Food Security or Food Sovereignty: the Case of Land Grabs Essay

The last decade has witnessed a serious change in the distribution and accessibility of food. In 2010 Ethiopia was home to 2.8 million people in need of emergency food aid; yet this country had concurrently sold more than 600,000 hectares of agricultural land to transnational companies that export the majority of their produce (Reuters, 2011; Economist, 2009; Green, 2011). Ethiopia remains a country facing great food insecurity, which is a lack of access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food (WHO, 2011); a paradigm that focuses upon the financial and distributive aspects of providing food. Although Ethiopia is just one of many countries facing this dilemma, it illustrates how the issue of food sovereignty is becoming increasingly as important as that of food security. This paper will address the role that sovereignty plays in light of mass foreign acquisition of land in countries which face high levels of food insecurity. The importance of food security and food sovereignty will be exemplified within the context of ‘land grabbing’ in a demonstrative case study of Ethiopia. Security or Sovereignty? The difference between food security and food sovereignty may seem like mere semantics, but in the hyper-globalized world wherein transnational companies may privately own significant portions of arable land in countries facing food insecurity, it is not just a matter of word play. When these companies choose to export the entire crop grown on such lands and when the farmland has been taken from uncompensated smallholder farmers. Disparity of wealth and land ownership is not a new phenomenon. However, the degree to which agricultural lands are owned within areas of food insecurity makes food sovereignty as vital a factor as food security. An analysis of these concepts and their global implications is pressing, as over 963 million people do not have enough to eat. Most of them live in developing countries, and sixty-five percent of them live in only seven countries: China, India, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia (FAO, 2011). Furthermore, e ach year more people die due to hunger and malnutrition than to AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined (Global Food Security, 2011a). The World Food Summit, held in 1996, declared that ideal food security includes the global population, whereby all people have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, encompassing both the physical availability and the economic access (WHO, 2011). The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child both stipulate that it is the intrinsic right of all people to have access to food (United Nations, 1948; United Nations, 1990). However, the responsibility to enact these rights rests mostly on the nation-state, not the international community. On the other hand, some argue that repeated affirmations of human rights within the international realm do imply some global responsibility (Riddell, 2007). The theoretical ideal is, therefore, that food security exists when all people in all places have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. Clearly that theoretical aim has not been met. Furthermore, if current mechanisms are not facilitating the aim it may require consideration of entirely new models of how countries engage with one another (Pogge, 2002). Typical measurement of food security is limited to a specific place, such as a nation, city or household. USAID (USAID, 2011) uses the household as a measurement, whereas the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) programs are nationally operated, thus limiting the global goals and human rights to the nation-state. Food insecurity also exists in differing levels. One person may be facing a temporary bout of food insecurity, called â€Å"transitory†, while another may be consistently facing it, known as â€Å"chronic† food insecurity. Chronic food insecurity leads to high levels of vulnerability to hunger and famine. The achievement of food security does not necessitate that a country produce sufficient food supplies; but rather that a country is able to provide sufficient safe and nutritious food for its population. Thus, arises the question of food sovereignty: in a world of great economic disparity, will the food supplies of one region be given to another, even in the case where the local population faces chronic food insecurity? Food security means the availability and access to sufficient safe food, whereas food sovereignty involves both ownership and the rights of local people to define local food systems, without first being subject to international market concerns. An important distinction must be made between food sovereignty as a theoretical construct and food sovereignty as a movement. The food sovereignty movement considers that the practices of multi-national corporations are akin to colonization, as such companies buy up large tracts of land and turn local agricultural resources into export cash-crops. [1]As a movement, food sovereignty lacks direction and involves a great diversity of opinion and idea. As a model to re-consider and re-evaluate food, it highlights important challeng es and offers potential remedies to current challenges. Food sovereignty as a theoretical construct, which is the definition that will be used throughout this paper, relates to the ownership and rights of food growers and local communities. Food security and food sovereignty are increasingly of global importance, with concerns not limited just to the developing world. In the 2008 price spike, consumers in Great Britain saw a fifteen-percent rise in average food items, while the BBC tracked some items increasing in cost by more than forty-percent (Global Food Security, 2011a). In the twelve month period before the price spike, the cost of wheat increased by 130% and rice by 74% (ibid). The pinch of paying more for food in developed countries was expressed differently in many developing countries, such as the mass rioting in Yemen, Somalia, Senegal, Pakistan, Mozambique, Indonesia, India, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Haiti, Burkina Faso, the Philippines and Bangladesh. At the same time, the World Resources Institute records sustainable and consistent increases in per capita food production over the last several decades (World Resources Institute, 2011). USAID argues that food insecurity is often a result of poverty (USAID, 