PPE Weekend

The PPE Weekend concluded with a half day exercise introducing students to the issue of poverty alleviation and allowing them the opportunity to take part in an EU-Africa Summit on reducing poverty. After being introduced to the most controversial issues regarding the causes and possible solutions to poverty in Africa by tutors, and through discussion, the students took on the characters of the main players in EU-Africa relations, from the brutal dictator of Equatorial Guinea, to the ever-charming leaders of generous donor Sweden, to African businessmen, to Make Poverty History Campaign to the European Farmers’ Union to the representatives of democratic, multi-racial South Africa.

The activity allowed students both to learn about the issues of aid and trade and to have a go at negotiating and representing their interests while trying to come up with agreement between different countries and lobby groups. A final summit was held where the details were thrashed out and the countries agreed to debt interest-rate freezes, tariff reductions on non-agricultural products and conditions on the aid such as the holding of free and fair elections and respect for human rights. This was a lively and interactive way to end the weekend, and gave the students a real demonstration of how politics, philosophy and economics inter-link, and how they are applied in real-world situations.

You can find out more about our upcoming PPE and Young Diplomats events here.

Lewis Turner, PPE Tutor