Comparison of the Lincolns Gettysburg Address and...

Sabrina Simer 9/27/06 Reaction Paper After reading both speeches I found that the purpose of Pericless speech was to honor the ancestors, the survivors, the ones who died for the country, and their families. It was also to speak of the goodness of Athens and reiterate how rewarding having a democracy is. The purpose of Lincolns speech was very similar. It was to dedicate a monument as the final resting place for those who have died in the civil war; it was also to reinforce the fact that there is unfinished work. It is for us the living rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who have fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. (Lincoln Gettysburg Address) In my opinion the Gettysburg Address is a†¦show more content†¦Pericles on the other hand was speaking after a war had ended at a ceremony held for the dead and he was chosen to speak. He did more of a eulogy whereas Lincoln was an address of the war that was still occurring. I didnt like the fact that though Lincoln was dedicating a monument to the ones who have died he did not mention the families of the lost ones. Pericles does. As a matter of fact he mentions them more then once in his speech. Comfort, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the parents of the dead who may be here. (Pericles Funeral Oration) the next time he mentions the families it is geared toward the men. Turning to the sons and brothers of the dead, I see an arduous struggle before you. When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him, and should your merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find it difficult not merely to overtake, but even to approach their renown.(Pericles, Funeral Oration) Both Lincoln speech and Pericles speech can be used today. I say this because it is relevant to current issues such as the war in Iraq. Bush just as the speakers mention in this essay say that there is honor in fighting, there is a cause for fighting, we are protecting democracy, and there is work left undone. These are all the major points i n keeping a nation patriotic and wanting to continue theShow MoreRelatedComparison of Lincolns Gettysburg Address and Pericles Funeral Oration 870 Words   |  4 PagesLincoln’s â€Å"Gettysburg Address† and Pericles â€Å"Funeral Oration† are both speeches that clearly portray similar and diverse components. To begin, Lincoln and Pericles both express tone in similar ways. In order to encourage his frazzled and hopeless soldiers and families, in addition to emphasizing the deceased, Lincoln needed to state his tone in an explicit and benevolent approach in the â€Å"Gettysburg Address†. To do this, Lincoln begins his speech with â€Å"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers

Is Technology Destroying Social Bonds - 926 Words

In our modern international society, technology continues to advance rapidly and change the way we communicate. In the essay â€Å"Is Technology Destroying Social Bonds?† Shawn Ghuman claims that â€Å"Digital communication has taken away from what makes humans thrive, the ability to express thoughts through in person discussion† (Ghuman 8). I agree that this may be the case, considering how often people now choose to communicate digitally rather than in person. Nowadays, young adults are becoming uncomfortable with direct confrontation of any kind. Even talking over the phone and making a simple dentist appointment. For our society to keep moving forward, it is necessary that we develop the social skills needed in order to have proper face to face communication. Unfortunately, due to over-reliance on social media to communicate with others, today’s young adults are losing valuable opportunities to practice face to face interactions that are needed to develop str ong social skills. Over-reliance on social media can erode social skills. Since young adults have become uncomfortable with social actions and interactions of any kind, they are turning to their cell phones to do the work for them. They are depending on social media because it is less threatening to text someone or send them an email. If someone is shy or awkward, they probably have a hard time speaking to people in person, so they rely on digital communication such as email or text message to have a conversation. It isShow MoreRelatedPros And Cons Of Social Media Essay1598 Words   |  7 PagesEnglish Argument/Research Essay Serin Kim Period 4 A prevalent issue regarding social media and interactions exists between researchers and social network users. Social