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Are slums really a key challenge? Estimations on the problem of slums may vary depending on which definition is used. Second, the language of the ‘slum’ matters when analysing and applying solutions (Gilbert, 2007; Jones, 2011). The emotions and stigmatic connotations attached to ‘slum’ enables dangerous aesthetic inte... | |
Slums are not simply an articulation of inadequate supply of, and a hyper-demand for, housing. Alternatively, slums emerge through deterioration, crime, globalisation, and poverty. Therefore provision of housing does not provide the means for all solutions and may themselves again deteriorate into slums. Slums are hete... | |
Finance markets being promoted are introducing risk when insurance, and safety-nets, remain minimal. Investments in housing finance schemes needs to raise questions. Firstly, who organises micro-finance schemes? The idea of positive social capital within the community needs reflection; participation in microfinance is ... | |
History and tradition is reflected in the building styles adopted across Africa. Upgrading schemes changing the design of housing styles, are both replacing traditional knowledge and practices, but also potentially eco-friendly designs. Investment in housing by private and public actors is failing to incorporate tradit... | |
Gender empowerment Slum dwellers, particularly women, are affected by violence and crime. COHRE (2008) indicates women living in slums are at risk of violence and illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS, due to insecurities experienced on a daily basis in personal and private spaces. Figures show that in Nairobi slums 1 latrine i... | |
Tackling hazardous environments Reports are frequently raised on fire outbreaks and hazards in slums. For example, a fire in Khayelitsha township [1] , Cape Town, resulted in five deaths and significant damage. The use of highly flammable materials, in a desire for fast construction, places slum-dwellers prone to risk... | |
Slum dwellers in Nairobi are shown to pay high rents for low-quality housing - a reality identified by Gulyani and Talukdar (2009). Estimations show around $31mn USD was paid in the form of rents, by poor slum dwellers in Nairobi in 2004. Nevertheless the high-prices did not lead to the materialisation of improved hous... | |
As long as the stated objective is to tackle the issue of housing and remove slums, informal settlements, and squatting, who is investing is not important. The end goal is a key concern. The stated objective of the investor needs to work harmoniously towards removing slums for practical change to emerge. | |
Housing politics: who stays in slums? What kind of city is desired versus being implemented by urban housing investments? The effect of decisions to relocate and design housing policies present implications for the social life of cities and whether existing inequalities are sustained. For example, issues around housi... | |
Alternative: Replacing slums by providing opportunities Slum dwellers need to be granted rights to occupy and security of tenure. Slum-dwellers need to be provided with opportunities to progress - recognised as right-holders, or obtain a greater income. A useful method may involve regulating the informal economy - wh... | |
Investment is needed: but by who? Housing is required, however, a crucial component within the debate is who needs to provide funding and be involved in decision making; does it need to be the government? The consequences of investment are influenced by the actors involved. With the need for quality control adamant, g... | |
Organisations, such as SDI and Cities Alliance, have recognised the diverse experiences of slum-dwellers and their multiple needs. The different programs are catered to local contexts, and work towards developing equal, and just, initiatives for the urban poor. The aim is to stop cyclic reinforcement of slums. | |
It is important to remember that many areas of policy remain under national control and even those areas that are decided at the European level are agreed by the member states (9). The EU legislation, however, is important for creating trust between trading partners in the EU. Even if some of the laws seem trivial or u... | |
A European political union intrudes on its members’ sovereignty Many of the policies of the political union intrude on national legislation. In many cases, EU policies go against national traditions or redefine laws that were already functional. Occasionally EU policies even cause direct harm, when countries have less... | |
It is uncertain how many countries would realistically want remain in a trade bloc that does not support democracy as a core value. Distilling the EU to a trade bloc that does not care about democracy and human rights would run the risk of allowing in non-democracies which in turn would merely alienate most of its cur... | |
A European political union is by necessity undemocratic The EU is too large for a democratic structure. Since it deals not with citizens directly but with Member States, a question arises as to which agents should make fundamental decisions. Should every Member State get an equal vote, or a vote in proportion to the s... | |
