernmental grounds in 1951. The national governments felt the need to limit the supranational powers that were driving the integration forward. The Council which was then created has evolved greatly since and its powers have deepened despite the growing powers of the supranational institutions within the European Union. The Council of Ministers is not one complete body, but in fact meets in several different formations, depending on the subject area being discussed. For example, the ministers of education meet among themselves as do the ministers of foreign affairs. So all in all, the Council of Ministers has sixteen different formations. There also exists an hierarchy within these different formations: â€Å"Three Councils have traditionally met on a monthly basis, and have therefore been viewed as the most ‘senior’ formations – the General Affairs Council, made up of the foreign ministers of the member governments; the Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecofin), composed of the ministers of finance or economic affairs; and the Agriculture Council.† (Hayes-Renshaw, 2002: 50). The other councils meet less frequently, but yet at least twice a year. The ministers are in these meetings strictly as the representatives of their respective governments and are authorized to commit t heir governments (Hayes-Renshaw, 2002: 51). The Council of Ministers is led by the presidency which rotates among the member states and is held up for a six-month period. Meanwhile the Secretariat-General of the Council acts as the administrative support to the Council performing also logistical and technical functions. The Secretary-General is also the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, so the tasks the Secretariat-General oversees are not to be overlooked. The Secretariat-General plays a significant role within the Council hierarchy. COREPER (Committee of Permanent Representatives) Coreper prepares the work of the Council of Ministers and is an important and integral part of the functioning of the Council. â€Å"Coreper acts as a process manager in the Council system between the ministers and the experts in the working groups.† (Cini, 2003: 157). Coreper consists of two groups: Coreper I and II. â€Å"Coreper I is made up of the deputy permanent representatives and they are responsible for preparing the so-called ‘technical’ councils.† (Cini, 2003: 157). Meanwhile, Coreper II is generally regarded the more important one and consists of the EU permanent representatives who prepare the work of the General Affairs Council and deal with issues that have broad implications. While the representatives have no formal decision-making power, they still exert a lot of influence on the ministers, and â€Å"Coreper is still an important de facto decision-making body, seen by the steady stream of ‘A points’ which are sent to the minis ters for formal adoption† (Cini, 2003: 158). Below the Coreper in hierarchy, several working groups exist: â€Å"†¦ the working group level is a vast network of national officials who specialize in specific areas and form the initial starting point for negotiations on any new proposal or issue.† (Cini, 2003: 158) They hold the specialist knowledge needed for each subject area and aim to work through all the technical and fine detail to ease the workload of ministers. The functions of the Council of Ministers Decision-making is the Council’s main function and it is in fact the European Union’s principal legislative institution. All proposals originating from the Commission must be approved by the Council. Certain decisions are taken collectively with the European Parliament through co-decision procedure, and the power of the Parliament has increased in influencing the outcome of the decisions; however the Council of Ministers still holds the main power. The decisions made collectively with the European Parliament fall under the First Pillar of the issues. Decisions within the Second and Third Pillars which consist of ‘more important’ issues such as for example foreign policy are made solely by the Council of Ministers. Within the Council decisions are made preferably through negotiation and agreements; however in some cases voting is the only way to reach consensus. There are two categories for voting rules: unanimity and qualified majority voting (QMV). In the case of unanimity any country can block the decision-making process by casting a ‘no’ vote. However, QMV is more commonly used and is based on ‘weighted’ votes (every member state has a certain number of votes proportionate to their size and population). But again, it has to be stressed that voting does not take place commonly. Member states will rather come to a mutual agreement than try to hold on to their national points of view until the very end. This shows that even the Council of Ministers, the most intergovernmental of all the European Union institutions, is not all about fighting for national benefits but instead tries to look for what is good for the Union as well. The Council of Ministers is also the executive power of the European Union. As such, its function is â€Å"to provide leadership and steer the pace and direction of European integration, seen especially in areas of diplomacy and foreign affairs.† (Cini, 2003: 149). In this task, it is aided by the European Council that sets the broad political agenda. The European Council The European Council, which is the meeting of the heads of member state governments, was established in 1974. The meetings had taken place prior to that but it was then that the European Council was institutionalized as an integral part of the European Union. â€Å"The main reason for the creation of the European Council was a growing feeling that the Community was failing to respond adequately or quickly enough to new and increasingly difficult challenges.† (Nugent, 2003: 179) The powers of the European Council at the moment (they have evolved over time and without a doubt will keep evolving as well) are the following: It defines the broad political direction and guidelines of the European Union. It guides the European Union’s development and determines the guidelines of economic policies within the Union; and it defines the general principles and guidelines for Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and takes decisions for implementing CFSP. Its task is also to â⠂¬Å"decide on common strategies to be implemented by the Union in areas where the Member States have important interests in common.† (Nugent, 2003: 181) And finally, â€Å"the Council shall ensure the unity, consistency and effectiveness of action by the Union.† (Nugent, 2003: 181) Basically, the European Council is a political get-together that unites the national interests of the member states into a broad political agenda. Even if the European Council is not part of the official decision-making machinery, it still has an important role in that because â€Å"final and legally binding EU decisions may be made by other EU institutions, but major political decisions concerning the institutional and policy development of the EU are now generally taken by, or at least are channeled through and given clearance by, the European Council.† (Nugent. 