Food Crisis in East Africa Discussion

William Vazquez

Professor Craig

World Politics 001H

Date of Submission: 12 December 2011

As children, my siblings and I would always be told to finish our food and enjoy it. If we did not like it and did not want to eat, we were told to think of the starving kids in Africa who had little or nothing. Over time it became a token phrase for my grandmother, but the gravity of the situation never really hit me. On November 10^th, 2011, however, the horrors of this situation were brought to light. A discussion was held in the Battelle-Tompkins atrium to bring to light the ongoing issue of famine in Africa. The initial two presenters were Laura Birk from USAID and Jenny Coneff from FEWSNET.

The two presenters started off with a little background information about their organizations before starting the discussion. Ms. Birk was very concerned with the lack of attention on the issue that is affecting so many people. She is especially surprised at how ignorant much of the US is to the issue. Her organization is part of the Drought Task Force working in Somalia to provide aid for the people dealing with the famine. It focuses on improving the situation for the long term, and as such it tries to balance immediate aid with improving the resilience of the people and the land so that future famines could potentially be prevented. Ms. Coneff’s organization focuses on food security and takes information from field analysis, processes the various issues that are affecting the region being helped, and the proper response is deduced from there.

There was also a brief overview of the situation, courtesy of Oxfam America’s fact sheet. Across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, a severe drought and food crisis have ensnared more than 13 million people. Parts of the region are the direst they have been in 60 years. But punishing weather is not the only challenge families here face: deep poverty and decades of marginalization have left them with few resources on which to fall back as the price of food soars and water shortages persist. In Somalia, the crisis has escalated into famine.

According to Ms. Coneff, Somalia’s current situation fits all of the criteria for a famine, including the fact that it has an acute lack of food security and its death rate is greater than two percent per day. According to the fact sheet, the UN uses a five-step scale to assess a country’s food security, or the ability of its people to access sufficient food to meet their needs. A situation reaces stage five – “famine/humanitarian catastrophe” – when maltnutrition rates climb higher than 30 percent, when more than two people out of 10,000 die each day, when food is limited to less than 2,100 calories per person per day, and when each person has access to less than four liters of water a day. All of these can currently be seen in Somalia today.

A person is malnourished if he or she does not have the energy to grow, recover from disease, become pregnant, lactate, or do physical work. Many people in Somalia suffer from these conditions. Approximately 450,000 children under the age of five in Somalia are malnourished. Herders in Kenya have lost eight million animals as a consequence of the same drought. In Ethiopia, the price of corn climbed between 60 and 120 percent in the four months between February and May of this year. In northern Kenya, milk is rarely available and costs three times its normal price, which means children are making do with less than a quarter of their usual intake.

What both presenters agreed on is that while drought is inevitable, famine is preventable. So why is there famine in Somalia? One main cause of the famine is the frequency of natural disasters that have continuously damaged Somalia’s landscape and its people. On top of that, Somalia has gone without a solid, central government since 1992. With no governing force, it is near impossible for food security or any kind of rules to be enforced. And now Somalia has been suffering under one of the worst droughts it has ever experienced. Why is the US not assisting Somalia? Due to al-Shabaab’s bans on international governmental organizations getting involved, it became even harder to get involved in assisting. In 2010 the U.S. government ceased its aid due to al-Shabaab’s widespread influence.

Now due to the barriers that were set up not too long ago, it is even harder and more risky to get to the areas that are in dire need of aid. They have become near inaccessible and deadly for those trying to help. Even with the attempts of emergency food programs and resilience programs trying to help, is there really any way to reverse the already devastating effects? Earlier in the decade, Ethiopia dealt with a similar situation, but by utilizing aid from the outside it was able to provide food for the people. Meanwhile in Somalia, millions of children are going hungry and are now broken by the lack of nutrition and stunted for the rest of their lives.

Ms. Coneff pointed out that it would be cheaper overall to prevent the issues rather than allow them to arise and then try to resolve them afterward. Even though it is harder to preempt what might occur, by preparing ahead of time for whatever situation may arise, the people of Somalia and Africa overall have a better chance. What really needs to be improved is the agricultural system in Somalia and throughout the affected areas in Africa. Meanwhile countries abroad can begin developing new technology to aid in allowing their improved agricultural systems to thrive. Then people should be sent in to teach the people of Somalia how to utilize this equipment.

As far as media coverage on the famine goes, both Ms. Birk and Ms. Coneff were disappointed at the lack of media coverage on the issue. Ms. Birk stated that a survey was conducted in the U.S. that found that about 48 percent of the surveyed U.S. citizens actually knew about the famine. Ms. Coneff noted that it was not until March of 2011 that the word “famine” was actually used to describe the issue. She also noted that no stories or headlining news about the issue has been released since September of 2011.

What the presenters wanted to make clear is that the goal of their organizations and of most humanitarian aid to the affected areas is not to try and fix the Horn of Africa per se. What they want to do is try to support the existing governments there so that they can change for the better. By doing so, this can help global development as well as improve the effectiveness of globalization, showing yet another way on how it can be beneficial. Past events, such as the arming of different groups in Somalia by the US and the USSR during the Cold War, did nothing to improve the situation in Somalia. On top of that, once again due to the presence of al-Shabaab, aerial bombardments were orchestrated by the Bush administration in order to deter violence. This did not improve anything though.

