Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Ibnu Khaldun Biography

Accoring to Issawi , C. (2009) Ibn Khaldun is the greatest Arab historian, who develop one of the earliest nonreligous philosophy of history, contained in his masterpiece, the Muqaddimah (â€Å"Introduction†). He also wrote a definitive history of Muslim Norh Africa. Mahmoud Dhaouadi (1997) stated that Ibnu Khaldun’s full name is ‘Abdu-ar-Rahman Abu Zaid Wali-ad-Din Ibn Khaldun. He was born in Tunis (1332) and died in Cairo (1406). His family was of Arab Yemenite descent who had first settled in Muslim Spain and later moved to Tunisia. When Ibn Khaldun reached the age of schooling, he began to learn and recite the Qur’an as did most pupils of that time. The education he received in Tunis in his youth was concentrated in three areas : (1) Islamic studies, which cover the sciences of the Qur’an, the Hadith (the prophet’s sayings and behaviour) as well as Islamic Fikh (jurisprudence) , particularly the Malikite School ; (2) the sciences of the Arabic language which deal with grammar , conjugation and the art of eloquent written and spoken language (al-Balagha) ; and (3) logic , philosophy, natural sciences and mathematics. Muhsin Mahdi (1968) explain that the teacher he admired most during this period was the mathematician and philosopher Muhammad Ibn Ibrauhium al-Aubiliu (1282/3-1356), whom he considered the most proficient of his contemporaries in the philosophic disciplines. His studies with Aubiliu extended over five years, from 1347 to 1352. They began with mathematics and logic and then branched out to include various other philosophic disciplines. Aubiliu introduced him to the major works of Avicenna and Averroes and acquainted him with the more recent philosophic and theological writings of the heterodox Shruites in Eastern Islam. Ibn Khaldun’s early work (1351) provides direct evidence for his philosophic interest and ideas during this period. His other early philosophic works, including treatises on logic and mathematics and a number of paraphrases of Averroes’ works, have not been recovered as yet. IBN KHALDUN ACHIEVEMENT. During his previous life, he has received many achievements in his life. He is known as Father of Modern Social Science and Cultural History. He is also the founder of sosiological sciences. . At the early age, he manage to cope with different type of knowledge such as Qur’anic science, Arabic, Poetry, Traditions, Classical Education (Qur’an, Science, Arabic Language and Fiqh) which he recive certification to these subject. Then, he has involved in political career as he held a post at the court of Tunisia at the age of 20. After three years later, he has worked as a secretaryship to the Sultan of Morocco for about two years. He once given a ministerial positio n by Abu Salem. After that, at the chancellery of the Tunisian ruler, Ibn Takrakin, he hold the position of Katib al-‘alamah which is consisted of writing in fine calligraphy or introductory notes of official documents. After that, at Cairo, he became a noted professor, judge and sheikh or better known as manager of Baybars, the greatest sufi institution during that time. Then he become an ambassador of the Sultan of Granada to Pedro the Cruel, Cristian king of Castile in 1363. This showed how people trust him in everything. In addition, he used to be a teacher and magistrate at Ta’rif. Ibn khaldun has inspired many people. In studied, he is excelled in Arabic Literature, Phisiolophy, Mathematics and Astronomy. At the age of 19, he has wrote his first book, Lubabu I-Muhassal under the supervision of his teacher, al-abili in Tunis. Next, he also manage to wrote Mukaddimah or known as Prolegomena in Europe. He wrote Prolegomena At the Castle of Ibn Salama when he receive inspiration to wrote it during his retirement. He only takes five month to finish writing Mukaddimah. Mukaddimah has been evaluate and fully appreciate by Europe scholarship. Unfortunedly, his work doesn’t get more attention at Asian. His work on the book, Mukaddimah has been appreciated by the whole world and his book has been translated into various language around the world. For example, English and malay. His final work on autobiography, has been translated to English. His book also available at all nation. Ibn khaldun is a great thinker that gives inspired to many people in various way. (Faridah Hj Hassan, Universiti Teknologi Mara Malaysia) WHY HE IS A GREAT THINKER? Almost everybody agrees that Ibn Khaldun is a great thinker. There are many relevant reasons or factors that contribute to this statement. First, Ibn Khaldun starts his political career at the very young age, only at twenty years old. From this, it is obviously that this historian has a very high determination and self-confidence. Apart from this, he can also be considered as a great thinker for his well-known book, Al-Muqaddimah. This is amazingly because Al-Muqaddimah was written by Ibn Khaldun for a really short period,that is 3 years only. He wrote the prominent book when he was staying in a small village, Qalat Ibn Salamah in Algeria. This actually proved that Ibn Khaldun is really a brilliant man who is never wasting his precious time. Besides that, the great thinker Ibn Khaldun has observed and and studied carefully the situations of every community that he has lived with. According to Mahmoud Dhaouadi (1997), Ibn Khaldun has made a conclusion regarding types of people. He divided mankind into three groups. The first group belongs to the primitive good human nature (types I + II) of the Arab-Muslim Bedouins. The first group’s excessive materialism led to the weakness and disintegration of Al-Assabiya among the Arab-Muslim sedentaries. The second group belongs to the strong Assabiya among the Arab-Muslim Bedouins. Their excessive materialism led to the weakening of the religion of Islam among the sedentaries. Last but not least, Ibn Khaldun state that the third group belongs to the strong commitment to the Islamic faith by the earlier Arab-Muslim Bedouins. He also mentioned that the excessive materialism led to the spread of human nature type III among all social categories of the Arab-Muslim sedentary culture. Mohammad Abdullah Enan (1941) suggests that Ibn Khaldun is an undoubtedly great Muslim thinker. â€Å"He was the first man to study the social phenomena, to understand and explain the events of history, and to deduce from them social laws,in such a wonderful scientific manner. Tonybee and Lacost,among the few Western scholars familiar with Ibn Khaldun’s thought, claimed that Ibn Khaldun was truly a unique phenomenon in humankind’s long history of idea. Yet, Ibn Khaldun’s legacy in the science of society continues to be ignored by both professionals and students of contemporary social sciences. This paragraph will stress more on his ideas of eastern sociology. Ibn Khaldun’s social thought may be considered to be the only authentic intellectual sociohistorical knowledge about human society which the Third World possesses. Yves Lacoste’s evaluation of the Muqaddimah makes this point very clear. He affirms that Ibn Khaldun’s fluent and systematic approach to the study of history and human civilisations has no parallel in the history of social thought of other societies and civilisations pervious to his own time. This can be proof more by Arnold Toynbee’s laudatory assessment of the mature sociohistorical thought displayed in The Muqaddimah strongly concurs with that of Lacoste which mentioned Ibn Khaldun had conceived and ormulated a philosophy of history which is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that had ever yet been created by any mind in any time and place. In establishing his New Science of the social objective reality, principally through his positivist outlook of social phenomena, Ibn Khaldun appears to have remain strongly attached and influenced as well by his view of the internal â€Å"in there† human nature. Ibn Khaldun’s notion of human nature and its deterministic impact on his assumptions, conceptualizations and theories of societies and civilizations have been largely if not completely neglected by those who have studie Ibn Khaldun’s work. We hardly encountered a study which preoccupies itself seriously with the subject of human nature in Ibn Khaldun’s thinking. This is due to the prevailing positivist spirit of the author’s works, especially in his Muqaddimah . His concept of human nature and its implications on the individual’s behaviour and civilization’s destiny ought not to be discarded or neglected in any rigorous analysis of Ibn Khaldun’s works. No doubt that there are a number of references to human nature in the Muqaddimah. But the difficult task lies in identifying with precision specific categories referred to by the author. In reading Ibn Khaldun’s statements on Man’s nature, three types seem to emerge. a)Human nature as reflected in Al –Fitrah In Islamic thought, Al-Fitrah is either than human state devoid of bad traits and customs at birth or at worst it is that human state that predisposes human nature more toward virtues than vices. Ibn Khaldun’s use of Al-Fitrah concept is inspired by the Qur’an as well as by the Hadith. In these two basic Islamic sources, the notion of Al-Fitrah still appears to mean, also, a balanced human inclination that lives according to the laws of the natural divine order. As a conclude, the closer they remain to the primitive or innate state of human nature in terms of goodness the better they are. b)The dualistic human nature Ibn Khaldun’s second type of huma nature resembles, in its dynamics very much that of Al-Assabiyya. The latter is a conflicting set of historical moving forces which often clash with each other, thus creating a chain of conflicts and antagonisms. Viewed that way, Al-‘Assabiyya’s dynamics offer a compelling explaination to human history as an endless chain of exhaustion, rotation and evolution. Likewise, the author’s second view of human nature shows the conflicting nature of the human being’s make up. The roots of the conflicts are the result of the dualistic constituting component of human nature itself. Human nature has equal inclinations toward doing good and evil. With this even emphasis on the weight of good and evil elements ,the Qur’anic perspective appears to give human nature a fundamental dialectical characteristic. c)The aggresive human nature Ibn Khaldun had bluntly stated that the roots of human aggression as well as injustice are to be found in the animalistic side of human nature. Like some contemporary ethologists and psychologists studying Man and animal’s behaviour, the author of the Muqaddimah considers aggression as a fundamental inborn feature whose infrastructure is widely observed among all living beings including Man. Ibn Khaldun’s observations and experiences enabled him to unveil other complex forms which human aggression could take. He had noticed injustice committed by humans, not because their physical survival was at stake, but rather it appeared to be the result of a sort of human readiness to do injustice to others in the Hobbesian sense of the term. On the contrary, Ibn Khaldun considers them to be fundamentally destructive and disruptive to Man’s advancement collectively as well as individually. In looking at these three form of Man’s humannature, one can assert that there is unambiguous Qur’anic or Islamic influence on the author’s thinking concerning Man’s nature. The first type (Al-Fitrah state) and the second one the dualistic nature) are drawn from the Islamic outlook on the range of human nature as expressed especially in the Muslim Holy Book. These two categories depict Man’s nature at its very natural state either as good more and less or neutral towards good or bad doing. In both cases Man’s nature is overwhelmingly dialectical. However the third type of the Human Nature is strikingly an ugly one, Man falls nto this state when he becomes dominated by his animalistic or known as materialistic desires. I n the luxurious sedentary milieu, Man is transformed from a human being to an animal. With this taking place, the undermining of Islamic as well as natural values becomes a fait accompli. It is hardly an exaggeration to state that the studies which has dealt, both in the Arab world and outside of if ,bwith Ibn Khaldun’s remarkably distinct achievement in social thought have, in general, extended to explain the Khaldunian phenomenon by social variables and not by the personality traits of the author of the Muqaddimah. In other words, creative and innovative thought is seen here as the result of the imperative of the laws of stringent social determinism. The consequences of this kind of perspective has ultimately led to a general disinterest in the study of the role of Ibn Khaldun’s personality traits that might have contributed to the unfolding of his pioneering social thought . In light especially of modern psychology’s insights and finding about the role of human personality traits in triggering and promoting the spirit of creativity and innovation among certain individuals of the general population, it is hardly acceptable to seek an objective assessment of human creativity and innovation without seriously taking into account the entire profile of the creative person innovator’s personality in its own right.

