Foreign aid is regarded as the possibility of poor, undeveloped countries to receive welfare and growth-related opportunities from the healthier ones. Nowadays, most of African countries receive aid every year, concerning the fact that the continent is still perceived as the poorest on Earth, economically. SOURCE.AYODELE) Although there are many resources available, there is a lack of opportunity taking in there, which slows down the overall progress of the region. The most influential reasons determining the previous conclusion are government corruption and the external economical interest from the participating countries. The following essay will argue that foreign countries should not assess more a financial outcome profiting them instead of considering African’s real needs. Therefore, the land is seen as a place of opportunity to make money and it will be demonstrated by the analysis and comparison of two opposite points of view. Furthermore, a case study will be used to support the thesis, leading to the presentation of a personal opinion based on ethical theories and evidence.
The case study chosen to support the thesis is “The Effectiveness Of Foreign Aid”, conducted by Uliane Appolinario in 2009 at the University Of Geneva, which mostly focuses on Zambia. However, it gives a really good image about what is happening in Africa as a whole since the paper compares the positives effects but also the constraints. Moreover, it concentrates on giving a good explanation about the investing government as well as the inside department of Aid in many African countries. The methodology was to put stats, graphs, positions and any source of evidence together in order to determine if aid does overall more good or bad to the continent. ...
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...lly help the poor people where it is necessary. On the other hand, African governments should take complete advantage of aid in a way that the goods and services serve to the development of the specific country. As a result, the less amount of aid is assigned to a state, the closer they are to succeed by their own means. However, it is important to recognize that depending on the places and they way it has been done, aid has chances to be effective. For example, Unicef truely “rebuilds countries, such as Sierra Leone, following civil war” SOURCES UNICEF has established many programs only based on the freewill of helping. Many of them actually are non-profitable constructed which really shows that there is still some empathy around us. As a result, foreign aid has a good possibility to become successful with time if well understood and rightly used.
In conclusion,
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.
In response to the recent failure of the international community to prevent the famine crisis in the Horn of Africa since July 2011, Suzanne Dvorak the chief executive of Save the Children wrote that, “We need to provide help now. But we cannot forget that these children are wasting away in a disaster that we could - and should - have prevented” she added, “The UN estimates that every $1 spent in prevention saves $7 in emergency spending.” (Dvorak, 2011).
“Africa is failing to keep up with population growth not because it has exhausted its potential, but instead because too little has been invested in reaching that potential.” Paarlberg backs this claim with evidence that India’s food issue was solved with foreign assistance in development and offers that the solution to Africa’s food shortage is also development and farm modernization endorsed by foreign aid.
Somalia was supposed to be a strictly humanitarian effort, but it turned out to be a. military effort when the US had to fight against all sides. When every aspect of foreign aid is looked at, a decision about who is. right or wrong by each individual on their own. Foreign aid is most likely a necessary evil for a superpower such as the United States. The US, just because.
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 ...
It is thought-provoking, in the sense that Africa’s need for foreign created a race to the bottom, much like what Pietra Rivoli described in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. Due to some African states’ reliance on foreign aid in order to mine and profit on their resources, they allow business standards to be lowered and for Chinese firms to tip the contracts moresoever in the favor of Chinese firms. This lowers the potential earnings of African states by lowering royalty rates, for example. Additionally, Burgis’ research was thorough and transparent. When he did not receive a response or if his questions were dodged, he made it obvious to the readers. Sure, some could view this book as too anecdotal to be used as a credible source of Africa’s situation. However, this is due to the nature of the system Burgis is writing about; after all, they are shadow states for a reason. Some readers will be saddened by this text, others angry, most curious to learn more, but above all, everyone will be intellectually stimulated and
The first reasons to think that foreign aid should be spend is that “Aid saves lives” which is clearly illustrated by the researches conducted. Compare 1990 to 2010, as a result of aid in vaccines and health, there was a decrease in number of children who died from illness of pneumonia and diarrhoea (BBC). For example, in Botswana, the foreign aid fund had provided a test of HIV for pregnant mothers and therefore decrease the amount of newborn babies which catches HIV. Furthermore, in Bangladesh, there is a 62% drop in death rate for the under five children, the aid fund allows the government to be able to afford “vaccines and trained the midwives”.
