Title:
The impact of foreign aid in African countries: challenges, consequences and prospects of the International Monetary Fund and Zambia.
Abstract:
Sub-Saharan Africa has been defined by its instability and development discourse, since the countries gained independence from the oppressive colonial regimes, in the 1950s. As a result, Africa has been a pearl that attracts international donors’ attention for foreign aid. These donations emanate from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, governmental, non-governmental and multinational organizations. Aid that stems particularly from the IMF and WB is most widely contested, due to its penetrative conditionalities, which give the international financial institutions a great deal of control over the recipient governments. Aid is given to governments to repair their tarnished economies; the effectiveness of aid is measured on the fiscal response of
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This perception stems from the conditionalities attached to foreign aid, these conditions range from removal of trade barriers, adoption of democratic values and system, adoption of free market values, cutting back on government expenditure, devaluation of a country’s currency. These conditions have spun political leaders to be labelled as “Western puppets because their domestic and foreign policies are directly or indirectly dictated by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank” (Mugabe, 2012).
This study aims to unpack the challenges, consequences and prospects of foreign aid in Sub-Saharan Africa. This will be done by looking at the link between forced democracy and conditional aid, the external (power politics) and internal (corruption) sources of aid failure, the capitalistic thinking that trickles down to the ordinary citizen.
Problem
Africa In World Politics: Engaging a Changing Global Order by John Harbenson and Donald Rothchild gives an analysis of how Africa has changed from being a European ruled colonial nation to a nation that it creating a name for itself in the global sphere. Beginning with Africa’s politics during the colonial era through the present. The book provides not only details about Africa but also how the changing world has affected African politics. The main focus of this book is to show the growth Africa has had since its time of colonization. Africa has grown as the world has changed although it has had to deal with internal conflicts and demands for political change due to its authoritarian regimes.
Why Was There So Much Imperialism Going On European’s taking control over Africa in a new way, called imperialism! Africa definitely changed from the European imperialism but it also benefited from it. Of course not in a fantastic way most of the time. The driving force behind European imperialism in Africa was a serious matter back in the 19th century that changed it for the better, even if it did cause a lot of controversy.
“An in-depth analysis on effects of Imperialism on Rwanda” Nowadays, European countries such as England, France, Germany, Belgium, and many other countries possess a colossal clout throughout the world. It is an impeccable fact that such countries, indeed, have served as a rudiment pivot and step for the world to be advanced to the point where we are since the Industrial Revolution. Such countries, because of it, without a doubt, have a crucial status globally and become the superpower and commercial hub on our planet. On the back side of their gleaming growth, however, there is an invisible part left behind their luminous development: the Imperialism. The term “Imperialism” refers to a policy of extending a country’s authority and political clout by using its military forces and diplomacy.
There have been various perceptions concerning the history of Africa, and some of these have portrayed Africa in more negative than positive ways. In an attempt to examine the historical aspect of Africa through various lenses, this essay presents an analysis of evidence that have been brought forth towards understanding Africa’s role in world history, as well as reasons and lessons from the negative portrayal of Africa. The history of Africa has been viewed and understood through a variety of lenses in the past few hundred years. To begin with, the origin of the name Africa in itself has drawn a number of controversies that stem from the different perspectives through which the name has been examined.
This is because the United States government is so large, it is virtually impossible to track all of the various federal agencies’ programs across countries and sectors to pinpoint the exact number or amount of assistance their government provides, in terms of the citizens’ taxpayer dollars going to foreign government, or even just their militaries. However, we can focus on the three main programs where military funding is allocated, namely foreign military financing(FMF), peacekeeping operations(PKO), and the International Military Education and Training Program(IMET). In foreign military financing, some of their objectives include to improve the military capabilities of key friendly countries to contribute to international crisis response operations, including peacekeeping and humanitarian crises, to promote bilateral, regional and multilateral coalition efforts, notably in the global war of terrorism and to assist the militaries of friendly countries and allies to procure U.S defense articles and services that strengthen legitimate self-defense capabilities and security needs. FMF is vital to supporting U.S coalition partners in the war on terrorism. It promotes U.S national security by strengthening military support for democratically-elected governments, contributing to regional and global stability, and containing
The societies of West Africa, Europe, and North America exhibited similarities and differences in their religious beliefs, values, and government systems. These contrasts and similarities were further made apparent during European expansion across the Atlantic and the subsequent new cross cultural interactions that were created. One way in which the societies of West Africa, Europe, and North America diverged was in their belief systems. Unlike Europe and North America, West Africa gradually adopted Islam in addition to its traditional religions. Islam diffused through the trans-Saharan trade with North Africa and by the 1200’s was assimilated into the Mali and Songhai Empire.
