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effects of war and peace on foreign aid in South Sudan

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Introduction

Foreign aid plays an important role in peace building and restoring order in the developing countries. Aid has been used in Africa to deal with post war challenges. War and conflict in these nations are normally caused by struggle for power and resources. Others include tribal conflicts and religion differences. Foreign aid helps in rebuilding these nations, South Sudan in particular.

In south Sudan, food aid that is very crucial to the displaced persons affected by war is normally given by the non-governmental institutions established in those nations. Southern Sudan was recently affected by ethnic war, again in 2014 after the 2005 end of a two-decade civil war. Presence of peace in these developing countries attracts foreign aid attracts foreign aid that is used in the development of all sectors in these countries (McCrummen, 2009).

Context

Foreign aid has various positive effects in the developing nations. This includes the following:

Humanitarian aid in form of food aid plays helps to reduce famine, diseases and drought.

In most cases, people normally flee their homes and settle in camps where they believe they are safe. This makes them need aid as they lack food and clean water for survival. Non-governmental organizations established in these areas plays an important role in ensuring that the affected people in these areas (Poole, 2009). According to Hoefler (2008), US Centers for Disease control and Prevention greatly helped to eradicate dracunculiasis or Guinea worm disease in South Sudan. Hence, foreign aid is equally important in saving the lives of the affected persons in these nations.

Foreign aid helps in rebuilding the nations affected by war.

The financial aid given to the governments helps them in rebuilding all its programmes after effects of war. This financial aid help in starting up programmes that aim at poverty reduction and solving issues on employment in the developing nations. This plays an important role in establishing collapsed government in these nations. The governments in these nations are encouraged to invest in development programmes and sustainable growth (Peraino, 2010). Proper use of the funds and grants provided by the foreign aid could highly improve the lives of citizens in these countries.

Presence of peace in the developing countries promotes political goodwill and stability.

This attracts potential investors and foreign aid whose main aim is to improve lives in these nations. In most cases, the non-governmental organizations established in these nations provide aid to support various programmes. Development projects that include infrastructure development, mostly in establishing new industries are mostly emphasized. This helps to solve issues of poverty and unemployment, thus improving the living standards of people. Further, the foreign aid is also used in establishing projects that aim at sustainable growth. This leads to long-term benefits that enable these nations to depend on themselves in the future.

Negative effects

Foreign aid maybe misused in the nations where it is being availed. This leads to these nations withdrawing as the resources provided are not used for the right purpose. This includes the following:

Corruption

For instance, during the civil war in Southern Sudan, food aid that was donated by foreign nations to be used in saving the lives of people who were affected by war provided a lucrative business opportunity for the warlords in the country (Keo, 2013). Food that was meant to save the lives of people who were suffering in the camps was sold to people instead. The finances generated are used to support war that leads to political instability in these nations.

Foreign aid dependence

The communities in the countries affected by war largely depend on the foreign aid given by the developed nations in the world. However, the warlords in these countries depend on this aid to finance their activities (Ahmad, 2012). Hence, the nations that receive foreign aid should be accountable and invest in development programmes.

Withdrawal of foreign aid due to political instability

In nations where there is political instability like Southern Sudan, insecurity prevails. Most non-governmental organizations established in the areas affected by war close all their activities for their safety. In South Sudan, war between 1983 and 2002 led to death of 2 million people, a war that had colonial history and proxy wars of donor countries (Hoeffler, 2008). This also leads to withdrawal of potential investors and government grants from the developed countries meant for development and sustainable growth in these nations. This is a major disadvantage to the developing nations.

The government of Southern Sudan has created a good relationship with the donors to start and implement development projects that aim at marinating sustainable growth in future. Further, the government has vowed to promote political stability and goodwill in order to create a conducive and lucrative environment to initiate development projects in different parts of the country. This will play a great role in poverty reductions as employment opportunities will be available when these projects are implemented. Extension of foreign aid has enabled the country in poverty reduction as the projects started are now fully implemented, and new ones have been established to steer economic growth.

Conclusion

From the above impacts, it is evident that the foreign aid plays an important role in the development and sustainable growth in developing nations. However, the government of these nations should be accountable and ensure that there is development for sustainable growth.

References

Ahmad, A. (2012). Agenda For Peace Or Budget For War: International Journal.

Keo, T. P. (2013). The Dark Side of Foreign Aid: retrieved from www.lstmliverpool.ac.uk , The

Diplomat.1-4.

Hoeffler, A. (2008). Dealing with the Consequences of Violent Conflicts in Africa. Centre for the

Study of African Economies. University of OxforD

McCrummen, S. (2009). The Washington Post. Sudan Ousts Aid After Court Pursues President ,

116-36.

Peraino, K. (2010). United States Department of State. Standard Foreign Assistance Indicators ,

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Poole, L. (2009). Global Humanitarian Assistance. Sudan Aid Factsheet 1995-2010 , 44-63.

Effects Of Video Games On Child Behavior

Effects Of Video Games On Child Behavior

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc378997494” Abstract PAGEREF _Toc378997494 h 1

HYPERLINK l “_Toc378997495” Introduction PAGEREF _Toc378997495 h 1

HYPERLINK l “_Toc378997496” Positive Effects of Video Games on Child Behavior PAGEREF _Toc378997496 h 2

HYPERLINK l “_Toc378997497” Negative Effects of Video Games on Child Behavior PAGEREF _Toc378997497 h 3

HYPERLINK l “_Toc378997498” Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc378997498 h 4

AbstractVideo games have long been associated with child behavior, and researchers have proven that they have both a positive and negative influence on child behavior. Psychologists argue that video games promote both good and bad behavior depending on the type of games that children engage in as a form of play. More specifically, video games have been associated with improved social behavior, as well as, increased aggressiveness as the two most notable effects of video games on child behavior. Because video games have both positive and negative effects on child behavior, it has been hard for researchers to provide proper recommendations as to the proper steps to be taken with regards to video games.