The panelists all agreed that the most pressing issue is the security of the people as well as food security. In aiding, the right tools have to be provided for the right plan. Overall, despite the fact that the U.S. has been more inclined to use military methods when it comes to Somalia, humanitarian methods should come before we resort to violence. While there is a problem, this does not imply that it is impossible for the situation to change. What we need to do is understand the agricultural needs of the people as well as support small businesses and families with aid so they may thrive. By empowering the people, more progress can be made, as resilience at the community level can increase. It was suggested that to get involved, we should donate to their organizations as well as write to our congressmen to tell them to suggest sending more aid to the affected areas.

Food crises have continued to hit Africa with unsettling regularity in the 21^st century – in Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, South Sudan – even as we have the means and know-how to prevent them. Changing weather patterns, conflict, skewed trade rules, and poverty can all threaten a nation’s food security. But the debilitating hunger these circumstances fuel is no more inevitable than it is ethically acceptable. Our global challenge is summoning the will – political and financial – to tackle the root causes of these crises. Rapid donor support for emergency response, social protection programs back by long-term funding, greater investment in rural development, assistance for small-scale food producers – these are the steps we need to take to put an end to the disasters like the one now hitting East Africa.

Successive seasons of poor rain this year and recurring drought in others have eroded the ability of farmers and herders in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia to recover after each hit they take. Countless animals on which people depend for food and income have died. Cereal prices have spiked astronomically in some places, and people’s purchasing power has dwindled as the value of their livestock – equivalent to money in the bank – has plunged. Coupled with these hardships are years of neglect and economic underdevelopment in a region that sorely needs basic infrastructure such as the water systems, roads, and health care services that would help people weather crises like the current one. And in Somalia violent conflict has made the situation worse. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have made their way into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. Dadaab, Kenya, is now bursting with more than 460,000 people, making it the largest refugee camp in the world.

This event was incredibly eye-opening for me. I barely knew just how severe the issue of famine was in Africa. I did not know that it was even so severe even to this day. I wonder what might be the best way to convince al-Shabaab that humanitarian aid is necessary, or even if that would be enough to really have a positive influence on the area. Hopefully with time tensions will defuse so that the people can be helped. If not, more and more people will be affected by the ever-growing, terrible issue. Despite fundamental disagreements on worldviews, even different governments and international groups must work together on this to help the people to survive and thrive.

Food Security in North America

The most recent official definition of food security is from 2001, from the Food and Agriculture Organization’s report, The State of Food Insecurity in the World. It declares that food security is “a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (“State of Food Insecurity”). The determination of whether a region is food secure depends on three components – food availability, or regularly having enough food to eat; food access, having the resources to get foods that will help maintain a balanced diet; and food use, knowing which foods to eat and how to prepare them in order to have a nutritious diet, including having access to clean water and sanitation services. There is a lot of debate about food security and insecurity, mainly revolving around how to solve the cases of extreme hunger and starvation in some areas of the world. Some scholars say that there is enough food in the world for everyone to eat a nutritious diet, but the problem lies with the skewed distribution of food. Experts disagree on whether the current level of food production will be sufficient to feed the projected 9.1 billion world population of the future, and also whether globalization perpetuates the food insecurity and poverty of rural areas (“Food Security”).

As of 2010, the number of undernourished people was estimated at about one billion. Food security varies throughout the world, but countries or regions that are food secure tend to have similar characteristics, while places that are food insecure also exhibit many of the same traits as each other. The majority of the most dire food insecurity situations are in the global south. Most of them have high poverty rates, and many have had internal conflicts and natural disasters. These areas include sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia, and some countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean (Barrett).

A region that is not considered food insecure is the northern region of the continent of North America, namely Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Canada and the U.S. were ranked 159^th and 158^th out of 163 countries on risk analysis and ratings firm Maplecroft’s 2010 Food Security Risk Index, making them the countries at the 4^th and 5^th least risk of food insecurity. Mexico was classified as having a medium risk, the second lowest level of risk of the four levels countries were classified by (“African Nations Dominate Maplecroft's New Food Security Risk Index”). Clearly the situation is not dire as it is in countries like Somalia or India, but it is important to look at the factors that make food-secure countries succeed so that they can perhaps help determine what areas can be improved for struggling nations. It would also be beneficial to look at what can be made even better in the food-secure nations so that the small percentages still going hungry in those nations can be helped, as well as tracking the effectiveness of hunger relief policies and programs.

Canada is the least at risk of the three nations, and as of December 2008 had the lowest percentage of residents living in food-insecure households, at just seven percent. 8.3% of children were in food-insecure households (“A Comparison of Household Food Security”). Roughly one in five, or 20.9% off-reserve Aboriginal households were food-insecure, three times the national average. 8.1% of urban households were food-insecure, while 6.1% of rural households were food-insecure (“Household Food Insecurity In Canada”). In comparison, in 2010 the U.S. had 14.5% of its residents living in food-insecure households. Some groups had significantly higher rates of food insecurity, such as African-American households with 25.1%, Hispanic households with 26.2%, and households of single mothers with children at 35.1% (“Food Security in the United States”). Food insecurity was higher in cities at 17% in contrast with the rate in “nonmetro areas” and areas outside of metro areas, which were 14.7 and 12.6% respectively. By region, the South had the highest food insecurity rate at 16%, followed by the West at 15.1%, Midwest 13.3% and Northeast 12.4%. As of 2008 in Mexico, 18.2% of the population was food insecure and at least 10 percent of residents of all Mexican states do not have adequate access to food. The most impoverished states, which are the southern states, suffer the harshest poverty and food insecurity rates. One of the poorest southern states, Chiapas, had 47% food insecurity. Chronic malnutrition of children under five was 13% nationally, 18% in Southern Mexico and 33% for the indigenous population (Juarez and Gonzalez).