It is not true that not being fully representative makes a political entity undemocratic. In national politics we elect representatives to then make decisions on our behalf rather than have constant referenda, or even rather than require unanimity within Parliament. We expect not to have perfect representation. Further... | |
The reason that there is such trust in the status quo lies in that these countries have collaborated in a political union for decades. Once this structure has been removed, it is easy to turn protectionist and to start trade wars. This is precisely the source of the failure of trade blocs such as NAFTA. Without the pre... | |
The EU as a trade bloc would be more inclusive to current and new members The European project has gone too far for many European countries. For some such as Norway or Switzerland the EU has already gone far past the amount of integration they would be willing to allow. Even Member States are increasingly finding that... | |
A European trade bloc can succeed without a political union The European area only consists of liberal democracies, which consistently honour their agreements. While historically a political union might have been necessary to further strengthen the Coal and Steel Treaty (the EU as it originated) between recently belli... | |
The EU, in practice, is not a particularly consistent or effective promoter of democracy. It has been unsuccessful in countries such as Ukraine and Georgia in the European neighbourhood (18): this suggests the EU can only lead countries into democracy when the conditions already exist for this change to happen naturall... | |
While it might be true that some of these benefits are a consequence of the political union, all of these can be maintained in other forms. This is particularly evident by the fact that non-EU countries such as Switzerland and Iceland participate in these schemes, without becoming members of the political bloc. By disa... | |
Political union lends international credibility to a trade bloc Trust is a valued asset on the international market. When multinational corporations trade in astronomical figures, they must be able to trust in the political goodwill of the governments of the trading partner, to ensure that all parties to the agreement... | |
Political union has numerous non-economic benefits which a trade bloc lacks Linking countries together politically is something we have done throughout history to preserve peace and ensure consistent channels of communication. Thanks to the European Union not only have millions of people gained greater freedom of move... | |
Political union is necessary for Eurozone recovery What is needed for the Eurozone to flourish is an economic-political union with a single budget, so that capital can flow to where it is needed and fiscal policy can make up for imbalances between Member States (20). The alternative, as we have seen, is internal deval... | |
The European political union is a tool for promoting democracy The EU has the ability to demand certain conditions from candidate states before they join. It has explicitly set a democratic standard countries must satisfy to be members. This is a powerful tool that repeatedly has incentivised reform in terms of human ... | |
The premise of this argument is that European countries are so connected that in entering war with another European country you would directly harm yourself. A European trade bloc is enough to ensure this, by interconnecting European economies to make war too expensive to be considered. Furthermore, while it is clear ... | |
European integration has been immensely beneficial to EU economies The political union has had extensive benefits for the European trade bloc. Member States have the same legislation, for example, on labour conditions and protection of consumers (15). They also have similar property law. This allows products and ideas... | |
The Eurozone is not the same thing as the single market, which is the foundation of the EU trade bloc. It would probably even be good for Europe for the Eurozone to be dismantled as it would allow currency devaluations to restore competitiveness to failing economies in Europe’s periphery. The European trade bloc would ... | |
The benefits outlined in the argument are only valid if the political aspect of the EU functions efficiently. The EU’s undemocratic nature and unnecessary bureaucracy create uncertainty about whether the EU will even exist in the long-term. Adding to that the growing resentment to the EU in several Member States and lo... | |
President Bush took a series of extremely difficult decisions that were necessary for national security. Admittedly they were expensive but they made the world a safer place. His decisions on taxation ensured that all Americans benefitted from economic growth. He had already done the heavy lifting all the Obama admini... | |
After eight years of misrule under Bush, in the middle of an appalling recession expecting everything top get done in four years was always fantasy Given the size of the challenges facing the Obama administration when he was elected, they were never going to be resolved in four years. Perhaps his largest mistake was n... | |
The republican primaries have yet to even begin so it is too soon to be writing off the whole party. | |
Obama has delivered some remarkable reforms in fantastically difficult circumstances On matters as diverse as healthcare to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama has pulled a whole series of rabbits out of the apparently impossible hat he inherited from Bush. Among other surprises he took the lead in... | |