Key Words: Video Games, Child Behavior

IntroductionThe video game controversy has been the centre of debates in most academic and social circles today (Bignell, 2002). Since the introduction of video games to the society, most people have argued that these video games have been nothing but a bad influence to children. This is because video games are inherently addictive and most children have a tendency of emulating what they see on these video games. However, another group of observers on debate argue that video games have also had a positive influence on child behavior.

This paper examines how video games can influence child behavior. The paper inspects the positive and negative effects of video games on child behavior.

Positive Effects of Video Games on Child BehaviorAccording to researchers, the positive effects of video games on child behavior are related to the development of mental skills, most of which cannot be easily taught in schools. Research studies illustrate that video games influence spatial and motor skills, as well as, improve hand-eye coordination, which is necessary for growth and development in children. Specifically, video games have also been associated with encouraging the following of instructions by children, which in turn promotes a good relationship between the children and their instructors and educators (Rockwell, 2002). Video games have also been associated with improving problem solving skills and logic, as these games require that the player come up with the best possible strategies to advance to the next levels. These same skills can easily be applied in the real life, thus assisting the child in coping with most of the hardships that they encounter in real life. Attaining these problem solving skills will enhance a child’s coping behavior, as they will seek to solve problems in their social life, hence allowing them to proceed with their social lives with minimal interruptions. Another skill that video games have been associated with is resource management, as some games allow players to learn how to manage limited resources just as they would do in real life (Dickey, 2006). In terms of behavior, this skill can be promote sharing between young children, which improves their relationship with others. Video games improve multitasking in children, thus providing children with the ability to manage multiple objectives. This is, in turn, translated into behavior where children have the ability to focus on multiple things at a time. This improves social behavior in children hence allowing them to function properly in their social settings.

Negative Effects of Video Games on Child BehaviorJust as video games have positive effects on child behavior and actions, they also have a degree of negative effects, most of which have been capitalized on when suggesting the elimination of video games as part of child play during their growth and development. Accordingly, video games have been accused of having various negative child behaviors ranging from emotional disorders to aggressiveness. At the outset, video games have shown to have an influence on the emotional state of children, as they increase the possibility of increasing emotional disorders in children (Sheese & Granziano, 2005). If not treated well, these disorders can affect child behaviors in the long run, causing them to develop negative behaviors when in the social setting. Additionally, these motional disorder problems can easily be transformed into behavior disorder symptoms as most children fail to act appropriately as a result of video games. Children have a tendency of emulating what they see in these video games and if such games are full of violence and aggression, which they can act out in their real lives thus affecting how they relate with other children (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Playing video games may compel children into taking up video games characters, which can easily lead to violent and aggressive interaction between children. Video games have also been linked with decreased verbal memory and performance in children, thus affecting how they relate with each other.

Children who play video games cannot communicate well with their fellow playmates, because of their lack of communicating ability which also affects their overall growth and development. the lack of proper communication ability affects children behavior in that they do not know how to communicate with the people around them, thus the possibility of behavior problems. Attention problems such as ADHD, hyperactivity, and ADD have also been associated with too video games, especially in children who spend more time playing video games, as opposed to, reading (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Doing this affects their attention especially during their class time, which in turn causes serious behavioral problems in children. Their behavior at school is affected and such children suffer from problems related to attention, and for that reason, find themselves facing punishment for their lack of attention in class, thus affecting their overall behavior. In addition to the abovementioned negative behavioral effects, video games have also been associated with detrimental performance in school, which affect their learning process. Video games also reduce interaction between children and their families, with most children indicating less parental relations (Sheese & Granziano, 2005). Accordingly, this is soon transferred into behavioral problems and children slowly begin revealing behavioral problems in school and at home. Lastly, video games have also been shown to lead to physical aggressive behavior as children believe that violence is the answer to all conflict as is depicted in most video games (Anderson & Bushman, 2001).

ConclusionVideo games have both positive and negative effects on the behavior of children. However, this is dependent on the type of games that children engage in and the time spent on video games as opposed to learning and other social activities. To reduce the negative effect of video games on child behavior, both parents and educations should consider the possibility of limiting the time children spend playing games, as well as, limit the type of games they play on video games. Conclusively, video games can be utilized for the improvement of child behavior, thus promoting good behavior at all times.

References

Anderson, C. A. & Bushman B. J., “Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior,

Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature”, Psychological Science, Vol. 12, No. 5, pp. 353-359, September 2001.

Bignell, J., “Writing the Child in Media Theory”, The Yearbook of English Studies, Vol. 32,

Children in Literature, pp. 127-139, 2002.

Carnagey, N & Anderson, C., “The Effects of Reward and Punishment in Violent Video Games

on Aggressive Affect, Cognition, and Behavior”, Psychological Science, Vol. 16, No. 11, pp. 882-889, November 2005.

Dickey, Michele D., “Game Design Narrative for Learning: Appropriating Adventure Game

Design Narrative Devices and Techniques for the Design of Interactive Learning Environment”, Educational Technology Research and Development, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 245-263, June 2006.

Rockwell, G., “Gore Galore: Literary Theory and Computer Games”, Computers and the

Humanities, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 345-358, August 2002.

Sanford, K & Madil, L., “Understanding the Power of New Literacies through Video Game Play

and Design”, Canadian Journal of Education, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 432-455, May 2007.

Sheese, B. E. & Granziano, W.,” Deciding to Defect: The Effects of Video-Game Violence on

Cooperative Behavior”, Psychological Science, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp. 354-357, May 2005.