2011), while ownership, land rights and sovereignty are not mentioned as causal factors. While it is true that a direct relationship can be found between those who face food insecurity and those who are impoverished, that does not exclude other causes; such as, a lack of sovereignty or oppressive external factors. However, USAID does not take poverty alleviation and/or human rights as its prime reasons for engagement; rather its prime interests are to protect America and to create opportunities for Americans (Riddell, 2007). The European Union community has sought the improvement of food security for the least-developed countries through a plethora of national and international development bodies, while also engaging in massive e xport-based land acquisitions in those same regions (Graham, Aubry, Kunnemann and Suarez, 2011). Ironically, the aim of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) with funding and support from the European Union is countered by European Union businesses as they engage in activities that displace and dispossess locals of their land and livelihood. Increasing commercial production does not mean an increase of local or national food security, in particular when these foreign companies are exporting entire crops. This may in fact, lead to increased food insecurity and higher levels of malnutrition and poverty (Ansoms, 2011). Surprisingly, even Harvard University has used its investments in land-acquisition deals (Vidal and Provost, 2011). â€Å"Land Grabbing† A â€Å"land grab† refers to those land acquisitions that have caused displacement, dispossession and disenfranchisement; or, according to the Institute of Development Studies, it may also more broadly refer to the mass purchasing of agricultural lands by transnational companies (Scoones, 2009). Land grabbing is occurring on a scale and at a rate faster than ever known before (Food First, 2011). When over one-hundred papers were presented at the International Conference on Global Land Grabbing in 2011, not one positive outcome could be found for local communities; such as, food security, employment and environmental sustainability (ibid). When such acquisitions occur in places of conflict, post-conflict and/or weak governance there is less monitoring and control and even greater negative impacts (Mabikke, 2011). Furthermore, large-scale land deals increase local food insecurity, as arable land produce is exported rather than reaching the local market; and smallholder farmers m ust purchase foods as opposed to harvesting it on their lands (Food First, 2011). Lester Brown (2011) argues that land purchasing is a part of the global struggle to ensure food security. Food-importing countries are securing overseas supplies by attempting to control the entire supply-chain of food-stuffs, and thus avoid any potential problems that may arise in the process. Furthermore, he notes, that these deals are not only about food security but also water security. Countries such as Saudi Arabia used to produce much higher levels of wheat internally; however, due to declines in available fresh water these land deals have secured required sources of both food and water (Bunting, 2011). Woodhouse and Ganho (2011) argue that the role played by water access in land grabs cannot be under-estimated, including the competition between local and investor in acquiring access to water resources and to sustainable water usage, as well as coping with the problems of creating pollution and chemical run-off. Case studies in Ethiopia demonstrate that access to, and rights of, water sources disproportionately favor investors over local smallholder farmers (Bues, 2011). The United Nations director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called these land-lease deals ‘neo-colonialist’ (Economist, 2011b). This statement was echoed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who warned of a new wave of colonialism (Associated Press, 2011). Madeleine Bunting (2011, p. 1) envisions a â€Å"dystopian future in which millions of the hungry are excluded from the land of their forefathers by barbed wire fences and security guards as food is exported to feed the rich world.† The wider view must, however, include the role of local/national government in facilitating, and in some cases encouraging, the sale of arable land and displacement of peoples. Other analysts have more cautiously labeled the vast selling of agricultural lands to investors as the third wave of outsourcing. The first wave consisted of investors looking for locations with cheaper labour. The second wave was the out-sourcing of middle-class jobs to places such as India because of its advances in information technology. This may be the third wave: the out-sourcing of growing and harvesting of food supplies to locations where there is cheap fertile land. Case Study: Ethiopia Ethiopia is an important case study as it has been claimed to be the epicenter of land deals (Vidal, 2011), and it has also been well known since 1984 as a place where extreme food insecurity exists. The nation is largely agricultural-based. Agricultural products account for 46% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 90% of its exports and 83% of its employment (USAID, 2010). Eight of every ten Ethiopians live in rural areas, a majority of its nearly eighty-million citizens. Average local land holdings are 0.93 hectare (USAID, 2010), which respectively contribute to household food security. Smallholder agriculture provides the most common livelihood for the vast majority of Ethiopians. In 2010 ten percent of Ethiopia’s citizens relied on food aid (Reuters, 2011). In the 2011 appeal for emergency food aid, the United Nations explained that emergency was caused by a shortage of rain in the Somali and Oromiya regions. In response, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that within five-years the country will no longer need food aid, projecting above 10-percent annual economic growth rates. The Economist confirms impressive growth rates, although not as high as the government-published results. Between 2001 and 2010 the annual GDP growth rate was an impressive 8.4%, making it the world’s fifth fastest growing economy during that period (Economist, 2011a). Projections for 2011-2015 suggest average growth at 8.1%, the third fastest in the world (ibid). In contrast to these rosy predictions, USAID, which is one of Ethiopia’s largest donors ($600 million of food aid in 2009-10), outlines that