The Most Difficult Traps to Overcome by the Poor States - Assignment Example

Occurrence of civil war is usually triggered by factors such as: Unfair exploitation of natural resources i.e. timber, diamond, oil and drugs. On the other hand, civil war may also be caused by poor governance structures, economic instability as well as heightened levels of poverty. In some cases, grievances may also lead to civil wars. Another trap that cannot be overcome by poor countries is the essence of being landlocked. Landlocked nations have poor access to ports linking them to major seas.

In this regard, the cost of importing and transporting products tend to be high in such nations. Additionally, landlocked-poor nations are characterized by poor infrastructures that hinder effective transportation of imported goods. According to Paul Collier, approximately 38% of poor people live in landlocked nations; this group majorly occupies the bottom-billion poor social class (56). Collier also posits that landlocked nations depend on their neighbors to access external markets, a process that tends to be expensive (55).

Spatial Characteristics of States and how they are produced Ferguson and Gupta explicate various characteristics of State spatialization and how they are they are produced. One of the characteristics is conceptual issues, which emerges from two dimensions. The first dimension is that of verticality, where the state is ideally considered to be above the society, communities as well as families. In this dimension of verticality, planning is usually undertaken through a top-down approach, where the state manipulates their actions from above, that is by the political elites.

The other dimension of state spatialization as a concept is encompassment, which entails an ideal integration of the state with the nation i.e. taking into consideration communities as well as families. Patterns of Wealth and Poverty From a personal perspective, the most convincing pattern of wealth and poverty is institutional. This is due to the fact that institutional structures play a role in the management and utilization of this wealth. Most failed states, specifically poor state, attribute their failure to poor institutional structures that have led to mismanagement of wealth and natural resources, thus leading to an ever-growing cycle of poverty.

Institutional patterns of poverty and wealth are usually controlled by a limited number of people, meaning that the outcome of these results can be managed as compared to the cultural and geographical patterns, which are complex in specific regard to management. On the other hand, institutional patterns are convincing owing to the fact that institutions, form part of a culture and exist within certain geographical localities. Culture is a composition of society that places the role of managing resources within their geographical regions on the universal institution, in this regard, any form of failure that may lead to poverty should be totally blamed on institutions.

Easterly’s ‘Planners’ vs. ‘Searchers’ According to William Easterly, foreign aid given to poor nations has failed to alleviate the challenges faced by the local populaces. This is due to the fact that these aids are driven by ‘planners’, who perceive development as a technical challenge that can be alleviated through large sums of financial resources, ambitious as well as centrally-managed campaigns. Easterly contradicts the idea of ‘planners’ and support the ‘searchers’ ideology, which is characterized by seeking ideas and making trials in as much as they would fail.

I support the ‘searchers’ idea; this is because research and innovation is the key solution to many challenges facing society owing to the fact that they lead to the generation of long-lasting solutions. On the other hand, donations provided by ‘planners’ are basically short term solutions, which cannot end poverty challenges.