The current society seems to come to its end as wars, starvation, economic downfall, and corruption in many parts of the Earth ruin the world. Therefore, there is a need to develop a concept of happiest country. In such a country, all the troubles and challenges mentioned above will be eliminated, while only positive changes will be implemented. These can be borrowed from the most successful countries of the modern world. Particularly, the happiest country will borrow the economic system from Switzerland, the police and judicial systems from Singapore, and the military and religious neutrality from Iceland. By doing this, humans in the happiest country will be able to live in harmony and joyfulness throughout their lives.

Keywords: happiness, economic system, government, corruption.

A Small Country that Fosters the Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number of People

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Introduction

There are plenty of countries in the world nowadays. While people in some of the countries feel happy, the inhabitants of other countries are usually miserable due to a number of reasons. For example, Switzerland was ranked the happiest country in 2015, scoring above average in jobs and earnings, subjective well-being, health status, income and wealth, environmental quality, social connections, skills and education, and personal security. However, the major thing that makes Switzerland such a powerful country is a strong sense of community. This is proved by the fact that 96 percent of citizens state that they have someone to rely on in times of need (Johnson, 2015). In Denmark, the work-life balance is considered as a major factor influencing people’s happiness, along with other aspects such as education, healthcare, etc. In contrast, the least happy countries include Liberia. One of the major reasons that has lead its residents to feel unhappy is the civil war in the 90s, which has caused the death of 250,000 people. Other reasons include the deadly Ebola epidemic as well as endemic corruption. Tanzania is another country ranked as one of the least happy countries due to its financial issues. Citizens of CAR majorly suffer due to sectarian conflicts and related turmoil. Thus, while establishing the happiest country, one will need to fix the issues of the poorest countries and improve the conditions of the happiest ones to achieve the absolute happiness for the greatest number of people. Such a perfect place can be called the Utopia, a country where all the people are happy as they have the sufficient amount of every good and lack any troubles.

Peace

Throughout the history, wars have caused the greatest harm to the countries, turning the prosperous countries into the poorest and most miserable ones. Thus, the country that intends to foster the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest amount of people will know no such thing as war and armed conflict. The wars result in numerous death, making the survivors unhappy as they have lost their relatives, spouses, children, and livelihood. Moreover, the financial situation in the country is worsening during a war as lots of financial resources are allocated to the conflict. The war usually ruins the image of the country on the world stage, which makes the investors and possible partner states avoid the conflicting country. In the happiest country, all the people will be endowed by the principles of fairness and democracy, treating any situation democratically through negotiations. Thus, the possibility of any conflicts will be fully eliminated. In addition, any tools that could be used for wars will be unknown and unavailable in this small happy state. A good example of such a neutral country is Iceland that is one of the happiest countries in the world. Although Iceland is member of NATO, the country does not participate in military operations (Erikson, 2017). Furthermore, in order to defend the residents from images of conflicts, there will be no media content about wars. . The full protection from any conflicts and wars will provide the people with the feeling of security, which will be important in increasing their happiness.

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Economic System

Another significant factor influencing the people’s happiness is economic situation in the country. “The economic is art or science of household management, esp. with regard to the proper organization of domestic resources” (“Oxford English Dictionary,” 2018). From this definition, it is evident that a strong economic system contributes to high level of life, which ensures people’s happiness. On the other hand, all the most miserable countries are also the poorest in the world. The people in such countries suffer from hunger and lack basic goods such as drinking water, not to mention other conveniences available to people in rich countries. Thus, residents of the happiest country will not experience lack of money or economic crises. This can be compared to the Baltic countries that are considered as the most economically stable ones in the world due to proper governmental economic policies and transparent financial operations (Semjonova, 2016). In the Utopia, all the people will have sufficient amount of the food full in nutrition, vitamins, and minerals. All the people will be able to buy any seafood, fruits, veggies, and other kinds of food. Moreover, there the drinking water will always be available as it will leak from the taps in each person’s house. The lack of resources usually leads to conflicts in the family due to inability to buy some necessary tools. Therefore, in the happiest country, people will be able to purchase any goods, be it new stylish jeans or a Full HD TV. The country will be fully financially secure, which will enable its residents to earn much money and afford anything they need.

Governmental System

An important factor in the happiest country is the governmental system that includes the leading authorities who rule the country. The poorest and most miserable countries usually suffer from corruption that leads the countries into the precipice. The government officials in corrupted countries are excessively rich, because they steal vast amounts of people’s money. Thus the happiest country’s governmental system will be transparent, which will allow the residents to hold the government accountable for its actions. In this case, corruption will certainly be impossible, which will ensure financial prosperity and bring balance in all spheres. Furthermore, transparency in the police and judicial system will serve in eliminating crime. The fair judicial system is an absolute must in the happiest country. This will ensure all the disputed questions and situations are solved lawfully and transparently. A good example of the fair and transparent police and judicial system is Singapore where any cases of crimes and corruption are severely punished. Lee Kuan Yew, the founding prime minister, and Dr. Goh Keng Swee, the architect of Singapore’s economic miracle, have worked together and established the harsh laws and punishments for their violation. Thanks to this, they managed to achieve the unbelievable success (Mahbubani, 2017). Nowadays, Singapore is one of the countries with the minimal level of corruption and crimes. Thus, the transparency of authorities will also contribute to happiness among the people in the happiest country.

Religion

Along with wars and improper economic policies, the most miserable countries usually suffer from religious conflicts. The religion is an unconscious system that involves believing in God as the one responsible for people’s fates. The first important change that ought to be done is to make the religion centralized. The current world has plenty of religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. However, the aforementioned religions are just some of the numerous beliefs systems that exist in the world today. Throughout history, people from various religions have frequently waged wars. This is because those who follow a certain religion consider it as their duty to claim that their religion is the most righteous of them all. For example, most countries that are situated in the Middle East frequently experience conflicts between Christians and the Muslims. However, in some countries, the religious differences are treated neutrally, supposing that each person has a chance to follow the religion he/she wants (Sawyer, 2016). Thus, the happiest country should adopt the secular type of society where nobody is allowed to impose any religion upon others and the religious issues are not introduced and discussed publically (Baggini, 2012). However, the better scenario is when people in the happiest country unite together and follow a common religion by serving only one God. This way, any disputes where one religion is praised while the other religion is considered less important will be impossible. Thus, conflicts based on the religious differences will eventually end, which will ensure harmony, peace, and unity among the people in the happiest country.

Healthcare System

Although wars, economic issues, and religion are significant in influencing people’s happiness in a country, healthcare can be considered as the most vital aspect. Throughout history, humanity has experienced lots of cases of epidemics that have managed to devastate countries’ population in a matter of weeks, bringing happiness to the absolute lowest point. Nowadays, some parts of the world are still affected by epidemics that kill thousands of people, the virus of Ebola being an example.. However, along with fighting deadly viruses, the healthcare system in general should also be improved. In the happiest country, there will be no epidemics, and healthcare system will serve its patients day and night. The cure for the most dangerous diseases such as cancer and diabetes will be developed, which will help save people’s lives. Moreover, children’s pathologies will be easier to detect, control, and cure to provide the children with prosperous future. The development of the healthcare system will reach its peak, which will allow people to live without any improper health conditions. Although there are countries in Europe and America where people have access to better treatment and medical conditions, it is not sufficient as lots of people die from the chronic conditions such as heart diseases, cancer, etc. Therefore, having a well-developed healthcare system will ensure people’s health is improved and safeguarded, which will certainly make the country the happiest one.

Interpersonal Relations

The perfect interpersonal relations will add to the happiness in the country. This is because the warm relations with spouses, relatives, children, neighbors, and other people are proved to be a significant contributor to people’s feeling of happiness for. People who do not encounter divorce, interpersonal misunderstandings, and troubles with children usually feel much happier. In the happiest country, there will be warm relations among the people, whereby everybody is ready to help another person. For example, when a person’s vehicle has broken in the middle of the desert road, each passing car will stop to aid the driver. The spouses will try to solve any conflicting situations through discussion rather than threats and divorce. The children in the happiest country will be the most courteous regarding their parents, teachers, and all the surrounding people. There will be no jealousy or complaints as the whole country will work like a clock. Moreover, the happy and warm interpersonal relations will contribute to better health of people. The survey of Harvard Medical School has proved that people who are happily married have lower risk of the blood pressure, heart attack, and cancer (“Can relationships boost longevity and well-being?”, 2017). All in all, citizens of the happiest country will have the warmest relations among each other.

Education and Jobs

Apart from a unified religion, proper economic system, and absence of wars, the happiest country should ensure its residents have access to well-paid and interesting jobs as well as an adequate education system. This is because it is impossible to live in the modern world without elemental skills of reading and writing, not to mention computer skills, language fluency, etc. The happiest country provides affordable education whereby students, regardless of their financial abilities, can study in any school or university; in the happiest country’s education system, knowledge will be the thing that matters most (Shintaro, 2016). The students will be provided with all the necessary materials for successful learning. The teachers will play the role of promoters rather than strict supervisors. After completing their education, all the students will be provided with well-paid jobs according to their specialization, where they will be able to operate in a friendly and comfortable atmosphere. The survey shows that 39% of all people are happy overall because they are satisfied with their job and that it is the most significant part of life for them (Unanue Gómez, Cortez, Oyanedel, & Mendiburo-Seguel, 2017). Thus, the adequate education and jobs will add to the feeling of happiness.

Conclusion

The happiest country will adopt the most progressive elements of all the counties and eliminate those leading to unhappiness. The global challenges such as wars, religious conflicts, and economic troubles will be eliminated. This will ensure that the Utopia’s residents will be the happiest ones. Thus, alike residents of Switzerland, they will feel the economic security; alike residents ofIceland, they will stay neutral in terms of military and religion. The people will follow one religion, which will help in avoiding any conflicts. The healthcare system will discover the cures for cancer, heart diseases, and other illnesses. The governmental and judicial systems will operate without corruption, which will ensure that people live in the fair conditions. Moreover, the warm interpersonal relations will be the major component of people’s happiness; the adequate educational system and availability of diverse jobs will also add to the happiness of the residents. The happiest country will make it all possible for its residents.

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To understand why a prominent ideology such as atheism has negative reception in the public discourse in the United States, we should address the historic context. During the Cold War, religiosity of the US society was opposed to the “godless” atheistic worldview – the state ideology of the Soviet Union (Kirby 2). Even the word “atheism” had a negative connotation. As researcher Dianne Kirby points out in her introduction to the book “Religion and Cold War”, western ideologists used the faith aspect as an element of opposition to communist outlook:

Marxist atheism provided a window of vulnerability, the Achilles’ heel of communism from the West’s religio-political perspective. …anticommunist rhetoric emphasized freedom of religion and Christian ideals, which, combined with its emphasis on democracy and freedom, enabled anti-communism to assume a doctrinal status with a claim to moral superiority, owing to its spiritual component as opposed to the base materialism of communism (2).

Thus, atheism became ideologically affiliated with communism, making it a part of the enemy agenda, and such perception of the non-religious rooted deeply in the media. As the depiction of the Cold War conflict in the media has been simplified to the categories of good and evil (with Western worldview being the embodiment of “good” and godless communism of the Soviet Union becoming the symbol of “evil”), the negative attitude towards atheism in mainstream media is not surprising (Kirby 2). Atheist characters were depicted as immoral, violent and villainous. Therefore, with the ideology itself becoming more popular and accepted, the change of its media portrayal constituted a challenge for artists.

In cinema, the image of an atheist often had negative connotations, as the reasons of people becoming an atheist were often personal trauma or tragedy and grievance with God (Cherette 62). These characters were depicted as self-indulgent, nihilistic and overall unlikable, to the point of becoming comical villains. In the 2010-s, there was a rise of popularity of new Christian cinema, led by the PureFlix studio (Cherette 60). While these films, such as God’s not Dead franchise (2014, 2016, 2018), The Case for Christ (2017) Old Fashioned (2015) and many other, were relatively commercially successful, they are in their essence pieces of religious propaganda, clumsily disguised as family entertainment. In these movies, the atheist characters were often demonized, even Christian researchers, such as Blain Charette criticize them for their clearly biased depiction of atheists. Charette writes about atheist characters, as depicted in “God’s not dead” film franchise:

The principal antagonists, the philosophy professor of the first film and the ACLU lawyer who prosecutes the case in the second film, are portrayed in an exceptionally unsympathetic manner. Both films in a rather simplistic way represent characters from a single, biased perspective. The sympathies of the audience are bluntly steered towards the Christian characters, while the non-Christian characters are made into objects of blame, loathing or pity (62).

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While such films are examples of pure propaganda, often disregarded and criticized even by Christians themselves, the depiction of atheists in many ways reflects the negative perception of this ideology in the United States, as an unfortunate relic of the Cold War propaganda.

However, with the rise of popularity of the “New Atheism”, the depiction of atheists in media became less biased. In the article “How the Media Got Secularism – With a Little Help from the New Atheists”, researchers Richard P. Cimino and Christopher Smith point out that “at the turn of the millennium, atheism was covered not only as a quasi-religious phenomenon but also as a political identity and lifestyle choice that is one among many voices in a pluralistic America” (Cimino & Smith 6). As is evident from the number of films, depicting atheism and atheists in a positive way, more Hollywood creators became open about their atheist views, and a new generation of authors emerged, who opposed the pressure of deeply rooted attitude towards atheist worldview. These artists often used genre cinema, like science fiction and comedy, to share their ideas openly.

Mainstream Hollywood cinema in most cases avoided depicting atheist characters, due to this topic being problematic. Representation of an atheist character in a neutral or positive light turned out to be a complicated task for modern film directors. Despite the rising popularity of this worldview, there were still settled negative prejudices towards atheists in the society. There were different approaches to this issue. The straightforward way was to create biopic films about famous historical figures, which supported, in some measure, such ideas. The most notable examples of this approach are the portrayals of famous scientists like Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything (2014) and Charles Darwin in Creation (2009). However, the religious aspects of these characters’ worldviews are rarely in the center of the narrative in these film. As they are designed to appeal to a wider audience, these aspects are often considered off-putting and questionable. Dennis Overbye criticizes the depiction of Hawking’s view in The Theory of Everything:

The movie doesn’t deserve any prizes for its drive-by muddling of Dr. Hawking’s scientific work, leaving viewers in the dark about exactly why he is so famous. Instead of showing how he undermined traditional notions of space and time, it panders to religious sensibilities about what his work does or does not say about the existence of God, which in fact is very little (Overbye).

Unfortunately, the film focuses more on Hawkins’s struggle with his disability and his troubled personal life, than on his views and scientific discoveries.

In this context, genre cinema proved to be a more effective choice to bring forward ideas and characters with such opinions. Genre films face much less critical and public pressure, often being disregarded as a material for serious philosophic discussion. In these movies, it is much easier for the filmmakers to create fictional and unnatural scenarios, in which they can convey their message indirectly. In the 1980s and 1990s, notable atheist characters began to appear in big-budget Hollywood films, with the most notable being Eleanor Arroway (Jody Foster) in Robert Zemeckis’s science fiction film Contact (1997) based on the novel by an outspoken atheist and advocate of science Carl Sagan (Stone 3). The movie tackled the religious aspects of the first contact between humanity and alien life forms. It opposes Arroway and her atheistic worldview to a number of influential Christian figures, but even Christian scholars admitted that her character is well developed and likable enough to become relatable for a majorly Christian audience. As pointed out by researcher Bryan Stone, “Ellie is an atheist because she doesn’t find any empirical evidence for the existence of God, but because the film develops her character so well, even the most devout theists will find themselves liking her and taking her side” (3).

Interestingly, it is the theological discussion, and not the sci-fi plot that becomes the center of the film’s narrative, which is also a surprising choice for a mainstream science fiction movie with an all-star cast. At the same time, the Christian characters can seem simplified for the sake of making them the film’s variation of “villains”. Thus, the film reverses the model mentioned above, which villainizes the opposite side of the argument and reduces the conflict, which makes it unfortunately similar to PureFlix propaganda, however much more sophisticated. Still, despite somewhat safe and uneven depiction of the relations between atheism and faith, Contact is an important milestone in bringing a sympathetic atheist character to the mainstream audience.

Another director, well known for his atheist views, who often works in the sci-fi genre, is Ridley Scott. In his films Blade Runner (1982), Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017), the characters, both human and androids, created by human scientists, question the authority of their creators. Not only does Scott create heroes that are openly skeptical of their creators, they even go so far as to destroy them. Replicants in Blade Runner murder their creator, and android David (Michael Fassbender) in Alien: Covenant exterminates the whole civilization of aliens called Engineers, who, according to the film, are responsible for the creation of the human race. David also performs horrible experiments on developing the new life, engaging in the role of the creator himself. As researcher Peter Nicolai Halvorsen mentions in his analysis of Scott’s science fiction, it “seems to deal with religious or philosophical questions in the light of the debate between fundamentalists and new atheist scientists” (132). We should note that atheism of Scott’s characters is rather militant, and the sci-fi scenarios provide them with a possibility to destroy their creators. While both the lead replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) and android David are the antagonists, they are clearly the most complex and deep characters of both films. The charismatic performances make them even more relatable and the director himself seems to side with these rebellious characters, who confront their creators. The anti-theistic motifs can be seen in other non-sci-fi films of Ridley Scott – a historic epic Kingdom of Heaven (2005), where the Christian priest is depicted unsympathetically, ready to condemn his beliefs to save his life. The protagonist of the film, Balian (Orlando Bloom), while not openly addressing his own religiosity, is amused by the priest’s hypocrisy, becoming an atheist in the making. In another notable film, Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), Scott uses the Bible character of Moses (Christian Bale) and his story to depict God as a violent and capricious child. Overall, the films of Ridley Scott contain numerous references to Christianity in both visuals and ideas; along with that, his characters, which often openly confront and ridicule the higher powers, show the director’s attitude towards religion.    

Even more prominent are the atheist voices in the comedy genre. This is not a unique tendency, as Iain Ellis points out “Over the past 40 years, the most assertive, active and angry opponents of the religious right have been our humorists” (5). The writer indicates that satirical tradition of addressing religion has its roots in the writings of Mark Twain, and is recently represented by comedic voices such as Bill Maher, Ricky Gervais and other openly atheist comedians (Ellis 5). For example, Bill Maher’s most notable film is a documentary “Religulous” (2008), directed by Larry Charles, in which the comedian interviews various individuals connected with Christianity in the United States, making fun of the religious people (Religulous). By doing so, the comedian appears smug and unlikable, and the intent to make atheist worldview more acceptable to the mainstream audience was a failure. As for fictional comedic cinema, which focuses on the atheist characters, the following films should be addressed: Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) directed by Terry Jones, The Invention of Lying (1999) directed by Ricky Gervais, and an animated comedy Sausage Party (2016) by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon.