2003: 182) The meetings of the European Council are prepared by the General Affairs and External Relations Council, again to ease the workload of the busy heads of states. National Interests and the Decision-making Process in the European Union In this section I intend to look at the decision-making process within the second and third pillars more specifically and see if that can offer proof of the claim that the Council of Ministers acts as the protector of state interests within the European Union. The main question here is whether member states will rather reach consensus, even if that might mean having to give up some of their national interests, or use their right to veto (or become part of a blocking minority) to ensure that national gains are reached? As mentioned before, the Council of Ministers exercises its decision-making authority especially in matters under the Second and Third Pillars. Under these pillars, which comprise of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and justice and home affairs, the European Parliament is not an official part of the decision-making machinery; even if it is allowed state its opinion on the issues. The member states can be regarded as having strong national interests in these two areas, mostly related to national sovereignty and geopolitical and economic interests. In the past, the Council of Ministers had a strong emphasis on national interests, under some informal rules, such as for example the Luxembourg Compromise: â€Å"For a long time the most important of these [the informal rules] was the Luxembourg ‘Compromise’ of 1966, under which it was asserted by the French government of the day that member states should be able to block decisions that would threaten ‘very important national interests’.† (Hayes-Renshaw and Wallace, 2005: 14) However, now Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) has become more important than unanimity voting, therefore vetoing is no longer as useful, or even possible. â€Å"Ever since QMV became an embedded option, votes have been formally taken on only about a quarter of eligible decisions, often with abstentions, rather than negative votes.† (Hayes-Renshaw and Wallace, 2005: 18) But even QMV is not often used because any kind of voting is not a common practice in the Council of Mini sters. States will rather reach consensus through lengthy negotiations. There exists some problems with QMV though which imply that member states still feel that their national interests might be threatened: weighted votes lead to larger states being underrepresented (not having enough votes relative to their population) and vice versa smaller states being overrepresented. â€Å"Even if the weight of an individual small country is limited, it is not only symbolic. It determines the extent to which the country can be an effective and valued partner in qualified majorities or blocking minorities, and thereby receive support for its national interests.† (Moberg, 2002: 267) Therefore, safeguarding national interests is still important and even if vetoing as such is not an option in most cases, blocking power remains important. Rather than clinging on to a specific national point of view, member states take a more flexible approach and team with like-minded states with shared interests. Coalitions of states tend to stay the same because â€Å"usually, states have a stable set of national interests, which in most cases are basically the same even after a change of government† (Moberg, 2002: 261). Weighting of interests is more important than mere concepts of power and blocking a decision can bring about new proposals, better suited to national interests. The importance of national interests can also be seen in the fact that â€Å"in the daily work of the EU, (†¦), the dividing line is almost never between large and small, but rather between countries with opposite interests in other respects† (Moberg, 2002: 270). Despite this, a strong consensus-culture seems to exist. Member states cannot defend their national interests all the time but they have to consider their relations to other countries too, as well as their own image. At the end of the day, work at the Council of Ministers is like any group work: everyone has their opinion but something has to give and everyone has to compromise to find a solution that pleases everyone. And in the case of the European Union, a solution that allows the Union to function and move the integration forward. Conclusion Hayes-Renshaw offers a very useful one-sentence summary of the Council of Ministers: â€Å"The Council is the EU’s chief decision-making body, the place where national interests are articulated, defended, and aggregated by ministerial representatives of all member governments.† (2002: 47). It sums up the main functions of the Council, however it is interesting that she should emphasize the fact that the Council is where national interests are represented. Cini recognizes the Council of Ministers as â€Å"the premier EU institution for representing national interests and power† (2003: 163) but highlights the fact that the Council is also more than merely the forum for national negotiation and bargaining: â€Å"It is also a collective system of governance which locks member states into permanent negotiations with one another.† (2003: 163) The Council is therefore both intergovernmental and supranational. â€Å"†¦ It blurs the traditional distinction be tween the national and European levels, between intergovernmental and supranational.† (Cini, 2003: 163) From these descriptions and the previous summaries on the Council of Ministers and the European Council, can we come to a conclusion that they are protecting state interests within the European Union? The European Union’s strongly supranational character might lead us to believe that any institution that has even a little to do with member state’s own interests is intergovernmental and safeguarding national interests and gains. This is even strengthened by the prominent roles that the Council of Ministers and the European Council have – for many outsiders, they are the Union. But as we can see from their functions and roles and positions that have been examined in this essay, we can conclude that they are indeed protecting national interests and it looks unlikely that the member states would settle for smaller representation. However, we should bear in m ind that protecting national interests is not the only function they have in the European Union and they also serve a purpose to the deepening integration and a bigger picture of Europe. Bibliography Cini, M. (2003): European Union Politics. Oxford: University Press. Hayes-Renshaw, F. (2002): The Council of Ministers, in Peterson, J. and Shackleton, M.: The Institutions of the European Union. Oxford: University Press. Hayes-Renshaw, F. and Wallace, H. (2005): The Council of Ministers of the European Union. London: MacMillan. Moberg, A. (2002): The Nice Treaty and Voting Rules in the Council, in Journal of Common Market Studies. Vol. 40, no. 2 Nugent, N. (2003): The Government and Politics of the European Union. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. Research Papers on Are The Council of Ministers and European Council Protectors of The State - Government Research PaperAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropePETSTEL analysis of IndiaDefinition of Export QuotasTwilight of the UAWHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Relationship between Media Coverage and Social andCapital PunishmentOpen Architechture a white paper