Importance of Community Development in the Middle East Important to the U.S. Essay Example for Free

Importance of Community Development in the Middle East Important to the U.S. Essay The Middle East is the region which extends from southwestern Asia to northeastern Africa, though its boundaries are not very specific. It is the historic origin of some major religions that we have today. These include Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Yezidi, Bahai faith among others. The Middle East came to be recognized as a single region after the First World War, during which the Ottoman Empire was divided into countries that currently comprise the Middle East. In 1948, Israel was established and joined the group of countries that make up the Middle East. The countries that are in the Middle East include Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates among others (Eur, 2002). The Middle East is however a region that has always been a centre of world affairs both on a positive and a negative note. There have been various ups and downs in the history of the Middle East; some of which recur to date. Some of these events have brought about an international outcry and eventually caused the calling forth of immediate reforms in some of the countries that comprise the Middle East. Some of the reforms brought to the attention of these countries are issues pertaining community development, which is vital for the growth of these countries. Community development in this region is aimed at mitigating the wrangles and wars that have been there in this region and make its occupants concentrate on issues that would be beneficial to their lives. Community development is the enhancement or the nurturing of some specific values within the society that bring about some positive change in the way that people in this particular society live and co-ordinate their lives. Community development is very important in any community because any improvement within any given society and mainly comes about as a result of cooperation between the members of these societies. It is through community development that acquirement, exploitation, and equal distribution of resources is accomplished. It is what enables a society to go forward and have all the amenities that are necessary for life (Bayat, 2002). The international community has been on the forefront advocating for community development in the region. This would see to it that the region develops economically and that its ties with other nations improve. The countries located in the Middle East dominate the world’s list of major oil producers. Most of the economies of these countries are highly driven by oil. The world’s economy is to some extent controlled by the prices of oil and this means that the Middle East bears a hand in whichever way that the oil prices sway. A reduction in oil production or an increment in the prices of oil per barrel would be a major blow to the economies of the world especially those of countries that do not produce oil or do not produce oil that can support their enormous populations. As a result of this, many of the world’s powers have always tried to have an edge over the countries in the Middle East in order to curb this (Wright, 1999). The United States of America is one of the countries that has always wanted there to be some stability and community development in the Middle East though most of these nations are opposed to its views. Many are even reluctant to cooperate because the United States is not mainly an Islamic state. The Middle East has always been marred by some wars and other cold wars. The United States itself was behind the 2003 Iraq invasion that saw to the total overhaul of the Iraqi government. Many local and international communities have always pointed fingers at the United States for such a miscalculation and therefore rapid community development in this region would help quench the guilt that the United States feels for doing this. Little else can be done other than trigger community development that would see Iraq have its economic prosperity back. This way, the United States can restore its sanctity too. The United States of America’s administration has therefore embarked on a plan to bring forth community development in Iraq. This is done through the providence of funds to kick off this process. Terrorism has been one of the menaces that have posed one of the greatest risks to the United States of America and its citizens. The United States government has been doing all within its means in order to eradicate terrorism and bring to book those involved. Terrorism has long been perceived as being endorsed and triggered by some Islamic extremists believed to be trained in some secret places within the Middle East. Therefore, if the United States figures that if it is able to bring forth some community development in the Middle East, they can be able to control or eventually eradicate terrorism. Some of the most wanted terrorists are believed to be harbored in the Middle East and some are even believed to be under the protection of some Middle East governments. The United States has even offered to train the Afghanistan police and military in order to control the levels of terrorism and fight drug cartels. Afghanistan is believed to be one of the world’s top producers of cocaine. The advent of nuclear weapons poses a major threat to the world’s population if these weapons are not handled with care. Countries ought to obtain approval from the United Nations before they embark on developing nuclear weapons and war-heads or any similar venture, failure to which some severe measures can be taken. Iran has some nuclear power stations which are operational though the United States and other powerful countries believe that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. The United States has taken a firm stand against this and has sought some diplomatic positions with regard to this issue. Significant community development across the Middle East would see to it that such problems are dealt with easily which would actually be an advantage to the United States on its take on global peace. The Israeli-Palestinian war has been raging for several decades. Israel is located amidst countries which are its sworn enemies. Many of the contentious issues between Israel and its neighbors have eventually resulted in wars that have left many dead and injured. The United States is Israel’s sworn ally and therefore a blow to Israel means a major blow to the United States though indirectly. As a result of this, the United States has always acted in the favor of Israel. The idea of community development would eventually lead to unity in the region and thus remove the burden of sporadic wars from Israel and promote economic growth in the region. There are various leftist terrorist groups that have been formed in opposition of Israel. These include Hamas and Hezbollah and the return of peace to the region would see to it that these groups cease to exist as they are a threat to peace in the region. This would further improve the United States’ war against terrorism (Thomas, 1998). Finally, the United States of America envisions economic allies from the Middle East, which hosts some of the fastest growing economies in the world. An alliance between the United States and the Middle East would see to the growth of the economic interests of both parties. Economic enhancement means more power and this is exactly this would translate to the United States. Economic empowerment is of paramount importance especially in this period when the world is experiencing a financial recession. Economic empowerment would therefore be a major boost to the United States and any other interested parties. The Middle East is one of the regions that the business interests of Americans are not appreciated and therefore mending this would change the equation. Countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan have incorporated tourism into their economies and this is bound to improve their relationship with other countries. Egypt has been one of the key factors that have made peace-brokerage possible in the Middle East. Egypt is an Islamic state that is not hard lined towards general hatred towards the west. This gives it an edge towards dealing with the Middle East crises and dangerous wars. It is through Egypt that some international communities have voiced their concerns. It is through Egypt that some wars have been stopped through cease-fires; such as the recent Israeli-Palestinian war that was showcased along the Gaza strip. Egypt itself is strategically placed and is allied to many of the nations in the Middle East. They are therefore bound to listen to Egypt when it comes to negotiating a particular situation. As a result of this, many of the western countries ally themselves to Egypt in a bid to broker peace in the Middle East. Egypt therefore plays a very vital role when it comes to dealing with the nations of the Middle East because of its neutrality and similarity to these nations despite being an Islamic state. It is a peaceful sovereign state that is deemed reliable by many western countries when it comes to dealing with the Middle East. As a result, community development is vital as a solution to the problems that currently affect the Middle East nations. The Middle East is in a quagmire of woes at the moment and a solution that would bring about peace and stability in the region would all the same transform this region into an economic powerhouse which would be a big boost to the global financial market altogether. Community development, to say the least, is one of the keys to peace and stability in this region. References: Bayat, A. , (2002), Activism And Social Development In The Middle East, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Issue 34:1:1-28, Cambridge University Press, Retrieved on 29th April 30, 2009 from: http://journals. cambridge. org/action/displayAbstract? fromPage=onlineaid=105825 Eur, (2002), The Middle East and North Africa 2003, Europa Publications Staff, ISBN 1857431324, 9781857431322, Published by Routledge, Wright J. W. , (1999), The Political Economy of Middle East Peace: The Impact of Competing Trade Agendas, ISBN 0415183952, 9780415183956, Published by Routledge Thomas R. M. , (1998), Conducting educational research: a comparative view, ISBN 0897896092, 9780897896092, Published by Greenwood Publishing Group

