International relations is a very broad topic. There are hunderds and thousands of topics and events one can analzye on an international level. One can examine something as large as International terriorism or look at an isolated issue like the tradedy of conflict diamonds and see how it applies and effects countries around the world Directly, International relations effects our every day lives from the clothes we wear to the food we eat to the vacations we take with our friends and family. The money we spend that goes to people in other counties effect the econiomic systems in our country as well as theres. We study international relations in order to try to understand problems and events that happen globally. It is important that people understand what is going on around the world because we want to be aware of the good and bad things that sould occur in our own country.

If the IMF and World Bank would be more involved with impoverished countries where diamonds were mined then the turmoil in those countries would not be as great. If countries such as Sierra Leoine were not in complete poverty then drug lords could not run everything from the government to the economy. The World Bank has to take into account the severity of circumstances within a country. If they believe that money could make a big difference, they would give loans in order to benefit that country. Sometimes countries seem to be so far gone that the World Bank does not think it possible that they could help so they stray away. This is what is happening in places that possess conflict diamonds.

Conflict Diamonds can best be analyzed by using the ends based or consequentialist analysis. This is because, looking at the consequences of the diamonds being purchased, one sees that there is war and terror going on in the places that the diamonds are being mined.  People can more effectively judge the morality of acts based on the consequences that they know accompany, where as rule based analysis focuses more on rules and intentions rather than the end result. The ends based theory looks primarily at the morality of an action or event. Diamonds that are mined in underdeveloped places and that being sold to wealthy nations with their knowledge of the horrible things that are occurring is ultimately immoral. It is imorral for the plain and simple fact that nations are knowing and willingly helping war and drug lords be successful in places that do not have the power to fight back.

Conflict Diamonds are all about ethics and morality. Every question posed about where the diamonds come from and where the diamonds go are very important. Conflict diamonds are coming from places that are in active civil wars against one another over the natural resource that many people want to have. Some moral questions people would want answered are: where are the diamonds coming from? Is there war in the country the diamonds are mined? Who is recieving the money for the diamonds? Is the money i’m paying for my diamonds going to support war lords? All of these questions are important in defining someones morals. It is ethically and morally wrong to knowing support war and drug lords in making profit from the diamonds. As conflict diamonds are recognized more and more in internal politics people are more and more responisbile to stop the purchasing of these so called “blood diamonds”

According to Mingst’s Essentials of International Relations , power is defined as “the ability not only to influence others but to control outcomes so as to produce results that would not have occurred naturally.” In places that have an abundant amount of natural diamonds, there is little government control or power over how the diamonds are exported. There is so much corruption in the states where the diamonds are found, that the government does not always have a say in who receives the profit. This is a problem because there are rebel groups that try to take over the states with the power they receive from controlling the diamond market. When people buy these conflict diamonds they are empowering the independent groups and weakening the states power. The “power potential” of the states where diamonds reside is great, but they will never reach there potential unless conflict diamonds do not give as much power to one specific group

According to Essentials of International Relations by Karen Mingst, systems are defined as an assemblage of units, objects, or parts united by some form of regular interaction. In order to stop “conflict diamonds” from destroying countries and profiting terrorists the Kimberley Protocol was put into place. The main goal of this protocol is to create a guarantee of the origin of diamonds. There are many questions about the effectiveness of if it will even work because there is so much room for system failure. The system put into place set specific guidelines that had to be followed in order for this to work. “There are several complications with the safeguarding of certified diamonds. Once the shipment enters an importing country, it can be mixed with other diamonds and easily manipulated. This problem was recognized by the World Diamond Council, which is developing a system of “Industry Self-regulation via a System of Warranties” that would record shipments as they enter their destination with a warranty indicating that they are conflict-free”( Harvard International Review). If this system works there will be less violence over diamonds in places like Sierra Leonie. This protocol will potentially save countless lives and stop funding terrorists, if followed through with. Nations like Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom all support the Kimberly Protocol which will hopefully keep it in check.

Diamonds have a political, social and economic impact in many if not all parts of the world. The fact is there is a desire for diamonds. Rich countries want diamonds and need a place to get them from. This directly connects the poorest countries with the richest countries, which makes it an international affair. Diamonds are so desired and worth so much that poor countries should profit from their exports, but instead civil wars and pandemonium break out due to the political and economic struggles for the diamonds wealth.

Realists would see that diamonds would ultimately cause conflict because human nature has conflict. They could look at diamonds as a source of power, yet see it as a curse as well. The diamond markets are sometimes controlled by governments and sometimes by crime which causes an internal struggle that tears countries apart. The power that the diamonds could bring basically ruins the country because the control of diamonds in LDC’s are not always clearly defined. Idealism can be seen as the ability and want to sacrifice self interest for higher moral goals which people are starting to do when returning certain diamonds. Morals and values are a very important part of idealism. If people keep questioning and stopping the sales of these so called “blood diamonds”, they are fulfilling a certain moral obligation to attempt to stop wars and killing of thousands. If things do not change in the places that purchase diamonds there is never going to be change in the places that produce them. For example, in Sierra Leone there are an extraordinary amount of people being killed over diamonds which can be helped by no longer buying the diamonds that come from there. Leninism states that capitalism can only be overthrown by revolutionary means. It states that capitalism leads to exploitation and domination of the weak. In the LDC’s that could be the governments or the people. Rebel forces that want to gain control over diamonds have tried to dominate the other groups around them. Lenin believed that war starts over capitalism, which is what is happening because of the diamonds that are being sold and purchased.

We have chosen to study and follow the effects of conflict diamonds in the world. We believe there is a moral and ethical aspect of diamonds as well as the monatary value which makes them very interesting to look at. We want to see the effects of diamond mining in the counties they are mined from as well as the markets they are sold in.

A large sector of international relations is war. Where it starts, who it’s between and why it started are all big questions asked by other countries. Civil wars are of major concern to many countries because it usually effects more than people in the countries at war. The diamond industry is under watchful eyes in many countries now because civil wars are breaking out over diamonds. People are being killed, injured and put out on the street because of the civil war over diamonds in their countries. There are many inquires about the origin of the diamonds in stores around the world because people are trying not to purchase diamonds that come from areas of civil war and high conflict. They do not want to help in the further destruction of these already impoverished countries. We own diamonds, new and old, and many new diamonds have been returned by our families because the sellers would not release the place the diamonds came from. In particular, my grandmother bought me a diamond necklace for Christmas and she found out that it came from the Ivory Coast, which is a known high conflict area of diamonds. She returned the necklace once she discovered where it was imported from because she did not want to help fund what is currently happening there. The returning and inquires of diamonds now a days will hopefully help in stopping and preventing civil wars. The purchasing and selling of diamonds is how we are directly connected to international relations and how it is effecting us.http://www.organicconsumers.org/politics/diamond021206.cfm

When I was 12 years old I moved from Vancouver, British Colombia Canada to Agawam, Massachusetts. Living in Canada I was very out-going.  I had a close group of friends that became somewhat of a second family to me.  At age 12, however, my family moved to Massachusetts.  The kids in my new middle school already formed their clicks.  Therefore, it became hard for me to make friends, and as a result, I became shy.  Since then I made good friends, but I never overcame the shyness that I developed when I was 12.