successful agricultural development and food security requires â€Å"100% ownership and buy-in by the Ethiopian people† (USAID, 2010, p. 5). And yet, the Ethiopian government and transnational corporations are doing exactly the opposite, in displacing and dispossessing Ethiopians and handing over control and ownership to non-local corporations and governments. The Economist (2009) highlighted an interesting parallel in the $100-million Saudi investment to grow and export rice, wheat and barley on a 99-year land-lease in Ethiopia, while the United Nations World Food Program plans to spend $116-million, over a five-year period, providing emergency food aid to Ethiopia. In 2008 the Ethiopian famine was compounded as food continued to be exported and did not reach the local market (Dominguez, 2010). Yet fertile Ethiopian agricultural land continues to be leased for as little as $1 per acre (Bunting, 2011). According to Ethiopian government sources, over thirty-six countries have leased land within its borders (Vidal, 2011). Although estimates vary, it is thought that 60—80% of food production in Ethiopia is completed by women. Thus the role of gender is revealed by analysis of those affected by land sales and dispossessions (USAID, 2010). Of those who face the brunt of food shortages and insecurity in Ethiopia, most are women and children (USAID, 2010). Furthermore, areas of large-scale plantations are more likely to be poverty-affected than prosperous in respect to the local populations (Da Via, E. 2011). As a parallel example, case studies from Cambodia show that land grabs do not benefit local residents, and over time resulted in collective action by the local population against political and commercial interests (Schneider, 2011). The massive land-lease deals are not without their supporters, however. The technology transfer, increase in number of jobs and foreign investment are usually cited as having positive effects for the overall benefit of Ethiopia and its citizens. Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK, Berhanu Kabede (2011), published a response arguing that land-leases assist Ethiopia to move towards mechanized agriculture to increase production capability, and as such the government has set aside 7.4 million acres of agricultural land for land-lease deals. The Ambassador further notes that this is only a portion of Ethiopia’s arable land (ibid). The Ambassador highlights some of the positive environmental changes the Ethiopian government has made in recent years, including the planting of 1-billion trees, re-foresting 15-million hectares of land and a national plan to become carbon neutral by 2025 (ibid). Ambassador Kabede did not mention some of the negative impacts the vast land sales will have; such as, displacement of local farmers, uncompensated dispossession of their land, continued food scarcity as investors export what is grown, unsustainable resource use, and environmental damage to lands, atmosphere and water. Furthermore, the majority of the world’s poor are rural dwellers who engage in some small-scale farming. As a result of the dispossession of land and displacement of people, poverty levels will increase and more people will be forced to migrate away from agricultural areas to city-centers. World Bank studies (Riddell, 2007) confirm that the push for macro-economic development via liberalization of markets has detrimental effects on particular groups of society, particularly the poor. Guillozet and Bliss (2011) found that, although investment in the forestry sector is low in Ethiopia, the agricultural investments affect natural forests by mass clearing and burning. As a result, there are long-term negative impacts. Biodiversity is currently being reduced by the cutting and burning of hundreds of hectares of forest, as well as by the draining of swamps and marshlands (Vidal, 2011). Pesticides have also been shown, in Ethiopian cases, to kill bees and other unintended flora and f auna. Beyond the investment land itself the clearing of natural forests is affecting livelihoods on a much larger scale, by negatively affecting the wider ecosystems (Guillozet and Bliss, 2011). Such deals are neither agricultural development nor rural development, but simply agribusiness development, according to GRAIN (2008). An unpublished report that interviewed 150 local farm households in Ethiopia found that there is weak monitoring of investor activities from regional and national government. It also found that accelerated forest degradation resulted in loss of livelihood security for community members. Furthermore, in Cameroon, cases of land grabs demonstrate that the transnational investment in agriculture is a major obstacle to local livelihoods, traditional resource ownership and land rights, as well as to sustainable development (Simo, 2011). In yet another example, Rwandan land grabs have shown the move from traditionally owned and operated farms into large-scale corporate mono-crop cultivation has negatively affected livelihoods through loss of land as well as means of financial security, resulting in increased poverty levels and food insecurity despite overall macro-economic gains (Ansoms, 2011). An article in the Indian national newspaper, The Hindu, quotes the Ethiopian Prime Minister encouraging Indian investment who assured the Indian Prime Minister (then trying to encourage Indian investment in Ethiopia) that no land grabbing was occurring in his country (Varadarajan, 2011). However, highly productive agricultural lands are rarely left completely unused, which begs the question how vacant much of this land is. Darryl Vhugen (2011) and John Vidal (2011) both found that most land deals required involuntary displacement of small-scale farmers. Thus, these small-scale farmers in Ethiopia are left with neither land to cultivate nor an alternative source of income following their displacement. The Ethiopian government views international investment and land-lease deals as means to achieve economic development. In Madagascar, when 1.3 million hectares of agricultural lands were going to be sold to Daewod, the international community and local residents reacted in opposition, resulting in the government being overthrown (Perrine, Mathidle, Rivo and Raphael. 