Spatial Cognition and Navigation :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

Spatial Cognition and Navigation In the complex dissection of the human brain evolving in our course, great strides have been made on the path to comprehension of thought and action. Evidence concerning the true relationship of mind, body, and behavior has been elucidated through discoveries of the neural pathways enabling active translation of input to output. We have suggested the origins of action, discussed stimuli both internal and external, as well as concepts of self, agency, and personality interwoven with a more accessible comprehension of physical functionality. However, I remain unable to superimpose upon the current construct of brain and behavior a compatible notion of awareness of self. What are the cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in understanding the spatial relationships between oneself and other objects in the world? How do we even become aware of space and the environment in which we live? What element of the nervous system governs those processes, which enable human beings to navigat e through space? The term "spatial cognition" is used to describe those processes controlling behavior that must be directed at particular location, as well as those responses that depend on location or spatial arrangement of stimuli (1). Navigation refers to the process of strategic route planning and way finding, where way finding is defined as a dynamic step-by-step decision-making process required to negotiate a path to a destination (2). As a spatial behavior, negotiation demands a spatial representation; a neural code that distinguishes one place or spatial arrangement of stimuli from another (1). What, though, serves as such a representation in navigation and from where are these representations derived? The processes occurring within the hippocampus provide such representations. The hippocampal mode of processing is concerned primarily with large distances and long spaces of time. These processes demand a very specific form of spatial representation, which relate locations to one another as well as to landmarks in an environment, rather than simply to the agent of action. Spatial attention and action, which result from encoded sensory information, are controlled by the parietal neocortex (1). Information relating to the location and stimuli derived from that location is encoded in sensory cortices. Informed by this egocentric information, allocentric representations provide a basis from which one's current location and orientation can be computed from one's relationship to sensory cues in the environment. This particular set of locations is referred to as a cognitive map.

