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Asian Games

The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every fourth year among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games, they have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), after the breakup of the Asian Games Federation. The Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.

Nine nations have hosted the Asian Games. Forty-six nations have participated in the Games, including Israel, which was excluded from the Games after its last participation in 1974. The last edition of the Games was held in Hangzhou, China, from 23 September to 8 October 2023.

Since 2010, it has been common for the host of the Asian Games to host the Asian Para Games held shortly after the end of the Games. This event is exclusive to athletes with disabilities, as with the continental version of the Paralympic Games. But unlike what happens in the Paralympic Games where the host city's contract mentions the holding of both events, the case of Asia does not mention the mandatory holding of both. Instead, the exclusion of the Asian Para Games from the Asian Games host city's contract means that both events run independently from one other, and may lead to occasions in the future when the two events are held in different cities and countries.

Origins
The Far Eastern Championship Games existed previous to the Asian Games, the former mooted in 1912 for a location set between Japan, the Philippines, and China. The inaugural Far Eastern Games were held in Manila in 1913 with 6 participating nations. There were ten Far Eastern Games held by 1934. The second Sino-Japanese War in 1934, and Japan's insistence on including the Manchu Empire as a competitor nation in the Games, caused China to announce its withdrawal from participation. The Far Eastern Games scheduled for 1938 were cancelled. The organization was eventually discontinued.

Formation
After World War II, several areas in Asia became sovereign states. Many of these countries sought to exhibit Asian prowess without violence. At the London 1948 Summer Olympics, a conversation started between China and the Philippines to restore the idea of the Far Eastern Games. Guru Dutt Sondhi, the Indian International Olympic Committee representative, believed that the restoration of the Far Eastern Games would sufficiently display the spirit of unity and level of achievement taking place in Asian sports. He proposed the idea of a new competition – which came to be the Asian Games. The Asian Athletic Federation would eventually be formed. A preparatory committee was set up to draft the charter for this new body. On 13 February 1949, the Asian Athletic Federation was formally inaugurated in New Delhi, announced as the inaugural host city to be held in 1950.

Years of crises

In 1962, the Games were hit by several crises. The host country Indonesia refused to permit Israel and Taiwan to participate due to political recognition issues. The IOC terminated its sponsorship of the Games and terminated Indonesia's membership in the IOC. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) also removed their recognition of the Games.

South Korea renounced its plan to host the 1970 Asian Games on the grounds of a national security crisis; the main reason was due to a financial crisis. The previous host, Thailand, would host the Games in Bangkok using funds transferred from South Korea. Japan was asked to host but declined the opportunity as they were already committed to Expo '70 in Osaka. This edition marked the Games' inaugural television broadcasting, worldwide. In Tehran, in 1974, the Games formally recognized the participation of China, North Korea, and Mongolia. Israel was allowed to participate despite the opposition from the Arab world, while Taiwan was permitted to continue taking part (as "Chinese Taipei") although its status was abolished in a general meeting on 16 November 1973 by the Games Federation.

Before the 1978 Games, Pakistan retracted its plan to host the 1975 Games due to a financial crisis and political issues. Thailand offered to host and the Games were held in Bangkok. As in 1962, Taiwan and Israel refused participation by the Games Federation, amid political issues and security fears. Several governing bodies protested the ban. The International Olympic Committee threatened to bar the participating athletes from the 1980 Summer Olympics. Several nations withdrew before the Games opening.

Reorganization and expansion
These events led the National Olympic Committees in Asia to revise the constitution of the Asian Games Federation. The Olympic Council of Asia was created in November 1981, excluding Israel and Taiwan. India was scheduled to host in 1982 and the OCA decided to maintain the old AGF timetable. The OCA formally started to supervise the Games starting with the 1986 Asian Games scheduled for Seoul, South Korea. In the 1990 Asian Games held in Beijing, Taiwan (Republic of China) was re-admitted, under pressure by the People's Republic of China to compete as Chinese Taipei.

The 1994 Games held in Hiroshima included the inaugural participation of the former 5 republics of the Soviet Union who were part of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It was also the first edition of the Games held in a host country outside its capital city. However, Iraq was suspended from the Games due to the 1990 Persian Gulf War. North Korea boycotted the Games due to political issues with the host country. The Games were hampered during the opening ceremony due to a heart attack that killed Nareshkumar Adhikari, the chief of the Nepalese delegation.

The 1998 Games marked the fourth time the Games were held in Bangkok, Thailand. This time the city participated in a bidding process. The opening ceremony was on 6 December; the previous three were on 9 December. King Bhumibol Adulyadej opened the Games; the closing ceremony was on 20 December (the same date as all the previous games hosted by Thailand).

Symbols
The Asian Games Movement uses symbols to represent the ideals embodied in the Asian Games charter. The Asian Games motto is "Ever Onward" which was designed and proposed by Guru Dutt Sondhi upon the creation of the Asian Games Federation in 1949. The Asian Games symbol is a bright sun in red with 16 rays and a white circle in the middle of its disc which represents the ever glimmering and warm spirit of the Asian people.

Mascots
Since the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, India, the Asian Games have had a mascot, usually an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage.

Participation
All 45 members affiliated with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) are eligible to participate in the Games.

According to membership in the OCA, transcontinental Kazakhstan is an Asian country and could participate in the Asian Games but this right could not apply to Egypt as the country had 6% of the territory on Sinai, participating in the African Games instead. Turkey and Russia/Soviet Union — whose major geographical parts are located in the Asian continent — participate in the European Games rather than the Asian Games. Similarly, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus, and Armenia are mostly located in Asia but participate in the European Games instead of the Asian Games.

In history, 46 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have sent competitors to the Games. Israel has been excluded from the Games since 1976, the reason cited as being due to security reasons. Israel requested to participate in the 1982 Games, but the request was rejected by the organizers due to the Munich massacre. Israel is now a member of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and competes at the European Games.

Taiwan, Palestine, Hong Kong, and Macau participate in the Asian Games according to membership in OCA. Due to its continuing ambiguous political status, Taiwan has participated in the Games under the flag of Chinese Taipei since 1990. Macau since 1990 has been allowed to compete as one of the NOCs in the Asian Games, despite not being recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for participation in the Olympic Games.

In 2007, the President of OCA, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, rejected the proposal to allow Australia to participate in the Games. He stated that while Australia would add good value to the Asian Games, it would be unfair to the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC). Being members of ONOC, Australia and New Zealand have participated in the Pacific Games since 2015. This motion was mooted again in 2017 after Australia participated in the 2017 Asian Winter Games as they are in discussions to become a full Asian Games member shortly. However, the Australian Olympic Committee announced that Australia would be allowed a small contingent of athletes for the 2022 Games, as long as the qualification for Summer Olympics events such as basketball and volleyball are through the Asia-Pacific region.

There are only seven countries, namely India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Thailand, that have competed in all editions of the games.

Participating nations
45 nations/regions whose NOCs are recognized by the OCA compete at the Asian Games.

 * Palestine
 * Palestine
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 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
 * Palestine
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 * Palestine
 * Palestine

Sports
The historical average for the edition of events by the edition of the Asian Games is nearly 260 events with nearly 24 sports by edition. The last edition held in Hangzhou, China was the edition with the largest number of events when 481 finals in 40 sports were held. Until the 2018 edition, each host country was allowed to set up the program respecting their local demands, which led to a dizzying growth of the event. However, this flexibility rule ruled out the entry of some Olympic sports such as the modern pentathlon and triathlon of the programs of some editions between 1986 and 2006. This flexibility also increased the number of athletes participating in each edition. However, it forced the event to be massive, as there was no calculation of athlete quotas per NOC. To avoid gigantism, OCA established a new policy to be applied since the 2018 Asian Games which limited the number of sports to be played at the Games to 40. This new rule is by the Olympic program for the subsequent edition of the Summer Olympic Games and if there is any prior change, the entity will necessarily follow it. However, each region that makes up the body can nominate a regional sport according to its demands. Between one to two extra sports could also be included due to the local demands.

Key: = Discontinued

Medal count
Of the 46 National Olympic Committees participating throughout the history of the Games, 43 have won at least a single medal in the competition, leaving three National Olympic Committees without a medal: Bhutan, Maldives, and Timor-Leste yet to win a single medal. 38 National Olympic Committees have won at least one gold medal (only Japan and India have done so at every Asian Games), while Japan and China became the only two NOCs in history to emerge as the first places at the Medal Tables.

In the 2022 Games, India became the fourth nation in history after Japan, China, and South Korea to cross the 100-medal mark in one edition. China, together with Japan and South Korea became the first three countries to cross the overall 200-medal mark in one edition during the 1986 Asian Games. At the 2022 Games, China became the first NOC to surpass the threshold of 100 gold medals, 200 gold medals, 300 overall medals and 400 overall medals in a single edition.

