The Process in Making Movie for IPE Project

We are chosen to make a video about "Food Security in Indonesia" and how import affects Indonesia's food security. In this video, we collect the information from two different sources. The interviewees are Mr. Taufan Akib from BULOG as Kabag Humaslem, Mr. Ronald J. Silalahi from The Ministry of Trade as Kepala Seksi Pd Subdit Barang Pertanian, Kehutanan, Perikanan dan Kelautan and also his colleague, Mr. Eka Purnama as Staf Subdit Barang Pertanian, Kehutanan, Perikanan dan Kelautan.

From their point of view about food import and food security in Indonesia, we can conclude that Indonesia has the potential to increase the quality of food production without having to ban import because even if import has a lot of negative impact on Indonesia's food security, we cannot deny that Indonesia still need to import, because we believe that import still has an important role in Indonesia.

And in order to prevent food shortage or food crisis, Indonesia needs to develop their production in rice so that we will have the ability to supply rice ourselves without having to depend on other countries.

At Ministry of Trade with Mr. Ronald J. Silalahi and Mr. Eka Purnama

At BULOG with Mr. Taufan Akib

From our video we hope that people will be informed about the condition of food security in Indonesia by viewing from the experts' point of view which are from BULOG and Ministry of Trade. And here we also hope that the related institution can consider more in making policies about food security in Indonesia by watching our video.

Our video can be found at: http://youtu.be/vEKUmS_azkU
 
Group One's Member:

Alvin Ernesto - 1701350380
Yohana Sarah Mukti K - 1701349933
Dewi Mulyasari - 1701345645
Yusuf Mukhlisin - 1701345430
Hardiyanto Gunawan - 1701327144
Gusti Putri Dewi - 170132534
Frisca Omega Kaligis - 1701351894

Is Free Trade Fair ?

Free trade refers to a general openness to exchange goods and information between and among nations with few-to-no barriers-to-trade. Fair trade refers to exchanges, the terms of which meet the demands of justice. Proponents of fair trade argue that exchanges between developed nations and lesser developed countries (LDCs) occur along uneven terms, and should be made more equitable. The Fair Trade Federation's Annual Report describes the fair trade movement as "a global network of producers, traders, marketers, advocates and consumers focused on building equitable trading relationships between consumers and the world's most economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers.

At the moment, trade rules are stacked in favour of rich countries. Rich countries want to keep protecting a few sectors in their own countries, such as their farmers, while using international trade talks to prise open poor countries' markets.
In return, poor countries want to protect their vulnerable sectors and promote new industries - but are being prevented from doing so.
By locking in essentially irreversible 'free trade' policies, rich countries and big business are set to bring misery to millions of poor people.

Read more at http://www.actionaid.org.uk/trade/free-trade#1QiCSuaCSQeXF7hg.99

At the moment, trade rules are stacked in favour of rich countries. Rich countries want to keep protecting a few sectors in their own countries, such as their farmers, while using international trade talks to prise open poor countries' markets.
In return, poor countries want to protect their vulnerable sectors and promote new industries - but are being prevented from doing so.
By locking in essentially irreversible 'free trade' policies, rich countries and big business are set to bring misery to millions of poor people.

Read more at http://www.actionaid.org.uk/trade/free-trade#1QiCSuaCSQeXF7hg.99

At the moment, trade rules are stacked in favour of rich countries. Rich countries want to keep protecting a few sectors in their own countries, such as their farmers, while using international trade talks to prise open door countries markets. In return, poor countries want to protect their vulnerable sectors and promote new industries - but are being prevented from doing so.

Some people think that developing countries should abandon free trade agreements because ree trade creates an equal business environment. By signing the agreement, countries will put their private sectors to compete with other countries’ private sectors in equal terms. For poorer countries, it means their private sectors – whom are relatively weaker – will compete against much stronger companies. The regulation may be equal, but the players capabilities are certainly not. The price for a free trade is more expensive than the benefit it brings. The practice of free trade agreements will undoubtingly give market access to much richer country.