There are some patterns that we are able to observe from this data. Minorities and native peoples have disproportionately higher percentages of food insecurity, often two or three times the national average. This huge gap between natives/minorities and the general population demonstrates that policies to assist these groups to reach food security are failing and should be reevaluated and adjusted to make them more effective. The data also illustrates the classic North-South gap. Canada has lower food-insecurity rates than its southern neighbor, the U.S., who in turn has lower food-insecurity rates than its own neighbor to the south, Mexico. Even within Mexico, the southernmost states are the most poverty-stricken and food-insecure. In this way, North America is a cross-section of non-extreme food insecurity that can provide information for further research and policy making.

Works Cited

"African Nations Dominate Maplecroft's New Food Security Risk Index - China and

Russia Will Face Challenges." Maplecroft. Maplecroft, 19 Aug. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

Barrett, C. B. "Measuring Food Insecurity." Science 327.5967 (2010): 825-28. Web. 11

Dec. 2011.

FAO. 2002. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2001. Rome.

"Food Security." World Health Organization. World Health Organization, 2011. Web. 11

Dec. 2011.

“Food Security in the United States: Key Statistics and Graphics.” Economic Research

Service. United States Department of Agriculture, 7 September 2011. Web. 12

December 2011.

“Household Food Insecurity In Canada in 2007-2008: Key Statistics and Graphics.”

Health Canada. Health Canada, 1 January 2011. Web. 12 December 2011.

Juarez, Benjamin and Carlos Gonzalez. “Food Security and Nutrition in Mexico.” USDA

Foreign Agricultural Service (9 July 2010). Web. 11 December 2011.

Nord, Mark and Heather Hopwood. “A Comparison of Household Food Security in

Canada and the United States.” United States Department of Agriculture (December 2008). Web. 11 December 2011.

Harry Potter and International Relations: Extra Credit Paper

Jonathan Beatty

Professor Craig

World Politics 001H

Date of Submission: 12 December 2011

Harry Potter and International Relations

What better way to approach the subject of International Relations than to speak on the subject of Harry Potter and the Harry Potter book series. The following paper will connect your International Relations ideas and bring you into the world of Dark Lords, and open your mind to the wonderful world of Harry Potter.

For those who do not understand or have not read the Harry Potter books, please read the following summaries to understand this paper, otherwise you will be lost: http://www.wikisummaries.org/Harry_Potter

Realism and International Relations:

Realism, as defined by Goldstein and Pevehouse in International Relations, “is a school of thought that explains international relations in terms of power” (G & P, Page 43). In Realism, the Nation-States are the main actors in International politics. In Harry Potter, the “Nation-States” are the Good Side with Hogwarts, and the Evil Side and the Dark Arts. One of the main sections of realism is the idea of survival. Survival is when the international system does not have a government, a worldwide state of anarchy. In this state of anarchy, international politics is a battle of power between the Nation-States. Throughout the Harry Potter books, the Ministry of Magic is not a strong central authority. By Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the Ministry of Magic has become corrupt and overrun by Death Eaters. The Wizarding universe is thrown into a state of anarchy with the only apparent international regulator, the Ministry of Magic, corrupt with little influence. The power struggle the Wizarding world is between dark and light. In Realism, the Nation-States pursue self-interest rationally. A Nation-State cannot rely on another Nation-State to ensure survival. This is shown in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when Harry, Ron, and Hermione are hunting for Horcruxes. At one point, Harry can only rely on Hermione when hunting for the Horcruxes because of Ron’s mental break. From Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, whose main purpose is to defeat Voldemort and the Dark side, can only rely on themselves as the good side to defeat the dark side. In the state of anarchy, the wizards are unlikely to choose a side, so the good side can only rely on themselves.

Neorealism, as defined by Goldstein and Pevehouse in International Relations, “explains patterns of international events in terms of the system structure – rather than in terms of the internal makeup of individual state” (G & P, Page 56). Also known as structural realism, the international system acts as a constraint on the behavior of state behavior. Neorealism builds on the ideas of realism. In this system, Nation-States that follow within a certain range are able to survive. In the Harry Potter wizarding world, the structure of inter-wizard behavior creates certain rules that, if followed, allow wizards to survive. Here are 10 “norms” I was able to deduce after reading the Harry Potter series.

1. Be extremely talented at wizardry/Be a female.

2. Be the receiver of a prophecy/Be a male.

3. Do not be too powerful because if you are too powerful, you will die. (i.e. Dumbledore and Voldemort).

4. Do not attempt to kill someone and in the process make that person a Horcrux. That is just plain stupid.

5. Do not become emotionally involved with anyone. In a major battle, there is a high likelihood that either you or your significant other will be injured or die.