2011). The Ethiopian economic development model is one which seeks export-driven macroeconomic development at the expense of micro-level communities and residents, particularly those in remote regions. Ethiopian officials seem to use interchangeably the terms ‘empty’ and ‘unused’ with the word ‘uncultivated’, with little or no reference at all to the people who currently live on and use those lands. Thus, not only do levels of poverty a nd food insecurity increase but so too may political instability. The World Bank concludes that the risks involved with such land-lease investments are immense, and that land sales â€Å"often deprived local people, in particular the vulnerable, of their rights†¦ Consultations, if conducted at all, were superficial†¦and environmental and social safeguards were widely neglected† (Economist, 2011b, p.1). Such land–lease deals are becoming more commonplace, with large sales in Sudan, Egypt, Congo, Zambia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar, Liberia, Ghana, and Mozambique (Economist, 2009; Economist, 2011b; Vhugen, 2011). Although there are land deals taking place outside of Africa, over 50% of the estimated 60-80 million hectares of such deals in the last three years took place there (Economist, 2011b), approximately an area the size of France (Vidal and Provost, 2011). The largest land buyers include China, India, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia; yet some of the largest deals are done with W estern funding (Vidal and Provost, 2011). Cases from Sierra Leone show that a lack of knowledge-sharing with locals, along with a plethora of false promises, has led to social, environmental and economic loss. Addax Bioenergy received the use of 40,000 hectares to grow ethanol for export to the European Union (EU). Local villagers were in turn promised two-thousand jobs and environmental protection of the swamps. However, three years into the project only fifty jobs materialized, while some of the swamps have been drained and others damaged by irrigation (Economist, 2011b). Those jobs that did exist paid USD $2.50 per day on a casual basis (Da Via, E. 2011). Clearly these are not isolated cases and action is required to stem the tsunami of sales of land in food-insecure areas. Recommendations * Re-evaluate the system: Up to twenty-five percent of crops are lost due to pests and diseases and the developing world loses up to an additional thirty-seven percent of harvested foods due to problems in storage and transportation. Every day 4.4 million apples, 5.1 million potatoes, 2.8 million tomatoes and 1.6 million bananas are thrown in the garbage (Global Food Security, 2011b). Systematic shifts that address this loss may focus upon local sustainability and buy local movements, rather than relying upon export commodities and global transport for the sale and supply of food stuffs. This requires participation that includes local ownership and collective decision making. * Provide Sustainable Solutions: Much of modern agriculture is mechanized, using oil-based chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. This system of agriculture is not sustainable. It needs to be remedied with a more sustainable approach to agriculture – which can be just as agriculturally productiv e (Barker, 2007). On example of how sustainable initiatives can be promoted and supported is the Equator Initiative, which provides financial prizes and knowledge sharing for community-driven efforts that reduce poverty through sustainable use of biodiversity. As many smallholder farmers are engaging in de facto sustainable agriculture encouragement and support, such as the Equator Initiative need to be scaled-up. * Regulate Land Grabbing: The World Bank has proposed guidelines, but does not have the means or authority to enforce them (Bunting, 2011). In order guidelines to be enforced, such as those developed by the World Bank, national governments must be involved, for this to take place greater coordination on the international level and advocacy from the NGO and public sectors is required. Madagascar demonstrates the power of collective action, as does Sudan and Cambodia, yet long-term and effective change will require governmental enforced regulation. * Establish Good Governance: The purchasing of land and forced displacement of peoples occurs not solely due to transnational pressure, but with government approval. Citizens and the international community must encourage, and work towards, better governance decisions. An international f ramework for responsible investing could be created. However, such a framework would remain weak and ineffective unless adopted and enforced by national governments. In order to ensure that investments are beneficial for both the investor and the community, this framework must ensure that food security and livelihood protection for the local communities (Shete, 2011). Further encouragement can levied on governance in tying good governance to official development assistance, such systems have been developed and enacted by the World Bank and others. * Monitor and Penalize Environmental Damage: Companies must be more strictly monitored with regard to environmental damage, both by the public and private sectors (Nunow, 2011). Monitoring and evaluation of investments ought to be strengthened with regulation and policy by the relevant national government and by international bodies. NGOs and communities can take inspiration from others who have taken transnational companies to court, and won. National government need to recognize the short-term benefits do not out-weight the long-term environmental damage, and seek compensation to rectify violations. The scale of land acquisitions demonstrate that such regulations will likely not significantly deter investments and investors, as efforts to do so in Tanzania demonstrate (Pallangyo, 2007). * Develop Rural Agriculture: Currently less than one percent of smallholder farmers use irrigation techniques in Ethiopia (CSA, 2009). An improvement in this regard will allow for increased productivity as well as year-round water availability. Facilitation of loans for the purchase of pumps (as smallholder farmers often lack financial resources to make such investments), as well as access to internal markets with infrastructural developments can improve community-driven and locally-owned productivity. * Undertake Land Reform: Changes on the national level will require land reforms, ownership reforms and recognition of traditional land rights. Such land reforms and rights have been evolving in Madagascar, following the rejection of the Daewod land-grab deal and the installation of a new government. Tanzania has also enacted progressive