CULTURAL INFLUENCE OF THE US ON THE WORLD BANK.

711 words

CULTURAL INFLUENCE OF THE US ON THE WORLD BANK.

Throughout history, the US has been the largest shareholder and most influential country in the World Bank. US provides the most funds to the Bank, therefore her opinions tend to have more weight and influence on the Banks' operations as compared to those from countries that contribute less or no funds to the Bank. Also the head quarters of the Bank are in the US, meaning it is easy for the Bank to be impacted by the US culture. One of the biggest ideologies that the US campaigns for is capitalism- is an economic system in which there is private ownership of goods and services and they can be produced for profit. Countries that have communism or other ideologies can not be granted loans from the Bank without first abolishing such ideologies and adopting capitalism. Most of the ways the US influences the Bank haven't been so public because it is a delicate issue that can tarnish the name and high standards of the US.

According to Catherine Gwin, a Consultant in the Operations and Evaluation Department at the World Bank, the US has pressured and supported ideologies in the Bank that benefit her policies, programs and practices (Gwin). Due to that, the US has usually failed to come to a consensus with its principal partners (Japan, Germany, Great Britain and France) and it imposes its views directly on the Bank. Through the World Bank, the US has been able to efficiently enforce her foreign policy aims and objectives. Examples of these include: democracy, capitalism (free market). Several member countries have been driven by the desperate need of money, to change from their original orientations and adopt the ones in the US. Although this has helped for some part, it has led to loss of culture in such member countries and increased westernization.

One of the most evident ways the US has greatly shown her influence in the Bank is through the constant proposal of the World Bank president by the US government Since the origin of the Bank and up to the present time. According to the laws governing the World Bank, there's no such a thing as the US government should be the one to propose a president; although the laws don't illustrate it, no governor has ventured up to now - or at any rate, publicly - to propose a candidate other than the one selected by the government. Therefore, the candidate proposed agrees with US's main cultural views and when elected as president, he or she applies them is the business of the Bank

According to Devesh Kapur, a political science professor at the university of Pennsylvania, unlike other member countries of the World Bank, the US has special privileges like the de facto right of veto at the World Bank. To pass a major decision, the majority of the board members have to agree It is the weight of its voice, therefore, more than the exercise of its vote that gives the United States effective power on the board.” (Gwin). Continuous vetoing by the US representative most likely leads into the other members giving in into changing their original opinions to what corresponds to the US's demands.

The World Bank management justifies allocation or non-allocation of loans on purely economic grounds, but research by Committee for abolition of third world debt shows that Since the 1970s, the US has used its influence in the Bank to decline the loans meant for funding the production of goods that will compete with the ones made in the US. Examples of these products include: steel, palm oil, sugar and citrus fruits. “In 1987 the US got the Bank to drastically reduce loans granted to the steel-manufacturing industry in India and Pakistan. In 1985, the US successfully opposed an investment project by the International Financial Corporation in the Brazilian steel industry and later a loan from the Bank to support the restructuring of the steel-manufacturing sector of Mexico” ( CADTM). Therefore, the culture of US remaining the best and the top is maintained through the Bank.

Works cited

Gwin, Catherine.US Relations with the World Bank 1945-1992. Washington, DC: Brookings Inst., 1994. Print

"The Influence of the United States on the World Bank."CADTM -. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. <http://cadtm.org/The-influence-of-the-United-States>.

The      FreeDictionary. FARLEX, n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2013.<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Capitalism>.

             Kapur, Devesh, John P. Lewis, and Richard Charles Webb. The World Bank: Its First Half Century. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1997. Print.

The culture of dictatorship number of words=768

         As most of you might know by now dictatorship has been for the past decades in developing countries. Dictatorship seem to be an ongoing political situation in third world countries. Although other countries in the first world have tried for many years now to bring democracy in third world countries, it has been a complete failure for example in Thailand and most of the middle eastern countries. This failure might be because dictatorship in those countries has deeper roots. To understand the roots of dictatorship one has to look at the culture in those countries. Most third world countries have a culture of submission. The culture of submission is “ the voluntary submission of your dignity and perhaps your humanity to another human being”(''Rewrite of the Africa Dictator Handbook'').