Humanitarian Intervention Hypothesis: That despite the incidents where humanitarian interventions have proved seemingly unsuccessful, they are, nonetheless, a vital tool in alleviating the human suffering that so plagues contemporary society. The post-Cold war world is one that has been riddled with conflict, suffering and war. In the face of such times, the issue of humanitarian intervention and about who, when and how it should be employed, has become hotly debated. While some critics declare this kind of intervention to be a violation of national sovereignty, others believe that relief efforts aimed at ending human suffering are perfectly justifiable. 7.
To decrease HIV transmission and to minimise the impact of the epidemic, on children, young people and families, through the growing effectiveness of national action to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the East of Asia and the Pacific regions. They aim to provide practical support and aid at community level, encouraging the full engament of people affected by HIV/AIDS.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, was one of the most controversial books in the world at the time of its release. The book seeks to argue that European exploitation and involvement in Africa throughout history. This is the cause of current African underdevelopment, and the true path to the development is for Africa to completely sever her ties with the international capitalist economy. Rodney describes his goal in writing the book in the preface: “this book derives from a concern with the contemporary African situation. It delves into the past only because otherwise it would be impossible to understand how the present came into being and what the trends are for the near future” (vii). Rodney writes from a distinctly Marxist perspective by arguing that the inequalities inherent in European capitalism and required exploitation of certain countries in order to sustain capitalism.
Ensuring that all members of society are taken care of and are treated respectfully is crucial to ensuring the well being of society as a whole. To say that those less fortunate should be left to fend for themselves, or that it is not our responsibility as citizens and responsible members of society to assist those in need of help is simply selfish. How would you feel if you were the one in need of assistance? We the people that make up society must contribute our time, resources and effort to help others who are less privileged and more susceptible to sickness due to their living conditions and the situation that they are stuck in. Ultimately, society stands to benefit when we take care of those members of society that are in need of shelter, food, financial assistance etc. Furthermore, in doing so, we are also keeping our community safe by eliminating the need for those less fortunate to turn to crime as a way to feed themselves and their family. One can only be pushed so far until self-preservation becomes the most important factor to a person, thus pushing those who are hungry to resort to stealing, robbing and other such crimes to survive.
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.
Throughout the centuries Africa has been a continent of agricultural achievement and plenty. Agrarian practices and technologies developed in Africa were emulated by the world’s great civilizations and radiated to every corner of the world. It’s speculated by many naturalist (most notably Charles R. Darwin) that modern agriculture originated in Africa. Ancient cave paintings discovered by archeologist in Africa are certainly some of the earliest evidences of plant and animal domestication. Arabic and European historical accounts agree that African diets were varied and abundant from the beginning of recorded history up until the middle ages. The African continent is rich with natural and intellectual resources. Northern Africa has rich oil deposits that, once discovered, have made billions of dollars. Sub-Sahara Africa is rich with deposits of precious minerals such as gold and diamonds. Throughout much of history Africa has been thought of as a rich land. But the Africa we know today as being plagued by famine, poverty and war came about at a much later date. These tragic circumstances could have been partly caused by the massive economic dislocation caused by the slave trade and colonization of the 19th and 20th century (Hopkins 13). Colonial powers representing outside interest setup “extractive institutions” across Africa. These “Extractive Institutions” refer to those entities that exist for the sole purpose of pull resources out of a country. Now that many of the colonialist powers have left, these “European-style institutions” still exist well into the turn of the century.
Throughout history, Africa has been a vulnerable player in the eyes of the rest of the world. From the slave trade to various civil right injustices that have taken place over in every century, from what we have studied in this class, we have been able to see the lasting impact on the continent as a ramification of certain events occurring. Using various sources from the text, which serve as evidence, and help prove how the western world exercised its power in order to capitalize on the African continent and exploit the African people and land.