Monroe Doctrine in Today's World

In the world we live in today, many problems occur daily. Sometimes, countries get involved with the problems to help try to solve them. People want peace and they will do anything they can to get the problems to come to an end. In James Monroe’s “Monroe Doctrine”, three lasting concepts were produced. One of those concepts was separating spheres of influence, meaning stay in your own region. The next was non-colonization in the Western Hemisphere, meaning that the US will not dominate or rule over other countries. The last concept was non-intervention , meaning that the US will not interfere unless they are affected directly. The three principles in the Monroe Doctrine can relate to the United States foreign policy.

Foreignpolicy.com posted an article about US and Iran’s nuclear discussion titled, “U.S. and Iran Put More Time on the Clock in Nuclear Talks.” The United States and Iran have been talking for a long time about Iran’s nuclear problem. They have yet to come to an agreement on what to do, and they have missed the most recent deadline. The two countries have come to an agreement to talk about the nuclear problem until June, and make a final decision then. John Kerry tells the press that the people have made substantial progress in Vienna over the last few days and that they have big goals for the months to come. Iran’s economy, once the negotiating comes to an end, will see much needed relief and they will now have an opportunity to make relations with the West. On the American side, the solution to this problem would give Barack Obama the ability to argue that he changed the relationship between the United States and Iran, and ended threats to his country's security without starting a war. There has been some tension in the negotiation process, and things have not gone as smoothly as people have wanted them too and there are still some things that need to be worked on. Kelsey Davenport says, "There are still gaps on some of the major issues, particularly the size of Iran’s uranium enrichment program and the sequence of sanctions relief." Each country needs to give a little to get what they both want. Changing the relationship between the United States and Iran can have an affect on the whole rest of the world, and President Obama feels that making thing good between the two countries is extremely important because of this. Of course, there are positive and negative things that follow a problem, and the United States and Iran are aware of what bad things may occur after they come to a deal.

In this case, I believe that the United States should follow the non-colonization principle. They got involved with this problem because they were directly affect, and separating spheres is not going to help them. They want to solve the problem in Iran, but they cannot dominate Iran when doing this. They cannot have all the power in this situation and in order to get what they want, they need to share the power with Iran. They cannot have it all if they want to see an improvement in the world. Once the problem comes to an end, the United States cannot have anymore power over any other country. This will cause new problems, and bring the United States back to where they started.

The Monroe Doctrine can still be used in today's world to solve large problems. The United States hopes to come to a conclusion soon in order to be peaceful with Iran. If they do not overpower Iran and let go of some of their power in this problem, they will see a fast change. Also, it will help them avoid problems that may lead to more fighting later on.

Groll, Elias. "U.S. and Iran Put More Time on the Clock in Nuclear Talks."Foreign Policy US and Iran Put More Time on the Clock in Nuclear Talks Comments. ForeignPolicy.com, 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.

Race and Identity in Latin American Revolutions and Today's World

On April 19th of 1810, a young officer in Caracas by the name of Simón Bolívar joined the conspiracy of the Juntas. He immediately expels the Spanish Governor of Venezuela. A little over a year later, Caracas declares independence for Venezuela. This was soon changed around when the Spanish regained control of the providence. Bolívar then created the Manifesto de Cartagena which later expelled the Spaniards. In 1813, Bolívar won six consecutive battles against the spanish which allowed him to ender Caracas as a liberator with power. Slowly, Bolívar loses his power and the Spanish gain control once again. In 1819, Bolívar and his small force cross the Orinoco and the Andes mountains. Their surprise attack on the Spanish army forced the Spanish to surrender In December of 1819, the Republica de Colombia is officially proclaimed and in 1830 it became a free republic. In 1830, Bolívar resigns and eventually dies of tuberculosis. Later that year, Ecuador and Venezuela secede formally from Gran Colombia. In this revolution, Bolívar tried to unite everyone no matter what the color of their skin was. He cared more about identity than anything else. Everyone he was working with was very different from each other but they all shared one thing. None of them were European which Bolívar believed that this was the most important thing.

Issues with race and identity are still happening in todays world. In Philadelphia, according to an article called “Racism and the underfunding of Philadelphia schools” by Betsey Piette on November 24, 2014, cuts are being made to the school system due to the high rate of African Americans and Latinos in the system. They make up about 72% of the system. Philadelphia took a hit when 25%  of Pennsylvania's education funding cuts were directed towards them.  The budget that one elementary school was given to provide books and materials to 400 students was $160. Thats about what a family spends at the grocery store every week, which is certainly not enough to cover the cost for 400 student’s materials. Teachers and students have been fighting to get their education system back where it needs to be. Some people say that striking would get the message across and it seems to be the most effective in the past. They are fighting to get education to be a priority in the eyes of Pennsylvania. This article reflects that racism against a minority in the education system of our country still exists. The racism in Philadelphia is causing the school system to lose money which prevents students from getting the materials they need to do their best work.  It is a problem not only in Philadelphia, but also in other public schools around the nation. Our nation needs to fight racism and give people equality, not just in schools.

Piette, Betsey. "Racism and the Underfunding of Philadelphia Schools." Workers World. N.p., 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://www.workers.org/articles/2014/11/24/racism-underfunding-philadelphia-schools/>.