Nobody denies that Obama talks a good game and that he came into office facing some big problems. However, the reality is that he simply hasn’t stepped up to the plate. The economy is a shambles; unemployment is at over nine percent and only looks to grow, the debt is running at $14tn and the deficit is out of control.... | |
Given the current state of the Republican field and the gravity of the challenges facing the US, Obama may well be not only the best but the only hope The Republican Party primary campaign currently resembles a dismembered chicken’s head in frantic search of a body. Palin, Trump, Perry… A string of gaffes followed by ... | |
There is a perennial Republican attack – that Democrats cannot be trusted with national security. Obama has proven that to be untrue settling issues in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has, however, managed to do it without offending anybody or having his effigy burnt on the streets in Canada and Europe [i] . He has... | |
Obama took the lead in putting together an international solution to the financial crisis. He has taken bold decisions to prevent the crisis turning into a full-blown depression, such as pushing through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which was to give an estimated $787billion stimulus to the economy... | |
Obamacare is neither one thing nor the other; even his flagship policy shows that Obama is always the politician and never the leader that the US needs Obama managed to steer a bill that everyone disliked through Congress. He angered the Republicans, and lost the support of some democrats in congress, 39 voted against... | |
Obama has no clear foreign policy agenda Obama’s foreign policy to date has, frankly been a mess. He has failed to stand up to Iran and has allowed both Russia and China to take advantage of his ‘reset’ policy. He has ignored the growth of hostile powers while showing a similar disregard for America’s Allies. Simply ... | |
Obama has singularly failed to resolve Americas economic woes, which was the single largest issue when he was elected Beyond the rhetoric, beyond the inspirational speeches, there was one issue on voters’ minds when they supported Obama; the economy and jobs. He has simply failed to deliver. He likes to portray himse... | |
The reality is fairly simple; Obama is a skilled politician, that is beyond dispute. However, he is also a respected constitutional scholar, the man who caught Bin Laden after eight years of Bush-bluster, who delivered the Democrats – and the American people - their holy grail of universal healthcare. Contrast this wi... | |
This is based on several potentially faulty assumptions first the trust fund may not be aimed at helping to prevent pollution of clean up afterwards; it may simply be given the role of generating the biggest possible return. Second it assumes that politicians see themselves as tied to the people so that they have a rea... | |
A fund would prevent pollution Environmental damage is an example of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ where if a resource is not owned by an individual (or is free to all) then it will be overexploited. This is because it is in everyone’s self-interest to use it as much as possible. The result is pollution; politicians an... | |
Not all politicians are incapable of investing for the long term. After the economic crisis in which the world saw the perils of “living in the moment”, politicians will be more cautious in the way they spend money. Politicians have in the past been able to build visionary projects such as the EU, or high speed rail, o... | |
Oil wealth flowing to politicians discourages democracy The wealth from oil, or other natural resources, holds back democratization as a result of the “resources curse” or “paradox of plenty”. Resources provide money, and money is what is needed to run a security state. When money can come from natural resources there... | |
The biggest problem African countries face is instability whether from rebellions, coups, international conflicts, or terrorist organisation. The inevitable result is violence. What the population needs is safety to enable social benefits like healthcare and education. Money to pay for an army can therefore be a good t... | |
Having oil does not just provide the money to undermine, or prevent democracy taking hold; it also provides an immense source for corruption. Oil revenues provide a revenue stream that is not dependent on the people but simply upon the global market and oil production. In a country with no checks and balances, accounta... | |
Long term benefits It is very tempting to recklessly use an unexpected windfall of money immediately. But the best thing to do is to invest for the long term either to build infrastructure that will pay back its cost in future economic growth, or to invest it in funds that will continue paying dividends long into the ... | |
Preventing Corruption Having oil does not just provide the money to undermine, or prevent democracy taking hold; it also provides an immense source for corruption. Oil revenues provide a revenue stream that is not dependent on the people but simply upon the global market and oil production. In a country with no checks... | |
