81 Chapter title Part II Anti-poverty policies in rich countries
195 Chapter title Part III Anti-poverty policies in poor countries
349 Chapter title Part IV Future anti-poverty policies: national and international
1 Chapter title Part I International anti-poverty policy: the problems of the Washington Consensus
53 The international measurement of poverty and anti-poverty policies THREE The international measurement of poverty and anti-poverty policies David Gordon Introduction This chapter will describe briefly how international social policy and academic research on poverty has been changing in the past decade and, in particular, how a widening chasm is developing between the anti-poverty policies being advocated by UN agencies and those of the EU. These latter evolving anti- poverty policies have a number of profound implications for the measurement of poverty by
157 EIGHT ‘food that cannot be eaten’: the shame of Uganda’s anti-poverty policies Grace Bantebya Kyomuhendo and Amon Mwiine introduction Over the past 25 years, the varying approaches encompassed within Uganda’s anti-poverty effort have been touted as a best case model in the developing world (Hickey, 2011). Uganda is a land-locked country lying astride the equator in east central Africa. It is closely linked by economic and colonial history to Kenya in the east, Tanzania in the south, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the north
199 TEN Towards global principles for dignity-based anti-poverty policies Erika K. Gubrium and Ivar Lødemel The context in which policy-making and delivery occurs is important when analysing the impact of policy. A brief example illustrates this point. One of the low-income respondents in rural Uganda invited us to her homestead. Her home was a hut made of dried mud with no windows. She hoped to be able to mend the thatch roof before the next rainy season. The empty dirt floor was just big enough for the floor mats that were rolled out at bedtime. Her
113 7 A late and uncertain comer in developing anti-poverty policies Main features of anti-poverty policies in Italy Until the very recent introduction of a national and tendentially universalistic minimum income benefit in 2017 and 2019, the public policy approach to poverty in Italy was historically weak, fragmented and indirect (Negri and Saraceno, 1996; Benassi, 2000; Kazepov, 2015). As discussed in previous chapters, the comparatively limited role of the state in the fight against poverty is explained by a combination of other factors that characterise
The shame experienced by people living in poverty has long been recognised. Nobel laureate and economist, Amartya Sen, has described shame as the “irreducible core" of poverty. However, little attention has been paid to the implications of this connection in the making and implementation of anti-poverty policies.
This important volume rectifies this critical omission and demonstrates the need to take account of the psychological consequences of poverty for policy to be effective. Drawing on pioneering empirical research in countries as diverse as Britain, Uganda, Norway, Pakistan, India, South Korea and China, it outlines core principles that can aid policy makers in policy development.
In so doing, it provides the foundation for a shift in policy learning on a global scale and bridges the traditional distinctions between North and South, and high-, middle- and low-income countries. This will help students, academics and policy makers better understand the reasons for the varying effectiveness of anti-poverty policies.
World poverty is an important book offering fresh insights into how to tackle poverty worldwide. With contributions from leading scholars in the field both internationally and in the UK, the book asks whether existing international and national policies are likely to succeed in reducing poverty across the world. It concludes that they are not and that a radically different international strategy is needed.
This book is a companion volume to Breadline Europe: The measurement of poverty (The Policy Press, 2001). The focus of World poverty is on anti-poverty policies rather than the scale, causes and measurement of poverty. A wide range of countries is discussed including countries such as China and India, which have rarely been covered elsewhere.
The interests of the industrialised and developing world are given equal attention and are analysed together. Policies intended to operate at different levels - international, regional, national and sub-national - ranging from the policies of international agencies like the UN and the World Bank through to national governments, groups of governments and local and city authorities - are examined. Key aspects of social policy, like ‘targeting’ and means-testing, de-regulation and privatisation, are considered in detail.
World poverty will become a definitive point of reference for anyone working, studying or researching in the poverty field.
Series Editor: David Gordon, Director, Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research.
Poverty, inequality and social exclusion remain the most fundamental problems that humanity faces in the 21st century. This exciting series, published in association with the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, aims to make cutting-edge poverty related research more widely available.
For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.