6. Fail at a major task and then stay on the sidelines (i.e. Draco Malfoy).

7. If you help an important wizard, be careful because people will want you dead.

8. Stay away from the birthplace of evil lords because evil anacondas await you.

9. If you are known as a singular name (i.e. Dumbledore, Voldemort) or by a body part (Mad-Eye Moody), there is a high likelihood you will die.

10. As long as you have an invisibility cloak, you can get out of most situations.

Liberalism, as defined by Goldstein and Pevehouse in International Relations is when, “[states have a] mutual dependence… as economic interdependence” (G & P, Page 87). In Liberalism the determinants of the behavior of states is based on the preferences of states. Throughout the Harry Potter series, Voldemort’s preferential way to pass time was plotting and attempting to kill Harry Potter. His behavior is based on his preferences because he continues to attempt to kill Harry Potter even after he finds out Harry is protected by love. On the topic on interdependence and cooperation achieving peace in liberalism, once all the wizards of the good side put aside their differences they were able to beat the dark side.

Neoliberalism, also known as institutional liberalism, builds on the ideas of liberalism. In neoliberalism international institutions can help to facilitate Nation-States to become interdependent in the world system. In the Harry Potter universe, the Ministry of Magic, while ineffective, helped to foster relationships between wizards on respective sides of the Wizard war.

Constructivism, as defined by Goldstein and Pevehouse in International Relations, “[is] a movement in International Relations theory that examines how changing international norms and actors’ identities help shape the content of state interests” (G & P, Page 502). Also known as social constructivism, is when International politics is shaped by persuasive ideas, collective values, culture, and social identities. In the wizarding world, it is affected by persuasive ideas. The ideas from Voldemort and the Death Eaters affect the wizarding world through dark marks in the sky and extensive coverage in the Daily Prophet. These create fear and incentive to join the dark side in order to survive. The wizarding world’s collective values share the ideology of survival with wizards joining whatever side they feel will win in order to ensure survival.

Through using the Harry Potter world, the theories of International Relations become clear. With the Harry Potter world being a complex place, using International Relations theory helps to decode all of the complexities and helps to outline the behavior of characters by thinking of them as Nation-States.

Bibliography

Adler, Emmanuel. "Seizing the Middle Ground." European Journal of International Relations 3 (1997): 319. Print.

Goldstein, Joshua S., and Jon C. Pevehouse. International Relations. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2011. Print.

Harry Potter Novels

Messianic Mercenaries: The Privatization of Peacekeeping

In Sierra Leone on March 23^rd, 1991, fighters of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) launched a war near the country’s border with Liberia. Their intent was to overthrow the government and the president, Joseph Momoh. Initial defense for the government came from the Sierra Leone army in conjunction with the Military Observer Group (ECOMOG) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). However, within the next year the army instead overthrew the Sierra Leone government. The result was a chaotic civil war that lasted for eleven years (“UNAMSIL-Background”).

The end of the civil war in Sierra Leone and the resulting peace was due to the 1999 UN peacekeeping mission, United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). The mission cooperated with the government and other parties in implementing the Lome Peace Agreement. It also contained within its mandate civil affairs, civilian police, administrative, and technical components. The UN successfully completed this mandate in 2005, peace was achieved in Sierra Leone, and the UN now proudly proclaims UNAMSIL to be a “success story in peacekeeping” (“UNAMSIL”).

However, what is not touched upon on the UN’s website is the activity of the African private military company, Executive Outcomes in Sierra Leone. In 1995-96, this PMC combated and defeated Liberian-backed RUF rebels at a cost of less than $40 million. UNAMSIL operated at a budget of upwards $50 million per month (Brooks 131). Contrasts of the quality and efficiency between PMCs and UN operations such as this have led to a proposal for new uses of PMCs: peacekeeping, peace enforcement, and humanitarian rescue missions. The evolution of military services provided by private firms has led PMCs to transcend government power in its cost-effectiveness and capabilities.

The reason why PMC operations tend to be much more effective than operations run by state militaries stems from the topics on mercenaries discussed in class. Take for example the pyramid of mercenaries, with first-world mercenaries in the top, mercenaries from developing countries in the middle, and local mercenaries at the bottom. A majority of PMCs utilize retired personnel from national militaries as their operatives (Brooks 130). Thus, most PMCs who can viably participate in peacekeeping are at the top of the pyramid. The private operatives have experience as troops from the best militaries of the world, and are completely capable of confronting large yet poorly-trained armed groups typical of the conflict zones in developing areas. In the case of Sierra Leone, despite requiring a $50 million per month budget, the UN was criticized for deploying only poorly trained and lightly-armed troops (Fleshman). Considering that PMCs require much smaller budgets and provide elite troops, utilizing these firms for peacekeeping does appear to be a more effective and economical option.

Professor Craig’s interstice theory supports the idea of privatized peacekeeping as well. According to Professor Craig, interstices are areas between states that are lacking sovereignty. Peacekeeping very much falls under the definition of interstices between sovereign states; often times, conflict zones are in states of anarchy or have no clear sovereign government. For example, in Sierra Leone, the RUF refused to participate in or acknowledge the 1996 election of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah . Instead, they formed a ruling junta with the Sierra Leone army (UNAMSIL-Background). The result was an area of conflict where it was unclear what governing body the UN could effectively negotiate with. As stated in class, states rely on mercenaries to master scenarios such as this. Mercenaries are stateless and not bound to the defined boundaries of sovereignty, making them the ideal operatives in areas where sovereignty is unclear.

