EQ4 Flashcards
(13 cards)
Variables to measure success of interventions
Human development indicators (health, education, GDP/capita)
Human Rights (fos, gender equality)
How well consequences of the intervention are managed
(e.g 6.8mn refugees from Syria due to civil war - NGOs set up refuge camps however they often have poor sanitation and food supplies)
Other ways to measure success of intervention
Spatial:
Was main objective achieved
Considering broader impacts
Temporal:
Short term vs long term consequences - sustainable?
Governments and IGOs may measure success by extent of democracy
They believe that societies work best when the people have political/economic freedom of choice
They believe democracy leads to stronger economic growth
Steps towards democracy:
1) Increasing freedom of expression - can involve removing censorship laws, anti-fos laws and supporting independent media organisations
2) Strengthening/creating democratic institutions
- DI = organisation elected to run govt in local area
USA set up DIs in Iraq - 2005: new National Assembly and president elected democratically
The NA rewrote the constitution and Iraq held elections again every 4 years after
However progress towards democracy in Iraq still held back by corrupt governments and security threats
Some countries almost solely measure success by economic development
Many countries disagree with Western model of capitalism and democracy
Focus on economy, less holistic (neglects human well-being and sustainability)
May prioritise economic development at cost of HRs (India) or developing into a democracy
- democracy may slow economic progress
Vietnam - prioritising economic development
VCP - citizens cannot vote between parties, only representatives
1986 Doi Moi reforms implemented a more capitalist system - joined WTO and reduced trade restrictions
GDP 14bn - 360bn (1985-2021)
Poverty 44% - 1.2% (1992-2018)
LE risen 6 years since 1986
NGOs condemn Vietnam’s HR record - govt controls media and limits fos and bans criticisms of govt
- people often go missing or get imprisoned
Govt controls land even when it is owned by farmers
- control over land prices and use
- farmers forced to give up their land for economic developments (e.g an Ecopark near Hanoi)
Development aid and inequality
Zambia - $1bn/yr from overseas
Now one of the most unequal countries on earth
- ‘Dead aid’
Mali - $1bn/yr from overseas
Gini coefficient 50-36 (1990-2018)
Development aid varies in effectiveness at reducing inequality due to how the government uses it (corruption)
Development aid success - Ebola
Ebola 50% death rate virus, contagious
28k cases, 11k deaths in Liberia, Guinea and SL
International response coordinated by WHO - govts and NGOs (e.g Doctors without Borders) sent medical staff and equipment
UK govt donated £427mn to west Africa for treatment centres and funding vaccine development
March 2014: outbreak started
January 2016: eradicated in West Africa
2020: New outbreak in DRC
Vaccine helped to reduce the impacts
Doctors without Borders criticised international community for being too slow to respond
Also criticised local governments for lack of cooperation (e.g not sharing data on spread of the virus)
Development aid failure - Haiti
2010 eq, 2016 hurricane
Caracol Industrial Park funded by USA costing $300mn, aimed to attract investment, encouraging long-term development
Haiti still remains poor (30% poverty)
- the park wasn’t as effective as expected, plans for nearby port were abandoned
- farmers still not compensated for loss of land as of 2022
Haiti may be worse off long-term due to dependency which is actually stunting its development
Caracol project and others may have the purpose of boosting the donor country’s reputation rather than solving systemic issues like corruption
(Superpowers link)
Superpowers measures of development aid success
Access to resources (conditional loans, infrastructure investment in return for trade - exploitation?)
Gaining political allies (China - Africa)
Formation of military alliances - geopolitical security (e.g NATO)
USA military intervention in Iraq
Short-term success; long-term problems
Successfully toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime
Various groups including ISIS aimed to fill the power vacuum created - chaos ensued
In the years following, 200k civilians killed + 9mn displaced
Impacts on health and education - low priority for spending from govt (also unstable govt)
- schools and hospitals destroyed and underfunded
- 50% of Iraqi medical staff have left the country
Ivory Coast military intervention
Combination of military and non-military intervention
Little social costs, mainly economic
Long term peace: UN troops stayed until 2017 and taught soldiers about HRs and how to prevent HR abuses
No major conflicts since
Aimed to enforce election results after Gbagbo refused to give up power and turned police and military against civilians, killing 3000 people
France and UN intervened militarily by deploying troops and using bombings
World Bank and IGOs cut off development aid to help deter conflict
The city was back to normal in 2 months
Violence was stopped in 12 days
Focus on bombing military bases and weakening enemy forces rather than resorting to killings - few social costs
Criticisms:
Colonial attitudes by intervening countries
Using R2P to override national sovereignty
East Timor - non-military (diplomatic) intervention
Primarily diplomatic strategy:
Slower solution but fewer deaths caused by intervention itself
Long-term success, short-term mixed
Portuguese colony annexed by Indonesia in 1975
Indonesian occupation led to widespread HR violations and 100k-250k Timorese deaths
International pressure using trade embargoes (e.g US, Australia) - govt allowed a UN-supervised independence referendum
79% voted for independence
Indonesian military started massacres and arson
UN SC deployed peacekeeping forces to restore order after Australia called for action 1999
UN governed the country until 2002 when it gained full independence
- East Timor has been a relatively preacedul secure democracy since independence
- Slow international response
- Thousands of deaths before intervention
Rwanda - no intervention
Long-term and short-term failure, social/environmental impacts
Do nothing response can compromise HRs and human well-being
Countries chose to not intervene in 1994 Rwandan Genocide, UN troops left the country after 10 died
- fear of criticisms due to colonial attitudes
800 000 people killed
Fleeing Hutu and Tutsi groups formed armed groups and started more conflict in DRC - regional political instability and civilian deaths
President Kagame restricted HRs e.g limiting foe, imprisoning his critics
(Authoritarian govt)
- argued that this was necessary to prevent another genocide (maintaining order and stability)
Environmental:
- after return of displaced people, large pressure on land for housing and farming - deforestation and ecosystem degradation