Monty Python’s Life of Brian is one of the earliest and most memorable portrayals of a skeptical character in comedy. The titular Brian (Graham Chapman) in the film lives in the times of Biblical Jesus. He is mistaken for the messiah and after a series of comedic misunderstandings is crucified. In the most notable scene of the film, Brian addresses the uneducated crowd with the seemingly anti-religious message of individualism and non-conformism; however, the audience seems to miss the essence of his ideas. Despite being comparably mild and inoffensive by today’s standards, the film remains noteworthy for the character of Brian, a straight man put against a deluded crowd.

The Invention of Lying presents a fictional world where lies do not exist. In this universe, the character of Mark, performed by Gervais, tries to comfort his dying mother, and makes up the concept of an afterlife, which snowballs into the creation of a religion. The fantasy scenario helps the filmmaker to highlight the self-delusional nature of religion, which promises comfort and hope in exchange for reason. Mark’s lie turns into a real religion of the world, with him being its prophet, and at the same time the only person who knows the truth. He represents the emerging archetypal depiction of an atheist as a straight man in the world of delusion. The film itself does not confront religious beliefs aggressively, as can be expected from an openly atheist comedian like Gervais, but accepts its positive effects on the society.

Sausage Party is another comedy with a strong anti-religious message. Just like The Invention of Lying, it uses metaphorical concept to bring forward its ideas. Anthropomorphic food characters living in a supermarket, who believe their purpose of existence is to be bought by humans, who they deify, inhabit the film. Older “immortal” foods created the belief in the holiness of people to bring comfort and hope to their otherwise hopeless existence. As time passed, their original ideas changed and distorted. The message of how different religions create political and ideological tensions in the world is obvious in the film. When the film’s protagonist – Frank the sausage, voiced by Seth Rogan, discovers the true fate of the food in the world of humans, his beliefs are being shattered. However, his attempts to bring the newly acquired truth to his friends face opposition. Critic Sam Adams writes:

This is the smug atheist’s take on organized religion as a palliative for the simple-minded. Knowing the truth is not good enough. When Frank tries to use his newly acquired knowledge to rouse the rest of the supermarket’s inhabitants to act, they reject him outright. He is tearing down their ideology and offering nothing in its place, and they would rather exist in a world with clearly defined rules and rewards. Given a choice between something and nothing, people will believe in something every time (Adams).

With Frank, the filmmakers create a straight-man atheist character who tries to enlighten people in the world of dangerous delusions, who is ignored until it is too late. Frank is a characteristic atheist, opposed to simple-minded folks who condemn his attempts to inform them. While the film carries its raunchy and vulgar shock-humor and grotesque violence, like many other adult comedies, it is also effective as a not-so-subtle religious debate.

The depiction of the atheists in the media, and in cinema in particular, went through a long evolutionary process in the last decades. From demonized figures in the Cold War and modern Christian propaganda, to neutered scientist characters in faith-friendly biopics, to charismatic, if often villainous, iconoclast figures in science fiction and finally, the enlightened straight men, opposed by simpleminded crowd in comedies. The latter seems to translate the ideas of knowledge, enlightenment and ironic attitude towards organized religion in the most successful manner, as straightforward and smart atheists in the comedic films are the most relatable and easy to sympathize with. Genre films, especially science fiction and comedy, utilize atheist characters in the most successful way, and taking into consideration the consistent popularity of theses genres, this is the most effective way to promote the ideas of atheism to the mainstream audience.

Introduction

Vision/Mission

History

Products

Top Management

Competitors

Countries that Sell Red Bull

Marketing Philosophies

Marketing Activities

SWOT Analysis of the Red Bull GbmH Company

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

Future Plans

Conclusion

Introduction

In achieving success of a business entity, a marketing strategy is necessary. The company’s marketing plan forms the business plan and is a drive for achieving the company’s goals and objectives in any business. Manufactured by the Red Bull GmbH Company located in Austria, Redbull has become a popular drink in the world with a wide market share. Produced from the idea borrowed from a Thailand energy boost drink, Krating Daeng, Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian entrepreneur modified the ingredients of the original drink to suit Western markets. The Red Bull GmbH Company was founded in 1987 (Baltes & Leibing, 2008). The business has since then developed to become a global dispenser through their advertisements, events, sports team ownership, celebrity endorsements, and music promotions. The global market has brought to play a number of large soft drink companies like Coke and Pepsi, and other emerging companies that pose a challenge to the Red Bull Company. Therefore, the current paper profiles the Red Bull Company with an emphasis on the marketing techniques that help it survive in the global market.

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Vision/Mission

Red Bull is committed to upholding Red Bull standards, while at the same time being the industry leader in the energy drinks sector when delivering better quality service in a manner that is profitable and efficient. The company also strives to develop a culture characterized by employees sharing the best practices with regard to coaching and developing the company as an employer (RedBull, n.d.).

History

Since its foundation in the year of 1987, Red Bull has had a successful turnout in the energy drinks market with large returns in terms of sales. In the 1990s, Red Bull expanded and introduced its products to neighboring countries like Hungary, Slovenia, Germany and the United Kingdom. In 1997, Red Bull was introduced in the United States as a non-corporate alternative to Coke and Pepsi. The company’s entrance into the United Sates was accomplished through California as the first state to be supplied with its products. The packaging and prices per can were a boosting factor towards the increased market demand compared to Coke and Pepsi. According to RedBull (n.d.), by the end of 1999, Red Bull was being sold in more than 50 countries with a probable sale of about 600 million to one billion cans worldwide. In spreading its impact into the global markets, Red Bull associated itself with a number of promotional activities aimed at generating revenue and providing an opportunity to venture into new markets. The Red Bull Company supported a nascent extreme sports movement, where it sponsored snowboarding and free skiing. Additionally, the company promoted the beverages distributed among its target markets with the slogan, ‘Red Bull gives you wings.’ With the youth’s conviction of the energy boost that the drink provides, the increased sales in the United States were realized. Animated TV advertisements that were used in the matured markets also played a role in the continued expansion of Red Bull (RedBull, n.d.).

In 2001, the products of Red Bull were shipped to South Africa and Brazil as the new markets for the business. Despite the challenges from the side of its competitors, there was a revolutionary result of the Red Bull energy drink in acquisition of the already established markets for its competitors. In 2002, regional headquarters of Red Bull were opened in Dubai. In 2003, however, the Red Bull Company produced their first sugar free drink that was aimed to increase its market segment (RedBull, n.d.). The increased market share of the Red Bull product saw a reflection in the upward sales in 2008, when the previous ban of its sale in France, Denmark, and Norway was lifted. As of 2013, Red Bull enjoyed a market share of all the 27 member states in the European Union and additional 165 countries of the world.

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Products

Red Bull Company specializes in the production of energy drinks. With a wide market to satisfy, the company produces a range of energy drinks fulfilling the needs of its customers. The products include Red Bull energy drink, Red Bull total zero, Red Bull Sugar free, the Red Bull editions (silver, red, and blue), and the Red Bull Cola. The Red Bull energy drink is meant to vitalize the body and mind. Top athletes, professionals, students, and travelers on long distance journeys drink Red Bull to increase their concentration and focus. Additionally, the energy drink can be consumed before and after the performance and at any other time that requires increased mental application. First manufactured in the year of 1987, the Red Bull energy drink is the first product the Red Bull Company has ever manufactured (RedBull, n.d.).

The Red Bull sugar-free drink entered the market in the year of 2003. The sugar free drink belongs to the variety of the Red Bull products that are produced without sugar components. In the production of the Red Bull sugar free drinks, sucrose and glucose components have been replaced with Aspartame and Acesulfame K as sweeteners. The production of the sugar free drink was a competitive strategy for a segment of the customers in the business. Following the trend set by the Red Bull Company, soft-drink companies have also produced sugar free drinks for the market. Another product of the Red Bull Company is a total zero drink introduced to the market in 2005. The total zero drink ingredients contain no calories, sugar and carbohydrates; hence the name is total zero. However, in their production, such sweeteners as Acesulfame K, Aspartame, and Sucralose are included as part of the ingredients. The Red Bull editions (silver, red, and blue) contain the cranberry, blueberry, and lime flavors respectively. The Red Bull editions came to market in the year of 2013, in the selected United States markets (RedBull, n.d.).

Another product of the Red Bull Company that had no influential impact in the market is the Red Bull Cola. Introduced in 2008, Red Bull Cola was intended to be sodas drink as a counter marketing strategy to acquiring more customers compared to the company’s competitors. However, close re-examination of the drink by the health organizations in different countries such as Germany identified traces of Cocaine in its ingredients. Nonetheless, the ingredients used in the production of the Red Bull Cola has been determined to be of a small amount that could not have the effects of cocaine on the consumer. Compared to the other business entities, Red Bull displays a less aggressive business approach by its maintaining the packaging of its products except for a small change in the brands of the cans. Except for the new Red Bull editions that have been adjustments in color and design of the bull, the Red Bull products contain the same ingredients and the slim line cans for the packaging. However, in the already established business centers like the United Kingdom, the company has introduced one-liter PET bottles.

One can of the Red Bull drink contains 80 mg of Caffeine, Taurine, Glucoronolactone, sugars, and vitamins. Taurine is a unique ingredient that the Red Bull Company considers their essential component in the manufacturing of Red Bull drinks. In the organic body, taurine is extracted from the bile of a bull. The extraction and components of the taurine have been a topic of interest with many arguing that it is extracted from bulls’ testes or contains the semen of a bull. However, the Red Bull Company produces their product with the taurine ingredient existing in a synthetic form. Other components include caffeine used for its stimulating effects on human activity. B-group vitamins are also used to maintain a healthy body function. The drink also contains sucrose and glucose except for the sugar free drink that is absent. The sucrose and glucose are aimed to supply vigor to the body and brain of the user; thus, increasing their concentration. The last part is water that is used as a mixture for all the ingredients (RedBull, n.d.).

Few but rare cases of the negative effects that Red Bull causes to the consumers occur. However, the real scientific explanation is not provided as to the effects that Red Bull might have on a patient. One of the cases is the Ross Cooney story who collapsed and died on the court after consuming fours cans of Red Bull. However, his death was later concluded to be due to the SADS (Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome). Due to the health concerns, many countries such as France, Norway, and Denmark banned the sale of Red Bull within their territories. Norway, for example, made it clear that Red Bull was a drug and its sale was not to continue in the retail outlets. The controversial discussion on the effects of Taurine and Glucoronolactone used in the production of Red Bull was of concern in many countries. Consequently, the distribution of Red Bull was prohibited in many countries that believed Red Bull had side effects on consumers. The law was the biggest setback in the globalization and business expansion of the Red Bull Company. The ban on selling the Red Bull products was later on lifted with scientific results that proved health safety concerning consuming Red Bull drinks.

Revenues

To increase the returns for the business from the sales and other associated activities, the Red Bull Company operates in many other businesses apart from the energy drinks industry. Red Bull owns and manages a construction company, football clubs, youth academies, and TV broadcasting. Additionally, the company has a medium’s service that produces magazines on football, motor racing, celebrities, and lifestyle magazines (Bodner, 2011). As of 2013, the total sales of cans from the Red Bull Company were estimated to be $35 billion since the first sales from the company reached the market. The analysis of the company’s revenues as from 2005 to 2013 gives increasing sales in the business with 2009 and 2010 recording the least sales. However, in the preceding years, the revenues have been stabilized to $4 billion.

Figure 1. Sales revenue for Red Bull 2005-2013.

The table above reflects the total revenues per year from 2005 to 2013 with the main products of the Red Bull Company. Additional revenues from investments and segments within the business like online events and advertising accrued over 1 billion US dollars in 2013 compared to $878 million realized in 2012 that reflect the total revenues the company achieved. The specialty retail stores managed by Red Bull contributed 77.8% of the total revenues achieved in 2013. The totals reflect a reduction in the sales compared to the preceding years, which saw 2012 having 79.78%, 2011 having 81.08%, and 2010 recording 81.53%. With more than 15,000 employees as for the 2013 rate, Red Bull has managed to make effective sales and returns from different investments that it operates (RedBull, n.d.).

Top Management

The Chief Executive Officer, who works in co-ordination with the financial manager, human resource manager, sales manager, marketing manager, and IT manager, runs the organizational process of the company. Under their supervision, there are the national business managers for the sales and marketing and the product manager (RedBull, n.d.). The regional offices and branches of the main business have regional managers who are answerable to the top management. Under the supervision of the human resources department and sales manager, there are the sales managers in charge of the national markets and sales representatives responsible for the local markets. The marketing manager, however, works with the IT manager, promoters, and sales representatives of different markets.

Figure 2. Organizational structure of Red Bull.

Competitors

Red Bull faces a high competition in the energy drinks market with the increased number of energy drinks companies that have secured market shares. In terms of performance and the sponsorship programs that the company invests in, there has been a great success and returns for the markets’ continued growth. However, the global market presents 100 competitor companies that deal with energy drinks. The most commonly known are the Coca-Cola Company, Pepsi, Rockstar, Burn, Gatorade, and the Monster Beverage Co. The music industry has also brought competition to the market energy drinks such as Liquid Ice and Nelly’s Pimp Juice, which are a great challenge in terms of the markets that Red Bull has secured both locally and globally. The Coca-Cola Company is the biggest competitor and presents many challenges so that Red Bull might spend a lot of time before achieving their status. The Coca-Cola Company enjoys popularity as it has been introduced long before Red Bull (Baltes & Leibing, 2008).

Additionally, the Coca-Cola Company has a good financial system and better marketing strategies compared to Red Bull, which makes it a giant in the supply and the amount of products that are out to the markets. The Coca-Cola Company also enjoys customer loyalty that they have acquired in the global market and local markets, making it hard for Red Bull to acquire the desired market share. Compared to the number of countries that Coca-Cola and Red Bull serve, the Coca-Cola Company has over 200 countries that it serves compared to Red Bull that still has 161 countries where its products can get a market share. Looking into the marketing principles for Coca-Cola and their success in the business, Coca-Cola uses a set of principles that creates an impossible marketing condition for Red Bull. Firstly, Coca-Cola operates in the guerrilla marketing strategy (low cost/no cost method), the carpet-bombing design (mostly the use of flyers, which are most effective in creating awareness), referral networks, and the Internet as it has major systems to reach out to the target market (Brasel & Gips, 2011; Keller, 2008).

Pepsi Co. has also been a major competitor of Red Bull in the sale of energy drinks. In marketing their products, Pepsi created a sampling and sponsorship strategy, which was similar to the ones organized by Red Bull. In targeting the young generation, Pepsi employed young sales agents that could easily interact with their age mates and convince them to buy their products. Additionally, Pepsi was offering free drink samples in the campuses and provided support to emerging music events and artists. However, every business Red Bull ventures into has a number of competitors. In the United States, Nestle adds to the other small competitive companies and Coca-Cola as the competitors that Red Bull shares the same market with. In Europe, small retailers and companies as Ansheuser-Bush, Euro Food Slovakia, and TECFOOD collectively are the companies that are competitive for the Red Bull products (Zenith International, 2004). The Let’s Go, a product of the Euro Food Slovakia comes in the flavors of orange, grapefruit and black currant flavors with guarana instead of taurine that Red Bull uses as their main ingredient. To increase further their market shares, the Euro Food Slovakia releases their products at a cheaper price compared to Red Bull products. Additionally, Euro Food Slovakia creates awareness through their website encouraging their consumers to mix a drink with alcohol with no health issues.

Another competitor of Red Bull is Czech glass, Kamikaze, which targets the young generation and party attendees. With its uniqueness in such ingredients as Bull grass, Hemp seed, Chili, Cactus fig, and tribulus terrestris as a stimulator, the Kamikaze drink poses a threat to the market segment of Red Bull. Anheuser-Bush Inc. founded and located in Austria, is among the biggest competitors of Red Bull. Originally founded to promote alcoholic beverages only, Anheuser-Bush Inc. has ventured into the energy drinks industry considering the success of Red Bull since its founding. With the large market that it initially has created while promoting alcoholic drinks, Anheuser-Bush Inc. poses a challenge to Red Bull in the number of customers. Anheuser-Bush Inc. new product, 180 was released in the market with a combined effort of Pepsi. The marketing of the 180 product is meant to help boost the knowledge of the products compared to Red Bull. However, even with the small changes in the ingredients used in the manufacture of energy drinks, Red Bull has managed to maintain its position in the market and simultaneously, increase its impact in the global markets (Gorse, Chadwick, & Burton, 2010; Pride & Ferrell, 2008).

Red Bull had an advantage of being the first to introduce the energy drinks in most markets and as a result, had a significant impact in the number of customers and prominence. By building awareness through seeding and relying on word-of-mouth approach, the company can reach the target markets and maintain an influential place in the energy drinks industry. In markets that had already been entered, like Brazil, the image perceptions and customer loyalty had to be overcome in terms of the prices of the initial products and the customers’ preferences. Once Red Bull accomplished a volume prowess against its competitors, they sought to ensure that its competitors had reduced their prices. According to the Zenith International (2004), Red Bull had two-thirds of the market share of the energy drinks in Western Europe. Additionally, among 13 Western Europe countries, Red Bull had established dominance over 12 countries. The competitors, however, had 17 per cent market share (Fullerton & Merz, 2008).

Countries that Sell Red Bull

Red Bull has established a global business with 164 countries selling its products (RedBull, n.d.). The Red Bull Company has two production sites that are Austria and Switzerland.

Figure 3. List of top 10 countries consuming Red Bull.

The United States, being the highest consumer and distributor, has been a platform through which Red Bull has increased its power in other countries. Owing to the high affiliation that countries in the world have attached to the United States, high returns realized from the selling of Red Bull are also presented to the foreigners while visiting.

Marketing Philosophies

Red Bull applies a number of principles in marketing its products and acquiring customers. With the competitive forces in the local and global markets, Red Bull has devised philosophies that supplement their business strategy and objectives in attaining success in business and markets. First, Red Bull has spread its brand and products by applying the oldest media form, word of mouth. Started in Austria, few people knew about the energy drink Red Bull was manufacturing. Being part of the business segment meant that they too were to be informed and considering the technological advancements at that time, the only way through which more customers could get to know about their products was through spreading the news through customers. With an effective strategy and communication process, many of their consumers had an understanding of what the company was supplying them. This process was a successful market entry strategy for Red Bull, and is still an effective method in acquiring new business areas and the competitor dominant sectors of the business.

Second, Red Bull created a mystique for their brand as a method of targeting the adventurous consumers in the markets. At the bars and clubs, cans of Red Bull were introduced to attract the customers who were in for trying new business products. Therefore, combined with the information the customers had heard before about the new product in the market, they would want to taste what Red Bull offered compared to the other drinks. As a supplement of word-of-mouth strategy, developing a mystique for the Red Bull brand proved to encompass a greater deal of business sections. Consequently, the brand was on demand in the neighboring countries following the news passed about Red Bull.

Third, Red Bull operates with a well-formulated market entry strategy, ‘Seeding Program.’ With an identified target in any market segment, such as the young generation, party revelers or the adult, Red Bull uses the result that shops, supermarkets, retailers, clubs, and bars have created for their customers as their entry points (RedBull, n.d.). Lastly, Red Bull also applies ‘pre-marketing’ strategies aimed at creating awareness in the new markets that they are entering. Therefore, before making the first supplies of their products in any market, Red Bull encourages awareness among its customers as for the promotional events that are a platform of getting a large audience at once.

Marketing Activities

Awareness, marketing, and business position in the market for the Red Bull Company are attributed to the activities and promotions that Red Bull operates in selling its products. Advertisements are the first marketing activities that Red Bull associates to encourage awareness and sell its products to its customers. The company logo is placed on every product that Red Bull sponsors. The advancements in technology have also seen the increased publication with the social sites like Facebook and Twitter. With over 36 million fans on the social media sites, Red Bull is ranked among the top 10 liked corporations. The fan page is a promotional site for the events and products associated with the business.

Red Bull associates with its customers through the sampling method, which aims at identifying the target group and providing their products at the time of interaction. Thus, at concerts, parties, festivals, sports events, or the campus grounds, the Red Bull Company can conduct a survey to get statistics of the extent to which their influence on the consumers has been increased in terms of product supply and use. This sampled result forms the consumer statistics that is later on used to calculate the impact of the business on consumers and the areas of the market that require emphasis in terms of promotion and awareness. Sampling is a market approach employed by the Red Bull Company and accomplished by a professional group of employees within the company, whose goal is to identify customers who are exhausted or tired and give them the energy drink to regain their strength. This random promotional strategy aims to increase the knowledge of the public on the positive effects that Red Bull has as an energy source. Additionally, Red Bull is renowned for its effectiveness in event marketing strategies. The events organized by Red Bull are a platform for the business to make sales and at the same time, support its growth with wide knowledge. With their financial and personnel support, Red Bull hosts mountain biking, BMX, motocross, rally, Formula 1 racing, snowboarding, skateboarding, kayaking, wakeboarding, cliff-diving, and freestyle motocross. The company also supports music events, which support the dance crews and artists in selling the company’s products (RedBull, n.d.).

Red Bull sponsors football teams that are required to have the company’s trademark logo on the uniforms. In the gaming platform, Red Bull has developed its own game island that advertises the company’s energy drink and the Air Race event that is sponsored by Red Bull. The company also has a motorsport circuit (found in Spielberg, Styria and Austria), a football stadium (for the RB Leipzig German football club), an American football stadium (for the New York Red Bulls club) and a multifunctional building, in which the company hosts a collection of historic airplanes. The company identifies icons, idols or famous sportsmen within the society and contributes to their training, equipments, and social publicity. As the company invests in sponsorship programs for these athletes, the athletes in turn are used as models for the promotion of the company’s products.

Red Bull has also invested in the media and TV shows as a secondary way of creating awareness among its customers. The Red Bull’s commercials displaying real life situations have had a high impact on the life of consumers. The commercials aim to present to the customers how Red Bull ‘gives one wings’ to fly over the hard situation. The Events sponsored and organized by Red Bull have also been recorded and can be accessed at various stores. The company has a website that allows people to view their events and the time they are to take place. To increase its media coverage, Red Bull monthly produces magazines, such as the Bull’s Eye. The magazine compiles the events, location of the events, and the athletes that are to participate in the events. In addition, the magazines outline news and important messages that are relayed from the top management of the Red Bull Company and the headquarters staff members (Keller, 2008).

SWOT Analysis of the Red Bull GbmH Company

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) relates to a structured planning approach used for the evaluation and identification of a company’s internal and external factors that may be favorable or unfavorable with regard to achieving its objectives (Keller, 2008).

Strengths

The strengths of the Red Bull Company are dependent on the company’s leadership, marketing efforts, and the Cadbury Schweppes alliance. In the energy drinks industry, the Red Bull company is the leader owing to its promotional events, well-targeted campaigns and the sponsorship programs that the company takes part in. The annual company’s sales are approximated to be a billion in every financial year with the leading markets being the United States and Europe. The UK market provides an 80% market share for the business. In Europe, the Red Bull Company accounts for two thirds of the energy drinks sold. The market trends of the Red Bull Company are in favor due to the reduced number of new arrivals as compared to when the company first occupied a market position. Consequently, the emerging products are facing the challenge of making the business impact compared to the already established business of the Red Bull Company. The Red Bull Company has strong marketing philosophies with a target market of the age group of 18-25. The interactive marketing trends create high impact on the returns that the Red Bull Company realizes at the end of the financial years (Fullerton & Merz, 2008). The company’s brand has also been an advantageous point to the continued growth of the business. The young generation associates with the Red Bull products with the result that they believe the company provides for them by offering their product. The sponsorship and the events that the Red Bull Company takes part in is a platform that has helped the company increase its impact in many parts of the world. Partnership with companies like the Cadbury Schweppes in Australia has enlarged the territory of power for the Red Bull Company (Bodner, 2011). In addition, Red Bull draws its strength from being a market leader. Red Bull boasts of 70 percent market share globally in the energy drinks sector (Fullerton & Merz, 2008).

Other strong points that the Red Bull Company enjoys in the sale of its products include a good reputation among its consumers and the other competitor companies; the company has a strong brand equity and financial position. Moreover, the products that the Red Bull Company produces are unique compared to the similar products that other companies try to produce. The copycats of the business have not had a chance to enjoy the market share that Red Bull enjoys in the market. Communication is a vital element in attaining success in any business entity. The communication system of the Red Bull Company is considered a priority in the management of the headquarters offices and regional offices that are situated in the different countries where the company has opened its branches. Red Bull ranks 79^th among the global ranks that are worth at least $8.154 billion, and ranks 4^th among the most popular soft drinks brand behind Coke (Diets, Lights and Zero), Coca Cola and Pepsi (Brasel & Gips, 2011).

Weaknesses

Red Bull Company has maintained its original product with few innovations and diversification strategies in the products they release to the customers. Apart from the energy drink, the Red Bull Company has the sugar free, and the Red Bull editions that are of different flavors. However, new entry companies use this to their advantage by producing a wide variety of products, which could rob the Red Bull Company of its customers if one of the rival companies came up with products that best suited the customers’ needs. Despite the fact that the company has attempted to diversify its product portfolio, Red Bull is still susceptible to fluctuations in the market (Keller, 2008).

The production of a particular product for their markets creates a vulnerability point that could result in losses for the business of the Red Bull Company, if there was to be a change in the market trends. The reliance on a single product as the main revenue generator for the company makes the company develop a weak point in serving its customers from different market regions; as a result, these market forces could change at any time. Compared to the other companies in the energy drinks market, Red Bull’s products are considered expensive. Despite the high returns that the prices have at the end of the financial years and the sales in various markets, it is also a weak point that the competitor companies might use to their advantage. If one of the competitor companies releases a substitute product into the market at a lower price compared to the prices that Red Bull sells its products at, then the company might lose its place in the markets it dominates. The Red Bull Company has a single manufacturing plant in Austria (Gorse, Chadwick, & Burton, 2010). However, the market demands in the ever-increasing global market poses a threat to expect more production than usually. Inadequate supply of products and services affects the business purpose of meeting the demands of the markets in supplying them with the energy drinks (Bodner, 2011).

Opportunities

Vending has been a strong marketing technique for companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the diversification of their products and reaching customers. The adaptation of the technique to the marketing activities of the Red Bull Company will help the company reach out to many customers and still create a large market share. With a large global business, the Red Bull Company has an opportunity to tap more of the resources that it could get from different markets. Alternatively, the Red Bull Company can also venture into new markets that its competitors have not had high impact on. Apart from the Coca-Cola Company that might be having a large business result in the whole world, the number of countries that Red Bull supplies its products could be a starting point to developing its result (Brasel & Gips, 2011).

Threats

The slow growth of the company’s impact and returns in the different markets poses a threat to the future of the business. As the markets mature, the company share in the market continues to dwindle that is caused by the consumer’s inquiries and loss of knowledge of the business among the customers. Emergence of bottled water with the knowledge that has grown regarding the health benefits that it has to the users is a threat to the sale of Red Bull in the coming years. Despite the company’s new products like the zero sugar drink, another segment of the target market is concerned about the caffeine levels in the Red Bull products. Countries in Europe like Denmark and France uphold the laws that are against the vitamin and mineral enriched products. The restrictions are a hindrance to the increased business effect of Red Bull as it increases its global effect (Pride & Ferrell, 2008).

Future Plans

Red Bull occupies a large market share in both local and global markets; however, other competitive companies in the energy drink industry can occupy the area it dominates. The emerging companies pose a threat of coming up with better flavors of the energy drinks that might sway the customers loyal to Red Bull and as a result, Red Bull might lose its customers. Additionally, customer’s preference to the products of choice might shift making them go for a substitute or change their preference to cheaper products in the markets (Zenith International, 2004).

These factors sum up some of the areas of interest for the Red Bull Company in safeguarding its effects on their customers. Therefore, Red Bull should diversify their products in the markets to help them attract more customers compared to selling a single product. Despite the fact that the Red Bull’s business strategy is aimed to maintain the same ingredient in their drinks, not all customers’ demands are met with the current products that Red Bull offers. Innovation of business translates to the outcome that the company realizes in terms of the returns from their customers. In this respect, the market research should be done with the intention of identifying the untapped resources and areas that the company could turn its advantages to. The company should also invest in product adaptation analysis with respect to the new areas of interest that the company might want to venture. Putting into consideration the current customers, the Red Bull Company can determine the best way, by which the newly introduced products will best suit their current consumers. In the process, it will be saving on the current customers and using them to market the new products they are adding to the business (Fullerton & Merz, 2008).

A section of the market segment that the Red Bull Company targets have concerns regarding the caffeine contents in the products. The fact that there is an opportunity that the Red Bull Company can use to attract more customers can be a way of using for diversifying their products. In addition to this, the company can produce more products to target not only the customers who are in need of non-caffeine drinks. The marketing campaigns of the Red Bull Company have had a great impact on the awareness and sale of its products. However, the result is slowly diminishing owing the new brands that are introduced into the business. Customers change with respect to the changes in the market entries to get a taste of the new products. Diversification can be a counter strategy that Red Bull can apply for ensuring that when the new companies are introducing their products into the markets, they too have products that they can offer to their customers (Brasel & Gips, 2011).

The advertising methods of the Red Bull Company can also be boosted to aid the company in maintaining its power in the markets that it serves. Tools like advertisement banners, postcards, posters, and contact with the customers on the ground serve as the best methods, through which the Red Bull Company can rejuvenate its result in the markets it serves. The Internet is a powerful platform, with the help of which the Red Bull Company can tap to distribute its advertisements and information among the different business areas. The Internet can be used as a way of increasing the sponsorship programs the company is engaged in and at the same time, increase its awareness among different nations that the power of Red Bull has gone down on. These form part of the areas that the Red Bull Company seeks to address in stabilizing its place in the business and at the same time, ensuring its customers are loyal to the company (Gorse, Chadwick, & Burton, 2010).

Conclusion

The Red Bull Company started its business from the development of the energy drink previously known as Krating Deng, manufactured in Thailand; it has soon grown to become a global product that is now popular all over the world. The support and sponsorship events of the company have had high impact on the establishment and development of the business in the local and global markets. The competitive companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi play a vital role in the continuous accomplishment of the business and the emergence of other companies in the energy drink industry. With the stretch that the Red Bull Company has made in marketing its products, it is not enough to maintain their market position. The new entrants, already existing competitors, and substitute drinks create the threats that the Red Bull Company faces and is to address.

Video games appeared as a phenomenon in the 1970s and changed the entertaining sphere in the world. The games went through the long time of their development starting from the simple arcade, the Pong playing on black and white console and finishing the 3D colorful games with the effect of presence on the huge screens. The effects of the games are quite different ranging from positive as improvement of the motor skills and critical thinking to negative in the view of violent behavior. However, some of the effects can be controlled with the help of filter bubbles that filter the audience of the game, the age of game or ads presence in the game. Moreover, the games are not just filtered but also are placed on the special platforms like Steam that allow the game to choose form the wide variety basing on their popularity, category of year of release.

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Introduction

The emergence of video games in the 1980s has completely changed the media and the entertainment sector understanding. If children and adults amused themselves with the TV, the new culture of video games came to replace the “old”. The impact of video games was tremendous immersing people into the opposite social reality with the created characters and style of life and thus changing the social perception and life priorities of the contemporary people. The world of video games brought both positive as educational, technical and negative as violence causing and time waste effects on the humans’ lives (Therrien, 2016). However, the extraordinary ability of video games to give a new look on human reality donates to their growing popularity. Moreover, in the period of 1980s-1990s the magazines about the video games started appearing explaining the audience more about the video games, their history, strategies and techniques (Taylor, 2009). Then, the games were selected with the help of the filter bubbles limiting the advertisement and content of the games. The framework of the research includes researching the information with the primary and the secondary research involving methods of literature review and its analysis. The proposed research will look at how filter bubbles affect the spreading of Gaming knowledge and culture throughout the years. The main question involves two subquestions:

1. What kind of cultural impact have video-games had in the world throughout the years, positive or negative?

2. Which sorts of games, if there are any, may have been promoted or looked down upon due to the presence of filter bubbles?

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History of Video Gaming

The history of video games started in the 1970s and particularly in i972, when the first arcade game, the Pong, was introduced. However, there was an opportunity to play the game in just the convenient stores and restaurants that were filled with children aimed at playing the game. In 1977, the first at-home games console, Atari 2600 was released and its sales were estimated at more than 27 million items (Newman, 2017). A year later, the assortment of the games was extended as the space invaders heated the arcades and came at the pick of popularity. In 1979, the most popular Atari game, Asteroid was introduced to the public and made thousands of people go mad over the game. The 1980s brought even the greatest development to the gaming as the Mario was introduced, then becoming the legendary one. In the same period, the game industry approached $12 million in revenue and it was just start (Newman, 2017). In 1989, Nintendo released the first handheld system, the Gameboy, with worldwide sales reaching almost $20 million (Newman, 2017). In the 1990s playing games became computer-owning America’s favorite pastime that was more popular than watching TV, reading books or going to movies (Nelson, 2002). In this time, the Nintendo and SonyPlayStation were released that made the process of game playing more convenient as those were connecting to the TV screen. Moreover, the period of the 1990s was rich at the world known games as Mortal Combat and War Craft that are popular even nowadays (Therrien, 2016). Nowadays, the players who are 2.2 millions worldwide can play any game at any device like computer, mobile phone, console or other (Newman). The game industry is estimated at $108 billion revenue from the playing business in 2017 (Newman, 2017).

With the start of the video games appearance there was no gaming journalistic but in 1974, the periodic Play Meter was released and majorly covered arcade games but a great deal from a business angle (Rignall, 2015). However, the first magazine explaining the gaming culture, its technologies and strategies managed to appear just in 1981, called Computer and Video Games magazine (Rignall, 2015). Moreover, just a year later the electronic gaming magazine launched by Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz appeared. Along with American gaming explanations, the European ones appeared as well covered CVG. However, those magazines were rather vague with lots of wrong information but at least young programmers could learn some basics of programming. In the 1980s with the revolution in the gaming business, the gaming magazines started searching for the enthusiastic playing-journalist who could describe the games form the first person, using the gamers’ slang (Dierckx, 2017). The first magazine that managed to follow this popular style was British magazine called Personal Computer Games that became popular even away the Britain. Thus, all the press was divided into “the “serious” games industry press, and the more hyperbolic consumer/enthusiast gaming press (SAGE Journals, 2018). However, it is quite clear which one was more popular among gamers. The time passed and with the appearance of computers and the Internet, the online gaming magazines became more popular along with the gamers’ blogs and social apps and other systems that allowed find the suitable information.

Game Culture and its Effect

Cultural Effect of Video Games

The video games appeared in the world bringing a serious cultural impact, while changing forms of social perceptions and life priorities. One of the major peculiarities of the game culture was its quasi-autonomous structure during the 1980s (Kirkpatrick, 2012). As long as the gaming culture could not be explained with any of the existing methodology, creators of the gaming were ready to apply any alternative approaches used in education, technical social subjects to explain the sense and meaning of the games. This phenomenon could be explained with the fact that the games’ themes were quite different and no single method could clarify the various methodological principles suitable for each gaming audience. Gaming culture even extended in the groups of people just playing the single game and those playing the other and thus the fight for the better game that can be compared with the football fans who hate each other cheering up the various teams. However, all the games had an ability to provide people with the new insight of human reality that made the games more and more popular.

Along with the different cultural effect within the diverse game groups, the attitude toward gaming varies among the different racial and ethnical groups. According to the statistic of the recent Pew Research Center report, the black, white and Hispanic have the diverse view on the effects the gaming creates. Most blacks find the gaming possess the most possibly positive as 19% of black supposes the gaming promote teamwork and communication, 22% of black think the gaming promotes strategic thinking and problem solving, while just 8 and 15% of the white accordingly think of the gaming as the positive process (Anderson, 2015). However, 28% of while think that gaming is a waste of time that is dramatically diverse from the black and Hispanic who enjoy the playing (Anderson, 2015). Some other studies by the Entertainment Software Association revealed that the majority of players were the boys aged 12-30 or those who are on their studies and do not have the family to care about, thus the boys spend all their free time playing (Campbell, 2013). The percent of girls playing games are significantly less as girls are more prone to surf the social apps or watch TV serial and films (Conditt, 2017). As long as the games players are most often the black or Hispanic boys, the games developers are usually the while men accounting 85%, while the black and Hispanic usually do not take part in the games creation (Campbell, 2013). Thus, the gaming sphere shared its occupation to the white in the development sector and black into gaming while male are more prone to playing that girls.