rights for recognizing traditional land title (Locher, 2011). This can also be done in conjunction with FAO, FIDA, UNCTAD and World Bank recommendations to guarantee and respect local land rights (Perrine, Mathidle, Rivo and Raphael, 2011). Wily (2011) identifies consistent and persisting failures of land rights and ownership caused by the leasing of lands without consent of customary owners. Concluding Remarks As highlighted by the Ethiopian case study, it becomes readily apparent that the forced relocation of rural farmers will likely increase the numbers of people living in poverty. Consequently, there will be an increase in the numbers of people in need of emergency food aid. Aggregate data on food security will not measure the importance of food sovereignty, nor do the data take into account unjust practices and environmental damage. The majority of Ethiopians are subsistence farmers, and depriving them of their land, rights and livelihood neglects the importance of human rights and environmental protection. One means to achieve the goal of national food security, as well as a reduction of required emergency food aid, is to increase effectiveness of rural farms. Communities themselves must engage and be active in resisting forced relocation and dispossession of their land and rights. Examples of such resistance include that of Madagascar and the Southern Sudanese movement, which advoca tes land belongs to the community and requires its involvement (Deng, 2011), as well as active community resistance to land grabs in Cambodia (Schneider, 2011). Communities must seek to be participants in the discussion, to be involved in the process and to voice their concerns. Food security of the wealthy at the expense of the impoverished will not work and requires new approaches. The prospect of attaining sovereignty over land and the food grown on it encourages smallholder farmers to continue their livelihood while seeking to increase overall food security. â€Å"In most poor nations, there are large gaps between actual and potential agricultural yields. But the best route to closing this gap usually is not super-sized farms. In most labour-intensive agricultural settings, small farms are more productive than large farms. They could become even more productive – and as a result likely minimise unrest – if developing country governments provide these family farms with secure land rights that allow farmers to invest in their own land and improve their harvests.† (Vhugen, 2011, p.1). The World Bank’s 2010 report found that land grabs ignored proper legal procedures, displaced local peoples without compensation, encroached on areas beyond the agreement, had negative impacts on gender disparity, were environmentally destructive, provided far fewer jobs than promised, leased land below market value and routinely excluded pastoralists and displaced peoples from consultations (Da Via, 2011). Furthermore, the World Bank concludes: â€Å"many investments†¦failed to live up to expectations and, instead of generating sustainable benefits, contributed to asset loss and left local people worse off than they would have been without the investment† (World Bank, 2010, p. 51). Adopting food sovereignty as a concept and approach will not solve these problems. However, it does allow for an expanded analysis of the complex issues at hand. No easy solution exists as neoliberal economics and structurally-adjusted trade liberalization conflict with human rights; as global food security is confronted by local food and land sovereignty; and, as the Washington Consensus is challenged by the Peasants’ Way. â€Å"It would be no exaggeration to suggest that the outcome of these convulsive transformations and contestations constitutes one of the greatest moral and political challenges of our times† (Makki and Geisler, 2011, p. 17). Challenges, however, are no reason to accept injustice and abuse of human rights. Actors with roles to play on every level can be a part of the solutions proposed above. Re-evaluating the food system and developing sustainable solutions begin on individual levels and are supported on the international marketplace. Regulation of land grabbing, improving governance, undertaking land reform and the monitoring of environmental damage rest more heavily upon national and international actors; yet these process can be driven locally with support from the international community, as demonstrated by the cases of Sudan and Madagascar. This is a call for action lest we find ourselves â€Å"academic Cassandras who prophesy the coming plagues, but do little to avert them† (Farmer, 2001, p. xxviii). References Ansoms, A. 2011. The ‘bitter fruit’ of a new agrarian model: Large-scale land deals and local livelihoods in Rwanda. International Conference on Global Land Grabbing 6-8 April 2011 University of Sussex, UK. Associated Press. 2011. Clinton warns Africa of ‘new colonialism’. [online] Available at: [Accessed 12 June 2011]. Barker, D. 2007. The Rise and Predictable Fall of Globalized Industrialized Agriculture. The International Forum on Globalization: San Francisco. Brown, Lester. 2011. World on the Edge. Earth Policy Institute: London. Bues, A. 2011. Agricultural Foreign Direct Investment and Water Rights: An Institutional Analysis from Ethiopia. International Conference on Global Land Grabbing 6-8 April 2011 University of Sussex, UK. Bunting, M. 2011. How Land Grabs in Africa could herald a new dystopian age of hunger. [online] Available at: [Accessed 24 May 2011]. CSA. 2009. Large and medium scale commercial farms sample survey 2008/09 (2001 E.C.). Central Statistical Agency Statistical Bulletin 446. Da Via, E. 2011. The Politics of â€Å"Win-Win† Narratives: Land Grabs as Development Opportunity. International Conference on Global Land Grabbing 6-8 April 2011 University of Sussex, UK. Deng, D. 2011. ‘Land Belongs to the Community’ Demystifying the ‘global land grab’ in Southern Sudan. International Conference on Global Land Grabbing 6-8 April 2011 University of Sussex, UK. Dominguez, A. 2010. Why was there still malnutrition in Ethiopia in 2008? Causes and Humanitarian Accountability. Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, 21 February 2010. Dwyer. 2011. Building the Politics Machine: Tools for Resolving the Global Land Grab. International Conference on Global Land Grabbing 6-8 April 2011 University of Sussex, UK. Economist 2011b. When others are grabbing their land. [online] Available at: [Accessed 24 May 2011].