Additionally, the idea that mercenaries can be utilized as a tool for political convenience plays into the argument that PMCs should function as peacekeepers. As discussed in class, states often refuse to directly use their troops in areas of conflict because they prefer there to be a less explicit political presence in the area. In the case of Sierra Leone, US aid was limited to flying in one load of ammunitions and a battalion of Bangladeshi reinforcements at a highly-inflated price. This limited involvement of the US was attributed to the fact that the US preferred not to be directly involved with peacekeeping in Africa after the death of US peacekeepers in Somalia in 1993 (Fleshman). While the US did not seek to avoid a clear involvement with peacekeeping in Sierra Leone by utilizing mercenaries, doing so would have effectively decreased the feeling of an American presence in the area.

In the research I conducted on the privatization of peacekeeping, I did find myself mostly convinced that PMCs could very well be an adequate supplement—or even replacement—to peacekeeping missions. However, although it is clear that PMCs have the potential to effectively conduct peacekeeping in areas where organizations such as the UN have difficulties, what is not evident is whether or not PMCs would feasibly be willing to conduct such activities. PMCs are primarily driven by interests of personal gain, and must keep a respected reputation in order to maintain present and future contracts. They do this by being selective in their clients and avoiding clients who are internationally condemned (Brooks 130). Due to this, there is a potential that if participation in a peacekeeping mission could damage their reputation as a company, they would be just as unwilling to engage in such affairs as a state who seeks to keep from marring their reputation in an area of conflict.

Additionally, PMCs still find themselves avoiding association with the less respectable mercenaries in Africa during the 60’s and 70’s (Brooks 135). I connected this with the finding that the African PMC that defeated RUF rebels in Sierra Leone became defunct in 1999 due to an anti-mercenary law passed by South Africa. With this in mind, it is a possibility that the world simply regards mercenaries too cynically to associate PMCs as effective peacekeepers.

Works Cited

Brooks, Doug. "Messiahs or Mercenaries? The Future of International Private Military Services." International Peacekeeping 7.4 (2000): 129-44. Taylor & Francis Online. 8 Nov. 2007. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

Butler, Robert J., and Stephen F. Marin. "Executive Outcomes." Foreign Military Studies Office. July 1999. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

Fleshman, Michael. "Sierra Leone: Peacekeeping Under Fire." Africa Recovery Online: A United Nations Publication. United Nations. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

"UNAMSIL." United Nations. Peace and Security Section of the Department of Public Information. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

"UNAMSIL-United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone-Background." United Nations. Peace and Security Section of the Department of Public Information. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

Briefing Paper - Piracy

Jonathan Beatty

Professor Craig

World Politics 001H

Date of Submissions: 11 December 2011

Piracy: An Organized Profession

Piracy, as defined by Merriam-Webster is “an act of robbery on the high seas; also: an act resembling such robbery (Merriam-Webster).” Piracy predominately exists in the Somali region and South East Asia. Piracy, being an easy profession to enter, has risen in these areas in recent years. Based on the presentation in class on Monday, a reason for the increase in piracy can be attributed to the 2004 tsunami. While pirates in movies and tales live a glamorous life of love and plunder, current pirates are, “highly-organized criminals” (An-arrgh-chy, Page 2). In Somalia, a pirate earns only $500 a year. The costs of piracy are continually increasing, both in monetary and motivational ways. To counteract the spread of piracy, steps such as a naval presence have been taken and solutions such as more international investment to increase nation-building has been proposed. The naval presence has not been effective and nation-building takes too much time. The only current option to successfully decrease piracy is deterrence.

Piracy has become a go-to career for those with little experience or education. Piracy has low barriers doe entry. All that is needed to enter the profession are basic seamanship skills and basic tools, such as small arms and basic GPS technology. Piracy also has low costs of compliance. Without restrictions from governments, the only code of conduct to follow is that of the pirates. Because most pirates are based out of third world countries, being arrested by the state is not much of a concern. Being captured at sea is a low probability and the weak infrastructure of the judicial system of the third world state they are based out of will let them out of jail quickly. The most appealing aspect of piracy is the high wages you receive based on performance. By raiding the correct ships; rewards can be collected, loot can be sold, and ransom can be collected for hostages. If an operation is carried out correctly, a large amount of money can be collected without being caught by international authorities (Peterson Institute). Pirates have been described as the “very essence of rational profit maximizing entrepreneurs described in neo-classical economics” (Economics of Piracy, Page 15).

Pirate incomes are extremely high for the third world countries they operate through. In 2010, the average pirate income in Somalia was between $33,000 to $79,000 a year (Economics of Piracy, Page 1). Lifetime earnings are from $168,000 to $394,000 a lifetime (Economics of Piracy, Page 1). The cost of piracy in 2010 was between $4.9 billion to $8.3 billion with costs projected to rise up to $13 billion to $15 billion by 2014 (Economics of Piracy, Page 1). Pirates have become a profession that has become profit-maximizing. These statistics indicate that the attraction of piracy will increase based on its low barriers for entry and its high profits. Based on Geopoliticity’s assessments, this is true with an increase of up to 600 incidents a year and 200-400 new pirates each year by 2015 (Economics of Piracy, Page 5).