The change need not be dramatic; it need not apply to all oil revenues at once. For example only revenues from new fields could go into the independent fund while existing revenues to the government are maintained. Services therefore won’t need to undergo contraction. The impact on politics would also be minor; people... | |
Politicians only think about themselves and only for the short term looking for re-election. The result will be the money used for populist measures even if it is not sustainable. The example of Greece proves this idea, as there public sector wages rose 50% between 1999 and 2007, despite having a deficit (1). Everyone ... | |
An independent trust fund discourages investment. When it is politicians who control both the investment and the amount funds being returned from that investment then they have an incentive to encourage more investment. They will want more exploration to find more resources, they will promote technological advances to... | |
Keeping funds from government has negative consequences for spending Let us not forget that in most of the cases when we talk about oil revenues, we are talking about very large sums of money, which can have an immense impact on the budget. In countries where oil already contributes to the budget any change could be ... | |
For the people and accountable to the people A country’s resources should be used democratically. The resources that are found under the soil belong to the nation and therefore they should be used for the benefit of the people. Even where there is private ownership extending to mineral and energy resources it is the r... | |
Is it better that money should be wasted immediately or should the return be spread out? Any prudent population would choose the latter. Most populations are wary of untrammelled exploitation of natural resources of the kind being promoted for fear of the devastating environmental impact. Recent failures of big compan... | |
The opportunities for trade are severely limited because of barriers imposed by the international system. The arguments made by pro-trade proponents are often couched in the rhetoric of market economics. Yet the international trade arena represents anything but a free market. Instead, tariffs, taxes, subsidies, regulat... | |
Trade provides developing countries with an important basis for their own improvement. To gear up to be successful trading partners, developing countries often need to go through a number of key changes. As well as developing their own economy and their manufacturing or service sectors, they may need to build trade in... | |
Trade can be as short term as aid is; demand is very cyclical so if a country specializes in providing that good or service it can soon find that the product they are providing is no longer desired by consumers, or that there is a new product that makes what they provide obsolete. Even if there is a long term partnersh... | |
Financial contributions from the West have proved detrimental for Africa. Between 1970 and 1998 when aid was at its peak, poverty rose alarmingly from 11% to 66%. This statistic alone suggests aid is damaging to African welfare. Africa began borrowing money in the 1970s when interest rates were low, but a rising rates... | |
While aid appears unsuccessful for Africa, the approach itself should not be criticized on the basis of results in one continent. Western countries have simply provided African countries with generous payments allowing them to stabilize their economy. It many aspects of life, emphasis is not often attributed to what re... | |
Resources will only be scarcer without aid; further chaos and corruption will ensue. There would be no need for fighting should resources be shared out equally. If aid is transferred to governments there is surely a centralized method of doing so; aid itself is not the problem. Africa could escape the issue of receivin... | |
Trade is a long-term basis for international co-operation. Whereas aid is mostly short term, particularly for individual projects or limited to the donors priorities, the other partner in a trading relationship is likely to represent an ongoing market for goods or services. So when a developing country has the capacit... | |
Systemic aid' is detrimental to African society While aid threatens the economy, it also poses hazards for society in Africa. As Moyo contends, it merely fosters civil war as people fight over scarce resources that cannot feasibly be equally distributed. According to Dr Napoleoni, $1.6bn of $1.8bn in aid received by E... | |
Aid money is often misspent, even when handled honestly. By imposing solutions from outside, it favors big projects, "grand gestures" and centralization - all of which may be inappropriate, only benefit a small number of people, and suffer from intended consequences. By contrast, the profits of trade trickle down to th... | |
All countries have something to trade. Many of the world’s poorest countries have a lot of natural resources so they can take part in trade. Even if a country does not have sufficient natural resources it still has people. In order to be able to take part in the globalized manufacturing industry it need only be willing... | |
Trade requires infrastructure Trade does not exist in a vacuum. It needs a wider infrastructure to support it, e.g. roads, railways, ports, education to produce capable civil servants to administer trading rules, etc. For example Malawi as a landlocked country needs roads and railways to link it to ports in neighborin... | |
