Careers in International Relations - Economic Officer - Assignment Example

International Relations Number and Number Number of Words 808 Part II – Careers in International Relations My long-term career goal is to become a successful Foreign Service Officer. My father is currently working as one of the Foreign Service Officers at the U.S. Department of State. Because of my father’s strong influence while I was growing up as a young adult, I have always wanted to establish a career as a Foreign Service Officer specializing as an Economic Officer. An Economic Officer is referring to a Foreign Service Officer who is in charge of maintaining a strong economic partnership and development in other countries (U.S. Department of State). Because of globalization, a lot of U.S.-based companies are expanding its business production outside the U.S. territory. By giving a strong support to the U.S. businesses offshore, working as an Economic Officer could one way or the other benefit the entire U.S. economy. In line with this, the business earnings that will be coming in from the U.S. businesses abroad can be used in boosting up the economic situation in this country. Aside from my strong desire to contribute to the U.S. economy, it is my passion to learn more about the culture in other countries and travel whenever the need arises. Professional Economic Officer works together with the U.S. and government officials of different countries, large group of business people, and opinion- or policy-makers that aims to strengthen the economic security in United States. According to Mack, Seymour and McComas, Economic Officers are responsible in managing problems related to “money and banking, trade and commerce, communication and transportation, economic development, and government finance” (263). Likewise, Economic Officers are also responsible in solving problems between the U.S. and other countries concerning issues related to health and environmental issues like global warming, the importance of biodiversity, negative environmental impact of acid rain among others (U.S. Department of State b). Whatever the Economic Officer would suggest or has researched upon will be reported to the State Department for further reconsideration. A significant role and responsibility of Economic Officer includes the need to learn more about the U.S. global business expansion opportunities. By learning more about the foreign trade and investment policies, Economic Officers can effectively protect the economic interests of the American investors in foreign market (U.S. Department of State b). For Economic Officers to gain better understanding about the economic and trade policy, continuous learning through research work is very important. Basically, the practice of continuous learning will further enhance the existing skills and knowledge on economic and trade of each Economic Officer. To ensure that the economic welfare of the U.S. citizens will prevail, developing an analytical mind is necessary on the part of each Economic Officer (U.S. Department of State b). Developing a strong understanding on how economic and trade policy can be used in addressing the economic problem that may arise out of the complexity of the global market is very important. Basically, this particular career criteria will enable the Economic Officer to accurately interpret the positive or negative impact of each economic and trade policies. Specifically the U.S. Department of State is the main foreign affairs agency in the United States. As part of the U.S. Department of State’s mission, the government agency search and employs competitive individuals who are highly qualified and has the desire to join the team of Foreign Service Officers in Washington, D.C. or outside the country (U.S. Department of State c). There has been a lot of Economic Officers that were deployed in other countries in order to solve economic and non-economic problems necessary to maintain peaceful and sound international relations between the United States and other countries. To qualify as a potential Economic Officer, applicants should be U.S. citizens at the time they submit their registration package to the U.S. Department of State and between 20 to 59 years old at the time wherein the applicant will be appointed as Economic Officer (U.S. Department of State c). Likewise, the applicant should be willing to be assigned to work either in Washington, D.C. or on worldwide assignments (ibid). Other criteria includes having oral and written proficiency in more than one language spoken, knowledge on economic theories, framework, and policies, have strong communication and leadership skills, knowledge about the different culture and international relations (U.S. Department of State c; Mack, Seymour and McComas 263). Tony has provided his testimony that working as an Economic Officer has made him visit China, Canada, Nigeria, Russia and Turkey (U.S. Department of State b). Based on Tony’s personal experience, he revealed that his ability to solve economic and existing relationship with Nigerian customs official has benefited the interests of the U.S. traders and the entire U.S. economy (ibid). To learn more about having a career as Economic Officer, visit http://careers.state.gov/officer/index.html for more details. Part III – Essay Question Students who are enrolled in international relations should be able to understand the uniqueness of each country’s political, social, and economic situation. In relation to slavery, this essay will discuss and provide evidences that slavery still exists today as a result of neo-colonial practices that persist in the world economic order. With regards to the management of illegal immigrants, reasons why illegal immigrants should not be given the opportunity to claim the same legal and political rights as naturalized citizens of a nation-state will be tackled in details. As part of going through the main discussion, real-life examples will be provided for each case. Slavery still Exists Today as a Result of Neo-Colonial Practices that Persist in the World Economic Order Under article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, it is clearly stated that “no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms” (David Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International 1). In relation to globalization, the practice of neocolonialism normally exists as a result of the effort of developed countries in dominating and taking advantage or exploiting the use of the available human resources in developing countries. As a result of modern capitalism, slavery or gang labor is still present in many countries as a result of the new-colonial practices which persist in the world economic order (Dann and Seaton 10). Slavery can take place in the form of serfdom such as the use of debt bondage, forced labor, child