Rich countries and business leaders says free trade is the best way out of poverty for developing countries. But there is little evidence to support this - in fact the opposite is true. Countries that have rapidly opened their markets to the free trade, such as Haiti, Nepal, Zambia, and Peru have very poor records on poverty reduction and economic growth. On the other hand, countries such as Taiwan and South Korea chose to protect their domestic industries rather than completely open their economies to global trade. And when they did choose to open up, they did it on their own terms and at their own speed. This is not only produced higher economic growth, but resulted in lower poverty and inequality


References :
https://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/free-trade-vs-fair-trade
http://www.globalenvision.org/library/15/834
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/society/international-development/international-studies/how-fair-free-trade
http://debatewise.org/debates/1053-poorer-countries-should-abandon-free-trade-agreements/
http://www.actionaid.org.uk/trade/free-trade

Created by :
HARDIYANTO GUNAWAN / 1701327144

Rich countries and business leaders say free trade is the best way out of poverty for developing countries. But there is little evidence to support this – in fact the opposite is true
Read more at http://www.actionaid.org.uk/trade/free-trade#1QiCSuaCSQeXF7hg.99

At the moment, trade rules are stacked in favour of rich countries. Rich countries want to keep protecting a few sectors in their own countries, such as their farmers, while using international trade talks to prise open poor countries' markets.
In return, poor countries want to protect their vulnerable sectors and promote new industries - but are being prevented from doing so.
By locking in essentially irreversible 'free trade' policies, rich countries and big business are set to bring misery to millions of poor people.

Read more at http://www.actionaid.org.uk/trade/free-trade#1QiCSuaCSQeXF7hg.99

At the moment, trade rules are stacked in favour of rich countries. Rich countries want to keep protecting a few sectors in their own countries, such as their farmers, while using international trade talks to prise open poor countries' markets.
In return, poor countries want to protect their vulnerable sectors and promote new industries - but are being prevented from doing so.
By locking in essentially irreversible 'free trade' policies, rich countries and big business are set to bring misery to millions of poor people.

Read more at http://www.actionaid.org.uk/trade/free-trade#1QiCSuaCSQeXF7hg.99

What Need to be Prepared by Indonesia to Face Free Trade

Free trade, there is no doubt that it has so many benefit for many countries, but we cannot ignore that it also have so many negative side that can harm a country. as i already mentioned earlier in my previous article about free trade that needed in Indonesia, so it can improve and strengthen indonesia's economics. but indonesia also have to tighten or restrict its import policies in order to prevent bombardment by import stuff from other nation. but as matter of fact, strengthen its import policies is not the only thing indonesia have to worry about. specifically, they still have so many thing to be on the lookout, such as: import policies, local companies, illegal trade, and do not forget to mention culture. Each of those things are the things that will touched by the effect of the free trade.

With the market are so open and free, every single cuntry have the right to do export and import. but indonesia have to be careful with  the import. If they are not. the number of the import will be too high even overcome the number of export. and it will damage the economics growth in Indonesia. So to prevent that, it is important to restrict the rules or the policies about import. The other impact that caused by free trade is, there will be a lot of foreign companies and foreign stuff that come to indonesia. And obviously, it's gonna impact our local companies.

The income of our local companies will decreased, the price will get more expensive. It is because most of indonesia's citizen, like foreign bramds more than they love local brands. So, our local companies need to improve their production quality to attract local consumer. One of the most dangerous impact of free trade is the illegal trade. many people take advantage of the free market to do some illegal trade, like the illegal selling of animal. for example tiger. it is happens usually at africa also southeast Asia. Beside it will threaten the extinction of the wirldlife, it will also decrease the income of the country. To prevent this from happening, the government should protect the wildlife, by creating a sunctuary, and create a law about it.

The las thing that indonesia have to take a good care about is, the traditional culture. With so many foreign stuff enter the country, the people start to imitate the western culture. And the people become like a westerner. And over time, the citizens of Indonesia will forget about their own traditional culture. Whereas actually the traditional culture is original fron indonesia and it is important to protect and preserve it. Therefore, the government somehow have to built in the citizens' heart, a love for its own culture and nationalist feeling so they will protect and preserve it.

Yusuf Mukhlisin 

1701345430

:)

Globalization and International Trade

Globalization refers to the growing interdependence of countries resulting from the increasing integration of trade, finance,people, and ideas in one global marketplace. International trade and cross-border investment flows are the main element of this integration.