        First let's look at African countries for example, most African countries are dictatorships. Most African countries before colonization were lead by Kings and elders, Africans were submissive to their leader. In some countries for example, there were a royal tribe like Ugandan Baganda tribe to which other tribes gave total respect and control over them. This history of cultural submission doesn't only revolve around the pres-colonial time but also during colonization. When white people came to Africa, the kings thought of them as being interesting. When the king honored those colonizers, the citizens or Africans became “naturally submissive to the white people” (''Rewrite of the Africa Dictator Handbook'').

       Due this cultural relationship between leaders and citizens most African countries took the path of dictatorship since it had more resemblance to their culture. “It can be seen that when someone becomes president in an African country, how all the chief, leaders and citizens will bow down and surrender their humanity to the new leader so easily without any examination”(''Rewrite of the Africa Dictator Handbook''). With this submission no one dears to question the leader or any new policies in those countries that is why sometimes you might find a president who has been on power for 20 years or more. For example in Zimbabwe, their president Robert Mugabe has been who is now 89 years of age has been on power for 33 years.

     African cultures have played in favor of Robert Mugabe and other dictators like him. Through out their culture/history they have been submissive which made it hard for them to contradict the leader since all they knew was how to be submissive. “They feared to hold the leader accountable hinders the people's ability to fight against any abuse of power, corruption and injustice”(''Rewrite of the Africa Dictator Handbook''). The power sharing and power distribution system is far from the culture of Africa, in order to incorporate them, the people of African must be the ones wanting to change it not foreigners.

     African countries are not the only ones with a culture that influences dictatorship but also Middle Eastern countries. Most Middle-eastern countries are Muslim. Muslim practice Islam as their religion. “The word Islam means ''submission'', period”(''Brutality and Dictatorship''). Which brings us back to the culture of submission. In this religion, Muslim follow the teachings of the “Qur’an and strive to keep the Five Pillars” (''Brutality and Dictatorship''). More to that, Muslim means, a person who submits to Allah. “ Islam in many ways trains people not to govern themselves but to be governed by dictates, Muslim countries almost always are run by dictators”(''Brutality and Dictatorship''). Islam as it is clearly explained above can lead to dictatorship. Some states in the middle east wanted to incorporated Islamic laws in their politics. These laws affect mostly women in general. “Customary laws,Islamic laws, imported European laws, and reformed versions of Islamic laws affect women in''varying degrees in the different middle Eastern legal systems, and the status of women doesn't seem to have been settled in any of them”(''Law and Women in the Middle East | Cultural Survival'' ). An example, a woman can not ask for a divorce unless her husband agrees.

       One might say that the culture that leads to dictatorship is a culture of submission. This submission culture is reflected through religion and royalty/kingdoms in third world countries like Africa and middle east. This culture played a big role in increasing the resistance of dictators on power by bringing fear. The fear of contradicting a more powerful person. This fear then increased the perspective of having more dictatorships grow in those kind of countries. Foreigners trying to change the system have to know that it is a culture and unless the people in the culture wants to change the system, it is practically really hard to change it.

MLA citation of my sources

1. "Law and Women in the Middle East | Cultural Survival."Law and Women in the Middle East Cultural Survival. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
2. "Rewrite of the Africa Dictator Handbook." Editorial.Africa New School of Thoughts n.d.: n. pag. Print.
3. "The Christian Broadcasting Network."Brutality and Dictatorship: How Islam Affects Society: Spiritual Life on CBN.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.
4. "Cultural Values, Not Dictators like Libya's Qaddafi, Are Chief Obstacle to Arab Progress."The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.