Phantom Time Theory Essay

There are a few German scholars who believe that a 300 year time period was just written in the history books, without actually existing. The gap in history has been coined the Phantom Time Theory or Phantom Time Hypothesis. Although it is not a very widely accepted theory, there is a fair amount of evidence to back it up. Time itself has very many definitions, the historical records of the time don’t coincide, and astronomy and dendrochronology can’t definitively prove the theory wrong. What exactly is time? One of time’s many definitions is â€Å"the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another,† (Time 784) Basically, this means the order of events occurred in relation to each other. Since there are numerous other definitions time is very subjective and who is to say that time even really exists. Different countries have different calendars and started counting years at other various times. For example, the Islam calendar started in the year we know as 622 AD. Niemitz asks â€Å"How was it possible to insert this phantom time into history? †(8), which has no easy answers. One might respond in a way as to say that we made a mistake when changing from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. If that were to be the case, then how would it have been a 300 year oversight? Maybe, the switch in calendars may just be a small part of the problem; could it have been the start of the falsified history? If so, then where else could the gap have come from? Most of the historical documents of the time seem to have either been falsified or just don’t exist. For example, Heribert Illig believes â€Å"†¦Charlemagne was a fictional character,† (Bellows 1). If Charlemagne was a made-up figure in history, than what else has been made up about that era? Maybe all of it has been fictionalized by some mass conspirators, or maybe certain documents of the time have just been translated incorrectly and certain historical feats did not actually happen. Also, there are large gaps in historical documents like â€Å"†¦the doctrine of faith, especially the gap in the evolution of theory and meaning of purgatory†¦,† (Bellows 3). With gaps in historical documents like this, it leaves a doubt in the mind of anybody that ponders the existence of this time period. If there are gaps in historical documents like this, then maybe there are gaps in the history itself, as well. John states in his narrative that â€Å"Often, historiography just consisted of archiving anything at all†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (John 5). So, maybe most of the history as we think we know is nothing but false assumptions. But, this whole theory is built on the word maybe. Other scholars might give Illig more respect for his findings if he could come up with more specific answers that tell both sides of the story. Astronomy is neutral, for the most part, when it comes to the Phantom Time Theory. For example, Beaufort writes â€Å"Ultimate evidence against Illig’s hypothesis, based solely on historical solar eclipses can possibly not be found,† (Beaufort 25). So, if solar eclipses can’t prove the theory wrong, then what can? Methods like Dendrochronology, carbon dating, might hold the answer. Unfortunately, â€Å"Despite of calibration a high degree†¦antique period typically up to +/-150 years,† (Beaufort 26). This leaves us once again with no definitive answer on the validity of the hypothesis. At the moment, there is no scientific way to prove the theory valid or invalid, but maybe, some day in the near or possibly distant future, there will be a way to accurately pinpoint the dates when certain historical events happened to put this talk of the theory being a â€Å"conspiracy† to bed. 300 years of our history may just have been thought up in someone’s head and written in the history books, or maybe it is true. There are a few things for certain though: time is very subjective and we could be living in any time period imaginable, depending on when you start counting years. Some historical documentation of the era has been proven to be forged, so we can never distinguish what has actually happened in history and what some writer of a history book just made it up. Lastly, astronomy and dendrochronology don’t give a definitive answer to the questions of when exactly these historical events happened. So, maybe this theory is just some wild thought a few German scholars had, but maybe, in the coming years more and more evidence to prove the theory valid may come out and these crazy scholars would look like geniuses.

How to Get Started in Your Career After Graduating College

How to Get Started in Your Career After Graduating College After graduating college, building a career isn’t an easy thing to do. And when you’re just starting out, it’s hard to hone the kind of perspective one gains over the course of a long career. If you’ve ever wished you could get the wisdom of a work life well lived before you have to live through all of it and earn that wisdom by making a ton of mistakes, then look no further. Here are 10 career strategies everyone just starting out should know. So save yourself the heartache and the hard lessons, and just skip to the growth and success part.1.  Only you can advocate for yourself.You may think you just have to keep your head down and wait for the promotions and raises and career opportunities to happen to you, but you should realize early and keep in mind that the planning and execution of your career is ultimately your responsibility and no one else’s. Remember: you are in the driver’s seat. Stop assuming and start asserting earlier than yo u think you’d need to.2. Find your meaning.It’s no coincidence that the word â€Å"meaning† includes the word â€Å"me.† Only you can set yourself on a career path that means something to you and includes work that you find important and fulfilling. Now is the time to make the choices that will determine how much you love your work. Remember that stability, security, and income matter, but professional fulfillment matters so much more. Ward off burn-out and unhappiness now by choosing something you care about and worrying less about the outside benefits. Let your priorities dictate the course of what you do.3. Caring will bring about success.When we’re invested in what we’re doing, we end up doing better work. Once you’ve picked something you like, make sure to keep learning and keep yourself interested, because it will mean that you devote yourself to tasks with more care and attention. You’ll get more done, and better.4. Bad situations don’t get better.If you’ve landed yourself in a situation with a toxic boss or a dysfunctional work environment, know when to say enough is enough. Get the courage up to take a leap into something better, and trust that everything else will sort itself out once you do.5. Be your best in times of crisis.Your true character just might be best revealed when the chips are down and the situation is most dire. Keep this in mind in times of crisis. Figure out how you’ll show up when the going gets tough, and set a tone for the kind of person and employee you’ll be throughout your life. You never know when you might deeply impress the right observer in a position to change the course of your career.6. Don’t be selfish.Skyrocketing to success- or even climbing slow but steady- is one thing. But don’t forget that you’re not the only one in the world wanting to move upwards. Sometimes the rise is even sweeter when you help somebody el se up with you. Pay it forward and look out for people other than yourself.7. Embrace originality.Don’t be arrogant, but don’t leave your uniqueness and originality under a bushel. Speak up, voice your ideas, speak your passion. You won’t get anywhere by sitting in the background. Have the guts to take the risk and put yourself out there in the world.8. Aim to do the right thing.Don’t just do what you think you have to do to succeed. Stand up for what you know is right. Comport yourself with integrity. Take the extra time and energy to riddle out what the best and most honest thing would be and devote yourself to doing it. It’s called integrity- and it doesn’t suffer puncture wounds. It’s worth building and maintaining, and can become one of your most precious assets.9. Not taking risks is the biggest risk.You have to have skin in the game to win the game. A ship in the port may seem safe, but isn’t. Ships are meant to sail. So get your little boat out there and see what you can do. Learn from your mistakes and find a way to be magnificent, rather than mediocre.10. Leave something better behind you.A legacy can be a beautiful thing. It’s never too early to think about the kind of mark you’d like to leave on the world. When your life and career are over, what sort of things do you want to hear said about your contribution? What kind of imprint do you want to leave behind? Start thinking how to shape your legacy while you have your whole career before you. Just think what you could accomplish if you put your mind to it.