With pirates becoming more aggressive in the Somali region, piracy needs to be curbed. Stopping piracy is more difficult than first thought because modern piracy has become an efficient machine with some pirates even being supported financially by organizations who provide rewards for successful capture of certain ships passing through the area. Another concern is that there are four main piracy gangs in Somalia alone. Each has its own specialties with 12 major sponsors funding the pirate gangs (Economics of Piracy, Page 13).

Based on calculations by Geopolicity,

“Pirates face the costs of death, injury and imprisonment… The risk adjusted cost of death, injury or imprisonment, according to opportunity forgone, ranges from a low US $1,666 to a high US $3,333, which is significantly lower than the US $14,500 arising from the next best alternative of being a pirate. Until the risk-adjusted cost of being a pirate is higher than the benefit of the next best alternative, pirates will still exist” (Economics of Piracy, P. 16).

Basically, because the likelihood of being caught is low, the low probability the third country they operate out of will detain them for long, and the low likelihood they will be killed has resulted in the benefits of being a pirate outweighing the potential costs.

There have been multiple solutions proposed to curb the spread of piracy. One solution proposed has been to increase international investment in Somalia and other areas affected by piracy in order to increase infrastructure and improve lifestyles (Peterson Institute). While this would theoretically dry up the supply of people who need to become a pirate in order to support themselves, this solution would take a long time to implement and to improve the lifestyles of those in Somalia. The appeal of the financial success of piracy would not be absent during this period either. The current solution to the problem of piracy is to send navy ships into the region. Even though this is a less expensive option, the presence of navy ships has not been proven to curb piracy because it does not change the value of piracy (Peterson Institute). The Pearson Institute for International Economics recommends the only way to effectively curb piracy is to increase the punishment for pirates and to make sure the punishment is fully carried out. Deterrence is the only way to fully decrease the appeal of piracy (Peterson Institute).

Works Cited

Geopolicity.com. "The Economics of Piracy: Pirate Ransoms and Livelihoods off the Coast of Somalia." Geopolicity.com. GeoPolicity, May 2011. Web. 9 Dec. 2011. .

Kirkegaard, Jacob F. "RealTime Economic Issues Watch | The Economics of a Career in Piracy." Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics. Peterson Institute for International Economics, 15 Apr. 2009. Web. 9 Dec. 2011. .

Leeson, Peter T. "An-arrgh-chy: The Law and Economics of Pirate Organization." Peterleeson.com. George Mason University. Web. 9 Dec. 2011. .

Merriam-Webster. "Piracy - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster. Web. 9 Dec. 2011. .

Disease and Dysfunction among our Leaders

Any government is built, at least to some degree, upon the people’s trust that their leader can recognize the immediacy and dire importance of their decisions. The people need to know that the decisions made from their capitols are sound ones. They need to know that when it really matters, their political leaders will come through for them. However, in those critical moments, it may not be Winston Churchill or Napoleon Bonaparte making those decisions, but actually manic depression, psychotic delusions, or cerebral infarctions. When leaders are elected or assume power, their constituents rarely have knowledge of the diseases and dysfunctions that accompany them.

Commonly, world leaders are men and women who are older; usually over 50 years of age. As such, they may be more prone to medical problems that could impair their ability to perform the duties of their office. A scarier version is that some leaders do not become impaired while they are serving, but they are actually able to attain power specifically because of some kind of mental or physiological condition.

Winston Churchill is a prime example of the former case. The former Prime Minister of Britain was known as a great statesman and a hero of WWII. He served twice in fact, from 1940-1945 and again from 1951-1955. What he deigned to remain largely hidden from the public, however, was a very serious medical condition that caused him grave physical and mental harm. Beginning in 1912, Churchill recalled having severe indigestion that would cause him to wake in the middle of the night with stomach pains and acid regurgitation. He would later recall that he was “tortured by his indigestion...” (Baron). Starting in 1941, he had his first heart attack, followed by recurring episodes of pneumonia that left him needing bed rest for five weeks. By 1953, Churchill had had five strokes. The fifth one left him with a speech impediment and a limp. He even admitted to “...a decline in physical and mental vigor.” (Baron). He was barely hanging on by the end of his second term.

Albeit Churchill was not in the wrong for running for office in 1940 because it was not until days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor did he have his heart attack, but his deception with regards to the British people while he served as the Leader of the Opposition and while running again for Prime Minister in 1951 served to demonstrate not only a character flaw, but also the extent of his disabilities. With slowing cerebral function due to the brain damage he suffered as a result of his many strokes and a decrease in physical energy and mobility, Churchill’s time in power posed a serious risk to the wellbeing of his country. At times he could not perform the functions of his office, suffered episodes of mood alteration, and was always within range of death due to his chronic strokes. Always the prime minister prevented anyone close to him from speaking out about his conditions and did not allow full disclosure when he captured the British majority in 1951.

While Churchill’s case wasn’t as severe as some other historical figures and his diseases cannot be distinguished as the true source of his successes and failures (although they cannot be said to have played no part either), it does represent a common practice among leaders with compromising illnesses; an unwillingness to disclose the extent of his/her disability even to the people who are dependent upon his/her sound decision making.

