Policies of The State
Development among countries is not the same, yet there are
policies that try to help and make the living of people much better. Not all
countries have the same standards of living of living. The more developed
countries are the ones with the highest ranks. Some of those countries are USA,
Canada, and Sweden. Those three countries are categorized as countries from the
north, than you have the countries from the south that tend to be the less
develop. Policies are made to help people’s standers of living. A policy is: a method
of actions selected from among alternatives to lead and help present and future
decisions. Policies vary from defense to educational policies. Policies are run
by governments and are funded by using the “gross domestic product” (GDP) which
consist on how much money a country makes and the taxes the government sets on
every commercial aspect.
There are 8 main policies that governments have to deal
with. Each policy is set to help the social welfare of the people of a country.
The eight main policies are the following; transfer of resources, subsidies
with strings attached, regulations, development and administration, defense
policies, education, research and development, and health and social welfare. Each
of these policies involves the government and civilians. This policies lead to
development of states. As we have said previously a state is formed by people
that feel identified and form governments.
The transfer of resources is when a government takes
resources from a person that produces resources and distributes them within
society. An example that we are familiar with is the social security system. This
system uses taxes from employers and their workers, and gives proceeds of the
tax to retired people, disables, and the survivors of wage earners who have
dies young. An example in Honduras is the taxes that the government takes from
every economic activity and uses them for the Bono 10,000. This is an example
of a transfer of resources from a less developed country versus the social
security example from the USA.
Then there are the subsidies with strings attached which
mean that government gives money to people but that people have to use that
money in a certain way. That limits the facility of people that get that money
but in a way this policy is efficient since it controls how people use that lent
money. The US example is that the government gave money to Chrysler Corporation
in the 80’s but had to cut cost. This is the same as the Bono 10,000 which
people who get this money have to use it on the education of their children.
Than we have another policy which is regulation. Regulations
are done to set laws, and in a way tell people who to live their lives. This is
a positive aspect because it protects children, environment, workers and the
food security of people. Mexico as an example for the environment reduces the
amount of smog that was produces in Mexico City.
The development and administration is a big part of the
government, but it also brings up a great controversy. This is so because sometimes
the government controls certain parts of industry such as automobile industry,
steel industry or even petroleum industry. An example of this is Cuba, when the
Cuban revolution happened all the private companies became administrated by the
Cuban government, in the other side we have the USA, which has a capitalist
system in which private property and business is not administrated by the
government.
The defense policy is something that almost every
government has to focus on. Since the people of a country are a priority to its
government. The defense of a country could be considered it’s fourth most
important policy. The defense programs are run by the GDP of a country. Not always
is a country able to protect its people since they can be attacked by nuclear
warheads. Yet countries such as Russian and Saudi Arabia invest a big deal of
its GDP on defense due to interest. Than the countries with a lower developing
such as Egypt or Madagascar tend to have a lower GDP and a forces military
service because the governments don’t have enough money to support the defense
system.
The educational policies are very important aspect of a
government because the leaders of tomorrow are the children who receive the
present education. The education around the world is not equal, in the less
developed countries the public education system tends to be poor in quality and
in education; an example is Nicaragua, and Indonesia which have a high illiteracy
rate. Than countries that are more developed have a higher percentage of their
GDP invested on education and example Canada and Great Britain.
Another aspect that helps the more developed countries is
the research and development. The more industrialized democracies focus on
development of new technologies. A great example of this is Japan, one of the
countries with the highest demand of technology next to the USA. Than the less
developed countries tend to focus more in agriculture which is a sing of being
less developed. Countries that focus more in agriculture depend a lot on their
exports and sometimes crops can go wrong. For example the USA has the highest
percent of high technology export, while countries such as Egypt have a 0
percent exports.
The last policy which is the health and social welfare
which has sets its focus on the responsibility of maintaining their people in
reasonable health and housing. Developed economies devote considerable
resources to these purposes, while states of the South do not as much. For people
of many poor states, daily life is a series of catastrophes, and it is all they
can do to deal with those, much less prepare for future ones. Countries such as
Canada, Germany and Great Britain spend a high percent of expenditures devoted
to social security and welfare that have a range of 28% to 38%. This means
people on those three countries have a very high standard of living. Than countries
from the south such as Philippines, Tunisia, and Bolivia have a very low
percent of their GDP spent on social welfare and health.
Policies help people’s lives in a very positive way. Sometimes
it could be debated if it fair for governments to be involved in the life of
the citizens of a state or is it fair enough so that people may have a fair
live. Yet some policies have difficulties getting around since they can have an
intervention on people lives, while others provide stability and equality, especially
in the more developed countries. It tends to be noticeable that the countries
that are more developed have more policies and a better social order. The less
developed countries from the South lack policies and social order. Yet countries
work together to provide and help each other to reach a certain level of social
satisfaction.
Policies are in a way laws and help provide social welfare.