Hypocrisy and Vanity in Joseph Andrews Essay

In his novel, Joseph Andrews, Henry Fielding uses various type characters to create a satire on the vices of men, finding that, â€Å"The only source of the true Ridiculous†¦is affectation,† which â€Å"proceeds from one of these two causes, vanity or hypocrisy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Fielding 10). These two chief vices reveal themselves through the words, actions, and lifestyles of several of Fielding’s characters, some in more harmless forms than others, and often coming hand in hand. A shining example of hypocrisy is displayed while Mr. Adams is travelling with a gentleman who gives a bold discourse on courage and â€Å"the infamy of not being ready at all times to sacrifice our lives to our country.† During his lecture, the screams of a woman are heard, and Mr. Adams reaches for a weapon to assist. The gentleman is shocked and, trembling, says, â€Å"This is no business of ours; let us make as much haste as possible out of the way, or we may fall into their hands ourselves† (115). As Adams dashes off to the woman’s aid, the â€Å"man of courage† escapes to his own home, â€Å"without once looking behind him,† where the author leaves him to â€Å"contemplate his own bravery, and to censure the want of it in others† (115). However, Mr. Adams is not himself altogether virtuous, and, although perhaps more harmless, demonstrates a revealing combination of vanity and hypocrisy. Adams is frequently found making a vain display of his learning and evaluating the quality of others’ educations, often speaking in Latin and chastising others for not behaving according to the Scriptures. He makes himself ridiculous with his high opinion of his accomplishments. When the character Wilson relates his life’s tale, Adams searches for a sermon he wrote on the subject of vanity, declaring it so admirable that he would walk five miles to fetch it. He claims he had â€Å"never been a greater enemy to any passion than that silly one of vanity (181),† thus exposing his own hypocritical tendency for vanity. Fielding also makes an intentional display of vanity by inserting a story within the story: â€Å"The History of Leonora.† Leonora is a beautiful young lady, heir to a fortune, with a â€Å"greedy appetite of vanity, with the preference which was given her by the men to almost every other woman†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (84). Not long after Leonora has settled on a suitor to marry than her love is tested by the appearance of a fine stranger arriving in a â€Å"dear coach and six.† She ultimately concedes to his enticing riches, denying her former lover, but her father refuses to pass on his fortune while he lives, and her new lover leaves. Thus the vanity of Leonora leaves her alone as the miserable subject of ridicule. One hypocritical character who enters, perhaps solely for the purpose of his ironic behavior, is the Roman Catholic priest encountered by Mr. Adams at an inn. The gentleman gives a lecture on the value of riches, saying, â€Å"Do not riches bring us solicitude instead of rest, envy instead of affectation, and danger instead of safety?† (214). But, no sooner has he finished his speech on the evils of riches, than he asks Adams for a loan to pay for his lodgings, and subsequently asks the host to pay his debt later. The host points out the hypocrisy, saying, â€Å"I thought by his talking so much about riches, that he had a hundred pounds a least in his pocket† (216). But the scene is not complete without Adams adding his own hypocrisy; he chides the host for his suspicions and then retires to bed without a thought as to how he will pay his own debt. Through these instances and many others, Fielding purposefully and humorously exemplifies the vices of vanity and hypocrisy. His ridiculous, flawed characters, their actions and lifestyles, and even the stories they tell are ripe with patterns of these traits, to the point of absurdity. But it is the painfully ridiculous that Fielding uses to bring hypocrisy and vanity to the reader’s attention and show what vices they truly are.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Prohibition

Issue #10 Was prohibition a failure? In 1919, the Volstead Act outlawed alcoholic beverages with an alcoholic content over 0. 5 percent. This topic is debated in the book, Taking Sides; there are two opposing sides to the question, â€Å"was prohibition a failure? † David E. Kyvig argues that the Volstead act did not specifically prohibit the use or consumption of alcohol beverages and that liquor was still being provided by gangland bootleggers to provide alcohol to the demands of the consumers.Regardless of the efforts to enforce the law the federal government failed to create an acceptable institutional network that insured the obedience of the people. Even though the consumption of alcohol did drop significantly during the 1920s, the legislation failed to eliminate drinking. On the other hand, J. C. Burnham argues that the enforcement of the prohibition laws were effective in certain areas. The enactment of the prohibition laws led to several positive social significances. For example, during the 1920s, there were fewer people arrested for public drunkenness and fewer people being treated for alcohol related diseases. He concludes that the prohibition was more of a success than a failure. Prohibition led to the first and the only time an Amendment of United States Constitution was repealed more than once. Personally, I think that the Volstead Act of 1919 was a failure and the prohibition laws gave rise to speakeasies and organized crime. David E. Kyvig states that the prohibition was a failure.When the Volstead Act was passed not every American felt obligated to stop drinking alcohol. The consumers were being supplied at first in small amounts but as time progressed they were being supplied in excess amounts of alcoholic beverages. The Volstead Act banned manufacturing of â€Å"intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes† but it did not state that they could not transport, sale, import, or export intoxicating liquors, thus making it legal to pur chase or use and it was not a crime to do so. It allowed people to continue to possess intoxicant beverages prior to prohibition.The act outlawed all beverages with alcoholic contents over the set amount of 0. 5 percent. People in many different parts of the United States voluntarily obeyed the Eighteenth Amendment; citizens elsewhere deliberately chose to ignore it. These kinds of violations seemed to significantly grow in small towns as well as large cities. National prohibition quickly gained an image, not as a law which significantly reduced the use of alcoholic beverages, but relatively as a law that was broadly disobeyed by many.As alcohol became more in demand it created an opportunity for bootleggers to make money off of supplying to the demands made by the people. Crime rates escalated greatly as well as violent outbreaks between those competing for territory. In the 1920s the prisons contained a little over 5,000 inmates, after ten years the number of inmates in prisons co ntained over 12,000, more than 4,000 of those inmates were incarcerated for liquor violations. The court systems were so overwhelmed by the national prohibition and were overworked with all the trials they had.Prohibition may have reduced the consumption of alcohol in the United States, the law fell substantially short of all expectations it had. J. C. Burnham counter argues that Prohibition was quite effective in many places. He goes on to say that prohibition began well before 1920, in addition to the local wide spread of the local prohibition laws, federal laws greatly restricted the production and sale of alcoholic beverages mostly in the beginning in 1917.Manufactures of distilled spirits beverages as an example, had been forbidden for more than three months when the congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment. The Eighteenth Amendment was created to prohibit the manufacturing, selling, importing, or transporting of â€Å"intoxicating liquors†. It was designed to kill all t he liquor businesses and the saloons in particular. The Amendment did not prohibit people from possessing or drinking alcohol. Burnham reinforces his position by stating that the prohibition had a positive impact on society.The prohibition cased a decrease of arrests for public drunkenness, fewer hospitalizations for alcoholism and less incidences of other alcohol related disease, like cirrhosis of the liver from 1918 to 1920-1922. The most substantial evidence that prohibition did not fail was in the mental hospital admission rates. People who had to deal with alcohol related mental diseases were impressed with the recent reviewing of New York state hospitals mental hospital admissions rate was only 1. 9 percent for 1920. With the topic question, Was prohibition a failure? David E.Kyvig made a clear, well defined and easy to understand argument compared to J. C. Burnham. Burnham’s argument was difficult to understand where he stood in his argument. He would say a few reasons how prohibition failed in on aspect but then he would give on reason why it did not. It was hard to keep track when he was defending the side he was on. Kyvig, on the other hand made it very clear how prohibition failed in certain aspects and he explained exactly how it failed. He gave specific reasons as to why people would ignore and break the law to get their alcohol.He explains the negative effects the prohibition had on society. How prohibition created an opportunity for bootleggers to make money by supply what the people were demanding. He clarifies how crime rates went up as well as how violence broke out due to bootleggers fighting for territory. David E. Kyvig gave a more in depth explanation than J. C. Burnham; he was able to support his claims and had provided clear and precise answers. He gave you statistics to prove what he was stating. With all the evidence that he was able present he persuaded me into believing that in reality prohibition did fail.The question is, wa s prohibition a failure? I must agree with Kyvig, prohibition did in fact fail in many ways. The prohibition law was not favored by many people and that was proven by the high crime rates, the high amount of court hearings relating to violations of the prohibition law, and the failure of Congress to provide enough enforcement. Even when the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act were passed people never stopped drinking. Physicians were able to legally prescribe alcohol to their patients, 57,000 pharmacists obtained licenses to dispense liquor.As the law enforcements began cracking down on the consumption of alchol it opened a door for bootleggers to come into business and make money off of those who demanded alcohol. Bootleggers like Al Capone became very successful in his dispensing of alcohol. He says that prohibition was just a business to him and he supplied what was being demanded. Violence became evident as more bootleggers began compete with other groups for territory. As these fights over territories became more and more prominent, many people were being killed due to the rival gangs. However I do believe that there were some ood out comes from prohibition. There were fewer drunkards out in public, less alcohol incidents and hospitalization due to alcoholism. I think the prohibition laws could have worked if there weren’t so many loop holes for people to get away with things. So all in all, both sides of this topic had very good, valid point. David E. Kyvig proves that the prohibition law failed. He does acknowledge that the consumption rate of alcohol has decreased but that it was inevitable to stop everyone from drinking alcohol ever. So really this was a noble experiment but evidently failed.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Chinas Challenge to US Hegemony Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chinas Challenge to US Hegemony - Essay Example This strategy continues to be implemented, whereas the US is focusing on war against terrorism. China has gained a lot of fame globally; this has come as a surprise to the US, which has now started strategizing on how to counter China’s growth and influence. This paper is going to provide more evidence that shows the challenge that has been imposed on the US as a result of Chinese empowerment. The United States has been predominant over other nations for many decades; nations have found it almost inevitable to surpass this enigmatic nation. Nations have risen, while others have fallen apart, but the United States (US) has remained to be a superpower. However, this may not last any longer, because an Asian country by the name China has risen and given the rate at which it is growing, it’s enough to state that the US is under threat. It will be by no surprise that it will soon be surpassed. The US and China have been two closely related nations with economic interdependence and prevalence of democracy in the two nations. However, with the rise of China, there has grown a conflict of interest and ideological differences. This has led to the beginning of competition for supremacy between the two nations. Within the shortest period of time, China has created a large market for many nations, cutting across several continents including Africa and Asia. On the other hand, the US market has declined at a terrific speed. The rise of china has shifted concern by other nations from the US to China. The evidence to this is quite clear; in most countries of Asia, programs and national foreign policies are created while considering the position of china and how it may react to this (Freeman, Lardy & Mitchell, 2009). This increasing recognition of China by the rest of the world has left the US raising its eye brows, wondering what to do to curb China’s rising supremacy. China’s diplomatic tool, the â€Å"space program† has greatly helped China in promoting its