Cultures Effect on Terrorism

In general, there are a broad array of reason that one might become a terrorist. Money plays a large factor, sometimes revenge, but today, a vast amount of terrorism springs up from cultural diversity. In the middle east, war is rampant and sometimes the reasons is just for being or belonging to another cultural group. The Sunnis, the Shiites, Syrian rebels, Muslim extremists, the list goes on.
One example is the conflict between the Shiites and the Sunnis. This has been a widely religious conflict that for a long time was not a problem until relatively recently. Because of the widespread use of communication devices and with borders being drawn in different places, the “assumed” Sunni superiority started to be challenged, and old previous conflicts reappeared and started causing a large amount of problems. “Many of today’s most militant Islamic terror cells, including the Taliban and al-Qaeda, are members of a fundamentalist Sunni sect called Wahhabi.  Since the earliest days, Wahhabis have been particularly hostile toward the Shiites” (aim.org).
Another example is killing an “enemy of god” where in someone may kill someone(s) who is deemed an enemy and usually killing them in a way that qualifies as terrorism. This is common among people in the holy war, or jihad, when following muslim interpretations of the Koran. With the promise of splendid things in heaven, this is also often a motivation for terrorist acts. The following is an excerpt about a legend and what happened to him after being rendered unconscious: When he awoke, he found himself in the fabled garden, where the young women fed him morsels of the most delicious foods. They treated him to every sexual delight he had ever heard of, and to some that he had never imagined. When he awoke the next morning to his usual surroundings he recounted his adventure. Someone told him that he had received a gift from Allah by allowing him a glimpse of the highest level of heaven reserved for those martyrs who die for their faith. The delights he had experienced so briefly would happen to him through all eternity if he met the test for his faith. Now he begged for nothing more in the world than to die in the service of Allah. In answer to his plea, he received intense training to kill an enemy of God, identified by his leader, a grand master.”
Cultural motives for terrorism are perhaps the most prominent and in this “sub group” of terrorist motivations, religion is probably a larger component than anything. “ religiously oriented and millenarian groups typically attempt to inflict as many casualties as possible. Because of the apocalyptic frame of reference they use, loss of life is irrelevant, and more casualties are better. Losses among their co-religionists are of little account, because such casualties will reap the benefits of the afterlife. Likewise, non-believers, whether they are the intended target or collateral damage, deserve death, and killing them may be considered a moral duty. The Kenyan bombing against the U.S. Embassy in 1998 inflicted casualties on the local inhabitants in proportion to U.S. personnel of over twenty to one killed, and an even greater disparity in the proportion of wounded (over 5000 Kenyans were wounded by the blast; 95% of total casualties were non-American ). Fear of backlash rarely concerns these groups, as it is often one of their goals to provoke overreaction by their enemies, and hopefully widen the conflict.”
There are however, a couple more cultural motives for terrorism. Things like the implementation of a different government can do the trick. Sometimes it could even be as simple as a military presence that prompts a terrorist attack but by in large, the cultural side of things is the most prominent.




http://www.terrorism-research.com/goals/
http://www.aim.org/guest-column/sunnis-and-shiites-why-do-they-fight/
http://www.nobeliefs.com/terrorism.htm

The Division of Syrian Rebel Forces

Word Count: 695 Sophie W-C

Syria has been a relevant feature in world news daily for the last two years. The Syrian civil war continues to be a destructive force in the Middle East, without a foreseeable end in sight. Part of why the Syrian civil war is so complicated and at such a stalemate is due to the fact that the war is being fought by many parties. Those are the Syrian Army, and…everyone else. The opposition to the current regime is being fought bitterly by thousands of individuals united by only one goal: the ousting of Bashar al-Assad.

The Free Syrian Army is a term that we’ve been hearing a lot of. It is the largest militant opposition of Assad.  The Free Syrian Army established a presence in January 2011. Initially it was created by a group of defectors from the Syrian army. When the military of Syria began a violent crackdown on civilians, many military personnel refused to fire at civilians. Those that escaped military executions for disobeying orders formed a small coalition that produced a movie explaining their goals of protecting unarmed civilians and overthrowing Assads government.

The response to reports of the establishment of the Free Syrian Army was mass defections from the Syrian Army. Often whole units would leave, mostly filled with low-ranking officers. The movement gained momentum when high-ranking officers began joining, such as colonels and generals. The FSA continues to be the biggest violent opposition to the current regime. However, it is also highly disorganized. As it is the most widely-recognized, it often absorbs smaller factions opposing the current regime.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a party that makes up much of the rebel forces. The Muslim Brotherhood party has been oppressed in Syria since the Ba’ath regime. Membership became a capital offense in 1980, and members have been specifically targeted by both Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assads governments.  The Muslim Brotherhood is very prevalent in the FSA, holding much of the command structure. Factions have also created their own opposition forces, separate from the FSA with fundamentalist goals that directly contradict other secular movements opposing Assad.

The nucleus of secular and democratic opposition to Assad comes in the form of the Coalition of Secular and Democratic Syrians. It was formed from Christians and Muslims, Arab and Kurds calling upon the minorities of Syria to support the fight against Assad. Much other political opposition to the government takes form in socialist, democratic, communist, and Arab nationalists. In addition, the regime of Assad has a fair share of opponents based on ethnicity. Factions of Kurds, Druze, Palestinians, and Turkmen make up many units in the FSA.

The last of the largest opposition to Assads regime in the FSA is the presence of foreign fighters. These ranks are primarily made up of radical Islamists who want a piece of Syrias new government when the Assad government falls. Al-Qaeda has a huge presence in Syria, both in the Free Syria Army, and in militant groups of their own, most prominent, the Syrian Islamic Front, and Jabhat al-Nusra. Jabhat al-Nusra in particular is an extremist coalition of Islamists often labeled as terrorists. In this group alone there are three ideologies coming together; those of Sunni Muslims, Islamic fundamentalism, and Salafist jihadism. The radical foreign fighters making are making their way to Syria from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, as well as many places in the West. This presence is terribly worrisome to Western leaders, who are adversely opposed to supporting groups they deem terrorists.

All these different groups and hundreds more are fighting for a change in regime in Syria. The only common goal is the ousting of Bashar al-Assad. All these factions of the militia have different reasons for wanting the overthrow, different ideas of how it should happen, and what the aftermath will be. For now, they are working together with a semblance of communication and structure. But the chaos and disorganization make everything difficult. And one can only wonder, what happens if and when the secular socialists, radical Islamists, and former members of government manage to overthrow the current government and find themselves no longer united by a common enemy?

Bennet, Alex. "Who Are the Syrian Rebels? A Basic Intelligence Briefing On the Assad Resistance." PolicyMic. PolicyMic, June 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

News Middle East. "Syria Profile." BBC News. BBC, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14703995>.

Stanford, Eleanor. "Countries and Their Cultures." Culture of Syria. Every Culture, Sept. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

The Clouded Judgment over GMOs

There is a trend in America to go “natural” and “organic”, even though these terms aren’t always what people think they are. People are quick to jump to the assumption that natural and organic mean healthy. They are also quick to jump to the assumption that GMOs are unnatural, and therefore not healthy. There is a lot of press against GMOs for many different reasons. I think the controversy over GMOs is understandable and expected, and a lot of the issues surrounding GMOs are actually serious and need to be discussed. But what I’m focusing on in this post is how people perceive GMOs and the culture of jumping on the bandwagon. People are scared of change, and GMOs are a new technology that a lot of people don’t understand, resulting in many people being anti-GMO. I think a lot people have legitimate reasons to be anti-GMO, but I also think they’re a lot of people who just go with the trend and decide they’re anti-GMO because it seems like the right direction to lean.

            A lot of people believe that things labeled natural and organic are healthier for you, but ironically, Kashi, an American company, markets their products as natural when they contain GMOs. For a long time psychologists have observed a continuum in what we perceive as natural or unnatural. Natural are things that we find more familiar while what we consider unnatural tends to be perceptually and experientially more unfamiliar and complex. A more cognitive effort is needed to understand less familiar and more complex ideas, like GMOs. As I said before, natural is seen as good, while unnatural is not. GMOs involve human manipulation so are seen as highly unnatural, even though the history of agriculture is humans breeding seeds and animals to produce desirable traits.

