The Rwanda Genocide Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Rwanda Genocide - Thesis Example The belief that one ethnic group was superior to the other is among the reasons why these events took place and they have remained a traumatic event in the history of Rwanda (De Lame 2009: 188). There have been attempts in recent years to reconcile the individuals who were on different sides during this genocide and this has been done in a manner, which is meant to ensure that Rwanda develops into a single cohesive society without any ethnic conflicts between the people of this state. Thus, in order to develop an understanding of the reasons behind the efforts of reconciliation, a discussion has to be made concerning the definition of ethnicity and the remedies, which can be used to ensure that it does not come to dominate the daily lives of individuals from different ethnic groups. In addition, a study of a similar process in South Africa has to be carried out and using this information develop an understanding of how to deal with reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda. Apartheid South Africa, like Rwanda, was characterised by high levels of brutality and state-sponsored violence favouring one ethnic group over the other. It was in an attempt to deal with the aftermath of these instances that the government worked towards the development of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission where the truth concerning all the atrocities committed could be revealed so that all of the parties involved could find closure. This was essentially a dialogue between the oppressor and the oppressed and it was a means through which peace could be brought between them in a manner that prevented any potential conflict from taking place in the country because of past grievances (Gibson 2004: 40). However, while the South African commission was essentially created for political reasons since its purpose was to help in the transition from an autocratic system to a democratic one, any of such mechanisms that are developed in Rwanda should avoid any political allegiances.  

What could be the expected positive and negative effects of European Essay

What could be the expected positive and negative effects of European Monetary Union on a member country's economy - Essay Example The European Monetary Union (EMU) has been such framework. However, the challenges related to the particular plan have been many. In practice, persuading the member states to align their fiscal and economic policies has been proved a challenging task. The gradual implementation of EMU across member states has been considered as a strategy for controlling risks related to this initiative. The incorporation of ‘the principle of freedom of capital movement in the Treaty for the European Union’, in 1993, has been the starting point of EMU. At the next level, two important activities had to be performed for promoting EMU: ‘the introduction of the legislation related to EMU in all member states and the introduction of the common currency, the euro’. These activities that lasted from 1994 to 1998 have been incorporated in the second phase of EMU’s implementation. From January 1999 the third phase of this plan has started; this phase involves in the replaceme nt of national currencies of member states by euro. In practice, it has been proved that EMU can result to both positive and negative effects for member states. The particular issue is explored in this paper. Reference is made to UK and Spain, as examples, for showing the positive and negative effects of EMU both for countries within the euro zone and for those that are outside the euro zone. In this way also, the potential implications of the entry of a member state in Euro zone are made clear. 2. Which could be the expected positive and negative effects of European Monetary Union on a member country's economy? The participation of countries in a monetary union has been related to a series of benefits. For the member states that participate in EMU these benefits would be also available. According to Albertin (2008) one of the most important benefits of participating in a monetary union is ‘the significant increase of bilateral trade between the countries that have joined such union’ (Albertin 2008, p.3). It is not made clear though whether this benefit can continue in the long term or whether it is related only to the initial period of a country’s entrance in a moneta ry union. On the other hand, a monetary union can protect its members against strong market turbulences. Indeed, during strong financial crises the countries that are members of a monetary union can easier keep their economy stabilized at the level that their interest rates are not highly affected by the crisis, at least not so high as the rates of the countries that do not participate on monetary unions (Farina and Tamborini 2008, p.152). The recent financial crisis can be considered as an indicative example of the above case; the countries that are members of EMU have managed to protect their economy from extensive losses, mostly because they have been under the protection of EMU (Tausch and Heshmati 2012). The fact that not all members of EMU have managed to secure their economy against the global crisis is not related solely to their participation in EMU but it has been also related to their existing fiscal and social policies (Tausch and Heshmati 2012). In any case, the potenti als of a monetary union ‘to protect its members against asymmetric shocks’ (De Grauwe 2012, p.27) seem to be high. Another important benefit of monetary unions is