Conflict according to Miriam Webster occurs primarily as a result of a clash in the interests and the opposing action of incompatible goals or divergent ideas. Conflict arises from a variety of causal factors either a section of the population or community feels excluded from the developmental process, competition for political power, clashing of religious, political or social values. Africa has seen its fair share of conflict which is ethnic based rebellion against state, coup de tats, varying religious ideologies etc. but the appropriation and exploitation of natural resources has been fingered as a leading cause for the wars in Africa.
Using the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a case study, this essay explores how the existence of
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Additionally, Collier, 2000 found that those countries whose economy largely depends on one agricultural export or natural resource are highly prone to conflict. Le Billion 2006 & Ross 2003 assessed the accessibility of resources both to the government and rebel groups to loot and concluded that the more a resource is easily accessible, then there is likelihood of war. Point resources like oil or kimberlite which are highly controlled are difficult to loot unlike sparse resources like diamonds and gold which are inexpensively harvested and easily smuggled. Lootable resources will be more attractive to armed insurgents for control of the territory. Collier and Hoeffler (1998, 2004) contend that conflict can arise between the government of the day and rebel groups that have the objective of capturing the state or seceding in order to gain control of the natural resources. Humphreys (2005) on the other hand suggests the use of various relevant mechanisms in order to link resources to conflict and the duration of those conflicts like the greed and grievance mechanism, sparse networks mechanism and the weak states mechanism. Le Billion (2001) looks the relationship between conflict and natural resources by emphasising that not only does the presence of …show more content…
Clientelist regimes “can divest themselves of the need of the popular legitimacy by eliminating the need for broad based taxation of a diversified formal economy, financing a repressive security apparatus, rewarding a close circle of supporters” (Le Billion, 2001: 567). When citizens are untaxed by their governments, they do not have power over the government and so they have no incentive to monitor their activities and hold them accountable. Furthermore, when the government is not providing them with basic services like health or education, citizens cannot withdraw their support for the government because they have no institution that they can fall back on. These types of governments do not have any need to create working institutions for its citizens as they do not collect tax from them, so they rather focus on the sectors that pay rent. In the case of the DRC public clinics and pharmacies run out of medicine all the time and health conditions are continually on the decline. Malnutrition is at all-time low and communicable diseases according to (UNICEF, 2001) like malaria, measles, typhoid and other respiratory diseases are killing people on a daily basis because healthcare has plummeted. For Ross (1999), the rentier states adopt policies that favour elite classes over development policies that support
Also Wood describes, “This Aladdin’s cave of treasure is Congo’s great fortune, but is also her greatest blight” (49). Many country want part of all this treasured but taking of advantage of its undeveloped stage. Many countries come to Congo to obtain its valuable resource but not only take its resource but influence the country government. In 1960 after the Belgian regime Patrice Lumumba wanted to be president. This man had different ideas that many did not like as the Americans.
This essay argues that states that are ethnically and culturally similar are more likely to engage in conflicts over
I think the most important conflict in the novel, A Lesson Before Dying is person versus self (Grant versus self). Grant struggles with self-doubt, unsure if what he is doing within his community is truly making a difference. This uncertainty is evident when Grant questions himself in relation to his teaching at the local church, “What am I doing? Am I reaching them at all?... Is it just a vicious circle?
The Congo has been a place of abundant resources and minerals that has put a kind of a target on its’ back. As a result of the land and people being stripped, wars have broken out. Furthermore, western capitalists who steal from the Congo, are the only ones who see the profits while the people of the Congo suffer in misery. Because of the interference of western countries, the Congo as a country has been “under-developed” (Renton 172). The Congolese people have assumed a position of dependence, therefore were unable to grow properly as a country, resulting in the Congo unable to stand on its own.
Could the four women portrayed have been able to achieve what they did on their own? Use social work theories to address this question, i.e. strengths perspective, person-in-environment, etc. Putting the women in the person in environment perspective or Pie theory they would not have been able to achieve what they did on their own. The reason being is that the environment around them was filled with gangs, shootings, violence causing numerous of individuals do not feel safe, vulnerability and the majority of those around them were also living in poverty.
Throughout the ages, many nations have been known to do whatever it takes to sustain a valuable supply of resources. For this reason, however the exploitation of resources by countries using unfair means is an enduring issue for many groups of people. Exploitation of resources is when the government or outside forces take advantage of a nation’s resources. This issue is significant because it causes civil conflict and war, can impact people of nations terribly, and can destroy industry. Problems created by exploitation of resources can be seen in examples from Sierra Leone, the Congo and British India.
A Long Way Gone Forest fires engulf tall rows of trees, turning green leaves and the homes of animals into ashes. Although fires leave a destructive trail of darkened groves, they create a chance for new life to develop. Nutrients find their way through the ashes into new soil, a new life begins to flourish, and old wreckages create new homes. Ishmael Beah, the author of ‘A Long Way Gone’, tells his readers his story that one man could never forget; new opportunities and chances for a better life often flourish in the ashes created from past challenges. The book ‘a long way gone’ is based on true events experienced by the author.
Theoretical Framework: Conflict Perspective: Conflict perspective focuses their attention on society as a whole. Conflict theorists see society as in a continuous sate of conflict between groups and classes. He struggle for power and income is a continuous process but one in which many categories of people appear as opponents-classes, races, nationalities and even the sexes. Society is held together through the power of dominant groups or classes. The shared values, which functionalist see as glue for holding society together, do no realty form rue consensus; instead this is an artificial consensus in which the dominant groups or classes impose their values and rules upon rest of the people.
(Deudney, 1990) Criticism of deeming the environment as a national threat is not uncommon. Homer-Dixon also supported this view to a certain extent saying there was no evidence to suggest environmental scarcity was a principle cause of conflict. Interestingly Homer-Dixon later concluded a paper assessing the nexus between the environment and conflict saying “our research shows that environmental scarcity causes violent conflict.” Why the change in tact? The answer to this is there are new examples of environmental scarcity’s causing inter-state conflict.
Merve Dellal 21502679 Philip Poole ENG 102-98 31 March 2016 CLASS CONFLICT Conflicts have existed since the very beginning of the history of humanity. We come across and use the word ‘’conflict’’ a lot in our lives in different fields. Conflicts and its definitions are quite controversial. In the book , ‘’Managing Conflict in Organizations’’ , author M. Afzalur Rakhim mentions that there is no single universally accepted definition of conflict (15). Rakhim’s proposed definition of conflict is ‘’an interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement or dissonance within or between social entities ‘’(16).To take another definition, conflict can simply be defined as some form of divergence, disagreement,
Conflicts will arise when individual compete for power or authority and most importantly, resources which are limited.
Effective leaders must learn to embrace conflict because it is an inexorable part of human interactions and without intervention, it seldom finds its own productive solutions (Myatt, 2012). The failure to address conflict early on will likely lead to workplace acrimony, disengagement and poor communication and cooperation (Myatt, 2012). The story of the conflict between Cindy and Dr. Jones is an excellent case to analyze the elements of conflict and conflict management.
The conflict theory sees every aspect of society as a conflict between two groups for scarce resources and wants to minimize the
The notion and the meaning of conflict have evolved with time. Before Coser, conflict was seen more as a source of social change and disintegration. However, the conflict theory we are referring to here is not necessarily an infliction of violence or atrocities, but a conflict that arises due to unequal distribution of power and resources. Theorists consider power to be an important element of conflict theory. For instance, who uses power or where is power located are two of the main concerns of conflict theory.
“Conflict is a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power, and resources, in which the aims of the opponents are to neutralize, injure, or eliminate the rivals”. (L. Coser,