- Decalo, S. Malawi. 1995. Malawi: Clio press. 188 pages. Malawi is a poor, landlocked country in Central Africa. This book explores how Malawi came to be prominent, and attributes this to slavery and uprisings during pre-colonial times. The slavery made Malawi prominent due to anti-slavery pleas and explorations of Dr Livingstone. The uprisings, according to the author, were led by Dr Hastings Banda’s nationalist movement. They involved civil disobedience that finally bore fruit and Malawi got independence. The author further provides the reader with a list of recent articles and books that examine Malawi, in order to get further information about this country.
- Kelly, R. C., Youngblood, D., Doyle, S. 1999. Country review: Malawi. California: CountryWatch. 60 pages. The authors of this book analyse Malawi and the facts about this country. They give the size of Malawi as 118480 sq.km and explain that it borders Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania. The authors also give the life expectancy rates, which they note are low due to the prevailing HIV/AIDS phenomenon. They also give the language, educational levels, sources of income for the general population and the overall development levels. The authors give many facts about Malawi and this book is very useful for people who have never visited the country, who want to know its general overview.
- Briggs, P., Barlett, M. Malawi. 2006. Malawi: Bradt Travel Guides. 248 pages. These authors take a different approach in studying Malawi. They briefly examine the history of Malawi, and then dwell on the tourist attraction sites. The book views Malawi as having reasonably priced tourist attraction sites. It further describes Malawi as the most affordable and explorable African country and names some of the physical features present as game reserves, forests, lakes and mountains. The book names national parks, wildlife viewing areas, conservation areas, and also gives planning itineraries. This book is especially useful for tourists or visitors who want to visit Malawi.
- Englund, H., Mapanje, J. 2002. A democracy of chameleons: Politics and culture in the new Malawi. Malawi: Nordic Africa Institute. 208 pages. This book takes an in depth view of the politics and culture that exist in Malawi. It highlights the major political events, including introduction of multi party democracy which brought hope to a country that had high levels of injustice and poverty. It covers many issues ranging from hunger and poverty, hate speech, judiciary, clergy activism, ethnic revival, HIV/AIDS and other issues that affect Malawi. The book also further scrutinises the behavior of donors and leaders, who it views as not honest to ordinary people’s needs.
- McCathy, S. 1994. Africa: The challenge of transformation. Ghana: Tauris. 314 pages. The author analyzes the disasters that happen in Africa, which include tribal and ethnic conflicts, civil war, climatic and natural catastrophes, disease, famine and others. He further says that shanties are present in all African cities and they disfigure it. However, the author says that business people and journalists often wonder how Africans survive despite having all these problems. He tries to be empathetic to the suffering and suggests solutions. It focuses on the present progress already made, such as civil society growth and democratisation, and uses it to give hope to Africans.
- Appiah, A. 1993. In my father’s house: Africa in the philosophy of culture. Oxford: Oxford university press. 256 pages. This book tries to define what being African entails. The author examines the different views of creative writers, politicians, philosophers and others people on the issue. He further looks at the European and American perception of Africa’s traditions. The author is a Ghanaian in the diaspora and he analyses writings of both African-American and African thinkers. He also provides his vision of pitfalls and possibilities for a unique identity for Africa and tries to remove the obstacle that differentiates Africa from the West. Finally, he ends by saying that Africans should explore our culture in relation to to this modern world.
- Homewood, K. M. 2005. Rural resources and local livelihoods in Africa. London: James Currey. 212 pages. The author examines the views of top scholars in relation to changes in the environment in Africa. The author further looks at the impact of such change to the lives of African people, especially the ones who reside in rural areas. The main issues that are discussed include biodiversity, conservation, land use, environment, policies for development and conservation and livelihoods. The book further analyses the resource use in rural areas, control and access of these resources and institutions that affect these issues. The book also looks at the economic and social questions raised on these issues.
- Mohan, G., Brown, E. Structural adjustment: Theory, Practice and Impacts. London: Routledge. 215 pages. The authors examine the impact of aid agencies in relation to development in Malawi. Such agencies analyzed include the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The book also examines the Structural Adjustment Programs, and their effects on development. The authors critically analyse the negative impacts that affects countries which rely on donor aid for their development needs, such as Malawi, and the way that these donor agencies manipulate such countries. The authors finish by saying that donor aid has an overall impact on Malawi’s overall development.