A case study of authoritarian parenting

A case study of authoritarian parenting From all the lines of the passage, clearly Sammy was raised under authoritarian parenting style. Authoritarian parents are adult-centered, demanding and punitive which based on their authority and power. This conclusion can be drawn from the scenario that Sammy’s parents had high expectations on her academic performance and let her further her study. Moreover, authoritarian parents would set straight standards of behavior and allowed little open dialogue. Because of this, Sammy rarely had a chance to express her wills and feelings. They adopted nagging and complaining once they noticed Sammy not working, but not other moderate method persuasion, such as affection, praising and rewards (Moore, 1992). Sammy recalled that she didn’t have a clue when their peaceful verbal interaction was, this not only because the parental control over Sammy was high, her parents spent little time on nurturance and giving response as they were both busy working. These are the major barrier s lead to poor communication. Also, rather than questioning why she was hindering behind on academic aspect, Sammy’s parents nagged and complained instead. The criticism of the parents had created lots of conflicts owing to the rebellious thoughts of Sammy. Hence, there was hardly a conversation between them. The lack of disclosure of themselves, made they not understand each other’s thoughts and feelings easily. This brought a lot of negative influences to their relationship, that, this caused a vicious circle to the link between them. Sammy did not know her identity and her interests. These were the symptoms complied with the idea of â€Å"Identity Crisis† suggested by Erikson (1968). Sammy stuck at the fidelity stage of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. By Erikson, it is the crossroad of transforming to adulthood from childhood. Clearly, Sammy was experiencing confusion in her roles which may haunt her in her mature years. Additionally, Sam my felt she was not as competent as her friends and classmates as well as not as pretty looking as her sister. These show that she lacked confidence. Clearly, Sammy was not satisfied with her body image, which body image was defined as the perception to one’s appearance, and it had a strong correlation to the concept of self. Additionally, female were more unsatisfied than male in terms of their appearance (Stowers and Durm, 1996), hence Sammy, a lady, maybe more negatively affected by her look. These factors have done lots of bad impacts to her physical self of Four Developmental Areas of Self (Hanna, Suggett, and Radtke, 2010). Moreover, the learning abilities, the motivation, beliefs and attitude towards learning of Sammy is surely low. This is a result of being raised under authoritarian parenting. Children under authoritarian parting are less individuated, perform more poorly on cognitive tests and see their parents as more restrictive (Baumrind, 1991). Moreover, a study of adolescents in the San Francisco Bay Area found that the authoritarian parenting style was linked with lower school grades for all ethnic groups (Dornbusch et al 1987). Consequently, Sammy was probably experiencing problems in her mental self of Four Developmental Areas of Self (Hanna, Suggett, and Radtke, 2010). Since Sammy was not doing well on both mental-self and physical-self, it poorly affected the integration with other two aspects, the emotional self and social self. Since the â€Å"selves† should be integrated in a complete model to form a whole self. Otherwise, the selves are mutually affected either. Hence, Sammy was poorly affected making her graded low in self-esteem. As a result, low self-esteem affects academic performance and classroom behaviors (Baker, Beer, and Beer, 1991), and also accounted for loneliness and depression ( Bothwell and Scott, 1997). She was not confident in her. By theory of fulfilling prophecy, she self predicted that she could never f inish tasks as good as others, though there was no evidence to prove she was biologically and physically worse than others.