Some leaders are able to attain their positions of power from more nontraditional and dangerous sources—mental illnesses. The great French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte exemplifies this reality. As a young man Bonaparte wrote, “Live has become a burden to me, for I no longer enjoy any pleasure and everything causes me pain.” (McManamy). The French leader was plagued by manic depression throughout his life, an infirmity that both lead to his rise to power and his eventual defeat. Some of the symptoms of manic depression include increased energy, activity, and restlessness, overly “high” euphoric moods, unrealistic beliefs in one’s own powers, provocative and aggressive behavior, and lasting periods of altered behavior (“Manic Depression Symptoms”). Certainly, these symptoms contributed to Bonaparte’s seizure of power and aggressive territorial expansion campaigns. However, the mania that led to his ascension would also enable his defeat. His overinflated sense of his abilities led him to believe that he would be able to both defeat the Russians in the dead of winter and capture Asia starting with a strike in Egypt, however, he was defeated both times at the expense of hundreds of thousands of his soldiers. Moreover, at his most important skirmish, the Battle of Waterloo, the emperor was paralyzed by depression and could not adequately reason and make critical battlefield decisions (McManamy). In this instance, the mental handicap of France’s emperor did clearly have an effect upon the wellbeing of the state, its resources, and its people.

Perhaps the most dangerous type of mental condition that any political leader could have is psychopathy. The mental condition is very difficult to diagnose because psychopaths have learned to model their behavior after sane individuals in order to deceive people. Psychopathy is a mental disorder in which and individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful relationships, extreme egocentricity, and failure to learn from experience. One horrific example of psychopathy in action is the case of Emmanuel “Toto” Constant. With the help of the CIA, Constant rose to power in 1990s Haiti, through the control of his far-right paramilitary group, FRAPH. His regime targeted the backers of the recently exiled democratic president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. An example of his brutality occurred in December of 1993 when he discovered a shantytown of Aristide supporters holed up in a place called Cité Soleil. Constant ordered FRAPH to burn the entire town to the ground. When residents tried to escape, his paramilitary forced them back inside their burning homes. 50 people were killed that day (Ronson). The reason that Constant was able to watch those people burn was because he is incapable of empathy or any feeling at all. He made logical decisions that would fortify his hold on power, without regard for the human cost. While his methods were horrific and dastardly, they were effective.

What can be taken away from this realization is that the world of foreign policy may not be what it seems. Players on the international level seek to anticipate others’ moves, motivations, and strategies in order to position themselves in a place where they can respond most effectively. However, if the other actors are not rational and do not go through a processes of critical thinking before making decisions, it is impossible to predict and effectively respond to their actions. In the last example of Emmanuel Constant, the U.S. backed him upon the assumption that he was a rational actor who through his own self-interest would promote the goals of the U.S. in Haiti. What the CIA did not realize, however, was that the man does not feel anything. His hold on reality is merely a hedonistic logical one. This led to a dangerous combination of ruthlessness and ammunition. Clearly this is a mistake that the U.S. would seek to soon forget, but also one that it must recognize as a valuable, if not painful, lesson.

Perhaps more attention should be paid to how our leaders ascend to power. Was it truly political skill and expertise or was it simply the tenacity of a deluded psychopath? Once in power, it becomes especially pertinent to always analyze the rationality of the executive’s decisions and to pay attention to his/her physical health as well. If irrationality and madness are allowed to infiltrate a state’s most powerful actor, it may soon find itself waging war against Russia in the dead of winter.

Works Cited

Baron, Jeremy. “Should We Know About Our Leaders’ Health.” Standpoint, Dec. 2009. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

“Manic Depression Symptoms.” emedtv.com. emedtv, 4 Sept. 2008. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

McManamy, John. “History’s Terrible Troika.” McMan’s Depression and Bipolar Web, 15 Jan. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

Ronson, John. The Psychopath Test. New York. Penguin, 2011. Print.

The Struggle for Linguistic Human Rights

Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads, “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Of course, this concept is more of a goal to work toward than a reality, but progress is being made. The fight against discrimination has gained public attention through many movements, such as the Civil Rights movement by African-Americans demanding racial equality, the worldwide feminist movement for gender equality, and the recent gay rights movement in many places around the world. But a human rights issue that has not been very much in the public eye is linguistic discrimination. Also known as linguicism, it can be defined as “‘ideologies, structures and practices which are used to legitimate, effectuate and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources (both material and immaterial) between groups which are defined on the basis of language’” (as quoted by Robert Phillipson, cited in Zuidema 687). Like many other forms of discrimination, those who engage in linguicism make judgments about another person’s “wealth, education, social status, character and/or other traits” based on which language they speak or the way they speak a certain language (“Linguicism”). This can occur not only in a social context but also in politics, which can lead to some groups having a linguistic advantage if they are natives of or fluent in the favored language. By working toward granting linguistic human rights to everyone, we will preserve cultural and linguistic diversity while fostering understanding and protecting the basic rights granted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Linguicism is one of the most difficult forms of prejudice to combat because it is subtler than other forms. People may do it subconsciously because they simply feel more comfortable with a person who speaks the same way they do, as it is familiar to them and they conduct all or most aspects of their life in that language. On a more discriminatory level, people may also do it because they associate all speakers of a language or dialect with certain traits, subconsciously or not. When making judgments like these ones, people are perpetuating ill-founded stereotypes based on one trait. And yet, many people still do not consider linguistic discrimination morally wrong. The most probable reason for this is that there is not much awareness about the topic in society as there is awareness about racism or sexism. While people may think they are not being discriminatory towards others based on those criteria, they are still being prejudiced if they make judgments about the way a person speaks without even realizing they are discriminating. This phenomenon tends to continue up through society to the level of governments, where, if this kind of discrimination happens on a political level, it has devastating cultural and social consequences for those groups who speak minority languages (Zuidema 666).