Most Valuable Player award
The Most Valuable Player (MVP) award was introduced in the 1998 Games in Bangkok, Thailand. The awards had originally been awarded to one individual, until in 2023, when the 2022 Games in Hangzhou, have started separating women's and men's awards.

Below is the list of winners:

Centennial Festival
On 8 November 2012, the OCA decided at its 31st General Assembly in Macau to create a special multi-sport event called the Asian Games Centennial Festival in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Oriental Games (later became Far Eastern Championship Games). OCA awarded the Philippines the hosting rights as it was also the host 100 years previous. The event was originally scheduled to be held in Boracay, Malay, Aklan from 27 to 29 November 2013 but due to the events surrounding Typhoon Haiyan, it was moved to January 2014.

title: Asian Games


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Business

Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit."

A business entity is not necessarily separate from the owner and the creditors can hold the owner liable for debts the business has acquired. The taxation system for businesses is different from that of the corporates. A business structure does not allow for corporate tax rates. The proprietor is personally taxed on all income from the business.

A distinction is made in law and public offices between the term business and a company such as a corporation or cooperative. Colloquially, the terms are used interchangeably.

Corporations are distinct from with sole proprietors and partnerships. They are separate legal entities and provide limited liability for their owners and members. They are subject to corporate tax rates. They are also more complicated and expensive to set up, but offer more protection and benefits for the owners and members.

Forms
Forms of business ownership vary by jurisdiction, but several common entities exist: Less common types of companies are: "Ltd after the company's name signifies limited company, and PLC (public limited company) indicates that its shares are widely held."
 * A sole proprietorship, also known as a sole trader, is owned by one person and operates for their benefit. The owner operates the business alone and may hire employees. A sole proprietor has unlimited liability for all obligations incurred by the business, whether from operating costs or judgments against the business. All assets of the business belong to a sole proprietor, including, for example, a computer infrastructure, any inventory, manufacturing equipment, or retail fixtures, as well as any real property owned by the sole proprietor.
 * A partnership is a business owned by two or more people. In most forms of partnerships, each partner has unlimited liability for the debts incurred by the business. The three most prevalent types of for-profit partnerships are general partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships.
 * Corporations' owners have limited liability and the business has a separate legal personality from its owners. Corporations can be either government-owned or privately owned, and they can organize either for profit or as nonprofit organizations. A privately owned, for-profit corporation is owned by its shareholders, who elect a board of directors to direct the corporation and hire its managerial staff. A privately owned, for-profit corporation can be either privately held by a small group of individuals, or publicly held, with publicly traded shares listed on a stock exchange.
 * A cooperative or co-op is a limited-liability business that can organize as for-profit or not-for-profit. A cooperative differs from a corporation in that it has members, not shareholders, and they share decision-making authority. Cooperatives are typically classified as either consumer cooperatives or worker cooperatives. Cooperatives are fundamental to the ideology of economic democracy.
 * Limited liability companies (LLC) and other specific types of business organization protect their owners or shareholders from business failure by doing business under a separate legal entity with certain legal protections. In contrast, a general partnership or persons working on their own are usually not as protected.
 * A franchise is a system in which entrepreneurs purchase the rights to open and run a business from a larger corporation. Franchising in the United States is widespread and is a major economic powerhouse. One out of twelve retail businesses in the United States are franchised and 8 million people are employed in a franchised business.
 * Company limited by guarantee is commonly used where companies are formed for non-commercial purposes, such as clubs or charities. The members guarantee the payment of certain (usually nominal) amounts if the company goes into insolvent liquidation, but otherwise, they have no economic rights in relation to the company. This type of company is common in England. A company limited by guarantee may be with or without having share capital.
 * A company limited by shares is the most common form of the company used for business ventures. Specifically, a limited company is a "company in which the liability of each shareholder is limited to the amount individually invested" with corporations being "the most common example of a limited company." This type of company is common in England and many English-speaking countries. A company limited by shares may be a
 * publicly traded company or a
 * privately held company.
 * A company limited by guarantee with a share capital is a hybrid entity, usually used where the company is formed for non-commercial purposes, but the activities of the company are partly funded by investors who expect a return. This type of company may no longer be formed in the UK, although provisions still exist in law for them to exist.
 * An unlimited company with or without a share capital is a hybrid entity, a company where the liability of members or shareholders for the debts (if any) of the company are not limited. In this case, the doctrine of a veil of incorporation does not apply.
 * Most corporations by letters patent are corporations sole and not companies as the term is commonly understood today.
 * Charter corporations were the only types of companies before the passing of modern companies legislation. Now they are relatively rare, except for very old companies that still survive (of which there are still many, particularly many British banks), or modern societies that fulfill a quasi-regulatory function (for example, the Bank of England is a corporation formed by a modern charter).
 * Statutory companies are certain companies that have been formed by a private statute passed in the relevant jurisdiction, and are relatively rare today.

In legal parlance, the owners of a company are normally referred to as the "members". In a company limited or unlimited by shares (formed or incorporated with a share capital), this will be the shareholders. In a company limited by guarantee, this will be the guarantors. Some offshore jurisdictions have created special forms of offshore company in a bid to attract business for their jurisdictions. Examples include "segregated portfolio companies" and restricted purpose companies.

There are, however, many, many sub-categories of types of company that can be formed in various jurisdictions in the world.

Companies are also sometimes distinguished into public companies and private companies for legal and regulatory purposes. Public companies are companies whose shares can be publicly traded, often (although not always) on a stock exchange which imposes listing requirements/Listing Rules as to the issued shares, the trading of shares and a future issue of shares to help bolster the reputation of the exchange or particular market of exchange. Private companies do not have publicly traded shares, and often contain restrictions on transfers of shares. In some jurisdictions, private companies have maximum numbers of shareholders.

A parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed as a subsidiary of the parent company. The definition of a parent company differs by jurisdiction, with the definition normally being defined by way of laws dealing with companies in that jurisdiction.

Classifications

 * Agriculture, such as the domestication of fish, animals, and livestock, as well as lumber, oil, vegetables, fruits, etc.
 * Mining businesses that extract natural resources and raw materials, such as wood, petroleum, natural gas, ores, metals or minerals.
 * Service businesses offer intangible goods or services and typically charge for labor or other services provided to government, to consumers, or to other businesses. Interior decorators, beauticians, hair stylists, make-up artists, tanning salons, laundromats, dry cleaners, and pest controllers are service businesses.
 * Financial services businesses include banks, brokerage firms, credit unions, credit cards, insurance companies, asset and investment companies such as private-equity firms, private-equity funds, real estate investment trusts, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, mutual funds, index funds, hedge funds, stock exchanges, and other companies that generate profits through investment and management of capital.
 * Transportation businesses such as railways, airlines, and shipping companies deliver goods and individuals to their destinations for a fee.
 * Utilities produce public services such as water, electricity, waste management or sewage treatment. These industries are usually operated under the charge of a public government.
 * Entertainment companies and mass media agencies generate profits primarily from the sale of intellectual property. They include film studios and production houses, mass media companies such as cable television networks, online digital media agencies, talent agencies, mobile media outlets, newspapers, book and magazine publishing houses.
 * Sports organizations are involved in producing, facilitating, promoting, or organizing any activity, experience, or business enterprise focused on sports. They make their profits by selling goods and services that are sports related.
 * Industrial manufacturers produce products, either from raw materials or from component parts, then export the finished products at a profit. They include tangible goods such as cars, buses, medical devices, glass, or aircraft.
 * Real estate businesses sell, invest, construct and develop properties, including land, residential homes, and other buildings.
 * Retailers, wholesalers, and distributors act as middlemen and get goods produced by manufacturers to the intended consumers; they make their profits by marking up their prices. Most stores and catalog companies are distributors or retailers.

Accounting
Accounting is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. The modern field was established by the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli in 1494. Accounting, which has been called the "language of business", measures the results of an organization's economic activities and conveys this information to a variety of users, including investors, creditors, management, and regulators. Practitioners of accounting are known as accountants. The terms "accounting" and "financial reporting" are often used as synonyms.

Commerce
Commerce is the process of exchanging goods and services. It is not just a single activity, but a set of activities that includes trade (buying and selling goods and services) and auxiliary services or aids to trade, that includes communication and marketing, logistics, finance, banking, insurance, and legal services related to trade. Business is also defined as engaging in commerce, as these are done in all businesses.

