What are the different forms of aid given by more economically
developed countries (MEDCs) to less economically developed countries
(LEDCs)? Explain how useful the aid is and evaluate why some aid is more
successful than other aid.
What are the different forms of aid given by more economically
developed countries (MEDCs) to less economically developed countries
(LEDCs)?
Explain how useful the aid is and evaluate why some aid is more
successful than other aid.
Hafiza Bhabha 11 JT
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Aid many less developed countries (LEDCs) rely on aid. In the Oxford
dictionary aid is defined as,
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"Something that helps, money, food, etc.
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Sent to another country to help it"
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Aid is not only given by countries (governments) but is also given by
organisations which help a certain place or fund a certain project,
such as Oxfam who helps those children in Africa. The real purpose of
giving aid is to help those countries that need to develop their
economy so that they can improve their standard of living and quality
of living. At times giving and receiving aid is complex, as it may not
benefit the country, as it could be unsuccessful.
Many developing countries need aid because they may have large and
increasing trade debts, unfortunately they need to borrow money from
MEDCs, however, sometimes by doing this, they fall into bigger, more
dangerous debts. Other issues such as earthquakes, volcanoes, etc,
also lead countries to borrow more money. This aid is usually only
needed for a short period of time. Short-term aid is aid, which is
given immediately and is only needed for a small amount of time. This
is used with natural disasters and wars etc. Long-term aid is also a
different type of giving. This is more useful to a developing country
as there is always money, technology and other aid coming in.
The aim of this coursework is to investigate what the different types
of aids are and also whether they are successful or unsuccessful. In
this coursework I have used secondary information. This is basically
information that has already been collected. I have researched a lot
from the town library, school library, magazines, Internet and many
school textbooks.
There are three main categories of aid, which is given by MEDCs to
LEDCs and they are:
Bilateral Aid
This aid is between two different countries.
"Help is 'given' directly by a rich 'donor' country to the 'recipient'
country" (The New Wider World- School Textbook)
the reason why the word given is in quotation marks s simply because
there are usually conditions attached to the aid, such as the country
may not allow the other country to trade with anyone else.
Before extending aid to other countries, we should focus on our more prevalent domestic problems. Patrick Buchanan said, "The idea that we should send endless streams of tax dollars all over the world, while our own country sinks slowly in an ocean of debt is, well, ludicrous. Almost every American knows it, feels it, believes it." The topic of United States foreign policy is greatly debated, and a decision on how to handle is very hard to come by. It seems as if we are finally leaning towards less aid to foreign countries, as we try to cut wasteful spending. The American government is finally opening its eyes to the realization that all of the aid we are giving out may not be worth it. Our priority should be to help our homeless, instead of other countries' poor.
... aid across the world. As we have established that we do have an obligation to redistribute globally in a cosmopolitan perspective, distributing wealth however we may need to rethink what the best assistance is. Amaryta Sen conveys that before sending aid to the third world state, we would need to fully understand the limitation of freedom in the country. Redistributing wealth to global countries requires it to be evaluated by the economic shortage that they are suffering and to see whether it will be efficient in the long run. The more effective ways to contribute would be to international relief agencies or NGO’s that would pursue international development projects to help those in poverty or the alternative option by Tom Campbell’s idea of a ‘Global humanitarian levy’ which suggests a more appropriate taxation on all citizens to collectively aid those in need.
Jamieson, D. (2005). Duties to the Distant: Aid, Assistance, and Intervention in the Developing World. Journal Of Ethics, 9(1/2), 151-170. doi:10.1007/s10892-004-3324-9
What Foreign Aid Is There are two words that many politicians like to shy away from, and those are the ones that aren’t two words are "foreign aid. " Taking a firm stand on either side of this topic. is usually side-stepped by decision makers. Their opinions are usually based on a case-by-case analysis. This extremely controversial topic involves whether or not to support the policy of foreign aid to needy or sometimes not so needy countries.
