Foreign Aid
There is a large gap in the development of the Northern and Southern nations of the world. The Northern countries in general are geared more towards industry and are more economically prosperous because of it. While the South is much less industrial and as a result lacks the wealth that the North enjoys(Rourke, 1998, p.168). That is not to say, however, that there are not wealthy countries in the South or poor countries in the North, but generally speaking most of the world's wealth lies in the hands of the North. This fact brings up a very interesting question. Is it the responsibility of the wealthier nations to aid the poorer ones? Should the more prosperous nations give up some of their wealth to help the impoverished nations? And, if they do give aid to the poorer nations should it be an investment, or should it simply be a gift? Today there are still many different views on the matter. Some feel that everyone should look out for themselves, and no aid should be given. Some want to help the less fortunate countries almost to the point of sharing everything. I think that there is a balance between the two that must be found. The gap between the rich and the poor is growing, and will continue to grow unless there
Another reason not to increase aid to less developed which was the previous case, the focus is now on cutting the number of people living in extreme poverty(less than $1 a day) in half by the year 2015(Unknown Author (British),1997, p.1). This is an ambitious goal, but it will be achieved if Britan's intentions stay honorable. In my opinion this is the kind of aid needed to truly end all poverty. is something done about it. "Today the net worth of 10 billionaires is worth 1.5 times the combined national income of the world's 48 least developed countries" (Unknown Author (socialism), 1997,p. 1). If there is nothing done to help aid the impoverished nations we could see that gap reach astronomical heights. While many countries in the North are enjoying the benefits of a strong economy there are still "1.3 billion people living on a dollar a day or less, 160 million children moderately or severely malnourished, and one fifth of the world's population not expected to live beyond the age of countries is that the aid is not really alleviating poverty. In poor nations "aid is rarely concentrated on the services that benefit the poorest"(Rourke, 1998, p.179). The people who are already better off in the poor countries are getting most of the benefits from the aid. The aid is given to the people that are most likely to be able to give something back. This is a result of aid-givers being more interested in obtaining their own objectives than relieving poverty.(Rourke, 1998, p.179) Many nations treat aid as in investment. They give aid to the poorer nations hoping there will be a strong return on their "investment". This is a major problem in the attempt to provide aid to poverty stricken nations. The money is given with the expectation of getting something in return. While this may seem terrible at first it is actually a good way to entice richer nations to give aid to the poorer nations. It is to be expected in this world of realists that you can't get anything for free, and that applies to aid as well. There are often certain expectations that a wealthy nation has of the poorer one when giving aid. They expect to be given favorable trade relations, and that the poorer nations will support them in any way they can. a significant portion of their gross national product to aid, with no strings attached. However, because this world is
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1598
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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