Positive Effect of the Video Games

Different people concentrate on both the negative and positive effects of the video games but there are still things that are undoubtedly positive teaching of the games. The technological modeling of the video games allow the people learn some events of the reality in the parallel one and take some priceless lessons while gaming. Moreover, some skills as the strategic thinking and planning are being developed while playing as strategic games make a person think beforehand for making appropriate steps. The video games are the perfect free time spending as they make person entertaining and thus bring the positive thoughts and mood that is good for a human’s health (Kirkpatrick, 2012). The video games have a peculiar positive effect on the physical health of the people. Players need accurate hand-eye coordination to play a shooter game as well as other games where opponents lurk in each corner and nook. Players should shoot enemies as well as keep an eye on other hostile enemies that could make surprise moves (Prot, et.all., 2012) Video games playing can peculiarly improve fine motor skills, those that require the fingers and the thumb use. The continues movement of fingers on different buttons with the eyes and the mind on the action requires excellent motor skills. Video games are often concentrated on going from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ in order to solve problems, overcome obstacles and resolve conflicts. Thus, playing video games can aid in becoming a good problem-solver (Granic, et.al., 2016). Moreover, video games players learn to make best possible decisions each time during a game because they learn while going through their mistakes playing. There are also games, which require creative solutions (Minecraft) to games that require immediate decisions for the best actions in a minimum period. Thus, the video games bring lots of favor to the development and health of people, while these do not abuse playing.

The video games for kids are learning as they usually play video games with a friend and other people that help kids become better at socializing. In addition, virtual multiplayer games provide kids with a chance to communicate with players from all over the world, while connecting with them on some level. The children also need to operate as a team, while playing multiplayer games (Cesarone, 2014). After adjusting for kid gender, age, and number of kids, the studies found that high video game playing was associated with a 1.75 times higher intellectual abilities and 1.88 times higher general school competence. Moreover, the teachers and mothers of the playing children did not report any problems with the mental health of their children. The researchers also found that the more time children spent playing video games, the less relationship problems with their peers, they had. Results were taken from data of the School Children Mental Health Europe project, where children ages 6-11 took part. The research involved teachers, parents and children themselves to respond the questions into the interactive tool. The study evaluated academic success, mental and physical abilities as well as socialization level among children. Thus, children with a less educated or single mother shortened time spent for video games. These results of the study indicate that children who often play video games can be socially connected with peers as well as integrated into the school community (Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, 2016). Thus, playing video games has even larger positive effect on the children who learn the necessary skills for the future life while playing.

Negative Effect of the Video Games

Despite the above positive effects of the video games, their spreading often promotes violence of diverse forms. In particular, 89% of best-selling video games utilize violent elements to different degrees (Glaubke et al., 2001). The violence in the form of killing in the video games is justified by its necessity to obtain the aim and win the game. The violence of the virtual world can be quite often transmitted into the real world, regarding the real people and life situations. Investigators found that people who played a violent video game during three consecutive days demonstrated aggressive behavior increases as well as hostile expectations every day they played. However, the researchers say that the negative violent effect of the video games tend to increase according with the time spent playing. Of course, the people who played the game once are not so aggressive but those who continue playing for some period of time tend to become more and more violent one (Nauert, 2015). However, the people who played the video games with no violence involved were shown no negative effect on their behavior. Moreover, the video games players are often fully occupied with the games and refuse to take part in any other activities like the family celebrations that leads to his/her relations suffer due to lack of attention.

The video games possess the negative effect on the physical health of people playing. The reason is that a person while playing is constantly sitting and quite often eating some snacks that leads to such health problems as obesity and heart diseases. The research show that about 40% of gamers have the problems with an extensive weight as they tend to sit and do not get enough physical activity (Drea, 2017). Moreover, the consuming of some snacks leads to the digestive troubles, acne appearance and other consequences of extended eating and lack of activity. Some gamer tend to play 24/7 including the night hours and thus skipping the sleep that leads to the problems of the mental health and increase in aggression level. Other medical issues occurring with the gamer are eyestrain, backaches, headaches as well as carpal tunnel syndrome along with the pain in hands, wrists, shoulders and elbows. Moreover, the studies shown that shooter games could cause atrophy in the hippocampus, which means they use the caudate nucleus more, while the usage of the hippocampus is less as a result, and thus the hippocampus started showing signs of atrophy.  The hippocampus atrophy has a negative effect as people with lower amounts of grey substane in the hippocampus are at higher risk of appearing schizophrenia, depression, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s disease (West, et.al., 2017). Thus, while promoting some useful skills, the video games playing also leads to some serious health troubles.

Filter Bubbles

What is Filter Bubbles

The term “filter bubbles” was coined by author and Internet activist Eli Pariser to denote the now diffusive activity of the “algorithmic, invisible editing of the web” (Pariser, 2011). For instance, Google suits its search results to personal users using 57 various indicators including their computer model, browser and location. Using these algorithms, every user receives peculiar search results adapted to what the algorithm thinks that person expects and wants. Pariser explains that the search result is filter bubbles, “a person’s own personal, unique world of information that he/she lives in online.” Moreover, this process is not just restrained to search engines as recently a range of news websites have started experimenting with personalization, including the New York Times, the Huffington Post and Slate. Thus, nowadays readers have an absolute control over which topics or authors reach them, while any need to pay attention to opinions or articles they don’t want to. This problem can be glanced elsewhere in the media world, while even traditional news reporters seek to narrow their information in order to suit a target audience. For instance, the partisan news outlets like Sun TV News in Canada prove that this sort of search results to a peculiar set of views is becoming dramatically common (Burles, 2018).

One more the Filter Bubble examiner, Eli Pariser found the unintended results of web personalization. He stated that technologies which, while not vanishing into society’s fabric, are increasing ubiquitous, and thus are less evident in the critical evaluation of data. Pariser’s gracefully, readable book is not a polemic but a work of consumer advocacy. The author found a great amount of the filter bubble usage by Google engineers, everyday searchers, scholars, marketers as well as national security agents. He assures that search settings as well as social media let people presanitize their information environments without the full realization of the information channels lose. Thus, millions of metrics starting from the Facebook “likes” and to the aggregated history of chosen banner ads, people accrue into a continuous profile of encounter information that people deem objectionable or unpleasant. The ending bubble deflects different new information sources, and still does on promoting the apparition of comprehensive search. The probable cost is not the only althea to good search, but also to the establishments of an informed citizenry (Pariser, 2011).

Filter Bubbles in Video Games

Along with the social media, the filter bubbles can be used in the video games, particularly online ones. The online video games are filled with the information about the location, possible age of the computer user and thus the suitable video games can be offered to the player. The search information by the internet used can also provide the video games providers with the information about the type of the video game, the potential gamer can like. The same thing is with the offline games as they are establishing the minimum age for playing the games in try to safeguard the children from the possible violence present in the games. The audience is the most essential part in creating the video games as each game usually has its playing audience. Moreover, the creators also have in mind that largely parents buy video games for their children instead of children doing it themselves (Dierckx, 2017). However, it is not difficult to sway the opinion of someone buying for his or her child rather than themselves, and this lack of firsthand interest in the product being bought made it that much more likely to purchase something subpar. The offline games can be sold even without any filter bubbles as it is impossible immediate to understand their content and suitability for any peculiar person. Thus, it can take weeks or even months before the quality of a video game was known to audiences, thus giving gaming studios time to recoup their development costs. Nowadays, the gaming industry is much more difficult to develop games that do not carry any offend and are suitable for the peculiar audience.

The presenting of filter bubbles changed the gaming industry significantly. Taking advantage of the existing gaming resources demands not only recognizing the differences between true and false data, but also recognizing what information is missing. Filter bubbles fundamentally create a situation where algorithms preferentially filter what information individuals can see. From a theoretical perspective, filter bubbles should have an essential effect on video gaming for a plenty of reasons. The filter bubbles restrain exposure to specific games with regard to advertising. If marketers do not think that people would be interested in the game, they will simply be filtered out. The advertisement appeared during the online video games play is also filtered based on the human’s prior searches in the Internet. If a human had surfed for the cars sites, then a possible advertisement of these sites would appear on the screen during the games. However, this type of filter bubble is completely absent from the offline games that do not contain any ads. Thus, the filter bubbles are more likely to present into the online games than in offline versions.

The filter bubbles also limit information regarding the content of the game. Thus, people who are looking at games will likely only get positive information about the game and will not get a god feel for the game as compared to a more objective and comprehensive review. This type of filter bubbles involves the social impact as humans’ reviews are corrected and deleted in case of their negative comments on the games. Moreover, the games developers try to change the games content according to the negative reviews correcting them. However, the degree to which a game can change (from horrible to good) varies greatly from game-to-game and genre-to-genre, for instance, games which are heavily dependent upon storyline and content such as RPGs are very difficult to repair. First person shooters on the other hand which are more gameplay driven can be changed radically, especially those which are designed to be played predominantly online. The challenges with FPS that are dependent on an online community however is that they are very dependent on their community of players, because without other players the game has little value (if any) (Burles, 2018). Thus, the filter bubbles make a great job in filtering the information that is available to the player and they have such a dramatically influence on the video games, adds present in them but the offline versions of the games are more likely to be subject to the filter bubbles.

Steam Gaming Platform

When most people consider the PC gaming the first thing they are probably imagine is a monitor, a keyboard and mouse accurately arranged on a desk. However, the days when PC gamers had to be confined to an office-like place, perched inches from their screens are over. Nowadays, with the development of living-room centric VR platforms, it is the best time to move away from the ancient stereotype. This is where the Steam Machine grows, a squad of hardware from an extensive range of manufacturers with a common purpose, PCs that are created for shared areas, with a big-screen TV in the form of the hub for all of it (Osborn, 2018). Steam is accessible via its website, offering an easy to use program that provides a consumer an access to its services with a help of a functional desktop interface. Using Steam, a person can purchase the recent, popular video games as well as free demos and lesser known titles, thanks to a huge list of developer partners. The platform offers games divided into various genres with a full game description (Kain, 2016). The Steam platform is comfortably designed with the categories that sort the games as for example, the arcades or sorted by the year of release as well as it popularity among the gamers and others.

The Steam client program also keeps its social dimension, allowing a gamer to share a lot of content and information with all the community of the platform and each game. The forums can also help a gamer to find partners for casual gaming or interest groups. Moreover, a gamer can also stay connected with friends to start a game or discuss it. Last but not least, the Steam platform is known for its great promotions, which can lower the games’ prices by up to 75 that allow the gamer play diverse games, the most modern one for a lower cost (Osborn, 2018). Furthermore, each single one of them maintains an operating system grounded fully on the Steam client, an application, which since 2003 has given a concise catalog of computer games, which are capable of being kept locally in the same directory (Osborn, 2018). The Steam platform can be compared with the iTunes of gaming, or for example Spotify that provide their used with the list of songs sorted by all possible categories. Steam that started off on Windows, is now available in the market on both Linux and Mac as well that allow more number of users utilize the Steam service.

Steam requires a person to create an account in order to begin acquiring content, but it’s a fast and effortless process. The Steam’s interface is rather similar to the website that allows downloaded games be installed directly onto the computer for just a few seconds (Kain, 2016). Moreover, a person can find all bought games in the library, where he/she can manage them in different ways, including a section for Favorites and  Recently Played. Another big benefit of Steam is that updates of game are automatic, that’s why a person won’t have to bother about madly searching for a patch. However, the Steam platform also has its disadvantages as lack of a few issues, while it’s outdated interface has begun to show its age, for example, loading store pages often takes more time with the client, and a gamer cannot open various pages in various tabs, meaning a gamer is forced to anticipate for a page to load that enables to do anything else (Kain, 2016). Moreover, the catalog navigating isn’t always easy as it’s absolutely lacking in maneuverability when a gamers want to browse randomly through the playlists. This is particularly apparent considering that the games list is coming out every day and continues to extend, without offering a real way to order these new titles. Ultimately, its increasingly normal for new games to demand activation through Steam to function properly, a security method that makes it impossible to share games with friends.

Conclusion

To conclude, the video games emerged in the 1970s in the form of the arcades as Pong. Since then, the games have started their evolution being played on the gaming consoles, computers, and IPods and smartphones nowadays. The games have changed the popular culture altering the ways of free time spending for thousands of people. The video games treatment is rather diverse in different countries and race while the white suppose the games to be waste of time, the black in their majority suppose the game to be a wonderful and useful time spending. The same different effect the video games have on people, for example, its positive influence include the development of motor skills, strategic thinking and problem solving. However, the video games promote the violence in people and is cause of weight and heart problems. The video games can be filtered with the filter bubbles that play a major role in dividing the games for some types and be suitable for peculiar target audience. The filter bubbles influence the ads in the games, reviews of the games and allow the developers change the games according to the reactions to them. Moreover, the video games have been recently become available on the platforms like Steam that allow the gamer download the games and sort them into their own ways for convenience of playing.

The paper analyzes the personality of the protagonist of the ancient Greek tragedy play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. It aims at investigating whether king Oedipus meets the classical characteristics of the tragic hero. The paper discusses the concept of a tragic hero in ancient literature, using the texts of Aristotle. It identifies the basic concepts and features, associated with the tragic hero and identifies motives and themes, which contribute to the tragedy of the drama. In addition, the paper applies the concepts of a tragic hero to the interpretation and analysis of the personality of king Oedipus from Sophocles’ play. The paper concludes that king Oedipus has many features and characteristics, which allow readers identifying him as a tragic hero.

Oedipus as a Tragic Hero

The concept of a tragic hero has changed its characteristics thought the history of arts and culture under various social movements and tendencies. Therefore, it is not surprising to observe significant differences in the interpretation of a tragic hero in the ancient and modern literature. However, the initial essence and peculiarities of a tragic hero as the protagonist of a tragic drama should refer to its preliminary interpretation, found in ancient Greek texts. Aristotle provided a detailed outline of the tragic hero and explained his/her basic features and characteristics. In fact, Aristotle’s perception and treatment of a tragic hero is regarded as canonic and prominent for ancient pieces of dramatic arts. Therefore, it is important to apply Aristotle’s interpretation of a tragic hero in order to comprehend and analyze the personality of protagonist in Oedipus by Sophocles. According to the classical Aristotle’s definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero, since his personality is not entirely perfect and accomplished, but also characterized by some weak judgments and negative constraints.

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Aristotle’s Definition of Tragic Hero

According to Aristotle, a tragic hero possesses a couple of prominent characteristics, which define him as such. Interestingly, the philosopher highlights the exclusive responsibility of the tragic hero in his/her misfortune and ill luck, rather than impacts of the environment and external factors . Particularly, Aristotle states that a tragic hero is the one, who accepts wrong decisions and false judgements, which inevitably lead to his/her personal and social decline and destruction . A great role in the development of a personality of a tragic hero belongs to the concepts of justice, morality, and ethics, since the violation of any of these concepts indicates the beginning of the personal tragedy. In total, Aristotle identifies several prominent features of the classic notion of a tragic hero.

Firstly, the hero becomes tragic, when he/she makes mistakes in the actions and judgements, which then negatively affect him/her and the surroundings. In Greek, there is a term of hamartia, which literally means the flow of mistakes or false decisions . Notably, hamartia can be regarded as a state of mind and soul, which makes characters accept new decisions and make new judgements under the sudden and intensive influence of emotions and impressions. This particularly explains why the tragic heroes accept harmful solutions and destroy the spiritual balance. In other words, a tragic hero feels internal disharmony with oneself and the world, which makes him/her experience hamartia and encounter failures and ill luck.

Secondly, the internal misbalance and judgement errors lead to the negative changes in heroes’ fortune and success. Aristotle views the reversal of fortune as a direct consequence of personal mistakes and errors in judgements and actions. This concept is known as peripeteia, and it defines the irrevocable and unexpected changes in one’s good luck and prosperity. In a classical definition, a character is tragic in case his/her experiences decline his/her fortune and cannot reach success anymore. This can refer to both personal and social well-being and development. Thus, the sudden absence of good luck is another prominent characteristic of a tragic hero.

Furthermore, tragic heroes also inevitably realize the matter of their ill fortune and link it to their previous actions and decisions. The self-awareness of consequences of individual thoughts and judgements is called anagnorisis, and it denotes the individual acceptance and recognition of faults and mistakes. Largely this notion identifies the emotional strength and power of a tragic hero, it attempts to identify the cause of misfortune and rethink personal behavior. That is the reason why Aristotle regards such characters as heroes, as they are able to recognize their misbehavior and errors.

Finally, another important feature of Aristotle’s tragic hero is excessive pride and arrogance. Notably, the concept of pride does not bear any positive connotation in regards to tragic heroes, but rather reflects on their inner excessive self-confidence and self-esteem. Aristotle explains that this phenomenon (hubris) appears as a psychological protection against personal helplessness and despair. When tragic heroes realize their faults and mistakes, they cannot merely bear with them and seek alternative ways to prove their importance. The excessive pride is the feature of dangerous arrogance and fear at the same time. In such a way, a tragic hero loses his/her possessions, reputation, and even freedom or life.

It is possible to find numerous examples of a tragic hero in the world literature. For example, the protagonist of the classic Greek tragedy Medea meets the definition of a tragic hero. According to the plot, Medea possesses many virtues and positive sides, which make her an adorable and wise woman. However, the fear of death and mistreatment of other’s intentions, Medea makes serious mistakes, which lead her to the despair and depression. Therefore, the readers can observe a personal tragedy of a person and trace the causes and effects to her decisions. The other examples of tragic heroes include Hamlet (Hamlet by Shakespeare), and Romeo (Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare), where protagonists experience misfortune due to their personal errors and faults. Besides, one of the brilliant examples of a tragic hero in ancient drama is the personality of king Oedipus, as described by Sophocles.

Overall, the concept of a tragic hero possesses strict definition and features, as depicted by Aristotle. In Greek dramatic arts, this concept plays a crucial role and identifies a specific type of a character. Aristotle thoroughly identifies personal and social motives in the development of personality of a tragic hero, pointing to his/her distinct characteristics and qualities. One of the most prominent examples of a tragic hero can be found in Oedipus by Sophocles.

Oedipus as a Tragic Hero

At the beginning of the play, readers get a positive impression of King Oedipus and praise his strong sides and virtues. The author describes Oedipus as a caring and attentive governor, who attempts to provide comfortable conditions for his people and increase their welfare. Thus, when Oedipus learns about the plague, he immediately orders prophets to learn about its causes and the ways of solution. Oedipus claims, “A blight is on our harvest in the ear, / A blight upon the gazing flocks and herds, / A blight on wives in travail and withal Armed with his blazing torch the God of Plague”. This statement clearly shows that the king is concerned about the issue of plague, estimates its danger and threats, and aims at the solution for the sake of all citizens. Thus, the readers can evidently characterize Oedipus as a hero.