            Unlike GMOs, organic foods are put in a very positive light. Researchers at Cornell University found that how food is labelled affects our perception of its nutritional value, taste and how much we’re willing to pay for it. They conducted an experiment where 150 shoppers were given three different food pairs, and in each one was labelled organic and the other regular. Though the two items were identical, when the shoppers were asked to rate the taste and nutritional value as well as how much they’d be willing to pay for the products, the researchers found that the shopper’s calorie estimates for the organically labelled foods were consistently lower and the shoppers also thought they tasted less artificial and more nutritious than the regular labelled foods, and in turn were willing to pay a lot more for them. Though the two foods they tried were exactly the same, because they attributed these things with organic food, they really believed that the so-called “organic” food was inherently better.

            While the perception of organic food is overall very good, GMOs suffer from the opposite, because they’re associated with being unnatural they’re seen as unhealthy and unsafe. People don’t trust unnatural foods and because GMOs are seen as unnatural, people are often times against them just off the simple basis that they are unnatural. Just as people’s beliefs about organic food skewed their perception of the foods they tasted, people’s perception about GMOs are skewed and impacts how they evaluate GMOs overall. They’re far more likely to only pay attention to the risks and not weigh the risks and benefits equally because they already distrust and have preconceived notions about GMOs. Psychologist Paul Slovic who has been studying perceptions of risk since the 1950s pointed out as early as 1979 that when it comes to new, unknown technologies, data always loses out to emotion.

            On top of the effects of distrusting and having certain associations with a new technology, once that initial opinion has been formed, it’s very hard to change even with new evidence. A piece of evidence can be interpreted in opposing ways depending on your starting viewpoint and if you are against something, you tend to focus a lot more on the negatives. I think Slovic sums up what I’m trying to argue very well. He states that three things stand in the way of a logical, analytical risk assessment of new technologies: our level of dread, our degree of familiarity or lack of, and the number of people we believe the technology will affect. GMOs are highly dreaded and have a large impact, while many people don’t even understand what genetic engineering of foods actually entails. I think that there needs to be more openness on both sides of the debate, the companies that make GMOs need to provide more information to the public and the people that are against GMOs need to weigh the risks and benefits equally.

Works Cited

"GMOs Spotlight | Learn Science at Scitable." Nature Publishing Group : science journals, jobs, and information. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Sept. 2013. <http://www.nature.com/scitable/spotlight/gmos-6978241>.

Hennessey, Rachel. "GMO Food Debate In The National Spotlight - Forbes."Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. Forbes, 3 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelhennessey/2012/11/03/gmo-food-debate-in-the-national-spotlight/2/>.

KONNIKOVA, MARIA . "The Psychology of Distrusting G.M.O.s : The New Yorker."The New Yorker. N.p., 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/08/the-psychology-of-distrusting-gmos.html>.

Threatened Animals and Cultures: Which is More Important to Preserve?

October 7, 2013                                                                                                                         635 words

Humans have been living off the land and its inhabitants for millenia. Over time, certain animals and plants became a part of the culture of an area, occupying roles that are necessary for the lifestyle and health the community and the people within it. As climates and ecosystems are disrupted, those plants and animals become threatened. Sometimes they die off, either from natural events or human activities, and sometimes they are placed in so much danger that people step in and set up laws and regulations protecting the plant or animal. This is usually beneficial to the endangered population but often has adverse effects for the culture that relies on it.

One of the biggest ways animals are present in a culture is in its medicines and superstitions. Cultures often have beliefs that certain parts of animals can heal or prevent sickness, cancer, impotency, or disease. Tigers are killed for their organs, snakes skinned alive for their gallbladders, rhinoceros and elephants butchered for their ivory. Recently, the animal medicine trade has increased exponentially and the animal populations, often already endangered by habitat loss and human activities, are not able to support the demand. Ironically, as the number of animals available falls the demand for the animal rises. Although laws do exist to prevent these animals being hunted or farmed, they are often not very well enforced and smugglers have found ways around them. Animals are often treated very inhumanely with painful traps, starvation, bad living conditions, and brutal slaughter.

