The Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid (Research Paper Sample)

THE EFFECTS OF WAR AND PEACE ON FOREIGN AID
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The Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid
Foreign aid refers to any form of assistance that a country may receive from another country or from internationally-established institutions such as the United Nations or IMF. This assistance may in form of finances, humanitarian aids, military aid etc. Any form of assistance from a nation to another is referred to as foreign aid. Usually, foreign aid is given to countries that are hit by epidemics or seem to be in a financial crisis that has adversely affected their economy. It should be noted that foreign aid is basically on a voluntary basis and a country is therefore, not indebted to a foreign country whenever they offer such assistance. On the other hand, a country can seek foreign aid whenever a crisis hits her. Foreign aid is not aimed at indemnifying a nation, rather, it is used to help assist in a situation that the country is unable to handle. For instance, when a war or an epidemic happens, other countries may offer military assistance to help contain the situation (Sachs, 2005). For instance, when some countries in Africa were hit by the Ebola Menace, a country like USA offered military help to assist in containing the situation and/or evacuations to avert a situation where the disease would have spread.
It should be noted that foreign aid is a form of assistance that, for the most part of it, helps strengthen relations between countries. For instance, countries which offer foreign aid to a particular nation are usually given a first hand in investing in that nation (Harrison, 2000). This in turn, strengthens the relations and encourages the spirit of unity, peace and cooperation among nations. However, foreign aid is adversely affected in case war breaks out between nations. For instance, when a nation is at conflict with an ally, then foreign aid cannot be given form such a nation (Riddell, 2007). This implies that, cases of war are detrimental to the existence of cooperation between nations through foreign aid. Further, it implies that peace between nations is the only avenue through which foreign aid can be conducted effectively. Besides, it should be understood that a country cannot offer foreign aid to a nation which it is at conflict with. Further, when a nation has an ally who seems to be at war with a country it offers foreign aid, then the same services are again negatively affected. This paper will therefore discuss the effects of peace and war on foreign aid. To arrive at the conclusions statistical analysis was carried out in relation to the topic of discussion.
The Effects of War of Foreign Aid
War is a state of conflict between two or more parties. When countries are at war, it implies that they are not in terms and seem to disagree on one or two diplomatic issues or matters of international interest. The WW1 and WW2 represent eras that depicted a state of conflict between countries. Foreign aid was established long ago even before the world wars and the International Crisis (Lundsgaarde, 2012). Countries could assist one another in areas such as humanitarian assistance, financial assistance and even military assistance. However, whenever a war breaks out, foreign aid is brought to a standstill (Anderson, 2009). Specifically, developed countries are the main providers of foreign aid. For the most part of it, developed countries always seem to be competing against each other in terms of development, economy, diplomacy and military competence and/or technology. When a nation is at war with another country their relationship maybe destroyed. This is because the assisting nation will shy away and stops offering any form of help to the country (Riddell, 2007).
Moreover, a country may stop offering foreign aid to another country that may seem to be with at war with another country allied to it (Harrison, 2000). For instance, if China is an ally with the United States of America, they may stop offering foreign aid to France, if it is at war with USA. This is because China cannot afford to compromise its relation with USA over financial aid to France. This is especially when such a relationship is beneficial in comparison to the nation in question. On the other hand, if, say, USA is an ally to India, and it happens the two nations disagree on one issue of diplomacy or of international interest, then, if USA was offering foreign aid to India, then it might stop or vice versa. In essence, it should be noted that war or a state of conflict between nations compromises the effectiveness of foreign aid and a country can completely stop offering financial help to another country (Sachs, 2005).