Politics Of Poverty And Basic Needs

This volume reflects a new emphasis in development economics on conditions that promote the realization of human potential. Moon defines development goals as attainment of basic needs and the reduction of absolute poverty. He evaluates the effects of the state and political system, as well as the role of the military in relation to these goals, and makes a careful distinction between absolute poverty of basic-needs deprivation and the relative poverty associated with income inequality. Asserting that "the normative case for concern with the poor is unassailable, universal, and compelling," the author insists that "the provision of basic needs may be necessary for rapid growth." The volume includes a discussion of methodological premises in an appendix. ISBN 0-8014-2448-8: $45.00.

In Wealth, Poverty, and Politics, Thomas Sowell, one of the foremost conservative public intellectuals in this country, argues that political and ideological struggles have led to dangerous confusion about income inequality in America. Pundits and politically motivated economists trumpet ambiguous statistics and sensational theories while ignoring the true determinant of income inequality: the production of wealth. We cannot properly understand inequality if we focus exclusively on the distribution of wealth and ignore wealth production factors such as geography, demography, and culture. Sowell contends that liberals have a particular interest in misreading the data and chastises them for using income inequality as an argument for the welfare state. Refuting Thomas Piketty, Paul Krugman, and others on the left, Sowell draws on accurate empirical data to show that the inequality is not nearly as extreme or sensational as we have been led to believe. Transcending partisanship through a careful examination of data, Wealth, Poverty, and Politics reveals the truth about the most explosive political issue of our time.

The paper raises some of the unsettled and controversial questions in the basic needs debate. Among them are: Who determines what needs are basic? What substance can be given to the slogan "participation" which, together with adequate income and well designed public services contains the essence of basic needs? What are the politics of basic needs? Is it a revolutionary or a conservative approach? What is the relation between meeting basic needs as an end in itself and as a means to raise labor productivity? Why are humanitarians and human capital school adherents at loggerheads? How should international support for a basic needs strategy be mobilized? And what is the empirical relation between poverty eradication and reducing income inequalities?

This study attempts to look at the basic needs condition in Indonesia from 1969 to 1984, using economics, politics and public policy approaches. It synthesizes the macro and micro orientations, the studies on the sectoral issues of basic needs, and the calculation of basic needs by single indicators. The politics of basic needs points to the importance of participation for future agenda, while the public policy approach stresses the importance of economic incentives for the future success of the basic needs programme.

At the same time, Page and Simmons show how even more could be - and should be - accomplished."--BOOK JACKET.

This collection examines the power and transformative potential of movements that fight against poverty and inequality. Broadly, poverty politics are struggles to define who is poor, what it means to be poor, what actions might be taken, and who should act. These movements shape the sociocultural and political economic structures that constitute poverty and privilege as material and social relations. Editors Victoria Lawson and Sarah Elwood focus on the politics of insurgent movements against poverty and inequality in seven countries (Argentina, India, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand, Singapore, and the United States). The contributors explore theory and practice in alliance politics, resistance movements, the militarized repression of justice movements, global counterpublics, and political theater. These movements reflect the diversity of poverty politics and the relations between bureaucracies and antipoverty movements. They discuss work done by mass and other types of mobilizations across multiple scales; forms of creative and political alliance across axes of difference; expressions and exercises of agency by people named as poor; and the kinds of rights and other claims that are made in different spaces and places. Relational Poverty Politics advocates for poverty knowledge grounded in relational perspectives that highlight the adversarial relationship of poverty to privilege, as well as the possibility for alliances across different groups. It incorporates current research in the field and demonstrates how relational poverty knowledge is best seen as a model for understanding how theory is derivative of action as much as the other way around. The book lays a foundation for realistic change that can directly attack poverty at its roots. Contributors: Antonádia Borges, Dia Da Costa, Sarah Elwood, David Boarder Giles, Jim Glassman, Victoria Lawson, Felipe Magalhães, Jeff Maskovsky, Richa Nagar, Genevieve Negrón-Gonzales, LaShawnDa Pittman, Frances Fox Piven, Preeti Sampat, Thomas Swerts, and Junjia Ye.