Linguistic discrimination has major moral and cultural implications. It denies people of their rights established in the Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights to “be recognized as a member of a language community…[the] use of one’s own language both in private and in public…to maintain and develop one’s own culture” (Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights, 5). In countries such as Canada or Spain where there are one or several minority languages, language rights have become a sensitive and controversial subject. Canada’s French-speaking minority in Quebec has fought English dominance by creating Law 101 in 1973, which established French as the official language, making it the only language used in the Quebec political and educational system. Although the law succeeded in making French the dominant language, by the late 1990s French speakers still felt threatened being the only French-language minority on the continent. In Spain, regional languages such as Basque, Catalan and Galician were outlawed under the reign of Franco, which was a traumatic blow to the populations that spoke those languages. After Franco’s death, the languages were quickly and fervently revived in many aspects of life of those regions, but their speakers have still not reached a point of total psychological recovery (Spolsky 196). Especially in the case of Catalan and Basque, the languages have become a point of regional identity and pride, sometimes to the point of nationalist and separatist movements. The Spanish government sometimes still has trouble being politically correct enough in their policies on these languages – in 2011, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that the language of instruction in schools should be Spanish rather than Catalan, resulting in appeals, outrage and a burst of nationalism in Catalonia (“Catalan Supreme Court”). In both Spain and Canada, the management of minority languages has presented challenges in public policy. In situations where there are hundreds of languages in a region that each have tiny numbers of speakers, such as the indigenous languages in the Americas, it is even harder to try to preserve the languages because government policies usually neglect saving them in favor of other projects that apply to the more general population. For this reason, indigenous languages are being wiped out at a rate almost as fast as their speakers’ ancestors were wiped out by the conquistadors five hundred years ago – scholars estimate that over half of the world’s roughly 7,000 languages will die out by the end of the twenty-first century. This has brought about a huge loss in linguistic and cultural diversity that can never be replaced (Lovgren). It is also evident that preference is given to the majority, who speak the national or dominant language, over the needs of those who speak other languages.

Language discrimination also has indirect socioeconomic effects. English as the overwhelmingly dominant international language is a form of linguicism because it puts non-native speakers at a disadvantage in the globalized world in which we live. François Grin, professor of linguistic economics at the University of Geneva, lists several effects of having a dominant language on non-native speakers of that language, including the “privileged market effect,” when native speakers of the dominant language have a competitive edge in the markets for translation, language instruction, and language editing, opening up more employment opportunities for those speakers; the “language learning savings effect” and the “alternative human capital investment effect” which recognize that native speakers of the dominant language do not need to invest time and money on foreign language education to learn the dominant language, and can therefore use those resources to give speakers a competitive advantage in other areas; and the “legitimacy and rhetorical effect” which holds that native speakers have an advantage in negotiations or arguments with non-native speakers because the conversation will always take place in the dominant language (Grin 456). Clearly, native speakers are almost always at an advantage and non-native speakers are almost always at a disadvantage. Even the languages used on the Internet can prove this – Wikipedia articles in English total over 3,816,000, more than two million more articles than the next highest number of articles in a language – French with over 1,181,000 (Wikipedia). The disproportion is astounding, and demonstrates the sheer volume of information on the Internet that would be unavailable to someone who does not know English. It seems unfair that English speakers get the advantage of having access to this information, which can lead to educational and economic opportunities that others will not have.

Linguicism can take many forms, some obvious and some subtle. But clearly not all languages have equal status in the world, and populations that speak minority language are at a disadvantage. It is also true that languages are dying out due to neglect because of linguistic discrimination. François Grin states that “Ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity is a feature of society that cannot be left to itself, because it is both conflictual and threatened” (449). A standard, guaranteed solution has not yet been found, but hopefully governments will step in and take steps to prevent language discrimination in the future.

Works Cited:

"The Catalan Supreme Court Halts the Two Month Deadline to Include Spanish as a

School Language of Instruction." Catalan News Agency. Intracatalònia, 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2011.

Grin, Francois. "Linguistic Human Rights as a Source of Policy Guidelines: A Critical

Assessment." Journal of Sociolinguistics 9.3 (2005): 448-60. Web. 10 December

2011.

"Linguicism." Handspeak. Handspeak, 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2011.

Lovgren, Stefan. "Languages Racing to Extinction in 5 Global ‘Hotspots’" National

Geographic. National Geographic Society, 18 Sept. 2007. Web. 10 Dec. 2011.

Spolsky, Bernard. Language Policy. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ., 2005. 197. Print.

UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948, 217

A (III), http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6b3712c.html

[accessed 9 December 2011].

Wikipedia. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. .

The World Conference on Linguistic Rights,"Universal Declaration of Linguistic

Rights", Barcelona Spain, 9 June 1996.

Zuidema, Leah A. "Myth Education: Rationale and Strategies for Teaching against

Linguistic Prejudice." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 48.8 (May 2005): 666-75. Web. 10 December 2011.