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Advantages and disadvantages of development aid
Advantages and disadvantages of development aid
Advantages and disadvantages of development aid
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The Effectiveness of International Aid in the Development Process
If an individual was having trouble in some way, wouldn’t one’s
natural instinct be to help him or her out? This does not merely apply
to persons, but also on a larger basis. All over the world, countries
are suffering from many problems. The majority of these sufferers are
ELDCs (Economically Less Developed Countries). Whether their crises
may involve starvation or refugees, these nations struggle for an
economical or social stability. Despite vigorous attempts to try and
raise their development status, the process is very slow and grueling,
and in result, they hope for help from countries that can afford it
(i.e. EMDCs: Economically More Developed Countries). Thus, the
practice of giving “a helping hand for poor countries from rich
countries” is known as International Aid. At a glance, International
Aid seems like a simple procedure in which the “kind-hearted, generous
rich country donates to the vagabond-like poor country”. In which the
rich country is “the good guy”. Although this statement may contain
some truth, the story isn’t as effortless. There are several issues
that arise upon this plain act, and this makes International Aid not
necessarily a good entity. A factor that must be taken into
consideration as well in this case, is the type of aid. The most
common forms are Aid in Food, and Financial Aid. Using assistance with
these two aspects of the topic, is International Aid effective within
the development process?
While a fraction of the world is focusing on luxuries, the other
portion is concentrating on bare necessities. Food is an obvious
essential ...
... middle of paper ...
...extremely advantageous. Therefore, it
can safely be proclaimed that countries with genuine commitment to
economic administration and go “by the book” will find aid an
effective element. Despite this, however, trade will always be more
constructive towards an economy than aid, whether it is in Africa or
not.
Bibliography
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* http://www.fas.usda.gov/icd/summit/discpapr.html
* http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:Ijj3onJepN8J:www.arts.cornell.edu/poverty/kanbur/HandbookAid.pdf+international+aid&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
* http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty/FoodDumping/Intro.asp
* http://www.economist.com/research/Economics/alphabetic.cfm?TERM=INCOME%20TAX
* http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jan2002/afgh-j28.shtml
“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.
With Europe in control, “the policies of the governing powers redirected all African trade to the international export market. Thus today, there is little in the way of inter-African trade, and the pattern of economic dependence continues.” Europeans exported most of the resources in Africa cheaply and sold them costly, which benefited them, but many Africans worked overtime and were not treated with care.
Every year, more and more money is donated to Africa to promote democracy in order to get rid of the powerful coups in many countries through out the continent. While the coups are declining and democratic governments are being established, the economic growth and development of Africa is not anywhere it should be considering the abundant natural resources and coastline that the continent possesses. Even though countries, like the United States of America, donate millions of dollars they are a large reason why Africa is underdeveloped economically. The Trans-Atlantic Slave trade is the most devastating event in the history of the world. Nearly 14,000,000 men, women, and children were displaced, sold into slavery, and killed by the trade routes.(
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 is absolute poverty? According to Robert McNamara it is "life at the very margin of existence" (Singer 219). It is a life that, if not ended by early death, causes a kind of misery unseen to those living in the United States. Compared to the estimated 1.2 billion people, worldwide living in poverty, those of us in developed countries experience a life of luxury. The things that we take for granted, such as cars, computers, microwaves, and televisions, are extravagant items that most people living in extreme economic poverty will never see. The gap between the affluent and the poverty-stricken is wide, and is getting even wider in many areas of the world. Are we morally obligated to help those less fortunate than ourselves? Should we merely go about our daily lives, forgetting about those on the other side of the world who are dying of malnutrition? These are just a few of the questions that I am about to explore.
Developed countries should not simply hand money to third world countries, as this gives no incentive to develop responsible government or fiscal policies. Dambisa Moyo, an international economist from Zambia, comments on foreign aid, stating that “aid is easy money” (Collier). If a person were to give a man in need a small sum of m...
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 ...
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
“…increasing international trade and financial flows since the Second World War have fostered sustained economic growth over the long term in the world’s high-income states. Some with idle incomes have prospered as well, but low-income economies generally have not made significant gains. The growing world economy has not produced balanced, healthy economic growth in the poorer states. Instead, the cycle of underdevelopment more aptly describes their plight. In the context of weak economies, the negative effects of international trade and foreign investments have been devastating. Issues of trade and currency values preoccupy the economic policies of states with low-income economies even more than those with high incomes because the downturns are far more debilitating.1”
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
There are several international factors that influence the transition of an authoritarian regime to a democratic one. Foreign aid and coercive democracy have been identified as influencing democratization. However, aid and coercive democracy has little to do with promoting democratization. Ultimately, local domestic groups, such as Otpor have been the most influential in promoting democratization thus far.
Through individual, national, and global aid, we can take steps to decrease the overwhelming amount of poverty in less-developed countries and even in our own lands.
If these developed countries continue to prejudge underdeveloped countries by wealth or other conditions, when people are faced with serious problems in society, these problems become global. By helping each other, all countries offer hope and compassion, and share new knowledge with each other. Therefore, people all over the world suffer less, because they know they are not alone.