As a child growing up in America, we have all been taught by our parents, teachers, and adults in general to lend a helping hand to others when we can as if it is a part of our social responsibilities. Often politically driven agendas lead the Unites States to help other countries in various capacities, this however isn’t always requested by these countries. The perception is that we are fulfilling some moral, universal responsibility. This isn’t how this behavior is often viewed from the other perspective. There are certainly times when this aid is both needed and appreciated. This can also be a very destructive process for a number of reasons if there are cultural boundaries crossed. When one country imposes itself within the borders of another regardless of the reasons, there is an impact felt from the those in power all the way down to lowest parts of their society. Expectations of repayment for help that was not requested to begin with, can
Every year, donors from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) give billions of dollars in foreign aid, with the United States contributing a large percentage of this sum (Eischen 2012) (Figure A). However, the amount and way in which this money is handled has given rise to heavy criticism. Books such as Dambisa Moya’s Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way For Africa and the innumerable news articles lamenting the state of the corrupt bureaucracies of receiving countries not only discuss the inefficiencies of foreign aid but also accuse these programs of being harmful (Ayodele et al. 2005). One such article claimed that, due to inefficiencies and corruption, at least twenty percent of aid is completely lost (Chakraborty 2013).
The United States is one of the leading suppliers of Foreign Aid in the world, and even though the US gives billions, European countries give aid money to the same countries, this causes many areas of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia to be almost fully dependent on foreign aid. This means that without aid from other countries, they would not be able to support themselves at all. Foreign aid is meant to help countries that are struggling with civil unrest, disease, or natural disasters, it is not meant to help keep the country out of debt, but that is where more and more of the US and The EU’s foreign aid budget is going. The question is, does all this money actually go where it is intended? It should be going towards the government and to help the people, but in many cases, the countries government does not have the resources to properly track the flow of money. The countries in most cases have poor infrastructure and corrupt or oppressive leaders, not always at a national level, but in the towns and cities. So this means there is almost no way to oversee the flow of foreign aid through the country, all we can see is that their situations aren't getting any better and the countries are still impoverished. If this is the case, where are the millions of dollars going? Countries like Afghanistan and Iraq receive the most money from American foreign aid and European aid, yet they are still under oppressive governmental rule and there is still an extreme difference between the rich and poor. Garrett Harding’s theory of “Lifeboat Ethics” exemplifies how not giving aid to others will allow the strongest of society to thrive, while teaching the impoverished to help themselves. He believes that giving aid to poor countries will only make ...
The way in which foreign aid is distributed is highly ineffective and fails to achieve its sole purpose. Corruption ravages the developing world; greedy diplomats and fraudulent officials are often known to embezzle vast amounts of the aid money given to help those most in need. As Lord P. T. Bauer of London School for Economics famously said, foreign aid is “an excellent method for transferring money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.” The money does not reach those who need it but is instead pocketed by dishonest members of government in foreign countries. Over the past years more than half a billion pounds have been invested in Africa yet there is little visual improvement in extreme poverty, deprivation and the child mortality rate. Evidently, Britain’s aid scheme is uselessly trying to combat poverty against a brick wall of bureaucracy. Without doubt this money would be better invested within the UK improving health and education and lowering the deficit.
For example in regards to the ability for democracy to succeed in Africa, “The Economist … asserts that democracy in Africa has been unsuccessful because elections have largely failed to produce a change in democracy” whereas, “ the 1999 elections in Nigeria and South Africa indicate that democracy can be sustained in Africa.” Finally in chapter four Egendorf contemplates the First World nations role in Third World countries. The topics of U.S. foreign aid, U.S.’s role in Africa and the United Nations’ role in third world countries. In regard to U.S. foreign aid, “J. Brian Atwood … argues that foreign aid has helped finance medical and agricultural advances that have led to decreased child mortality and greater crop yields.” On the other hand, “L. Jacobo Rodriguez … argues that, despite the claims of some foreign aid proponents. The postwar economic growth of Europe and Asia was not a result of U.S financial assistance.” Throughout the book Egendorf discusses many highly debatable topics regarding Third World countries and shows substantial evidence to prove both sides of each
Since the countries that receive foreign aid are usually underdeveloped countries that lack solid government systems there can be the issue of local corruption. Developed states tend to use this excuse as a reason not to provide the aid that should be given to the global poor, but it is not the rich states place to comment or deal with local corruption because as we saw in the relatively widespread failure of structural adjustment programs on the African continent, when the West intervenes in the economies of sovereign states they tend to cause more damage than repair in the long run. Aid should be sent no questions asked in the same way that China is now investing in countries all over Africa. If foreign aid wants to by-pass the hands of local corruption then they should send people to directly use the aid for state development. The developed part of the world could also support change in global institutions, which favour poor countries. Even if it is not ‘feasible’ or ‘possible,’ there should still be a move towards a more egalitarian model because rich states were able to develop at a time when there restrictive global institutional practices did not exist and in contrast the Global South is struggling to develop not only in a shorter time frame but under a vastly different economic and
The allocation of foreign aid in international society is not predicated by notions of necessity and development, but rather by self interest and power. Foreign aid’s altruistic façade can often serve to mask a vehement power struggle between the super powers of global politics. In such a struggle aid is used as a currency to purchase power and influence. These powerful gains can be broken into three different categories, the first and most tangible of these gains is the economic dominance that foreign aid grants the donor nation, this is then followed by the security and stability that accompanies strategic aid allocation and finally the gain of soft power through the spread of norms, values and ideologies is prevalent in this ostensibly
It seems inevitable that hegemonic cultural currents may slip into the efforts, especially since the West continues to dominate in all aspects of the international world. The mere act of helping seems to say that ‘we, as the West, know better and can do what you cannot’. Non-governmental organizations have a better chance to remain free from politics because they began at a grass root level and continue to be supported by citizens, but even they find difficulties in providing help without unintended effects. Humanitarian aid in the form of materialistic necessities, like food or supplies, is often seized and controlled by military groups, who distribute them among their supporters or to attract new members. Aid in the form of economic help or loans of money are also complicated, and the risk of corruption is high. And if the money cannot solve the underlying cause, the country can also become indebted to others, furthering the problems. In order for humanitarian interventions to be truly effective, I believe that there are two conditions which must be
Some developed countries have successfully helped less developing countries, however, it relies on the country how they will use this aid for developing their own country. The development of the poor countries depends on their own capabilities with or without the aid of the rich countries they
Bangladesh has been working to improve its country because it is one of the poorest ones in the world (Islam, 1992). It is one the world’s most densely populated countries with 161 million people. Forty-three percent of the people there still live there and it till has one of the highest prevalence of child malnutrition in the world at 41% (Bangladesh, n.d.)). Foreign aid has been given to the country to try and help get them out of poverty. From the period of 1971 to 2012, Bangladesh received about $56.5 billion in foreign aid (Hossain, 2014). The annual flow ranges from $1.0 billion to $1.5 billion (Quibria, 2010). The United States contributes about 6.29% of the foreign assistance to Bangladesh as bilateral donors (Hossain, 2014).
Poor countries have been receiving aid from the international community for over a century now. While such aid is supposed to be considered an act of kindness from the donor nations or international bodies, it has led to over dependence among the developing countries. They have adopted the habit of estimating and including international aid in their national budgets to reduce their balance of trade deficits. It is believed that foreign aid is necessary for poor nations in order to break the cycle of poverty that ties their citizens in low productivity zones and so their economy will not be weak. However, some critics view the extension of aid to poor countries as means of keeping the nations in economic slumber so that they can wake up from only by devising ways of furthering self-sustainability. Because of these two schools of thought concerning the topic, debate has arisen on which side is more rational and factual than the other. The non-sustainable nature of international aid, however, leaves the question of what may happen in the event that foreign aid is unavailable for the poor nations. After thorough consideration on the effects of the assistance to poor countries, it is sufficient to state that giving international aid to the poor nations is more disadvantageous than beneficial to the nations. This point is argued through an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of giving international aid to the poor countries with appropriate examples drawn from various regions of the world to prove the stance.