Data Governance Exercise Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Data Governance Exercise - Coursework Example It was primitively due to the failure of a disc arrival to an east London healthcare centre controlled by the NHS (BBC News, 2007). In relation to the scenario, NHS has faced a major challenge regarding the maintenance of patient information, which has grounded numbers of threats to the organisation along with its stakeholders including patients. In this regard, it is essential for NHS to adopt an effective set of cryptography system in its healthcare units to protect internal data. In response to avert the potential risk of losing data, NHS has been proposed to deploy an effective cryptographic algorithm cipher, ‘Red Pike’. Red Pike is one of the most effective ciphers developed by GCHQ, designed for protecting confidential information of the various kinds of organisations (Anderson & Roe, n.d.). Keeping with the notion of strengthening data security system, the report explores an in-depth understanding about the strengths and weaknesses of Red Pike to protect the internal and operational information of NHS. Moreover, the report also details and evaluates the safety of Red Pike to protect NHS operational information through different theoretical explanations. By the end, the report summarises the competencies of the Red Pike and recommends effective cipher for the organisation to protect internal information from external threats. The encryption of information and structuring them in accordance with the optimisation variety of the users can be considered as a major strength of Red Pike. The cryptographic characteristics of the cipher is designed with an exceptional form of coding that significantly protects unwanted guests and allows its users to gain the advantage of the cipher. The cryptographic algorithm of characteristics of the classified Red Pike provides major advantage to the users and organisations to analyse faults associated with the data security system. In this context, the

Final work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final work - Essay Example We detail phonemic inventories, phonotactics, Inflectional morphology and simple sentences in the language studied. We also discuss about pragmatics of wordplay and question formation strategies. The language chosen here is called Pitjantjatjara. It is from central Australia and it is a dialect of the Western Desert Language (Andrew).this is because of its interestingness and its similarity to my language Sei. My consonant inventory consist bilabial, labiodental, alveolar, retroflex, palatal, velar, uvular, and glottal. There is Glottal, Uvular and Labiodental in my language which are not there in Pitjantjatjara. However both Pitjantjatjara and Sei do have Plosives, Nasals and Bilabials. It has 20 constants, 20 vowels from front to back and from close to open. In â€Å"sei†, onsets are required and complex onset are allowed. For instance, the word [Ê‹É ¸y], which means water in English can be CCV and CC is the onset is the nucleus. In this case complex onsets are allowed in â€Å"sei†. Polar questions are the questions want more complex answers other than yes or no. Content questions are the questions that use â€Å"what† to ask the question (Bischoff and Fountain). In my language, polar questions are similar to those in English. However, content questions in my language we put â€Å"what† in front of the sentence instead of the beginning. For example: In this paper my goal was to understand linguistics and I have focused on the key aspects of linguistics. I have focused on the sound system, morphology and syntax and question formation and pragmatics. From these chapters I feel I know linguistics and I realize that every language is dynamic and

MANAGEMENT Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MANAGEMENT - Research Paper Example The strategic organizations are able to exploit the benefits and opportunities with clear targets as well as required resources and dynamism (Burkhart & Reuss, 1993). A number of businesses are analyzing and applying strategic planning concepts and methodologies that have major contributions to successes in the business fields. The fundamental notion of strategic planning is to create plans, which help businesses to undertake in an uncertain future and are founded on clear visions. The future plans may have several years of strategic planning. Sometimes, it may be as long as of two decades (Anthony & Young, 1999). Strategy planning can be described as â€Å"the plans and activities developed by an organization in pursuit of its goals and objectives, particularly in regard to positioning itself to meet external environmental demands relative to its competition† (Kovner & Neuhauser, 1990). Strategic planning for example Wal-Mart offers a clear outline and that helps in coordinat ion endeavors and harmonization of the company. Moreover, it helps companies to have better decision-making, good internal and external communication in addition to improved motivations amongst participating members (Begun & Heatwole, 1999). Strategic planning covers future decisions by human resources of organizations. Strategic Planning helps the management of company the needed direction and goals for internal as well as external environments. Strategic Levels The contemporary organizations generally implement many levels for successful running of the organizations (Beamish, 2000). Each strategic level aims at distinct planning tasks and objectives. The strategic levels are meant to apply the decisions made by businesses and their impacts on the organizations. Following are levels of planning strategies: 1. Corporate strategy 2. Business strategy, and 3. Functional strategy. Corporate level strategy covers the decisions the company made regarding allocation of resources to achiev e the desired goals. It also makes the decisions regarding new services and diversifications provided by the company. Business level strategy concerns with the decisions regarding how the companies would be competitive in the business environment for a particular service or product. Functional level strategy focuses on how a particular business would undertake and operate various business strategies. The successful application of the planning strategies might include modern systems, employment, and training of staff in addition to and the creation of new business partnerships. However there are certain limitations for many organizations to execute some specific plans. The best method for the execution of strategic planning involves both a strategy formulation process and an implementation procedure. Formulation of the planning strategy decides about the modus operandi and its execution. Both these procedures are strongly interrelated and could be assessed individually. Strategy form ulation Strategy formulation is a quite flexible process and is employed to evaluate or re-examine a company’s core values and philosophy. Moreover it helps in development of company’s plans to realize its targets and goals (Beamish, 2000). Following are the key determinants in the strategy formulation procedures: 1. Consensus of mission and vision 2. Environmental assessment, and 3. Setting goals and objectives. Mission/Vision A good strategic plan ensures that a