Finance
Finance is a field that deals with the study of money and investments. It includes the dynamics of assets and liabilities over time under conditions of different degrees of uncertainty and risk. In the context of business and management, finance deals with the problems of ensuring that the firm can safely and profitably carry out its operational and financial objectives; i.e. that it: (1) has sufficient cash flow for ongoing and upcoming operational expenses, and (2) can service both maturing short-term debt repayments, and scheduled long-term debt payments. Finance also deals with the long term objective of maximizing the value of the business, while also balancing risk and profitability; this includes the interrelated questions of (1) capital investment, which businesses and projects to invest in; (2) capital structure, deciding on the mix of funding to be used; and (3) dividend policy, what to do with "excess" capital.

Human resources
Human resources can be defined as division of business that involves finding, screening, recruiting, and training job applicants. Human resources, or HR, is crucial for all businesses to succeed as it helps companies adjust to a fast-moving business environment and the increasing demand for jobs.

The term "Human Resource" was first coined by John R. Commons in his novel 'The Distribution of Wealth'. HR departments are relatively new as they began developing in the late 20th century. HR departments main goal is to maximize employee productivity and protecting the company from any issues that may arise in the future. Some of the most common activities conducted by those working in HR include increasing innovation and creativity within a company, applying new approaches to work projects, and efficient training and communication with employees.

Two of the most popular subdivisions of HR are Human Resource Management, HRM, and Human Resource Information Systems, or HRIS. The HRM route is for those who prefer an administrative role as it involves oversight of the entirety of the company. HRIS involves the storage and organization of employee data including full names, addresses, means of contact, and anything else required by that certain company.

Some careers of those involved in the Human Resource field include enrollment specialists, HR analyst, recruiter, employment relations manager, etc.

Information technology
Many businesses have an Information technology (IT) department, which supports the use of information technology and computer systems in support of enterprise goals. The role of a Chief Information Officer is to lead this department. For example, Ford Motor Company in the United States employs "more than 3,000 team members with advanced computing, analytical and technical skills".

Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the production of merchandise for use or sale using labour and machines, tools, chemical and biological processing, or formulation. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale.

Marketing
Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to a market to buy or sell goods or services. Marketing tactics include advertising as well as determining product pricing.

With the rise in technology, marketing is further divided into a class called digital marketing. It is marketing products and services using digital technologies.

Research and development
Research and development refer to activities in connection with corporate or government innovation. Research and development constitute the first stage of development of a potential new service or product. Research and development are very difficult to manage since the defining feature of the research is that the researchers do not know in advance exactly how to accomplish the desired result.

Safety
Injuries cost businesses billions of dollars annually. Studies have shown how company acceptance and implementation of comprehensive safety and health management systems reduce incidents, insurance costs, and workers' compensation claims. New technologies, like wearable safety devices and available online safety training, continue to be developed to encourage employers to invest in protection beyond the "canary in the coal mine" and reduce the cost to businesses of protecting their employees.

Sales
Sales are activity related to selling or the number of goods or services sold in a given time period. Sales are often integrated with all lines of business and are key to a companies' success.

Management
The efficient and effective operation of a business, and study of this subject, is called management. The major branches of management are financial management, marketing management, human resource management, strategic management, production management, operations management, service management, and information technology management.

Owners may manage their businesses themselves, or employ managers to do so for them. Whether they are owners or employees, managers administer three primary components of the business's value: financial resources, capital (tangible resources), and human resources. These resources are administered in at least six functional areas: legal contracting, manufacturing or service production, marketing, accounting, financing, and human resources.

Restructuring state enterprises
In recent decades, states modeled some of their assets and enterprises after business enterprises. In 2003, for example, China modeled 80% of its state-owned enterprises on a company-type management system. Many state institutions and enterprises in China and Russia have transformed into joint-stock companies, with part of their shares being listed on public stock markets.

Business process management
Business process management (BPM) is a holistic management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organization with the wants and needs of clients. BPM attempts to improve processes continuously. It can, therefore, be described as a "process optimization process". It is argued that BPM enables organizations to be more efficient, effective and capable of change than a functionally focused, traditional hierarchical management approach.

Organization and regulation

Most legal jurisdictions specify the forms of ownership that a business can take, creating a body of commercial law for each type.

The major factors affecting how a business is organized are usually:
 * The size and scope of the business firm and its structure, management, and ownership, broadly analyzed in the theory of the firm. Generally, a smaller business is more flexible, while larger businesses, or those with wider ownership or more formal structures, will usually tend to be organized as corporations or (less often) partnerships. In addition, a business that wishes to raise money on a stock market or to be owned by a wide range of people will often be required to adopt a specific legal form to do so.
 * The sector and country. Private profit-making businesses are different from government-owned bodies. In some countries, certain businesses are legally obliged to be organized in certain ways.
 * Tax advantages. Different structures are treated differently in tax law and may have advantages for this reason.
 * Disclosure and compliance requirements. Different business structures may be required to make less or more information public (or report it to relevant authorities) and may be bound to comply with different rules and regulations.
 * Control and coordination requirements. In function of the risk and complexity of the tasks to organize, a business is organized through a set of formal and informal mechanisms. In particular, contractual and relational governance can help mitigate opportunism as well as support communication and information sharing.

Many businesses are operated through a separate entity such as a corporation or a partnership (either formed with or without limited liability). Most legal jurisdictions allow people to organize such an entity by filing certain charter documents with the relevant Secretary of State or equivalent and complying with certain other ongoing obligations. The relationships and legal rights of shareholders, limited partners, or members are governed partly by the charter documents and partly by the law of the jurisdiction where the entity is organized. Generally speaking, shareholders in a corporation, limited partners in a limited partnership, and members in a limited liability company are shielded from personal liability for the debts and obligations of the entity, which is legally treated as a separate "person". This means that unless there is misconduct, the owner's own possessions are strongly protected in law if the business does not succeed.

Where two or more individuals own a business together but have failed to organize a more specialized form of vehicle, they will be treated as a general partnership. The terms of a partnership are partly governed by a partnership agreement if one is created, and partly by the law of the jurisdiction where the partnership is located. No paperwork or filing is necessary to create a partnership, and without an agreement, the relationships and legal rights of the partners will be entirely governed by the law of the jurisdiction where the partnership is located. A single person who owns and runs a business is commonly known as a sole proprietor, whether that person owns it directly or through a formally organized entity. Depending on the business needs, an adviser can decide what kind is proprietorship will be most suitable.

A few relevant factors to consider in deciding how to operate a business include:

 * 1) General partners in a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership), plus anyone who personally owns and operates a business without creating a separate legal entity, are personally liable for the debts and obligations of the business.
 * 2) Generally, corporations are required to pay tax just like "real" people. In some tax systems, this can give rise to so-called double taxation, because first the corporation pays tax on the profit, and then when the corporation distributes its profits to its owners, individuals have to include dividends in their income when they complete their personal tax returns, at which point a second layer of income tax is imposed.
 * 3) In most countries, there are laws that treat small corporations differently from large ones. They may be exempt from certain legal filing requirements or labor laws, have simplified procedures in specialized areas, and have simplified, advantageous, or slightly different tax treatment.
 * 4) "Going public" through a process known as an initial public offering (IPO) means that part of the business will be owned by members of the public. This requires the organization as a distinct entity, to disclose information to the public, and adhering to a tighter set of laws and procedures. Most public entities are corporations that have sold shares, but increasingly there are also public LLC's that sell units (sometimes also called shares), and other more exotic entities as well, such as, for example, real estate investment trusts in the US, and unit trusts in the UK. A general partnership cannot "go public".

Commercial law
A very detailed and well-established body of rules that evolved over a very long period of time applies to commercial transactions. The need to regulate trade and commerce and resolve business disputes helped shape the creation of law and courts. The Code of Hammurabi dates back to about 1772 BC for example and contains provisions that relate, among other matters, to shipping costs and dealings between merchants and brokers. The word "corporation" derives from the Latin corpus, meaning body, and the Maurya Empire in Iron-Age India accorded legal rights to business entities.

In many countries, it is difficult to compile all the laws that can affect a business into a single reference source. Laws can govern the treatment of labour and employee relations, worker protection and safety, discrimination on the basis of age, gender, disability, race, and in some jurisdictions, sexual orientation, and the minimum wage, as well as unions, worker compensation, and working hours and leave.

Some specialized businesses may also require licenses, either due to laws governing entry into certain trades, occupations or professions, that require special education or to raise revenue for local governments. Professions that require special licenses include law, medicine, piloting aircraft, selling liquor, radio broadcasting, selling investment securities, selling used cars, and roofing. Local jurisdictions may also require special licenses and taxes just to operate a business.

Some businesses are subject to ongoing special regulation, for example, public utilities, investment securities, banking, insurance, broadcasting, aviation, and health care providers. Environmental regulations are also very complex and can affect many businesses.