Globalization is driven by two main factors. The first one is, the advanced technology is causing the cost of transportation, communication, and computation has been lowered that it is often economically affordable for a firm to locate the phases of production from another countries. The other factor has to do with increasing liberalization of trade and capital markets: more and more governments are refusing to protect their economies from foreign competition or influence through import tariffs and nontariff barriers such import quotas, export restraint, and legal prohibitions. A number of international institutions established in the wake of world war II such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) have played an important role in promoting free trade.

This process of economic development and growth around the world has inevitably been changing the patterns of trade and the comparative advantages of many of the nations that have been or are becoming to a greater extent America’s trading partners. Labor and manufacturing specializations that the United States has long been dependent on for employment, income, and profits are now shifting to other parts of the globe. Once peoples and markets on continents outside North America began to become relatively freer and less collectivist—though certainly not laissez faire, unfortunately—these changes in the structure of the international division of labor were inevitable.

But besides their inevitability, the changes also are opening healthy and desirable opportunities for hundreds of millions of people to finally raise themselves out of the poverty that has been the lot of mankind for all of human history. We should hail this as one of the greatest moments in the thousands of years of man’s time on this earth.

References:
http://www.lincs-chamber.co.uk/images/stories/InternationalTrade%20cloud.jpg
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/38/free-trade-and-globalization
http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/beyond/beyondco/beg_12.pdf
http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/globalization-and-free-trade

Created By :
Hardiyanto Gunawan / 1701327144

Illegal Trade as The Impact of Free Trade

Illegal trade is business that is not in accordance with law, and the traded object is usually something that shouldn't be sold. Internet plays a role too in this case because of the easiness of getting information, illegal trade spreads rapidly and internet makes it goes worldwide. The organization who runs the business will have a lot of benefit because their business goes global and they will continue their business and even if someday they stop doing business, their customer will still search for them because of their own needs. This is getting harder when the government doesn’t know the differences between the illegal product and the legal one so that the illegal product can get into the country easily, this kind of thing is possible because of government and institution’s neglectfulness.

Some example of illegal trade that has been claimed as a ‘profitable international crime’:

Illegal wildlife trade (illegal animal trafficking) is one of the illegal trade which many country tend to do. Because the benefit of doing this kind of business can obtain profit to US $ 10 billion, the animal is usually taken from Africa and also Southeast Asia and the target of this business are the buyers in China for traditional medicine, Europe and United States for animal testing or animal experimentation. Their skin is taken for the bags, wallets and belt’s manufacture, because of this illegal trade, a lot of species are endangered.

 

Arms trafficking (illegal gun trafficking) also become the most common business in the reality of international life. There are two different kinds of arms trafficking: grey market and black market. Grey market is where the illegal transaction that has been made is known by the government but even it breaks the law, government will remain silent because it’s usually for the urgent need. And black market is beyond government’s knowledge, it’s entirely not under government’s control. The problem is when weapons/gun is abused by people who have a bad intention.

  

Human trafficking this one can be called as slavery in the modern era, because the object of this trade is human. This obtains profit to US $ 32 billion, and the people is usually being used for sexual slavery or forced labor. Human trafficking is basically selling people to people to do anything the buyers want from them. Most of those people are from Soviet Union, North Africa, India, Pakistan and China.  Human trafficking is the second most profitable criminal acts in the world.

That’s not all there are still illegal gold trafficking, human organs, oil, and drugs, there are so many kind of illegal trade that goes global. Illegal trade is one of the impact of free trade, because free trade brings the freedom of trading and free trade’s law is made to simplify the transaction from one country to another so the obstacle of delivering products or doing business with another country is unlikely. Illegal trade still happen till now although there’s law which has been made to prevent it, it’s probably because the profit that can be obtained from doing this business is so big and with the easiness to access the product, this business is not really a hard one to run.

References:

http://palingseru.com/5692/10-perdagangan-ilegal-paling-menguntungkan-di-dunia

http://nasibnatal.blogspot.com/2013/11/perdagangan-senjata-ilegal.html

http://www.satwa.net/307/obama-perangi-perdagangan-satwa-liar.html

Created by:

Yohana Sarah Mukti Kristanti / 1701349933

The Dark Side of International Trade

International trade has been helping countries around the world to explore and capitalize on their best natural resources as assets and sources of their national incomes. Moreover, many countries have gathered together and created organizations or institutions, such as NAFTA, ASEAN, WTO and many more, to build their markets, help the global economy and, more specifically, to benefit every country member involved in free trade. Thus, global free trade enables the increase of production for countries of their best selling commodities, encourages competition in the markets, allows the creation of innovations, and increases employment.

While there are positive aspects of international trade, there is also a darker side that is often overlooked, but also deals with the trade of both objects and people across international borders.

The trade of certain objects, such as drugs (e.g. cocaine and heroin) within international drug trafficking, is very dangerous and threatens the global economy. Asia, for example, is believed to be a center of drug trafficking for tons of heroin. This is especially true in Afghanistan where the drugs are mostly consumed and produced but also trafficked globally to the rest of the Middle East and European countries through routes in Afghanistan’s neighboring countries. The consumption of heroin all over the globe has increased since 2006, North America has the highest percentage of cocaine consumption as well as some of the EU countries. The biggest trade routes are typically from Colombia to Mexico and onwards or from South America in general.

It is difficult to combat drug trafficking as the network is worldwide and can not easily be tracked, but there is one big UN organization that has been created to overcome this sort of international trade, the UNODC.

Furthermore, the illegal international trade of people is as threatening as the trade of harmful and illegal objects, and perhaps more so as it violates human rights. Human trafficking has become the second most profitable industry after drug trafficking and the case of human trafficking keeps growing as time goes on, it not only happens to women and children, but also men. Though it can happen within a country, the rate of human trafficking internationally is even higher. There are many different forms of human trafficking, such as forced and cheap labor, sexual slavery, bride-buying, prostitution, child labor, organ harvesting, and so on and so forth. Human trafficking, in all of its forms, is very popular in Asia specifically countries like China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and some other Asian countries. According to International Labor Organizations, every year human trafficking generates around $32 billion USD and the structural factors of human trafficking are very complex; poverty, unemployment, discrimination against women, demands for commercial sex, and globalization.

However, countries and people around the world are trying to prevent these illegal activities from growing out even more by forming organizations. The impact is not only on individuals, but also on the global economy. According to UN data, the value of illegal trade around the world is estimated at $1.3 trillion USD and is constantly increasing.

It is evident that international trade has not only positive sides to help the development of countries and the world at whole, but also a complex dark side that people forget, or choose to ignore.

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/drug-trafficking/index.html

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/secured/wdr/wdr2013/Executive_summary.pdf

http://www.un.org/en/ga/president/66/Issues/drugs/drugs-crime.shtml

By : Dewi Mulyasari - 1701345645

Indonesia Need Free Trade

Free trade, it is one of the most popular policies advocated by economic liberals where there is no intervention from government because it will only lower or undermines efficiency and overall wealth.

It erase or remove protectionist measures that are designed to insulate domestic producers from international competition. which means it erase all the things that may hinder the mechanism of free trade such as tarrif, import quotas and taxes. Free trade is exemplified by the European Union / European Economic Area and the North American Free Trade Agreement, which have established open markets. Most nations are today members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) multilateral trade agreements. However, most governments still impose some protectionist policies that are intended to support local employment, such as applying tariffs to imports or subsidies to exports. Governments may also restrict free trade to limit exports of natural resources.

There are two big Figures in the history of free trade, Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Ricardo said that free trade is an international trading system where every nations are free to do trading without any intervention from country. he also thought that  A free trade policy should enable a nation to generate enough foreign currency to purchase the products or services that it does not produce indigenously. The process works best when there are few if any barriers to entry for such imports. The imposition of artificial constraints such as tariffs on imports or the provision of subsidies to exports will introduce distortions and impede free trade.

 As for Adam Smith, he came with a theory, the Invinsible hands Theory. In that theory, Adam Smith argued that in economic activity there is no need for government's intervention, and if each individuals are free to do the economic activity there will be a higher efficiency, and in time that efficiency will become a strong economic growth. well, Adam smith admitted that goverment have a role in a country's economics. But it only limited at  infrastructure supply & development and running the government's administration. if government interfere too much, it will only lower the economic efficiency. 

 Free trade is a win-win proposition because it enables nations to focus on their core competitive advantages, thereby maximizing economic output and fostering income growth for their citizens. Free trade enables nations to concentrate their efforts on manufacturing products or providing services where they have a distinct comparative advantage. that is why i said Indonesia need free trade, because it could improve the economic growth in Indonesia. however, putting those advantages and positive side of free trade aside, Indonesia also have to strengthen the rule about import or at least be more careful with it. why? it is to prevent a bombardment by import stuff from other country.