media is currently changing how relationships between people are created. Relationships can exist through people across the world through social media and can produce more emotional bonds with friends that you can see everyday. On the other hand, social media also could present conflicts due to the fact that some of these relationshipsRead MoreHow Technology Has Changed Our Lives987 Words   |  4 PagesCommunication Lost Technology has become the new way to communicate in today’s millennium generation. Individuals are using phones as a part of their everyday lives. Apps and online resources have been greatly used to communicate with others. According to the author’s, technology could be the reason for building or ruining relationships. Whether or not technology could be building relationships, I believe technology is destroying communication between friends and family. Due to technology, relationshipsRead MoreTechnology Controls Humanity1633 Words   |  7 PagesTechnology Controls Humanity In today’s society, anything is possible with the click of a button or the flick of a switch. These concepts are the result of a little something called technology. Technology is the use of electronically enhanced gadgets to â€Å"simplify† life. Humanity and technology have a relationship of depending on one another, but technology is the dominant partner in the bond. Through out the years, technology has been controlling the means of communication, the intelligence ofRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effects On Society902 Words   |  4 PagesSocial media has become a very prevalent part of today’s society. It is the newest form of communication, but this system may have some underlying problems. There has been an ongoing question whether, social media is a resourceful way to communicate or a technological nuisance that leads to loneliness. Some believe that social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, are great ways to stay in touch with friends, fami ly, and colleagues. On the other end of the spectrum are those who thinkRead MoreThe Effects Of Texting On The Age Of Texting By Natalie Moore870 Words   |  4 Pages but the opposing view point emphasizes the decline in social ability as an effect of texting. Texting can be abused almost effortlessly. Communication via thumb has become so prominent that it is constantly used for practically any task. Are you in an argument with someone? Just text them and ignore the in-person confrontation; it’s much easier. Many have seen relationships—both friendly and romantic—decline due to the replacement of social interaction with a screen. In the passage, Rule of Thumbs:Read MoreBradburys Fahrenheit 451 Modern Dystopia Warnings1548 Words   |  7 Pagesburning books. The story Fahrenheit 451 revolves around this issue of book burning, but there is a deeper meaning to the book. Bradbury is warning that the monopolizing effect of social media will transform generations to come into a society with no genuine connections, no distinctive thoughts, and excessive reliance on technology. This book was written in 1951, and today, the propositions are no longer fiction, but are becoming a reality. Connections between individuals are fading away. At one pointRead MoreThe Problem Of Online Dating Essay1067 Words   |  5 PagesThere’s no question that dating 40 years ago was much different than dating now. While back then we actually had to go out and meet somebody to be seen, now, with the click of a button, our entire lives can instantly go public. Social media has created this labeling phenomenon in which individuals can categorize another based on a certain trait. Take online dating, for example. We set up a profile that includes hobbies, interests, places lived, and even sometimes body shape. But the most importantRead MoreA Life Threatening Habit : Using Drugs And Alcohol1665 Words   |  7 Pagescause harm in long term usage. For some, using their cell phone is a way out of reality and an escape from the outer lives. Social media is becoming more popular every year which is attracting younger kids. The cell phone is a trap to the next generation and will create problems for teenagers. In today s society, cell phones destroy people s communication abilities, social lives, and driving abilities. Teenagers having real conversations is a rare sight. Texting is seen as the best way when somethingRead MoreA Separation Of Social And Economic Classes1664 Words   |  7 Pagesand other forms of technology have seemingly started to take over the workforce as society looks