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Bioterrorism Emergency Preparedness for Hospitals Research Paper

Bioterrorism Emergency Preparedness for Hospitals - Research Paper Example The choice of this mode of terrorism can be advocated the fact that the agents are not easily detected and in most cases, the symptoms are not seen until after several hours or days. Given the nature of bioterrorism and its effect to the public, there is a need for hospitals to come up with a measure that would make sure that they are ready for them at any time. In the United States of America, the agents that are perceived to pose potential to the health and safety of the general population are referred to as select agents. For the hospitals to promptly respond to bioterrorism whenever there take place there need to be proper planning on the things that should be done to either avoid the occurrence or respond to the occurrences. Most biological defense strategies were meant to protect people in the army and not the general population. However, it has been observed in the recent past that there is a need for there to be measures taken by hospitals to make sure that they are always pr epared for disasters that might arise from bioterrorism that might affect the general population in large masses. They need to be prepared for the occurrence of bioterrorism is enhanced by the ease of obtaining a bioterrorism agent. At the moment there is a need for there to be a detection system that will enable the healthcare sector to be able to detect such occurrences before they are spread to large masses. However, since the development of such a system cannot be said to have been successful, it is important for hospitals and the healthcare sector, in general, to make sure that they have in place some preparation for the occurrence of such calamities. One thing that hospitals should make sure that they do is training their personnel on how to handle the affected masses during the bioterrorism attacks.  

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Media News Versus You Tube Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Media News Versus You Tube - Essay Example The images posted on this site by the soldiers have made most Americans believe that the war on Iraq was not worth the loss of US lives. They need a full picture of Iraq to see what the gain is for that loss of life but the restrictions on media coverage do not allow this. The news media has been around for a very long time whereas, YouTube, the popular free video hosting website founded in February 2005, began its humble beginnings in a garage and offered the public a preview of the site in May 2005. And just six months later, YouTube made its official debut. Although this is an extremely large and popular site, it has met with much criticism. Videos filmed by amateur first gained popularity during the terrorist attacks on London subways and buses last summer, when traditional news organizations as well as informal websites utilized the photos and images supplied by witnesses. Now it is estimated that 100 million clips are viewed on YouTube daily and 65,000 videos uploaded every 24 hours. According to Nielsen/Netratings, the site has almost 20 million visitors each month, out of which around 44% are female, 56% male, while the most dominant age group is 12-17. Websites like YouTube, true to its motto, "broadcast yourself" allows people referring to them as "citizen journalists" to upload their own videos on an infinite array of subjects and has enabled anyone with a video camera or cell phone, live action films or written reports on news events. In relation to the Iraq war, the streamline media gives optimism to the viewers and shows the brighter side of the war, while the stories told by American soldiers in their homemade videos uploaded on this website, present a different picture. Beyond the philosophical dimensions of the global television communications, it is a close-up medium which readily involves emotions and is most effective in revealing the plights of the people. But troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are hearing the message that they should carefully consider before they upload any videos on the website. As opposed to controlled media, YouTube has given access to the citizen journalists to provide first hand accounts of major events even though they are less journalism than the raw material generated by amateurs, which a skilled and trained journalist should know how to weigh, analyze, describe and explain. Therefore, one cannot deny the fact that to treat an amateur as equally credible as a professional, would be to erode the line between raw material and finished product. Many people believe that editorial gate keeping is a form of censorship if not mind control, and the explosion of the internet; giving the notion that 'information wants to be free' has made traditional journalism a ready target. To its proponents, citizen journalism represents a democratization of media and a shattering power of the unelected elite as it not only challenges the notion of journalism in journalism, but completely circumvents it. But there are people who are of the view that however wrapped in idealism, citizen journalism forms part of a larger attempt to degrade, even to disenfranchise journalism as practiced by trained professionals. However, there is no question that the soldier behind the

Friday, July 26, 2019

Computer Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Computer Security - Essay Example To understand the corporate motivations of the creative industry players to invest fully into DRM we must look at the implications of these technical protective measures. With the growing and wide spread advent of new digital video recording, distribution technologies, and the widespread availability of internet piracy measures of technology having a direct impact on the distribution channels and sales of these industries the critical concern faced by these corporations is the fact that they cannot compete with freely available copies of their content. The movie studios are particularly effected as competing with free is concerning for them mainly because their content is more prone to single use consumption than the other industries such as music. A range of industry wide efforts have been undertaken that have build up to the adoption of DRM. Such as Serial Management System for digital audio tape that was authorized by the Congress which aimed to make difficult the task of making f aithful copies of copies; a measure that was made obsolete after the proliferation of other digital mediums.

Voluntary Disclosures and Accounting Theories Essay

Voluntary Disclosures and Accounting Theories - Essay Example Accounting principles are based upon some principles and one of the important principles of accounting is full disclosure principle. As per the full disclosure principles the companies must disclose all the relevant information about the company like the financial statements, accounting policies followed, additional information etc. Apart from the various mandatory disclosures many companies discloses many voluntary information like sustainability report, cost of training employees etc. All these activities add value to the organisation and thus are important for the stakeholders to take an informed investment decision. Voluntary disclosures and accounting theories The concept of voluntary disclosers originates from a variety of accounting theories. Therefore the relevant accounting theories have been studied in order to understand the need of voluntary disclosure of information. The need of voluntary disclosure originated from the two basic theories namely normative theory and posit ive theory. Normative theories: The basic premise behind the normative accounting theories is the subjective opinion which tells one what is good and what should be done. This is an opinion based theory which is based on the standards. This theory is aimed at helping the accountants to decide on the things which should be done and the making them aware on the various aspects which can be used to compensating and rectifying any error which is not suitable as per their judgement (Banerjee, 2010, p.1223). The two disclosures which are normally done as per this theory are the disclosure of the intangibles and the disclosers regarding the corporate social responsibilities. As it has been discussed that the normative theory states that accountants should judge between the acts which should be done therefore the disclosers regarding the corporate social responsibilities is a way of informing the stakeholders that the matters which are opinion based have been taken care off. The normative t heories are based on certain assumptions which set up standard for doing an activity and it is assumed that the organisation will perform that activity is that way only. As per the concept of normative theory the organisation should have some unique way of recording and treating a transaction or performing any activity and that activity should be done as per the laid down standard. The accounting policies are based on these theories but to some extent all the assumption and every aspect of the normative theory is not followed by the organisation like the organisation do not follow a unique and single set of policy to records its assets for indefinite point of time. Like IAS 38 prescribes the rules and methods which have to be followed while recognising and measuring the intangibles assets (Deloitte, 2011). Positive theories: The positive theories are very different from that of the normative theory. Some of the important positive theories are positive accounting theory, legitimacy t heory, stakeholder theory and institutional theory. The basic premise of the positive accounting theory is explaining and predicting the accounting practices which can be actually followed by the accountants. Thus the nature of positive accounting theory is descriptive rather than subjective. The normative view of accounting is opinion based which tell what the accountants should do rather than predicting what actually can be done.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Inflation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Inflation - Essay Example increasing reliability on the use of technology to estimate future plans, widespread awareness of the economic decision making processes, readily available literature on risk management in business and much advanced, organized and computerized methodologies to ensure solid business-monitoring, projects today are incurring heavy financial losses. And the situation is same throughout the world. If we draw an analysis of the trends of the past and present, it would apparently seem that the modern-world businessmen are far immature and less educated in business as compared to so called â€Å"experts† of the past. It appears that development in the science and technology has generated an awareness that has adversely affected the practical world. Things are happening in an unexpected way. This proves that something bigger, not much considered / studied, is controlling business in the international scenario, and that is â€Å"inflation†. Inflation is majorly responsible for th e jammed projects, lessened GDPs, suppressed business, increased loans and this has resulted in aggravating poverty, famine and various other evils in the educationally rich and knowledgeable societies of the modern world. It is the byproduct of inflation that we see people possessing bigger sums than what their forefathers had possessed in their times, still modern-age people are poorer than their forefathers. Inflation as the name suggests, means to expand in volume and decrease in density / value, just like a balloon would expand when air is pumped in it. Apparently it seems bigger when inflated than the size it had been originally, but it becomes light enough to float in the air as compared to the uninflated balloon-material. Likewise, money has increased in amount manifolds, yet it has lost its worth. In other words, the â€Å"purchasing power† of money is lost. According to Park (2007), p-544, inflation means a rise in the price of an object with the passage of time or in other words the amount

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

A student should participate in study groups Essay

A student should participate in study groups - Essay Example For example, if two students, both equally intelligent and capable, completely complement each other’s skills in a physics course, then it is only logical that they work together in order to learn from the other’s experiences and abilities. Study groups, like a group in the workplace, seek to fulfill the goals of each member to the extent that each member’s objectives are aligned with the other members of the group. Usually, it is the case that members of a study group are interested in achieving a better grade, and this desire is what unites the individuals in their efforts to help others and in turn help themselves. Students should participate in study groups because such groups offer knowledge, experience, and skills that individuals alone could not realize. Study groups have been shown to be successful, particularly in fields where knowledge is particularly specialized, such as in more in-depth fields like physics, chemistry, and computer science. Research ha s demonstrated that students retain more information by devoting time to hands-on laboratory work and with faculty. In addition, study groups are helpful to students insofar as they encourage individuals to become active learners and to become better collaborators with peers (Guo 190). As such, study groups tend to produce higher results on academic performance than individual work. In a study of perceptions of academic support services by engineering students, researchers Charlotte Amenkhienan and Lori Kogan observed that students thought that study groups were invaluable. Individuals thought the chance to describe course material to others assisted in a clearer understanding of the notes. Moreover, in order to add more to the group talks, members of study groups retained an incentive to finish work in a suitable manner. Students who had trouble in their classes found it difficult to identify fellow students with whom to make study groups. This was described as a limitation to fres hman year academic performance. As the authors wrote, â€Å"Their inability to establish contacts with fellow students precluded their ability to take advantage of valuable peer networking and study group opportunities† (Amenkhienan and Kogan 536). In other words, the study groups were instrumental to some students’ success, while the inability to actually participate in them in other cases was a burden on their academic performance. This corroborates findings from other research that study groups are an asset to students of specialized fields. In one case of study group effectiveness for students, a pre-medicine undergraduate student named John decided that he should form a study group with other pre-medicine students because he had trouble with mathematics. Sure enough, John was able to put together a study group of pre-medicine students, some of whom were strong in mathematics, others in physics, others in chemistry, and others in biology. John was able to leverage his strength in biology to help a fellow member of the study group, Kevin, who was especially strong in mathematics. Together, the students could work collaboratively while doing well in their courses. This specialization of skills within the study group provides for personal improvement that one would not have access to outside of the group. If John had continued without participating in a group, his academic success would be