Yusuf Mukhlisin - 1701345430

refference:

http://nursukasri.blogspot.com/2012/10/free-trade.html

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/free-trade.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade

Introduction to Internatinal Politic economy, David N. Balaam, Bradford Dillman, Ffith edition

Key to Success of Singapore as a Developed Country

Singapore is the smallest country in the Southeast Asia with advances in technology and industry very rapidly growth compared to the others surrounding countries in Southeast Asia.

Singapore country located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 km from north of the equator. The country is separated by the Straits of Johor Malaysia in the north, and from the Riau islands south of Singapore Straits. Singapore geographical location is very strategic so that Singapore once become a British military base during World War II and became a trading port city.

We know that Singapore state does not have any natural resources but what are the factors that led Singapore to become a developed country, although not supported by sufficient natural resources?

Progress of Singapore can not be separated by large role figure of Lee Kuan Yew. He has been Prime Minister since 1959, before joining Malaysia. As an elite People Action Party (PAP), he is also known as an authoritarian leader and able to maintain power seven consecutive periods (1963, 1968, 1972., 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1988). When separated from Malaysia, Singapore is a small country which is the economic condition is same with Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. But now in development, per capita income of Singapore has five times as many of these countries.

Although the circumstances of deprivation state at the time, Lee Kuan Yew remains optimistic  to build his country. According to Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's success key to becoming the  developed countries is due to the determination and hard work of its people. Lee Kuan Yew led the country is like leading a company, which requires determination, hard work, and high discipline. So do not be surprised if he implements authoritarian governments to achieve country objectives.

The first thing done by the Singapore government is closing the channels of Democracy, because Democracy is considered a constraint to development. Moreover, the multi-ethnic composition of the country, it is feared will bring social conflicts. Because of that the Singapore government is centralized in order to achieve efficiency and also establishes rules hard and firm. For example, the rules to suppress opposition and restrictions on people's right to argue for. Penalties will always be obtained if there are people who oppose government policies. Application of the authoritarian system was successful to bring order in the country of Singapore, implement an open market economy, and corruption-free governance.

Why people of Singapore stick with authoritarianism that is applied by Singapore government? Why the people not fight? We can see, for example, in Indonesia in May 1998 event took the form of massive demonstrations that eventually able to overthrow the authoritarian New Order and led to the era of Reformation. It happened because of what has been done by the Singapore government solely for the promotion and welfare of the people of Singapore itself, despite having the antidemocratic and authoritarian way. With the government's authoritarian government of Singapore has been proven to build his country become a developed country and welfare of the people. Thus, there is no reason for people not to support the government of Singapore. Democracy is considered feasible to run on a country with the economic and political is stable and the conditions of its citizens who are already educated. Aware of the importance of knowledge as a determinant of future success , then education is become one focus of government development in Singapore . Implementation of any educational system oriented to the interests and talents of students so as to develop the potential of their students. Although Singapore is a developed country that on the average people are already capable of, the government does not necessarily generalize all the cost of education, but still provide relief for citizens who are not able by giving a scholarships. School fees there are basically pretty cheap, just needed a little extra cost for its supporting facilities such as books, or transportation.

From the article above, it can be seen that there are two views that have been broken by Lee Kuan Yew , that is the longer in power the more corrupt , and a dictator will not be able to improve the life of people. All this time the image of a dictator is in power for the sake of personal and group alone , which tends to corrupt ,and the people suffer for it . But Lee Kuan Yew managed to prove that a country can go forward and prosper even without democracy and authoritarian rule. Once the Singapore becomes developed , Lee Kuan Yew as leader is not necessarily forget himself. He remains as a figure that is humble , clean , honest and free of corruption . He was willing to cut his own salary and raise the salaries of other officials.

Singapore key of success essentially is determination and hard work of the people. in the middle of all the limitations that exist, they have a lot of discipline and a passion to advance their country for achieving welfare and prosperity.