labor, and forced marriage or sale of wives such as in the case of mail-order brides (Bales 9; Drescher and Engerman 113; International Labour Organization). In most cases, illegal human trafficking of women can lead to forced prostitution (David Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International 31; International Labour Organization). Specifically under the article 32 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it was clearly stated that children should be protected from any forms of sexual or economic exploitation which could either significantly “interfere with children’s education or be harmful towards the children’s health, mental, spiritual, moral or social development” (David Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International 40). Slavery is a crime against humanity (Reuters). For this reason, the International Human Rights Law was implemented to protect people from becoming a victim of modern slavery. Today, the International Labor Organization reported that there are approximately 12.3 million people worldwide are victims of forced labor (International Labour Organization). Even though there has been a lot of international law and treaty that was implemented against slavery, David Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International revealed that the practice of slavery around the world is difficult to abolish because of the continuous practice of illegal human trafficking of vulnerable workers including women and children. Reasons Why Illegal Immigrants should not be Given the Opportunity to Claim the Same Legal and Political Rights as Naturalized Citizens of a Nation-State There are many cases of illegal immigrants who choose to settle in the United States, work extra effort to earn money and pay taxes by running a small business or having good paying-jobs but failed to claim equal benefits for the children who are legally U.S. citizens (Kim and Kiel 51; Newton 127). Even though there are some illegal immigrants who are able to give positive impact over the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Contreras, Cabello and Raihan 26), failure of each country to control the incoming of illegal immigrants could increase the chances wherein a country will have to face the consequences of protecting the local citizens from potential terrorists (Farnam 18; Kim and Kiel 51). Aside from the risk of terrorism, the mere fact that giving illegal immigrants the opportunity to claim the same legal and political rights as naturalized citizens of a nation-state could be unfair to the case of the legal citizens. For example: There are cases wherein illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. territory would settle down and have children. When this happened, their children would immediately become a U.S. citizen who will receive equal education and work benefits. This idea is not fair to the naturalized citizens because of the fact that illegal immigrants had violated the regulations on U.S. immigration process. In general, the idea of giving illegal immigrants the opportunity to claim the same legal and political rights as naturalized citizens of a nation-state directly violates the U.S. constitution and law with regards to immigration process (Newton 59). By granting illegal aliens the equal benefit as naturalized citizens could only encourage more immigrants to enter the country. When this happens, competition within the labor market could tighten. Because of tight competition within the labor market, there will be more Americans who will lose the opportunity of becoming employed in favor of illegal immigrants. Regardless of the number of years spent within the U.S. territory, it is best to deport illegal immigrants rather than giving illegal immigrants the opportunity to claim the same legal and political rights as naturalized citizens of a nation-state. Conclusion and Recommendation Because of globalization, problems with regards to the movement of human resources would normally arise. This type of socio-economic problem includes issues related to slavery such as human trafficking and illegal immigrants. Specifically the process of participating in modern slavery is a crime against humanity whereas the act of protecting illegal immigrants somehow violates the U.S. immigration law. Despite the government’s effort to solve this problem, the local authorities failed to restrict people from practicing and observing the anti-slavery and immigration law. To solve socio-economic problems related to slavery and illegal immigration, it is necessary on the part of the U.S. government to encourage the local citizens to actively participate in protecting the socio-economic welfare of the local Americans. This can be done by convincing more Americans to immediately report to the local authorities regarding cases of slavery and illegal immigrants. By educating the Americans with regards to the negative socio-economic and political consequences of slavery and illegal immigrants, the U.S. government could reduce the number of modern slavery and illegal immigrant cases. *** End *** References Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. University of California Press, 1999. Contreras, Raoul Lowery, Andrea Alessandra Cabello and Sohaib Raihan. The illegal alien: a dagger into the heart of America?? Floricanto Press , 2008. Dann and Seaton. Slavery, contested heritage, and thanatourism. n.d. David Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International. "Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights." 2002. Abolishing Slavery and its Contemporary Forms. . 9 December 2010 . Drescher, Seymour and Stanley L. Engerman. Caribbean Agriculture. In "A Historical Guide to World Slavery". Oxford University Press, 1998. Farnam, Julie. U.S. immigration laws under the threat of terrorism. Algora Publishing, 2005. "International Labour Organization." 2010. Forced Labour. 9 December 2010 . Kim, Juan Muhammed and F. Jesse James Kiel. The Official Secret Handbook for Illegal Immigrants: The New Arrivals Guide to Easy Access and Easy Riches of America. 2nd Edition. PIE Publishing Co., 2008. Mack, W.P., H.A. Seymour and L.A. McComas. The naval officers guide. 11th Edition. Annapolic, Maryland: U.S. Naval Institute, 1998. Newton, Lina. Illegal, alien, or immigrant: the politics of immigration reform. New York University Press, 2008. "Reuters." 14 November 2007. ILO asks Myanmar to declare forced labour banned. 9 December 2010 . "U.S. Department of State." 2010. Foreign Service Officer. Americas Advocates. 9 December 2010 . "U.S. Department of State." 2010 b. Economic Officers: resourceful problem solvers who build and maintain positive economic and trade relations between the U.S. and other countries. . 9 December 2010 . "U.S. Department of State." 2010 c. Home. 10 December 2010 . Read More