All posts filed under: unit 4

Is international aid effective?

Published by Editor

Although International aid rapidly increased from the 1980s onwards, its origins can be traced back to just after the Second World War, when the Marshall Plan (1947) was first introduced. A US initiative, comprising of $13 billion (around $130 billion today),the Marshall Plan aimed to improve Europe’s economic performance through boosting trade and the production of goods, and later was implemented in other parts of the developing world, due to its success in Europe, where GNP was at an all time high. This today has been the basis for all international aid, the aim of improving stability and increasing peace and prosperity in other nations to ensure security. However, international aid has sparked an ongoing debate with two antithetical positions towards it. On the one hand, many believe that foreign aid has led to more prosperous lives in LEDCs and has improve social welfare, whereas others disagree and believe it creates a dependency culture and creates a cycle of poverty. Thus, the issue of international aid has never been easy to resolve.

The War on Terror and Human Rights

Published by Contributor

The relationship between human rights and combatting terrorism is increasingly prominent, especially since the ‘war on terror’. Human rights are rights which people are entitled by virtue of being human. It could be argued that an infringement on human rights is acceptable as it is the lesser of two evils compared to terrorism. However, others may argue that an infringement is simply unacceptable and can never be justified. It is also argued to be counterproductive in terms of countering terrorism. There is often much debate regarding human rights and terrorism as it is often seen as a government’s responsibility to protect the right to life of citizens therefore suggesting that both human rights and combatting terrorism should complement one another, in reality however, this is not the case. This essay will explore the ways in which terrorism is combatted, for example through: military, state security and ideological approaches, and the ways in which they do and don’t undermine human rights.

To what extent are Human rights protected in the modern world?

Published by Contributor

Human rights are rights to which people are entitled by virtue of being human, and it is thought to be universal, fundamental and indivisible. There has been increasing efforts within the international community to enforce more mechanisms and laws to ensure that human rights are protected around the world, this includes the International Criminal Court and UN Human Rights Council etc… There are also thousands of NGO’s around the world which now have a crucial role in protecting and promoting human rights, particularly through their use of the media. However, human rights can only be protected to an extent because these organisations and institutions are limited by their lack of authority to enforce action upon a state. Therefore, state sovereignty and national interest are fundamental within global politics, which impedes attempts to protect human rights.

Audio/Video : A Conversation With Ambassador Nikki Haley on Human Rights, Peace Keeping and the Security Council

Published by Editor

Nikki Haley discusses the United States’ goals for its term as president of the UN Security Council in April. US Ambassador Haley outlines her plans to highlight human rights and to assess current UN peacekeeping missions. A very good insight into human rights and global governance under the Trump administration.   http://alevelpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/A-Conversation-With-Nikki-Haley.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Why global warming sharply divides political opinion

Published by Editor

  Climate change through global warming has become one of the most prominent issues in global politics. While there has been growing agreement that climate change is happening and that it is anthropogenic or human-induced, there continues to be a major debate about how pressing or serious the problem of global warming is. However, although there have been a variety of global conferences and meetings and the environment has been placed highly on the agenda of politicians hoping to come to office, very little has been addressed and few pledges have materialised never mind achieved. Even the Paris Climate Change commitments seem to be recently unraveling. This is mostly due to the ‘great powers’ complacent attitude towards climate change and the perception that it is of lesser importance than domestic national interests and growth.

To what extent are Human Rights globally accepted?

Published by Contributor

The concept of human right including principles such as freedom of expression and the freedom of religion became a popular concept, adopted by many nations following the end of the Second World War in 1945. Today, the principles of Human Rights are promoted by many non-governmental organisations who survey abuses of Human Rights globally; many states also act on the international stage in a way to promote the ideas of Human Rights, an approach often criticised by Realist thinkers. However to say Human Rights are globally accepted is wrong as many non-westerners see Human Rights simply as a form of western imperialism and argue organisations such as the International Criminal Court are flawed. Therefore Human Rights is accepted as a fundamental doctrine primarily in western nations.

Evaluating different measurements of poverty.

Published by Theo Cox Dodgson

In attempting to assess the policies, namely the neoliberal policies of the last thirty years on the poor, three different ways of measuring poverty have been put forward, all with their own merits and disadvantages The first way of measuring it is the absolute income approach. The World Bank currently measures poverty in terms of people living on less than $1.90 a day. This approach has shown poverty to decrease from 50% of the world’s population in 1980 to 10% today. Peter Edwards criticizes the $1.90 figure for being too low, himself proposing $7.60. That to shows poverty to have gone down from 73% in 1980 to 60% today (as a % of world population). These absolute income approaches all show poverty to have gone in % of people down since 1980, and so are deemed inadequate by critical theorists who insist poverty is more than just how much someone is making. The next way of measuring poverty is the relative approach. Those advocating this approach insist that poverty is relative- Adam Smith himself saying …

LSE Audio: Does Europe Have A Future? Professor Waltz

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Professor Waltz discusses the strategic challenges facing the European Union and explores the geopolitical implications of a weaker Europe for the West. http://media.rawvoice.com/lse_publiclecturesandevents/p/richmedia.lse.ac.uk/publiclecturesandevents/20151001_1830_doesEuropeHaveAFuture.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS