Critically Analyse the extent to which the militarisation of Essay

Critically Analyse the extent to which the militarisation of humanitarian assistance has affected the way in which humanitarian agencies carry out their role in conflict affected countries - Essay Example Military activities are usually politically driven, and they follow the strategies laid out by their governments. On the other hand, aid organizations operate under impartiality and neutrality, but they rely on the military for security and provisions such as transportation. This affects their impartiality and neutrality since they might engage in some politically oriented missions. In the past, NGO workers have been used to gather intelligence for the military, which affects their functionality (Weiss, 1999). The government utilizes humanitarian relief aid to woo the local residents to provide information about the militants. In Iraq and Afghanistan, this strategy has been used to gather information regarding the Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants (Aidan, 2010). Humanitarian aid can be defined as logical assistance, medical assistance, and food supplies to people caught up in a humanitarian crisis such as war or natural disaster. Several countries in the third world such as Congo, Sierra Leone, Syria, and Libya have experienced internal war due to political instability. The affected population in these regions requires protection and assistance, which is mostly provided by NGOs along military organizations such as NATO, United Nations, and African Union. Today’s conflicts disregard human life as well as the values of tolerance and human dignity, and the general population is usually targeted by warlords. The main aim of humanitarian aid is to assist every person without discrimination, respect human dignity, and pursue no other interest. In areas where the military is involved, some affected groups may be locked out due to political reasons. The military may also influence the process of aid provision depending on the cooperation by the locals. This cooperation gauged in terms of information the military receives from local residents regarding militant groups in the region. The involvement of the military in aid activities

Social distance and social connectedness Term Paper

Social distance and social connectedness - Term Paper Example Both of the terms, i.e. the social distance and the social connectedness although different in meaning, are employed to discuss the level of closeness between the individual groups within the society that differ from one another on various grounds. Social interaction and dialogue between different communities gives rise to unity and strength, and promotes the prosperity and progress of the nation as a whole. The vast amount of literature developed in the area of sociology has categorized social distance into three different types, namely the affective social distance, the normative social distance and the interactive social distance. Social distance is called as affective distance when it depicts the concerns of one community towards another community when the latter experiences certain hardships in the society. On the other hand, normative distance serves to differentiate between insiders and the outsiders. â€Å"Relations between normatively close members of a group are not always warm and friendly, and normatively distant groups can sometimes be an object of reverence and love.† (Karakayali, 2009). The third type of social distance is called as the interactive social distance that is essentially a measure of the level of interaction and socialization between two parties in the society. In light of this definition, the interactive social distance is inversely proportional to th e communicative strength prevailing in a relation between the two parties. Every individual in the society builds personal boundaries around him/her and this is an intrinsic feature of human psychology. â€Å"This social distance is also known as body space and comfort zone and the use of this space is called proxemics.† (Hall, 1966). It is also essential to a certain extent in order for the individual to be educated on the necessary limits to be drawn