- Spoor, M. 2004. Globalisation, poverty and conflict. Springer. 339 pages. The book analyses the relationship that exists between poverty, globalisation and conflict. The authors question if it is globalisation that complements the growth of the economy, or if it is the other way around. It also questions whether the increase of global markets will reduce poverty. It also views the development needs of Malawi, and the prospects of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. They further assess the role of the civil society and increase in democracy on the reduction of poverty in Malawi. This book is interesting for social science students.
- Jafari, J. 2003. Encyclopedia of tourism. London: Routledge. 720 pages. The author looks at the different impacts that tourism has on leisure, the environment and transport. He further says that tourism has grown to be a worldwide industry and provides benefits to political, cultural and economic aspects of less developed countries. The book further researches the benefits that tourism brings to the less developed countries and its negative impact. This book has been written by very many competent authors and provides different perspectives of tourism. This book is useful for people who have interest in the field of economics, geography, education, anthropology, political science, and other social sciences.
- Higman, J. 2007. Critical issues in Ecotourism: Understanding a complex tourism phenomenon. Washington:Butterworth-Heinemann. 439 pages. This book analyses the critical issues that concern tourism in less developed countries. It provides research done by prominent scholars, and their views on the issues. It features a collection of works done by several scholars and has an international appeal. The book also focuses on less developed countries and the problems that they face in relation to tourism. These scholars also provide suggestions that these countries can use to boost their levels of tourism, and the benefits that tourism provides. This book is appealing for people who have interests in natural and social science.
- Weaver, D. 2006. Sustainable tourism: Theory and Practice. Washington: Butterworth-Heinemann 240 pages. This book takes a global perspective and analyses sustainable tourism. It uses case studies of less developed countries drawn from various continents in order to give an accurate view. It starts by analysing small scale tourism, moves to mass tourism, and finally to sustainable tourism. It also gives the benefits and costs of all these types of tourism. It analyzes tourist attractions globally, and further gives suggestions on how the less developing countries can increase tourism. The book is ideal for students since it has real life examples that everyone can relate with.
The Apology: A Reaction Paper
1. What aspect of life is revealed in the selection?
The selection depicts various overlapping aspects of life: political, social and academic aspects among others. Political as it focuses on power, superiority and leadership; social aspect since the selection talks of the youth and other citizens of Athens and their interpersonal relationships. The selection is as well academic focusing on philosophical thoughts and ideas and the improvement of human soul in general.
2. Why the selection is considered an essential reading in Western Civilization?
A selection about an ancient Greek “poli”, which is specifically, Athens, is important to western civilization. The ideas from Greece, from its various polis, were later on spread to Europe as those ideas were considered advanced. Thus, the theory that “Greek is the cradle of the western civilization” and learning what it was allows everyone to understand what is now.
3. What do you think about this culture and civilization?
The culture, based on the selection, is almost similar to the current situation. People who tend to be ”different” or what they consider as “strange”, are either considered as “trend setter” or “weird” and such in the case depicted in the selection, there was persecution in of a person that others believe to be unique or not conforming to the current practices.
Envy was also very apparent and ideas were rivaling but all the same, those were good components of a successful society where ideas sprang and then get challenged and the final result would be beneficial to everyone. Persecution is harsh but because of that persecution, the ideas of those brilliant people in the past stayed and we learn them even at the present times.
4. Can you make any connections from this reading to modern life?
Modern life or ancient life, the basic human behavior is present: when there is someone up above the others, the usual tendency is to pull that one down in order for that person to level to everyone else. The same is true with Socrates where he was persecuted for his superior wisdom and unique ways to “improve the human soul” or to educate the youth.
Another resemblance to modern living is the ability to hold so much knowledge or wisdom. In the olden days, such as that of Socrates in ancient Greece, persecution or even death penalty warrants too much possession of wisdom while on modern times, too much knowledge propel humans to create a lot of things that also endanger the inventor or the whole humanity in the long run. This is true in the cases inventions of of bombs, guns, nuclear weapons and a lot more. Wisdom or knowledge is a gift but it can be of a huge danger to the possessor or to humans in general.
On the good side, possession of wisdom or the search for wisdom always advance humanity. Until now, these wisdom of ancient times still survive and the new wisdom found in modern days resulted to a lot of inventions causing ease and progress to the whole of humanity.
5. Did this selection capture your interest?
The selection is very interesting. What is unforgettable is Socrates’ contention that “no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death”. This very phrase would surely make any reader think. Indeed, a good man can fail with his/her in his/her good intentions but n the end, such intention will survive whether the proponent lives or dies. To die for an idea is a worthy cause if such idea itself is immortal in nature and is for the good of majority and if it’s for the improvement of the whole humanity in general.