to constantly improve and speed up the progress in the working world. The 1950’s fictional novel, Player Piano, portrays a society directly revolved around the use of machines and computers in the workplace to essentially become a more progressive and efficient society. The constant development of technology in today’s world correlates to Vonnegut’s Player Piano when discussing social class and unemploymentRead MoreSocial Medi Evolution Or A Step Back1697 Words   |  7 PagesSocial Media: Evolution or A Step Back In a century where we are living in the future, it can be easy to leave things in the past. Techniques of communication have been altered and now technology presents ways to talk to people around the world. People have access to unlimited resources and everyday society is advancing; or is it? Face-to-face communication is the foundation of our societies and what has brought people together since the beginning of time. Something that has been so crucial in the

Hellraiser Essay Example For Students

Hellraiser Essay A chorus of nine naked males clog dance to bouncy rhythms of  THE Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B. A boy with green hair is immersed upside down in a fish tank and whipped, his nude body sparking with rings through his tongue, nipples, stomach and genitals. Somebodys Fairy Godmother is carried onstage: a four-foot-high physically handicapped half-man, half-woman. All joint in a chorus of Take Me Out to the Ball Game but not until a black man is castrated with a chainsaw and his severe organ ritually devoured. Welcome to the apocalyptic world of Reza Abdoh. For the 27-year-old enfant terrible director and writer, its poetic justice that the above scenes occurred in the final play developed by the Los Angeles Theatre Center, Bogeyman. And its equally appropriate that this multimedia extravangazas closing night was Oct. 13, 1991 the doomed theatres last day. The bogeymen unleashed in Abdohs work are at home on the edge, prophets in a society where apocalypse is just around the c orner. When youre HIV-positive and not superjock Magic Johnson, when youre an Iranian exile and revolutionary artist, when youre defiantly out of the closet and proud to be avant-garde, you dont retire with a smile and go ently into that good night. You range. You Assult. You add insult to injury. You work while the theatres lights go dark all around you. You push yourself and others to extremes, even while friends plead that you rest, that you not defy AIDS or alienate subscribers. You shove truth into societys face. Or at least you do if youre Reza Abdoh. The Hip-Hop Waltz of Eurydice and Bogeyman, tow parts of a projected trilogy on the themes of mortality and survival, were his 19th and 20th productionms not counting a horde of works conceived and directed during his adolescence. This month Abdohs bicoastal company, Dar A Luz Performance Works, premiers the trilogy;s final installment, The Law of Remains, in the ballroom of New Yorks abandoned Diplomat Hotel on 44th Street. Those who dont know his work should borrow advice from Heraclitus and expect the unexpected. They should also expect a shock of recognition. Abdoh is frequently but inaccurately compared with experimental auteur Robert Wilson, though his work is far less static than Wilsons and more crowded with the latest pop-culture icons. Another frequent comparison is with the irreverent, unpredictable Peter Sellars, but Abdoshs approach is more politically confrontational. However, like Sellars, Abdoh is at the forefront of employing progressive technologies in live performance, especially in his use of sound and video. In its extremes, his work mirrors the dissonant eclecticism of German choreographer Pina Bausch, and his fragmented, multi-layered texts resemble the writing of that nations iconoclastic playwright Heiner Muller. In a decade oppressed by economics and safe choices, Abdoch adheres to the experimental tradition of 1960s radical collectives like the Living Theater. Hes gathered a permanent ensemble of performers eager to stretch their limits of endurance (as well as an audiences tolerance). His style is that of an outraged and outrageous born-again Artaud, carring the French surrealists theatre of cruelty into the hot decade of the 1990s. Aloof irony no longer can suffice, Abdoh believes, while a society flirts with censorships. Just as Artaud ordered, Abdoh insists theatre artists must rage as if theyre burning at the stake, signalling through the flames. Inevitably, such work defies critical analysis. Consider the division of opinions among critics over Bogeyman. Los Angeles Times drama critic Sylvie Drake wrote a positive review: Abdohs witches brew is . . . designed to shock and wants to be absorbed by osmosis, throught he pores, the eyes, the ears, and no doubt other parts of the anatomy. But on the same day, reacting to the same performance, Orange Country drama critic Tom OConnor wrote a pan: Few cliche turns of performance art are left unstoned in Bogeyman. What poses as a surreal, visionary meditation on the disintegration of the tribal family emerges as a tedious, repetitive series of noisy temper tantrums about growing up gay iin an unhappy, repressive family. From another quarter, the alternative L. A. Weeklys Bill Raden anointed Abdohs work the most important single piece of theatre in L.A. this year. Simultaneously, the chief critic of the L.A. Reader, Cliff Gallo, mocked the show: Abdoh transforms his visual assemblage into a spectacle that, ironically, makes Bogyman as banal as anything produced by the commercial mainstream. In this light, Abdoh is the Andrew Lloyd Webber of the counterculture set. The controversy wasnt limited to critics. LATC subscribers demanded their money back, walked out of the theatre, threatened to call the mayor and the police, cancelled their subscriptions. The Los Angeles Times received dozens of angry or supportive letters. (One letter writer described Bogeyman as the play from hell.) The only theatrical personality indifferent to the controversy seemed to be its author. A slight, dark, gentle, thin youth with a pockmarked complexion and sensitive eyes, Abdoh fueled the hostility by calmly reacting, Im not in the business of pandering to the audience. There are much more important issues than satisfying peoples taste buds. People who are offended are afraid of their own demons. Who is this impossibly young artist with the old-fashioned bohemian values? To his devoteesamong them wealthy patrons and dedicated followers willingt to sacrifice far more lucrative careers for the chance to work with him Abdoh is a theatrical visionary. To his critics, hes a self-indulgent emperor without clothes ruling a bankrupt avant-garde. To friends, hes a broke, compassionate, compelling, vulnerable reincarnation of Jean Cocteau. Abdoh was born in tehran to an  Italian mother, Homa, and Iranian father, Ali Muhammed Abdoh, who met in Europe whne she was 15 and he was 33. Ali Muhammed, who had graduated from the University of Maryland using the pseudonym Alan Morgan, was a naturalized American, star boxer and volleyball player whose familys agricultural holdings provided considerable wealth. After marrying, he returned triumphant with his teenage bride to his homeland in 1961, and on a hunch, built Tehrans first bowling alley. Bowling revolutionized the citys nightlife, quickly becoming the in activity among high-society Iranians. Soon Ali Muhammed owned numerous sports businesses and even purchased a popular soccer team. Such prosperity did litle to improve family harmony. My mother had a poets soul inside a housewifes body, Abdoh recalls. Wives of wealthy Iranian men became automatons. Listening to him describe his childhood impressions, one sense elements from his productions. His parents had a relationship based on fear rather than mutual respect (as do the perversely abusive members of the shattered nulcear family of Bogeyman); theirs was a patriarchal, domineering authoritarianism (a central theme of Father Was a Peculiar Man, Abdohs 1990 environmental spectacle mounted in the Manhattan meat-packing district under the aegis of En Garde Arts); his father projected this image of a demi-god (an image made literal in The Hip-Hop Waltz of Euryddice, a gender-switched hallucination based on the Orpheus myth, staged first at LATC, then at the Festival of the Americas in Montreal). Although he denies creating art as therapy, the extreme imagery of Abdohs later work must reflect scenes from his childhood. There was a lot of physical violence toward both my mother and me, he says of his early years. If my spirit is filled with these demons from the past and it is then this violence, this dominant enslavement of other people in order to empower oneselfall this is coming through in my art. His family took up residence in London. Living in England was the thing to do for rich Persians, he remembers. It was decadent because there was a lot of money, and they didnt know what to do with it. England exposed him to art that spoke to his private fantasies. At age seven, Reza was taken by his governess to Peter Brooks A Midsummer Nights Dream, and the experience seared itself into the childs imagination. The productions acrobatic choreography, the sudden bursts of wild spectacle, the direct address to the audience all these qualities characteristic of Abdohs work can be traced to that initial exposure. Young Reza also saw Martha Grahams productions and exhibitions of Jackson Pollock and Giacometti. But the biggest impression on me as a kid was religious iconography, Abdoh says. I was born to a Catholic and a Muslin, then I grew up going to the Protestant Church of England while all my friends were Jewish. Id go to a bar mitzvah one day, then the next day to an Islamic wedding, then the next to a Catholic funeral. (Such an eclectic background also provided Abdohs linguistic skills: he speaks French, Farsi and Italian as well as English.) A public life EssayAbdohs personal manifesto is less fierce and more philosophical. He bases his world outlook on the ancient mystic poet Molanah, who he says truly celebrates the mysteries of life, who writes about the struggle between light and dark forces. My plays are dreams. Abdoh explains. My dreams are dreams of a better future whee we can live in true perace rather than simulated peace. But to get there, theres a whole process of purging . And thats why my work is often so dark. There are moments of complete mayhem, unforgiving and relentless violence, passionss that are like excrement. Its not because Im cynical. Its a form of purge that needs to occur. After minamata, abdoh decided to  take his visions to Manhattan. His assault on the East Coast came via the adventurous site-specific company En Garde Arts, which invited Abdoh to stage an environmental piece. An abandoned warehouse and a four-block area in the citys meat-packing district became the setting for Father Was a Peculiar Man, his Off-Offf Broadway interpretation of Dostoeveskys The Brothers Karamazov. Astonished audiences trailed after the Walter Thompson Marching Band as jazz rhythms led them from slaughterhouse to street corner to a gigantic banquet table occupying a half-block of West 12th Street; while characters pursued one another with chainsaws, a beauty queen (Miss Arizona) stalked up and down the table pursued by video crews, lecturing on toxic waste; inside the crumbling warehouse, shoulder-to-shoulder with some 45 cast members, audiences witnessed a shower scene with naked men kissing, another nude male dangling upside down from a meat hook, and yet another p ainted green and hanging on a cross as Christ. Its not about bare skin, Abdoh says of his aesthetic. Its about exposing our psyche. We have to celebrate the visceral, celebrate the androgynous, celebrate the Dionysian forces, and not just be trapped in this kind of an Apollonian mayhem, which we are. Buoyed by praise from the New York Times (which called Father exhilarating and exuberant), Abdoh rushed back to Los Angeles to answer Peter Sellars invitation to take part in the Los Angeles Festival. Abdohs Pasos en la Obscuridad (Footsteps in the Darkness) seemed like a perfect event for the Festivals theme of multiculturalism. But Abdoh miscaalculated. Mounting a more-than-three-hour parody of telenovellas, in Spanish, using Latino transvestite entertainers, with only two-and-a-half weeks of rehearsal, proved too much too soon. The result was wildly uneven. Then came another blow. LATC, in a cancerous financial condition, could not afford to present his next scheduled project, an epic on AIDS titled Bogeyman. Either come up with a less ambitious alternative, he was told, or wait until next year. Abdoh suffered a personal crisis, careening from the ecstatic success on one coast to a crashing collpase on the other He had been diagnosed as HIV-positive. There might not be a next year. Abdoh awoke at 3 a.m. with a line from William Blake echoing in his head: He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence. Abdoh visualized an Orwellian society in the 21st century where sex is punished by death. He heard a monstrous vice cop screama at a married couple named Orpheus and Eurydice, Were gonna bore desire right out of you! He had his next project, The Hip-Hop Waltz of Eurydice. With only five characters, he could explore and illuminate Americas flirtation with censorship, a theme that was increasingly haunting his daydreams. In addition, Hip-Hop would be the first play of an ambitious trilogy, followed by Bogeyman and ending with The Law of Remains. LATC enthusiastically agreed to produce all three. At Montreals Festival of the Americas