Additionally, Oedipus frequently speaks about the importance of love as a driving force of wisdom, harmony and peace. He says “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: / That word is love” (Sophocles, 2012, p. 43). Throughout the story, Oedipus demonstrates favorable attitudes to his wife, shows respect and affiliation to his surroundings, and cares about others. As a result, it is possible to define Oedipus as a hero, due to his numerous positive sides and strengths. However, at the same time, this character also possesses many characteristics, typical for a tragic hero.

When speaking about Oedipus in terms of a tragic hero, it is essential to emphasize his excessive self-confidence and pride. He states:

Fear? What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random, best we can. And as for this marriage with your mother—have no fear.

Though Oedipus was a kind king, he could not bear any impatience or disobedience from his people. Any orders or statements, which doubted his governing or behavior, caused a wave of anger and arrogance. Particularly, Oedipus rudely behaved with the blind prophet, who dared to accuse him of the murder of the previous king. Oedipus could not stand such expressions and insults the old man without any justification, and reasons for that: “I say thou art the murderer of the man whose murderer thou pursuest”. These words caused the sequence of events, which led to the tragic ending of Oedipus’ kingdom and life, and marked the personal tragedy and decline.

Additionally, the readers can observe the moment, when Oedipus accepted the wrong decision and made the false judgements. Trying to escape the predicted destiny, Oedipus committed many crimes. In particular, he killed a group of strangers for his own safety, one of who appeared to be his father. After that, Oedipus married a woman, without knowing that she was his mother, and continued reigning in the city. Apparently, such actions cannot be considered as misbehavior, considering the fact that Oedipus was not aware of all truth and facts. However, it is also true that he could choose another path and carefully assess all the situations before making the final decisions. The sequence of such events has caused the personal and social tragedy of king Oedipus and turned him into a tragic hero of the play.

Furthermore, as a tragic hero, Oedipus realizes his faults and regrets about his mistakes. According to Aristotle, this is also one of the key characteristics of the tragic hero. Oedipus claims “Stop, my children, weep no more. Here where the dark forces store up kindness both for living and the dead, there is no room for grieving here—it might bring down the anger of the gods”. In these words, Oedipus expresses the helplessness of the situation and his inability to influence it. In other words, Oedipus as a tragic hero experiences inner imbalance and disharmony with himself, regarding the past actions wrong judgements.

Finally, Oedipus can be viewed as a tragic hero, taking into account the ending of the play and mysterious death of the protagonist. When describing the death of Oedipus, the author says “the lightless depths of Earth bursting open in kindness to receive him”, emphasizing his noble origins and all good things he has done throughout his life (Sophocles, 2012, p. 85). At the same time, Oedipus himself does not reconcile with himself and cannot justify his past actions. His death is another indicator of the tragedy of his life. Overall, Oedipus meets all the characteristics of the classical interpretation of a tragic hero.

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Conclusions

To sum up, Oedipus can be regarded as a tragic hero, considering the classical interpretation of this concept in dramatic art. It is true that the personality of Oedipus bears all features and qualities of a strong leader and beloved hero. The author skillfully describes virtues and strengths of Oedipus, highlighting his high spiritual and leading potential. However, at the same time, Oedipus is not a perfect character, which possesses exclusively positive characteristics and ideas. Thus, he is arrogant, proud, and extremely self-confident, what makes him lose his primary aim and goals. The existence of such features, according to Aristotle, makes Oedipus a tragic hero with all its negative consequences and outcomes. In general, Sophocles’ Oedipus is a brilliant example of the ancient Greek dramatic art, which fully renders the atmosphere of the time and its ideas.

 Mass shootings are the current urgent problem in the United States of America. However, such issue is aggravated by the fact that these shootings often occur at the school campuses and schools. The “mass shooting” case is determined as the gun violence act against four and more humans selected indiscriminately (perpetrator is not included) who are killed. In addition, one more definition of mass shooting states that it can be an event including shooting even without death of individuals or any cooling-off period. These two definitions are denotations of the term “mass shooting” since they present its direct meaning. At the same time, this expression can have the secondary meaning that is connotation. According to Christensen, people all over the world often associate the term “mass shooting” with American phenomenon because “while U.S. has 5% of the world’s population, it sees about 31% of public mass shootings.” Thus, hearing about a mass shooting, people think about the USA problem even if it has occurred in the other corner of the planet.

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The words “gun” and “weapon” are firmly rooted in the American cultural mythology developing since the colonial period of American history. The link between American identity and guns is so strong that even if people do not mean weapons, they talk about other things using gun-related descriptions. For example, people shoot their aims; they talk about their strategic missteps using the words “misfires”, “short fires” meaning antagonistic remarks; the phrase “locked and loaded” is used when humans are ready to go (Lafrance). Even politicians and journalists apply gun vocabulary in their speeches and media conversations underlining guns power in the US experience. Lafrance draws readers’ attention to such media phrases as “Candidates ‘target’ their opponents, lawmakers ‘stick to their guns,’ advocacy groups ‘take aim’ at hostile legislation and reporters write about a White House ‘under fire.’”Moreover, American history “remembers” Western pioneers who used glamorized handguns as instruments, and it was one of many marketing ploys applied for a material enrichment. However, in the 19^th century, the gun policy of the first settlers was stricter than the current policy of weapons in the USA. Their laws were directed against the free possession of weapons, and each person who came to the village had to be checked at the sheriff’s office (Lafrance). Hence, the Wild West laws were strict enough and significantly differenced from the American gun policy talking about the last 30 years. Thus, gun mythology and imagery are an integral part of American cultural identity that has been forming for many years in American population’s mind.

The history of school shootings and violence is characterized by constant changes and continuity. In terms of change, the number of school violence incidents has significantly grown during the last 20 years and had gotten a more altered and deadly form (Rosque 305). From the middle of the 1990s, there was an unprecedented number of school shootings, and weapons brought by students killed many fellow students and teachers. Additionally, the previous school violence incidents involving individual disputes are considerably different from the current school violence called “rampage”. Thus, Rosque suggests, “as a result of an increasing concentration of youth in schools, the type of school violence changed in the 20th century” (305). Furthermore, riots and protests organized by students who became more politically conscious occurred more often in addition to the isolated acts of extreme violence like school murders by Andrew Kehoe in 1927. (Rosque 305). However, during the 1980s – 1990s, this level decreased to nearly 70% (Rosque 305) until Columbine massacre in 1999 (Guy). It was the turning point caused the Columbine Effect.

Nowadays, researchers pay people’s attention to the emergence of an American strange paradox. It consists in the fact that while overall violent-crime data are down, the rate of mass shootings “appears to be on the rise, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics” (Pappas). The FBI tried to narrow the determination in a 2014 report focusing on the situations with “active shooters”. They found that 160 incidents of active shootings took place between 2000 and 2013, and their number continues to rise. During the first seven years of this period, the level of mass shootings per year was nearly 6.4. Unfortunately, during the next seven years, it increased to 16.4 (Pappas). Thus, these 160 shootings caused 480 people’s deaths and 557 wounds without killers’ deaths. Contrarily, according to FBI, the rate of the overall number of violent crimes decreased for 14.5 percent from 2004 to 2013 (Pappas).

Scientists try to find the right approach to fight against mass shootings, in particular at schools and school campuses, and reduce their level to a minimum in order to overcome such issue as the American phenomenon. Considering the reasons of shooting events, researchers have four assumptions as for their emergence in the USA. The first assumption states that mental illness can cause violence with gun use; the second implies that gun crime can be predicted by psychiatric diagnosis, while the third states that loners with mental problems can do shootings, and the last is about gun control that would not prevent any mass shootings (Metzi et al. 240). Actually, each of these assumptions has its place, and mental health plays an important role in mass shootings emergence. However, mental illness related issues that rise after American mass shootings often reflect bigger cultural anxieties and stereotypes about such matters as politics, social class, and race, or ethnicity. These statements become unimportant when each mass shooting is responsible for all crimes with gun use in the USA. However, the young psychopathic shooters do not feel emotional connection to other people; they do not feel remorse or guilt. Moreover, they enjoy doing harm to other individuals. Thus, Andrew Golden liked to torture little animals, in particular kittens. Additionally, in 1998, he and Mitchell Johnson caused shooting at Westside Middle School and killed four girls and their teacher (Fox, & DeLateur 127). Another school shooter Eric Harris hated useless humans and described in detail their murders in his personal journals. Some of young killers like Dylan Klebold suffered from the feeling of loneliness and otherness. Some of such people hear voices; some of them do not understand what they are doing, and feel disconnected from the reality (Rosque 308). However, mental illnesses are not the only reason for mass shootings’ growth.

School violence is one of the most urgent problems of the American society, but some researchers believe that gender issue relates to shootings emergence as well. Many students say that they are afraid to visit school because they are not sure to come back home. Moreover, the majority of teenagers know who takes gun to school, and 63% of their parents think that school shooting is very likely to take place in these communities (Kimmel & Mahler 1440). Thus, the scientists have to look for the additional reasons of school shootings, and Kimmer and Mahler state that “understanding school shootings must take gender seriously – specifically the constellation of adolescent masculinity, homophobia, and violence” (1440). Thus, interactions and relationships among children, local school, violence and gender cultures should be take into account for the school violence study. Interpreting various events using such approach, researchers can note a striking similarity between the different cases. Hence, most of the shooters suffered from specific harassment including gay bait used for “inadequate gender performance” (Kimmel & Mahler 1440). Moreover, these boys did not comply with the hegemonic masculinity norms. Finally, they can be ordinary persons who are overconformists to a masculinity normative construction but not psychopathological deviants. In addition, such construction of masculinity defines violence as a normal and legitimate response to a bygone humiliation. However, mass media impact and American desire for fame are the additional driving forces in mass school shootings.

Mass shooting in the Columbine High School was the reason of the emergence of the phenomenon called Columbine Effect. This massacre that occurred on 20 April 1999 made a sharp terrifying change in guns use at schools and mass violence as a whole. At that day, two teenagers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, killed thirteen people and wounded twenty-four ones. Furthermore, they planned this attack for many months. According to the studies, these two boys admired cruel video games and Gothic music that was very popular at that time.

After the Columbine shooting, the level of mass shootings in the USA increased substantially. Only from 2012 until 2015, Americans witnessed 944 mass shootings; 300 of them occurred in 2015 (Guy). Thus, the Columbine High School massacre caused a significant increase of school mass shootings. The eighteen-year-old boys Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold became the heroes who are not afraid of anything. They brought to school three guns, four knives, and ninety-nine bombes, and killed their classmates and themselves. Moreover, many young people believed that these two adolescents were mistreated and bullied and saw them as perfect persons for worship and imitation. Guy states that 67% of mass shootings directly referred to Columbine case as all school shooters were male “involved imitations of the Columbine attacks.” For example, in 2013, in Oregon, Grant Acord, the seventeen-year-old boy, intended to do ‘a more successful version” of Harris and Klebold’s massacre and hid explosives cache in his bedroom (Guy). In 2014, Peter Thulin and Natalie Carpenter (19 and 18 years of age respectively) planned the same crime at Danbury High School. Later, David LaDue (a 17-year-old boy) planned to kill his family and classmates. In addition, in Florida, another boy of the same age called Jared Kano planned mass shooting at Freedom High School. All these planed shootings were to imitate the Columbine massacre. However, besides these crimes, American people were shocked by the real murders similar to Columbine one.

In 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, Adam Lanza, the male of 20 years old killed his mother and 28 humans including 20 pupils at Sandy Hook Elementary School. According to FBI reports, he was obsessed with Columbine massacre (Guy). The other school shooting happened on 1 October 2015, at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. A 26-year-old person opened fire, killed nine people, and wounded seven other. Additionally, Howard asks, “what should be done and how gun control plays a part. Umpqua has a no-weapons policy on campus.”  Thus, each shooter would like to imitate or even outmatch the Columbine massacre.

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Arizona State University has carried out the researches and come to the conclusion that mass killings and school shootings have a contagious effect. Moreover, scientists states that “an incident is contagious for an average of 13 days, and incites an average of at least 0.22 new incidents (p = 0.0001)” (Sherry et al.). In the USA, mass shootings with gun use take place approximately each two weeks in addition to school shootings that occur nearly once a month. Thus, such contagious nature is based on the desire to imitate the Columbine massacre and exceed each previous imitator. In addition, each mass shooting attracts attention of ordinary people making shooters famous.

The United States population is obsessed with the desire of fame more than any other people in the world are. Unfortunately, the youth or teenagers are more vulnerable to such influences according to their age and psyche peculiarities. They would like to be famous at any price. The situation is complicated due to the free firearm access, and each adolescent can get the gun for his crimes. Moreover, the attitude to guns has changed; instead of hunting and recreation, they are used for defense in public. However, the desire for fame destroys any moral values and human compassion. Pappas states, “A 2007 Pew Research survey of 18- to 25-year-olds found that about half said that getting famous was a top priority for their peers.” Furthermore, television shows promote and advertise fame as one of the most important values; pop music becomes more narcissistic and cocky, and the level of the American youth narcissism is reaching its highest point. The modern students have less empathy than teenagers of the 1970s, and the negative impact was made by various talk and reality shows and reality television that promote bad behavior as a way for the getting popularity. ‘Fame at any cost’ is the integral part of American mentality (Pappas). Most of shooters can get easy asses to any article or video about the Columbine massacre in the Internet and learn in detail each moment of the crime. Also, they can easily find out how to create a bomb. The cruel video games and movies destroy the line between reality and game world full of blood, corpses, and weapons. Thus, teenagers and young people are losing empathy and believe that death is a rather positive moment to reach the fame. Additionally, mass media draw people’s attention to the shooter and brightly describe each detail of the terrible events. Actually, such approach attracts more ordinary people resulting in the rating upgrade and revenues increase accordingly. Contrarily, media have to point to victims and their relatives’ pain, but not describe the killer.

Another way to share shooter’s crime and get popularity are posts on social media. For example, a killer in Virginia filmed one episode, posted his video on Facebook and Twitter “which auto-played on many streams as people shared the posts” (Tufeksi). Unfortunately, he is not the only person who tried to copy the Columbine massacre and become famous. The desire to repeat and surpass predecessors forces the shooters to prepare in advance. For example, Adam Lanza collected news clippings of last mass killings; the adolescent from Maryland was so obsessed with massacre in Columbia that has waited until the same time and only after that killed two persons in a shopping mall. Moreover, in 2014 in Santa Barbara, the gunman killed six people and “left behind a carefully prepared video screed (which many media outlets played or linked to)” (Tufekci). Thus, mass media reports help to create an effect of contagious “fueling” imagination of at-risk humans. One school shooting can cause the next one during a short period. Hence, nowadays shooters have a huge opportunity to show their infamies than ever. They film their terrible manifestoes and post their videos on social media sites.

In conclusion, during the last twenty years, the American youth are turning more and more to violence. From the colonial times, American culture and weapons were closely related, and each US citizen cannot image himself without a gun. Moreover, the modern language is full of gun-related words replacing the commonly accepted ones. Additionally, the free access to weapons only helps adolescents to make their crimes easier. Of course, most of the shooters had some mental problems; however, different other factors had a significant impact on their behavior. For example, the cruel video games and movies, music like Gothic, and some movements affected psyche of the two teenagers who made the Columbine massacre. At the same time, the American desire for fame and obsession with Columbine massacre lead to more mass shootings and pathological desires to surpass the previous killers. Unfortunately, mass media play its negative role in promoting violence and cruelty as the right way to get popularity and fame in the different reality shows and news. Although American youth, in particular teenagers whose personality is being formed, are easy to get influenced by any modern tendency being eager to become famous. The US government has to pay more attention to mass media products and more carefully look for the new ways to solve the problem of mass shootings.  

The U.S. Secret Service is one of the oldest organizations in the USA that performs a variety of functions, including national security, protection of the governmental officials, political leaders and their families. The agency acts in accordance with the Homeland Security center, which directs the actions and function of the service. However, the U.S. Secret Service deals with multiple crimes that violate the national order. The main responsibility of the agency involves investigating the financial crimes, frauds, thefts concerning the domestic and international affairs, which threaten the national security. The financial crimes involve all possible frauds associated with currency, banks, credit cards and bonds. The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for forensic and investigative assistance, as it owns the biggest laboratory with highly educated personnel and equipment. Certainly, it is a specific organization related to the national security.

Keywords: US Secret Security, agency, law enforcement agency, investigation, protection, security, Homeland Security, cyber security

The U.S. Secret Service is one of the most highly organized American law enforcement agencies. Their headquarters are located in Washington DC and perform varieties of duties and responsibilities. The enforcement agency was one of the oldest state agencies in America. Certainly, the USSS is responsible for the state security affairs, as it is under the jurisdiction of the department of Homeland Security in the USA. Their functions concern not only security and protection, but also investigation, detection, persecution and arrest of the most difficult cases, associated with external affairs. The U.S. Secret Service deals with the most complicated missions, which are the financial crimes investigation, prosecution, cyber operations, detection and arrest, missing child cases, legal issues, and security. Naturally, their main purpose is to prevent and forecast the incidents before they occur. Although, the U.S. Secret Service is known as a guardian of the political leaders, it also performs integrated investigations and is in charge of protection.

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Literature Review

Although, it seems that the information concerning the Secret Service is unavailable and confidential, it is possible to find sources explaining the duties and responsibilities of the agency. Such information is mainly available in internet resources. However, many books explore the issues of the law enforcement and the procedure. Naturally, the most essential source of information is the official website of the Homeland Security presenting useful material in the form of separate sections. The issue can be better understood with provided pictures, and historic data. Generally, the website presents quite encouraging facts about the Secret Service, attracting people to participate, and believe in the Homeland Security. The source resembles the advertisement with bright slogans highlighting the advantages and hiding all the minuses of the agency. The information is presented as the general idea, “with honour and integrity we will safeguard the American people, our homeland and our values” (The Department of Homeland Security, 2016). The second essential source is the website of the Cornell University Law School. The text is presented in a more formal form and defines the most important aspects of the US Secret Service duties, authorities, and powers according to the code §3056. However, the source does not provide full information and all the responsibilities of the agency, taking into consideration only public laws concerned with protection issues, and the procedure of arrest. The most essential aspect of the presented web source is the form of presentation. In fact, the bullet points make the process of investigation more comfortable due to the complicated context. This source is available to everyone, but the information concerns mostly the students of law schools and colleges, since it provides the numbers of the sections, what, in fact, can be quite useful. For example, “U.S. Secret Service is authorized to detect and arrest any person who violates section 508, 509, 510, 871, or 879” (Cornell University Law School, n. d.). The last source, which is used in the research paper, is the Education and Career Guide of the Criminal Justice School. It aims to inform about the service, as the additional tool in the Junior Secret Service Program. The report is presented in the clearest form and is directed at the civilians, because they do not have primary knowledge about the enforcement service. Thus, the source discusses the key issues concerning historic information, present situation and plans for the future. It describes the protective duties in detail, and such tasks as investigation, prosecution, and detection of financial crimes. The source describes the current problems as well as possible solutions to change the situation. In comparison with the previous sources, the Criminal Justice School presents the most appropriate information for understanding. However, it is quite similar to the official website. Thus, these two sources offer analogous material in the form of presentation or advertisement. In opposition to them, the Cornel University Law School provides specific and more accurate data. It is hard to criticize the methodology of the presented material, since the characters of the texts are different, despite they all provide official and correct information. The authors do not express disagreement. Nevertheless, the Criminal Justice School highlights the biggest gap in the Secret Service Program, which is the lack of personnel. In fact, it is presented through the positive argument claiming that the US. Secret Service carries enormous responsibilities though it is the smallest governmental agency (Criminal Justice School, n. d.). In conclusion, the presented sources give sufficient information about the main duties and responsibilities of the U.S. Secret Service. In addition, they help understand the system of their work and their mission through the material presented in different forms. Thus, the different presentation of the same information helps understand the true essence of agency’s main task and purpose form different perspectives.