Capital
When businesses need to raise money (called capital), they sometimes offer securities for sale.

Capital may be raised through private means, by an initial public offering or IPO on a stock exchange, or in multiple other ways.

Major stock exchanges include the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Singapore Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ (the US), the London Stock Exchange (UK), the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Japan), and Bombay Stock Exchange (India). Most countries with capital markets have at least one.

Businesses that have gone public are subject to regulations concerning their internal governance, such as how executive officers' compensation is determined, and when and how information is disclosed to shareholders and to the public. In the United States, these regulations are primarily implemented and enforced by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other western nations have comparable regulatory bodies. The regulations are implemented and enforced by the China Securities Regulation Commission (CSRC) in China. In Singapore, the regulatory authority is the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and in Hong Kong, it is the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).

The proliferation and increasing complexity of the laws governing business have forced increasing specialization in corporate law. It is not unheard of for certain kinds of corporate transactions to require a team of five to ten attorneys due to sprawling regulation. Commercial law spans general corporate law, employment and labor law, health-care law, securities law, mergers and acquisitions, tax law, employee benefit plans, food and drug regulation, intellectual property law on copyrights, patents, trademarks, telecommunications law, and financing.

Other types of capital sourcing include crowdsourcing on the Internet, venture capital, bank loans, and debentures.

Intellectual property
Businesses often have important "intellectual property" that needs protection from competitors for the company to stay profitable. This could require patents, copyrights, trademarks, or preservation of trade secrets. Most businesses have names, logos, and similar branding techniques that could benefit from trademarking. Patents and copyrights in the United States are largely governed by federal law, while trade secrets and trademarking are mostly a matter of state law. Because of the nature of intellectual property, a business needs protection in every jurisdiction in which they are concerned about competitors. Many countries are signatories to international treaties concerning intellectual property, and thus companies registered in these countries are subject to national laws bound by these treaties. In order to protect trade secrets, companies may require employees to sign noncompete clauses which will impose limitations on an employee's interactions with stakeholders, and competitors.

Trade union
A trade union (or labor union) is an organization of workers who have come together to achieve common goals such as protecting the integrity of its trade, improving safety standards, achieving higher pay and benefits such as health care and retirement, increasing the number of employees an employer assigns to complete the work, and better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members (rank and file members) and negotiates labor contracts (collective bargaining) with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment". This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing, and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies.

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title: Business


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Commerce

Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered distribution and transfer of goods and services on a substantial scale and at the right time, place, quantity, quality and price through various channels from the original producers to the final consumers within local, regional, national or international economies. The diversity in the distribution of natural resources, differences of human needs and wants, and division of labour along with comparative advantage are the principal factors that give rise to commercial exchanges.

Commerce consists of trade and aids to trade (i.e. auxiliary commercial services) taking place along the entire supply chain. Trade is the exchange of goods (including raw materials, intermediate and finished goods) and services between buyers and sellers in return for an agreed-upon price at traditional (or online) marketplaces. It is categorized into domestic trade, including retail and wholesale as well as local, regional, inter-regional and international/foreign trade (encompassing import, export and entrepôt/re-export trades). The exchange of currencies (in foreign exchange markets), commodities (in commodity markets/exchanges) and securities and derivatives (in stock exchanges and financial markets) in specialized exchange markets also falls under the umbrella of trade. On the other hand, auxiliary commercial activities (aids to trade) which can facilitate trade include commercial intermediaries, banking, credit financing and related services, transportation, packaging, warehousing, communication, advertising and insurance. Their purpose is to remove hindrances related to direct personal contact, payments, savings, funding, separation of place and time, product protection and preservation, knowledge and risk.

The broader framework of commerce incorporates additional elements and factors such as laws and regulations (including intellectual property rights and antitrust laws), policies, tariffs and trade barriers, consumers and consumer trends, producers and production strategies, supply chains and their management, financial transactions for ordinary and extraordinary business activities, market dynamics (including supply and demand), technological innovation, competition and entrepreneurship, trade agreements, multinational corporations and small and medium-sized enterprisess (SMEs), and macroeconomic factors (like economic stability).

Commerce drives economic growth, development and prosperity, promotes regional and international interdependence, fosters cultural exchange, creates jobs, improves people's standard of living by giving them access to a wider variety of goods and services, and encourages innovation and competition for better products. On the other hand, commerce can worsen economic inequality by concentrating wealth (and power) into the hands of a small number of individuals, and by prioritizing short-term profit over long-term sustainability and ethical, social, and environmental considerations, leading to environmental degradation, labor exploitation and disregard for consumer safety. Unregulated, it can lead to excessive consumption (generating undesirable waste) and unsustainable exploitation of nature (causing resource depletion). Harnessing commerce's benefits for the society while mitigating its drawbacks remains vital for policymakers, businesses and other stakeholders.

Commerce traces its origins to ancient localized barter systems, leading to the establishment of periodic marketplaces, and culminating in the development of currencies for efficient trade. In medieval times, trade routes (like the Silk Road) with pivotal commercial hubs (like Venice) connected regions and continents, enabling long-distance trade and cultural exchange. From the 15th to the early 20th century, European colonial powers dominated global commerce on an unprecedented scale, giving rise to maritime trade empires with their powerful colonial trade companies (e.g., Dutch East India Company and British East India Company) and ushering in an unprecedented global exchange (see Columbian exchange). In the 19th century, modern banking and related international markets along with the industrial revolution fundamentally reshaped commerce. In the post-colonial 20th century, free market principles gained ground, multinational corporations and consumer economies thrived in U.S.-led capitalist countries and free trade agreements (like GATT and WTO) emerged, whereas communist economies encountered trade restrictions, limiting consumer choice. Furthermore, in the mid-20th century, the adoption of standardized shipping containers facilitated seamless and efficient intermodal freight transport, leading to a surge in international trade. By the century's end, developing countries saw their share in world trade rise from a quarter to a third. 21st century commerce is increasingly technology-driven (see e-commerce), globalized, intricately regulated, ethically responsible and sustainability-focused, with multilateral economic integrations (like the European Union) or coalitions (like BRICS) leading to its reconfiguration.

Etymology
The English-language word commerce has been derived from the Latin word commercium, from com ("together") and merx ("merchandise").

Relation to business and trade
Despite many similarities (to the extent that they are sometimes used as synonyms in layman's terms and in other contexts), commerce, business and trade are distinct concepts.

Commerce and business
In a general sense, business is the activity of earning money and making one's living through engaging in commerce. However, in a more specific sense, a business is an organization or activity for making a profit by providing goods and services which meet the needs of its customers or consumers. Business organizations typically operate in the primary (dealing with the extraction and sourcing of raw materials) and secondary (dealing with manufacturing intermediate or finished goods) sectors of the economy and their goal is to sell raw materials or manufactured goods for profit. In the tertiary sector, businesses sell services for profit.

Commerce, in contrast to the concept of business discussed above, deals with the movement and distribution of raw materials as well as finished or intermediate (but valuable) goods and services from the manufacturers to the end customers on a large scale. It is not concerned with the extraction of raw materials and the manufacturing of goods.

Viewed in this way, commerce is a broader concept and an overall, all-encompassing aspect of business. Commerce provides the underlying large-scale transactional environment comprising all kinds of exchanges within which individual business organizations operate for generating profits.

Commerce and trade
Commerce is distinguishable from trade as well. Trade is the transaction (buying and selling) of goods and services that makes a profit for the seller and satisfies the want or need of the buyer. When trade is carried out within a country, it is called home or domestic trade, which can be wholesale or retail. A wholesaler buys from the producer in bulk and sells to the retailer who then sells again to the final consumer in smaller quantities. Trade between a country and the rest of the world is called foreign or international trade, which consists of import trade and export trade, both being wholesale in general.

Commerce not only includes trade as defined above, but also the auxiliary services or aids to trade and means that facilitate such trade. Auxiliary services aid trade by providing services which such as transportation, communication, warehousing, insurance, banking, credit financing to companies, advertising, packaging, and the services of commercial agents and agencies. In other words, commerce encompasses a wide array of political, economical, technological, logistical, legal, regulatory, social and cultural aspects of trade on a large scale. From a marketing perspective, commerce creates time and place utility by making goods and services available to the customers at the right place and at the right time by changing their location or placement.

Described in this manner, trade is a part of commerce and commerce is an aspect of business.

History

Historian Peter Watson and Ramesh Manickam date the history of long-distance commerce from circa 150,000 years ago. In historic times, the introduction of currency as a standardized money facilitated the exchange of goods and services.