The global economy is not welcoming to African players The international trade arena represents anything but a free market. Instead, tariffs, taxes, subsidies, regulations and other restrictions operate to disadvantage some countries. Because of their weaker bargaining and economic power, it is typically developing no... | |
Trade does not allocate resources effectively Aid allows for money in a given country to be allocated well against need. At the micro- level as well as the macro, trade is an inefficient distributor of resources in a developing country. Under it, most if not all of the benefit of the trade will stay with a small elite... | |
Free trade is dangerous Exposing fragile developing economies to free trade is very risky. There is a short-term danger that a flood of cheap (because of developed world subsidies) imports will wreck local industries that are unable to compete fairly. For example China’s dominance in textile manufacturers has reduced ... | |
Even if that were true, people naturally want to trade with each other, seeking to turn their particular resources or skills to their advantage. All too often trade is limited not because government action is needed, but because the government actually gets in the way with restrictive rules and statist controls. For ex... | |
Trade may not help those most in need. Aid is linked to need. Trade rewards those who are able and willing to engage in trade. This involves a number of elements – as well as having the rights sorts and quantity of goods and services and being willing to sell at the desired price, a country may need to meet certain ot... | |
This argument borders on the absurd. Trade is much more likely to yield benefits for the ordinary men and women of Africa, than aid ever hoped to be. Aid and its unregulated flow are precisely what kept numerous dictators in power (Zimbabwe’s Mugabe, to name but one) allowing them to starve their people while taking we... | |
Yes, trade might require infrastructure, but Asian countries required it just as much, maybe more than the African ones do. As Moyo argues in “Dead Aid” all of this is to be achieved not by clinging to aid, but by creating a stable enough atmosphere with favorable terms for FDI. The Chinese have already invested billio... | |
Corruption in any form creates inefficiency and ‘drag’ on the economy – it is an unofficial form of transaction tax and has the same effect on the economy. The proposition focuses on the ‘seen’ detriment to public servants of losing income from bribery but ignores the ‘unseen’ benefit of ending bribery which is that t... | |
Bribery is sometimes necessary for survival "Survival" corruption, practised by public servants, is usually the result of small salaries, perhaps in highly inflationary economies, which do not allow them to make a living. Such as with the junior police officers mentioned in the previous point. Without bribery, public ... | |
The developed world also carries part of responsibility for the situation in the developing world due to its role as the bribe-payer. After all, it is largely multinational corporate interests that supply the bribe payments. They defraud the citizens of developing countries who get a less good deal as a result, as well... | |
Individuals may have no choice People are often made to give bribes to officials because of unfavourable economic, social or bureaucratic conditions. Officials may refuse to serve clients unless they are paid. For example in Delhi police officers regularly take lunch without paying and more senior officers take 10,000... | |
The position of civil society plays a key role in reducing corruption. Its action in taking a moral stand against corrupted officials is an important precondition for effective anticorruption policy. Hence, citizens who put up with the necessity to give a bribe become a part of the problem. It is not just the case of p... | |
In different cultures the lines between the acceptable and unacceptable are drawn differently. However, there are limits in all societies, beyond which an action becomes corrupt and unacceptable. The abuse of power for private gain and the siphoning off of public or common resources to private pockets should be illegal... | |
Bribery is sometimes the cost of doing business Bribery is often inevitable for foreign companies that invest in those countries, where corruption is widespread and the conditions for business development are unfavourable. In Russia IKEA, the Swedish furniture company, was asked to pay bribes to get electricity for it... | |
Bribery is only wrong under a Western-centric notion of corruption Norms and values differ between countries. In many non-western societies gift taking and giving in the public realm is a matter of traditions and customs. Moreover, gift giving is a part of negotiations and relationship building in some parts of the wo... | |
Foreign companies simply adapt to the political and economic conditions that exist in different countries. You cannot blame them for high level of corruption, which is the inner problem of the state. Involvement of business representatives in anti-corruption actions may contradict their interests by providing access to... | |
Corruption is not always wrong – it can sometimes be a reaction to greater injustice. For example, the Mafia arose in 19th Century Southern Italy as a mediating institution for an ‘in group’ facing autocratic tyranny. Outsiders are treated badly, but then most groups of people that we label as legitimate also treat out... | |