Overview of Missions

Actually, the US Secret Service performs two the most essential missions, protection and investigation. It participates in governmental affairs, and represents the USA on the international platform, since its duties include international and external investigation. They are responsible for life and security of the high rank officials and politicians in the USA and the guests of the country. The employees perform physical protection of the highest leaders of the state, though it concerns only elected officials and their families. Certainly, it is a wide mission, because the protective purposes they provide are integrated. The second essential mission of the US Secret Service is investigation. This aspect of their work is even wider, since it includes different types of crimes, as well as prosecution procedure, detection and arrest. It is one of the oldest services in the USA, which had quite different responsibilities. They were able only to resist counterfeiting. However, now their duties have extended to the legislative tasks. They conduct investigations and protection of the entire payment system of the USA. The Service is responsible for cyber operations, banking system and all national financial operations. The agency controls all financial infrastructure of the USA. The rapid globalization processes create the premises for the enforcement organ to hire more staff. The Secret Service is associated with highly organized security guards, who are well educated, carry firearms and wear expensive suits. However, the organization also needs computer professionals, progressive IT technologies, and well developed intelligence structure. The most famous Secret Service operation in the history of the USA was the Al Capone case. The agency revealed and prosecuted the illegal acts and crimes the famous gangster, including unpaid income taxes (“The US Secret Service,” n. d.). In addition, the agency performs the operations associated with forensic investigations and cases concerning missing children. Thus, the enforcement organization performs a wide range of tasks and is responsible for the majority of the most complicated crime cases in the USA.

Responsibilities of the Staff

The entire system involves special agents, officers and technical support. The Service is subdivided into separate groups, which have different duties and responsibilities. It is necessary to admit that the agency hires the best personnel with developed skills and experience of more than a century. They establish in the country an atmosphere of confidence and trust. The law enforcement agency employs more than 3,200 special agents, 1,300 uniformed division officers, and 2,000 administrative professionals, technical and professional support (The Department of Homeland Security, 2016). Special agent is the most responsible and challenging position, since it demands deep devotedness and risky situations in an everyday life. The special agents are highly educated and trained officers, who wear civilian clothes and cannot be noticed or identified as the Secret Service. Certainly, the special agents perform the most integrated missions. Thus, they have to be trained and educated according to several established programs. The firs stage is the criminal investigation program, thуn the law enforcement education and the last stage is the training course (The Department of Homeland Security, 2016). The practice in the office takes more than six years and transfers slowly to the education of the protective details. The special agent should be ready to time consuming work and long distance traveling. The special officers are the subdivision of the US Secret Service that perform a wider range of protective tasks than the special agents. The officers are responsible for planning and conducting some operations, inspection, safety and emergencies. The officers face more responsibility when performing a protection mission. During such tasks, they require technical equipment, firearms, vehicle and other technical operations. Certainly, they have to engage in planning, monitoring, screening and arresting. The Uniformed division officers perform the function of protection, which concerns only the US Secret Service facilities. The most essential investigation mission depends on the work of the administrative officers. Their duties concern both investigation and support. The US Secret Service hired the most talented and skilled professionals for this mission. All the professionals carry a big responsibility for the national protection and security.

Protection Mission

The high rank political officials are the main objects of the protective mission of U.S. Secret Service. It concerns not only the President and his family but also all the elected politicians. Moreover, the secret agency is responsible for the security of the foreign guests of the national importance and different state events, such as the inauguration, the Independence Day and other celebrations. They are responsible for the protection of a variety of individuals of national importance. The mission of protection involves the process of minimization of the external threats, through the detection of the sources of danger and identification of vulnerabilities. As the Cornell University Guide informs, the U.S. Secret Service is authorized to protect the following officials according to the Code § 3056: the President, the Vice-president, their families, the president-elect, the vice-president-elect, and the other officials in the presidential office (Cornell University Law School, n. d.). In addition, they are responsible for the security of the families of all the officials listed above. The protection of the elected politicians and their families is performed only within 120 days of the general elections. The Service is responsible for guarding the former President and his spouse for lifetime with the exception of divorced couples. They have to protect the children of the former President until they are 16. However, it applies only during the period of 6 month, after the President leaves the office. Certainly, the agency needs more professionals, since their responsibilities extend every year. The agency must perform their responsibilities abroad if the president gives such an order. It concerns the situation when the official is representing the interest of the USA abroad, if the president finds it necessary. The Secret Service directs the National Threat Assessment Center, which coordinates the protective mission and the investigation issues.

Investigation

The investigation mission is the biggest portion of the Secret Service responsibilities and duties. The main area of investigation concerns the financial crimes and different money laundering cases. In addition, besides the challenging protective operations, they are responsible for all the financial crimes and threats coming from outside the boarders. All the financial counterfeiting against USA is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Secret Service. It concerns both currency and the governmental issues, as well as credit cards affairs, forgery and theft, issues concerning the US Treasury checks or bonds. In other words, the duty of the U.S. Secret Service is to protect financial structure of the USA from the domestic and foreign crimes. Their financial investigations are performed according to the Counterfeit Detection Act of 1992, which describes the details of the currency, concerning its printing rules and production peculiarities (Criminal Justice School, n. d.). Moreover, the responsibilities of the U.S. Secret Service involve the need to assist the federally insured institutions. In the other words, all the institutions coordinated by the state are under the jurisdiction of the Secret Agency. In fact, they conduct the investigation process associated with telecommunications. Their participation involves examinations of the payment terminals. The Secret Agencies have the possibility to attain the most reliable information with the help of the most innovative polygraph examination, which presents psychological data. The administrative specialists deal with the banknote investigations. They apply different specialized microscopes to detect the printing methods and investigate the characteristics of the printing. Detection of the counterfeiting becomes the most essential issue in the US Secret Service investigation process, because of the rapid development of the technologies and worldwide availability of the U.S. currency. Moreover, it is also connected to the improvement of computer technologies in the world, since the Secret Agency deals also with cyber security.

Cyber Security

The majority of crimes are associates with the computer technologies of the contemporary world. The U.S. Secret Service also considers the cyber security as an additional program when performing the investigation function. Certainly, it is closely connected with the financial infrastructure of the country, since all the essential currency and bond operations are performed with the help of web resources. Malicious software, hacking attacks, takeovers of accounts, emails and other web crimes become more common and cause different breaching of data and information of the national importance. In order to predict the cybercrimes, the U.S. Secret Service initiated a specific program aimed at the electronic misconducts. The subdivision of special agents concerning the electronic crimes is responsible for the program. Moreover, the Service established a computer response team in case of emergency located in the Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, the agency extended its cyber security to the international level. Every year it establishes partnerships with different law enforcement organs from different countries in the world, providing cyber security worldwide. The Secret Service provides training in the area of technological equipment in order to make the personnel aware of the innovative technologies and be able to extract the necessary information form the mobile devices, USB units, skimming devices and cellular phones. Thus, the U.S. Secret Service deals with all the possible cyber crimes, which concern not only financial issues but also all other law violations and information breaching. Certainly, the Secret Service is authorized to detect and arrest as the other law enforcement services in the USA.

Detection and Arrest

The U.S. Secret Service is able to arrest and detect the criminals, who violate all possible laws described in the previous sections. The law enforcement agency has the right to detect and arrest all the criminals convicted in forgery. They can detect people who possess any kind of equipment for printing or production of money and other financial tools. Moreover, they are authorized to hold a person that intends to willfully threat to kill, kidnap, or harm the President, his family or other officials. Any individual, who acts against the prescribed law enforcement system, can be arrested, if his/her intentions threaten the security of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Bank System or association, and other institutions, which are described in the sections 213, 216, 433, 493, 657, 709, 1006, 1007, 1011, 1013, 1014, 1907, or 1909 (Cornell University law School, n. d.). They are authorized to arrest the criminals in the area of electronic frauds, access violations and breaching of the data under the national insurance. Officers and agents act under the directions of the Homeland security, and can execute warrants, have the legal right to carry firearms, arrest without warrants in case of reasonable circumstances. The citizens of the USA can also assist the Secret Service in performing their duties. Moreover, the agency can offer them a reward and pay for the relevant information about crime cases.

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Forensic and Investigative Assistance

Although the Secret Service is an independent organization with a unique structure, and specific responsibilities and duties, it can also serve as an additional investigational office in different forensic affairs and provide investigation assistance for other enforcement establishments. It is necessary to admit that it is the strongest investigation support in the world since the service possess the most acute and unique technologies, which can be applied to solve the cases. It has a well-developed and comprehensive criminal investigative program and system of analyses. The Secret Service has a particular investigative team, serving this function, and can be involved in separate specific cases. Certainly, they are asked to assist with the most complicated situations. The Secret Service is a central office for the forensic laboratory. It is an exceptional service in the world, since it has unique investigation analysis system. Secret Service laboratory possesses the biggest in the world library of inks for detecting writing characteristics and handwriting peculiarities. It is the only laboratory with the International Association for Property and Evidence accreditation (The Department of Homeland Security, 2016). Moreover, the agency applies certain blending technologies. They deal with the documentary photography, video and audio production, and speaker recognition technologies, modeling of the animation, simulation of the events with the help of three-dimensional data collection. The Secret Service presents the most essential informative technologies, which can be widely used by different enforcement agencies. In addition, the successful work of the U.S. Secret Service is the main reason why the government extends the duties and responsibilities of the agency. Thus, the government authorized the Service with additional specific responsibility to assist in forensic and investigation issues concerning the missing children. Actually, the agency only provides the necessary technical assistance and analyses in the procedure of the missing children cases.

Conclusion

Thus, the US Secret Service is a unique organization, which performs the governmental mission and tasks concerning the national security. The citizens can attain any kind of information concerning the organization. It is possible to find a variety of web sources and printed literature with the necessary information about the Service. The official website gives the most essential material in the form of short articles about all the duties and responsibilities of the agency. The Secret Service is authorized to perform two the most important duties: protection and investigation. Each of them includes some additional functions. Certainly, the agency is responsible for life and security of the first political leaders of the country and official guests. However, they also investigate the most serious crimes threatening the national security, including financial crimes, cyber security, assistance in forensic and investigation the missing children cases. Thus, it is a unique organization, which performs not only the function of national security but also engages in a wide range of duties and responsibilities.

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Possible Ways of Reducing Emissions in the Italian Transport Sector

Increased Research and Investment in New Automobile Technology. The Italian government can increase funding for research into the automobile industry to enhance the adoption and the use of clean fuel as well as identify more new ones. Examples of the fuels that can lower emissions are liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas, and solar and electric power among others. For instance, pure electric cars draw propulsion from electric motors powered by batteries, and they emit 0g co₂/km (European Environmental Agency 16). The zero emission from such cars is a benefit that makes the option feasible and reliable. Between 2000 and 2013, Fiat registered a decrease in emissions at a rate of 26% (European Environmental Agency 20). The strategy used was engine downsizing or shifting to smaller and lighter cars to lower fuel consumption as well as emissions, as the smallest car has a mass of 1145 kilograms (European Environmental Agency 20). The above results depict that the downsizing strategy adopted by Fiat is remarkable; thus, it proves to be useful. A report conducted in Europe between 2004 and 2013 revealed that a reduction in the mass of vehicles had a correlated decrease in fuel consumption as well as emissions (European Environmental Agency 15). The Italian government should, therefore, take a leaf out of their book and sensitize local car manufacturers as well as importers of vehicles to increase the production of fuel efficient vehicles.

Adoption of biofuel is another alternative to the traditional fossil fuels such as diesel and gasoline. The biofuels are combustible fuels that do not necessitate significant changes in the traditional internal combustion engines and serve as a solution to the problem of emissions (Price Waterhouse Coopers 43). The fuels are made of biological material, as opposed to the inorganic components of traditional fuel. The raw materials may include corn, sugar cane, and rapeseed among others. Examples of biofuels are ethanol, biogas, vegetable oil, biodiesel that are made from crops. In fact, rapeseed is a standard raw material for ethanol in Europe (Price Waterhouse Coopers 43); thus, Italy can take advantage of the availability of this crop. Apart from the benefit of lowered emissions, biofuels also recycle atmospheric carbon dioxide unlike fossil fuels (Price Waterhouse Coopers 43). By 2006, the European Union had an output of 49 million tons of biodiesel, thereby making it the biggest producer in the world (Price Waterhouse Coopers 43). Biodiesel either substitutes or blend with the traditional diesel; thus, the motorists have an option of replacing the traditional diesel or mix it (Price Waterhouse Coopers 45). Bioethanol also replaces or blends with petrol, and it has a market share of 20% in the European Union (Price Waterhouse Coopers 45), thereby making it hold the second position in the biofuels sales. In Germany, 1900 stations are selling pure biodiesel/b 100 (Price Waterhouse Coopers 48). The above information shows that biofuels are gaining popularity in Europe; thus, Italy has the advantage at its doorsteps. The government can, therefore, urge the car manufacturers to make modifications in the engines to enhance the usage of biofuels. Also, the government can invest in the production of clean fuel as well as encourage investors to subsidize it so as to create a vast supply for motorists in the market.

The Italian government can also promote and fund the improvements of the functions of the motor vehicle and motorcycle engines to increase their efficiency, thereby contributing to low fuel needs and emissions. For instance, an ordinary car loses 62% of power, thereby necessitating improvements (Price Waterhouse Coopers 51). The innovation to increase the performance of the engines may take time as technology grows. However, even though, it is not possible to salvage all the lost power since improvements lead to greater energy retention, thereby lowering fuel consumption. In diesel engines, for instance, the variable geometry turbocharger is a commendable improvement that reduces fuel consumption (Price Waterhouse Coopers 51). Also, the enhancement of combustion control is another option, and this entails the induction of force through turbo or supercharging to lower the power loss (Price Waterhouse Coopers 51). Another potential improvement is cylinder deactivation that is common in the United States (Price Waterhouse Coopers 53). The need for deactivation results from the fact that when the engine is under partial load, it does not need the piston displacement; thus, it is possible to deactivate the unwanted cylinder by closing the intake and exhaust valves (Price Waterhouse Coopers 53) to lower fuel consumption. Italy can, therefore, adopt such measures to reduce fuel consumption that will lead to lower emissions. 

Hydrogen is another potential clean fuel that can solve the menace of high levels of emissions; thus, the Italian government can consider promoting its usage. The use of hydrogen fuel leads to the operation of quiet engines, and water is the only emission (Price Waterhouse Coopers 62). The hydrogen-driven engines are highly efficient, and they have no side effects such as vibrations. However, it may take many years to have the hydrogen-driven engines on the road (Price Waterhouse Coopers 62). One of the reasons for the occurrence of problems is that hydrogen requires multiple transport and storage systems as it is a highly volatile gas at room temperature; thus, it requires compression or cooling to a liquid state (Price Waterhouse Coopers 63). However, the greatest burden is the construction of the infrastructure for producing, storing, and transporting hydrogen; however, once the system is in place, the costs will be small. Therefore, the government of Italy can adopt hydrogen, as a clean source to lower the emissions from the transport sector. 

Another option to reduce fuel usage and car emissions is recovery of the brake loss. Upon the application of brakes, a speeding car loses power when struggling to come to a halt or lower the speed, and this concept is called inertia (Price Waterhouse Coopers 74). This power, however, can be transformed into kinetic energy to help to propel the engine (Price Waterhouse Coopers 74). Regarding the above fact, there is the need to develop a regenerating brake system to help lower the power loss. When such power is recovered, it reduces the consumption of fuel, thereby cutting the emissions. The Italian government can, therefore, encourage or make it mandatory for the car manufacturers to install the feature in the cars. 

Incentives to Manufacturers. The Italian government can encourage the car and motorcycle manufacturers to invest in the production of engines that emit tiny amounts of particulates such as soot as well as exhaust gasses. Owing to the fact that the companies may have to bear an extra cost of improving the engines or procuring the necessary technology, the government should consider rewarding them with benefits such as reduced sales tax, lowered import tax for the materials required to improve the engines or subsidies to avoid increasing the manufacturing costs. The strategy of sensitizing the car manufacturers to produce clean automobiles is feasible, as the firms cooperate and try to observe their social responsibility towards the environment. For instance, in Europe, some companies have responded positively to such initiatives of manufacturing cars with low levels of emission. The examples are Peugeot, Renault, Fiat, Toyota Motor Europe, and Citroen among others whose cars emit 120 g co₂/km (European Environmental Agency 20). Research also shows that in the European Union, 55 out of 84 vehicle manufacturers met the level of emissions set by the union (European Environmental Agency 23). The above data proves that if Italy takes such initiatives at the national level, the manufacturers can comply with them; hence, this will be a milestone in the battle towards lower emissions.

Penalizing Car Manufacturers for High Emissions. The Italian government can set the maximum allowable levels of effluents by vehicles and encourage the car manufacturers to produce cars whose emissions are below the set standard. As a way of compelling the firms to respect the directive, the government can impose fines on them if they do not meet the required standards. The penalty can be in the form of excess emission premium, as it happens in the European Union (European Environmental Agency 29). The formula for calculating the penalty can be excess emission/distance to the target multiplied by the vehicles a company manufactures in a year and the amount of money set for a given volume of excess exhaust waste. Thus, such strategy forces the car manufacturers to comply with the set standards to avoid losses through penalties. The Italian government can, therefore, adopt and implement the strategy at the national level to discourage the car firms from an irresponsible behavior of producing cars that pollute the air.