Indonesia should learn from countries such as Singapore, Indonesia has a wide area, both land and sea. Indonesia has abundant natural resources greatly, such as marine products, forest products, mining, agriculture, and so forth. Indonesia is also a country with the fourth largest population in the world which means it has a lot of manpower to build Indonesia into a country that is superior to any other countries.

I think Indonesia will become a strong nation depends on the leaders and the spirit of nationalism to build a nation.

I Hope So :)

By Alvin Ernesto/1701350380

Reference :

- http://thediplomat.com/2013/02/the-worldview-of-lee-kuan-yew/

-  http://thestudentdying.blogspot.com/2012/06/kunci-keberhasilan-singapura-menjadi.html

-  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Can-we-learn-from-the-success-of-Singapore-30206631.html

- http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2013/09/16/speech-by-mr-heng-swee-keat-at-the-big-ideas-of-mr-lee-kuan-yew-conference.php

- http://www.donellameadows.org/archives/singapore-leads-the-good-life-under-a-benevolent-dictator/

The Risk of Development with Debt

Debt is always considered as the right medicine to finance the development, especially when the availability of government funding is considered less or insufficient.

In general there are two main sources of debt , that is :

1. Internal Sources. Example, The sale of Bonds to the public.

2. External Sources. Example, Loans from foreign countries, International Organization such as IMF,World Bank, ADB (Asean Development Bank) and other more.

But the truth is, it is very dangerous if the country want to improve their development with using the external sources.

The State development with debt is very dangerous because the provision of debt will only make the country remains poor and not independent. As humans who living in developing countries will be forced to work hard to repay foreign debt. Problems arising from external debt include the burden placed on future generations, the potential damage to the national debt rating, reliance on foreign governments and a general danger of unsustainable national consumption.

The purpose of foreign aid is actually not to help the underdeveloped countries, but rather to maintain the security of the creditor country, or in other words, the goal is to make the debtor countries as a subject of domination by creditor country so that become used as a cash cow and a tool to defend the interests of the creditor country. 

Various methods are used by foreign nations or the capitalists to embed their influence in Indonesia, one of the way is to cause Indonesian dependent on foreign debt. with the presence of debt then Indonesia will have economic dependence to the other countries, with the addition of interst of debt will be increasingly strangling the economy of Indonesia.

We can see and learn in Indonesian history in new order era during Soeharto’s reign, they think the source of loan from external sources is considered as the best step. Although from these steps actually can pose a danger in the future (The Climax is 1998 Monetary Crisis).

For the conclusion I as a writer is very impressed with the statement "Go to Hell with Your Aid" that was made by Soekarno at the time of the Indonesian Old Order. That Time Soekarno is strongly opposed and hated all forms of aid by foreign countries, especially the United States because he dont want Indonesia to become beggars, begging the debt to other countries. He realize Indonesia must become a country that is not dependent on other countries.

By Alvin Ernesto/1701350380

Reference : 

- Fahmi, Irham (2013). EKONOMI POLITIK Teori dan Realita. Bandung : Penerbit Alfabeta.

- http://www.ehow.com/info_7990295_external-debt-problems.html

- http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-foreign-debt.htm

How the Somali Pirates Affect Global Trade

How did piracy in Somalia start? Why do the pirates do it? What are the effects on global trade?

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a serious threat for global trade and security since early 1990 when the foreign vessels started illegally fishing and dumping toxic water that affected the Somali waters; both of these intrusions led to an increased difficulty for the local fishermen in earning a living. The Somali fishermen then acted fast by forming armed groups to stop these actions and to hijack the foreign ships as a new source of income. Most of the local people also supported them as they believed the pirates were defending their own territory and waters from foreign ships, especially their fishing grounds which used to be their land of income.

The lack of a central government, internal political stability and authority are believed as the causes of why piracy in Somalia continues to grow.

The existence of Somali piracy is a major issue of global economy, it is hurting the world more than we realized. Moreover, the piracy slows down the delivery of shipments and affects shipping delivery costs, not only that, Somali pirates also cost the global economy by demanding ransom money from the government of where the ships they are hijacking in come from.