in June, Hip-Hop was praised as jarring unexpected, inspired, and Abdohs emerging international status led to the creation of his own permanent company, Dar A Luz. The literal translation from Spanish means to give light, but Abdoh chose it because Ecuadorean women also use the phrase as a synonym for birth. Dar A Luz soon had an office on New Yorks Upper East Side and an enormous midtown rehearsal loft, donated by a New York board member, plus a Hollywood movie executive, Adam Leipzig, senior vice president for production at Touchstone/Disney Pictures, on its board. One of the most inspiring aspects of Rezas work, says Leipzig of his reasons for serving on Abdohs theatrical board, is the way he is able to blend cultures and traditions simultaneously on the stage, drawing from ancient Eastern and African rituals and completely contemporary facets of our culture. But when the time finally came for Bogeyman, Abdohs artistic home was in turmoil. By last summer, LATCs financial crisis loomed ominously. Staff members argued against doing Bogeyman because it required a dozen Equity performers as well as one of the most expensive sets in LATCs history. But producer White echoed Abdoh when she countered: If not now, when? How can we not do this work? Bushnell defiantly announced: If this company is going to close, then its going to close swinging. Its not going to close whimpering in a corner doing a two-character play. In the midst of imminent collapse, teh staffs dedication to Abdohs visions required heroic struggles. White paid for props out of her personal bank accounts. Rehearsals were interrupted by last-ditch press conference during which LATCs personnel pleaded in the lobby for funding. Even the indefatigable Abdoh suffered despair. I have never, ever been so depressed, he said during rehearsals of Bogeyman. LATC was a family that nurtured this prodigal son. It was a family that didnt hesitate to cast tattooed, pierced dancers Abdoh had found at an L.A. afterhours haunt called Club Fuck. It was a family that didnt hesitate to encourage his furious indictment of venal love. It was a family that gave him whatever he wanted, even if it meant condemning societys avoidance of the AIDS epidemic, even while fearful that staging simulated homosexual acts might provoke consevative politicians into cutting funds. It was a family believing, as Bushnell said, that Abdoh was a theatrical Picasso. Bogeyman erupted in the midst of the fiscal debacle like a heroic last stand. The shadow of death hung over the theatre and over Abdoh himself; decay oozed from the savage ceremony on stage. It became the talk of the town and would still be running if LATC had not been forced to darken its stages. His home gone, Abdoh began to contemplate relocating to New York. Before he could make a permanent transplant, he wrote and directed a low-budget movie, The Blind Owl, for producer and video artist Adam Soch, casting many of the Bogeyman misfits. Then, in advance of a spring commitment to direct for the Long Beach Opera, he could fly to his East Coast base for the The Law of Remains. According to Abdohs synopsis, The Law of Remains, on one level, traces the seven stages of a journey that the soul embarks on the in Egyptian Book of the Dead. On the second level it explores emotional, spiritual and physical cannibalism. On the third level it is a love story between an assassin and a holy man, a car salesman and a hustler, a junkie and a sailor against a decaying background. The text will be in English, Spanish and Arabic. How will a frigid New York, besieged by debt and oppressed by recession, greet such a private spiritual expression? There are those who believe Abdoh is over-extended and increasingly surrounded by sycophants; more and more you hear his young followers refer to Abdoh as a genius. Hes less and less open to outside advice, increasingly meditating with his private muse. Dangers of a guru or cult mentality shadow this Persian mystic. Yet Abdoh wont compromise his vision. Hes determined to make art for a society where even the word artist is suspect. In an era when theatre is manipulated by media and marketing concerns, when playwrights are taught how to write characters out of their plays, when artistic directors calculate how to hold on to shrinking subscription audiences, Abdoh courageously picks up the avant-garde banner last held by Artaud, Cocteau, Grotowski and the Becks. He waves that flag with a ferocity our geriatric theatre so desperately needs if it, too, is to survive. We dismiss his visions at our peril.