Commerce was a costly endeavor in the antiquities because of the risky nature of transportation, which restricted it to local markets. Commerce then expanded along with the improvement of transportation systems over time. In the Middle Ages, long-distance and large-scale commerce was still limited within continents. Banking systems developed in medieval Europe, facilitating financial transactions across national boundaries. Markets became a feature of town life, and were regulated by town authorities. With the advent of the age of exploration and oceangoing ships, commerce took an international, trans-continental stature.

Currently the reliability of international trans-oceanic shipping and mailing systems and the facility of the Internet has made commerce possible between cities, regions and countries situated anywhere in the world. In the 21st century, Internet-based electronic commerce (where financial information is transferred over Internet), and its subcategories such as wireless mobile commerce and social network-based social commerce have been and continue to get adopted widely.

Regulation
Legislative bodies and ministries or ministerial departments of commerce regulate, promote and manage domestic and foreign commercial activities within a country. International commerce can be regulated by bilateral treaties between countries. After the second world war and the rise of free trade among nations, multilateral arrangements such as the GATT and later the World Trade Organization became the principal systems regulating global commerce. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is another important organization which sets rules and resolves disputes in international commerce.

Where national government bodies undertake commercial activity with or inside other states, this commercial activity may fall outside the protection of the international rules which govern legal relationships between independent states: see, for example, the "commercial activity exception" applicable under the United States' Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976.

title: Commerce


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Philip Melanchthon

Philip Melanchthon (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and influential designer of educational systems.

He stands next to Luther and John Calvin as a reformer, theologian, and shaper of Protestantism.

Early life and education
He was born Philipp Schwartzerdt on 16 February 1497 at Bretten, where his father Georg Schwarzerdt (1459–1508) was armorer to Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine. His mother was Barbara Reuter (1476/77-1529). Bretten was burned in 1689 by French troops during the War of the Palatinate Succession. The town's Melanchthonhaus was built on the site of his place of birth in 1897.

In 1507 he was sent to the Latin school at Pforzheim, where the rector, Georg Simler of Wimpfen, introduced him to the Latin and Greek poets and to Aristotle. He was influenced by his great-uncle Johann Reuchlin, a Renaissance humanist, who suggested Philipp follow a custom common among humanists of the time and change his surname from "Schwartzerdt" (literally 'black earth'), into the Greek equivalent "Melanchthon" (Μελάγχθων).

Philipp was 11 years old in 1508 when both his grandfather (d. 17 October) and father (d. 27 October) died within eleven days of each other. He and a brother were brought to Pforzheim to live with his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Reuter, sister of Reuchlin.

The next year he entered the University of Heidelberg, where he studied philosophy, rhetoric, astronomy, and astrology, and became known as a scholar of Greek thought. Denied the master's degree in 1512 on the grounds of his youth, he went to Tübingen, where he continued humanistic studies but also worked on jurisprudence, mathematics, and medicine. While there, he was also taught the technical aspects of astrology by Johannes Stöffler.

After gaining a master's degree in 1516, he began to study theology. Under the influence of Reuchlin, Erasmus, and others, he became convinced that true Christianity was something different from the scholastic theology taught at the university. He became a conventor (repentant) in the contubernium and instructed younger scholars. He also lectured on oratory, on Virgil and Livy.

His first publications included a number of poems in a collection edited by Jakob Wimpfeling (c. 1511), the preface to Reuchlin's Epistolae clarorum virorum (1514), an edition of Terence (1516), and a book of Greek grammar (1518).

Professor at Wittenberg
Already recognised as a reformer, he was opposed at Tübingen. He accepted a call to the University of Wittenberg from Martin Luther on the recommendation of his great-uncle, and became professor of Greek there in 1518 at the age of 21. He studied the Scriptures, especially of Paul, and evangelical doctrine. He attended the disputation of Leipzig (1519) as a spectator, but participated with his own comments. After his views were attacked by Johann Eck, he replied based on the authority of Scripture in his Defensio contra Johannem Eckium (Wittenberg, 1519).

Following lectures on the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistle to the Romans, together with his investigations into Pauline doctrine, he was granted the degree of bachelor of theology, and transferred to the theological faculty. He married Katharina Krapp (Katharina Melanchthon), (1497–1557) daughter of Wittenberg's mayor, on 25 November 1520. They had four children: Anna, Philipp, Georg, and Magdalen.

Theological disputes
In the beginning of 1521, Melanchthon defended Luther in his Didymi Faventini versus Thomam Placentinum pro M. Luthero oratio (Wittenberg, n.d.). He argued that Luther rejected only papal and ecclesiastical practises which were at variance with Scripture. But while Luther was absent at Wartburg Castle, during the disturbances caused by the Zwickau prophets, Melanchthon wavered.

The appearance of Melanchthon's Loci communes rerum theologicarum seu hypotyposes theologicae (Wittenberg and Basel, 1521) was of subsequent importance to the Reformation. Melanchthon discussed the "leading thoughts" of Paul's Letter to the Romans and used this platform to present a new doctrine of Christianity; one where faith in God was more important than good deeds. Loci communes contributed to the gradual rise of the Lutheran scholastic tradition, and the later theologians Martin Chemnitz, Mathias Haffenreffer, and Leonhard Hutter expanded upon it. Melanchthon continued to lecture on the classics.

On a journey in 1524 to his native town, he encountered the papal legate, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, who tried to draw him from Luther's cause. In his Unterricht der Visitatorn an die Pfarherrn im Kurfürstentum zu Sachssen (1528) Melanchthon presented the evangelical doctrine of salvation as well as regulations for churches and schools.

In 1529, Melanchthon accompanied the elector to the Diet of Speyer. His hopes of persuading the Holy Roman Empire to recognize the Reformation were not fulfilled. A friendly attitude towards the Swiss at the Diet was something he later changed, calling Huldrych Zwingli's doctrine of the Lord's Supper "an impious dogma".

Augsburg Confession
The composition now known as the Augsburg Confession was presented at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, and would come to be considered perhaps the most significant document of the Protestant Reformation.

While the confession was based on Luther's Marburg and Schwabach articles, it was mainly the work of Melanchthon; although it was commonly thought of as a unified statement of doctrine by the two reformers, Luther did not conceal his dissatisfaction with its irenic tone. Indeed, some would criticize Melanchthon's conduct at the Diet as unbecoming of the principle he promoted, implying that faith in the truth of his cause should logically have inspired Melanchthon to a firmer and more dignified posture. Others point out that he had not sought the part of a political leader, suggesting that he seemed to lack the requisite energy and decision for such a role and may simply have been a lackluster judge of human nature.

Melanchthon represented Luther at the conference, as Luther was barred from attending. Charles V had called the Diet of Augsburg in order to unite religious groups in the face of a potential war with the Ottoman Empire. However, despite all efforts and attempts at compromise, there was no reconciliation between Catholics and Lutherans.

After the confession was discussed and official response, the Pontifical Confutation of the Augsburg Confession was produced. Melanchthon wrote a reply to this which became known as the Apology of the Augsburg Confession.

Melanchthon then settled into the comparative quiet of his academic and literary labours. His most important theological work of this period was the Commentarii in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos (Wittenberg, 1532), noteworthy for introducing the idea that "to be justified" means "to be accounted just", whereas the Apology had placed side by side the meanings of "to be made just" and "to be accounted just". Melanchthon's increasing fame gave occasion for prestigious invitations to Tübingen (September 1534), France, and England but consideration of the elector caused him to refuse them.

In 1540, he produced a revised edition, the Variata, which was signed by John Calvin. The main difference is in the treatment of transubstantiation in the Lord's Supper. Many Lutheran churches specify that they subscribe to the "Unaltered Augsburg Confession", as opposed to the Variata.

Controversies in the 1530s
Melanchthon played an important role in discussions concerning the Lord's Supper which began in 1531. He approved of Bucer's Wittenberg Concord and discussed the question with Bucer in Kassel in 1534. He worked for an agreement on this question, as his patristic studies and the Dialogue (1530) of Johannes Oecolampadius had made him doubt the correctness of Luther's doctrine.

Zwingli's death and the change of the political situation changed his earlier stance in regard to a union. Bucer did not go so far as to believe with Luther that the true body of Christ in the Lord's Supper is bitten by the teeth, but admitted the offering of the body and blood in the symbols of bread and wine. Melanchthon discussed Bucer's views with Luther's adherent, but Luther himself would not agree to a veiling of the dispute.Melanchthon's relationship with Luther was not changed by his mediation work, although for a time Luther suspected that Melanchthon was "almost of the opinion of Zwingli".