Furthermore, as reported by the World Bank, Somali piracy cost the global economy more than $400 billion USD from 2005 to 2012 with a total of 179 ships hijacked. The piracy has also affected the routes of global trade and the cost of insurance until now. Even though they have attacked hundreds of vessels, not all of them have succeeded, however, they still get benefits and make significant impacts on their local economy, especially the pirate financiers who maintain the network and get the highest part of the ransom money. The low level pirates end up getting only 1% to 2.5% of the payment and receiving even less is the local community who serve the goods, food, services and illegal drugs to the pirates. Some of the ransom money goes down to the Islamic group’s military efforts, out of many organizations trying to combat piracy, only a few still remain active, including independent countries like Australia and China, as well as political and military trans-continental groupings like even though the UN, EU and NATO. Though these organizations have been involved in the attempted suppression of Somali piracy, the problem still looms.

Thus, these piracy activities threaten global economy, but also more specifically, the neighboring East African countries. In order to fight the piracy and recover international trade, the international community needs to help bring focus on building up the political system in East African countries and recreating a functional Somali state.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTFINANCIALSECTOR/0,,contentMDK:23491862~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:282885,00.html

http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/579/somali-piracy-causes-and-consequences

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/12/business/piracy-economy-world-bank/

http://thediplomat.com/2009/02/the-impact-of-somali-piracy/4/

By : Dewi Mulyasari - 1701345645

Structuralism and The Application of Its Theory

 

Based on Structuralist theory (World System Theory) there are three different kind of country that exist in this world and together they lead the world to a better place because each of them complete the other so that the world can be how it is now. Structuralism came up as a reaction to Marxism theory, Marxist believe that the world would be a better place if there are no classification and Structuralist believe that the world needs classification so that each country knows their own role to make a better world economy. Structuralist theory (World System Theory) classify country into three categories: core country, semi-periphery and periphery country.

Core Country : Core country is a powerful country and the capital holder, and tends to be the one who controls over other countries (periphery country).

-          United States

-          Australia

-          Japan

Semi-periphery Country : Semi-periphery countries play a major role in mediating economic, political, and social activities that link core and peripheral areas, and it’s generally industrialized.

-          China

-          India

-          Brazil

Periphery Country : It is a poor country that usually is being used by the core countries, periphery countries are the country that doesn’t have the power in economy, military or politics, their institution is weak too. Periphery countries are weaker than core and semi-periphery country.

-          Africa

-          Afghanistan

-          Myanmar

This kind of classification shows that there’s a distinction that could leads to a discrimination to the smaller country. And also there’s gonna be a dependency between them because core country’s gonna need periphery country as the sources of raw materials, and then they will process it into an useful product and after that they gonna sell it to periphery country with a higher price. So basically core country gets more advantage and profit than periphery country. Periphery country here is only able to sell their natural resources because they don’t have the ability to produce and process their natural resources  like core countries. And it minimizes the possibility for periphery or semi-periphery country to develop and become core country.

With this kind of view, it’s gonna be hard for China (semi-periphery country) to become a powerful country like America (core country) even though China’s getting closer and closer every year to replace America to be hegemonic country. China’s economic growth increase every year and their product is all over the world while it’s hard for America to get into China’s market because there’s a restriction on import so that local producers and company can be protected. And while China is having a rapid progress now, America is facing the financial crisis nowadays that makes their economic condition is unstable. It shows that there’s a very huge possibility that someday China will replace America as the most powerful country in the world. But back to the way we see it, if we use Structuralist perspective in this case, that kind of thing won’t happen because China tends to follow the system where America stands as a core country and China stands as a semi-periphery country. China will see the dependency between core country and semi-periphery country and also with periphery country as well, and China’s going to believe that classification is no big deal as long as trade’s still running and economic transaction doesn’t stop.

Although China seems strong enough to replace America, if structuralist theory is applied to this case the result will be “those who already rich is getting richer and for those who already poor is getting poorer”. Core countries tend to take the advantage of this classification and there’s nothing periphery and semi-periphery can do because like it or not, they need core country as a resource too because they know that they haven’t been able to process raw materials like how core country do. They’re still left behind in technology and industry so it makes them can’t complain about being one step lower than the powerful country.

References:

http://felixsharieff.wordpress.com/tag/teori-hubungan-internasional/

http://luthfiana12unairacid-fisip12.web.unair.ac.id/artikel_detail-81697-THI-Marxisme%20dan%20Strukturalisme%20dalam%20Hubungan%20Internasional.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-periphery_countries

Created by:

Yohana Sarah Mukti Kristanti / 1701349933