Variation in standards leads to a ‘race to the bottom’ of corruptibility International standards on prosecution of companies who bribe foreign officials may encourage positive changes in national legislation as well, thus eliminating legal flaws to combat corruption. Different national rules and standards for combatin... | |
The demand for bribes would end if companies stopped supplying them The risk of corruption demand greater transparency from business. Companies have a big impact on the social environment and they have a responsibility to address it. Co-operative actions between the business sector and state institutions are essential... | |
Bribery is morally wrong Corruption is the misuse of power for financial gain. It takes the core harm from unequal distribution of wealth and the resulting disparity in availability of goods and services and magnifies it by including access to just and nominally public services. It must always disproportionately harm ... | |
The bribery of foreign officials cannot be fought by international means efficiently if the level of corruption at the national level is high. It depends on the political will of national governments, the activities of civil society and other social conditions that exists inside the state. This explains why in many cou... | |
The much-acclaimed simplicity of the flat tax in fact makes it too simple to properly reflect a very complicated reality. Goods and services vary in order to make them accessible to different people; there exist both luxury and economy versions of the same goods because companies recognise that people have differing ab... | |
Why a flat tax is simpler: The current system of 'progressive' taxation whereby higher earners are taxed a higher percentage of their income requires the identification and administration of multiple different tax brackets spanning the entire spectrum of earnings in a nation. This causes a number of problems. The brac... | |
This argument ignores the fact that there is still another channel for the allocation of resources, namely the government. In the given example of agriculture tax credits verses manufacturing without such credits, if resources did not go into agriculture because of the special credit, they would have gone not into manu... | |
Why a flat tax is fairer In a welfare state such as the United Kingdom, everyone enjoys the same access to services provided by the government, and so it should stand to reason that everyone should also contribute equally to the funding of those services. As not all individuals are equal in their wealth and income, it... | |
The aim of a welfare state is to allow provide access to vital services for all, but especially for those who could not otherwise afford them -to lift the burden of poverty somewhat. A flat tax, however, would actually increase the burden on the poorest. [1] For example, if under a progressive taxation system the highe... | |
Why closing tax loopholes is good: Tax credits, deductions and loopholes distort resource allocation in a market situation because people respond to the differing tax rates and so put more resources into the areas which the loopholes apply to than they would otherwise. For example, current tax credits for investment m... | |
The status quo, whereby governments select what areas to tax and at what rate, leads to even more examples of regressive taxation than is alleged of flat taxes. For example, the so-called 'sin tax' on alcohol and cigarettes are designed to limit people's consumption thereof (and thus mitigate the harms of excessive con... | |
This argument fails to account for the fact that elected governments are even worse at determining what is 'fair' when it comes to tax policy than the arbitrary circumstances described when the government has the option to tax different persons at different rates on the basis of their income. In effect this allows the ... | |
Why tax 'loopholes' can be good: Many of the so-called 'loopholes' which a flat tax would close, by ending the exemptions given when you engage in certain kinds of expenditure under the current income tax system, are actually positive features which incentivize 'good' economic behaviour. One of the great advantages fr... | |
Why a flat tax is regressive 'Regressive' means that a tax impacts upon the poor more greatly than upon the rich, and this is exactly what occurs with a flat tax. Because everyone pays the same percentage, both a rich and poor man would for example pay 10% of their income in tax. As the poor spend a greater percentage... | |
Why a flat tax isn't 'fair': The arguments in favour of a flat tax argue that it is more 'fair' than other forms of taxation because it theoretically treats all persons and all forms of income equally by taxing them all at the same rate. This firstly fails to explain why any arbitrary percentage at which the tax is se... | |
This argument again assumes that governments do a good job of deciding what areas and sectors 'deserve' loopholes and which do not. The fact that the distribution of resources would change if we abolished certain tax loopholes is probably a sign that these areas have been artificially inflated in terms of their resourc... |
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