During his time in Tübingen in 1536 Melanchthon was heavily criticised by Cordatus, preacher in Niemeck, as he had taught that works are necessary for salvation. In the second edition of his Loci (1535), he abandoned his earlier strict doctrine of determinism and instead taught what he called Synergism. He repudiated Cordatus' criticism in a letter to Luther and his other colleagues, stating that he had never departed from their common teachings on this subject and in the Antinomian Controversy of 1537 Melanchthon was in harmony with Luther.

Controversies in the 1540s
Melanchthon faced controversies over the Interims and the Adiaphora (1547). He rejected the Augsburg Interim, which the emperor wished to impose. During negotiations concerning the Leipzig Interim he made controversial concessions. In agreeing to various Catholic usages, Melanchthon held the opinion that they are adiaphora, if nothing is changed in the pure doctrine and the sacraments which Jesus instituted. However he disregarded the position that concessions made under such circumstances have to be regarded as a denial of Evangelical convictions.

Melanchthon later regretted his actions.

After Luther's death he became seen by many as the "theological leader of the German Reformation" although the Gnesio-Lutherans led by Matthias Flacius accused him and his followers of heresy and apostasy. Melanchthon bore the accusations with patience, dignity, and self-control.

In his controversy on justification with Andreas Osiander Melanchthon satisfied all parties. He took part also in a controversy with Stancaro, who held that Christ was our justification only according to his human nature.

Controversies in the 1550s

In 1552 the Elector of Saxony declared himself ready to send deputies to a council to be convened at Trent, but only under the condition that the Protestants should have a share in the discussions, and that the Pope should not be considered as the presiding officer and judge. This declaration was partly due to advice from Melanchthon. As it was agreed upon to send a confession to Trent, Melanchthon drew up the Confessio Saxonica, a repetition of the Augsburg Confession, discussing in greater detail the points of controversy with Rome. On his way to Trent at Dresden in March 1552, he saw the military preparations of Maurice of Saxony, and after reaching Nuremberg, he returned to Wittenberg, as Maurice had turned against the emperor. After his return, the condition of the Protestants became more favourable and were still more so at the Peace of Augsburg (1555). However Melanchthon's difficulties increased from that time.

The last years of his life were embittered by disputes over the Interim and the freshly started controversy on the Lord's Supper. As the statement "good works are necessary for salvation" appeared in the Leipzig Interim, in 1551 its Lutheran opponents attacked Georg Major, Melanchthon's friend and disciple. Melanchthon dropped the formula altogether, seeing how easily it could be misunderstood.

His opponents continued to go against him, accusing him of synergism and Zwinglianism. At the Colloquy of Worms in 1557 which he had reluctantly attended, the adherents of Flacius and the Saxon theologians tried to humiliate him as a heretic. Melanchthon persevered in his efforts for the peace of the church, suggesting a synod of the Evangelical party and drawing up the Frankfurt Recess, which he defended later against attacks.

The controversies on the Lord's Supper embittered the last years of his life. The renewal of this dispute was due to the growing acceptance of Calvinistic doctrine and its influence upon Germany. He never agreed with this, and the personal presence and self-impartation of Christ in the Lord's Supper were especially important for him, although he did not definitely state how body and blood are related to this. Although rejecting the physical act of mastication, he nevertheless assumed the real presence of the body of Christ and therefore also a real self-impartation. He also differed from Calvin in emphasizing the relation of the Lord's Supper to justification.

Views on the Virgin Mary
Melanchthon viewed any veneration of saints rather critically but he developed positive commentaries about Mary.

In his Annotations in Evangelia, he wrote a study on Luke 2:52, and discussed Mary's faith. He noted that "she kept all things in her heart" which to him was a call to the church to follow her example. He believed that Mary was negligent when she lost her son in the temple, but she did not sin. He also believed that Mary was conceived with original sin like every other human being, but she was spared the consequences of it. As such, he opposed the feast of the Immaculate Conception, which at the time, was not dogma, but was celebrated in several cities and had been approved at the Council of Basel in 1439. He declared that the Immaculate Conception was an invention of monks. He saw Mary as a representation (Typus) of the church and believed that in the Magnificat, Mary spoke for the whole church. Standing under the cross, Mary suffered like no other human being; as such, he believed that Christians have to unite with her under the cross, in order to become Christ-like.

Views on natural philosophy
In lecturing on the Librorum de judiciis astrologicis of Ptolemy in 1535–1536, Melanchthon expressed to students his interest in Greek mathematics, astronomy and astrology. He considered that a purposeful God had reasons to exhibit comets and eclipses. He was the first to print a paraphrased edition of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos in Basel, 1554. Natural philosophy, in his view, was directly linked to Providence, a point of view that was influential in curriculum change after the Protestant Reformation in Germany. In the period 1536-1539 he was involved in three academic innovations: the refoundation of Wittenberg along Protestant lines, the reorganization at Tübingen, and the foundation of the University of Leipzig.

Death
Before these theological dissensions were settled, Melanchthon died. Only a few days before his death, he had written a note which gave his reasons for not fearing death. On the left hand side of the note were the words, "You will be delivered from sins, and be freed from the acrimony and fury of theologians"; on the right, "You will go to the light, see God, look upon his Son, learn those wonderful mysteries which you have not been able to understand in this life." The immediate cause of death was a severe cold which he had contracted on a journey to Leipzig in March 1560, followed by a fever that consumed his strength, although his body had already been weakened. He was pronounced dead on 19 April 1560. His body was buried beside Luther's in the Schloßkirche in Wittenberg.

In Melanchthon's last moments, he continued to worry over the desolate condition of the church. He prayed continually and listened to passages of Scripture. The words of John 1:11-12 were especially significant to him - "His own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." When Caspar Peucer, his son-in-law, asked him if he wanted anything, he replied, "Nothing but heaven."

He is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod on 16 February, his birthday, and in the calendar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on 25 June, the date of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession.

Relationship with Luther
Melanchthon's importance for the Reformation lay essentially in the fact that he systematized Luther's ideas, defended them in public, and made them the basis of a religious education. These two figures, by complementing each other, could be said to have harmoniously achieved the results of the Reformation. Melanchthon was impelled by Luther to work for the Reformation; his own inclinations would have kept him in academia. Without Luther's influence he could have been "a second Erasmus", although he had a deep religious interest in the Reformation. While Luther scattered the sparks among the people, Melanchthon had the sympathy of educated people and scholars. Both Luther's strength of faith and Melanchthon's calmness, temperance and love of peace, had a share in the success of the movement.

Both were aware of their mutual position and they thought of it as a “divine necessity”. Melanchthon wrote in 1520, "I would rather die than be separated from Luther", whom he also compared to Elijah, and called him "the man full of the Holy Ghost". In spite of the strained relations between them in the last years of Luther's life, Melanchthon said at Luther's death, "Dead is the horseman and chariot of Israel who ruled the church in this last age of the world!"

In the preface to Melanchthon's Kolosserkommentar (1529), Luther wrote, "I had to fight with rabble and devils, for which reason my books are very warlike. I am the rough pioneer who must break the road; but Master Philip comes along softly and gently, sows and waters heartily, since God has richly endowed him with gifts." Luther also praised Melanchthon's revised Loci and called him "a divine instrument which has achieved the very best in the department of theology to the great rage of the devil and his scabby tribe." Luther never spoke directly against Melanchthon. However often he was dissatisfied with Melanchthon's actions, he never uttered a word against his private character, although Melanchthon sometimes evinced a lack of confidence in Luther. In a letter to Carlowitz, before the Diet of Augsburg, he protested that Luther, with his hot-headed nature, exercised a personally humiliating pressure upon him.

The distinction between Luther and Melanchthon is well brought out in Luther's letters to the latter (June 1530): "To your great anxiety by which you are made weak, I am a cordial foe; for the cause is not ours. It is your philosophy, and not your theology, which tortures you so, - as though you could accomplish anything by your useless anxieties. So far as the public cause is concerned, I am well content and satisfied; for I know that it is right and true, and, what is more, it is the cause of Christ and God himself. For that reason, I am merely a spectator. If we fall, Christ will likewise fall; and if he fall, I would rather fall with Christ than stand with the emperor."

His work as reformer
As a reformer, Melanchthon's work was characterized by moderation, conscientiousness, caution, and love of peace; however these qualities were sometimes said to only be lack of decision, consistence, and courage. His main priority was for the welfare of the community and for the quiet development of the church.

Melanchthon had an innate aversion to quarrels and discord; yet, often he was very irritable. His irenical character often led him to adapt himself to the views of others, as may be seen from his correspondence with Erasmus and from his public attitude from the Diet of Augsburg to the Interim. It was said not to be merely a personal desire for peace, but his conservative religious nature that guided him in his acts of conciliation. He never could forget that his father on his death-bed had besought his family "never to leave the church." He stood toward the history of the church in an attitude of piety and reverence that made it much more difficult for him than for Luther to be content with the thought of the impossibility of a reconciliation with the Catholic Church. He laid stress upon the authority of the Church Fathers, not only of Augustine, but also of the Greek Fathers.