Regulation on the use of endangered species is very beneficial to the animals and their environment, but often it can result in harm to the cultures that depend upon them. One example starts with the 2000 UN conference on trade in endangered species. The UN sought to impose a global ban on commercial whaling as whale populations are dramatically declining. Norway and Japan objected to this law, claiming that they should be exempt as whaling is an integral part of their culture and heritage. Many villages that had hunted whales and fish for hundreds of years depended on them for income. Without them, the local economies could collapse and the traditional fishing lifestyle lost. Norway refused the law on the grounds that it was an imposition of other countries' cultural values that contradicted its own. In some cases, the people have revolted against the law and gone hunting anyway. A few years ago, native Innu in Labrador hunted and killed sixty-four caribou who were in a protected area, protesting that it was in violation of their traditional rights. The Red Wine Herd of caribou numbers fewer than one hundred and is protected by law in that area. A much larger herd was also in the area and that is the herd the hunters went after, but the herds could have been mixed and harm could have been done to the caribou population.

The question is, which is more important? Preservation of culture or protection of endangered or threatened species? Although both are necessary, the prevention of pain, suffering, and loss of life to an animal or species takes precedence. The disappearance of animal species causes ripples throughout ecosystems and entire biomes. If one species goes extinct, it could cause a chain reaction that does more harm to human populations and cultures than the protection of that species ever could. Laws and regulations need to be put into place and properly enforced, and conservation efforts need to be established to boost the populations of the threatened animals. Once the population has recovered, regulated use of the animals can be slowly re-introduced. Cultures do not face the loss of their heritage forever. In fact, the protection of threatened species will ensure that their practices, as long as they are reasonable and legal, can continue for a long time yet.

Sources:

• Oliver, Moore. "Labrador Innu break hunting ban, kill 64 caribou." Globe and Mail. 20 Nov 2009: n. page. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/labrador-innu-break-hunting-ban-kill-64-caribou/article1370834/>.
  
  
• Nilsson, Greta. "The Endangered Species Handbook." The Animal Welfare Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sep 2013. <http://www.endangeredspecieshandbook.org/index.php>.
  
  
• "Wildlife Protection and Cultural Rights."Globalization 101. SUNY Levin Institute. Web. 9 Oct 2013. <http://www.globalization101.org/wildlife-protection-and-cultural-rights>.
  
  
• Zielinski, Sarah, and Joseph Stromberg. "Ten Threatened and Endangered Species Used in Traditional Medicine." Smithsonian Magazine. 19 Oct 2011: n. page. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Ten-Threatened-and-Endangered-Species-Used-in-Traditional-Medicine.html?c=y&story=fullstory>.

The Opium Revolution

Sebastian A

1217

            There are many rising global powers, but the People’s Republic of China tops them all. One of the world’s current superpowers, China has the second highest GDP in the world as well as the highest growth rate amongst other major economic powers. The People’s Republic of China is also the largest merchandise exporter, second-largest merchandise importer, second-largest destination of foreign direct investment (FDI), largest manufacturer, and largest holder of foreign exchange reserves. Even the US, with the top GDP and the strongest military, recognizes the strength of their biggest trading partner, to whom they are also over 1 trillion dollars indebted. China’s influence can only be measured on a global scale to be depicted accurately, and this influence continues to grow. Economics experts have predicted that it’s only a matter of time (possibly only a few years) before China overtakes the US in terms of GDP and influence, and based on the data I’ve seen I have to say that I agree. But how did China get to be in this position?

This is a very interesting question, considering that China’s rise started in the 1980s, and didn’t really become significant until the 1990s. Just 20 years ago, people thought of China as a relatively weak nation that might eventually become important. 30 years ago, the People’s Republic of China had barely begun to recover from a terrible economy and mass abject poverty! The speed of development of China, and the sheer magnitude of this development, is something I find staggering. However, if we look at China’s history, and the number of innovations and inventions that have come out of China that can be considered critical to modern life (paper, gunpowder, the compass, and printing, to name but a few), it really isn’t too shocking. There have been a few specific turning points in China’s history that have been particularly influential and beneficial, especially the years following the fall of the Maoist era. However, I think that perhaps one of the most influential moments in Chinese history was centered on the Opium Wars. Although the Opium Wars didn’t set up China’s economy for success like Deng Xiaoping did at the end of the Maoist era, I believe that the Opium Wars were significant in accustoming and opening China up to the West, in destroying the rule of dynasties, and in establishing China as a center of trade, even though none of this was brought about by purposeful action on China’s behalf. In other words, the Opium Wars brought China out of seclusion and integrated it into the world. It was a very harsh lesson that the Chinese experienced, but one that did not go unheeded.