Hunger in Ethiopia Every day the world develops widely and jumps great leaps in technology. Yet lots of unfortunate people die every minute caused by famines, civil wars, and rapacity of some who rape others rights and dreams of decent lives. Today in the 21th century shamefully, there are a lot of starve, literally, to death. Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition.
The consequence of wars, the political turmoil in countries or simply a country in debt; these all warrant a need for foreign aid. Although it may seem like the obvious act to do, is it really the right thing to do? It is firstly important to note what is the fundamental characteristic of foreign aid and what it entails, both for a country providing and the country receiving it. The aspect of aid can take many forms, ranging from goods and services or capital from foreign country to country in need. As situations in different countries continue to take new forms, aid can also be provided concerning military, economic means, etc.
Davidson makes reference to Idi Amin of Uganda as well as Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic, who both are examples of leaders who mirrored the actions of their colonial predecessors. Their rule was similar to that of European colonizers in that they thrived off of the inequality of Africans and took part in lavish celebrations while the majority of their country remained poor. While some believe this corruption is due to some innate greed possessed solely by Africans, a look into history tells you that modern day African rulers have simply just inherited and embraced the lifestyle of the European rules before them, which unfortunately included the massive hoarding of wealth. This hoarding of wealth did not come without any opposition however, which brings about the next theme of dictatorship and how rulers such as Bokassa and Amin maintained their positions of power through the crushing of dissent. The suppression of protests was done through the torture and murder of anyone who criticized, which is exactly how the European colonizers ruled out any opposition and another example of the brutal legacies of
He contends that when an individual or group is denied its major requirement for identity, security, acknowledgment or equivalent investment inside of the general public, extended conflict is inescapable. To determine such conflict, it is essential that needs that are debilitated be distinguished and along these lines rebuilding of connections or the social framework happen in a way that needs of all people and groups are suited (Burton John, 1991,p82). For instance, this model can be helpful in the cases of African conflicts, for example, that of Darfur, Burundi, Dr Congo and Rwanda conflicts, where there are limitations on opportunity and support of its nationals in political and monetary
The association of poverty with Africa goes together like apple pie and America. From the advertisements of malnourished, African children to our education, or rather lack of education, about African countries in the American school system, the concept of Africa as an impoverished continent has been engrained into our minds. This rhetoric of Africa has lasted over decades, with a substantial amount of aid being given to African countries to rectify this problem. And yet, sixteen of the world’s poorest countries were identified as being in sub-Saharan Africa as of 2013. This insinuates that foreign countries and organizations that provide aid, need to reevaluate why aid isn’t making a bigger impact at fixing the problem.
The foreign aid program is created to bring an end to poverty, conflicts and other difficulties that poor-developed countries are enabled to solve it. Everything is not about money, but it is about power, political view or group society. In many well-developed countries, corruption and political control are being reviewed by the UN and other governance, because they could be penalized or have sanctions. In a less-developed country that are already being helped with foreign aid, the governance and other aid programs must have their hands tied when it comes to penalized or sanctioned, because they are already in need, therefore corruption is created in those less-developed countries and hunger follows. There is the end of hungriness that is currently trying to be solved in the world, but there are still conflicts with political control that keeps the foreign aid to cause hunger in
Subsistence aid: it is given by the developed counties to those which do not possess sufficient resources to maintain their territories . For example US supports to Jordan 3. Bribes and pension aid: it is prevalent in the 19th century.under this aid the governments paid a pension or bribe to the foreign minister or ambassador for the services rendered to them. 4. Military aid: it covers not only giving the weapons but also the sale of military goods at lowest rates.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS BE A MECHANISM FOR EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. FORTUNATA MULEKUZI REGISTRATION NUMBER: PG201401993 A CONCEPT NOTE SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIVERSIDADE FERNANDO PESSOA AND OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA 2016 Background to the Problem The phenomenon international relations emerged at the beginning of the 20th century largely in the West and in particular in the United States as that country grew in power and influence. Bloomfield et al.