Internet Activities - Essay Example

?Running Head: Topic Topic [Institute’s Part Country Yemen Deep political instability, because of the long dictatorshipby President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and a protest to have democracy in this particular country. Although an agreement had been finally reached, the basic level corruption remains the same, which goes up to the higher level, since the most prominent families, which had always been in power still remain in control of the resources of the country. The military is divided, and the political rivals seek to undermine each other and serve their own interests. Humanitarian conditions have gotten worse, because the government has not paid any attention to this. Economic problems, such as high unemployment, poverty and shortage of basic commodities also exist. Al-Qaeda’s presence, in the form of Ansar Sharia is also a problem. 2. The ICG has a number of recommendations to particular groups in the country, to improve the conditions. This includes the fulfilling of the agreement and let President Hadi take his position. This has been recommended to the armed forces. The President is also recommended to perform all the tasks as mandated by the agreement. The present government is also implored to see the implementation of laws. The crux of the recommendations to different interest groups remains to respect the agreement, and support the present government. The global community, along with non-state actors are also recommended to support this country. 3. Yemen is a Middle-East country, which faces the same sort of problems, as other countries in her region. This is because of the long dictatorship, and the revolution that occurred. These problems have increased, but there has been a vacuum created, because of these instances. For his vacuum to be filled, it is necessary to ensure that proper steps are taken, which are recommended by the ICG. However, it is hard to follow the recommendations completely. Country 2: Pakistan 1. Pakistan faces the problem of deep political instability. Much of the post 9/11 funding from the United States has been security-related, but this has increased the power of military and jihadi groups present on the soil of Pakistan, without producing any concrete results to eliminate terrorism. The U.S-Pakistan relationship has also deteriorated, because of the raiding of Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. The different political parties, particular the PML (N) refuses to accept assistance from U.S. Serious aid reduction has had effect on the work of NGOs, which had been working for the betterment of the country. Kidnapping of officers has also been an issue. Additionally, Pakistan needs basic necessities, such as electricity, roads and telecommunications, water, but the current state of the government and its institutions have not been able to keep up with the demand for these necessities. The U.S has recently been on bad terms with the military of Pakistan, and it has reduced civilian assistance; the effects of this are largely seen. 2. Proper democratic rebuilding, capacity building and to have proper policy implementation are the basic recommendations for this particular country. However, the U.S government is also implored to take the opinion of USAID in foreign policy development, and to provide aid effectiveness. The U.S is also recommended to help Pakistan in different ways, including strengthening the government so that it can provide the basic necessities to people. The National and the Provincial Governenmts have also been implored to let the NGOs conduct their work easily and to initiate national dialogue on issues, such as the energy crisis. Additionally, advancement of social and human rights is also recommended. 3. The public in Pakistan has recently turned against the United States, because of the recent NATO attacks, which breached the national sovereignty of Pakistan. Therefore, it is not only the military, or even a particular political party that are part of the hate campaign against U.S. The public is also involved. However, given the U.S’s interest in Pakistan in the 1980s during Soviet-Afghan War, as well as subsequent aid packages have provided much evidence to the fact that the U.S has its personal goals for its position in Pakistan. One should also understand that Pakistan has many other rooted problems, such as high inflation, instability of exchange rate and corruption, which have completely eroded the country, apart from these facts, which needs to be resolved, in order for the country to prosper. Part 2 1. The World Bank is one of the sister organizations of the United Nations, which was formed as part of the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, after the Second World War. Although it’s initial aim was to reconstruct the war-torn countries, and repair the financial position of the countries, their mission has changed now to involve different projects aimed at poverty reduction, especially in the Third World. Development projects are undertaken by this organization, and the resources are in the form of loans, and other credit assistance. Apart from financial assistance, the World Bank also provides technical assistance, and advisory services, so that the countries can manage their economies effectively, and increase growth and development in the country. The World Bank provides these services in a number of ways, by providing loan and credit summaries, different countries aggregate reports, which contain the country’s loan portfolio. Additionally, the World Bank also calculates estimated debt service for each country. The main agenda of the World Bank seeks to provide such assistance to countries, especially the developing ones, which will increase the standard of living in that country. Its mission is completed, with the help of government agencies, other aid agencies and civil society organizations, as well as non-governmental organizations of a particular country. 2. Generally, loans are provided once the World Bank has approved the purpose for the loan. Loans for certain projects are provided, once the Bank feels that the project will have a meaningful outcome. Series of calculations are done to estimate the country’s financial position. Loan repayment history of particular countries, as well as other factors such as the social effects of the development projects is also considered (Hoffman, pp. 284-285, 2007). These loans tend to be negotiated between the bank and the country in question, after considering the development outcomes, performance and implementation (World Bank, n.p, n.d). 3. The World Bank has sought to help China with its program on green development, in different areas, because China has realized the need for green development, moving away from traditional development. China has an installed wind power capacity of 12 giga-watts (GW) in 2008. However, the Renewable Energy Scale-up Program, launched by China, to which the World Bank has provided around $230 million, has aimed to increase the power capacity to 30 GW, which is easily achievable. In this case, World Bank has been a good source of funding (World Bank, n.p, n.d). The problem of water pollution is common throughout the world, and it occurs in majority of Pakistani cities. For this, the municipal governments have cooperated with World Bank to provide funding for these projects (Min, n.p, n.d). 4. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have faced a lot of criticism, especially regarding their conditionalities, as stated on the FAQs. When these organization seek to intervene in some country for helping with the financial position, they introduce some structural adjustment policies (SAPs), which have not worked for poor countries, because it has increased the level of poverty. It has also increased environment degradation, and other social costs, which were not foreseen. In this case, the criticisms are just justified, because Jamaica’s economy has not improved, once these institutions have intervened. Additionally, nothing has been done for this, because there is no external accountability, since the United Nations does not intervene in their policies, although the Bretton Institutions are sister organizations to UN. Many countries have also gotten into deeper debt problems, especially the developing countries, which they have been unable to pay, because the development rate has not occurred at the same pace, as it was projected. In this case, the criticism is justified for only developing countries, because much of the developed world has paid back the loans. References Energy - Energy and the World Bank. n.d. World Bank Group. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXT Hoffman, S. L. (2007). The Law and Business of International Project Finance - Scott L. Hoffman - Google Books. Google Books. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=mXtLwwkinxMC&pg=PA285&dq=factors+that+decide+World+Bank+to+provide+loans+to+a+country&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h3bwT8XKK-7P4QSpn83gDQ&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v Min, K. n.d. Wastewater Pollution in China. DBC. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from www.dbc.uci.edu/~sustain/suscoasts/kr Read More