Why Should Rich Countries Help Poor Countries

If Arab people have the right to go back in time to the life before the Arab Spring, will they use this opportunity? The Arab takes the action of the revolutions to get liberated from the repressive regimes, corruption, and so on. Human who born free should die with freedom? It is the norm to the countries that get through political transformations to have decline in their values and disciplines The Arab spring as it made quantum leap for Arab countries; it also has negative effects in the economy, political, and social life. First, The economy is something substantial for any country, so the Arab countries were complained about their economy before and tried to amend it. Unfortunately, their economy gets the worst stage after the revolutions. The stock market crashed led to draining billions of dollars according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2012). High unemployment rate is another significant crises. Most of the companies closed, which means workers, lost their jobs. For example, Egypt recorded a high volume of unemployment in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 12. 4% . The unstable situation forced the foreign investor to leave the country that led to shrinking in the foreign investments. The lack of investments made a huge shortage in the foreign currency. Second, the people in the effected countries by what called Arab spring are living in verities of unsolved political problems. The strife between the political parties to take the power is the major issue. Each party of the conflict is trying to show his strength, so when a problem get closed to be solved by one party the other one ruined it to deform the reputation of the first one. Moreover, Security plays an essential roll in the society. No one can live in a place that can’t be trusted. The insecure country creates a better environment for the terrorism. The growing of the activities of al-Qaeda and jihadist movements in the Arab Spring countries is because the existence of appropriate ground. This proper environment for al-Qaeda initiated because of the loose of security especially after the revolution. To illustrate, al-Qaeda are expanding in Yemen, Libya, and Tunis, which are Arab spring countries that is going through lawlessness. Third, loose of the principles and values in the social life caused by the Protests. After the Arab spring Families coming apart are one of the major social issues. A lot of families got separated because of the contradictory political concepts. For instance, a famous family in Yemen, one of the effected countries, got in a big conflict. One of the uncle join to the revolution against the government while his brother were with the government side, so they have fought each other. They split the family in two sides. Strife between tribes is another significant social issue. Neural tribe is taking place in most of the Arab countries. One of the tribe’s norms is to show their respect and pleasure to others. A member of any tribe will fight for his tribe whether it is in the right side or the wrong side because these are their principles and values. This seems to a good discipline, but after what just occurred, almost all their traditions have been modified. Thus, many tribes initiated a negative treatment among each other. The social life is facing a very big issue which the conflict between the sunned and the Shia to take the control. Sectarian violence and/or sectarian strife are violence inspired by sectarianism, that is, between different sects of one particular mode of religion within a society. Religious segregation often plays a role in sectarian violence. Sauna And Shia is the perfect example of that kind of conflicts.

The Effects Of Low Income Affects The Lifestyles Of...

The theoretical framework in this dissertation, describes how the impact of low income affects the lifestyles of minimum wage earners. These impacts stem from two significant factors; Smith’s (2015) theory from a psychological perspective, and Rogers’ (2014) minimum wage laws and social equality. While several areas are encompassed by these two factors, comparison of the human behavior and social groups, provides insight on how minimum wage earners are affected by each. According to Smith’s theory, indicators that are impacted by low income is an individual’s state of mind, behaviorally and psychologically. Rogers (2014), suggests that the basic question is whether or not the minimum wage laws help ensure decent work, which enhances rather than undermines an individual’s self – respect. Additionally, under any condition, an individual’s state of mind responds to a situation in which the personit undergoes, at a particular time. While h umans reacts differently to overcome various situations, the issues that lie beneath the surface can be overwhelming. However, with an increase in wages, the physical and psychological disorders in adults and children will likely subside, and their levels of success will likely rise (Smith, 2015). In order to determine how human behavior and social groups correlates with low income, a comprehensive questionnaire of full and part time employees will be administered. While it is not uncommon for individuals with minimal income to have moreShow MoreRelatedLidl Pestel Anaylis763 Words   |  4 Pagesintervenes in the economy. This can affect supermarkets such as Lidl in a number of ways; these are as follows, the national minimum wage and taxation. The minimum wage will affect Lidl because if the government have the national minimum wage low the level of people who want to work will be very low, this is due to the fact that people will not work for low level of pay. 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