             Before I get to that though, I want to introduce a little on China’s history. Chinese civilization is one of the world’s oldest, dating back to more than 4,000 years ago. Dynastic ruling was the primary method of government for a very large part of that time, with the most recent dynastic rule beginning in the 17^th century and ending in the 19^th century AD. The end of the dynastic rule in China began when Britain invaded China and fought with the dynasty rulers at that time (this was the Qing dynasty). The results of this confrontation were an exploding population growth as well as mass social strife, an increase in Western influence, economic stagnation, and, of course, the Opium Wars.

            The Opium Wars came about from the massive foreign opium trade that almost bankrupted China.  This trade, which was a result of China’s very isolated and exclusive trading policies that came about as an attempt to restrict harmful Western influence. China tried to limit trading with foreign nations by declaring that they would only import silver, but British and American merchants perceived a different desire, and due to the imbalance of trade they began to import this commodity in massive amounts, which was opium. What started out as a hobby that was exclusive to the rich and idle, by the mid-1830s approximately 90% of all Chinese males under the age of forty in coastal regions were active users of the drug, while an estimated 12 million people were addicted. By this point, China, who had previously been  receiving a lot of income from foreign demand for exotic items and spices, was barely getting any money at all, while the expenditures on opium were only going up, even though the Emperor had declared that opium trading was illegal. Not only was the trade bankrupting China, but people began to get very lethargic due to the drug, with business activity in rapid decline and the standard of living also degrading, as well as widespread public official corruption.  In this effect, with the Chinese ruling class trying to eliminate the drug and the British and American merchants continuing to trade the drug, a conflict was sure to occur. Thus the first Opium War happened.

This conflict was between the British and the Chinese. Chinese officials began to take drastic measures to ensure that merchants would stop smuggling opium, such as arresting them and not letting them go until the Chinese government was given all their opium. Then, after receiving the opium shipments, the Chinese officials burned it in public as a display of intolerance. The British attempted to negotiate a compromise, but the Chinese were unwilling to listen. They just wanted the British out, and for them to take their opium with them. The British, in turn, attacked China, using their navy to close off ports and invade, until the British were in control of much of southern China. After this, the Chinese and British tried to come to terms, which were expressed through a series of unfair treaties. These treaties basically granted control of much of China’s coast to the West, as well as seceded Hong Kong to Britain and made China pay reparations for the opium burned to merchants. Furthermore, China was compelled to abolish trading monopolies and limit tariffs, Britain was granted “most-favoured nation status” in terms of trade, and, most importantly, China enacted the principle of extraterritoriality, which made it so that Western merchants in China were only subject to the laws of their mother country, not of China. This set China up for the second Opium War, in which the fight was now between China and Britain, France, and the US. The Western powers easily whooped some tail, and, after a whole other round of reparations, established embassies in China and made the Chinese government allow for Chinese to be taken over to America as indentured work labor. This was the last of the Opium Wars.

            After that, a series of rebellions and reinventions of Chinese government threw China into chaos. However, as we all know, China eventually emerged and became one of the most prominent powers in the world. China eventually did overcome foreign exportation of opium by growing it natively and far out producing the other countries. Though the lessons initiated by the West were very harsh in this regard, the Opium Wars definitely opened China up and established it in trade with many countries, which it would eventually take to its advantage.

                                                  Works Cited

Allingham, Philip V. "England and China: The Opium Wars, 1839-60." The Victorian Web. N.p., 24 June 2006. Web. <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/opiumwars/opiumwars1.html>.

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Chowdhuri, Satyabrata R. "Greater China." Asia Times Online. N.p., 21 Apr. 2005. Web. <http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GD21Ad01.html>.

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