The Use of Diplomacy. Other than penalties and subsidies, the Italian government can negotiate with car manufacturers to have them voluntarily accept the idea of reducing emissions. Such action provides a basic strategy as it convinces and promotes goodwill and social responsibility towards the environment, without expecting any reward because the manufacturer is aware that the environment is beneficial. The move will encourage manufacturers to observe the balance between financial gains and social responsibility towards the community and the environment. There has been a similar attempt in Germany as the government sought to communicate with the car firms to make them accept their role of protecting the environment. In 1978, the German automobile industry voluntarily agreed to reduce fuel consumption by 15% through the manufacture of fuel efficient vehicles (Price Waterhouse Coopers 32). The firms also agreed to improve fuel efficiency by 25% in 2005, and both agreements were favorable (Price Waterhouse Coopers 32); there are similar deals in Japan and Korea as well as the European Union. In such agreements, the actualization of the target is dependent on technological development that changes the different characteristics of cars to lower the fuel consumption; thus, the agreement is largely dependent on the free will of the manufacturers. Regarding the above information, Italy can adopt the same measure to convince the automobile industry to participate in the battle to save the environment from air pollutants. 

Formulating and Implementing Anti-Pollution Laws. In addition to the incentives and penalties, the government can formulate laws to protect the environment, and the directive may compel the manufacturers and assemblers to install some additional features in the new cars. The law may also require motorists to have some features fixed in their old cars to meet specific environmental requirements. For instance, in the United States, there is the clean air act amendment of 1990 that set standards regarding emissions (Price Waterhouse Coopers 36). Also, the California low emission vehicle legislation that applies to diesel and gasoline vehicles requires vehicles to have emission control technology such as nitrogen oxide reducing catalysts and particulates filters among others. Such laws significantly contribute to the reduction of emissions, thereby protecting the environment from pollutants. Regarding the above examples, Italy can borrow such rules and compel motorists and manufacturers to have such features installed in vehicles to reduce emission that implies the creation of environmental rules at the national level. 

Encouraging Bicycle and Public means of Transport. Bikes offers cheaper and a clean form of transport that also have benefits for the riders. The bikes help to reduce the number of cars on roads as well as traffic congestion in which cars waste fuel on idling mode, thereby increasing pollution. Also, the use of public transport such as buses and railways is also another viable option as it promotes the movement of a vast number of people in fewer vehicles on the road and reduces the level of emissions. In Netherlands, people of all ages use a bicycle as their form of transport for short journeys, and they cycle for an average of five kilometers a day, which totals an average of 900 kilometers per year per person (Statistics Netherlands 9). Italy can, therefore, adopt the strategy of Netherlands and invest in public transport as well as paths for bicycles to encourage their usage to complement private car transport or replace it when possible. 

Problems Italy Might Face in Curbing Air Pollution

The Customer’s Mindset. The path to success in propagating the environmental idea or concern in the automobile industry begins with the promotion of the acceptance of the environmentally friendly cars in the market to create demand for the same (Price Waterhouse Coopers 78). Customers are always skeptical or reluctant to buy new products; thus, they may not readily accept modified and eco-friendly cars due to the fear of poor performance or short lifespan. The above issues imply that despite the government pressure on manufacturers to switch to the production of eco-friendly vehicles, the clients may not readily accept the product so that there may be weak demand in the market, thereby killing or frustrating the dream of having clean cars. The Italian government, therefore, will face this challenge; thus, it might need to sensitize the masses and assure them that the new cars will perform the same as the traditional cars or even better. 

The Cost Implication. Inventions and innovations are accompanied by associated costs that may affect the government, manufacturers, and even the customers. For instance, to implement the carbon dioxide technology in the car industry, the manufacturers will have to change the process and procure new materials while hiring new staff or training the existing ones (Price Waterhouse Coopers 80). Also, the government will bear the cost of investing in the required technology through training the manufacturers as well as building the necessary infrastructure for the new fuel alternatives such as hydrogen that need a complicated storage and transport system (Price Waterhouse Coopers 63). If the government considers promoting alternative forms of transportation such as a bicycle, there will be high costs of redesigning the infrastructure to create bike paths. For instance, in Netherlands where a bike is a primary form of transport, there are over 35,000 kilometers of bike lanes (Statistics Netherlands 73). On the other hand, the customers will also bear the cost passed incurred through increased prices for new cars. Also, if the government requires a modification of vehicles already on the road, their owners may have to incur the associated costs of having their vehicles modified to meet the government requirements. The Italian state may, therefore, have to offer incentives or subsidize car manufacturing to address the increased costs of eco-friendly vehicles. 

Loss of Business. The oil industry is a major sector in the economies of different countries as oil is a product widely used in all countries, and the suppliers sell it at the local as well as international level. The implementation of the environmentally friendly technology in the automotive industry, therefore, means that oil demand and usage will reduce. The implication, thus, will be that the oil sector will start losing business and may retrench the workers. Also, some businesses such as gas stations, transporters, and oil miners will have to close due to lack of business. The government will, therefore, have to bear in mind that the implementation of a clean form of transport has its problems that require close attention.

Potential Sabotage. No business is willing to lose the market for its products or services; thus, the entrepreneurs may try to use all means they can to safeguard their commercial interests. Regarding this issue, the oil sector right from mining, refining, wholesaling and retailers may have to gather to disapprove of the idea of clean automobile technology as it will negatively affect their business. The companies may, therefore, collude with car manufacturers as well as influence the political leadership to derail the dream of converting the conventional engines to the eco-friendly engines that use less or no oil fuel. The Italian government will, thereafter, face such problem when implementing the clean technology so that the administration must be prepared for such issues.

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Conclusion

Motor vehicle and motorcycle emissions are the effluents emitted from the tailpipe of the engines, and they pollute the air by discharging soot and gasses into the atmosphere. There are some ways in which Italy can alleviate the problem. Firstly, it is necessary to devise modern engine technology that allows the driver to use solar and electric power, biofuels and hydrogen among others. Improvement in engines to reduce the loss of authority and adoption of a regenerative braking system are also viable options. Secondly, the administration can also give incentives to car manufacturers to encourage them to produce clean vehicles. Thirdly, laws regarding environmental pollution are also a possible method. Fourthly, setting an excess emission charge will discourage the motor industries from building cars with high levels of waste. Fourthly, the government can engage the automobile industries in diplomatic negotiations to make them accept social responsibility towards the environment. Lastly, the government can reduce private cars on the road by investing in public transport and encouraging people to use it as well as the bicycle carrier. There are considerable potential problems the government will face. The first issue is customers’ attitude as they may not easily accept the modified cars. The second problem is the cost implication that the vehicle manufacturers, consumers, and the government will face. Thirdly, the oil sector will lose business and may start retrenching workers. Lastly, the government may face sabotage from the oil industry as the entrepreneurs may use all means to safeguard their business. Regarding the above information, Italy has some ways to reduce pollution in the transport sector, but there are also challenges. The leaders, therefore, need to carefully plan the way to address the issue as well as handle the consequences.

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Social and Economic Indicators

Economic Indicators

Eritrea, under the leadership of a sole political party the People’s Front for democracy and Justice, is a command economy in which the government centrally determines the income, prices, investments, and production (Volz, 2011). In comparison to other African countries, about 80% of Eritrea’s population engages in subsistence agriculture, although the sector contributes a minimal share to Eritrea total output. Additionally, Eritrea is among the most highly secluded and economically stagnant nations. It has been governed under emergency rule since 1998 (Volz, 2011). The country’s rule of law remains fragile, while the economy is extremely underdeveloped. In recent years, nearly 9% of the population has fled the nation. According to the World Bank semi-annual Global Economic Prospects report, Eritrea is expected to produce a real growth in GDP of 3.0%, 4.0%, and 4.3% in 3 years’ time (Volz, 2011). However, the United Nations department of Economic and Social Affairs projects Eritrea’s growth to be 7.3% in 2015 and 6.8% in 2016 (Wang, 2014). In 2000, after the conclusion of the Eritrea-Ethiopian war, the state has strengthened party-owned businesses and military use to accomplish President Isaias’s agenda regarding development. The Eritrean government has strictly controlled the utilization of foreign currency through restricting its availability (Connell, 2011). Most private companies that can be found in Eritrea operate together with government partners. The exact datat on food in the country cannot not be obtained since the labor force percentage and erratic rainfall continue to affect economic development as well as agricultural production (Habtom, 2014). Generally, the county’s harvest cannot fulfill food demand without purchases of supplemental grain. In a few years, the production of gold, potash, and copper is anticipated to increase the economic growth, but the military budget will need to be competed with investments and development plans (Connell, 2011). Global food prices, international sanctions, and management of such social problems as low skills and illiteracy will successfully determine the future of Eritrea’s economy.

Income Distribution

Domestic industries are developed in Eritrea with the available policies that aid in meeting indigenous necessities, aiming at equal distribution of wealth. Through the policy of self-reliance used by Eritrea, there is growth in goods production for domestic usage and a decrease in inequality (Debesai & Reddy, 2014). Eritrea follows the basic principle of ensuring the citizens are the main beneficiaries of the nation’s resources. In comparison to other African nation, both poor and rich, the wealth gap is significant, making it almost impossible to narrow it (Debesai & Reddy, 2014). The income distribution in Eritrea is minimal wealth spread widely; ownership of land is equitable, while property rights are legally defendable (Debesai & Reddy, 2014). Land reforms have leveled income in rural regions. However a significant number of citizens still languish in poverty.

GDP

The Gross Domestic product (GDP) in Eritrea was valued $ 3.86 billion in 2014 (Habtom, 2014). The value of Eritrea’s GDP represents 0.01% of the world economy. In Eritrea, GDP averaged $1.27 billion since 1990 until 2014, attaining a record high of $3.86 billion in 2014 and an all-time low of $0.34 billion in 1990 (Volz, 2011). The World Bank reports the GDP of Eritrea. See figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Eritrea GDP (Thomson, 2016)

Health Measures

Eritrea has focused considerably on controlling communicable conditions and changing the lifestyle and standards of living among the Eritrean population, leading to a shift in disease patterns (Cooper & Besada, 2016). In addition, environmental factors contribute to the epidemiological changes in contagious and non-communicable illnesses. However, the burden of diseases in Eritrea as compared to other underdeveloped nations continues to be dominated by communicable diseases, with non-communicable conditions becoming the core cause of mortality and morbidity (Cooper & Besada, 2016). Nonetheless, diarrhea, acute respiratory infection (ARI), and other infectious conditions are the leading causes of inpatient and outpatient mortality and morbidity. Their occurrence rate decreased or remained consistent in comparison to other causes of morbidity (Cooper & Besada, 2016). In 2003, the leading causes of deaths in health facilities in Eritrea were liver disease, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, and hypertension, summing up to 35.5% of the overall Eritrea’s death rate (Cooper & Besada, 2016). Furthermore, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, and hypertension surpassed malaria as the leading causes of deaths in hospitals. See the causes of deaths distribution in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Causes of deaths in Eritrea (Tesfagiorgis, 2010)

Education Measures

In Eritrea, education is compulsory for children under the age of 15. The academic year runs from September till June. The learning system includes pre-school education for infants aged 5-6 years, elementary school that takes 5 years for children aged 7-11, junior secondary that runs for 2 years, and senior secondary school that runs for 4 years (Habtom, 2014). When students reach the 10^th grade, they are allowed to choose whether to undergo technical school for 3 years. The Eritrean government sponsors a national program known as Mahtot (Tesfagiorgis, 2010). In this program, children in grades 9, 10, and 11 are obligated to work while on school holidays for 2 months in various agricultural establishments. These activities include picking cotton, terracing, such reforestation services as planting trees, water projects like irrigation and building canals, and maintaining and producing school furniture (Habtom, 2014). Furthermore, Eritrean government engages in compulsory practices. For students to graduate, it is mandatory to complete their final 12^th year of military training and schooling at the Sawa Center for Education and Training in remote Western Eritrea. See Table 2 below describing students’ enrollment in the 12^th grade and at tertiary institutions (Thomson, 2016).

Table 2: Enrollment statistics for Eritrea (Thomson, 2016)

Vulnerability to Climate

Eritrea as an undeveloped nation is situated within the semi-arid and arid Sahelian region. It is defined by harsh, challenging conditions, so it is essential to manage and adapt to the effects of changes in climate (Tesfagiorgis, 2010). Generally, a larger percentage of Eritrean population is settled across semi-rural and rural regions, with their main source of income generated from animal husbandry and crop cultivation. In addition, the primary hindrance to these people is water scarcity (Tesfagiorgis, 2010). Presently, the country is projected to suffer significantly from climate change effects, such as decreased soil moisture, extreme droughts and constant dry spells, a growing variability in rainfall, a decrease in precious water sources like run-off and boreholes-run-off excess water from rain flowing on land, and a 4^oC increase in temperature come 2050 (Habtom, 2014). Moreover, these climate changes will significantly affect Eritrea’s agricultural sector and water resources, thus, escalating the nation’s existing challenges of food security and development. In the recent years, the Eritrean government has tried to counter the impacts of climate change with the help of various relevant stakeholders and international development partners (Volz, 2011). The government invested in programs and initiatives, such as developing sprinkler, pump, and drip irrigation systems, installing solar panels for water pumps across the country, building various dams, reservoirs, and ponds, and creating small-scale irrigation schemes (Debesai & Reddy, 2014). Therefore, these solutions have helped farmers to cultivate their land, ensure food security, and earn a secure income efficiently.

Percentage of the Poor

Eritrea is one of the world’s poorest nations. Almost 66% of the population lives below the poverty line (Tesfagiorgis, 2010). According to a report called Dimension of Poverty in Eritrea, the general poverty rate in Eritrea is 66.40% with 70.32% in urban and 64.64% in rural areas (Tesfagiorgis, 2010). In 1998, almost 1 million individuals migrated to a neighboring country Sudan because of the severity of war, droughts, and rampant poverty, reducing the resident population to 3.5 million (Tesfagiorgis, 2010). There was an extreme humanitarian emergency encountered by half of this population in 2000, connected to the epidemic of respiratory infections, malaria, and diarrhea. Eritrea faces inadequate basic requirements to aid in countering crises of disease, want, and homelessness. A decade ago, 13% of Eritrean population had access to sanitation, whilst 22% could access safe water (Tesfagiorgis, 2010). During the same time, the poor healthcare system and prevalent malnutrition resulted in low life expectancy of 50.8 years and high infant death rates, with every 70 deaths per 1000 live births (Tesfagiorgis, 2010). Just like any other country, poverty (BPL) is calculated based on money value. Consequently, Nakfa 150 per capita per month is considered extremely poor, and Nakfa 240 per capita per month is the poverty line. See Table 3 below for data on poverty.

Table 3: Poverty in Eritrea (Tesfagiorgis, 2010)

Access to the Internet

Eritrea registers the lowest percentage of cellphone ownership worldwide (Habtom, 2014). The telecom sector of the country functions under a state-owned monopoly for mobile and fixed services. Until mid-2016, mobile penetration was almost 7.4%, and fixed-line Internet usage was rare (Thomson, 2016). The situation intensified because of minimal use of computers. About 2% of households own a computer, while the majority of computer literate people live in the country’s capital Asmara (Debesai & Reddy, 2014). The sector of Internet Service Provider (ISP) is open to competition. However, there is visible progress in the Internet and mobile sector, since the Eritrean Telecommunication Services Corporation (EriTel) is currently rolling out a 3G (Third Generation) mobile network. Nonetheless, effort is still required in order to enhance the availability of services in the telecom infrastructure (Habtom, 2014). In May 2016, the Eritrean state declared a work program to improve telecom infrastructure with the aim of covering rural areas, enhancing services quality, and safeguarding the support of telecom infrastructure by solar power to substitute the lack of better electricity network (Thomson, 2016).

Relationship of Eritrea with Organizations

Eritrea joined the International Monetary Fund in July 06, 1994 (Volz, 2011). The country became eligible to borrow from the IMF enhanced structural adjustment facility. This happened because the county has the same characteristic as the other member countries qualified to borrow from the IMF’s ESAF, which is low per capital income (Thomson, 2016). The ESAF refers to an IMF lending facility that was created with the aim of offering assistance to qualified low-income developing member states that are undertaking comprehensive programs associated with structural adjustments in order to strengthen their external payments positions and foster sustainable growth. This lending facility enables the IMF to assist qualified member countries in implementing wide-ranging structural and macroeconomic reforms, as well as helping them access extra concessional financing (Habtom, 2014). The IMF concluded a formal assessment of the Eritrea in 2009. The IMF called on the government of the country to lessen the large fiscal deficits, which are a key problem contributing to the economic instability of the country. The IMF encouraged the government to adopt comprehensive structural and fiscal reforms. Currently, Eritrea does not have any outstanding loans to the IMF. Additionally, the country does not have any financial arrangements with the IMF (Thomson, 2016). The lack of financial arrangements with the IMF can be attributed to the fact that the IMF believes that the economy of Eritrea is hardly growing. Moreover, Eritrea is the only country in Africa that rejects loans issued by the IMF. Eritrea is neither a member nor an observer of the World Trade Organization (WTO), despite the potential benefits this can bring to the country’s economy (Thomson, 2016).

Social Problems of Eritrea

Inflation

In 2015, the rate of inflation in Eritrea was recorded at 12.5%. The rate of Eritrean inflation averaged 13.98% from 1993 until 2015, attaining a record high of -1.38% in 1993 and an all-time low of 34.70% in 2009 (Thomson, 2016). See the figure below on inflation rates in Eritrea.

Figure 5: The rate of inflation (Thomson, 2016)

Severe Inequality

In Eritrea, equality between women and men remains unstable, despite the fact that they fought alongside each other in the independence wars. Women still encounter numerous challenges in this country (Volz, 2011). Considering the population of employed individuals over 15 years of age, 69% are employed with 16% being women (Debesai & Reddy, 2014). However, Eritrean women have witnessed numerous changes in the social and political values of the society. For instance, they have been allocated 30% seats in the Eritrean parliament.

Malnutrition

Following poor rainfall over the recent years, Eritrea has encountered poor harvests as a result. Therefore, most resident are struggling to survive even though they are capable of growing their own food (Wang, 2014). Moreover, animals are perishing because of water and food shortages. Additionally, the cost of grain in the neighboring markets is beyond reach for most residents. Diseases and malnutrition are increasing rapidly, making villagers desperate. The Eritreans are suffering from the current drought (Wang, 2014). According to recent reports, acute malnutrition among children is about 15% in Habero, Asmat, and Hagaz regions.

