African American Aid

After Zambia gained political independence their economy was doing better. Their economy was surrounded around their primary natural resource, copper. As copper sales went up, new medical buildings and schools were built, they had a promising textile industry and things were looking up. Until an unexpected rise in the price of oil in tandem with the dropping prices of copper forced Zambia to borrow from the IMF and world banks at extremely high interest rates. Soon Zambia found itself in a mountain of unpayable debts and to repay creditors, spending was cut to education and health and other infrastructure projects. Eventually all of the progress they have made goes to waste as it can not be maintained. Foreign countries currently dictate the economic policy via structural adjustment, i.e. policies that “should” increase revenue and allow them to pay the loans off. This inevitably leads to a country that is so dependent on foreign aid because their own industries have been destroyed by foreign influences.

As seen through time, African-Americans have been at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing funds that are available to most people. This however has not stopped them from creating and accessing help that supports and aids their families. Through communal efforts, African-Americans have been able to create mutual aid for themselves. In these communities, there are many sectors that have been built, but the main reason many are “making it” or able to afford and do what they are currently doing is through the help of the various communities and organizations that came about.

Democracy is the system of government where an entire population is represented through elected representatives. But there is a significant aspect in the US government that also acts as elected representatives which are in the form of interest groups. Interest groups are essentially a collection of people of organizations that tries to influence public policies. Just like the media and political parties, interest groups are one of the linkage institutions, linking the people to the government. The main role of interest groups in accordance to the government, is to mobilize the people. Ideally, an interest groups’ main goal is to ensure that a wide range of people and opinions are expressed in the democratic process. The significance of the

Throughout history and present day times, many countries such as Germany, France, and Canada have provided assistance and aid to underdeveloped countries to help alleviate poverty. The United States itself issues aid to developing countries which include Israel, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Ethiopia; this has been an American practice since 1947 after World War II. During the time period from 1947 to 1949 the United States, under the Marshall Plan, provided both financial and technical assistance to Europe and Asia after the war. As a result, Europe was rebuilt both politically and economically. Today the United States continues to provide aid to underdeveloped countries, helping them evolve and strengthen their economy. Many Americans believe that America is doing the right thing in issuing aid, while others hold the opinion that the United States should not issue aid, and that the issue of money to developing countries needs to stop.

In the late nineteenth century the European powers of the world began imperializing Africa. This annexation, occupation, and division of African territory has since led to much strife within the continent and has caused many struggles politically. This period known as the “Scramble for Africa” has led to the many problems that Africa faces today and has been the root of several wars in Africa to assume control. After World War II many European imperialists began to give African nations autonomy. This seemed like a step forward for African nations, but without any plan to transition into self governance many African nations have faced bloody civil wars and corruption. Along with political struggles, numerous African nations face rising debt and other economic problems. Many of these political and economic issues stem from the “Scramble for Africa”. Once the European countries left Africa had very little to support itself. To explain the issues left by imperialism the three African nations of Rwanda, South Africa, and Sierra Leone will be put under the scope.

Riddell, Roger C. 2007. Does Foreign Aid Really Work? 1st ed. OXFORD: Oxford University Press, USA.

What was it like for African American women to work in the homes of white families in one of the most racist and segregated cities in the South during the thriving Civil Rights Movement and Jim Crow Era? In The Help, a novel by Kathryn Stockett, the reader gets to personally know the life of some of the black maids that work for southern white families in Jackson, Mississippi. These maids raise the children, cook all the meals, and clean every dish, fabric, toilet, floor, and piece of furniture of these families homes but get treated with the most disrespect, racial prejudice, and

Modern African states have various problems ranging from corruption, to armed conflict, to stunted structural development. Africa’s ongoing political instability and economic crisis have hindered the improvement of Africa. Thus, the lack of money, advancement in technology, and climate has hampered economic development. Despite European mistreatment and oppression African’s have endured hardships that have encouraged economy, education, and political

The JSTOR Review by Kristian Hoelscher on the book Dead Aid elaborates how Moyo “half-right” in her critique of foreign aid nonetheless Hoelscher mentions how “her review is unfortunately shallow and lacking nuance” in the areas of acknowledging the successes of aid in Africa. Additionally, another review of JSTOR by S.U. Fwatshak reiterated how “aid could not have been the fundamental reason why Africa poor… African’s problem are rooted in a mosaic of a factors (157).” These two reviews provided to be good sources to shed light on the issues of foreign aid and to counter-balance the Moyo’s critique on aid. Lastly, the book is quite short with only one-hundred and eighty-three pages therefore it seemed so like some concepts needed to be elaborated more but were not. On the other hand, the reason I choose this as a source because it does a suitable job in showing the history of aid, speaking on aid effectiveness, and exemplifying the stagnant economic growth (e.g. ten percent Africans are living in poverty in the 1970s compared to seventy-percent now (Moyo 33)). While, I wished the book concentrated more in a section of Africa, such as Sub-Saharan, it was an insightful and factual

The United States of America gives billions of dollars in financial aid each year to help support a myriad of different countries to include Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and multiple African nations. It is morally and ethically correct to help countries in times of true emergency, but how much help is considered too much? Are we as a nation hindering our own growth and future preservation by contributing to this worldwide aid? The answer is very clear when put into perspective.

“Benefits of foreign aid have recently been under severe scrutiny. Several observers argue that a large portion of foreign aid flow from developed to developing countries is wasted and increases unproductive public consumption. Poor institutional development, corruption,

Every year sub-Saharan Africa receives around $134bn in loans, foreign investment and development aid, according to the UN. Nonetheless, sub-Saharan Africa is still the poorest region in the world. For many years the international community has debated over the reasons why every year billion and billions of dollars are not taking sub-Saharan Africans out of poverty. Three major groups have prevailed in the discussion. First, the people who totally blame Africa for not doing its job right, completely forgetting that most of the funds are not administrated by Africans. Second, the people who believe that even though aids are not working, the international community should keep investing funds in Africa even if is failing; one day they will work.

Misused Money, Over $500 billion (U.S.) has been sent to African nations in the form of direct aid. The consensus is that the money has had little long term effect. In addition, most African nations have borrowed substantial sums of money. However, a large percentage of the money was either been invested in weapons (money that was spent back in developed nations and

Most of the developing countries are mired deeply in economical obstacles, which prevent them from development significantly. In order to overcome those embarrassments world’s society struggles to find the efficient solution for poor countries’ economies. Historically, developed countries undertook policy of giving aid to their colonies, afterwards by the end of The Second World War the United States and United Nations embarked the global sponsorship to the developing countries and countries of the Third World due to humanitarian considerations. Since then many other countries have joined in the effort to provide financial aid to lesser developed or poverty ridden countries. But none of those countries that received an aid had experienced a prosperity phase and rapid economic growth.

Over the last 50 years, the world has struggled to maintain an economic balance and stability, while flourishing countries try to maintain a steady income to support its people and relations with other countries. Therefore, when a continent like Africa fails to maintain a stable government and economy, super powers such as America decide to intervene with its relations. Africa has great potential to become another pillar of the world’s economic structure with its mass amounts of uncultivated land. Unfortunately, corruption and irresponsible governments hinder that progress. Foreign aid while helpful should be limited to a yearly amount because it allows the government to repudiate responsibility and gives room for corruption; it creates a