His attitude in matters of worship was conservative, and in the Leipsic Interim he was said by Cordatus and Schenk even to be Crypto-Catholic. He did not look for a reconciliation with Catholicism at the price of pure doctrine. He attributed more value to the external appearance and organization of the Church than Luther did, as can be seen from his treatment of the "doctrine of the church". The ideal conception of the church, which he expressed in Loci in 1535, later lost its prominence when he began to emphasize the conception of the true visible church as it may be found among the Protestants.

He believed that the relation of the church to God was that the church held the divine office of the ministry of the Gospel. The universal priesthood was for Melanchthon as for Luther no principle of an ecclesiastical constitution, but a purely religious principle. In accordance with this idea he tried to keep the traditional church constitution and government, including the bishops. He did not want, however, a church altogether independent of the state, but rather, in agreement with Luther, he believed it the duty of the secular authorities to protect religion and the church. He looked upon the consistories as ecclesiastical courts which therefore should be composed of spiritual and secular judges, as he believed that the official authority of the church did not lie in a special class of priests, but rather in the whole congregation, to be represented therefore not only by ecclesiastics, but also by laymen. In advocating church union he did not overlook differences in doctrine for the sake of common practical tasks.

The older he grew, the less he distinguished between the Gospel as the announcement of the will of God, and right doctrine as the human knowledge of it. He took pains to safeguard unity in doctrine by theological formulas of union, but these were made as broad as possible and were restricted to the needs of practical religion.

As scholar

As a scholar Melanchthon embodied the spiritual culture of his age. His writing was simple and clear; his manuals, even if they were not always original, were quickly introduced into schools and kept their place for more than a century. For him, knowledge existed only for the service of moral and religious education, and so the teacher of Germany prepared the way for the religious thoughts of the Reformation. He was an important figure in the movement known as Christian humanism, which exerted a lasting influence upon scientific life in Germany.

Melanchthon wrote many treatises on education and learning that present some of his views on the basis, method, and goal of reformed education. In his "Book of Visitation", Melanchthon outlines a school plan that recommends schools to teach Latin only. He suggests children should be broken up into three distinct groups: children who are learning to read, children who know how to read and are ready to learn grammar, and children who are well-trained in grammar and syntax. Melanchthon also believed that the disciplinary system of the classical "seven liberal arts", and the sciences studied in the higher faculties could not encompass the new revolutionary discoveries of the age in terms of either content or method. He expanded the traditional categorization of science in several directions, incorporating not only history, geography and poetry but also the new natural sciences in his system of scholarly disciplines.

As theologian
As a theologian, his strength lay in collecting and systematizing the ideas of others, especially of Luther, for the purpose of instruction. He kept to the practical, and did not look at the connection of the parts, and his Loci were in the form of isolated paragraphs. His humanistic mode of thought formed the basis of his theology so that he acknowledged moral and religious truths outside of Christianity, and brought Christian truth into closer contact with them, to mediate between Christian revelation and ancient philosophy.

Melanchthon's views differed from Luther's only in some modifications of ideas. Melanchthon looked upon the law as not only the correlate of the Gospel, but as the unchangeable order of the spiritual world with its basis in God himself. He distilled Luther's view of redemption to that of legal satisfaction. He did not focus on the mysticism running through Luther's theology, but emphasized the ethical and intellectual elements.

After giving up determinism and absolute predestination and ascribing a certain moral freedom to humanity, he tried to ascertain the share of free will in conversion, naming three causes as concurring in the work of conversion - the Word, the Spirit, and the human will, which was not passive, but resisting its own weakness. After 1548 he used Erasmus' definition of freedom, "the capability of applying oneself to grace."

In dividing faith into knowledge, assent, and trust, he made the participation of the heart subsequent to that of the intellect, which gave rise to the view of the later orthodoxy that the establishment and acceptation of pure doctrine should precede the personal attitude of faith. His conception of faith corresponded with his view that the Church is the communion of those who adhere to the true belief and that her visible existence depends upon the consent of her unregenerated members to her teachings.

Melanchthon's doctrine of the Lord's Supper lacked the mysticism of faith by which Luther united the sensual elements and supersensual realities. It did however demand their formal distinction.

The development of Melanchthon's beliefs may be seen from the history of the Loci. Originally he intended a development of the leading ideas representing the Evangelical conception of salvation, while the later editions approached a plan of a text-book of dogma. At first he insisted on the necessity of every event, rejected the philosophy of Aristotle, and had not fully developed his doctrine of the sacraments. In 1535 he treated for the first time the doctrine of God and that of the Trinity; he rejected the doctrine of the necessity of every event and named free will as a concurring cause in conversion. The doctrine of justification received its forensic form and the necessity of good works was emphasized in the interest of moral discipline. The last editions are distinguished from the earlier ones by the prominence given to the theoretical and rational element.

As moralist
In ethics he preserved and renewed the tradition of ancient morality and represented the Protestant conception of life. His books on morals were chiefly drawn from the classics, and were influenced not so much by Aristotle as by Cicero. His principal works in this line were Prolegomena to Cicero's De officiis (1525); Enarrationes librorum Ethicorum Aristotelis (1529); Epitome philosophiae moralis (1538); and Ethicae doctrinae elementa (1550).

In his Epitome philosophiae moralis he considers the relation of philosophy to the law of God and the Gospel. Moral principles are knowable in the light of reason. Melanchthon calls these the law of God, and being endowed in human nature by God, so also the law of nature. The virtuous pagans had not yet developed the ideas of Original Sin and the Fall, or the fallen aspect of human nature itself, and so could not articulate or explain why humans did not always act virtuously. If virtue was the true law of human nature (having been put there by God himself) than the light of reason could only be darkened by sin. The revealed law, necessitated because of sin, is distinguished from natural law only by its greater completeness and clearness. The fundamental order of moral life can be grasped also by reason; therefore the development of moral philosophy from natural principles must not be neglected. Melanchthon therefore made no sharp distinction between natural and revealed morals.

His contribution to Christian ethics in the proper sense can be seen in the Augsburg Confession and its Apology as well as in his Loci, where he followed Luther in depicting the Protestant ideal of life, the free realization of the divine law by a personality blessed in faith and filled with the spirit of God.

As exegete
Melanchthon's formulation of the authority of Scripture became the norm for some time. The principle of his hermeneutics is expressed in his words: "Every theologian and faithful interpreter of the heavenly doctrine must necessarily be first a grammarian, then a dialectician, and finally a witness." By "grammarian" he meant the philologist who is master of history, archaeology, and ancient geography. For the method of interpretation, he insisted on the unity of the sense and upon the literal sense in contrast to the four senses of the scholastics. He further stated that whatever is looked for in the words of Scripture, outside of the literal sense, is only dogmatic or practical application.

His commentaries are full of theological and practical matter, confirming the doctrines of the Reformation. The most important are those on Genesis, Proverbs, Daniel, the Psalms, Romans (edited in 1522 against his will by Luther), Colossians (1527), and John (1523). Melanchthon worked with Luther in his translation of the Bible, and both the books of the Maccabees in Luther's Bible are ascribed to him. A Latin Bible published in 1529 at Wittenberg is designated as a joint work of Melanchthon and Luther.

As historian and preacher

Melanchthon's influence in historical theology was felt until the seventeenth century, especially in the method of treating church history in connection with political history. His was the first Protestant attempt at a history of dogma with both Sententiae veterum aliquot patrum de caena domini (1530) and De ecclesia et auctoritate verbi Dei (1539).

Melanchthon exerted a wide influence in homiletics, and has been regarded in the Protestant church as the author of the methodical style of preaching. He stayed aloof from dogmatizing or rhetoric in the Annotationes in Evangelia (1544), the Conciones in Evangelium Matthaei (1558), and in his German sermons prepared for George of Anhalt. He never preached from the pulpit and his Latin sermons (Postilla) were prepared for the Hungarian students at Wittenberg who did not understand German.

In 1548 he published the History of the Life and Acts of Luther. In this book, he includes the image of Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the Door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. However, he had not met Luther at this time and Luther himself never mentioned this event.

Melanchthon also produced the first Protestant work on the method of theological study, as well as his Catechesis puerilis (1532), a religious manual for younger students, and a German catechism (1549).

As professor and philosopher
As a philologist and pedagogue Melanchthon was the spiritual heir of the South German Humanists, such as Reuchlin, Jakob Wimpfeling, and Rodolphus Agricola, who represented an ethical conception of the humanities. He saw the liberal arts and a classical education as paths, not only towards natural and ethical philosophy, but also towards divine philosophy. The ancient classics were seen as the sources of a purer knowledge, and also the best means of educating the youth both by their beauty of form and by their ethical content. By his activity in educational institutions and his compilations of Latin and Greek grammars and commentaries, he became the founder of the learned schools of Evangelical Germany, using a combination of humanistic and Christian ideals. The influence of his philosophical compendia ended only with the rule of the Leibniz–Wolff school.

He came to Wittenberg with the plan of editing the complete works of Aristotle and he edited the Rhetoric (1519) and the Dialectic (1520).

He believed that the relation of philosophy to theology is characterized by the distinction between Law and Gospel. The former, as a light of nature, is innate; it also contains the elements of the natural knowledge of God which, however, have been obscured and weakened by sin. Therefore, renewed promulgation of the Law by revelation became necessary and was furnished in the Decalogue; and all law, including that in the form of natural philosophy, contains only demands, shadowings; its fulfillment is given only in the Gospel, the object of certainty in theology, by which also the philosophical elements of knowledge - experience, principles of reason, and syllogism - receive only their final confirmation. As the law is a divinely ordered pedagogue that leads to Christ, philosophy, its interpreter, is subject to revealed truth as the principal standard of opinions and life.

He published De dialecta libri iv (1528), Erotemata dialectices (1547), Liber de anima (1540), Initia doctrinae physicae (1549), and Ethicae doctrinae elementa (1550).

Personal appearance and character
There have been preserved original portraits of Melanchthon by three famous painters of his time - Hans Holbein the Younger with one version in the Royal Gallery of Hanover, Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach the Elder. Melanchthon was described as being dwarfish, misshapen, and physically weak, although he is said to have had a bright and sparkling eye, which kept its colour till the day of his death.

He did not value money and possessions; his hospitality was often misused in such a way that his Swabian servant sometimes had difficulty in managing the household. His domestic life was happy. He called his home "a little church of God", always found peace there, and showed a tender solicitude for his wife and children. A French scholar once found him rocking the cradle with one hand, and holding a book in the other.

His closest friend was Joachim Camerarius, whom he called the half of his soul. His extensive correspondence forms a commentary on his life. He wrote speeches and scientific treatises for others, permitting them to use their own signatures. He acknowledged his faults even to opponents like Flacius, and was open to criticism. He laid great stress upon prayer, daily meditation on the Bible, and attendance of public service.

title: Philip Melanchthon


text:
Albury–Wodonga

Albury–Wodonga is the broad settlement incorporating the twin Australian cities of Albury and Wodonga, which are separated geographically by the Murray River and politically by a state border: Albury on the north of the river is part of New South Wales, while Wodonga on the south bank is in Victoria.

In the early 1970s, Albury–Wodonga was selected as the primary focus of the Whitlam Federal Labor government's scheme to arrest the uncontrolled growth of Australia's large metropolitan areas (in particular Sydney and Melbourne) by encouraging decentralisation. The National Urban Growth Centres initiative, which was Australia’s closet attempt to replicate the 'New Towns' strategy of post-war European models, had grand plans to turn Albury–Wodonga into a major inland city. Albury–Wodonga, it was said, was 'central to the most ambitious plan for deliberate Commonwealth government intervention in regional development since the founding of Canberra as the National Capital'.

Embarking on what was deemed 'an exciting adventure', the Albury–Wodonga pilot scheme involved three governments—the Commonwealth, NSW and Victoria. On 25 January 1973 the Premier of New South Wales, Sir Robert Askin, the Premier of Victoria, Rupert Hamer and the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam signed the initial agreement for the accelerated development of Albury–Wodonga. According to some, it was a unique cross-border agreement that illustrated a 'spirit of cooperative federalism'.

Under Whitlam’s newly established Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD), the ambition to decentralise Australia and promote new growth centres was further demonstrated in the budget allocations of 1973/4 and 1974/75—a provision of $33 million and $223 million for urban growth centres consecutively. In 1973/74, $9 million of the $33 million was allocated to the urban growth centre of Albury–Wodonga. The remaining $24 million was distributed between six other nominated growth centres.

However, due to the subsequent Fraser Government's repudiation of Labor's decentralisation policies, the plan to populate inland areas and cities other than the State capitals was abandoned. No other Commonwealth Government since, either Coalition or Labor, has made any attempt at repopulating inland areas. Thus the current Albury–Wodonga population is far below the 300,000 projected by Gough Whitlam in the 1970s.

The population increased by 1.1% per year on average from 81,540 in 2008 to 86,274 in 2013. Further increasing to 89,007 by the 2016 census, giving an average annual growth rate of 1.04%.

In the 2021 census, Albury-Wodonga had a population of 97,793. As of 2023, the Albury-Wodonga website describes it as having a combined population around 100,000 residents and being Australia's 20th largest city. The website Invest Albury Wodonga claims that the city has reached a population milestone and sustainable population tipping point by having 250,000 people within 100km of Albury-Wodonga.

Albury–Wodonga's National Growth Centre Experience
Albury–Wodonga’s national growth centre experience derived from Australia’s decentralisation processes in the post-war era. Australia, at the time was seen to be borrowing the idea from British town and country planning which had developed from the Garden City concept. The 'New Towns' approach, as it was known, was a popular form of planning used in 1940–50’s UK to aid national decentralisation. The main features of the concept were the strengthening of neighbourhoods and civic centres, development of industrial zones and greenbelts. Meanwhile, in Australia, some began to term the new development as 'satellite towns' and emphasised the improved conditions around housing, more open spaces and easier access to the countryside. Soon after, elements of the 'new towns' could be found in metropolitan planning strategies in Australian cities such as Canberra and Elizabeth.

By the 1970’s the concept was adopted by the Whitlam government who took up the idea as a national urban development policy, and nominated a range of cities to be affected, some pre-existing (Albury–Wodonga, Bathurst-Orange) and others to be developed (Monarto). Both the Commonwealth and State governments were involved in the strategies to accelerate the growth of Albury–Wodonga. Together they established the Albury–Wodonga Development Corporation which held mandates for local land development, economic and community planning and reafforestation and for the overall implementation of the project.

Strategies for relocation
From a Commonwealth perspective there was a desire to relocate public servants from larger cities such as Canberra and Sydney to Albury–Wodonga due to concerns around rising costs in highly populated urban areas. Further support came from the AWDC who, in turn, offered high standard rental housing and support for key transferred public servants and developed an innovative newcomer program to help those transferred and their families. Despite these efforts, a high-level of public service relocation did not take place. However, Albury–Wodonga was, successful in establishing an Australia Tax Office bureau and today still has a large number of defence jobs as a result of a major logistics centre development and training school set up by the federal government.

Universities and corporate decentralisation were also seen as a way to grow a prosperous urban area. The establishment of a university would not only increase the number of jobs but also expand the occupational breadth in the workforce. A university would provide access to tertiary education for rural and regional students and limit the loss of local school leavers from the region.

Similarly, attracting private enterprise was used as a mechanism to accelerate growth. Thus the AWDC developed an economic strategy focussed on the strengthening of distribution and manufacturing services in the region. Albury–Wodonga was to become a regional distribution hub. Moreover, the AWDC enticed new businesses to relocate by providing rental start-up factories, rental housing for employees and promoting the child-care and education facilities already available. To attract larger private enterprises (for example Mars Petcare and the Newsprint Mill at Ettamogah) the state and Commonwealth governments intervened, enforcing provisions such a social housing for employees, to help accelerate growth.

Furthermore, similar to other places that fell under the 'New Towns' strategy, retaining green space was important for the Albury–Wodonga growth centre. In and around the area, the AWDC planted approximately 3 million trees and shrubs, becoming one of Australia’s biggest urban re-afforestation programs. Today Albury–Wodonga continues to exercise environmental leadership through various sustainability initiatives.

title: Albury–Wodonga


text:
Moog (surname)

Moog is a surname. People bearing the name include:

 * Andy Moog (born 1960), former NHL goaltender and current assistant coach of the Dallas Stars
 * Peter Moog (1871–1930), schizophrenic outsider artist
 * Philipp Moog (born 1961), German television actor
 * Michael Moog (fl. 1990s), a moniker of music producer Peter Damien
 * Robert Moog (1934–2005), an American pioneer of electronic music and inventor of the Moog synthesizer
 * William “Bill” C. Moog (1915-1997), American founder of Moog Inc., cousin of Robert Moog
 * Willy Moog (1888–1935), philosopher

title: Moog (surname)