6. What questions, concerns and ideas does this selection raise on you?
Apparent in the selection is the resistance of humanity to “change”. If there is a new idea, the default reaction is a big “NO” and it’s a good thing that those past philosophers did not surrender to these persecution or else, humanity is still in the age of belief that “earth is flat”!
Legalization: The Answer To The Drug Problem
Much of the society has been led to believe that drugs like marijuana, heroine and cocaine and dangerous and are a threat to the society. However, no evidence has indicated that these drugs are harmful. From one point of view, legalizing drugs would be the best thing to do since drugs are not to be identified as evil. It may be noted that human laws are based on ethical principles. This is true for most laws but not the drug laws. There is nothing unethical with merely using marijuana or any illegal drug. So there is no reason why merely the use of drugs should be outlawed.
According to Benson Roe, professor emeritus of the cardiothoracic surgery at the University of California, drugs have not been proven to be inherently harmful or to have any long-term ill effects. He indicated that when legalized, drugs would have far-reaching benefits. He said that there is no reason to quantify drugs as harmful as no medical evidence proves this claim. Also, the only deaths coming from the use of the substance is from infected intravenous injections and a very few cases of overdose. Generally speaking, legalizing the drug trade would be a good move since it would be another source of income for the government while eliminating the high costs associated with the implementation of the drug laws. It will also come with regulation that would eliminate the already minimal number of deaths arising from drug use (Roe, p.16-18).
In fact, the number of deaths caused by tobacco and alcohol greatly outnumbers the number of deaths caused by drugs. In England and in Wales, heroine and morphine has been associated with 842 deaths, cocaine with deaths, and 176cannabis with 19. On the other hand, deaths caused by alcohol and tobacco number 6,627 and 86,500, respectively (Transform: Drug Policy Foundation)
In an ethical stand, a person who uses drugs should not be arrested for merely using the substance since he does not violate the rights of another person. Much like how alcohol is. It is clear that alcohol has proven to be a nuisance to the society such that people under the influence alcohol do all sorts of heinous and even brutal crimes. People are not arrested for merely indulging themselves in alcohol but people who are caught possessing illegal drugs even as they did not use it are incarcerated. How law deals with alcohol should the same as to how they treats drugs. People should be arrested only when the wrongdoing has been done since a person under the influence of drugs will not always commit a crime (Cussen & Block, 2000, p.532).
The negative image that the illegal drugs get is through negative propaganda by politicians (Russel) and even the media. The phrase “drug-related” is commonly used in media lexicon. Even as the drug is not the motivating factor of a crime, merely the presence of it is enough for the journalist to refer to the crime as “drug-related” (Jackson).
Many people indicate that drugs should not be legalized because it will result in an increase in crime rate. This may however not be the likely scenario. Holland is one country where drug use is legalized and it has worked for them. They treat it as a social problem rather than as a criminal one. In fact, the rate of street crime in Holland is remarkably lower than that of Britain which implements strict drug laws. Legalizing drugs also does not meaning that anyone can go about smoking pot or sniffing cocaine or heroibe since, just like tobacco and alcohol, it is a regulated industry and shops need to get a permit and minors are not allowed to use drugs. Unbelievably, the number of drug users in Holland is declining since very few young people are replacing the drug users that are dying of old age (Rose).
From here, we can see that there is nothing wrong with the drug trade. In fact, it might be time to end the war on drugs since evidence have pointed to the drug war as futile and legalizing it would even come with a lot of benefits. Drugs are not even proven to be harmful substances. Alcohol and tobacco are even more harmful. Drugs have only gained a negative image because of negative propaganda by politicians and the media. The right move would be to legalize drugs since it will have a load of benefits.
Works Cited
Cussen, Meaghan & Block, Walter. “Legalize Drugs Now! An Analysis of the Benefits of Legalized Drugs.” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 59, (2000): 532.
Jackson, Ted. “Why Are Drugs Illegal”. 3 December 1998. Accessed November 5, 2008, from http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/law01.htm
Roe, Benson. “Physicians and the War on Drugs: The Case for Legalization.” Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons, 86(10), 16-20.
Rose, David. “Two countries took the drugs test. Who passed?”. Guardian. 24 February 2002. Accessed November 5, 2008, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/feb/24/drugsandalcohol.davidrose
Russel, Ken. “Propaganda & The War On Drugs – Part one of two”. New Dawn Magazine. July-August 1999. Accessed November 5, 2008, from http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n711/a10.html
Transform: Drug Policy Foundation. “Drug Related Deaths”. Accessed November 5, 2008, from http://www.tdpf.org.uk/MediaNews_FactResearchGuide_DrugRelatedDeaths.htm