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

How Dangerous Nuclear Reactors Are Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How Dangerous Nuclear Reactors Are - Essay Example The most important thing is to have a thorough understanding of exactly what happens inside of a nuclear reactor. The kind of physical process that occurs within a nuclear reactor is called nuclear fission, and it is one of two common forms of nuclear reaction. The other is called nuclear fusion, and that is what is used in most modern atomic bombs, and won’t be discussed extensively here. Each kind of reaction revolves around changing a single atom – fission is the splitting of one atom into two, whereas fusion is the combining of two atoms into a new one. Every atom is made of three parts: neutrons, protons, and electrons. Each of these has a charge – protons are positively charged, and attract negatively charged electrons. Neutrons have no charge. Neutrons are naturally occurring parts of atoms that exist in every element – usually, there are just as many neutrons as there are protons in any given element. They are very heavy and give most elements about half of their total weight. If you look at your body in terms of atomic weight, about half of it would be made of neutrons. The three parts of atoms, protons, electrons, and neutrons, exist in a balance of atoms that make up the things that we see around us. They exist in a balance because whenever they become unbalanced, they break down or recombine in a more balanced form. Think of a coin standing on its edge – in small change will cause it to fall so that one of the two sides is flat against the ground, but once it falls it won’t move or change as easily as it originally did. Atoms are like this – they are in a stable situation because if they weren’t, they couldn’t last very long. Changing one of the elements, either protons, neutrons or electrons, however, creates an unbalanced atom that wants to change to become balanced again.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Music Appreciation Unit review Essay Example for Free

Music Appreciation Unit review Essay Review Questions: 1) Popular music is any music since industrialization in the mid-1800s that meet middle class expectations. Popular contains all different types of music and Pop music is just simply a type of music included in popular music. It’s kind of like saying all Maple trees are trees but not all trees are Maple trees! 2) Themes such as love and relationships are used to create much of the pop music lyrics. A song that uses this theme would be Tina Turner’s song â€Å"What’s love got to do with it†, in which Turner describes love as being nothing more than a heart break. It was a popular theme because many people could relate it to their lives and their situation. 3) Disco had â€Å"soaring† vocals and a beat that made you want to dance- Rhythm often emphasized. It didn’t play a tempo to fast nor slow (between 100-130 bpm) and was made in the 1970’s. 4) The British Invasion is when British boy bands and their music started to become very popular in the United States of America. The Beatles were a large impact in this movement. They mixed many different kinds of music together which then caused others to do as well. The Beatles also sang about social issues while still incorporating catchy lyrics and rhythm. 5) A boy band usually consist of 3-6 younger male singers and they rarely use instruments. They also perform highly choreographed dance routines. And they all have their classifications ________________________________________ Critical Thinking Questions: 1) Yes I believe music is still used as a form of protest. There are still many songs where the sole purpose of lyrical is to protest some social issue. For example the band Nickelback sings many songs about coming together to help everyone. Like in their song â€Å"When We Stand Together†, a lyric that pops out is â€Å"when we could feed a starving world with what we  throw away. But all we serve are empty words that always taste the same.† While many of us know that there less fortunate people out in the world fighting to feed themselves, some take for granted that they have dinner every night. And Nickelback tried to write this song that confronted the issue that we all have to look out for one another. And there are plenty of other bands/singers that confront social and political issues. 2) Yes I believe music has become really commercialized today. Many artists are just singing for the money. Or there are some that just want to do it in order to be popular and gain their five seconds of fame. You can see this in their attitudes- caring more about the outfit they’re wearing or the car they get to show off instead of setting time aside to actually interact with their fans.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Nigerias Development

Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Nigerias Development Chapter One 1.1 Introduction The drying up in the early 1980’s of commercial bank lending to developing economies made most countries eased restriction on foreign direct investment (FDI) and many aggressively offered tax incentives and subsidies to attract foreign capital (Aitken  and Harrison, 1999). Private capital flow to emerging market economies reached almost $200 billion in 2000. This is almost four times larger than the peak commercial bank lending years of the 1970’s and early 80’s. FDI now accounts for over sixty percent of private capital flow (Levine and  Carkovic, 2002). However, while the explosion of FDI flow remains unmistakable, the growth effect remains unclear. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been a topic high on the policy agenda in emerging markets. This is due to the contributions FDI make to a country’s external financing and economic growth. The extent of regulation of FDI and other form of capital flow are also issues policymakers take a stand on and economic research has devoted a large effort to these issues. The experience of small number of fast-growing East Asian newly industrialized economies (NIEs), and recently china, has strengthened the belief that attracting FDI is needed to bridging the resource gap of low-income countries and avoiding further build-up of debt while directly tackling the cause of poverty (UNCTAD, 2005). Even though the Asian crisis sounded a cautionary note to premature financial liberalization the call for more accelerated pace of opening up FDI have intensified on the assumption that this will bring not only more stable capital inflow but also greater technological know-how, higher paying jobs, entrepreneurial and workplace skills and new export opportunities (Prasad  et  al., 2003). The increased importance of FDI has brought about international relationships, trade and policies materializing into export and imports between nations. This in turn results financial rewards to host countries. Policy makers across the region of Africa have hoped that attracting FDI with the bait of high tariff protection and generous incentives packages would provide the catalyst for a â€Å"late industrialization† drive (Thandika, 2001). The debt crises in the early 80’s and policies introduced by several countries in Africa also witnessed increased FDI as necessary for economic development. The pursuit of responsible macroeconomic policies combined with an accelerating pace of liberalization, deregulation and above all privatization were expected to attract FDI to Africa (WorldBank, 1997).  However, the record of the past two decades with respect to reducing poverty and attracting FDI as a result of policy changes has been disappointing at best (Ayanwale, 2007). The importance of FDI varies across different sector in the recipient countries. However, in all major country groups, the extractive sector accounts for a significant share of inflow of FDI: for example, Australia, Canada and Norway among developed countries; Botswana, Nigeria and South Africa in Africa; Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela in Latin America and the Caribbean; and Kazakhstan in South-East Europe and the  CIS  (UNCTAD, 2006a). The important of this sector is due to the fact that oil and gas are crucial to the contemporary global economy and their prices are key components of economic forecasts and performance. Crude oil and refined petroleum products constitute the largest single item in international trade, whether measured by volume or value (Steven, 2005). Thus, oil and gas are strategic resources in national, regional and global economies. Despite this significant and strategic influence, empirical evidence suggests that oil and gas abundant economies are among the least growing economies (Sachs and Warner, 1997,  Gelb, 1988, Stevens, 1991, Steven, 2005). This phenomenon is often conceived within the prisms of the â€Å"resource curse† and â€Å"Dutch disease†. Both of which are manifestations of inefficient utilization of resources rather than the inevitable outcome of the availability of oil and gas resources.  The impact of FDI on economic growth of recipient country has been one of varying opinions among authors. A huge literature exists concerning different effects of foreign investment on economic development in a recipient economy. Currently FDI sustains the most dynamic development in the world economy in comparison with other forms of foreign financing (De Gregorio, 1992). Most theoretical and empirical findings (see chapter 3) imply that FDI has a strong positive growth impact on the recipient economy. Within the African context, the Nigerian economy is a unique case, not because it is a developing economy and is quite large, but because during last 15 years the country has not managed to attract significant amounts of FDI (Asiedu, 2002). Typically investment risks are so high in Nigeria that only high profits in export oriented extractive industries (e.g. fuel industry) have attracted much foreign direct investment. This sector exerts a prominent influence on the economy as a key revenue earner. While oil and gas resources have very high revenue yields due to increasing international demand the question of aggregate FDI impact on economic growth remains an open question. This paper attempts to find some answers.   Over the last decade, the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Western and Southern Africa has become one of the most promising oil exploration areas in the world with a convergence of interest between African governments, multinational oil companies, international Financial Institutions  (Jerome  et  al., 2007). Nigeria falls among the six countries which have become key players in the world of energy stake. However, the economic record and lived experience of mineral-exporting countries has generally been disappointing. The World Bank classification of Highly Indebted Poor Countries include: twelve of the world 25 most mineral dependent states and six most oil dependent. When taken as a group, all â€Å"petroleum rich† less developed countries has witnessed erosion in their living standards and many rank bottom one-third of United Nations Human Development Index. In addition to poor growth records and entrenched poverty, they are also characterized by high level of corruption and a low prevalence of democratization  (Jerome  et  al., 2007).† 1.2 FDI Defined Various classifications have been made of foreign direct investment. For instance, FDI has been described by the Balance of Payment Manual 5th  edition (BPM5) as a category of international investment that reflects the objective of a resident in one economy (the direct Investor) obtaining a lasting interest of a resident in another economy (the direct investment enterprise). The lasting interest implies the existence of a long-term relationship between the direct investor and the direct investment enterprise and a significant degree of influence by the investor on the management of the enterprise. A direct investment relationship is established when the direct investor has acquired 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares or voting power of an enterprise abroad (IMF, 1993). This comprises not only the initial transaction establishing the FDI relationship between the direct investor and the direct investment enterprise but all subsequent capital transactions between them and among affiliated enterprises resident in different economies (Patterson  et  al., 2004). Once a firm undertakes FDI, it becomes a  multinational enterprise  (MNEs). Policymakers believe that foreign direct investment produces positive effects on host economies. Some of these benefits are in the form of  externalities  and the adoption of foreign technology which could be in the form of licensing, agreements, imitation, employee training and the introduction of new processes by the foreign firms (Alfaro  et  al., 2004). Multinational enterprises are said to diffuse technology and management know-how to domestic firms (Tang  et  al., 2008). FDI is conventionally used as a proxy to measure the extent and direction of  MNE  activities (Jones, 1996). Like any other business,  MNEs  have a major objective of maximizing profit and reducing costs. Hence,  MNEs  consider regions with higher returns on investment and enabling environment for business success. This is one of the reasons for more FDI in some places than others. Accordingly  MNE  will invest higher in regions that provide the best mix of the traditional FDI determinants (Berg, 2003). The motivation for investment by multinationals in certain countries much more than others  is discussed elaborately in chapter three 1.3. Background The involvement of  MNEs  (through FDI) in extractive industries has had a chequered history. In the early twentieth century, these industries accounted for the largest share of FDI, reflecting the international expansion of firms from the colonial powers. With a growing number of former colonies gaining independence after the Second World War, and the creation of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1960, the dominance of these  MNEs  s declined, as did the share of extractive industries in global FDI. From the mid-1970s, in particular, the share of oil, gas and metal mining in world FDI fell steadily as other sectors grew much faster. However, as a result of rising mineral prices, the share of extractive industries in global FDI has recently increased, although it is still much lower than those of services and manufacturing. It is therefore an opportune timeto revisit the impact of FDI into theextractive industries has on economic development. Measuring the effect of FDI on economic growth occupies a substantial body of economic literature. Many theoretical and empirical studies have identified several channels through which FDI may positively or negatively affect economic growth (Akinlo, 2003,  Mello, 1997). Not many studies have reported on the effects of FDI in Africa and most existing studies have concentrated on economies with high FDI in the manufacturing industries unlike economies with high FDI inflow in the extractive sector (as the case of Nigeria). Several factors suggest that the indirect benefits of FDI maybe less in extractive sector especially oil industries. Reasons given for this are that: firstly, the extractive sector (such as oil  sub-sector) is often an enclave sector with little linkages with the other sectors. Secondly, the knowledge and technology embedded in the sector is extremely capital intensive and so transfer of knowledge and technology maybe less. Also, the capital requirement and large economies of scale may not attract new entrants into the sector as in the manufacturing sector.  Furthermore, not all sector of the economy have the same potential to absorb foreign technology or create linkages with the rest of the economy (Hirschman, 1958).  Finally, sales in this sector are foreign market oriented and require fewer input of materials and intermediate goods from local suppliers. Hence will have less forward and backward linkages  (Akinlo, 2004). The  sensitivity of project to world commodity pric e also make it been view as a volatie sector (WorldBank, 2005) Given the pattern of foreign direct investment flow to Nigeria (mostly in oil and gas sector) and the angst-ridden as regards the benefits from the extractive FDI, it is apposite to examine empirically the situation in Nigeria. This constitutes the objective of this research. An analysis of this will be done for the period between 1980 and 2006 1.4  Overview of Foreign Direct Investment 1.5  Natural Resources and Economic Development Since the 1950’s, economists have been concerned that economies dominated by natural resources would somehow be disadvantaged in the drive for economic progress. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, this concern was based upon deteriorating terms of trade between the â€Å"centre† and â€Å"periphery† (Prebisch, 1964) coupled with concern over the limited economic linkages from primary product exports to the rest of the economy (Hirschman, 1958). In the 1970’s, it was driven by the impact of the oil shocks on the oil exporting countries (Wijnbergen  and Van, 1986,  Mabro  and Monroe, 1974). In the 1980’s, the phenomenon of â€Å"Dutch Disease† (the impact of an overvalued exchange rate on the non-resource traded sector) attracted attention (Corden, 1984). Finally in the 1990’s, it was the impact of revenues from oil, gas and mineral projects on government behaviour that dominated the discussion (Stevens, 1991,  Gelb, 1988). The common thread running through these concerns is that the development of natural resources should generate revenues to translate into economic growth and development. Thus the revenues accruing to the economies should provide capital in the form of foreign exchange overcoming what was seen as a key barrier to economic progress. This could be explained both in terms of common sense (more money means a better standard of life) and development theories the requirement for a â€Å"big-push† (Murphy  et  al., 1989), capital constraints (Lewis, 1955,  Rostow, 1960) and dual-gap analysis (Shibley  and  thirlwall, 1981). However, the reality appeared to be the reverse. Countries with abundant natural resources appeared to perform less well than their more poorly endowed neighbors. Thus the term â€Å"resource curse† began to enter the literature (Vanderlinde, 1994). More recently there has been a revival of interest in the phenomenon of â€Å"resource curse†. Furthermore, this has drawn the attention of a much wider audience than previously. Growing concern among a number of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) regarding the negative effects of oil, gas and mineral projects on developing countries has had several effects. It has forced the World Bank group to consider their role in such projects. This has culminated in the creation of â€Å"the Extractive Industry Review† based in Jakarta to consider whether the World Bank Group should, as a matter of principle, have any involvement with such projects. Disagreement within and between the World Bank and the IMF have further fuelled the debate over how such revenues should be managed.   NGO  concern has also encouraged the more responsible petroleum and mineral corporations to consider the impact of their investment in such projects on the countries concerned. However, in the literature that has focused on â€Å"resource curse†, there are references to countries that allegedly managed to avoid a â€Å"curse† and instead received a â€Å"blessing†. For example, even the report produced by  Oxfam  America (Ross, 2001) which is strongly negative towards such projects, states †¦ â€Å"There are exceptions: some states with large extractive industries – like Botswana, Chile and Malaysia – have overcome many of the obstacles †¦ and implemented sound pro-poor strategies†. There are similar references elsewhere to â€Å"success† stories – Botswana (Hope, 1998, Love, 1994), Chile (Schurman, 1996), Indonesia (Usui, 1996), Malaysia (Rasiah  and Shari, 2001), and Norway (Wright and  Czelutsa, 2002). Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with close to 132 million inhabitants. However, approximately 55% of the population lives on less than the value of one US dollar per day. The Nigerian economy depends heavily on the oil sector, which contributes 95% of export revenues, 76% of government revenues and about a third of gross domestic product. Before the establishment of democracy in 1999, the country was governed by military generals, under whose rule Nigeria’s economic performance had taken a beating for 15 consecutive years (Datamonitor, 2007). Nigeria has a dual economy with a modern segment dependent on oil earnings, overlaid by a traditional agricultural and trading economy. At independence in 1960 agriculture accounted for well over half of GDP, and was the main source of export earnings and public revenue. The oil sector, which emerged in the 1960s and was firmly established during the 1970s, is now of overwhelming importance to the point of over-dependence. Undoubtedly, Africa and indeed Nigeria is facing an economic crises situation featured by inadequate resources for long-term development, high poverty level, low capacity utilization, high level of unemployment and other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) increasingly becoming difficult to achieve by 2020. Foreign direct investment has assumed prominent place in her strategy as a way of boosting economic rival and growth. It is also seen by policy makers at all levels as a way of bridging the resource gap of the country and avoiding further debt build-up (UNCTAD, 2005). This has brought about several changes in policy and regulations in order to encourage foreign investor to invest in the country. Other measures include – the liberalization of the foreign investment regime to allow major foreign ownership, lifting foreign exchange controls and the privatization of Nigeria’s public enterprises. This research is aimed to take an in-depth analysis of the major private capital flow foreign direct investment to a growing economy; Nigeria. This investment trend will be narrowed down to the extractive sector and in particular the oil and gas sector with the aim of investigating how investment in this sector translate to economic growth. 1.6 Research Gap During the last decade, a number of interesting studies in the role of foreign direct investment in stimulating economic growth has appeared. Several authors have observed that the major reason for increased effort in attracting more FDI has been stemmed from the belief that FDI has several positive effects (Levine and  Carkovic, 2002, Caves, 1996). In contributing to the importance of FDI, it has also been shown that FDI is three times more efficient than domestic investment (De-Gregorio, 2003). Available evidence for developed countries seems to support the idea that productivity of domestic firms is positively related to the presence of foreign firms (Globerman, 1979). The result for developing countries are not clear, with some finding positive spillover (Blomstrom, 1986,  Kokko, 1994), and others reporting limited evidence (Aitken  et  al., 1997). Earlier studies on FDI showed that target countries receive very few benefits and in most cases negative effect on economic growth (Singer, 1950;  Prebisch, 1968;  Saltz, 1992;  Bos  et  al., 1974 cited in (Katerina  et  al., 2004). A positive  effect is only contingent on the ‘absorptive capacity’ of the host country  (Durham, 2004).  Many research have shown that FDI stimulates economic growth (Borensztein  et  al., 1998, Amy Jocelyn and  Kamal, 1999) as seen in china’s economic growth (Dees, 1998 cited in (Ayanwale, 2007) and Latin American countries (Mello, 1997) showing that inflow of capital brings about increase in investment level. FDI has also been shown to have both a positive and negative effect on economic development depending on the variables[1]  that are used along side the test equation  (UNCTAD, 1998; 1999). Its effect has also been more positively acclaimed in countries with higher institutional capabilities (Olofsdotter, 1998) and economically less advanced countries (like Philippines and Thailand) but negatively on more economically advanced countries like Japan and Taiwan (Bende-Nabende  and Ford, 1998). In essence, the impact FDI has on growth of any economy may be country an period specific and as such there is a need for country specific studies. Several studies have shown varying relationship between FDI and economic growth in Nigeria. For example,  Odozi  (1995)  study showed that Structural Adjustment Policies (SAP hereafter) of Nigeria contributed to the FDI-growth relationship. He revealed that macro-policies before SAP discouraged foreign investors.  Ogiogo  (1995) reported a negative contribution of public investment to GDP growth for the reason of distortion. However, positive linkage effect of FDI-growth relationship was shown by  Aluko  (1961). Private domestic investment was also shown by  Ariyo  (1998)  to contribute positively to raising GDP-growth rate for the period 1970-1995. Oyinlola  (1995) using  Chenery  and Stout’s two-gap model found a positive relationship between FDI and economic growth.  Ekpo  (1995) using time series data revealed that political regime, real income per  capita, inflation rate, credit rating and debt service were key factors explaining variability  in FDI into Nigeria. Using unrelated regression model, FDI was shown to be pro-consumption and pro-import hence showing a negative relationship to domestic investment (Adelegan, 2000 cited in  Ayanwale, 2007) and statistically insignificant effect was shown for FDI-growth (Akinlo, 2004). More recent findings by  Ayanwale  (2007) revealed that FDI contributes positively to Nigeria’s economic growth with the communication sector accounting for the highest potential to grow that economy. He also opined that FDI in the manufacturing sector has a negative relationship with economic growth suggesting that the business climate is not healthy enough for the manufacturing sector to thrive and contribute to positive growth. Crude oil discovery and exploration has been said to have both positive and negative effect on Nigeria. The negative side is seen in term of the environmental degradation, deprived means of livelihood and other economic and social factors experienced by surrounding communities where the oil wells are exploited while the positive side is viewed from the large proceeds from domestic sale and export of petroleum products. However, its effect on the growth of the Nigerian economy as regards returns and productivity is still questionable (Odularu, 2007). This review shows that the debate on the impact of FDI on economic growth is far from being conclusive. The role of FDI can be country specific and its relationship with growth can either be positive, negative or insignificant depending on the macroeconomic dispensation (economic,  institutional  and  technological  conditions) in the recipient country (Zhang, 2001). Even though none of these studies controlled for the fact that must of the FDI was concentrated in the extractive industry, they did not specifically investigate the relationship between oil-FDI and economic growth. This is the focus of this study. 1.7 Research Objectives and Questions Few research on FDI into Sub-Saharan Africa have shown empirical evidence of FDI and economic growth as ambiguous (Ayanwale, 2007). In theory FDI is believed to have several positive effects on the economy of host country (such as productivity gains, technology transfers, the introduction of new processes, managerial know-how and skills, employee training etc), promoting its growth and in general, a significant factor in modernizing the host country’s economy (Katerina  et  al., 2004). However, there is no clear understanding of its contribution to growth (Bora, 2002). This research was driven by the following questions: Has foreign direct investment into Nigerian oil and gas sector brought about economic development? What is the transmission mechanism through which FDI brings about growth 1.8 Methodology 1.9 Dissertation Outline The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Chapter Two: This chapter is the literature review and shall be discussed in three subsection. The first two sections shall seek to review the theories and motivation for Foreign direct investment and the third section deals with the theoretical and analytic review of literature on FDI Growth linkages. This shall seek to answer the question on the mechanism through which FDI result in economic growth. Chapter Three: This chapter discusses the case study Nigeria and reviews the contribution performance and challenges of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria. Also, the impact of this sector on economic growth is discussed. Chapter Four: The methodology and theoretical framework for the analysis is the objective of this chapter. This section discusses the research approach and data collection mode. The variables for analysis and the model for shall be derived. Chapter Five: Data Analysis of the result and findings shall be the aim of this chapter. Chapter Six: This chapter shall form the conclusion of the research and give a summary of the findings, suggestion for improving economic growth in Nigeria and recommendation for further study. Chapter Three Literature Review 3.0 Introduction Foreign direct investment is in general motivated by both â€Å"pull† and â€Å"push† factors. The push factors are external to developing countries and focuses majorly on growth and financial market conditions in industrial countries. On the other hand, the pull factors are dependent (on a lot of factors) domestic policies and characteristics of host countries. While the push factors determine the totality of available resources, the push factors determine its allocation between countries (Ajayi, 2004). The diversity of theoretical and empirical explanations for the impact and influence of FDI (and growth) is without doubt very rich. Many studies among others have emphasized conducive macroeconomic policy, increased liberalization of markets, large domestic markets, liberal trade regime, low labour cost, availability of natural resources, good infrastructure and investment in human capital (bring about an educative workforce) (Ajayi, 2003). This review therefore draws from many of these works with the particular aim of providing an understanding of the theoretical and empirical background, views and present thought on the relationship between FDI and economic growth. The discussion shall be presented in three sections. The first two sections shall discuss the theories and motivation for FDI and the third section involves theoretical and empirical review of the literature of FDI and economic growth from four perspectives: trade or export (openness), linkages and spillover effect, knowledge and technology transfer and human capital. 3.1 Theories of FDI FDI can take the form of a Greenfield investment in a new facility or an acquisition of or merger with an existing local firm. Majority of cross-border investment is in the form of merger and acquisition rather than Greenfield investments. According to estimates by United Nations, 40 to 80 percent of all FDI inflows between 1998 and 2005 were in the form of mergers and acquisition (Hill, 2009). However, FDI flows into developed nations are different from those of developing nations. For developing nations only about one- third of FDI is in the form of cross-border merger and acquisition. This may simply reflect the fact that there are fewer firms to acquire in developing nations (Hill, 2009). For the purpose of this research, I have concentrated on two theories of FDI which are relevant to the study. The first perspective explains why firms in the same industry often undertake FDI at the same time and why certain locations are favoured over others (i.e. the observed pattern of FDI). The second is known as the eclectic paradigm. This perspective is eclectic because it combines the best aspects of other theories into a single explanation. In proceeding with the discussion, we define some terms. When goods are produced at home and then shipped to the receiving country for sale, it is known as exporting. The process of granting a foreign entity (the licensee) rights to produce and sell the firm’s product in return for a royalty fee on every unit sold is known as Licensing. Foreign direct investment has been view as an expensive and risky venture compared to exporting and licensing. This is because firms bear the cost of establishing production facilities in a foreign country or acquiring a foreign enterprise and the risk of doing business in countries with different culture. In exporting, firms need not bear cost associated with FDI and risk can be reduced by the use of local sales agents. Similarly, under licensing, the licensee bears the cost and risks. However, it is worth noting in summary that firms will choose FDI over exporting as an entry strategy when transportation costs or trade barriers make exporting unattractive. Furthermore, firms will favor FDI over licensing (or franchising) when it wishes to maintain control of technological know-how or over its operations and business strategy or when firm’s capabilities are simply not amenable to licensing (Hill, 2009). 3.1.1 The Pattern of FDI 3.1.1.1 Strategic Behaviour The idea that FDI flow reflects strategic rivalry between firms in the global marketplace is the basis for one of the theories of FDI. In studying the relationship between FDI and rivalry in oligopolistic industries F. T. Knickerbocker proposed a variation to this argument. An oligopoly is an industry made up of a small number of large players (for example, an industry in which four firms control 80 percent of a domestic market). One key features of such market is the interdependence of major players: the action of one firm have immediate impact on the major competitors, forcing a response in kind. This interdependence leads to imitative behaviour; rivals are usually quick to imitate opponents in and oligopoly – â€Å"the bandwagon effect†. Imitative behaviour can take many forms in an oligopoly. Some good examples are price war and capacity increase. Rivals imitate lest they be left at a disadvantage in the future. F. T. Knickerbocker argued that the same kind of imitative behaviour characterizes FDI. Although Knickerbockers’ theory and its extensions can help to explain imitative FDI behaviour by firms in oligopolistic industry, it does not explain the choice and efficiency of FDI over exporting or licensing. This is explained by the internalization theory. 3.1.1.2 The Product Life Cycle Theory The product life cycle theory was proposed by Raymond Vernon in the mid-1960s and was based on the observation that for most of the 20th century, a very large proportion of the world’s new products had been developed by U.S. firms and sold first in the U.S. market (e.g. automobiles, photocopiers, televisions and semiconductor chips). Vernon opined that the wealth and size of the U.S. market gave U.S. firms a strong incentive to develop new consumer products and the high labour cost also gave firms in the U.S. an incentive to develop cost-saving process innovations. The theory went further to argue that early in the life cycle of a typical new product, while demand is starting to grow rapidly in the United States, demand in other advanced countries does not make it worth while for firms in those countries to start producing the new product, but it does necessitate some export from the United State to those countries. However, over time the demand for new product starts to grow in other advanced countries. As this happens, foreign producer begin to produce at home for their own market and growing demand causes U.S. firms to setup production facilities in those advanced countries. This limits the potential for export for the United States. Finally, at maturity product becomes standardized, cost consideration start to play a greater role in the competitive process and producer in advanced countries with lower labour cost than the U.S. might now begin to export to the United States. Under intense cost pressure, the cycle by which the United State lo st its advantage to other advanced countries might be repeated once more as developing countries begin to acquire a production advantage over advanced countries (Hill, 2009). The effect of these trends is that over time the United States switches form being an exporter of the product to an importer of the product as production becomes concentrated in lower-cost foreign locations. The product life cycle seems to be an accurate explanation of international trade patterns. However, the product l Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Nigerias Development Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Nigerias Development Chapter One 1.1 Introduction The drying up in the early 1980’s of commercial bank lending to developing economies made most countries eased restriction on foreign direct investment (FDI) and many aggressively offered tax incentives and subsidies to attract foreign capital (Aitken  and Harrison, 1999). Private capital flow to emerging market economies reached almost $200 billion in 2000. This is almost four times larger than the peak commercial bank lending years of the 1970’s and early 80’s. FDI now accounts for over sixty percent of private capital flow (Levine and  Carkovic, 2002). However, while the explosion of FDI flow remains unmistakable, the growth effect remains unclear. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been a topic high on the policy agenda in emerging markets. This is due to the contributions FDI make to a country’s external financing and economic growth. The extent of regulation of FDI and other form of capital flow are also issues policymakers take a stand on and economic research has devoted a large effort to these issues. The experience of small number of fast-growing East Asian newly industrialized economies (NIEs), and recently china, has strengthened the belief that attracting FDI is needed to bridging the resource gap of low-income countries and avoiding further build-up of debt while directly tackling the cause of poverty (UNCTAD, 2005). Even though the Asian crisis sounded a cautionary note to premature financial liberalization the call for more accelerated pace of opening up FDI have intensified on the assumption that this will bring not only more stable capital inflow but also greater technological know-how, higher paying jobs, entrepreneurial and workplace skills and new export opportunities (Prasad  et  al., 2003). The increased importance of FDI has brought about international relationships, trade and policies materializing into export and imports between nations. This in turn results financial rewards to host countries. Policy makers across the region of Africa have hoped that attracting FDI with the bait of high tariff protection and generous incentives packages would provide the catalyst for a â€Å"late industrialization† drive (Thandika, 2001). The debt crises in the early 80’s and policies introduced by several countries in Africa also witnessed increased FDI as necessary for economic development. The pursuit of responsible macroeconomic policies combined with an accelerating pace of liberalization, deregulation and above all privatization were expected to attract FDI to Africa (WorldBank, 1997).  However, the record of the past two decades with respect to reducing poverty and attracting FDI as a result of policy changes has been disappointing at best (Ayanwale, 2007). The importance of FDI varies across different sector in the recipient countries. However, in all major country groups, the extractive sector accounts for a significant share of inflow of FDI: for example, Australia, Canada and Norway among developed countries; Botswana, Nigeria and South Africa in Africa; Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela in Latin America and the Caribbean; and Kazakhstan in South-East Europe and the  CIS  (UNCTAD, 2006a). The important of this sector is due to the fact that oil and gas are crucial to the contemporary global economy and their prices are key components of economic forecasts and performance. Crude oil and refined petroleum products constitute the largest single item in international trade, whether measured by volume or value (Steven, 2005). Thus, oil and gas are strategic resources in national, regional and global economies. Despite this significant and strategic influence, empirical evidence suggests that oil and gas abundant economies are among the least growing economies (Sachs and Warner, 1997,  Gelb, 1988, Stevens, 1991, Steven, 2005). This phenomenon is often conceived within the prisms of the â€Å"resource curse† and â€Å"Dutch disease†. Both of which are manifestations of inefficient utilization of resources rather than the inevitable outcome of the availability of oil and gas resources.  The impact of FDI on economic growth of recipient country has been one of varying opinions among authors. A huge literature exists concerning different effects of foreign investment on economic development in a recipient economy. Currently FDI sustains the most dynamic development in the world economy in comparison with other forms of foreign financing (De Gregorio, 1992). Most theoretical and empirical findings (see chapter 3) imply that FDI has a strong positive growth impact on the recipient economy. Within the African context, the Nigerian economy is a unique case, not because it is a developing economy and is quite large, but because during last 15 years the country has not managed to attract significant amounts of FDI (Asiedu, 2002). Typically investment risks are so high in Nigeria that only high profits in export oriented extractive industries (e.g. fuel industry) have attracted much foreign direct investment. This sector exerts a prominent influence on the economy as a key revenue earner. While oil and gas resources have very high revenue yields due to increasing international demand the question of aggregate FDI impact on economic growth remains an open question. This paper attempts to find some answers.   Over the last decade, the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Western and Southern Africa has become one of the most promising oil exploration areas in the world with a convergence of interest between African governments, multinational oil companies, international Financial Institutions  (Jerome  et  al., 2007). Nigeria falls among the six countries which have become key players in the world of energy stake. However, the economic record and lived experience of mineral-exporting countries has generally been disappointing. The World Bank classification of Highly Indebted Poor Countries include: twelve of the world 25 most mineral dependent states and six most oil dependent. When taken as a group, all â€Å"petroleum rich† less developed countries has witnessed erosion in their living standards and many rank bottom one-third of United Nations Human Development Index. In addition to poor growth records and entrenched poverty, they are also characterized by high level of corruption and a low prevalence of democratization  (Jerome  et  al., 2007).† 1.2 FDI Defined Various classifications have been made of foreign direct investment. For instance, FDI has been described by the Balance of Payment Manual 5th  edition (BPM5) as a category of international investment that reflects the objective of a resident in one economy (the direct Investor) obtaining a lasting interest of a resident in another economy (the direct investment enterprise). The lasting interest implies the existence of a long-term relationship between the direct investor and the direct investment enterprise and a significant degree of influence by the investor on the management of the enterprise. A direct investment relationship is established when the direct investor has acquired 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares or voting power of an enterprise abroad (IMF, 1993). This comprises not only the initial transaction establishing the FDI relationship between the direct investor and the direct investment enterprise but all subsequent capital transactions between them and among affiliated enterprises resident in different economies (Patterson  et  al., 2004). Once a firm undertakes FDI, it becomes a  multinational enterprise  (MNEs). Policymakers believe that foreign direct investment produces positive effects on host economies. Some of these benefits are in the form of  externalities  and the adoption of foreign technology which could be in the form of licensing, agreements, imitation, employee training and the introduction of new processes by the foreign firms (Alfaro  et  al., 2004). Multinational enterprises are said to diffuse technology and management know-how to domestic firms (Tang  et  al., 2008). FDI is conventionally used as a proxy to measure the extent and direction of  MNE  activities (Jones, 1996). Like any other business,  MNEs  have a major objective of maximizing profit and reducing costs. Hence,  MNEs  consider regions with higher returns on investment and enabling environment for business success. This is one of the reasons for more FDI in some places than others. Accordingly  MNE  will invest higher in regions that provide the best mix of the traditional FDI determinants (Berg, 2003). The motivation for investment by multinationals in certain countries much more than others  is discussed elaborately in chapter three 1.3. Background The involvement of  MNEs  (through FDI) in extractive industries has had a chequered history. In the early twentieth century, these industries accounted for the largest share of FDI, reflecting the international expansion of firms from the colonial powers. With a growing number of former colonies gaining independence after the Second World War, and the creation of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1960, the dominance of these  MNEs  s declined, as did the share of extractive industries in global FDI. From the mid-1970s, in particular, the share of oil, gas and metal mining in world FDI fell steadily as other sectors grew much faster. However, as a result of rising mineral prices, the share of extractive industries in global FDI has recently increased, although it is still much lower than those of services and manufacturing. It is therefore an opportune timeto revisit the impact of FDI into theextractive industries has on economic development. Measuring the effect of FDI on economic growth occupies a substantial body of economic literature. Many theoretical and empirical studies have identified several channels through which FDI may positively or negatively affect economic growth (Akinlo, 2003,  Mello, 1997). Not many studies have reported on the effects of FDI in Africa and most existing studies have concentrated on economies with high FDI in the manufacturing industries unlike economies with high FDI inflow in the extractive sector (as the case of Nigeria). Several factors suggest that the indirect benefits of FDI maybe less in extractive sector especially oil industries. Reasons given for this are that: firstly, the extractive sector (such as oil  sub-sector) is often an enclave sector with little linkages with the other sectors. Secondly, the knowledge and technology embedded in the sector is extremely capital intensive and so transfer of knowledge and technology maybe less. Also, the capital requirement and large economies of scale may not attract new entrants into the sector as in the manufacturing sector.  Furthermore, not all sector of the economy have the same potential to absorb foreign technology or create linkages with the rest of the economy (Hirschman, 1958).  Finally, sales in this sector are foreign market oriented and require fewer input of materials and intermediate goods from local suppliers. Hence will have less forward and backward linkages  (Akinlo, 2004). The  sensitivity of project to world commodity pric e also make it been view as a volatie sector (WorldBank, 2005) Given the pattern of foreign direct investment flow to Nigeria (mostly in oil and gas sector) and the angst-ridden as regards the benefits from the extractive FDI, it is apposite to examine empirically the situation in Nigeria. This constitutes the objective of this research. An analysis of this will be done for the period between 1980 and 2006 1.4  Overview of Foreign Direct Investment 1.5  Natural Resources and Economic Development Since the 1950’s, economists have been concerned that economies dominated by natural resources would somehow be disadvantaged in the drive for economic progress. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, this concern was based upon deteriorating terms of trade between the â€Å"centre† and â€Å"periphery† (Prebisch, 1964) coupled with concern over the limited economic linkages from primary product exports to the rest of the economy (Hirschman, 1958). In the 1970’s, it was driven by the impact of the oil shocks on the oil exporting countries (Wijnbergen  and Van, 1986,  Mabro  and Monroe, 1974). In the 1980’s, the phenomenon of â€Å"Dutch Disease† (the impact of an overvalued exchange rate on the non-resource traded sector) attracted attention (Corden, 1984). Finally in the 1990’s, it was the impact of revenues from oil, gas and mineral projects on government behaviour that dominated the discussion (Stevens, 1991,  Gelb, 1988). The common thread running through these concerns is that the development of natural resources should generate revenues to translate into economic growth and development. Thus the revenues accruing to the economies should provide capital in the form of foreign exchange overcoming what was seen as a key barrier to economic progress. This could be explained both in terms of common sense (more money means a better standard of life) and development theories the requirement for a â€Å"big-push† (Murphy  et  al., 1989), capital constraints (Lewis, 1955,  Rostow, 1960) and dual-gap analysis (Shibley  and  thirlwall, 1981). However, the reality appeared to be the reverse. Countries with abundant natural resources appeared to perform less well than their more poorly endowed neighbors. Thus the term â€Å"resource curse† began to enter the literature (Vanderlinde, 1994). More recently there has been a revival of interest in the phenomenon of â€Å"resource curse†. Furthermore, this has drawn the attention of a much wider audience than previously. Growing concern among a number of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) regarding the negative effects of oil, gas and mineral projects on developing countries has had several effects. It has forced the World Bank group to consider their role in such projects. This has culminated in the creation of â€Å"the Extractive Industry Review† based in Jakarta to consider whether the World Bank Group should, as a matter of principle, have any involvement with such projects. Disagreement within and between the World Bank and the IMF have further fuelled the debate over how such revenues should be managed.   NGO  concern has also encouraged the more responsible petroleum and mineral corporations to consider the impact of their investment in such projects on the countries concerned. However, in the literature that has focused on â€Å"resource curse†, there are references to countries that allegedly managed to avoid a â€Å"curse† and instead received a â€Å"blessing†. For example, even the report produced by  Oxfam  America (Ross, 2001) which is strongly negative towards such projects, states †¦ â€Å"There are exceptions: some states with large extractive industries – like Botswana, Chile and Malaysia – have overcome many of the obstacles †¦ and implemented sound pro-poor strategies†. There are similar references elsewhere to â€Å"success† stories – Botswana (Hope, 1998, Love, 1994), Chile (Schurman, 1996), Indonesia (Usui, 1996), Malaysia (Rasiah  and Shari, 2001), and Norway (Wright and  Czelutsa, 2002). Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with close to 132 million inhabitants. However, approximately 55% of the population lives on less than the value of one US dollar per day. The Nigerian economy depends heavily on the oil sector, which contributes 95% of export revenues, 76% of government revenues and about a third of gross domestic product. Before the establishment of democracy in 1999, the country was governed by military generals, under whose rule Nigeria’s economic performance had taken a beating for 15 consecutive years (Datamonitor, 2007). Nigeria has a dual economy with a modern segment dependent on oil earnings, overlaid by a traditional agricultural and trading economy. At independence in 1960 agriculture accounted for well over half of GDP, and was the main source of export earnings and public revenue. The oil sector, which emerged in the 1960s and was firmly established during the 1970s, is now of overwhelming importance to the point of over-dependence. Undoubtedly, Africa and indeed Nigeria is facing an economic crises situation featured by inadequate resources for long-term development, high poverty level, low capacity utilization, high level of unemployment and other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) increasingly becoming difficult to achieve by 2020. Foreign direct investment has assumed prominent place in her strategy as a way of boosting economic rival and growth. It is also seen by policy makers at all levels as a way of bridging the resource gap of the country and avoiding further debt build-up (UNCTAD, 2005). This has brought about several changes in policy and regulations in order to encourage foreign investor to invest in the country. Other measures include – the liberalization of the foreign investment regime to allow major foreign ownership, lifting foreign exchange controls and the privatization of Nigeria’s public enterprises. This research is aimed to take an in-depth analysis of the major private capital flow foreign direct investment to a growing economy; Nigeria. This investment trend will be narrowed down to the extractive sector and in particular the oil and gas sector with the aim of investigating how investment in this sector translate to economic growth. 1.6 Research Gap During the last decade, a number of interesting studies in the role of foreign direct investment in stimulating economic growth has appeared. Several authors have observed that the major reason for increased effort in attracting more FDI has been stemmed from the belief that FDI has several positive effects (Levine and  Carkovic, 2002, Caves, 1996). In contributing to the importance of FDI, it has also been shown that FDI is three times more efficient than domestic investment (De-Gregorio, 2003). Available evidence for developed countries seems to support the idea that productivity of domestic firms is positively related to the presence of foreign firms (Globerman, 1979). The result for developing countries are not clear, with some finding positive spillover (Blomstrom, 1986,  Kokko, 1994), and others reporting limited evidence (Aitken  et  al., 1997). Earlier studies on FDI showed that target countries receive very few benefits and in most cases negative effect on economic growth (Singer, 1950;  Prebisch, 1968;  Saltz, 1992;  Bos  et  al., 1974 cited in (Katerina  et  al., 2004). A positive  effect is only contingent on the ‘absorptive capacity’ of the host country  (Durham, 2004).  Many research have shown that FDI stimulates economic growth (Borensztein  et  al., 1998, Amy Jocelyn and  Kamal, 1999) as seen in china’s economic growth (Dees, 1998 cited in (Ayanwale, 2007) and Latin American countries (Mello, 1997) showing that inflow of capital brings about increase in investment level. FDI has also been shown to have both a positive and negative effect on economic development depending on the variables[1]  that are used along side the test equation  (UNCTAD, 1998; 1999). Its effect has also been more positively acclaimed in countries with higher institutional capabilities (Olofsdotter, 1998) and economically less advanced countries (like Philippines and Thailand) but negatively on more economically advanced countries like Japan and Taiwan (Bende-Nabende  and Ford, 1998). In essence, the impact FDI has on growth of any economy may be country an period specific and as such there is a need for country specific studies. Several studies have shown varying relationship between FDI and economic growth in Nigeria. For example,  Odozi  (1995)  study showed that Structural Adjustment Policies (SAP hereafter) of Nigeria contributed to the FDI-growth relationship. He revealed that macro-policies before SAP discouraged foreign investors.  Ogiogo  (1995) reported a negative contribution of public investment to GDP growth for the reason of distortion. However, positive linkage effect of FDI-growth relationship was shown by  Aluko  (1961). Private domestic investment was also shown by  Ariyo  (1998)  to contribute positively to raising GDP-growth rate for the period 1970-1995. Oyinlola  (1995) using  Chenery  and Stout’s two-gap model found a positive relationship between FDI and economic growth.  Ekpo  (1995) using time series data revealed that political regime, real income per  capita, inflation rate, credit rating and debt service were key factors explaining variability  in FDI into Nigeria. Using unrelated regression model, FDI was shown to be pro-consumption and pro-import hence showing a negative relationship to domestic investment (Adelegan, 2000 cited in  Ayanwale, 2007) and statistically insignificant effect was shown for FDI-growth (Akinlo, 2004). More recent findings by  Ayanwale  (2007) revealed that FDI contributes positively to Nigeria’s economic growth with the communication sector accounting for the highest potential to grow that economy. He also opined that FDI in the manufacturing sector has a negative relationship with economic growth suggesting that the business climate is not healthy enough for the manufacturing sector to thrive and contribute to positive growth. Crude oil discovery and exploration has been said to have both positive and negative effect on Nigeria. The negative side is seen in term of the environmental degradation, deprived means of livelihood and other economic and social factors experienced by surrounding communities where the oil wells are exploited while the positive side is viewed from the large proceeds from domestic sale and export of petroleum products. However, its effect on the growth of the Nigerian economy as regards returns and productivity is still questionable (Odularu, 2007). This review shows that the debate on the impact of FDI on economic growth is far from being conclusive. The role of FDI can be country specific and its relationship with growth can either be positive, negative or insignificant depending on the macroeconomic dispensation (economic,  institutional  and  technological  conditions) in the recipient country (Zhang, 2001). Even though none of these studies controlled for the fact that must of the FDI was concentrated in the extractive industry, they did not specifically investigate the relationship between oil-FDI and economic growth. This is the focus of this study. 1.7 Research Objectives and Questions Few research on FDI into Sub-Saharan Africa have shown empirical evidence of FDI and economic growth as ambiguous (Ayanwale, 2007). In theory FDI is believed to have several positive effects on the economy of host country (such as productivity gains, technology transfers, the introduction of new processes, managerial know-how and skills, employee training etc), promoting its growth and in general, a significant factor in modernizing the host country’s economy (Katerina  et  al., 2004). However, there is no clear understanding of its contribution to growth (Bora, 2002). This research was driven by the following questions: Has foreign direct investment into Nigerian oil and gas sector brought about economic development? What is the transmission mechanism through which FDI brings about growth 1.8 Methodology 1.9 Dissertation Outline The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Chapter Two: This chapter is the literature review and shall be discussed in three subsection. The first two sections shall seek to review the theories and motivation for Foreign direct investment and the third section deals with the theoretical and analytic review of literature on FDI Growth linkages. This shall seek to answer the question on the mechanism through which FDI result in economic growth. Chapter Three: This chapter discusses the case study Nigeria and reviews the contribution performance and challenges of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria. Also, the impact of this sector on economic growth is discussed. Chapter Four: The methodology and theoretical framework for the analysis is the objective of this chapter. This section discusses the research approach and data collection mode. The variables for analysis and the model for shall be derived. Chapter Five: Data Analysis of the result and findings shall be the aim of this chapter. Chapter Six: This chapter shall form the conclusion of the research and give a summary of the findings, suggestion for improving economic growth in Nigeria and recommendation for further study. Chapter Three Literature Review 3.0 Introduction Foreign direct investment is in general motivated by both â€Å"pull† and â€Å"push† factors. The push factors are external to developing countries and focuses majorly on growth and financial market conditions in industrial countries. On the other hand, the pull factors are dependent (on a lot of factors) domestic policies and characteristics of host countries. While the push factors determine the totality of available resources, the push factors determine its allocation between countries (Ajayi, 2004). The diversity of theoretical and empirical explanations for the impact and influence of FDI (and growth) is without doubt very rich. Many studies among others have emphasized conducive macroeconomic policy, increased liberalization of markets, large domestic markets, liberal trade regime, low labour cost, availability of natural resources, good infrastructure and investment in human capital (bring about an educative workforce) (Ajayi, 2003). This review therefore draws from many of these works with the particular aim of providing an understanding of the theoretical and empirical background, views and present thought on the relationship between FDI and economic growth. The discussion shall be presented in three sections. The first two sections shall discuss the theories and motivation for FDI and the third section involves theoretical and empirical review of the literature of FDI and economic growth from four perspectives: trade or export (openness), linkages and spillover effect, knowledge and technology transfer and human capital. 3.1 Theories of FDI FDI can take the form of a Greenfield investment in a new facility or an acquisition of or merger with an existing local firm. Majority of cross-border investment is in the form of merger and acquisition rather than Greenfield investments. According to estimates by United Nations, 40 to 80 percent of all FDI inflows between 1998 and 2005 were in the form of mergers and acquisition (Hill, 2009). However, FDI flows into developed nations are different from those of developing nations. For developing nations only about one- third of FDI is in the form of cross-border merger and acquisition. This may simply reflect the fact that there are fewer firms to acquire in developing nations (Hill, 2009). For the purpose of this research, I have concentrated on two theories of FDI which are relevant to the study. The first perspective explains why firms in the same industry often undertake FDI at the same time and why certain locations are favoured over others (i.e. the observed pattern of FDI). The second is known as the eclectic paradigm. This perspective is eclectic because it combines the best aspects of other theories into a single explanation. In proceeding with the discussion, we define some terms. When goods are produced at home and then shipped to the receiving country for sale, it is known as exporting. The process of granting a foreign entity (the licensee) rights to produce and sell the firm’s product in return for a royalty fee on every unit sold is known as Licensing. Foreign direct investment has been view as an expensive and risky venture compared to exporting and licensing. This is because firms bear the cost of establishing production facilities in a foreign country or acquiring a foreign enterprise and the risk of doing business in countries with different culture. In exporting, firms need not bear cost associated with FDI and risk can be reduced by the use of local sales agents. Similarly, under licensing, the licensee bears the cost and risks. However, it is worth noting in summary that firms will choose FDI over exporting as an entry strategy when transportation costs or trade barriers make exporting unattractive. Furthermore, firms will favor FDI over licensing (or franchising) when it wishes to maintain control of technological know-how or over its operations and business strategy or when firm’s capabilities are simply not amenable to licensing (Hill, 2009). 3.1.1 The Pattern of FDI 3.1.1.1 Strategic Behaviour The idea that FDI flow reflects strategic rivalry between firms in the global marketplace is the basis for one of the theories of FDI. In studying the relationship between FDI and rivalry in oligopolistic industries F. T. Knickerbocker proposed a variation to this argument. An oligopoly is an industry made up of a small number of large players (for example, an industry in which four firms control 80 percent of a domestic market). One key features of such market is the interdependence of major players: the action of one firm have immediate impact on the major competitors, forcing a response in kind. This interdependence leads to imitative behaviour; rivals are usually quick to imitate opponents in and oligopoly – â€Å"the bandwagon effect†. Imitative behaviour can take many forms in an oligopoly. Some good examples are price war and capacity increase. Rivals imitate lest they be left at a disadvantage in the future. F. T. Knickerbocker argued that the same kind of imitative behaviour characterizes FDI. Although Knickerbockers’ theory and its extensions can help to explain imitative FDI behaviour by firms in oligopolistic industry, it does not explain the choice and efficiency of FDI over exporting or licensing. This is explained by the internalization theory. 3.1.1.2 The Product Life Cycle Theory The product life cycle theory was proposed by Raymond Vernon in the mid-1960s and was based on the observation that for most of the 20th century, a very large proportion of the world’s new products had been developed by U.S. firms and sold first in the U.S. market (e.g. automobiles, photocopiers, televisions and semiconductor chips). Vernon opined that the wealth and size of the U.S. market gave U.S. firms a strong incentive to develop new consumer products and the high labour cost also gave firms in the U.S. an incentive to develop cost-saving process innovations. The theory went further to argue that early in the life cycle of a typical new product, while demand is starting to grow rapidly in the United States, demand in other advanced countries does not make it worth while for firms in those countries to start producing the new product, but it does necessitate some export from the United State to those countries. However, over time the demand for new product starts to grow in other advanced countries. As this happens, foreign producer begin to produce at home for their own market and growing demand causes U.S. firms to setup production facilities in those advanced countries. This limits the potential for export for the United States. Finally, at maturity product becomes standardized, cost consideration start to play a greater role in the competitive process and producer in advanced countries with lower labour cost than the U.S. might now begin to export to the United States. Under intense cost pressure, the cycle by which the United State lo st its advantage to other advanced countries might be repeated once more as developing countries begin to acquire a production advantage over advanced countries (Hill, 2009). The effect of these trends is that over time the United States switches form being an exporter of the product to an importer of the product as production becomes concentrated in lower-cost foreign locations. The product life cycle seems to be an accurate explanation of international trade patterns. However, the product l