The Natural Resource Curse

The natural resource curse affects countries with abundant natural resources. Studies done to investigate this phenomenon reveal several paradoxical issues relating the presence of natural resources in a country.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Natural Resource Curse specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For instance, countries that rely on natural resources for budgetary financing seem to have an inverse economic growth in relation to the percentage of the national budget financed using natural wealth. This paper looks at the issue of the natural resource curse with a view of uncovering why some countries suffer from it, while others do not. Natural resources refer to endowments in mineral wealth, or naturally occurring plant and animal life. Mineral wealth in this case refers to mined substances such as precious metals, gemstones, or oil wealth. Some of these resources occur near the surface of the earth. In thi s case, the resource may not require mining in the conventional sense. Timber is one of the most valuable natural resources extracted from naturally occurring forests. The worldwide demand for timber is growing mainly because of increasing control and restriction on logging by authorities concerned with the conservation of nature. To a certain extent, the presence of animals such as elephants and rhinos makes a country vulnerable to natural resource issues related to the ivory trade. However, the significance of animal related natural wealth is reducing because of greater enforcement of animal protection legislation. The natural resource curse refers to the paradoxical situation where countries endowed with natural resources tend to suffer from poor economic growth, war, and poverty, more than countries not endowed with these resources. This is counter intuitive because the presence of natural resources should mean the availability of finances to bankroll development projects in a c ountry. However, many countries that have vast amounts of natural resources tend to suffer from slow economic growth, resource wars, and disproportionate levels of corruption. Scholars present various reasons for this situation that range from corruption, to weak governance.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Why Some Countries Suffer From the Natural Resource Curse There are many reasons why many countries suffer from the natural resource curse. This section examines the role of corruption, resource dependence, weak central governments, and the international business environment surrounding trade in natural resources. The nature of natural wealth is such that it is difficult to track the exact quantities produced and then delivered to markets. In addition, after the sale of the resources, it is difficult to track with accuracy the exact amount of money that eventually ends up in projects that are for the benefit of the country. Many times, governments do not control the actual mining or extraction operations of the natural resources in their territory. For instance, oil companies such as BP control mining operations in many territories around the world. This means that the governments cannot know with complete accuracy whether the quantities of oil mined by oil companies are the actual ones. It is also possible for a minister in charge of mining to collude with the company to defraud the country. Since the government trusts the minister to control and report on the operations of the company, the country ends up losing revenue. On the other end, after the mining companies extract and sell minerals in the international market, the money may not reach development projects in the country because of corruption within government. The second cause of the oil curse is resource dependence of countries endowed with natural resources. This especially affects oil-pr oducing nations. A good example is Nigeria where the country relies on oil and gas exports to fund more than eighty percent of its recurrent expenses. This overreliance on mineral wealth makes it difficult for the government to develop a sustainable tax base. Studies show that countries that do not have an effective tax net also tend to lack the capacity to address social issues in the country. Nigeria’s reliance on its oil wealth is part of the causative factors of the social challenges espoused by the conflict in the Niger Delta. In addition, Nigeria is in no position to challenge the activities of oil companies when they fail to meet environmental stipulations simply because the government relies on these companies to generate its operating revenues.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Natural Resource Curse specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This situation, compared to the America for instance is appall ing. America took strong action against BP after the Deep Water horizon oil spill. America does not rely on oil in the same terms as Nigeria. Therefore, it had the liberty to enforce its laws after the spill. Thirdly, weak governments amplify the negative effects of the resource curse. A weak government does not have the capacity to address the social ills in the country. This usually comes from ineffective planning, or inconsistent implementation. Any government that cannot guarantee the territorial integrity of the country, or does not have the power to manage social order, is weak. Countries with mineral wealth also tend to have rebel groups seeking to control mineral rich areas. For instance, rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) takes place around mineral centers. No government in the DRC has gained control over the entire territory of the country. The fact that natural resources tend to occur in one region makes the resource rich areas easy targets