HIV

The first HIV/AIDS case was reported in Eritrea in 1998. Over time, the percentage of infected patients increased significantly. By the first months of 2000, HIV/AIDS became the 2^nd leading cause of death among Eritreans (Habtom, 2014). During this time, dominance was at almost 2.0%, with about 30,000 people infected and 1900 new infections annually. However, the figures are relatively low compared to other African nations. The Eritrean government received a warning concerning the HIV/AIDS pandemic (Tesfagiorgis, 2010). Presently, the country has a prevalence rate of nearly 0.6%, with a record decrease of 500 novel infections per year – one of the lowest in Africa. See figure 2 below for a comparison figure across the continent according to WHO.

Figure 6: HIV prevalence (Thomson, 2016)

Political Instability

Eritrea has earned the name of regional peace spoiler and exporter of political instability. It is known for allegedly complicating the determinations to convey peace and the process of economic incorporation of the country (Connell, 2011). In the past 12 years, the ruling political party of Asmara has recklessly disagreed with various nations, such as Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen, and Sudan, claiming numerous material and human losses (Thomson, 2016). The single leadership has operated unlawfully and severely violated and weakened international laws, creating political instability and hindering efforts for development in Eritrea.

War

Eritrea and Ethiopia fought each other over borders from 1998 till 2000. In March 2008, the United Nations peacekeepers stopped patrolling the area (Thomson, 2016). Presently, the nation’s military forces remain strong along the border areas. Crossing the borders between the two countries is prohibited. Additionally, Eritrea has had disputes with Djibouti, which led to serious fighting between the two nation following border disputes in 2008 (Volz, 2011). Travelers are advised to stay a minimum of 25 km away from Eritrea’s borders with Ethiopia and Djibouti.

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Conclusion

Eritrea is among the low-income nations in Africa. As a result, it has faced limited economic opportunities, which has hindered the availability of financial resources. The income distribution in the country can be described as the available wealth being spread widely and land ownership being defendable along property rights. The nation’s GDP was valued at 3.86 billion USD in 2014. Eritrea is faced with diarrhea among other infectious condition as the leading cause of emergency visits. The literacy levels in the country are standard, with education being compulsory for children under the age of 15. The severe climate has increased poverty levels, causing malnutrition, inflation, political instability, and other social challenges. Eritrea is determined to develop infrastructure to aid in overcoming the social and economic hindrances facing the country.

The purpose of the present study is to explore the patterns of active and passive defense in animal species. In particular, it is presumed that active defense requires more efforts, which has a negative impact on animal’s fitness. In contrast, passive defense mechanisms are less demanding — therefore, they are considered to be used more often. The following project is a correlation study that is based on up-to-date credible academic periodicals. It focuses on the exploration of avoidance of predators’ odors, aggressive invasive behavior, alarm calls, chemical and vibroacoustic signals, alloparenting, caudal autotomy, and toxic weaponry of poisonous and venomous species. The obtained results suggest that animals choose passive defense more often because it is safer in regard to their life. Simultaneously, it is identified that in kinships and social animals, the individual efforts applied in the process of defense are typically higher and accompanied by greater collective benefits. In addition, this study reveals that in most cases, animals establish complex defense systems that consist of several passive, or passive and active defenses.

Key words: active and passive defense, animal species, avoidance of a predator’s odor, alloparenting, autotomy, alarm calls, chemical and vibroacoustic warning, attacks, toxic weaponry.

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Introduction

While discussing the defense mechanisms in animal species, it is important to comprehend that this subject is characterized by a great diversity of anti-predatory mechanisms. Despite the fact that all defense strategies are aimed to ensure survival, many of them require significant efforts. Undoubtedly, such efforts negatively affect animals’ fitness. This research aims to establish both active and passive defense mechanisms and to assess the magnitude of the efforts they require. IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT PASSIVE DEFENSE MECHANISMS IN ANIMAL SPECIES RESULT IN A LOWER NUMBER OF HARMFUL EFFORTS THAN THE ACTIVE STRATEGIES REQUIRE, AND THUS, PASSIVE DEFENSES ARE UTILIZED MORE OFTEN COMPARED TO ACTIVE ONES.

Purpose of Study

The goal of this research is to explore credible, up-to-date academic journals that are related to the discussed topic. The design of the study is a correlation research that is based on narrative evidence — qualitative and quantitative data. The purpose of it is to compare and contrast active and passive defense mechanisms of fauna in order to comprehend the efforts they require, as well as their relation to the animals’ fitness. In this regard, it is important to understand that the diversity of species and their habitat encourages the development of a great variety of anti-predatory strategies. Therefore, it is impossible to state that one type of strategy is more appropriate than another. For example, it is natural to assume that active defense requires stronger efforts, but a) it may be more effective than passive mechanisms, and b) it must be utilized when applying less damaging techniques of protection is impossible or irrelevant. That is why the present correlation research does not aim to identity which defense mechanisms are better. Instead, it focuses on investigating the mechanisms and patterns of both kinds of anti-predatory strategies with the aim to increase the understanding of the efforts required and the benefits of this process, as well as to establish the circumstances under which these strategies are implemented.

Results and Discussion

Passive Defense Mechanisms

Avoidance of predators’ odors. Avoiding the predators’ odors is a passive defense mechanism that is typical for many prey species. Hegab with the colleagues (2015) reveal an example of mice avoiding cats’ odors, such as urine, feces, and fur odor. The mechanism of this strategy is the following: when prey species sense the odor of a predator, they limit their activities to apply the defensive approaches. For instance, mice stop foraging and grooming when the odor of a cat is detected. To prey species, the predators’ odor is a sign of proximity of a threat, and thus they do everything to avoid being noticed and caught. Mice, as well as other prey animals, hide or reduce their locomotion activity when they sense the presence of a cat. In addition, they strive to find the place without the predators’ odors (Hegab et al., 2015).

Estimating the costs of this defense, one may rightfully presume that it decreases the changes in food and water consumption. Moreover, hiding for a long time may have an adverse impact on the prey’s health, if the conditions where they are situated are malevolent. Furthermore, in case if an adult mouse stays away from its offspring, it may die without food and warmth provided by a parent. This fact reveals that avoiding the predators’ odors is a passive defense strategy that results in negative outcomes — however, it remains an important way of avoiding the places of predators’ habitat, which reduces the risk of being caught.

Hegab with the colleagues (2015) explain that mammals strive to balance the risks and benefits obtained from avoidance of predators’ odors. To succeed, prey species try to decrease the activity of their organisms in or during high-risk environment or time. In contrast, they attempt to make up for the decreased activity within the safe space and time. This approach lessens the negative outcomes of inability to feed the offspring and other vital activities.

Alarm calls and chemical and vibroacoustic warnings. In contrast to avoidance of the predators’ odor, the alarm strategy is a passive defense in mammals which implies warning the rest of the kin about the proximity of a predator. This mechanism is known as animal altruism (Delattre et al., 2015). The altruism in an animal that produces alarm signals refers to the situation when it puts itself in danger with the purpose of letting other members of the kin run away, hide, or deploy other defense strategies. Producing the alarm signals is possible before the animal is caught, and it undoubtedly increases the risk of being exposed to the predator. Moreover, alarm signals are also produced by the prey when it is already caught. The types of warning vary greatly — in mammals, the warning is mostly produced by releasing noisy sounds.

For instance, scientists studied the communication of forest guenons and detected that social species tend to develop unique sounds for interpersonal communication (Candiotti et al., 2015). This finding depicts a process of social inclusion and integration that occurs by means of sharing the same ‘language’. Under these conditions, the members of the same kin are capable of passing the alarm calls that are understood by their relatives. Furthermore, it is possible to deduce that similar language shared in the kin is a part of a complex passive defense, which resonates through the places where the specific animals are situated. This strategy possesses considerable benefits, whereas the negative outcomes are more prominent at the individual level rather than at the collective one.

Another example is described in the study conducted by Delattre and his colleagues (2015). This research established that termites M. darwiniensis generate chemical alarm signals in order to warn their kin about the approaching danger. Delattre and his colleagues (2015) accentuate that chemical communication is typical for social insects such as bees, termites, ants, and others. In terms of protection of the kin, chemical alarm signals serve to build a composed system of defense. Specifically, releasing chemical warning triggers the processes of protecting the vulnerable members and preparing for active defense (Delattre et al., 2015). The description of this complex defense response in social species of insects implies that these animals combine passive and active defense mechanisms. Moreover, a passive mechanism, such as chemical alarm signal, functions in order to activate an active defense mechanism — a direct attack.

Apart from chemical warning, scientists distinguish vibroacoustic signals (Delattre et al., 2015). This is another approach that allows the species to produce alarm signals, passing them to kin members. Kinships of insects utilize both kinds of signals depending on the situation. Moreover, it is important to stress that not all alarming signals can be attributed to animal altruism. In this regard, mammals that live in kinship and produce alarm signals to attract the predator’s attention are an example of altruism, whereas termites do not attract attention of predators to themselves — their alarm signals have the informative nature aimed to mobilize the activity of the kin for collective defense.

Overall, generating alarm signals in animals is a strong defense mechanism that significantly increases the chances of survival of a kin. In this regard, sacrificing one member to save the entire kin is justified, even though in terms of individual fitness, an animal that produces alarm signals to attract the predator’s attention places itself in a considerable danger that often results in a lethal outcome. On the other hand, in a case when the prey is already caught and its survival is unlikable, altruism behavior is completely justified. The same can be said about the alarm systems of termites, in a case when a member that produces chemical and/or vibroacoustic warning does not risk being caught because of this action.

Finally, it is appropriate to conclude that alarm signals are typically only a part of a complex defense strategy developed by animal species. For instance, after warning, prey species are supposed to deploy other passive defense strategies, such as running, hiding, and expressing unprofitability. Similarly, the alarm calls in predator species function to mobilize the mechanisms of active defense. In other words, alarm calls and chemical and vibroacoustic signals are passive defense strategies that constitute a part of a complex defense in both prey and predatory species.

Alloparental care. Alloparental care is a term that defines an approach to feed, foster, and protect the youth in a kin that is not directly related to adult members who provide care. Thus, alloparenting in mammals is known to be connected to reciprocal altruism (King et al., 2015). This phenomenon is related to the aforementioned animal altruism in producing the alarm calls. Specifically, it refers to mutualism, when kin members help each other in order to be helped as well in a case of such necessity. Both approaches — warning and alloparenting, are typical for various kins. Discussing the costs and benefits of alloparental care, it is important to consider the required considerable individual efforts and the received collective benefits. Moreover, it can be attributed to passive defense mechanism when not only parents, but also other members of a kin, relatives, tend to protect the youth from predators and other threats.

Undoubtedly, providing alloparenting care increases the chances of the offspring to survive. Typically, in a kin, this task is maintained by adult females, as a part of kin selection (King et al., 2015). However, there are cases when adult males also take part in fostering and protecting the offspring of a kin that is not directly related to them (Stiver, Wolff & Alonzo, 2013; Minhós et al., 2015). In this case, individual efforts are higher than the received benefits, because animals risk their lives to rescue the offspring that does not carry their genes. On the other hand, given that a kin consists of related members, more remote genes are saved, which means that by protecting the youth of the others, an adult member enhances the general fitness of the group.

Revealing the examples of alloparenting care and animal altruism, it is appropriate to refer to a study of reciprocal altruism in eastern grey kangaroos that was conducted by King and the colleagues (2015). This study explores the cases of adoption as a means of reciprocal care and a sign of the animal altruism. Alloparenting in kangaroo can be perceived as a passive defense from predators as well as from illnesses caused by different bacteria. The interaction with the adult members, other than direct relatives, means that a baby-kangaroo advances its immune system, and as a result, it becomes fitter (King et al., 2015). This example illustrates that alloparenting serves as a passive defense not only from predators, but also from viruses and bacteria. The risks of such altruism for adults incorporate the increased exposure to predators and enhanced expenditure of energy. Nevertheless, the benefits of reciprocal altruism are greater than the costs. Therefore, this passive defense continues to be relevant in numerous mammal species.

Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that the term alloparenting more often refers to female members of a kin as the main care-givers — besides, a kin is typically characterized by maternal leadership and corresponding hierarchy. The cases when the animal altruism is registered in male species are referred to as mutualism (Stiver et al., 2013). It is appropriate to stress that all these behaviors — animal altruism, alloparental care, mutualism, may be observed within one kin and manifested through providing reciprocal care, such as feeding and defense. In other words, there are instances where these phenomena intersect — however, they can be perceived as standalone behavioral strategies at the same time.

In this regard, an example of mutualism and male alloparenting as a passive defense can be observed in Tessellated darters (Stiver et al., 2013). This bird species is characterized by males being the main care-givers and guardians of the nests. Stiver and the colleagues (2015) explored the phenomenon of mutualism in these birds and detected that they are prone to protect the offspring of one another. In general, it is proven that mutualism is a means of providing care and defense which reveals the significant reciprocal benefits with less prominent costs.

Autotomy. Autotomy is a specific passive defense that presumes voluntary shedding of a part of body (McElroy & Bergmann, 2013). This phenomenon is also referred to as caudal behavior, which is typical for many lizard species (Cromie & Chapple, 2012; Sanggaard et al., 2012). Most species shed their tails — however, in spider species, it can be a limb or a tail, and a sting in a terrestrial scorpions (Mattoni et al., 2015). The principle of this defense strategy is that a part of a body that has been shed continues to move, attracting attention of a predator, thus allowing the prey to escape (Sanggaard et al., 2012). This anti-predator strategy is greatly effective — however, it requires considerable harmful efforts.

In particular, caudal behavior makes an adverse effect in regard to the locomotion activities of an animal. Considering that lizards and spiders use their tail and limbs for moving, this task becomes more complicated without a part of a body (McElroy & Bergmann, 2013). Besides, lizards accumulate fat in their tails, which means that shrinking away a tail, the lizard loses considerable deposit of energy and nutritious elements (Sanggaard et al., 2012). Consequently, even if an escape is successful, after caudal strategy, the animals need time to recover. This insight implies that autotomy needs to be combined with other passive defense strategies, such as escape, hiding, reduced locomotion, and others.

Considering the aforementioned anti-predatory strategies, it is natural to deduce that caudal behavior makes it impossible to mate for a certain period of time, until the animal recovers (Cromie & Chapple, 2012). On the other hand, scientists detected a significant benefit in shrinking a tail — a new tail is more robust than the old one, which is stipulated by the tougher scar tissue (Cromie & Chapple, 2012). Thus, males with new tails have better chances to win in active defense or while competing for females, since lizards utilize tails for fighting (Cromie & Chapple, 2012). Overall, caudal behavior of animals is an important passive defense which leads to significant negative outcomes, having temporal negative impact on the animal’s fitness. Similarly, it is an effective anti-predatory approach. Hence, to be totally effective, the species that shed away their tails/limbs/sting should combine caudal behavior with other defenses.

Active Defense Mechanisms

To begin with, it is important to stress that the diversity of the active defense mechanisms is much poorer while being compared to the passive ones. This particularity is understandable, considering the costs of fighting/chasing/poisoning are typically higher.

Initiating attack. Aggressive behavior is typical for many species. Scholars believe that initiating assault is a workable approach to conquer the new territories and to defeat the competitors. An example of such aggressive species is the invasive ants (Bertelsmeier et al., 2015). Bertelsmeier and the colleagues (2015) observed behavior of seven such species and concluded that the initiator of the fight is more likely to win. On the other hand, aggressive species that initiate fights are also more likely to be killed than animals who implement passive or passive and active defense mechanisms. In this regard, invasive ants succeed in conquering the territories when they meet species with passive defense mechanisms. At the same time, if faced with more aggressive species, they can co-exist — however, when two invasive species of ants are equally aggressive, they tend to exclude one another (Bertelsmeier et al., 2015). These findings suggest that active defense mechanisms indeed require considerable efforts, which negatively affects the animals’ fitness and may even result in the extinction of the aggressive species.

Venom and poison as defense strategies. Venomous and poisonous animal species are similar in terms of utilizing toxic weaponry as a defense strategy (Harris & Arbuckle, 2016). Nonetheless, it is important to understand that there is a considerable difference between the methods of using this weaponry. Specifically, poisonous species contain toxic fluid within their bodies, and in a case of an attack, when they are bitten, predators are being poisoned with such toxins. This defense process implies that it is a passive defense strategy. In contrast, venomous animals, such as snakes, scorpions, bees, and many others, utilize their venom for both attacks and defense. The ways of infecting the prey or the predator differ. In the first case, animals are infected by absorbing toxins released from a poisoned flesh of the prey, whereas in the second case, venom is transmitted to a body of the prey or a predator by injection — biting or stinging (Harris & Arbuckle, 2016). Furthermore, there are species that are capable of using both kinds of toxic weaponry: they are simultaneously poisonous and venomous. For instance, Harris and Arbuckle (2016) conducted a study of tetrapods, species that are characterized by both active and passive toxic weaponry. These scholars identified that toxic weaponry is utilized in accordance with an animal’s environment — treats, the need to compete, and others (Harris & Arbuckle, 2016). It means that greater diversity within the species contributes to the increased range of toxic weaponry.

In terms of the costs, both approaches are connected with significant losses. For instance, when a bee stings someone, it dies, which means that active defense of venomous species is associated with high level of mortality. Besides, applying the active defense, these species are at risk of killing one another, as it was described in a case of aggressive invasive ants that also use chemical weaponry. Similarly, poisonous species may die or be seriously injured when they are assaulted and bitten. Therefore, it is natural to deduce that the costs of toxic weaponry as a defensive strategy are high in both venomous and poisonous animals. 

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Conclusion

The conducted analysis of the recent academic periodical literature that explores active and passive defense mechanisms in animal species proves the working hypothesis to be correct. PASSIVE DEFENSE MECHANISMS REQUIRE LESS FITNESS COSTS THAN ACTIVE DEFENSE STRATEGIES — THEREFORE, THE FORMER IS MORE OFTEN UTILIZED BY ANIMAL SPECIES. At the same time, it is necessary to stress that there is a pattern toward applying the active defense when the passive one has failed. Moreover, this study also reveals that there is greater diversity of passive mechanisms because they possess lesser adverse outcomes at both individual and collective levels. Furthermore, the explored examples depict that in most cases, animals need more than one defense strategy. Typically, prey species utilize several passive defense mechanisms. Among widespread anti-predatory strategies, it is important to distinguish the avoidance of the predators’ odors, alarm calls, chemical and vibroacoustic signals, alloparental care, autotomy, and poisoning. These are some, but not all passive defenses that are often united together as a complex defense mechanism of prey species. In terms of active defenses, it is appropriate to accentuate aggressive behaviors — different forms of attacks, and intoxication of the prey or the competitor. These approaches are effective — however, they are associated with greater risks, increased likelihood of mortality, and even extinction of the entire kinship in case if two equal in power and aggression species choose to compete.