2. What were the main changes that Jerry Rawlins made in the Ghanaian political and economic systems? What were the consequences of these changes? What are the lessons here?
The main changes that Rawlings made were in the early 1990’s when he restricted the ban on political parties and created a democratic political system. One other significant main change he made was privatizing over 300 state-owned enterprises (Hill & Hult, 2017). He gave Ghana a chance to integrate with the rest of the world to compete in markets and become enticing for foreign investors. Rawlings political regime had been effective as he built a much stronger economic and social environment for the people. He exposed corruption and enforced strict laws to limit officials from reaping financial gains from oil revenues as well as pricing controls and
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Consequentially even though Rawlings focused on the people and their values there were some who had mixed reaction toward his policies. Rather than being positive impact they were some who felt the opposite and felt his methods had caused them hardship in urban areas. One example many recourses and production moved were shifted more into the rural areas, so the trade terms were more favorable to producers in some rural locations rather than urban. According to the African Studies Quarterly there we many wages remained an issue because the increases were still not enough to offset the price of goods that were being imported. Beside labor issues, there were other economic and political opposition, business concerns, and students protesting the new education reform programs just to name a few (Adedejî, 2001). Lessons learned for me is that I believe Rawlings made many positive changes in a short time and these changes are not always going to benefit the entire population. It is going to be up to the new government to continue to find ways to build the economy and upgrade
Reconstruction government made many changes. It strengthened public education and made it available to black children. It strengthened public education and made it available to black children. It also helped the position of women by expanding legal rights for women.
...less victims and whites were resisting all improvements during the Reconstruction (Doc I). As a result, unfortunately, the revolution was not completely successful in improving the conditions of the black freed men.
...onstruction, the majority of black people continued to be oppressed on every front. Not only were they oppressed, but they were also continually terrorized. Perhaps if the government had interceded and done their job the outcome would have been different. Reconstruction reunited the states of the country, but at the same time it turned the people of the country against each other.
...ights of blacks due to the inequitable laws such as the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and sharecropping, and the fact that the Economic Depression of 1873 and the common acts of corruption distressed the economy. The southern states were reunified with the northern states through Lincoln and Johnson’s Reconstruction programs, even though Congress did not fully support them and created their own plan. Reconstruction was meant to truly give blacks the rights they deserved, but the southerners’ continuous acts of discrimination including the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and sharecropping eventually denied them of those rights. Lastly, the negative effects of the corruption and the Panic of 1873 lead to economic failure during Reconstruction. These issues relate to our society because people do still face discrimination and corruption in our economy still exists today.
... and slavery left millions of newly freed African Americans in the South without an education, a home, or a job. Before reconstruction was put in place, African Americans in the South were left roaming helplessly and hopelessly. During the reconstruction period, the African Americans’ situation did not get much better. Although helped by the government, African Americans were faced with a new problem. African Americans in the South were now being terrorized and violently discriminated by nativist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Such groups formed in backlash to Reconstruction and canceled out all the positive factors of Reconstruction. At last, after the Compromise of 1877, the military was taken out of the South and all of the Reconstruction’s efforts were basically for nothing. African Americans in the South were back to the conditions they started with.
Although there were a lot of good outcomes that made the nation what we are, there were also bad ones. Following the Civil War and the slaves being freed, African Americans struggled immensely in order to get rights and not to get discriminated.
Even with this government legislation, the newly dubbed 'freedmen' were still discriminated against by most people and, ironically, they were soon to be restricted and segregated once again under government rulings in important court cases of the era. Reconstruction was intended to give African-Americans the chance for a new and better life. Many of them stayed with their old masters after being freed, while others left in search of opportunity through education as well as land ownership. However, this was not exactly an easy task. There were many things standing in their way, chiefly white supremacists and the laws and restrictions they placed upon African-Americans.
On one hand the slaves were free, and on the other hand they were not given equal rights, and they were discriminated for the color of their skin tone. In other words, Reconstruction was a mixed success, which combined both positive and negative impacts. By the end of the era, the North and South were once again reunited, and all southern state legislatures had abolished slavery in their constitutions. However, it some sense, Reconstruction was a failure because blacks were not provided equal rights and opportunities. Racism and segregation did not end at all. On the other hand, there was a huge change to the country as the US was completely in a chaos stage during the civil war. Despite some obstructions, it can be concluded that the Reconstruction was somewhat beneficial for African American. As time passes, many schools and colleges were founded for blacks, and many other doors were opened to uplift their life. Overall, all these outcomes can be considered as a huge
... wanting to make every country equally poor try and build up business and education if a country like the United States is going to invest in a third world nation. However, even with these blunders Rawls still became a very well-known political philosopher and impacted many young minds to think like him.
In general, there were many changes during the Reconstruction years as blacks learned to adapted to their new struggles as free people. They went from the Southern plantations working for no pay to migrating west to making their own way. In the process, they learned to be self-independent of the whites by having building their own churches, schools and the role of black leaders starts to emerge to ignite the black race. The famous leaders such as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois during the Reconstruction years made an impact on African American history.
In conclusion, the Reconstruction was overall ineffective for giving real rights to African Americans. In effect, all of these outcomes only gave the white an advantage and gave African Americans a difficult way of life. As for the social structure in the south, they ended up getting things their way, winning themselves back into domination of southern state control. There wasn’t really a successful social structure that accomplished to teach southern states a lesson, which only made things worse for African Americans when there was a tiny ounce hope for them. At last, the south did anything they could to impede the rights for African Americans and to neglect a social structure, and as far as the Reconstruction-era, the south was successful. The Republicans did a lot of great things for African Americans, but something always backfired.
Reconstruction did however have several accomplishments, including liberalized state constitutions, public schools systems in the South, and internal improvements. “Whatever laws protects the white man shall afford ‘equal’ protection to the black,” according to Thaddeus Stevens. But this was for the most part not true, and the failures of Reconstruction greatly outnumbered the accomplishments. Politically, the South remained the same as it had before, Democratic. The blacks did gain freedom but were far from equality. And the great amount of corruption during this time period marks Reconstruction as a failure. (American History: A Survey, Alan Brinkley)
2. How does Rawls understand Justice, and how does he propose that we arrive at two principles of Justice that ought to inform social relations and political institutions? What are his two principles of Justice, and what changes would have to occur in the United States in order for us to adopt
For my essay I will be evaluating the sub-saharan African country of Liberia. Over the course of this essay i shall try and shed some light on the main threats to peace and stability in the country. Threats that, if not treated responsibly and correctly, could throw Liberia, the Liberian people and potentially a large proportion of West Africa back into the violence and political instability that has plagued the region over the last few decades.
Rawls, J. (2007). Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy. United States: Harvard University Press.