of armed group s since they are easy to seize and control. Finally, the resource curse is a product of tilted international trading terms. For instance, OECD countries encourage the importation of raw material such as crude oil, but it discourages the importation of processed products. Importing processed products to the OECD is difficult because of a raft of tariff and non-tariff barriers. The net effect is that any country that wants to sell its natural resources to the OECD countries cannot establish a strong local manufacturing sector. The result is that the country remains dependent on the export of natural resources, while it imports equipment and finished products from its natural resource export destinations. How Countries Avoid the Natural Resource Curse Despite the strong indication that natural resources tend to bring more problems for some countries that solutions, there are examples of countries that seem to have avoided the curse. In this section, we look at three factors that contri bute to avoiding the natural resource curse. These factors are the presence of a strong central government, diversified economies, and diversified markets. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest oil producers in the world. Oil accounts for about fifty percent of its national budget, and is responsible for about ninety percent of its export revenues. As such, Saudi Arabia should be suffering from the oil curse. This is not the case. The country has one of the most stable governments in the Middle East.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It did not suffer during the Arab spring and it does not have any formidable rebel groups operating within its territory. Its only exposure is from terrorists who loath the presence of American bases in the country. This is an ideological issue, rather than a resource one. The case of Saudi Arabia shows that a strong central government can avert the resource curse. The ability of the government to maintain territorial integrity is a key part of the process of avoiding the natural resource curse. It is also instructive to note that Saudi Arabia is not a western democracy. Rather it is a monarchy. Its laws are some of the harshest in the world especially in regards to issues of social harmony. The point here is that avoiding the resource curse is not a question of the type of government in place. Rather it is a factor of how strong the government is in the management of the country. The second way in which countries can avert the natural resource curse is by diversifying their economi es. A good case in point is Dubai, which is part of the UAE. Dubai struck oil in the mid twentieth century. The rulers of the city-state soon recognized that while the oil wealth was a great resource for the country, reliance on oil was not sustainable. This led to the development of economic plans that sought to transfer the oil wealth to other sectors of the economy. The goal of this move was to diversify the economic base of the country. The result of this is that Dubai is now an international trade hub, known more for its free port that for its oil. Oil is still an important part of the economic mix of the country, but even if the oil sector collapsed, the country will still be operational. Apart from its famous free port, Dubai is becoming a financial capital, a tourism hub, and a transport hub. Emirates Airlines, which is currently one of the largest airlines in the world operates from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Apart from the diversification of the economic base of the c ountry, the UAE makes efforts to maintain social stability by ensuring all the citizens have access to quality education and healthcare. The third pillar in the effort to avoid the natural resource curse is diversifying the markets for the primary natural wealth. Diversifying the market for a country’s natural wealth makes it possible for the country to develop other sectors of the economy, and to control the prices of the natural wealth. Instead of relying on exports to regions with many tariff and non-tariff barriers, it is better to develop new markets for finished products to create jobs locally. Kenya exports processed oil to its neighbors after importing crude from the Middle East. If Kenya had its own oil, then it would have the full benefits of oil extraction. In conclusion, the natural resource curse is not impossible to deal with. However, it takes strong leadership on the part of the country endowed with natural wealth to deal with the associated issues. In this se nse, the natural resource curse is really the product of bad leadership in the midst of abundance. Works Cited Bannon, Ian and Paul Collier. â€Å"Natural Resources and Conflict: What We Can Do.† Bannon, Ian and Paul Collier. Natural Resources and Violent Conflict: Options and Actions. Washington DC: The World Bank, 2003. 1-16. Print. Chapin, Rosemary. Social Policy for Effective Practice: A Strengths Approach. New York: Francis Taylor, 2010. Print. Deloitte. 2011 Survey of the UAE Healthcare Sector Opportunities and Challenges for Private Providers. Survey Report. London: Deloitte, 2011. Print. Mwanika, Phillip Arthur Njuguna. â€Å"Natural Resources Conflict.† ISS Paper 216 September 2010: 1-12. Print. Ross, Michaeal. â€Å"The Natural Resource Curse: How Wealth Can Make You Poor.† Bannon, Ian and Paul Collier. Natural Resources and Violent Conflicts: Options and Actions. Washington DC: World Bank, 2003. 17-42. Print. Schnurr, Matthew A and Larry A Swatuk. Na tural Resources and Social Conflict: Towards Critical Environmental Security. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print. This essay on The Natural Resource Curse was written and submitted by user Brooklynn K. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.